Kubo Taito (Bleach)
In 2004 the Dragon Ball manga was re-released as a 34 volume collection instead of the initial release of 42 volumes. This new release named Kanzeban was bigger than the old edition, with new covers and an altered storyline. But the best part of the Kanzeban is the artwork that comes with the book. What is so special about this artwork? The fact that it is drawn by other mangaka; mangaka that have been influenced by Akira Toriyama’s work in the past.
A lot of the shonen titles today are decedents of Dragon Ball’s legacy; with the mangaka’s being fans of the series as well. So to say thanks, the mangaka’s decided to draw their interpretation of what they believe the Dragon Ball characters would look like if they did the manga. The result is a mishmash of two different series smashed together. For example, Trunks above has an uncanny resemblance to Bleach’s main character Ichigo. A total of 17 other mangaka have participated in this project; which can be viewed after the jump.
(A coincidence that Vegeta looks like Renji? I think not!)
Yoshio Sawai (Bobobôbo Bôbobo)
Yusuke Murata (Eyeshield 21)
Yasuhiro Kanô (Pretty Phase)
Arina Tanemura (Full Moon wo Sagashite)
Suzuki Nakaba (Rising Impact)
Shinya Suzuki (Mr. Fullswing)
Ken’ichi Sakura (Drive Dragoon)
Ryô Azuki (Love Wan!)
Koushi Rikudou (Excel Saga)
Norihiro Yagi (Angel Legend and Claymore)
Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto)
Mikio Itô (Normandy Secret Club and Granada)
Kentarô Yabuki (Black Cat)
Kenjirô Takeshita (Happy World!)
Kôta Hirano (Hellsing)
Eichiro Oda (One Piece)
[images from daizex, via boladedragon]
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13 Responses to “A mangaka’s tribute to Akira Toriyama and Dragon Ball Z”
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February 21st, 2007 at 1:16 am
some of these new styles on the characters are way better then teh original … which i think isnt very good
akiras character designs i think suck… theyre just ugly
February 21st, 2007 at 1:16 am
This…is very cool. I’m curious, have you read the manga short where Yoshio Sawai draws the Bo^7 characters in the costumes from Dragonball, mish-mashing scenes together with a fight between Don Patch and Jelly Jiggler (forgot his Japanese name)? It was quite funny if you can find a scanlation, and I doubt they’ll be releasing it in English.
February 21st, 2007 at 2:40 am
Yesss! I love Eichiro Oda’s drawing of Goku! It looks just like Luffy! There are definitely similarities in between One Piece and DBZ, I’m glad Oda got into this!
February 21st, 2007 at 2:48 am
TOEi ANIMATION RAWKS!!!!! oh em gee it’s sooo good to be a part of them ^o^
@blue: yes it looks like luffy because it in the same animation and character designer.
there is similarity cause toei animation made that anime
February 21st, 2007 at 4:42 am
I love these! After seeing DragonBall for decades now, the original character designs have sorta become “generic” to me.
February 21st, 2007 at 5:40 am
This was definitely a good idea the publisher came up with — some of these covers are amazing. In particular, I think the covers by Eichiro Oda, Koshi Rikdo, and Kentaro Yabuki are outstanding pieces of work.
February 21st, 2007 at 7:00 am
That was cool. I especially liked Kubo’s, Yusuke Murata’s, Masashi Kishimoto’s, and Kentaro Yabuki’s. But the different styles from the shoujo mangaka were quite interesting too. Thanks!
February 21st, 2007 at 9:23 am
Wow, I think I like Yusuke Murata the best. Then Kubo Taito second.
XDD This is awesome.
February 21st, 2007 at 10:04 am
high res versions please lol!!! Really nice to see another artists perspective on classic DB characters, and man they make bulma look hawt (not that she wasn’t really before haha!!)
February 21st, 2007 at 10:16 am
Great feature God Len. We are all aware of how the series shaped artists minds, but to see it in application is kinda awe inspiring.
February 21st, 2007 at 12:01 pm
@clyde: Why are toy so bitter, this is a tribute to him. He is not a bat character designer check out the Dragon Quest swords character desing. Im not a dragon ball fanboy but show some respect to the artist, its like your disrespecting the other artist when you say he sucks.
February 21st, 2007 at 1:59 pm
Wow… this is pretty sweet.
February 21st, 2007 at 4:02 pm
While it’s nice that you find this as neat as I did, I’d appreciate a link to where you got the images from. After all, I scanned all those images…