[Meeting…] Dragon Boy

In today's article I am going to talk about a character who only appeared in a couple of stories, but who I consider interesting, especially because be the prototype of a much more famous character: Son Goku: Dragon Boy.

Everything in the story of this character leads us to think about dragon ball, so I hope that fans of that series who still don't know dragon boy, enjoy the article.

In the middle of the mountains…

After being abandoned by his parents, this character grew up with his teacher, with whom he practiced martial arts without rest in a remote place, hidden between steep mountains. Despite being very young, Tanton is very strong, even being able to break large rocks with a single blow. Furthermore, it seems that its potential has not been fully developed.

One day his teacher decides to give him a training mission, which will also help Tanton see the world, since it involves accompanying a princess to her Kingdom, from which she fled due to the war. The journey will not be easy, especially due to the princess's capricious attitude and Tanton's lack of education, who did not even know what a woman was before meeting her.

Before starting your journey, the teacher will give you a magic ball, from which a dragon will emerge in case you need help. He will also remind Tanton that no one should see his back, something that the boy himself already tries to avoid as much as possible.

The main reason he hides his back from people is because Tanton He doesn't seem to be entirely human., since he has a pair of dragon wings that allow him to fly, which is the reason why his parents abandoned him as a child, considering him to be a monster.

Despite not getting along at all, Tanton will try by all means possible to protect the princess, thus proving that his master was not wrong in sending him that particular mission. Obviously the road ahead is full of dangers and colorful characters.

Dragon Ball 1.0

It doesn't take much effort to realize that dragon boy It is actually the first version of dragon ball, since all the elements that occur in Tanton's short story are reflected in the first chapters of Son Goku's adventures.

For a start, Tanton is a carbon copy of Goku. They are both young children who practice martial arts on an isolated mountain and have a hidden ability (wings in the case of Tanton and tail in the case of Goku). Its design is practically the same, the hairstyle changes and little else.

The fact of not knowing that she is a girl and having to accompany one (just as happened to Goku with Bulma) as her teacher travels in a magical flying cloud, the existence of the magic ball that hides a dragon or even finding a cat that changes shape are elements that were actively part of the first stage of Dragon Ball.

Those who have read many works by Akira Toriyama will know that the author sHe always reuses everything he can (designs, jokes, concepts and scenarios) even among his famous works, so it is not surprising that he polished the concept of a work like dragon boy to create dragon ball (just as he did with Wonder Island to create Doctor Slump).

Most likely, many of the ideas I had for this work would be passed on to others. dragon ball, as demonstrated by one of the illustrations of dragon boy where you see Tanton surrounded by 7 magic balls, something curious because in dragon boy only one appears.

Conclusion and recommendations

Tanton es un personaje muy sencillo, tanto como puede serlo un héroe shonen estándar que apenas ha tenido un par de historias para poder desarrollarse. Sin embargo tiene el encanto que tenía el pequeño Son Goku, debido a su ignorancia e inocencia que son proporcionales a su fuerza.

La única lectura que se puede recomendar de este personaje es la propia Dragon Boy, que puede encontrarse en algunos recopilatorios como Akira Toriyama Teatro Manga 2 (actualmente descatalogado) y Akira Toriyama Mankan Zenseki 1.