It certainly helps that there is not a single miscast in the Japanese voice cast for the series. Characters pop on screen even if the quality of animation isn’t up to the quality of Toriyama’s art in the manga. The anime likewise uses a soft color palette to accentuate Toriyama’s rounded art style. In both mediums, there is a give and take to the series’ visual flare. Their original settings, for the most part, evoke Toriyama’s level of care towards his world, prioritizing neither the Chinese influence or the retro-futurist. Blending retro-futurism with a Chinese aesthetic, the world of Dragon Ball has a very specific visual identity, and the anime staff understands that. This is hardly a problem, however, as the anime staff has a complete understanding of Dragon Ball ’s visual style.

They are minor changes of little consequence, but they set a precedent that ultimately lead to the anime creating plot inconsistencies down the road.Īs virtually all material involving Pilaf is filler before the main cast formally meets him, this means that most of the settings involved with the Pilaf plot have no basis in the manga. Likewise, Bulma’s explanation of the Dragon Balls is cut out in favor of intertwining it with the Pilaf’s introduction. In the anime, this is the first detail about the Dragon Balls that the audience learns about. In the manga, the Dragon Balls do not glow when in close proximity to one another.

What are the similarities and differences between the anime and manga iterations of Dragon Ball? Renan dives deep to discover which format of Akira Toriyama’s masterpiece reigns supreme in ‘Adaptation Analysis’.įor as faithful as the anime can be towards its source material, such as in Muten Roshi firing off his first Kamehameha, there are multiple instances where Toei shies away from Toriyama’s established, or unestablished, lore in order to ease in their own details.

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