When legendary manga author Akira Toriyama’s death was announced on March 8, the worldwide outpouring of grief it sparked was unprecedented. Despite having no public profile and rarely travelling outside of his native
Japan , the mild-mannered and elusive author of the wildly popular Dragon Ball series was mourned in a way most politicians and celebrities can only dream of. In Argentina, 30,000 people took to the streets of Buenos Aires for a mass celebration of Toriyama’s life. El Salvador’s government declared an official period of mourning. Both the Chinese and Brazilian governments paid personal respects to the departed mangaka and acknowledged his vast influence on their local cultures, whereas French President Emmanual Macron, whose government knighted Toriyama in 2021, took to X/Twitter to share some custom artwork gifted to him by the artist. à Akira Toriyama et ses millions de passionnés qui ont grandi avec lui. 鳥山æã¨ä½ç¾ä¸ãã®å½¼ã®æ好家ã¸ã pic.twitter.com/0AAvVxUuj6 Toriyama’s most famous creation, Dragon Ball, began life in 1984 as a loose retelling of the classic Chinese epic ‘Journey to the West’, but with an increased focus on humour and martial arts. Audiences followed the animated adventures of Son Goku, a carefree and charmingly naive boy with a love of fighting as he sought to become stronger and track down the series‘ eponymous ‘dragon balls’- a set of magical orbs with the power to grant wishes. The series was a big hit in Japan, but it was sequel Dragon Ball Z, featuring a now-adult Goku and shift in tone from fantasy to sci-fi, which truly took the franchise into the stratosphere. Melding Toriyama’s off-beat humour with high stakes, serialised storytelling and intense, bloody fight sequences featuring laser beams and flashy transformations, the series became an instant global phenomenon in every country it was broadcast. For many young viewers, Dragon Ball was not just their first exposure to anime, but to an entire medium of long-form storytelling. Over the course of many years, audiences watched Goku grow from a boy into a man, start a family and develop from a novice martial artist into the strongest warrior in the universe. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Read the full story » The tale itself is a simple one- yet it is precisely that simplicity which granted the series such a universal appeal. Every single culture could relate to Goku’s pure-hearted nature, his otherness, and his unending desire to surpass his limits. This ethos, coupled with Toriyama’s mastery of visual language and instantly recognisable character designs, eventually saw the series elevated to a form of modern-day folklore; a parable about self-improvement whose central tenets became embedded in almost every facet of pop culture. ‘Dragon Ball is supposed to be the world’s greatest action anime, but there’s a lot more to it than that,’ says anime scholar Derek Padula, who runs the blog The Dao of Dragon Ball and has written more than nine books on the series. ‘There’s a philosophy, and a spirituality, and a worldview that fans inherit as they watch it and read it and absorb it into their mind, and it starts to affect the way they look at the world.’ He added: ‘Toriyama never set out to teach any lessons- he wanted to create pure entertainment. So then why is Dragon Ball so full of lessons that resonate with people? ‘The primary reason is that it’s founded upon the framework of [Chinese parable] Journey to the West, which is a Buddhist and Daoist story filled with spiritual lessons and deep philosophy about self-cultivation and purification and reaching higher levels of enlightenment. ‘That story was eventually exported to Japan and became common pop culture over there, and Toriyama initially used it as an easy framework for his story because it was something that everyone in Japan already knew. ‘So even though Dragon Ball is all about this high-octane action and entertainment, it’s actually underpinned by this bedrock of Buddhist and Daoist and Japanese Shinto spirituality. He continued: ‘When fans see Goku and the other characters training hard and striving to better themselves, they connect to it.There’s a part of us all which wants better ourselves and reach those higher levels and tap into our potential, and Dragon Ball shows us that if we if we set big goals and we train hard enough and we persevere through the pain, we can do incredible things that we otherwise would have been limited by in our own minds. ‘In that sense, Dragon Ball sets us free to become where we want to be.’ It is this universal appeal to the human spirit which has allowed the series to proliferate so seamlessly across the globe. Goku’s good-hearted nature, his humble beginnings and underdog spirit have made him a champion amongst people from lower-economic backgrounds who seek to better themselves, and a mid-series reveal that he is the sole survivor of a powerful alien race who were destroyed by a tyrant aligned his journey with that of oppressed people of all colours and creeds. In The Tao of Wu , a book of philosophy written by Wu-Tang Clan founder RZA, the
Rapper and intellectual equated Goku’s journey as akin to the struggles faced by African-Americans. Speaking of the influences in his life, he wrote: ‘Take even a cartoon like Dragon Ball Z. I mean, it’s a cartoon, but it’s also one of the deepest cartoons in history. Its hero, Son Goku, starts out as a kid, begins martial arts training, and sets off on a quest for seven balls that can unleash dragons which grant wishes. Now that’s a fantasy, obviously, a children’s story, but it’s also based on a sixteenth-century Chinese folk novel about a Buddhist monk which represents a journey to enlightenment. ‘But to me, Dragon Ball Z represents the story of the black man in America.’ Migrants break through razor wire and knock guards to ground in border rush A flesh-eating infection is spreading and no one knows why Man Utd get huge injury boost with star set to return against Brentford Rise Of The Rōnin review - Ghost of Nioh He continues: ‘You see it more clearly as the story goes. You learn that Son Goku is part of an ancient race called the Saiyans, who come from a distant planet and were known as the fiercest warriors in the galaxy. So Son Goku has superpowers but doesn’t realise it because a head injury destroyed his memory, robbed his knowledge of self. Then one day, he is stressed beyond his limits and hulks out into his alter ego, Super Saiyan- a n**** with dreadlocks. ‘This sort of story comes up in world literature, even in the Bible. Abraham is told his seed will be lost for four hundred years, in a land not their own, not knowing who they are or where they’re from. That’s the story of the Jewish people, but it’s also the story of the black man in America’. RIP Akira Toriyama, who created the closest thing to a universal cultural artifact that humanity has ever known. Somewhere in Palestine, a resistance fighter is sketching Al Qassam Goku in your honor. pic.twitter.com/HiKdmwXBvn Still so fucking insane, Goku vs Jiren was literally hyped like a MMA match Dragon Ball hype is just different pic.twitter.com/LQVUrFST2V But perhaps nowhere exemplifies this cultural exchange more than Latin America, where Toriyama’s work has become so prevalent that Goku is now considered a kind of folk icon- Murals of Dragon Ball characters adorn the walls of every street corner and taco truck in Mexico, and idols of Goku, perhaps only semi-tongue-in-cheek, are often displayed alongside Catholic shrines in many people’s homes. Mexico’s love for Dragon Ball is in fact so overwhelming it almost caused a minor diplomatic incident. In 2018, when the latest series of the anime was wrapping up in Japan,
Mexico billed the final showdown between Goku and his latest antagonist Jiren as if it were an MMA match, holding impromptu watch parties on illegal streams in squares throughout the country, which were attended by thousands of fans. The event prompted the Japanese embassy to send a cease-and-desist letter to the Mexican government to shut down the illegal screenings, but the will of the people eventually prevailed and a deal was struck to screen the final episodes in what turned into a de-facto public holiday. Speaking of the region’s particularly fervent love for the anime, Padula said: ‘I asked this same question to Rene Garcia [voice
Actor for the Brazilian dub], and he said that particularly for people who grow up in poor neighbourhoods, Goku taught them that you can be somebody who is not at the top already and you can work your way up to unfathomable heights. It’s also very popular with soccer players for the same reason.’ ‘Wherever Dragon Ball went, it built the local anime industry along with it. It was a landmark series that built the industry and changed the lives of generations of children who are now adults. They now have their own kids and have introduced it to them, and it makes me feel better about Akira Toriyama’s passing because we can now see that his work will live on and continue to inspire people for generations to come.’ Yet no matter what lessons people may take from the series, there is no escaping the fact that Dragon Ball Z is a thoroughly absurd show. Over the course of the narrative the heroes fight
aliens, demons and killer robots, travel through time and punch eachother through mountains with alarming regularity. Characters spend entire episodes doing nothing but screaming at each other as they power-up while bystanders look on and gasp incredulously. But it’s this relentless pursuit of getting stronger has also made Dragon Ball a huge hit amongst athletes, who often cite the show as an inspiration due to Toriyama’s focus on telling stories about determination and overcoming the odds. Unlike traditional action stories, which focus primarily on conflict, Dragon Ball crafts entire narrative arcs specifically about the importance of training and self-improvement. What would typically be relegated to a short training montage in most stories instead becomes a major source of character development and a driving force in the narrative. We’ll try tackling life with as much energy as Goku! 𧡠We loved every minute Rest in peace, Toriyama-å ç pic.twitter.com/rxHalCZmFG The amount of famous athletes inspired by the show is almost too numerous to mention, although following news of Toriyama’s death, at least 10 Italian
Football clubs, including AC Milan,
Juventus and Napoli, posted tributes to the series and shared pictures of their players mimicking poses from the show. Argentina’s national team were also spotted warming up to ‘Cha-La-Head-Cha-La’, the series’ Japanese theme song in the days following his passing, while former Man City and
Barcelona player Joan Roman went even further and legally changed his name to ‘Goku’ as a tribute to the character. ‘I have chosen this name because I feel identified with the values it represents for me: Perseverance, empathy, growing in the face of obstacles, light and positivity,’ Roman said in a statement. But it’s not just real athletes who have taken the lessons of Gokuism on board- fictional ones have too. Michael B Jordan, director and star of the Rocky spin-off Creed , revealed in a recent interview how Toriyama’s ability to blend dramatic storytelling with high-octane fight scenes was a direct inspiration on the most recent entry in the franchise. Speaking to Polygon, Jordan explained how Dragon Ball provided the blueprint for his character’s resilience and refusal to back down. ‘It’s Goku’s resilience. No matter how much pain and struggle he goes through, every battle, a Saiyan only gets stronger,’ he said. ‘They could even lose, but they’re gonna come back stronger until they eventually beat you. Like, it doesn’t even matter.’ He continued: ‘Even sometimes in death, he’s gonna come back. He comes back all the time, and he’s going to become stronger until he beats you. I think that resilience, that never-give-up attitude, is what I connect with, and I dig that. ‘I think the unassuming nature of Goku, his disarming nature combined with his ability to be ready for whatever happens when his back is against the wall, is really inspiring. He always steps up to whatever challenge.’ From hip-hop to video games, sports and philosophy, there isn’t an area of contemporary culture that Toriyama hasn’t touched. Far beyond a mere fictional character, Goku has become an archetype; a mythological figure recognised the world over who will continue to inspire hope for generations to come. Following news of his death, fellow manga creator Eiichiro Oda, creator of the manga One Piece, which was heavily influenced by Toriyama’s work, said this of this idol: ‘The excitement and emotions felt through the Dragon Ball series will forever take root in the youth of the creators of this industry. ‘His existence is like that of a great tree. … May the heaven he envisioned be a most joyous place for him.’ Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk . For more stories like this, check our news page . MORE : Blake Lively issues grovelling apology as she’s left ‘mortified’ over
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