A few days ago with the announcement of the death of Akira Toriyama, creator of “Dragon Ball”, Kentaro Yabuki illustrator of the famous series “To Love-Ru” dedicated an emotional farewell message on social networks where he celebrated his legacy and the good resources he had about him. This time the mangaka has returned to the networks with another message that lets us see the great influence that Akira Toriyama had in his life as an artist and manga creator.
Kentaro Yabuki shows in networks how important Toriyama-sensei was in his career as a managaka.
Let’s remember that when it was announced that Akira Toriyama, creator of “Dragon Ball” had passed away last March 1, many mangakas expressed their surprise, pain and messages on social networks where they talked about how Toriyama-sensei had influenced their lives and careers. Kentaro Yabuki was one of them, in the message the illustrator of “To Love-Ru” dedicated some words of affection and a tribute to him, but also recalled that when he was in high school he copied some designs of “Dragon Ball” as practice to be able to later start drawing.
Today, Kentaro Yabuki took up that anecdote in networks and remembered Toriyama again in a message where he shows those drawings that the creator of “Dragon Ball” himself made for the tenth anniversary of “To Love-Ru” and that he mentioned with so much enthusiasm in his first publication. He also complemented the anecdote about the drawings he did as a child about Goku and his friends and mentioned that he sent them to a contest called “Dragon Ball Fusion” but they were rejected. In the message we can read:
I posted this postcard when I was in high school.
“Dragon Ball Fusion Contest.”
That submission that was rejected is very interesting.
I’m posting it to get some laughs out of it.It’s kind of embarrassing to see this from 30 years ago.
Why doesn’t it have a single wrinkle?
Was it in my library, or at my parents’ house?
I don’t remember it at allKentaro Yabuki – in “X”.
In addition, I attach some images where we can see the imagination of Kentaro Yabuki in this “Dragon Ball Fusion” contest, since the 2 drawings that stand out the most were those of Krilin in “Freezer” version and a very peculiar “Majin Buu” in the form of a dog. The most curious thing is that many fans upon seeing these unpublished drawings immediately saw the characteristic technique, strokes and style of characters that we would later see in series such as “To Love-Ru“, “Black Cat” and “Ayakashi Triangle“.
Some fans even compared Yabuki-sensei’s “Son Goku” to what would be the final design of “Yuuki Rito” in the iconic ecchi “To Love-Ru“. This is an anecdote that lets us see how Akira Toriyama was a pillar in the manga industry and how great an influence he was on the brightest and most talented drawing minds that would bring us works such as “One Piece”, “Naruto”, “Slam Dunk”, “To Love-Ru” and many more.
A great loss for fans of anime, manga and training in general in Japan and around the world, for without “Dragon Ball” and Akira Toriyama, the industry and “shonen” we are very sure it would not be what it is today.
©矢吹健太朗・長谷見沙貴／集英社