Beerus, the malevolent God of Destruction transformed into a lethargic guardian, has emerged as one of the Dragon Ball franchise’s most essential characters. His immense strength and dangerous abilities make him one of the strongest God characters in the series, and he now helps Goku and his group save the world.
He is the most uniquely designed character in the Dragon Ball franchise and holds a lot of importance in the narrative. He was first introduced during Dragon Ball Z: Battle of the Gods, where he decides to challenge Goku to see the overall power of the strongest Saiyan, and he is impressed by his will and his enthusiasm to fight strong characters.
However, what many Dragon Ball fans don’t know is that Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball, initially wanted Beerus to be a lizard-type creature but later decided to model him after a house cat that lived with him.
The Initial Design of Beerus in Dragon Ball
Tadayoshi Yamamuro, the animator and character designer for Dragon Ball, once revealed in an interview (which was later translated by Kazenshuu) that initially Beerus was going to have a lizard-like form. However, Toriyama did not approve of it and went with something else entirely. He decided to make it look like an Egyptian-style cat.
Yamamuro stated:
Beerus and Whis are characters who already existed at the scenario stage. Beerus originally had a lizard-like form, but at Toriyama-sensei’s idea, he ultimately became an Egyptian-style cat character.
At first glance, Beerus looks a lot like the Egyptian deity Bastet, who was the goddess of pregnancy and childbirth. She even protected the homes from diseases and bad spirits that haunted the world. While in Egyptian mythology, Bastet was a protector, Dragon Ball portrayed Beerus as a God of Destruction.
The God of Destruction is Based on a House Cat
In 2013, Dragon Ball Chōzenshū 1 interviewed Toriyama to ask him some unusual questions about the characters of the Dragon Ball franchise. During the interview, Toriyama was asked about any character who was based on someone from real life. Toriyama revealed that the God of Destruction, Beerus, was based on the house cat that lived with him at the time.
Toriyama stated:
I suppose Beerus, the God of Destruction, was modeled on the 14-year-old cat currently living with us. It’s called a Cornish Rex; it’s a bit of a rare breed. I’m getting off-topic here, but the other day, in spite of developing a serious illness, and the vet declaring it didn’t have long to live, it miraculously got better on its own, and the vet said it might be some kind of demon.
Akira Toriyama pointed out that one of the most dangerous characters in the story is actually modeled after a Cornish Rex who lived with him and his family.
He pointed out that their house cat once cheated death, and even the vet called him some kind of demon; thus, in some way, Toriyama’s cat was the perfect model for the God of Destruction in Dragon Ball’s Universe 7.
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