The iconic Dragon Ball series which inspired millions of manga creators and entertained an indefinite number of fans was the masterwork of Akira Toriyama. Toriyama spent all of his life trying to make the series one of the best anime and manga series in the world and he succeeded in his quest.
However, he alone was not responsible for the feats that the series achieved. He had a whole team who along with Toriyama worked day and night on Dragon Ball and took it to the pinnacle of the anime and manga industry. But the process was not a smooth sail. While there one some great suggestions and decisions, there were also creative differences which often led to heated arguments.
One such instance was when Toriyama wanted to make a change with Goku’s physical appearance but he had a disagreement with his editor. The disagreement became so big of an issue that Toriyama even threatened to stop drawing Dragon Ball.
Akira Toriyama Wanted to Change Goku’s Character Design
In an interview with Forbes, Kazuhiko Torishima, who is an outside director for Bushiroad, talked about Toriyama and his argument regarding Goku’s character design. According to Torishima, when he was an editor for Shueisha and was working on Dragon Ball, Toriyama wanted to change Goku’s physical appearance and make him taller and muscular. However, Torishima disagreed with Toriyama’s suggestion.
Torishima stated:
“In addition to all this, Toriyama was asking to change the character design for Goku, from the cuter proportions to something taller and more muscular. When I heard this for the first time, I argued a lot with him about it. This was because I thought the most important thing with boy’s comics was to have the main character resonate with the readers. So if you switched the character’s proportions then that would be an all-new character to the readers.”
Torishima believed that changing Goku’s physical appearance to something muscular and bigger would make him an entirely new character for the fans and then they wouldn’t be able to resonate with him.
Akira Toriyama’s Reason for Changing Goku’s Character Design
According to Torishima, Akira Toriyama believed that as Goku faced newer and stronger enemies in battles, he also needed to be able to show muscles and look equal to his opponents. During that time, the series changed and adapted a more action-based storyline.
Torishima stated:
“Toriyama’s explanation was very logical and the only option was for me to agree. That explanation was that since the battles were becoming increasingly serious in the manga and you had a proper villain in the form of Piccolo who was taller than Goku. All this meant that if had to draw a serious battle you needed to show Goku’s muscles, as well as strong actions for his punching and kicking.”
Toriyama was not happy with Goku looking smaller and less muscular in front of his opponents which is why he was firm on his decision to change Goku’s physical appearance. So much so, that he threatened Torishima to agree with him or he would stop making Dragon Ball. Later on, this decision worked in the favor of the team and the series which became an imminent success.
