Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball series is generational, the show has been continuing for 38 years, yet the viewers are not bored of it. This is majorly thanks to the franchise’s iconic features such as the Super Saiyan Transformations, and the epic battles that follow it. While Toriyama-Sensei’s heroes get all the praise for saving the day, his villains are equally iconic as they push the Z-Fighters out of their comfort zones, forcing them to break past their limits.
From King Piccolo to Kid Buu, the series features a ton of iconic villains that have made the fans sit at the edge of their seats and bite their nails in anticipation as they make them shiver with their malevolent nature. However, none of the villains could come close to killing Kakarot except one in Dragon Ball Super.
Akira Toriyama’s Inspiration for The Coolest Villain That Nearly Killed Goku in Dragon Ball Super
If the anticipation is killing you do not worry because it is Goku Black, who was the coolest villain to be featured in Dragon Ball Super. Well, it was Zamasu, who stole Kakarot’s body using the Super Dragon Balls. However, having the same looks was not what made the character iconic. After all. if that was the case, Turles would be cool too!
But it was his wit and meticulousness and dominating Kakarot with his techniques that made him cool among the fans. However, you would surprised to know how Akira Toriyama found inspiration for a villainous Kakarot.
During one of the interviews of the legendary mangaka shared on r/dbz, a subreddit dedicated to everything related to Akira Toriyama’s magnum opus, it was during this interview, Toyotaro-san and Toriyama-Sensei talked about everything related to the Future Trunks Arc.
Toyotaro-san shared how in the Future Trunks Arc, the villains had a “huge impact” that made the story gripping, and added to its popularity. The creator was also asked about his inspiration behind the iconic villain. Akira Toriyama answered that he was inspired by “False Ultra Man” or “False Kamen Rider,” and wanted to do the same for the series too. He said,
“It was something I wanted to try out just once. Something like “False Ultra Man” or “False Kamen Rider.” Yeah! I wanted to do “False Son Goku” (laughs).”
Toyataro-san added “”Goku Black” is a great name,” to which the mangaka joked, “Well, it’s like “Kamen Rider Black” (laughs).” Nevertheless, the character was immortal and iconic, as he was quite close to killing Kakarot, but instead, he decided to rile up the Saiyan by telling him how he killed his family in his universe.
Toyotaro-San Improvised Future Trunks Arc by Making Changes to Zamasu’s Character
In the same interview, the interviewer asked Toyotaro-san if he decided to make any changes to the original draft of the Future Trunks Saga shared by Toriyama-Sensei. The mangaka answered that some changes were made to the draft because Zamasu wasn’t a strong character as we saw in the anime. Toyotaro-san said,
“Zamasu actually wasn’t all that strong of a character in the original draft I received from Toriyama-sensei. Though immortal, his strength was such that two Super Saiyan Blues were more than enough to take him on. It’s precisely because of this that in the original draft things unfolded so that his “immortality” and “Potara time limit” became key, and Goku and Vegeta took turns fighting him.”
Though he had his immortality, and Super Saiyan Rosé, two SSJ Blues would have taken him down easily. To overcome this issue, they improvised and made changes to the Arc to balance the fight. The mangaka added,
“Goku and Vegeta didn’t fuse in the original draft. Their personalities made any fusion after the Majin Buu arc impossible. However, I wanted to meet the readers’ expectations… And so, I made a scenario where “even if they shouldn’t really fuse, now they have absolutely no choice but to fuse.“”
Even though Toyotaro-San stated that they tried to level the playing field by limiting Vegito’s screen time and taking turns, during the whole Future Trunks Saga, both Saiyans took more beating than the villains.
Dragon Ball Super can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
