On Thursday, November 30, 2023, the author and illustrator of the One Punch Man manga, Yusuke Murata, revealed to be the next in line for the Dragon Ball Super Gallery Project. Murata is also known for his illustrative work on the Eyeshield 21 manga series, alongside author Riichiro Inagaki, who’s likely best known as the author of the Dr. Stone manga series.
Although it hasn’t been revealed which volume of the original Dragon Ball manga series Murata will redraw for the Super Gallery Project, it’s nevertheless extremely exciting news for fans. Many consider Murata to be the best illustrator in manga currently, and his work for the aforementioned One Punch Man series perfectly demonstrates why he receives such praise.
Fan reception to the news of Murata’s involvement in the project has been an incredibly excited one, largely in part due to his reputation preceding him when it comes to his artwork. Likewise, there’s little-to-no doubt among fans that his contribution to the Dragon Ball Super Gallery Project will be an exceptional one, and certainly a highlight of the endeavor.
One Punch Man’s Yusuke Murata next set to help celebrate the Dragon Ball manga’s 40th anniversary
The latest
The Dragon Ball Super Gallery Project, which One Punch Man’s Murata will be contributing to next month, is meant to serve as a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the series. More specifically, it serves as a celebration of author and illustrator Akira Toriyama’s original manga series, which runs through the events of the Z anime.
The project sees a new mangaka redraw a previous volume cover of Toriyama’s original series in their own art style at a once-a-month pace, until the series’ 40th anniversary in November 2024. With 42 volume covers to redraw in total, the project has been going on for some time, and will continue for roughly the next year or so.
Several notable mangaka have previously participated in the project, including Black Clover’s Yuki Tabata, Naruto’s Masashi Kishimoto, Bleach’s Tite Kubo, and Chainsaw Man’s Tatsuki Fujimoto. Mangaka from previous generations have also been involved in the project, such as KochiKame’s Osamu Akimoto, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure’s Hirohiko Araki, Gintama’s Hideaki Sorachi, and many more.
Each mangaka has also added a quick passage onto their contribution, which details the connection they have to Toriyama’s incredibly influential original series. The project began in August 2021, with Kishimoto’s contribution, and Tokyo Ghoul’s Sui Ishida released their contribution to the project just a few days prior to this article’s writing.
Toriyama originally premiered his Dragon Ball manga series in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in November 1984, where it ran until May 1995. The series ran for 519 chapters, which were compiled into the aforementioned 42 volumes after their release.
Be sure to keep up with all anime, manga, film, and live-action news as 2023 progresses.