Akira Toriyama began Dragon Ball’s serialization in 1984 and ended in 1995. He worked tirelessly for more than a decade on the popular franchise. Before that, he worked on Dr. Slump, which also became a popular manga among fans. After working for so long and continuously keeping in mind the deadlines, Toriyama decided to take a break after Dragon Ball was wrapped up.
The late Mangaka was offered to continue the franchise with another series, but he rejected it. It remains the only Dragon Ball series he was not involved. But he did contribute his fair share by providing the series with the title. Apart from that, he had no connection to Dragon Ball GT.
Akira Toriyama Barely Contributed To Dragon Ball GT
Dragon Ball GT is the only anime of the franchise to not be written by the late Akira Toriyama. As a result, it could not live up to its predecessors and failed to leave a proper impact. The story follows Goku being turned into a kid after Pilaf wishes for it. To find a way to return to normal, he starts to find the Black Star Dragon Balls along with Pan and Trunks to revert everything to normal.
While the story had potential, the narrative and characters were not up to the mark. Moreover, Akira Toriyama wanted to rest and get out of the deadline problems. After Dragon Ball GT’s release, the mangaka conveyed a message to the fans saying,
“For GT, all I did was just come up with the title, design the initial main cast and some of the machines, and also do a few images. However, I was able to rest easy handing things over to the excellent staff, who had continued on Dragon Ball for all this time.”
The entire thing was left to the TV anime people since Toriyama was not feeling up for it. While the series became the worst anime of the franchise, the mangaka praised Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru for his animation. The animator studied Toriyama’s style and accordingly created the characters. However, working hard had no outcome since Toriyama was absent from the project.
Dragon Ball GT’s Canon Status Is Unknown
Dragon Ball Z happened five years after the events of Dragon Ball. In the same manner, Dragon Ball GT took place five years after Goku went away to train with Uub. Even though the plot follows a linear pattern, it is unclear whether Dragon Ball GT is canon or non-canon. There are several instances where it is believed to be canon like Goku returning from training with Uub in DB GT shows that it follows the same timeline. Even Shueisha hinted that everything lies in the same timeline.
Akira Toriyama also supported the failed series to be canon. But when Dragon Ball Super aired, the series was mentioned to happen four years after the Buu saga. So, it officially dismisses GT’s canon theories. But still, there are many theories against this. Dragon Ball DAIMA, scheduled to release in October 2024, also has a similar plot to GT. The only difference is that Akira Toriyama was actively involved with it before passing away.
Dragon Ball is currently available for streaming on Crunchyroll.
