New Dragon Ball art by Jojo's Bizarre Adventure creator Hirohiko Araki has been released.
The new illustration was shared online by Twitter user @DBSHype and shows Araki's take on the cover art for the 33rd volume of the original Dragon Ball manga. In a translated statement, Araki noted "[Dragon Ball creator Akira] Toriyama's drawings appear basic and flat, but they have an uncanny level of 3D-ness to them." The Jojo's Bizarre Adventure artist praised his colleague's work, stating, "It's a great technique that's able to create a 2D effect and a 3D effect at the same time, while still making it look visually appealing."
The new art is the latest entry in the Dragon Ball Super Gallery project, which publisher Shueisha is hosting as part of the lead-up to the franchise's 40th anniversary in 2024. For the project, Shueisha has selected 42 of the manga industry's top artists and tasked each of them with redrawing one of the covers from the original Dragon Ball manga. Araki chose Volume 33 of the series, which features a teenage Gohan's showdown with Cell, who recently "perfected" his body by consuming Dr. Gero's other Android warriors. Araki redrew the original cover art rather directly, but gave Gohan a more laid back stance that recalls several of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure's more stylish and rebellious characters.
The publisher will release a new cover every month until the series' 40th anniversary in November 2024. Previous participants in the project include Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto, Bleach's Tite Kubo, Chainsaw Man creator Tatsuki Fujimoto and Spy x Family artist Tatsuya Endo. The project has resulted in a wide variety of new art; while some artists, like Araki, have chosen to faithfully redraw Toriyama's original art in their own style, other artists, such as Demon Slayer creator Koyoharu Gotouge, have elected to use the original art simply as the inspiration for a wildly different and completely original illustration.
Araki is currently taking a break following the completion of the eighth part of the on-going Jojo's Bizarre Adventure saga, Jojolion. A ninth part to the series has been confirmed and is scheduled to begin publication once Araki returns from his break. The anime adaptation of Part 5 of the series, Stone Ocean, is scheduled to stream its second batch of episodes on Netflix later this year.
Toriyama, meanwhile, continues to work on the Dragon Ball Super sequel manga, which is drawn by his protegé, an artist known as Toyotarou. The Dragon Ball anime's latest theatrical feature, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero was released in Japan earlier this month and is scheduled to make its North American debut on Aug. 19.
Source: Twitter