My introduction to the work of Akira Toriyama came in the form of Dragon Ball Z, specifically the Cell Saga, when I was visiting my cousins in Denver. We didn’t have cable at home, and so Cartoon Network was a rare enough treat, but the Toonami block was extra special. From Steve Blum voicing the host, Tom, to Kyle Hebert’s narration, I was almost immediately hooked. I had seen some depictions of the characters before (on pogs, of all things), but I had no idea who they were, or why one guy had black hair in one picture but blonde hair in another until my cousins showed me their new favorite show.
I was hooked almost immediately, and started learning everything I could about the characters. I watched every episode that aired during that visit. We played Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout on the PS1. We started to collect and play the Dragon Ball Z card game (my first starter decks were Cell Saga Gohan and Cell Saga Android 18). We played with the array of action figures they’d gotten from KB Toys. They started recording the show on VHS for me so that I could borrow the tapes from them when I wasn’t in Denver. We started a long-running game where we played as our favorite characters (I was Trunks, the time-traveling, sword-wielding badass in a cool jacket) and pretended to fight on their trampoline.
Over the next few years, I would expand my anime and manga horizons to new series by creators who talked about how much they were influenced by Dragon Ball as kids. I got to meet voice actors at conventions who launched their careers working on the dubs of DBZ (some Ocean Group, some Funimation). My earliest forays into manga-style drawing were fanart pieces of Dragon Ball characters. I sought out Toriyama’s non-Dragon Ball works as well, like Sandland (a brilliant single volume story). I started to recognize his hand in things like the Dragon Quest series and Chrono Trigger.
I found out in the middle of my workout last night that Toriyama-san had died. I regret that I never had the opportunity to meet him, but he was never one for public life. Regardless, I’m beyond grateful for his work, and for the impact that he had on the industry. He will be sorely missed.
The Swords of the Ancients 