The iconic anime creator Akira Toriyama, who penned the best-selling Dragon Ball and other works that impacted Japanese comics, passed away on Friday, his studio announced. He was sixty-eight.
Started in 1984, Toriyama’s Dragon Ball manga series has sold millions of copies worldwide and inspired wildly successful animated TV programs, computer games, and motion pictures.
According to a statement from Bird Studio, Toriyama passed away on March 1 from a blood clot in his brain.
“He was working enthusiastically on many projects, and there was still much he was looking forward to accomplishing,” the company stated.
According to the BBC, which referenced a statement from the Dragon Ball website, only his family and a small number of acquaintances attended his funeral.
“He would have a lot more goals to pursue. He has, nevertheless, left this world with a great deal of manga titles and artwork, according to his studio. “We hope that Akira Toriyama’s unique world of creation continues to be loved by everyone for a long time to come.”
The 2000 desert adventure tale “Sand Land,” which was later made into an anime film in 2023, will have a new TV version onDisney+ in the spring.
Social media was flooded with condolences and expressions of grief from fans and fellow creators.
The manga author of “One Piece,” Eiichiro Oda, claimed that Toriyama’s influence on younger artists was akin to that of a “big tree”.
In a statement, Oda stated, “He showed us all these things manga can do, a dream of going to another world.” He died, leaving “a hole too big to fill,” Oda continued.
Fans were praised by Bird Studio for their over 40 years of support. “We hope that Akira Toriyama’s unique world of creation continues to be loved by everyone for a long time to come.”
1955 saw the birth of Toriyama in the central Japanese prefecture of Aichi. In 1978, the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine published his adventure comic “Wonder Island,” marking the beginning of his manga career. His first big hit was the “Dr. Slump” series, which aired in 1980.
Although it made him famous, Toriyama shied away from the limelight. The Japanese public broadcaster NHK quoted him as saying in 1982: “I just want to keep writing manga.”
According to the studio, Dragon Ball, which tells the tale of a young boy named Son Goku and his search for seven mystical balls that can grant wishes, has sold 260 million copies worldwide.
Characters for the Dragon Quest video game series were also created by Toriyama. In addition to honors from the manga community, he was also named a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters in France.