Dragon Ball Super author Toyotarou has already released the perfect conclusory manga chapter to Akira Toriyama’s story.
Dragon Ball’s story has technically ended multiple times throughout the years, whether it’s Toriyama’s original DBZ ending, the final episode of Dragon Ball GT, or even Super Dragon Ball Heroes‘ final saga. But by far, the most beautifully-written ending for the series comes from DBS’ current mangaka, Toyotarou.
Long before Toyotarou got started writing Dragon Ball Super, he wrote his own manga titled Dragon Ball AF, which had the perfect final chapter to end the series after GT.
The Ending of Toyotarou’s Dragon Ball AF Manga Was Completely Unexpected
Dragon Ball AF was written by Toyotarou back in the early 2000s, under his pen name at the time, Toyble.
The DBAF manga was a story that takes place after the events of Dragon Ball GT, after Goku leaves the world behind along with the Dragon Balls. The conflict starts when a mysterious Saiyan named Xicor arrives on Earth, looking for Goku. As it turns out, Xicor is actually Goku’s long-lost son, and he has come to prove he’s the strongest.
Unfortunately, Toyotarou never got to finish the story of Xicor. He ended up bringing the story to an end right in the middle of it all just before Chapter 5. But that rushed conclusion ended up resulting in something beautiful.
While there was an incomplete draft of Toyble’s Dragon Ball AF Chapter 5 released (which was later finished by fans and published online), he had to end the manga because he had begun working with the franchise on Dragon Ball Heroes and later, Dragon Ball Super. However, before leaving DBAF behind for good, Toyotarou did pen one last chapter he called “Chapter 4.5,” which draws the entire series to a close through a bittersweet tragedy.
Even though Dragon Ball AF Chapter 4.5 doesn’t conclude the Z-Fighters’ battle against Xicor, it does provide heartfelt closure for the main cast of the franchise. In many ways, it’s an even better finale than the endings of DBZ or Dragon Ball GT.
Dragon Ball AF’s Ending Is an Insightful Love Letter to Manga Creators That Every Fan Needs to Read
Dragon Ball AF Chapter 4.5 picks up just before the final battle with Xicor is set to begin.
Suddenly, the story cuts to Master Roshi, who is actually telling the story of Xicor to Goku Jr and Vegeta Jr. Unfortunately, just as the story is getting good, Roshi decides he’s growing a bit tired, and needs to cut things short for the day.
The way this cutoff is handled is itself an excellent meta-narrative about the plight faced by many manga authors today. There’s a fun scene where Goku Jr and Vegeta Jr start voicing their concerns about Master Roshi’s failure to give them closure with his story.
Vegeta Jr expresses dissatisfaction that “He said the story’d go on for ‘just a bit more, and that was forever ago…” To this, Goku Jr adds, “Yeah, and then after he said ‘the main character’s Gohan now’, it ended up being Grampa Goku instead.”
These kinds of complaints are exactly the kinds of things fans say about manga artists in real life, with Goku Jr’s criticism of Gohan being the main character a literal reference to a real life controversy that still sometimes haunts Akira Toriyama’s manga today.
Toyotarou’s message is clear: readers can tend to be as childish as Goku Jr and Vegeta Jr when they talk about manga, and fans should really show mangaka a bit more grace, because their job isn’t easy.
While Pan, now mature in her older age, sticks up for Roshi against the children’s criticism over how he tells his story, Roshi insists that it’s his duty to tell this story now that Goku and the rest of the Z-Fighters have all passed away.
Master Roshi’s words in this scene are somewhat prophetic given that Toyotarou wrote this chapter decades before Akira Toriyama’s death. Roshi’s statement that he’s “the last one left,” feels very much like how Toyotarou is now the only one left to continue the story now that Toriyama has “gone over to the other world,” to use Pan’s words in Chapter 4.5.
Toyotarou’s Dragon Ball AF Gives the Series One Last Heartfelt Farewell
While Roshi doesn’t finish his story about Xicor, Dragon Ball AF’s final chapter does introduce one last pair of new villains: Bebidi, the son of Babidi, and his minion, Majin Pooh. But their reign of terror is short-lived, as Goku Jr and Vegeta Jr make quick work of the threat.
Seeing how easily the two Jr Saiyans take down Majin Pooh, Roshi feels a sense of relief. He realizes that his job of preparing the next generation of heroes is finally complete. At that moment, the feeble and tired Roshi collapses, able to let go of the reservations that kept him desperately clinging to life for so long.
The rest of the story follows Roshi’s experience in the afterlife, as he meets Goku, Krillin, Bulma, Yamcha and Launch at Kame House.
It’s clear that Roshi is reliving his happiest days one last time, as he even meets Grandpa Gohan and Mutaito there as well. As life fades from Roshi, he smiles at the thought of forcing Goku and Krillin to complete a difficult training regime, just like the old days.
The story concludes with Goku telling Roshi all about their life in the next world, convincing him it’s okay to let go and leave things up to the next generation.
The themes Toyotarou covers in Dragon Ball AF Chapter 4.5 make it feel like a true love letter to the medium of manga storytelling and fantasy world building. It’s a brilliant allegory for what it means to leave a story behind that means so much to its author.
A truly great fictional world like the one Akira Toriyama created with Dragon Ball does not end, even after its creator is gone, and that seems to be something Toyotarou understood better than almost anyone.
Like Master Roshi, all Toriyama could do was tell his story the best he could, and leave it up to the next generation to decide what to do with it. No matter what, when his time came, Roshi had to let go and have faith that Goku Jr and Vegeta Jr would be able to follow the lessons he taught them.
And after Master Roshi dies, the last of his generation is gone forever. The entire main cast of Dragon Ball has passed to the other world, leaving behind new heroes to carry the torch in their absence.
Even though the story of those original heroes has ended, the world of Dragon Ball lives on.
Whether or not he ever writes another chapter of Dragon Ball Super (it looks increasingly likely the manga is coming back soon), Toyotarou has already left behind the perfect ending to the story of Dragon Ball.
- Cast
-
Sean Schemmel, Laura Bailey, Brian Drummond, Christopher Sabat, Scott McNeil
- Created by
-
Akira Toriyama
- Latest TV Show
-
Dragon Ball DAIMA