On Friday, March 1, Akira Toriyama, one of the most important Japanese comics authors ever, died at the age of 68. His death was announced today by Bird Studio, his manga production company. Toriyama was known worldwide for creating Dragon Ball, which had a crucial importance in the contemporary global imagination and in the history of comics and animation, not only in Japan. He also designed the Dragon Quest videogame series, created in 1985 by Yūji Horii; and the Dr. Slump manga, which won him the 1981 Shōgakukan Award for Best Shōnen Manga, one of the most important awards in the industry.
 

He had attended one of the most prestigious industrial design schools in Tokyo, the Prefectural Industrial High School, and then worked for a couple of years as a graphic designer in a company in Nagoya. He said he started drawing after watching One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961). In 1984 he created Dragon Ball, which was initially released in Japan between 1985 and 1995, and in Italy between 1995 and 1997. From the manga were then taken the anime series: Dragon Ball aired for the first time from 1986 to 1989 and Dragon Ball Z from '89 to '96, which are still broadcast on television around the world and from which were also taken 26 films, not all authorized.