Introduction[]
In this blog, I'll explain about the continuities, canonicity and guides of Dragon Ball franchise. If you're interested then read till the end, I'll try to keep it as simple as possible.
Continuities[]
Predominantly, Dragon Ball verse is divided into three category. They are:
- Manga
- Anime
- Movies
I'll briefly explain about these series or movies in the following sections but before that I would like to clarify the canonicity in Dragon Ball franchise.
Canonicity[]
Dragon Ball canon (正史, seishi; Literally meaning "official history") was first officially defined during the Tokyo Skytree + Viz North America Tour in an exhibit called the History of Dragon Ball.
The following evidences suggest official canon includes Akira Toriyama's original Dragon Ball manga (which composes both Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z in Viz Media) and the Dragon Ball Super manga, which has it's story written by Toriyama and artwork drawn by Toyotarō.
During the History of Dragon Ball exhibit at the Tokyo Skytree + Viz North America Tour, official names were given for each of the canon story arcs in both the Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Super manga.
Dragon Ball
- Hunt for the Dragon Balls Arc
- Kame-Sennin Training Arc
- 21st Tenka-Ichi Budōkai Arc
- Red Ribbon Army Arc
- Uranai Baba Arc
- 22nd Tenka-Ichi Budōkai Arc
- Piccolo Daimaō Arc
- 23rd Tenka-Ichi Budōkai Arc
- Saiyan Arc
- Freeza Arc
- Androids Arc
- Cell Arc
- High School Arc
- 25th Tenka-Ichi Budōkai Arc
- Majin Boo Arc
Dragon Ball Super
- Hakaishin Beerus Arc
- Hakaishin Champa Arc
- Future Trunks Arc
- Universe Survival Arc
- Unnamed Fifth Arc (November 2018)
Toei Animation released a official press statement for Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods movie in 2012, which had a phrase called 正史 (seishi), literally meaning “authentic” or “official” or “true history”; alternatively, this could be and has been translated as canon.
In December 2018, Weekly Shōnen Jump reaffirmed about the canonicity of Dragon Ball franchise. Essentially the phrase here is 正史 (seishi) which has been translated as canon, because as stated before alternatively it can mean the same thing so you can literally say it’s been confirmed since 2012 but defined and outright stated canonical sequel during foresaid exhibit, that's a solid word everyone was waiting to hear which certainly clarifies the fact.
Anyway, so the word canon does officially exists within Dragon Ball franchise which is all that matters. Akira Toriyama is the original creator and author of Dragon Ball series so regardless anything that is written by him about said verse is considered as canon. Here's a list of anime, manga and movies which are actually considered as canon:
- Dragon Ball Minus: The Departure of the Fated Child (Manga)
- Jaco the Galactic Patrolman (Manga)
- Dragon Ball (Manga)
- Dragon Ball Z (Manga)
- Dragon Ball Super (Anime & Manga)
- Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!! (Ova & Manga)
- Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods (Movie)
- Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' (Movie & Manga)
- Dragon Ball Super: Broly (Movie)
- Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero (Movie)
I'm aware some of you are probably confused and have a lot of question but there's no reason to worry, just continue reading because I'll clarify these all in the following sections.
Manga[]
Dragon Ball[]
Dragon Ball (Japanese: ドラゴンボール, Hepburn: Doragon Bōru) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama, was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1984 to 1995, with the 519 individual chapters collected into 42 tankōbon volumes by its publisher Shueisha. Many companies for instance Viz Media divided the series into Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z. I'll be keeping it just like that for simplicity, by the way there’s nothing to explain here since it’s canon.
Dragon Ball Z[]
Dragon Ball Z (originally published in Japan as Dragon Ball chapters 195–519) is the English title for the last two thirds of the Dragon Ball manga, which was written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama, so obviously canon.
Dragon Ball Z: Revival of “F”[]
Dragon Ball Z: Revival of ‘F’ is the manga adaptation of Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’ movie, illustrated by Toyotarō and story by Akira Toriyama.
In March, 2015 issue of V-Jump announced a special manga adaptation for the movie Dragon Ball Z: Revival of ‘F’, which was confirmed by Animenewsnetwork. In addition, Crunchyroll also reported the same thing.
Toyotarō essentially wrote and illustrated the story but it’s based on Toriyama's original work as stated above so regardless it’s canon. It's also implied 'Revival of F' manga has deep ties with Dragon Ball.
Akira Toriyama completely supervised these chapters as well. Originally, He drew these characters but Toyotarou did the art work in Revival of F manga. Anyway, It's a continuation of Dragon Ball Super manga.
Dragon Ball Super[]
Dragon Ball Super (ドラゴンボール, Doragon Bōru Sūpā) is a Japanese manga and sequel to the Dragon Ball manga, which has it’s story primarily written by Akira Toriyama and illustrated by Toyotarou. It began serialization in the August 2015 issue of the monthly magazine V-Jump, which was released on June 20, 2015.
It's been quite controversial among the fandom regarding Dragon Ball Super canonicity. In all honesty, I think both anime and manga are equally canon with each being a separated continuity. Anyway, I still think it’s necessary to address some of the arguments against it so let's commence. Initially, Dragon Ball Super anime was announced before it's manga however the latter started it’s publication prior to the former.
Animenewsnetwork confirmed Dragon Ball Super manga is a adaptation of it's anime.
In addition, Shonengamez confirmed it too. Aside these, ign confirmed it including comicbook as well. Basically, these are the reasons why many people considered it as non canon but that's not actually true. I'll provide evidences and prove why it’s canon.
During 2016, an annual anime and manga convention held in New York where Toyotarou was interviewed. Toyotarou expressed his feelings towards Toriyama letting him continue his work, also mentioned the latter is more particular about the gags and comedic moments.
Basically, Toyotarou follows the script or outline given to him by Akira Toriyama but can include information while writing the manga but ultimately it’s reviewed or supervised by the latter as stated by the former, Toyotarou creates a storyboard for him to review not to mention Toriyama also gives input and suggest changes. Beside he gives Toyotarou props for coming up with many portions but Toriyama is very particular about many things and always points them out for Toyotarou to correct.
Toyotarou simply receives words on paper from Toriyama, so the former have to fill these in the blanks as he draws which isn’t so easy, what's more sometimes Toriyama doesn’t give specific feedback on the details either, stated by Toyotarou.
Toyotarou is very confident in reproducing Toriyama's work but when it comes to robots and mecha, that's something he never really tried to mimic.
Toyotarou never drawn anything original, it’s all just Dragon Ball spinoffs.
Fundamentally, Toyotarou doesn’t deviate from the major plotlines that Toriyama's laid down, as far as the plot getting from A to B, that's exactly written as original script given by Toriyama. But as far as the details between those plots, Toyotarou is free to fill minor information, regardless it’s reviewed by Akira Toriyama. Furthermore, Toyotarou also stated while certain reveal is the same in the manga, anime and Toriyama's outline, both anime and manga have different ways of getting there, each taking advantage of the unique aspects of their medium.
Back then (2016), Toyotarou used to receive more information from the anime team than he gave to them but also stated in near future he'll be ahead of anime so the information will be going back to them regardless. For instance, manga is currently far ahead so whenever anime returns the information basically original scripts given by Toriyama to Toyotarou will likely be going back to them.
In Tori-Toyo Free Talk (Web Version) of Dragon Ball Super volume 1, Toyotarou said he has been using Toriyama's plot or script as a basis since chapter 1 but have been allowed to expand on it because it’s better that way according to Akira Toriyama. Furthermore, Toriyama agreed about checking the storyboards for each chapter.
Toriyama appreciated Toyotarou for being the closest to his style, also mentioned his storyboards are really tight.
At one point the manga actually surpassed the anime so back then animators were using Toyotarou's manga as reference for animating the story and Toriyama believes such should keep them on track.
In response to Toyotarou's question, Toriyama reveals his ideas towards everyone.
Toyotarou mentions about Beerus and Whis being the central figures during the interview, whither Toriyama explains it would've been really difficult to create any new story or expand it without those two.
Toriyama once again said about those two (Beerus & Whis) being the reason why he could expand the story. Also mentioned he is grateful towards the screenwriter who came up with the whole God Of Destruction idea.
The interviewer asks about the plot in future and in response Toyotarou says he has already read the plot for the new story which is essentially given by Akira Toriyama.
Interviewer mentions so far Dragon Ball Super manga has followed Toriyama's plot but it might be interesting if Toyotarou becomes more involved with the story writing process. In response Toriyama actually agreed that it'd be more interesting if Toyotarou includes his original ideas, although the latter thinks that's too much pressure.
In Tori-Toyo Free Talk (Book Version) of Dragon Ball Super volume 1, Akira Toriyama said Battle of Gods arc and Revival of F arc was one intense story after another so moving forward he wanted to have something relatively simple and cheerful, that's basically how he came up with the Universe 6 arc.
Toriyama mentioned he re-reads his own manga volumes to think up new stories idea.
Toyotarou said there’s an indescribable sense of excitement which pulses through him whenever he reads Toriyama's work.
Akira Toriyama mentioned Toyotarou is really good at composition and expressed his satisfactory towards him because whenever he supervise anime and whatnot there’s always something which bugs him and he'll ask to have fixed but when he looks at Toyotarou's storyboards, Toriyama can give it OK in no time flat. Toyotarou in response says, the original story he receives is text so he constantly has it by his side as he draws just so the readers doesn’t feel like it’s Dragon Ball but at the same time he wants to stretch his imagination and come up with brand new action and different kind of expressions. Toriyama doesn’t mind a bit rather encouraged him furthermore.
Toriyama is perfectly satisfied with Toyotarou but also said his compositions would be even better if he utilized more diverse angles and adding his original ideas would be great. Furthermore, Toriyama said he never thought an artist like Toyotarou would come along to draw the continuation of his story.
Interviewer asked about the future stories of Dragon Ball Super and Toriyama responded that he's got an idea for a story about the future of a certain somebody.
In Toyotarō-sensei‘s Super Anatomy interview of Dragon Ball Super volume 2, Toyotarou stated he draws a rough draft based on Toriyama's original story, then send it to his editor, who gets Toriyama to check it. He also said sometimes Toriyama will send over a part he drew himself.
Toriyama made corrections by making the planet larger and adding dialogue. Toyotarou then makes the final image based on these corrections.
Toyotarou mentioned that Future Trunks arc in manga would take a slightly different approach compared to the TV anime.
In Tori-Toyo Free Talk of Dragon Ball Super volume 4, Toyotarou mentioned he was shocked by reading Toriyama's original draft regarding the Future Trunks Arc.
Toriyama mentioned that Toyotarou had to depict Zamasu and Trunks' inner conflict by drawing the manga. Toriyama also mentioned now a days, He only have to think up the story.
Toriyama said Future Trunks Arc was able to made because Toyotarou drew it for him, on his own Toriyama doubts he could've express Zamasu's fall to the dark side. Toyotarou furthermore asked how did Toriyama come up with the idea for Goku Black.
Toriyama mentioned he wanted to do False Son Goku.
Interviewer asked whether or not if Toyotarou add his ideas into Toriyama's original draft. In response Toyotarou agreed and stated he wants each character to get the chance to shine. At times like that he slightly depart from the script but ultimately things head towards the conclusion indicated by Toriyama's original draft.
Toriyama welcomes these anyway. Toyotarou furthermore said it’s not just his desire to give various characters a chance to shine but at times these sort of things are necessary to arrive at the goal indicated by Toriyama.
Toriyama literally said it’s better that way because it’s better to let one's individuality as author shine through, rather than just follow the path which he set down for him. Also added that it'd be unbalanced if it were all just his ideas. Toyotarou mentioned he tried not to take things too far afield, despite the fact he certainly did get use to many of his own ideas at points. Toriyama in response said it’s definitely better that way.
Interviewer mentioned Super Saiyan God Vegeta only appeared in the manga version. In response Toriyama said he supervised it and it was fun to see Toyotarou's ideas started coming out more and more.
Toyotarou said Zamasu wasn’t actually all that of a strong character in the original draft given by Toriyama. He also mentioned Goku and Vegeta didn’t fuse in the original draft however he wanted to meet the readers expectations and so he made it happen.
Toriyama think it was good, also supervised as Toyotarou mentioned that got the OK. Toriyama furthermore mentioned most of the time he gave the rough drafts for the Future Trunks Arc the OK right off the bat. Toyotarou replied he was also glad when Toriyama occasionally gave advice. He was like Toriyama really did read it.
Toriyama mentioned recently Toyotarou's own colors have started to emerge and he thinks it’s made for a definite improvement.
Toriyama said Toyotarou is too careful with the battle scenes, it might actually be good to cut corners a bit.
As you can see, Toriyama also made a lot of corrections on how to draw characters properly for Toyotarou in Dragon Ball Super manga, which says a lot about his involvement in said manga.
During Sponichi Dragon Ball Super: Broly Shinbun interview, a interviewer asked will everyone be able to see a Toyotarou style Broly in the future. With a look of certainty Toyotarou said Dragon Ball Super: Broly movie is an extension of Super so he believes that someday the time will come to draw him. He's glad the movie came before the comic so when the time comes he'd like to use the movie as a reference to make it cool in his own way.
During foresaid interview, Toyotarou said even if it’s corny he doesn’t hesitate to put in a gag. Also mentioned there's a lot of gags in Toriyama's revision and he deliberately let ones like Goku, Frieza and Beerus run amok. Furthermore Toyotarou believe that he have to have at least one gag per chapter.
With the Galactic Prisoner Arc, Toyotarou is teaming up with Toriyama and getting a lot of praise as he make it! Toyotarou is hoping to make it an enjoyable story that will thrill everyone.
In commemoration of Dragon Ball Super Volume 11 going on sale! A point-blank interview with Toyotarō, and his workspace revealed!! During then, Toyotarou said he was shocked by the kind of ideas Toriyama offered, as only the original author could. Toyotarou felt like they were able to start in once they were convinced they would've a good story.
During V-Jump Official: Dragon Ball Super: The Inside Scoop from the Editor!! Victory Uchida mentioned when it comes to Dragon Ball Super, the original story is Toriyama's but the manga and the artwork are by Toyotarou. He also said the three of them (Tori, Toyo and Uchida) work out the story, but then the process of storyboarding it out onto the page is left to Toyotarou. Toyotarou usually build it in time for Toriyama to do an additional check.
Interviewer asked Victory Uchida regarding his authority within those meetings where he sits with Tori & Toyo. Uchida replied saying he might be holding them back and his position there is more like Yamcha, although in case for Tori & Toyo, one of them will pitch an idea and the other will go along with it following each another's thought.
Toyotarou mentioned Galactic Patrol Prisoner Arc was created through much trial and error, yet he believe he was able to draw the very best story. Toyotarou said the planning for Granola The Survivor Arc took even longer than the last story arc but it was worth it because Toriyama wrote a great original draft.
Toyotarou said Toriyama composed the plot based on a scenario he refined over time and the former thinks it resulted in a truly fantastic story. Toyotarou also said there are some facts and background information only Akira Toriyama knows and that while designing Granola, He pictured him as a lone bounty hunter.
In DBS volume 16, It was revealed that Toriyama designed Granolah’s Namekian roommate Monaito and the Sugarians. Toriyama’s original name for Monaito was Slug, but this was changed to avoid confusion with the movie villain.
Toyotarō interviewed on Dragon Ball Official Website’s “Weekly Dragon Ball News” where he sat down with the segment’s regular host and his own editor Victory Uchida to share some behind-the-scenes information about the currently ongoing Granolla the Survivor story arc. After considering bringing back an existing character, Toyotarō ended up making the pitch to Uchida for his own original character Granolla, who would have ties with the Saiyans. The two then developed a general story idea around the character before submitting it to original author Akira Toriyama for review.
Concerning Granolla’s design, Toyotarō focused on the fact that he was a survivor. However, Toriyama also noted to him that they were not a race with a warrior culture, but were nevertheless militaristic. Not knowing exactly what that meant, Toyotarō settled on a race of sharpshooters, with Granolla being a sniper and incorporating goggles to help with his aim. Being the survivor of an old, near extinct race, he wanted Granollna to have a bit of a retro feel in his design; hence the steampunk aesthetic.
Toyotarō discusses his attempts to design the Heatas, which were rejected 3 or 4 times before he settled on their final design. While he did twice attempt to design the Sugarians, he kept getting comments back that the “eyes look weird”, so ultimately Toriyama handled them.
Toriyama took Toyotarō’s idea and expanded on it, creating a full-fledged story around Granolla. This included adding the Heatas and creating a new set of Dragon Balls, which Toyotarō felt only the original author had the authority to do.
Following Toriyama’s advice of having characters show up in pairs, Oatmeal was added to the story to counter the silence a lone, solitary warrior such as Granolla would create. Oatmeal helps the story move along without requiring Granolla to talk to himself, or have the reader unable to tell what he’s thinking.
Toriyama shared loads of hidden Dragon Ball truths with Toyotarou so he was able to continuously reveal them every chapter. The pace is really high for Granola arc as amazing things kept happening constantly.
Right from the start of the Granola arc, it’s all quite serious for a long while and it felt pretty impossible to loosen things up until Toriyama mentioned about Zuno's part to Toyotarou, the latter was able to add some levity.
Victory Uchida said Goku was unbelievably strong against Moro and Toyotarou mentioned he was kind of perfect and thus they showed in the first half of Volume 16, there’s a level of perfection beyond perfect.
Toyotarou mentioned Vegeta's development would take a different route to Goku's. Victory Uchida asked since Vegeta's unlocked a new power who is stronger between him and Goku but Toyotarou doesn’t answer it because it'd be too much of a spoiler.
Toyotarou said there’s characters like Whis, Beerus and Grand Priest for Goku to grow while Victory Uchida only mentioned about Broly.
Victory Uchida mentions about Granola versus Goku and Vegeta's battle while Toyotarou says from that point the battle just escalates as the 1st, 2nd and 3rd strongest in the universe go up against each other.
In celebration of the release of Dragon Ball Super Volume 17, Weekly Dragon Ball News helds a interview. During then, Toyotarou revealed to “Victory Uchida” that he wanted to include Bardock in the main story for quite sometime now and given the right opportunity he was able to come up with a idea, which was ultimately accepted by Akira Toriyama as well.
Subsequently, Toyotarou also revealed to “Victory Uchida” that the name Ultra Ego and it’s design was his idea, which was approved by Toriyama too.
Toyotarou also revealed few names for new Galactic Patrol members which were seen in “Galactic Patrol Prisoner” saga.
During August 1st, Weekly Dragon Ball News Special Episode! Part 1, Toyotarou revealed that he doesn’t actually remember what he used as a basis when he came up with that technique of Gas but later mentioned that maybe it’s based on something like shurikens & Gas uses them through his willpower.
Subsequently, Toyotarou addressed that “Granolah” & “Gas” prior to their wishes were stronger than Nappa, including the Ginyu Force probably too, so possibly around pre-fused Abo & Kado’s level.
In August 8th Weekly Dragon Ball News Special Episode! Part 2, “Toyotarou” said that when it comes to give name in the manga he’d have to consult with Toriyama first.
Shonen Jump released individual volume cover for each arc and it said Dragon Ball Super is continuation of Akira Toriyama's best selling Dragon Ball manga.
Finally, During the History Of Dragon Ball exhibit it’s outright stated the canonical sequel to Dragon Ball that continues the story after the Majin Buu arc. Akira Toriyama created the story and characters design while the manga is drawn by Toyotarou. So, Dragon Ball Super manga is indeed canon because of the evidences we've currently in hand.
Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!![]
Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return is the manga adaptation of it’s anime, which is written and illustrated by Ooishi Naho. Essentially, It’s made basing on the anime itself but both of the chapters were completely supervised by Akira Toriyama.
Akira Toriyama originally wrote the story scripts and did some characters design for the anime which was ultimately animated by Toei Animation but he thinks it was a bit weak in some areas. Akira Toriyama mentioned Ooishi Naho did her best in the unfamiliar job of making a manga out of an anime and the former is confident the manga is even more interesting than the original anime. Ooishi Naho also mentioned about Akira Toriyama personally looking at her story boards and offer her advice.
Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!! is surely canon but the question is where and how does it fits with the timeline. For that first we've to know when does it actually takes place then we'll look into other evidences and see if it actually fits with the canon timeline.
It's been confirmed repeatedly Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return takes place two years later after the annihilation of Majin Buu, meaning 2 years before the events of Dragon Ball Z: Battle Of Gods.
Dragon Ball Super takes place approximately in a year after defeating Majin Buu but the timeframe is unknown in manga for some reason although it’s most likely same as anime. Anyway, during the first chapter of Dragon Ball Super we literally see Mr. Satan giving Goku & Co lots of money.
It was mentioned by Goku in Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return and thus we can confirm that it seemingly takes place after the first chapter of Dragon Ball Super. Generally in case for Dragon Ball, Mangas are tied with each others and have better connection rather than Animanga thus I consider the manga of Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return as a part or continuity of Dragon Ball Super manga.
Jaco the Galactic Patrolman[]
Jaco the Galactic Patrolman (Japanese: 銀河パトロール ジャコ) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. It was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from July to October 2013, with the eleven chapters collected into a single volume by Shueisha. It is canon and prequel to his Dragon Ball manga taking place around 10 years before the very first chapter.
Akira Toriyama's message regarding Jaco The Galactic Patrolman, whither he says it's probably the last manga which he completely created by himself. He also mentions about reading all the chapters, because by doing so everyone can completely understand the whole plot.
In Dragon Ball Official site, during Dragon Ball-ism Toriyama Showcase #1: Jaco the Galactic Patrolman! It was revealed that foresaid manga series has a strong connection to Dragon Ball Super and ties into the story of it.
Jaco originally made his debut in the manga series called Jaco The Galactic Patrolman and his actions there could've actually change the entire history of Dragon Ball.
Jaco essentially travelled in Earth because of his mission but there's more than that as he actually encounters Tights who is Bulma's elder sister whom we can see in Dragon Ball Super.
As I've mentioned before, Jaco the Galactic Patrolman is actually a prequel to Dragon Ball manga which is also pointed out by Dragon Ball Official site, as in Jaco the Galactic Patrolman there is a "DB-" sign on the cover which indicates that this series takes place before the main Dragon Ball story, thus a surprising connection to Dragon Ball after all.
Concisely, as the end of Jaco the Galactic Patrolman draws closer, so too does the beginning of Dragon Ball.
Shonen Jump released a volume cover for this manga series which says Akira Toriyama who is the creator of Dragon Ball Z, is back with the quirky comedy Jaco the Galactic Patrolman! and said manga includes a special chapter revealing the secret of Goku's origin.
Each issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump features short comments from the various series authors, giving fans a brief insight into their current thoughts, ranging from series-related announcements to trivial happenings in their personal lives. Akira Toriyama’s comments from this issue were:
The lighthearted comic picture-book I’ve wanted to draw all this time is finally complete, and I’m really satisfied! Thank you for enjoying the read
At the end of Weekly Shonen Jump No. 33, 2013, Toriyama left this comment:
The content seems a bit dated, but if you read to the end, you’ll understand why
In Weekly Shōnen Jump No. 33 (2013), A few promotional pages were published regarding Jaco the Galactic Patrolman series.
Among those promotional pages, one of the them literally says, The shocking revival of Dragon Ball directly implying that Jaco the Galactic Patrolman has deep ties with Dragon Ball.
In The Inside Story on Jaco the Galactic Patrolman 1, Akira Toriyama reveals that he did everything from the beginning to the end by himself, thus it took quite sometime. According to Toriyama, the plan was to start Jaco the Galactic Patrolman series alongside the opening of Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods movie but due to personal issues, It was delayed. It was also mentioned that Jaco the Galactic Patrolman series doesn’t have many action scenes. Furthermore, Toriyama said the bonus final chapter #11, has a bit of a surprise which will let us understand why the timeframe setting is a little bit old-fashioned.
In The Inside Story on Jaco the Galactic Patrolman 2, It was mentioned that Akira Toriyama had his editor look over this storyboard, and scrutinize the contents. Once it got the OK, he used this storyboard as a rough base and then drew the draft. In this case, Toriyama conscientiously drew a storyboard and a draft, unlike the rest. In certain parts, Toriyama slightly changed the dialogues as well. Anyway, the lettering are finished up by his editor and there’s also a person who specializes in the title logo so he doesn't have to do it himself but since Toriyama used to be a designer, he is capable of drawing it too.
In V-Jump December Issue Special Project: “Tera-P”, Daisuke Terashi a member of the V-Jump editorial department asked Akira Toriyama multiple question regarding Jaco the Galactic Patrolman series. During this interview, Toriyama reveals some major information like the Galactic Patrol only stand a chance against Saiyans when they are children and the Extinction Bomb doesn’t work on them.
Interviewer asked why did he link the series with Jaco the Galactic Patrolman in the final chapter. In response, Akira Toriyama said this manga was suited to a slightly old-fashioned setting, so he went with that and added such on intending it to be a bit of a surprise. Due to foresaid reason, Toriyama treated the final chapter as an extra. Essentially, Akira Toriyama had intended to go with different contents for this short-term serial, however there were parts which overlapped with the God of Destruction in Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, thus he changed it to Jaco.
Furthermore, Toriyama mentioned he drew all the chapters himself and refrained from answering one of question regarding Tights because it'd be bad if he got into a tough spot later by saying that much.
Finally, Toriyama said there are lots of different types of Patrolman among the Galactic Patrol.
During Men’s Non-No, January 2014 Issue (10 December 2013), Interviewer asked a question regarding Jaco the Galactic Patrolman, which is what did Toriyama actually mean by "This might be the last comic I do by myself". In response, Toriyama said in his case, he does all the work start-to-finish by himself so it takes quite a bit of time thus in terms of stamina, this 11-chapter serial is probably the last one he'll illustrate himself and also mentioned he added a bonus with +1 at the end.
During Katsura Akira “Premium Talk” (04 April 2014), Toriyama mentioned when they started drawing Sachie-chan GOOD!!, He had this idea of a "Galactic Patrol Series". He'd even thought of all this background information. Jaco the Galactic Patrolman, which he had serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump in 2013, is also a part of that as stated by Toriyama himself.
Retired scientists Omori is the narrator of Jaco the Galactic Patrolman series, who said the entire story takes place around 10 years ago, essentially ten years prior to the Dragon Ball series.
Jaco had a mission and thus he came all the way to Earth in order to accomplish it. Jaco mentions the radar system at their headquarters caught the signature of a projectile leaving a planet of brutal aliens, which would reach Earth within due time but it is his duty to defeat that alien and save the Earthlings.
According to their calculations, the spaceship should come falling out of the sky like a meteor. Jaco also said he can defeat that alien if it’s still young but there’s nothing he can do if it turns out to be a full adult.
While Jaco and Tights were arguing and so on, that spaceship slipped past him thus ultimately he failed to accomplish his mission.
Jaco furthermore mentions that Saiyans are an evil alien race that loves to fight and their main motive is to take over the planet. He also said the Galactic Patrol are no match for them and the extinction bomb has no effect on them either. Jaco revealed that they have a tail and look very similar to Earthlings too, also their alien race is called "The Saiyans of Planet Vegeta".
Surprisingly, we can see Kid Goku and then Grandpa Gohan who is unaware of the former's real name but since he came falling out of the sky Grandpa Gohan named him "Son Goku".
Tights revealed her dad is Dr. Brief, mom is Mrs. Brief and little sister Bulma to Jaco, which was quite surprising indeed.
At the end of Jaco the Galactic Patrolman series, Bulma came to visit scientists Omori and co, who is actually in search of the seven Dragon Balls. Bulma showed Omori the two she had already found, the balls were made of a substance that did not exist on Earth so she suspected that they had come from space. Evidently, it’s accurate to say Jaco the Galactic Patrolman is canon and has deep ties with the original Dragon Ball series.
Dragon Ball Minus: The Departure of the Fated Child[]
Dragon Ball Minus: The Departure of the Fated Child (ドラゴンボール マイナス放はなたれた運命うんめいの子供こども, Doragon Bōru Mainasu Hanata Reta Unmei no Kodomo) is a special manga chapter in the collected volume of Jaco the Galactic Patrolman, which was originally published in Japan on April 4, 2014. This particular story takes place days prior to the events of Jaco the Galactic Patrolman, which took place 10 years before the start of the Dragon Ball series.
In Dragon Ball-ism Toriyama Showcase #1: Jaco the Galactic Patrolman! It was mentioned that Jaco the Galactic Patrolman series also includes a special extra story written and drawn by Akira Toriyama called "Dragon Ball Minus: The Departure of the Fated Child". It's a must-read-mini-manga that features scenes depicting Goku's departure to Earth, which were also adapted in the movie Dragon Ball Super: Broly.
Viz Media while making the announcement about publishing a special Dragon Ball chapter (Dragon Ball Minus) in Weekly Shonen Jump released a cover photo which says, "Goku's past revealed!".
Akira Toriyama provided an introductory comment with this special chapter whither he says:
Just when you’ve unexpectedly learned a little bit about Dragon Ball‘s past, I’ve specially gone back just a little bit further, and drawn anew the circumstances of Goku’s departure for Earth, which even the author found out for the first time
In Men’s Non-No, January 2014 Issue (10 December 2013), Toriyama said the final chapter (+1) is an extra and he didn’t have it in mind from the beginning. Toriyama believed that with Chapter 10, he was able to draw a perfectly enjoyable masterpiece, but whether the population at large will think so is another story altogether thus he added one chapter as a bonus.
In Akira Toriyama-sensei Super Q&A!! Naho Ooishi asked Toriyama multiple questions, which are actually related to Dragon Ball Minus. During then, Toriyama said Goku's mother name is Gine, as for her appearance and such, you'll find out if you read the bonus comic which is known as "Dragon Ball Minus". Furthermore, He said Gine had a gentle personality and wasn’t cut out as a warrior and the quartet of Bardock, Gine, Raditz and Kakarot make up Bardock's family however all four of them were never together.
Dragon Ball Minus revealed some major information. For instance, Frieza knowing about Super Saiyan and Super Saiyan God since the very beginning.
It seems that Bardock and rest of the Saiyans are aware of Galactic Patrol which is really interesting.
Galactic King mentioned about Planet Vegeta and the projectile heading towards Earth to Jaco and gave him a mission thus he originally goes to Earth.
Ultimately, Jaco failed to accomplish his mission thus eventually that fated child grew up to become a fine man and so on. Dragon Ball Minus is prequel to Jaco the Galactic Patrolman and certainly canon to Dragon Ball, which is quite evident at this point.
Anime[]
Dragon Ball[]
Dragon Ball (ドラゴンボール) is a Japanese anime television series produced by Toei Animation. It is an adaptation of the first 194 chapters of Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball manga.
Akira Toriyama is credited as the Original Author in anime which is quite obvious since he's the main creator of “Dragon Ball”.
Furthermore, It’s stated “Dragon Ball” anime is produced based on the original story by Akira Toriyama.
In Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 3: TV Animation Part 1, Interviewer asked Akira Toriyama does he watch Dragon Ball Anime, not as the creator but as an ordinary viewer. In response, Toriyama agreed and said at the very least he thinks "so that's how they did this scene", hence in that regard it is a bit different from being an ordinary viewer.
Interviewer mentioned about original parts or fillers which were added by Toei Animation in Dragon Ball anime, then proceed to ask whether or not they use concepts which Toriyama came up with. In response, Toriyama said it is partly things that get passed on to Toei Animation through his editor but when other TV-original segments air, it makes him really happy as he thinks "this sort of thing is nice too".
When Dragon Ball was set to be animated, Initially Akira Toriyama didn’t say anything specific rather he left everything to Toei Animation, although he did say little tiny bit when he absolutely had to.
In Chōzenshu 4: Dragon Ball Super Encyclopedia, Interviewer asked with regards to the broadcast of the anime in what sort of way was Akira Toriyama involved. Toriyama replied saying, He had almost no free time except initially he did check on the art and such.
In Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 3: TV Animation Part 1, Takao Koyama (Series Scriptwriter) mentioned there were times when they caught up to the original work, and there was no way they could've get ahead of it, so naturally original materials (fillers) went it. In extreme cases they'd even make the first half of an episode from a single panel of the manga.
In TV Anime Guide: Dragon Ball Tenka’ichi Densetsu, Koyama mentioned he was mostly worried about the anime catching up to the original work, as he couldn’t take the initiative and move the story forward himself so he'd insert side stories, and wait till they'd stockpiled enough material.
Interviewer asked Akira Toriyama whether or not if he had put in any requests when Dragon Ball was made into an anime. In response, Toriyama directly denied as he thinks Anime has it’s own way of doing things so it’s better to leave it to the professionals. Furthermore, He mentioned Anime and Manga are separated things although it’s best when you get the feeling "they are somehow connected".
In TeLePAL (1986 No. 3), Akira Toriyama once again mentioned comics and animation are different, there are even times when he'd prefer that the animators should cover those gaps with movement. Toriyama doesn’t care if the animators tweak things, even to the point of completely ignoring the comic as long as it’s interesting. Even though anime isn't canon, regardless it's considered as a separated continuity given the evidences here.
Dragon Ball Z[]
Dragon Ball Z (ドラゴンボールZ) is a Japanese anime television series produced by Toei Animation. It is the adaptation of the last 325 chapters of the original Dragon Ball manga series created by Akira Toriyama and sequel to the Dragon Ball anime series.
Akira Toriyama is credited as the Original Author in Dragon Ball Z anime too.
During TV Anime Guide: Dragon Ball Z Son Goku Densetsu, Akira Toriyama agreed that he was responsible for suggesting the title Dragon Ball Z because someone from Toei Animation actually demanded but the rumour about him titling it after an energy supplement with “Z” in the name is false, as Toriyama clarified “Z” is the last letter of the alphabet so he gave the title a “Z” with the meaning of “that’s all, folks~”.
Furthermore, It was revealed Akira Toriyama didn’t put any special requests when Dragon Ball/Z was animated because he did at least feel or have the sense “the original and the anime are different things”. Beside he didn’t know much about the world of animation so Toriyama thought it would be best to leave that to the professionals, not to mention there's really no way he could've checked the anime all that closely every single week.
In Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 3: TV Animation Part 1, Interviewer asked for TV-original characters and such, did Toriyama give out any ideas. Toriyama replied saying for the part where Goku is training at Kaiō-sama’s place, they said they wanted one more character, so he came up with a character named “Gregory”.
In Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 5: TV Animation Part 2, It was mentioned that Toriyama-sensei’s son doesn’t quite seem to get that Toriyama don't do what's shown on TV. For instance he says, “Dad, how come I’ve never seen you drawing something like this, when it’s your work?” So Toriyama had to explain to him, “This is drawn by a different company”.
During Jump Gold Selection: Dragon Ball Z Anime Special (04 October 1989), Takao Koyama (Scriptwriter) said series organization means to go on structuring the series by determining how many episodes of the anime would cover a particular chapter of the original work. Even so, they'd inevitably catch up to the manga, so whenever that happens, they did also add in original episodes while making arrangements and such with Toriyama.
In Dragon Ball Extreme Battle Collection: Round 02, Interviewer asked Akira Toriyama when the series was being made into an anime, did he give the anime staff any demands. Toriyama replied saying he intended to leave everything up to them, so he doesn't think there was anything in particular. Only, after a while, Toriyama felt they were going too far in a wholesome direction and that time alone, he warned them.
In WIRED Japan 1997 #1 (“Issue 3.01”), Akira Toriyama mentioned once Dragon Ball got animated, He has always been dissatisfied with the “righteous hero” type portrayal Toei Animation gave to Goku.
In “The Anime and Me” (a mini-comic by Toriyama), It was mentioned by Akira Toriyama that he had hardly worked at all on the anime since he was busy with the manga, thus left to it Toei Animation and had put confidence in his collaborators. Furthermore, Toriyama said those who have read Dragon Ball have noticed that certain stories which are found in the anime didn’t exist in the manga. That's because one adventure in the manga corresponds to about 10 minutes of animation and since one episode comprises on average 30 minutes, the entire series of Dragon Ball would have passed by very quickly, therefore the animators had to insert some original stories which Toriyama admires. Lastly, Toriyama said Dragon Ball, it’s the “anime” and the “manga”. Clearly, Akira Toriyama pointed out the fact that anime and manga are separated when it comes to Dragon Ball. Although Akira Toriyama did have brief involvement with the animation such as drawing characters or giving ideas to Toei Animation due to their requests but never wrote a whole original scripts or drafts though, in case you'd like to know more about those then see this page for further information, regardless it doesn’t change the fact DBZ anime is non canon.
Dragon Ball Kai[]
Dragon Ball Kai (ドラゴンボール改カイ) also known as Dragon Ball Z Kai (internationally) is a revised or recut version of the anime series Dragon Ball Z, produced by Toei Animation in commemoration of its 20th anniversaries.
Akira Toriyama is credited as the Original Author in Dragon Ball Kai as well.
Toei Animation officially announced (in Weekly Shōnen Jump issue #11) that a “refreshed” version of the Dragon Ball Z TV series, re-titled Dragon Ball Kai (改; Kai meaning “renewed” or “revised”), was being produced for a high-definition presentation in honor of its 20th anniversary.
In Chōzenshu 4: Dragon Ball Super Encyclopedia, Masako Nozawa mentioned the tempo of Dragon Ball Kai was incredibly quick as the staff edited two or three episodes of DBZ into one, so the spaces in between were tight.
Norihiro Hayashida (Producer) revealed in Fuji TV Public Relations Department, that just like the previous work [i.e., the Saiyan, Freeza, and Cell arcs] the story has been organized and edited into a form close to the original manga by Akira Toriyama, and the dialogue has been made as faithful as possible to match.
One of the pre-title card shown before the first 13 episodes stated that Kai was the “Akira Toriyama Original Cut Version”, which meant the series would follow the manga much more closely than Dragon Ball Z had originally and would consequently shorten the series from its original episode count. Dragon Ball Kai featured developed animation, re-recorded dialogue, new music and updated sound effects, and new digital effects but the fact is “fillers” still exists, just that it’s extent is shortened so regardless it’s non canon.
Dragon Ball Super[]
Dragon Ball Super (ドラゴンボール超スーパー) is a Japanese anime television series produced by Toei Animation that began airing on July 5, 2015 on Fuji TV. It is the first television series in the Dragon Ball franchise to feature a new story in 18 years.
During 2015, #28 issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump reveals a promotional splash which states “A Super-New Work!!” which possibly indicates at the series’ yet-to-be-revealed plot. When it comes to anime series, currently Dragon Ball Super is only canon and actually sequel to Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball manga. Although it’s still controversial among the fandom regarding it’s continuation as many believes DBS anime is sequel to Dragon Ball Z/Kai which isn’t really correct and I'll explain the reasons soon.
Akira Toriyama is credited as the Original Author as well for the “Story and Character” concepts.
The “Dragon Ball SSSS” website provided quotes from the cast and production staff in conjunction with the announcement, whither it’s stated the original creator “Akira Toriyama” drawn a plot for the new series called “Dragon Ball Super”, which will follow the aftermath of Goku’s fierce battle with Majin Boo and said series would be overseen by Toriyama.
Osamu Nozaki (Fuji TV Producer) mentioned about Akira Toriyama developing the plot for the new series “Dragon Ball Super”.
Atsushi Kido (Toei Producer) said when he was working on the production of “Dragon Ball Z”, It left a impression on him so they look forward to carrying on Dragon Ball's tremendous legacy, bringing audiences a brand new Dragon Ball with the same sense of heart and commitment that went into past Dragon Ball productions.
During 2015, August issue of V-Jump, It was revealed that Akira Toriyama provided an original draft for Dragon Ball Super, so it’s a brand new original story. This series is a super tale that depicts what happen afterwards the decisive battle with Majin Buu and links up with the movies Battle of Gods and Revival of “F”.
Furthermore it was mentioned, This series will be broadcast entirely with new footage like with the movies or the openings and endings for Dragon Ball Kai.
During 2015, Weekly Shōnen Jump (#31) released a small promotional section which reveals a brief synopsis for the first episode of “Dragon Ball Super”. It mentions about the timeframe of Dragon Ball Super which is set six months later and so on, after defeating Majin Buu.
Dragon Ball Super takes place after few months later when the power of Dragon Ball had already erased Majin Buu from people’s memory, so approximately in a year after defeating Majin Buu.
In Dragon Ball Super: Super Start Guide (03 July 2015), Akira Toriyama gave a message whither it’s said Dragon Ball Super is a complete continuation of the post-battle aftermath Majin Buu arc, continues with Battle of Gods and Resurrection ‘F’ arc. Furthermore “Toriyama” mentioned he has written a new story, that is basically “Universe 6 VS Universe 7 arc” and would actually draw tons of new characters design. Simply put, Akira Toriyama is just continuing his own story which ended in the Dragon Ball manga.
In Dragon Ball Super Cast Comments, Ryō Horikawa mentioned the story is based on Toriyama-sensei‘s idea so he can't predict where it would go, so they've all got no choice but to let Toriyama-sensei lead the way.
In Dragon Ball Super Cast Comments, Ishizuka mentioned Kai‘s story was based on Z, but Super is an all-new work so he can't predict what's going to happen.
In V-Jump March 2016 (21 January 2016), some of Akira Toriyama's character designs for Dragon Ball Super were revealed, which includes: Hit, Cabba, Frost, Botamo, Magetta, Monaka.
During Dragon Ball Super Original Soundtrack, Norihito Sumitomo mentioned he can’t contain his excitement at the thought of a continuously unfolding new story from Toriyama-sensei‘s own hand.
In Dragon Ball Official Site (09 March 2018), Satoru Takami (Producer) mentioned Dragon Ball Super is based on Toriyama-sensei‘s “original draft”, hence it’s not like the original stories that Toei Animation would make back then with Dragon Ball Z. Instead, it’s a question of how Toei Animation will depict the original draft which Toriyama-sensei came up with. Likewise, The Universe Survival arc started off with an original draft from Toriyama-sensei.
Ryōta Nakamura (Series Director) agreed and also mentioned during then they received several character design images drawn by Toriyama-sensei himself.
Interviewer asked whether or not Universe 11’s Pride Troopers part of Toriyama-sensei‘s designs. In response, Nakamura said they weren’t in his designs, but since Jiren and co. all wore the same red and black suits, Toriyama allowed them to flesh it out like that. In Toriyama's initial rough draft, there was no information indicating Jiren’s personality but since the tough opponents in DBS up until then had been nihilistic, cool characters so Toei Animation thought it might be best to make Jiren very talkative, so they came up with the background of him being a hero of justice. When they suggested that to Toriyama-sensei, he replied that “Jiren is a character who doesn’t speak”. It was then Akira Toriyama sent Toei Animation the backstory that his parents and martial arts master had been killed and so the characterization of Jiren that Toei originally came up with was passed on to Toppo.
Nakamura said Akira Toriyama's background for Toppo included that he was a candidate for God of Destruction, so they fleshed that out a bit. They wondered what to do with Dyspo but then once Bin Shimada was cast, he naturally took shape as a cocky character. With the concept for those three settled, Toei Animation came up with the other members to match up with them.
Furthermore it was mentioned by Takami that Ribrianne’s post transformation (fat appearance) was also designed by Toriyama-sensei. Toei Animation took that and added in the idea that a cute girl would transform into that fat person.
Caulifla was another one of Toriyama-sensei‘s character designs. She wasn’t part of the initial rough draft. During a story conference, it was mentioned that Broli was very popular. From there, Toei Animation came up with the character of Kale as they wanted a Broli-like character, but it would be boring to have it be exactly the same hence they made the character a girl and designed her at Toei Animation. When they showed Kale to Toriyama-sensei, he went along with it and drew Caulifla, so ultimately Toei decided to pair up Kale and Caulifla.
Interviewer asked how much of the story was written out in Toriyama-sensei‘s original draft. In response Nakamura said the course of events for the Universe 7 warriors was written out in a document from beginning to end. For instance, who Piccolo fights and loses to and who ultimately survives. Plus the course of the battle between Universe 7 and Universe 11, all of the main points were written out. It was also mentioned that Toriyama-sensei decided Universe 7’s ten contestants, everyone from Goku to Freeza. The surprise of Freeza replacing Boo in the end was also Toriyama-sensei‘s idea. Toei Animation then added in further details to Toriyama-sensei‘s main story.
Nakamura made considerable corrections to the storyboards himself as he tried to increase the variety of the battles, using live-action fight scenes as a reference.
Takami mentioned Toriyama-sensei had given them the word “Ultra Instinct” and its backstory and design, so they made Goku and Jiren’s fight the main event for that episode with “Ultra Instinct: Omen” appearing too. Furthermore as Toei Animation decided on the scenario’s course of events and reported to Toriyama-sensei, he came back with Ultra Instinct as a power-up for Goku, which was completely different power-up from Super Saiyan.
Freeza giving Goku some of his ki wasn’t part of Toriyama-sensei‘s original draft but “Nakamura” thought of having it be the opposite of on Planet Namek, with Freeza now being the one to donate his ki.
Android 18 and Ribrianne’s battle of love was another one of Toei's idea as they wanted that battle to show the difference between ideals and reality.
Nakamura (Series Director) mentioned while the Universe Survival arc may be Goku’s story but he thinks it might actually be Jiren’s story too as he thought that was Toriyama-sensei‘s intention when he set up someone like Jiren as the greatest rival, someone who’s not simply evil, hence he made it with that interpretation in mind. Furthermore it was mentioned Akira Toriyama prepared the ending for this universe survival arc.
In a Interview Relay Looking Toward the Final Episode, Hikaru Midorikawa mentioned Akira Toriyama has participated in Dragon Ball Super on all fronts, and one can tell from the storyline that he values the old characters.
In a Interview Relay Looking Toward the Final Episode, Shigeru Nakahara mentioned that he never dreamed he'd be able to appear in the Universe Survival arc that Toriyama-sensei provided the original draft for! not only that but to be active as one of the main characters, and remain until the final episode.
Furthermore, He said the last ones left are 17, Freeza, and Goku who'll team up so it won’t just be a battle but would be an incredible chemical reaction. Afterall, Toriyama-sensei provided the original draft, so it’s sure to be an unpredictable climax.
Toei Animation has officially announced a “Future Trunks Arc” coming to the Dragon Ball Super TV series which states, It’s the start of the “Future Trunks Arc”, a new plot line with story and characters based on original draft by Akira Toriyama.
Akira Toriyama also provided a new comment on the upcoming story “Future Trunks Arc”, whither it’s said he put together this story based on a suggestion from the editorial office. Like last time, “Toriyama” wrote an outline of the entire plot, then the script writers break it up into episodes, expanding on things, changing things around, or adding in new bits as need be.
Akira Toriyama also drew characters such as: Goku Black, Zamasu for “Future Trunks Arc”.
Toei Animation has made the promotional video for Dragon Ball Super‘s upcoming “Universe Survival Arc” where it’s stated, God of Destruction Beerus arc, Golden Freeza arc, Universe 6 arc, Future Trunks arc, upcoming Tournament of power arc are based on Akira Toriyama's Original story and character drafts.
The official Dragon Ball Super website has revealed the key visual and brief synopsis for next year’s “Universe Survival Arc”, whither it’s noted original author Akira Toriyama provided the original draft for the story and characters.
During the Interview with Kimitoshi Chioka & Hiroyuki Sakurada From Salón del Manga, a lot of information regarding Dragon Ball Super were revealed. For starters, the production team are asked about the relationship between the anime and manga versions of Dragon Ball Super series. In response they replied both are based on Toriyama’s original draft and the main characters are designed by Toriyama himself. It was also mentioned that, they cannot say whether or not Dragon Ball Super will link up with the original ending to the manga/anime, as Toriyama has not yet decided how it is going to end. Furthermore interviewer asked a question regarding a rumor about a new theatrical film for 2018 is proposed (and how it may relate to the television series), to which the producers simply says everyone to please look forward to an announcement of some kind.
Interviewer cited Dragon Ball GT as an example where Toei Animation continued the series beyond Toriyama’s original vision, and whether or not something like this could happen again. The production team doesn’t response clearly, but does note that Toriyama is nowhere near his limits in terms of the larger Dragon Ball story, so everyone should look forward to it and wait patiently.
The interviewers ask about certain aspects, such as Gohan’s involvement and Boo’s thin-then-fat-then-out storyline, if characters like Yajirobe could appear again, and later on in the interview if Cell could possibly come back, if Goten and Trunks could become important again, why Yamcha is so comical now, if there will be any more tail-based transformations to which the production team repeatedly mentions that they are simply following Toriyama’s draft that is delivered to them.
Interviewer asked whether Toei Animation has the power to have “Toriyama” change the story. In response, The production team explained they can ask Akira Toriyama little things here and there, but they cannot force him. On a day-to-day basis, a director will give suggestions regarding the scenario and storyboard, check in on the animation that comes in etc. They also mentioned from script to completion, an episode takes roughly six months of production since the show is produced digitally using specialized software, though the original drawings and keyframes are still done by hand.
Interviewer also asked questions regarding Trunks’ blue hair. In response, the production team simply says that Toriyama gave instructions for the colors.
Subsequently, It was mentioned that incorporating the theatrical films Battle of Gods and Resurrection ‘F’ into the new television series was Toriyama’s idea and was part of introducing the characters Beerus and Whis, who the producers deemed essential to the story, to children who may not have already seen the movies. They also stated that they cannot say when the series will end, as the Universe Survival arc is only just now heating up. When questioned on the director shift in Dragon Ball Super, they respond that it is simply Toei’s way, allowing them to change up the taste of the show.
Let's take a look at the evidences which are being used to argue that Dragon Ball Super anime is canon or sequel to DBZ/Kai. For starters, “Gregory” making his appearance in DBS anime who previously appeared in DBZ/Kai so supposedly he should experience those past events thus it’s something we've to overlook.
“Gregory” made his appearance in both anime & manga of Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and his friends return!! which is canon and it’s no surprising because he is Toriyama's character after all, as proven above Toei wanted another character so Tori came up with “Gregory”.
Toyotarou once drew “Gregory” and mentioned he doesn’t appear in the comic (Dragon Ball & Dragon Ball Super) but maybe he's hiding somewhere. “Gregory” has always been canon and it's further proven with him appearing in that special manga, except doesn’t actually appear in DB/DBS manga which isn’t necessarily all that important anyway given the evidences.
Now let's address another instance which is often used in foresaid argument. Captain Ginyu explains about his past in namek after being turned into a frog and a scene portrays how he was chased by another frog which isn’t available in the manga but Dende did wish to teleport everyone in Earth except Goku & Frieza, which includes Ginyu too thus that instance is unknown, could've been anything so DBS portraying that scene doesn’t even remotely prove it’s canon to DBZ/Kai, rather just revealed a canon instance that's all. The biggest difference between DBZ/Kai and DBS is that the former has “fillers” or “original stories” which are directly added by Toei Animation without Toriyama writing the story or supervising them but in case for the latter he actually writes the plot/original draft, as well reviews the storyboard and ultimately approves them.
Jaco asks Bulma if she has seen that frog (Captain Ginyu) before. In response, Bulma says she doesn’t want to talk about it although from her expression it’s clear she knows that frog although in manga she never encountered him but in anime (DBZ/Kai) Bulma actually did so many people tends to believe DBS is sequel to DBZ/Kai. First of all we don’t even know if it’s written out in Toriyama's draft or just added by Toei, either way it'd be a retcon and considered as canon so fans have to accept that something like this actually happened back then or that Bulma actually did encounter Frog Ginyu at some point in time, so gonna leave it up to y'all but I do wanna point out even if it’s added by Toei or requested by them ultimately it’s reviewed and accepted by Toriyama so regardless no room to argue. Anyway, Dragon Ball Super (anime) is canon just like it’s manga. “Akira Toriyama” doesn’t only write the story but does a lot of characters design which says a lot about his contribution to the anime, not to mention he also supervise or review the story, as well approves them, which was revealed during his interview with Toyotarou that is already posted in the above section so you can check it there. Beside Toei Animation can make certain request to “Akira Toriyama” regarding many stuff which is upto him whether or not he would allow them. Finally reminding everyone once again Dragon Ball Super is a continuation of Dragon Ball manga, given the evidences so far.
Dragon Ball GT[]
Dragon Ball GT (ドラゴンボールGTジーティー) is is a Japanese anime television series produced by Toei Animation. Unlike the previous two anime in the Dragon Ball franchise, Dragon Ball GT does not adapt any pre-existing manga by Toriyama, but is an anime-exclusive show sequel to the Dragon Ball Z anime with an original story using the same characters and the universe.
These evidences precisely proves that Dragon Ball GT is a sequel to “Dragon Ball Z” anime instead of it’s manga because those are filler scenes whither Goku fells into the “Hell”, which never happens in DB manga, neither in DBKai because “Toei Animation” removed them.
Akira Toriyama is credited as the original author in Dragon Ball GT which isn’t surprising because almost in every DB anime/movie including other DB productions he is credited as one.
Now let's discuss about the non-canon movies which fits into the Dragon Ball Z anime timeline thus scales to GT. According to Diazenshuu, “The Incredible Strongest Vs Strongest” (also known as Cooler's revenge) fits perfectly within DBZ timeline as it takes place during the 3 years from when “Trunks” appeared to the arrival of the artificial humans.
Although that's the case but we cannot simply assume it happened during then without solid proof so let's look at the evidences which were found in “Dragon Ball GT”. For starters, Cooler making his appearance when the gate of “Hell” was opened.
Subsequently, Android 17 mentioned everyone who was killed by Goku and sent down to “Hell” is going to start coming back to life, one after another. So obviously “Cooler” wouldn’t have appear if he wasn’t killed by Goku so that movie definitely scales to GT, not to mention it also perfectly fits within the DBZ timeline without having any contradictions hence there's no room to argue.
“Dragon Fist Explosion!! If Goku Won't Do It, Who Will?” (also known as Wrath of the Dragon) is another movie which fits within Dragon Ball Z anime timeline without having any contradictions. According to Diazenshuu, this is a story after the conclusion of the battle with Buu and it’s true given the evidences in the movie.
In DBGT, “Goku” used Dragon Fist multiple times which is sufficient enough to prove that Goku experienced these events from foresaid movie where he first used said move, just because we didn’t see Hirudegarn or any other new characters from that movie in GT doesn’t necessarily disprove my points. Regardless of it’s extent, evidence is all that matters which is already present, visual scenes (ex: Hirudegarn's appearance) aren't necessarily all that important. Most likely, “Hirudegarn” was revived too given the fact 17 mentioned villains were getting resurrected one after another, so it’s just that visually he wasn’t present in the scenes which were portrayed to us.
Just so everyone knows Bardock the Father of Goku is a special movie prequel to “Dragon Ball” anime. On the other hand The History of Trunks is another special movie which takes place at the “Future Timeline”. Both of these movies perfectly fits into Toei's anime history and has no contradiction thus these two special movies are exception since they fit/scale into the anime timeline as a whole. Anyway, back to the topic “Fusion Reborn” movie doesn’t fit into “Dragon Ball Z” anime timeline because of the amount of contradictions which causes inconsistency within the story. Same with most of the non-canon movies except if a movie (ex: Bojack Unbound) does somehow fits within DBZ timeline, it doesn’t necessarily mean Goku & Co experienced those events or said movie took place in that period of time because essentially solid evidences are lacking. In case for those movies (Cooler's Revenge and Wrath of the Dragon), there were further solid evidences from Dragon Ball GT proving why they fits in “Dragon Ball Z” anime timeline or scales to GT.
Note-1: Just in case, someone misinterprets and tries to argue that all movies scale to GT since it’s the same “Goku” who experienced previous movies then it would be a false claim, because precisely my point is those specific movie (Coolers Revenge & Wrath of the Dragon) takes place simultaneously in both anime & movie timeline and since GT is sequel to Dragon Ball Z, you'd have to think it’s anime Goku who actually experienced these events (instead of his movie counterpart part) which occurs in the same timeline without having any contradiction. Otherwise there would only be contradictions and inconsistencies within the stories, timelines history etc.
In Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 5: TV Animation Part 2, Akira Toriyama mentioned the TV series is going to continue for a little bit longer, as a brand-new story (Dragon Ball GT) not present in the original. Toei Staff showed a rough scripts to Toriyama which gave a broad outline of how it’ll be. Furthermore “Toriyama-Sensei” stated from now on he can be just like everyone else, simply watching the TV broadcasts at home and wondering with bated breath what on Earth will happen next.
In Dragon Ball Daizenshuu Volume 7: Dragon Ball Large Encyclopedia, “Interviewer” asked with regards to the anime’s new series “Dragon Ball GT”, how much involvement did Akira Toriyama had. In response, Toriyama said just a little bit. He'll check the stories that come up from Toei Animation, and give them a little bit of advice. Toriyama also drew a few characters and illustrations but what's actually interesting to him is how “Toei Animation” does thing, which made him feel like “Ah, so they could do it this way”.
Akira Toriyama recommended “Dragon Ball GT” and also mentioned he is looking forward to it as an ordinary viewer.
In Weekly Shōnen Jump, 1996 #13 (27 February 1996), Akira Toriyama mentioned he still hasn’t seen “Dragon Ball GT” yet but looking forward to it, as well worried about what sorts of developments there'll be. “Toriyama” also said in his mind, Dragon Ball has already been over for a long time but thanks to the Staff, it continues to live on in animation.
In Dragon Ball GT DVD Box: Dragon Box GT “Dragon Book” (15 June 2005), Akira Toriyama mentioned The TV anime people wanted to continue for just a little bit more, but he [just couldn’t do] any more than that and so, he left the “Dragon Ball” anime completely up to the Toei staff, story and all, that was Dragon Ball GT. Toriyama had GT mean “Grand Touring” a great journey, since the scenario was that they’d be running around the universe. For GT, all he did was just come up with the title, design the initial main cast and some of the machines, and also do a few images, however “Toriyama” was able to rest easy handing things over to the excellent staff, who had continued on Dragon Ball for all this time. Finally, Akira Toriyama stated “Dragon Ball GT” is a grand side-story of the original Dragon Ball, and it’ll make him happy if everyone watches and enjoy it together.
In Dragon Ball GT DVD Box: Dragon Box GT “Dragon Book” (15 June 2005), Kōzō Morishita (Producer) said the original manga had wrapped up while Dragon Ball Z was still being broadcast, but among himself and others involved there was no sense of “this is the end”. Toei staff and of course the TV station and sponsors all wanted the Dragon Ball series to continue so that's how “Dragon Ball GT” was basically born.
The original manga concluded but Kōzō Morishita decided to do an original story. Initially the idea was to have anime-original stories depicting the events of those ten years, and various such stories were planned out. Content-wise it was thought that the plot would revolve around the exploits of characters such as “Pan” or “Trunks”; in other words, the next generation of children.
Toei staff sent word to “Toriyama-sensei” and the Weekly Shonen Jump editorial department that they wanted to make a new series, after some initial meetings the viewpoint emerged that it would be preferable to do a completely original story, separate from the original manga. Certainly that way, with a “Dragon Ball different than the original manga”, Toriyama-sensei could enjoy it too, and there was also the opinion that it would be terribly disrespectful not to make it a separate work from sensei‘s original manga.
During the interview, It was also mentioned simple plots made by Toei Animation such as “they travel to these types of planets” were handed over to Toriyama-sensei, and he drew new character drafts and image illustrations for kid Goku, Pan, Trunks, the spaceship, and other major characters.
Kōzō Morishita also said initially they made about 26 episodes worth of rough plot outlines but around when the final script for episode 3 was finished, Toei staff thought “these travel episodes aren’t going to be interesting, no matter how long they keep doing them” and so they stopped.
In Dragon Ball Chōgashū: Super Art Collection, “Akira Toriyama” said he drew the design images for GT characters because Toei Staff requested him to do so.
During Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 5: TV Animation Part 2, Interviewer said “Dragon Ball” is set to continue airing with a TV-original story (Dragon Ball GT), what are Toriyama's thoughts on it. In response, Akira Toriyama said he won’t touch on the plot right now, so he's really excited about it since “He can enjoy it as just another viewer!”.
In GT Perfect files it was revealed, Akira Toriyama designed and colored the main characters (Kid Goku, Trunks & Pan) of “Dragon Ball GT”.
Akira Toriyama's design for “Giru” and “GT spaceship” were shown in Weekly Jump 52, 1995. Lastly, I just wanna say this although Dragon Ball GT is non-canon, “Akira Toriyama” still had little bit involvements with it given the evidences above.
Super Dragon Ball Heroes[]
Super Dragon Ball Heroes (スーパードラゴンボールヒーローズ) is a Japanese original net animation and promotional anime series produced by Toei Animation, for “Dragon Ball Heroes” video game which began premiering on July 1, 2018.
Bandai Namco has announced a forthcoming Super Dragon Ball Heroes animation project which is described as promotional anime.
The fact it’s a “promotional” anime is quite evident seeing the official logo which is available in every episode of Super Dragon Ball Heroes.
Furthermore, the official website also gives a brief summary of the new “Prison Planet Arc” which mentions about “Trunks” returning from Future Timeline to train with Goku and Vegeta, essentially the story takes place after Universe Survival Arc for Dragon Ball Super characters.
In “Dragon Ball Heroes: 5th Anniversary Guide Book”, Higuchi Wataru (Producer) stated their intent is to work in cooperation with “Akira Toriyama” and other interested parties to create something all fans can accept, thus the ability to incorporate “What-If” elements (ex: Super Dragon Ball Heroes) expresses Dragon Ball's true depth.
During “Dragon Ball Heroes' 11th Anniversary”, Norihiro Hayashida (Executive Producer of #SDBH anime) mentioned they have been working with Shueisha and Bandai to produce the promotional anime.
During “Big Bang Mission [SDBH] Development Team Interview!!”, Rokushi Suzuki (Developer) mentioned they combined the worlds of the “Dark Demon Realm” saga and “Universe Mission”, the continuation of [Dragon Ball Super], because they wanted to have the two worlds' characters and co-star along with each other. Anyway, Super Dragon Ball Heroes is non-canon and isn’t actually sequel to any series either, also the original author “Akira Toriyama” doesn’t have any involvements in the story at all. It’s more like a “What-If” story taking place in a different dimension, many characters from different worlds are brought together but in case for “Xeno” characters it’s taking place after Dark Demon Realm saga however for “CC” (Capsule Corporation) characters the evidences depicts timeframe is after Universe Survival Arc, both worlds' characters are gathered together in “Prison Planet Arc” where the story originally begins.
Movies, TV Specials, Ovas[]
Canon Movies, Ova[]
Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!![]
Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!! (ドラゴンボール オッス! 帰ってきた孫悟空と仲間たち!!) is a Japanese OVA based on Akira Toriyama's original draft or script and features the first Dragon Ball animation in nearly a decade. It was distributed by “Toei Animation” which originally premiered at the Jump Super Anime Tour in September 21, 2008.
In the opening credit, it was mentioned that “Original Work” is done by creator Akira Toriyama.
Initially, Akira Toriyama provided an original draft or script to “Takao Koyama” who then wrote the screenplay for this short animated film. In addition, Animenewsnetwork confirmed it too.
Akira Toriyama didn’t only write the story but also drew a lot of character designs for this Ova.
In TV Anime Guide: Dragon Ball Z Son Goku Densetsu, which came out several years before the special, Akira Toriyama discuss ideas (ex: There was such-and-such a story, involving such-and-such an opponent. As in, it wasn’t in the comic, but this kind of thing also happened) for a new animated “Dragon Ball Z” work that seems to foreshadow the Jump special a lot. The Jump special did, in fact take the approach Toriyama describes here of going back in time and saying that a previously unmentioned incident happened at that particular point in time.
The Narrator even states such and notes that everyone simply forgot all about it because the enemy was just so weak or appeared just a little too late in time, depending on the translation.
Dragon Ball SSSS website provided official timeline for Dragon Ball universe whither it’s stated “Majin Buu Arc” takes place in Age 774.
Furthermore “Battle of Gods Arc” takes place in Age 778, meaning four years later after defeating Majin Buu.
On the other hand, based on the evidences so far we can certainly confirm Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!! takes place about 2 years later after the annihilation of Majin Buu, meaning in Age 776 hence it fits perfectly within “Dragon Ball” timeline without having any contradiction at all.
Now let's take a look at the other evidences which upholds my point. At the end of Dragon Ball Super episode 1, we literally see Mr. Satan giving “Goku & Co” lots of money. Keep in mind at that point of time approximately 1 year has passed since they defeated Majin Buu, in case you are not aware then I suggest you should check my “Dragon Ball Super” (anime) section whither I already proved it.
In “Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!!” it was confirmed by Goku that they got money from “Mr. Satan” which furthermore proves my point and said Ova seemingly takes place after episode 1 of Dragon Ball Super.
Note: (Don’t be confused with the word “If” because depending on context actual meaning varies, that aside the term “Since” was used in few other translation so it’s up for linguistic interpretation but regardless it’s true since “Chi Chi” never protested)
In V-Jump, May 2013 (21 March 2013), Toyotarou mentioned how they hadn’t forgotten about Vegeta’s younger brother “Tarble” in Battle of Gods movie which gives him the feeling of, “That means it’s after that episode” [i.e., Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!!]
Vegeta's brother Tarble was introduced for the first time in this Ova, although he is been canon ever since “Jaco the Galactic Patrolman” but Bulma & Co never actually met him, neither Vegeta ever mentioned about his brother to anyone else in the series.
In Battle of Gods movie which is entirely written by “Akira Toriyama”, Bulma directly mentioned about Vegeta's younger brother (Tarble) which isn’t surprising since she already met him in “Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!!” that is prequel to this movie since it takes place 2 years before “Battle of Gods” movie and definitely canon as I've mentioned it multiple times. Furthermore it was revealed in a promo (released by V-Jump), Battle of Gods movie links up with the anime so there’s that but I can tell many people would say “Toei Animation” retconned it which isn’t necessarily a issue, while it’s true such was never mentioned in the anime but there’s no contradictions when it comes to the timeline rather fits perfectly, beside there’s other evidences which I already posted above that already solidifies my point.
Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods[]
Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods (ドラゴンボールZ 神と神) is a Japanese animated film produced by Toei Animation basing on “Akira Toriyama's” original work. It was the first animated Dragon Ball movie in 17 years to have a theatrical release since the tenth anniversary movie Dragon Ball: The Path to Power and originally began premiering in Japanese theaters on March 30, 2013.
Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods movie's teaser states, “Original Work” is done by Akira Toriyama.
Akira Toriyama is credited as “Original Creator” in Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods trailer.
Akira Toriyama is credited for “Original Story and Characters Designs” in Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods movie.
Shueisha’s “Ultra Jump” magazine released a page regarding the movie Battle of Gods which initially confirmed it’s title.
In Weekly Shōnen Jump, 2012 #33 (14 July 2012), Akira Toriyama stated it’s rare or rather, it’s the first time that he has been deeply involved with the animation from the scriptwriting stage.
Toei Animation released an official press statement for this movie which says, “Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods” is consistently realized as a Toriyama work, with the original author Akira Toriyama himself deeply involve from the script stage for the first time. A new story in the official history of Dragon Ball is born, neither a spin-off nor a side-story, one that can be enjoyed by both children and parents, manga fans and anime fans.
According to the official timeline chart given by Dragon Ball SSSS website, “Majin Buu” saga takes place in Age 774 while “Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods” movie takes place in Age 778 meaning four years later after defeating Majin Buu.
In “Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods” Battle Book — Promotional Pamphlet, Akira Toriyama said apparently it’s been 17 years since the last animated Dragon Ball movie! For all the animation up to now, He has basically just left everything up [to the staff], so this is his first try at being involved starting from the story’s creation. He decided on Beerus’s character design and background, also thought up an original story, imagining it as though [the manga’s] serialization had continued.
Akira Toriyama provided a comment in Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods Special Limited Edition Box, whither it’s said this was the first time that he participated in creating the story for a theatrical Dragon Ball anime. But that isn’t to say that he was requested to participate, rather while he thought the concepts in the story he received were good but the contents were a bit dark and in the midst of making partial changes, “Toriyama” got carried away and ended up making it into an almost completely different story. That’s the correct way to put it. For the battle scenes, he wrote the rough idea of their exchanges and left the rest up to the animation pros.
In Super Long Interview!! Please Tell Us, Akira Toriyama-sensei!! Interviewer asked what’s the story behind the birth of the plot line for “Battle of Gods”. In response, Akira Toriyama stated the ideas “God of Destruction” and “Super Saiyan God” were there from the start, but the worldview was pretty dark hence correcting this into a more “DB”-esque content kids could enjoy too was the catalyst for him becoming heavily involved in the story.
Akira Toriyama also mentioned for this movie, He devoted himself exclusively to creating the story, so he was happy most of all at how it became many times more enjoyable by other people’s hands. In particular, the climactic battle exceeded his expectations by far.
In V-Jump, May 2013 (21 March 2013), Akira Toriyama mentioned If he's only coming up with the story, he doesn't have to draw any artwork. In case for Manga, the author has to draw and complete it himself, but when said person leaves the story to people other than himself, there’s the possibility that something greater than he had imagined will come into being. When it comes to “Battle of Gods” movie the battle scenes were even more amazing than Toriyama had imagined. Furthermore “Akira Toriyama” said he doesn’t mind one bit about his work being tweaked. There are people who are particular [about that sort of thing], but he is incredibly happy to have other people’s revisions make it more interesting.
In Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods Official Movie Guide, Akira Toriyama said while supervising the scenario, he was conscious of having content that children could understand. Also, this time there is a “God” as the subject, Toriyama thought he should make it light so it wouldn’t get religious and was careful not to give them difficult, abstract/conceptual dialogue.
Akira Toriyama stated it was his first experience with writing the scenario, so he had no grasp of how much writing would translate to how much length [on screen]. “Toriyama” had thought that the anime staff would further expand on the script he'd supervised, but it seems the scenario was actually so long that it had to be cut down. The anime staff told him that, in the first storyboards, where they had already cut it down somewhat, it was still over 120 minutes long.
Akira Toriyama said while writing the scenario for the fight scenes, he'd thought about what sort of visuals they might become, but the fight scenes were far more enjoyable than his own imaginations. “Toriyama” is the type of person who isn’t bothered one bit about other people changing his own work, so it’s better if other people work on it to make it more and more interesting, and in that sense, it would have been fine if the anime staff had changed it even more.
In Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods Anime Comics Interview, Akira Toriyama mentioned he didn’t intend to get involved with the animation but the rough script which was given to him for “checks” had an interesting-sounding theme of a God of Destruction, however the contents were a little dark, so while he was in the midst of giving advice on how to improve it, “Toriyama” got carried away and ended up writing almost everything. For the character designs, as well, he had an image of them to a certain extent while he was thinking up the contents [of the movie], so Toriyama decided that it would be much faster if he just draws them himself rather than asking for this or that.
Akira Toriyama also mentioned, “God of Destruction” (Beerus) was a malevolent, dark character in the initial rough script but he went ahead and reversed everything, leaving only his fearsomeness.
Furthermore Toriyama said, he did generally write in a rough idea of their (Goku & Beerus') exchanges but apart from that, he left the battle scenes up to the people on the “anime staff”.
Akira Toriyama was resistant to [the idea of] Goku getting more and more macho, or having a flashy transformation, so he wanted to make a course-correction, thus just changed his hair color and his eyes.
In Dragon Ball Full Color Comics: Freeza Arc Vol. 4, Akira Toriyama said when he first read the script for this movie he realized it might be a bit too complex for kids and that the story was a bit too serious. For the dialogue as well, there were turns of phrase that only the creator would know, so he sent in a revision, [saying] “How about something like this?” Later, Toriyama took a look at the revised script and as he looked at the dialogue and other parts that bothered him, [it dawned on him that] He had written the entire story without realizing it. “Toriyama” felt that the part of a god appearing was the main point of this movie, so he left it in but the rest had become the story he came up with himself.
When it comes to making scenario, Toriyama decided “not to make people emotional”, rather come down entirely on the side of pure entertainment. He also struggled with the enemy’s background due to the circumstances.
Akira Toriyama revealed in the initial script, three burglars appear but since Dragon Ball‘s characters are all appearing together, He thought it would be better if it were a group of three that everyone knew, so he made the Pilaf gang appear. Although they are getting pretty old, so “Toriyama” made them younger with the Dragon Balls.
Toriyama thought he'd rather make Beerus cat-like. Speaking of cats, there’s Egypt, so he decided on his costume from there. “Akira Toriyama” came up with both (Beerus & Whis) of them from the start. If there’s only one [character], you have to either have them talk to themselves or use narration, but if you have two, you can explain things through their conversational interaction instead of using narration.
Akira Toriyama revealed that he decided on the movie's sub-title (Battle of Gods) but he was careful not to make it philosophical hence “Toriyama” had him do some un-god-like things, such as being obsessed with food. Furthermore Toriyama also mentioned he is responsible for setting the timeframe after the Majin Boo arc.
In Dragon Ball Full Color Comics: Freeza Arc Vol. 5, Akira Toriyama said it’s the first movie since the live-action (Dragon Ball Evolution) version, so he really wanted to show people the aspect of, “this is Dragon Ball“. During the serialization, He wasn’t deeply involved with the animated works so basically left everything up to the anime staff, but this time “Toriyama” checked over the script carefully for the first time. While he was writing it, Toriyama had the sense that there wasn’t enough story and thought they would expand on it for him but on the contrary, it had gotten so long that they had to cut it down. Furthermore, it was also mentioned that everyone on the staff made [the movie] according to the scenario “Akira Toriyama” wrote.
Akira Toriyama revealed among the cut scenes, there was one scene he wrote where Goku is in a pinch, and everyone goes to help him including Satan, even though they know it’s hopeless.
Akira Toriyama mentioned he feels happy when something comes out that’s more than what he's come up with. “Toriyama” also replied to the interviewer saying, perhaps he should have told them (the staff) more strongly from the start, “You can change it however you want, based on the story”.
Akira Toriyama revealed that this time, He wanted to make the transformation slim hence Super Saiyan God which first appears this time, has a slim design.
In Official Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods Website, Akira Toriyama revealed he imagined the Oracle Fish as being bigger than human height. Athough, since he didn’t draw a chart for scale, it ended up this size.
In Asahi Shimbun Digital, Akira Toriyama mentioned the initial story outline for “Battle of Gods” movie were heavy, and he felt that the world was a bit different from Dragon Ball. Rather than telling them about this or that problematic spot, “Toriyama” thought it would be faster if he just wrote it out concretely, and while he had intended just to give them a model―”for example”―his hand wouldn’t stop, and ultimately, Toriyama ended up writing almost everything, including the dialogue.
Akira Toriyama revealed “God of Destruction” (Beerus) was in the story outline since the beginning but things like the character concept, “Toriyama” ended up completely changing except his name. With Beerus being greedy with food, as well, He was aiming for the amusing gap with this fearsome being called the God of Destruction. Anyway, it’s apparently a name that was taken from “virus”, but Toriyama mistakenly thought it came from “beer”, and gave his attendant the name “Whis”, which he took from “whiskey”.
During Mandō Kobayashi, Akira Toriyama mentioned when the script originally came to him, there was a lot of stuff (ex: dialogues) which bothered him and so rather than telling them to revise each individual thing, “Toriyama” thought it might be faster if he just wrote the script himself.
In DVD & Blu-ray Vision, April 2013 Issue, Yūsuke Watanabe (Scriptwriter) mentioned he’d create a story suggestion with concepts such as Beerus, God of Destruction, in it and have “Toriyama-sensei” look at it. Afterwards Akira Toriyama modifies, revise or change many things and send it back to him. Since there were length considerations, Yūsuke would sort of stretch that out and make it into a script.
The story Yūsuke Watanabe received was about 60 minutes, so he created a development where the Dragon Balls are stolen by a group of thieves, who were new characters. Then Toriyama-sensei told him, “Since they are going with an all-star cast, let’s have the Pilaf gang steal them”. “Yūsuke Watanabe” felt that being able to create characters that aren’t necessary in terms of the story but still interesting, is something only Toriyama-sensei can do.
Yūsuke Watanabe thought he'd do a story where the enemy appears at a party on Earth when Goku’s not there and there’d be big trouble; in the original plot, he wrote Kuririn and No. 18’s wedding but in the story that came back from Toriyama-sensei, it had changed to Bulma’s birthday party.
Yūsuke Watanabe stated “Beerus” being scary but at the same time having a screwy side despite being a god, was an element created entirely by Toriyama-sensei. Yūsuke can’t write that, since he had made Beerus more of a bad guy and a kind of story where everyone is taken over and given an evil heart but “Toriyama-sensei” in his way apparently felt that, “It’s after the earthquake, so he want it to be, not a tragic story but a positive one” and it came to have it’s present form.
Yūsuke Watanabe wrote this particular line, “Heya! I’m Goku!” [Ossu! Ora Gokū!] which appears in the movie as well.
In OKStars Interview, Vol. 246: Anime Director, Masahiro Hosoda (Anime Director) mentioned about “Akira Toriyama” designing a new enemy character, “Beerus” (God of Destruction) also, in having Toriyama-sensei supervising the scenario that scriptwriter “Yūsuke Watanabe-san” wrote. In terms of the work overall, they worked to bring out it's “Toriyama taste”, so while there are exceptionally flashy battle-scenes, it’s been finished up as a work that includes gags as well.
In OKStars Interview, Vol. 249: Animation Supervisor, Tadayoshi Yamamuro (Animation Supervisor) mentioned previously, he would draw the roughs of the characters, then have the creator “Akira Toriyama-sensei” consider them but this time, art for the characters came up from Toriyama-sensei himself, so Tadayoshi was surprised because it’s rare for Toriyama-sensei both to be involved from the scenario stage and to have drawn the costumes for all the characters. Normally when making them into animation, they would simplify the illustrations for the key frames in order to make them easier to move, but since “Toriyama-sensei” had drawn this much, Tadayoshi wanted to animate them as-is, without any simplifications.
Tadayoshi Yamamuro thought, if they fire an energy blast at the party, it would destroy the site and nearby buildings, so [he need] a way for them to be able to fight just with their limbs thus he tried putting in some locking techniques, which is rare for Dragon Ball. At first in the scenario, it was written that “Beerus deals with Piccolo, Tenshinhan, and No. 18 with a spoon or fork” but it would be difficult to fight that way, so Tadayoshi asked the director Masahiro Hosoda, “would chopsticks be all right” and got the OK, so he put in some action where [Beerus] grabs and throws them like Jackie Chan. Since “Tadayoshi” was able to handle the storyboards for this part, ultimately he was able to draw it comparatively freely and was satisfied with it.
In OtonaFami, May 2013 Issue, Masako Nozawa mentioned “Toriyama-sensei” gave the preview screening his seal of approval, saying, “It was incredibly good. It’s enjoyable, just like he thought”. For the staff, it was also the day of Toriyama-sensei‘s check [of the movie].
In Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods Official Movie Guide, Masahiro Hosoda (Director) mentioned he wasn’t told this directly, but “Toriyama-sensei” had written that “I don’t want you to have citywide panic or destruction”, so he paid special attention to that.
As long as Masahiro Hosoda didn’t stray from the original drawings, it was basically okay. With “Toriyama-sensei’s” art, he can sort of understand their facial expressions just by looking, so he drew them imagining out from that starting point, and then got it checked.
In Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods Official Movie Guide, Yūsuke Watanabe mentioned he basically took “Toriyama-sensei’s” content-packed plot and reworked it into script format.
In GetNavi, May 2013 Issue (23 March 2013), It was revealed that Yūsuke Watanabe (Scriptwriter) came up with the name of the enemy “Beerus, God of Destruction”. He tweaked the word “virus” to give him the name “Beerus” and then it was officially set.
When Yūsuke Watanabe showed “Akira Toriyama” the plot he’d come up with, he received memos detailing new [story] developments from Sensei. Later he'd write a new script based on that and then have Toriyama look at it again. That was the kind of interaction they had. Yūsuke Watanabe also received requests from “Toriyama” to the effect of, “make it something with fun and a feeling of excitement” and “make it a tale where you can feel a sense of camaraderie”. Anyway, finally I'd like to say this movie is certainly canon and Akira Toriyama has deep involvements with it’s production, which shouldn’t be surprising at this point.
Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F'[]
Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' (ドラゴンボールZ 復活の「Fエフ」) is a Japanese animated film produced by Toei Animation basing on “Akira Toriyama's” original work, released on April 18, 2015. It is a direct sequel to Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods movie and the first Japanese film to be screened in IMAX 3D and receive screenings at 4DX theaters.
In 21 November 2014, V-Jump officially released a “DB Scoop” for the upcoming Dragon Ball Z movie which features a new visual for the film and reveals it’s official title and release date.
During then, Akira Toriyama’s original designs for “Sorbet” and “Tagoma” were included in the magazine, along with a brief description.
Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' movie's teaser states, “Original concept, Scripts and Character designs” are done by Akira Toriyama.
Akira Toriyama is credited as “Original Creator” in Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection “F” trailer.
Akira Toriyama is credited for Original story, Screenplay and Character designs in Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' movie.
According to the official timeline chart given by Dragon Ball SSSS website, Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' movie takes place in Age 778, after sometime “Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods”. Although it’s still controversial among the fandom as many believe it occurs in Age 779, which could very as well be due to few numbers of evidences but regardless none of that really matters in this case so I'll leave it upto y'all to decide.
In V-Jump, September 2014 Issue (19 July 2014), Akira Toriyama made a comment regarding this movie whither it’s said, Just like the previous movie, He thought up the new story for the next Dragon Ball theatrical film as though it were a continuation of the manga when it was in serialization. The upcoming movie will of course be a continuation of the previous film Battle of Gods, but he has deliberately increased the amount of action scenes by a good deal. He also mentions about drawing the design illustrations for the new character[s] and such.
In V-Jump January 2015 Issue (21 November 2014), Akira Toriyama revealed in this movie Freeza will be revived but this idea came to his mind in a flash after he listened to a song called “F” by Maximum the Hormone. Afterwards, he was able to write up a story where Freeza is revived.
During V-Jump, May 2015 (20 March 2015), Akira Toriyama mentioned this time he had decided to increase the amount of action scenes and thus more and more story ideas came easily. All he had left was [to decide] how to upgrade the rejuvenated Freeza. Overall through the combination of different elements together, the story was completed smoothly, which is rare for “Toriyama”.
In Resurrection “F” Anime Comic (04 December 2015), Akira Toriyama mentioned about writing the story for Battle of Gods and Resurrection “F” but didn’t make it into a manga, thus there’s no collected edition.
In Flying Postman Press April 2015 issue (20 March 2015), Norihiro Hayashida (Producer) mentioned after the last movie (Battle of Gods) premiered, the momentum was high to go make another movie without leaving too big of a gap between the two but it was decided to have Toriyama-sensei write the script next and he agreed as well.
Norihiro Hayashida also stated when Toriyama-sensei heard the song “F” by Maximum the Hormone he went “of course, Freeza!” and hit on the idea of writing a story where the evil emperor Freeza was resurrected. “Norihiro” says while reading through the script that Akira Toriyama wrote this time, he realized once more how skilled Toriyama-sensei is at phrasing lines. Seeing how incredible Toriyama-sensei is, Norihiro thinks the entire production staff was united in their desire to turn his ideas into a reality.
In Dragon Ball: Volume “F”, Akira Toriyama mentioned instead of calling it a “screenplay”, it’d probably be more accurate to say it’s just a memo. This is something “Toriyama” idly dashed off for the staff, just to help explain the flow of the story and the dialogue. He also says the original author can freely mess around the story but a scriptwriter would get tied up trying not to screw with the original story, so in that respect they’d probably have a harder time messing around with things.
Furthermore Toriyama said once he had decided on bringing Freeza back, it was relatively easy writing the story since his character was already developed.
In case for “Battle of Gods” movie, there wasn’t much action and so in order to increase more fan service, Toriyama threw in a lot more action scenes in Resurrection “F”.
Finally, Akira Toriyama said in case for manga, you personally draw everything from the story to the pictures, so there’s nothing there beyond what you thought up but with an anime, you have to leave part of it up to others, so it’s possible for things to be created beyond what you had ever imagined. Anyway, Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' is canon and “Akira Toriyama” has deep involvements with it’s production, given the evidences so far.
Dragon Ball Super: Broly[]
Dragon Ball Super: Broly (ドラゴンボール超スーパー ブロリー) is a Japanese animated film produced by Toei Animation basing on “Akira Toryama's” original story, released on December 14, 2018. It is first to carry the “Dragon Ball Super” branding, and following it's success light novel of the movie was also released.
Dragon Ball Super: Broly movie's teaser states, “Original story, Screenplay and Character design” are done by Akira Toriyama.
Dragon Ball Super: Broly movie's trailer also states Original story, Screenplay and Character design are done by Akira Toriyama.
Akira Toriyama is credited for Original story, Screenplay and Character design in “Dragon Ball Super: Broly” movie.
In December 2017, Toei Animation’s official “Dragon Ball Super” website has posted a announcement regarding the new film whither it stated, a new “Dragon Ball” movie is in development which would be the 20th film in the series. Just like the last movie, original author Akira Toriyama is in charge of the original work, script, and character designs, for the upcoming movie. Furthermore, he has already done lots of image illustrations for this movie which wasn't the case for previous films. The website also noted that “Script and Character design” are done by original author Akira Toriyama.
Dragon Ball Super: Broly movie's official website posted a new comment from original author Akira Toriyama whither it’s said, the upcoming Dragon Ball Super movie will be the next story in the series currently airing on TV. It will be an episode after catching their breath from the climax of the “Tournament of Power” with the universe’s existence on the line, with content that will give a little better understanding about Freeza and the Saiyans, which Toriyama hadn’t properly depicted up till now and leading to a mighty foe saved for the occasion. As with Battle of Gods and Resurrection “F” movie, he had written the story and drawn lots of design himself, that's because while Toriyama is not doing a serial he have plenty of free time to think about the animated version, unlike before.
Akira Toriyama provided another comment regarding this movie where he mentions Broly is an credibly strong Saiyan who only appeared in the old anime movies and he apparently at least drew the designs for him but “Toriyama” had practically no involvement with the anime at that time, so he had totally forgotten about the story content. Since Broly is still quite popular they decided to bring him for this movie, thus Toriyama went ahead and watched the movies from back then and he felt this could be really interesting once he rearrange some things. Akira Toriyama got right to work trying his hand at a story that incorporates him into the Dragon Ball Super series. While keeping in mind Broly’s classic image so as not to disappoint his fans, Akira Toriyama updated him and added a new side to his character. It also involves the Frieza Force and the history of the Saiyans, which end up having a major connection to everything.
In Dragon Ball Official Site (29 April 2018), Akio Iyoku mentioned Dragon Ball is the work of “Toriyama-sensei”, so they need to continue having him involved up ahead. No matter how much they say, “We want to make a movie”, if Toriyama-sensei says “No” it ends there. Although hypothetically speaking, that’s not to say that Toriyama-sensei doesn’t want to do it.
Akio Iyoku stated as with the previous movie Resurrection ‘F’, they had “Toriyama-sensei” write the scenario for the new movie. In the Dragon Ball Super television series, Toriyama-sensei plotted the main story and he feel that it’s important to maintain the arrangement of creating it alongside Toriyama-sensei from here on out.
Akio Iyoku also said he kept close contact with Toriyama, mainly through e-mail and meeting directly once every two months or so, as he made it for them. First, they presented “Toriyama-sensei” with several different story suggestions for the new movie. Akio believe there were also suggestions that weren’t in his strike zone at all, but using what they threw his way as a reference, they got him to come up with the story. Once it was set that they would be doing a story involving the Saiyans, it was quick.
Akio Iyoku mentioned the scenario they received from Toriyama-sensei at first were a bit short and so from there they added several plot points which then ended up being unexpectedly long. Now, they are at the point where “Toei Animation” is expertly pulling it all together.
Akio Iyoku believes it’s an absolute given that Toriyama-sensei has to be involved with Dragon Ball. One can create a story but there’s a way of tweaking the characters and a unique style of delivery that’s impossible for anyone but “Toriyama-sensei” himself.
Akio Iyoku mentioned “Toriyama” really drew a lot for them this time. Akio doesn’t think he’s ever drawn this much for a movie before. In terms of the number of sheets, it’s at least 20. On one sheet, there would be two or three characters, as well as mechanical designs and since one can’t really imagine what sort of place a new setting is going to be like, Toriyama also drew things like the planet that it’s set on.
Akio Iyoku stated they've completely renewed the character designs from the television series. It would be fine to keep the style of art up till now as-is, but with the timing of the television series ending and a new Dragon Ball Super movie coming out, “Toei staff” thought that fans might accept it if they tried out all sorts of new things now.
Akio alsmentioned Toriyama-sensei checked the balance of the body very carefully, such as whether the artist properly understood the posture of the body within the dōgi. Through such checks, Toriyama-sensei himself ultimately decided on Naohiro Shintani-san.
In Dragon Ball Official Site (05 August 2018), Tatsuya Nagamine said with the exception of action scenes, they are adapting Toriyama's screenplay pretty much as-is. However, though they want to be as faithful to it as possible, unfortunately the allotted run time is short. When they first made storyboards for the entire screenplay, a movie that was supposed to only be 90 minutes turned out to be double that length. Trying to forcefully condense that much content together would make it feel like a clip show, which would be boring, so “Tatsuya” consulted with the producers and everyone else involved to whittle down the scenes and make it the proper length. Toei staff are adamant about delivering as much of “Toriyama’s” script to viewers as possible, so they were able to extend the run time a little bit.
In Dragon Ball Official Site (19 August 2018), Naohiro Shintani stated, there were times when he received corrections he'd made on clean copies of the designs. Akira Toriyama mainly redrew the female characters. He’d often correct things like the body lines or faces. Since Dragon Ball doesn’t have many female characters Naohiro was under the impression Toriyama wasn’t very particular about them, so this came as a surprise.
During V-Jump, January 2019 (21 November 2018), Nagamine (Director) stated this story was definitely made by “Toriyama-sensei”, Toei staff tried their best to keep all the dialogue the same. They are standing on Toriyama’s shoulders but also used whole bag of tricks when it came to the battles. In other words, they put all their effort into drawing battle scenes that would lend weight to Toriyama-sensei‘s dialogue.
Nagamine mentioned things were easy because “Toriyama-sensei‘s” script constantly escalates, so with each escalation he could throw in a transformation to pump up the battle. Beyond that, he personally wanted to make Super Saiyan Blue look crazy strong and to clearly show the gap between it and Super Saiyan God. He also said with the final battle and such, the “animators” got a little carried away as they ignored his storyboards and just drew whatever they felt like.
In Sponichi “Dragon Ball Super: Broly” Shinbun (12 December 2018), Tatsuya Nagamine (Director) stated “Toriyama-sensei‘s” original story is wonderful, so with the intent of putting it into the world of animation without dropping a single panel, he accomplished his personal mission not to change any of the dialogue or add anything superfluous. Furthermore, the Broli from back then didn’t have his personality depicted in much detail, but this time Toriyama-sensei fleshed out the finer points of his inner workings, so he had the privilege of handling it very carefully.
In “Dragon Ball Super: Broly” Theatrical Program (Super Edition) (14 December 2018), Naohiro Shintani mentioned for Cheelye and Lemo, he basically drew them to be as faithful to “Toriyama’s” designs as possible. Personally, he had a very strong image of Broly based on the previous movies, so Naohiro created his own design for him at Full Power from scratch. Although Toriyama had stated that he didn’t want him to be overly macho, so Naohiro aimed to make him look as huge as possible, yet still within the confines of not going overboard with it.
Naohiro also said, he made a conscious effort to keep the characters’ bodies slim since that's what “Toriyama” wanted. In case for Bardock, he stayed close to Toriyama’s new style. As for young Saiyan childrens, (ex: Goku, Raditz, Vegeta) he tried to stick close to the manga “Jaco the Galactic Patrolman”.
Naohiro mentioned Toriyama made corrections directly on top of his drawings digitally, so he could redraw them straight from that. Though he didn’t change much about Broly, Lemo was heavily corrected. Naohiro believe he also made corrections to Cheelye’s profile. “Toriyama's” corrections were particularly exacting for female characters like Bulma. Anyway, Dragon Ball Super: Broly is certainly a sequel to “Dragon Ball Super” anime since Akira Toriyama himself confirmed it, and just like the previous films said movie is canon and Toriyama has deep involvements with it’s production, given the evidences so far.
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero[]
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero (ドラゴンボール超スーパー スーパーヒーロー) is a Japanese animated film produced by Toei Animation basing on “Akira Toriyama's” original work, released on June 11th, 2022. It has been followed by two novelizations of the film, on June 14th: a light novel version under the jBOOKS line and a separate version under Shueisha’s Mirai Bunko line.
Dragon Ball Official website announced, a new Dragon Ball Super movie is planned for 2022.
Dragon Ball Official Website also posted a comment which came from Akira Toriyama himself, whither it’s said just like the previous movie (Dragon Ball Super: Broly), he is heavily leading the story and dialogue for another amazing film. He can't reveal much about the plot at this point but they'll be charting through some unexplored territory in terms of the visual aesthetics.
During “Jump Festa” which occurred on 18th December 2021, Akira Toriyama provided a new comment whither it’s said this time around he also did the story, dialogue and some of the character designs.
In a brief Q&A, Toriyama addressed the interviewer by saying he'd try giving birth to a new superhero, by putting Gohan & Piccolo in the spotlight through their intense battle with the “Gamma” androids.
In a recent Q&A, Akira Toriyama revealed he totally forgot that the film’s main title is Dragon Ball Super, so there ended up being two “supers”. Subsequently, He mentioned about designing the enemy base & added that the major portions of the main characters were rechecked as well edited countless times. Furthermore, “Toriyama” stated the anime series from 2013 onward had a casual continuation of his original manga & fans who'd watch Dragon Ball for first-time might have trouble figuring out the various character relationships unless they learn about the series a bit beforehand.
Akira Toriyama is credited for original story, screenplay and character designs in Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero movie's trailer.
Akira Toriyama is credited for original story, screenplay and character designs in the promotional scan of V-Jump too.
It was also confirmed that this movie is sequel to Dragon Ball Super: Broly.
In addition, Narrator stated that the movie’s stage is set on Earth after the fierce battle with Broly.
Since “Pan” is 3 years old in Super Hero film, it’s inferable that the movie is taking place prior to a year & probably sometime before the 28th Tenkaichi Budokai, so approximately at the middle or end of Age 782.
Furthermore, Akira Toriyama’s comment for DBS: Super Hero animanga clarifies that the movie is set “right before” the original manga’s final chapter (i.e the end of Z).
In a interview of V-Jump, Akio Iyoku (executive producer) explained that between Super Hero film & DBS manga, they currently have two lines of Dragon Ball Super running. Furthermore Iyoku says, this film is written purely as a sequel to “Broly” & keep in mind DBS: Broly is canon to DBS anime, while the manga continuously progresses in it’s own way so basically they have events running in parallel or in other words “Galactic Patrol Prisoner arc” & “Granolah arc” from DBS manga has no relation with the film because they are separated continuity which was already addressed way before.
Subsequently, Akio mentions about the timeline placement that they don’t try to build things too strictly rather like to leave margins in the story to allow for a greater degree of freedom. For example, “Broly” himself was an anime-original (Toei) aka non canon character who was bought into the world of main series by Toriyama’s hand.
In October 7th 2021, at “New York Comic Con" new updates on the upcoming movie were revealed. During then, Mr. Iyoku said “Dragon Ball Super” is a story which takes place within the 10 years after the battle with Majin Buu. Since the new movie's story is written by Akira Toriyama, naturally it is connected to Dragon Ball.
Mr. Iyoku also revealed the new movie takes place after “Dragon Ball Super: Broly” movie but before the 28th Tenkaichi Budokai.
Akira Toriyama's design for new characters called Gamma 1 & Gamma 2 in the upcoming “Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero” movie.
During the Comic-Con@Home 2021 panel discussion, Akio Iyoku (Executive Producer) mentioned “Akira Toriyama” has been working with them since the story development stage and was highly involved in the illustration process for the movie's characters.
Norihiro Hayashida (Producer) revealed the upcoming film has a lot more slice-of-life scenes that really put a spotlight on the rich world that “Akira Toriyama” has created. He also said it's a perfect fusion of classic Dragon Ball and new aspects to the series. Furthermore “Norihiro” mentioned presenting Toriyama's incredible stories and designs in the coolest way possible has always been their mission.
During the events of Dragon Ball Battle Hour 2022, it was revealed by Akio Iyoku they decided the battle to take place on Earth as well explained how come they ended up settling on the “Red Ribbon Army”.
Furthermore Iyoku revealed “Gohan vs Gamma 1” fight scene didn’t feature rain in Toriyama's original script rather it was added by him but it should be noted foresaid information was previously mentioned in a relevant article which however attributed Tetsuro Kodama for adding such idea.
Durning V-Jump, June 2022 (21 April 2022) Kodama in response to a question, reveals initially he received the script from Toriyama and a picture of Carmine along with it, which contains numerous character & other information within it.
Akira Toriyama provided a new comment, whither he mentioned prior to this the stories have taken place out in space or other large-scale settings like that, so this time he wanted to bring things back to their roots, & set the story in only a small area of Earth. Overall, He has nothing but gratitude towards the staff & truly satisfied with the film.
Recently, Toriyama revealed the name of Gohan’s new transformation, which is called “Son Gohan Beast” & also the fact he designed it personally.
Toriyama also mentioned if Cell Max had been completed according to the plan, he would've been a superhuman who even Broly couldn’t defeat.
Furthermore, Toriyama also said since Piccolo doesn’t have any hair to stick straight up, he tried making him really buff instead. Anyway, personally he's just happy since Piccolo finally obtained battle power on par with Goku & co.
Non Canon Movies[]
Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies[]
Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies (ドラゴンボール ・ 神龍の伝説) also known as Dragon Ball: The Legend of Shenron is the first animated Dragon Ball film, produced by Toei Animation basing on Akira Toriyama's “Dragon Ball” manga, originally premiered on December 20, 1986.
Dragon Ball: Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle[]
Dragon Ball: Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle (ドラゴンボール 魔ま神じん城じょうのねむり姫ひめ) also known as Dragon Ball: Sleeping Beauty in Devil's Castle is the second animated Dragon Ball film, produced by Toei Animation basing on Akira Toriyama's “Dragon Ball” manga, originally premiered on July 18, 1987.
Dragon Ball: Mystical Adventure[]
Dragon Ball: Mystical Adventure (ドラゴンボール 魔ま訶か不ふ思し議ぎ大だい冒ぼう険けん) also known as Dragon Ball: A Mystical Great Adventure is the third animated Dragon Ball film, produced by Toei Animation basing on Akira Toriyama's “Dragon Ball” manga, originally premiered on July 9, 1988.
Dragon Ball: The Path to Power[]
Dragon Ball: The Path to Power (ドラゴンボール 最さい強きょうへの道みち) also known as Dragon Ball: The Way to the Strongest is the fourth animated Dragon Ball film, produced by Toei Animation basing on Akira Toriyama's “Dragon Ball” manga, originally released in March 4, 1996.
Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone[]
Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone (ドラゴンボールＺゼット) also known as Dragon Ball Z: The Movie and later referred to as Dragon Ball Z: Return My Gohan!! is the first animated Dragon Ball Z film, produced by Toei Animation basing on Akira Toriyama's “Dragon Ball” manga, originally released on July 15, 1989.
Dragon Ball Z: The World's Strongest[]
Dragon Ball Z: The World's Strongest (ドラゴンボールＺゼット この世よで一いち番ばん強つよいヤツ) also known as Dragon Ball Z: The Strongest Guy in the World is the second animated Dragon Ball Z film, produced by Toei Animation basing on Akira Toriyama's “Dragon Ball” manga, originally released on March 10, 1990.
Dragon Ball Z: The Tree Of Might[]
Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might (ドラゴンボールＺゼット 地ち球きゅうまるごと超ちょう決けっ戦せん) also known as Dragon Ball Z: A Super Decisive Battle for Earth is the third animated Dragon Ball Z film, produced by Toei Animation basing on Akira Toriyama's “Dragon Ball” manga, originally released on July 7, 1990.
Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug[]
Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug (ドラゴンボールＺゼット 超スーパーサイヤ人じんだ孫そん悟ご空くう) also known as Dragon Ball Z: Super Saiyan Son Goku is the fourth animated Dragon Ball Z film, produced by Toei Animation basing on Akira Toriyama's “Dragon Ball” manga, originally released on March 9, 1991.
Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge[]
Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge (ドラゴンボールＺゼット とびっきりの最さい強きょう対たい最さい強きょう) also known as Dragon Ball Z: The Incredible Strongest vs Strongest is the fifth animated Dragon Ball Z film, produced by Toei Animation basing on Akira Toriyama's “Dragon Ball” manga, originally released on July 20, 1991.
Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Cooler[]
Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Cooler (ドラゴンボールＺゼット 激げき突とつ！！１００億おくパワーの戦せん士したち) also known as Dragon Ball Z: Clash!! 10,000,000,000 Powerful Warriors is the sixth animated Dragon Ball Z film, produced by Toei Animation basing on Akira Toriyama's “Dragon Ball” manga, originally released on March 7, 1992.
Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13![]
Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13! (ドラゴンボールＺゼット極きょく限げんバトル！！三さん大だい超スーパーサイヤ人じん) also known as Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Battle!! The Three Great Super Saiyans is the the seventh animated Dragon Ball Z film, produced by Toei Animation basing on Akira Toriyama's “Dragon Ball” manga, originally released on July 11, 1992.
Dragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan[]
Dragon Ball Z: Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan (ドラゴンボールＺゼット 燃もえつきろ！！ 熱ねっ戦せん・烈れっ戦せん・超ちょう激げき戦せん) also known as Dragon Ball Z: Burn Up!! A Red-Hot, Raging, Super-Fierce Fight is the eighth animated Dragon Ball Z film, produced by Toei Animation basing on Akira Toriyama's “Dragon Ball” manga, originally released on March 6, 1993.
Dragon Ball Z: Bojack Unbound[]
Dragon Ball Z: Bojack Unbound (ドラゴンボールＺゼット 銀ぎん河がギリギリ！！ぶっちぎりの凄すごい奴やつ) also known as Dragon Ball Z: The Galaxy at the Brink!! The Super Incredible Guy is the ninth animated Dragon Ball Z film, produced by Toei Animation basing on Akira Toriyama's “Dragon Ball” manga, originally released on July 10, 1993.
Dragon Ball Z: Broly – Second Coming[]
Dragon Ball Z: Broly - Second Coming (ドラゴンボールＺゼット 危ふ険たなふたり！超スーパー戦せん士しはねむれない) also known as Dragon Ball Z: The Dangerous Duo! Super-Warriors Can’t Rest is the tenth animated Dragon Ball Z film, produced by Toei Animation basing on Akira Toriyama's “Dragon Ball” manga, originally released on March 12, 1994.
Dragon Ball Z: Bio-Broly[]
Dragon Ball Z: Bio-Broly (ドラゴンボールＺゼット 超スーパー戦せん士し撃げき破は！！勝かつのはオレだ) also known as Dragon Ball Z: Super-Warrior Defeat!! I’m the One Who’ll Win is the eleventh animated Dragon Ball Z film, produced by Toei Animation basing on Akira Toriyama's “Dragon Ball” manga, originally released on July 9, 1994.
Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn[]
Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn (ドラゴンボールＺゼット 復ふっ活かつのフュージョン！！悟ご空くうとベジータ) also known as Dragon Ball Z: The Rebirth of Fusion!! Goku and Vegeta is the twelfth animated Dragon Ball Z film, produced by Toei Animation basing on Akira Toriyama's “Dragon Ball” manga, originally released on March 4, 1995.
Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon[]
Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon (ドラゴンボールＺゼット 龍りゅう拳けん爆ばく発はつ！！悟ご空くうがやらねば誰だれがやる) also known as Dragon Ball Z: Dragon Fist Explosion!! If Goku Won’t Do it, Who Will? is the thirteenth animated Dragon Ball Z film, produced by Toei Animation basing on Akira Toriyama's “Dragon Ball” manga, originally released on July 15, 1995.
Note-1: Akira Toriyama is credited as the original author in all of these movie which is expected, after all since he is the original creator of “Dragon Ball” so it'd be really disrespectful not to include his name.
Note-2: In case you wanna know about the timeframe of these movie then I suggest you should read this page for further information but keep in mind movies take place in a entirely different dimension from manga and most of them doesn’t even fit into the anime timeline due to contradictions and inconsistencies.
Note-3: When in comes to movies except Dragon Ball: The Path to Power, all of them are actually sequel to each others especially in case for Dragon Ball Z movies it’s quite evident judging from the reappearance of same villains and MC being able to recognize them, in addition visual scenes also depicts their connections between them, not to mention in “Fusion Reborn” when Janemba caused the distortion we literally get to see at least one of the villain from all the previous movies till that point, which generally wouldn’t have been possible if these events weren’t taking place in the same timeline. Anyway these evidences are generally well-known among the fandom, so I don’t feel like going in details since it’s not really worth it but there are some other interesting evidences too which will be revealed in the following section.
Non Canon TV Specials, Ovas[]
Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock[]
Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock (ドラゴンボール エピソード オブ バーダック) is a Japanese OVA and an anime adaptation of the manga of the same name, produced by Toei Animation which originally premiered on December 17, 2011. It is a what-if story, that features a scenario taking place after the events of the TV special Dragon Ball Z: Bardock – The Father of Goku.
It does seems odd but the timeline chart given by Dragon Ball SSSS website states this OVA takes place in Age 737 and “Bardock” was thrown into the world of the past by the explosion of Planet Vegeta. Anyway, you could consider this as a part of Toei's anime history but that's upto you.
Dragon Ball Z: Bardock – The Father of Goku[]
Dragon Ball Z: Bardock – The Father of Goku (ドラゴンボールZ たったひとりの最終決戦〜フリーザに挑んだZ戦士 孫悟空の父〜) also known as A Final, Solitary Battle: The Father of Z-Warrior Kakarrot, Who Challenged Freeza is the first Dragon Ball Z TV special produced by Toei Animation basing on Akira Toriyama's “Dragon Ball” manga, originally premiered on October 17, 1990.
According to Diazenshuu, “Dragon Ball Z: Bardock – The Father of Goku” became a completely original TV anime story which depicts the background of Goku's history and his father. Anyway as I've previously mentioned this movie is actually prequel to Dragon Ball anime and it fits perfectly within Toei's anime story or timeline without having any contradictions or inconsistency.
Dragon Ball Z: The History of Trunks[]
Dragon Ball Z: The History of Trunks (ドラゴンボールZ 絶望への反抗!!残された超戦士・悟飯とトランクス) also known as Defiance in the Face of Despair!! The Remaining Super-Warriors: Gohan and Trunks is the second Dragon Ball Z TV special produced by Toei Animation basing on a brief chapter in the Dragon Ball manga, called "Trunks The History - The Lone Warrior", originally premiered on February 24, 1993.
Diazenshuu guide mentions “Dragon Ball Z: The History of Trunks” is an anime adaptation of a spin-off from the original manga, which further expands the contents of the story and in this way it’s the same as A Final, Solitary Battle. Anyway, this movie actually takes place in the Future Timeline which depicts various story there and is also considered as part of Toei's anime story or timeline given the evidences so far.
Dragon Ball Z: Summer Vacation Special[]
Dragon Ball Z: Summer Vacation Special (ドラゴンボールＺ 極限バトル！！三大超スーパーサイヤ人 スペシャル) is a Japanese TV special produced by Toei Animation, originally premiered on July-August, 1992. It features a scenario taking place after the events of Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13! and depicts the events of all previous films.
During this special, Goku & Gohan discusses about the previous films. Initially, Goku mentions about the first Dragon Ball movie and remembers Gurumes a villain from that movie. Afterwards, He mentions about the second Dragon Ball movie and remembers that “Kame-Sennin” told them of a sleeping princess who's been asleep for thousands of years. Subsequently, Goku mentions about the third Dragon Ball movie and remembers that's where he defeated Tao Pai Pai, furthermore “Chaozu” and “Tenshinhan” were there too. Anyway, these evidence precisely proves my point which I mentioned before about the movies being sequel to each others, since “Goku” was able to recognize the villains, as well explain the stories briefly, which wouldn’t have been possible if he didn’t experience these events, in other words all of these movie are taking place in the same timeline.
Furthermore, “Goku” mentions about the first Dragon Ball Z film and remembers Garlic Jr. who kidnapped his son but thanks to Gohan everyone was saved. Subsequently, He mentions about the second Dragon Ball Z film (which even Gohan remembers) and remembers Dr. Uiro who wanted to take over his body but ultimately he was able to defeat him with the “Genki Dama”. Subsequently, Goku mentions about the third Dragon Ball Z film and remembers Turles who obtained great power through eating fruit from the “Shinseiju Tree” but ultimately he was able to defeat him with the “Super Genki Dama”. Afterwards he mentions about the fourth Dragon Ball Z film and remembers Slug who became a “Super Namekian” after regaining his youth, Gohan as well remembers and mentions it’s a miracle that his whistling is a Namekian weakness, in the meantime Goku was able to charge a “Genki Dama” and defeat Slug. Subsequently, He mentions about the fifth Dragon Ball Z film and remembers Cooler a villain from that movie who's known as Frieza's brother. Afterwards, “Goku” mentions about the sixth Dragon Ball Z film and remembers Metal Cooler, also “Big Gete Star” which took energy from other planets to power and strengthen itself. Finally, he mentions about the seventh Dragon Ball Z film (which is yet to be released in theaters) and reveals Doctor Gero's computer created Artificial Humans 13, 14 & 15, so in order to defeat them Goku & Co will need to combine their strength. Simply put, all of the movies are actually sequel to each others with the exception of Dragon Ball: The Path to Power (which is just individual), the evidences posted above literally proves my point since it depicts all the previous films stories or events, more importantly it’s coming from Goku himself (who experienced those events) so definitely most reliable and so on the movies actually takes place in the same timeline.
Dragon Ball Z Year-End TV Special[]
Looking Back at it All: The Dragon Ball Z Year-End Show! (全部見せます 年忘れドラゴンボールZ!) is a Japanese TV special produced by Toei Animation, originally premiered on December 31, 1993. It’s a scenario taking place before the adult division of the 25th Tenkaichi Budokai, additionally it’s a just recap of the previous arcs which includes even the fillers thus considered as part of Toei's anime timeline.
Dragon Ball Z Side Story: Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans[]
Dragon Ball Z Side Story: Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans (ドラゴンボールZ外伝 サイヤ人絶滅計画) is a Japanese OVA and an two-part anime adaptation, released by “Bandai Namco” and distributed by Toei Animation on August 6, 1993. It is released as “Official Visual Guides” to the Famicom game of the same name.
Dragon Ball: Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans[]
Dragon Ball: Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans (ドラゴンボール 超スーパーサイヤ人絶滅計画) is a Japanese OVA and an updated or remade version of “Dragon Ball Z Side Story: Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans”, distributed by Toei Animation on November 11, 2010.
In this OVA, villains from the movies such as: Turles, Slug and Cooler makes their appearance, not to mention Goku & Co was able to recognize them as well so the only logical explanation is they definitely experienced these events.
Furthermore, “Goku” mentions about Broly in Dragon Ball: Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans and since Gohan is still teen, it's quite evident this OVA actually takes place after the events of Dragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan or in other words sequel to it.
Dragon Ball Z: Gather Together! Goku's World[]
Dragon Ball Z: Gather Together! Goku's World (ドラゴンボールZ あつまれ！悟空ワールド) is a Japanese OVA released for the Terebikko by “Bandai Namco” and distributed through Toei Animation in 1992.
Dragon Ball GT: A Hero's Legacy[]
Dragon Ball GT: A Hero's Legacy (悟ご空くう外がい伝でん！ 勇ゆう気きの証あかしは四スー星シン球チュウ) also known as Goku’s Side Story! The Proof of his Courage is the Four-Star Ball is the first and only Dragon Ball GT TV special produced by Toei Animation basing on Akira Toriyama's “Dragon Ball” manga, originally released on March 26, 1997. It is set 100 years after the events of the Shadow Dragon Saga, except the story in this special are actually prelude to events that take place at the very end of the last episode of Dragon Ball GT, "Until We Meet Again".
Dream 9 Crossover Special[]
Dream 9 Toriko & One Piece & Dragon Ball Z Super Collaboration Special (ドリーム9 トリコ&ワンピース&ドラゴンボールZ 超コラボスペシャル!!) is a Japanese crossover TV special distributed by Toei Animation, originally premiered on April 7, 2013. This special is split into two parts and features characters from Dragon Ball Z, One Piece and Toriko.
Note-1: Akira Toriyama is credited as the original author in most of these TV Specials and Ovas but as I've previously mentioned it’s nothing surprising and doesn’t necessarily prove he's involved with the story either. Toriyama is credited because he essentially created “Dragon Ball”, which Toei Animation based these stories on so out of respect they usually mention his name, not that the former has anything to do with these stories.
Note-2: I didn’t include Dragon Ball public service videos & few crossover specials, since they aren't necessarily all that important.
Live-Action Film[]
Dragonball: Evolution[]
Dragonball Evolution is the first official American live-action film, produced by 20th Century Fox in 2009. It is based on the Japanese “Dragon Ball” manga, which was directed by James Wong, produced by Stephen Chow, and written by Ben Ramsey.
Dragon Ball Evolution contained a message from Akira Toriyama whither he said, maybe it’s correct for both him and all the fans to appreciate this as a “new Dragon Ball” in a separate dimension.
In Battle of Gods Theatrical Program, Akira Toriyama mentioned “Battle of Gods” movie was greatly different from a certain country’s live-action movie, which really was no good.
In Asahi Shimbun Digital, Akira Toriyama revealed, at the time of the Hollywood live-action Dragon Ball movie, the script had too little of a grasp on the world and its characteristics and on top of that, it had a conventional content that he couldn’t find interesting, so “Toriyama” cautioned them and suggested changes, but in spite of that, they seemed to have a strange confidence and didn’t really listen to him. What came out in the end was a movie he couldn’t really call a Dragon Ball that lived up to his expectations. By the way, it’s evident “Akira Toriyama” is quite disappointed with this live-action film, which shouldn’t really surprising anyway given it’s poor reputation.
Interviews on Non Canon Movies[]
In Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 6: Movies & TV Specials, Akira Toriyama mentioned he has never once gone to the theater to see Dragon Ball (or Dr. Slump either), because it’d definitely be embarrassing to watch an anime of his own original story together with everyone else but he ended up watching them secretly at home on video.
In Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 6: Movies & TV Specials, Akira Toriyama stated:
I take the movies as “stories in a different dimension from the main story of the comic”. I’m entirely just an audience member for them.
Akira Toriyama revealed he checks the plot and script that gets sent to me from “Toei Animation”. He also does some character designs and touch-ups, as well as altering the names and such.
Akira Toriyama designed Bojack and Broli, as well Tapion and Minoshia.
Furthermore Toriyama mentioned “Toei” shows him the project draft for each movie and he design characters appropriate to the story.
Toriyama also mentioned of the characters designed by “Toei Animation”, He thought post-transformation Janenba was “cool” since it's movements in the battle scenes are nice and lively.
Interviewer asked Toriyama, if he happen to have any information about an upcoming movie (Dragon Ball: The Path to Power). In response, Toriyama said he heard that the film being released next spring will be “a consolidated-yet-faithful retelling of volumes 1 through 8 of the original comic”.
In Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 6: Movies & TV Specials, It was revealed the latest theatrical anime (Dragon Ball: The Path to Ultimate Strength) is a rearrangement of volumes one through eight of the original work, making ample use of new animation techniques. On staff, Shigeyasu “Yamauchi” has been tapped to direct, “Tadayoshi Yamamuro” to supervise the animation, and Aya Matsui to write the scenario.
In Dragon Ball DVD Box: Dragon Box The Movies “Dragon Book” (14 April 2006), Akira Toriyama mentioned in most cases with the movies, the script writers used their marvelous techniques to write up an original story, based on his original work. The original work develops in such a way that makes it difficult to come up with side-stories, so he think they really did a good job. “Toriyama” also said during serialization he was very busy, so he couldn’t really help them out but every once in a while the producer would ask him to design an original enemy character for the movies, so that was the only time that he'd collaborate with them a little bit.
In Jump Gold Selection: Dragon Ball Z Anime Special II (06 June 1991), Interviewer asked regarding the movies, whether or not the initial ideas come from Akira Toriyama. In response, Toriyama said “No”, prior to that it comes from people which includes “Morishita-san” and “Koyama-san”. Subsequently, Takao Koyama mentioned they'd make a rough story that’s neither here nor there, and then have “Toriyama” take a look at it first, then on top of that, they have him contribute various ideas and designs for an enemy character who has the sort of power to take on Goku.
Morishita mentioned that scene where Gohan whistles in “Super Saiyan Son Goku” movie was “Toriyama's” idea.
Nishio mentioned since movies are long, they contemplate how to go about making waves within the overall flow of the story. Also they keep in mind to incorporate the flavor of the newest part of the original manga in serialization. Subsequently, Koyama said it’s the same with the scenario, the one who’s writing also has to burn through a lot of energy.
In Dragon Box: The Movies Dragonbook (14 April 2006), Interviewer asked “Takao Koyama” how did he create the original stories for the theatrical movies. In response, Koyama said when they made the episodes for the theatrical features, first the scriptwriter, the producer and Toriyama-sensei‘s supervising editor would get together and meet about story concepts, such as what to do about the main villain. Subsequently, “Takao Koyama” would put together a plot based on the content of what they'd talked about and send that plot to Toriyama-sensei and get his opinion on it, then start writing out the scenario, which was the typical flow. Once “Takao” got to writing, he’d be joined at the hip with the producer. With regards to the contents, there was the restriction that the movie “not progress into story settings further ahead than the TV anime at the time of its premiere”; for example, even if he'd decided to do fusion, Takao Koyama wouldn’t be allowed to do it ahead of the TV anime or the original manga. Except, at times such as when the state of production on the TV anime caught up to the original work, it would be extremely tough with nothing to use as hints, and he received ideas directly from Toriyama-sensei.
Interviewer also asked why is there no sub-title for the fourth theatrical feature, Dragon Ball Z. In response, Takao Koyama said there’s no reason in particular. It’s simply because it was the first theatrical work as Dragon Ball Z, and it wasn’t decided at the time of production whether there would be sequels. So with regards to this work, they (the production staff) didn’t even consider giving it a sub-title.
Interviewer asked why is Kuririn dressed as Piccolo in The Dangerous Duo. In response, Takao Koyama mentioned that was having fun breaking down one type of story pattern. He suppose we could call it fanservice, as well. Piccolo always shows up looking cool, standing on the top of a tower or something with his cape flapping in the breeze, so “Takao Koyama” wanted to let Kuririn do that once.
Interviewer asked why did Broly come back three times. In response, Takao Koyama said because he's the strongest and he also felt that there’s no way that kind of mightiest being would die in a single outing. Beside it’s always difficult coming up with an enemy for Goku, because he'd constantly have to escalate their strength, thus Broly ended up appearing three times.
Takao Koyama said the original comic and the TV show focused on battles, so episodes about the everyday life of Goku & co. aren’t depicted much, thus as an element special to the movies, he actively inserted scenes of “Goku & co.’s” everyday life, which couldn’t be seen on TV.
Takao Koyama revealed the idea for the Shinseiju, which sucks up all the nutrients from the land was born of a hint he got from the Asian Ginseng, which grows by sucking up nutrients from the field. It was a suggestion of the producer’s; it was really fortunate that he just happened to bring in the Asian Ginseng that he had received as a gift to a planning meeting.
Takao Koyama said rather than just Goten and Trunks, having a girl involved would make dialogue between the characters livelier, and the story would be easier to create. So, by adding Videl, who is like a sister to the pair, he got her to pull the story forward.
Interviewer asked why did Gohan and Goten become the leads along the way. In response, Takao Koyama said this was an overlap with the original comic. In the theatrical features, he had to write stories in this world, but at the time, Goku was dead. They couldn’t very well have Goku be dead in the original comic and on TV, but alive in the movies. So, if Goku was in the hereafter, “Takao” felt there was no choice but to have Gohan and Goten, who were in this world, do their best. Even so, there would probably be people who wanted to see Goku on the screen, thus in the spirit of fan service, he'd make just a single shot of a scene in the afterlife.
Takao Koyama mentioned in the last of the theatrical works, he purposely brought low Vegeta’s status as the “Prideful Prince of the Saiya”, because of that, he became a bit of a pitiful Vegeta.
In Chōzenshu 4: Dragon Ball Super Encyclopedia, Toriyama mentioned he did occasionally draw characters for movies, when a request came in but basically left things up to the [anime] staff and didn’t really check the scripts that carefully, either.
In TV Anime Guide: Dragon Ball Z Son Goku Densetsu, Interviewer asked Akira Toriyama whether or not he drew a lot of the movie villains. In response, Toriyama said he’d read the scenario, and get certain requests from the anime staff, “like this” then he’d design them.
Anyway, based on the evidences so far we can confirm Akira Toriyama didn’t have any involvements with the story or scripts for those movies which are considered as non canon. Although, he did give ideas rarely and draw characters design for movies at “Toei's” request. In case you wanna know about his contributions to those movies, then I suggest you should check this page for further information.
Interviews, etc on Non Canon TV Specials, Ovas[]
In Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock “Super Kanzenban”, Naho Ooishi stated he was just absurdly happy and fired-up to be able to draw a Bardock “what-if story”.
In 21 November, 2011 the latest issue of V-Jump announced an anime adaptation for “Episode of Bardock” spin-off manga.
According to this splash, “Episode of Bardock” is a sequel to the character’s original TV special from 1990.
Akira Toriyama's character design for “Chilled”.
In Special Project Super Q&A!!, Akira Toriyama said Bardock was certainly born from the anime however, he doesn't remember the particulars of how it went at that time. As for his design, he probably just gave some editorial supervision to what was suggested to him by [people from] the anime side of things. “Toriyama” don’t recall a lot about the exact contents of the anime but he does remember it being quite well done, thus even used that setting in the main story, as well.
In Dragon Ball Z Special Selection DVD, Akira Toriyama stated, he has almost no memory of drawing the character design for Goku’s father Bardock and co. According to him, probably somebody from the animation company came to him and said, “they'd like to do an original story based on these designs” and when “Toriyama” had them show him the sketches, he ended up redoing them. Since Toriyama had his hands full just with Dragon Ball’s manga serialization, he basically left the anime up to “Toei Animation”. Even calling it a “design” with regards to Bardock, all he really did was take Goku and give him the brutal edge of a warrior race and dress him in the battle armor provided by Freeza’s forces, so he can’t have gone to too much trouble. With his works, Toriyama prefer lighthearted fare, so he has a tendency to avoid serious material. Even if “Akira Toriyama” had written about the same past, it would have become lighter in tone by far.
In Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 6: Movies & TV Specials, Akira Toriyama said he really likes the story of Bardock, Goku’s father. It’s quite dramatic, and the kind of story “he absolutely wouldn’t draw” if it were him.
In TV Anime Guide: Dragon Ball Z Son Goku Densetsu, Interviewer asked Toriyama is it true that the detail about “there not being that many types of Saiyan faces” which was the reason for Bardock looking exactly like Goku, was something the anime staff got directly from you. In response, Toriyama agreed and said he has a whole lot of unwritten rules like that inside his head.
Subsequently, Nakatsuru said they also got other character designs and notes from “Toriyama” while they were making the TV series and the movies. For Bardock too, “Nakatsuru” designed him but after he drew the first rough sketch and got it checked, Toriyama sent him a memo about Bardock.
Nakatsuru also mentioned, he has seen the note that “Toriyama” wrote about “the connection between the Saiyans and [Planet Vegeta’s] original inhabitants, the Tsufruians”. In response, Toriyama said that’s probably one he wrote for the anime staff, then.
In 10 August, 2010 the American branch of Namco-Bandai issued a press release confirming the inclusion of the animated feature in the international release of Raging Blast 2, whither it’s stated, the exclusive new feature entitled “Dragon Ball: Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans” is a completely reconstructed, re-scripted and re-edited version of an original Japanese episode that has never been released in the U.S or Canada, offering something unique to fans of the series. Additionally, Japanese Bandai Namco issued their own formal press release and confirmed it too.
In Dragon Ball GT DVD Box: Dragon Box GT “Dragon Book” (15 June 2005), Kōzō Morishita (Producer) mentioned they had decided that last scene since the beginning. It was precisely because that scene had already been decided upon that they were able to have Goku make his impressive appearance at the end of the TV special “Goku’s Side Story! The Proof of his Courage is the Four-Star Ball”. Since the TV special was an original story, it required far more manpower, labor and money than simply airing two regular TV episodes in an hourlong timeslot.
In 06 February 2013, a new crossover between Dragon Ball, One Piece and Toriko was announced and following it Arisu Takagi (Toriko Producer) made a comment, whither it’s said, He is really excited about this nearly-unthinkable top-tier joint appearance! Toriko, Luffy, and Goku’s collaboration will of course be a highlight, but popular characters from each anime will appear one after another.
Anyway, before I conclude I must say Akira Toriyama does have very little involvements (ex: Characters designs, ideas) depending on the special which we're talking but that aside in most cases he doesn't any involvements at all.
Databooks[]
In this section, I'll briefly explain about the official databooks of Dragon Ball franchise but do keep in mind primary contents generally always takes priority over secondary sources such as those. Throughout the years, there have been many different Dragon Ball data books published, covering virtually every aspect of the series. I'll list them in the following but one thing I should mention there exists many flaws, contradictions and inconsistency within them so keep that in mind.
Dragon Ball: Adventure Special[]
Dragon Ball: Adventure Special (ドラゴンボール 冒険) is the first-ever Dragon Ball guide book published by Shueisha. It was released on 18 November 1987, as a “Special Edition” of Weekly Shōnen Jump. Akira Toriyama, Takashi Matsuyama (Toriyama’s assistant), Masanori Nishimura, and Keiko Kuwabata drew many original illustrations within the book.
Jump Gold Selection 4: Dragon Ball Z Anime Special[]
Jump Gold Selection 4: Dragon Ball Z Anime Special (ドラゴンボール・セット アニメ・スペシャル) is the second Dragon Ball guide book and first of the two “Jump Gold Selection special magazines” published by Shueisha, which is exclusive to the Dragon Ball Z anime. It was released on October 18, 1989 and also features a comic drawn by “Akira Toriyama” that details his involvement with the Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z animes, as well as the way in which he created the Dragon Ball manga.
Jump Gold Selection 5: Dragon Ball Z Anime Special Vol. 2[]
Jump Gold Selection 5: Dragon Ball Z Anime Special Vol. 2 (ドラゴンボール・セット アニメ・スペシャル ＩＩ) is the second of two “Jump Gold Selection special magazines” published by Shueisha, which is exclusive to the Dragon Ball Z anime. It was released on 20 June, 1991 and contains character model sheets, interviews with the anime staff, and various other information.
Jump Anime Library 1: Dragon Ball Z Movie 12[]
Jump Anime Library 1: Dragon Ball Z Movie 12 is the third Dragon Ball guide book published by Shueisha, which essentially pertains to that movie. It was released on 03 June, 1995.
Jump Anime Collection 3: Dragon Ball Z Movie 13[]
Jump Anime Collection 3: Dragon Ball Z Movie 13 is the fourth Dragon Ball guide book published by Shueisha, which essentially pertains to that movie. It was released on 21 October, 1995.
Daizenshuu[]
Daizenshuu (大全集) also known as Great Complete Collections is the fifth and still the largest group of Dragon Ball databooks published by Shueisha in 1995, shortly after the Dragon Ball manga ended its serialization. It is divided up into a main series of seven hardcover books, followed by three soft-cover supplemental volumes. They contain encyclopedic information about the Dragon Ball series (manga, anime, and movies), including character biographies, timelines, attacks, interviews and more. Each of the hardcover books contain an interview with Akira Toriyama and a bonus insert called the "Shenron Times" that contains interviews with various other important people involved with the series. The Daizenshuu guidebooks were made by an organizational group called “Caramel Mama”, who had worked with Akira Toriyama and Bird Studio before on Chrono Trigger.
Note-1: Although Akira Toriyama is listed as the author for all of the Daizenshuu, he actually had very little involvement with the production of their content, if any at all. Toriyama makes it quite clear in most of his Daizenshuu introductions that “they” (Shueisha) are responsible for putting these together, and he is often graciously humble in thanking them for all their hard work in sorting through his exhaustive series.
Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 1: Complete Illustrations[]
Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 1: Complete Illustrations was released on 20 June, 1995. It contains a multitude of illustrations and artwork drawn by “Akira Toriyama” himself. The entire book consists a total of 217 pages which cover illustrations, feature comics, contain interviews etc.
Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 2: Story Guide[]
Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 2: Story Guide was released on 04 August, 1995. It covers the manga story aspects of Dragon Ball and in turn the majority of this guide is dedicated to simply summarizing the events of each “tankōbon” volume. The entire book consists a total of 259 pages which contains many useful information such as providing “personal histories” that show the various character ages, forms and the interaction of the characters throughout the course of the series.
Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 3: TV Animation Part 1[]
Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 3: TV Animation Part 1 was released on 04 September, 1995. It covers Dragon Ball TV anime and the first part of Dragon Ball Z, which includes supplemental information about the anime, such as the opening and ending themes, eyecatches, filler episodes and a look at the Saiyan’s history.
Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 4: World Guide[]
Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 4: World Guide was released on 04 October, 1995. It covers information about the “Dragon World” that Akira Toriyama had created, which includes everything from outer space, to characters, to technology and even the Dragon Balls themselves. It also features a poster and rough sketches, which were drawn by “Akira Toriyama” himself.
Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 5: TV Animation Part 2[]
Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 5: TV Animation Part 2 was released on 04 November 1995. It covers Dragon Ball Z TV anime from episode 75 to 268, which includes supplemental information about the anime, such as the opening and ending themes, eyecatches, filler episodes, and a look at various informational tidbits relating to the anime series.
Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 6: Movies & TV Specials[]
Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 6: Movies & TV Specials was released on 04 December 1995. It covers the storylines of all three Dragon Ball and thirteen Dragon Ball Z movies, along with the two DBZ specials. It also includes supplemental information about the movies, such as movie-related merchandise, “Toriyama’s” contributions to the movies, and a special glimpse at the 10th Anniversary Movie.
Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 7: Dragon Ball Large Encyclopedia[]
Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 7: Dragon Ball Large Encyclopedia was released on 05 February, 1996. It a collection of dictionaries that cover almost every aspect of the Dragon Ball manga series, which also includes illustrations and comments from “Akira Toriyama”. The entire book consists a total of 313 pages which contains information about series’ merchandise and an exclusive “thank you” message from the original author.
Supplemental Daizenshuu: TV Animation Part 3[]
Supplemental Daizenshuu: TV Animation Part 3 was released on 10 July, 1996. It covers information which were left out of volumes five and six, that includes various anime-related odds and ends, promotional anime artwork and illustrations used in the theatricial films and TV specials.
Note-1: I didn’t include Dragon Ball Extra Daizenshuu: Carddass Perfect File Part 1 & 2 which basically covers information about Dragon Ball Carddass card games, that were released in Japan.
Dragon Ball GT: Perfect File Vol. 1[]
Dragon Ball GT: Perfect File Vol. 1 is the sixth Dragon Ball guide book and first of the two volume published by Shueisha. It was originally released on 24 May, 1997 and covers the beginning of the series up until the end of the Baby arc.
Dragon Ball GT: Perfect File Vol. 2[]
Dragon Ball GT: Perfect File Vol. 2 is the second of the two volume published by Shueisha. It was originally released on 17 December, 1997 and covers the rest of the series and the TV special Dragon Ball GT: A Hero's Legacy.
Note-1: While it's true these books have no interview with “Akira Toriyama”, since he had very little involvement with GT but it does have notes from the series staff. These books also contains illustration and information regarding transformation and character listings, as well as additional plot details and behind-the-scenes information.
TV Anime Guide: Dragon Ball Z Son Goku Densetsu[]
TV Anime Guide: Dragon Ball Z Son Goku Densetsu is seventh Dragon Ball guide book published by Shueisha. It was released on 03 October, 2003 and covers Dragon Ball Z anime series, as well includes a long interview with “Toriyama” and “Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru”.
Dragon Ball Kanzenban Official Guide: Dragon Ball Landmark[]
Dragon Ball Kanzenban Official Guide: Dragon Ball Landmark is the eighth Dragon Ball guide book published by Shueisha. It was released on 19 December, 2003 and covers the beginning of the series up until the Freeza arc, which includes a good deal of material that was recycled from the manga-based Daizenshuu volumes, as well contains illustrations and a long interview with “Akira Toriyama”.
Dragon Ball Kanzenban Official Guide: Dragon Ball Forever[]
Dragon Ball Kanzenban Official Guide: Dragon Ball Forever is the ninth Dragon Ball guide book published by Shueisha. It was released on April 30, 2004 and covers volumes 23 to the end, which includes information already available in the Daizenshuu, along with new stuff on the rest of the series, as well contains a long interview with “Akira Toriyama”.
TV Anime Guide: Dragon Ball Tenka’ichi Densetsu[]
TV Anime Guide: Dragon Ball Tenka’ichi Densetsu is the tenth Dragon Ball guide book published by Shueisha. It was released on 07 July, 2004 and covers the original Dragon Ball anime series, as well contains short interviews with all of the voice actors for the main characters.
Dragon Ball: El manga legendario[]
Dragon Ball: El manga legendario also known as Dragon Ball: The Legend of Manga is the eleventh Dragon Ball guide book published by Shueisha. It was released on 2007 and covers the entire Dragon Ball manga exclusively, as well includes illustrations, model figures and information about “Akira Toriyama”.
Dragon Ball Super Exciting Guide: Story Volume[]
Dragon Ball Super Exciting Guide: Story Volume is the twelfth Dragon Ball guide book and first of the two volume published by Shueisha. It was released on 04 March, 2009 and covers the story aspects of the manga series however majority of the information in this guide is already available in the Daizenshuu and the two official kanzenban guides (Landmark and Forever). Although it contains a interview with Akira Toriyama and as the name suggests, “Story Volume” focuses heavily on the manga’s story development, including the main battles, training and of course friendships.
Dragon Ball Super Exciting Guide: Character Volume[]
Dragon Ball Super Exciting Guide: Character Volume is second of the two volume published by Shueisha. It was released on 03 April, 2009 and covers the characters of the manga series however majority of the information in this guide is already available in the Daizenshuu and the two official kanzenban guides (Landmark and Forever). Although it contains a interview with Akira Toriyama and as the name suggests “Character Volume” focuses heavily on the main characters, the “Dragon World” and its many races, and many of the main techniques used throughout the series.
Dragon Ball Uranai[]
Dragon Ball Uranai (ドラゴンボール占い ～占いババにおまかせ～) is the thirteenth Dragon Ball guide book published by Shueisha. It was released on March 31, 2010 and contains information about the characters of the Dragon Ball series like the other Dragon Ball databooks, but with the addition of Fortuneteller Baba's divinations.
Dragon Ball Anime Illustration Collection: The Golden Warrior[]
Dragon Ball Anime Illustration Collection: The Golden Warrior (ドラゴンボール アニメイラスト集 「黄金の戦士」) is the fourteenth Dragon Ball guide book published by Shueisha. It was released on 16 April, 2010 and contains 96 pages of illustrations from the Dragon Ball series, including a decent amount of unreleased artwork from Toei Animation, such as artwork from the Dragon Boxes, the “Dragon Ball Z Anime Special” guide books, V-Jump, the GT Perfect Files etc. It is split up into three sections: "Adventure" which covers Dragon Ball and its movies, "Fierce Fighting" which covers Dragon Ball Z/Dragon Ball Kai and the Z movies, and "Space" which covers Dragon Ball GT and three interviews can also be found throughout the book, all of which were conducted with character designers from each series.
Dragon Ball Extreme Battle Collection: Round 01[]
Dragon Ball Extreme Battle Collection: Round 01 (ドラゴンボール 極限バトルコレクション) is the fifteenth Dragon Ball guide book and first of the two part published by Shueisha. It was released on July 2, 2010 and covers the battles that took place between the beginning of the series and the end of the Frieza Saga. It is based on the anime but much of the information is recycled from Daizenshuu 2, Dragon Ball Tenka’ichi Densetsu, and Dragon Ball Z Son Goku Densetsu.
Dragon Ball Extreme Battle Collection: Round 02[]
Dragon Ball Extreme Battle Collection: Round 02 (ドラゴンボール 極限バトルコレクション) is second of the two part published by Shueisha. It was released on August 4, 2010 and covers the battles between the Cell and Majin Buu Sagas. It is based on the anime but much of the information is recycled from Daizenshuu 2, Dragon Ball Tenka’ichi Densetsu, and Dragon Ball Z Son Goku Densetsu.
Chōzenshū[]
Chōzenshū (超全集) also known as Super Complete Collections is the sixteenth and the second largest group of Dragon Ball databooks published by Shueisha in 2013. It is divided up into a four-volume collection of guide books. This condensed volumes of hardcover databooks was published to replace and expand upon the now out of print Daizenshuu databooks, although this collection is based on the contents of the original Daizenshuu, they feature new and updated material that has come to light in the years since their original publication.
Dragon Ball Chōzenshū 1: Story & World Guide[]
Dragon Ball Chōzenshū 1: Story & World Guide was released on 05 February, 2013. It is a combination of “Daizenshuu 2: Story Guide” and “Daizenshuu 4: World Guide”, which cover the manga story and world aspects of Dragon Ball.
Dragon Ball Chōzenshū 2: Animation Guide Part 1[]
Dragon Ball Chōzenshū 2: Animation Guide Part 1 was released on 05 March, 2013. It is a combination of “Daizenshuu 3: TV Animation Part 1”, “Daizenshuu 5: TV Animation Part 2” and “Supplemental Daizenshuu: TV Animation Part 3”, which cover the story of the entire Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z anime series.
Dragon Ball Chōzenshū 3: Animation Guide Part 2[]
Dragon Ball Chōzenshū 3: Animation Guide Part 2 was released on 04 April, 2013. It is a combination of sections drawn from “Daizenshuu 3: TV Animation Part 1”, “Daizenshuu 5: TV Animation Part 2”, “Daizenshuu 6: Movies and TV Specials”, and “Supplemental Daizenshuu: TV Animation Part 3”, drawing chiefly from the sixth and supplemental volumes for the main body of it's content.
Dragon Ball Chōzenshū 4: Dragon Ball Super Encyclopedia[]
Dragon Ball Chōzenshū 4: Dragon Ball Super Encyclopedia was released on 09 May, 2013. It is based on “Daizenshuu 7: Dragon Ball Large Encyclopedia” but expands new information from the various Dragon Ball productions and guidebooks that were released in the intervening years.
“Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods” Official Movie Guide[]
“Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods” Official Movie Guide is the seventeenth Dragon Ball guide book published by Shueisha. It was released on 21 March, 2013 as a “Special Edition” of Weekly Shōnen Jump and consists of 36 pages which contains interviews with “Akira Toriyama”, cast, and staff, as well includes character designs, model sheets, an overview of the movie’s story, and an exclusive poster. It pertains specifically to the movie Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods.
Dragon Ball Chōgashū: Super Art Collection[]
Dragon Ball Chōgashū: Super Art Collection is the eighteenth Dragon Ball guide book published by Shueisha. It was released on 09 May, 2013 and features over 400 illustrations from the entire series. It also contains all the illustrations and the original “Akira Toriyama Super Interview”, alongside a new Q&A session from Daizenshuu 1, plus a number of items that fell through the cracks and were later published in Daizenshuu 7, as well as the vast majority of “Toriyama’s” Dragon Ball-related work since 1995.
Dragon Ball Volume ‘F’[]
Dragon Ball Volume ‘F’ is the nineteenth Dragon Ball guide book published by Shueisha. It is essentially a supplementary guidebook for the movie Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’ and was released on 2015. It contains information about various characters and new transformation in the movie, as well includes movie's original script and an interview with “Akira Toriyama”. It pertains specifically to the movie Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’.
“Dragon Ball Super” Super Start Guide[]
“Dragon Ball Super” Super Start Guide is the twentieth Dragon Ball guide book published by Shueisha. It was released on 03 July, 2015 and contains illustration as well brief synopsis regarding many characters, events etc.
30th Anniversary: Dragon Ball Chōshishū –Super History Book[]
30th Anniversary: Dragon Ball Chōshishū –Super History Book is the twenty-first Dragon Ball guide book published by Shueisha. It was released on 21 January, 2016 and cover the series’ illustrious 30 year history of manga, animation, games, and more. It also features a lengthy interview with “Akira Toriyama”, as well includes numerous interviews with various staff and cast members, tribute illustrations from famous manga artists, a number of previously unpublished illustrations, character and setting sketches, the final chapter’s storyboard, and much more.
Note-1:: I didn’t include Toriyama's illustration books which aren't really considered as guide book anyway.
Note-2: Akira Toriyama is credited as the original author in almost all of these guide book but it should be noted he had very little involvements with their production, in many case he doesn’t have contributions at all; so it depends specifically.
Note-3: As you're aware “Dragon Ball” has many video games guide book as well which isn’t listed above because it wasn’t necessarily all that important. In case you're interested to know about them, then I suggest you should check this page for further information.
Conclusion[]
Foremost, thanks to those who have actually taken their time and read the entire blog. Dragon Ball franchise is quite big which can't be simply explained in few words, essentially this condensed blog is created to give everyone decent information about Dragon Ball series as a whole. I've gathered almost every interviews, promos etc regarding the verse which I could find in the web and tried to form a accurate blog regarding the topics. By the way, in most cases I've linked the sources or mentioned them, so do keep that in mind because I've no intention of taking any credits that doesn’t belong to me. Anyway, since Dragon Ball Super is still ongoing new information will pop-up sooner or later hence I'll try to keep it updated, so stay in touch.