News culture What could Son Goku look like when he was old? Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball, gives his interpretation!
Publié le 24/02/2024 à 10:19
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While the next Dragon Ball anime is set to feature a new version of Son Goku as a child, can we still expect to one day see the Sayian as an old man? At the end of the 90s, Akira Toriyama had already imagined his protagonist at an advanced age. A famous drawing brought out from the archives by fans.
The Immortal Sayian
The years go by, but yet Dragon Ball does not age a single bit. A rare and intergenerational longevity which is surely due to the propensity of the characters to become younger over the course of the projects. After the first volumes of Dragon Ball, then the Dragon Ball GT series, soon comes Dragon Ball Daima, the last official anime dedicated to Goku and his friends which will offer a new, younger version of the main cast.
It must be said that Goku's childhood is probably one of the most popular parts of the manga. Much more burlesque and playful than the following chapters, the first arcs of Dragon Ball touch on a particular affect of fans who grew up alongside Goku and his friends. But can we one day hope to grow old alongside him? Nothing is less certain given the success of the work, even if Akira Toriyama once imagined his protagonist as an old man.
Goku l’ancien
It's a fact, Goku never seems to age, or at least never really had the opportunity to age. However, at the end of the 80s, Akira Toriyama did imagine an aging version of his hero. It is possible to find a famous drawing representing Goku at an advanced age in an issue of a special magazine from Shueisha, the publishing house behind Weekly Shonen Jump. This drawing dates from 1989 and was published at the start of the Namek and Frieza arc.
Old Goku by Akira Toriyama, 1989
âThat’s why I don’t really know when Dragon Ball will end or what will happen in the future. Maybe Goku will end up becoming an old man like thisâ¦â pic.twitter.com/ekaIU0VrYL
— Dragon Ball Perfect Shots (@DBPerfectShots) February 13, 2024
This sketch was made by Akira Toriyama while the author was discussing the end of his manga at the time. The accompanying text is signed by the author, who declared that he could draw everything he could within his manga: “in fact, I myself don't know at all how Dragon Ball is going ends or what happens next. Maybe I'll turn Goku into an old man like that…”. A joke which, as we have proven over the last decades, has obviously remained in the realm of fabrication.
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