Akira Toriyama Passed Away at 68

The whole world was shocked to hear that Akira Toriyama, the man who created such classics as Dr. Slump, Sand Land, and the Dragon Ball series has passed away at the age of 68.

It was reported by his production company Bird Studio that he passed away on March 1 of an acute subdural hematoma. In case you don’t know what is an acute subdural hematoma, click on the link here and you’ll get a good idea of what is it.

Toriyama’s first works, Wonder Island and Wonder Island 2 were both flops until he got some success with Tomato the Cutesy Gumshoe, and that encouraged him to create Dr. Slump one of the most iconic creations he made, the small super strong robot Arale. The series would run on Weekly Shonen Jump from 1980 to 1984 and during the near end of its run Toriyama would go on to create one of the greatest manga and anime series of all time with the release of Dragon Ball in 1984 with turns 40 this year. The series ran from 1984 to 1995 and is considered one of the most influential Shonen manga of all time. Also, a fun fact both Dr. Slump and Dragon Ball had three crossovers, one in Dragon Ball the other in the New Dr. Slump and lastly in Dragon Ball Super.

Besides manga, he also worked as the main artist for the role-playing game series Dragon Quest, which is considered more popular than the final fantasy series in Japan. Not only that, but he also worked on what many said is the greatest RPG of all time and that game is Chrono Trigger. He also did artwork for Tobal No. 1 and its sequel Tobal No. 2.

His influence was that none like no other. In 2019 he was a recipient of a Chevalier(Knight) medallion from the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, which is French for Order of Arts and Letters from the Minister of Culture of France. His work has transcended pop culture, music, and even sports.

While he may be gone, we will always have him in our hearts. From all of us here on this ship, we want to say this and this alone, Thank You Toriyama Sensei.