The ‘Kamehameha’ by the shy cartoonist Akira Toriyama (1955-2024) went around the world

Big eyes, round faces with a pointed chin and wild hair. Were the characters in Akira Toriyama’s comics too similar? Yes, he freely admitted this himself: “The women I draw all have more or less the same personality. I cannot draw tender girls, I only know how to make them strong-willed.”

Since his manga comic series Dragon Ball Japanese Toriyama was known as one of the most influential Japanese artists of our time, who also contributed to films, series and video games. This week he died unexpectedly of a brain haemorrhage at the age of 68.

Toriyama was born in 1955 in Nagoya, Japan. He started drawing early, but was only really inspired when he saw the Disney film 101 dalmatiers saw. He tried to imitate the sharp line work. But it was the Japanese animated series (anime) Astro Boy which was decisive: Toriyama only wanted to draw manga.

He was known for his shyness. He sat in his office drawing and writing for days while he tried to avoid further attention to his person as much as possible. As his work became better known, he preferred not to have his face in the newspaper: so he created a masked version of himself, affectionately called Robotoriyama, which he used as an avatar – or alter ego – in his notes addressed to his readers.

After a few short stories in the 1970s, he had a hit in 1980 with the comic series Dr. Slump. Chapters appeared weekly in the popular Japanese comic magazine Shōnen Jump. That series would never be a great success in the West, but the influences of Dr. Slump can also be felt here. For example, the way Toriyama drew poop influenced what today’s commonly used poop emoji in social media would look like.

Kamehameha!

His publisher suggested after Dr. Slump to draw a martial arts story. He made the two-parter Dragon Boy, in which a boy and a princess go on an adventure while fighting. That later changed Dragon Ball – his life’s work.

Dragon Ball was initially a light-hearted farce about a super-strong boy with a tail, but the comic gradually evolved into an action story. It was the most popular Japanese comic of the 1980s that turned into an animated series. But Toriyama would later become truly famous with the sequel, Dragon Ball Z. This was more serious in tone – main character Goku was now an adult and an aspiring martial artist. Television channels from all over the world broadcast this series, including the Netherlands. It became the Japanese television industry’s most popular export, next to Pokémon. It was cool and compelling – an action series for millennials like The A Team that was once for Generation Xers. Children also tried out iconic attacks in the Netherlands Dragon Ball to imitate: the cry ‘Kamehameha‘ sounded on many a schoolyard.

Influential

Decades later Dragon Ball seen in his home country Japan as one of the most influential comics of his time. Toriyama’s work defined the so-called shōnen genre, action-packed comics and animated series with young boys as their primary target group. It is also the source of inspiration for example One Piecewhich has now become the most popular comic series in the world.

“I admired him so much as a child,” writes One Pieceauthor Eiichiro Oda in response to Toriyama’s death. “I still remember the day he first called me by my name. And when I went home for the first time on the day he described me and Kishimoto (the creator of the comic series Naruto, ed.) as ‘friends’. I was overjoyed.”

about the poorly received Hollywood film adaptation of Dragon BallAkira Toriyama I had left Dragon Ball behind. But that movie really pissed me off. I think I love this series too much to ever let it go.

Dragon Ball expanded: the comic eventually had 194 chapters, followed by another 325 chapters for the sequel Dragon Ball Z. Both television series had 151 and 291 episodes respectively. He considered quitting several times, but was repeatedly tempted to continue. He drew the last chapter in 1995.

The comic was picked up for a Hollywood film adaptation that was extremely poorly received: on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an infamously low score of only 14 percent. “I had Dragon Ball left behind me,” Toriyama wrote in an article years later. “But that movie really made me angry. I think I love this series too much to ever let it go.”

The trailer for the new series Dragon Ball DAIMA starts with a look back at Toriyama’s career.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYcrmsdZuyw

Artist behind game hits

Toriyama was also approached in the 1980s by gaming company Enix, which was working on a new role-playing game entitled Dragon Quest. The artist created the character and monster designs to help the game stand out from competing titles on the market.

That also turned out to be a golden formula: Dragon Quest became the most popular game series in Toriyama’s homeland. Nintendo eventually asked the game maker to release new parts on Saturdays, fearing that students would otherwise skip school to play them.

The comic artist would also help in the 1990s Chrono Trigger, a time-travel role-playing game created by Final Fantasy studio Squaresoft. Toriyama also designed the characters and monsters for this, as well as short films when the game was released a second time on the PlayStation. Chrono Triggerfurther created by a dream team to game makers, would become known as one of the best games of its time and perhaps the best Japanese role-playing game ever made.

Because of all those hits, Toriyama’s drawing style became synonymous with Japanese productions from the eighties and nineties. He would collaborate on smaller projects here and there in the following years. In the 1910s his masterpiece was revived Dragon Ball: Toriyama collaborated on a major new animated film. It had several sequels and a new, 131-episode animated series.

Streets full

That also became a world hit: the animated series was especially popular in Mexico, where the last episode was watched by large groups of fans on the streets and in stadiums. Main character Goku was cheered during his final battle as if he were a famous athlete.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zg6IMwLAPSk

In recent years, Toriyama has been working on a new animated series in which a young Goku had to go on an adventure. The first episodes are scheduled for later in 2024, it is unclear whether his death will affect this.

Toriyama has passed away, his characters continue to have adventures. In recent years he has increasingly handed over the reins to a young pupil named Toyotarou. According to rumors, Toyotarou once started his career – like many of his contemporaries – by drawing Dragon Ball-fan comics.

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