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“Dragon Ball Z” billboard at the video game fair in Barcelona: “Dragon Ball is like a miracle”
Photo: SOPA Images / LightRocket / Getty Images
The creator of the manga series “Dragon Ball,” Japanese artist Akira Toriyama, has died at the age of 68, according to his production team.
Toriyama died of a blood clot in the brain on March 1st, it said on Friday in a post on the official "Dragon Ball" profile on the online service X. "We deeply regret that he still had several works in the middle of being written," explained it contains the Bird Studio founded by Toriyama.
»He still had many things to achieve.
But he left this world many manga titles and works of art,” it continued.
»We hope that Akira Toriyama's unique world of creation will be loved by everyone for a long time to come.«
Born in 1955 in Nagoya, central Japan, Toriyama was already known for his manga “Dr Slump” when he created “Dragon Ball” in the early 1980s.
The manga series was first published in the weekly magazine Shonen Jump in 1984.
It tells the story of the boy Son Goku, who collects magical orbs that contain dragons and help him and his allies protect the world from evil.
“Dragon Ball” has been adapted many times for television, cinema and video games and has had sequels such as “Dragon Ball Z”.
“Dragon Ball” products have been sold in over 80 countries around the world.
"We will never forget what a gift Akira Toriyama gave us on earth," wrote one fan on the official "Dragon Ball" website: "I can't imagine a world without 'Dragon Ball'."
Toriyama told the Japanese newspaper Asahi in 2013 that he had “no idea” how “Dragon Ball” became such a big, worldwide hit.
In the interview, the artist described himself as a "difficult" person: "'Dragon Ball' is like a miracle when you consider how it helped someone like me, who has a twisted, difficult personality, to do a decent job and to be accepted by society,” Toriyama said.
Feb/AFP/Reuters