--- description: News of Toriyama’s March 1 death, which was announced March 8, triggered an outpouring of condolences from other artists, many of whom grew up reading his work. title: Akira Toriyama—Beloved Manga Artist and Creator of 'Dragon Ball'—Dies at 68 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt52666ce2ad83049a/698a49394ee262257f31cbae/Japanese-manga-artist-Akira-Toriyama.jpg?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [remembrance](/tag/remembrance/) ## remembrance Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # _Dragon Ball_ Creator Akira Toriyama Dies at 68 by [Ryotaro Nakamaru / Bloomberg](/author/bloomberg/) ## Ryotaro Nakamaru / Bloomberg Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Updated: Jan 19, 2026 1:29 PM CUTPublished: Mar 8, 2024 6:15 AM CUT  Japanese manga artist Akira Toriyama in May 1982. Japanese manga artist Akira Toriyama in May 1982.STR/JIJI Press/AFP/Getty Images by [Ryotaro Nakamaru / Bloomberg](/author/bloomberg/) ## Ryotaro Nakamaru / Bloomberg Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Updated: Jan 19, 2026 1:29 PM CUTPublished: Mar 8, 2024 6:15 AM CUT Akira Toriyama, creator of the beloved manga and anime _Dragon Ball_, has died, his production studio said in a [statement](https://www.shonenjump.com/j/2024/03/08/240308%5Foshirase.html "undefined") Friday. He was 68. The artist behind the long-running media franchise that popularized Japanese manga abroad, passed away on March 1 from an acute subdural hematoma, according to the statement. First appearing in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in 1984, _Dragon Ball_ follows protagonist Son Goku’s martial arts training and quest to find the seven titular orbs and summon a wish-granting dragon. It remains one of the most successful Japanese media franchises of all time, with the Shueisha Inc.-published manga selling more than 260 million copies worldwide and spawning several anime series, video games and a Hollywood-produced live-action movie. His creations, which span more than 45 years, include _Dr. Slump_, _Sand Land_ and the character designs for the _Dragon Quest_ video games. News of Toriyama’s death triggered an outpouring of condolences from other artists, many of whom grew up reading his work. Toriyama proved to a disbelieving audience that “manga can be fun for both children and adults,” wrote _One Piece_ creator Eiichiro Oda. “He showed that manga could travel the world.” _Naruto_ author Masashi Kishimoto said he read Toriyama’s stories every week from grade school to college and was inspired by the characters to become a manga artist. “I wanted to make manga like yours! I wanted to be like you!” he said. “He was so funny. He was naughty, cute, sharp-tongued and humble,” wrote Masakazu Katsura, creator of _Tiger & Bunny._ “I miss our long phone calls where we just talked about dumb things.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6898782/dragon-ball-manga-creator-akira-toriyama-death/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6898782/dragon-ball-manga-creator-akira-toriyama-death/"},"headline":"Dragon Ball Creator Akira Toriyama Dies at 68","datePublished":"2024-03-08T06:15:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-01-19T13:29:17.000Z","description":"News of Toriyama’s March 1 death, which was announced March 8, triggered an outpouring of condolences from other artists, many of whom grew up reading his work.","url":"https://time.com/6898782/dragon-ball-manga-creator-akira-toriyama-death/","keywords":["remembrance","wire","overnight","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt52666ce2ad83049a/698a49394ee262257f31cbae/Japanese-manga-artist-Akira-Toriyama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryotaro Nakamaru / Bloomberg"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt52666ce2ad83049a/698a49394ee262257f31cbae/Japanese-manga-artist-Akira-Toriyama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"JAPAN-CULTURE-MANGA-DRAGON BALL","caption":"JAPAN-CULTURE-MANGA-DRAGON BALL","creditText":"STR/JIJI Press/AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/remembrance/","name":"remembrance"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6898782/dragon-ball-manga-creator-akira-toriyama-death/","name":"Dragon Ball Creator Akira Toriyama Dies at 68"}}]}] ```