Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama dead at 68
One of the most iconic names in manga is no longer with us.
Announced today, manga artist Akira Toriyama, who is best known for creating Dragon Ball, passed away on March 1 at the age of 68 from acute subdural hematoma. A funeral service for Toriyama was held with family. The official statement can be seen below.
Prior to the release of Dragon Ball, Toriyama gained fame with their Dr. Slump series, which sold 35 million copies in Japan. Following its debut in 1984, Dragon Ball would become one of the most influential franchises of all time with endless references in music, sports, video games, comic books, film, and TV. Toriyama is also known for the Sand Land franchise, which will gain a video game adaptation next month on consoles and PC and an anime TV series titled Sand Land: The Series on Hulu and Disney+ later this month.
Outside of manga and anime, Toriyama also had an impact in video games. From 1986 until their passing, the artist did character designs for the Dragon Quest video game franchise. The last Dragon Quest game they worked on was last year’s Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince. In the 90s, the artist did character designs on Chrono Trigger, Tobal No. 1, and Tobal 2. In the 2000s, Toriyama did character designs in the Blue Dragon games.
Last fall, it was revealed that Toriyama was working on a new Dragon Ball series titled Dragon Ball Daima. The show is slated for a fall 2024 release.
