Akira Toriyama, the manga illustrator who created Dragon Ball, has died at the age of 68. According to a statement posted on the Dragon Ball Twitter account, he succumbed on March 1st to an acute subdural hematoma.
Admittedly, this won’t be a very in-depth tribute, because I’m not much of an anime enthusiast. I was, at the absolute most, a very casual fan of Dragon Ball Z, enjoying it when it was on but rarely going out of my way to watch. But I am saddened for a couple of reasons.
For one, this (alongside the Pokemon TV series) was the first anime that I was aware of. Granted, a lot of that is due to the sheer name power of those worlds, but it speaks to the engaging universe that Toriyama created. Quite a few animated shows on both sides of the Pacific have taken influence from Dragon Ball, up to and including Steven Universe. What, an optimistic guy with superpowers finds himself tasked with saving the world? Characters fusing into more powerful entities? Sugar knew what she was doing. Seriously, it’s about as influential as The Simpsons was. Honestly, it might be even more influential. Tons of contemporary animators grew up watching the show, and have paid tribute to the work in their own creations. Not to mention the other fans of the animation medium. Even beyond television, you could feel the cultural impact of the show in everyday life, particularly sports. Makes sense when your world is introduced to Earth in 1984. Four decades of cultural influence across the globe.
Second, and more personally, Dragon Ball was one of my brother’s favorite shows while we were growing up. He watched the Dragon Ball Z and Z Kai anime on Cartoon Network and the Nicktoons Network (and later online), he played several of the video games, I think he had a couple issues of the manga and related magazines… I just have some very fond memories of him enjoying Dragon Ball and getting into other anime because of this show. It’s those memories that will stick with me. Even if indirectly, Akira Toriyama did impact my life.
Look, nothing I post here will do Akira Toriyama and his impact on the world justice. Diehard fans of the Dragon Ball universe will be paying their own respects, and I encourage you to check those tributes out if you can. I just needed to get some thoughts off my chest, because this is a huge loss to the artistic world, particularly at a relatively young age.
What a legend. Farewell, Akira Toriyama.
The Review Nebula 