The late Akira Toriyama once found one of his editors acting no better than the lecherous Master Roshi from Dragon Ball. An interview with Dragon Ball‘s past and present creative team revealed this amusing story and more.

KosoKoso, a Japanese podcast hosted by former Dragon Ball editor Kazuhiko Torishima and Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii, uploaded a new episode to YouTube. This episode featured the creative talents of the Dragon Ball manga and anime series, such as Torishima, key animator and character designer Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru, and background artist Kazuo Enokimoto. Like previous discussions, the panel’s focus on the episode was their history with Dragon Ball and Toriyama, who passed away in March 2024. While past anecdotes have revealed new and fascinating details about the series’ development, this one is based on the personal lives of Toriyama and Torishima — in particular, an unusual situation that feels inspired by the very series they both worked on.

Dragon Ball Editor Reveals an Embarrassing Catch by Akira Toriyama

@/Venixys translated the YouTube episode of KosoKoso on X (formerly Twitter). Torishima, who has an infamous reputation for speaking bluntly about the work of others, recalled an embarrassing moment he found himself in with Toriyama. According to the editor, Toriyama had found him looking at pornographic magazines in a public bookstore. After realizing it was him, Toriyama amusingly tapped Torishima on the shoulders while he was “reading.” Torishima was so embarrassed by the incident that he reportedly stopped appearing in public afterward.

Torishima has a long history of working at Shonen Jump as an editor for Toriyama on Dragon Ball before becoming Editor-In-Chief and passing the former role down to Yu Kondo. His respected but also notorious reputation as an editor inspired the villainous Dr. Mashirito in Dr. Slump and King Piccolo from Dragon Ball. Fans have argued that Torishima has had moments of “putting his foot in his mouth,” such as when he claimed, “There is nothing to learn from Dragon Ball.” Shonen Jump’s biggest hits, like Yu-Gi-Oh!, One Piece, Hunter x Hunter and Naruto, were launched during his time as EIC. However, Torishima openly admitted he had little faith in One Piece and that a staff editor, Takanori Asada, deserves success advocating for the series that “saved” Shonen Jump after Dragon Ball ended.

All episodes of Dragon Ball Daima, the franchise’s newest anime iteration, are available to stream on Crunchyroll. The English dub, starring Stephanie Nadolny as Goku (Mini), has begun premiering one new episode per week from Jan. 10. “Goku and company were living peaceful lives when they suddenly turned small due to a conspiracy!” the series’ official description reads. “When they discover that the reason for this may lie in a world known as the ‘Demon Realm,’ a mysterious young Majin named Glorio appears before them.”

Source: X (formerly Twitter), YouTube