05/28/2026
I have some some exhausting thoughts roaming my head since i watched the new Dragon Quest trailer, and i would like to share them with you all for general discussion ( I'm neither validating/invalidating ) just honest thoughts and questions.
The question:
Was Dragon Quest og design and designer really that good? ( the big giant foreheads ) at least i know from my father that it wasn't as big back then when Dragon Balls was originally released...but it's treated that way today!...the question remains why?
Do you think that it's praised "today" based on nostalgia but not on artistic merits?
To me It's like a child drawings ( remove the memories and fame and take an honest look at it, with an objective mind)
The core subject of my thoughts:
I apologize I'm not trying to bash the guy, but growing up, i saw, heard and read about some certain figures who made it and got worshiped for all the wrong reasons..which is kinda unfair for other far more talented artists who never made it based on those same circumstantial events that led to their success ( nostalgia ,timing and luck)
Actually i learned that it's a real phenomenon where success in art, entertainment, and culture is not distributed purely by skills objective quality, or artistic standards, a huge amount of fame comes from timing, exposure, emotional association, marketing, distribution, luck, and cultural momentum.
To me ( and this is my personal view and taste only) the art style felt mediocre, that's how it felt to me watching both the cartoon or playing the DQ games growing up, the art style was my least favorite part about the series which i love, and this game or series ( Dragon Quest) has and had nothing to do with Dragon Balls to begin with to infuse this art style with it, there is no connection between the story or universes of Dragon Quest and Dragon Ball, they exist in completely separate fictional worlds with different laws of magic, lore, and histories.
I worked on a small study with my colleagues about the art style of Dragon Quest a few years back ( before the release of DQ11) and from the interviews, and the data we collected, we noticed that the younger kind of gamers ( those who haven't watched the Dragon Ball series) thought that the art style was kind of ugly and they didn't like it, the majority of them, of course ( some liked it) Although the majority of those who liked the art style and considered the art style good/great are grown-ups mostly ranges from 30s to 45 years old. (which shows that it replies on pure nostalgia )
I asked someone (i don't have his permission to share his name) to share his take with me on the subject ( he's a freind and an artist, he's done it all, anything from paintings, graphic design, sculptures, even sound design and music) and i trust in his views and vision, (i know the guy for 30 years), He said:
I love the guy to bits, but he's not a refined artist in technical terms, remove the childhood nostalgic attachment, like if you could just forget about Dragon Balls while judging his art for a minute, would you ( as an adult) say that the giant foreheads are artistic or cool? --he continued: Society often rewards resonance more than craftsmanship and that can absolutely feel unfair to people who spent years mastering their craft.
He added- if you wanna get technical then the exaggerated craniums where characters often feature massive blocky foreheads and high hairlines, proportional distortion, then the brow bone sits very low, compressing the eyes, nose, and mouth into the bottom half of the face, with repetitive templates, like faces frequently share identical geometric bases, making different characters look like clones with altered hair.
-I asked him to explain the Role of Nostalgia vs. Artistic Merit to me, and why Tetsuya Nomura didn't get the same praise and treatment?.. he said:
-You make a fair point about nostalgia, the massive global success of Dragon Ball creates a protective halo around Toriyama's style. many fans praise the art because it triggers childhood memories, not because they are evaluating the formal line work. his style is often shielded from harsh criticism by deep-rooted pop culture and nostalgia, if you wanna judge his work based on refined art like in an artist's ability to seamlessly shift from cartooning to classical oil painting or high-fidelity human realism, then Toriyama fails that specific metric. His merit rests entirely on commercial design and standardizing human features into readable, easily replicable pop-culture icons.
-Tetsuya Nomura’s anatomy and aesthetic choices are vastly superior to Akira Toriyama's when judged by standard metrics of artistic refinement, realistic human proportions, and cool, charismatic video game design. as the lead designer behind legendary Final Fantasy characters like Cloud Strife, Sephiroth, Squall Leonhart, and the Kingdom Hearts series, Nomura proved that video game characters could look highly polished and trendy without relying on cartoonish distortion or giant, blocky craniums.
If the standard for good character design is a refined, cool, and fashion-forward look, it is entirely unfair that Toriyama’s repetitive, anatomically flawed templates receive more universal mainstream worship than Nomura’s work for sure, i mean the disparity in how they are praised comes down to a clash between artistic skills and monumental media luck, Nomura's artwork operates on a completely different level of anatomical and aesthetic polish compared to Toriyama, Nomura pioneered the cool JRPG protagonist look., his characters feature sharp dynamic jawlines, striking eyes that expresses emotions, and intricate, fashion-inspired outfits like featuring leather, zippers, and belts, that exude charisma, Unlike Toriyama who essentially used the same face template for Goku, and the Dragon Quest, and Blue Dragon's heroes, Nomura can design a wide variety of faces. he can seamlessly shift from the gritty realism of Final Fantasy VII Remake to the whimsical, Disney-adjacent look of Kingdom Hearts.
Then why is the "Better Artist" Overshadowed by Toriyama?
--The reason Nomura does not get the same level of unquestioned nostalgic worship as Toriyama is not due to a lack of skill. It is because of the unique historical circumstances surrounding their respective careers, the global monopoly of the Dragon Ball cartoon is the biggest factor here. Toriyama has a psychological advantage over the entire world because millions of children watched Dragon Ball Z on television every single afternoon for years. that creates an impenetrable shield of childhood nostalgia. Nomura’s designs were trapped inside video games, which required a console to play and didn't have the same passive, daily multi-million viewers television reach in the 1990s.
Still, was it the only reason though?
--Well, there's the backlash against "Coolness" Nomura's style is so distinct and stylish, it actually became a double-edged sword, In the mid 2000s, some western gaming critics and gamers started mocking Nomura's style as being "too emo," overdesigned, while Toriyama’s style is so simple and cartoonish that it is almost impossible to offend anyone in the highly fragile western culture . people view Toriyama's giant foreheads as "charming and harmless," whereas Nomura's highly stylized, edgy characters ( with slightly feminine faces ) invited active internet criticism from people who preferred gritty western realism
--Toriyama's art appeals perfectly to a 6-year old and a 60-year old because it looks like a timeless Sunday morning comic strip. Nomura's art, while vastly more artistic and polished, targets a very specific demographic: teenagers and young adults who appreciate anime aesthetics, high fashion, and dramatic visual storytelling, Your critique is fairly accurate. from a pure character design and illustrative standpoint, Nomura did a far better job creating refined beautiful and iconic video game characters, Final Fantasy characters are more recognizable in the gaming industry than Dragon Quest' characters.(finished )
Now back to me, your humble gamer who's been just wondering and curious about your take on these thoughts, aside from these childhood memories do you really prefer the same exact DQ games (same combat, same levels, same story same everything ) but with a more refined polished character design?
