AkiraToriyama’s Dragon Ball series has achieved the status of one of the most iconic anime and manga series that has continued to capture its audience for several decades. The show continues to endure its popularity with compelling storytelling, well-written characters, and exploring timeless themes of friendship and perseverance. However, none of this would have mattered if Masako Nozawa did not become the voice of our beloved protagonist.
Nozawa-san has been the voice behind Kakarot for several decades. The newest archive of the late Akira Toriyama shares how he played a crucial role in the casting of the voice actor. It led to the start of a legendary duo, which can not be separated. Time and again, she has proven herself worthy, and the mangaka could not imagine her not voicing his protagonist.
Akira Toriyama Played A Crucial in Casting Son-Goku’s Voice Actor
Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball franchise boasts a rich and expansive world with well-characters and a rich storyline that would leave a lasting impact on your memories as a viewer. From the Saiyan race to the tale of the mystical Dragon Balls and equally mesmerizing foes, the show has it all. While the show is often appreciated for its visual elements, its voice actors are often left unacknowledged.
The latest archive shared by the official Dragon Ball website, featured an interview from 1 September 1995, Dragon Ball Daizenshuu Volume 3. The original interview was translated by Kanzenshuu, which shared how Toriyama-sensei watched the anime with his kids, as a creator as well as viewer.
He said,
“Yes. I watch while eating dinner and such, and with my children. I do, actually. But at the very least, even while eating dinner, I still think to myself things like, “so that’s how they did this scene,” so I suppose it really is a bit different from being an ordinary viewer.”
Later in the interview, Toriyama-Sensei was asked if he “directly participated“ in the anime. The mangaka shared how he would sometimes send changes to Toei Animation’s editorial department. Simultaneously, he would also listen to the voice actors’ tapes, and he decided “Goku’s part.”
He said,
“There are times when a colored version of a character will appear sooner than in the serialization; times like those, I send my responses and such to Toei Animation through the editorial department. I also listened to the voice actors’ audition tapes, and worked on deciding who would play each role. In deciding Goku’s part, I listened to the voices of five or six people, and chose Masako Nozawa-san from among them.”
The manga artist was asked to share his thoughts on hearing Masako Nozawa as “Goku’s voice in the actual broadcast.” Akira Toriyama praised Nozawa-san as he said,
““Ah, so that’s what Goku’s voice sounds like.” After that, while writing the comic, even I would sort of have that voice come up in my head. At those times, Goku’s voice would always be Nozawa-san’s voice, so I thought, “she’s good”. Even now, I can’t separate Goku from Nozawa-san.”
This is one of the most epic moments as even after so many years, Masako Nozawa is voicing Son-Goku, and now it feels wrong to even think that someone else might voice our beloved protagonist in the future.
Akira Toriyama Didn’t Like Vegeta As a Character
In a different interview with Akira Toriyama translated by Kanzenshuu, the manga artist shared, how from the series’ long list of villains, there was one character that he did not like: Vegeta. The artist called Demon King Piccolo his favorite villain.
He said the following about The Prince of All Saiyans,
“Yeah, I guess I like Piccolo the most after all. Out of all the enemies, Demon King Piccolo is the one I like most, and even after that I like Piccolo the most. I like Piccolo about the same as I like Goku. With Vegeta, well, I don’t like him all that much, but he was extremely helpful to have around.”
Since Vegeta became a fan-favorite character, early in the series, the mangaka felt it was nice to have him around in the series.
Dragon Ball Super can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
