Ahead of Sand Land anime film’s release in the Japanese theatres, its official website released Akira Toriyama’s comments where he looks back to the days when the manga was serialized, and also talks about his thoughts regarding Sand Land getting an anime film adaptation.

However, the comment that especially stood out was Toriyama’s unusual reason as to why he dropped drawing manga.

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According to Toriyama, he used to draw manga using his favourite wooden pen holder. The author had been in possession of this holder even before he debuted with his first work.

He had modified it over time to suit his needs and it wore down with use. During the course of his career, even though he brought different pen holders, he eventually came back to the old one. It was a pen holder that had become familiar to Toriyama’s hand after a long period of time.

However, after finishing Sand Land manga, the author lost this wooden pen holder. He bought a new one after that and tried to modify it to feel like his previous one. But it didn’t work out as expected, and since then Toriyama has been using this as an excuse to not draw manga!

Checkout out a rough translation of his comment below:

For “SAND LAND,” I scanned the penned paper manuscript and imported it to my PC, I then used software to apply solid colors and my own tones to finish it. I probably slept very little. After I finished drawing all the stories, I lost my favorite wooden pen holder that I had been using since before my debut. I scraped it this way and that with a knife and sandpaper, and wore it down as I used it. It was a pen holder that had become familiar to my hand over a long period of time. I bought a new pen holder and tried sharpening it this way and that, but it just didn’t feel right. Since then, I have used it as an excuse for hardly drawing any manga (laugh).

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He then went on to say that after Dragon Ball manga ended, he worked on various one-shorts. It was then he wanted to work on something where he could fully express himself, and that was how Sand Land came into being.

He drew it all by himself, with no external help, even though it only had one volume.

Toriyama also commented on his art style, saying that when he draw manga, he likes to keep the content light and simple, which according to him is not easily accepted by many. Nevertheless, he gave weight to his own preferences by going for a more sincere tone in Sand Land.

This prompted Toriyama to call anyone who liked the manga a superfan of his.

 SAND LAND anime film will release in the Japanese theatres on Aug 18, 2023.

Sunrise, Kamikaze Douga and Anima are in charge of animating Sand Land. The staff claim that this project will adapt to express Sand Land in every possible way.

Sand Land is a short manga series written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. It was serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump in 2000, with its 14 chapters collected into a single tankobon volume, which released the same year in November.

Sand Land was serialized in North America by Viz Media in their English Shonen Jump magazine in 2003. It’s volume was later released in December 2003.

The plot of the manga is described by MAL as follows:

In a future world known as Sand Land, the one river that supplied the entire world had suddenly stopped, and the only source of water is from the greedy king’s overpriced water bottles. Demons and humans live together in a world of drought, until Sheriff Rao confronts Beelzebub in need of a demon on a quest to find the Phantom Lake, a river on which birds called Water Finches supply themselves. Though reluctant at first, Beelzebub goes along (thanks to a good bribe) and brings an older demon, Thief, with him to find the lake for the good of all creatures, whether demon or human.

Source: Official Website