'Death Note' Artist Pens High-Tech Bulma Sketch

One of the many reasons Death Note took anime and manga fans by storm was the splendid [...]

By Nick Valdez

One of the many reasons Death Note took anime and manga fans by storm was the splendid illustrations by Takeshi Obata. The gothic depictions of the mind battles between Light and L played a major role in cementing its place in manga history.

Which is why when Obata takes another character and spins it through his signature style, it's something to behold. Dragon Ball's Bulma is one of the recently lucky ones to do so and it's one of the best looks from the character yet.

As spotted by Twitter user @_Nickolaus_, and found within the Dragon Ball 30th Anniversary art book, is a sketch of Bulma atop her motorcycle from Death Note illustrator Takeshi Obata. Obata's talents are well known in the anime and manga industry given the contributions he has made to series like Death Note, Bakuman, All You Need Is Kill, and Hikaru No Go.

His trademark style puts Bulma through a suitably mature filter, which enhances her already stylish design and gives her a look that would be suited for any number of Obata's illustrated works. This Bulma design is also notably different from many of Bulma's current designs as the character has not driven such a motorcycle in quite some time.

For those unfamiliar with Death Note, the original series was created by Tsugumi Ohba, with illustrations by Takeshi Obata. The series is described as such:

"Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects—and he's bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. But will Light succeed in his noble goal, or will the Death Note turn him into the very thing he fights against?"

Tsugumi Ohba's original manga originally ran in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump from 2003 to 2005 for 12 volumes. The series has since inspired an anime series, several video games, an animated film, a novel and most recently another live-action adaptation. The live-action film was released on Netflix in 2017 and had a mixed reaction from the Death Note fan base. But there are other live-action adaptations, and even a musical, produced solely in Japan.

Dragon Ball Super currently airs its English dub on Adult Swim during the Toonami programming block Saturday evenings at 9:30 p.m. It is also available to stream on FunimationNOW and Amazon Video. The Japanese language release of the series is complete, and available to stream on FunimationNOW, VRV, and Crunchyroll.

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