Akira Toriyama: Much more than Dragon Ball

Angelcake · Post by **Angelcake** » Sun May 29, 2005 18:31 -0700

Akira Toriyama has got to be the luckiest man on Earth.

He's the creator of a popular franchise, he's the most famous manga-ka outside of Japan, he gets big fat royalty checks every year.......and he's barely drawn any manga in over 10 years!!!

I love Akira Toriyama. Next to Johji Manabe, CLAMP, and Osamu Tezuka, he's one of my favortie manga-kas

He is, of course, the creator of Dragon Ball. A series that was so popular that he was forced to keep it going for over 11 years!

If, at anytime, you found the series trite and repeptive, trust me, he probably felt the same way while he was drawing it!

He's more than just the creator of DBZ. He also created other works that are just as fun.

Toriyama first became famous in 1980 with his gag manga, Dr. Slump. Offbeat, surreal, and hilarious, its been a favorite of Japanese children for over 20 years.

Most recently, he published his science-fantasy graphic novel, Sand Land. Its the kind of satirical sci-fi worthy of Tezuka's pen.

He's also worked as a character designer for video games. His resume includes: Chrono Trigger, Dragon Quest (or Dragon Warrior), and Tobal No. 1

So, the next time you write off Toriyama as jst the creator of DBZ, remember, he's done alot more.

Much...much more...

Shishio · Post by **Shishio** » Sun May 29, 2005 19:39 -0700

Don't forget Kajika, Cowa!, Neko Majin Z, and the two or three volumes worth of one-shots he did.

Angelcake · Post by **Angelcake** » Mon May 30, 2005 7:43 -0700

I especially like Neko Majin Z.

Quite frankly, anyone who can make fun of their own popularity is not only a genius, but has great control over there own ego.

Space Usagi comes to mind.

Stan Sakai · Post by **Stan Sakai** » Tue May 31, 2005 8:50 -0700

Akira Toriyama's Dr Slump was a favorite of mine. I really enjoyed the early stories. The later ones turned into one long race after another. The same with Dragon Ball which evolved into long fight scenes.

Angelcake · Post by **Angelcake** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 8:30 -0700

You're not alone, Stan.

I can't count the number of times I've read in Viz's Shonen Jump how Toriyama "didn't like the way that Dragon Ball turned out" and how "he was glad when he finished it".

Oh, and in case you're intrested, Dr. Slump is now being published in the states via Viz Media's Shonen Jump label. I got the first volume yesterday. It's hilarious!

ziritrion · Post by **ziritrion** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 15:42 -0700

Stan Sakai wrote:Akira Toriyama's Dr Slump was a favorite of mine. I really enjoyed the early stories.

I'm pretty sure that the crows in UY are inspired by those of Dr. Slump, am I wrong? They only need to say "baaaaaka!" right before a huge cloud of dust appears from behind the mountains towards Usagi...

bye-cha!

Ma-Ku · Post by **Ma-Ku** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 17:45 -0700

The fight scenes were rather lengthy in DBZ, its perhaps the longest running series I know, i dont know how many eps there are in total if you exclude DB and DB-GT.

Same with Naruto, the character story and depth is great - except almost every character is fighting for some reason or other, I got the impression that if anyone gets pissed off or something bad happens they seem to go on bit of a rampage, seen it happen several times in anime and manga.

What would the conserquences be if one supervillian puts their shirt on inside out? Oh the horror!

Dr.Slump is a lengthy series, i've read up on some of it and it sounds amusing, i may look for it online, it should be around somewhere. That or i'll look for one of the 10 movies made.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/
This site is great for looking up anime/manga old and new. Shame I cant seem to find the very 1st anime film i saw as a kid from that site, maybe i remembered the name wrong as it doesnt seem to exist.

Shishio · Post by **Shishio** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 21:28 -0700

I hated Naruto at first, then I really got into it, but eventually it got boring, repetitive, and stupid.

Basilisk by Segawa Masaki (Based on the novels by Yamada Fuutaro.) is a REAL ninja manga.

Oh, and it's short - only five volumes long.

Ma-Ku · Post by **Ma-Ku** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 18:54 -0700

Naruto takes forever to get to the point and flashbacks occure far too frequently.

In the early eps the company who makes Naruto has little cash so the animation was simple and the first 5 mins of the show was the ending of the ep before that, with too many flashbacks.
Then the show became popular so they got more fundings, the animation has gotten better and flashbacks less frequent.

Have you seen the fight of Naruto and Sasuke? The animation is awsome! Very realistic. I fail to see why a couple of people didn't like it.

Shishio · Post by **Shishio** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 21:24 -0700

I have only watched the first four episodes of the anime, I think.

I read the manga. I much prefer manga to anime. (Most of the time, anyway.)

Angelcake · Post by **Angelcake** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 22:19 -0700

I've just begun buying the original manga that Dragon Ball was based on.

Believe it or not, I find the manga versions of DragonBall and Dragon BAll Z far more enternating thatn the anime.