Dragon Ball is now officially kicking off the 40th anniversary of Akira Toriyama‘s manga making its debut with Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, and Shueisha is going all out to celebrate with some extremely rare art from the late creator to help celebrate. Dragon Ball first hit the pages of the magazine on November 20th, 1984 in Japan, and has since become one of the biggest anime and manga franchises in Shueisha’s publishing history. Originally starting out as an adventure featuring a young boy with a monkey tail teaming up with a young scientist in search of wish granting treasures, the franchise has since exploded with space adventures, multiverses, gods and demons and more.
Dragon Ball has come so far in the 40 years since its initial debut that it can be wild to look back and see how the series first began. This is even truer for how the franchise came to be published in the magazine as well. To commemorate the start of Dragon Ball’s 40th anniversary celebration, Shueisha will be sharing some extremely rare art, interviews, designs and more from the late creator on a daily basis. Each piece of art will only be available to view for a day, and the first is the draft page for the very first page in Dragon Ball‘s manga overall. Check it out below.
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How Is Dragon Ball Celebrating Its 40th Anniversary?
Dragon Ball is really going all out for this milestone anniversary. The first is a brand new anime series telling a story not seen in the anime or manga before. Dragon Ball Daima is now airing its new episodes as part of the ongoing Fall 2024 anime schedule, and it features the final story and new characters designed by Akira Toriyama himself before his passing. As fans have seen in the first couple of episodes in the new series thus far, it’s going to have some major shake ups for the canon of the franchise.
Dragon Ball Daima has turned Goku and his friends back into children as a result of a new Dragon Ball wish, and it’s set Goku out on a new adventure through the Demon Realm. This is the first real time in the franchise that the Demon Realm has been explored in a big capacity, and it’s really tapped into the nostalgic feeling of adventure that the original Dragon Ball manga had when it first began 40 long years ago. But that’s not the only big celebration planned.
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What’s Next for Dragon Ball’s 40th Anniversary?
Dragon Ball has plans beyond Dragon Ball Daima‘s release for the 40th anniversary too. Fans will be able to see a brand new Goku balloon making its debut this year as part of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. It’s going to be a different one from the Super Saiyan Blue Goku seen before, and will likely be the version of the Goku balloon we’ll be seeing in the annual holiday parade going further.
Shueisha will be hosting a special exhibition for the series in Japan. This exhibition will not only feature art from Dragon Ball, but will also be showcasing special makeovers of each of the manga’s covers from other famous Shonen Jump artists. These covers have been slowly revealed over the course of the last few years, and will all lead to the debut of this new exhibition with every Dragon Ball cover given a new interpretation through the other creators’ art. So there are still a ton of new Dragon Ball celebrations on the way.
