There is a strangeness to the passing of Akira Toryiama that is palpable in the responses from other mangaka that are spilling out from Japan, as well as the words from people all over the world that were touched by Toryiama’s work. It isn’t just that people can barely believe the news, or that they don’t want to, but that Toryiama’s passing has so much weight to it that many seem to even struggle to find words that could be said to capture the impact of the man in a way that would honor him.

The immediate sense is that people are having a hard time believing Toriyama is really gone due to how prolific he was in his work. Even in his late sixties, there are a multitude of projects in development and ongoing with Toriyama’s involvement. For someone who so consistently throughout the years seemed to work at a near constant clip (with few breaks) it seems unbelievable that all that output would simply stop so abruptly for any reason, even death.

For myself, I am a member of the international community that grew to love Toryiama and his work. I like many got to know him through the animated series Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z as they aired on Toonami, but where I really met Akira Toryiama was inside the pages of Shonen Jump, and on the internet where scans of his work were being translated and uploaded by fans around the world.

When I heard he has passed last night, I shut off my computer and walked into a tiny closet where I keep a lot of my books. On a set of shelves in there is a nearly complete collection of the United States edition of Shonen Jump. The covers of both issue #0 and #1 are graced by Goku. I stood there for awhile looking at Goku, his hair a flash of yellow and his body poised to leap right off the page.

It is the strangest thing, to look at a character and to not just know their moves, their power level, their outlook, etc. But Goku is different. When I was a little boy, I watched a monkey-tailed Goku set out to look for Dragon Balls, I watched him grow and get stronger as I grew too. I watched him become a father and a husband, I watched him become many of his former enemies best friend. I did not do this alone either. Throughout my entire life I have met people again and again with a similar story. When they were young they met Goku, and meeting him and following him on his adventures had made their lives better.

If you look, you will find that Osamu Tezuka is often referred to as the Godfather of manga. Astro Boy is of course recognizable, and Tezuka’s take on Walt Disney had an undeniable impact on manga. But with Toryiama gone, I believe he will and should be recognized as the titan he is and the impact his work achieved. I have already seen some sentiment in this direction expressed across X and other social media. Without Toryiama, many of us wouldn’t be who we are today.

[UPDATE: It would appear there is in fact material to support this sentiment directly. See the tweet below.]

I'm oldtaku enough to remember Osamu Tezuka's death in 1989. I see echoes of it in the response to Akira Toriyama's passing. Tezuka called Toriyama "almost too good," and his "heir apparent." Toriyama wrote, "without Tezuka's work, I don't think I'd have become the artist I am." pic.twitter.com/rZmUN4IRMu

— Matt Alt (@Matt_Alt) March 8, 2024

Which is why, once again, his passing feels so strange. It feels very strange to know such a colossal talent- even just such a colossal person – is gone, and that many people who are only slightly older than myself will simply react with, “Who is Akira Toryiama?” They may recognize Dragon Ball or Dragon Quest as a testament to their reach, but for those that lived in that special pocket of time where they could experience Toryiama’s work and live and grow alongside it, I know this hurts deeply.

I’ll be pulling some Dragon Ball off the shelf, maybe firing up some favorite episodes. What I keep coming back to is not images of Goku fighting powerful enemies, or a dragon emerging from orange orbs, but the images in my mind of Goku as a father and a husband. Toryiama was a father and a husband, and I am one now too. It is tough to be here now and come to the conclusion after all these years that the greatest lesson I took away from Dragon Ball as a young man is that strength isn’t enough. You have to have love too.

We all loved Akira Toryiama, we loved his work, the work it inspired… We are all sending our love from around the world to his family, and wishing him well on his final journey. May he rest in peace, and Oda expressed it best: May Heaven be just as pleasant as you envisioned it.