// KOTAKU — GAMING
Dragon Ball Super Vol. 19 Alternate Cover Gives Us Our Sorta First Canon Glimpse Of Vegeta’s Mother
Toyotarou, the sole mangaka behind Dragon Ball Super’s manga following Akira Toriyama’s passing in 2024, has given us our first-ever look at Vegeta’s mother in a newly released alternate cover for volume 19 of the official manga. It’s appearing almost 40 entire years after Vegeta was officially introduced to the series.
On November 7, 1988, we first laid our eyes on Prince Vegeta in the tenth chapter of Akira Toriyama’s manga Dragon Ball Z, titled “Farewell, Son Goku.” The rest is history, as he proved to be so popular following his full introduction in the Saiyan Invasion arc in 1989 that Toriyama decided to have him stick around permanently. As a result, the greatest rivalry/bromance in anime history began.
Since then, we’ve met Vegeta’s father (also named Vegeta), Trunks (his son from the future), the other Trunks (his son from the present timeline), Bulla (his daughter), and Tarble (his long-lost brother). Yet, somehow, we’ve never once seen Vegeta’s mother or been clued into what happened to her.
DRAGON BALL SUPER VOL. 19 NEW ALTERNATE Cover by Toyotaro! pic.twitter.com/2S21J4J0I5
Well, we can now sort of see some of her for the first time–at least, her hair and her fit anyway. Unfortunately, you can’t see her face, as it’s getting Mike Wazowski’d by King Vegeta’s cape, but it’s a hell of a lot more than we’ve ever seen of her before now.
This image was shared via the Dragon Ball Official Site and was drawn by Toyotarou himself. It was released following the end of the official “My Favorite Cover Poll,” and it’s actually the second alternate version of the volume 19 cover that we’ve received. The original version featured Goku’s family with a mirror image of his parents, and the first alternate version featured Gohan, with Goku and Chi-Chi in the reverse image.
This is important to note as it serves as our proof that this is indeed Vegeta’s mother. In the previous two volume 19 covers, Chi-Chi’s mirrored counterpart is Gine (Goku’s mother), and Pan’s counterpart is Chi-Chi–essentially meaning that the mirrored versions are said characters’ mothers-in-law. Following the same logic, that means that Bulma’s counterpart is her mother-in-law, which would, of course, be Vegeta’s mother.
But if you need any more proof, the sign on the outfit of the obscured woman in question is the Vegeta Royal Family crest. Hopefully this means that we’ll get to see Vegeta’s mother make an appearance in the manga when it returns in the undetermined future, but who knows when that’s going to be at this point.
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