Toriyama, Akira (1955-2024), was a Japanese manga artist and writer best known as the creator of the “Dragon Ball” series. Manga are Japanese comics. Toriyama became known as one of the most famous and influential manga artists of all time. He worked on dozens of manga projects, supervised several anime (Japanese animation) series based on “Dragon Ball,” and served as a character designer for electronic games. 
Toriyama was born on April 5, 1955, in Nagoya, Japan. He became interested in drawing at an early age. After a brief job as a graphic designer, Toriyama committed himself entirely to drawing manga. His first published work was a short story called “Wonder Island” (1978) in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Toriyama found success with his first manga series, “Dr. Slump” (1980-1984), a comedy about a robot girl and her inventor father. “Dr. Slump” was collected into 18 volumes of manga and made into an anime series that ran from 1981 to 1986.
In 1984, Toriyama began working on “Dragon Ball,” a martial arts-themed manga series for Weekly Shonen Jump. The story starred Son Goku, a young boy with a monkey tail who trains to be a great martial artist. Goku goes on a quest to collect seven mysterious orbs known as the Dragon Balls. The series follows Goku as he grows into an adult, becoming ever stronger and facing tougher battles. “Dragon Ball” became a huge international success, especially as Goku grew up and the action became more intense. “Dragon Ball” ended in 1995 and was compiled into 42 volumes of manga. “Dragon Ball” spawned several of the most successful anime series of all time, including “Dragon Ball” (1986-1989), “Dragon Ball Z” (1989-1996), “Dragon Ball GT” (1996-1997), and “Dragon Ball Super” (2015-2018).
Toriyama created many short manga as well. They include “Cowa!” (1997-1998), “Sand Land” (2000), and “Jaco the Galactic Patrolman” (2013).
Toriyama served as a character designer for many video games. His work for the role-playing game Dragon Quest (1986) created the signature look of that game and its sequels and spin-offs. He also designed characters for the role-playing games Chrono Trigger (1995) and Blue Dragon (2006). Toriyama died on March 1, 2024.
