March 11, 2024
And The Winners Are!
The Animation Hall of Fame is proud to announce and congratulate this year's Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Oscar winners for Best Animated Film and Best Animated Short Film. The winner for Best Animated Film was awarded to The Boy and the Heron, which was directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Toshio Suzuki. The winner for Best Animated Short Film was awarded to WAR IS OVER! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko, which was directed by David Mullins and produced by Brad Booker.
Congratulations once again!
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March 2, 2024
Dragon Ball Creator Akira Toriyama has Passed Away!
The Animation Hall Of Fame family is sad to acknowledge the passing of the great Japanese manga pioneer and
Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama. He died on March 1, 2024, he was 68.
Akira Toriyama was born on April 5, 1955 in the town of Kiyosu, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. From an early age Toriyama would always draw pictures mainly of the animals and vehicles that he was fond of. But after seeing and being blown away by Disney's
One Hundred and One Dalmatians in 1961, he was drawn deeper into the world of illustration. Then, while in elementary school, he was shocked again when he saw the manga collection of a classmate's older brother, and additionally when he saw a television set for the first time at a neighbor's house. He would cite Osamu Tezuka's
Astro Boy (1952–1968) as the original source for his interest in manga.
While still in elementary school, Toriyama saw all of his classmates drawing and imitating anime and manga. He followed suit, but began to advance above everyone else when he started drawing pictures of his friends.
Despite being engrossed with manga in elementary school, Toriyama said he took a break from it in middle school, probably because he became more interested in films and TV shows. When asked if he had any formative experiences with
tokusatsu entertainment, Toriyama said he enjoyed the
Ultraman TV show and
Gamera series of
kaiju films.
While in high school Toriyama focused on creative design, but admitted he was more interested in having fun with friends. Although he still did not read much manga, he would draw one himself every once in a while.
Despite his parents' strong opposition, Toriyama was confident about going into the work force upon graduation instead of continuing his education. He worked at an advertising agency in Nagoya designing posters for three years. He adapted to the job quickly, but he was often late because he was not a "morning person" and got reprimanded for dressing casually. Resenting the routine, he became sick of the environment and quit at the age of 23.
Toriyama would finally enter the manga industry by submitting a work to an amateur contest in Kodansha's
Weekly Shōnen Magazine, which he had randomly picked up in a coffee shop. The timing did not line up for that contest, but another manga magazine,
Weekly Shōnen Jump, accepted submissions for their Newcomer Award every month. Kazuhiko Torishima, who would become his editor, read and enjoyed Toriyama's manga, but it was not eligible to compete because it was a parody of
Star Wars instead of an original work. Torishima sent the artist a telegram and encouraged him to keep drawing and sending him manga.
Toriyama began to create an original manga work, which became
Wonder Island. This became his first published work when it appeared in
Weekly Shōnen Jump in 1978, finishing last place in the reader's survey. Though finishing last he persisted and created
Wonder Island 2 (1978), which he was paid for his work. Unfortunately, it was a financial flop, but because of his stubbornness he continued to draw failed stories for a year; claiming around 500 pages' worth, including the published
Today's Highlight Island (1979).
Toriyama learned a lot during this period, while still having fun. When Torishima told him to draw a female lead character, Toriyama hesitantly created 1979's
Tomato the Cutesy Gumshoe, which had some success. Feeling encouraged, he decided to draw another female lead and created
Dr. Slump.
Dr. Slump, which was serialized in
Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1980 to 1984, was a huge success and made Toriyama a household name. In 1981,
Dr. Slump earned Toriyama the Shogakukan Manga Award for best
shōnen or
shōjo manga series of the year. An anime adaptation began airing that same year, during the prime time Wednesday 19:00 slot on Fuji TV.
Shortly after Toriyama founded Bird Studio, which is a play on his name; "tori" (鳥) meaning "bird". He began employing an assistant, mostly to work on backgrounds. Toriyama enjoyed kung fu films, so one of the first project was to create a kung fu
shōnen manga. Also, during this time Toriyama married Yoshimi Katō (加藤由美) on May 2, 1982. She is a former manga artist from Nagoya under the pen name "Nachi Mikami" (みかみなち), and occasionally helped Toriyama and his assistant on
Dr. Slump when they were short on time. They would eventually have two children: a son named Sasuke (佐助) born on March 23, 1987, and a daughter named Kikka born in October 1990.
The success of
Dr. Slump led to the two-part
Dragon Boy, published in the August and October 1983 issues of
Fresh Jump.
Dragon Boy was well-received and would eventually evolve into becoming the serial
Dragon Ball in 1984.
Dragon Ball would go on to be one of the best-selling manga series of all time. It began as an adventure/gag manga but later turned into a martial arts fighting series, considered by many to be the "most influential
shōnen manga". During that next 11 years, he produced 519 chapters that were collected into 42 volumes. Moreover, the success of the manga led to five anime adaptations, several animated films, numerous video games, and mega-merchandise. Aside from its popularity in Japan,
Dragon Ball was successful internationally as well, including Asia, Europe, and the Americas, with 300–350 million copies of the manga sold worldwide. The series sold over 150 million copies in Japan and became one of the best-selling mangas of all time. The series enthralled audiences again when it was adapted into the popular anime series by Toei Animation in the late 1980s, leading him to become one of Japan's most-loved creators.
By the 1990s, the
Dragon Ball and
Dragon Ball Z animated series had spread worldwide, making Toriyama a beloved international success. The
Dragon Ball franchise has continued to delight audiences with its sequels, video games, manga, anime, and novels.
After the
Dragon Ball franchise Toriyama continued drawing manga, predominantly one-shots and short (100–200-page) pieces, including
Cowa! (1997–1998),
Kajika (1998), and
Sand Land (2000). On March 27, 2005, CQ Motors began selling an electric car designed by Toriyama. He worked on a 2006 one-shot called
Cross Epoch, in cooperation with
One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda. Toriyama was the character designer and artist for the 2006 Mistwalker Xbox 360 exclusive RPG
Blue Dragon. In 2008, he collaborated with Masakazu Katsura, his good friend and creator of
I"s and
Zetman, for the
Jump SQ one-shot
Sachie-chan Good!!. Toriyama was engaged by 20th Century Fox as a creative consultant on
Dragonball Evolution, an American live-action film adaptation of
Dragon Ball. He was also credited as an executive producer on the 2009 film, which failed both critically and financially. Avex Trax commissioned Toriyama to draw a portrait of pop singer Ayumi Hamasaki, and it was printed on the CD of her 2009 single "Rule", which was used as the theme song to the film. Toriyama drew a 2009 manga titled
Delicious Island's Mr. U for Anjō' Rural Society Project. As part of
Weekly Shōnen Jump's "Top of the Super Legend" project, a series of six one-shots by famed
Jump artists, Toriyama created
Kintoki for its November 15, 2010, issue. He collaborated with
Weekly Shōnen Jump to create a video to raise awareness and support for those affected by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011.
Then, in 2012,
Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods was announced to be in development, with Toriyama involved in its creation. The film marked the series' first theatrical film in 17 years, and the first time Toriyama had been involved in one as early as the screenwriting stages. The film opened on March 30, 2013.
To celebrate the 45th anniversary of
Weekly Shōnen Jump, Toriyama launched a new manga series in its July 13, 2013, issue titled
Jaco the Galactic Patrolman. The final chapter reveals that the story is set before the events of
Dragon Ball and features some of its characters. It would become the final manga that Toriyama wrote and illustrated himself.
The follow-up film to
Battle of Gods, Resurrection 'F', released on April 18, 2015, features even more contributions from Toriyama, who personally wrote its original script. Toriyama provided the basic story outline and some character designs for
Dragon Ball Super, which began serialization in
V Jump in June 2015 with an anime counterpart following in July.
Although the anime ended in 2018, he continued to provide story ideas for the manga while Toyotarou illustrated it.
Dragon Ball Super: Broly, released in theaters on December 14, 2018, and
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, released on June 11, 2022, continued Toriyama's deep involvement with the films.
In January 2024, a logo Toriyama designed to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his hometown of Kiyosu was unveiled. Toriyama created a new story arc for the 2024 original net animation adaptation of his manga
Sand Land.[63] He also created the story and character designs for the upcoming
Dragon Ball Daima anime series.
Throughout Toriyama's life and career, he had a love of cars and motorcycles, something he inherited from his father who used to race motorbikes and operated an auto repair business for a brief time, although he did not understand the mechanics himself. He was an animal lover, having kept many different species of birds, dogs, cats, fish, lizards, and bugs as pets since childhood. Some were used as models for characters he created such as Karin and Beerus. Toriyama also had a lifelong passion for plastic models as well. He designed several for the Fine Molds brand. He also collected autographs of famous manga artists, having over 30 including Yudetamago and Hisashi Eguchi, a hobby he gave to the character Peasuke Soramame.
In February 2024 Toriyama was diagnosed with a brain tumor and had planned to undergo surgery, which unfortunately was never performed. A few weeks later Toriyama would succumb to an acute subdural hematoma.
All of us at Animation Hall Of Fame send our most sincere regards to the entire Toriyama family. To the great Akira Toriyama, we thank you so very much for your great and inspiring creativity and incredible character and story driven visions, which we will always enjoy.
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