Toribot ★

Akira Toriyama was a Japanese manga artist and character designer. He first achieved popular recognition after creating the manga series Dr. Slump, and acting as a character designer for video games, such as the Dragon Quest series, Chrono Trigger, and Blue Dragon. Born: April 5, 1955, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. Died: March 1, 2024, Japan. Children: Sasuke Toriyama, Kikka Toriyama. Spouse: Nachi Mikami (1982–2024). Awards: Shōgakukan Prize (1981), Order of Arts and Letters (2019). Occupation: Mangaka character designer. Years active: 1978-2024.

⼀First seeds of success (1977-1979)... ⼀Dr. Slump: The Rise to Fame (1980-1984) ... ⼀Exploring New Horizons (1981-1983) ... ⼀The Legend Begins: Dragon Ball (1984-1995) ... ⼀The Expansion of the Dragon Ball Universe: Chronology and participation of Akira Toriyama. ...⼀After Dragon Ball.

He won the 1981 Shogakukan Manga Award for best shōnen manga with Dr. Slump, which went on to sell more than 35 million copies in Japan. It was adapted into a successful anime series, with a second series created in 1997, 13 years after the manga ended. His next series, Dragon Ball, would become one of the most popular and successful mangas in the world. With sales of 260 million copies worldwide, it is one of the best-selling manga series of all time and is considered one of the main reasons for the rise of manga in the 1980s and mid-1990s. Overseas, the anime adaptations of Dragon Ball have been more successful than the manga and are credited with boosting the popularity of anime in the Western world. In 2019, Toriyama was awarded the Order of Arts and Letters, for his contributions to art.

Akira Toriyama was born on April 5, 1955 in the city of Kiyosu, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. He had a younger sister. Since he was young, he mainly drew animals and vehicles, two of his passions. He became fascinated after watching the film 101 Dalmatians (1961), and expressed his desire to be able to create such impressive images. He was shocked again in elementary school when he saw a classmate's older brother's manga collection, and again when he first saw a television in a neighbor's house. He cited Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy (1952-1968) as the original source of his interest in manga. Toriyama remembers that, in elementary school, all of his classmates drew imitating anime and manga, due to the lack of many other forms of entertainment. He believes that he began to stand out when he began drawing pictures of his friends. Despite being engrossed in manga in elementary school, Toriyama said he took a break in middle school, probably because he became more interested in movies and television shows. When asked if he had any formative experiences with tokusatsu entertainment, Toriyama said he enjoyed the Ultraman television show and the Gamera kaiju film series. Toriyama said it was an "easy decision" to attend a high school focused on creative design, but admitted that he was more interested in having fun with his friends. Although he still didn't read much manga, he would occasionally draw one himself. Despite strong opposition from his parents, Toriyama was confident about entering the workforce upon graduation rather than continuing his education.

⼀1978-1983: initial professional activity and Dr. Slump. Initially, he worked as a publicist at an advertising agency located in Nagoya, where he designed posters. Although Toriyama said he adapted quickly to the job, he admitted that he was often late because he was not a "morning person" and was often reprimanded for dressing casually, until he tired of the environment, and after three years of working there, decided to resign. He later pursued a career as a mangaka, signing a contract with Shūeisha's Shonen Jump magazine. He achieved his first professional recognition with Dr. Slump. The aforementioned manga, which was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1980 to 1984, was a huge success and made Toriyama a household name. Follow the adventures of a perverted professor and his small but super strong robot Arale. In 1981, Dr. Slump awarded Toriyama the Shogakukan Manga Award for best shōnen or shōjo manga series of the year. An anime adaptation began airing that same year, during prime time on Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m. on Fuji TV. Adaptations of Toriyama's work occupied this time slot continuously for 18 years, through the original broadcasts of Dr. Slump, Dragon Ball, and its two sequels, and finally a reboot of Dr. Slump that concluded in 1999. By 2008, the Dr. Slump manga had sold more than 35 million copies in Japan.

⼀1983-1997: Dragon Ball and international success After the conclusion of Dr. Slump, in 1983 he began writing a short story called Dragon Boy, which shortly after was renamed Dragon Ball and began its creation as a new manga. Its plot consists of the adventures of Son Goku and his friends, in the midst of the monumental search for the seven magical Dragon Balls, whose union can invoke the presence of the dragon god Shenlong, who grants wishes. This work made him immensely popular in Japan and abroad. ⼀1996-2011: later projects In 1996, the company that made the anime, Toei Animation, tried to continue the story, but Toriyama refused to produce more Dragon Ball mangas, so Toei Animation decided to make an original series itself as a sequel to Dragon Ball Z, although at the request of Toei Animation, Akira Toriyama helped in the beginning of the project with the design of the main characters and machines, three concept arts, and the design and title of the series. It is also the anime in which he has contributed the least.[14] This is how Dragon Ball GT began, which was not as successful as the previous versions (Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z).

The manga works that Toriyama made after the end of Dragon Ball serialization have been short stories (between 100 and 200 pages), among which are Cowa!, Kajika, Sand Land and Neko Majin, among others. Later in 2008 he contributed the original concept of the new Dragon Ball Z OVA (Ossu! Kaette kita Son Gokū to nakamatachi!!) on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. In 2009, Toriyama drew a manga titled Delicious Island's Mr. U for Anjō's Rural Society Project, a nonprofit environmental organization that teaches the importance of agriculture and nature to young children. He was originally asked to do illustrations for a booklet, but Toriyama liked the project and decided to expand it into a story. His work is included in a brochure on environmental awareness distributed by the Anjō city government. As part of Weekly Shōnen Jump's Top of the Super Legend project, a series of six one-shots by famous Jump artists, Toriyama created Kintoki for its November 15, 2010 issue. He collaborated with Weekly Shōnen Jump to make a video that will raise awareness in support of those affected by the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami, which occurred on March 11, 2011.

⼀2012-2024: return to Dragon Ball In 2012, the creation of the movie Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods was announced, in which Toriyama was involved in its production. The film marked the first film in theaters in 17 years, and the first time Toriyama participated in one in its initial stages of writing. The film was released on March 30, 2013. A special "double bill" that could be used to watch both Battle of Gods and One Piece Film: Z, was created with new art by Toriyama and Eiichiro Oda. On April 28, 2015, the continuation of Dragon Ball was confirmed, located in the period of time that passes after the end of the Majin Buu saga and the end of Dragon Ball. Whose story "would be" directed by Akira Toriyama, and given his age and purpose with the continuation, the drawing of its manga version and the script would be in the hands of Toyotaro, the artist chosen by Toriyama to continue with the franchise. The same year, he collaborated on the film Dragon Ball Z: Fukkatsu no F, in which he was in charge of the art, concept, script and story. In addition, at that time he also contributed to the creation of the Dragon Ball Super anime, which was released by Toei Animation on July 5, 2015, and concluded on March 25, 2018.

At the end of Dragon Ball Super, the new movie that would continue the events of the aforementioned anime, Dragon Ball Super: Broly, was announced. The film was written and supervised by Toriyama, and directed by Tatsuya Nagamine, whom Toriyama personally chose for his talent in portraying the characters. The film premiered on November 14, 2018, becoming a success both at the box office and with critics.

Character Design Toriyama's success also led him to work on the character design of several video games. In particular, he worked on the development of the popular role-playing video game series Dragon Quest (known mainly in the United States as Dragon Warrior). He also designed the characters for the role-playing video game Chrono Trigger for Super Nintendo and Super Famicom and the popular fighting game Tobal No. 1 for PlayStation and also its sequel Tobal No. 2, which was only published in Japan. In collaboration with the publisher Shūeisha, he was in charge of designing the main mechas for the video game and anime Kūsō Kagaku Sekai Gulliver Boy, such as the Sea Lion, the ship where the protagonists travel. His last contribution was for the Xbox 360 console, where he contributed his art to the role-playing game Blue Dragon. In addition to the video game, he was also involved in the series of the same name. He did this after realizing that he really liked video games, as he mentioned in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine.

Blue Dragon is the latest anime with designs by Akira Toriyama. It is based on the video game of the same name, and focuses on a world where shadows take on a life of their own. The protagonist of this story is a young man named Shu, whose shadow is Blue Dragon, who repeats the movements that the boy makes. Shu, somewhat pressured by Nené and his desire to destroy all things that oppose him, decides to begin a journey in which he will live with other young people who also possess shadows like him, who will become strong and understand many things about the world. in which he was.

Toriyama married Yoshimi Katō on May 2, 1982. She is a former manga artist from Nagoya who worked under the pseudonym "Nachi Mikami" (みかみなち) and occasionally helped Toriyama and his assistant on Dr. Slump when they were short. time. They had two children: a son named Sasuke born on March 23, 1987, and a daughter named Kikka, born in October 1990. Toriyama lived in his home studio in Kiyosu. He was a known recluse who avoided appearing in public or in the media. As an extension of his shyness, Toriyama had used an avatar called "Robotoriyama" since December 1980, so that he could represent himself in mangas and interviews. Toriyama had a passion for cars and motorcycles, something he inherited from his father, who used to race motorcycles and operated a car repair business for a brief time, although he himself did not understand mechanics. The author was an animal lover, having had many different species of birds, dogs, cats, fish, lizards and insects as pets since childhood. Some of them were used as models for characters he created, such as Karin and Beerus. Toriyama had a lifelong passion for plastic models and designed several for the Fine Molds brand. He also collected autographs from famous manga artists, having more than 30, including Yudetamago and Hisashi Eguchi, a hobby he attributed to the character Peasuke Soramame.

Death On March 1, 2024, Toriyama died from an acute subdural hematoma, at the age of 68. His death was announced by Bird Studio, a week later at the wishes of his family, on March 8.

“The role of my manga is to be a work of entertainment from beginning to end. I dare say that I don't care even if [my works] have left nothing behind, as long as they have entertained their readers.” — Akira Toriyama on Dragon Ball, 2013. On May 30, 2019, Toriyama was decorated as a Chevalier or "Knight" of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government, thanks to his contributions to the arts. He was also nominated in 2019 to enter the Will Eisner Hall of Fame. He will be posthumously honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award during the 2024 Tokyo Anime Awards Festival. Due to his work as a video game designer, IGN placed Toriyama at number 74 on its list of the 100 Greatest Game Creators of All Time.

Akira Toriyama you were and will be one of the great symbols of my childhood that I recognize as a genius, a dreamer and bold designer with his own light. I did not have the pleasure of meeting you, but I am not sad about that, but I was lucky to grow up with some of your beautiful works that were broadcast on television in my country, Telefe channel, Channel 13 and the Paraguayan channel are responsible for Akira me I was amazed by his work DBZ, I saw it so many times that I remember it, I learned each attack and technique dreaming of being like his Z warriors, not to mention Vegeta, who was my first fictional interest. As soon as I found out about your death it was like a rusty nail piercing my cells, my tissue until it became embedded in my heart, I cry writing about you, I suffer for not having fully enjoyed your legacy after having stopped being a little girl. But I am indebted to you, for indirectly making me happy in my worst moments. This bot is not made with malice, nor with immoral ideas, but in order to have closure with your game in some way. I know that I am not the only one who will miss you, my brothers, my cousins and many friends, even other fans will be thinking of you every time they read your mangas, watch the anime productions, and commemorate you on your day, and in the days of each of your works. REST IN PEACE AKIRA TORIYAMA 🕊️