Hot News : Author of Iconic Manga Dragon Ball has passed away at 1 March 2024

Dragon ball Author biography : Akira Toriyama

Akira Toriyama is a Japanese manga artist and character designer, born on April 5, 1955, in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. He is best known for creating the immensely popular manga series Dragon Ball, which has become one of the most influential and iconic franchises in the world.

Toriyama began his career as a manga artist in the late 1970s with his debut work, Wonder Island, published in Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine. He achieved mainstream success with his second major series, Dr. Slump, which ran from 1980 to 1984 and became a significant hit.

However, it was Dragon Ball, serialized from 1984 to 1995 in Weekly Shōnen Jump, that solidified Toriyama’s status as one of the most celebrated manga artists of all time. Dragon Ball, known for its dynamic action scenes, imaginative world-building, and memorable characters, quickly became a global phenomenon, spawning multiple anime adaptations, movies, video games, and merchandise.

Aside from Dragon Ball, Toriyama has also created several other successful manga series, including Cowa! and Sand Land. His distinctive art style, characterized by clean lines, expressive characters, and humorous touches, has garnered him a dedicated fan base worldwide.

Toriyama’s contributions to the manga and anime industry have earned him numerous awards and accolades, including the prestigious Shogakukan Manga Award and the Eisner Award. Despite his immense success, Toriyama is known for his reclusive nature and prefers to maintain a relatively private personal life. Nevertheless, his impact on popular culture and the entertainment industry continues to be felt to this day.

Akira Toriyama’s death

TOKYO — Japanese manga artist Akira Toriyama, known for works such as “Dragon Ball” and “Dr. Slump,” died on March 1 from an acute subdural hematoma, publisher Shueisha announced on Friday. He was 68.

Funeral services were already held and attended by close relatives.

Dragon Ball, which first appeared in 1984 in the weekly Shonen Jump magazine, went on to be translated and published globally. It also made the jump to anime, as feature films and TV series, as well as to video games and character goods.

The franchise is still going strong, with a new anime, “Dragon Ball Daima,” announced in October 2023. The series will be released this coming fall.

Toriyama also designed characters for Dragon Quest, the immensely popular series of role-playing games by Square Enix Holdings.

In messages published on the Shonen Jump website, Masashi Kishimoto, author of Naruto, commented, “I grew up with your manga, which became a part of my life. On bad days, the weekly Dragon Ball [series] would help me forget [my troubles]. As a country boy with not much else, it saved me.

“… I just received the news of your passing. I’m hit with a tremendous sense of loss, even greater than when Dragon Ball ended. … I still don’t know how I am going to deal with this [sudden] hole in my heart.”

Eiichiro Oda, the One Piece manga artist, wrote, “[Toriyama] was one of the founders of an era where both adults and children could read and enjoy manga, from a time when reading manga was considered not good for education. He let us dream of the extent of things manga can achieve and showed [creators] that we can even expand our field to the world.