With Dragon Ball Z (or “Dragonball Z”) reaching the top of the anime series charts, many anime fans have asked what it was that inspired the artist to create this truly exciting series. Dragon Ball Z has taken the world by storm and there is no doubt that Japanese manga artist Akira Toriyama created an anime series that has been a delight to fans around the world. The Dragon Ball series has sparked the creation of dozens of best-selling fighting video games, popular around the world. Not only can you buy Dragon Ball video games, including Dragon Ball GT, there are also countless sites to get cheats and walkthroughs for all games.
But what inspired this incredible mix of fantasy and imagination? What has taken Dragon Ball beyond others for anime fans and placed it at the top of the ranks? What are its roots?
As a child, Akira avidly watched anime, a Japanese video cartoon animation style. When he was 10 years old, he moved to manga, which is the Japanese word for comics. He also took his inspiration from other sources. Growing up as a Jackie Chan fan, a key stimulus for Dragon Ball was Jackie Chan’s first movie, Drunken Master.
How did you come to succeed in the world of manga? It all started with submitting a story to a monthly competition for amateur artists, and although he didn’t win, the publisher hired him later. After a year of hard work, he turned pro. He believes that doing manga can bring out his individuality, as it creates both history and art.
The incredibly illustrated attacks that materialize in Dragon Ball Z were inspired by an ancient art in China, Chi (also spelled Ki), which means Universal Life Energy. Chi is generally shapeless and invisible, but in manga art, Toriyama shaped it to be easy to understand. In Dragon Ball, another well-known attack is called kamehameha, so our anime artist did many poses himself and chose the best one.
Plot and character developments were often inspired by letters from readers, such as one character, Vegeta. Toriyama found that she was often inspired by comments from her fans and used the advantage to spark imagination in her anime series.
Influenced by the works of Walt Disney, such as 101 Dalmatians, and the work of another manga artist, writer and illustrator, Osamu Tezuka (creator of Astro Boy and known as the “Walt Disney of Japan”), brought his creations to life. in Dragon Ball. perhaps inspired by the aforementioned, but truly the creativity of your own mind. The Dragon Ball anime series has likely been the inspiration for other manga artists in their own right.
When asked what materials he uses to create his art, he replies that he used to use colored pens and inks, but today he uses a Macintosh. And who can question the efficiency of modern equipment in exceptional anime and manga.
And with a new remastered Dragon Ball Z season 1 (the first 39 episodes restored) arriving as the best-selling series to date, Japanese artist Akira Toriyama is sure to be known as the most inspired manga artist of his time.