Son Goku fans are in mourning. The mangaka Akira Toriyama, creator in particular of Dragon Ball And Dr Slumpseries famous around the world, died at the age of 68 from a subdural hematoma, his publishing house and studio announced this Friday.
“We at Shueisha and the editorial department are deeply saddened by the sudden news of his passing,” read a statement from the publisher.
Dragon Ball “is like a miracle”
Born in Nagoya, Japan in 1955, Akira Toriyama was primarily known for manga Dragon Ball, created in 1984 and chronicling 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. The manga has sold at least 260 million copies worldwide according to the specialist site Mangazenkan. It has generated numerous adaptations for television, cinema or video games and has had numerous sequels such as Dragon Ball Z or more recently Dragon Ball Super.
” In my opinion, Dragon Ball is like a miracle,” declared its creator in an interview with the daily newspaper Asahi in 2013. “He helped someone like me, who has a twisted and difficult personality, to do a decent job and 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. “When I drew the series, all I wanted was to appeal to boys in Japan.”
Akira Toriyama was also the author of many other manga series, including Dr Slumppublished between 1980 and 1984 in the weekly Shounen Jump, around a little android girl with formidable strength created by a scientist. He had also created characters for several video games like the series Dragon Quest or the 1990s role-playing game Chrono Trigger.
Eiichiro Oda’s tribute
In 2013, the mangaka received the Special Prize at the 40th Angoulême International Comics Festival for all of his work. Eiichiro Oda, creator of the manga One Piece, regretted in a press release the “too early” death of Akira Toriyama, which leaves “a great void”. “To think that I will never see him again… I am overwhelmed with sadness,” he added.