Mini-profile of Akira Toriyama:
Akira Toriyama started his drawing career in elementry school when he found how much it pleased him when he drew a horse perfectly. As a child, he watched anime shows such as Tetsuwan Aton, Tetsujin 28, A-Mon and Osamatsu-kun. He even got a prize in his neighborhood art school for a drawing of the 101 Dalmations.
His works include the character designs for games like Chrono Trigger and Tobol 2, and his manga includes Dr. Slump, Dragon Quest, Dragon Boy, and of course, Dragon Ball. For Dragon Ball, he wanted to do a Chinese story, so he based it on The Monkey King, a very well known Chinese tale. (Also called The Journey West)Toriyama also was very interested in Jackie Chan, so his editor, Torishima, suggested that he make his new manga about martial arts.
Dragon Ball was such a hit that his past success manga, Dr. Slump, was nearly forgotten. Dragon Ball was shown in Shonen Jump from 1984-1995. Shonen Jump sells about 4-6 million copies per week. Dragon Ball has been shown in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan, Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, Greece, Mexico, Brazil and the Philippines. Dragon Ball related items have made around 3 billion dollars so far.
Toriyama doesn't like giving names to his attacks, but his editor told him he should. Mrs. Toriyama helped to come up with the name kamehameha. When he draws a character, he thinks up the personality first, then starts drawing the eyes, body and clothes. His own observations are used in land and cityscapes. He is sure to be remembered by manga and anime fans for a long time!
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