#thinking about dragon ball and dbz and dr. slump and just

[doux-amer]

Oh my god, the news about Akira Toriyama. I'm stunned, but the grief is seeping in between the cracks and I'm not prepared. He is and was invincible and immortal to me.

#i just had a speedrun through my childhood reading the news #thinking about family and friends some of whom i haven't seen in a long time #thinking about dragon ball and dbz and dr. slump and just #this was my childhood #sure there were other series and other mangaka but dbz and toriyama-sensei were IT for me #days on the playground playing like we were in that world #that we had saiyan powers #a friend printing out art for me which...you don't even know! #we were so young and that was back in the DAY. idek how he even was allowed #little dude just printing out sheets of bright saturated colored art #and gifting them to me at school #the fact that this was the universal language and point of connection for poc kids #god.......and to hear why he died...this is awful. he's gone too early

[xb-squaredx]

A Tribute to Akira Toriyama

It’s been a bit over 24 hours since I’ve heard the news that acclaimed manga author, Akira Toriyama, has passed away, and frankly it’s still hard to process. I’d like to just say a few things to honor and mourn a man that I have never met, but whose work touched me and millions of others all over the world in ways I am only now really beginning to see.

Like a lot of 90s kids in the United States, my first exposure with Toriyama’s work was through the Dragon Ball Z anime. Despite the fact that I didn’t even know this was a sequel to a completely different series, and I had no real clue what anime even was at the time, I was captivated. For years I would race home from school and sit glued in front of the TV as Toonami would air the latest episodes. A phenomenon that rippled out across the world for several years in waves, from the original airing of DBZ, to some snippets of the original Dragon Ball and even later on with the anime-only continuation that was Dragon Ball GT, this series had such a hold on me. Friends and I would spend recess trying to recreate the iconic Kamehameha Wave, we’d scream trying to become a Super Saiyan, or take turns fighting each other in one of the MANY different video games based on the series over time. I’ve made friends through my love of Dragon Ball and it would go on to foster a love of anime and later manga. But little did I know just how far Toriyama’s influence would reach.

While I was never all that knowledgeable of his past work, particularly Dr. Slump, so many other series would be inspired by him or have his involvement in some way. Sonic the Hedgehog’s Super Sonic is an easy reference to spot, but less so was Cloud Strife’s garb in Final Fantasy VII being a dead ringer for Gohan’s outfit in the Cell Saga. As long as we’re talking about RPGs, Toriyama’s long history with various properties, from Chrono Trigger to Blue Dragon, and going back to the grandfather of all RPGS in Dragon Quest, it’s safe to say his legacy is felt in multiple mediums rather than just one. This wasn’t even limited to Japanese media either. I would see references to Dragon Ball in things like The Powerpuff Girls or Codename: Kids Next Door. Even well into my 20s, I was still seeing series inspired by him, like the whole fusion concept that made up Steven Universe. His reach was vast and multigenerational.

As I would get older, I would listen to Linkin Park AMVs on YouTube, with songs like Numb or In the End overlaid over the various hypest moments from the Dragon Ball series and its later movies. Even long after the series had finished airing, you’d still see the rare movie or special crop up, alongside an endless series of games trying to capitalize on the success of the Budokai Tenkaichi games. Toriyama was inescapable, and in a way it was comforting. You start to get used to his work being there, whether subtly or overtly. You never think about the day when he’ll be gone.

When first reading the article stating his death, it took a moment to really let it sink in. This man who had been with me, inspiring me throughout my childhood, was gone just like that. Over the past day I’ve seen the greater Internet in mourning, as people share their favorite manga panels, or iconic moments from the various anime interpretations of his work. Outpourings of fanart and inspirational stories from people who grew up with his work just like I did. There are people that got into bodybuilding to be just like Goku, for one. For another, during the finale of Dragon Ball Super there were massive watch parties set up in Mexico and even when authorities tried to stop the events they went forward anyway because they just had to see how Goku could finally defeat Jiren. I remember when Trunks first appeared in the anime, and I thought he was the coolest. I had to try to draw and replicate his first appearance, how he defeated Frieza, the person that took Goku so long to defeat, in a mere instant; I’m realizing now Toriyama might have been my real inspiration to start drawing, alongside who knows how many thousands if not millions of people. As sad as it is to see him go, to see so many people pay tribute and remember him, it really does lay bare just how influential he was, just how powerful art can really be.

It was only in more recent years that I’ve come to really respect Toriyama’s craft. Far beyond the screaming and power ups that many associate with him from Dragon Ball Z this was also a man who valued whimsy. He got his start as a comedy author, and for the longest time the Dragon Ball manga was just a humorous retelling of Journey to the West. The man loved a good bit of toilet humor and the occasional fourth wall break. Looking back at his manga, you can see just how amazing his panel work was, and how it still holds up. The ease at which he guides your eye from panel to panel, the expressiveness of his characters conveyed at all times. Many of his peers have called him a God of Manga, and I think they’re right to do so. The likes of Osamu Tezuka, the creator of manga, had called Toriyama his heir apparent, and stated he was “almost too good.” You can’t get higher praise than that.

Outside of his manga work, just his raw talent at creating iconic character designs needs to be praised. Taking a rather uninteresting mockup of the slime enemy in Dragon Quest, Toriyama would create perhaps the most iconic enemy in all of video games. His enemy designs are often cute and goofy, but occasionally can be quite ferocious. If nothing else, they are eye-catching and never boring. He was also a fan of vehicles and machines, with some really interesting modes of transportation shown off in a lot of his work. And then there’s the fact that so many of his characters have the trademark spikey haircut that has become shorthand for “anime hair,” that is understood to this day. To see him effectively retire after finishing with Dragon Ball back in the 90s, with the occasional contribution here or there, only to get right back to business as usual in the 2010s with amazing designs like Beerus or Android 21, not to mention his continual work on the Dragon Quest series all throughout that time…the man never lost his edge even once.

A sentiment I’ve seen over the last day or so is that Toriyama might, with no exaggeration, have inspired more artists than anyone else in modern history. So many people making their own “Saiyan-sonas” or being inspired to make manga of their own…we may truly never know how far his reach really was at the end of the day. But we do know that the “Big Three” of Shonen Jump throughout the 2000s can be attributed to Toriyama, as the likes of Eiichiro Oda, Masashi Kishimoto and Tite Kubo are all big fans of Toriyama, with Oda in particular worshiping the ground he walks on. Kubo is also on the record for stating that a letter from Toriyama, when his first draft of what would later become BLEACH was rejected, gave him the encouragement to try again and later be accepted into the magazine. And now these authors have gone on to inspire the next generation and so on and so on.

Over the last few years, we’ve lost a lot of creative figures in the manga industry. Toriyama now joins other similar legends, such as Yu-Gi-Oh creator Kazuki Takahashi as well as Berserk author Kentaro Miura. It is the end of an era, arguably of many eras, and it can be hard to imagine the future, but the Earth continues to spin and as Toriyama has inspired and influenced others, we too will inspire future generations with our work. It isn’t enough to call him a legend; he truly was in a league of his own, a legend among legends, and the outpouring of love for him across all manner of social media posts in just a little over a day alone is a testament to his immense talent and reach. I can think of no greater sendoff than the one that Eiichiro Oda gave him: “I pray for his soulful rest in peace. May heaven be the joyous world he envisioned.”

Rest in peace, and thanks for everything, Mr. Toriyama.

-B

#akira toriyama #thank you for everything

[naturalborndragons]

Remembering Akira Toriyama

On March 1st, 2024, legendary mangaka Akira Toriyama passed away due to acute subdural hematoma. He was just sixty-eight years old. His most famous creation, Dragon Ball, has had a profound effect on the anime and manga industry as a whole. Without it, we wouldn't have had series such as Yu Yu Hakusho, Naruto, One Piece, or many others. On top of how inspirational as a series Dragon Ball has been, it's shaped the childhoods of many kids all over the world, me being one such kid.

Toriyama is one of the few famous deaths that has actually brought me to tears, the only others being Satoshi Kon and Satoru Iwata. Losing Toriyama, for me, was such a sudden and devastating revelation and if I had never gotten into Dragon Ball Z when I was a kid, I don't know if I ever would have become an artist or writer. While I have had many inspirations for becoming an artist/writer, such as Yoshihiro Togashi, creator of Yu Yu Hakusho and Hunter X Hunter, Masashi Kishimoto, creator of Naruto, and Eiichiro Oda, creator of One Piece, it was Toriyama and Dragon Ball which really helped to show me the path I wanted my life to go on. While writing Dragon's World, I've gotten comments from readers who've told me that there were moments where they were reminded of Dragon Ball and with Dragon Ball being one of, if not my biggest inspiration for becoming both a writer and an artist, those comments, to me, are not just some of my favorites that I've ever received, I find them to be some of the highest praise I've gotten.

Alongside Dragon Ball, Toriyama's other works such as Sand Land, which has both a game and an anime series coming out, and Dr. Slump show just how funny and imaginative Toriyama was. His paneling was always so clean and any action scenes were always easy to read and his characters, while not always the deepest, were always full of life and made the series they starred in so much fun to read.

Like many other kids who grew up on DBZ, I also tried on so many occasions to do a Kamehameha or go Super Saiyan. I remember when I saw the episode where Gohan was teaching Videl how to fly and she was focusing her energy into her palms, I tried to do the same, thinking it would help me to fly, too. When a new VHS (yes, we are going back that far) and later, DVD of DBZ would be released, I would beg my grandma or my mom to buy it for me. The same way true for when new Dragon Ball Z action figures would come out. I had to have them all, and I think I actually did have most of them. Then, at fifteen, I sold them because I thought, "I'm going into high school. I need to be a big boy and big boys don't have toys". Heh. Funny how well that thought process aged. Especially since now, I'm trying to find those same figures from my childhood so I can buy them again.

I would often recreate the fights and adventures Goku and his friends went on with these figures I bought, and sometimes, I would make up my own stories. One that I can always immediately recall was Goku and the gang fighting a group that used a seal similar to The Seal of Orichalcos from Yu-Gi-Oh! (also, RIP to Takahashi-senpai) and just like the Seal of Orichalcos, whoever lost that fight would lose their soul, too. Granted, the stories I came up with back then weren't good (I mean, they came from the mind of a little kid, so please be a bit gentle on me), but when you're an Elementary schooler/early middle schooler, they feel like something incredible. It's like you're getting to contribute to this world you've come to know and love and yet, you're the only one who truly knows about said contribution. In a way, it's a really special feeling.

Call me a weeb if you want for saying this, but to me, Toriyama wasn't just another creator. He wasn't just another storyteller. He was my sensei. He was my biggest inspiration and the person who got me to realize where I wanted my life to go. That I wanted to be a writer and an artist. That I had stories I wanted to share with others. Toriyama was someone I always wanted to meet and, I guess now I'll have to wait until I get to Other World myself to get that chance.

Thank you for everything, Akira Toriyama. Thank you for showing me who I was meant to be. Thank you for Dragon Ball and for allowing it to be such a staple of my childhood. I'll be hoping your family is doing well and are remaining strong in these times. May you rest in peace.

#Taken from my DA #akira toriyama #Dragon Ball #Dragon Ball Z #Goku #rip akira toriyama #a true legend #in memoriam #manga #anime #mangaka #childhood memories #childhood nostalgia #tribute #arale norimaki #in memory #akira toriyama tribute #thank you toriyama #mourning #my idol #son goku

[radroller]

🔥 dragonball

Im gonna list a few because im having trouble picking just one:I think Goku is in fact a pretty good father/husband.I dont understand all the hate Goten gets at all.Lots of folks complain about Dragon Ball’s use of filler, but I’d say there’s a bigger issue with how Toei PADS some of the fights than just regular old filler itself. In fact i remember LOVING most of the early Dragon Ball/DBZ filler i saw when i last watched it, particularly the one where Goku meets the Dr. Slump characters and the episode where Goku falls off Snake Way and had to race those goofy oni dudes.I think Kid Goku vs Tien is one of the most underrated fights in the series in terms of animation, cinematography, and surprise factor. In fact id say the Crane School arc might be my favorite storyline of the series, but id have to think on it.And just to include some Super stuff, i actually like Hit quite a bit (heehee) and I’d say he’s a WAY more enjoyable character than Jiren.

[mysterious-prophetess]

Why I instantly liked All-Might and why I was annoyed by Saiyaman

Firstly, I think my age was a factor. Teenagers can be bit more...serious about things. Too serious sometimes. Therefore, seeing a character you literally grew up with go on to become such a doofus of a hero wouldn’t sit well now would it? 

I’m pretty sure that’s what happened with me. I took things too seriously and I just couldn’t get why a character I identified with was acting like such a clown considering all of the previous sagas didn’t have him behaving that way very much, if at all. If I’m honest, Gohan didn’t have time to behave like that, so this really was an out of left field sort of thing to me. Especially with the dance moves ripped straight from the Ginyu Force’s old routines.

Now that I’m older, I still can’t say I like the Saiyaman persona per say, but I understand that Gohan’s alter-ego is written to be a superhero parody; a lot like a character from Akira Toriyama’s other manga, Dr. Slump, called “Suppaiman.” I even sort of appreciate the silliness a little, but I can’t say it’ll ever be the highlight of DBZ for me.

Which is why it should be so weird that I love All-Might from BnHA so much. He too is a very silly super hero, at times, and yet I love him for all his stereotypical corniness. The very same corniness Saiyaman has in spades. Perhaps its because he’s usually only goofy in powered up form and has his less silly moments as his powered down self. Or, it’s because I never saw him as anything else prior to his appearance in BnHA, and never saw him in a more serious, less prone to silliness role. 

It’s a bit of both. All-Might was introduced as this over-the-top hero and since I’m older I have a greater appreciation for parody and subverting the usual hero stereotypes or playing those up for a laugh. Saiyaman was something that was jarring for my younger self because of the previously mentioned reasons and also because as a teenager I hadn’t much knowledge of Dr. Slump other than it existed, and my exposure the the Dragon Ball part of the anime hadn’t been as constant as my exposure to the Saiyan and Freeza Saga of DBZ. Meaning, I never was as exposed to the constant jokes that was the earlier Dragon Ball  days. 

[tigerlover16-uk]

Some good things about Dragon Ball Super

So, yeah. After the recent bit of controversy over the stupid manga and Toyotaro’s weird hatred for Goku, I decided I needed a break from tumblr and the Dragon Ball fandom on the internet in general for a few days. I checked in a few times to see if I got any asks or such, but otherwise I’m not going to be back here like normal until Friday. Maybe Thursday, but I have other priorities at the moment.

Honestly, sometimes the negativity of this fandom really gets to me. Whether it’s the Goku hate, the shipping wars, the angry anon’s, the unfriendly and outright hateful people who can’t let fans enjoy elements of the franchise that they personally don’t without insulting and belittling them, or the general negativity towards the franchise, by the same people who claim to love it usually. It can just get a bit over whelming for me personally since I haven’t been doing so great lately. I’m not a person that handles a ton of negativity well.

But, I thought I might pop in to encourage a little positivity for a change. Specifically, since we’re all really ticked off at the manga right now, I just thought now might be a good time to celebrate all the good stuff about the Dragon Ball Super anime. Everyone feel free to reblog with whatever else you think is really good about the show, whether it’s a fun moment, your favourite episode, a new character or concept you like, anything you think is good about the show. Feel free to go off on a tangent gushing about it, or discussing what you think makes those things work. You can do the same for anything I list here, I might go back and add some description for my choices later but I have work to do soon.

The general point here is: Life’s too short to wallow in negativity all the time. Sometimes we all need to take a step back and appreciate the good things in life, and that includes in the media we consume and enjoy. So, without further ado, let’s get started below the cut.

Farmer Goku. A great source of funny moments, and even some genuine character development for Goku here and there.

Krillin's character development

Android 17 is perfect

Baby Pan and Bulla are the most adorable babies ever!

Also, Marron is precious too.

Uncle Pikkoyo

The interesting world building that opens up boundless story potential. Including ELEVEN new universes and a huge pantheon of Gods.

Mr Satan

Gohan and Mr Satan playing with baby Pan

Super Saiyan Blue Kaio-Ken

A lot of good humour

Jaco is a recurring character now

Frieza is at his absolute best in the current saga.

Hit is the best new DB character in years

Vegeta the family man

Beerus

Whis

Vados and Champa

Zen-oh the Omni-King

Goku being a loving and supportive father whenever he's in a scene with Gohan and Goten

That epic fight in episode 57

Magetta

Cabba and Vegeta's interaction

New Saiyans

Caulifla, the first official female super saiyan!

Kale, the first offical female LEGENDARY super saiyan!

Toppo and the Pride Troopers

Ribrianne

Kakunsa and Vikal, the first canon lesbian couple in Dragon Ball and the best LGBT rep the franchise currently has (Not that hard, considering the only other notable example is general Blue, who's a villainous pedophile...)

The Trio De Danger

Plenty of adorable shipping moments for all the couples

Tien has his own Dojo now

Goku Black is awesome

Goku Backhanding Zamasu

Future Mai

Majin Buu vs Basil

Gohan vs Lavender

Goku vs Basil

The God energy dragons. No i don't care if there wasn't an explanation, they looked awesome!

Goku vs Android 17

Goku and Android 17's great interactions in general

Krillin and Android 18 finally being a proper battle couple in the tournament of power. Also, that awesome energy volley ball attack is one of my new favourite moves in dragon ball.

Krillin vs Goku

The Great Saiyaman two-parter

The Hit two parter

The baby pan episode

the second opening is one of the best openings of any dragon ball series.

The first one is pretty nice too.

Ending 1, 2, 3 and the latest one are all pretty good

Future Trunks and Gohan episode

I don't care if it didn't make much sense, Spirit Bomb Trunks looked awesome and that episode looked gorgeous

Great Dr Slump crossover

That amazing Goku vs Gohan fight in episode 90

Gohan is currently awesome again.

Videl being the best wife ever in episode 74

Two new namekians

The Tournament of Power features over twice as many female fighters as Dragon Ball and DBZ combined.

Great slice of life moments.

Fit Buu

Yamcha got his own breather episode

Bulma is fun and proactive

Goten is adorable

Vegeta trying to cook.

Briefs family vacation episode

Gowasu

Dyspo

Obuni

Piccolo vs Frost

Goku vs Hit

Tagoma

Piccolo got to beat someone in the Tournament of Power

That scene where Krillin and family meet up with Android 17 on his island

King Kai being King Kai

Zamasu’s “I’m just being self absorbed” line. Funniest villain line ever.

The Super Dragon Balls and super shenron

Future Trunks and Kid Trunks interaction

The English dub is fantastic and a joy to listen to.

@angelrin89 @bulma-laboratory @no-discourse-onlywrites @breezytealy @dragon-ball-meta anyone else want to give this a try?

#dragon ball super #dbs #dragon ball z #dragon ball #dragon ball gt #goku #dbs anime positivity