Akira Toriyama is one of the most influential people to have ever lived

Goku’s departure after the Perfect Cell arc was Toriyama’s attempt to step away and put Dragon Ball behind him after years of effort, but he kept getting pulled back. The twists and turns of the story, and the characters he introduces, are directly influenced by the point in his life he’s at, his editor’s whims, and his own frustrations. An ongoing manga delivered on a weekly schedule is a story, sure, but over the course of years, it becomes a visual diary, a tapestry of emotions and points in time, immortalized. I cannot help but look at Dragon Ball and the life of Akira Toriyama as inextricably linked.

I remember the disappointment I felt when watching the live-action Dragon Ball Evolution, and Toriyama felt it too, immediately setting to work on a true Dragon Ball movie: Battle of Gods. Even after writing the brief he wanted to step back from production, but couldn’t help “correcting” the proposed designs from the movie staff. Every time Toriyama tried to keep his distance, he couldn’t help but get drawn back in.

It’s the same for me. Ever since that adulthood rewatch of the series I’ve felt the characters resonate with me more than ever, and the DNA of Dragon Ball is so clear to see in every shonen manga since. Anime and manga have exploded in popularity over the last 20 years, and Dragon Ball has a huge part to play in that, along with the impact of the internet. So it’s no surprise that I haven’t been able to pull myself away: I had to watch Battle of Gods, and Resurrection of F, and I was in throughout the Super anime – yes, I’m even up to date with Toyotarou’s Dragon Ball Super manga.

Part of me wants to step back and say a bunch of dudes screaming to power up with increasingly large hair is silly. But another, far more powerful, part of me screamed with delight when Beast Gohan unleashed the Makankosappo at Cell Max’s head.

Toriyama is almost singlehandedly the reason I was such a little weeb during my school days – with Dragon Ball being the reason I picked up Yu-Gi-Oh, Gundam, Bleach, and many more – but more importantly, that impact has carried over to who I am today, whether that’s the taste I have in games, animation, and manga, or the articles I write, or the friends I’ve made who were sharing their own love and admiration today. Akira Toriyama did more than just create Dragon Ball, or a genre – he indirectly changed the trajectory of lives.

Akira Toriyama really did create more than just Dragon Ball, though. After his first manga – Dr. Slump and its star Arale – was a huge success, Toriyama was enlisted as the character designer for the Dragon Quest series (with the full story available on Forbes). Despite Toriyama’s hugely successful legacy of Dragon Ball video games, Dragon Quest’s critical acclaim might be the crown jewel of Toriyama’s influence in the gaming world. Every Dragon Quest game since has continued to evoke Toriyama’s original designs, and he also led the visual design of games like Chrono Trigger, Tobal, and Blue Dragon.

Toriyama influenced my life and millions of others through the Dragon Ball anime series, allowing me to chat and debate with people I might’ve never spoken to otherwise, but he influenced countless more through art in video games, manga, movies, and more – yes, I’m saying Dragon Ball Evolution influenced someone out there, somehow.

This is just a small part of my history with Dragon Ball, but artists and fellow mangaka are already paying tribute, including One Piece’s Eiichiro Oda (as translated by Twitter’s AitaiKimochi). Toriyama didn’t just influence a generation of people, he influenced a generation of art and artists to create, and his influence seeps into more stories and artworks than you could comprehend. Imagine my small story, multiplied across millions of people around the globe from all countries and cultures, and it still doesn’t do enough to explain the influence of Akira Toriyama.

Bird Studio announced that Akira Toriyama passed away on March 1, 2023, of acute subdural hematoma. He was age 68. There will probably never be another artist as influential as him.