For this week’s post, I had a good hard think about Celebrities in the anime culture. There are quite a few that I can think of; however, the ones that stuck in my mind go back to my childhood. People like Goku, Gohan and Vegeta… the characters of Dragonball Z (the best show ever made). These characters will always be stuck in my mind and taught a generation of kids some tough lessons. These characters all came from one brilliant mind, and that is who I will talk about today, Akira Toiryama.
Akira Toriyama is the man who created the manga series Dragonball. His popularity skyrocketed from this in 1984 when the magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump published his manga series. To this date his Manga for dragonball has sold nearly 156,300 copies in japan alone. From this creation he then went on to work with Toei Animation studio’s to create the show Dragonball, Dragonball Z and the very terrible Dragonball GT. These shows spread to throughout the globe and became an international success. Currently Toriyama works for Shueisha creating and doing artwork for original manga series.
Reflection!
Toriyama created most of my childhood hands down. Every morning I would get up and sit down in front of cheez tv just to watch Dragonball Z. The lessons I learned from watching Dragonball Z were uncanny,
While it is a long picture it does make a good point! (Source)
All of this was possible because of the Akira Toriyama. While Toriyama still is creating manga, people will buy it because of what he has produced in the past. It’s like when J.K Rowling finished Harry Potter, her next book she released everyone wanted because they loved what she wrote. I feel that the same premise happens to Toriyama. Since Dragonball he has kept up a good reputation in the industry creating characters for Dragon Quest. While recently he released the newest movie for Dragonball Z, I like many hope he returns to the series and continues the adventures of the show that made him so very famous.
Resources:
Image sourced from: http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/5/55257/1125157-19930506tori.jpg
Image sourced from http://static.fjcdn.com/pictures/What+Dragonball+Z+Taught+me.+Saw+this+somewhere+and+decided_96d3f0_3203127.jpg
AnimeNewsNetwork, 2012, Top 10 Shonen Jump Manga by All time volume sales. animenewsnetwork, published 24 October <http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2012-10-23/top-10-shonen-jump-manga-by-all-time-volume-sales>
Digital Asia 
Your discussion of people always buying Akira Toiryama’s Manga due to his past products. It’s almost as if Toiryama has become a brand in himself, you are describing brand loyalty akin to Apple products. A question could arise as to whether it is brand addiction to Dragon Ball or is it to Akira Toiryama.
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I’m doing a similar one on Sailor Moon and i find it interesting how you used the creator while i investigated the voice of the main character. I like that there is different ‘celebrity’ types in the various shows and comics and that it can be explored through various people involved.
As someone who also watched Dragonball Z with my twin brother on CheeseTV i definitely agree with you with the lessons it taught us growing up.
You make an interesting point about following that person to their next endeavour and i think possibly that might be what celebrity is, having people that will follow your work because they enjoy the characters and lessons learnt.
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Hi,
I’m also a massive fan of Akira Toriyama, I absolutely love his work! If you haven’t, I encourage you to look up and read the manga, it’s brilliant! The sheer technique he incorporates in translating action into moving pictures is just fantastic.
Also, I actually don’t think Toriyama had much, if not anything to do with Dragonball GT.
Anyway, for your digital artefact, perhaps you could talk about the franchise and fandom of Dragon Ball Z, perhaps looking at how and why it’s exploded in popularity around the globe. I’d love to see you talk to fans, asking them why they love it so much!
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