#dr.slump

[takaki2]

[cybergoth-damsel]

Yeah it's very disappointingly common for Shonen manga to be misogynist as hell. It seems like there used to be some level of editorial meddling: Araki of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure has talked about how attempts at female character rep in parts 2 and 3 were hobbled by editorial, and he would put his money where his mouth is with part 6 (though I'd say once the series switched to seinen in part 7 he's started leaning a bit too much on "female character is at risk of sexual peril"), but also part 6 where he had more freedom to do good female rep was also around the turn of the millennia, during and before a lot of the later examples of shonen manga misogyny. Even the manga that are better about female characters on a writing side of things like apparently One Piece are often Bad about women in other ways like character designs.

I've been on a bit of a deep dive through Toriyama's old work lately (mainly his anthology of Shounen Jump oneshot stories, but I've also been picking through Dr.Slump) and as much as I'm sure there is plenty of corporate/editorial meddling for the sake of marketability in the shounen anime industry he very clearly brought the bulk of the misogyny himself.

The thing that bugs me the most with him in particular is that it's so thoughtless and regurgitative. Like it's not even interesting.

In my opinion one of the most compelling things about Toriyama's work is that he put so much of himself in his art without much effort to complicate or hide it. He likes Superman so he made Suppaman, and then Goku. Without a lot of work you can take a finger and track which ideas Dragonball takes from Journey to the West and which are lifted from Superman's rivalry with General Zodd.

He was an author with a remarkable panache and an unremarkable set of interests, smashing them together with enough endurance to eventually change the media landscape globally. He was often incredibly funny, and some of his work on Dragon Ball is genuinely more nuanced than I think people give credit - but he also just never seemed to engage with a lot of cultural ideas and jokes beyond "yeah that's a joke people make. that's funny" and that lack of curiosity covers nearly all of his women like a blanket.

There's other Shounen that has more complicated relationships with women - a lot of stories that want to at once ride the coattails of being a kid that questions the status quo and also serve as a firm voice reminding people to participate in society as it exists today. You can get a lot out of trying to culturally decode depictions of women in anime when the mangaka wants to think about the world - but as far as women are concerned I just don't think Toriyama cared to think about the world at all.

I can't think of any other way to explain stuff like Master Roshi, and I would use a similar explanation for stuff like Mr.Popo if I had to guess.

To be fair though, there are a lot of interviews and paratextual things I can't read yet. I wouldn't be surprised if he had stronger thoughts he put to words elsewhere. This is my impression from reading a shallow, broad sampler of his work across time.

[joshcolon]

“I’d rather be an airhead, so I can stuff my empty head full of dreams…”

[nakamorijuan]

Dr. スランプ アラレちゃん Dr. SLUMP ARALE-Chan

[takigawa]

You will also realize Akira Toriyama’s greatness by searching Toriyama on X and see so many tribute comments posted forever RIP 鳥山明先生の偉大さは Xで Toriyama と検索して大量の追悼コメントが延々と出て来ることでも分かる 日本人が一番わかってない 合掌 #鳥山明 #AkiraToryama

https://x.com/takigawa_w/status/1766306343982686350?s=46&t=8Vf8aUwk_B-ZbQ5UAGv05w

[noriaki-nakada]

【似顔絵】鳥山明さん（おくやみ）。

ブログ記事はこちら：https://wp.me/p72NAa-1Ro

[timbo-johnson]

Some assets I’ve created in the process of learning basic 3D modelling and texturing along side learning Unreal Engine 5. The end goal is to make a little prototype using the visual style of games like Dr.Slump and Megaman Legends.

I’ve only got a few assets so far but I’m proud of the work I’ve done and hopefully the process will speed up as I become more confident with my choice of tools.

Tools used; -Blockbench -Aseprite

[akikanmaru]