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Akira Toriyama

Japanese manga artist and character designer (1955-2024)

  • Fame62.7
  • Momentum3.3
  • Artists rank#134
Source-basedStable
  • Fame62.7
  • Momentum3.3
  • Artists rank#134
  • Wikipedia106.5K
Lived 1955–2024, aged 69Japan
JapanJapanArtistsArtist
  • Wikipedia
    67 languages
    Cross-language footprint
  • Era
    1955–2024
    Aged 69
  • Known for
    Dragon Ball Super: Sup…
    2022
Summary
Updated 2026-08-27

He drew the spiky-haired kid who became the template for shōnen manga worldwide. Dragon Ball moved 260 million copies and helped carry anime past Japan's borders—proof that a fight scene and a power-up could translate anywhere.

Biography

About

Toriyama broke through in 1980 with Dr. Slump, a comedy series that earned him the Shogakukan Manga Award and sold over 35 million copies in Japan. Four years later he began Dragon Ball in Weekly Shōnen Jump, serializing it until 1995 and watching it become one of the best-selling manga of all time—a driver of the medium's circulation peak in the mid-80s and mid-90s. He also designed characters for video games, notably Square Enix's Dragon Quest series and Chrono Trigger. France named him a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2019. He died on March 1, 2024, and was inducted into…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Akira Toriyama

Akira Toriyama
said
The offer to direct an animated version of Blue Dragon came in February of last year [2006]. Studio Pierrot approached me regarding it.
Akira Toriyama
said
With second-form Cell as well, I liked him well enough. Actually, I had wanted him to play a more active role.
— Akira Toriyama (mangaka) Daizenshuu 2, 1995
Akira Toriyama
saidundated
I was an avid anime watcher until I was about 10, when I moved to manga.
— Interview with Toriyama
Akira Toriyama
saidundated
The method of producing comics in Japan is very hectic, but it's also rewarding because it's possible to do both the story and art all by yourself.
— Interview with Toriyama
Akira Toriyama
saidundated
Drunken Master (the first one). If I hadn't seen this movie, I would never have come up with Dragonball.
— About Jackie Chan being his inspiration. Interview with Toriyama
via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA
By the numbers

Score breakdown

The six component signals behind the Fame score, and their ranks across the leaderboards.

Fame
Stable
62.7
Composite of search demand, mentions, audience & graph footprint.
Score components
Momentum3.3
Historical27.8
Now attention18.0
Source confidence75.0
Completeness85.0
Global rank
—
Country rank
—
Category rank
#134
Receipts

Sources

  • Wikipedia
    wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
    High confidence
  • Wikidata
    wikidata · wikidata.org
    High confidence
  • Pantheon 2.0
    database · pantheon.world
    High confidence