Last July, Shueisha released an expanded collection of content from Kazuhiko Torishima originally printed within the company’s Saikyō Jump magazine: titled Dr. Mashirito’s Ultimate Manga Technique (Dr.マシリト 最強漫画術), the 196-page book includes a variety of career reflections, advice for upcoming artists, and interviews with colleagues.

New and exclusive to the book was an interview with Akira Toriyama himself, which is the latest addition to our ever-expanding “Translations” archive.

Though the entire early-career retrospective/chat is enlightening, one particular section may garner a little more attention than others:

Toriyama:
That’s the hardest thing about action manga. If you draw it on the same level as the previous fight, it’ll seem to the readers that the level has actually gone down. So I gradually came to believe that there’s a limit to making the characters stronger. In terms of having to take the level of action portrayals even higher, it got quite difficult from around the time the battle with Freeza ended.

Torishima:
That would have been the best place to stop, too. (laughs)

Toriyama:
That’s rich, coming from you. (laughs)

Torishima:
Well, when it got to have such runaway popularity, we couldn’t very well have that, now could we?

An exploration of this exchange — which to most casual readers would appear to be a throwaway comment and laugh between friends — has been added to the respective page in our “Intended Endings Guide” here on Kanzenshuu.

Last week, the Chunichi Shimbun published an interview/article (both on the front page of the morning print issue on March 9, as well as paywalled on their website) with Hisashi Tanaka, Akira Toriyama’s first assistant, reflecting on the creator’s passing this month.

His First Assistant Bids Farewell

“The fact that I was able to continue as a cartoonist while living so far out here is largely thanks to him.” Hisashi Tanaka-san (age 66, of Ichinomiya, Aichi), a cartoonist who worked as Akira Toriyama-san‘s first assistant, and who now heads the Department of Art and Design at Ōgaki Women’s College in Gifu Prefecture, laments the sudden parting.

In 1980, he was working a company job while pursuing a career as a cartoonist, when he received a shock from Dr. Slump, which had started running in Weekly Shōnen Jump. “From facial expressions to movement, the human depictions were really solid. It wasn’t the kind of art you’d expect from an artist on his very first serial,” he reflects. Then, several weeks later in the same magazine, he learned that Toriyama-san was seeking an assistant in the vicinity of Nagoya. “I had thought you had to move to Tokyo if you wanted to become a cartoonist. I jumped at the opportunity without a second thought.” After sending in two test illustrations to the editorial department, he was hired without issue.

Work as an assistant started the morning before deadline, once Toriyama-san had finished penciling. As they worked, “We were constantly shooting the breeze about music, comics, current events, hobbies, you name it,” but Toriyama-san‘s hand would never stop moving. By the time they finished, it would already be night. They typically sent the manuscript out to Tokyo via plane from Nagoya Airport.

In the two years that Tanaka-san worked as an assistant, he says he was never once reprimanded. Even as Toriyama-san found himself busier than ever with the worldwide popularity of Dragon Ball and the megahit status of the Dragon Quest video games (for which he did the character designs), he would always entertain an idle conversation with a smile. That impression of him never changed, from the very first time they met. “He was like a good-natured big brother, four years my senior.”

(Article by Hiroshi Ōyama)

An interview with Toriyama’s second editor, Takashi Matsuyama, was published on page 32 of the same issue; the Matsuyama piece was previously translated and shared here on Kanzenshuu.

Both this Tanaka piece and the Matsuyama piece have been formally archived in our “Translations” section.

Toriyama’s search for an assistant was noted in his weekly author comment alongside the third chapter of Dr. Slump in the 1980 #7 issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump (released 14 January 1980) — only the second time the series had been printed thus far, as the first two chapters ran alongside each other for its series debut the prior issue:

Urgently seeking an assistant! Limited to persons living in the vicinity of Nagoya. Those interested, please contact my editor, Torishima.

The call was echoed two weeks later alongside the fifth chapter in the 1980 #9 issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump (released 29 January 1980):

Persons living in the vicinity of Nagoya, and capable of being my assistant. Please draw a cut of buildings and cars, and contact my editor Torishima!

Alongside the 10th chapter of Dr. Slump in the 1980 #14 issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump (released 04 March 1980), Toriyama announced the arrival of and camaraderie with Tanaka:

My assistant Tanaka-kun‘s skill at conversation is the greatest! He’s more interesting than a radio DJ!

In an interview with Monthly Starlog for the magazine’s 1980 #11 issue (released 01 October 1980), Toriyama touches on his reasons for submitting to Shueisha and his early work with Tanaka:

In that case, why did you choose Jump?
Because I could apply to them every month.

What about what weekly magazine your comics were suited for, that sort of thing?
I didn’t give it any thought at all. …Or rather, I didn’t know.

I think about that immediately. (laughs) Judging by those illustrations, you draw by yourself, don’t you, Toriyama-san?
Yes. My kid assistant only does the blacking. Really, I just want to draw my own things by myself.

Tanaka worked with Toriyama through the first phase of the Dr. Slump series under the pen-name “Hiswashi,” and even made cameo appearances by way of Toriyama’s end-of-chapter bonus comics:

Alongside chapter 162 of Dr. Slump in the 1983 #15 issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump (released 15 March 1983), Toriyama congratulated Hisashi on the launch of his own manga series (CAN☆Can Everyday, which debuted in Shueisha’s Fresh Jump in 1982, had a brief serialization in Weekly Shōnen Jump in 1983, and then moved back to Fresh Jump through to its completion in 1985):

My former assistant Hiswashi has started his own series. You won’t beat me that easy!!

Alongside chapter 301 of Dragon Ball in the 1990 #51 issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump (released 20 November 1990), Toriyama congratulated Tanaka on his marriage:

The other day, Hiswashi-kun, who was my assistant way back, got married. That’s great news. Congratulations!!

On the evening of Saturday, March 9, 2024, we kept up our usual weekly tradition of streaming Mario Kart… except this time we had something important on our mind that we needed to talk about.

You’ll see and hear us working out our feelings and thoughts on the passing of Akira Toriyama, just mere days after learning the terrible news. It’s a bit of decompression and group therapy all at the same time.

There’s a bit of humor (some of it even quite dark at times!), there’s some friendly razzing, and there’s a lot of genuine love and appreciation, particularly as the night goes on later and later and we start to come to grips with the reality of things.

It’s a really weird format. Totally. Yes, there will absolutely be a “real” podcast in the future. In the meantime, this is just the beginning of us working through the grief and feelings and how to approach it “more formally” going forward. Sit back, hang out, and soak in the conversation.

Thank you, Toriyama!

Earlier this week, the Chunichi Shimbun published an article/interview with Takashi Matsuyama, Akira Toriyama’s second assistant, reflecting on the creator’s passing this month. The article corroborates other reports of Toriyama apparently undergoing surgery for a brain tumor.

“Never gave an inch with his creations” — former assistant

Illustrator Takashi Matsuyama (66, pictured, of Seki, Gifu), who worked as an assistant on Dragon Ball, continued his close relationship with its creator even after the serialization ended. “His competitive streak was really something else,” he says.

Matsuyama-san, who was a master of military model-making, was scouted without warning by Toriyama-san, who had similar hobbies: “I want you to help me with the serial.” The next day, he quit his job at a design agency and moved near Toriyama-san‘s home, where he worked.

He would go to the studio in the evening, and leave the next day. Listening to programs they had recorded off the radio, the two laughed as they worked. In their free time, they would play video games for a breather. It was in that sort of free-spirited, at-home atmosphere that an adventure tale full of dreams was spun.

Toriyama-san never acted high-and-mighty, but he wouldn’t give an inch. He would go all-in against his tough editors when it came to his creations. He would face his desk with pride on full display. Matsuyama respected his professionalism, and was inspired by it. “Starting when I was a kid, I would draw pictures of all the things I wanted, like pets.” Through such statements by Toriyama-san, Matsuyama really felt his sheer power.

When Matsuyama-san, who remarried last fall, asked Toriyama-san to be his witness, he happily accepted. At that time, Toriyama told him that he would be undergoing surgery for a brain tumor in the new year: “It’s on the outside, so it’s not such a big deal.” He was nonchalant about it, but Matsuyama recalls him struggling with quitting smoking: “I need a cigarette,” he had groused.

Having promised to pay him a get-well visit once he was discharged from the hospital, the sudden news of his death came as an understandable shock to Matsuyama. “The experience of working with Toriyama-san was like a dream come true. I’m struck all over again by the fact that I had the privilege of doing something amazing. Everything I know, I learned from him.”

(Article by Atsushi Okamura)

This article has also been formally archived in our “Translations” section.

Akira Toriyama’s first assistant, Hisashi Tanaka, left working with Toriyama on Dr. Slump to work as a full-time cartoonist. Toriyama’s new assistant was Takashi Matsuyama, an illustrator and fellow model-builder who got to know Toriyama after he submitted a Dr. Slump-based piece to the Tamiya figure-modification contest.

Toriyama announced the arrival of Matsuyama in his author comment alongside chapter 155 of Dr. Slump in the 1983 #8 issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump (released 25 January 1983):

I’ve decided on Matsuyama-kun as my new assistant! He’s a country bumpkin from Gifu who’s a lot like me.

Matsuyama stayed with Toriyama through almost the very end of Dragon Ball. In his author comment for chapter 517 in the 1995 #23 issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump (released 09 May 1995), Toriyama noted:

I’m drawing without an assistant right now, so I’m really feeling the deadline crunch. Yeeeargh!

Toriyama drew at least the last three chapters of the series alone. Matsuyama was reunited with Toriyama once more in 2009 when he was tapped to assist Toriyama for the special comic published in the pamphlet “Biosphere”: Mr. U of the Delicious Island. Toriyama said at the time that he was contractually obligated not to draw comics or illustrations for entities other than Shueisha, had to receive special permission for this project, and that he was grateful both for the editorial team at Shueisha as well as Matsuyama for stepping in during such a busy time.

Originally announced back in December, Akira Toriyama was selected for a Lifetime Achievement Award in conjunction with the 2024 Tokyo Anime Award Festival. Toriyama was honored with the award at the event held in Tokyo over the weekend, where volumes of his various manga as well as character designs were on display.

Though he unfortunately passed earlier this month and prior to the event, Toriyama had prepared a comment reflecting on the award, which has since been shared posthumously:

To give my honest thoughts about receiving this award, I had never had an especially great interest in animation, and even when my own work was animated — with apologies to the people on the staff — I didn’t watch it that much out of embarrassment.

About 10 years ago, I was unexpectedly asked to make revisions to an animated Dragon Ball film, and I suppose it was after doing some simple designs for characters and backgrounds that I found, to my surprise, that this work might actually be pretty fun and worthwhile — being able to leave the hard parts to the staff, of course (laughs).

For me, of all people, to be receiving a Lifetime Achievement award at the Tokyo Anime Award Festival is frankly embarrassing. Thank you so much.

What I remember most of my work in animation — and I doubt most people will know about it — is having met the late animator Toyo’o Ashida-san through the Shōnen Jump original animated production Kosuke & Rikimaru. This work wasn’t based on a comic, so it required consultation. He was quite an amiable guy, and we hit it off immediately. And every time I saw Ashida-san‘s art style, my heart was moved at his artistic touch, which was careful yet had a sense of speed.

“I see. If I use that kind of touch, I could give a sense of speed to Dragon Ball, and it’ll also increase the speed of my drawing.” And as things would have it, my pursuit of this art style was a huge success! The time it took me to draw was reduced to about two-thirds of what it had been, I suppose. I believe that time truly enriched my understanding. May Ashida-san rest in peace.

Apparently, Dragon Ball Daima, which will unfold starting in 2024, was originally supposed to be made as an anime-original series without my input, but as I gave advice here and there, I ended up getting majorly-involved. This time, I’ve created not only the story, but the world, the characters, the mechs, all sorts of things. It will be a smorgasbord of different things, and not just intense action, so I’ll be pleased if you can enjoy watching it.

Finally, thank you so much to all you fans who have supported me up until now!

Perhaps because of my lifestyle when I was younger, I have no real confidence in my health, and I don’t know how much more I’ll be able to do. But I’ll do my best aiming to make even more enjoyable work, so please keep supporting me from here on out!

— AKIRA TORIYAMA

The English translation of this comment from Akira Toriyama has been formally archived within our “Translations” section, as well.