
Dragon Ball Embraces ‘Pop Art’ Vibes in New Reveal of Nearly 40-Year-Old Shonen Jump Artwork
The official Dragon Ball site celebrates one of Akira Toriyama’s all-time greatest homages to pop art in a new reveal of an illustration used for Weekly Shonen Jump nearly 40 years ago.
In an Oct. 14, 2024 post from Dragon Ball‘s website, the regularly running Toriyama Archives segment featured classic artwork from the cover of 1986’s Weekly Shonen Jump #46. The illustration sees a young Goku playing baseball with the rest of the Dragon Ball cast, with one of the series’ eponymous artifacts serving as the ball and Goku’s own iconic Power Pole serving as the baseball bat. Per Toriyama’s notes on the art in question, “the thick lines and primary colors come together well to give this illustration a nice pop art feel. The small, dynamic touches and choice of color also help highlight the humor of Goku using the Nyoibo as a bat to hit the Dragon Ball.”

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A Classic Shonen Jump Illustration Stars the Cast of Dragon Ball Playing Baseball
The Toriyama Archives regularly features artwork from Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama’s vast archives from across his decades-long career in manga and anime. In September, the Toriyama Archives featured an early sketch of the villainous Frieza seated in his escape pod. As the Toriyama Archives noted, “the pod’s design may be simple, [but] looking at this rough sketch makes it super clear that it was created with careful consideration of how it would appear from various angles.”
Beginning with 1984’s original manga, Toriyama’s Dragon Ball franchise has come to hold a special place in pop culture that few other properties have managed to claim for themselves. Apart from the original manga and its follow-ups, Dragon Ball consists of dozens of animated series and films, multiple live-action adaptations and countless video games, toys and other merchandise. The latest addition to the Dragon Ball franchise, Dragon Ball Daima, premiered on Crunchyroll on Oct. 11.

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Dragon Ball Daima Is the Latest Addition to the Long-Running Franchise
Dragon Ball Daima finds Gamoh, the new king of the Demon Realm, caught up in a sprawling storyline that he is seemingly unfit to be a part of. As Gamoh is still adjusting to his newfound place on the throne, the likes of Degasu are carrying out missions to steal away with Earth’s Dragon Balls. This gives Gamoh the chance to turn the tide against the series’ core cast of heroes by wishing for all the Z-Warriors who fought against Majin Buu to be transformed into children, kicking off the main events of the series.
Dragon Ball and various other entries in the franchise, including the first episode of Dragon Ball Daima, are currently available to stream on Crunchyroll. The original manga by Akira Toriyama is licensed in North America by Viz Media.
Source: Dragon Ball official site
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