Manga Artwork: In Defense of Toriyama and his Style
by Melissa

Originally Posted: 24 September 2000

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Recently, I have heard complaints from editorials, webpages, and friends about Toriyama's style of drawing. People complain that it's ugly, that he has no artistic talent, and that they would much rather look at the flowery artwork of Naoko Takeuchi (creator of Sailor Moon) or other shoujo (girl's) manga-ka.

Personally, I love Toriyama's style. I beleive that he is indeed talented and that his artwork is very good indeed. It may not be flowery and soft like shoujo artwork, but that does that really make it ugly and unseemly? This is my defense to Toriyama's artwork.

One of the first things I have to bring up about Toriyama's style is his ability to draw cute things (a phenomen which is very common early Dragonball.) Not sickeningly-cute. ACTUALLY cute. Cute little floating cats that you want to hug. Chibi Goku, whose innocence make him adorable. Little Marron and baby Trunks, who are cartoon representations of real children.

Another wonderful thing about Toriyama is the way he sculpts faces. They don't all look the same. Usually a manga-ka gets into a habit of making a certain facial type for men and women and sticks to it. Not Toriyama. Each character has special features, and even though the style is the same, they're all quite different.

Toriyama also never uses the "Super-Deformed" effect. Super-Deformation is when a character gets large eyes, loses their nose, and often become smaller than they usually are. This effect is commonly used my manga artists when the characters are feeling some strong emotion, whatever it may be. Not Toriyama. He draws the emotions right onto his characters' faces so you can understand exactly what they're feeling.

The last thing I love about Toriyama which I want to mention is his detail-work. Whenever Goku and his family eat out (which is quite often) he draws the dishes on the table all very carefully and *never* sloppily. Also, if you look out for the little details, they can be quite funny. For instance in one panel, Goku is talking to Gohan at a dinner table, and in the corner you can see Vegeta angrily stuffing food into his mouth.

Toriyama is definetly a very talented artist. He doesn't need wide-eyed girls and skinny bishounen. His work is not particularly beautiful, but afterall, did Osamu Tezuka, the creator of manga, have a beautiful style? Toriyama does have good qualities, and he has very, very many.

Contact: minosha@pacbell.net