Can you imagine if Akira Toriyama had never created Dragon Ball? It would be unthinkable given all the success it has brought him throughout his life (and even after).
But the truth is that The birth of Dragon Ball has to be thanked to another mangaka: Hisashi Eguchi.
How the Dragon Ball manga was born
Let’s put ourselves in context. Akira Toriyama triumphed in Shonen Jump magazine with his Dr. Slump manga. But I was tired of the series because he didn’t like each chapter being self-contained (and he also didn’t like having to draw a story starring a “girl”).
So asked the editors to put an end to the manga. Something they refused to do.
At that time, Dr. Slump was very popular, and they didn’t want to stop it. Plus, it came out every week, which meant they had regular content.
However, shortly after, a new manga by Hisashi Eguchi titled “Stop!! Hibari-kun”. And it was so successful that it eclipsed Dr. Slump and that made them reconsider whether Toriyama could finish the series.
There was just one problem.
The Shonen Jump Problem That Toriyama Solved
Hisashi Eguchi began to have great success in the magazineAnd the editors asked him to publish his chapters weekly, something he was not capable of (he asked for them to be biweekly and they refused). Of course, he did what he wanted afterwards.
That’s why, They enlisted the help of Akira Toriyama to have weekly content. And that meant finding a new story.
That’s where Torishima advised him to try to combine the passion he had for Kung Fu movies and make a fighting manga, which was totally different from what he had always done.
And that’s how Dragon Ball was born. Did you know this? Remember that Cell sketches were recently revealed when Toriyama had to “invent” him?
Via.
