Akira Toriyama
Manga fans mourn the death of “Dragon Ball” creator
Akira Toriyama (1955-2024), here in 1982.
© imago/Kyodo News
Akira Toriyama is dead. The manga author made the genre famous in Germany with “Dragon Ball”. He was 68 years old.
Akira Toriyama is dead. The Japanese manga author and “Dragon Ball” creator died on March 1, 2024 from a subdural hematoma, a hemorrhage between two meninges. The “Dragon Ball” team announced this on its homepage via X (formerly Twitter). Toriyama was 68 years old. He leaves behind a wife and two adult children.
“It is with great regret” that the statement announced that Akira Toriyama was in the middle of working on several works “with great enthusiasm.” It was also expected that he would continue to achieve great things in the future. “We hope that Akira Toriyama’s unique world will be loved by everyone for a long time to come,” the text says. The funeral had already taken place in a small circle.
Akira Toriyama was born on April 5, 1955 on the largest Japanese island, Honshu. Inspired by Disney films, he tried his hand at drawing at an early age. At the end of the 1970s he made his debut as an artist in the successful manga magazine “Weekly Shonen Jump”.
“Dragon Ball”: Second most successful manga of all time
His big breakthrough came in 1984 with “Dragon Ball.” The manga, which is loosely based on the Chinese novel “Journey to the West,” was published in “Weekly Shonen Jump” until 1995. The Adventures of Son Goku sold 152 million copies in Japan alone. After “One Piece,” “Dragon Ball” is the second most successful manga of all time.
The “Dragon Ball” saga also became known in the West in the form of anime series. It is considered to be the most important initial spark for today’s enthusiasm for Japanese pop culture among Western young people. The “Dragon Ball” universe now consists of 18 films, four television series and three television films as well as three films produced directly for home cinema. There are also a number of video games.