If you don't know this man by his name, you've certainly seen or at least heard of some character or work he created. Akira Toriyama (明鳥山) is a Japanese manga author, quite famous and known for being the creator of worldwide successful series such as Dr. Slump and especially Dragon Ball.
Born on April 5, 1955 in Kiyosu, Aichi, Japan, Akira doesn't like to expose himself or give many interviews, as he doesn't consider himself a very popular person and doesn't deserve much public attention. But he didn't start in stardom, like many, he achieved success after years of effort and several works, for example, his first story released in 1978 called Wonder Island was not very successful.
After that, several of your projects were rejected, but in 1979 the manga Tomato Girl Detective began to change things, and in 1980 he became successful with Doctor Slump, which was soon adapted into anime in two series.
Even with its relatively simple traits, he was soon working on designing characters for the famous video game series Dragon Quest, also serving as a character designer for other games such as the RPG Chrono Trigger, Tobal Nº1. In 1983, Akira created Bird Studio, and that same year he created Dragon Boy, which served as the basis for Dragon Ball.
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Dragon Ball Success
The Dragon Ball manga originated in 1984, initially inspired by the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, its chapters were serialized from 1984 to 1995 by Shounen Jump in 519 chapters, it became the most famous and well-known work of Akira, reaching the entire world.
The Dragon Ball manga was adapted into two anime series by Toei Animation: Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, which together ran from 1986 to 1996 in Japan. In addition, 19 animated feature films and 3 TV specials were produced, and two other anime series entitled Dragon Ball GT (1996-1997) and Dragon Ball Super (2015), not to mention the remake version with some cuts of Dragon Ball Z called Dragon Ball Kai.
Since its release, Dragon Ball has become one of the most successful anime and manga series in the world. The 42 volumes of the manga have sold over 240 million copies worldwide. Critics praised the art, characters and humor of the story that Akira Toriyama created, being considered the work that most inspired others and that most propelled Japanese animation in Western culture.
Akira's Life Beyond Dragon Ball
His works after Dragon Ball were short works like Cowa!, Kajika and Neko Majin Z, but nothing to the scope of Dragon Ball. He recently worked as a character designer for the Xbox 360 RPG Blue Dragon which also won an anime adaptation.
In 2006 Akira worked on the Crossover between Dragon Ball z and One piece, called Cross Epoch. Even in 2009 Akira Toriyama was responsible for designing the CD of Japanese pop rock singer Ayumi Hamasaki, where she is dressed in Goku's outfit.
He continues to live in Aichi, has been married to his wife Nachi Mikame since 1982 and has a son named: Sasuke Toriyama, born in 1984 and a daughter born around 1990 whose identity has never been revealed.
Facts about Akira Toriyama and his works
- He is a big fan of actor Jackie Chan.
- Dr. Slump appears in some episodes of Dragon Ball, as Goku also appears in the new version called The New Dr. Slump, in several episodes.
- From November 2014, the franchise has generated $5 billion in goods, turning Dragon Ball into one of the most commercially successful anime-based media franchises in the world.
- Toriyama was a fan of the Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna, so much so that he even got to meet him personally and even drew the McLaren team with Dragon Ball characters.
- In Dragon Ball GT, Akira only participated with initial tips, design of characters, environments and objects, and gave the title of the series.
- Dragon Ball is the most valuable anime franchise in the world, totaling 43.1 billion yen in profits, while One Piece earned 14.4 billion yen and Naruto with 5.4 billion yen.
Works by Akira Toriyama
Below we will leave some related works by Akira Toriyama for you to buy if you wish: I hope you enjoyed these little curiosities about King Akira Toriyama. We appreciate the comments and shares. We also recommend reading: