It is hard to wrap your head around the fact that a story about a kid with a monkey tail looking for orange marbles basically built the modern anime industry. Honestly, it shouldn't have worked as well as it did. When you look at Dragon Ball created by Akira Toriyama, you aren't just looking at a cartoon or a comic book. You are looking at a blueprint.
Toriyama didn't set out to create a global phenomenon that would define masculinity for a generation or sell billions of dollars in merchandise. He was a guy who liked drawing machines and gag humor. He was coming off the massive success of Dr. Slump, a series that was much more about toilet humor and whimsical nonsense than high-stakes planet-busting.
Then came Goku.
The transition from the whimsical Journey to the West inspiration of early Dragon Ball to the screaming, muscular intensity of Dragon Ball Z is one of the most successful tonal shifts in the history of media. It didn't happen overnight. It happened because Toriyama was a master of "flow." If you ever pick up the original manga volumes, you'll notice how your eyes just glide across the page. That's not an accident. That is the genius of the man behind the pen.
The Secret Sauce of Dragon Ball Created by Akira Toriyama
What most people get wrong about the series is thinking it’s all about the fights. Sure, the fights are cool. But the core of why Dragon Ball created by Akira Toriyama stayed relevant for forty years is the simplicity of its character motivations.
Goku doesn't want to save the world.
He really doesn't.
He just wants to fight someone stronger than him. That’s it. That’s the whole hook. It’s an incredibly pure, almost selfish motivation that makes him endlessly relatable despite the fact that he can literally teleport and fire blue lasers from his palms. This lack of a complex "hero's burden" allows the story to breathe. It keeps things light even when the stakes are literally universal.
Toriyama’s art style also did a lot of the heavy lifting. He had this way of drawing rounded, expressive characters that felt "bouncy" in the early days, which slowly sharpened into the iconic, angular aesthetic of the late 80s and 90s. He was an expert at "subtractive" design. While other artists were adding more lines and more detail, Toriyama was figuring out how to make a character look powerful with as few lines as possible.
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Take Frieza, for example.
His final form isn't some giant, jagged monster. It’s a small, sleek, white-and-purple creature. It was terrifying because it was so simple. It defied the "bigger is better" trope of the era.
Why the "Toriyama Flow" Matters More Than You Think
If you talk to professional comic artists or animators, they’ll all bring up "paneling." Toriyama’s paneling is legendary. He understood spatial awareness better than almost anyone in the business. When a character gets punched in a Toriyama panel, you know exactly where they are relative to the guy who hit them. You know where the ground is. You know where the mountain they’re about to fly into is located.
It sounds basic.
It’s not.
A lot of modern manga is cluttered and hard to follow. Dragon Ball created by Akira Toriyama is the opposite. It’s legible. This legibility is exactly why it translated so well to television. The animators at Toei Animation had a perfect storyboard already laid out for them.
The Cultural Impact Nobody Saw Coming
In the United States, we usually think of the "Ocean Dub" or the Funimation era of the late 90s as the start. But the world had already been obsessed for a decade. In France, Club Dorothée was airing Dragon Ball to massive ratings in the late 80s. In Latin America, it became a literal cultural pillar. You can go to Mexico today and see murals of Goku in almost every neighborhood.
Why did it hit so hard?
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It’s about the struggle. The concept of the "Zenkaí Boost"—the idea that a Saiyan gets stronger every time they are beaten to the brink of death—is a powerful metaphor. It resonates with anyone who has ever felt like an underdog. You get knocked down, you heal, and you come back better.
Also, the humor.
Toriyama never truly lost his identity as a gag manga artist. Even in the middle of the most intense battles, there’s usually something ridiculous happening. Think about King Kai. He’s one of the most powerful deities in the universe, and he lives on a tiny planet with a monkey and a grasshopper, and he won’t train you unless you make him laugh. That’s pure Toriyama. It keeps the series from becoming too self-serious or "edgy," which is a trap a lot of its successors fell into.
The Business of the Dragon Ball Brand
From a business perspective, the longevity of Dragon Ball created by Akira Toriyama is staggering. According to Bandai Namco’s financial reports, Dragon Ball consistently sits at the top of their IP earnings, often beating out One Piece and Gundam.
How? Video games.
The Budokai series, Xenoverse, and the critically acclaimed Dragon Ball FighterZ kept the brand alive during the "dark ages" when there was no new anime on the air. These games allowed fans to live out their own fantasies in the world Toriyama built. They weren't just playing a game; they were interacting with a visual language they had studied since childhood.
Then came Dragon Ball Super in 2015.
People were nervous. Could the magic be recaptured? While the animation had some early stumbles (looking at you, Episode 5), the "Ultra Instinct" reveal during the Tournament of Power proved that the series still had the power to "break the internet." When Goku first achieved that form, streaming services literally crashed under the weight of the traffic.
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Debunking the Myths
One major misconception is that Toriyama hated the series or wanted to end it after the Frieza saga. This is a bit of an oversimplification. While it’s true that he often felt the pressure of the weekly grind—mangaka work brutal hours—he was also known for his "pantsing" style of writing. He didn't have a massive master plan.
He didn't know Cell was going to exist when he started the Android saga.
He didn't know Super Saiyan was a thing until he needed a way to show Goku’s power increase without using a lot of black ink (blonde hair is left white in manga, saving time).
This spontaneity is part of the charm. It feels like the story is evolving in real-time because, for Toriyama, it often was. He was reacting to his editors, his fans, and his own whims.
The Passing of a Legend
The passing of Akira Toriyama in early 2024 sent shockwaves through the world. It wasn't just another celebrity death. It felt like the end of an era for millions of people who grew up with his work. From Chrono Trigger to Dragon Quest to Sand Land, his influence was everywhere.
But Dragon Ball created by Akira Toriyama remains his definitive masterpiece. It’s the one that changed the rules. It taught us about the value of hard work, the importance of forgiveness (Goku almost always tries to spare his enemies), and the idea that there is always a new ceiling to break through.
The series continues now through his protege, Toyotarou, and the various projects handled by Capsule Corporation Tokyo. While the creator is gone, the world he built is too big to ever truly disappear. It’s baked into the DNA of every Shonen jump series that followed, from Naruto to Jujutsu Kaisen.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Creators
If you’re looking to dive deeper into the legacy of this series or apply its lessons to your own creative work, here are a few ways to engage with the material more effectively:
- Study the Manga Layout: Don't just watch the anime. Read the original manga. Pay attention to how Toriyama guides your eye from one panel to the next. Notice how he uses "white space" to emphasize speed and impact. It’s a masterclass in visual storytelling that applies to everything from graphic design to filmmaking.
- Track the Evolution of Shonen Tropes: If you’re a writer, look at the "Tournament Arc." Toriyama didn't invent it, but he perfected it with the World Martial Arts Tournament (Tenkaichi Budokai). Analyze how he uses these tournaments to introduce new characters and raise stakes without needing a "save the world" plot every single time.
- Explore the "Side" Works: Most fans stop at Dragon Ball and Z. To really understand Toriyama’s genius, check out Dr. Slump or Sand Land. You’ll see the mechanical designs and character archetypes that eventually made their way into his more famous work. It gives you a much better perspective on his range as an artist.
- Support Official Releases: With the 2024 release of Dragon Ball Daima and the ongoing Dragon Ball Super manga, the best way to ensure the quality of the franchise remains high is to support the official channels. This allows the estates and studios to invest in higher-quality animation and translation.
- Analyze Character Redemption: Look at the arcs of Vegeta or Piccolo. They aren't just "bad guys turned good." They are complex characters who change because of their interactions with Goku’s specific brand of optimistic naivety. This is a blueprint for writing compelling character development that feels earned rather than forced.
The story of Goku and his friends isn't just about power levels or hair colors. It’s about the joy of the journey and the refusal to stay static. Whether you're a long-time fan or a newcomer, there's always something new to find in the panels of a story that quite literally changed the world.