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One of the franchise's most iconic animators and character designers suggests that future Dragon Ball stories could involve overlooked and underdeveloped characters from the series. Bardock, the Saiyan father of Goku from Planet Vegeta, is a strong candidate for such a story.

Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru, Bardock’s character designer for the 1990 anime TV special Dragon Ball Z: Bardock – The Father of Goku, was interviewed at Made in Asia Spring 2025 in Brussels, Belgium, in early March. The interview was conducted by social media user @/vondbz and translated by @/Venixys on X (formerly Twitter). Among the many questions (and art commissions) Nakatsuru took during the three-day anime convention, one involved past Dragon Ball events that were significant but either happened offscreen or were severely underdeveloped compared to other monumental moments in the franchise. Nakatsuru was asked if he was interested in going back and exploring those brief but essential moments, animating them for the first time.

Akira Toriyama, the late and famous author behind Dragon Ball Z, was responsible for the canonical re-introduction of Super Saiyan 4 Goku from Dragon Ball Gt to Dragon Ball Daima. A famous animator and character designer for the franchise confirmed Toriyama’s involvement with the 2024 anime series.

Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru, a key animator and character designer on countless Dragon Ball anime projects, was interviewed by @/SofianLeGEEK during his appearance at Made in Asia Spring 2025, which took place in Brussels, Belgium, from March 7 to 9, 2025. The interview was translated by social media user @/Venixys on X (formerly Twitter). Nakatsuru was asked numerous questions, such as his thoughts on the re-introduction of Bardock in Dragon Ball Super: Broly, a character he designed for Dragon Ball Z: Bardock – The Father of Goku. He was also asked about the serious continuity issues between Daima and Dragon Ball Super. However, one fascinating question from the interview involved...

Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru, the "father" of Goku’s father, Bardock, has opened up about the character being portrayed differently from his original Dragon Ball Z special by the late Akira Toriyama in Dragon Ball Super: Broly. The 2018 anime movie also brought the legendary Super Saiyan Broly back to the mainline series alongside Goku and Vegeta's fusion form, Gogeta.

Nakatsuru, a renowned animator and character designer who’s also responsible for Super Saiyan 4 Goku in Dragon Ball Gt, was interviewed by @/SofianLeGEEK during his appearance at Made in Asia Spring 2025, which took place in Brussels, Belgium, from March 7 to 9, 2025. The interview was translated by social media user @/Venixys on X (formerly Twitter). In the interview, Nakatsuru is asked about his feelings toward Toriyama’s depiction of Bardock, which portrayed the brutal Saiyan warrior as more sympathetic than the one seen in the 1990 anime TV special. Additionally, the Dragon Ball Super: Broly...

Vegeta’s rivalry with Goku has always been a driving factor in what makes Dragon Ball great. While Goku was a solid protagonist on his own, Vegeta who pushed both the series and Goku himself to the next level through his own unyielding desire to prove himself and surpass Kakarot. Although Vegeta’s redemption arc from his early years as a villain with a questionable worldview to becoming an iconic hero and father is already one of anime’s greatest, it may have been even better had Akira Toriyama not forgotten to mention a key aspect of Vegeta’s character in the manga to the team at Toei who were adapting the anime.

According to a rare, newly translated 1990 interview, Akira Toriyama revealed that, Vegeta was actually supposed to be younger than Goku. It’s not just skin deep, either. Toriyama had been drawing Vegeta the entire time, all the way through the Frieza Saga,...

Dragon Ball has become iconic, cementing itself as a staple of pop culture as the series continues to reinvent and reintroduce itself to generations of anime fans. Its protagonist is as recognizable as they come, and in recent years, the most popular 'villain-turned-hero' in anime, Vegeta, has joined Goku as one of the art form's most celebrated mascots. Fans have come to know just about everything there is to know about Dragon Ball's cast of characters, but a recently surfaced interview with series' creator Akira Toriyama has revealed that one of the prince's defining traits was actually a mistake.

In the lead-up to the 1990 TV special, Dragon Ball Z: Bardock - The Father of Goku, Toriyama sat down for an interview to discuss the adaptation of his series along with his original manga, and touched on his thoughts about Vegeta as a character. Thanks to translations from X user,...

Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball franchise has gifted the fanatics with several iconic moments. While some were action-packed climax scenes, others left the audience in tears. The mangaka always put his soul into his work and did what he thought was best for the fans. Dragon Ball was quickly picked up by the fans and slowly became a global sensation.

With Vegeta’s debut, the dynamic shifted between Goku and him. Often, the anime had TV specials that featured a different story instead of following the main one. One of such TV specials left Akira Toriyama in tears. After watching it, he could not stop praising it, and the fans applauded it. TV Specials were considered non-canon, but Dragon Ball Z: Bardock – The Father of Goku, forced everyone to break that rule.

Bardock’s Story was an Emotional Rollercoaster Bardock (Credit: Toei Animation)

Bardock was the father of Raditz and Goku.

Vegeta's redemption arc won't be complete until he brings back his former allies, Raditz and Nappa, to make amends for his past actions. Despite being a villain in the past, Vegeta has shown a commitment to righting his wrongs, as seen in his actions on New Namek. Resurrecting Nappa and Raditz may be a risky move for Vegeta, as their loyalty could still lie with Frieza, posing a threat, but it's still something he needs to do to complete his Dragon Ball redemption arc.

Vegeta is one of the greatest heroes in Dragon Ball history, as hes helped save the world against the likes of Frieza, Cell, and Majin Buu. However, in the early days of Dragon Ball, Vegeta was a villain himself, with no moral qualms about wiping out a planets population, or even killing those he was closest to. Vegeta has since been on a path of redemption,...

Bardock is one of those Dragon Ball Z characters who everyone recognizes despite the fact that he isn’t as prevalent in the series as other fan-favorite characters, and the main reason behind that is assuredly due to his character design. However, that design recently changed after Bardock’s origin story was retconned in Dragon Ball Super, which left many fans disappointed as his original look was not only more iconic, but was also secretly brutal in a way many fans may not be aware of.

Bardock is the biological father of Goku and leader of a team of Saiyan warriors who were tasked with traveling from planet to planet, conquering each world in the name of Lord Frieza. While Bardock’s original and retconned origin story have a number of differences (including the reason Goku was sent to Earth and Bardock’s involvement with his family), the main thing...

Fans of Dragon Ball know that Goku was famously the first Saiyan to unlock Super Saiyan 4, but based on the parameters of achieving that transformation, Goku’s own father, Bardock, could have become the series first Super Saiyan 4 instead–if he wasn’t brutally murdered, that is.

Bardock is Goku’s biological father who never appeared in the original manga, but whose story was told in the anime film Dragon Ball Z: Bardock - The Father of Goku. In the movie, it is revealed that Bardock was the leader of a team of Saiyan warriors who traveled from planet to planet, conquering every world they visited in the name of their evil emperor, Lord Frieza. Unfortunately, these Saiyans were a little too good at their job, and their massive spike in power during their relatively short stint working under Frieza alerted the cosmic villain to their astounding power-potential. Basically, Frieza...