Manga and anime fans –and even JRPG fans– will no doubt be familiar with the name Akira Toriyama.
The manga creator was best known for creating the landmark series Dragon Ball, and went on to work on Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Super, and Sand Land, just to name a few. He was also involved with Square Enix’s Dragon Quest series as the main artist alongside other big names in the industry like Koichi Sugiyama and Yuji Horii.
Today, the official Dragon Ball Twitter/X account put out an announcement informing fans that Toriyama has passed away at the age of 68. The letter reads as follows, and has been lightly edited for clarity:
“We are deeply saddened to inform you that manga creator Akira Toriyama passed away on March 1st due to acute subdural hematoma. He was 68. It’s our deep regret that he still had several works in the middle of creation with great enthusiasm. Also, he would have had many more things to achieve.
However, he has left many manga titles and works of art to this world. Thanks to the support of so many people around the world, he has been able to continue his creative activities for over 45 years. We hope that Akira Toriyama’s unique world of creation continues to be loved by everyone for a long time to come.
Funeral service was held with his family and very few relatives. Following his wishes for tranquility, we respectfully inform you that we would not accept flowers, condolences gifts, visiting, offerings and others. Also, we ask you to refrain from conducting interviews with his family.
Future plans for a commemorative gathering have not been decided, we will let you know when it’s confirmed. We deeply thank you for your understanding and support as always.”
Toriyama created the Dragon Ball series back in 1984, and is set to be inspired by the classic Chinese tale Journey to the West. Aside from introducing now iconic characters like Goku and Vegeta, the series was also known for shining a spotlight on various types of martial arts including Wing Chun and karate.
The series has since become a cultural mainstay in the pop culture zeitgeist, constantly spawning new spin-off series and video games, and it continues to hold a very large and strong fan base to this day.
One of his later works, Sand Land, which was published in 2000, was also very well-received and quickly got greenlit for a video game adaptation, set to release later this year.
