Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragon Ball and Manga Pioneer, dies at 68

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Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball and artist behind Dragon Quest, Chrono Trigger and many other works, has died. He was 68 years old.

The news of Toriyama’s death was made public by the Dragon Ball ZX official account (formerly Twitter) March 7th. According to the statement, Toriyama died due to an acute subdural hematoma.

“We deeply regret that he still had several works in full creation with great enthusiasm. Furthermore, he would have many more things to achieve.” Bird Studio and Capsule Corporation Tokyo wrote in the tweet.

“However, he has left many manga titles and works of art to this world. Thanks to the support of so many people around the world, he has been able to continue his creative activities for 45 years. We hope that the unique world of Akira Toriyama’s creation will continue to be loved by everyone for a long time.”

A legend of anime and video games.

Toriyama first broke into the manga industry at the age of 23 when he participated in an amateur manga creation contest in Kodansha’s Weekly Shōnen magazine. From there, Toriyama made a name for himself with the serialization of the beloved gag manga Dr. Slump in 1980.

In 1984, Toriyama published the fantasy action-comedy shonen battle series Dragon Ball, which would later spawn the immensely popular Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super series. Dragon Ball’s influence later inspired others such as Eiichiro Oda, Tite Kubo, and Masashi Kishimoto to create One Piece, Bleach, Naruto, and classics.

Akira Toriyama's most famous creation is Dragon Ball, considered one of the most influential works in the history of anime and manga.
Akira Toriyama’s most famous creation is Dragon Ball, considered one of the most influential works in the history of anime and manga.

Toriyama also played an influential role in video game history, and his art served as the basis for Dragon Quest, one of the first console role-playing games in Japan. In the mid-90s, Toriyama teamed up with Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii and Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi to create Chrono Trigger, which is still considered one of the best games ever made.

The last project Toriyama was reportedly working on was the original character designs for the upcoming Dragon Ball Z spin-off series, Dragon Ball Daima. Its story follows the chibi-style adventures of Goku and Vegeta in the whimsical world of Dragon Ball. Sand Land, a game based on another of Toriyama’s works, will be released in April.

during a panel at New York Comic Con 2023Daima executive producer Akio Iyoku told the crowd that Toriyama was “deeply involved beyond his usual capacity” overseeing Daima’s story, character design, and more.

“Also, (Toriyama) has planned completely new episodes for the story, so look forward to the start of the series,” Iyoku said.

Dragon Ball Daima is scheduled to release in fall 2024.

Isaiah Colbert is a freelance writer at IGN.

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