Akira Toriyama

Artist

1955-04-05 – 2024-03-01

Akira Toriyama was a Japanese manga artist and character designer best known for creating Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump. His work became globally influential in manga, anime, and game design. He remained one of the most commercially successful manga creators of his era.

Books by Akira Toriyama

Akira Toriyama’s Manga Theater
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Dragon Ball Z
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Dragon Ball
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Quotes by Akira Toriyama

I wanted to change up the tempo and setting of my comics in the sense of giving them some variety, for one thing. So where, for 'Slump,' the art was very America-esque, in the case of 'Dragon Ball,' I made it as Chinese as could be.
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With things like 'Dragon Ball,' in the case of fight scenes, I'd take the panel layout across two pages when the book is opened and alter it by angling them, and making them bigger or smaller, to give movement to the panels themselves.
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When I look at it, I don't really like people, and socializing is really awful. Outside of my family, friends, and those connected to my job, I don't think I actively want to meet anyone. I've always lived in the country, after all.
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There's how, basically, Son Goku from 'Dragon Ball' doesn't fight for the sake of others but because he wants to fight against strong guys. So once 'Dragon Ball' got animated, at any rate, I've always been dissatisfied with the 'righteous hero'-type portrayal they gave him.
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If you're doing gags, I think it's important to have characters who are as strong-willed and impactful as possible.
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The women I draw all have the same sort of personality. I can't draw gentle girls; I only know how to draw ones who are strong-willed.
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I'd want to be born once more as myself, but more talented.
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Since I'm a contrarian, I don't want to go along with what everyone else thinks.
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If I had moved to Tokyo, I might even have become a completely different person... although, ever since the start, I've never wanted to move to Tokyo. I just can't handle there being so many people.
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Maybe I'm just like a child. I'm full of curiosity about things, and it's fine as long as it's fun at that time, yet at the same time, I hate things that are tough.
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I'm always going to the toy store; I even have a room full of plastic models.
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If you want to depict something exactly the way it is, it takes a tremendous amount of time. If you don't get the details right, the inaccuracies will accumulate somewhere.
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Basically with everything, I choose my criteria based on what can be easy. If I made the real world the setting, I'd have to draw looking at reference materials for stuff like buildings and vehicles. When you do that, people complain even if it's just a little bit off.
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It's too bad that 'Dragon Ball,' which I drew for a very long time, has ended. Just kidding. I'm incredibly glad. Now I can just leisurely sit around!
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I think comics are faster to draw with a pen and then fill and tone by computer. But my illustrations are all done via computer. I even draw the lines on a tablet.
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When I'm out and about, it's rare for me to be recognized. But for some reason, every now and then, someone will know who I am. It might be because my picture occasionally appeared in 'Weekly Jump.'
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Weekly, monthly, or whatever, I'm just not good with being told I have to finish up according to a set schedule.
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I'm personally not terribly interested in designing wholesome characters, so I don't have many variations to offer.
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