Akira Toriyama faced challenges in making progress with the Cell arc in the Dragon Ball Z series. Dragon Ball is adored by many fans for its thrilling and captivating story.
For manga artists, it’s essential to create a storyline that truly resonates with the audience. Akira Toriyama excelled in crafting the Dragon Ball arcs, making it a cherished manga and anime series of all time.
Mangaka need to continuously improve their manga through their story arcs. Although Dragon Ball has a variety of arcs, there was one particularly complex Dragon Ball Z arc that proved challenging for the writer.
The Dragon Ball Z Arc That the Creator Regards as the Most Complex One
In an interview (translated by Kanzenshuu), the creator of Dragon Ball, Akira Toriyama, discussed why he started the Dragon Ball story and how he crafted this imaginative tale.
While sharing many insights about the anime/manga series, Toriyama revealed that the most challenging arc of the series was the one that got him “bogged down.” He said:
“Since they had become the strongest in even the universe, they next had to surpass time. So with that I did time-travel stuff, but it was really rough. Time paradox, is it? I quickly got bogged down.”
He further added:
“I basically only thought of what I was doing for that week. Even I didn’t know what was going to happen the next week. I’d draw the story like this, but I’d always discuss it with my editor to see what I should do for next week. (laughs)”
During the interview, the mangaka shared that he had to take the characters beyond being the strongest in the universe and tackle time travel, which proved to be quite challenging. He mentioned he had a tough time dealing with time paradoxes and quickly getting bogged down by the complexity.
Additionally, Toriyama revealed that he often only thought about the story for the current week and didn’t have a clear plan for the next week’s developments, relying on discussions with the series editor to guide the story.
The Most Powerful Villains of the series Emerged in Dragon Ball Z’s Cell Arc
The Dragon Ball series is famous for its memorable villains. Some of the bad guys, like Piccolo, Tien, and Vegeta, eventually turned into good guys. Frieza was a very successful character and came back to the series several times.
Buu is considered by some as a weak point in the series, and Cell is somewhat forgotten. Fans didn’t think Cell was as good as Frieza, and even the creators didn’t like him.
Akira Toriyama’s editors thought Cell looked ugly, and Toriyama himself found his final form hard to draw. That’s why Cell hasn’t appeared again.
Cell, despite having fewer kills than other Dragon Ball Z villains, was a significant threat. He was the first villain to be stronger than Goku and came close to defeating him, which was rare.
Originally, Dragon Ball Z was supposed to end with the Cell Saga, making Cell the ideal final opponent.
Also Read: Dragon Ball May Have Actually Broken the Fourth Wall – Does Universe 6 House the Real Earth?
