Akira Toriyama Modern Art Review (Part 1)

A review on Akira Toriyamas modern work such as DragonBall, Sandland, Dragon Quest and many more! Stay tuned for a part 2 and thank you for your continued support.
►Instagram: / d.bz_arts
►Twitter:// zadoxz
►Credits: Music by Shunsuke Kikuchi and Norihito Sumitomo

[@Outta-hz1ej]

>says gohan >writes goten >is gotenks

[@forgottenrelics1197]

bruh moment

[@ricardonellem6980]

He was half right

[@Coyote_Bongwater]

@@ricardonellem6980 haa I get it

[@GarbageBeast]

@@ricardonellem6980 As cringy as that was I still respect your joke.

[@tastedivinefury2198]

ForgottenRelics JW ☠️

[@TotallyNotMark]

this was a super interesting look back over the artwork! Thanks :)

[@roccygnus2570]

Didn't expect to find you here 😂

[@AlexKavazArt]

oh, hi mark!

[@mrbyronpillay5296]

Hi mark

[@bloodfinity]

Didn't expect you here

[@frytoes]

No way! You actually noticed him???!! You should give him a shout out on your channel :)

[@snin3202]

Akira Toriyama is about the classic. He really gave life to his drawing. I am not much a fans of his modern art, but i like the sandland touch

[@forgottenrelics1197]

Yep his work in the early 2000's was still quite good, it's more so later that the quality can shift between pieces

[@skar8009]

I hate the modern designs of the characters. They look too thin and boring to look at. Hardly any of them is as likeable as they were back in the day like Raditz or Cell for example.

[@smellymg]

@@skar8009 yh I agree in super they all look plastic and really shinny and it is really distracting lol I miss when hair used to move or the art back in the Saiyan saga

[@GeteMachine]

I couldn't say what it is, because his new style works for things like Jaco, but for dragonball his proportions seem more off. Almost like an exaggerated take on the kanzenban styled stuff. Could be because hes just trying to keep it simple but at times its just off. Like the Saiyans being way too skinny and small these days.

[@jasonone8726]

​@SmellyMonk3yGaming The plastic and them looking shiny are the Yamamuro designs. This was about Toriyama's work.

[@draggo56]

I will definitely watch a 40 minute video about dragon ball

[@user-xx2sn6gm2y]

fax

[@Blaze-zm7zt]

Yea I was sad when he said he wasn't making a super long vid lol

[@fejy1071]

Same I 100% really would like that

[@GeteMachine]

There really arent that many youtube channels that talk about dragonball from this conceptual perspective and comparison stuff, aside from AnimeAjay and some times Geekdom. I'd rather watch this stuff than the general hype speculation or power scale debates.

[@justajobro1266]

40 has the number 4 40 has two numbers 4 and 0 4+0 = 4, mista hates four you are mista, you should've watch it

[@goulkie4172]

40 mins of content from the GOAT himself? Count me in.

[@ms.antithesis]

If you made an hour long vid about toryamas modern art I'd watch

[@forgottenrelics1197]

ayy glad to hear haha

[@conair2786]

I just got this book from my birthday called “Dragon Ball A Visual History” and it’s just nothing but showing Toriyama’s art for the series. I’m honestly a big fan of his work. I even own the manga and even Jaco the Galactic Patrolman

[@theplaguedoctor7334]

YOU OWN JACO LET HIM GO PLEASE

[@conair2786]

@@theplaguedoctor7334 hahahahahhahah

[@doow4s833]

I’ve always liked his work on sand land quite a bit. Of course db is a classic but sand land was quite good visually imo.

[@forgottenrelics1197]

Sure was!

[@arbetor12]

Hi azusa

[@Used__Napkin]

Toriyama’s art from the 80’s is my personal favorite era of his as the evolution is interesting to see, and I think it’s the most fun to look back at. I also consider most of what he produced in the 80’s to be among his best work. His 90’s style is probably the most popular, because that’s the DBZ era, but I personally think that the Z style specifically has its sweet spot from 1990 to about 1993. Although I will say the Chrono Trigger art he did in ‘95 was absolutely incredible. His Dragon Quest work from that time frame is also very solid. I’ve never really been a fan of Toriyama’s art from the 2000’s onward. I’m not a fan of his Digital Shading especially in the early 2000’s because his digital line work often felt like it clashed with the style of shading. His traditional art was the high point of this era imo and his work on Sandland is the last of what I consider his truly greatest work. Although I still admire his more traditional work and his sense of character design. Kintoki had a mix of very flat and dynamic panels, while I enjoyed character designs from Dragon Quest XIII, X, Swords, and a few other miscellaneous projects. While Toriyama isn’t producing as much art as he was in the past, he doesn’t really need to as he’s more than proved himself as an artist. Some of his more recent work that stands out are a character design he did for the Weekly Shonen Jump app, and the promo art he did for Dragon Quest X: 5000. As a big fan I will continue to look back at and enjoy his work and keep my eyes open for what he does next.

[@georgezee5173]

Totally agree with you. I just recently got the chance to have a look at his Dr. Slump comics and, man, did they look beautiful, with great attention to detail and lovely round shapes that yet kept an absolute coherence to the volume of the characters (not just drawn randomly). He really mastered his drawing technique very early in his career and what came late was not about mastering even further but about adapting his style to a different type of story-telling more focused on action and saving time while producing his art (which I cannot blame him for). Seriously, I was really surprised at how outstanding his Dr. Slump panels looked.

[@Gredran]

I love his comment on the tank. Any artist knows at any level they may want to include something for their story and try something out and then realize it's either WAY too difficult and you give up, or you painstakingly finish. It's cool to see Toriyama is no different. It's cool to see what he pumped out on a deadline, but the tank and that huge monster that he made WITHOUT the deadline were pretty great.

[@pakjai5532]

RIP Akira Toriyama 😢

[@Brave_New_Tube]

It still blows my mind sometimes the fact that a gag/comedy manga writer ended up creating one of the most iconic and influential action shonen series of all time.

[@mechajay3358]

It's great seeing Toriyama's modern work get some attention.

[@KamiAnimeS1]

Love your videos man amazing can’t wait for the next one and I love Bule dragon and Ayee I would love your three hour videos

[@ryanstrumpfler8115]

Awesome analysis. Can’t wait for part 2!

[@forgottenrelics1197]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@wbtx2075]

I'm overall not the biggest fan of Toriyama's modern style compared to the "old" style he developed particulary during the Saiyan- and Freeza-Saga. I appreciate his quite nice approach to anatomy, but sometimes it just looks way to "Action figure"-esque. Not to say that a lot of the classic characters look really out of place with the modern "skinny, yet ripped"-approach, especially Vegeta. It looks really good on Freeza though.

This is now one of my favorite KZbin channels.

[@glanced9684]

Rest in Peace Toriyama-sensei 🙏🙏🥹😣

[@GameArts1]

Very detailed take on his works, thanks!

[@moisescorral8297]

Whoo! So excited for part 3. I love Dragon Quest!

[@taaseenrahman8000]

Good video. Definitely want a part 2.

[@atayamohammad0]

A lot of these “shorter” characters are mostly stylistic decisions to fit the compositions. You can see it in the manga panels in Dragon Ball as well. It allows the drawings to be more compact.

[@edualv320]

Ngl, I don't like his new style at all. I have a book on his art throughout the years and the later years I don't like it. But some you showed here look really nice

[@forgottenrelics1197]

Yeah I think the art from the early 2000's was quite good and his style still felt familiar in some ways but later on that kinda changes

[@tomasfong40]

well the dude is quite old now. It was bound happen

[@onyxt3589]

@@forgottenrelics1197 maybe you could talk about the Daizenshuu covers?

[@LowellLucasJr.]

To me, Toriyama is the Charles Schultz of Japan: He has a great artstyle that's timeless, appealing and improved over time. I do prefer his work around the Majin Buu era/ Chrono Trigger era- as I feel he accomplished great work in limited time. Also, Im one of those few people who'd love to see a 40 minute video! LOL! Great Job as I'm sure this wasn't easy! Also have u considered doing a video on Oh! Great?

[@stainedevchannel1455]

You deserve to be noticed mor. Your channel is great and I can’t stop watching your videos.

[@forgottenrelics1197]

Thanks! Glad you enjoy the content :)

[@oktabrianiskandar1240]

Yo, i have been thinking about this for the past few month, and I dont find people talking about. Thank you for making a video about this, dont mind 1 hour video or part per part. I love Akira Toriyama art in general. I even love his modern art. It just feel Toriyama ish. I would love to see a dragon ball animation with his recent art.

[@HH-cs5uo]

i love your content i'm glad i found your channel!

[@forgottenrelics1197]

Thank you 😁 Glad you like the content, much more to come

[@HH-cs5uo]

@@forgottenrelics1197 i've been binging your vids it was a pleasant experience

[@darkbornelines4587]

dude, I always thought these was drawn by somebody else... Damn his artwork changed alot.

[@kevinsephiroth]

I just discovered now that it was in fact Toriyama that did those artworks... I'm shocked. I thought all those years that it was some copycat who did them as they seemed so cheap in comparison to Toriyama's golden period circa 1993-1995 (Cell to Majin Buu period)... I hate the new round digital style. I liked the angular style 100% more.

[@0kdevv_]

almost 3k in 2 weeks! you better remember me when you grow up! also nice video can’t wait for part 2!

[@forgottenrelics1197]

definitely will bro! And thank you

[@ThePowerLover]

The evolution of Toriyama's art is so weird! Why draw the characters more shorter? Why draw the body/head ratio more chibi? Why draw Gohan such as slender?! It's makes no sense at all! Thanks for the work man, I really appreciated.

[@forgottenrelics1197]

No problem! Glad you enjoyed the video

[@IndraTyde]

I think that in the case of like Android 18 and 16 it was actually to depict them as bring further away from 17.

[@tastedivinefury2198]

Tyde Huave exactly ...

[@realamericannegro977]

He does it because it's easier to draw them that way and he can crank out the work faster. He is basically lazy and don't need to prove himself now.

[@ThePowerLover]

@@realamericannegro977 Efficient, not lazy.

[@ThatGiantPanda]

Hey Forgotten, just wanna say I've been following since your first video, wanted to say I'm happy to see you grow and enjoy your videos as always :)

[@forgottenrelics1197]

Thanks for sticking around :) Much appreciated✌

[@bluenitethewarrior9332]

I for one kinda like this style. It's so different brings in new looks

[@thenightwriter2349]

I love 40 minute vidoes of topics i enjoy

[@raymondstarling1882]

I love the way he said that gotenks was gohan and tried to correct it but corrected it as goten

[@drewboden6981]

It always feels like his modern character art involves slouching like the characters in the kazenban covers. Not all the time but maybe that's why I'm not a fan. I feel like they're off kilter

[@georgezee5173]

Some of the kanzenban covers look so lazy and uninspired... Like that first issue with Goku in a very static pose in the mid aire though his supposed to be doing some acrobatics over his frineds (the car with Bulma and co. looks fine, though). They look like they were drawn by a not-so-talented fan a not Toriyama himself. And the digital colouring was simploy the worst, with a ver lazy aproximation to shading using whites and blacks most of the time instead of adding proper colours to imply different lighting. Very amateurish and dull looking. And it breaks my heart to say all of this of someone who I think was once a very skilled illustrator that stood out with his control of volumes and knowledge of machinery and motored vehicles (loved how he usually slid in some cool-looking vehicle in his covers for the sake of it).

[@p0furi]

i love his modern art

[@ruijua]

What about when Piccolo and Cell got humanoid number of fingers in the manga? And piccolo evolved a finger for SUPER?

[@KhayJayArt]

MAKE THAT 1 HOUR VIDEO I don't care for DB but I do like these art reviews. Not only would I watch a video that length, I would watch them 20 times in a week.

[@diegodankquixote-wry3242]

When ever I see that picture of golu i can only remember the time that polneraff did that same pose

[@Jfoltz39]

I find toriyama’s modern work more refined, there’s no wasted lines. Everything is so stylish and unique. His modern style cannot be imitated.

[@AfroZander5360]

How have I just now found this?! Love these vids 😁

[@rahkan2080]

I hope you make "Hirohiko Araki REVIEW Best Art" Video, that would be awesome 🔥🔥🔥

[@forgottenrelics1197]

One day I'll get to it!!

[@TheName983]

Why is "Dragon Quest 7 to 12" the funniest line I've ever heard?

[@devenrick4218]

Broo I love your videos your so underated

[@forgottenrelics1197]

Cheers man!

[@kuroshthegreat8073]

I think an interesting change Tori made to his art in dbz onwards was drawing characters with these really chiseled, defined, rippling muscles. Whereas in dragon ball original, they were way softer and I think closer to how real-life muscular people look. Not sure why he made the change, maybe he thought it looked cooler.

[@kevinjaredhurtadolozano4000]

Excellent bro

[@jackthegreek6092]

I would love to see one of his old drawings of Goku colored in this realistic Kazenban style.

[@forgottenrelics1197]

That would be interesting

[@georgezee5173]

I would love to see his Kanzenban covers recoloured properly, since they look surprisingly amateurish (maybe it was his first time using a computer to do digital art, who knows...).

[@SagooBoy]

I loved the artwork covers of the first 17 vols of the kanzenban edition.

[@modernwarrior24]

"No one would enjoy a 40 min video" Excuse me. WHAT?!?!?

[@frappompi]

Great analysis, I remember when I first saw the Kanzenban covers, I didn't like them. But now I wish there were more of them, I can't believe I ever disliked them. By the way where did you get the images in high quality? I'd love to see them in full.

[@forgottenrelics1197]

Thank you :) And the ones I used for the video was mainly from this site elrincongeek08.blogspot.com/2017/02/dragon-ball.html

[@frappompi]

@@forgottenrelics1197 Cool! Thanks

[@livingcheese2910]

13:02 OH NO! It's fabulous Frieza! The Emperor Of Style! Ruuun!

[@ms.antithesis]

Another great vid m8 ♥️

[@MannyloAnimeSquad]

what about his halo art that he made. It was in that halo cartoon episodes

[@carrot7215]

Why did i take this long to find this? Amazing video!

[@forgottenrelics1197]

Thank you!

[@carrot7215]

@@forgottenrelics1197 no, its my pleasure

[@Mr5lapp]

Woah you gained a lot of subscribers since I subbed

[@gnuwaves743]

didn't Goku explicitly tell Bulma he was 14 in the first volume? Then she freaked out and kicked him out of the bath.

[@jasonone8726]

Yes.

[@cousinmajin]

The cover of volume 28 looks like he's about to blast King Kai into oblivion, like he's mugging him lmaooo

[@yusubasa10]

Nice video as always 👍👍👍

[@forgottenrelics1197]

Thanks :)

[@Gaming_Hub_UK]

Quite interesting works

[@tristanschneider2909]

i actually like some of his modern work

[@CastonSigauke]

Forgotten relics: don't know why I called him Gohan Me: oh wow it's relatable

[@jodigga7]

I will never understand why Toriyama decided to draw the dragonball characteres slimmer.

[@mr.j9125]

Probably because he wants the characters to look modern

[@startmirca]

Jonatan K Evolution of artstyle, just like how Hirohiko Araki's style changed over the years. Especially due to the fact that he mainly draws comedy/gag manga most of the time.

[@justajobro1266]

@@startmirca yea popular mangakas change thier artstyles lot araki and toriyama being the biggest ecamples

[@ultrainstinct3270]

Love Your Videos man, i hope to see more soon, also im glad i was able to find this channel of someone else besides ajay who knows what he is talking about cause seriously it gives us a different view on the show as well and adds another opinion about the character designs and why they are the way they are. Again love the videos and keep it up, also i hope to see in the future a possible yuya takahashi video if possible.

[@forgottenrelics1197]

Yuya Takahashi sounds like a good idea, I'll keep him in mind in the future and thank you! Much appreciated :)

[@micahbost4438]

I love his art for dragon quest and you should definitely talk about it. It’s always highly detailed from like dragon quest 7 to 10 is my favorite season of his art

[@directorslife]

Actually about the fact that Gohan is taller in a young age than Goku is because pure sayians are kids for a longer period of time so its easy to infiltrate planets and become strong before being seen as a threat. (info from Galactic partolman manga)

[@italianduded1161]

7:34 amazing Toryama's new arts are so cool

[@adnantwakkal7530]

Damn I thought this video was old so I was looking for part 2

[@roccygnus2570]

Who's your favorite villain from DB?

[@forgottenrelics1197]

Probably Vegeta when he was still a villain and Raditz.

[@dreamteamamv8177]

Keep up da good work 💯

[@forgottenrelics1197]

Thanks, will do💪

[@ghostonfire24]

Toriyamas best style was during the Android/cell arc

[@easter_god]

my mans get his mind blown when he learns the word perspective

[@emperorcrimson3414]

8:16 I think thats just the POV from Gohan becauseif you can see Gohan is on a mount of rock but he also could've made Cell a little out of distance.

[@lylepatterson6022]

Great video! Surprised you don't have more subs

[@ZZtheDark]

This guy give me loooove for art ^_^

[@baonguyen-tf8gh]

No dislike, well, it's should be consider how good the content. Good job.

[@ivanfontenla3490]

nice video bro

[@forgottenrelics1197]

thanks man!

[@georgezee5173]

I hate to say this, but his digital colouring in the Kanzenban covers was surprisingly weak and dull looking for no reason. They look as if it was his first time ever colouring anything with a computer and he couldn't quite figure out how to properly do it, what technique to use for shading and how to manage colours (most of the shades seem to just have added black). After loving his watercoloured covers and illustrations, those kanzenban covers were a major let down to me.

[@localangrydad2590]

He made the characters slimmer and their heads look big af compared to their bodies, unlike his old art style

[@juanmantilla4852]

I love your work!!♥️

[@forgottenrelics1197]

Thanks😁✌

[@XDarksoulX1129]

On frieza I feel you forget that freiza leans forward in that pose and that's why hes smaller and his head is bigger. He was adding perspective

[@forgottenrelics1197]

could be but the original shot from the manga it was much smaller and I was going to use the pose from the manga to compare but I couldn't find a scan😌

[@XDarksoulX1129]

@@forgottenrelics1197 I understand just something to think about maybe he was exaggerating it because he felt he couldnt capture the perspective just right

[@The_WIll_OF_D99]

I feel like some of your reasons can be chucked up to perspective. Like 18 is not short and 16 is further back. Meaning he is drawn smaller. Same I would argue with Gohan and Cell's picture.

[@pabloiriqui6128]

Don’t forget those sweet Chrono Trigger Designs

[@maxg6613]

I would watch a 40 minute video

[@shimshamjunior]

Why am I just now finding this channel ?

[@krispy21493]

"I didn't want to make this video too long" *Continues to talk about it for two minutes

[@wesley5729]

Something that Ive always had a bit of a problem with is the posture of some of toriyama’s characters. Sometimes they look hunched over, especially in that tenshinhan cover

[@d.henrique1005]

Nice video! Something I always think about, is the Goku and Gohan's difference height in the same age. I always considering this is because Saiyans don't aged like humans, so Goku with 14 years old looks like 10/11 maybe, however, Gohan, Goten, Trunks etc, they are all half Saiyans, so I thing they age just like humans. In Dragon Ball Super, Gohan looks older than Goku in the same age.

[@juaniferritto3249]

I'm in for the 40 min video

[@eddievelez4723]

I hope the more dragon quest oriented video gets the same number of views

[@obi_oma]

I'd watch an hour-long video about all his work tbh

[@4bros352]

Can you please do a video on Akira toriyama vs toyotaro?😀

[@richartist938]

do you know if he used paint for the kanzanban covers?

[@davidsempere464]

"I don't want this to be too long, as no one would want to watch this.... I hate making things long cause I would have to split it into two halfs.... but there will be a part two, and it won't take too long to come out"

[@forgottenrelics1197]

Yeah typically people only watch like 5 minutes of a video so making a 45-minute video that hardly anyone would actually watch entirely through seemed pointless at the time and I was on a weekly schedule so it gave me some content for another week.

[@davidsempere464]

@@forgottenrelics1197 I get it, long videos are a tough return on investment my friend. I do enjoy the content though even though I feel like the intro can be cut down a bit. I was joking around with my comment talking about how you kinda go on about splitting the video into two parts. Your contents great man, I don't mind getting an extra part to a video! No need to feel bad about giving us more of what we enjoy especially in a format that works better for you.

[@forgottenrelics1197]

@@davidsempere464 Oh gotcha haha, I misunderstood 😅 And yeah I listened back to the first minute or two and I was wondering myself as to why I rambled for the length I did. I guess back then I never thought this video would get have past 4k, so I would typically say whatever lol. Also thanks for the support it's much appreciated🙌

[@FlancitoConCebolla]

I still can't believe people say Toriyama's art has divolved since the 90's. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but... No

[@jasonone8726]

I mean, it's true.

[@0kdevv_]

also i gotta question do you know yamamuros style at the beginning of the android and cell saga like when goku and trunks met or when he powered up against the androids or just when he met perfect cell. what do you think of it?

[@forgottenrelics1197]

I love it, I enjoy his more refined take and characters are drawn great. No real complaints

[@sahbaestahbanaty9673]

Great video, also am I only one who think this art style is kind of similar to dragon ball ultimate tenkaichi artstyle? By the way sorry for my bad English

[@BakiX]

I do not like Toriyamas new style for Dragon Ball at all. But you can tell his art has become far more natural feeling, so I'd even go as far as to say he's gotten far far better as an artist. Just...doesn't fit his Dragon Ball work anymore, imo.

[@georgezee5173]

I feel the total opposite. I see his early work from the 80s far more natural, organic and full of life and attitude, whilst his later work looks like he struggles with it, like he doesn't really want to do it.

[@skr_skr1]

I knew Toriyama was good... BUT HOLY SHIT!

[@johnblocker7322]

Akira toriyama has done the character designs for all the dragon quest games since the beginning.

[@forgottenrelics1197]

Yep I know :) I was referring to the newer work he has done for that series

[@johnblocker7322]

@@forgottenrelics1197 oh ok my bad, great video by the way.

[@botslayer2458]

Rest in peace Akira Toriyama