Akira Toriyama’s journey started as a mangaka rather unconventionally, but going with the flow helped him create one of the greatest shonen series in history. Having taken inspiration from the best, he managed to create his magnum opus. What once was just a one-shot story soon became an epic tale of great battles and even greater power scaling.
Toriyama contributed his very best for the series and thus became a legend forever to be remembered. His work became an inspiration throughout countries. A lot of it came because of the unique character designs that incorporated the ideas of what an action manga like Dragon Ball signified. However, the author was keen on changing one factor.
Right as the series started to gain recognition, he wanted to change a major aspect of Goku; his age.
Akira Toriyama Wanted a Different Version of Goku
Akira Toriyama, during an interview for the 30th anniversary of Dragon Ball, spoke up in the Super History Book about all the things that made his magnum opus so unique. When the manga first got picked up, he got a lot of input about how the characters should look like and whatnot. At first, this led to Goku who was much younger-looking.
“I got a lot of pushback on that at the time. Apparently in shōnen manga changing what the main character looked like was a big no-no, but I didn’t care about that. His head/body ratio made fighting hard, so I said that if the series was going to start focusing more on battles, then I needed to make him an adult. But this really shocked them: “The series has finally gotten popular, and now you want to go and change everything!” That was the kind of reaction I got.”
As per unsaid rules of the genre, last-minute changes with regard to the protagonist’s looks can be quite a hassle. However, none of that seemed to concern Toriyama. If his main focus had to be on an action-based manga, then the main character should have looked drastically different.
The decision was instead to change Goku from a kid to an adult. Something that did not sit well with the editors at all. They were not ready for such a decision, nor were they looking forward to it.
Akira Toriyama Used the Lack of Time as an Advantage
Akira Toriyama tried his luck with an adult Goku by first sending a draft sketch of the same to his editors. Awaiting a response from them would have taken far too long and time was of the essence. The mangaka chose to draw a draft of the upcoming chapters instead of waiting for approval, bringing in the drastic change without even getting the green light.
“First I drew a sketch of adult Goku and sent it over to the editorial office to get their feedback. But then I started drawing the rough draft before I even heard back from them. (laughs) By the time I sent the rough draft to the editorial office, there wasn’t any time left to make major revisions, so they were just like ‘if you’re so dead-set on doing this, then fine…'”
He sent in the draft and luckily perhaps, time was rare to find. The lack thereof limited any revisions that needed to be made, including an adult Goku which Toriyama seemed to be adamant about.
In the end, the editors had to cave, seeing how persistent the author was being. This led to the Goku that Dragon Ball fans have since grown accustomed to.
