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Toyotarou

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This article is about the manga artist. For other people with this name, see Toyotarō.

Toyotarou
Toyotarou at Napoli Comicon, Italy (2017)
Born (1978-05-17) May 17, 1978 (age 46)[1]
Tochigi Prefecture, Japan[1]
NationalityJapanese
OccupationManga artist
Years active2012–present
EmployerShueisha
Known forDragon Ball Super

Toyotarou (Japanese: とよたろう, Hepburn: Toyotarō, born May 17, 1978)[1] is a Japanese manga artist. He has drawn several Dragon Ball-related manga and is best known for illustrating Dragon Ball Super (2015–present), which was written by series creator Akira Toriyama until his death in March 2024.

Early life and work

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Toyotarou first came across Akira Toriyama's work in grade school with Dr. Slump, then the Dragon Ball anime, and finally the Dragon Ball manga.[2] With his school notebooks covered in its characters, he was already making up story arcs for Dragon Ball chapters in his head.[3] To this day he has never drawn any original work of his own, it has all been Dragon Ball-related.[2][4] Previously a television director, Toyotarou never desired to be a career manga artist. "I figured it would be impossible to do it officially, so I resigned myself to doing it as a hobby."[4] In 2012, he brought artwork to Shueisha, and six months later he debuted with the first two-page chapter of Dragon Ball Heroes: Victory Mission.[4]

Career

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Toyotarou made his professional debut with Dragon Ball Heroes: Victory Mission in the November 2012 issue of the monthly magazine V Jump. It is a tie-in manga with the video game series Dragon Ball Heroes and ran for 28 chapters until it was put on hiatus after the February 2015 issue. A chapter 29 was included in the Bandai Official 5th Anniversary Fanbook: Dragon Ball Heroes 5th Anniversary Mission book published on November 19, 2015, and all previous chapters were uploaded to the game's website for free.[5]

Toyotarou also drew a manga adaptation of the film Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F', which was written by Toriyama. It began in the April 2015 issue of the monthly V Jump and ran for three chapters.[6]

Toyotarou began Dragon Ball Super in the August 2015 issue of V Jump, which was released on June 20, 2015.[7] He illustrated the manga while Toriyama wrote the story. Although the anime usually adapted Toriyama's story ahead of the manga, some characters for the "Universe Survival arc" were reported as being designed by Toyotarou, and a few by both him and Toriyama.[8] After covering the last story arc seen in the anime series in November 2018, the Dragon Ball Super manga continued with original story arcs.[9] Following Toriyama's death in March 2024, Dragon Ball Super was put on indefinite hiatus.[10]

Toyotarou also worked with Toriyama on Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 The Manga, an adaptation of the 2016 video game Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 that he illustrated exclusively for the collector's edition of the game.[11] He created the one-shot Dragon Ball Super Divers for the December 2024 issue of V Jump, which was published on October 21, 2024. It is based on the arcade game of the same name that was created as the successor to Dragon Ball Heroes.[12]

Style

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Toyotarou is a self-taught artist, having never formally studied manga.[4] When asked what his favorite manga is other than Dragon Ball, he answered with Toriyama's Soldier of Savings Cashman or Nobuhiro Watsuki's Rurouni Kenshin.[13] He is more inspired by film than manga, particularly those made by Disney, Marvel, and Pixar.[2]

Toyotarou explained that for Dragon Ball Super he received the major plot points from Toriyama, before drawing the storyboard and filling in the details in between himself. He sent the storyboard to Toriyama for review, who gave feedback and made alterations before returning it to Toyotarou, who illustrated the final manuscript and sent it to Shueisha for publication.[2] During the last week of his monthly deadlines, Toyotarou estimated that he spends about 18 hours a day drawing.[14]

Toriyama said that of everyone who works on the Dragon Ball franchise, Toyotarou's artwork is the closest to his own.[15] Amy McNulty of Anime News Network concurred, calling Toyotarou's art "virtually indistinguishable" from Toriyama's.[16] Toyotarou himself said he is confident in reproducing Toriyama's characters and their subtleties, but needs to practice on robots and mecha.[2] As far as the differences, he noted that he draws more panels and close-ups than Toriyama and does his screentone digitally.[4]

Works

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Manga

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Other work

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "V Jump Manga Artists Museum: Toyotarou". V Jump (in Japanese). Shueisha (published October 21, 2013). December 2013.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Interview: Dragon Ball Super's Toyotarou". Anime News Network. October 26, 2016. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  3. ^ Akira Toriyama; Toyotarou (2017). Dragon Ball Super, Volume 2. Viz Media. p. 214. ISBN 978-1-42-159647-1.
  4. ^ a b c d e "For Toyotarou, Drawing Dragon Ball Super is a Dream Come True". CBR. October 27, 2016. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  5. ^ Vジャンプ特別編集増刊・バンダイ公式5周年記念ファンブック 『ドラゴンボールヒーローズ 5th ANNIVERSARY MISSION』本日発売！. V Jump (in Japanese). November 19, 2015. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  6. ^ "2015 Dragon Ball Z Film Gets 3-Chapter Manga Adaptation". Anime News Network. January 16, 2015. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  7. ^ 鳥山明ストーリー原案の「ドラゴンボール」新アニメ、Vジャンでコミカライズ. Natalie (in Japanese). May 21, 2015. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  8. ^ "超SCOOP3 新章「宇宙サバイバル編」 サバイバル!!全12宇宙". V Jump (in Japanese) (April 2017). Shueisha: 36–37. February 21, 2017. ASIN B01N6Y2ZTB.
  9. ^ "Dragon Ball Super Manga Launches 'Galactic Patrol Prisoner Arc' Next Month". Anime News Network. November 21, 2018. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  10. ^ "Dragon Ball Super Manga Goes on Indefinite Hiatus". Anime News Network. March 21, 2024. Retrieved April 16, 2024.
  11. ^ "'Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2' updates, release date: Manga by 'Dragon Ball' creator successor previewed". The Christian Times. October 4, 2016. Retrieved May 12, 2019.
  12. ^ "Yūji Kasai Launches Dragon Ball Super Divers Manga Series on November 1". Anime News Network. October 24, 2024. Retrieved October 24, 2024.
  13. ^ Toyotarou, Flavien Appavou (May 17, 2017). Toyotaro (Auteur de Dragon Ball Super) - "Akira Toriyama a changé ma vie" [Toyotaro (Mangaka of Dragon Ball Super) - "Akira Toriyama changed my life!"] (Video). Italy: Manga.tv – via YouTube.
  14. ^ Toyotarou (June 16, 2017). Dragon Ball Super's Toyotarou chats with Shonen Jump (Video). Viz Media – via YouTube.
  15. ^ Akira Toriyama; Toyotarou (2017). Dragon Ball Super, Volume 1. Viz Media. p. 191. ISBN 978-1-42-159254-1.
  16. ^ "Dragon Ball Super Vol. 1 - The Spring 2017 Manga Guide". Anime News Network. June 1, 2017. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  17. ^ "Nintendo Switch「スーパードラゴンボールヒーローズ ワールドミッション」の新キャラクターが公開！". Dragon Ball Official Site (in Japanese). Shueisha. January 19, 2019. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
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