On March 8th, it was announced that the legendary manga creator Akira Toriyama passed away at the age of 68. Toriyama created the manga series Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump. As well, he designed characters for video games like Dragon Quest and Chrono Trigger.
One of the people who paid tribute to Akira Toriyama was Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii.
“The news of Toriyama-san’s passing was so sudden, I still can’t believe it.
I've known Toriyama-san since my days as a writer for Shonen Jump. With the recommendation from my editor, Torishima, I approached him to create illustrations for the Dragon Quest game when we were launching it. 37 years have passed since then, and he’s created countless designs for characters and monsters, which are all very captivating.
You can say that the history of Dragon Quest exists with Toriyama-san’s character design.
Toriyama-san and the late Sugiyama-sensei were both important people who were part of creating Dragon Quest for many years.
I can’t believe they’re not here anymore…
I don’t know what to say, I’m at a loss of words. It’s truly, truly heartbreaking.”
Hironobu Sakaguchi and Yasunori Mitsuda, who also worked on Chrono Trigger, paid respects.
Tribute art and stories poured in as people reflected on how much Toriyama’s work meant to them. Many manga artists, like Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto, wrote about how Toriyama’s work inspired them to get into the manga industry. Yasushi Yamaguchi, the Sonic 2 character designer, described how the dynamic between Sonic and Tails was based on Dragon Ball. Former MLB player Masahiro Tanaka described how Dragon Ball helped him to find common ground with his teammates on the Yankees. Dan Fornace, creator of Rivals of Aether, among other creators, cited Toriyama as an influence. Additionally, the governments of China and El Salvador put out statements of mourning.
Akira Toriyama’s works played a large role in making anime and manga popular outside of Japan, and he will be missed.
-Written by
Megadoomer
-Edited by @Thirdkoopa
-Thumbnail Graphic by @Zerp
