Okay, I’m not quite as buzzed this week; still productive, but not manic, so let’s actually talk about something this time.
I mentioned a couple weeks back about how I’d been watching some documentaries about comic books, specifically some of the creators widely regarded as the greats; some stuff I already knew, other bits were revelatory to learn, and all of it was majorly inspiring. I knew that Jack “The King” Kirby was a creative machine who could churn out a mountain of content, but I had no idea it was because he worked anywhere up to 16 hours a day; his creativity just couldn’t be stopped. I knew of Todd McFarlane’s decision to found Image Comics with several of his ex-Marvel colleagues in the name of creative freedom and intellectual property rights, but was blown away by just how fervently he believes in carving out a niche for oneself when the existing infrastructure doesn’t work the way you want. I learned, and was inspired by all these and more, but this morning, the news of another comic legend’s passing overshadows them all.
It was announced today that one week ago, respected manga creator Akira Toriyama passed away from an acute subdural hematoma, at the age of 68. Primarily a comedic creator, Toriyama was most well known for his distinctive art style that captured the hearts of a generation in the video games Dragon Quest and Chrono Trigger, and the powerhouse manga/anime series Dragon Ball and its sequels. To say that Dragon Ball Z was an influence on my childhood would be an understatement; the latest episode appearing on TV would be the highlight of my weekday afternoon, a microcosm of levity at the end of a long school day. The characters were well defined, fantastically detailed and unique in their presentation, and were outspoken in their message of becoming stronger to protect the ones they loved. Everyone in my school wanted to be Son Goku; the show was the ultimate unifier amongst nerds and jocks, preps and bullies, because there was no way you could bash someone for liking Dragon Ball Z.
Toriyama had a reputation for being a “pantser” when it came to writing; he rarely, if ever, plotted out a full storyline in advance, preferring to throw characters into a situation and let them just keep going until they hit the few beats he had in mind. He also had a whimsy when it came to character design; characters could be anthropomorphic animals, hideous monsters, or sometimes just a dude with three eyes, and none of this was ever regarded as particularly odd in the world that he had created; it was just widely accepted that his worldbuilding ran on two rules: Weird and Cool, and Weird more often than not overrode Cool. Reportedly, this drove his editors nuts; they would instruct Toriyama towards certain character designs and plotlines, and he would turn around and just do whatever he thought would be fun instead (e.g. the God of Destruction Beerus was designed both visually and personality-wise on his own Cornish Rex cat, instead of the lizard-like beast design that had been lined up). Rather infamously, Toriyama had a tendency to forget a lot of his established lore, because he often didn’t think beyond what the next chapter would be; he took the resulting inconsistencies and rolled with them, so any continuity snarls that arose would just become terrifying new twist characters that broke the rules and were all the more popular for it. Despite it all, his storylines always found their way back to themselves, tying up loose ends and bringing the tale full circle; he was a true master of discovery writing.
Still writing and drawing up to the day he died, Akira Toriyama will be forever remembered as a creative mind and whimsical soul, and his work as a tour de force in the manga industry, instrumental as a forerunner in bringing the medium into the western public eye. Without Dragon Ball Z inflating the anime boom of the 90s, there’s no telling how different the landscape of comics, cartoons and social consciousness in general would look on a world-wide scale; it influenced a whole new generation of creators across the globe and is one of the defining stars of the shōnen genre to this day. On a more personal level, if not for Akira Toriyama, my childhood would have been a little less colourful, and a lot more boring; because of his work, I made new friends, I was inspired to create, and I can’t imagine how I would have turned out without it.
Thank you for the memories, Toriyama-sensei.
R.I.P.
