https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPHg3EI ... el=DBTimes
It has some interesting information about his career and his thoughts on the future. Maybe I will translate it later if nobody else does.
Video interview with Nakatsuru 2025 (subbed in french)
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Video interview with Nakatsuru 2025 (subbed in french)
Last edited by sangofe on Wed Mar 12, 2025 3:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Video interview with Nakatsuru 2025 (subbed in french)
You started working on Dragon Ball very early on. Do you remember your first animations for the anime and how you felt back then?
Nakatsuru: When I started on Dragon Ball, I was still a very young animator. Daisuke Nishio (director on DB and DBZ) began working with Toei around the same time that I did. He really loved Hong-Kong action and kung-fu movies. It was a time when Hong Kong action movies were very popular all over Japan. We were very interested by all of this and we wondered if it was possible to represent all that in an anime. Dragon Ball arrived around that time and made it all possible. He was involved in the Dragon Ball anime. And even though I was a newcomer, he asked me if I wanted to work with him on this anime... on Dragon Ball.
What were your greatest inspirations and models in your career as an animator? What made your style what it is?
Nakatsuru: I never thought that I had any kind of "particular" style... I looked at Mr. Toriyama's drawings in his manga. Then I thought about how to adapt them into a "film". That's how I've always proceeded. That's why I always considered it wasn't necessary for me to show any sort of unique "specificities" in my works. But when I had to create a character for example, it was the opposite: I always thought about how he was going to move... And I always clearly imprinted some of my ideas into that work.
How did you end up in the new anime, Dragon Ball Daima? How was your contact with Toei Animation?
Nakatsuru: Well... How could I put it... At Toei Animation, there is the director, Mr. Morishita. He gave me advice on my work while he was apparently working on a new Dragon Ball project, and since it was just around that time, he told me something like "well, Mr. Nakatsuru, you should participate to it". And that's how I could start to prepare for my participation to the production. And how I got involved from the beginning to the end. It was pretty much something like that.
What new character designs did you create for Daima? Could we see those designs someday?
Nakatsuru: Well... This time around, many main characters turned back into children. And for them, I made quite a number of drafts for how they look being young. They pretty much look almost exactly like how I designed them in the anime.
Since we're talking new designs, did you design Super Saiyan 4 for Dragon Ball Daima?
Nakatsuru: No, this time, for Daima, Toriyama-sensei designed Super Saiyan 4. He designed it with his own new appearance, as "the Super Saiyan 4 from Daima".
What do you consider the biggest differences in your work between Dragon Ball Z, GT and Daima?
Nakatsuru: Well... How should I say it... I was involved in all that ever since I was young. At the time of DBZ, I was very young. At the time of GT, I was still fairly young. And well, for Daima... Well, I'm beyong 60 years old... I'm still involved at that age, but not only that: despite what one may think, it's ultimately for Daima that I probably made the most drawings!
Are there chaaracters you don't like drawing?
Nakatsuru: Characters I don't like drawing? Back then, I would have said Bulma, but... this time in Daima, there is this character called Arinsu, an antagonist... Well, not really "antagonist", but... There's this female character. That one was pretty tough for me.
Last question: if there ever was a Dragon Ball remake, would you like to be involved?
Nakatsuru: If I could bring something, be useful in some way, I would like it very much. But going back to the Dragon Ball manga, maybe young people will be willing to re-adapt everything. Which likely leads to all new possibilities. Whatever happens, the original work is still there, it keeps existing. If you take this into consideration, there are many ways to create a new series. I think it's bound to happen someday, but I also think it's not that important that I participate or not in the end. Maybe the most important thing is to make it so that everyone can enjoy the franchise for as long as possible. And some people might get inspired by Toriyama-sensei's work and we might be able to see some works going beyond Toriyama-sensei's imagination itself. And we might still be able to enjoy it.
Nakatsuru: When I started on Dragon Ball, I was still a very young animator. Daisuke Nishio (director on DB and DBZ) began working with Toei around the same time that I did. He really loved Hong-Kong action and kung-fu movies. It was a time when Hong Kong action movies were very popular all over Japan. We were very interested by all of this and we wondered if it was possible to represent all that in an anime. Dragon Ball arrived around that time and made it all possible. He was involved in the Dragon Ball anime. And even though I was a newcomer, he asked me if I wanted to work with him on this anime... on Dragon Ball.
What were your greatest inspirations and models in your career as an animator? What made your style what it is?
Nakatsuru: I never thought that I had any kind of "particular" style... I looked at Mr. Toriyama's drawings in his manga. Then I thought about how to adapt them into a "film". That's how I've always proceeded. That's why I always considered it wasn't necessary for me to show any sort of unique "specificities" in my works. But when I had to create a character for example, it was the opposite: I always thought about how he was going to move... And I always clearly imprinted some of my ideas into that work.
How did you end up in the new anime, Dragon Ball Daima? How was your contact with Toei Animation?
Nakatsuru: Well... How could I put it... At Toei Animation, there is the director, Mr. Morishita. He gave me advice on my work while he was apparently working on a new Dragon Ball project, and since it was just around that time, he told me something like "well, Mr. Nakatsuru, you should participate to it". And that's how I could start to prepare for my participation to the production. And how I got involved from the beginning to the end. It was pretty much something like that.
What new character designs did you create for Daima? Could we see those designs someday?
Nakatsuru: Well... This time around, many main characters turned back into children. And for them, I made quite a number of drafts for how they look being young. They pretty much look almost exactly like how I designed them in the anime.
Since we're talking new designs, did you design Super Saiyan 4 for Dragon Ball Daima?
Nakatsuru: No, this time, for Daima, Toriyama-sensei designed Super Saiyan 4. He designed it with his own new appearance, as "the Super Saiyan 4 from Daima".
What do you consider the biggest differences in your work between Dragon Ball Z, GT and Daima?
Nakatsuru: Well... How should I say it... I was involved in all that ever since I was young. At the time of DBZ, I was very young. At the time of GT, I was still fairly young. And well, for Daima... Well, I'm beyong 60 years old... I'm still involved at that age, but not only that: despite what one may think, it's ultimately for Daima that I probably made the most drawings!
Are there chaaracters you don't like drawing?
Nakatsuru: Characters I don't like drawing? Back then, I would have said Bulma, but... this time in Daima, there is this character called Arinsu, an antagonist... Well, not really "antagonist", but... There's this female character. That one was pretty tough for me.
Last question: if there ever was a Dragon Ball remake, would you like to be involved?
Nakatsuru: If I could bring something, be useful in some way, I would like it very much. But going back to the Dragon Ball manga, maybe young people will be willing to re-adapt everything. Which likely leads to all new possibilities. Whatever happens, the original work is still there, it keeps existing. If you take this into consideration, there are many ways to create a new series. I think it's bound to happen someday, but I also think it's not that important that I participate or not in the end. Maybe the most important thing is to make it so that everyone can enjoy the franchise for as long as possible. And some people might get inspired by Toriyama-sensei's work and we might be able to see some works going beyond Toriyama-sensei's imagination itself. And we might still be able to enjoy it.
Re: Video interview with Nakatsuru 2025 (subbed in french)
Merci beaucoup pour cette traduction, Cold Skin!
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Re: Video interview with Nakatsuru 2025 (subbed in french)
I've read a few different French-to-English translations of this interview already. Cold Skin's is my favorite purely because it seems the most articulately phrased in English, so that will be my choice of translation going forward if I need to make reference to what was said here for whatever reason.
(As an aside, some people currently seem to be hung up on Nakatsuru's 書いた word, which by itself can mean that Toriyama either "wrote" or "drew" Daima's SS4, but I don't think it matters when the context of that Q&A item is very clear that Nakatsuru is attributing its design exclusively to Toriyama while distancing himself from it. Hopefully we'll get a Toriyama-drawn SS4 piece someday to really drive this home.)
(As an aside, some people currently seem to be hung up on Nakatsuru's 書いた word, which by itself can mean that Toriyama either "wrote" or "drew" Daima's SS4, but I don't think it matters when the context of that Q&A item is very clear that Nakatsuru is attributing its design exclusively to Toriyama while distancing himself from it. Hopefully we'll get a Toriyama-drawn SS4 piece someday to really drive this home.)
Last edited by Mr Baggins on Wed Mar 12, 2025 8:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Video interview with Nakatsuru 2025 (subbed in french)
One of the animators who worked on Superhero also commented on the possibility of a remake, so I wouldn't be surprised if it's been discussed internally at Toei. I'm honestly not sure how I feel about such a project. Fans assume that it'll look just as good as Daima did, but that may not be financially possible. It took them close to two years to make Daima's 20 episodes, most of which were light on action. If the original manga's 519 chapters were to be remade at 3 chapters an episode, that would roughly be 175 episodes long. Every 25 episodes would likely take longer than two years to be animated as good as Daima was due to how action packed the manga is, so you're looking at a 15+ year long project.
Re: Video interview with Nakatsuru 2025 (subbed in french)
If a remale were to happen a studio should work on that while another animates content not having been animated before.
Re: Video interview with Nakatsuru 2025 (subbed in french)
This is cool to read. Always fun learning that more people involved in DB's original run than just Toriyama were into Kung Fu stuff, and consciously aiming to put their own spin on it via their work with DB. Not that it's terribly surprising, but explicit mention of it is always nice (particularly given the questionable tendency to downplay those aspects by many in the fandom).Cold Skin wrote: Wed Mar 12, 2025 12:59 pm You started working on Dragon Ball very early on. Do you remember your first animations for the anime and how you felt back then?
Nakatsuru: When I started on Dragon Ball, I was still a very young animator. Daisuke Nishio (director on DB and DBZ) began working with Toei around the same time that I did. He really loved Hong-Kong action and kung-fu movies. It was a time when Hong Kong action movies were very popular all over Japan. We were very interested by all of this and we wondered if it was possible to represent all that in an anime. Dragon Ball arrived around that time and made it all possible. He was involved in the Dragon Ball anime. And even though I was a newcomer, he asked me if I wanted to work with him on this anime... on Dragon Ball.
Re: Video interview with Nakatsuru 2025 (subbed in french)
This is my explanation too. Nakatsuru said he didn't -design- it and Toriyama had precise ideas/requests/features.Mr Baggins wrote: Wed Mar 12, 2025 8:20 pm (As an aside, some people currently seem to be hung up on Nakatsuru's 書いた word, which by itself can mean that Toriyama either "wrote" or "drew" Daima's SS4, but I don't think it matters when the context of that Q&A item is very clear that Nakatsuru is attributing its design exclusively to Toriyama while distancing himself from it. Hopefully we'll get a Toriyama-drawn SS4 piece someday to really drive this home.)
What we don't know or have so far is actual -character concept art- by Toriyama (like we did for base Goku and Krillin).
Toei has not released them, if they exist. Perhaps only manual corrections, notes, or sketches/drafts by Toriyama exist.
What's important is that Nakatsuru said "I designed SSJ4 for GT since Toriyama-sensei didn't draw it. Toriyama sensei created it for Daima."