Mangaka Akira Toriyama, creator of the world-famous series “Dragon Ball” and “Dr Slump”, has died at the age of 68 from a subdural hematoma, his publishing house and studio announced on Friday.
“We are sincerely saddened to inform you that manga creator Akira Toriyama died on March 1 from an acute subdural hematoma. He was 68 years old,” announced Bird Studio, an entity founded by the mangaka, in a press release published on X.
Born in Nagoya in 1955, Akira Toriyama was best known for the manga “Dragon Ball”, created in 1984 and recounting 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.
>> Also read: How Son Goku from “Dragon Ball” conquered the French-speaking world
International success of Dragon Ball
“Dragon Ball” has sold more than 260 million copies worldwide according to the specialist site Mangazenkan. It has spawned numerous adaptations for television, cinema or video games and has had numerous sequels such as “Dragon Ball Z” or more recently “Dragon Ball Super”.
Dragon Ball has become a cult manga. [AFP – RICHARD A. BROOKS]
“For me, Dragon Ball is like a miracle,” Akira Toriyama said in an interview with the Asahi daily in 2013. “It helped someone like me, who has a twisted and difficult personality, to do a decent job and to 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.
>> Details from 12:30 p.m.: Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball, died at 68 / 12:30 p.m. / 1 min. / today at 12:38
Dragon Ball popularized the manga, without escaping criticism
The work, which contributed to the popularity of manga and Japanese animation abroad, was however not without its share of controversies in the 1980s and 90s, with some denouncing – as with other works Japanese – violence, nudity or the penchant of certain characters for women’s panties.
“I just hope that readers will have fun reading my work,” Toriyama told Asahi, adding that he had “never worried about sending a message through” his manga.
“When I drew the series, all I wanted was to please the boys of Japan,” he said.
An award-winning work
Akira Toriyama was also the author of numerous other manga series, including “Dr Slump”, published between 1980 and 1984 in the weekly Shonen Jump, around a little android girl with formidable strength created by a scientist.
The mangaka received the Special Prize at the 40th Angoulême International Comics Festival in 2013 for all of his work, and was named Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters in 2019 by the French Ministry of Culture. Culture.
He had also created characters for several video games such as the “Dragon Quest” series or the 1990s role-playing game “Chrono Trigger”.
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