Summary
Toriyama found Goku difficult to draw, and even professional animators struggled to portray Goku accurately. Manga creators, like Toriyama, often felt disconnected from anime adaptations. Toriyama believed that the Dragon Ball anime portrayed Goku more heroically than he had envisioned.
Dragon ball Fans often debate the anime adaptation versus the original manga, and which version tells the story better. However, Akira Toriyama has his own feelings on the matter, and he feels that even the professionals who create the anime can't get Goku completely right.
Akira Toriyama had very little involvement in the Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z anime, aside from occasionally providing character designs for original characters, mostly for the films. This is fairly typical for mangaka; once a manga is picked up for an anime adaptation, it's usually out of their hands, except for possibly being referenced for occasional clarification. As a result, many mangaka, including Toriyama, don't feel much ownership over the anime adaptation, seeing it as something else entirely.
This may come as a bit of a surprise to fans, who often consider anime and manga as two sides of the same coin.
Akira Toriyama finds Goku difficult to portray accurately.
Toriyama has criticized the anime's approach to Goku.
In an interview from the release of the first volume of the Dragon Ball Super manga, Akira Toriyama and Dragon Ball Super artist Toyotarou, translated by fan site Kanzenshuu, Toyotarou was asked what aspect of Toriyama's art was the most difficult to draw. Toyotarou said that the simple art style made him feel like anyone could draw like Toriyama, but in reality, he found it difficult to draw a “real” Goku. Toriyama agreed, saying that “even when professional animators draw it, I sometimes feel like they draw it wrong.” He went on to say that while his style may be simple, “Maybe only I really understand it.”
Toriyama has made similar comments about the anime version of Goku in the past. In an interview with Wired Japan from 1997, Toriyama stated that he was unhappy with the anime adaptation, because “once Dragon Ball was animated, I was always dissatisfied with the kind of ‘righteous hero’ portrayal they gave anyway.” [Goku].” This gives the impression that Toriyama felt the anime did not properly portray Goku's appearance and personality, which apparently bothered him to some extent. In this case, the interviewer pointed out that the anime could be more appropriate for children, and Toriyama admitted this.
Toriyama emphasizes that “Son Goku in Dragon Ball does not fight for the sake of others, but because he wants to fight strong people.” This also affects Goku’s desire to play fair, as his tendency to help injured villains reflects the fact that he wants to have a good fight, not to save the day. This particular view of Goku is one that Toriyama holds quite dear, feeling that it is an essential element of the character that was lost in the transition from manga to anime.
Toriyama also made sure to incorporate this element into Goku's character in Dragon Ball Super, especially in the Tournament of Power, where Goku inadvertently puts the fate of the multiverse in jeopardy by suggesting the tournament to Zeno out of a desire to fight powerful warriors from other universes. Toriyama's Goku isn't stupid; he just has a different set of priorities than he's usually portrayed to be, and the anime oversimplifies this aspect of his character to make him more relatable. That's not to say that Dragon ballThe anime's 'bad', but the more heroic portrayal of Goku doesn't fit Toriyama's vision of the character.
