A Dragon Ball Fan-Comic Was So Good, its Creator Became Super's Artist
The tale of Dragon Ball AF is one of hard work and dreams, beginning with dedicated fan artists and ending with a position on Dragon Ball’s illustration staff. Dragon Ball AF’s roots also lie in the mysterious legend of Super Saiyan 5 that permeated the internet post-Dragon Ball GT. Through the power of fan art, Toyotarou, formerly Toyble, managed to impress Akira Toriyama himself and become the illustrator for Dragon Ball Super.
Around the turn of the century, an infamous image circulated Dragon Ball forums, giving hope of a sequel to Dragon Ball GT. The image was artist David Montiel Franco’s Super Saiyan 5 fanart from the Spanish video game magazine Hobby Consolas. This image contained the letters “AF” on the bottom right corner, leading fans to speculate that a new series dubbed Dragon Ball: After Future was coming. This led artists Young Jiji and Toyotarou to create their own Dragon Ball future. Though Toyotarou and Young Jiji's manga both went under the name Dragon Ball AF, they were rather different from each other. Toyotarou’s version of Dragon Ball AF was a sequel to Dragon Ball GT centered around a new character named Xicor who was Goku’s long-lost son. Young Jiji’s version had Frieza’s son Ize (much different than Frieza's real forgotten son, Kuriza) return to wreak havoc on Earth. Though both manga were popular on Dragon Ball forums, Toyotarou’s got the attention of Weekly Shonen Jump publisher Shueisha.
Related: Dragon Ball’s Most Mysterious Villain Combines Cell and Majin Buu
Toyotarou recounted his journey to becoming Dragon Ball Super's official illustrator in an interview with Italian website Animeclick during Naples Comic-Con, After introducing himself to Shueisha, Dragon Ball's publisher, Toyotarou
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