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Scenes From a
Fight
Dragon Ball Z fans agree — the strength of
the later story is in its extensive fight scenes between its
ever-more-powerful characters. The challenge to the artist of such a
story is to maintain suspense, even for fights that are sometimes
carried out for volumes at a time (which can translate to weeks upon
weeks of TV episodes in the animation).
"You can't have the same fight every
time," Toriyama confirms. "In earlier times, Goku was still
small, so it was all right, but in the latter half [of the story], the
fighting escalated. I had to come up with more powerful attacks."
Thus, the "Super Saiyan" mode of leveling-up a character's
power came about. "Personally, I feel there's a limit to how
strong one can be, so [power-ups] are usually out of
desperation." The distinctive Super Saiyan "look"—
spiky blond hair reaching for the sky, sharp-edged muscles, power
crackling like a live wire—had its own inspiration. "I wasn't
planning on Goku becoming a Super Saiyan, so when I came up with the
Super Saiyan idea, I thought that his appearance should also change to
show his power-up. In terms of design, his expression looks more like
an enemy, doesn't it? I had doubts if that's what he should become,
but since he'd transform [into a Super Saiyan] out of anger, I decided
that it was acceptable. It was a pretty bold idea. As for enemies,
they transform if my editor says he doesn't like them," he
laughs.
A later power-up form, Fusion — the process
of two warriors combining into an even tougher form, such as Trunks'
and Goten's Fusion power-up, Gotenks—had this origin: "I was
having a conversation that there's nothing stronger than a Super
Saiyan," laughs Toriyama. "Usually, Masakazu Katsura (Video
Girl Ai) and I only talk about silly things, but he said, 'You can
always fuse them together.' I told him he said something useful for
the first time." The concept of Fusion increased the humor of
certain fighting scenes, but Toriyama doesn't see a problem with
having more laughs than lacerations in his manga. "If the story
got too serious, my own blood pressure would get high, and personally,
I don't like that. I always think that manga is completely for
entertainment." On the other hand, when Toriyama is asked to pick
out his favorite original story for the Dragon Ball animation, he
passes over the lighter tales and selects the story with Goku's
father, Bardock. "It's a pretty dramatic story that I'd never
draw myself. I got to see a different kind of Dragon Ball in a good
way."
Speaking of entertainment, how about the Kame
Sen'nin's (Turtle master) signature attack, the Kamehameha? Where did
that idea come from? "I don't really like giving names to
attacks," Toriyama says. "I don't think the characters would
be yelling out the names of their attacks in life-or-death situations.
You'd get killed while yelling the name of your attack," he
laughs. "But my editor said I'm better off giving attacks names.
Kamehameha is my wife's invention. I was agonizing, 'It's Kame's
attack, called something-ha! Something-ha!' She just suggested
‘Kame-hame-ha.' It was great. It was so silly that it fit Kame
Sen'nin's image so well."
When Worlds
Collide
The world as it shows up in Dragon Ball is
like Earth, yet not exactly like Earth. A place of vast desert
landscapes like something out of a Road Runner cartoon; palm-studded
tropical islands; huge, bustling cities like Windsor McCay's turn of
the century futurescapes; villages like the homes of the Munchkins in
The Wizard of Oz. Ubiquitous push buttons and expanding "Capsule
Corporation" gadgets straight out of The Jetsons, both cute and
high-tech; Bulma's air scooter in an early story looks like an
Electrolux vacuum cleaner wired for speed—'50s kitsch for a lush
cartoon world.
"All the worlds I’ve drawn in manga
are different from the real world, from the very first manga on,"
Toriyama says. “You can't tell where Penguin Village is... Kishman
looked a little more realistic, but you can't place that on the map
either. It's easier, after all — my standard for choosing something
is for the ease. If something's based on the real world, I have to use
references for buildings and vehicles. This way, I can decide on any
setting I want and draw it freely."
Dragon Ball, however, did use some real-life
places as a basis. "My wife was infatuated with China back then,
so I used some photo books she had bought. Also, before the serial had
started, I'd gone to Bali with my family and assistants. Papaya
Island, where the Tenka-Ichi tournament is held, is completely modeled
after Bali." Other instances where
Toriyama was forced to pull out real-life
references were the location of a buried spaceship ("I used an
African photo collection for that") and various barren
wastelands. "The latter stories all took place in barren
wastelands, so it was tough to depict them differently. I change the
scenery each time. I'd change the shape of the rocks or the faraway
mountains. I'd have to let the readers know it's a different place
from last time — it would be boring to use the same location."
"It's been a habit of mine since
childhood to always be looking around," he continues. “When I
go shopping, I have more fun observing the town than shopping. For my
work, the town scenery, small things, and people's clothes all are
useful — also, the sundries I had to draw back when I was an
employee. I would complain that I had to draw a hundred pairs of
socks,” he laughs. "In retrospect, that was a useful
exercise." Instead of sketching what he sees, he says that
"I burn it into my vision, so I usually fail when I try to draw
it later. 'Was it like this?' But I retain the general image of
things. I'll rely on that not-so-fully accurate memory to draw things.
I can probably draw most anything that way."
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