The only thing that’s become more iconic than the stunning imagery of Dragon Ball Z‘s various characters and transformations are the variations on those looks and transformations that fans have created since the series ended. Case in point: check out what one Dragon Ball fan artist has come up with, by mixing the lore of Dragon Ball Z with that of Japan’s history of samurai warriors!
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You can check it out below:
Though the artwork originates with Kenji893 at DeviantART, it’s since been making the rounds on Reddit as fans have spotted and appreciated it.
Going by the Reddit post: we have Goku looking like every bit the ronin-type samurai that you’d probably expect him to be, unkempt hair and all. Being Goku, he naturally doesn’t favor a whole lot of armor, but he carries the most blades, with two swords on his hip and one on his back.
Vegeta, by contrast, looks every bit the official feudal samurai that is fitting his princely stature. The armor is not only very regal, but also fits perfectly with Vegeta’s traditional costume color scheme. The traditional samurai top-knot hairstyle is just icing on the cake.
The ninja/samurai design for Trunks already went viral earlier this year when Kenji893 debuted it on social media. This depiction of Future Trunks makes the character look like a shinobi worthy of the Naruto series with a combination of ninja accents and weapons and traditional samurai armor. Being Trunks, he carries his one iconic blade, this time with a katana.
Finally, we come to Broly! This artwork takes the new version of Broly introduced in Dragon Ball Super: Broly and uses him as the basis for this samurai re-imagining. Broly’s samurai hair is a nice echo of his wild berserker Saiyan hairstyle, and his physique is in keeping with the anime’s designs for the burly, bruiser, wild ronin archetype. His massive (and very chipped) broadsword blade is a perfect expression of Broly’s unbridled destructive rage in the actual series. The look in his eyes is pure fire!
Dragon Ball Super: Broly is out now. Dragon Ball Super currently airs its English dub on Adult Swim during the Toonami block Saturday evenings. It is also available to stream on Funimation and Amazon Video. The Japanese language release is available to stream on FunimationNOW, VRV, and Crunchyroll.
