One Piece’s touching tribute to ‘Dragon Ball’ and Akira Toriyama
Eiichiro Oda, the creator of Luffy’s adventures, shares his own tribute to the late master Tori with the recreation of the final volume of the manga.
‘Dragon Ball’ celebrated its fortieth-anniversary last year, and to mark the occasion, the most famous mangakas of the moment set out to recreate the covers of the manga created by Akira Toriyama in their own style, as a tribute. A celebration that was cut short by the sudden death of Master Tori last March. Now the creator of ‘One Piece’, Eiichiro Oda, has paid his own tribute to Toriyama by recreating the iconic cover of the 42nd volume of ‘Dragon Ball’, the last one in which Goku appears and greets the readers by exclaiming: “Thank you! Goodbye!!”.
Eiichiro Oda’s cool homage to Akira Toriyama
Of course, Eiichiro Oda’s work with Toriyama’s iconic original illustration is sensational. In keeping with his style, he has drawn Goku in the same position, flying through space, with his arm outstretched, waving to the readers while shouting, in this case, “Thank you!” For this occasion, however, he has replaced Majin Buu at the controls of a flying saucer with the number 42 - the number of the manga volume, the last in the series - with the mythical Tori-Bot, Toriyama’s own friendly alter ego who has made cameo appearances in several of his works.
“I bought the first volume of the ‘Dragon Ball’ manga series when I was in elementary school, but I didn’t buy the second volume! I always read the chapters through WSJ magazine, and when the final volume 42 was released,″ Oda said as part of his special tribute to Akira Toriyama. “I went to the bookstore and saw it, but I didn’t buy it! I thank you for giving me this opportunity to redraw it! And now, I wish I could buy this volume while Toriyama-sensei is still alive,” the mangaka adds.
Akira Toriyama’s work has forever shaped several generations of mangakas, and this heartfelt tribute from one of today’s manga creators, Eiichiro Oda of ‘One Piece’, is proof of that. Currently, we continue to enjoy ‘Dragon Ball Daima’ one episode per week while we await the return of Toyotaro’s manga ‘Dragon Ball Super’.
Related stories
Follow MeriStation USA on X (formerly known as Twitter). Your video game and entertainment website for all the news, updates, and breaking news from the world of video games, movies, series, manga, and anime. Previews, reviews, interviews, trailers, gameplay, podcasts and more! Follow us now!