Solo Leveling just made a Dragon Ball Z reference fans can\u2019t get over CrunchyrollSolo Leveling just paid tribute to the legendary franchise Dragon Ball, with a nod that\u2019s particularly timely given the passing of creator Akira Toriyama. Like many great anime, Solo Leveling owes a lot to Dragon Ball. A large part of the modern audience for anime shows stems from the popularity of Dragon Ball Z in Japan and globally. A cultural touchstone, Goku\u2019s misadventures continue to define Shonen anime for many, leading to continued mass appeal. Likewise, Toriyama\u2019s art and aesthetic are still massive reference points for any studio and creative team, especially now that the people who were fans of Dragon Ball Z as kids are now adults working in manga, manwha, and anime. We frequently get little Easter eggs and such, and Solo Leveling Episode 9 contains one such hidden treat. Solo Leveling Episode 9 has a tribute to Goku from Dragon Ball Super In Solo Leveling Episode 9, Sung Jinwoo does a little dance to charge up for a battle, and fans thought the scene was familiar. Turns out, it\u2019s the same warm up Goku employed when facing Broly in the Ice Continent in Dragon Ball Super: Broly. The angles are spot on, making it a clearly purposeful reference. This wouldn\u2019t be all that noteworthy, since Dragon Ball nods are common \u2014 one need only check out how many shows and anime movies have the Yamcha pose \u2014 but in light of Toriyama\u2019s tragic passing, it\u2019s a reminder of the shadow he cast over the entire medium. Akira Toriyama passed away on March 1, 2024, at age 68. His death resonated through not just anime and manga, but pop culture as a whole. Tributes poured out for the artist, whose work included multiple legendary video games on top of Dragon Ball and other manga. Of course, that window is too tight for this to have been a willful inclusion on the back of his death. I\u2019m sure A-1 Pictures are efficient, but that\u2019d be next level turnaround. As fans have been pointing out, this panel isn\u2019t in Chugong\u2019s manwha, so it\u2019s just the animators giving credit where it\u2019s due. May we all hope to leave such a legacy. You can catch Toriyama\u2019s new anime, Sand Land, on Disney Plus starting March 20. Check out our list of the best anime like Solo Leveling and our guide on how to watch Dragon Ball if this has you hankering for more great anime.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Solo Leveling just made a Dragon Ball Z reference fans can\u2019t get over CrunchyrollSolo Leveling just paid tribute to the legendary franchise Dragon Ball, with a nod that\u2019s particularly timely given the passing of creator Akira Toriyama. Like many great anime, Solo Leveling owes a lot to Dragon Ball. A large part of the modern […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13546\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}