Of all the manga cover redesigns in the Dragon Ball Super Project, the latest featuring Goku may be one of the strangest. The 23rd volume of the series has been reimagined by Kyosuke Usuta, a mangaka known for his gag manga.
The Dragon Ball Super Gallery Project is still ongoing in its celebration, which is building up to the 40th anniversary of Dragon Ball. This year is its 38th anniversary, so there are many covers left to see. The redesigned Dragon Ball cover from Usuta is the thirteenth. Previous covers have been reimagined by the mangaka of iconic manga, including Naruto's Masashi Kishimoto and Bleach's Tite Kubo, among many others. The last cover featured Piccolo with a humorous redesign from Assassination Classroom creator Yusei Matsui. Now, one of Goku's most popular foes is getting the comedic spotlight set upon him.
On Twitter, Shonen Jump News shared the latest reimagined cover for the Dragon Ball Super Gallery Project. This celebration of Dragon Ball's eventual major milestone has produced some interesting alternative takes on the series' art style. Like other reimaginings in this project, Kyosuke Usuta has altered Dragon Ball Volume 23 a great deal, while keeping core elements from the original. Goku and Frieza are still prominent, but they're much less serious this time around.
Goku is positioned with Frieza on his palm, making the powerful villain appear miniature. The hero's facial features have also been significantly altered, matching Usuta's more humorous artistic style. Usuta is best known for Sexy Commando Gaiden: Sugoi yo!! Masaru-san (1995-1997) and Pyu to Fuku! Jaguar (2000-2010). These series both ran in Weekly Shōnen Jump. However, these series are very different from Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball in terms of premise and the handling of martial arts. Pyu to Fuku! Jaguar focuses on a young man who wants to play guitar, but winds up in the class of a young teacher (and musical genius) who plays a recorder - which sounds like a guitar when played. Sexy Commando Gaiden: Sugoi yo!! Masaru-san focuses on a high school club's use of martial arts, although not the kind that Dragon Ball's cast would be interested in. This martial art - called Sexy Commando - is all about learning and using techniques to distract a foe, thereby PREVENTING them from being able to fight. Usuta is a master of gag manga, making this Dragon Ball crossover a bizarre - yet fun - combination.
Dragon Ball features some of the fiercest and most powerful fighters in manga. They train very seriously and take on insanely dangerous threats from throughout the universe. Goku and his friends have tested the bounds of Heaven and Earth during their nearly 40-year history. It seems silly that any of them would want to use Sexy Commando style tactics to avoid a fight, even if Goku has frequently said some silly things due to his limited knowledge of the world. It also seems unlikely that Frieza would fall for it! Goku and Frieza's fights have been some of the most explosive and the two are far too combative to pass up a chance to best one another.
Kyosuke Usuta's redesigned cover for the Dragon Ball Super Project Gallery humorously combines the mangaka's gags with Goku and one of his classic foes, bringing together two very different worlds that wouldn't meet otherwise.
Source: Shonen Jump News