DistantNews
Support us
🇻🇳 Vietnam /Culture & Society

Dragon Ball Reveals Akira Toriyama’s Original Shenron Drawing

From Tuổi Trẻ · () Vietnamese

Translated from Vietnamese and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Context piece
  • Toriyama Archives has republished Akira Toriyama’s original drawing of Shenron’s first appearance in Dragon Ball, created for Weekly Shonen Jump in 1985.
  • The original artwork shows Shenron with a purplish-gray body, cream-colored underside and red eyes, rather than the familiar green design.
  • The magazine used a two-color printing process, so readers in 1985 could not see the drawing’s full colors.

Forty-one years after Shenron first appeared in Dragon Ball, fans can finally see the colors Akira Toriyama used for the scene. Toriyama Archives has republished the original drawing created for issue No. 19 of Weekly Shonen Jump in 1985.

The artwork shows the giant dragon rising into the sky through a powerful stream of energy, with the seven Dragon Balls below. White effects, a black background and large red sound-effect lettering give the scene a forceful sense of movement.

The original colors differ from the green appearance later associated with Shenron. In the republished image, the dragon has a purplish-gray body, a cream-colored belly and red eyes. The 1985 issue was printed in only two colors, meaning contemporary readers could not see the full palette of Toriyama’s original work.

Toriyama Archives describes the image as the scene in which Shenron “finally appears for the first time” in Dragon Ball. The drawing also offers a direct look at how Toriyama developed one of the series’ most recognizable figures from the beginning. Shenron is summoned with the seven Earth Dragon Balls and can grant wishes within the limits of his powers.

The artwork first appeared in Weekly Shonen Jump on April 9, 1985, and was republished in Toriyama Archives on September 1, 2026. Dragon Ball later introduced other wish-granting dragons, including Porunga, Ultimate Shenron, Super Shenron and several other versions.

finally appears for the first time

· Toriyama ArchivesThe archive’s description of the scene highlights Shenron’s first appearance in Dragon Ball.
About this summary

Originally published by Tuổi Trẻ in Vietnamese. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

More Stories

From Our Blog