The world of Japanese manga will never be the same again with the demise of its pioneering genius Akira Toriyama. The famous artist who created iconic illustrated series like Dragon Ball which was adapted successfully to the small screen, passed away at the age of 68 on March 1st, 2024. Toriyama has left behind an evergreen legacy of work that has influenced people across the world.
Apart from making an impact on audiences, the Japanese creator has also changed the lives of people in his line of work. Voice actor Sean Schemmel who gave life to the cult character of Goku, was emotional in his tribute to the legend and revealed how he was responsible for saving his life.
Why Sean Schemmel Will Always Be Indebted To Akira Toriyama
The world of Japanese anime and manga just lost its pioneer Akira Toriyama. The superlative artist and creator who is credited with creating some of the most influential works including Dragon Ball, passed away on March 1st, 2024 at age 68 after suffering an acute subdural hematoma. Following his demise, fans and colleagues from all over the globe flooded social media to pay tribute to the legend.
While Toriyama’s art has had an unprecedented reach, the artist’s impact stretches far beyond his talent. Actor Sean Schemmel who voiced the English version of the cult character Goku from Dragon Ball, made a stunning revelation on social media that illustrated how Toriyama changed his life.
In a live stream called Akira Changed My Life, Schemmel paid tribute to the greatness of the creator before elaborating on his impact on his personal life. The voice actor was emotional when he referred to Toriyama as family, and was quick to empathize with all the Japanese collaborators who would have faced an even bigger loss in their lives.
More significantly, Schemmel felt immense gratitude towards the Dragon Ball creator for saving his life literally. The actor confessed that the show came to him at a challenging and difficult personal time in his life. His work in the series and the paycheck he received was then used by him for therapy sessions that changed his life forever.
How Jackie Chan Inspired Akira Toriyama
Are you even an anime or manga fan if you’ve not read Dragon Ball? Following his unfortunate death, Akira Toriyama ensured that the cult series will remain one of his greatest creative works that has had a huge impact all over the world. Regarded as an artist par excellence, his influence will still be felt many years down the line.
In an earlier interview with Kazenshuu in 2018, the creator spoke about how the illustration was conceived and what inspired him to write this series that became a rage across the world. Interestingly, it was martial arts star Jackie Chan who served as the muse for Toriyama’s genius to take shape.
“As it happened, at that time I loved Jackie Chan’s movies and had seen Drunken Master dozens of times. Since I liked that sort of thing, Torishima-san advised me to try and make a kung-fu shōnen manga, so I drew a one-shot called Dragon Boy. That got an incredibly positive response from the readers, so I decided to go that route for my next serialized work”.
From humble thoughts and beginnings, Toriyama succeeded in creating a piece of work that will always be regarded as the benchmark in the field of Japanese anime and manga.
Dragon Ball ( 1986 original series) can be streamed on Hulu.
