The influence of manga and anime for many years now has long left the confines of the country of Japan and has become a worldwide staple for many fans from different parts of the world. This success can be attributed to a few series from the early days, specifically, the Dragon Ball anime series that started the propagation of the culture across the globe.
The influence and popularity of this series despite it being four decades old has to be attributed to the great work that creator Akira Toriyama did with it. And just like any great mind, he too was inspired by legendary creators and their creations before him.
More specifically, the Mangaka was inspired by many Disney animated features from the ’50s and ’60s, one of which was a feature song from the film Cinderella called Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo, which became the reason behind the names of Bibidi, Babidi, and Majin Buu the series.
Dragon Ball Creator Akira Toriyama Named His Characters After A Feature Song From Disney’s Cinderella
One of the main things that people quote when the conversation revolves around the Shonen genre of anime and manga, and it’s the resemblance or bits of inspiration in these creations from Late Mangaka Akira Toriyama‘s iconic series Dragon Ball. But when a creation is this legendary, people tend to wonder where his inspiration for it came from.
While people may have rightly guessed that several Mangakas and their creations before him had a big role in him taking up the manga pen and creating his own stories, the unlikely muse for his art is none other than Disney animated films from the early days.
Toriyama himself has claimed that many Disney films from his childhood and adolescence had helped him shape his artistic style into what we know today.
Among them, a clear inspiration for the name of three key characters in the series comes from the 1950 animated film Cinderella, which had a song titled Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo. Many fans might tell that these are also the names of the evil wizard Bibidi, his son Babidi, and Bibidi’s powerful creation Majin Buu from the series.
These names were fairly appropriate for these characters since the song is about the Fairy Godmother transforming the orange pumpkin into a carriage, four brown mice into white horses, a gray horse into a white-haired coachman, and the brown dog into a white-haired footman.
Seeing the sorcery that Bibidi and Babidi command with the creation of Buu, it was a pretty on-the-nose parody of the song. While this song was a minor inspiration and ode to Disney by the creator, another film by the studio had a major hand in the artistic expression of Toriyama’s creation.
How One Hundred And One Dalmatians Inspired The Art Of Dragon Ball
While the hyper-muscular and masculine art style of the manga was Toriyama’s own expression, the angular and sharp designs of the characters in One Hundred and One Dalmatians were the key influence in his sketches and drawings.
In the past, the creator revealed that he had once drawn a picture from the aforementioned film with this art style for an art competition, which he eventually won. He revealed that winning it made him feel amazing, which is why he decided to incorporate this into his art as well, and mixed it with his signature character design, creating an icon that will be remembered for generations to come.
Dragon Ball Z, streaming on Crunchyroll.
