Many events from Akira Toriyama’s personal life have been reflected in his works. Dragon Ball is no exception. The appearance of the main character and his personality traits are mirrored in Piccolo, serving as evidence of this connection.
However, there is one detail that few people know: Akira Toriyama was inspired by his own love story to change a specific detail about Bulma’s character development in Dragon Ball Super.
Akira Toriyama married Yoshimi Kato in 1982, before he created Dragon Ball. He first met her at a gathering hosted by the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, as Yoshimi Kato was also a manga artist, working under the pen name Nachi Mikami.
According to Alfa Beta’s estimates, after the success of Dragon Ball, Yoshimi Kato stopped working on manga and focused on financial management, as well as taking on administrative duties for him. Moreover, she had to juggle numerous responsibilities alongside her duties as a mother.
As we can see in the image below, Yoshimi Kato had short hair, a distinctive feature that inspired Akira Toriyama to create a new hairstyle for Bulma in Dragon Ball Super.
The hairstyle of Akira Toriyama in the image clearly resembles Bulma’s hairstyle in both Dragon Ball Super and the current Dragon Ball Daima.
Anyone who has followed Bulma’s character development knows that she initially had long straight hair, later transitioning to curly hair, and eventually getting a bob cut until she reached the current short hairstyle.
In a recent interview with Bouken Special, Akira Toriyama was asked why Bulma’s hair was cut again, to which he replied: “It just so happens that three years have passed, and also because I like girls with short hair.”
