Origins & Early Life

Akira Toriyama (Japanese: 鳥山明, Hepburn: Toriyama Akira; April 5, 1955 – March 1, 2024) was a Japanese manga artist and character designer. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential authors in the history of manga and created numerous highly influential and popular series, with his most famous and successful project being the Dragon Ball franchise. Toriyama first achieved mainstream recognition for creating the manga series Dr. Slump, which was serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

He earned the 1981 Shogakukan Manga Award for best shōnen series. Dr. Slump went on to sell over 35 million copies in Japan. It was adapted into an anime, with a second series created in 1997, 13 years after the manga ended. Toriyama wrote and illustrated the Dragon Ball manga from 1984 to 1995.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

It became one of the best-selling manga series of all time, with 260 million copies sold worldwide, and is considered a key work in increasing manga circulation to its peak in the mid-1980s and mid-1990s. Overseas, Dragon Ball's anime adaptations have been credited with boosting anime's international popularity. Beside his manga works, Toriyama acted as a character designer for numerous...

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