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From: kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com>
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Subject: [Guardian] Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragon Ball manga series, dies
 aged 68
Date: Fri, 8 Mar 2024 09:27:36 +0100
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Source: 
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/mar/08/akira-toriyama-dragon-ball-creator-manga-series-dies-aged-68

Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragon Ball manga series, dies aged 68

Japanese artist remembered for his ‘unique world of creation’ including 
comic series that spawned films, video games and TV series

Akira Toriyama, the influential Japanese manga artist who created the 
Dragon Ball series, has died at the age of 68.

He died on 1 March from an acute subdural haematoma. The news was 
confirmed by Bird Studio, the manga company that Toriyama founded in 1983.

“It’s our deep regret that he still had several works in the middle of 
creation with great enthusiasm,” the studio wrote in a statement. “Also, 
he would have many more things to achieve.”

The studio remembered his “unique world of creation”.
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“He has left many manga titles and works of art to this world,” the 
statement read. “Thanks to the support of so many people around the 
world, he has been able to continue his creative activities for over 45 
years.”

Toriyama was born in Nagoya, Japan in 1955. After drawing throughout his 
childhood, he decided to forgo tertiary education and, after high 
school, began to work at an advertising agency where he designed posters.

His first brush with the manga industry came at age 23, when he entered 
a piece into a contest run by a weekly manga magazine. It didn’t work 
out – but he soon began sending in drawings to a different publication: 
Weekly Shōnen Jump.

In 1978, that magazine ran Toriyama’s first published work, titled 
Wonder Island. Both Wonder Island and its sequel, Wonder Island 2 – 
which referenced the screen culture of the time, including Dirty Harry 
and sci-fi franchise Ultraman – were unpopular among readers.

Undeterred, he kept drawing and in 1980 produced a breakout hit: Dr 
Slump, a comedy about a robot girl and her trials and travails as she 
interacts with the world around her.

Serialised in Weekly Shōnen Jump until 1984, it ended up earning him one 
of Japan’s highest manga honours – a Shogakukan manga award. An anime 
adaptation soon began airing on television, and Toriyama founded Bird 
Studio off the back of his early success.

In 1982, he married fellow manga artist Yoshimi Katō, with whom he would 
have two children. He kept his personal life mostly private – and often 
used a cyborg avatar called Robotoriyama to represent himself.

In 1984, Toriyama created Dragon Ball, the property that would bring him 
international recognition and make him one of Japan’s highest-selling 
manga authors.

Based on an earlier work titled Dragon Boy, Dragon Ball was serialised 
in 519 chapters in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1984 to 1995 and birthed a 
blockbuster franchise including an English-language comic book series, 
five distinct television adaptation – with Dragon Ball Z the most 
familiar to western audiences – and spin-offs, over 20 different films 
and a vast array of video games.

The series – a kung fu take on the shōnen (or young adult) manga genre – 
drew from Chinese and Hong Kong action films as well as Japanese 
folklore. It introduced audiences to the now-instantly familiar Son Goku 
– a young martial arts trainee searching for seven magical orbs that 
will summon a mystical dragon – as well as his ragtag gang of allies and 
enemies.

After the conclusion of Dragon Ball’s initial run in 1995, Toriyama 
continued consulting on and promoting the franchise, as well as working 
on much shorter projects, sometimes outside the world of manga. He also 
contributed his distinctive artwork to the influential video game series 
Dragon Quest and Chrono Trigger, among others.

Drawing from his lifelong love of automobiles, he designed an electric 
car that was released by Japan’s CQ motors in 2005 – what he later 
called “a very emotional journey”.

In later years, he returned to the Dragon Ball franchise, working on 
several film adaptations including as an early consultant on 2012’s 
Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods and a screenwriter on 2018’s Dragon Ball 
Super: Broly and 2022’s Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.

Bird Studio wrote in their statement that Toriyama had a small funeral 
with family and asked fans not to send flowers or other offerings.

“Future plan for commemorate gathering is not decided,” they wrote. “We 
will let you know when it’s confirmed.”