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Akira Toriyama

"Hang in there!! To all the victims. This is truly awful, but please don't give up, and hang in there no matter what!"
— Akira Toriyama's message to the 2011 Japanese earthquake's victims

This article is about the real world.

Akira Toriyama (鳥山明, Toriyama Akira; born on April 5, 1955, in Kiyosu, Aichi, Japan) is a widely known and acclaimed Japanese manga artist known most famous for his Dragon Ball series in 1984.

He married the shojo manga artist Nara Mikami^[1] (aka Yoshimi)^[2] in 1982, and has two children (a son named Sasuke, born in April 1987,^[1] and a daughter born in late 1990).

1 Biography
2 Manga
3 Quotes
4 Trivia
5 Gallery
- 5.1 Photos
- 5.2 Autographs
6 References
7 External links

BiographyEdit

It is difficult to pinpoint the source of Toriyama's artwork inspiration. He admires Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy^[1] and was impressed by Walt Disney's One Hundred and One Dalmatians, which he remembers for the great art. Jackie Chan's Drunken Master movie also influenced him greatly. Akira Toriyama has also stated that he is a fan of the Star Wars series; the Star Wars characters R2-D2 and a Stormtrooper even appear in Dr. Slump chapter 14, and other Star Wars characters appear on the cover of chapters 16, 25, 29.

Akira Toriyama's first manga was the story Wonder Island, published in the Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine in 1978, and first gained fame for his manga Dr. Slump, published in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1980 to 1984. Dragon Ball was published from 1984 to 1995. The success from his very well known Dragon Ball franchise "forced" Akira Toriyama to work on Dragon Ball from 1984 to 1995. During that time, he made 519 chapters, collected into 42 volumes. Each volume has an average of 200 pages, so the entire Dragon Ball storyline extends to almost 9,000 pages. The success of Dragon Ball led to three animated television series (Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT), feature-length animated movies and video games. Unlike Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT was not based on Akira Toriyama's original manga, instead being created by Toei Animation and Toriyama as a sequel.

During his career, Toriyama had three editors for his manga series: Kazuhiko Torishima who is the man who discovered Toriyama and worked with him for Dr. Slump and the first half of the Dragon Ball manga, Yū Kondō who was involved with Dragon Ball during its most popular times, and Fuyuto Takeda who took over the position during the Perfect Cell Saga and also served as Toriyama's editor for post-Dragon Ball works. Akira Toriyama had only two assistants during his career: Hisashi Tanaka who worked on the first half of Dr. Slump and Takashi Matsuyama who was Toriyama's assistant for the second half of Dr. Slump, the whole Dragon Ball manga and post-Dragon Ball works.

Akira Toriyama's clean line and design sense led to jobs designing characters for the phenomenally popular Dragon Quest series of role-playing games (formerly called Dragon Warrior in North America). Toriyama has also served as the character designer for the Super Famicom RPG Chrono Trigger, the fighting game Tobal No. 1 for the PlayStation (as well as its sequel, Tobal 2, released only in Japan), and the Mistwalker Xbox 360 exclusive RPG Blue Dragon.

His works after Dragon Ball tend to be short (100-200 page) stories, including Cowa!, Kajika, and Sandland, as well as one-shots, like the spoof Neko Majin.

MangaEdit

Awawa World - Unreleased one-shot from 1977.
Mysterious Rain Jack - Unreleased one-shot from 1978.
Wonder Island - 2 part One-Shot released in 1978-1979. Notable for being Toriyama's first published manga and the debut of Gala, Pagos & Gyaosu who become recurring characters in his later work Dr. Slump.
Today's Highlight Island - One-Shot released in 1979
Tomato - One-Shot released in 1979. Notable for being the debut of Sourman although he only appears in his secret identity Kenta Kuuraku.
Dr. Slump - The first major series created by Toriyama that ran from 1980-1984 spawning 18 volumes. The characters and setting appear in Dragon Ball.

Escape - One-Shot released in 1981. The female protagonist and an anthropomorphic character from this one-shot appear in the episode of the Dragon Ball anime titled "Prelude to Vengeance".
Pola & Roid - One-Shot released in 1981. King Nikochan & his assistant make cameo appearances in it. The main female character scares them off by dressing up as Arale Norimaki.
Pink - One-Shot released in 1982.
Mad Matic - One-Shot released in 1982
Chobit - 2 part One-Shot released in 1983
Dragon Boy - 2 part One-Shot released in 1983. Notable for being the proto-type of the Dragon Ball series.
The Adventures of Tongpoo - 2 part One-Shot released in 1983. Notable for introducing an early concept for the Capsule as well as being the proto-type for Dragon Ball's second chapter "No Balls!".
Dragon Ball - The most well known series by Toriyama that started in 1984 and went all the way to 1995 spawning 42 volumes.
Mr. Ho - One-Shot released in 1986.
Lady Red - 4 part One-Shot released in 1987.
Kennosuke-sama - One-Shot released in 1987.
Sonchoh - One-Shot released in 1987.
Mamejiro - One-Shot released in 1988.
Karamaru - One-Shot released in 1989.
Wolf - One-Shot released in 1990.
Cashman Saving Soldier - 3 part One-Shot released in 1991.
Dub & Peter - 4 part One-Shot released in 1992.
Go!Go!Ackman - 11 part One-Shot released in 1993.
Chotto Kaettekita Dr. Slump - 4 volume sequel to Dr. Slump that ran from 1994-1997. Goku makes an appearance in this series.
Tokimecha - One-Shot released in 1996.
Alien X-Peke - One-Shot released in 1997.
Bubul - One-Shot released in 1997.
Cowa! - 1 volume series that started in 1997 and ended in 1998.
New Cashman Saving Soldier - One volume sequel to Cashman Saving Soldier released in 1998.
Tahi Mahi - One-Shot released in 1998.
Kajika - 1 volume series that ran in 1998.
Neko Majin - A comedy manga that ran from 1999-2005. Characters from the Dragon Ball series make appearances.
Hyowtam - One-Shot released in 2000.
Sand Land - 1 volume series that ran in 2000.
KochiKame - One-Shot released in 2006.
Cross Epoch - One-Shot crossover between Dragon Ball and Eiichiro Oda's One Piece released in 2006.
Dr. Mashirito Abale-chan - One-Shot about Dr. Slump's antagonist Dr. Mashirito released in 2007.
Sachi-chan Gū!! - One-Shot released in 2008.
Jiya - 3 part One-Shot that ran from 2009-2010.
Kintoki - the newest One-Shot by Akira Toriyama released in 2010.

QuotesEdit

"Dragon Ball, which I planned on lasting one year when I started, has now been in serialization so long that it has surpassed Dr. Slump! I feel both happy and scared..."
— Chapter 249 comment in Weekly Shōnen Jump, 1989

"In this volume of the manga, Son Goku died. I think it is best to not get too attached to the characters that I draw, but even I think it is kinda sad to see the death of a protagonist who I have continued to draw for almost 10 years. I thought of other ways too, but ultimately thought that having him die was best after all. For the time being, I have taken care to not get too dark, but still, I'm sorry Son Goku-kun, please forgive me."
— Volume 35's introduction, 1993

"I truly thank you for faithfully reading Dragon Ball for so terribly long. I am very grateful for how you all supported me up until the very end. The truth is that I decided on this a long time ago but a lot happened, so please forgive me for announcing this so suddenly.

For this new step in my life, I have asked a big favor of everyone concerned and am ending this manga. Of course, I humbly apologize to all you fans too. I a very sorry. From now on, I think I will take a little break, and then leisurely draw one-shot works. You will definitely see me again. I think it (should) certainly be interesting, so look forward to it! Well, until that day, this is goodbye. Let's meet again."
— May 1995 (Weekly Shōnen Jump, June 5th, 1995)

"Bulma was Tripitaka, Oolong was Zhu Bajie, and Yamcha was Sha Wujing. I initially thought that I'd end it after they finished collecting the Dragon Balls."
— While discussing Dragon Ball's roots as a Journey to the West adaptation in Daizenshuu 2, 1995

"Up until the World Martial Arts Tournament began, the series had not been all that popular. At the time, Torishima-san told me "your protagonist is rather plain. That is why it is not popular". Personally, since I was doing a fighting story for this series, I had intentionally made the protagonist's clothing excessively plain. So this annoyed me, but then I figured it out. "Well, let's increase its popularity" I thought. When I had designed Goku's character, the words that best represented him were "I want to become strong". So I thought I'd bring that to the front. Even during Dr. Slump, mini-events and tournament-like things such as the Penguin Village Gran Prix had been amazingly popular. So I'd simply make the story into a tournament format. From there the World Martial Arts Tournament was born. I temporarily withdrew the other characters besides Goku, brought back Master Roshi, and added Krillin as a new character. From there it got popular before I knew it."
— Daizenshuu 2, 1995

"At that time, it began to be more fun to think up the story than to draw the pictures. But with the story, I basically only thought of each chapter. That is why I end up getting caught in these quagmires. (laughs) Around the time of Trunks' time travel, it was dreadful. I kept drawing, and it just got more and more incoherent."
— Daizenshuu 2, 1995

"Right around then was when the Androids No. 19 and No. 20 appeared. You weren't my editor or anything anymore, but you specifically called me to say "I thought that the enemies had finally come, but aren't these just a geezer and a fatso?" (laughs) In truth, I hadn't had plans for anyone but No. 19 and No. 20 to appear. But there was no helping it, so I brought out No. 17 and No. 18. Then you called me up and said "What, this time it is just some brats?" So I brought out Cell."
— Daizenshuu 2, 1995

"With second-form Cell as well, I liked him well enough. Actually, I had wanted him to play a more active role. But since I was told he looked stupid, I had no choice but to change him. (laughs) So I made him into his cool-looking perfect form, which was to Kondō-san's liking."
— Daizenshuu 2, 1995

"I intended to put Gohan into the leading role. It did not work out. I felt that compared to Goku, he was ultimately not suited for the part."
— Daizenshuu 2, 1995

"Of course, I didn't think that at all (laughs). The Saiyans were like that as well. When I thought up Goku's tail and the Great Ape, I did not think Goku was an alien or anything. Piccolo either. Because I thought that up when Kami came out."
— Daizenshuu 4, 1995

TriviaEdit

Akira Toriyama created a character based off himself called Tori-Bot that made few appearances in the early parts of the Dragon Ball manga, in the Dragon Ball Z TV series and movies, and in Dragon Ball GT. Before using the Tori-Bot, Toriyama drew himself as an anthropomorphic bird (as Tori means "bird" in Japanese).
He has stated that his favorite character in Dragon Ball is Piccolo and that his favorite movie/special was Dragon Ball Z: Bardock - The Father of Goku.
In an interview conducted in 2007 with Shōnen Jump, Akira Toriyama revealed that he does not consider what is to occur in proceeding chapters of his stories.

Wikia

Akira Toriyama

Contents

BiographyEdit

MangaEdit

QuotesEdit

TriviaEdit

GalleryEdit

PhotosEdit

AutographsEdit

ReferencesEdit

External linksEdit

Pages on Dragon Ball Wiki

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