Dragon Ball Debuts Special Cover Art From Naruto Artist

By Megan Peters

Dragon Ball has earned its place as one of anime's top franchises over the last 40+ years. Creator Akira Toriyama couldn't have imagined just how huge the series would become, but Goku and Vegeta are known the world over now. To celebrate the manga's 40th anniversary, Dragon Ball started a campaign asking other popular mangakas to ink new covers for the manga. And now, the artist behind Boruto: Naruto Next Generations is sharing his take on the series.

As you can see below, the artwork was released on the official Dragon Ball website just recently. It turns out Mikio Ikemoto was asked to join in this anniversary campaign, and they picked a special piece of cover art to adapt. After all, their take on volume seven has gone live, and it shows Goku and Bulma on a wild ride with each other.

The two covers have some clear differences to them, but in the end, the most obvious changes comes down to Ikemoto's personal art style. Bulma and Goku have softer character designs, and the latter is shaded very differently from how Toriyama did it. From his line art to his color palette, Ikemoto's style is entirely different from Toriyama, but his manga makeover works nonetheless.

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Of course, Ikemoto is not the only artist who has taken a crack at Dragon Ball for his anniversary event. So far, Yusei Matsui of Assassination Classroom has joined in the event alongside Mitsubishi Shimabukuro, Hiroshi Shiibashi, Tatsuya Endo, Kenta Shinohara, Koyoharu Gotouge, Tattsuki Fujimoto, Ryuhei Tamura, Tite Kubo, Masashi Kishimoto, and more. New covers will be released monthly through November 2024, so fans can look forward to more tributes down the line.

What do you think about Ikemoto's take on this Dragon Ball cover? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB.

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