Akira Toriyama Net Worth, Source of Income and Bio

Akira Toriyama Biography

Akira Toriyama, born on April 5, 1955, in Kiyosu, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, was a celebrated Japanese manga artist, best known for creating the globally popular ‘Dragon Ball’ franchise. From a young age, Toriyama was interested in drawing. He chose to do a designing course in high school to become a manga artist. After a couple of mediocre manga works, he gained fame and appreciation in 1980 for creating the comedy manga series ‘Dr. Slump.’ He achieved tremendous success after making the globally popular manga series ‘Dragon Ball.’ His manga was also adapted into anime, TV movies, and video games.

PROFILE SUMMARY

Full name: Akira Toriyama

Date of birth: April 5, 1955

Age: 68 Years

Gender: Male

Place of birth: Kiyosu, Aichi Prefecture, Japan

Nationality: Japan

Profession: Manga Artist

Parents: Mr Karazu & Mrs Tombi Toriyama

Siblings: Uzura Toriyama (sister)

Spouse: Yoshimi Katō

No. of Children: 2

Net worth: $50 million

Early Life & Education

Toriyama was raised by his parents, Karazu and Tombi Toriyama, and he has one sister named Uzura. He spent his childhood and much of his formative years in Kiyosu, which was then a countryside just outside Nagoya, the capital of Japan’s Aichi Prefecture. Speaking about his childhood, Toriyama said, “I was a cheeky little brat: the kind who was strong to the weak, and who wouldn’t approach the strong. On top of that, my grades at the time were quite good, so I always had the privilege of being designated as class officer by the teacher.”

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As manga was the only entertainment to fascinate children in those days, Toriyama began drawing pictures for fun. He used to draw animals like horses and chimpanzees as a child. He eventually started drawing manga and animation characters along with his elementary school friends. Unlike other children who considered art a pastime, Toriyama had a passion for drawing. He continued creating images on paper and also started drawing portraits of his schoolmates. He was also fascinated by the art design in Disney animation, and he practically devoured it. In One Hundred and One Dalmatians, he said he liked the way the humans were drawn, and the animals were caricatured. He often imitated it. Later, he attended a neighborhood drawing class and got a prize for drawing pictures, watching Walt Disney’s 101 Dalmatians.

Career

Toriyama’s first published work, titled Wonder Island, appeared in Weekly Shōnen Jump in 1978. Both Wonder Island and its sequel, Wonder Island 2, were unpopular among readers. Undeterred, he kept drawing and in 1980 came his breakout: Dr Slump, a comedy series revolving around a robot girl and her trials and travails as she interacts with the world around her. Serialised in Weekly Shōnen Jump until 1984, it ended up earning him one of Japan’s highest manga honours – a Shogakukan manga award. An anime adaptation soon began airing on television, and Toriyama founded Bird Studio off the back of his early success.

Personal Life

In 1982, he married fellow manga artist Yoshimi Katō, with whom he would have two children. He kept his personal life mostly private – and often used a cyborg avatar called Robotoriyama to represent himself. In 1984, Toriyama created Dragon Ball, the property that would bring him international recognition and make him one of Japan’s highest-selling manga authors. Based on an earlier work titled Dragon Boy, Dragon Ball was serialised in 519 chapters in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1984 to 1995 and birthed a blockbuster franchise including an English-language comic book series, five distinct television adaptation and spin-offs, over 20 different films, and a vast array of video games.

Achievement

Toriyama is regarded as one of the authors who changed the history of manga, as his works are highly influential and popular, particularly Dragon Ball, which many manga artists cite as a source of inspiration. He earned the 1981 Shogakukan Manga Award for best shōnen manga with Dr. Slump, and it went on to sell over 35 million copies in Japan. It was adapted into a successful anime series, with a second anime created in 1997, 13 years after the manga ended. His next series, Dragon Ball, would become one of the most popular and successful manga in the world. Having sold 260 million copies worldwide, it is one of the best-selling manga series of all time and is considered to be one of the main reasons for the period when manga circulation was at its highest in the mid-1980s and mid-1990s. Overseas, Dragon Ball’s anime adaptations have been more successful than the manga and are credited with boosting anime’s popularity in the Western world.

Net Worth

Toriyama’s net worth is estimated to be around $50 million. Most of his wealth comes from his successful career as a manga artist and character designer. His primary source of income was from illustrating numerous popular series, writing art books, and giving ground to rewarding anime and film production products. His works, particularly the Dragon Ball series, have been a significant contributor to his net worth.

Cause of Death

Toriyama passed away on March 1, 2024, from an acute subdural haematoma. His death was a significant loss to the manga and anime industry, but his legacy lives on through his works, which continue to inspire and entertain millions around the world.