That Blue Dragon?

[SonGoku86]

Does anyone know where the blue dragon on the Japanese dragon ball z logo came from? you know, it has weird googly eyes and stuff. Every time I watch the dragon ball z intro and see it on the logo, I can't help but wonder where it came from, what it is, or why it's there. http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb2 ... z-logo.jpg

[TheDevilsCorpse]

I've always just taken it as a caricature of Shenlong...

[Hujio]

The dragon is from the very first logo ever used in the manga, which was subsequently used for the DragonBall anime logo and then later modified for the DragonBall Z anime logo. So, technically, this dragon predates Shenlong.


DragonBall Logo (manga)


DragonBall Logo (anime)


DragonBall Z Logo (anime)

[Fox666]

It's Shenlong, who has always been blue in the manga (with the expection of a few pages)

[Wobbuffet]

It's Shenlong, who has always been blue in the manga (with the expection of a few pages)

*image*

I don't think it is Shenlong, it's more like a generic dragon.

[Piccolo Daimao]

Why wouldn't it be Shenlong? The title of the series is Dragon Ball, the dragon in the logo looks like Shenlong, and Shenlong is the dragon who comes bursting out of the titular Dragon Balls.

[ThunderPX]

The complete truth is that Toriyama secretly does plan everything out, and this is a clue that he was already working on Blue Dragon.*

* this is a joke

[KiddoCabbusses]

The bigger question is; if it is Shenlong, why would Toei color him blue only in the logo, and green in all his actual show appearances?

[Hujio]

It's Shenlong, who has always been blue in the manga (with the expection of a few pages)
*snipped image*

When has Shenlong ever been blue in the manga?! That image you posted is from a calendar, not the manga. In the manga Shenlong is typically drawn in either black and white or red and gray scale (see below).



During the beginning portions of the manga Toriyama drew tons of dragons (just check Daizenshuu 1), none of which are specifically Shenlong as we see him in the manga. He drew orange ones, blue ones, green ones, and even a blue one, all of which had slightly different characteristics (horns, scales, eyes, fur, spikes, etc...). You'll note that Shenlong never has pupils. His eyes are always blank, so to speak. Almost every dragon Toriyama ever drew outside of the series had pupils. Shenlong is always very specifically drawn within the manga.

While some of these versions may be playful renditions or versions of Shenlong-type dragons, I don't think we can specifically say any of them are Shenlong.

[Fox666]

Shenlong has always been blue in the manga, or at least that's the color estabilished by Toriyama. Also it seems Shenlong eyes are intended to be yellow/orange in the manga, instead of red.

We never actually see any color page in the story (expect for limited palette, and for example water is colored red in these pages). But Shenlong has been colored in many images.

Shenlong appeared blue and orange normally, or purple and green in rare cases. After some point he is only colored in blue.

[Hujio]

Shenlong has always been blue in the manga, or at least that's the color estabilished by Toriyama. Also it seems Shenlong eyes are intended to be yellow/orange in the manga, instead of red.

Always? As far as I can tell he's only been colored blue once, and that was for the title page of chapter 106. That's also the same image where his eyes are yellow. Again, as far as I can tell, that's the only image where they're yellow and not red. Like I said, every other image of Shenlong in the manga is drawn in either black and white or red and gray scale (limited palette). You also have to remember that yellow was used in red and gray scale chapters, so if his eyes were really supposed to be yellow, then why were they always colored red and not yellow?

We never actually see any color page in the story (expect for limited palette, and for example water is colored red in these pages). But Shenlong has been colored in many images.

Like I said, Shenlong in the manga is drawn in either black and white or red and gray scale (limited palette). I guess we agree there. Yeah, he's been colored gray.

Shenlong appeared blue and orange normally, or purple and green in rare cases. After some point he is only colored in blue.
*snipped image*

The images you're posting as proof of Shenlong being blue in the manga, are not from the manga. They're all from promotional artwork of generic dragons. Even in their descriptions in Daizenshuu 1, they're all referred to as just dragons, not Shenlong. Also, why do all of these dragons have such differing horns when Shenlong's horns are drawn so consistently in the manga? In the manga Shenlong always has a nubby set of horns with three smaller nubs, almost like a tree branch.

[lash]

lmao

I love this drawing.

[Perfect]

lmao

I love this drawing.

I'd love to see him mistake Krillin's head for the ball.

[Fox666]

Always? As far as I can tell he's only been colored blue once, and that was for the title page of chapter 106. That's also the same image where his eyes are yellow. Again, as far as I can tell, that's the only image where they're yellow and not red. Like I said, every other image of Shenlong in the manga is drawn in either black and white or red and gray scale (limited palette).

Toriyama colored Shenlong several times in images outside the manga, such as promotional images. It also seems Toriyama choose blue (or teal) for Porunga in the cover of Kazenban volume 22.

However he only colored Shenlong green 2 times at the total (neither images are in the manga either). And possible he did due to influence of the anime.

You also have to remember that yellow was used in red and gray scale chapters, so if his eyes were really supposed to be yellow, then why were they always colored red and not yellow?

Toriyama doesn't choose the colors used in the limited palette by likeness, it seems to be arbitrary.

You really can't predict which color he will choose. For example, he color the Dragon Balls red, instead of brown/yellow.

The images you're posting as proof of Shenlong being blue in the manga, are not from the manga. They're all from promotional artwork of generic dragons. Even in their descriptions in Daizenshuu 1, they're all referred to as just dragons, not Shenlong. Also, why do all of these dragons have such differing horns when Shenlong's horns are drawn so consistently in the manga? In the manga Shenlong always has a nubby set of horns with three smaller nubs, almost like a tree branch.

Toriyama has never been so consistent with Shenlong design, just look at chapter 1. You really can't judge these early pictures.

But some of them are of Shenlong, even if they simply call him "dragon". And in the second picture they do call him "Shenron". Besides you also have the manga logo, title, and etc which Shenlong is always blue.

[Fin]

I had a look through the manga.



First off there's the chapter 1 logo, with a teal dragon's head.




One of the main logos in the manga. The purplish/greyscale one appears on chapter 45, the teal dragon appears on chapters 62 and 81, and the blue one with the orange letters appears on chapters 44, 57, and 75.

Here are Shenlong's three colour in-story appearances,


Bulma's explanation of the Dragon Balls in chapter 1,


the first time he's summoned at the end of chapter 19,


and Goku's explanation to Snow in chapter 57. Note that Goku's caricatured Shenlong has different facial features to the one on the logos above, which make this one bear less of a resemblance to the real Shenlong.




Shenlong's face drawn accurately and in full-colour on the cover of chapter 106!




Cover of the last chapter. I like to think of this as an aged-up Shenlong, to emphasise that this is the end (the very next page kind of reflects on how much time has passed), though some of the dragon's features are very inaccurate, so it may make as much sense to just think of it as a generic dragon.

There isn't much consistency overall on whether the colour of his whiskers (barbels?) should match the upper or lower half of his body. Anyway, these are all of the colour dragons I could find in the manga chapters, though I wouldn't be surprised if I missed a few images.

[Fox666]

For the sake of it, here are all promotional images from Daizenshuu 1 and Kazenban covers.

I doesn't really see why assume these dragons aren't meant to be Shenlong, even if the Daizenshuu labels them simply as "dragon".



Among the last image with a Shenlong colored in Orange, there is this purple one



This seems to be the only image were Shenlong was colored green by Toriyama



The following images are ambiguous, they doesn't appear to be neither blue or green, but rather teal.

[Herms]

Kazenban covers.

Kanzenban. Kanzenban.

[Payne222]

I always thought of Shenlong being green, same with Porunga. I just always thought the others were just dragons. I could see him being teal though.

[Brodes_Vegetto]

Not to go off topic about Shenlong but has Porunga been coloured anything other than green? Manga/series/banners

[Fox666]

In the manga Porunga can only be seen in red and gray tones. It is in chapter 323, which Shenlong also appears.



Note that while in the anime Porunga has a red tongue, here it is the same color of his body, like the Kanzenban cover.