Akira Toriyama, the creator of dragon ballalmost finished your manga Dr. early due to the overwhelming popularity of Hisashi Eguchi's book Stop!! manga, according to a recent interview with former Weekly Shonen Jump editor Kazuhiko Torishima.

According to Torishima, while Stop!! the manga achieved overwhelming popularity, becoming the magazine's flagship manga, Dr. was witnessing a gradual decline in his fan base.

This decline led Toriyama to express a desire to end the series early, a request he made repeatedly to the editorial staff.

Torishima explained that the editorial team was open to the idea of letting Toriyama finish Dr. early due to strong performance Stop!!as he was already leading the magazine.

However, unforeseen challenges arose when Eguchi began submitting late manuscripts, causing the manga to go on hiatus. This development forced the editorial staff to reevaluate their strategy, ultimately deciding that they could not allow Toriyama to end it. Dr. prematurely.

“Hibari-kun” overwhelmingly took first place, topping the magazine. It was the number one manga. At that time, the popularity of “Dr. Slump” was gradually declining. Toriyama kept saying, “I want to quit, I want to quit.” The fact that “Hibari-kun” had taken the top spot meant that there was a possibility for “Dr. Slump” to end, since the main manga was changing. So even if Toriyama said he wanted to quit, the editorial department could respond, “We have ‘Hibari-kun,’ so it’s okay.” However, when “Hibari-kun” began to go on hiatus, Toriyama was unable to quit “Dr. Slump.”

Eguchi took longer to draw the chapters of Stop!! compared to his previous manga, and as the serialization continued, he found it increasingly difficult to maintain a weekly pace for the chapters. He eventually abandoned the series after the editor-in-chief of Weekly Shonen Jump refused his request to release the chapters every two weeks.

It operated until November 28, 1983.

Toriyama, on the other hand, would continue serializing Dr. until September 10, 1984, in Weekly Shonen Jump. After that he went on to create dragon ballwhich began serialization on November 20, 1984.

Source: miyearnZZ Labo