Toyotarou, the longtime official artist of the Dragon Ball Super manga, has drawn a special illustration of a young “Saiyan Hero” who is not well-regarded by the Dragon Ball fan community. Beat, the Goku-like hero of Dragon Ball Heroes, has received this brand new piece of art to commemorate the end of the series.
A social media user by the name of @/SupaChronicles shared Toyotarou's special illustration of Beat from Dragon Ball Heroes on X (formerly Twitter). Toyotarou's artwork can be found in Super Dragon Ball Heroes -HEROES MEMORIES-, a fan book that was recently released in Japan to commemorate the end of the Dragon Ball Heroes series. “Thank You, Heroes,” the large caption on Toyotarou's artwork reads, as multiple versions of Beat are drawn as Goku's various Super Saiyan transformations. This isn't just simple fan service, as Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission reveals that Beat is a descendant of Goku.
Toyotarou Says Goodbye to Dragon Ball Heroes with New Beat Artwork
“I was crazy about Dragon Ball and admired it, so I drew a lot of manga inspired by it,” Toyotarou said in the Dragon Ball Heroes fan book. “However, as I grew up, I deliberately avoided my dream of becoming a manga artist and took a job… But in the end, what I wanted most was to draw manga about Dragon Ball. The person who made this dream come true that seemed so far away was Dragon Ball Heroes. I will never forget the feeling when I held in my hands the first V-Jump issue containing Dragon Ball Heroes: Victory Mission. I'm sure there are many people in the world, like me, whose dreams have been fulfilled thanks to Dragon Ball Heroes and Super Dragon Ball Heroes. Thank you so much for this wonderful work! Heroes forever!!”
What's interesting about Toyotarou's comments in the Dragon Ball Heroes book is that he's credited for all 24 volumes of Dragon Ball Super. However, the series only has 23 published manga volumes. As @/SupaChronicles notes on X, the author's note was most likely written before Akira Toriyama's sudden death in March, which put the Dragon Ball Super manga on an indefinite hiatus. While there's no official word yet on when the Dragon Ball Super manga will resume, Toyotarou has strongly hinted that the series will return with new illustrations and promised “many exciting battles” to rival Goku's fight with Moro. Despite some misleading images online, there's no indication that the next storyline—strongly hinted at as the “Black Frieza” arc—will be the last in the Dragon Ball Super manga.
While the Dragon Ball Heroes arcade game starring Beat was a success in Japan and led to multiple spin-offs, including a manga adaptation and a home console game, the game is being discontinued in favor of a new arcade game called Dragon Ball Super Divers. However, the card-based collectibles from Dragon Ball Heroes will be ported to the new arcade game for longtime players.
The Dragon Ball anime series can be streamed on Crunchyroll. The Dragon Ball Super manga can also be read through Viz Media and the Manga Plus app.
Dragon Ball
Dragon Ball tells the story of a young warrior named Son Goku, a strange boy with a tail, who embarks on a journey to become stronger and learns of the Dragon Balls, which, upon collecting all 7 Dragon Balls, can grant any wish.
Created by Akira Toriyama
First movie Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Ruby
Latest movies Dragon Ball Super: Super Heroes
First TV show Dragon Ball
Upcoming TV Shows Dragon Ball DAIMA
First episode air date April 26, 1989
Cast Sean Schemmel, Laura Bailey, Brian Drummond, Christopher Sabat, Scott McNeil
Summary
Dragon Ball is a manga series created by author/illustrator Akira Toriyama, beginning with Dragon Ball in 1984. The series originally began as a serialized manga in Weekly Shonen Jump for nearly a decade before expanding into the most popular anime series today. Dragon Ball has since been adapted into two anime series, one of which is Dragon Ball Z, the most popular series in the entire Dragon Ball series. The series has continued to expand the lore through films, video games, and sequel television series, such as Dragon Ball Super and the more recent Dragon Ball Super Heroes. Dragon Ball primarily revolves around Son Goku, a being known as a Saiyan, and his friends as they face intergalactic threats and search for the Dragon Balls. When all seven of these balls are collected, they can be used to summon a legendary dragon that can grant wishes to anyone who collects them. The Dragon Ball series continues to be one of the most popular and beloved anime series of all time, with over forty different countries broadcasting it and having had a huge impact on Western culture as a whole.
Extend
Source: X (formerly Twitter), Dragon Ball official website
