Discussion regarding the entirety of the franchise in a general (meta) sense, including such aspects as: production, trends, merchandise, fan culture, and more.
Famed video game producer Hironobu Sakaguchi recently made an appearance at PAX Prime 2014 to discuss his history developing role-playing video games. During his appearance he notably showed a photo of the Blue Dragon development team which you can see above. He said that Toriyama actually visited the studio during development of that game and that you can see him on that photo with the black and red shirt (bottom center). Sakaguchi is next to him with the white shirt. We don't have a precise date for this photo but Blue Dragon was announced in 2005 and released in 2006.
Before this, the latest Toriyama photo we knew about was this one:
Spoiler:
SaiyaJedi wrote:The most recent one I know of is from late 2002 when he came to New York City for the launch of the North American Shonen Jump magazine:
(The image behind him is of the January 2003 inaugural issue.)
He's been pretty careful about not showing his face in Japanese media since at least 1995, so any other moderately recent photographs would have to be considerably rare indeed.
I don't follow Akira Toriyama too much...or get a-lot of the jokes about the man but is he like a hermit or something? I've heard people say that he's forgotten a-lot about the series as well.
The Dragonboxes are like a middle aged woman who still looks good through simply taking good care of her skin and body with maybe a tiny bit of makeup while the Orange Bricks are like a middle aged woman who get's 50 tons of botox, makeup and plastic surgery in order to look younger and as a result looks even worse. ~ ringworm128 Still recording Toonami broadcasts on VHS after all these years! #1 Paikuhan fan!
Wow. He's looking great for a guy who's pushing 60. As a matter of fact, he'd be looking pretty damn good for a guy pushing 50.
His Tori-Bot self-portrait, with its stooped posture and stereotypical old man clothes (at least in the US), was probably what gave me the wrong impression about his physical appearance. I wasn't expecting a broad shouldered, non-graying, upright man of such surface vitality. You'd think hunching over a desk all these years would at least given him spinal osteoporosis, but nope! Perhaps semi-retirement has done wonders for his back.
EDIT: Hell, he could probably pass for an older-looking guy in his late 30's. Impressive.
That photo is at least 9 years old now. I wonder why Toriyama likes to keep himself hidden from the public? Is it because he feels like fans will go up to him always asking him about Dragon Ball?
Hellspawn28 wrote:That photo is at least 9 years old now. I wonder why Toriyama likes to keep himself hidden from the public? Is it because he feels like fans will go up to him always asking him about Dragon Ball?
That's my guess. He got Dave Chappelle syndrome. "I'm Rick James Bitch!".
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I know it'd be (very) disrespectful but I wish Julian would try to find out where he lives and go ask for an autograph, take a picture or record some kind of audio/video.
alakazam^ wrote:I know it'd be (very) disrespectful but I wish Julian would try to find out where he lives and go ask for an autograph, take a picture or record some kind of audio/video.
Too bad the links are broken. Sadly I don't think anyone is a big enough fan of DB to fly out in Japan to meet Toriyama in person. If Martin Scorsese can travel to Japan just to meet Ishiro Honda (before his death) then anything can be possible.
alakazam^ wrote:I know it'd be (very) disrespectful but I wish Julian would try to find out where he lives and go ask for an autograph, take a picture or record some kind of audio/video.
Too bad the links are broken. Sadly I don't think anyone is a big enough fan of DB to fly out in Japan to meet Toriyama in person. If Martin Scorsese can travel to Japan just to meet Ishiro Honda (before his death) then anything can be possible.
I don't think it's a question of whether or not you're a big DB fan. Most of us just don't have the money to.
Honestly, I'd be too nervous to try and meet him. I'd be worried about bothering him or something. Maybe just leave a letter with the front desk.
Rocketman(In response to a post about Pandora's Box) wrote:
I sat here for ten damn minutes wondering what the hell God of War had to do with any of this.
Insertclevername wrote:I plan to lose my virginity to Dragon Box 2.
Big Momma wrote:Honestly, I'd be too nervous to try and meet him. I'd be worried about bothering him or something. Maybe just leave a letter with the front desk.
Why would you be worried about meeting him? is he kinda grouchy?
The Dragonboxes are like a middle aged woman who still looks good through simply taking good care of her skin and body with maybe a tiny bit of makeup while the Orange Bricks are like a middle aged woman who get's 50 tons of botox, makeup and plastic surgery in order to look younger and as a result looks even worse. ~ ringworm128 Still recording Toonami broadcasts on VHS after all these years! #1 Paikuhan fan!
I've always been under the impression that he's a recluse by choice, getting nervous in front of large crowds and wanting to live a quiet life in the countryside and avoid the city.
If everyone knew what he looked like he wouldn't be able to go anywhere in Japan without people bothering him. Imagine strangers always coming up to you expecting you to talk to them, answer questions, sign things, and take photos, it would make going anywhere a nuisance.
Toriyama sounds like the God of Gamblers. Lol! (God of Gamblers is a fictional character portrayed in the 1989 Hong Kong film starring Chow Yun Fat as the title character. And for those who don't get the reference, God of Gamblers rarely takes photos and the only known photo is one where he is facing his back.)
Attended Ryo Horikawa's q&a session last weekend in Toronto and someone had asked him if he's ever met Toriyama sensei. Horikawa said that he's never actually met Toriyama sensei but has received a personalized sketch of Vegeta from Akira Toriyama.
I've heard people say that he's forgotten a-lot about the series as well.
