Akira Toriyama, Creator of Dragon Ball and Manga Pioneer, Dies at 68

Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball and the artist behind Dragon Quest, Chrono Trigger, and numerous other works, has died. He was 68.

News of Toriyama’s passing was made public by the official Dragon Ball Z X (formerly Twitter) account on March 7. According to the statement, Toriyama died due to an acute subdural hematoma.

Information ; Dear Friends and Partnershttps://t.co/85dXseckzJ pic.twitter.com/aHlx8CGA2M

— DRAGON BALL OFFICIAL (@DB_official_en) March 8, 2024

“It’s our deep regret that he still had several works in the middle of creation with great enthusiasm. Also, he would have many more things to achieve.” Bird Studio and Capsule Corporation Tokyo wrote in the tweet.

“However, he has left many manga titles and works of art to this world. Thanks to the support of so many people round the world, he has been able to continue his creative activities over 45 years. We hope that Akira Toriyama’s unique world of creation continue to be loved by everyone for a long time to come.”

An anime and gaming legend

Toriyama first broke into the manga industry at the age of 23 when he entered an amateur manga creator contest in Kodansha’s Weekly Shōnen Magazine. From there, Toriyama made a name for himself with the serialization of the beloved gag manga Dr. Slump in 1980.

In 1984, Toriyama published the seminal fantasy action comedy shonen battle series Dragon Ball, which would later spawn the immensely popular Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super series. Dragon Ball’s influence later inspired other like Eiichiro Oda, Tite Kubo, and Masashi Kishimoto to create One Piece, Bleach, Naruto, and classics.

Toriyama also played an influential role in gaming history, his art serving as the basis for Dragon Quest — one of the very first console RPGs in Japan. In the mid-90s, Toriyama famously teamed with Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii and Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi to make Chrono Trigger, which is still considered one of the finest games ever made.

The last project Toriyama was reportedly working on was the original character designs for the upcoming Dragon Ball Z spin-off series, Dragon Ball Daima. Its story follows the adventures of a chibi-stylized Goku and Vegeta’s adventures in Dragon Ball’s whimsical world. Sand Land, a game based on another one of Toriyama’s works, is due to release in April.

During an panel at New York Comic Con 2023, Daima executive producer Akio Iyoku told the crowd that Toriyama was “deeply involved beyond his usual capacity” overseeing Daima’s story, character design, and more.

“Additionally, [Toriyama] has planned entirely new episodes for the storyline so please look forward to the start of the series,” Iyoku said.

Dragon Ball Daima is slated to release in the fall of 2024.

Isaiah Colbert is a freelance writer at IGN.