The September 2021 issue of Shueisha’s Saikyō Jump magazine kicked off a “Dragon Ball Super Gallery” series in commemoration of the Dragon Ball franchise’s upcoming 40th anniversary. The celebration aims to have different artists all contribute their own spin on the original 42 tankōbon covers, with the images and an accompanying comment published as the magazine’s back cover.

Following the previous fourteen entries, this month’s November 2022 issue brings us Mikio Ikemoto (Boruto artist) and their take on the series’ 7th volume cover:

Ikemoto commented:

Congratulations to Dragon Ball on its 40th anniversary!! I feel nothing but the utmost gratitude to be included in this project. Dragon Ball has kind of been my source of nutrition ever since I was a kid. The cover of volume 7, which I like so much and had the privilege of being able to choose, has this sense of vigor and pop-ness, a stylish ride, and also a healthy dose of sexiness; that is to say, it has all the appeal of Dragon Ball crammed into this one picture. The fact that it looks extremely easy to draw is another of its strong points. I will forever be unable to look at it with anything other than admiration.

Saikyō Jump is currently a monthly magazine published in Japan by Shueisha under the “Jump” line of magazines. The magazine began as a quarterly publication in 2012, went monthly in 2013, went bimonthly in late-2014, and returned to a monthly format last year (including a digital release for the first time). The magazine’s focus is spin-off and supplementary manga series aimed at a young audience, while also including game promotions, news coverage, and more. The magazine currently serializes content such as Yoshitaka Nagayama’s Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultra God Mission!!!! manga series, Yūji Kasai’s Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Avatars!! manga series, and the Dragon Ball GT Anime Comic. For calendar year 2019, Shueisha reported Saikyō Jump‘s circulation down at 130,000, with readership as 58.5% upper elementary school, 28% lower middle school, 11% middle school, and 2.5% high school or older.