Akira Toriyama

Akira Toriyama is a renowned Japanese manga artist and character designer. He gained recognition with his successful manga series, Dr. Slump, and went on to create the widely popular Dragon Ball. Toriyama’s influence on manga is significant, with many artists citing Dragon Ball as a source of inspiration. He received the 1981 Shogakukan Manga Award for Dr. Slump, which sold over 35 million copies in Japan.

Dragon Ball became a global phenomenon, selling 300 million copies worldwide and contributing to the peak popularity of manga in the mid-1980s to mid-1990s. Toriyama also designed characters for popular video games such as the Dragon Quest series, Chrono Trigger, and Blue Dragon. In 2019, he was honored as a Chevalier of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for his artistic contributions.

Toriyama’s passion for drawing began in his childhood, influenced by movies, TV shows, and manga like Astro Boy. He attended a high school focused on creative design but was more interested in having fun with friends. Despite his parents’ objections, Toriyama chose to enter the workforce and worked at an advertising agency in Nagoya before eventually pursuing his artistic career.