'Dragon Ball' Creator Looks Younger than Ever in this Rare Throwback Photo

For many, it is hard to imagine a life without Dragon Ball. The series is well over 30 years old, [...]

By Megan Peters

For many, it is hard to imagine a life without Dragon Ball. The series is well over 30 years old, and its long legacy continues to thrive today with new projects. Creator Akira Toriyama has since become a symbol of creativity of millions of fans, but the artist does tend to keep a low profile.

So, you can imagine how excited fans are feeling about a recently resurfaced photo of Toriyama. The artist has never looked younger, and fans admit he could give Gohan a run for his money.

Not long ago, the image of Toriyama hit up Twitter, and it appears to come from a vintage Japanese magazine. The photo, which can be seen below, shows Toriyama to the left while Rumiko Takahashi (Ranma 1/2, Inuyasha) can be seen on the other side.

No date is attached to the picture, but fans can find a frame for its release. Goku can be seen inset underneath Toriyama, and he is a child here. This likely means Dragon Ball Z had yet to start on television, and the manga surely hadn't aged up the Saiyan. As such, fans are willing to date this photo between 1984 - 1986, so Toriyama would have been in his late-20s to early-30s.

For fans, this picture is an interesting one even if it has little connection to Dragon Ball itself. Many photos of Toriyama which fans regularly see date back to the 2000s, so it is a treat to see the artist so young in this headshot. At this time, there was no way Toriyama knew how big Dragon Ball would become, and the word is out on how much larger it will grow.

So, do you think Toriyama may have modeled any Dragon Ball characters after himself? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!

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.

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