“Sand Land” Kanzenban (04 August 2023)

Ask Akira Toriyama: “Sand Land” Production Secrets

The legendary masterpiece Sand Land is packed with “Toriyama-isms” on full display, from demons, to mecha, to grumpy old men, with the author handling the art in its entirety all by himself.

We asked Akira Toriyama-sensei what he was thinking about at the time of the original serialization in 2000, what sort of beings the demons living alongside humans are, his feelings toward his work, the world of the Sand Land kingdom, and more.

Is there a reason why you positioned a demon as the main character in this work?

In my case, I feel like, If I’m going to be drawing a comic, there’s no point in making it realistic. And If I’m going to be making a story that isn’t based in reality, then naturally it isn’t any fun if the protagonist is an ordinary human. A demon — the sort of being where anything goes — is my go-to.

When you started production on this work, what was the very first thing you envisioned?

In a way, the idea that there are demons and demonic creatures in the desert doesn’t quite click. I deliberately wanted to draw that. I suppose it may also have been because having it be in a desert would make it a bit easier to draw backgrounds.

With regards to the setting of a world suffering from a drought, did you take any influence from the current events or zeitgeist of the time when it was originally serialized (the year 2000)?

I didn’t consider anything that was going on at the time. Even when I try to recall what specifically happened back then, I can’t quite put my finger on it. The reason for this setting is that, ever since way back, I’ve enjoyed the concept of a back-and-forth struggle taking place over a drought.¹

Looking back on yourself at the time, is there anything you are conscious of in terms of, “Maybe this is what I wanted to draw when I was making it?”

To put it simply, I guess I wanted to draw an old man, monsters, and militaria. The basic setting and elements probably didn’t change, featuring an old soldier and a demon teaming up right from the get-go. Apart from the monsters, it’s somewhat difficult material to work into a shōnen manga, but I wanted to try my hand at this sort of bleak world and story. It’s the sort of thing I’d been doing ever since Dragon Ball ended.

A PlayStation 6 appears alongside Dragon Quest XIII in this work²; at the time of serialization, about how far in the future, and with what sort of games, did you imagine it as?

To be honest, I wasn’t thinking about it in such concrete terms. It’s quite arbitrary. It’s supposed to be a world of a completely different sort from reality, including the time period, plus I’m not all that up on video games. Looking back, I really should have named them something completely fictional.

A question about the art: how do you feel now about your art back then?

I can’t draw like this anymore. I suppose I might be able to if I took the time, but I no longer have the energy to draw this much.

A variety of living things appear in between the panels; on what basis did you choose which ones to draw?

I don’t like it if the page gets dull, so I just find myself drawing living things. I don’t have any particular rhyme or reason behind it.

Are the character designs something you come up with after you’ve already completed the story?

I’ll do it in either order, but for Sand Land, I suppose I had probably decided on a rough idea of the story before sketching out the designs.

Do the completed designs come to mind as you sketch them out?

Generally, they’re finished to a certain extent in my mind’s eye, so once I’m satisfied with having gotten it close to that, it’s complete. Except, it’s often the case that even though I’ve drawn it as I imagined, there’s something “off” about it. Times like those, I’d revise the design until the feeling was right³, but in the case of a serial, there were times I’d settle for something that was “good enough” due to lack of time.

With Rao, Thief, and Zeu, there are quite a few characters with wrinkles here; is there a reason for that?

One of the themes is fates intertwined through past events, so it’s only natural that there should be multiple old men. The sense that an old man might be hiding some awesome past, or secret, or ability, I find fascinating in a character.

With regards to the characters, who is your favorite in this work?

It’s definitely got to be Beelzebub. Up to this point, I’d been single-minded drawing characters with strength exceeding that of ordinary people. That comes from my simple policy of, “If I’m going to be drawing a comic I might as well go with something fantastic,” but I feel like Beelzebub, including his mysterious aspects, has just the right strength.

With regards to Beelzebub, what sort of life does he lead, apart from what is shown in the main story?

I think he’s long since finished his education, and now spends his days patrolling the area around the demon village according to his whims. He also hears requests, helps out, and gives consultations. And, since he’s a prince, he’s also deeply trusted by the other demons.

Beelzebub is depicted as being able to read minds; when he first met Rao, what might he have picked up from him?

At the very least, I think he understood that Rao wasn’t lying about his true intentions, which is rare among humans.

Please tell us the purpose of the goggles that Beelzebub keeps on his person.

Basically, they’re to keep out sand and dust. Demon folk are nocturnal by nature, so they also use them in lieu of sunglasses when active during the daytime.

Dabra from Dragon Ball and Satan in this work⁴ are quite similar; what sort of mental image do you have of demons, Sensei?

I think there are all sorts of demons, but my personal image of the highest-ranking demon is definitely that of Dabra or Satan.

Please give us some pertinent examples of the capabilities of Satan or Beelzebub after he becomes an adult.

I suppose it’s got to be the power to end the world. Except they’d have to confer with God first. In terms of things Satan can do on his own, naturally it would be to eradicate humanity. His power is immense, and he could get it over with in an instant. However, it’s only ever been carried out once, in Satan’s grandfather’s generation, and it took an enormous amount of time for humans to rebuild civilization.

In what ways are humans and demons similar, and in what ways are they overwhelmingly different?

Long, long ago, God created almost all living things, but the Devil⁵ created demons and humanity. Humans, he created on a lark, modeling them on himself but greatly reducing their capabilities. He gave them a small amount of intelligence, deriving enjoyment from watching both their foolish behavior and their evolution. At some point, more and more humans surpassed demons in their capacity for wickedness, bringing more complaints from God and prompting the Demon King Satan to begin considering a second human extermination.

What was the thinking behind your selection of the demonic creatures that appeared in this work?

I was completely arbitrary in my selection of the demons. Although I called it the Demon Village, not many demons actually appear. I made it so that it remains unclear whether there are fewer of them than before, or there are more of them underground and such, or they’re in some other Land.

The Insect Man appears to have a will of its own; how was it created?

It’s the prototype for a next-generation soldier using insects, created in a weapons laboratory of the Sand Land Army.

Is there a reason why so many characters (Beelzebub, the Swimmers, the gang of bandits) wear form-fitting tights?

The only ones wearing form-fitting tights are the bandit gang. Beelzebub wears something akin to short leggings — they aren’t that form-fitting. The Swimmers just wear speedos.

Around how many villains such as the Swimmers or the bandit gang exist within the world of this work?

Limiting things to just the kingdom of Sand Land, let’s see… about 30, I suppose? I didn’t put that much thought into it.

Rao’s sorrows really strike a chord. If there is anything you can say to enlighten us about his lost three decades, please tell us.

It is difficult to imagine Rao’s heart of hearts when he learned the truth.

Thirty years ago, the tank battalion led by Shiba (Rao) received an order to attack the Picchi people’s facility from Generalissimo Zeu, based on information that they were building a powerful weapon. Because of the unforeseen large explosion created by the attack 30 years ago, Shiba had many of his comrades and even his wife taken from him, and he resigned from the army out of his sense of loss and of responsibility. His only solace was that he had put a stop to the attack by the Picchi before it could take place. But not only was that solace misplaced, the truth was that the Picchi were using Aquanium to create large amounts of water for everyone. And then there was Generalissimo Zeu’s lies.

What a terrible shock this all must have been for him….

A question about the mechanics — how did the design of the tank, which could be called the symbol of this work, come about?

Normally, a tank is made to be low to the ground, both so it’s less conspicuous and to make it harder to hit. However, once there was no more large-scale fighting, they focused more on making them imposing, raising the height and emphasizing their presence to the public. Additionally, they seem to have neglected defensive capability, placing large hatches on both sides and such. As you may have noticed, for some reason its motif is that of a penguin, the exact opposite of the desert setting.

Please tell us why Antigrav Stone is necessary for the tank. Also, how is Antigrav Stone obtained?

Antigrav Stone is a precious stone that can alter gravity by passing an electrical current through it. A tank with an increased height becomes heavier, and its center of gravity is also higher so it its balance isn’t that good either. Because of this, Antigrav Stone is installed in four locations to control this. Antigrav Stone is extracted from an underground mine in the west of Sand Land.

Please tell us what, if anything, you consider important when making a new mechanical design.

This is a bit hard to explain, but I try to imagine my own sort of balance in form, and once it seems like it’ll do, I get to work on the design.

Please tell us what your favorite scene is with respect to this work as a whole.

The two-page spread where they make a break for it after getting on board the tank, I suppose.⁶ After all, it’s like I wanted to draw this sort of courageous-yet-outlandish (uncool) scene so badly that I first set about making this into a proper story.

The following translator notes are included for the benefit of the reader as supplemental information.

¹ This here in Sand Land is actually the third time that Akira Toriyama revisted this concept, as previously seen in his unpublished one-shot Mysterious Rain Jack (c.1978), as well as the 1982 one-shot PINK: The Rain Jack Story (and its 1990 anime adaptation; it ran alongside an adaptation of Kennosuke-sama and the third Dragon Ball Z film at the Summer 1990 Toei Anime Fair.
² At the time of Sand Land‘s serialization in 2000, the mainline Dragon Quest series was hitting its seventh game on the original PlayStation that year. At the time of this kanzenban release in 2023, Dragon Quest XII had been formally announced (but still as-of-yet unreleased), with the current PlayStation system being the PlayStation 5 (though platforms had likewise yet to be revealed for the forthcoming game). While it hasn’t happened yet, we are miraculously somehow still on track for a theoretical Dragon Quest XIII to hit a theoretical PlayStation 6…! It’s worth noting that in the film and TV adaptation of Sand Land from 2023/2024, the direct names of “Dragon Quest” and “PlayStation” were removed from the spoken dialogue.
³ See, for instance, the page of Demon King Satan himself that Toriyama re-drew from scratch after he’d already inked it.
⁴ サタン (Satan) here in Sand Land is called “Lucifer” in the official English version released by Viz.
⁵ Toriyama uses the word 悪魔 (akuma) here, which is also applied to Beelzebub (the “Demon Prince”) and Satan (the “Demon King”), in contrast to the more general 魔物 (mamono) for demons more broadly. However, it’s not clear that Satan is meant to be the Devil himself (apart from the name…).
⁶ In chapter 3, pp.58-59 in the kanzenban.

English Translation: SaiyaJedi

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