Toriyama has a Memory Problem? Instances of Forgetfulness

[Gokuden]

I keep hearing people saying he has trouble with his memory, but is it some form of dementia?
I remember reading that he was looking for an easy word to complete the 'Kame' attack so he could remember it later on, and his wife suggested 'Kamehameha' like the great Hawaiian king.

Then we have the instance of the tails being 'recessive' where the laws of science clearly counter this because Chichi does not carry any Saiya-jin heritage. People argue that she must be some type of furry descent, hence the tail. Ox King's proportions are inhuman.

Finally, the recent example we have is that he couldn't remember Android 18's hair color, and drew it purple for Battle of Gods. Some people say his original design for her hair was purple, and if the manga was colored, she would have purple hair. Other say that her hair color was intended to be purple, but the Toei changed the color, and Toriyama doesn't watch the anime of his manga creations because he gets embarrassed.

To me, it seems Toriyama has been battling a form of dementia since his early 30's, he has been very open about his 'forgetfulness'.

What do you think? Did Akira Toriyama suffer some brain trauma as a kid that lead to his incapacity to remember some things, sort of like his main famous main character? It's not like he's a prolific mangaka either.

Are there any other instances where Toriyama has bewildered you? I'm pretty sure he has arthritis too, hence why he has lowered the workload recently.

[Herms]

As far as I know, all of his memory lapses are in regards to DB details. He does describe himself as "forgetful" in several interviews and whatnot, but always in regards to how he can't remember DB details. There's really no evidence that this is a problem in his day-to-day life, and certainly nothing to suggest that he has a diagnosable medical problem. Based on everything he's said about his rather casual attitude towards his craft, I'd say his tendency to forget the details of his own creation is due less to poor memory, and more to him just not giving a shit.

[Cold Skin]

I think he's just very forgetful, without any sort of actual problem.

For C-18, he colored her blond himself in color pages of the manga and artworks.
I think it is due to the fact that she didn't have a major role once Majin Boo was released, and with all those years, I really think that when trying to think of colors for the female cyborg, his spirit made an amalgam with Arale and pushed him to have her hair purple.

I also think that Toriyama does not care about his work as much as we fans do, which will impact how well he remembers it all.
Careful, I'm not saying he doesn't care, I say he cares less than us, like to him it's not such a big deal.
We love Dragon Ball and easily remember every single detail of the whole story and designs. But to him, it was just a crazy story he invented weekly for his job, that happened to have a lot of success for what must be unknown reasons to him. All in all, to him, it was not such a big deal, I guess.

If you made a 500-chapters-long story that was very successful and was asked 20 years later "by the way, that sub-character in chapter 16, how did you see her appearance exactly?", you would likely be like "huh... wait, I don't remember exactly... I guess she was kinda like this, and I must have imagined her like that, but..."
I guess it's like if I was showing you one of your homeworks from 10 years ago for which you had a good grade and asked you "when writing this line, what were you thinking exactly? How would you explain it all today?". I think you would be like "hell if I know! Today, I guess I would be thinking that and writing it like this, but that's all I can tell you!" and you would count on other people to tell you "well, that point doesn't really fit with what you wrote back then."

[fogdark]

Well, from what I understand, Toriyama usually did not plan the story too far ahead, and I'm sure he came up with a lot of things on a spur of the moment. And, if you think about it, back then he had assistants, and editors who would remember the little details for him, so there was no need for him to bother with it.
So, more than 20 years later, would Toriyama remember things he came up out of nowhere? especially on a work that has 10 years worth of information? I'm sure he's quite forgetful about it, since he jokes about it all the time he gives an interview. Also, since Dragon Ball is so popular, he gets asked a lot of questions, I mean, how many mangaka have to remember so many details about a previous work finished so many years ago? Not many, I'd think.
So personally, I just think he's just a bit more forgetful than normal (and more than a bit lazy ) , and coupled with the fact that Dragon Ball finished so long ago, and he still gets asked so often about it, then it's no wonder he appears as if he'd forget his own head if it weren't already attached to his neck

[Bussani]

I remember reading that he was looking for an easy word to complete the 'Kame' attack so he could remember it later on, and his wife suggested 'Kamehameha' like the great Hawaiian king.

How is that an example of forgetfulness?

Then we have the instance of the tails being 'recessive' where the laws of science clearly counter this because Chichi does not carry any Saiya-jin heritage. People argue that she must be some type of furry descent, hence the tail. Ox King's proportions are inhuman.

Not knowing (or caring) how genetics work isn't a sign of dementia. It's probably not even a sign of forgetfulness. A lot of people don't know how recessive genes work.

[TheMightyOzaru]

Toriyama gave SSJ sparks, he colored 18's hair purple, he forgot who Launch was etc. He's fairly forgetful. I can assure you that a lot of fans know more about his own series than he does at this point.

[Gaffer Tape]

I think it's just something to understand that just because someone works on something for a living doesn't necessarily make that person a fan. And it more often than not doesn't make them a fan of the same caliber as people who constantly post on message boards devoted to the topic.

That's not to say that creators don't have a deep connection to what they're writing and usually understand it better and on a different level than anybody else. But that doesn't necessarily mean they'll remember minutiae. Add to that the fact that the series ended nearly 18 years ago, and that Toriyama admittedly both made it up as he went along and did Dragon Ball for the money, and it's not hard to understand that he's just not going to know everything about it.

[Marco Polo]

We as fans read and watch the series several times, but Toriyama probably never re-reads his manga chapters once he sends them to the editor. And of course, he never watch the anime.

[kei17]

I always think that true geniuses are those who excrete their ideas and creations literally like shit, then flush them and never care.

[Saiga]

Not knowing (or caring) how genetics work isn't a sign of dementia. It's probably not even a sign of forgetfulness. A lot of people don't know how recessive genes work.

Hell, the only reason I know what recessive genes are is because of people bitching about Toriyama getting it wrong.

[Gonstead]

I doubt he has a memory problem.

More like he just doesn't give a crap much these days. He's not like us here who pretty much know the franchise through and through or visit a website with such knowledge available free to the general public.

[SSJ4_Zankuto]

I don't think he has problems with his own brain as we all could easily forget things about Dragon Ball Z series. I often look up things if I forgotten something about Dragon Ball Z series.

[Thanos]

The weird thing about Dragon Ball is that Toriyama really doesn't care for it too much. It was never meant to be all that serious at all, but beyond his work, it has evolved into something people tend to forget started out as a gag manga.

[Daimakku]

I can see him forgetting characters such as Tao Pai Pai because they aren't that important overall, but forgetting a character like Lunch, which has been there for most of the original Dragonball series? Man..

I remember reading somewhere that Toriyama's son hates Dragonball. Is there any truth to that? Poor Toriyama was probably working his ass off on the manga when he should've been spending time with his son, so I can see why his son would hate it if it's true.

[TheMightyOzaru]

The weird thing about Dragon Ball is that Toriyama really doesn't care for it too much. It was never meant to be all that serious at all, but beyond his work, it has evolved into something people tend to forget started out as a gag manga.

I honestly think Toriyama should pull a George Lucas and sell the rights to his series to someone who knows a lot about the series... Am I a horrible person for saying that...? I like Toriyama and all but his forgetfulness really isn't good for the series. It will lead to many more inconsistencies.

[jjgp1112]

I think when you write in a haphazard style for such a long story, it's easy to forget certain details, especially things you came up with at the spur of the moment. Shit, it happens to me LOL.

[JulieYBM]

The rights to Dragon Ball are already owned by someone else, Shueisha. Toriyama made the series for Shueisha. It's not like every single last piece of merchandise is approved by Toriyama.

[TheMightyOzaru]

The rights to Dragon Ball are already owned by someone else, Shueisha. Toriyama made the series for Shueisha. It's not like every single last piece of merchandise is approved by Toriyama.

Oh my bad.

[Ninja Murasaki]

I can see him forgetting characters such as Tao Pai Pai because they aren't that important overall, but forgetting a character like Lunch, which has been there for most of the original Dragonball series? Man..

I remember reading somewhere that Toriyama's son hates Dragonball. Is there any truth to that? Poor Toriyama was probably working his ass off on the manga when he should've been spending time with his son, so I can see why his son would hate it if it's true.

I think there was an instance where Toriyama said his kids don't read or watch the series.

[Sinestro]

I remember reading somewhere that Toriyama's son hates Dragonball. Is there any truth to that? Poor Toriyama was probably working his ass off on the manga when he should've been spending time with his son, so I can see why his son would hate it if it's true.

Working his ass off? I do believe he was a chronic procrastinator, and even he admits to his laziness.

Of course, I'm not denying the effort he did give. But what you said sounds a little far-fetched.