The Legendary Dragon Ball Creator Akira Toriyama Has Passed Away

Image: Dragon Ball Official

News has just broken in Japan about the passing of manga artist and Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama. He died on March 1st, 2024 at the age of 68 from acute subdural hematoma.

Apart from his influence on the manga and anime industry, Toriyama had a huge impact on the video game industry over the years - not only guiding the Dragon Ball games but also assisting with character designs and more in series like Dragon Quest and games such as Chrono Trigger and the Xbox 360 exclusive Blue Dragon.

Toriyama, who also created manga series like Dr. Slump, was currently working on multiple projects including the new anime series Dragon Ball Daima. Bandai Namco's game adaptation of Sand Land will also be released next month in April.

A statement from the official Dragon Ball social media account, asks everyone to respect his family and friends during this tough period. A funeral service has already been held and plans are not yet decided about whether or not there'll be a future commemorative gathering.

Dear Friends and Partners, we are deeply saddened to inform you that manga creator Akira Toriyama passed away on March 1st due to acute subdural hematoma. He was in age of 68.

It's our deep regret that he still had several works in the middle of creation with great enthusiasm. Also, he would have many more things to achieve.

However, he has left many manga titles and works of art to this world. Thanks to the support of so many people around the world, he has been able to continue his creative activities for over 45 years. We hope that Akria Toriyama's unique world of creation continues to be loved by everyone for a long time to come.

We inform you this sad news, with gratefulness for your kindness during his lifetime.

Funeral service was held with his family and very few relatives. Following his wishes for transquility, we respectfully inform you that we would not accept flowers, condolences gifts, visiting, offerings and others. Also, we ask you to refrain from conducting interviews with his family.

Future plan for commemorate gathering is not decided, we will let you know when it's confirmed. We deeply thank you for your understanding and support as always.

March 8th, 2024

Bird Studio, Capsule Corporation Tokyo

On behalf of the staff and community here at Pure Xbox, our thoughts go out to Toriyama's friends and family.