Here’s What The Creator Of Dragon Ball Thinks Of Its Hollywood Adaptation

If you are a fan of Dragon Ball, then you know there has never been an actual live-action adaptation of the franchise. It doesn’t matter if Dragonball Evolution was once a thing; No one talks about it. At the peak of its popularity, Dragon Ball was a force to be reckoned with as it helped bring anime to the western world. However, thanks to 20th Century Fox, Hollywood got too close to the franchise and elected to make a live-action film based on Goku’s life.

It went very poorly.

Thanks to its universal condemnation, Hollywood had since garnered a terrible reputation with anime that persists even today. Only a select few people could tolerate the loose feature, and Japanese fans were left scratching their heads over the flop. If you have ever wondered what Akira Toriyama thinks of Dragonball Evolution, then you should know the man feels the same as all his fans.

When it comes down to it, Toriyama does not consider himself a fan of the monstrous failure.

In the past, the artist has sat down for various interviews, and Dragonball Evolution has reared its head once or twice. During a chat before Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods premiered, Toriyama was asked which stars he’d like to see in a live-action version of Dragon Ball. The creator admitted he didn’t have any actors in mind at the moment, but he did take a minute to burn Hollywood’s take.

“This is something I also thought about a little bit at the time of that Hollywood live-action version, which came out unthinkably terrible, but in the end, nobody came to mind.”

During the interview, Toriyama used a phrase in Japanese which translates to either ‘incredibly amazing’ or ‘unthinkably terrible.’ The creator may have wanted to be diplomatic about the feature, but there are other interviews with the artist which make his sour feelings very clear.

In a recent interview with Asahi Shimbun Digital, Toriyama had this to say about the film:

“At the time of the Hollywood movie, the live-action Dragon Ball, the script had too little of a grasp on the world and its characteristics, and on top of that, it had a conventional content that I couldn’t find interesting, so I cautioned them, and suggested changes; but in spite of that, they seemed to have a strange confidence, and didn’t really listen to me. What came out in the end was a movie I couldn’t really call a Dragon Ball that lived up to my expectations.”

So, there you have it. Akira Toriyama hates Dragonball Evolution as much as everyone else did. Now, fans can just let the film fade into void.

Dragon Ball Super‘s “Universal Survival” saga is part of the recent simulcast agreement that sites like Crunchyroll and Funimation have scored. Dragon Ball Super airs on Crunchyroll Saturdays at 7:15 p.m. CST. Toonami will begin airing the English dub on Adult Swim Saturdays at 11:30 p.m.

[HT] Kanzenshuu