Naohiro Shintani

Shintani's most prominent Dragon Ball contribution is as animation supervisor and character designer for Dragon Ball Super: Broly, where his work earned recognition from Toriyama himself. He debuted in the franchise with key animation on the 2008 OVA Dragon Ball: The Return of Son Goku and Friends!, but his Broly role marked his major impact. Toriyama personally selected Shintani from among multiple audition candidates, impressed by his artistic approach to reimagining Goku, Vegeta, and Bulma. Toriyama was particularly meticulous regarding female character designs, while his portrayal of Goku aligned with the mangaka's vision. Shintani drew the iconic promotional poster in February 2017 and completed character design drafts in October that year, establishing visual consistency across the film.

Shintani is recognized for designing simple, animator-friendly character proportions that maintain both Toriyama's modern slimmer aesthetic and Minoru Maeda's classical style influences. Unlike most Japanese animators who work with pencil and paper, Shintani draws primarily digitally, representing a newer generation of animation professionals. His style reflects influences from Tatsuya Nagamine's direction and One Piece film work, adopting a loose, expressive animation philosophy. He strategically applies shading, reserving shadows and depth for battle sequences to signal when characters transition to serious conflict. His approach to animating Broly required balancing Toriyama's sleeker design with muscular character visualization, successfully bridging stylistic expectations across longtime and newer fans.