Toriyama-san’s Dragon Ball Ask-Me-Anything Corner

Why thank you, thank you. Your saying so makes me very happy, as well. I shall do my utmost.

My, my, thank you once again. By the way, I’m fine about Jump one way or the other, so please tell them to buy the Comics [i.e., the tankōbon] as much as possible.

When I was young, I too was chased by a dog. But dogs seem to have this trait where, if you run away from them, they want to chase you even more, so next time you see those dogs, I think it would be better if you walk calmly and slowly past them. If you make friends with dogs, they can be really cute! (This really had nothing to do with Dragon Ball…)

Akira Toriyama:
Oh, Kame-Sen’nin-san, it seems you have a fan.

Kame-Sen’nin:
Of course I do. There are no martial-artists who can do me one better, after all. But Taisuke Fujiwara…! What, a man?! I’d be much happier with gals! Gals across the nation, send me your fan-letters!

It’s out right now. Go buy volume 2, as well.

01 — It takes me about five days to think up the story and draw it all.
02 — I draw the backgrounds if it’s the first time they show up, otherwise it’s mostly my assistant-san who draws them all. If there are lots of backgrounds to draw then I’ll also help draw some of it.
03 — I have one assistant named Matsuyama-kun. If things get really busy his wife also helps out.
04 — He commutes. He doesn’t have to draw every day. In one week he will usually only work two days, and that’s enough.

Fantastic!! You’re remarkable!! That’s great, but it sounds like a lot of trouble…

Yes!!!

It is done. Isn’t it great, the incredible power of the Dragon Balls!!? (By the way, this won’t work for any other postcards sent in like this)

Th… thank you very much. Uh… Umm~, “Dr. Slump” ended with volume 18… No matter how long you wait, even if you become an old man, volume 19 won’t be coming out…

Fantastic!! You’re also remarkable!! I’m sure you’ll grow up to be a magnificent woman!!

Thank you very much! I hope more girls like you are also enjoying it.

Gah!! You’re sharp!! You are correct!! I just put some sunglasses on God. I really liked that guy, so I wanted to use him again in “Dragon Ball”.

01 — I was so-so.
02 — Yes!
03 — I own one, but it sometimes distracts me from work which is pretty bad so I don’t play too often. However, I’m really good at it.
04 — Right, understood. Thank you.

Unfortunately, Volume 2 of “Fill-in-the-Blank Theatre” is about 45 pages short from being completed. There are currently no plans to release it, but it may come out once I finish the remaining 45 pages.

Thanks.

You really have to continue supporting me until you die! (A lot of people give up halfway…)

You’re a bad kid! You’re making money and I’m not getting anything!!

Hmm~, if you like it that much, it makes me really happy as well.

That’s a very intriguing idea, but unfortunately it’s too late for this tournament. The final match has already been set as Son Goku vs Jackie Chun. But I think if there ever was a Goku vs Kuririn match, Goku would win overwhelmingly.

Wonderful! I hereby grant you a first dan black belt in the Toriyama School of Shorinji Kempo [Shaolin kung fu]. You are my greatest student! Please continue to support my work.

W-Well… if you put it that way… yes. Oops… I made a mistake. Sorry, I apologize. You’re also very smart to realize that I got the name “Pu’er” from the name of the Chinese tea.

Occasionally I do have a day of free time. I usually end up sleeping late and when I wake up I may go to the supermarket with my wife, or work on a plastic model, or watch TV, or… I pretty much just putter away the day.

Huh…? W-What are you talking about? I assume that you didn’t write this letter while you were drowning… U-Uh… please continue to support my work.

It’s true, in the beginning I set out to create a modern day Saiyuki. But soon it became difficult to remain true to the original, so I started ignoring it. So even though they have the same name, please consider my Son Goku and the monkey king Son Goku to be two different characters. However, I did get the Gyūmaō story from Saiyuki. Good luck on your entrance exams!

Umm… I’m sorry, Naoki. Kinnikuman is drawn by a person named Yudetamago… If you’d like, please take a look at Dragon Ball. Ha ha… ha…

Hmm… maybe for ten volumes or so. I think I’d like to make it short and sweet. But then again, there are lots of things I want to include in the story so I don’t really know.

Wow! This technique is most certainly impressive. I may be able to use it in the manga. Thank you for your assistance!

Thank you. You’ve complimented me so much I’m a bit embarrassed. Please keep up the hard work on drawing your own manga.

Surprisingly, there are a great number of girls that say they like Bulma. Perhaps it’s because her personality is a bit like a boy’s. Personally, I don’t really like harsh, selfish girls like Bulma.

Thank you. So, your daughter looks exactly like Kuririn… I don’t know how to respond to that. But I’m sure your daughter is very cute. By the way, does she have a nose?

You’re right! The spines with the drawings of the dragon and the Dragon Balls will end after the seventh volume. I am wondering myself what to do from the eighth volume on.

Actually, Pu’er is neither a cat nor a mouse, but I draw him a little bit like a cat.

This is a great stamp! I imagine it took quite a lot of work. I am really impressed. I look forward to seeing your dragon cards, please send me one when you’re finished.

Ha ha ha! You think so? You’re right! I do look good! You’re a great guy! Unfortunately, I just can’t get too excited about a guy complimenting me like this…

Ah! You noticed it! The marks on Kuririn’s forehead are incense burns. Sometimes you see these scars on Chinese monks in the movies. I thought I should add them because Kuririn’s face is so plain.

I think it’s a great thing to be an animal lover, although if you are going to have pets you should be responsible for them. In my household we have a bird, a cat, and a dog. Actually, if I could, I would love to also have a goat and a chicken.

Asataro, thank you for all the hard work you put into writing a letter to me. How can you become one of Goku’s friends…? Hmm… Uh… Maybe your mother should explain this to you. (I guess I weaseled out of answering the question…)

Because of all the fan support, it looks like I will not be able to end the series at Volume 10. I am having such a great time doing this manga that I think it will last for more than 13 volumes.

Right now in Jump, at the Tenka’ichi Budokai 3 years after the previous one, Kuririn is playing a considerably active role! However, people who do not read Jump will have to wait until it is made into a Comic, so please look forward to buying it.

My apologies. This was a mistake. When the anime came out they asked me to name Pilaf’s two underlings. I had completely forgotten that I had already named one of them “Soba”. So I told the anime people to call him “Shuu”. When I realized my mistake it was too late, the show had already aired and his name was “Shuu”. So I then decided to change his name to “Shuu” to be like the anime.

Dragon Quest 2 is really cool, isn’t it?! I designed the characters for that game. They’re really cool, aren’t they? Well, anyway, I try to work hard and get really involved in what I’m doing. But working too hard is not a good thing, so I also try to take it easy.

I also used to write Kuririn so that he was just some weird minor character who appeared in the story, but now he’s matured to become an indispensable member of the cast. I’m really surprised at how many fans he has now! It’s the same with Kame-Sen’nin, the Turtle Hermit; when I originally created him, I just intended him to be some crazy old pervert. (So now you know how whimsical I was when I created Dragon Ball.)

Even as a professional manga artist, I still sometimes can’t draw things exactly how I imagine them. I guess the only thing you can do is draw a lot and keep studying the art of drawing. And the real reason I don’t use screentone very much is because it’s a lot of work.

I have to spend quite a bit of effort to come up with the stories and the personalities of the characters. Sometimes I have to think about it so hard that I get a headache. At times like this, when I can’t come up with any ideas, I just go to sleep or I go do something else. If the ideas aren’t coming it’s important to take a break to get a new perspective.

Hmm… I don’t know about that character, but the “Alo-ha” attack is so silly, I just might be able to use it.

Thank you for your words of support. Currently, I am drawing about 15 pages a week and I think that’s my maximum limit. If I increased my output, I might stop enjoying the process of creating manga. If I really push it I can do about 19 pages, but I’d rather have some time to relax and draw the manga. Actually, I think it would be great if I could do about 13 pages… Well anyway, I hope you will be satisfied with 15 pages a week.

Thank you very much. I recently did a one-shot story for Shōnen Jump so I was very very busy. And even though we were all in the same house, I hardly had any time to be with Sasuke. When I was awake, I would be asleep or be busy working. Well, this continued for so long, I think Sasuke forgot his own father’s face! I went up to him and made a funny face and he started crying! So now I am careful to show him my face often and tell him “This is your father, this is your father’s face.” So you see, recently I haven’t been a very good father. And I regret this very much.

(1) Hmmm… difficult question. I wonder how bright it is? Uh… basically it only gets bright when it reflects sunlight. (2) This is another difficult question. The Nyoi-Bō once stretched out to the moon, so that means that it can stretch out to at least 380,000 kilometers. (3) Actually, a lot of people asked me this question. I think we got about a thousand postcards about this. I really couldn’t think of a good response to the question, so I just ignored it for a while. Sorry everybody!

Thank you. I’m not sure about my sense of style, but I do enjoy thinking about motorcycles, cars, and clothes.

Well, actually, I’d always been fascinated with China and my wife and I just went there for a vacation. However, it is true that our trip greatly influenced Dragon Ball. It is important for manga artists to have some leisure time.

(1) Hmm… it varies depending on the chapter, but when I’m having a hard time, a good plot won’t come to me even after two or three days of brainstorming. If I’m on a roll, though, sometimes it only takes about five minutes to think one up. To actually put it on paper only takes about 30 minutes a page. (2) Uhh, how old were they…? I’m pretty sure Kuririn stated his age at the last Tenka’ichi Budōkai, so please calculate it using that as your reference. Oolong and Pu’er are… I don’t know. Yamcha is… about 20 right now, I think. (3) Thank you very much.

Thank you very much for your support and your advice. It is always heartening to receive such letters from older folks. I promise I’ll strive to draw well, so I hope you’ll keep reading it with gusto. You go, dad!

On your postcard, you also drew a full-body picture of yourself, but I realized that if I printed it your identity might be revealed, so I didn’t (I’m thinking aren’t I?). Going by your drawing alone, I’d have to agree, you really aren’t fashionable at all, are you? However, to be frank, it suits you well! This is really the only style to wear with a shaved head! Often at the supermarket and so forth, I see brash youth who think they’re being fashionable, but don’t you think your way is more refreshing? That’s how you should be!

I get tons of questions about drawing, but it’s really hard to decide how to answer, so I don’t really know what to tell you. In any case, as you can probably guess, I think you just have to keep drawing constantly. Not just people, but landscapes and animals, all sorts of things-observe them closely and try drawing them. To practice inking, again, I feel that you just need to keep drawing until you get better. But if you keep trying and trying and you still can’t draw well, then you should probably give up.

Gosh, I’m flattered. Dragon Ball is going to go for quite a bit longer, but when I do finish it, I plan on creating even better and more entertaining manga. I look forward to your support then also!

I see, the exams must be really tough. I’m an adult now, so exams no longer affect my life. Bet you’re jealous! But even though they are a major pain, keep up the good work! Also, Dragon Quest 3 is insanely fun! Why don’t you play it after you finish your exams?

Hmm, I am very impressed. An “A” for effort! Still, it looks like you haven’t been able to produce the Kamehameha, so I guess you still need more training. The fastest way may be to go to the Turtle Hermit (Kame-Sen’nin) with dirty magazines in hand and ask him to take you as his disciple, the muscle you gain from your physical training will most definitely be useful later. You must continue to persevere!

Thank you very much. The real reason my art is so “clean” is because it’s a pain in the butt to draw tons of detail. I hate things which are a pain. Unfortunately, making a Dragon Quest story would also be a huge pain, because there are so many characters, so I really don’t want to do one. I’m sorry.

Thank you very much. I hope you will cheer me on in the future too. I hope you are well too!

Thank you very much. The reason I use a country setting so much is, not only is it easy for me to draw, but also because I am a total country bumpkin and I don’t like the city very much. By the way, your address places you in the next town over from me.

Thank you, thank you. Actually, I don’t necessarily take care of the kids and work at the same time; my wife does most of it. I pretty much do stuff like playing with the kids when I feel like it, and occasionaly changing the diapers and feeding him, so it’s really nothing much. I do most of my plotting and thinking after the baby is in bed, so it really isn’t that much trouble. Anyway, Dragon Boy is in Volume 2 of my “Fill-in-the-Blank Theatre”. Because of the popularity of the story, it ended up becoming the catalyst for Dragon Ball. That’s why Goku is Tanton with a few modifications, and why they look so much alike.

When Goku was fighting Demon King Piccolo, there were a number of “It’s going to end, isn’t it?” rumors going around, but I have no intention of ending it at all. The idea of going for another three years does kind of freak me out, but I do plan on continuing it for a little longer. By the way, if you become my editor, I hope you will be kind and not reject any of my stories. I look forward to the day when this will become a reality.

You are the best! I have been moved by your consideration in telling me that it is unnecessary to reply, so instead I have printed it in this Comic. Please don’t ever lose your considerate and kind nature.

Thank you very much. You must be blessed to have such a wonderful mother! Make sure you are nice to her. Please give my regards to your younger brother too!