On Monday 15 April at 9.00 pm, at the White Rabbit Youth Center in San Giovanni in Marignano (RN), thanks to the patronage of the Pro loco, a themed event was held to pay homage to Maestro Akira Toriyama a few weeks after his passing .
The speakers (cartoonists and illustrators Niccolò Tonelli, Daniele Garbugli, Alice Drudi (aka Lixsotan), Caterina Franciosi, editor and ghostwriter, and Fabio Valerio, editor-in-chief of the magazine World Japan) have brought to the public’s attention the importance of Toriyama’s work, especially on a generational level: the stories of sensei in fact, they continue to be appreciated by children, teenagers and adults both thanks to the themes addressed and because of the spontaneous, simple and direct way in which these themes are conveyed to readers and spectators.
During the evening, some crucial aspects of Akira Toriyama’s life and production were explored in depth: his origins and the events that led him to become one of mangaka most famous in Japan (and beyond), as well as one of the greatest sources of inspiration for the entire Japanese and international comics universe; the historical and cultural origins of Dragon Ballwhich draw mainly on the famous Journey to the Westand finally other works by him were commented and shown senseicome Dragon Boy (a sort of “prototype” of Dragon Ball), Dr. Slump & Arale e Wonder Islandas well as video games such as Dragon Quest e Blue Dragon of which Toriyama was character designer. Furthermore, thanks to the in-depth analysis of the artists present, the unmistakable trait and style of the were examined in a technical manner mangaka and some of the most notable similarities and differences between the various characters of the different stories, created at different moments of his artistic production, have been reported.
By Caterina Franciosi