Books Akira Toriyama: Dragon Ball creator has died

[horsechoker]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-68444060

Thank you for everything

 

[Desert Eagle]

Rip legend

 

[Salt Bailly]

Balls.

 

[flameinthesun]

Absolute legend, pretty much responsible for Shonen and the tropes within.

 

[Ace of Spades]

R.I.P.

Legend.

 

[elmo]

RIP. One of the biggest giant in the manga/anime/gaming industry.

 

[Munkehboi]

Personally a sad day for me, started Dragon ball in the late 80s and have probably read or watched in some form ever since. It's not just my chilhood but virtually my whole life up to this point. His work has brought me so much joy and inspiration. RIP you legend!

 

[André Dominguez]

He was also the graphic lead artist and also one of the storymakers of my favourite video game ever: Chrono Trigger. If you haven't played it, go do it: amazing storyline with graphics ahead of it's time. It aged gracefully IMHO.

RIP, master.

 

[Yagami]

I already posted the full quotes in the anime thread, but I especially loved this bit from Oda (creator of One Piece):

May heaven be the kind of joyous place that Mr. Toriyama envisioned.

Considering Toriyama's personality, I could definitely see him having a laugh with King Kai!

It seems to have hit Kishimoto (creator of Naruto) even harder. I'm very upset, too, so I can't imagine how they and his family are taking it.

 

[P-Nut]

RIP, absolute master of story telling and immersing you into a world. DBZ was my entertainment as a kid for years.

 

[Yagami]

I may as well post the full quotes here, too:

It’s too soon.
The hole that has been left is too big.

When I think that I will never see him again, sadness washes over me.
I had admired him so much since I was a child,
And I even remember the day he first called me by name.
I also fondly remember the day we walked home after he used the word “friend” to refer to us,
And the day we had a great time with Kishimoto. I also remember the last conversation we had.

He took the baton from an era where people were told that reading manga would make them stupid,
And he was one of the people who created an era where adults and children could enjoy reading manga.
He showed us that manga could do so much,
And that it could take us to the world.
It was like watching a hero charging forward.

Not just for manga artists,
But the excitement and emotions of the Dragon Ball serialization era must be rooted in the childhood of creators in all industries.
His existence is like a great tree.

For manga artists of my generation who stood on the same stage,
We realized that the closer we got to Toriyama’s work, the greater it became.
It was scary.
But still, I’m just happy to be able to meet the carefree man himself. Because we love Mr. Toriyama at the blood level.

With respect and gratitude for the rich and creative world that Mr. Toriyama has left behind, I pray for his soul from the bottom of my heart.

May heaven be the kind of joyous place that Mr. Toriyama envisioned.

To be honest, I don’t know what to write or how to write it. But right now, I want to tell Mr. Toriyama the things I always wanted to ask him and my feelings.

I grew up with Mr. Toriyama’s manga, Dr. Slump in elementary school and Dragon Ball in high school. It was natural for me to have Mr. Toriyama’s manga next to me as a part of my life. Even when I was feeling down, the weekly Dragon Ball always made me forget about it. It was a salvation for me, a country boy with nothing to do. That’s how much I enjoyed Dragon Ball!

When I was a college student, Dragon Ball, which had been a part of my life for so long, suddenly ended. I was overwhelmed by a tremendous sense of loss and didn’t know what to look forward to. But at the same time, it was an opportunity for me to realize from the bottom of my heart the greatness of Mr. Toriyama, who created Dragon Ball. I want to create a work like Mr. Toriyama’s! I want to be like Mr. Toriyama! As I chased after Mr. Toriyama, the sense of loss gradually disappeared. Because it was fun to create manga. By chasing after Mr. Toriyama, I was able to find new joy. Mr. Toriyama was always my compass. He was my inspiration. I may be bothering Mr. Toriyama, but I am grateful to him without permission. To me, he was a savior and a god of manga.

When I first met him, I was so nervous that I couldn’t say a word. But as I met him more and more at the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize jury meeting, I was able to talk to him. I will never forget the time when I talked to him about how much fun Dragon Ball was, like a child with Oda-san, as Dragon Ball children, and how he smiled a little shyly.

I just received the news of Mr. Toriyama’s death. I am overwhelmed by a tremendous sense of loss, even greater than when Dragon Ball ended… I don’t know how to deal with this hole in my heart yet. I can’t read my favorite Dragon Ball right now. I don’t even feel like I’m writing this text properly to Mr. Toriyama. Everyone in the world was still looking forward to Mr. Toriyama’s work. If one Dragon Ball wish really comes true… I’m sorry… It may be selfish, but I’m sad, Mr. Toriyama.

Thank you, Mr. Akira Toriyama, for 45 years of wonderful work. And thank you very much for your hard work.

To the bereaved family, I pray that you will find peace and comfort in the midst of your grief. I pray for the peaceful repose of the soul of Mr. Akira Toriyama.

 

[Dirty Schwein]

DBZ, Chrono Trigger... RIP

 

[flameinthesun]

I may as well post the full quotes here, too:

The amount of Mangaka within Shonen that he has influenced is crazy.

 

[Scandi Red]

RIP

Slight sidenote: the German Dragon Ball Z opening is a banger

 

[SalfordRed18]

For many of my generation, Dragonball/ Dragonball Z was the gateway into anime. In terms of impact on society, it's arguably the GOAT.

RIP, to a genuine legend.

 

[Yagami]

The amount of Mangaka within Shonen that he has influenced is crazy.

It's even crossed over to western media. Michael B Jordan was talking about how Dragon Ball inspired him when making Creed 3:

It’s Goku’s resilience. No matter how much pain and struggle he goes through, every battle, a Saiyan only gets stronger. They could even lose, but they’re gonna come back stronger until they eventually beat you. Like, it doesn’t even matter.”

“Even sometimes in death, he’s gonna come back. He comes back all the time, and he’s going to become stronger until he beats you. I think that resilience, that never-give-up attitude, is what I connect with, and I dig that. I think the unassuming nature of Goku, his disarming nature combined with his ability to be ready for whatever happens when his back is against the wall, is really inspiring. He always steps up to whatever challenge.

He also mentioned Naruto and Sasuke, too, which was cool.

 

[Unam333]

RIP

Slight sidenote: the German Dragon Ball Z opening is a banger

You mean, the Japanese opening is a banger.
That's the original Japanese OP with German dub.

Original:

 

[Yagami]

For many of my generation, Dragonball/ Dragonball Z was the gateway into anime. In terms of impact on society, it's arguably the GOAT.

RIP, to a genuine legend.

Toonami, man. DBZ along with Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Sailor Moon, etc. Awesome times.

We're lucky we got DBZ again in the late 90s because they had already tried to introduce Dragon Ball over here with a terrible dub that bombed big. They could've easily just have never thought about it again but someone was smart enough to try again!

 

[maniak]

This hurts, all my childhood memories have a little bit of dragon ball in them

 

[BristolRuss]

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Nice tribute. The form is terrible though. They are going end up as fat Vlahatti.

 

[4bars]

I already posted the full quotes in the anime thread, but I especially loved this bit from Oda (creator of One Piece):


Considering Toriyama's personality, I could definitely see him having a laugh with King Kai!

It seems to have hit Kishimoto (creator of Naruto) even harder. I'm very upset, too, so I can't imagine how they and his family are taking it.

His idea or paradise

The true legend of manga/anime. He was the first that broke the barriers of japan and truly expanded everywhere. All countries without exception grew with his anime in the 80s/90s. I still remember collecting photocopies of anything related with DB.

Dr. Slump was my first and still favourite. Its irreverence along with the first DB that would never be aired without censorship nowadays, was a breath of fresh air. He changed the industry and the western mind about manga/anime forever

RIP

 

[elmo]

He was also the graphic lead artist and also one of the storymakers of my favourite video game ever: Chrono Trigger. If you haven't played it, go do it: amazing storyline with graphics ahead of it's time. It aged gracefully IMHO.

RIP, master.

Dragon Quest and Blue Dragon too. His artstyle is so recognisable.

 

[RedDevilQuebecois]

Italian artist Luciano Dam drew this piece as means to depict how the entire Shonen genre within anime was heavily influenced by Dragon Ball. You will recognize many of the characters in there and the series they represent.

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RIP Toriyama-sensei.

 

[Yagami]

His idea or paradise

The true legend of manga/anime. He was the first that broke the barriers of japan and truly expanded everywhere. All countries without exception grew with his anime in the 80s/90s. I still remember collecting photocopies of anything related with DB.

Dr. Slump was my first and still favourite. Its irreverence along with the first DB that would never be aired without censorship nowadays, was a breath of fresh air. He changed the industry and the western mind about manga/anime forever

RIP

I absolutely love (it's hard saying "loved" now ) his Robotoriyama/Tori-Bot art because of how honest he was it was some of the closest things we got in terms of getting to know him considering how private he was. Also, we see a bit of Master Roshi there, hey!

"Fake enthusiasm"

Talking about how he forgot how to draw Frieza and that Vegeta would've been killed off had he not got so popular

 

[Cloud7]

RIP

This is so depressing

 

[RedDevilQuebecois]

Mexico and El Salvador went as far as to declare days of mourning for Toriyama-sensei.

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[4bars]

I absolutely love (it's hard saying "loved" now ) his Robotoriyama/Tori-Bot art because of how honest he was it was some of the closest things we got in terms of getting to know him considering how private he was. Also, we see a bit of Master Roshi there, hey!

"Fake enthusiasm"

Talking about how he forgot how to draw Frieza and that Vegeta would've been killed off had he not got so popular

Absolutely agree, they aired dr slump around 86-87 on my local TV and is my favourite anime above DB. I still remember the different grand prix episodes where he was the robo pundit and in one he ends winning.

I download and introduced dr slump to my niece and nephew 2 christmas ago and last november i gave as a present (as requested) a goku fanko and 7 dragon balls to my nephew

I cant wait to introduce my own son to his universe. Manga, anime, games...

 

[Yagami]

Absolutely agree, they aired dr slump around 86-87 on my local TV and is my favourite anime above DB. I still remember the different grand prix episodes where he was the robo pundit and in one he ends winning.

I download and introduced dr slump to my niece and nephew 2 christmas ago and last november i gave as a present (as requested) a goku fanko and 7 dragon balls to my nephew

I cant wait to introduce my own son to his universe. Manga, anime, games...

That is so awesome, dude. Getting the younger generation into things we loved growing up is always something special. I'd love to do the same one day.

Masako Nozawa (the voice actor for Goku) on his passing:

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"You will take care of Goku, won't you?"

Justin Chatwin who played Goku in Dragon Ball Evolution even commented, too:

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It's so nice that he apologised for that movie easily the worst adaptation I've seen in my life. Everyone who made the movie knows it, too, as so many of them have apologised. The one good thing it did for the Dragon Ball community was that, because it was so bad, it annoyed Mr. Toriyama so much that he decided to revive the series with the Battle of Gods movie which lead into the anime.

Personally, I don't like Super, but I'm glad we got a bit more Dragon Ball from him before he passed.

 

[4bars]

That is so awesome, dude. Getting the younger generation into things we loved growing up is always something special. I'd love to do the same one day.

Masako Nozawa (the voice actor for Goku) on his passing:

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"You will take care of Goku, won't you?"

Justin Chatwin who played Goku in Dragon Ball Evolution even commented, too:

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It's so nice that he apologised for that movie easily the worst adaptation I've seen in my life. Everyone who made the movie knows it, too, as so many of them have apologised. The one good thing it did for the Dragon Ball community was that, because it was so bad, it annoyed Mr. Toriyama so much that he decided to revive the series with the Battle of Gods movie which lead into the anime.

Personally, I don't like Super, but I'm glad we got a bit more Dragon Ball from him before he passed.

Drfinitely, i just watch super for nostalgia.

I know is personal. But my favorite will be DB. Z series were amazing till vegeta. Freezer was good. Specialy for supersaiyan. After this cell was passable and Bu went to shitters. GT a big nope

But overall with toriyama i fell in love with anime and shonen in particular. What it made me a huge success among the ladies..right? Right?

 

[padr81]

He worked on 2 of my fave game franchises of all time. Absolute legend, my he RIP. The Dragonquest Slime will always be the greatest slime in rpg history.

 

[hellhunter]

Drfinitely, i just watch super for nostalgia.

I know is personal. But my favorite will be DB. Z series were amazing till vegeta. Freezer was good. Specialy for supersaiyan. After this cell was passable and Bu went to shitters. GT a big nope

But overall with toriyama i fell in love with anime and shonen in particular. What it made me a huge success among the ladies..right? Right?

The very first super saiyan transformation is something I'll never forget

 

[Moby]

The Dragonquest Slime will always be the greatest slime in rpg history.

 

[padr81]

You gotta love him. Just a little blue blob of wholesomeness.

 

[RedDevilQuebecois]

You gotta love him. Just a little blue blob of wholesomeness.

I concur.

 

[Moby]

You gotta love him. Just a little blue blob of wholesomeness.

I concur.

It's true. Killing them hurts.

 

[4bars]

It's true. Killing them hurts.

Not the metal ones. Damn them

 

[hasanejaz88]

Drfinitely, i just watch super for nostalgia.

I know is personal. But my favorite will be DB. Z series were amazing till vegeta. Freezer was good. Specialy for supersaiyan. After this cell was passable and Bu went to shitters. GT a big nope

But overall with toriyama i fell in love with anime and shonen in particular. What it made me a huge success among the ladies..right? Right?

If I remember correctly, Akira's original plan was for Dragonball Z to end after the Frieza saga, which made sense because it would end with Goku being revealed as the legendary Super Saiyan etc, but then the success of the show forced to continue with the rest of the sagas.

I personally loved the Buu saga as well but haven't watched it since, so neither GT or Super.

Ofcourse, everyone says Dragonball is the best by far but I haven't seen it yet. Would be weird to see everyone so weak after watching him during the Z sagas

 

[4bars]

If I remember correctly, Akira's original plan was for Dragonball Z to end after the Frieza saga, which made sense because it would end with Goku being revealed as the legendary Super Saiyan etc, but then the success of the show forced to continue with the rest of the sagas.

I personally loved the Buu saga as well but haven't watched it since, so neither GT or Super.

Ofcourse, everyone says Dragonball is the best by far but I haven't seen it yet. Would be weird to see everyone so weak after watching him during the Z sagas

Original and Z series are widely different, so you might not like it! Z is power build up. Original i a mix of quirky adventures and power build up, they are way more lighthearted. Freezer was the strongest of the universe. Had to finish there. Cell might make sense after is an invention of red ribbon. But afterwards? isn't king kai suppose eveything whats going on? But well, again tastes. and i am rambling about guys that fly and explode planets

 

[André Dominguez]

Dragon Quest and Blue Dragon too. His artstyle is so recognisable.

Dragon Quest was another amazing title. Super Smash Bros Ultimate was awesome on the design. Not my cup of tea, but I can recognize when a good upgrade is made to a classic game.

On TV, Gulliver Boy was a nice and entertaining show, with some great charismatic characters. It deserved better comercial output, it's a very solid work.

Obviously not mentioning Dragonball and all the worldwide culture sorrounding it.

 

[Yagami]

Drfinitely, i just watch super for nostalgia.

I know is personal. But my favorite will be DB. Z series were amazing till vegeta. Freezer was good. Specialy for supersaiyan. After this cell was passable and Bu went to shitters. GT a big nope

But overall with toriyama i fell in love with anime and shonen in particular. What it made me a huge success among the ladies..right? Right?

You have a son, right? So I think you did pretty well with the ladies

I love the original, but I saw it after Z as that's the order it was shown here in the UK, so Z, despite it's flaws, will always be my favourite. I love it all - even the Garlic Jr saga

Saiyan saga is my favourite because Krillin, Yamcha, Tien and Chiaotzu are all still somewhat relevant. Namek second because I love the adventure aspect (like the original) and Krillin is like the main character of that arc. Frieza sagas great, but then the writing slips a bit because Toriyama doesn't have his heart fully in it anymore.

I actually prefer the Buu saga to the Cell saga. From the moment Frieza arrives on earth and is greeted by Trunks to Cell absorbing 17, I'd put the Android/Cell saga nearly up top, but everything after Cell absorbing 17 is just not as good as everything else in the series for me. I still love it and Gohan going SSJ2 is one of my favourite moments. Buu was just more fun to me.

When I first watched GT, I liked it - and still do - but there's no denying it was a letdown. I appreciated that they tried to take it back to its roots with the adventure aspect of searching for dragon balls. Unlike Super which has always come off as ripoff fanfic, GT had some good original ideas (Baby hating the Saiyans, Shadow Dragons after overusing the dragon balls, SSJ4 instead of just changing the hair colour, etc). It also progressed Vegeta's character after he had come to terms with everything in the middle of fighting Kid Buu instead of Super reverting him back to "I MUST BE BETTER THAN KAKAROT".

If I remember correctly, Akira's original plan was for Dragonball Z to end after the Frieza saga, which made sense because it would end with Goku being revealed as the legendary Super Saiyan etc, but then the success of the show forced to continue with the rest of the sagas.

I personally loved the Buu saga as well but haven't watched it since, so neither GT or Super.

Ofcourse, everyone says Dragonball is the best by far but I haven't seen it yet. Would be weird to see everyone so weak after watching him during the Z sagas

As I said above, I wanted the original after Z back in the day and still loved it. It's a very different show to Z (until the Piccolo saga at least) but, if you love the characters like I did, it's no problem.

Also, you're right about Toriyama wanting to end it at Frieza, which would've been interesting as would he have ended it on the cliffhanger of Goku seemingly dying when Namek exploded? Or when he refused to be wished back to Earth?

He then wanted to end it with Cell, and with Goku passing the torch to Gohan. That's right; Goku was never supporting to come back but, like with Vegeta staying, the fan demand was too strong so he was brought back to be the hero again!

After Buu he was completely done. There was no one convincing him to do more, and you can see it in the writing of that saga. Whilst I enjoyed it, you could tell his heart wasn't in it anymore with all the plotholes and asspulls. I'm glad he made that saga, though, because there was so many good moments that really added to the franchise.