Death of “Dragon Ball” Author
The Japanese publishing house Shueisha announced today, Friday, the death of Akira Toriyama, the author of Japanese comic books, known for famous works such as Dragon Ball and Doctor Slump, at the age of 68 due to a severe cerebral hemorrhage on March 1.
According to the French Press Agency, Akira Toriyama, born in 1955 in Nagoya (central Japan), is known for the manga “Dragon Ball”, which he created in 1984 and tells the life and adventures of martial arts prodigy Son Goku since his childhood. Toriyama drew inspiration from the 16th-century Chinese novel “Journey to the West”.
More than 260 million copies of these comic books have been sold worldwide, according to the specialized website MangaZenkai, and they have been adapted into several television series, movies, and video games, as well as sequels such as “Dragon Ball Z” and “Dragon Ball Super”.
Toriyama also created other manga series, including “Doctor Slump”, which was published between 1980 and 1984 in the weekly magazine “Shonen Jump”, revolving around an android in the form of a little girl endowed with immense power created by a scientist.
The manga artist won the special award at the 40th Angoulême International Comics Festival in 2013 for his overall work.
Toriyama also created characters for several video games such as the “Dragon Quest” series or “Chrono Trigger” in the 1990s.
