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 thirty-one entries, this month’s April 2024 issue brings us Takeshi Obata (Death Note, Bakuman) and their take on the series’ 29th volume cover:
Takeshi Obata commented:
Congratulations on Dragon Ball‘s 40th anniversary. I got to redraw the cover to Volume 29. As someone who got to grow up with Toriyama-sensei‘s mechanic designs, this is the highest honor. Every time he featured an automobile in his works, it was so intricately detailed and had even more appeal than actual, real cars, so I copied them oh so many times. It never came out well, but before I knew it, I grew an appreciation for similar-looking cars and it completely defined my preferences. The Volkswagen featured in this cover is also a pretty rare ride. No matter how much I looked, I couldn’t find any reference material, so once again, the final product did not come out well (laughs). I have nothing but the highest respect for Toriyama-sensei‘s insane knowledge of mechanics.
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 in 2021 (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: Meteor Mission! manga series and Yūji Kasai’s Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Avatars!! manga series. 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.