Dragon Ball fans recently celebrated special holidays for the series as a few days in May share hilarious puns with the names of certain characters like Goku, Piccolo, Gohan, and Goten in Japanese.
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The official Dragon Ball website often shares random bits of behind-the-scenes work from Toriyama, and the latest reveal features a never-before-seen look at the first rough sketches of adult Piccolo and Goku.
Today in The Increasingly Sporadic Works of Toriyama: to celebrate May 9th (Piccolo Day), it’s Toriyama’s rough sketches of the cast for the 23rd tournament, marking the first time he drew Piccolo in the form most familar to us day. https://t.co/cITiqVhTuT pic.twitter.com/LyokSfD2a1
— Todd Blankenship (@Herms98) May 9, 2018
As spotted by Twitter user @Herms98, the website featured the rough sketches of the cast going into the 23rd Tournament (which features the fight between Goku and Piccolo during the Piccolo Jr saga), and this marked the first time he drew Piccolo in the form we know him as today.
Dragon Ball fans are aware who we know as Piccolo is really Piccolo Jr., the off-spring/reincarnation of the great Demon King Piccolo that terrified Earth until he was defeated by Goku. It’s why Piccolo is still marred by “his” past villainy, and even goes through a major personality change (much like Vegeta) which eventually brings him to Goku’s side when stronger enemies come along.
Dragon Ball Super currently airs its English dub on Adult Swim during the Toonami programming block Saturday evenings at 9:30 p.m. It is also available to stream on Funimation and Amazon Video. The Japanese language release of the series is complete, and available to stream on Funimation, VRV, and Crunchyroll.
If you want to catch up with the English dub, the first 52 episodes of Dragon Ball Super are now available to stream on FunimationNOW, VRV, and available to purchase on Amazon Video as well. The 52 episodes span the full range of what has aired in the North America and covers the “Battle of Gods” arc, “Revival of F” arc, the “Universe 6” arc, and bringing the series right up to the current TV airings of the “Future Trunks” arc.
The first Dragon Ball Super film is set to release this December in Japan, and it has just released its first trailer. The film will focus on the Saiyans, the “origins of Goku‘s power,” and potentially the story of the very first Super Saiyan. Not only does it aim to be the best film in the series, original creator Akira Toriyama will be contributing to the film’s script and character designs.
