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Spotlight on Akira Toriyama: Part 2

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scenes from a fight

Dragon Ball Z fans agree — the strength of the later story is in its extensive fight scenes between its ever-more-powerful characters. The challenge to the artist of such a story is to maintain suspense, even for fights that are sometimes carried out for volumes at a time (which can translate to weeks upon weeks of TV episodes in the animation).

"You can't have the same fight every time," Toriyama confirms. "In earlier times, Goku was still small, so it was all right, but in the latter half [of the story], the fighting escalated. I had to come up with more powerful attacks." Thus, the "Super Saiyan" mode of leveling-up a character's power came about. "Personally, I feel there's a limit to how strong one can be, so [power-ups] are usually out of desperation." The distinctive Super Saiyan "look"— spiky blond hair reaching for the sky, sharp-edged muscles, power crackling like a live wire—had its own inspiration. "I wasn't planning on Goku becoming a Super Saiyan, so when I came up with the Super Saiyan idea, I thought that his appearance should also change to show his power-up. In terms of design, his expression looks more like an enemy, doesn't it? I had doubts if that's what he should become, but since he'd transform [into a Super Saiyan] out of anger, I decided that it was acceptable. It was a pretty bold idea. As for enemies, they transform if my editor says he doesn't like them," he laughs.

A later power-up form, Fusion — the process of two warriors combining into an even tougher form, such as Trunks' and Goten's Fusion power-up, Gotenks—had this origin: "I was having a conversation that there's nothing stronger than a Super Saiyan," laughs Toriyama. "Usually, Masakazu Katsura (Video Girl Ai) and I only talk about silly things, but he said, 'You can always fuse them together.' I told him he said something useful for the first time." The concept of Fusion increased the humor of certain fighting scenes, but Toriyama doesn't see a problem with having more laughs than lacerations in his manga. "If the story got too serious, my own blood pressure would get high, and personally, I don't like that. I always think that manga is completely for entertainment." On the other hand, when Toriyama is asked to pick out his favorite original story for the Dragon Ball animation, he passes over the lighter tales and selects the story with Goku's father, Bardock. "It's a pretty dramatic story that I'd never draw myself. I got to see a different kind of Dragon Ball in a good way."

Speaking of entertainment, how about the Kame Sen'nin's (Turtle master) signature attack, the Kamehameha? Where did that idea come from? "I don't really like giving names to attacks," Toriyama says. "I don't think the characters would be yelling out the names of their attacks in life-or-death situations. You'd get killed while yelling the name of your attack," he laughs. "But my editor said I'm better off giving attacks names. Kamehameha is my wife's invention. I was agonizing, 'It's Kame's attack, called something-ha! Something-ha!' She just suggested ‘Kame-hame-ha.' It was great. It was so silly that it fit Kame Sen'nin's image so well."

when worlds collide

The world as it shows up in Dragon Ball is like Earth, yet not exactly like Earth. A place of vast desert landscapes like something out of a Road Runner cartoon; palm-studded tropical islands; huge, bustling cities like Windsor McCay's turn of the century futurescapes; villages like the homes of the Munchkins in The Wizard of Oz. Ubiquitous push buttons and expanding "Capsule Corporation" gadgets straight out of The Jetsons, both cute and high-tech; Bulma's air scooter in an early story looks like an Electrolux vacuum cleaner wired for speed—'50s kitsch for a lush cartoon world.

"All the worlds I’ve drawn in manga are different from the real world, from the very first manga on," Toriyama says.   “You can't tell where Penguin Village is... Kishman looked a little more realistic, but you can't place that on the map either. It's easier, after all — my standard for choosing something is for the ease. If something's based on the real world, I have to use references for buildings and vehicles. This way, I can decide on any setting I want and draw it freely."

Dragon Ball, however, did use some real-life places as a basis. "My wife was infatuated with China back then, so I used some photo books she had bought. Also, before the serial had started, I'd gone to Bali with my family and assistants. Papaya Island, where the Tenka-Ichi tournament is held, is completely modeled after Bali." Other instances where

Toriyama was forced to pull out real-life references were the location of a buried spaceship ("I used an African photo collection for that") and various barren wastelands. "The latter stories all took place in barren wastelands, so it was tough to depict them differently. I change the scenery each time. I'd change the shape of the rocks or the faraway mountains. I'd have to let the readers know it's a different place from last time — it would be boring to use the same location."

"It's been a habit of mine since childhood to always be looking around," he continues.  “When I go shopping, I have more fun observing the town than shopping. For my work, the town scenery, small things, and people's clothes all are useful — also, the sundries I had to draw back when I was an employee. I would complain that I had to draw a hundred pairs of socks,” he laughs. "In retrospect, that was a useful exercise." Instead of sketching what he sees, he says that "I burn it into my vision, so I usually fail when I try to draw it later. 'Was it like this?' But I retain the general image of things. I'll rely on that not-so-fully accurate memory to draw things. I can probably draw most anything that way."