Torishima Takes Issue With Toyotarou’s Dragon Ball, Urges A Bolder Manga Push

Dragon Ball fandom woke up to a fresh pot-stir: legendary editor Kazuhiko Torishima took aim at Toyotaro over the Dragon Ball Super Volume 24 cover, and he did it in the most Torishima way possible - publicly, bluntly, and with notes.

Quick context so you know who is talking here: Torishima is the former Shonen Jump editor who championed Akira Toriyama back in the 80s and 90s and helped shape the original Dragon Ball. After Toriyama passed away in March 2024, Toyotaro stepped in as the creative successor on the manga. The stakes are high, the scrutiny is higher, and the manga itself has been on an indefinite pause ever since, outside of a one-shot. Toyotaro has said he wants to continue, but nothing is locked yet.

The new jab: that Volume 24 cover

Toyotaro rolled out the official Dragon Ball Super Volume 24 artwork in March 2025. It is a slick, character-packed piece featuring Ultra Instinct Goku, Ultra Ego Vegeta, Beast Gohan, Broly, and Piccolo. Fans loved it. It went viral.

Torishima did not. At Jump Festa 2026 - which took place in December 2025 because of how the event is labeled - he questioned the composition and intent behind that exact illustration. He then posted the critique publicly on X on December 22, 2025, with zero sugarcoating:

"Where are these guys even looking? Who's the main focus? Images without intent lack impact. Toyo, keep pushing the manga."

Translation: he sees muddled focal points and unclear visual storytelling, and he wants Toyotaro putting that energy back into the fundamentals of the manga itself.

Fans: split but loud

The reaction is divided. A lot of people still like the cover - strong poses, modern style, big series energy. Others argue Torishima is doing the tough-love thing only someone who worked closely with Toriyama could do, and that Toyotaro is lucky to get feedback from a guy with that eye.

This is not Torishima's first note for Toyotaro

If it feels like Torishima has been building to this, it is because he has. Here is the short version:

• December 2024 - Jump Festa 2025: Torishima pointed to Toyotaro's original art tied to Dragon Ball Super Chapter 103 (the last chapter Toriyama worked on before he passed, and one Toyotaro scripted under him), and said the most critical shot was missing: "I want to tell him directly: the most important cut is missing. What a waste."
• September 2025 - KosoKoso YouTube episode: He went broader, criticizing the team behind the Super manga for not nailing the basics of the medium: "[They] don't master the basics. The person in charge of editing the manga doesn't understand why the pieces are divided, how the eyes are guided, how the angles are handled in the information spread, and so they can't check it once it's finished and the pictures are in, they think it's a manga."
• December 2025 - Jump Festa 2026: The cover critique above - clear focal points, intent, impact.

If that sounds technical, it is. He is talking about panel composition, character placement, line of action and sightlines - the bedrock of how your eye moves through a page or image. Torishima's point, stacked across these comments, is that recent Super work (including that cover) is fumbling those fundamentals.

So where does that leave Dragon Ball Super?

Some fans see Toyotaro's Volume 24 art as exactly what it should be right now: a respectful nod to Toriyama that also nudges the series into a new era. Others think Torishima is right to demand clearer intent and stronger visual storytelling. Both things can be true.

Until we get a firm update on the manga's return, this is the tension: what Dragon Ball should look and feel like after Toriyama, and how to balance evolution with the DNA that made it a phenomenon in the first place.

If you want to revisit the saga while we all wait, Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, and Dragon Ball Super are streaming on Crunchyroll in the US.