Akira Toriyama’s first editor, Kazuhiko Torishima, was, for better or worse, one of the biggest influences on Dragon Ball’s production. From the early days of Toriyama’s career, Torishima was there to help mold Toriyama’s talent as a creator and help bring out some of his best ideas, most notably with the massive hand he had in the Android Saga’s production, but at the same time, he was seen as a tyrant among Shonen Jump’s editors who was overly critical and controlling, and it was to the point that Toriyama and other authors often based their villains off of him.
As much as a positive role as he might have had on Dragon Ball’s production, Kazuhiko Torishima is just as infamous for his negativity, and even in his old age, he hasn’t let up on that in the slightest. Despite technically being retired from the manga industry, Torishima still frequently comments on Dragon Ball and other manga, most of it being negative, but when it comes to his specific comments about modern manga, he might not be entirely off base.
Why Dragon Ball’s Legendary Editor Hates Modern Manga
Kazuhiko Torishima was a guest at Napoli Comicon 2026, during which time he spoke about Dragon Ball and his thoughts on modern manga as a whole. Sure enough, his thoughts about modern manga went beyond him just saying that older manga are better, as not only did Kazuhiko Torishima say that all modern manga are terrible, but he specifically called out Blue Lock, Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw Man, and Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, some of the biggest manga of the decade, as being trash.
As for why Kazuhiko Torishima hates modern manga, it all comes down to how they’re made. In his opinion, the artwork of modern manga isn’t made in a way that takes physical media into account, something that’s especially a problem for double-spreads, and he blames that on smartphones and the advent of digital media. Similarly, Torishima hates how modern manga is written; Torishima feels that modern manga has too much narration and exposition, with it feeling like it’s adults writing for adults as opposed to adults writing for children like shonen manga are designed to be.
Torishima even extended his hatred of modern manga to the One Piece manga, of all stories; while Torishima praised the early parts of the story, he says that it became worse when it started tackling more heavy themes and became less appropriate for children, which he attributes to Eiichiro Oda being “too in love with manga and his own story”. In Torishima’s mind, the only good modern manga is Keigo Shinzo’s Hirayasumi, and since it’s a straightforward slice-of-life manga, it’s easy to see why.
Is Dragon Ball’s Legendary Editor Right About Modern Manga?
Kazuhiko Torishima’s thoughts on modern manga are incredibly harsh, but unfortunately, there might be some truth to them. Regarding his criticism of how modern manga is drawn, many people have lamented how awkward some double-spreads in manga look in print compared to when they’re just reading them online, but that isn’t usually a problem for older manga. Whether the books were printed differently or the artists had a better understanding of things is unclear, but what is clear is that things have changed largely for the worse.
As for the writing, that’s also something Torishima has a point about. Over the years, it’s become far more common for shonen manga to be filled with narration and exposition; One Piece and Jujutsu Kaisen are often criticized for their excessive dialogue and narration, and Hunter x Hunter once infamously had a page that devolved into nothing but text. While that often highlights how detail-oriented the story is, it’s just as easy for someone to see it as tedious and cumbersome, especially when the target audience is children, not adults who have the time and ability to parse through everything.
That being said, not only is it rare for a physical manga to have problems with double-spreads that go beyond the typical issues with printing manga and comics, but as annoying as exposition in manga can be, people are still regularly reading and buying them; all the manga that Torishima called out as trash sell millions of books per year, and Jujutsu Kaisen and Demon Slayer, specifically, are even among the best-selling manga in history. Granted, Torishima also acknowledged that the average age of readers has gotten higher, but it still stands that there is an audience for these stories.
In Kazuhiko Torishima’s mind, the gold standard for what manga should strive for was set by Osamu Tezuka, who pioneered the idea that the average page should be easy enough to read within three seconds. The average manga hasn’t been like that in ages, so it’s unlikely that Torishima will ever be satisfied with modern manga, and as much as his criticisms might be overblown, there’s a definite art in the simplicity of One Piece and other older manga that, unfortunately, can’t be found in most modern manga.
Does Modern Manga Need To Change To Keep Its Fans?
While modern manga is doing far better than Kazuhiko Torishima would have fans believe, it’s easy to think that it might reach a tipping point where its criticisms become too hard to ignore for anyone other than the most diehard fans, most of whom would be adults with the time and money to engage with it. That’s a problem that’s also happened with comics and other forms of entertainment, and overall, it would be disappointing to see that happen to manga.
Legendary Dragon Ball Editor Is Breaking Down What’s Wrong With Modern Manga
One of Dragon Ball’s veteran editors has shared his views about the changes to the manga industry over the years, and he disapproves.
To that end, it would make sense for mangaka to try to be more conscious of their art and dial back on dense exposition, as that would help them maintain a universal appeal that won’t turn old and new fans away. That isn’t to say modern mangaka need to change everything about how they make their stories, as it’s easy enough to see that people of all ages are enjoying them, but at the end of the day, something needs to give for these criticisms to stop.
It’s undeniable that manga sales have decreased in recent years, and while much of that is because of how expensive manga has gotten and how so many iconic stories have ended, it’s also easy to see it as a reaction to how modern manga keeps leaning into some of the worst writing and art conventions in the medium. Kazuhiko Torishima might be a controversial figure when it comes to Dragon Ball and manga in general, but despite everything, he might not be wrong about the problems plaguing modern manga.
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Sean Schemmel, Laura Bailey, Brian Drummond, Christopher Sabat, Scott McNeil
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Akira Toriyama
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Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero