Dragon Ball: unpublished sketches by Toriyama revealed

New unpublished drawings of Akira Toriyama have just been revealed by one of his great friends. Sketches that have never been taken out of the drawers, and which bear witness to the creative process of the father of Dragon Ball Z.

The traces of Akira Toriyama

Akira Toriyama's drawings are true relics. Throughout his life, the father of Dragon Ball and Dr Slump strove to nourish his works, spending a crazy amount of time in his workshop. This hard worker has in fact left aside numerous sketches, drawings and sketches in his cupboards.

And since his death, his drawings have increased in value. This summer, archives taken from the depths of (the late) Toriyama's drawers were published on the official Dragon Ball Z website. Since deleted, a concept sketch of Goku drawn by the mangaka initially published in January 1990 was published on the site. It shows an adult Son Goku holding the famous staff of the Master Roshi in his right hand. A sketch that was never used but which raises questions about the arc for which it was intended.

We also remember a draft of the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai published on the official Dragon Ball website, revealing the grids of the preliminary towers and the design of several characters. In April, it is the very first drawing of the mangakawho was found in a small noodle restaurant in Nagoya, where he used to go. The sketch of the very young Son Goku sits proudly on the walls of the owner, who took care to tell the story around this beautiful encounter.

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A never-before-seen sketch of Dr. Slump and Dragon Ball

Tributes to the mangaka keep coming. Last week. It was the turn of the founder of the Nue studio, a Japanese animation studio, to publish unpublished sketches of Toriyama on X. Haruka Takachiho revealed an entire page, on which we notice a woman driving a futuristic scooter. We can also see her in another sketch, in profile. This is probably a Polly Buckets, as Takachiho mentions. A character from Dragon Ball and Dr Slump. We see her in the Penguin village in the manga, an uzi in her hand.

最初に公開した鳥山さんの没ネームの別バージョンです。同じ頁であるを示す「1」が入っています。あれも没、これも没で、トリシマさんの鬼っぷりが伝わってきますね。裏面には、ポリー・バケッツさんのカットがもうひとつ描かれています。構成過程を知るためのいい資料かもしれません。 pic.twitter.com/JpdAHmiXjh

September 19, 2024

This is another version of Toriyama that was first published. It has a “1” to indicate that they are on the same page. On the back is another cut by Polly Bucketts. This can be a good resource for understanding the creative process.

In an anecdote, the founder of Studio Nue indicates that he obtained these unpublished manuscripts from Toriyama himself. “He had them at his house, stacked up to his waist, and said, “You can take as many as you want,” but I hesitated to take a few, and this is one of them.” Takachiho then says he wants to donate these very rare sketches to a museum. This is good news, Nagoya, the artist's hometown, has proposed the creation of a museum dedicated to Akira Toriyama.