Summary of Kazuhiko Torishima's Book

[Izanagi]

Hello everyone! Following my recent trip to Comiccon Napoli where I attended Kazuhiko Torishima's panel, I decided to sit down and read his book "Rejected: Shonen Jump's Legendary Editor-in-Chief's "Unpleasant" Work Techniques. It's a dense 308 page collection of interviews and reflections but I've turned my notes into a detailed Twitter thread that summarizes the key chapters.


- Torishima rejected over 500 pages of young Toriyama's work before it clicked. He saw him as talented but raw. He had strong art, but often weak storytelling and mass appeal.
- The revisions were intense and sometimes clashed with Toriyama's laid-back personality.
- The birth of Dragon Ball wasn't smooth. Torishima describes giving extremely detailed feedback, demanding changes to characters, pacing, and action sequences.
- He wanted simple, visually powerful storytelling (what he later contrasts with modern series).
- Toriyama drew pages without much planning. It was very organic and full of the unpredictable "uneri" that Torishima loves.
- He insists editors must be willing to be "hated" short-term to unlock an artist's real potential. Many early Toriyama ideas were heavily revised or cut.
- Despite countless rejections/revisions, DB exploded. Torishima sees this cycle of failure/refinement as the secret behind Jump's golden era hits.
- Talent alone isn't enough. Torishima stresses that a great editor must spot potential, push boundaries and make the tough calls.
- Torishima admits the Dr. Slump anime was a big commercial hit, but he still views it as a failure.
- The production was rushed, deviated heavily from the manga's charm, simplified too much, and lost the original's quirky humor and visual gags in favor of schedule.
- Torishima argues anime should maximize a manga's strengths instead of turning it into mass-produced material. The Dr. Slump anime became too safe and formulaic.
- This experience taught him that editors must stay involved post-serialization or the work loses its "soul."
- Torishima contrasts this with better-controlled later adaptations (including One Piece).
- He argues that huge commercial success can mask serious creative flaws. To him, failure isn't just about sales, it's about whether the adaptation truly honors the original manga's soul.
- Torishima describes the Demon Slayer manga as "raw coffee beans." In his view, the source material had clear shortcomings especially in fight choreography and execution.
- It had potential, but it didn't fully deliver on its own and so he views the manga as unremarkable.
- Torishima credits Demon Slayer's success to the anime that "roasted and brewed" the raw source material, elevating the story, visual and emotion.
- He criticizes the editor for not pushing the artist harder on fight scenes, recommending DB as a reference for visual clarity.
- Context: Torishima values "uneri" (うねり) or the raw, messy soul of a creator. To him, Demon Slayer feels engineered for a demographic, while Dragon Ball was chaotic to the point where Toriyama himself didn't know what came next. One feels organic; the other feels processed.
- This ties back to the coffee bean remark. Think about how coffee beans are sold; they are uniform, roasted to a specific profile to ensure they taste the same every time, and sold in bulk. DS follows the "Shonen Formula" very strictly but it lacks the soul of a single genius.
- Torishima initially opposed One Piece because he thought the story was too complicated and dense for young Jump readers. The worldbuilding, character designs, and tone felt overly ambitious and hard to follow compared to more straightforward hits.
- Torishima concerned over the name One Piece itself and the overall readability/appeal for the core audience.
- In editorial meetings, he argued against immediate serialization. He wanted more revisions and wasn't convinced it was ready or commercially viable in its early form.
- Despite Torishima's doubts, the project moved forward. Other editors and higher-ups supported it).
- Torishima acknowledges that Oda and the team proved him wrong. One Piece became one of the biggest successes in manga history and a household name in Shueisha's portfolio.
- Finally, Torishima reflects on this as part of his core philosophy: Editors must make tough calls and be willing to be hated, but also spot that special "something." Repeated "botsu" (rejections/revisions) and strong pushing can turn risky projects into golden era hits.

If you're interested in the behind the scenes editor-artist dynamic, Toriyama's creative process, or Torishima's tough-love philosophy on what makes a great manga, feel free to check out the thread. I'll be heading to Japan soon, but I'll like to hear your thoughts!
https://twitter.com/XMathemagicianX/sta ... 9413254617

[Zephyr]

He's absolutely right when it comes to the role of an editor. Sometimes an editor needs to be harsh in order to help the author make the best work they can. Sometimes you really like an idea, but either it just sucks, or this isn't the project for it, and you might need to be told that even if it's painful to hear. Writing my thesis involved a lot of this sort of back and forth with my committee chair, suggesting to add this, or remove that, or tweak this other thing in some specific way. Helped me actually narrow down the central idea, and keep the scope in check. Caught errors that I didn't, and helped me account for and cover a lot of glaring blindspots I hadn't even realized were there. A lot of the time it was frustrating, but it resulted in something I'm much more proud of than I would have otherwise been.

- Toriyama drew pages without much planning. It was very organic and full of the unpredictable "uneri" that Torishima loves.
- Context: Torishima values "uneri" (うねり) or the raw, messy soul of a creator. To him, Demon Slayer feels engineered for a demographic, while Dragon Ball was chaotic to the point where Toriyama himself didn't know what came next. One feels organic; the other feels processed.

I do also like this. Raw and messy improvisation. If even the author is basically another audience member, who knows what's gonna happen next? I've handled a D&D campaign this way, and it was a great time. Entire major plot threads and lore came about because I had to bullshit something on the fly during one session. Obviously I did have some stuff pre-planned (and Toriyama no doubt did too; "without much planning" doesn't mean "without any planning"), but you keep it loose enough that you can pull out some crazy swerves that come to you in the moment.

The approach has its downsides, like sometimes you write yourself into a corner or overlook something really important (Cell and Boo have a ton of sloppy moments as a result of this). But it is a fun way to write, and it definitely helps keep things organic. And if you're gonna be grinding away at something for ten years, I'm not gonna blame anyone for trying to also have some fun with it.

[M16U3L2015]

I think his views are presented more clearly here and are less scathing than in that interview, and they don't have that grumpy old man vibe.

And I agree with his thoughts on the role of the editor.

[angeldreamZ004]

Thank you for sharing this.
I think his thoughts feel much more understandable and relatable here, which is what I said previously about that interview, that he should explain more his points rather than just being superficial with “it's shit”, stuff like that, it ended up sounding like just as insults in those public appearances (which I do not like to call as “old man complaining”, because a lot of young people nowadays act exactly that way as well)

Seems mostly opinative only though, barely any information here (but the ones he gave are good, holy damn, 500 pages?)

I do agree with his takes on the editor role and what he said about how the manga is made and expanded by the animation.

Don't know so much about Kimetsu no Yaiba anime and manga, but given his thoughts on it, I think it's similar to the problem I have with the DBS manga. While I like it, I think it lacks the same effort put into the anime (storytelling part, not other aspects of quality), it's very straight forward, but it lacks the momentum when compared to Toriyama's old manga. The anime, despite its flaws, I feel that Toei still tried to make something close to what they did in the 80 and 90s, with extended scenes, spectacle, expanded character arcs and drama. It's very easy to notice this especially in the Champa and ToP arcs. Whereas the manga is always lagging behind, simply following and cutting out what makes us invested in the story and focusing only on what makes it consistent instead. That's why those arcs in the manga feel so rushed, while in the anime they feel more complete.

So I wonder if this is Victory Uchida's fault. I don't think it's Toyotaro, at least not that much given how the first arc that he worked mostly by himself is the Moro arc, which is the manga arc that feels the closest to an arc from the original series imo. I can actually see the build up to the scenes and character moments that we get in the original series and the Super anime.
But once that arc finishes, I think things return to status quo, especially in the Super Hero arc. As if he just had to follow Toriyama's outlines, he wasn't pushing hard on himself while working in the story because he already knew what was going to happen and he just had to adapt, with his efforts going mostly to the visual part only and barely the writing and storytelling, and with Super Hero it was even more explicit because the story was already complete in the movie.
So the DBS manga feels more like supplemental material most of the time thanks to that. Hopefully the next arc can be better now that he'll have to work with the story by himself again, I think he already showed us how good he can be with the Moro arc. And we don't know how much Victory Uchida gets involved.

Okay, maybe I'm getting off-topic, but I think this especially helps me understand why Torishima dislikes Super. With his criticism going mostly to the manga, he barely talked about the anime as far as I remember, and I think his thoughts on this book makes me understand him even more. I believe he wanted to talk to Toyo back in December because he was concerned about how the manga dynamic would be working from now on. At least one of the reasons.

[Yellow Flower King]

Wow Torishima REALLY embraced Dr Mashirito lol.

[jjgp1112]

Can't say there's a single thing there I disagreed with. Like yeah...that's pretty much on the money when it comes to the creative process. An outside opinion that pushes you beyond those first thoughts is absolutely crucial to any work.

[Mr Baggins]

I would argue the ideal editor helps the author refine their own storytelling instincts and confidence moving forward, even when they're no longer closely collaborating. Or as Torishima describes it, "unlocking the artist's potential".

Dragon Ball is a clear upgrade from Dragon Boy, but some of my favorite Toriyama works were from much later in his career: Sand Land and Cowa! are both short manga that oozed so much of his sensibilities as a writer that I'm certain there wasn't much (if any) direct outside influence at all at that point.

[The Dark Knight]

You can pretty much summarize all these points into one phrase: quality control. No matter how good of a writer, teacher, engineer, etc. you are, you still need someone there every now and then to provide you with a different perspective for how to do things, to point out flaws that you may have missed, to introduce you to techniques you weren't aware of, etc. Dragon Ball did not have this kind of person to oversee things once work on the original manga and Z wrapped up, which explains the sharp decline in quality was saw with GT, which continued into both Super and Daima, as well as the new movies. This lack of oversight by a Torishima-type person resulted in everything basically being under developed, and in many cases, underwhelming. Battle of Gods (the movie) might be the only thing someone like Torishima would've approved of as is, and Daima could get away with being expanded upon, but everything else would've either needed to be re-written from the ground up, or outright thrown out.

[angeldreamZ004]

Well, the modern era of Dragon Ball went through many different aspects of production, such as Toriyama having to work actively across different media, anime, manga and movies, developing on his outlines and art for different creative sectors. There were multiple projects he had to work at the same time, all with different people involved, Toyotaro, Shueisha, Akio Iyoku, the anime staff, etc. All of them with their respective ways of communication and marketing ideals. It's not the same context as in the 80/90s, where he could actually focus on his manga more than anything under people who were also all about manga and only had to provide some material to the neighborhoods of Toei and Bandai from time to time. He even got more involved in the games as well, the next console game has his handmark. The IP expanded and things are worked in a different way now.

It's a constant metamorphosis and different dynamic from the one he had to work with back then. Not saying that "it was easier then", just trying to explain the bigger picture around this "sharp decline", it was more than just the absence of someone like Torishima overseeing on what Toriyama did. Yama was involved in this overcomplication of the series, many things were done on purpose by him, but many other things were different entities reacting agressively to his "silence", resulting in stuff that weren't his fault at all (such as the complete lack of a anime for 6 years while the manga was okay). Someone Shima would've to deal with these situations as well if you truly would like to see quality control. Nowadays we have someone like Akio Iyoku for example, who may not be like Shima (highly criticized by him actually), but assured that the new animated projects under the new administration would at least go through a much better planned production, which is something Toriyama complained about when the Super anime started for example.

Shima talks mostly from the perspective of his role with the experiences alongside Yama and the enviroment around them at the time, with some comparisons to the modern industry and how anime adaptation is viewed, providing behind the scenes information from his role's perspective.
I don't know if he can give much info about the modern era of DB other than just his opinions though, given how he wasn't involved. I still wonder about his "Everyone at Toei hates me" line when mentioned Daima in the interview though lol. But it's very likely just a joke.

[Kenji]

OK, these are a bit more palatable.

I can definitely agree with him that Toriyama's "potential" was not enough to make for a good story. You can really tell the difference in storytelling quality between the portions of the franchise Torishima worked as an editor (the equivalent of the original Dragon Ball anime) and the portions where Toriyama had free reign to write whatever he wanted (late Z, and especially the modern revival era).

Turns out having bootlickers who put you in a pedestal and tell you everything you do is great and the work of a genius actually makes for a bad story, who would've thought? Now that Toriyama is out of the picture, I have to wonder if the new people in charge will get more pushback to make good stories, but only time can tell.

[JulieYBM]

Iyoku Akio being the number one on Dragon Ball does not provide much in the way of confidence unless he can be successfully handled by whoever the director is to allow for proper artistic expression.

Otherwise, it's hust going to be more rigid, sauceless shit like Super Hero and Daima.

[The Dark Knight]

Well, the modern era of Dragon Ball went through many different aspects of production, such as Toriyama having to work actively across different media, anime, manga and movies, developing on his outlines and art for different creative sectors. There were multiple projects he had to work at the same time, all with different people involved, Toyotaro, Shueisha, Akio Iyoku, the anime staff, etc. All of them with their respective ways of communication and marketing ideals. It's not the same context as in the 80/90s, where he could actually focus on his manga more than anything under people who were also all about manga and only had to provide some material to the neighborhoods of Toei and Bandai from time to time. He even got more involved in the games as well, the next console game has his handmark. The IP expanded and things are worked in a different way now.

Yes; you're completely right in this regard; I will never argue that the way he worked over the past ten years was the same as it was during his original run. however, what Toyotaro, Shueisha, Akio Iyoku, the anime staff, etc. lacked compared to his editors from back in the day was the ability to question his decisions and request changes. The stories that he told in this modern era, for the most part, would have either been completely rejected, or heavily altered had he attempted to tell them under someone like Torishima back in the 90s. Today however, those stories were accepted as is without any question from the people around him, resulting in a considerable amount of wasted potential in the process.

Turns out having bootlickers who put you in a pedestal and tell you everything you do is great and the work of a genius actually makes for a bad story, who would've thought?

That problem is that most of these people working on the franchise today grew up with it, so someone like Toyotaro would never tell Toriyama what he wrote wasn't good, even if he himself knows it deep down; he has too much respect for the man to do so. Back int he 80s and 90s, he was just another writer, he wasn't "Toriyama Sensei", so editors and the anime's producers weren't under nay pressure to blindly follow him, which resulted in them either requesting changes to be made to the story (his editors) or changing it/expanding it themselves (the anime's staff).

Now that Toriyama is out of the picture, I have to wonder if the new people in charge will get more pushback to make good stories, but only time can tell.

I think everything we get moving forward will double down on the nostalgia and old concepts, as no one's going to want to leave the comfort zone of what's been working so far.

[Kenji]

Back int he 80s and 90s, he was just another writer, he wasn't "Toriyama Sensei", so editors and the anime's producers weren't under nay pressure to blindly follow him, which resulted in them either requesting changes to be made to the story (his editors) or changing it/expanding it themselves (the anime's staff).

That's an exaggeration.
After Torishima left, Toriyama received increasingly more lenient editors, to the point Torishima had to call him personally and ask him to change the villains of the Cell Saga twice. By the Boo Saga, Toriyama's editors were practically non-existent, as they admittedly knew that was the last arc and did everything they could so he could write whatever he wanted comfortably.

[JulieYBM]

Back int he 80s and 90s, he was just another writer, he wasn't "Toriyama Sensei", so editors and the anime's producers weren't under nay pressure to blindly follow him, which resulted in them either requesting changes to be made to the story (his editors) or changing it/expanding it themselves (the anime's staff).

That's an exaggeration.
After Torishima left, Toriyama received increasingly more lenient editors, to the point Torishima had to call him personally and ask him to change the villains of the Cell Saga twice. By the Boo Saga, Toriyama's editors were practically non-existent, as they admittedly knew that was the last arc and did everything they could so he could write whatever he wanted comfortably.

Torishima's successor, Kondou Yuu (Saiyan arc through before the appearance of Perfect Cell) wasn't really lenient, but Takeda (Cell Games through the end) was. The three editors talk about working with Toriyama in the first Daizenshuu.

[Kenji]

Torishima's successor, Kondou Yuu (Saiyan arc through before the appearance of Perfect Cell) wasn't really lenient, but Fukuda (Cell Games through the end) was. The three editors talk about working with Toriyama in the first Daizenshuu.

That Kondou Yuu let the Freeza and Cell arcs turn out the way they did won't change my opinion that he was too lenient on Toriyama. If I was his editor at the time, I would at least tell him to just get Freeza over with already, or make the Cell arc's storytelling less of a mess of moving goalposts and character mistakes.

But then again, the Freeza and Cell arcs are smash hits, so maybe the problem is me.

[JulieYBM]

Torishima's successor, Kondou Yuu (Saiyan arc through before the appearance of Perfect Cell) wasn't really lenient, but Fukuda (Cell Games through the end) was. The three editors talk about working with Toriyama in the first Daizenshuu.

That Kondou Yuu let the Freeza and Cell arcs turn out the way they did won't change my opinion that he was too lenient on Toriyama. If I was his editor at the time, I would at least tell him to just get Freeza over with already, or make the Cell arc's storytelling less of a mess of moving goalposts and character mistakes.

But then again, the Freeza and Cell arcs are smash hits, so maybe the problem is me.

I'm not sure Torishima would not have dragged them out for the sake of popularity. He did keep conplaining about the enemies, after all.

I do think the latter half of those arcs are the worst parts, though.

[Yellow Flower King]

Torishima's successor, Kondou Yuu (Saiyan arc through before the appearance of Perfect Cell) wasn't really lenient, but Fukuda (Cell Games through the end) was. The three editors talk about working with Toriyama in the first Daizenshuu.

That Kondou Yuu let the Freeza and Cell arcs turn out the way they did won't change my opinion that he was too lenient on Toriyama. If I was his editor at the time, I would at least tell him to just get Freeza over with already, or make the Cell arc's storytelling less of a mess of moving goalposts and character mistakes.

But then again, the Freeza and Cell arcs are smash hits, so maybe the problem is me.

You are getting this backwards it was the editors that insisted on changing the villains all the time. You seem to assume Toriyama was a maverick writer that ignored what his sensible editors adviced him to do but this was brought on by their decisions. I know Toriyama has shown he really does need editors to reign him in but this time it was the editors who got this story arc to be so messy.

[Kenji]

You are getting this backwards it was the editors that insisted on changing the villains all the time. You seem to assume Toriyama was a maverick writer that ignored what his sensible editors adviced him to do but this was brought on by their decisions. I know Toriyama has shown he really does need editors to reign him in but this time it was the editors who got this story arc to be so messy.

OK, so both Toriyama and his editors sucked, happy? lol

It actually doesn't matter who made the decision to change villains, it's ultimately Toriyama who structured and wrote how that change was going to happen. For the record, I really don't mind the shifts from #19 and #20 to #17 and #18, I think it's done well. It adds conflict, mystery and consequence to the story.

But then, I'm supposed to believe there is a whole 'nother villain secret project after the whole 'nother villain secret project after the whole 'nother villain secret project who requires an entire round of mental gymnastics for him to fit in the story? Yeah, no. Toiryama could've simply declined Torishima's request and said "Fuck you, #17 and #18 are the villains now and they're here to stay", especially when Torishima was no longer his editor, but Toriyama still obliged anyway knowing his story would suffer.

[kiarasuraru]

Otherwise, it's hust going to be more rigid, sauceless shit like Super Hero and Daima.

Don't worry, we will.
Iyoku loves his nostalgiapandering and shameless fanservice after all.
Like, after gems such as we should bring back Future Trunks bro and add Gohan to the movie bro, and Daima as a whole base core idea being GT 2.0, there's nothing in this world that will not convince me that he's the one who told Toriyama to add/redesign SS4 for Daima.
This is the eternal spinning wheel the franchise is on now, just clapbait, and people love it and buy it anyways so there's no reason for them to ever stop doing it.

Honestly, one of the things I'm the most curious about is how Iyoku ended up becoming so buddy buddy with Toriyama. How did he end up becoming Toriyama's confidant and given so much trust and power. Sometimes it feels like the dude just magically popped out of nowhere into existence already BFFs with Toriyama. It's weird at times.

[JulieYBM]

Otherwise, it's hust going to be more rigid, sauceless shit like Super Hero and Daima.

Don't worry, we will.
Iyoku loves his nostalgiapandering and shameless fanservice after all.
Like, after gems such as we should bring back Future Trunks bro and add Gohan to the movie bro, and Daima as a whole base core idea being GT 2.0, there's nothing in this world that will not convince me that he's the one who told Toriyama to add/redesign SS4 for Daima.
This is the eternal spinning wheel the franchise is on now, just clapbait, and people love it and buy it anyways so there's no reason for them to ever stop doing it.

Honestly, one of the things I'm the most curious about is how Iyoku ended up becoming so buddy buddy with Toriyama. How did he end up becoming Toriyama's confidant and given so much trust and power. Sometimes it feels like the dude just magically popped out of nowhere into existence already BFFs with Toriyama. It's weird at times.

I mean, yeah, I know. I just expect better otherwise. What do I have to lose? I'm flexible and have a life outside of Dragon Ball, I can expect good things.

I think Iyoku became friendly with Toriyama because he tried. Toriyama was never the sort to be too hands-on or care about Dragon Ball and learning about the entire media mix process that series like his run on. Iyoku was in charge of the Dragon Ball Room for Shueisha, had contact with Toriyama, and realized, "Oh, I just need to play my cards right and I can become the face of Dragon Ball." The fact that Iyoku keeps trying to play Hollywood Big-Shot with these live appearances and announcing Dragon Ball news at these merchandise events says it all, I think.

Now Iyoku just gets to be in charge of Dragon Ball and run off of, "Look at how much we're following Toriyama-sensei's wishes" because that line sells to the lowest common denominator like candy in a daycare.