A legendary editor for the Dragon Ball manga isn’t holding anything back on the controversial redesign of Goku. Kazuhiko Torishima, a former Shonen Jump Editor-in-Chief who worked closely with the late Akira Toriyama, is slamming the new official artwork of Goku currently featured in the first Dragon Ball retail store in Tokyo, Japan.
Torishima, who has an infamous reputation in the industry for speaking his mind bluntly, chewed out the higher-ups who approved the controversial, low-quality designs for the first Dragon Ball 40th-anniversary store in Tokyo during a livestream. In particular, Torishima indirectly called out Akio Iyoku, the executive producer of the Dragon Ball series and the president of Capsule Corporation Tokyo, a company established solely to handle the production of Toriyama’s many works, such as Dragon Ball.
Dragon Ball Editor Slams Goku Redesign for 40th Anniversary Store
“Aesthetic sense: zero,” Torishima said during a livestream for his podcast, KosoKoso. “If you want to highlight a character wearing that Gi, the background must be black or dark. […] Toriyama used orange because the background is white! Do the people checking this not know these things? Are they idiots? That pose is wrong. If you stand straight up, you can’t fire a Kamehameha. You have to put power into your hips. It was drawn by someone who doesn’t understand where the physical power of the gesture lies.”
Torishima is far from the only one who has criticized the official artwork of Goku at the first Dragon Ball Tokyo store. Dragon Ball fans worldwide have harshly criticized the new promotional artwork for its poor quality, particularly in linework, posing, and body proportions.
Given Dragon Ball’s status as a global phenomenon, it’s shocking to see such a momentous occasion, such as the first retail store, be brought down by official character art of amateurish quality. However, what’s really twisting the knife is the launch of the One Piece Base Shop, which features stunning 360 animation by Megumi Ishitani & Yoshiyuki Mori, who worked on the critically acclaimed One Piece Fan Letter.
Naz Chris, who works with Torishima on the KosoKoso podcast, elaborated on his world on X (formerly Twitter). “He still hopes that high-quality merchandise like the ones supervised by Torishima in the past will be available in circulation,” she said, “allowing people to truly experience Toriyama-sensei’s wonderful works and the original work.”
“He said that he hopes that fans will also react appropriately to things that are not like this, and that if they speak up properly, or choose not to purchase products that they are not satisfied with, the quality of Dragon Ball-related goods will improve, and that he hopes (although he is skeptical) that a better future will be achieved through the continued efforts of merchandise makers and supervisors.”