Dragon Ball Krillin vs. Bacterian Production Cel With Matching Douga (1986)

On July 16, 1986, five months into its first broadcast year, Dragon Ball aired “Smells Like Trouble.” The episode stages the opening bout of the first World Martial Arts Tournament: Krillin against Bacterian, a fighter whose only weapon is the fact that he has never washed. This is Dragon Ball before it became what most people picture. Not planetary destruction and ascending power levels, but a gag comedy drawn by a cartoonist with a very light touch.

In the episode, Krillin is overwhelmed and immobilized when Goku points out what everyone else has missed: Krillin has no nose. The paralysis is psychological. Regaining his composure, Krillin gets back up and wins.

It is classic early Dragon Ball, defined by physical comedy, martial arts, and Toriyama’s ability to turn a tiny character detail into the solution to an entire fight. The image was revisited decades later by the official Dragon Ball Store Tokyo for its 21st World Martial Arts Tournament range. The same composition appears on multiple exclusive products, including the official face towel shown alongside the production artwork, creating a direct visual connection between the original 1986 cel and the image’s continuing place in the franchise nearly forty years later. The towel is included in the lot.

The lot is a large pan-format production cel with its matching original douga attached. Pan artwork was painted larger than the standard camera field so the shot could travel across the image, and only a small number were made for any episode. Cels from the first Dragon Ball series were made nine years before Toei began keeping an archive, making this surviving example particularly special.