My Hero Academia's Horikoshi gives Goku a pro-hero upgrade for Dragon Ball Super Gallery Project

Modified Oct 03, 2024 07:42 GMT

My Hero Academia's Horikoshi gives Goku a pro-hero upgrade for Dragon Ball Super Gallery Project (Image via BONES and Toei Animation)

Tuesday, October 1, 2024, saw the next entry in the Dragon Ball Super Gallery Project revealed to be from Kohei Horikoshi, creator and mangaka of My Hero Academia. Horikoshi redrew the 13th volume of the late mangaka Akira Toriyama’s original Dragon Ball manga series, adding his own twist to it just as each participating mangaka has done for their respective entries.

The Dragon Ball Super Gallery Project will see 42 different mangaka each redraw one of the original volume covers for Toriyama’s original manga series in their own style. With My Hero Academia’s Horikoshi having already submitted his entry, likely the most notable name yet to appear in the project is One Piece mangaka, Eiichiro Oda.

Horikoshi’s trademark My Hero Academia art style shines through in Dragon Ball Super Gallery Project entry

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Generally speaking, the My Hero Academia mangaka's rendition of the 13th volume cover for the Dragon Ball Super Gallery Project isn’t very different from the original. A young Son Goku is still seen in his trademark gi, wearing the power pole on his back and standing on top of a jeep. However, Horikoshi has given Goku new shoes, specifically sneakers, which match the colorway of the jeep in Horikoshi’s version.

Beyond the color of the jeep itself changing from a bright green to an earthy brown with darker detailing (such as on the grill and front bumper), the style has also been updated. While Toriyama’s cover shows its age via the jeep on the cover, Horikoshi has updated his to be a more modern style. Beyond this, the most significant changes come from Horikoshi injecting his own art style into the rendition, resulting in a much more angular and sharp version.

Horikoshi also attached an artist’s comment to the submission, as does every other mangaka, but a translation for this message is unavailable as of this article’s writing. Generally speaking, most mangaka have used the space to pay tribute to Toriyama and discuss the impact he had on their lives. In the wake of his death, the space has also been used by some to pay their respects and honor his life and legacy.

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Horikoshi began his My Hero Academia manga series in July 2014 in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. The manga ran there for its entirety, as did Toriyama’s own world-famous original manga series, until ending in August 2024. The television anime adaptation from Studio BONES is still ongoing, currently airing its seventh season.

Toriyama’s manga series began in November 1984 and ran until May 1995. As mentioned above, the Dragon Ball Super Gallery Project is meant to honor the original manga series. Toriyama died on March 1, 2024, of an acute subdural hematoma at age 68. The upcoming Daima anime series will be the final project from the franchise, which saw Toriyama personally and significantly involved.