Shonen Jump is celebrating Dragon Ball'40th anniversary in style with a series of redesigns of the covers of the 42 volumes of the series, and one in particular was so realistic that the artist simply had to apologize to Toriyama. Many illustrious manga artists have put their own spin on Dragon ballnostalgic covers as part of the Super Dragon Ball Gallery project, but Masanori Morita's take on volume 24 undoubtedly took the cake.
Masanori Morita, the legendary author of Newbies and Blue Rokudenashi recently reimagined the cover art for Dragon Ball Volume #24 depicting Goku, Vegeta, Krillin, and Gohan in his iconic, hyper-realistic art style. Hilariously, in a post on X, Morita apologized to Toriyama for giving Krillin a noseremembering, without a doubt, one of the most iconic jokes of the Dragon ball and the idiosyncrasies of Toriyama's character designs.
Legendary Mangaka Apologizes for Giving Krillin a Nose on New Volume Cover
"Toriyama-sensei, I'm sorry for drawing Krillin's nose."
Initially conceived as a quirky character design element, Krillin's conspicuous lack of nose was eventually reconverted into a canonical physical trait in classic Toriyama style, while also giving birth to an unforgettable joke. Krillin's missing nose still gives rise to one of Goku's best quotes in Dragon ball and embodies Toriyama's penchant for humor, which is best seen in his previous manga.
In addition to being a beautiful tribute to Toriyama, Morita's take on Volume #24 and the accompanying apology is a reminder of Toriyama's wonderful sense of humor that was eventually lost when Dragon ball changed his focus to action and fighting. The apology itself is hilarious but still sincere, with Morita's reverence for Toriyama being quite clear.
New Dragon Ball project portrays Toriyama's influence on generations of manga artists
Along with the reimagined cover art, Masanori Morita also provided a commentary detailing his experience being serialized along with Dragon ball and competing with the series in popularity polls. He tells an amusing anecdote about a particular reader survey in which he hoped to win just by Dragon ball to get double the number of votes.
There was a time when I was fighting Dragon ball to first place in reader polls. One week I got 350 votes and I thought I was going to win for sure, and then I found out that Dragon ball I won 700. I turned those feelings of frustration into a cherished memory, and now it's one of my favorite jokes whenever I'm at the bar; It's something I brag about.
Despite the healthy competition between the two series, Morita states that I enjoyed the time being serialized together with Toriyamagoing on to address him directly in the second half of his comment, where he sincerely wishes he had shared a drink with Toriyama.
Toriyama-SenseiThose days when I was serialized by your side were like a shining jewel to me. Thank you very much. I worked a lot on this illustration. What do you think? I really wish I could have gone out for a drink with you, even just once. And then I might say, “Do you remember that time when I was fighting for first place with you, steacher? There was a week where I got 350 votes and I was like, 'Hell yes!', and then I found out that Dragon ball…
In addition to Morita, many other prolific manga artists have shared their versions of Dragon ballThe volume of copper as part of Super Dragon Ball Gallery, along with their experiences with the franchise. The project highlighted how Dragon ball It influenced not only countless manga that came after it, but also the artists behind them, many of whom were deeply connected to Toriyama and the franchise as well.
Source: HITMANmorita/X, Kazenshuu