"Dragon Ball" creator Akira Toriyama has died
Akira Toriyama has died at the age of 68. The mangaka was best known for "Dragon Ball".
In a statement, Bird Studio announced that Akira Toriyama died of a brain haemorrhage on 1 March. His studio writes among other things:
We deeply regret that he will no longer be able to complete the employees he was working on with great enthusiasm.
Toriyama was active as a mangaka for over 45 years. Among his works, "Dragon Ball" stands out. However, he became known in Japan as early as 1980 with "Dr Slump". He was also responsible for the character design of the "Dragon Quest" video games. "Sand Land", another game whose character design is based on the artist's pen, will be released on 24 April.
In addition to various fans on social media, well-known mangakas are also bidding farewell to Toriyama. "One Piece" creator Eiichiro Oda, for example, writes that Toriyama has left us too soon and leaves a huge gap:
[Toriyama] was one of the founders of an era when both adults and children could read and enjoy manga, at a time when reading manga was not considered educational. He made us dream of what manga could achieve and showed that we could even expand our field to the world.
"Naruto" creator Masashi Kishimoto also mourns:
From big data to big brother, Cyborgs to Sci-Fi. All aspects of technology and society fascinate me.
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