In Just a Few Days, We Will Officially Witness a New Adventure of Goku and the Z Fighters in Dragon Ball Daima.
This work is entirely written by Akira Toriyama, although unfortunately, he passed away earlier this year. While we wait for Daima to officially air, let’s take a look back at 40 years of Dragon Ball history, starting from the first publication of the manga. We will explore five legendary moments in the history of Dragon Ball that Akira Toriyama altered from his original intentions.
Here are Akira Toriyama’s changes to Dragon Ball:
Goku Almost Became a Full Monkey
As part of a story based on Journey to the West, Goku’s original sketch depicted him as a complete monkey boy. However, the author later decided to change him into a human-like character with a tail.
The Saiyan Tail Was Removed
Originally in the story, every Saiyan had a tail, which was considered a very important detail as it was a distinct physiological trait of the warrior race. However, for unknown reasons, it started to disappear and then reappear, until it was completely removed. The reason was that illustrators felt uncomfortable drawing this feature for each character, and thus they deemed it unnecessary for the warriors.
Gohan Was Intended to Be Goku’s Heir
Akira Toriyama initially planned to end Goku’s story by having him die in the battle against Cell. This would allow Gohan to take over as the leader of the Z fighters, becoming the strongest warrior in the universe. However, fans did not favor this idea, and it was not well received, prompting Toriyama to bring Goku back.
Maturing Goku
The idea of portraying a grown-up Goku, following the Piccolo Daimaku saga, was introduced primarily for the comfort of the manga artists. They found it challenging to draw muscles on the small frame of young Goku, so they decided to age him.
Super Saiyan 3 Was Originally Meant to Be Super Saiyan 2
The display of Gohan’s power against Cell did not have a specific name. It was simply a great level of transformation from the original Super Saiyan form. Thus, the next transformation should have been called Super Saiyan 2, but it eventually ended up being named Super Saiyan 3.
