Has Toriyama Ever Given An Interview About Ultra Instinct?

[The Monkey King]

I find it strange that Toriyama has given some kind of comment/interview about almost every single transformation since the 2013 revival (God, Blue, Beast, Golden, Orange)

But I can't find any he's given for the most popular of them all: Ultra Instinct. The most I can find is an interview he gave around the Zamasu arc about saving a white haired transformation for "Another time".

[Hugo Boss]

Maybe this is because Toriyama doesn’t consider Ultra Instinct as a form that Goku can freely access in the stories he’s been writing.

[AliTheZombie13]

If I remember correctly, Toriyama didn't come up with Ultra Instinct, the anime staff did.

[Koitsukai]

Maybe because he hasn't yet been behind it, like with the other forms.
Yes, sure, he came up with all of them (except UE and Sign, IIRC), but I mean those forms debuted in movies written by him, while UI remains an anime/manga only form, penned by others.

For the movie continuity, it's unclear if Goku has UI already in his toolshed, so maybe that will be seen on another movie and that's when he'll rant about it.
I can understand UI being saved for its own movie. If it appeared in the blue fusion or the Gohan Beast movie it probably would've stolen their thunder.

On another note, I don't think he went to town with his SH interview like he has with the previous movies or even the first few arcs of DBS.

[LoganForkHands73]

True, I don't think Toriyama has ever spoken extensively about it, but fans somehow started interpreting that as a confession that he actually had nothing to do with Ultra Instinct's creation and design and that it's not even canon to "the Toriyamaverse". Some even say he's barely aware of the form, but considering how closely he works with Toyotaro, that simply can't be true. We know that Ultra Instinct came about as a suggestion by the Toei staff to help boost hype and ratings for the Tournament of Power, but you know what other form was conceptualised by Toei's guys but finalised by Toriyama? Super Saiyan God.

It's fair to say that the reason why Toriyama hasn't discussed Ultra Instinct very much is because he hasn't been very hands-on with the writing of Super in general, but he has also rarely if ever talked about Super Saiyan God or Super Saiyan Blue since their debut appearances and, especially in the case of Blue, he didn't elaborate much on the design process (which, let's face it, consisted of giving Super Saiyan 1 some hair dye and justifying it as a "calm colour" or whatever). Ultra Instinct expands on plot points Toriyama introduced earlier in the series and also fulfils the white/silver-haired form he'd been wanting to make.

[Gashaponista]

True, I don't think Toriyama has ever spoken extensively about it, but fans somehow started interpreting that as a confession that he actually had nothing to do with Ultra Instinct's creation and design and that it's not even canon to "the Toriyamaverse". Some even say he's barely aware of the form, but considering how closely he works with Toyotaro, that simply can't be true. We know that Ultra Instinct came about as a suggestion by the Toei staff to help boost hype and ratings for the Tournament of Power, but you know what other form was conceptualised by Toei's guys but finalised by Toriyama? Super Saiyan God.

It's fair to say that the reason why Toriyama hasn't discussed Ultra Instinct very much is because he hasn't been very hands-on with the writing of Super in general, but he has also rarely if ever talked about Super Saiyan God or Super Saiyan Blue since their debut appearances and, especially in the case of Blue, he didn't elaborate much on the design process (which, let's face it, consisted of giving Super Saiyan 1 some hair dye and justifying it as a "calm colour" or whatever). Ultra Instinct expands on plot points Toriyama introduced earlier in the series and also fulfils the white/silver-haired form he'd been wanting to make.

Fans love to assume Toriyama really is on top of every step Toyotaro takes in the manga, but the truth is that he provided plot guidelines, contributed designs (for manga and anime) and really only corrected some of Toyo's ugliest drawings.
Definitely, since Jiren's defeat the manga feels aimlessly adrift at the hands of Uchida and Toyotaro... It is precisely for some reason that neither Moro nor Granolah were promoted with Toriyama's name on a giant marquee.

I dare say that for Toriyama only the films he wrote (Battle of Gods, Fukkatsu no F, DBS Broly & DBS Super Hero) and now Daima count. And he's forced to reference Jiren and the Chikara no Taikai just to explain why Freeza is still alive.

[Lukmendes]

If I remember correctly, Toriyama didn't come up with Ultra Instinct, the anime staff did.

All I remember hearing is that the anime staff came up with Ultra Instinct Omen, but I think it was said Toriyama came up with UI itself.

If so it's actually ironic, since fans didn't like the Super Saiyan Blanco design UI got and prefer Omen.

Fans love to assume Toriyama really is on top of every step Toyotaro takes in the manga, but the truth is that he provided plot guidelines, contributed designs (for manga and anime) and really only corrected some of Toyo's ugliest drawings.
Definitely, since Jiren's defeat the manga feels aimlessly adrift at the hands of Uchida and Toyotaro... It is precisely for some reason that neither Moro nor Granolah were promoted with Toriyama's name on a giant marquee.

I dare say that for Toriyama only the films he wrote (Battle of Gods, Fukkatsu no F, DBS Broly & DBS Super Hero) and now Daima count. And he's forced to reference Jiren and the Chikara no Taikai just to explain why Freeza is still alive.

I mean, Freeza is featured heavily in Broly to the point the movie can't really happen without him, and the movie was written before it was decided for Kale to get a green transformation I think, so him being alive was a decision Toriyama himself had, Jiren to an extent likely was too, but probably not the "He's the strongest strong that even stronged", since Vegeta talks about Jiren in Super Hero like he's not super strong, but uses ki very effectively.

Like Toriyama isn't involved with the specific details, just the most bare bones decisions and once in a while he tries to make a correction (Such as shutting down Marcarita and Belmond being lovers), but he still is the one who comes up with the basic outlines of events, though he follows his own canon and doesn't really care about what Toei or Toyotaro came up with.

But yeah I never thought before about Toriyama never actually writing UI, makes me wonder what that will be like if it ever happens... If Jiren is any hint, I think Toriyama will make UI not be particularly strong, but just be super effective at fighting.

[Cure Dragon 255]

"I like the money it brings in, but Dragon Ball Super is the worst. That's actually the real reason I decided to start working on Dragon Ball Daima. I was afraid Bandai would make something irredeemably stupid like Super Saiyan God Ultra Instinct Broly." - Akira Toriyama, made up interview, 2023.

[Jack Bz]

We know that Toriyama came up with the principles of ultra instinct all the way back in the RoF movie, it being a martial arts technique where you can move your body without thinking. The movie also establishes it as the signature style of Whis.

It being a form in itself may have been a request from TOEI, but Toriyama still designed the form:



I have gotten a strong vibe that Toriyama doesn't care about the form anymore or has any desire to explore it further, which is confusing. It hasn't gotten as much as a mention in Broly or Super Hero.

[SupremeKai25]

Ultra Instinct is irrelevant to Toriyama's script, because, in Toriyama movies, Goku still can't access UI at will. So, effectively, Toriyama/Movie Goku remains capped at Super Saiyan Blue.

[BootyCheeksJohnson]

We know that Toriyama came up with the principles of ultra instinct all the way back in the RoF movie, it being a martial arts technique where you can move your body without thinking. The movie also establishes it as the signature style of Whis.

I have a feeling that Toriyama's hands off approach to writing the series has lead to most of the inconsistencies we've seen when a script is written by him vs a script being written by a room of writers/Toyotaro.
Toriyama's writing approach to modern Dragon Ball feels very similar to Stan Lee's "Marvel Method." For context Stan Lee would give his artist "a rather detailed plot" then he would "let [them] draw it however [they] wanted", then he would look at the finished art pages, rough dialogue, and notes the artist gave him to write the finished dialogue. In his own words: "it was like doing a crossword puzzle." Some of his former collaborators actually detailed the process from their end:
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aOdm52OVppM/ ... /dik-2.jpg
This as you can imagine lead to numerous inconsistencies in the silver age Marvel comic books because Stan wasn't actually acting as a writer, but as a dialogue editor. I'm not saying that Toriyama's approach is the exact same as Stan's but it has a very similar hands off vibe to it.

[LoganForkHands73]

Fans love to assume Toriyama really is on top of every step Toyotaro takes in the manga, but the truth is that he provided plot guidelines, contributed designs (for manga and anime) and really only corrected some of Toyo's ugliest drawings.
Definitely, since Jiren's defeat the manga feels aimlessly adrift at the hands of Uchida and Toyotaro... It is precisely for some reason that neither Moro nor Granolah were promoted with Toriyama's name on a giant marquee.

I dare say that for Toriyama only the films he wrote (Battle of Gods, Fukkatsu no F, DBS Broly & DBS Super Hero) and now Daima count. And he's forced to reference Jiren and the Chikara no Taikai just to explain why Freeza is still alive.

If we're being real, I don't think Toriyama has cared much about the Dragon Ball Super brand since like 2018/2019, when he wrote the script for Super Hero. Since then, I get the impression that Daima was his main focus, while the interim manga arcs carried on getting churned out without much input. Still, Toriyama did have some oversight, and whether or not he cares much about Ultra Instinct, there have been many tacit acknowledgements that the same basic outline of events told in the anime and manga must have occurred in the movie continuity as well.

I just find it weird that people single out Ultra Instinct when plenty of other elements across the franchise, including the movies, wouldn't have happened without input from other creatives besides Toriyama. If someone at Toei hadn't sketched a feminine Broly in a red tank top, Toriyama wouldn't have been inspired to create Caulifla. Broly himself would have never been reinvented by Toriyama without his editor's suggestion; in the same vein, Gohan wouldn't have played a role in Super Hero, let alone received a new transformation. Literally all it would take for Toriyama to write Ultra Instinct into a movie is another nudge from his editor.

[AliTheZombie13]

I mean, Toriyama did forget Dragon Ball Super's name while coming up with Super Hero.

[Cure Dragon 255]

I mean, Toriyama did forget Dragon Ball Super's name while coming up with Super Hero.

This is it. This is the apex of Toriyama forgetting things lol.

[AliTheZombie13]

I mean, Toriyama did forget Dragon Ball Super's name while coming up with Super Hero.

This is it. This is the apex of Toriyama forgetting things lol.

[Gashaponista]

I mean, Toriyama did forget Dragon Ball Super's name while coming up with Super Hero.

I don't really believe those Toriyama's statements, I'm sure it's part of his humor to say that he forgets things, he makes fun of people and then they keep repeating it for years.
He surely wanted to create another one of those names like Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan.

[super michael]

How Goku is written in DBS Super Hero was terrible, Toei took it too far in making him dumb. Toriyama didn't care how bad Goku was written also. It contradicts DB/DBZ/DBS Manga and Anime.

DB Goku before 23rd Martial Art Tournament = meditation
DBZ Goku fighting Ginyu = Goku understands why Ginyu can't access Goku body full power
DBZ Goku before ROSAT training = compliments Vegeta doing standing meditation to accend
DBZ Goku in the ROSAT = meditation to unlock SSJ Grade 2 and 3 and understood why mastering SSJ was better than the grade forms
DBZ Goku before the Buu Saga = meditation
DBS Goku in the anime and manga = meditation and visual training
DBS Manga Goku in the Gas fight = meditation to discover TUI

DBS Super Hero Goku = impatient, claims Vegeta is being lazy and will get rusty, doesn't understand Vegeta is doing meditation and why it is useful and doesn't understand why controlling one spirit, mind body is useful in getting stronger. Goku becomes Patrick Star dumb, which is a huge contradiction.

So I am not surprised that DBS Super Hero Goku doesn't have UI at all in the movie.

[LoganForkHands73]

I mean, Toriyama did forget Dragon Ball Super's name while coming up with Super Hero.

I don't really believe those Toriyama's statements, I'm sure it's part of his humor to say that he forgets things, he makes fun of people and then they keep repeating it for years.
He surely wanted to create another one of those names like Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan.

The thing about Toriyama "forgetting" the title would be Super: Super Hero isn't as dumb as some other examples of his forgetfulness. The interview were he said that was one of the main things that led me to believe the Daima leaks.

Based on the production timeline, Toriyama was probably deep into planning Dragon Ball Daima when Super Hero was eventually slated for release. As we know, he started writing it immediately after finishing Broly. By 2022, I think he assumed Toei were already moving away from the "Super" branding, so if they saw a screenplay titled "Super Hero", they would have the common sense to not tautologically use Super in the title again. Evidently, it wasn't the case, but it was a happy accident.

From what I've read, both of the major Dragon Ball rebrandings from the last few years were fairly arbitrary. Super was chosen because so much other stuff in Dragon Ball has "super" as a prefix or suffix and it was an easy choice. Daima is a made-up word and was apparently chosen over something else late into production (leaks would suggest it was originally called "Magic"). Toriyama doesn't seem to be very involved in the marketing so it's unsurprising that he would either forget or get mixed up.