On March 1st, 2024, Japan lost an anime/manga legend whose works helped shape Shonen Manga and by extension, martial arts anime as we know it… Akira Toriyama, manga creator of the iconic Dragon Ball franchise has died from acute subdural hematoma, at the age of 68. His funeral was held privately with only his family as attendees, yet his death was announced by his production company Bird Studio one week later on March 8th, 2024… Along with his influential works within anime and manga, he was also a character designer for several popular video games such as “Tobal No.1 and 2, The Dragon Quest series, Chrono Trigger, and Blue Dragon, and one of his last works, was a Manga that was being turned into a game called “Sand Land”.Here’s a public letter from his publishing company about his passing…
Our TakeDuring the mid to late 90s, Dragon Ball Z eventually found an American audience thanks to Toonami’s frequent viewings of past dubbed episodes and proved its popularity to the point that Funimation eventually released more episodes with a new Dub cast which not only further exposed an entire generation of kids and adolescents to Anime, but it further cemented its place in the pop culture zeitgeist. To give you an idea of how powerful and iconic the franchise continues to be, not only do Dragon Ball toys and videogames continue to be made, but when that shitty American film “Dragon Ball: Evolution” came out, Toriyama came out of retirement to restore the dignity of his work once again with the series “Dragon Ball Super” and as an added bonus, the Japanese government got involved and funded two of his Dragon Ball films “Battle of the Gods” and “Resurrection F” and an episode of Dragon Ball Super became the only known show I gave a solid “10 out of 10” rating because of how intense and emotional it was for me when I first saw it… RIP Toriyama-San. Your works will continue to inspire and entertain us even as we get older…