Gintama Artist Proves His Take on Dragon Ball’s Bardock is the Best

The Dragon Ball 30th Anniversary History Book is looking to celebrate the insanely popular shonen series with not just a revisitation to the events that have taken place in the decades long series, but also has employed several famous anime franchise creators to add their talents to the work by putting together their own interpretations of some of Dragon Ball’s biggest characters. Such is the case with Hideaki Sorachi, the creator of Gintama, giving his own take on none other than the father of Goku, Bardock. Though Bardock was doomed to die with Planet Vegeta, his spirit lives on.

Twitter User GovetaXV shared this image from the upcoming anniversary book, showing off a smiling Bardock prior to his encounter with Frieza in an attempt to save his Saiyan race from facing extinction at the hands of the alien despot:

Gintama doesn’t have a TON in common with the series of Dragon Ball, though the two franchises tend to dive deep into alien lore in order to present the series of hard hitting fights that both are known for. While Gintama wouldn’t necessarily stand up to the blows of Bardock and his son, it would make for a hilarious encounter when all was said and done. Though the series of Gintama may have ended, a new movie revisiting the franchise is on the way!

What do you think of this new artistic interpretation of Bardock from the creator of Gintama? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, Dragon Ball, and Gintama!

Gintama was originally created by Hideaki Sorachi for Weekly Shonen Jump in 2003. The series is set in an Edo period Japan that’s been invaded by aliens known as Amanto. After the shogun surrenders, humans then are forced to live alongside these invaders. The series follows a samurai Gintoki Sakata, who picks up odd jobs with his friends Shinpachi and Kagura to pay the rent for their Yorozuya home base. After ending its run in Weekly Shonen Jump (and had fans thinking the series would end forever), the series continued for a few chapters in Jump GIGA magazine to wrap things up properly.

Dragon Ball Super currently airs its English dub on Adult Swim during the Toonami programming block on Saturday evenings, and is also available to stream on Funimation and Amazon Video. The Japanese-language release of the series is complete, and available to stream on FunimationNOW and Crunchyroll. The manga has chapters that can currently be read for free thanks to Viz Media, and Dragon Ball Super’s big movie, Dragon Ball Super: Broly, is now available on Blu-ray and DVD.