Akira Toriyama, Author of Dragon Ball, Has Died at Age 68
The Blind Eternities forum
Posted on March 9, 2024, 9:08 a.m. by DemonDragonJ
I am deeply saddened to report the death of Akira Toriyama, the author of Dragon Ball and one of the most influential mangaka in the history of the industry; this is a tremendous loss to the world of media and entertainment, and I am certain that countless fans across the world are mourning his death.
Dragon Ball was the first manga and anime franchise that I ever followed, and it was one of my favorite series in my younger years, and, beyond that, it is one of the most influential and popular manga series, ever, and I believe that it is comparable to Lord of the Rings in that it helped to establish numerous tropes and elements that are now commonplace in shonen manga; numerous other mangaka have cited Toriyama's works as an inspiration, and I actually believe that it would be easier to list the shonen series that were not inspired by Dragon Ball than to list series that were.
Apart from Dragon Ball, which is unquestionably his best-known work, Toriyama also wrote numerous other series, such as Dr. Slump, his first work ever, Sandland, a popular one-issue series that has recently received an animated adaptation, as well as numerous other one-shot works, plus, he also was heavily involved in both the Chrono Trigger and Dragon Quest/Dragon Warrior video game franchises, so his legacy is enormous and indisputable, and the would of entertainment has definitely lost one of its most significant figures, so I wish to pay my respects to Toriyama-sama, and I imagine that his fans across the world shall do, so, as well.
Who else here is most saddened to hear this news?
sergiodelrio says... #3
Is there not a re-edit remaster where the filler is missing?
March 9, 2024 6:50 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #4
sergiodelrio, yes, that recut of the series was known as Dragon Ball Kai, and it was very nice to have the filler cut from the series, so that it had better pacing and flow.
March 9, 2024 9:13 p.m.
This is the first I'm hearing about the sandland anime. But there's also a sandland game coming out soon
March 10, 2024 11:17 a.m.
It might just be me, but I kind of like/miss filler episodes. Some shows still do some of them, but when I think about something like Avatar The Last Airbender (the animated one) or Dragonball, some of my absolute favorite episodes are the filler episodes. Or a great example is the netlix animated Voltron, where the storyline episodes are big scale and dramatic, but they also have tons of just fun filler episodes, and it really makes the show.
March 12, 2024 8:14 a.m.
sergiodelrio says... #7
I think a lot of people don't dislike those filler episodes per se, the stories they tell and the characters they show, but rather the timing. If they were slotted in between the major sagas people would not complain as much imho. Heck, sometimes you had dbz episodes where everyone was just heavy breathing and telling each other how strong they were without progressing the story one iota xD no one needs THAT kind of filler
March 12, 2024 8:25 a.m.
Niko9 - I think there is a difference between filler episodes and content that does nothing but stretch the time. Filler episodes can be delightful and fun - the episode of DBZ where Goku and Piccolo get their driver’s license is a delight. But when you look at something like the Frieza fight, they spend episodes upon episodes just hitting one another, with little actual advancement of the plot.
Using Avatar as a comparison point, while it has its share of (wonderful) filler episodes, it never feels like the pacing is off. Each episode is exactly as long as it needs to be; each major event is handled in as many episodes as is required… and no more than that. Even the filler episodes are carefully calculated in their positioning and usually add something to character development, worldbuilding, etc., so they never truly feel like a wasted episode.
Granted, it is almost unfair to compare anything to Avatar - that show is about as perfect of a composition of a show can have.
March 12, 2024 8:31 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #9
Caerwyn, the only episode of Avatar: the Last Airbender that I think was entirely unnecessary was The Great Divide, since the events of that episode were never referenced, again, save for a brief comedic mention in The Ember Island Players.
Caerwyn says... #2
Dragonball Z, the show, was an important part of my childhood. The excitement of watching the next episode as it aired, running around the playground shouting the name of a 19th century Hawaiian king, just talking with my friends about what we thought might happen.
Looking back, it is a firmly mediocre show. The characters? Excellent. The story lines? Delightful. The visuals? Outstanding. Some extremely poignant moments, like Vegeta saying goodbye to Trunks in the Buu saga? Really well done.
But everything good about it is mired in extremely poor pacing - entire episodes are basically filler, stretching out conversations and fights to the point of absurdity. In the modern world, where anime is omnipresent, it might be hard for some younger folks to even understand why DBZ was even popular in the first place.
But none of that changes the fact that the show (alongside Sailor Moon - a show with equally great aspects and flaws) paved the way for the modern saturation of anime.
And so, though I will probably never watch DBZ for a third time, I will always treasure the memories - both on the screen and off - that Akira Toriyama gave me.
March 9, 2024 9:45 a.m.