Dragon Ball is a massive franchise that spanned decades. Akira Toriyama’s storytelling style with the series often prioritized fast pacing and key battles over extended training sequences.
This was especially true when it came to the initial parts of the manga. But there was a caveat in doing so: although Dragon Ball is a Shonen series, while the manga excelled in many aspects like thrill and action, it regularly skipped over crucial moments that would have added depth to Goku’s development.
As a character, Goku seems like a simple-headed young Saiyan, so how did this get fixed? In fact, it was because Toriyama trusted the anime team with the making of not one, but two of the best training arcs in Dragon Ball— the Snake Way and the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.
The expanded version of the journey on Snake Way
When it came to Snake Way or the Time Chamber, Toriyama only vaguely depicted them (the fans were to assume that the protagonist leveled up while going through the training). Essentially, Toriyama skipped to the good part.
But in doing so, he left a lot of gaps in the manga that could be fleshed out by the anime. So, during the meetings with Toei Animation, the creative team was excited by the possibility. Instead of detailing them himself, Toriyama left their portrayal to Toei Animation.
The fillers
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This allowed the anime team to step in and expand upon the journey. moments in ways the manga never did. This led to a slower-paced narrative, but in return, the character of Goku, the protagonist, was clearly fleshed.
Figures like Takao Koyama even referred to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber as a “bonus,” acknowledging that there was a lot of use for the events where the manga had a lack of detail.
This gave them free rein to flesh out the story properly. Similarly, Snake Way, a relatively simple journey in the manga, but in the anime, it became a full-fledged training arc. In this way, both the manga and anime worked in tandem to better the quality and impact of the Dragon Ball series.
The Hyperbolic Time Chamber became an iconic part of the series
Similarly, the Hyperbolic Time Chamber was a game-changer in Dragon Ball Z. It is unknown what Toriyama believed would happen inside, or maybe he believed the fans would not be fans of waiting and would want the arc to reach the next battle as soon as possible.
This again meant that there was barely any detailed information on the Time Chamber, which meant it was time for the anime team to swoop in and add their own unique twists and ideas to it.
While the manga acknowledged its importance for Goku, Gohan, Vegeta, and Trunks, this was only limited to the realm of training. It might be because Toriyama was originally a gag mangaka, but he seems not to like fleshing out parts.
Even when Vegeta and Yamcha were feeling disheartened because they couldn’t keep up with Goku, that was anime only moment that was not depicted in the manga.
Toei Animation took full advantage of the blank slate Toriyama left, and they expanded on the grueling conditions inside the chamber, adding extra scenes that highlighted the toll it took on the characters.
You can stream the Dragon Ball series on Crunchyroll.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
