Naruto is one of the most popular anime of all time. Masashi Kishimoto created an anime that will forever be considered one of the greats in the anime and manga industry. Considered to be one of the Big Three of anime, Naruto is heavily inspired by the Dragon Ball franchise. Masashi Kishimoto considers Akira Toriyama to be a master mangaka and is always full of praise for him.
Not only Naruto, but the other two of the Big Three, along with several other anime have been inspired by Akira Toriyama’s magnum opus. Several instances light up the significance between Dragon Ball and Naruto. But, according to Masashi Kishimoto, one of the greatest things that he learned from Toriyama is not materialistic but instead a way of presenting his magnum opus.
Akira Toriyama Left A Legacy For Others To Follow
Masashi Kishimoto is heavily inspired by Akira Toriyama. During his younger days, he was a massive fan of Toriyama’s Dr. Slump and Dragon Ball. Arale and Goku’s characters were his favorite. When he was in the second or third grade, Kishimoto fell in love with his creating styles. Instead of focusing on realistic designs for his characters, Toriyama gave them cartoonish looks, and it became pretty popular.
In an interview during 2015 New York Comic-Con, he said,
“What Dragon Ball taught me is what was fun about manga, what makes a fun story in manga. In fact, I was reading it as it was coming out in weekly installments in Weekly Shonen Jump, so it really taught me what entertainment is and how to keep an audience captivated—and of course the art influenced me as well.”
Entertainment is one of the crucial aspects of the anime and manga industry. A manga or anime can be of different genres, but for it to become popular, it should be entertaining. If it is not entertaining, then the audience won’t feel the connection, even if it has a great plot. Dragon Ball captured the audience’s attention due to Akira Toriyama’s presence of mind and charisma. Masashi Kishimoto also followed in his footsteps and created a billion-dollar franchise.
Naruto Has Several Easters Eggs Related To Dragon Ball
Masashi Kishimoto first took Akira Toriyama’s intellect and created his magnum opus. But he left several materialistic resemblances in Dragon Ball. Naruto Uzumaki’s orange attire is directly inspired by Goku, and so is Sasuke Uchiha’s to Vegeta. Their personalities also match. Master Roshi was known as the Turtle Hermit, while Jiraiya was called the Toad Hermit, and both of them were perverts.
But the most brilliant reference to the Dragon Ball franchise in Naruto was naming the Four-Tails Son Goku. His Jinchuriki was named Roshi. The Four-Tails signified the Four-starred Dragon Ball, which was kept by Goku, in the loving memory of Grandpa Gohan. It comes as no surprise either mangaka holds the other in high regard.
Sadly, Akira Toriyama passed away on March 1, 2024. But he left us one heck of a story that will inspire the future generation of mangaka. The Dragon Ball franchise paved the road for the Big Three to reach worldwide popularity. Masashi Kishimoto is truly a great student and perfectly captured the attention of the audience using Toriyama’s entertainment mantra.
