Toyotarou Reveals the One Area Where Toriyama’s Dragon Ball Was Light-Years Ahead—and Why He Never Tried to Copy It

Dragon Ball is in a strange, bittersweet place right now. With Akira Toriyama gone, Toyotarou is the one carrying the torch. He has the knack for Toriyama-style character work, sure. But there is one place where even he admits he can’t hit the same note.

The 2016 moment that says a lot

Back at New York Comic Con 2016, Anime News Network asked Toyotarou what parts of Toriyama’s approach influenced him most. His answer was honest and kind of revealing:

"I’m very confident in reproducing what Toriyama has created with the characters and their subtleties, but when it comes to robots and mecha, that’s something I never really tried to mimic myself, and I realized that I really need to study up on them!"

Translation: he can mirror Toriyama’s character beats and nuances, but the robots and mecha? That’s the blind spot. And honestly, those machines are one of Dragon Ball’s most underrated strengths.

Toriyama’s machines weren’t just props — they set the tone

Early Dragon Ball runs on charm, discovery, and little bursts of tech magic. Toriyama’s mechanical designs did a ton of that lifting. His whole vibe was deceptively simple: machines that look friendly and soft on the outside but still feel grounded and functional. Round silhouettes. Compact bodies. Big, expressive features. You could instantly picture how a Capsule Corp bike or ship worked, while it still looked like a toy you wanted to pick up.

That balance matters. Those chunky, compact bikes, cars, and capsules sell a world that’s futuristic without being cold — the kind of place where invention and exploration sit right next to martial arts and gods. Toriyama’s machines weren’t trying to be grim or overly serious like a lot of mecha — they brought humor and personality. That tone became a huge part of Dragon Ball’s identity, especially in the early going, and it still defines how the series feels when it’s at its most playful and imaginative.

Why going back to robots could actually shake the series up

Let’s be real: for a long time, the arcs have cycled through a familiar loop — bigger alien, bigger deity, bigger final fight, heroes power up, repeat. It works because it’s Dragon Ball, but it also squeezes out the creative oddities that made the series feel fresh in the first place.

When Dragon Ball leans into mechanical threats, weird science, and human-made problems, different gears start turning. You get mystery. You get emotion that isn’t tied to power scaling. You get story puzzles for the heroes instead of just another wall to punch through.

• Android 17 and 18: sleek, cool, and morally gray in a way that pushed the characters beyond simple good vs. evil.
• Cell: bio-engineered horror with rules and phases that built suspense and strategy, not just brute force.
• Red Ribbon Army tech: from clunky bots to clever gadgets, those machines made the world feel bigger and more inventive.
• Dr. Gero: the kind of antagonist who can keep generating problems long after he’s off-screen — plans within plans, science run amok.

What Toyotarou could do with that lane

If Toyotarou leans into Toriyama’s mechanical design sensibility — not copying it, but channeling the spirit of it — you could immediately feel a tonal reset. More puzzles, more invention, more oddball tech that changes how fights play out. Even a spiritual return of a Dr. Gero type — a scientist whose ideas outlive him — would open the door to stories that don’t just escalate power, they escalate imagination.

That’s the kind of pivot that could make the next run of arcs feel genuinely new again, without ignoring what people love about Dragon Ball.

Where to watch

Dragon Ball is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.