Akira Toriyama

Quick Facts

Full Name	Akira Toriyama
Occupation	Illustrator
Date Of Birth	Apr 5, 1955(1955-04-05)
Age	69
Birthplace	Nagoya
Country	Japan
Horoscope	Aries

Akira Toriyama Biography

Akira Toriyama is one of the most popular and richest Illustrator who was born on April 5, 1955 in Nagoya, Japan. Manga and game artist best known for his work the manga series “Dr. Slump” from 1980 until 1984 and “Dragon Ball” from 1984 until 1995. His work on “Dr. Slump” earned him the 1981 Shogakukan Manga Award.

He and fellow Japanese artist Masashi Kishimoto both rose to fame through their manga art.

Before becoming a manga artist, he worked at an advertising agency in Nagoya designing posters for three years. After quitting his previous job, Toriyama entered the manga industry by submitting a work to an amateur contest in a Jump magazine in order to win the prize money. While it did not win, Kazuhiko Torishima, who would later become his editor, contacted him and gave him encouragement. His debut came later in 1978 with the story Wonder Island, which was published in Weekly Shōnen Jump. However, he did not rise to popularity until the comedy series Dr. Slump, which was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1980 to 1984. It follows the adventures of a perverted professor and his small but super-strong robot Arale. He began the series at age 25 while living at home with his parents, but when the series ended in 1984 he was a “manga superstar”. In 1981, Dr. Slump earned him the Shogakukan Manga Award for best shōnen or shōjo manga series of the year. A very successful anime adaptation aired on TV from 1981 to 1986, with a remake series airing from 1997 to 1999. By 2008, the manga had sold over 35 million copies in Japan.

Manga critic Jason Thompson declared Toriyama’s art influential, saying that his “extremely personal and recognizable style” was a reason for Dragon Ball’s popularity. He points out that the popular shōnen manga of the late 1980s and early 1990s had “manly” heroes, such as City Hunter and Fist of the North Star, whereas Dragon Ball starred the cartoonish and small Goku, thus starting a trend that Thompson says continues to this day. Toriyama himself said he went against the normal convention that the strongest characters should be the largest in terms of physical size, designing many of the series’ most powerful characters with small statures. Thompson concluded his analysis by saying that only Akira Toriyama drew like this at the time and that Dragon Ball is “an action manga drawn by a gag manga artist.” However, James S. Yadao, author of The Rough Guide to Manga, points out that an art shift does occur in the series, as the characters gradually “lose the rounded, innocent look that [Toriyama] established in Dr. Slump and gain sharper angles that leap off the page with their energy and intensity.”

He and his wife, Nachi Mikami, have two children.

Akira Toriyama Net Worth

Akira Toriyama is one of the richest Illustrator from Japan. According to our analysis, Wikipedia, Forbes & Business Insider, Akira Toriyama 's net worth $45 Million. (Last Update: December 11, 2023)

He won an amateur manga competition sponsored by Jump magazine and went on to publish his first professional work in 1978. He designed posters for a Nagoya advertising agency for three years.

He served as character designer for the “Dragon Quest” video game series.

Akira Toriyama (鳥山 明 , Toriyama Akira, born April 5, 1955) is a Japanese manga artist and character designer. He first achieved mainstream recognition for his highly successful manga series Dr. Slump, before going on to create Dragon Ball—his best-known work—and acting as a character designer for several popular video games such as the Dragon Quest series, Chrono Trigger and Blue Dragon. Toriyama is regarded as one of the artists that changed the history of manga, as his works are highly influential and popular, particularly Dragon Ball, which many manga artists cite as a source of inspiration.

Height, Weight & Body Measurements

Akira Toriyama height Not available right now. Akira weight Not Known & body measurements will update soon.

Who is Akira Toriyama Dating?

According to our records, Akira Toriyama married to Nachi Mikami. As of December 1, 2023, Akira Toriyama’s is not dating anyone.

Relationships Record : We have no records of past relationships for Akira Toriyama. You may help us to build the dating records for Akira Toriyama!

Toriyama was commissioned to illustrate the characters and monsters for the first Dragon Quest video game (1986) in order to separate it from other role- playing games of the time. He has since worked on every title in the series. For each game Yuji Horii first sends rough sketches of the characters with their background information to Toriyama, who then re-draws them. Lastly, Horii approves the finished work. Toriyama explained in 1995 that for video games, because the sprites are so small, as long as they have a distinguishing feature so people can tell which character it is, he can make complex designs without concern of having to reproduce it like he usually would in manga. Besides the character and monster designs, Toriyama also does the games’ packaging art and, for Dragon Quest VIII, the boats and ships. In 2016, Toriyama revealed that because of the series’ established time period and setting, his artistic options are limited, which makes every iteration harder to design for than the last. The series’ Slime character, which has become a sort of mascot for the franchise, is considered to be one of the most recognizable figures in gaming.

Facts & Trivia

Akira Ranked on the list of most popular Illustrator. Also ranked in the elit list of famous people born in Japan. Akira Toriyama celebrates birthday on April 5 of every year.

Toriyama’s own studio is called Bird Studio, which is a play on his name; “tori” (鳥 ) meaning “bird”. Toriyama does nearly all of the work at Bird Studio himself, and even when he employed an assistant (until 1995, and only one at a time, which is itself rare for manga artists), the assistant did mostly backgrounds. The studio founded in 1983 has produced occasional one- shots, or stand-alone manga that are not serialized, and some other design work. All of Toriyama’s manga after Dragon Ball tend to be short (100–200-page) stories, including Cowa!, Kajika, and Sand Land.

Top Facts about Akira Toriyama

1. Akira Toriyama is a Japanese manga artist and character designer.
2. He was born on April 5, 1955 in Nagoya, Japan.
3. Toriyama’s most famous work is the Dragon Ball series.
4. He has also created other popular manga such as Dr. Slump and Jaco the Galactic Patrolman.
5. Toriyama has won numerous awards for his work including the Shogakukan Manga Award and the Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize.
6. His art style is known for its distinctive characters and humor.
7. Toriyama has influenced many other manga artists around the world.
8. He enjoys collecting antique cars and playing video games in his free time.
9. The Dragon Ball franchise has sold over 300 million copies worldwide.
10. Toriyama continues to be involved in new Dragon Ball projects today, including writing for the anime series Super Dragon Ball Heroes.

Where is Akira Toriyama now?

Toriyama lives in his home studio in Kiyosu. He is a well-known recluse, who avoids appearing in public or media.

Is Akira Toriyama a billionaire?

Net Worth:$45 Million
Gender:| Male
Profession:| Mangaka, Designer, Game artist, Writer, Art Director
Nationality:| Japan

What did Akira Toriyama do?

Who is Akira Toriyama? Born in Nagoya in 1955, Toriyama is best-known today as the man behind the original Dragon Ball and its shonen genre-defining anime sequel, Dragon Ball Z. Before that, however, Toriyama was a rising star in the world of manga, with his breakout hit work being Dr. Slump.

Is Akira Toriyama still drawing?

As the series continues, it’s clear that Toriyama still has his artistic chops! The Dragon Ball series continues to this day with anime, manga, and video game installments, detailing the stories of Goku and the rest of the Z Fighters as their power levels increase exponentially.

How old is Goku?

Goku’s chronological age at the end of Dragon Ball Z is 44 , however, his body is that of 37.