The Dragon Ball franchise has gifted fans with several memorable moments and characters. Akira Toriyama bound all the Dragon Ball lovers with his magical storytelling. When he retired from being a manga artist, the franchise’s graph drastically fell, and he had to pick up his pen again. In Dragon Ball Super, Toyotarou and him would work together to create the magic.
While Toyotarou did most of the work, Toriyama would take over during the crucial phases or guide the young mangaka. Dragon Ball Super anime went into a hiatus after the Tournament of Power arc, but the manga has been ongoing. Toyotarou is a great mangaka, but when it comes to Dragon Ball, he has yet to shine in a particular aspect in which Toriyama used to excel.
There Is No Major Impact In Toyotarou’s Writings
The Dragon Ball franchise was Akira Toriyama’s baby, so he was always extra careful with it. One of his greatest qualities was to leave an everlasting impact with his arcs. Whenever a new arc commenced, he added a newly introduced character to appear regularly in the manga. Piccolo, Vegeta, Android 17, Android 18, Freiza, etc., have become popular characters. Everyone remembered their introductions.
Introducing a new character and keeping them in the story will create an everlasting impression. Even one of the fans said,
Recently I’ve realised something frustrating and kinda sad about Toyotarou’s manga exclusive arcs of Dragon Ball Super, that is they leave no real lasting impact on the status quo of the franchise. A very clear example of this is that the Moro and Granolah arcs didn’t establish any new recurring characters that would appear as key characters in future stories even though they were perfectly set up to do so.
On the other hand, Toyotarou barely left any impact with the arcs. He failed to follow Akira Toriyama’s footsteps in this matter. Be it the Granolah arc or the Moro arc, there were no new introductions, and people often forget about these arcs. The Dragon Ball franchise revolves around transformation and great action sequences, so these only work until a certain point before an upgrade happens.
Dragon Ball Fans Will Now Look Up To Toyotarou
Akira Toriyama guided Toyotarou and helped him in several instances. Sadly, the iconic mangaka passed away on March 1, 2024, and the entire burden of Dragon Ball Super fell on Toyotarou. After Toriyama’s retirement, the franchise suffered greatly, but he returned and saved his baby. This time, Toyotarou has to do everything himself. Toriyama taught him well, and he will look to respect his sensei’s teachings.
There are a few things that the mangaka needs to improve, but fans are hopeful over time, he will become better. Dragon Ball Super was not the late mangaka’s last work. Dragon Ball DAIMA was his final work before passing away. It is scheduled to be released in October 2024 and got everyone excited. From now on, everyone will look up to Toyotarou to deliver.
Dragon Ball is currently available to watch on Crunchyroll.
