Beloved Creator of Dragonball, Akira Toriyama, Dies at Age 68.

The official twitter of Dragonball tweeted just hours ago that the beloved creator, Akira Toriyama passed away on March 1st from an acute subdural hematoma. He was celebrated by a small group of friends and family at his funeral who wished for privacy and tranquility.
https://twitter.com/DB_official_en/status/1765935471971213816?s=20
Mr. Toriyama was loved around the globe for his contributions to Anime, through the Dragonball, Dragonball Z, and Dragonball Super series as well as many other projects that helped him transition from his early life as a normal worker to a creator of manga. He was a bit of a lonely person and reclusive by nature but had a passion for creating and entertaining.

Mr. Toriyama was an excellent world builder and story teller. He would often create characters that had such personality of their own and such development that he would grow to hate them. My favorite character Vegeta was one such character. He enterred the series as a genocidal maniac with no regard for life and over time we grew to understand him, and eventually cheer for him as he overcame his enslavement and became a loving father and protector of Earth.

Dragonball Z holds an incredible place in my heart. Growing up my friends and I worked incredibly hard to be able to watch it. In middle school it aired 2 episodes in the mornings and the way the buses for school ran, I was only able to watch one while my friend Stephen watched the other. Once we got together on the bus we filled the other in on what happened so we could keep continuity of the story.
By the time highschool came around I started asking for the VHS tapes that would hold about 3 episodes each. Each tape would cost around 20 dollars. In a series of 291 episodes that got expensive quickly.
Using birthday money and winnings from pokemon, magic the gathering and dragonball z tcg tournaments I would buy additional VHS tapes and host viewing parties with my friends. Each would have their own favorite characters and by the end of each tape we were dying for more.

One of those friends, recently got married. His strategy to ask me to be a groomsman was to gift me a set of dragonballs with a typed up wish. As Shenron, the dragon, always comes through, his wish was granted and I stood by his side on the day of his wedding.
My story with dragonball is far from Unique. All over the world people are mourning our beloved hero. Mr. Toriyama’s work has touched billions of lives and will continue to do so. Parents, the world over have shared their love of the series with their children and as the new series continues, more lives will be touched. The message of adventure, and forgiveness and hardwork, the message of grit and will and passion will be etched into yet another generation who I hope will pass it on to the next. Rest in peace Akira Toriyama, know that you have created an umimagineable gift for the world, and we thank you.
