At a time when Dragon Ball’s popularity was waning, approximately after the first wish, they needed something to attract the audience. The series was titled Dragon Ball and it was all about gathering the Dragon Balls to make wishes, and after the first wish, the audience and fans believed it would be repetitive.
This was when Kazuhiko Torishima turned to the series Fist of the North Star, the biggest hit of the era, for inspiration. However, as he read it, he found most of the liens were extremely emotional and impactful.
Torishima’s vision: A story without substance
Although Fist of the North Star was a trendsetter of its time, as Kazuhiko Torishima revealed in an old interview, he didn’t particularly enjoy it. He wanted to see a work that did not have the complexities and could be read purely for entertainment.
Unlike what he believed, he did not actually enjoy it as much. So, instead of trying to imitate it to be successful, Torishima decided to go in the exact opposite way and simplify the setting, reduce characters, and make it just for the purposes of entertainment.
He said in an interview with Hiroshi Matsuyama-
When I read Fist of the North Star I felt that it was a bit preachy. But I was struck by its dialogue, “You are already dead.” “I don’t qualify to live another day!!” “Because I love the same woman. “And, “I have no regrets in my life. “Children think that such lines. sound cool, of course. It had a lot of appeal in that regard, and was incredible.
So, he envisioned a fun work without any ‘essence’ and meaning. He said that he felt that Fist of the North Star was ‘preachy; due to the excess amount of emotional weight behind the one-liners.
The dramatic and impactful dialogue was enough to strike Torishima with the amount of inspiration he wanted, and he immediately revised the policies regarding how the future of Dragon Ball would be shaped. We can see this from the stark differences between Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z.
The lasting impact of Torishima’s decision
Torishima made a bold decision to simplify Dragon Ball. Instead of a ‘preachy’ work, he wanted to go the other way to attract fans. If the market was populated by work with complexities and meaning, Dragon Ball had to be a cool, thrilling, and entertaining work to stand out.
There was no essence or deeper meaning behind the actions, events, and fights, but that was alright, Torishima believed. That is why Dragon Ball could become a legacy series and continue to amass popularity even after its author has passed on.
Torishima found that by reducing its characters (a lot of characters were leading to a complex storyline in the manga) and keeping the story lighthearted, the series became more attractive amongst the simplicity.
Torishima outright stated that Dragon Ball was never meant to teach life lessons it was designed to entertain, and that it did. It was a collection of cool and thrilling moments, fights, and power-ups, and it worked extremely well, becoming a globally renowned franchise.
The Dragon Ball series is available to watch on Crunchyroll.
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