Summary
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Akira Toriyama’s displeasure with Dragonball Evolution asked him to take a more active role in the future Dragon Ball Projects.
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In particular, the failure of the 2009 film led to Toriyama’s involvement in Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods And Dragon Ball Super.
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Despite the failure of the live-action adaptation, it helped renew Toriyama’s interest in the franchise, leading to successful and beloved projects.
Akira Toriyama’s reaction to Dragonball Evolution Secretly saved the Dragon Ball franchise by proving to the manga creator that he needs to be more directly involved with projects based on his beloved characters. Originally written and drawn by Toriyama, Dragon Ball was serialized in Weekly Sean Jump from 1984 to 1995 before being collected into manga volumes. By combining the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West With the artistic stylings of Hong Kong cinema, Dragon Ball Became incredibly popular in Japan – and, eventually, around the world. even now, Toriyama Dragon Ball is an enduring pop-culture phenomenon.
Part of the franchise’s mega-success status stems from its anime adaptation, which was split into two series – Dragon Ballwhich centered on Goku’s childhood adventures, and Dragon Ball pWhat follows the adult Goku and his friends. The anime was more than 20 Dragon Ball movies and several spin-off series, with Dragon Ball pEspecially defining US. US-based viewers’ perceptions of anime during the ’90s and early 2000s. unfortunately, Dragon Balls success attracted the attention of Hollywood execsleading to the creation of the Universally Maligned 2009 movie Dragonball Evolution.
Akira Toriyama had little to no creative input in Dragonball Evolution
The Dragon Ball creator does not consider the 2009 movie to be part of the world he created
Despite Dragonball Evolution Being a pretty major live-action adaptation of the Dragon Ball franchise, Akira Toriyama had very little involvement in the creation of the film. Billed as a superhero movie loosely – very loosely – based on Toriyama’s best-selling manga series, Dragonball Evolution was directed by X-Files alum James Wong and produced by Hong Kong filmmaker Stephen Chow (Shaolin soccer). From the movie’s terrible take on Toriyama’s story to the cast of Dragonball Evolution blatantly whitewashing the franchise’s characters, the project was an utter failure. A box office failure, Dragonball Evolution Was absolutely hated by fans – and Akira Toriyama.
When Toriyama expressed that the “Polite“The movie didn’t capture his world, Hollywood execs dismissed his advice.
Although it follows Goku (Justin Chatwin) as he searches for the Dragon Balls and fights the alien warlord Piccolo (James Marsters, who was fooled into joining Dragonball Evolution), the movie is not faithful to the source material. That said, it’s really no surprise that Toriyama wasn’t involved in the film’s production. Before the premiere of the movie, Toriyama said that viewers should treat Dragonball Evolution As an alternative version of his series (via Kotaku). When Toriyama expressed that the “polite“The Movie Didn’t Catch His World, Hollywood Execs Dismissed His Advice.”The result [is] A Movie I Can’t Call Dragon Ball,Toriyama complained.
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Toriyama’s frustration over evolution was followed by a similar experience with Battle of the Gods
Being frustrated with Dragonball Evolution renewed Toriyama’s interest in working on the franchise
Reflecting on the life-struggle Dragon Ball Movie, Toriyama noted that although he wanted to set Dragon Ball Behind him, the live-action film angered him so much that he felt the need to step in during the production of Dragon Ball Z: Battle of GodsAn animated film that was released in 2013. Toei, the company behind the Dragon Ball And Dragon Ball p Anime shows, is already developing Battle of Gods When Toriyama’s former editor, Kazuhiko Torishima, insisted Toriyama look at the film. Not impressed with Battle of Gods‘ development, Toriyama knew he needed to step in.
[Before Battle of Gods, Toriyama had] Already considering leaving the world of Dragon Ball in his rearview mirror.
It is fair to say that Dragonball Evolutions disastrous outcome pushed Toriyama to involve himself in the development of Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods. Although Toriyama liked elements of Battle of Gods‘ script, he rewrote a lot of it and even reworked Beerus’ character design, changing him from a lizard to a being inspired by his own Cornish Rex cat. in a sense, The best thing to come from Dragonball Evolution was Toriyama’s renewed interest in being a part of future franchise movies and projectsEspecially, since he considered leaving the world of Dragon Ball in his rearview mirror.
Akira Toriyama decided to be involved in the battle of the Gods in Dragon Ball Super
Toriyama created the story and character designs for Dragon Ball Super
Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods was a hit when it premiered, and its success still inspired Toriyama to stay involved with it Dragon Ball Franchise. Toriyama had previously complained about the quality of the anime series, so amid this lingering feeling, his resentment towards Dragonball Evolutionand his satisfaction with Battle of Gods, The creator of the franchise decided to be heavily involved in 2015 Dragon Ball SuperCreating both the story and character design concepts. “It’s become a series I like too much to leave alone,” Toriyama admitted in 30th Anniversary Dragon Ball Chōshishū – Super Story Book.
Dragon Ball Super is streaming on Hulu; Dragonball Evolution is free to stream with a cable subscription on FXNOW.
Source: Kotaku, 30th Anniversary Dragon Ball Chōshishū – Super Story Book