Culture news Dragon Ball could have never seen the light of day and it’s entirely Akira Toriyama’s fault!
Dragon Ball, this emblematic shonen of the late Akira Toriyama which gave birth to animated series, feature films and video games, without a big lack of money from its creator, would probably never have seen the light of day.
Back in 1978. The great Japanese artist we know today is Akira Toriyama, a young aspiring mangaka with a hard time making ends meet. Luckily, Weekly Shōnen Magazine, a weekly manga magazine published in Japan, is organizing a competition with a reward of 3000 dollars and significant visibility.
Akira Toriyama luck in his misfortune?
Unfortunately, this competition will not be of much help to him, he did not win either award. In reality, he didn’t even really participate in the competition; true to form, as a good latecomer, he missed the deadline for sending his work to the magazine and was disqualified.
Our mangaka did not let himself be discouraged and turned to the competition of another magazine, the Weekly Shōnen Jump which only offered him 600 dollars. For lack of choice, he goes all out by offering a parody of Star Wars entitled Mysterious Rain Jack, Toriyama was retained by the magazine and spotted by Kazuhiko Torishima impressed with its lettering and unique style.
This legendary editor many of whom say of him who is the man behind the success of Dragon Ball did not hesitate to take the amateur mangaka under his wing.
A meeting that marked generations?
Torishima guided Toriyama in his early worksnotably Dr. Slump, a shonen in which we follow the adventures of the little robot girl Arale Norimaki and her creator Senbei Norimaki. By giving him advice on style and themes, he led to the popularity of this series which was published from February 1980 to September 1984 in Weekly Shōnen Jump.
Torishima will give decisive advice to Toriyama, learning of his penchant for kung fu and Jackie Chan, he advises him to experiment with it through his new project. Advice that will change the world of shonen because shortly after Dragon Boy the prototype which will later evolve into Dragon Ball appeared in Fresh Jump, a magazine dedicated to one shots.