Manga artists, irrespective of how small or big they are, often witness depression or stress for several reasons during their career span. It can be either fatigue from overwork or going blank with the ideas for moving the story further. There are many reasons mangakas can get stressed, and even giant manga artists like Bleach’s Tite Kubo can be a victim of such things. Many fans believe that Kubo, during his initial days as a manga artist had gone through a couple of failures and rejection, and was on the verge of dropping Bleach, but was saved by Dragon Ball’s Akira Toriyama.
Many fans believe that if it hadn’t been for Akira Toriyama of Dragon Ball, Bleach would never have seen the light of day. Tite Kubo’s new manga Bleach was denied when he initially tried to get it published in a manga magazine, and he was devastated. And allegedly, a letter of encouragement from Toriyama saved the $7.24B Anime from Going Down.
How did Akira Toriyama Allegedly Save Bleach?
Bleach debuted in Shonen Jump in 2001 as Tite Kubo’s second manga. His debut novel, Zombiepowder, was abruptly canceled after 27 chapters, leaving Kubo disheartened. Tite Kubo’s new manga Bleach was denied when he initially tried to get it published in a manga magazine, and he was devastated. According to a 2008 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Akira Toriyama read the pitch for Bleach and wrote a letter to Kubo encouraging him to stay with it.
Toriyama had admired Tite Kubo’s artwork for Bleach, and words of support from someone like him meant a lot. That encouraged Tite Kubo to stick with his new manga concept, and thankfully for manga and anime fans everywhere, his perseverance paid off and Bleach started serialization in 2001.
Tite Kubo took Inspiration from Dragon Ball
Although the story about Toriyama encouraging Kubo was never confirmed, Kubo has stated that he has taken a lot of inspiration from the Dragon Ball series for Bleach. Kubo describes the Dragon Ball era as Shonen Jump’s golden age in a talk with My Hero Academia’s Kohei Horikoshi featured in the new My Hero Academia: Ultra Analysis book. The work of Akira Toriyama on the intense antagonists in Dragon Ball had a direct impact on Kubo’s creation of Bleach’s Big Villains. A simple glance at Bleach’s villains reveals a striking resemblance to the Dragon Ball team. Superior strength is crucial, but Toriyama taught Kubo that villains must also be striking, intimidating, and compelling.
Some Bleach fans believe Ulquiorra and Yammy’s unexpected presence in Karakura Town is reminiscent of Vegeta and Nappa’s appearance in Dragon Ball Z. Dragon Ball has been an inspiration for a lot of manga writers and rightfully so, even though there is there is no confirmation regarding the alleged letter of encouragement from Toriyama to Kubo, his influence on Kubo has surely helped him upgrade the level of Bleach series.
Source: ScreenRant
