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Akira Toriyama, one of Japan\u2019s leading comics authors who created the manga and anime franchise \u201cDragon Ball,\u201d which achieved worldwide success with its mix of comedic characters and rousing martial arts battles, died on March 1. He was 68.<\/p>\n
His death was confirmed on Friday in a statement<\/a> by his manga and design production company, Bird Studio, and Capsule Corporation Tokyo, which said that the cause was acute subdural hematoma, when blood collects between the skull and brain. It did not specify where he died.<\/p>\n Mr. Toriyama\u2019s body of work, which also includes \u201cDr. Slump,\u201d and \u201cSand Land,\u201d is recognizable far beyond Japan\u2019s borders, influencing generations of manga artists and cartoonists. He had several projects in the works at the time of his death, the studio said.<\/p>\n His best-known work, \u201cDragon Ball,\u201d follows a young boy named Son Goku embarking on a journey to collect the seven magical orbs that summon a wish-granting dragon. Since its creation in the 1980s, it has spanned 42 volumes, sold millions of copies worldwide and become one of the most famous manga, inspiring television, film<\/a> and video game adaptations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Throughout his career, Mr. Toriyama did not care if his work did anything besides entertaining its readers, he said in a 2013 interview<\/a> with The Asahi Shimbun, suggesting he was unlike \u201cother manga artists concerned about conveying didactic messages.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe role of my manga,\u201d he said, \u201cis to be a work of entertainment through and through.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Toriyama was born on April 5, 1955, in Kiyosu, Japan, according to local news media<\/a>. He studied design at a technology and engineering high school in Aichi Prefecture. After graduating, he worked as a designer for an advertising company in Nagoya.<\/p>\n He left his job after a few years and started drawing manga at 23, according to the local news media. His first manga, an action and adventure comic called \u201cWonder Island,\u201d was published in 1978.<\/p>\n He gained popularity with the serialization of \u201cDr. Slump\u201d from 1980 to 1984, a sci-fi manga about an android girl known for her childlike personality and superhuman strength. It was adapted for the television as an anime series.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mr. Toriyama\u2019s absurd concepts and sense of caricature \u201csparked a real joyful hysteria\u201d in Japan, Matthieu Pinon and Laurent Lefebvre wrote in their 2023 book, \u201cA History of Modern Manga.\u201d<\/p>\n In 1982, Mr. Toriyama married a former manga artist who published under the pen name Nachi Mikami, Mainichi Shimbun<\/a> reported. Besides his wife, he is survived by his children, according to the local news media.<\/p>\n When \u201cDragon Ball\u201d was first published in 1984, it was an immediate hit, becoming one of the best-selling manga series of all time. The adventure story sold more than 260 million copies worldwide, according to the studio that produced the anime adaptation, Toei Animation<\/a>.<\/p>\n The manga was serialized in the Japanese magazine Weekly Shonen Jump until 1995. In the year after the series ended, the magazine lost about one million of its six million readers, according to \u201cA History of Modern Manga.\u201d The story lived on through anime, such as \u201cDragon Ball Z,\u201d and video games, including the \u201cDragon Quest<\/a>\u201d series for which Mr. Toriyama designed the characters.<\/p>\n After \u201cDragon Ball,\u201d Mr. Toriyama wrote single-volume manga, including \u201cCowa!,\u201d \u201cKajika,\u201d and \u201cJaco the Galactic Patrolman.\u201d \u201cSand Land,\u201d published in 2000, was adapted into a movie in 2023. Its anime version is expected to be released in the spring<\/a> on Disney+, along with a video game.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n