Akira Toriyama Passed

This week it was anounced that renowned mangaka (Japanese comicbook writer) Akira Toriyama passed away. It shocked the world as there weren't any signs that he was in ill health, and at the age of 68 he was still active in several projects.

Toriyama's influence was such that I've seen articles on his death at the top of Reddit's News and Worldnews forums. It's big enough that my grandmother heard about it, remembered that me and my brother used to be into his work, and emailed us her condolences. I keep seeing other successful artists in the industry releasing letters on how he impacted them.

Toriyama achieved success with his series Dr. Slump, of which I've never read a chapter, and rose to legendary status with his later series, Dragon Ball. More specifically, it wasn't until the beginning of the latter half of that series, which he termed Dragon Ball Z, that he would develop his legacy.

After all his fans had grown and he was old enough to retire, he started another series, Dragon Ball Super, made out of spite directed at a terrible live action adaptation that he didn't want to be the final entry. This was one of the projects he was continuing to work on at the time of his passing.

For many people, Dragon Ball Z was their entry into anime and manga. I remember watching it in the Saturday night cartoon lineup on YTV (Canadian channel, stands for Youth Television). At the time, we didn't even perceive it as an anime, it was just a cartoon.

Even as an elementary school child, it was easy to see that Dragon Ball Z was not a refined work. It had plenty of inconsistencies and traits that were easy to make fun of. It was a series about martial artists and the fights often felt like flexing competitions. Power ups were indicated by changing hair colour.

I spoke on The Lord of the Rings in my review blog, and how modern day fantasy has carried forward both good and bad habits from it. The same can be said of Dragon Ball Z. With the concept of power levels and ki, it popularized the idea of a quantifiable internal energy that grants power and can be increased with hard work. The next three most popular mangas all had iterations of this, with chakra in Naruto, reiatsu in Bleach, and haki in One Piece (come at me One Piece fans, haki's not an exception).

It's funny, because of all the series' I listed, Dragon Ball took its power system the least seriously. It wasn't introduced until halfway through the series, and in the first fight that it was used, the guy with the massively higher power level lost. On entering Earth, Vegeta tells Nappa that Earthlings have a fluctuating power level, and that overreliance on calculating it is pointless. The good guys learn to conceal their ki, and after the Frieza saga, it's stated that scouters aren't capable of calculating the new baseline power level. It was only relevent for like, two story arcs.

But it was the system in place when it gained global popularity, and the reason why me and my friends would scream "I'm only using 5% of my power!" while roughhousing.

Another unfortunate habit in Dragon Ball was its misuse of side characters. In the original series, Goku grows in strength alongside rivals of similar ability, such as Yamcha and Krillin, has to transcend his mentor and presiding strongest martial artists, Master Roshi, and needs to defeat, and often later befriend, villains such as Tien, Taopaipai, and Piccolo. 

After Z established that Goku's unnatural strength comes from being from an alien race called the Saiyans, giving him access to the form of a Super Saiyan, none of the previously established side characters quite manage to bridge the power gap, try as they might. One of the saddest things about being a Dragon Ball fan is watching your favourite characters slowly lose relevance and then give up. Explicitly because of their humanity. How am I supposed to relate to a character whose strength is derived from alien lineage?

The series also felt like the stakes got lower and lower over time. The Dragon Balls, which the series are named after, are seven magical orbs that, when collected can grant a wish once per year. It's hard to feel tension when you can just wish away any damage after the fact. The Earth blew up? No worries, just wish it back (this actually happened). 

Their version of heaven, Otherworld, is so explicitly shown that it makes the characters feel displaced instead of dead. Also, Fortune Teller Baba's ability to revive people for a day, and Senzu Beans that instantly heal stamina and injuries. There are just too many tools that deplete lasting consequences.

But Toriyama notoriously never took his work seriously. The Saiyans are all named after vegetables. The lead family of scientists are named after types of underwear. The Gods of Destruction are types of alcoholic beverages. The antagonists of the Buu saga are named after a nursery rhyme. 

He changed the lead antagonists of the Cell Saga twice because of his editor's comments, and redesigned Cell twice for the same reasons. When a major supporting character from Dragon Ball didn't return for Z, on questioning he infamously said that he'd forgotten about her existence. He based the design of two powerful and influential characters on his cats. The reason Goku's hair turns blond when he transforms was to cut down on ink for the black and white manga.

This off-the-cuff, spontaneous, nonchalante writing style led to many inconsistencies that sometimes felt like the series was following a sort of dream logic. It tempted fans that took the series more seriously than he did to accuse him of not respecting his own work. But I think we have to reconcile ourselves with the fact that it was this lackadaisical attitude that not only caused the flaws within the series, but also its virtues.

After all, Toriyama never advocated for taking anything very seriously. While he became best known for writing tough warriors fighting grudge matches, the man was fundamentally a comedian. All of his previous works, including most of the original Dragon Ball series, were silly adventures. He got famous during the most tonally serious he'd ever been and seemed to feel an obligation to fans of that work, but it seems like he always wanted to brings things back to comedy.

This can be seen in the other project he was working on, Dragon Ball Daima (translates to Dragon Ball Magic), an alternate timeline where all the main characters revert to childhood. This series would have much sillier designs and a more cartoony artstyle. Super was for the fans, but Daima was going to be for himself. Unfortunately, he's passed before Daima was published. We can console ourselves with the fact that if it was his personal project, he lived to see its creation if not publication.

I'm not above the bitter fans though. His works beg to be refined because there's so much that seem almost right. When Super introduced the Tournament of Power, a sprawling battle royale with 80 contestants including fan favourites that hadn't shined in ages, I was pumped about the potential. The fact that Universe 7, home of our main characters, was considered relatively weak, with Goku losing before the tournament in a fight against someone who wasn't even the strongest in his respective universe, the scale seemed incredible. There would be characters capable of challenging our strongest heroes, as well as fighters weak enough to be realistic opponents for old fan favourites.

Unfortunately, despite the setup it lapsed into the pattern of Goku and Vegeta breezing through most of the opponents, taking most of the panel time, and only having one substantive new opponent. The intense aggravation this caused in me forced me to rewrite the entire tournament. I wanted to do it in a way that made each dimension feel like a relevant threat and gave space for weaker characters to contribute. I don't think Toriyama would resent this, he seemed to be of the opinion that his works were meant to be played with.

Another way the series has influenced me is that it helped me develop a motivational tool for my workout routine. It's cringey to admit, but I created a story for a character in that world, and everytime I work out I write an entry progressing his adventure.

The wide span of time that the three iterations of the series spanned in real time allowed me to bond with some of the kids at the group home I used to work at. We shared lamentations about Saiyan supremacy, and I teased them about their generation borrowing my generations' media.

Well, for whatever its worth, the Dragon Ball series had a large impact on my childhood, as well as for many other young boys. It introduced us to a medium that we didn't even perceive as existing, and it impacted the works of artists we would later follow.

Rest in Peace Toriyama. Complain as we might, you inspired us to play, write stories, and exercise. As adults, you gave us common ground with a younger generation. Even acknowledging its flaws, our lives were richer because of your work.

Thank you. It's been fun.