Dragon Balltook a major chance when it came to the decision to age Goku up into his adult form, but that calculated risk paid off exponentially. In fact, it turned out to be a great thing for the entire shonen action genre, freeing many writers from the constraints of their existing characters.
When one hears the name “Goku,” they almost always immediately picture the adult form ofDragon Ball’s lead hero. But, as mostDragon Ballfans know, Goku’s story started out when he was a child. In that sense,Dragon Ballwas pretty typical of shonen: the lead character was roughly the same age as the target demographic, making it easy for the readers to project themselves into the story. But it wasn’t always planned to allow Goku to grow up, and when that decision was made by Akira Toriyama, he experienced a fair amount of pushback from editors, who feared he would tank the series' popularity.
Goku’s Growth Into An Adult Was All Toriyama’s Doing
Toriyama Decided by Himself to Age Goku Up
According to a statement by Toriyama himself, translated by Kanzenshuu,“Apparently in shonen manga, changing what the main character looked like was a big no-no, but I didn’t care about that. [Goku’s] head/body ratio made fighting hard, so I said that if the series was going to start focusing more on battles, then I needed to make him an adult. But this really shocked them: ‘The series has finally gotten popular, and now you want to go and change everything!'“Toriyama’s decision to change Goku wasn’t readily accepted, and by his own admission, he essentially used the tight publishing deadlines to force the issue, allowing him to age Goku as desired.
However, this really was a substantial risk at the time. The idea of a time skip occurring and characters aging in the middle of a story was something that was effectively unprecedented.If fans hadn’t liked Goku’s redesign, it could’ve resulted in people dropping the manga in droves, a trend which may have led to the series ending before ever even getting to theZera. Toriyama managed to keep a lot of the iconic elements of Goku, such as his hair and orange gi, and the end result was a design that really did just feel like young Goku, all grown up.
Toriyama’s risk paid off, as the new Goku was definitely better designed for fight scenes, something that became immediately apparent in the Piccolo Jr. Saga, where the new design was seen in action for the first time. Aging up Goku allowed for other characters to get new designs as well, bringing about a new era of the series, the one that would come to define whatDragon Ballis for so many.
Goku Paved the Way for Other Timeskip Redesigns
Dragon Ball’s Timeskip Became a Model for Other Series
Dragon Ball’s skipping of a period of time wherein nothing much happens as a way to age up characters and introduce new designs was revolutionary, and it soon opened the door for other series to see their characters age and grow.All of the Big Three,Dragon Ball’s immediate successors in the 90s and 2000s, use time skips at different points, withNaruto’s timeskip being significant enough that it resulted inaDragon Ball Z-style rebrand,Naruto Shippuden. These revamped casts helped to keep the long-running series feeling fresh, and allowed characters to mature a bit off-screen.
It’s interesting to think that, had Toriyama not had the strength of will to stand up to his editors, fans may never have seen an adult Goku. Goku’s adult form has definitely become the iconic version that even non-fans will instantly recognize, and that’s something that’s difficult to top. It proves that sometimes, telling an interesting story can involve taking risks, not knowing whether those risks will pay off. Aging Goku up was arguably the greatest decision Toriyama ever made, and it wound up working extremely well in the context of the story.
Timeskips have since become an anime staple,like tournament arcsand transformations and so many other things which Toriyama helped to popularize. Toriyama’s willingness to take risks and stand up for what he thought was best for his story resulted inDragon Ballbecoming an international hit, and proves what made him such a great master of the medium. Aging Goku up not only changed his appearance, but allowed the tone of the story change as well, makingDragon Balla better fit for the story Toriyama was ultimately telling.
