Dragon Ball has welcomed a lot of anime into its history, but there are some projects which fans champion above others. When it comes to the anime’s second series, few things received as high praise as Dragon Ball Z: Bardock – The Father of Goku did. The TV special was the first to welcome our hero’s dad to the screen, and it turns out Akira Toriyama wept after watching the project.
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If you did not know, Bardock’s special was released back in October 1990. The cable special promised to expand the lore of Dragon Ball Z just as the series started to pick up speed overseas. The project was thought to be non-canon since Toriyama did not work on the special, but that was quickly debunked. Bardock’s past story was quickly adopted by fans as well as by Toriyama. After all, the special moved the creator to tears, so it is little surprise to learn he approves of its story.
“That special was good. I cried. How come you can make a story so much better than the original manga,” Toriyama said in an interview following the special’s release. The creator did a joint interview with Takao Koyama at the time as the latter co-wrote its script. The writer told Toriyama they were so grateful when Bardock’s story was filtered into the manga, but the older man said it was the least he could do.
“That’s because I wanted to use it, no matter what,” he said. “I really thought, “So that’s how it was.” That last scene was really sad.”
Clearly, Toriyama was a fan of this anime special, so it shows how willing the artist was to bring in outside influence to his series. That streak continues to this day now that Toriyama teams with Toyotaro for the Dragon Ball Super manga. And as the ongoing series moves forward, fans can expect even more collaborations from the two.
Did this Dragon Ball Z special make you emotional back in the day? Do you like where the anime has taken Goku’s father? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB.
