“Dragon Ball” Creator Dies at 68: These Final Animes by Akira Toriyama Will Still Release in 2024
Darui Sven
March 11, 2024 8:32 am
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4 min read
Fans all over the world mourn the loss of mangaka Akira Toriyama. Two anime series, on which he recently worked significantly, will still be released in 2024.
2024 was supposed to be a very, very big year for one of the most beloved and successful manga and anime series of all time: This year, “Dragon Ball” turns 40. In November 1984, the manga series debuted in the 51st issue of the magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump in Japan and was set to be the major breakthrough for the then 29-year-old mangaka (manga artist) Akira Toriyama. Toriyama succeeded in not only shaping the shōnen genre (manga aimed at young male audiences) but also decisively influencing manga and anime culture itself, based on the over 400-year-old Chinese novel “Journey to the West” by Wu Cheng’en. He significantly contributed to the global success of Japanese comics and animated films.
Now, on March 1st, Toriyama passed away at the age of 68 due to a cerebral hemorrhage. Fans worldwide are shocked in the “Dragon Ball” anniversary year and express their condolences through thousands of messages across all social networks, thanking Toriyama for his great gift of immortal works. Whether fans, celebrities like Michael B. Jordan, Jackie Chan, and Justin Chatwin, or entire football clubs: they all pay their respects to the mangaka. Toriyama, who was known to be very shy, always valued privacy and thus was hardly present on social media. Yet, nobody in his profession has influenced Generation Z or Millennials more than he did:
Jackie Chan on Weibo: “Akira Toriyama-sensei, thank you for creating so many classic works, they will last forever. Farewell 🙏” https://t.co/auzJ7RNObX pic.twitter.com/6talLlR072
— Todd Blankenship (@Herms98) March 8, 2024
“For many adolescents around the turn of the millennium, ‘Dragon Ball’ was the beginning of a sometimes lifelong love for manga and anime. In addition to the 42 manga volumes released by Carlsen Verlag in 1997, the anime series ‘Dragon Ball,’ first aired on RTL II in the summer of 1999, also held an important place in the lives of fans. Many of them probably reminisced about their own childhood and youth after the sad news of their idol’s death: on Amazon, the first Massiv volume of ‘Dragon Ball’ currently ranks number 1 in the sales charts in the categories ‘Superheroes,’ ‘Shonen Manga,’ and ‘Action & Martial Arts Mangas,’ while the anime series ‘Dragon Ball Vol. 1’ is number 1 among anime, followed by ‘Dragon Ball Z Vol. 1.'”
“Dragon Ball Daima” and “Sand Land: The Series” to Launch in 2024 Although Akira Toriyama had long deserved retirement, he was still in the midst of working on numerous projects, directly or in an advisory capacity. This year, two important anime series that were dear to him will be released: “Dragon Ball Daima” and “Sand Land: The Series.”
“Dragon Ball Daima” was announced at New York Comic Con in October 2023. While creator Akira Toriyama was only sporadically involved in all subsequent productions after the end of the “Dragon Ball” manga, “Dragon Ball Daima” was described as the first production in over 30 years in which he would be directly and extensively involved. In it, Son Goku and his gang are cursed to become children again. To reverse this curse, they must embark on a great adventure to a foreign world, as Toriyama stated in a message (via Anime News Network):
“I came up with the story and the settings, and I even designed a large portion of it. I’m actually putting much more into this project than usual! Things will unfold that shed light on the mysteries of the ‘Dragon Ball’ world. I hope you enjoy these somewhat different battles, which are cute and powerful!”
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“Dragon Ball Daima” will be released in fall 2024. There is no exact streaming start or location for Germany yet.
“Sand Land: The Series” is based on Akira Toriyama’s one-shot manga “Sand Land,” which was released in 2000. The 2023 anime film “Sand Land,” released in Japan, takes place on an earth destroyed by wars, where water has become a precious and rare commodity. Together with the demons Thief and Beelzebub, Sheriff Rao sets out in a stolen tank to find a mysterious source. “Sand Land: The Series,” on the other hand, will continue the story of the film in 13 episodes.
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