Todd Blankenship Profile picture
Aug 31, 2023 12 tweets 4 min read Read on X
According to Bunshun Online, Dragon Room head honcho Akio Iyoku has stepped down from Shueisha and established his own company, Capsule Corporation Tokyo. Supposedly he wants Shueisha to keep DB’s manga publishing rights but for CC Tokyo to handle DB games/anime/etc.
As you might imagine, Shueisha is reluctant to part with DB to any extent, and negotiations are still ongoing. According to this article, anyway. Shueisha has apparently confirmed that Iyoku is stepping down, but not confirmed any of the particulars so far.
Bunshun Online reached out to Toriyama and asked if he would be working with Iyoku in future, but Toriyama said he couldn’t comment publicly, only through Shueisha. He also said the company name “Capsule Corporation Tokyo” was Iyoku’s idea, not his own.
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According to an anonymous Shueisha employee, Iyoku wants to bring two of his former Dragon Rook subordinates along with him to his new company: the office chief representative and the deputy office chief (a woman and man dubbed X and Y). Both are apparently big Iyoku fans. Huh? Image
Bunshun Online also asked Iyoku himself for an interview, but he simply said there was nothing he could talk about. And that’s apparently all for now. Well, actually there seems to be more behind a paywall. Ugh. Image
Main takeaways from the paywall portion of the article: per anonymous Shueisha staffers, Iyoku’s possessive attitude towards DB was seen as a problem, and there was talk in June 2022 of moving him to a non-DB related position. But he essentially refused and got to stay with DB… Image
Then in May of this year, he set up Capsule Corporation Tokyo, with a written goal of managing IP content creation and distribution for individual and group creators…a clear sign he wanted to start up his own DB business (again, per anonymous Shueisha people) Image
More people reached out to for comment: Kazuhiko Toriyama, who told them to ask Iyoku or Shueisha instead. As we’ve seen, Iyoku said nothing. Meanwhile, Shueisha president Marue Horiuchi said he’d heard Iyoku was quitting, but declined to comment on Shueisha/CC Tokyo matters. Image
And as mentioned earlier, Toriyama likewise declined to make any comment beyond saying the company name “Capsule Corporation Tokyo” was Iyoku’s idea. Toriyama himself was surprised to hear it (which I guess does mean he’d heard of the company before, if nothing else) Image
And that’s about it. Well, also it says Iyoku and Toriyama first met 30 years ago while both were working on Dragon Quest, and so have a close trust. Has this DQ connection been mentioned before? I can’t remember. Image
(Also, not related to DB, but thanks to this article I learned that Shueisha’s current president and CEO Marue Horiuchi was also the original editor for Kochi-Kame back in the day. Neat, huh?)
((Ugh, above I wrote “Kazuhiko Toriyama” when of course I meant Kazuhiko Torishima, the guy who served as Toriyama’s first editor. Actually, that’s a typo I’m surprised I don’t make more often))

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More from @Herms98

Apr 3
Toyotaro’s postscript for DBS vol.24 details the creation process of the ch.104 one-shot: originally this was a text prologue he got from Toriyama, which he revised and put into manga form. And now the Super Hero arc is really, truly done: “Look forward to future developments!” Image
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Toriyama also designed the Red Pharmaceutical Company air truck for the Super Hero arc epilogue: Image
Toyotaro’s vol.24 author’s comment explains how Toriyama’s corrections were typically about how manga ought to be, rather than simply how DB should be. He was a manga artist above all. “I will never forget the approach to manga which sensei taught me, and continue to do my best!” Image
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Read 10 tweets
Feb 28
Dragon Ball Daima, ep.20: it’s the end, but the moment has been prepared for. The fight with Gomah is samey but looks amazing and is over soon enough for Kuu to ascend the Iron Throne, plus other fun wrap-up stuff. Thanks for everything Toriyama, and farewell. #DAIMA #ep20 Image
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Since Daima airs at 11:40 PM in Japan, the final episode on February 28th ended right as the date ticked over into March 1st, marking the one year anniversary of Toriyama’s death. So far there’s no word on if this was intentional on the part of the production team, though. Image
The title ゼンカイ/Zenkai comes from 全開, meaning “full power”, hence the translation “Maximun” (see also the DBZ ending theme ZENKAI Power). I’ll give it another week, but if there’s no further clues on the red letters, I’ll assume it was just about using all 20 dakuten letters Image
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Read 31 tweets
Feb 11
Executive producer Akio Iyoku discusses Daima’s origin: 6 years ago during DBS: Super Hero’s production, they decided to do a new TV series. At first Toriyama’s involvement was going to be minimal, but he really got into it, creating most of it in the end. mantan-web.jp/article/202502…Image
Iyoku says Daima was intended as a show that parents could watch with their children, so it was made to appeal both to kids and adults in their 30s who were kids back when DBGT first aired. So yes, making Goku and co kids was specifically done to appeal to the GT generation. Image
While making Goku a kid was seen as making the series accessible to a wider audience, it was Toriyama’s idea to turn the entire main cast into kids too. Toriyama was also concerned many people wouldn’t know DB’s story, hence the general overview at the start of each Daima episode Image
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Read 6 tweets
Nov 19, 2024
It’s already November 20th in Japan, which means Dragon Ball has officially reached its 40th anniversary. In case you weren’t paying attention and/or born at the time, here are some highlights from the first 40 years of DB history… #DragonBall40th Image
1984: gag manga superstar Akira Toriyama concludes megahit Dr. Slump, and in November debuts its follow-up in Weekly Jump. This Journey to the West-inspired kung-fu adventure kicks off as inventor girl Bulma recruits monkey boy Goku to track down the titular dragon balls. Image
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1985: after last year’s tail-end teaser, things begin in earnest. The initial “quest for the dragon balls” arc wraps up in May, and Toriyama shifts gears to a tournament arc (always a fan favorite in his Dr. Slump days) with the lecherous Roshi and Goku’s new cueball-esque BFF. Image
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Read 44 tweets
Jul 26, 2021
Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai ep.41: Pissed Myst’s great and the logistics of Dai’s sword are interesting, while the castle’s just there to be knocked down. But it knocks down well. 4/5 #DragonQuest #ep41
What was the name of this episode again?
Even under torture, Popp’s still Popp
Read 18 tweets
Jul 25, 2021
Rewatching the DBS panel, there’s a few things I want to note about the subtitles. They’re fine overall but there’s a few things I think are oversimplified or left out. Going through roughly in order of importance…
When discussing the artwork for New Character 1 and 2, in Japanese Hayashida says how it’s Toriyama’s original artwork, unlike the Piccolo/Pan/etc images that have been developed into full-fledged anime designs. The subtitles instead say it was made before movie production began ImageImageImage
Now, it might indeed be true that Toriyama would’ve made the initial artwork before movie production began, but that’s not really what Hayashida is talking about. He’s contrasting this image with the earlier ones shown of Piccolo and co, which weren’t Toriyama’s original artwork
Read 16 tweets

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