Dragon Ball Reveals Throwback Sketch by One-Punch Man's Yusuke Murata

Although the reception of the second season of its anime adaptation was less than stellar, One-Punch Man is still one of the most popular action manga series running today. Much of this is due to the art prowess of illustrator Yusuke Murata, and fans have come to love seeing his take on other major franchises like Star Wars, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and even Back to the Future.

This, of course, includes other manga properties like Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball. And it turns out that Murata actually shared a particularly eye-catching illustration of Bulma and Goku way back in 2003. Check it out below!

Bulma and Goku by Yusuke Murata (2003) from r/dbz

This particular illustration comes from a series of interviews collection in the fifth volume of the special "Dragon Ball Children" collaborative effort in the early 2000s. Along with this illustration, Murata talked his love for Akira Toriyama's series and it's clear to fans that he's become a prolific illustrator in his own right. Murata's work on series like Eyeshield 21 and One-Punch Man has catapulted him to the forefront of many anime and manga fans' minds, and they are definitely keeping an eye on what he will churn out next.

They certainly wouldn't turn down Murata taking another crack at the Dragon Ball franchise as this highlights much of the colorful and playful nature of the original iteration of the series. One-Punch Man Season 2 is now streaming on Hulu, and on Crunchyroll outside of the United States.

The season is directed by Chikara Sakurai (Naruto Shippuden episode director), for new production studio J.C. Staff. Yoshikazu Iwanami serves as sound director, and Chikashi Kubota contributes new character designs. The second season ran for 12 episodes in total, and Viz Media has licensed the season for an English release.

Viz Media describes One-Punch Man Season 2 as such, "Saitama is a hero who only became a hero for fun. After three years of "special training," he's become so strong that he's practically invincible. In fact, he's too strong—even his mightiest opponents are taken out with a single punch. Now, the great seer Madame Shibabawa's prediction about the Earth being doomed seems to be coming true as the frequency of monster incidents escalates. Alongside Genos, his faithful disciple, Saitama begins his official hero duties as a member of the Hero Association, while Garou, a man utterly fascinated by monsters, makes his appearance."