Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama died earlier this month. While fans are still coming to terms with his death, his last interview has surfaced online and it is bound to leave fans in tears. The legendary manga artist, who created Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z Dragon Ball Super, and Sand Land, confessed in his last chat that he has not seen most of his work that have been turned into anime. He also opened up about meeting the late animator, Toyo Ashida. He also spoke about the upcoming anime, Dragon Ball Daima.
The interview was released by Tokyo Anime Award Festival 2024. Toriyama was bestowed with the Lifetime Achievement Award honour in December 2023 and he was to accept the award in person over the weekend. As translated by SupaChronicles, and reported by Comicbook.com, Toriyama also hinted at his health condition in the interview.
“To be honest, I have never had much interest in anime, and even when my work was made into animated format, I feel embarrassed to admit that I did not watch much of it, apologies to the staff. About 10 years ago, out of the blue, I was asked to revise the script for the Dragon Ball animated film, and I drew some simple designs for the characters and backgrounds. I thought, ‘I can leave the difficult parts for the staff’,” he said, with a laugh.
“One of my most unforgettable memories in animation works is when I met the late animator, Toyo Ashida for an anime project called ‘Kosuke-sama Rikimaru-sama,’ which was produced for the Shonen Jump Original. This project did not have a manga, so a meeting was held. He was an amiable person and we quickly bonded, and every time I saw his drawing style, I was moved by his careful and swift touch,” the legendary artist said.
He added that they influenced each other in many ways. Speaking about Dragon Ball Daima, in which he was given the duties of writing the story and character designs, Toriyama said, “Dragon Ball Daima, which will be rolled out in 2024, was originally planned to be an original anime series without me, but as I gave advice here and there, I ended up getting deeply involved with the project without realizing it. I was not only involved in the overall storyline, but also in the worldview, character design, mechas, and other aspects. I hope you will enjoy watching the series, which I believe is not only intense and action-packed, but also full of plenty of substance.”
Addressing the fans, Toriyama said, “Finally, I would like to thank everyone who has supported me so far! I am not sure how much more I can do, as I am not very confident about my health, probably due to my lifestyle when I was younger, but I will try my best to create more interesting pieces of work, so please continue to support me!”
Akira Toriyama passed away on March 1. It was revealed that he died due to acute subdural hematoma.
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