This Goku and Bulma Concept Art Will Make You Miss Early 'Dragon Ball'

The Dragon Ball series has gone to crazy lengths recently with multiple universes, god like [...]

By Nick Valdez

The Dragon Ball series has gone to crazy lengths recently with multiple universes, god like transformations, and insanely animated fight sequences so it might leave you wishing for the more humble tone of early Dragon Ball.

This recently uncovered piece of concept art for Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball manga will not only make you nostalgic for its humble origins, but tug at your heartstrings for a number of reasons.

The concept art features early designs for both Goku and Bulma, and it's interesting to see how much of these original designs make it to the final work. Both characters highly resemble their final incarnations, but have enough slight differences that fans are sure to notice.

Goku's outfit is far removed from his usual training Gi as he dons a young, almost boy scout like outfit complete with ascot and fancier shoes than fans would ever think Goku would wear. His early personality as a child was rambunctious, and often naked, so to see him in fancier duds would sure does seem odd.

Bulma seems a bit younger than in her final incarnation, but her look could have easily translated into the pages of Toriyama's final work. Her cowboy shoes match her realistic looking revolver, which may or not have been easily translated into Bulma's final characterization. There were guns in Toriyama's final draft, but fans were drawn to Bulma for her resiliency, intelligence, and wacky gadgets.

Sadly voice actress Hiromi Tsumu, who was most known as the voice of Bulma in the anime, passed away at 57. She began voicing the character back in 1986 and had stayed with series up until the currently airing Dragon Ball Super. Not only did the fan and Dragon Ball production community pay tribute to the late actress, the community thought her final scene in the Dragon Ball Super anime was the most fitting goodbye for the actress.

Dragon Ball Super airs with English subtitles on Crunchyroll and FunimationNOW Saturday evenings at 7:15 p.m. CST. The English language broadcast just wrapped the "Universe 6" arc of the series where the Dragon Ball universe was introduced to the idea of a full tournament between multiple universes. Adult Swim airs the English dub during its Toonami block Saturday evenings at 9:30 p.m. CST.

What do you think of this Dragon Ball concept art? Talk to me @Valdezology.

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