seeing this made me just break down crying. if you'd asked me yesterday what i thought of akira toriyama i would have probably said i respected him immensely, but his work didn't hold a special place in my heart. but realizing that he's gone is just devastating. such an iconic, important artist. the world is worse without him
genuinely about to cry rn
thank you for my childhood and giving me a world safe to escape into after school
What is it with Japanese Mangakas dying a bit younger than they should? Why do assholes like Kissinger get a whole fucking centuries while genuinely good people die relatively young?
Probably due to awful working conditions and hours, with the stress taking its toll
It wouldn't surprise me if the amount of smoking this generation did also has an impact.
There are probably very few working cartoonists and animators who take breaks to move their bodies as regularly as they should. That much sitting wrecks the cardiovascular system. In DPRK garment factories, management runs group dances and exercises throughout the working day to mitigate it
I can only how bad it is for Mangakas, as some of them are known for pulling like 80 hours weeks at minimum. I only hope Araki Sensei is actually a vampire, cause I don't know what I'll do if the newest Jojo part 9 goes unfinished.
It varies tbh, only a couple of Toriyamas contemporaries have died and there are a bunch of foundational 60s mangaka or anime directors still alive pushing 85+ and even doing some work. Go Nagai for example (too horny to die probably) or Tetsuya Chiba (Ashita no Joe). Leiji Matsumoto died last year at 85 as well
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Though sometimes found his stuff problematic (a little sexist and homophobic sometimes), Toriyamas work was a huge part of my childhood. Even though it came out pretty late in my country (late 90s - early 2000s I think?) Dragonball Z was one of the first anime series I ever watched religiously. Me and my friends used to watch together it every day after school.
And then there's Chrono Trigger, which I didn't play until it was released on DS, but I instantly fell in love with the art.
I mean, look at this Frog!
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I really liked his blend of steampunk and Chinese folklore with scifi. There really isn't anything that looks like it.
The rock splitting scene is one of my favourite cutscenes of all time. That theme just goes harddd and the fact that it's a frogdude just makes it that much more wonderous.
Thanks Toryiama. Absolute legend.
Japan in general still has a sexism and homophobia problem. Even huge current pieces (pun intended) like One Piece constantly follow the general trope of women being weak and lgbtqi+ being weird. So Toriyama is kinda just a product of his environment.
certainly true to an extent, i don't think he was ever malicious with his stuff and i think there are many people who are much worse on those fronts. you mentioned one piece, which includes one of the most transphobic plotlines this side of silence of the lamb, and there are plenty of other way more problematic works out there. for contemporaries, zeta gundam was 86 and is real bad about gender, and of course there's a lot of bad stuff about queer people as well
but it's important to remember that anime was seen as much more progressive than western stuff for a lot of people at the time. they had kids shows full of sympathetic queer characters and women who fought in ways the west could only dream of. sailor moon is massive and isn't much later than dragon ball, classic anime like dirty pair included kickass women and trans positivity. that's not to say there wasn't plenty of bad stuff, it's just to say he wasn't simply a product of his time. there were others at the same time doing much better on those fronts, and finding success while they were at it
Truly RIP to one of the greats. His influence on pop culture has been tremendous. It's almost impossible to put into words how unique and important an artist he was.
Oh no! He died?!
Rest in piece, my favorite fly by the seat of his pants, make it up as you go along and forget half of the shit you made yourself, creator
One of my favorite stories is when someone asked him to sign a picture of super saiyan 3 goku and he laughed and said something like
"hey this is a cool design, did you make this yourself?"
Mfer forgot he designed it lmfao
Rip king
blown away by how much I realize that I liked him
it'd be enough if he was just the artist for one hugely important and influential series with a sense of child-like whimsy, but he did dragon ball AND dragon quest
RIP
and chrono trigger! the fact that chrono trigger is only maybe the 3rd most important thing he did is astounding
Kinda taking a bit processing cause he was the same age as my dad.
We’ll miss you Toriyama
Toriyama will always be near and dear to my heart. His work isn't the most sophisticated, but it had a charm to it that only he could ever manage to create, and that resonated with millions across the globe.
Nunca te olvidaremos, Toriyama. Te mereces un respeto infinito. 🫡🇲🇽
This is so sad but he lived a good full life and his work will live forever
Wake Up
Toriyama is dead
I can not take this anymore. The worst part is that I learnt about this on jujutsufolk first.
