While Akira Toriyama is the mastermind behind the hit manga series, Dragon Ball, he didn't do it alone. The famous mangaka revealed that he actually had help from a fellow mangaka that fans may not have expected. Toriyama received help from his wife early on in the series.
Dragon Ball began serializing in 1984 in Weekly Shōnen Jump. The anime followed soon after, airing in Japan in 1986. Since then it has grown into a large franchise with numerous sequel manga series, spin-offs, animated films, and video games. It is one of the best-selling manga series in history and it has had a large influence on the world of manga and animation. However, like every other hit franchise, it started small and had challenges before growing with exponential success.
To celebrate the thirty-seventh year of Dragon Ball's serialization, the official Dragon Ball site has shared images and information from the series' early history. Akira Toriyama, the series' mangaka, provided some quotes, including one that reveals he had help with the art in the first few pages of the first chapter. His wife, Yoshimi Katō, used to be a shojo manga artist—an oft-forgotten fact since she didn't reach the level of fame and success in the industry that her husband has with Dragon Ball.
Within the article, the image above was included as a spotlight panel and remarked on for having a "beautifully illustrated, Chinese-style background." Additionally, the site adds that "Other manga series at the time were veering towards a more manly, tough-guy aesthetic, but Dragon Ball defied the trend and made a big splash by embracing the fantastical nature of its world." Toriyama revealed the secret of this distinction:
The spotlight panel's background? I actually barely had any time to illustrate the first few pages, including this one, so my wife did a lot of it. She used to be a shōjo manga artist, so her drawings were far prettier than mine.
Yoshimi Katō used to be a manga artist under the pen name of Nachi Mikami. It is rather clear that she left an important touch on the series that is far more noticeable than anyone may have guessed early on. Her own work largely seems to have remained in Japan, not reaching Western audiences. Her work is not well-known outside of Japan. Her work often included illustrations of rock stars, which can be seen in a collection of her work from 1977. The title roughly translates to Rock 'N' Roll Down, though there are no official translations of the manga. It was published by one of Hakusensha's periodicals. While this work and her others may not have the popularity Dragon Ball does, she left an artistic imprint on her husband's series that is still noticeable today. Mangaka often have assistants to aid them with progressing series along consistently, but this is a much different approach and it shows how much care and effort has been put into Dragon Ball from the beginning. It may have had a slightly rough start, but it was a story that needed to be told. When fans read the first Dragon Ball, they're experiencing the artistic work of two mangaka.
Source: Dragon Ball Official Site