>Question 9: What role do new technologies (CGI, AI, etc.) play in the current and future production of Dragon Ball series and manga?
>Torishima: I don’t know much about AI, but I’ll tell you what I think. If we talk about the use of screen tones in manga: computers made it much easier to use tones, and that’s affected how manga are made. As a result, more and more authors fill their pages with increasingly complex and detailed tones. The result? You get pages that look polished and perfect... but all the pages from every author start to look the same.
>Toriyama, on the other hand, didn’t have money. He lived in a small town, couldn’t afford tones, so he just made do without. He designed his visuals so that no tones were needed. That’s how he created manga that were visually simple and easy to read.
>I'm not saying new technology is bad. The problem is when people don’t use their heads to think about how to apply it, then you become a tool used by the tool.
>For me, what matters most in manga is the character. It's crucial to focus on character expression. And even if AI can replicate a character, there are limits to what it can express. For example, AI might replicate a Ghibli-style character, but it can’t draw the eyes the way Miyazaki does.
>Toyotaro: Coming back to Dragon Ball Super: SUPER HERO, Toriyama’s characters were designed in such a way that they could be seen clearly from any angle. So I think adapting them in CGI worked well: SUPER HERO was a very solid experience in animation.
>That said, I don’t think we should fully commit to that path. We need to diversify our production methods. The issue with CGI is that it might make Toriyama-sensei’s linework too stiff, even though his art style is very flexible. Another concern is that when everything is generated digitally, the backgrounds might become too detailed, which could end up clashing with Toriyama’s simpler art style.