Japanese manga artist Akira Toriyama, the man behind the "Dragon Ball" franchise in the 1980s and its eventual growth into an international sensation, has died at the age of 68.
Toriyama, also a character designer whose career spanned 45 years, passed away on March 1 following acute subdural haematoma, read a statement on the official "Dragon Ball" website.
"We are deeply saddened to inform you that manga creator Akira Toriyama passed away on March 1st due to acute subdural haematoma. He was 68. It's our deep regret that he still had several works in the middle of creation with great enthusiasm. Also, he would have many more things to achieve," read the statement from his production house Bird Studio, which includes the disclaimer that it has been machine-translated.
"He has left many manga titles and works of art to this world. Thanks to the support of so many people around the world, he has been able to continue his creative activities for over 45 years. We hope that Akira Toriyama's unique world of creation continues to be loved by everyone for a long time to come," the banner added.
According to Bird Studio, a private funeral service was held for Toriyama's family. He is survived by his wife Yoshimi Kato and their two children.
Toriyama found success in manga, meaning 'comics' in Japanese, with the creation of the popular "Dr. Slump" series in the late 1970s. Almost a decade later, he won a Shogakukan Manga Award for the comic and supervised two subsequent anime ('animation' in Japanese) adaptations.
But Toriyama -- who largely worked away from the spotlight -- tasted global fame with "Dragon Ball", which was the continuation of his kung-fu movie-influenced "Dragon Boy" one-shot.
"Dragon Ball" was first published as a serial in 1984 and has become one of the best-selling manga series ever. It is also credited for making manga popular across the globe, a phenomenon which spawned various anime adaptations that attracted audiences in the West.
Toriyama is also known for one-shot manga runs as well as character designs for video game classics like "Chrono Trigger" and the "Dragon Quest" series.
He returned to "Dragon Ball" in the 2010's, with Toriyama receiving a screenplay credit on the film "Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods", the first feature adaptation of the manga series in nearly 20 years at the time.
Toriyama, who took a smaller creative role with the intellectual property in the 1990s, was involved with the franchise throughout its recent run of film productions, including "Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero" which released in 2022.
