'Dragon Ball Super' Illustrator Under Fire Over Tracing Accusations

It looks like there is trouble brewing within the anime fandom. This week, the Dragon Ball sphere started out easily enough with an anime update, and a brand-new manga release also went live. However, that hype has turned into rage as the man behind Dragon Ball Super is being accused of tracing.

If you head over to Twitter and search Toyotaro, you will quickly learn what the big deal is. Not long ago, the illustrator in charge of the Dragon Ball Super manga posted a draft he sketched for a recent magazine cover. The artist showed the line art he did of Goku for the latest issue of V-Jump where the Saiyan was seen fighting a Yu-Gi-Oh! protagonist. However, the artwork raised some angry eyebrows.

As you can see below, fans quickly figured out why the artwork seemed familiar. Netizens began accusing Toyotaro of lifting his take on Goku straight from a Captain America comic. When the two images are laid on top of each other, you can see some very clear ties. And, when it comes to accusations, fans are saying the similarities are too close to simply call the connection a homage.

Toyotaro notes in his original tweet that the hand shape and whatnot are slightly different between the rough draft and finished cover. Indeed, the right hand is pretty clearly traced in the rough draft, but is pretty different in the finished version (well, except for the thumb) pic.twitter.com/k9wyF4yPRi

— Todd Blankenship (@Herms98) May 23, 2018

As you can imagine, the original tweet Toyotaro posted of the drawing has been deleted, but social media has preserved it for its records. The growing controversy surrounding this tracing debacle has only grown in the absence of an official statement from the illustrator. And, as you can see below, reactions to the ordeal range from fired up to full-on rage.

What do you make of this controversy? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics, k-pop, and anime!

Dragon Ball Super is currently airing 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 Funimation and Amazon Video. The Japanese language release of the series is complete, and available to stream on Funimation, VRV, and Crunchyroll.

If you want to catch up with the English dub, the first 52 episodes of Dragon Ball Super are now available to stream on FunimationNOW, VRV, and available to purchase on Amazon Video as well. The 52 episodes span the full range of what has aired in the North America and covers the "Battle of Gods" arc, "Revival of F" arc, the "Universe 6" arc, and bringing the series right up to the current TV airings of the "Future Trunks" arc.