Oft Off Topic
Akira Toriyama Pt 1: From Manga Struggles to Dragon Ball Superstardom
Today we discuss the life of one of Mangas most beloved creators, Akira Toriyama.
In this first episode we talk about his motivation to make money using his love of manga and his early struggles doing so. Then we get to talk about his success that launched him into superstardom.
All this and tons more on this episode of Oft Off Topic
Feel free to check out our website for links to our YouTube channel and more!
https://oftofftopic.com/
Our host Nathan also does art in addition to this podcast, including having is own sticker store. Please check it out and purchase anything that strikes your fancy.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/stickersbytownsend
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review us on your favorite podcast platform. Even if you didn't like the show, please do it, we appreciate it. You can also email us at OftOffTopic@gmail.com and let us know what you like or don't like, maybe we will even read your email on our show!
Thanks for listening and stay tuned for more Oft Off Topic!
Today we discuss the life of one of Mangas most beloved creators, Akira Toriyama.
In this first episode we talk about his motivation to make money using his love of manga and his early struggles doing so. Then we get to talk about his success that launched him into superstardom.
All this and tons more on this episode of Oft Off Topic
Feel free to check out our website for links to our YouTube channel and more!
https://oftofftopic.com/
Our host Nathan also does art in addition to this podcast, including having is own sticker store. Please check it out and purchase anything that strikes your fancy.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/stickersbytownsend
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review us on your favorite podcast platform. Even if you didn't like the show, please do it, we appreciate it. You can also email us at OftOffTopic@gmail.com and let us know what you like or don't like, maybe we will even read your email on our show!
Thanks for listening and stay tuned for more Oft Off Topic!
Akira Toriyama, the man, the myth, the legend, the god of manga, whose artistic skill is so powerful it may even prevent organized crime. Or, as we'll talk about later, perhaps he also uses his power to commit crimes. Hmm, We'll find out soon. Nathan, what do you know about Akira Toriyama? A?
Nate:lot, not everything, I mean. Like the dude himself, I don't know, I don't know. I don't know much about him other than the fact he hated the Dragon Ball movie. Um, yeah, the dude himself, I don't really know. Let's see. I will say this like Dragon Ball Z was the first animated ever scene that I ever watched, so it was the first one I ever got into. Um, yeah, dbz really was like my introduction to Japanese animation.
Shaun:You are not alone in that. In fact, I would say that's probably the majority of people's story of the anime Is their first one being Dragon Ball Z it was also the first time I was disappointed in showing someone what I thought was a really badass scene and they're like, okay.
Nate:I was like, oh, come on, man, it was. And I don't remember the scene too. It was a scene there in the Saiyan saga, so it was very early on and like, um, it was a. Gohan gets knocked down and you know Goku's getting his ass kicked and Gohan's like, leave my daddy alone. He, you know, basically gets a really good hit on Reddit. So I thought it was a really awesome scene. I mean maybe it was also because I was baked, but I mean.
Nate:I thought it was a great scene and I'm showing my buddy's like okay. Come on, man Wait a minute.
Shaun:I deserve more than that. You just kicked me right in the nuts. Basically, You're like isn't that good?
Nate:They're just like, eh, You're like, oh well, I have to go rethink life now. That was the first time I was like, okay, this is obviously not for everybody.
Shaun:Yeah, here's your sign Right. All right, so you're about ready to get into the story of Akira Toriyama, all right, our story takes place April 5, 1955, in the town of Kyoso, in the Eichi Prefecture of Japan. Karuzu Toriyama looks at his wife, tombi, whose face is awash in the sweat from the pain of childbirth. Go my wife, fight, surpass your limits and give me a child. Upon hearing this encouragement, tombi screams, a powerful scream, and her hair turns blonde and spiky. She then rockets a newborn Akira Toriyama with such force that he shoots through two walls and clides with the hillside and the resulting shockwave levels half a city block. Thankfully, as the narrator tells us, it was an abandoned part of town, as the gods of censorship would demand out of them.
Nate:Hey that's so much. I'm gonna blow up this city. Oh, thankfully no one was there. What are you talking about? No one was there.
Shaun:Or I'm saying, hey, the helicopter blew up. Oh, it's okay, I saw their parachutes, even though there's obviously no parachutes there.
Nate:Great Well also whenever that's like the first time they show up and blew like again way early version, say in Saga. When Vegeta or Napa blew up, there were people nearby. They were staying near their life, what's in this hole? And they think oh, thank God, that place is abandoned, like what happened to the people who were there like five seconds ago.
Shaun:Yeah, dragon Ball Z of Bridge did a great take on that too. Where it's the helicopter scene and they blow up the helicopter, they're like, oh no, they blew up the helicopter. Oh good, it was just a cargo helicopter, but the cargo was people. So Karazu holds his wife in a moment of tender love as the camera pans to the floor to show the blob of after birth smiling and laughing evilly. This sinister, sentient placenta would go on to be Akira's greatest enemy in life and the inspiration for Majin Buu from the Dragon Ball Z series. So there you go. Every word of that is true, nate. Did he learn it? Yeah, well, I was taking a shower and I looked down and noticed there's some mushrooms growing out of the shower drain and I was like, hey, free food. And then I learned a lot of stuff while researching Off-to-off topic branded yeah, off-to-off topic branded shower drain mushrooms by them today.
Shaun:So, speaking about his childhood in a January 2014 issue of Men's Magazine, Toriyama said had described his childhood as I was a cheeky little brat, the kind who is strong to the weak and who wouldn't approach the strong. On top of that, my grades at the time were quite good, so I always had the privilege of being designated as a class officer by the teacher, so sounds like he might have been kind of insufferable as a child at least two other children. Yeah, that sounds like. Yeah, it's like. That's an odd quote to attribute to yourself. I was a cheeky little brat, piff, piff, piff, as many Japanese children of the time.
Shaun:Toriyama loved himself some Astro Boy and Gigantor or, as a Japanese knew it at the time, tetsuo 28 Go, and one thing that totally blew his young mind was what turned out to be one of his favorite animated movies of all time Disney's 101 Dalmatians. Toriyama was blown away by the high quality, super smooth animation that it had. That was kind of heads and tails above anything at the time, which actually is kind of true, because I remember as a kid watching 101 Dalmatians, you'd be like, hey, this looks pretty slick compared to other movies around that time. I don't know, everything just seemed a little bit smoother. I think it's because they used a lot of rotoscoping in it, maybe.
Nate:Yeah, I mean, I've seen that movie more times than I hear I think about. But I mean, oh, me too.
Shaun:I mean we had a limited selection as a kid. So oh, no, I'm talking about recently. Oh, recently, okay, gotcha yeah like Disney Plus.
Nate:It's like they that and the Rista Cats and, oh my God, princess and the Frog I've seen it's their go-to.
Shaun:Yeah, they just put it on pre-key.
Nate:One of the ones they still on there.
Shaun:Yeah, I would assume that they mostly watched the newer ones. Kind of neat, they watched the older ones too.
Nate:Yeah, they'll go all the way back. They don't do Snow White and Cinderella stuff but they really do dig the yeah like one of the animations they love it.
Shaun:Yeah, from there on probably, which I guess would become the start of the modern movie. There's something those very first, like the Snow White movies. They're really short, they're like 60 minutes or something like that, if I recall.
Nate:Yeah they're not there. They aren't long. Yeah, they're not 60, they're like a little longer, we're not by much 75 minutes or something like that 80 minutes.
Shaun:Something Toriyama's love of animation spilled over into his childhood in the form of him getting into drawing Lies most kids. He doodled his favorite manga and anime characters. But eventually he'd get tired of that and start doing something his friends weren't doing. He started drawing his friends and family in an anime style, which occurred credits for Toriyama credits with being an important progression in his artistic career. Whereas most of his friends were just sitting around just doodling what they knew, he would move on and be like, hey, maybe I can anime-ify these characters and just things around on his day-to-day life and as a young lad, him and his drawing buddies would often head down to the local art studio that would hold art classes to the public and Toriyama and his friends would learn as much as they could and learn from the older kids and practice all they could there and use their free art supplies to practice with. Toriyama even won a contest at the studio for drawing one of his dogs from 101 Dalmatians. And he was a good student with good grades right up until high school when he decided to rather have fun and hang out with friends instead of studying for school and college. He did wind up being the president of the manga club in high school. So that was one thing. He still had his love of comics then.
Shaun:But in high school he also made the decision to give up on the idea of college and just go straight into the working world, much to the horror of his parents. They were not happy with his choice. But Toriyama did not care. He was like I just don't want to go to school anymore, I just want to go straight to a job. I'll deal with it after that.
Shaun:So right out of high school he gets a job at an ad agency as a graphics designer. The job started off alright for him and he did well at start. But by Toriyama's own admission, he was not a morning person and he hated the day-to-day grind and having a schedule and everything else. So eventually he would just kind of not show up for work some days or show up super late, wouldn't wear his uniform and stuff showing up in a suit, he would just show up in like sweatpants and a t-shirt. And this did make the bosses exactly happy. But as you may know, in Japanese culture they don't like to fire people, they just punish them in multiple ways and he has Toriyama.
Shaun:Yeah, they don't like firing people. They kind of do the same words like hey, we'll hire you for life, and instead of firing you they'll do weird stuff like lock you in an office with nothing but just your phone for eight hours a day and try to get you to quit.
Nate:Yeah, that sounds right.
Shaun:Yeah, at least this was kind of the way it was back in like the 70s and 80s and before then. I think it may have changed since then a little bit.
Nate:Yeah, I mean, you're probably right, but I've heard similar stuff happening.
Shaun:Yeah, and obviously this is slightly the case because with that attitude he still managed to last for three years at that job before he quit. He wasn't fired, he quit. So in 1976, we have an unemployed Akira Toriyama, so Toriyama was an so they won. What was it? They won, they won, yeah, kind of, although I don't know if they actually punished him or did anything, or if he just stopped showing up one day because he was like I just didn't like working, I just didn't like working up in the morning.
Nate:He's still employed there. They don't like firing you and them, and they're like yeah, turns out he's still at work.
Shaun:He's still just got his pile of checks sitting there waiting for him. So Toriyama was unemployed for about a year, just hanging out cafes reading comics, being a layabout sponging off of his parents where he stayed. But this would all change. One fateful day Went. To his absolute horror, toriyama looked into his pockets and realized he was out of cigarettes and had no money to get more. This will not stand. Toriyama shouted to the heavens and put to task every brain cell. He had to come up with a way to make some money for them, sweet, sweet cigarettes. Well, at the time there was a couple of manga magazines out there that would accept fan submissions and if they deemed these stories good enough, they would print the story and then fans would get a vote on these stories and if your story won the fan polls you'd win money, sometimes up to a thousand dollars. That can buy lots of cigarettes, nate, especially back then.
Nate:Yeah, that's not back then. That is actually a decent amount.
Shaun:Yeah it was. It was up to and including. A thousand Sounded like if you made the top five in the voting polls you would get money, and the higher up you got, the more you'd make. The up to is yeah. Up to and include Up to is a very yeah. I got fifth place. What do I get? Ten dollars. What Ten dollars.
Nate:Yes, you do. That's what always gets me about these that you know you go go store and see some ads. They're like oh you this up to 75%, like that's 1% is up to 75%.
Shaun:Yes, exactly, and all they have to do is just like have one item that's at 75% and boom everything else one percent there, just technically right.
Nate:Yeah, I'm good working game stop, that's where I just you have those bins out up to 75% and, like you're right, the one thing like we sports with 75% off.
Shaun:Ha, that'd be the one that they would throw in there, that and we fit, or something like that. It'd be like, right, like the game that came, system, yeah, everybody become to do that. He's 75% off call of duty. You're like ha ha, no, enjoy your, we fit, we do in the ps1.
Shaun:Yeah, everything you don't want is on steep discount. Also read here what they can do. Where's a for like jobs. They'll be like you can make up to 25 or 30 dollars an hour and then small print will be like including tips and working overtime kind of stuff. Yeah, so way no, exclaim toriama at the realization. Realization he could use his love of man guy and his ability to draw to make himself some money. So he sits down and he just starts drawing away and writing some small stories to submit. First he tries to submit to codon shows, weekly shonen magazine. He sends in that what he thinks is gonna win him the Contest and he misses the deadline. No money there. However, weekly shonen jump did essentially the same thing. So to shonen jump goes a first-ever manga.
Shaun:The toriama would write Something named a wah wah world or a way will world saw pronounced a couple of different ways. This was a committee world, a way world world. It's spelled a w a w, a world. So world, yeah, world. This was a comedic manga taking place in ancient Japan with modern situations at it and like someone parking there is like someone's horse getting impounded for parking in a no parking zone and you know that kind of stuff. We've seen that kind of humor before, and also, for some reason, there's a Superman knockoff in it too, for some reason, for some reason you may I don't know how much old manga you've seen as anime.
Shaun:Superman makes an appearance in a lot of old Japanese culture like a lot like, say you know, pre-85, pre-90s and I think it's kind of yeah Actually, at least from what I've seen or been privy to and I think is one of those is a pulse post world war two occupation thing and All the American soldiers just reading Superman comics. So kind of just bled over, sure. What up? Yeah, well, this story is officially Unpublished. It would be included in issue five and six of Birdland Press at the official fan magazine of a toriama and Some of the original manuscripts that he wrote up, for those two would actually travel around Japan in the mid 90s as part of a toriama art exhibit.
Nate:Yeah, oh, this. Once I didn't really like it, but now it's museum.
Shaun:Yeah, and now it's something that you can see. You can see my beginning works. You can see how far I've come since then. Undeterred, undeterred at this failure, he writes a second short manga, this one titled mysterious rainjack. This one the editors really liked. However, since it was a parody of Star Wars, he was ineligible to be submitted or voted on by the fans. So, again, they were unable to pay him. This one also, too, would show up in his a newsletter some years later. Did they do that like?
Nate:he actually did it. He's like yeah, he's just a bitch. And they're like well, we'd like to pay you a bud, yep because here's the deal.
Shaun:You know well, for some people the toriama would be crushed by this whole thing. But no, he like doubled down. He's like don't you dare tell me I'm not good enough, because he says he was very competitive at this point His life. So he's like don't you tell me I'm not good enough, I'm just gonna start writing a bunch of stuff and I'll prove you wrong. So Also, he said by his own accord to his probably best, he didn't loop, he didn't win these contests because his idea was if he won these contests he was literally just gonna take his prize money by his smokes and go back to his former state of life. But uh, losing these contests, little fire on his butts and he decided he had to go prove that he's good enough to win this money. But what's good then? Yeah, and this is actually kind of good because that mysterious range accurate, just ask you if they actually like gave him input on.
Shaun:They actually did what, especially one of the shonen jump editors, a man named Kazuhiku Torishima. Yeah, this guy was actually just starting out in the industry. To his an editor, he actually saw a Torishima or a blah, blah, blah. What's his butt? Toriyama's Work and he really liked. He's like hey, there's some potential here. We can't print this stuff, but I like your work. So he actually started writing Toriyama and being like hey, I like you, here's what you do to improve and here's what we think you can do to make yourself better and keep sending in the work Also to for you from here on out.
Shaun:Yeah, from here on out, though, we've got Kazuhiko Torishima, who is the editor, and a Kira Toriyama, who's the guy we're doing it on. So between Torishima and Torishima and Toriyama, we kind of got close names, so I'm gonna call the one dude editor Torishima, and then we got Toriyama, so whatever here, editor Torishima, that's a Kira Toriyama's editor. Sweet, yes, also. I like editor Torishima. This one quote I found, because it is like the most Japanese Editorry sounding thing I've ever heard. He was talking about declining sales in a manga titles. Declining popularity means that you are not appreciated by your readers, so you need to take measures. Isn't that the most Japanese sounding thing you've ever heard? I don't know why. It's just yeah, it's not like sales are down. You gotta get these things up.
Shaun:Notes declining popularity Decying popularity means you are not appreciated coffee or withers yeah, so editor Torishima had read Toriyama's work and he saw that town there and he actually said in an interview he started telegraphing Toriyama, which shows you how old this is.
Shaun:Remember telegraphing was a thing and somebody wire me a Western, we, I know what it is, but I remember oh well, I've never really well actually, I think I actually had to do it once too for like legal paperwork. Also, I remember back in the 80s to his tons of stuff like a Western Union, the cheapest way to wire money. Well, that I remember. Do you are you sure, or?
Shaun:you just made that up for the sake of this conversation. Nope, I actually do that once. Okay. So in 1978 Toriyama submits Wonder Island and this makes it into issue 52 of weekly shonen jump, the first time he would actually get published.
Shaun:Wonder Island huh, yay, yay. Wonder Island is a story that centers around a kamikaze pilot who crashes into the Pacific Ocean and wakes up to find himself on a Strange island. In an effort to get off the island and return home, he adventures with a caveman and his fairy friend and learns to hang light from a gorilla and other weird wacky hijinks. And this is the first time he ever gets printed and fans rush to the polls to vote it dead last in those stories of the week. And Toriyama gets no money because he came in last. Remember that. Up to a thousand dollars.
Shaun:Mm-hmm up to involves zero in some cases.
Nate:Especially how the you know ended by. He finally made it home where they're like yeah, you're home. Now get back on that plane and blow up. Yeah.
Shaun:Right, that's actually was kind of the plot of Godzilla minus zero to a point, yeah, okay. Toriyama again refused to lose and, over said, submitted several more stories over the next year, including Wonder Island 2, and Actually Wonder Island 2 did have a dirty Harry Godzilla C through Pio and Ultraman parodies in it. That also failed to get printed. And he kept on submitting stories over and over again. Toriyama says during this time he wrote around 500 pages of stories and sent them in and none of them clicked. However, during this entire time of submitting all these stories, editor Toriyama had still been in contact with Toriyama, giving him pointers, telling him what he could do next, being like hey, I want to encourage and watch you grow. And at some point Toriyama told editor Toriyama about his next project, a comic called dr Slump, which was gonna be a gag manga about a scientist and his robots going on adventures. Editor Toriyama liked the idea, but he had one suggestion for Toriyama. He wanted Toriyama to make the doctor less of the main character and have like a wacky girl is like the main character, cuz he thought that would go over with fans a little bit better. Toriyama was very unrecepted through this idea. It's like nope, don't want to do it. I'm stubborn. But editor Toriyama gave him a proposal do a one-shot manga with a woman as main character and we will print it and see how it does. If this manga is voted in the top three, you change that main character to be a girl in dr Slump. If it comes in fourth or lower, you can keep doing your idea the way you want to. Toriyama agreed, and this mini comic to test out the idea we have is called 1979's tomato girl detective. 1979's part, not part of the title, that's what year this is released tomato girl Tomato. Yeah, okay, it's a man. It's a? Yeah, okay, all right, whatever, it's a man. Go about a clumsy but well-meaning girl detective who seems un Incompetent right up until the end, when she is competent enough to save the day. You know those kind of stories like, ooh, look, she's so, you know wacky, and blah, blah, blah, and then the end is like, oh, look, she knew what she was doing all along. Anyways, the readers voted on, did she though? I don't know, I didn't actually read the story. The readers voted on it and it came in third place. So editor Torishimo's right and said Haha, now you get to change it over. And Toriyama said Alright, fine, I'll do that. But in one act of stubbornness, toriyama demanded to keep the name Dr Slump. So Dr Slump gets released and this series would be the big hit that would start Toriyama's path to superstardom.
Shaun:This series would run from 1980 through 1984. It takes place in Penguin Village and follows the adventures of a young girl robot named Areli Norimaki and her creator, senbei Norimaki, as they go on adventures and deal with the nefarious deeds of the dastardly Dr Masahiro Mash Mash Mashirito, mashirito. There we go. Where's the slump from? Where's the slump from? Where's the slump come from? You know, I looked repeatedly and I could not find any instance of why it's called Dr Slump. Even, yeah, the main character is Dr Senbei Norimaka and I saw him kind of referred to as Dr Slump, I think, in some of the synopsis. But yeah, I don't really know, man, I cannot. Yeah, I looked several times and it was just like, hey, dr Slump, and so I'd be like Dr Slump's the character in this. But then every time I'd like click on links to that, it'd take me to a Senbei Norimaki.
Nate:Well, it's that also. Like look man, this is not about Dr Slump. Like I got this information on this, move on, yeah this is true.
Shaun:So yeah, originally Senbei the doctor was supposed to be the main character but they made Arali the main character and apparently that was a genius move because Japan absolutely loved her and she was a merchandising goldmine back in the day and still kind of is. And well, maybe you wouldn't hate, but if you're an old school anime guy, if you Google her name you might actually recognize her. She was like a little robot girl. She's wearing overalls and she's got a hat on with little baseball hat on with little wings on the side. She's also known to kind of do that. She was one of the early anime characters who do like a little Naruto airplane run thing. What a dumb way to run. Uh, do you know why they run like that? It's an old school ninja trick and it's you're supposed to let your arms kind of hang limp at your sides and just sort of flop there in the wind, because it saves energy and you don't burn as many calories as you do pumping your arms.
Nate:Well, look at that. There's a live action on this one too.
Shaun:Yep, there is Well actually getting to that in just a moment. Wait, oh, there you go. So, anyways, she was a huge hit. In fact, actually we'll get to that right now. There is even a live action section. Uh, part of a movie with, uh, with a rally in it, and uh, are you seeing the one where it's like her in a mascot kind of suit? Was it one of?
Nate:those clicks or no. I mean, I'm looking at um CC.
Shaun:Okay, well, anyways, in the early 80s there was a Jackie Chan movie that uh has Samo hung in. Jackie Chan in Jackie Chan actually gets to play a rally in a moment of it. Jackie Chan also a huge fan of a rally, norimaki. But yeah, in the movie Jackie Chan dresses up like a big mascot outfit and takes a sword and sword fights a bunch of dudes dressed as her it's. It's kind of cool actually.
Nate:Okay, I see it. It's kind of creepy.
Shaun:Ha, well that creepy, creepy uh a rally goes around massacring people with the sword. Good times Again. Creepy Fun fact about the Dr Slump uh manga. This uh manga had a character named Poop Boy, which was a sentient poop created by Dr Norimaki while on the road with no toilet. This poo had a mouth and eyes and could talk and interact with people, and apparently it is the inspiration for the modern poo emoji. When Google came out the modern poo emoji with eyes and a mouth, they uh credited this anime to being the uh source of it. Yes, google Dr Slump Poop Boy and you will see what I mean. It literally just looks like a poop emoji.
Nate:I definitely have Dr Slump in front of that.
Shaun:Yeah.
Nate:But it's taking my sanity.
Shaun:Ha. So Dr Slump is also the first appearance of Robot Toriyama Since uh well this is going to be one of those things that just bugs you. I mean, is it the fact that the poop is pink and human poop is in pink, or is the fact that the uh Google emoji poop is in pink?
Nate:No, I mean, I'm fine with the Google emoji not being pink. It'd be ridiculous.
Shaun:But yeah, okay.
Nate:Yeah, I mean it's. I can see why they ripped this guy off. I mean it's pretty iconic.
Shaun:Just the fact he's pink makes you angry, though.
Nate:Well, just makes it too close to the officer ice cream. He doesn't eat ice cream.
Shaun:So Dr Slump is also the first appearance of Robot Toriyama Since uh Toriyama was an overall shy guy. He used an animated avatar of himself in every situation that he could, like interviews or to show up in the uh, the mangas and uh, you've probably seen before. It's a cute little robot dude looking thing, that kind of looks like he's wearing a gas mask, sort of kind of Just Google Robot Toriyama, and you'll find it. He's also known as Robot Toriyama or Robotomyama, I don't know. I saw a few different terms for him and there's another fun fact actually about that. So the bad guy, Dr Masherito, there we go. Masherito, his name is an anagram for uh Editor Torishima and apparently that's who uh the character is actually modeled after is Editor Torishima, and the reason for this is Toriyama submitted the look for the villain originally and Editor Torishima said this bad guy needs to look more sinister and he instructed Toriyama to model the character after the man you hate the most.
Shaun:Then all of a sudden in the mail, editor Torishima gets a letter from Toriyama, basically with the new character design, and it looks just like Torishima. That's awesome. I was like, yes, do that, yeah, um, and I think the whole thing was in good fun, but every interview I saw where they talk about it, there was no like laughing or ha ha ha. That made me laugh. It was just like, yes, I told the send in some picture of the person he hates the most and he sent in a picture of me. So, uh, he might have actually hated the man at the time, because there is what Seemura like an early comics doodle of Toriyama about his equipment he's using, and one of them is like a picture of a pack of smokes and it's like cigarettes to prevent irritation from the editors.
Nate:Ha, ha ha.
Shaun:Yeah, being mad at the editors a tale is oldest time itself, I'm sure.
Nate:Oh yeah, I put my heart and soul into this. And you think it's crap? Well, f you, buddy.
Shaun:Yeah. So not only was it serious hot, but the girl robot, she was massive too. I mean, she was really big in Japan. We're talking like almost Goku levels of big, and she is actually still big. In fact, she was so big that, uh, during the run of this series, uh Toriyama's made a multi-millionaire out of the deal. By the end of the run he was worth five million dollars just from this series alone, apparently. And uh, here's another fun fact too. So in 1996, shigeru Miyamoto, when discussing Mario's center of gravity and how Mario ran in Super Mario 64, he refers to his sort of runs like a rally-chan with the correct sense of weight and body. So basically that translates to Mario runs like a robotic child, which kind of makes sense too, because uh, mario does kind of do that. Uh, ninja, run to a little bit with his little arms at the side when you run fast.
Nate:Well, at least not like behind him it's like to the side.
Shaun:Well, that's because Mario's fat and you can't run fast enough that his arms flap behind him. I can't believe your body shaming Ha, only because it's Mario. So at the end of 1980, the weekly Shonen Jump Raiders were asked to name their favorite authors and Akira Toriyama was named the top 10 for the time of uh, for the first time in his career. Uh, so this actually kind of this voting him as their favorite, I mean, it was a great honor, but also it kind of sucked for Akira Toriyama because in order, because since he won this contest, he had to submit a 40 to 50 page story to uh for the readers, because he won this award, because that we got the comics uh known as Pola and Royd, of course, named after the Polaroid camera.
Nate:So he won the opportunity to make a 50 page story.
Shaun:Yes, exactly, they're like hey, we know you're really busy, but our readers voted you their favorite and, as a quote unquote honor, you get to write a 50 page story. You didn't know you're going to have to enjoy, right, yeah, yeah, this would actually have happened to him a couple more times too, and from the story's array it kind of sound like it was more of a burden than a great thing to have done. Everyone was like, hey, I'm honored, yeah, but stop heaping all this extra work on me. I don't like it Seriously, man, stop it. Yeah, yeah, it's like flattered, but for love of God, one thing, that uh, the Pola and Royd man get did win him, though, because. Or one thing, the winning that contest uh the readers poll contest did get him. It did win him free trip to Switzerland. So I guess that might be kind of cool. Unless you hate Switzerland or the Swiss, then probably not such great gift.
Nate:Why not Free?
Shaun:to switch.
Nate:Free to switch. I mean yeah, yeah, I mean I'm switching. It's supposed to be really beautiful. Of course it gets really cold, but still.
Shaun:Yeah, and also once again, if you hate Swiss people right, I mean who hates Swiss people?
Nate:I'm sure Normans, but still yeah.
Shaun:Like two thing I hate people are intolerant of other people's culture. In the Swiss Right 1981, dr Slump Wood earned Toriyama the uh Shogakuken Manga Award for best manga series of the year. Yay for him, which apparently is a pretty big award. 1982 he marries manga artist Nara Mikami, and those two will wind up having two children, one with a son named Sasuke and then a daughter whose name I forgot to write down. Yeah, they were actually mentioned in uh. If you get the best ending in a chrono trigger, they're actually mentioned at the end. You can run into a curatoriyama in one of the like studio rooms and they're like hi, I need to list his kids' names. He's like dad's just working on some stuff right now. I'll be home soon, something like that Cute little least rig. It's hard to get that ending, though, because you got to beat the last boss at the very beginning of the game. Oh, for real. Yeah, it takes some effort, or you just got to do new game plus a couple of times and it's really easy.
Nate:Yeah, man, I couldn't. I couldn't do it. I tried, I really did. I tried to beat the game. I've never beaten. I've only been the game once and it was with my main character dead.
Shaun:Chrono trigger.
Nate:Yep, you know he dies. He's just getting back and there's just like this stupid um throwing game. You're supposed to hit a sheep. I could never get the timing right and I think it was because I think I was playing on my. What was I playing on? I think I was playing on my, let's say, ds or 3DS, I don't know. I was playing on something and I could not Get the timing right.
Shaun:So, finally, just like throwing game, huh.
Nate:What she's throwing game, huh? Well, yeah, when she came out, you to throw a ball at him, did you?
Shaun:ever play that right.
Nate:Well, you had to get the doll, to get him back.
Shaun:Oh, okay, yeah, I've probably played Crone trick more than you ever have.
Nate:Right, seriously, I'll pay the time through. It's like you know, he dies.
Shaun:Also keep mine.
Nate:Last time I played it was 1994, so oh there you go, yeah, yeah, you're supposed to bring it back. I can never die.
Shaun:I remember doll, I just don't remember throwing stuff at sheep.
Nate:Mm-hmm, of course. Maybe, it's very beginning of game. It was, it was the fair yeah oh, you go in there, you play that game, you get a doll and then you use that doll to bring him back. But I could never beat that stupid game, so he just stayed dead.
Shaun:Gotcha.
Nate:Huh, in the next game I try to do it again. I just couldn't. I mean, I was just fine. I said, you know what? I guess he's just staying dead. Yeah.
Shaun:Look it up and see what the try to remember that throwing game, because I remember being like relatively easy or automatic or something Like that, because you got like a minimum a copy, because Well, also, you played the remake too, so right with all the added stuff and added cutscenes. Mine was like the bare bones original version no cutscenes or nothing.
Nate:Yeah, on this mess.
Shaun:Yep, on the Super Nintendo. I've probably, I think I beat that game eight or nine times because I got all like eight or nine endings.
Shaun:Not all of them were super different. Yeah, some of them were just slightly different, like a little bit of text different at the end, but yeah, or a character's not there at the Ending, so not all of them were like super different. But anyways, it's not so much a testament to how good of a gamer I am, it's just more of a testament to how lonely of a child I was. So Dr Slump series is smash hit and people love it. Like I said, it goes on for four years and this series also made Toriyama millionaire. However, just six months into this four-year run, toriyama is tired of the story and he wants to move on. But since dr Slump is so wildly popular, the powers of be told Toriyama that the only way he could end dr Slump as if he had another million dollar idea in the wings for them. So boy.
Shaun:Yeah, yeah, this took some time, though, and Eventually, editor, she must said hey, you want to move on? Well, I've got an idea for you. Look, you're a huge Jackie Chan fan, right? Toriyama said, yes, yeah, he was even playing a rally. And he's like yeah, yeah, shut up. Anyways, I say you do a kung fu manga. And Toriyama thought for a man is a kung fu manga, huh, hmm? And he said no, I really don't want to. I want to be a gag manga writer. No kung fu mangos for me.
Shaun:However, after after some pondering and thinking, and probably an introspective walk on the beach while dust in the wind plays in the background, toriyama does have a change of heart. But before he goes all in on his long-running manga series that he would be known for, he decides to dip his toes into the action comics water with a Short series that would be 1983's Dragon Boy. So if you look up Dragon Boy and you're gonna see a young Goku, no doubt about it. The story is two issues, 45 pages, and follows Dragon Boy and his quest to return Princess of the flower kingdom to her hometown, or home kingdom. Yeah, if you look at it, she can really tell us a prototype for early Dragon Ball. It even has a Dragon Ball in it that summons a dragon.
Nate:Yeah, well, there's even a.
Shaun:Dragon Ball in it and also summons your dragon. Yeah, but only one Dragon Ball. Much easier to collect them all. This time, right, just the one. Right after this, toriyama also releases another mini series, the adventures of Tong Poo. This one is more modern style adventure with you know the hover cars and guns and the capsule machines and modern buildings and modern life, like you get in Dragon Ball and basically Think Dragon Ball is the old-school whimsical fantasy and Tong Poo is the modern-day sci-fi Fantasy. Smoosh them together and you literally have Dragon Ball.
Shaun:Okay yeah, one of those basically old-school, one of those new school just jam them together and boom, dragon Ball Melting together. And also, every time I saw the name Tong Poo, I all I could think of is the movie title to Tong Poo. Thanks for everything, julie Neumar.
Shaun:Yeah yeah 30 year old reference, yeah, I know, but still, once you hear it you can't unhear it. Once you see Tong Poo also Tong Poo is just kind of fun to say so Yep, tong Poo and Dragon Boy are all done, and you can probably guess what's up next for Toriyama and the main thing he's known for Dragon Ball. Yes, yay, the manga that changed it all, the manga that actually run from 1984 to 1995 over in 500 night, or, excuse me, with 519 individual chapters that totaled over 9,000 pages, and it has sold 260 million copies all together, according to the studio. This whimsical Series follows young Sun Goku on all sorts of adventures and the overall story is kind of inspired by the Chinese tale Journey to the West. And also, it should be noted too that in the manga there is no Dragon Ball Z, just Dragon Ball. There's a reason for that too, but in case you didn't know, there's no.
Nate:Dragon Ball Z. Dragon Ball Z was a continuation.
Shaun:Yeah, no, I mean in the comics there's literally no manga Dragon Ball Z period. Oh, for real? Yep, the Dragon Ball Z is strictly an anime thing, and we'll talk about that. Why, then, a little bit, did you ever read any of the Dragon Ball manga?
Nate:Not really.
Shaun:Yeah, neither of I, really. To be honest, I assume the cartoon is close enough as it is.
Nate:Yeah, I mean, I think I picked one up here and then, like I'm walking through Go bookstore and I'll pick it up, okay, but yeah, I didn't. I'm not like I'm reading this manga.
Shaun:Yeah, and then halfway through you're like this doesn't make any sense. And then you realize you're reading it backwards because they do manga thing. You know what I'm talking about. You're right. I do know you're talking about.
Nate:Yeah, yeah, I did that the front, of course, I did the first time a diva. Now I read so much manga now. I mean that I primarily remember it actually is problematic because I'll look at, I'll look at a great regular comic book and I'm like this doesn't make any sense. Oh, I'm reading backwards.
Shaun:Right, I've done that before, I still do it, every once in a great blue moon. But after half a second my brain just like oh yeah, 1986 and Enix, japan is starting new series, dragon Quest, and he needs someone to do the art and character designs for it. Editor Torashima gets on the Hornetails. Enix that Toriyama would be perfect for this, and Despite the fact Toriyama had no idea what a role-playing game was, he agreed to do the job and Perfect for he would be, because role-playing games would never be the same. Dragon Quest, arguably more popular and more influential than Final Fantasy, at least early on. Nowadays, yeah, I don't know, but early on it was definitely bigger than Final Fantasy. Oh yeah, like I mean. Yeah, dragon Quest 2 is my first RPG game actually to rent it with from a video store. And also, too, there was a Dragon Quest law that almost went into effect to where they couldn't release Dragon Quest on a week Day or on a work.
Shaun:I heard about that, yeah, apparently it wasn't that close to becoming law, because you need was like fine, we'll move it to all the Saturdays and stuff, and they are great games. Oh I, thoroughly enjoying them.
Nate:Oh I carry a toy I'm gonna go on to really are good games. I See I only beat one Like nine, I think, didn't you? Yeah, it was the one for the Pia, like it was one came off the phone. That's how, that's why I beat it. It's cuz on my phone.
Shaun:Yeah, I think it's originally from the ps2 as well, or ps3 Maybe it was.
Nate:It was yes too.
Shaun:It was a really good game though. I thoroughly enjoyed that one. I really did. It was a really good game. Yeah, they're all actually pretty good in their own ways, especially some of the early NES ones too, because you know they're kind of ahead of the curve on things you could do, like multi-character stories and this that you know Storylines and bounce around between different characters and eventually like tidy itself up in the end and tight stuff together Need a little bow. So the way the drag quest games work out, was the writer for Yuji Hori first would send rough sketches of the characters with their background information to Toriyama, who had redraw them and Fine-tune them and hone them into what you'd finally see and send them back to Yuji Hori, who had approved the finish work.
Shaun:In 2016 interview, toriyama revealed that because of the drag quest series was basically stuck in the medieval kind of times.
Shaun:He said that that limited his artistic options and it made every iteration of that game harder to design over and over again, because, yeah, you know you can't really go, so go sci-fi kind of with the guys, because you know it is stuck in old-school swords kind of eras. And it is kind of understandable too, because then I kind of say this is a general thing too. Then I mean this is the most loving way possible. But Toriyama kind of suffers for like I don't know, like Simpson syndrome, where that man has designed so Many characters over the years. Eventually they kind of all look alike in a way like you could play it like six degrees of Kevin Bacon with any of his characters and be like so and so, looks like so and so, who looks like so and so who looks just like blah, blah, blah. Yeah, and that's not knock on his town, that's more of just a slight on how many characters he's had to design over the years and that's got to be hard.
Nate:Especially what his specific art style is. Almost so many things you do.
Shaun:Yeah, I know, yeah, cuz it does it's. I mean, he does. His style does improve and branch out over time, but not a whole lot. Really, one of the things that who would Design for Dragon Quest would be one the most iconic Video game characters of all time. The Dragon Quest slime not quite as huge in America's is Japan, but it's still pretty big over here because you know, you see the slime, you're like, hey, that's cute and adorable.
Nate:He's probably enough. I mean, I I've definitely taken him and used him for my needs, yeah.
Shaun:I've got stickers on my car cuz my car kind of looks like a little blue slime yeah, and if you think about Dragon Quest, slime is kind of just a smooth, that poo emoji, hmm, oh yeah, I guess I think about that. Yeah, yeah, I knew that I really so.
Nate:So when a?
Shaun:slime gets old and wrinkly, they become a poo emoji. Oh, I like that. That sounds like we could make a Pixar movie out of that. Now not Pixar, that's too nice. Dreamworks movie out of it Now, that's still too nice. Let's do like a Fox Studios movie, yeah.
Nate:Fox Studios presents. Yeah, that's why.
Shaun:Fox Studios presents a smooth poo. It's like the ladies man with a poo emoji, hey ladies. Anyways, I gotta say the Tory up, his monster designs are also really good. In the Dragon Quest series they got some really cool-looking monsters. The point I was actually like legitimately excited, some games be like I'm going to a new continent. Look, there's gonna be new monsters to see. Yay, yeah, also doing this research I learned there's actually a Dragon Quest anime that was in that came out 1989, that he did have designed characters for. Never knew it existed, didn't bother to look it up and see how it was. Maybe I'll do that later. Yeah, well, screw you guys.
Shaun:Also in the Dragon Quest games there's a running gag about the puff puff. Where I don't, usually girls are dragging it back room, it'll go puff, puff, puff, puff over again wherever a blank screen simulating stuff. Probably you've seen that in the one game you played. Probably, I'd assume, maybe not anyways. Yeah, puff, puff start out like Dragon Quest 2 or something like that. You go talk to some bunny girl. She's like would you like a free puff puff? And you're like yes or no. And if you pick yes, the screen like goes black. All of a sudden she goes puff, puff, puff, puff, puff, giggle, puff, puff, and then the screen like fades back and it's like you've been puff puff, did you like it?
Nate:I beg the room. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was like okay.
Shaun:Yeah, like I hope this is going somewhere, sean, but yeah, that whole thing apparently that is a gag that started in dr Slump and it made in Dragon Balls drag quest games is a nod to Toriyama. And speaking of Toriyama, specialty character design If you want to know his process for coming up with characters, it is thusly First he comes up with a concept idea for a character. Two, then he comes up with a personality for them Three. Then he just starts drawing heads heads alone, until he comes up with a head that matches the personality that he likes. Then he designs the rest of the body around the head and then, finally, he does all the coloring and he needs a little extra details of Flair that he needs on it.
Shaun:And as far as coming up with the ideas himself, he usually takes inspiration from things that happens in life. A good example of this is, uh, at one point, his kids were really into a TV genre known as Sentai Heroes, which is where a group of people, uh, you know, transform from, transform from everyday Joes into superheroes to go fight bad guys, power Rangers being the most obvious example of this. Well, his kids were huge into that and they were watching one of these and Toriyama just walked in there and he was watching them for a minute, watching this, and goes. You know, it'd be pretty fun to make a bad guy version of this, and thus the Ginyu Force was born. Or another example he got a pet Cornish Rex cat and he loved the look of it and he kind of liked the aloof personality this cat had. And boom, dragon Ball God Cat, god Beerus, was designed after that cat. So yeah, basically something happens in his life and he's like huh, I might be able to design a character after that. So there's some advice if you ever hit a block, just be like hey, here's an event that happened, I could make a character out of it. Maybe you know walking down the street and there's a homeless person like whizzing on the wall, be like pfft, there's Sir P's a lot, or Brick P Engton or something.
Shaun:And also as far as character design, toriyama has some advice for you. If you're just doing a one-time character drawing, like he would do for Dragon Quest and the such, feel free to go nuts with the detail. Make them, as you know, exotic and fancy looking as you want, all sorts of like little spots and horns and this and that on them. However, if it's a character you're going to be drawing over and over again, say for a manga, you want to keep it simple, because if you make it too detailed, you're going to hate drawing that character over and over and over again.
Shaun:Toriyama uses the example of Cell from Dragon Ball for that. Uh, the Cell characters has a bunch of cool looking spots all over him in his transformations. Uh, akira's like. I like the look at first. By the end of it, I absolutely hated drawing those spots. He hated it with a passion. Yeah, you see where he's going with that. Though he made each spot. Yeah, he, honestly, the way this man sounds, he probably did. And now I am making you Chester P Spottington. I hate you most of all. Happy you divorced your wife. Yeah, uh, it sounds like something I would do actually. And now I'm going to give you a fun. Toriyama quote An interviewer asked him do you take notes? Toriyama responded no, I don't do that. That's why I keep forgetting things, and if I don't forget stuff, new ideas won't come to mind. I kind of feel that. Yeah, yep, so 1986 and we are 63 chapters into the Dragon Ball manga series and Dragon Ball the anime starts up. You don't know how much about the original Dragon Ball anime do you?
Nate:Not much.
Shaun:I watched a bunch of it and honestly, I really liked it. It's less actiony but it's more whimsical fun. Hey look, we're going to come across a giant angry pig man and have to fight him or outsmart him or this of that. I liked it. It has simplicity and, you know, more jokes in it, more perverse pig discussions and stuff like that. Heh yeah. So how much did Kiritoriama have to do with the Dragon Ball anime?
Shaun:Hmm not a ton really. He helped pick the voice actors, he did some design notes, he did, like you know, some of the world designs for stuff and, yeah, nothing. A whole lot to report for the actual Dragon Ball manga. It is a huge hit in Japan and 1989, though that's when Dragon Ball Z finally arrives and, like I said earlier, that's the one that probably 85% of everybody says is their first anime they've ever seen Including you, nate, not me, though. Not me, I'm better than all of you. That honor goes to 1984's Robotech, for me Saw a couple of episodes of we Won, loved it, and then never, ever saw it again because I don't know, it just wasn't on that channel anymore. That was a bummer.
Nate:Yeah, it's actually the first time I watched. It was on TV for some reason. I remember it like just being on and I was like what is this Cartoon Network?
Shaun:That was pretty cool. Yeah, that moved on.
Nate:And then, yeah, then I after that, the first anime I actually like, sat down my buddy was like, hey, you should watch this, really cool, with some kind of like the demon city, something where you know ended up the giant monster with nine long laser shooting penises Not the city. So yeah, it was. It was definitely like I don't know if I like anime. But then I started working for Mr Gatties out here it's a pizza place and they have in their cartoon room they play, start playing Dragon Ball. And I was like, okay, I'll see, and it was. That was when it was from adults. No, it's adults, and it was a man. Was the anime block on Cartoon Network to Nami? Yep, they played to Nami. And then I was like, oh man, it's pretty awesome. And then I started buying the VHS and then I got all the VHS up to sell saga.
Shaun:And one thing the one thing, too, that this anime does so good is it leaves you on a cliffhanger that makes you have to watch the next episode.
Nate:Well, it does but it doesn't because of a God like, especially when you're watching the VHS, like this time on Dragon Ball. Last time all this happened great, and they played the episode and they stand around growling at each other for a long time.
Shaun:Oh yeah, well, it depends on all in which episodes you're watching, because, yeah, there are some times they could definitely cut out some things. Oh my God. Hey look, I'm going to build up this spirit bomb for eight episodes? Yeah. I think, it's going to be a whole lot of flashbacks, with Goku just standing over the heads above his head, hands above his head, going to the next time.
Nate:on Dragon Ball Z, they show you a clip and then they again on the VHS. So the next episode last time on Dragon Ball.
Shaun:Yeah right, I actually chose to make that joke to her. It's like last episode is like a 10 minute recap and like on this episode, another 10 minute preview. And then it's like and we're over, because, yeah, some of them really did feel like that. Also, I just think you had a pizza place that would have like a little kids cartoon room playing Dragon Ball Z. That must have been fun. Hey, come down to your pizza place, get your kid all excited and full of sugar, each soda, and put him in a room with a violent cartoon with other kids. Nothing bad could happen.
Nate:No, nothing.
Shaun:I just literally like is like his, like suplexing each other into the wall and stuff. And that's going to do it for part one of our series on Akira Toriyama. Stay tuned for the conclusion next week, where we discuss why the Z in Dragon Ball Z exists, why Toriyama wanted to cut off Goku's tail, akira Toriyama's work after Dragon Ball. We dispel a common Dragon Ball Z myth and we find out if Toriyama is a no good dirty crook. All this and more on next week's episode.