Few Dragon Ball fans would’ve ever imagined Son Goku was an avid video game player, but a new release shows this largely under-recognized side of the hero.
Dragon Ball’s official website has released a full high-quality scan of one of Akira Toriyama’s most sought-after artworks, depicting kid Goku taking a break from training martial arts to play some video games. While Goku wouldn’t usually seem like the type to play games rather than train in real life, Toriyama was known as an avid gamer, so this artwork could be a case of the artist living vicariously through his muse.
This new reveal is part of Dragon Ball’s ongoing “Toriyama Archives” series, which publishes “rare, hard-to-find” artworks created by Toriyama for a limited time before the page is erased forever.
Goku Picks Up a Controller in New Dragon Ball Cover Art Celebrating the Anime’s Legacy
On June 13, the Dragon Ball website revealed a Shonen Jump magazine cover art depicting Goku playing a video game called “Miracle Kun-fu Adventure” on a classic CRT TV. Toriyama drew this art for Weekly Shonen Jump 1986 No 12, and it was first released on February 2nd, according to Dragon Ball’s website.
This was also the issue in which Dragon Ball Chapter 62, “Peril! The Art of Division” (sometimes translated as “The Ninja Split”), was first published. Taking place during the Red Ribbon Army Saga, Dragon Ball Chapter 62 details Goku’s duel with the comedically cunning ninja Murasaki.
As the official Dragon Ball website’s description of this art further explains, this cover was meant to celebrate the start of the Dragon Ball anime adaptation in Japan.
To celebrate the upcoming anime and the one-year anniversary of the manga, Goku appeared on the cover of Weekly Shonen Jump just before the anime was broadcast. This image is overflowing with fun, depicting Goku, Krillin, and other fan faves move around energetically across a game screen.
In Toriyama’s comment released along with this chapter, he addresses his feelings about the anime’s debut: “Things are ridiculously hectic, what with my work and plastic model contest deadlines, my younger brother’s wedding, and my friend’s wedding. But I’ll definitely watch the anime’s premiere, no matter what!”
The Dragon Ball anime then went on to debut on Wednesday, February 26, in Japan. This particular Shonen Jump issue is one of the most sought-after, fetching as much as $13,000 from online resellers. The issue also reportedly came with a fold-out poster featuring young Goku wielding his power pole with the Eternal Dragon Shenron flying behind him.
The Toriyama art used for this fold-out poster (as shown in the image above) was also featured in Daizenshuu 1, though that book release doesn’t feature the blue background the original poster did. This cover art celebrating the original release of the anime comes at the perfect time, as Dragon Ball just finished wrapping up its 40th anniversary with some huge anime reveals.
Chief among them was the Dragon Ball Super remake titled Dragon Ball Super: Beerus, which is set to premiere later this year. Dragon Ball Super’s Galactic Patrol Arc anime was also announced with a key visual, though it doesn’t have any release date yet at the time of writing.
- Cast
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Sean Schemmel, Laura Bailey, Brian Drummond, Christopher Sabat, Scott McNeil
- Created by
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Akira Toriyama
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