If you don’t know this man by his name, you have 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 globally successful series such as Dr. Slump and mainly Dragon Ball.
Born on April 5, 1955, in Kiyosu, Aichi, Japan, Akira does not like to expose himself or give many interviews, as he does not consider himself a very popular person and feels he does not deserve so much public attention. But he did not start in stardom; like many, he achieved success after years of effort and various works, for example, his first story released in 1978 called Wonder Island did not achieve much success.
After that, several of his projects were rejected, but in 1979 the manga Tomato Girl Detective began to change things, and in 1980 he found success with Doctor Slump, which was soon converted into anime in two series.
Even with his relatively simple drawings, he was soon working on designing characters for the famous video game series Dragon Quest, and also served as a character designer for other games such as the RPG Chrono Trigger, Tobal No. 1. In 1983, Akira created Bird Studio, and in the same year he created Dragon Boy, which served as the basis for Dragon Ball.
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The success of Dragon Ball
The Dragon Ball manga emerged in 1984, initially inspired by the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, had its chapters serialized from 1984 to 1995 by Shounen Jump in 519 chapters, this became Akira’s most famous and well-known work, 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 were broadcast from 1986 to 1996 in Japan. In addition, 19 animated feature films and 3 TV specials were produced, along with two other anime series titled 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 launch, Dragon Ball has become one of the most successful anime and manga series in the world. The 42 volumes of the manga sold over 240 million copies worldwide. Critics praised the art, characters, and humor of the story that Akira Toriyama created, being even considered the work that inspired others the most and that propelled Japanese animation in Western culture.
Akira’s life beyond Dragon Ball
His works after Dragon Ball were short pieces like Cowa!, Kajika, and Neko Majin Z, but nothing with the reach of Dragon Ball. Recently, he worked as a character designer for the RPG Blue Dragon for Xbox 360, which also received 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 the drawing of the CD of the 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.
Curiosities about Akira Toriyama and his works
- He is a big fan of actor Jackie Chan;
- Dr. Slump appears in some episodes of Dragon Ball, just as Goku also appears in the new version of The New Dr. Slump, in several episodes;
- As of November 2014, the franchise generated $5 billion in merchandise, making Dragon Ball one of the most commercially successful anime-based media franchises in the world;
- Toriyama was a fan of Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna, so much so that he even met him personally and drew the McLaren team with Dragon Ball characters;
- In Dragon Ball GT, Akira only participated with initial tips, character designs, 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 5.4 billion yen;
Works of Akira Toriyama
Below we will leave some related works of Akira Toriyama for you to purchase if you wish: I hope you enjoyed these little curiosities about the King Akira Toriyama. We appreciate the comments and shares. We also recommend reading:
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