NEWS
21.07.2022
Dragon Ball-ism Toriyama Showcase #15: Hyowtam!
Welcome back to Dragon Ball-ism: Toriyama Showcase—the series where we discuss Akira Toriyama's various short stories and one-shot works. This time, we're taking a look at the tale of a curious little being from above the clouds named Hyowtam.
"Hyowtam"
Weekly Shonen Jump and V Jump collaborated on a compilation titled eJump, which was a special issue published digitally on January 18, 2000.
"ELECTRIC+EXCITING+ENTERTAINING" was the catchphrase for this special eJump issue, which kicked off with this 8-page, full color one-shot manga by Toriyama. Not only was it in full color, but the coloring was done digitally, which was quite rare at the time.
Toriyama's process of scanning the pages that he had drawn in pen and coloring them digitally was also outlined in the same publication, which drew a lot of attention.
If you ever get the chance to read this rare manga for yourself, we're sure you'll enjoy how the bright and vivid colors add to the incredibly odd and mysterious world that only someone like Toriyama could conceive of.
★ The Thrilling Everyday Adventure of the Mysterious Hyowtam!
Our story starts with a strange and mysterious being called Hyowtam touching down on a small island.
As it turns out, Hyowtam came all the way from a world hidden above the clouds in search of an egg he accidentally dropped, which landed somewhere in the land below.
The fact that he traveled so far to find one egg must mean it's important, and astute Dragon Ball fans will no doubt be wary of what that egg might give birth to!
("Dragon Ball" Tale 61)
Hyowtam asks one of the island's residents, a pig-like being, but he hasn't seen any eggs falling from the sky. So, the peculiar and mysterious boy decides to try searching the ocean.
All of a sudden, he sprouts an outlandish propeller from his head and takes to the sky!
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Then, with a swing of his staff he conjures a fish-shaped submarine out of nowhere!!
If a character using a staff with mysterious abilities sounds familiar, you must be thinking of none other than Whis!
(From "Dragon Ball Z: Battle Of Gods")
Thanks to the island's residents, Hyowtam finds his precious egg in one piece!
And just what is this mysterious egg? What possible wonders or dangers might it hold? Well, it turns out it's just a regular boiled egg that Hyowtam wanted to eat.
No sooner does he finish his egg than a dangerous man appears, attacking the duo as he looks to make his own meal out of the pig-like islander!
Seeing his friend attacked angers the visitor from beyond the clouds, causing him to burn with the same desire to fight as a Super Saiyan! Only in Hyowtam's case, he uses his colorful staff to unleash his brand of punishment!
After getting smacked by the staff, the once intimidating man finds himself shrunk down to the size of an ant!
Speaking of being shrunk down to an animal's size, he must have felt the same level of despair and hopelessness as Captain Ginyu when he found himself stuck in the body of a little frog.
("Dragon Ball" Tale 290)
Since Hyowtam's offbeat tale has never been published as a printed manga, his story is not readily available for new fans to discover.
However, it proved to be a good learning experience for Toriyama, who going forward used full digital coloring when creating new covers for the Dragon Ball Complete Edition manga, a technique which became a huge hit with fans!
*All comic images are from the Japanese version.
This site includes machine-translated texts. Please be aware that you might find some unusual expressions that are difficult to understand.