When Hokuto no Ken premiered in 1983, the Editor-in-Chief of Weekly Shonen Jump, Shigeo Nishimura, had no idea he was about to shape the magazine for the next 40 years (at least)… And especially that the work he had approved would become the great inspiration to solve the popularity problems that Dragon Ball had in its early days. Let’s understand this story better:
Shigeo Nishimura was the Editor-in-Chief of Weekly Shonen Jump during its golden era. With the success of Dr. Slump, Kinnikuman, Cobra, Ring ni Kakeru, and many other series, the magazine was capturing the attention of many young readers; however, its competitors remained extremely strong. Weekly Shonen Sunday, with the release of Touch and Urusei Yatsura, had won over the young audience with its love stories.
However, Nishimura did not like this direction that the Shonen magazines were taking and showed clear admiration for more violent works, such as those produced by Hiroshi Motomiya and George Akiyama. It was with this in mind that the Editor-in-Chief began to push for a different editorial line, more focused on action works with lots of action and violence. This new editorial direction is where one of his authors, Buronson, came up with the idea for a series that would revolutionize the market in 1983: Hokuto no Ken.
Hokuto no Ken tells the story of a martial artist, Ken, who lives in a cruel post-apocalyptic world destroyed by nuclear war. Despite featuring mutilations, murders, guts, and many shocking scenes, the work stood out primarily for its excellent action scenes, which were essential in the creation of the “Battle-Shounen” genre, or as it’s known to many, “fight manga.” Another manga also increasingly followed this action path, increasing its violent scenes to align with Nishimura’s vision: Kinnikuman.
While Hokuto no Ken and Kinnikuman were exploding in popularity, one manga didn’t quite fit this editorial line: Dr. Slump, with its simple (but well-drawn) comedy, was selling like hotcakes and surprising everyone. The issue was that its author, Akira Toriyama, didn’t know how to proceed. Thus, with the “OK” from Shigeo Nishimura, Akira Toriyama and his editor Kazuhiko Torishima began the production of Dragon Ball.
The manga, starring Goku, premiered in 1984; however, as revealed by Akira Toriyama himself, it didn’t receive a great public reception, performing poorly in the magazine’s rankings—perhaps never really in danger of cancellation (since interviews don’t cite this explicitly, which is why “cancellation” is in quotes), but certainly among the worst-ranked in some issues. So, his editor Kazuhiko Torishima began thinking of solutions to save Dragon Ball from a possible cancellation. How could they improve such a simple and fun work like Dragon Ball was at the beginning? By creating the Tenkaichi Tournament.
Kazuhiko Torishima (Photo from Keio University)
Kazuhiko Torishima revealed in a 2019 interview with Hiroshi Matsuyama (translated into English by The Dao of Dragon Ball website) what inspired him to create the Budokai Tenkaichi, but first, we need to know a bit about this editor. Akira Toriyama’s “taskmaster,” Torishima was responsible for many of the ideas that appeared in Dr. Slump (like making Arale the protagonist) and also in Dragon Ball. Unlike Shigeo Nishimura, Torishima preferred lighter stories with good comedic elements, and when he became Editor-in-Chief of Weekly Shonen Jump in 1996, we saw a new direction for the series released, escaping the heavier and more violent tone imposed by Nishimura, and moving towards a lighter tone, with works like Shaman King and One Piece.
The issue was that neither the humor of Akira Toriyama nor Torishima’s approach was working well at the beginning of Dragon Ball. So, the editor decided to read the most popular work at the time: Hokuto no Ken. Torishima didn’t like what he read, pausing his reading at the third volume, and made it clear in his interview, “you only need to read three volumes of Hokuto no Ken to understand it.” But while he didn’t enjoy it, he realized it was a matter of personal taste, and that there were many qualities in the work that Dragon Ball could draw inspiration from, particularly in terms of action.
Thus came the idea of the Budokai Tenkaichi, which would turn around Dragon Ball’s lackluster popularity, making the work one of the most iconic manga of all time. The idea of the tournament came precisely as a way to adapt the action of Hokuto no Ken to Akira Toriyama’s art style (in addition to adapting the characteristics of Dragon Ball). Of course, Torishima didn’t write the story, but was responsible for giving suggestions and critiques of the work created by Akira Toriyama, so, narratively, how this idea was presented to the readers came from the genius mind of Akira Toriyama.
Another element of Hokuto no Ken that Kazuhiko Torishima decided to adapt: to him, Hokuto no Ken was very “moralistic,” always trying to give moral lessons to children—something that Shigeo Nishimura liked a lot in the works of the magazine. Torishima thought differently and proposed to Akira Toriyama that Dragon Ball should have no moral; in his own words, it should be “a work without substance.” At first glance, this might seem alarming, but a work without substance doesn’t mean it has nothing to offer. What both Torishima and Toriyama had as their primary goal with Dragon Ball was to focus on the reader’s enjoyment, creating delightful moments to read, without worrying about the message they were transmitting.
By transforming Dragon Ball into a fun work, without big pretensions or messages—and adding story arcs more focused on action (unlike the initial arcs, which were more comedic, even though they had action)—both Torishima and Toriyama managed to reverse the poor reception, and better yet, they made Dragon Ball more popular than Hokuto no Ken and Kinnikuman. And Shigeo Nishimura? He celebrated the success, in fact Nishimura understood the importance of having diverse works and opinions in the lineup.
Shigeo Nishimura, the father of the golden age, was promoted in 1986 to higher positions at Shueisha, leaving the Editor-in-Chief role after 8 years (to this day, the longest-serving Editor-in-Chief). Hokuto no Ken concluded in 1988, and Dragon Ball ended in 1995. As for Kazuhiko Torishima, he became Editor-in-Chief of Weekly Shonen Jump in 1996, becoming one of the most important editors, guiding the magazine through its “renaissance” and launching works like One Piece, Naruto, Hunter x Hunter, Hikaru no Go, Shaman King, Prince of Tennis, Yu-Gi-Oh, Rookies, and many other popular manga.
