Akira Toriyama, the creator of Japan’s popular “Dragon Ball” comics and anime cartoons, has passed away at the age of 68, as announced by his production team on Friday.
“Dragon Ball,” first serialized in 1984, stands as one of the highest-selling manga franchises in history, giving rise to numerous anime series, movies, and video games.
Toriyama died on March 1 because of a blood clot on the brain, a statement posted to the official “Dragon Ball” account on X, formerly Twitter, said.
It’s our deep regret that he still had several works in the middle of creation,” said the statement attributed to Toriyama’s Bird Studio, which praised the artist’s “great enthusiasm”.
“He would have many more things to achieve. However, he has left many manga titles and works of art to this world,” the statement added.
“We hope that Akira Toriyama’s unique world of creation continues to be loved by everyone for a long time to come.”
“Dragon Ball” features a boy named Son Goku who collects magical balls containing dragons to help him and his allies in a fight to protect the Earth from evil enemies.
Toriyama was already famous for his comedy manga “Dr Slump” in the early 1980s when he created “Dragon Ball”, which he said was inspired by Chinese-style kung fu movies.
The 1990s brought the beloved cartoon “Dragon Ball Z”, and Toriyama was also part of the design team for the massively successful “Dragon Quest” games.
