Akira Toriyama is the proud author of Dragon Ball, and has created several transformations of Goku over decades. The legendary moment of Goku’s evolution into the Super Saiyan form has been hailed by fans all over the world. But they live with one misconception about the series as well as the creator.
Dragon Ball GT is an addition to the pre-existing Dragon Ball franchise, but it’s not considered canon. Why so? Because Akira Toriyama had no participation in its production process. Yet, Toriyama was tangled in explaining a simple fact about Dragon Ball GT to fans for years.
Akira Toriyama Did NOT Want to be in Deadline Hell with Dragon Ball GT
In an illustrated message from Akira Toriyama, the author confessed why he was never involved in the creation process of Dragon Ball GT. According to the author, he was extremely happy when he finally managed to finish up the serialization of Dragon Ball.
Being a lazy bum by nature, I was absurdly happy when I managed to safely finish up Dragon Ball’s serialization and finally be released from Deadline Hell.
However, the TV anime staff wanted Dragon Ball to continue for a bit longer. Toriyama, on the other hand, could not continue with it anymore, so he left the anime completely up to the hands of the anime staff. The series that originated from Toei was Dragon Ball GT. The author also explained that the GT stands for Grand Touring, which signifies a great journey, especially since the Dragon Ball team would be running across the universe.
This is why Dragon Ball GT has never been considered canon by fans of the franchise. The anime also receives plenty of hate because of its plot holes, watered-down characters, lackluster battle scenes, and more. It was created purely as an effort by Toei because they did not want to put Dragon Ball on hold for too long, owing to its popularity.
Akira Toriyama Never Created Super Saiyan 4
Toriyama admitted that he did very little for Dragon Ball GT. His efforts included naming the title, designing the main cast, and a few images. But the author did not have to fret about the anime staff ruining his characters because an especially good animator was present in the crew.
Nakatsuru-san, as addressed by Toriyama, was a trustworthy animator among the Dragon Ball GT team who was extremely skilled. In fact, he even mastered the ins and outs of Akira Toriyama’s drawing style in an extremely short amount of time. The difference between their drawings was so negligible, that it even confused Toriyama whether he had actually drawn the piece or not.
Thus, Toriyama dropped the biggest bomb ever: Super Saiyan 4 was never created by Akira Toriyama; it was created by Nakatsuru, the animator of Dragon Ball GT. The designs for Super Saiyan 4 were originally created by Nakatsuru and were then approved for the anime. Fans have long believed the myth that it was Toriyama who had created Super Saiyan 4, but such is not the case. The myth arose from this specific interview as the author had drawn an illustration of Super Saiyan 4 after looking at Nakatsuru’s creation. But fans had taken the message to mean that it was Toriyama who had created the forms.
Dragon Ball is available to read on Viz Media and is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
