The Dragon Ball manga and anime series is one of the best-known manga and anime of all time, having helped popularize the two mediums outside of Japan. Written by mangaka Akira Toriyama, it has also inspired several other famous franchises, such as Naruto and One Piece, having started its publication run in 1984.
In the last decade, Dragon Ball has made a strong comeback straight into the limelight, having been revived in the form of a new anime series, a new manga, many movies, and even video games. Over the eleven years he wrote and drew the manga, Akira Toriyama had trouble with one character in particular for two reasons.
Which character did Akira Toriyama hate drawing in Dragon Ball?
The character whom Akira Toriyama hated drawing was none other than Cell, one of the three main villains of the Dragon Ball Z anime. In the Q and A section of Dragon Ball Full Color: Artificial Humans & Cell Arc Volume #04, Akira Toriyama explained why he didn’t like drawing Cell. He said, “Picture-wise, the spots on his body were really tough; it was very tedious to draw them every time!”
Interestingly, as revealed by Kazenshuu, Toriyama had never planned on creating Cell at all. Fans will likely recall that the first androids to appear were Androids 19 and 20, but his former editor told him he didn’t like them, leading him to add 17 and 18. However, he didn’t like them either, which led to the creation of Cell. Toriyama’s then-editor didn’t like Cell’s Semi-Perfect form, his second form, which Toriyama himself did but he was forced to quickly evolve him into Perfect Cell.
Why else did Akira Toriyama find Cell difficult?
In an interview with Toyotaro, an illustrator for the Dragon Ball Super manga, the two were discussing the character of Zamasu before moving on to discuss Cell. Speaking on Cell, and why he found him difficult outside of drawing owing to his being a comparatively complex character, Toriyama said:
“Frankly, I even found Cell to be a bit of a hassle (laughs). With enemies it’s easier to just have them be straight-up bad guys so that they can just get beaten up. In that sense, I think Shojo manga (Shojo manga are aimed at girls and young women) are really incredible, since they have to continuously depict a girl’s state of mind (laughs). I don’t think I could handle that!”
Also read: 7 Worst Things About Goku That Annoys The Dragon Ball Z Fans
During the same interview, Toriyama admitted that he wasn’t very good at showing the psychology of his characters such as Cell through his art, which was why he was able to create Zamasu since he was only writing the story and not illustrating the Dragon Ball Super manga.
Source: Kazenshuu, Comicbook.com
