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Akira Toriyama
Akira Toriyama (鳥山 明 Toriyama Akira?, April 5, 1955 - March 1, 2024) in Kiyosu, Aichi, Japan, was an acclaimed Japanese manga artist known mostly for his creation of the Dragon Ball series. He designed the characters in Chrono Trigger, though he did not return for Radical Dreamers: Nusumenai Hōseki or Chrono Cross.
Biography[]
Toriyama debuted in 1979 with the story Wonder Island, published in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump. He first gained popularity for the anime and manga series Dr. Slump, which also originally serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump from 1980 to 1984. In 1982, he won the Shogakukan Manga Award for Dr. Slump for best shōnen or shōjo manga series of the year.
In 1984, Toriyama was responsible for developing Dragon Ball which was initially serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump. It began as an adventure/gag manga but later turned into a martial arts fighting series, considered by many to be the most influential shōnen manga. Its success encouraged Toriyama to continue working on Dragon Ball from 1984 to 1995. During that eleven-year period, he produced 519 chapters, collected into 42 volumes, with each volume averaging 200 pages. The manga was also adapted into numerous anime adaptations, feature-length animated movies, video games, and mega-merchandising.
Toriyama has also designed characters for Enix's and Square's games, such as the Dragon Quest series. He designed the characters in Chrono Trigger, though he did not return for Radical Dreamers: Nusumenai Hōseki or Chrono Cross. He completed several depictions of the Chrono Trigger main characters, some NPCs, and prominent enemies. These were spread through player's guides and other publications. Toriyama's art set the visual tone of the series, with the pixel art translated directly from his designs.
Many of the game developers appear in a special ending of Chrono Trigger. Each one is outfitted with their own dialogue, location, and sprite.
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