The Toriyama Eye by Curtis H. Hoffmann (Updated on Feb. 7, 1997) What new manga is Akira Toriyama doing now? ------------------------------------------- He is finally starting to experiment again. He ran a two-part one-shot through Shonen Jump magazine in August. No comments on the that manga yet, until I can get my hands on a copy. He is just playing around now, and has not committed to any longterm series as of this date. He has also created a three-part one-shot named "Toki Mecha". A review of Toki Mecha can be found in the Toriyama section of my web site. What else is Toriyama doing now? ---------------------------------------------- Other than acting as artistic consultant on the Dragon Ball GT series, Toriyama is still actively working as a character designer for computer games. The most recent one is Tobal #1, a 3-D fighting game created by Square Soft, for the Sony Play Station. (June 19, 1996). If you want to see images from the game, check out the Tobal #1 pics file. Note that the sequel -- Tobal #2 -- is due out in 1997. What is the status of the new TV series? ---------------------------------------- Dragon Ball GT is still running on Fuji TV. The hints printed in Shonen Jump magazine, prior to the release of the TV show, are reprinted below. What about the rumors that DBGT will be ending soon? ---------------------------------------------------- The rumors initially indicated that the series would end in Sept., 1996. They eventually turned out to be just the wishful whining of a few fanboys that hated the new DBGT character designs. But, Toriyama did say that he'd start up DBZ again, right? ---------------------------------------------------------- That was a JOKE! Toriyama was asked this question in a magazine article, and Toriyama joked that he'd have to think about it. In fact, there are NO plans for EVER restarting DBZ. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Hints about what DBGT would be about, printed in Shonen Jump magazine a few weeks prior to the series premier on TV. Hint 1: ------- There WILL be a new TV series, starting in January 1996. There WILL NOT be a manga for it, but Toriyama WILL be part of the creative staff. There will be a character that looks like the young Son Gokuu; and he will be accompanied by a boy that looks like teenaged-Trunks, and a girl that looks like teenaged-Beederu. Hint 2: ------- Pilaf will make his appearance on this show. Pilaf is the little blue guy that showed up after volume one of the original series, and disappeared after releasing Demon King Piccolo from his rice cooker prison. Pilaf had his own kingdom, and was accompanied by a woman sargeant, and a dog ninja (Shuu and Mai). Pilaf's initial goal was to collect the Dragon Balls to wish for world domination. It now seems that we'll get to see Pilaf trying again. Hint 3: ------- The story will take place some years after the last Budoukai in the manga (the last Budoukai takes place 10 years after the defeat of Majin Buu, so our story will begin even further into the future.) There will be three heros: Hero #1 -- Gokuu. However, Gokuu has been turned into a child by some mysterious force. (Gokuu wonders if this is going to make Chi Chi angry with him again.) However, because Gokuu is facing yet another adventure, he is very excited about it. Hero #2 -- Trunks. Trunks isn't so happy, because he has to take care of two children. He's especially concerned that he'll have to take them to the toilet, and so on. Trunks will have aged normally. Hero #3 -- Pan. Pan will also age normally, and seems to be a teenager at the time the story picks up. She is also excited at being able to have an adventure with her grandfather, even though (or, because) Gokuu will be younger than her. There will also be 3 villians: Pilaf, Shuu, and Mai. Pilaf is the one that has some mysterious item that he uses to turn Gokuu into a child. Pilaf is also on a quest to locate... (wait for it...) What we know about the Dragon Balls: The Earth set was created by Kami-sama. By summoning Shenlon, you could get one wish. Then, the Balls would fly away, and couldn't be used again for one year. The Namek set was created by the Old Namek Elder. Poruga would grant 3 wishes, and the Balls couldn't be used for 139 days. The THIRD SET. When the Namek who was to become the God of Earth seperated out his evil part, that evil reformed into Demon King Piccolo. At that time, Piccolo created his own Dragon Balls -- BEFORE Kami-sama created the Earth set. These evil Dragon Balls have been sitting around unnoticed ever since. We don't know what happens when the evil Dragon Balls are used, or what gets summoned at that time. We also don't know WHY Pilaf is trying to find them. Yet.