Manga
Toyotaro brings to life another of Akira Toriyama’s projects, Blue Dragon, and praises the manga
The current artist behind ‘Dragon Ball Super’ pays homage to Akira Toriyama through the Blue Dragon Manga, which adapts the old game’s story and designs.
Tributes and recognitions continue to arrive for Akira Toriyama after his death last March and his disciple, Toyotaro -illustrator of ‘Dragon Ball Super’- wanted to remember his teacher’s work on Blue Dragon, the classic Xbox 360 RPG. Toriyama himself designed the game’s characters, a universe that was later adapted to manga format by Akatsuki Yamatoya and Noriko Otake. Toyotaro shared a new illustration of said universe, recommending a work that, according to him, can be “enjoyed like a Toriyama manga”.
This is how Blue Dragon looks like drawn by toyotaro
Through the ‘Toyotaro’s drawings’ section on the official Dragon Ball website, we can enjoy unpublished illustrations of the mangaka based on works by his teacher. And this time he wanted to remember the Blue Dragon universe drawing its main protagonist, Shu, created by Toriyama for the video game of the same name.
After the success of the Xbox 360 exclusive, Weekly Shonen Jump adapted said universe into a new manga that has gone somewhat unnoticed all these years but, according to Toyotaro, preserves all the essence of Toriyama without the creator of ‘Dragon Ball’ being involved in it.
“I have to say something about the manga version drawn by Noriko Otake! It was a really great read.”, assured Toyotaro about Blue Dragon in manga format. “You can read it like a Toriyama manga!”, adds the mangaka. The manga, despite not having the style of its illustrator, retains certain touches of Toriyama, especially in the characters’ faces; Not in vain, as it is based on his work.
Blue Dragon follows the story of Shu, a very mischievous country boy who wants nothing more than to be a student of Knight Master, to be able to escape from the village and travel the world. However, one day, when his village is attacked by soldiers of the evil King Nene, Shu finds himself unknowingly thrown into the center of an ancient conflict between the forces of good, known as the Warriors of Light, and the forces of evil, known as the Shadows of Darkness.