Why did Otoku Suki return in GT?

[Jord]

Otoko Suki was a fine, funny gag character at the end of Z, but didn't do much, except flirt with Trunks. I believe he didn't even fight during the Budokai.
In the beginning of GT, he returns in a cameo, as a Capsule Corp. employee:

It's such a weird callback. It's not like he was a mayor character or anything and they had to give him a new redesign instead of just using a standard employee character.

[MasenkoHA]

He appeared in the very last chapter of the manga so he was probably fresh on the anime staff’s minds. Literally two weeks between his appearance in Z’s animated finale and his cameo in episode 2 of GT.

“Here’s a scene of these office girls swooning over how handsome Trunks is, lets include that one funny gay character from the end of the manga because he also had a crush on Trunks at the Budokai.”

[JulieYBM]

Conflating women with the stereotypical gay man who made Trunks uncomfortable—because gay men are nothing more than freaks who make cishet men uncomfortable—really does go to show the overall general perception the series' staff has of anyone who isn't a cishet man.

[Jord]

He appeared in the very last chapter of the manga so he was probably fresh on the anime staff’s minds. Literally two weeks between his appearance in Z’s animated finale and his cameo in episode 2 of GT.

“Here’s a scene of these office girls swooning over how handsome Trunks is, lets include that one funny gay character from the end of the manga because he also had a crush on Trunks at the Budokai.”

You make a good point there although it makes me wonder at which point GT was starting production. I believe the first episode of GT aired the week after the last of Z so it had to be in production for a while.
It would be interesting to learn how far the manga was when they conceptualized GT.
Since GT starts with Goku and Uub, the ending of Z must have been known by the GT staff.

[JulieYBM]

1995.05.09: Dragon Ball Chapter #517: "The Grand Finale, And Then…" is serialized.
1995.05.16: Dragon Ball Chapter #518: "And So, After 10 Years" is serialized.
1995.05.23: Dragon Ball Chapter #519: "Bye-Bye, Dragon World" is serialized.


1996.01.17: Dragon Ball Z Episode #289: "Grandpa Goku! I Am Pan!!" airs. It adapts Chapter #517, “The Grand Finale, And Then…” (Pages 11-End) and Chapter #518, “And So, After 10 Years” (Pages 1-8).
1996.01.24: Dragon Ball Z Episode #290: "I Am Oob! Now 10 Years Old, the Former Majin?!" airs. It adapts Chapter #518, “And So, After 10 Years” (Pages 8-End) and Chapter #519, “Bye-Bye, Dragon World” (Pages 1-8)
1996.01.31: Dragon Ball Z Episode #291: "Even Stronger!! Goku’s Dream is Super-Huge" airs. It adapts Chapter 519, “Bye-Bye, Dragon World” (Pages 8-End).

There were about six or seven months, perhaps seven, assuming that Toei Animation was receiving the chapters before they were published in the Weekly Shounen JUMP magazine (authors usually have three chapters stockpiled). So, while the team kept working on Dragon Ball Z, Series Director Kasai Osamu was able to begin working with Producer Morishita Kouzou and head writer Matsui Aya to develop a plot for Dragon Ball GT. Toriyama would have had plenty of time to contribute ideas and designs in the time between broadcast of the first episode, too.

[MasenkoHA]

He appeared in the very last chapter of the manga so he was probably fresh on the anime staff’s minds. Literally two weeks between his appearance in Z’s animated finale and his cameo in episode 2 of GT.

“Here’s a scene of these office girls swooning over how handsome Trunks is, lets include that one funny gay character from the end of the manga because he also had a crush on Trunks at the Budokai.”

You make a good point there although it makes me wonder at which point GT was starting production. I believe the first episode of GT aired the week after the last of Z so it had to be in production for a while.
It would be interesting to learn how far the manga was when they conceptualized GT.
Since GT starts with Goku and Uub, the ending of Z must have been known by the GT staff.

As Julie noted there was roughly 7 months between the final chapter of the manga (May 23rd 95) and Z’s last episode (Jan 31st 1996). I believe it takes about 4 months to put an anime episode together so they probably started working on Z episode 291 around July?

Do we know when GT got the greenlit? I assume shortly after Toriyama informed Shueisha and Toei he was ending Dragon Ball on the Buu arc.


They didn’t necessarily HAVE to know about Uub as he’s not really a significant part of early GT and is pretty superfluous in that first episode. But Pan is a significant part of GT so they would have at least known about her. She made her manga debut on May 16th, 1995 and Toriyama isn’t famous for planning way in advance so I can’t imagine serious plotting and writing for GT could have started any earlier then early May/late April

[Yuji]

Wait, I just clocked it. Does his name literally translate to "Men love"? Brother.

[JulieYBM]

Wait, I just clocked it. Does his name literally translate to "Men love"? Brother.

Yup. That just goes to show that that is all that's meant to be focused on.

[Jord]

He appeared in the very last chapter of the manga so he was probably fresh on the anime staff’s minds. Literally two weeks between his appearance in Z’s animated finale and his cameo in episode 2 of GT.

“Here’s a scene of these office girls swooning over how handsome Trunks is, lets include that one funny gay character from the end of the manga because he also had a crush on Trunks at the Budokai.”

You make a good point there although it makes me wonder at which point GT was starting production. I believe the first episode of GT aired the week after the last of Z so it had to be in production for a while.
It would be interesting to learn how far the manga was when they conceptualized GT.
Since GT starts with Goku and Uub, the ending of Z must have been known by the GT staff.

As Julie noted there was roughly 7 months between the final chapter of the manga (May 23rd 95) and Z’s last episode (Jan 31st 1996). I believe it takes about 4 months to put an anime episode together so they probably started working on Z episode 291 around July?

Do we know when GT got the greenlit? I assume shortly after Toriyama informed Shueisha and Toei he was ending Dragon Ball on the Buu arc.


They didn’t necessarily HAVE to know about Uub as he’s not really a significant part of early GT and is pretty superfluous in that first episode. But Pan is a significant part of GT so they would have at least known about her. She made her manga debut on May 16th, 1995 and Toriyama isn’t famous for planning way in advance so I can’t imagine serious plotting and writing for GT could have started any earlier then early May/late April

I agree. They could have written that scene with Uub later, in order to bridge the gap between the Ending of Z and GT. It does take a while for him to show up again.

[Adamant]

Wait, I just clocked it. Does his name literally translate to "Men love"? Brother.

No, not really, it's a pun.
His name is Otokosky, using the slavic name ending "-sky" and punning off the fact that it sounds like "suki". It's pretty clever and pretty funny.