Dead Akira Toriyama, father of Dragon Ball and Arale

If you were a child in the eighties, you most likely learnt the meaning of paradox by watching Dr. Slump and Arale, a topical demented comedy about how imperfect machines can be and how desperate humans are to rely on machines. If, on the other hand, you grew up in the nineties, your self-mockery comes from Dragon Ball, a kind of kung-fu soap opera that is basically a eulogy to diversity, inclusion, better still 'fusion'. In either case, you have to thank Akira Toriyama, master of Japanese manga and anime, who died at the age of 68 from a subdural haematoma.

The death dates back to last 1 March, but the news has only just been released, in perfect coherence with the spirit of an author who, during his lifetime, knew how to take cues from everywhere but leave nothing to chance. An author still going strong: 'It is with deep regret that we announce his passing. We know that he still had several works in production with his usual great enthusiasm,' reads a note from publisher Shueisha. An author capable of selling 260 million copies worldwide.

Akira Toriyama (Photo by JIJI Press / AFP)

Born in Nagoya, a city in the Chūbu region of the island of Honshū in Japan, Toriyama's career as a mangaka began at the age of 20, when he submitted his first works to Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine. His first published comic was Wonder Island in 1978, a story about a former World War II kamikaze pilot stranded on a Pacific island. However, notoriety came with Dr. Slump, serialised by Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine from 1980 to 1984. We are in the neighbourhood of Astro Boy, the sacred text of Japanese graphic literature, but there is nothing serious about it: Dr. Slump is an unlikely scientist who inhabits an unlikely 'Penguin Village', where the superheroes are old (Suppaman) and the poopies are pink and can smile.

To combat loneliness, Slump builds himself a robot daughter, Arale, but she does not come to him exactly as he would like: there is a sight defect, which can be corrected with glasses, and that is the least of it. Because then there is an inordinate force and speed that still has to be 'managed' by a little girl. Who, as soon as she can, pops her head off and dribbles with it to the cry of "Ciriciao, gente!" to the despair of the daddy who only wants to make a good impression on the charming little teacher. For Toriyama Dr. Slump is a 35-million-copy-selling success and a Shōgakukan prize won. And, thanks to Toei Animation's adaptation, it is also coming to us.

Manga di Dragon Ball (AFP)

Continuing to mix high and low culture - The Monkey, a seminal novel in Chinese literature, and the films of Jackie Chan - Toriyama invented Dragon Boy, the first incarnation of Dragon Ball, first published in Fresh Jump in 1983. The hero is Son Goku, this boy who is actually the sacred monkey of Wu Ch'êng-ên: he practices martial arts and aspires to asceticism, then meets a girl named Bulma and joins her in the quest for the seven dragon balls and more. Published in Weekly Shōnen Jump, Dragon Ball was an instant hit at home and then abroad. The comic book series has sold over 150 million copies in Japan alone, making it one of the most successful manga of all time. As in the case of Dr. Slump, Toei Animation adapted it into an animated series, with episodes aired on Japanese television from 1986 to 1989. And then, as is often the case when we talk about mass culture, success became something else: merchandising, video games, cosplay.