Akira Toriyama’s Passing.

I’m writing this off the cuff from my phone right before bed so don’t expect anything super eloquent. As with many people who grew up in the 90s and early 2000s, Dragon Ball was a huge part of my childhood. Even if school sucked ass, it was all worth it to see screaming power ups and clashing energy beams every Saturday. I’ve seen Z, Super, and some of GT. I’ve been meaning to get around to the original series and with what’s happened, I’ll be trying hard to do that this year. I know I could go talk about things like “the legacy he left behind” or “how he was gone too soon”, but I don’t want this to turn into a sob fest.

What I want to talk about instead is what made Toriyama’s work great in the first place. In the case of Dragon Ball Z and Super, it isn’t about cool fight scenes. Well, it is actually. However, I believe there’s something deeper. Think about how Goku and Vegeta are, constantly trying to improve and striving to be the best versions of themselves.

I think a lot of people who were fans of Akira were inspired by that mentality. Hell, I’ve heard stories of people getting into shape because Dragon Ball got them so hyped. This only about physical activity, though. It’s the drive that counts. Just to name a popular example, Eiichiro Oda (the author of One Piece) is a massive Toriyama fan and he is the definition of a work horse.

I don’t think it’s farfetched to say that Oda may not be in his current line of work if not for him or at least, not as he is known today. As an aside, I hope he is maintaining good health. Oda is just one example of the flame Toriyama lit. If I listed them all here, I’d never get to bed so I’m going to wrap this up with something that hopefully doesn’t sound too corny. Farewell, Akira Toriyama and let’s all keep that fire burning.