Dragon Ball has gotten a cool new makeover from another of Shueisha’s classic Weekly Shonen Jump magazine artists to help celebrate its 40th anniversary. This October officially marked 40 years since the debut of the late Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball manga within the pages of Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. The franchise has grown to a massive size in the decades since with all sorts of manga, anime, movie, video game releases and more. It’s even gone on to influence many other manga creators both working alongside and coming after Toriyama’s time in the magazine as well. Now it’s time to celebrate that incredible legacy.
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Shueisha has been going all out for the occasion by getting ready for the last couple of years. Shueisha is planning to launch a special Dragon Ball exhibition in Japan as part of the 40th anniversary celebration, and has been debuting special makeovers of the manga’s 42 volume covers from Shueisha’s other major creators such as Jujutsu Kaisen’s Gege Akutami, My Hero Academia‘s Kohei Horikoshi and more. Now the latest reveal is for Volume 1 of the exhibition, which has gotten new cover art from Wing-Man, Zetman and Video Girl Ai creator Masakazu Katsura. Check it out below as spotted by @WSJ_manga on X
Who Is Masakazu Katsura?
Masakazu Katsura is one of Shueisha’s many creators that were in their prime with the publishing company in the late 1980s and early 1990s. First fully making it onto the scene with a full superhero series, Wing-Man (which is also making its live-action series debut four decades after the original manga came to an end), in the pages of Weekly Shonen Jump, the creator then continued this hot streak with a dark hero series titled Zetman (which is likely the most popular of Katsura’s works outside of Japan), and something completely different later with Video Girl Ai.
It’s been quite a long time since Katsura has had a weekly work with Shueisha’s various magazines, so getting the creator to return with a new makeover as part of Dragon Ball’s 40th anniversary exhibition goes to show just how big of a deal this is for Shueisha. This is also further emphasized by all of the new Dragon Ball materials fans have been treated to this Fall and heading into 2025.
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What’s Next for Dragon Ball’s 40th Anniversary?
The final Dragon Ball makeover (for Volume 42 of the series) will be coming next month to finalize this massive project that has been steadily revealed at a monthly rate across the last two years. This final makeover will feature new art from One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda, and will be a fitting final stamp for the project. This new exhibition has yet to reveal any more concrete details about when it will be opening in Japan, and unfortunately fans in other territories will have to just enjoy it from afar as Shueisha has not revealed any worldwide plans for its launch.
But for fans around the rest of the world, the best way to celebrate Dragon Ball’s 40th anniversary is by watching the brand new anime, Dragon Ball Daima. This series features the final new story and character designs from late creator Akira Toriyama himself, and has been sending a new version of Goku on a new adventure through the Demon Realm. Each episode thus far has been revealing new things about the franchise as a whole, and has thus been a major step forward for Dragon Ball while also celebrating this nostalgic milestone.