Japanese manga artist Akira Toriyama, who created the beloved Dragon Ball franchise, passed away on 1 March at the age of 68. The Dragon Ball official website announced the news on 8 March, revealing that he died due to acute subdural hematoma, a type of brain injury.
A funeral service was held with Toriyama’s family and relatives. The dates for his official farewell have not been announced.
A working artist since 1978, Toriyama created the sci-fi comedy anime series Dr. Slump (1980-1984) and the now highly popular series Dragon Ball (1984-1995). Since it began serialisation in the comic magazine Weekly Shonen Jump in Japan in 1984, Dragon Ball has branched out into various media, including anime and games, as well as spawned a plethora of merchandise, and continues to have new works produced. The IP has five anime titles – Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, Dragon Ball Z Kai and Dragon Ball Super. It can be called a global phenomenon which is enjoyed till this day. Toriyama has worked on the IP’s video games as well.
In India, Dragon Ball Z Kai airs on Cartoon Network in five languages including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.
The franchise’s website expressed its regret at Toriyama’s death stating, “he still had several works in the middle of creation with great enthusiasm” and that “he would have many more things to achieve.” The website expressed its gratitude to fans of his work saying that its because of them that Toriyama was able to continue his creative activities for more than 45 years. “We hope that Akira Toriyama’s unique world of creation continues to be loved by everyone for a long time to come,” it said.
Here’s how fans shared their condolences and expressed their love for the artist on Twitter: