Last week, it was revealed to the world that Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragon Ball, passed away on March 1st, 2024. It is truly hard to imagine a world without his legendary influence. From designing Dragon Quest’s now-iconic Slime from Yuji Horii’s rough sketch of a pile of goo to the stellar character designs in Chrono Trigger to the millions of young kids (including my young self) over the years who were convinced they could perform a Kamehameha or turn into a Super Saiyan if they concentrated hard enough or yelled loud enough. Akira Toriyama’s work over the last four decades on projects like Dr. Slump, Dragon Ball, Dragon Quest, Chrono Trigger, and more has influenced an innumerable number of other creators and everyday people.
Dragon Ball was the touchstone for so many of us who grew up loving manga and anime. The caliber of creative genius it took to tell that story and to design its visual elements and have it resonate with so many people across the globe decade after decade is something that may not be seen again in our lifetime, certainly not to the degree that Dragon Ball did. Kids grew up wanting to be Goku, at first probably because he was cool and strong, but living with Goku as an example also taught us the value of pushing yourself just a little farther every day.
Goku’s entire journey throughout Dragon Ball was a journey of self-betterment, and Dragon Ball’s fans learned from that. People joke about how one of Dragon Ball’s flaws is that there’s always a stronger opponent so the fighting is never over, but isn’t that the point? Goku and his pals always had a reason to get better, to get stronger, and they kept doing it. No challenge was so big that hard work, dedication, and team work couldn’t overcome it. Dragon Ball put an entire generation of nerds into the gym, yes, but even beyond that, generation after generation of Dragon Ball fans were inspired to keep working hard enough to get better at whatever they were doing. Whether it was inspiring actors, rappers, professional athletes, or even just other mangaka, Dragon Ball’s inspirations can be felt and seen worldwide, in almost every industry.
In the world of video games,Toriyama’s influence is felt across multiple generations. For example, you can clearly see his influence in Ken Suigimori’s early Pokémon illustrations, Cloud Strife’s design in Final Fantasy VII is evocative of Gohan’s design from Dragon Ball’s Cell Games arc, and Sonic the Hedgehog’s iconic Super Sonic transformation wouldn’t exist without Dragon Ball. Even beyond Dragonm Ball though, there are the monumentally influential games that Akira Toriyama actually worked on.
Toriyama helped design arguably the most influential RPG series of all-time with Dragon Quest. His cartoonish, yet technical character and monster designs for this series were truly inspired and utterly unique, once again inspiring the work of countless creators who came after him. Dragon Quest wasn’t the only RPG with designs by Akira Toriyama, either, as he also worked on designing the entire visual look for 1995’s Chrono Trigger, a game widely regarded as one of the best of all-time, whose influences are still heavily felt in RPGs to this day.
On a personal note, Akira Toriyama changed my life, there’s no other way to put it. There is absolutely no chance that I would have become who I am today without the influence of his works. Largely because of Dragon Ball, yes, but also because of how his artistic influence of his entire body of work is directly responsible for so many other things I love. The RPGs I love today wouldn’t exist in the same way without Akira Toriyama and I know the anime and manga I grew up on and continue to discover and enjoy wouldn’t be the same without his influence.
These and countless other impacts Akira Toriyama had on the world kindled my young imagination, and millions of other young imaginations like mine, and will continue to do so for the rest of time. The world is a better place because of Akira Toriyama and the stories he told, but it is a far worse place now that he is no longer here to continue to tell them.
Rest in peace, and thank you for everything.
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Written by Jaxson Tapp
As a lover of gaming and the written word, Jaxson currently fills his time not only with playing games, but also writing about them. Ready for anything, Jaxson’s passion for puzzle games, JRPGs, tough platformers, and whimsical indies helps him bring a well-rounded opinion to Nintendo Wire’s reporting.
