Japanese manga artist Akira Toriyama, creator of the world-famous Dragon Ball and Dr Slump series, has died at the age of 68, his publishing house and studio announced on Friday March 8.
“We are sincerely saddened to inform you that manga creator Akira Toriyama died on March 1 from an acute subdural hematoma. He was 68 years old,” Bird Studio, an entity the manga artist founded, said in a statement published on X. “We at Shueisha and the editorial department are deeply saddened by the sudden news of his passing, – we read in a press release from the publisher. We would like to pay tribute to his great achievements, express our gratitude and offer him our sincere condolences. »
Born in Nagoya (central Japan) in 1955, Akira Toriyama was best known for the manga Dragon Ball, created in 1984 and recounting the life and adventures of martial arts prodigy Son Goku since his childhood. It was loosely based on the 16th-century Chinese novel The Journey to the West.
“‘Dragon Ball’ is like a miracle”
The manga has sold at least 260 million copies worldwide, according to the specialist site Mangazenkan. It has spawned numerous adaptations for television, cinema or video games and has had numerous sequels, such as Dragon Ball Z or more recently Dragon Ball Super.
“For me, Dragon Ball is like a miracle,” Mr. Toriyama said in an interview with the Asahi daily in 2013. “It helped someone like me, who has a twisted and difficult personality, to do a decent job and to to be accepted by society. » However, he assured in this interview that he had “no idea” of the reason for the global success of this work.
The work, which contributed to the popularity of manga and Japanese animation abroad – notably in France, where the cartoon adaptation was broadcast on television from 1988 -, however, was not was not without its share of controversies in the 1980s and 1990s, with some denouncing – as with other Japanese works – the violence, nudity or the penchant of certain characters for female underwear.
“I just hope that readers will have fun reading my work,” he said, adding that he was “never concerned about sending a message through [his mangas].” “When I drew the [Dragon Ball] series, all I wanted was to please the boys in Japan,” he told Asahi.
Special prize in Angoulême in 2013
Akira Toriyama was also the author of numerous other manga series, including Dr. Slump, published between 1980 and 1984 in the weekly Shonen Jump, around a little android girl with formidable strength created by a scientist.
The mangaka received, in 2013, for all of his work, the Special Prize at the 40th Angoulême International Comics Festival, and was named Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters in 2019 by the ministry. of French culture. He had also created characters for several video games such as the Dragon Quest series and the 1990s role-playing game Chrono Trigger.
Eiichiro Oda, creator of the One Piece manga, regretted in a press release the “too early” death of Akira Toriyama, which leaves “a big void”. “To think that I will never see him again…I am overcome with sadness,” Mr. Oda added.
