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-seven entries, this month’s October 2024 issue brings us Masanori Morita (Rokudenashi Blues, Rookies) and their take on the series’ 24th volume cover:

Morita commented:

There was once a time when I was battling it out with Dragon Ball for the top spot in the reader surveys. This one week, I got 350 votes and thought I was going to win for sure, and then it turned out that Dragon Ball got 700. I turned these feelings of frustration into a cherished memory, and now it’s one of my go-to jokes whenever I’m at the bar; it’s something I brag about. Toriyama-sensei, those days I got to be serialized alongside you were like a shiny gem to me. Thank you so very much. I worked really hard on this illustration. What do you think? I really wish I could have gone out for a leisurely drink with you, even just once. And then I could say: “Do you remember that time when I was battling it out for first place with you, Sensei? There was this one week when I got 350 votes and thought ‘Hell yeah!’, and then it turned out that Dragon Ball…”

In a follow-up tweet, Morita stated:

I got to draw the Dragon Ball illustration published in the latest issue of Saikyō Jump. Sorry I put a nose on Kuririn, Toriyama-sensei.

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. 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.