Dragon Ball co-creator finally begins shining light on Goku's doppelganger with new art

A sketch was recently released by Dragon Ball Super co-creator and illustrator Toyotarou. Best known for his work on the Super manga, fans always have heavy praise for Toyotarou’s artwork, which truly captures the magic of Akira Toriyama’s original approach and designs for the franchise.

It’s thus truly fitting that Toyotarou’s latest sketch illustrates a fan-favorite character from Toriyama’s original franchise. The latest sketch from the artist brings Dragon Ball movie character Turles back to life, infamous for being almost unrecognizable from Goku. The most widely accepted explanation for this is due to him being Goku’s cousin.

While fans haven't seen much of Turles since his appearance in the Tree of Might film, this latest sketch could imply that more of him, as well as more information, will be available soon. The Dragon Ball fandom is hoping such information and events are on the horizon, even if the sketch doesn’t necessarily confirm this.

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Toyotarou’s latest sketch hints at Dragon Ball franchise focusing on Turles’ story in near-future

The sketch in question from Toyotarou features the aforementioned Dragon Ball film character in his trademark Saiyan armor, scouter, and white cloak. Turles is also depicted in the sketch eating the fruit from the Tree of Might, which is certainly a reference to both his origins in the film and his actually successfully eating the fruit. The text at the bottom of the illustration reads as follows when translated:

“How did he survive the destruction of Planet Vegeta… I hope we find that out someday.”

While the message is by no means a confirmation of a coming focus on and canonization of Turles, it is somewhat suspicious that Toyotarou has just now drawn the character. One reasonable explanation could be that the illustration is part of the “Toyotarou Drew It!” series, which sees him draw a new franchise character each month.

While these illustrations typically don’t have subtle meanings behind them, that trend could change at truly any moment. However, for the time being, fans will see this cemented as just another celebratory sketch of a cool character from the franchise.

As for what the franchise is currently confirmed to be up to, there’s unfortunately no significant news on the anime front. Several recent leaks have claimed that a new project is in the works and that the franchise will soon announce or release some kind of information, but such rumors have yet to be confirmed by official reports.

The franchise’s manga, meanwhile, is in a particularly intriguing place. After cutting the Trunks and Goten arc incredibly short, the series’ focus now seems to be on retelling the events of the Super Hero film essentially as they happened.

While there are some slight differences or additional perspectives, especially in recent chapters, fans are generally disappointed with the lack of new material. This could perhaps be playing into why the illustration of Turles and the apparent tease of his canon origins being addressed has intrigued fans so.

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