The legendary late Mangaka Akira Toriyama sensei may have given birth to one of the most tremendous phenomena in the manga and anime industry, i.e. the Dragon Ball universe, but even he couldn’t help but agree with one criticism about it. This criticism was on none other than the ultimate “perfect warrior” creation of Dr. Gero in the saga, Cell.
To be more precise, this critical complaint and objection was not on the character, but rather, on one of his forms that fans somewhat grew to hate. And surprisingly enough, even Toriyama sensei once admitted how much he himself disliked and found to be uncool this very iteration of the main antagonist of the overarching Cell Saga in the DB universe!
Even Akira Toriyama Disliked This One Form of Cell in Dragon Ball!
Cell, who was the primary and unarguably one of the most formidable villains of the Cell Saga featuring favorable warrior genetic abilities from Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, Frieza, and King Cold, earned Akira Toriyama sensei critical commendation for all the powers he held. But at the same time, his first form wasn’t widely labeled as his best.
In fact, it wasn’t only fans who grew up disliking that form after seeing all of his other versions, no. Rather, even the late mangaka couldn’t help but agree once how uncool he found this iteration of the character to be after having created much better and more formidable versions — both physically and powerfully — of him.
During an interview with Kanzenshuu, Toriyama sensei expressed the same while admitting how he liked the second form better too, as he said:
“[The second form] was the most expressive, since he had a mouth. Whereas his first form didn’t… well, I guess technically he did, but it was really hard to do, and I didn’t think he looked very cool.”
That said, Fuyuto Takeda sensei, one of the editors with Toriyama sensei for his Dragon Ball saga, even claimed this version of the antagonist was “bug-like.” And he wasn’t the only person to feel this way, for the mangaka claimed that Yū Kondō sensei, another one of the editors, called this version “ugly” and said (via Kanzenshuu), “Of course, he can transform.”
Since an editor said this, Toriyama sensei had “no choice but to transform him into his second-form.” But thanks to this criticism from his editors, the late mangaka was also able to create a form of the iconic antagonist that he liked well enough.
Akira Toriyama Sensei Liked Cell’s Second Form “Well Enough”
In the Shenlong Times #2 excerpt (shared via Kanzenshuu), Toriyama sensei also further emphasized how the second version of the primary antagonist of the Cell Saga was the one he liked well enough. Adding to this, he also explained why he drew the genetically-created fierce character like that in the first place.
The late mangaka said:
“With second-form Cell as well, I liked him well enough. Actually, I had wanted him to play a more active role. But since I was told he looked stupid, I had no choice but to change him. (Laughs) So I made him into his cool-looking perfect form, which was to Kondō-san‘s liking.”
Judging from his revelation, it seems like Toriyama sensei was widely influenced by the take his editors had on his work and the character designs he created. That being said, it is to Fuyuto Takeda sensei and Yū Kondō sensei that fans owe the pleasure of having the iconic villain transformed into his perfect final form!
The Dragon Ball manga can be read on Viz app/website, and the anime can be streamed on Hulu.
