Akira Toriyama
The very first manga artist i loved. I collected his work where ever i could find it and i was obsessed with his drawings. My essays would have little doodles in the margins in school and my room was a shrine to his art.
DragonBall z was and still is my favourite anime of all time. His work is legendary, the stories although childish now are gripping.
After graduating in Graphic Design in 1974, he made his debut in Shônen Jump in 1978 with the absurd 'Wonder Island'. Other series followed, like 'Today's Highlight Island' and 'Tomato Girl Detective', and then Toriyama had his first hit manga with 'Dr Slump'. The series, about the little robot girl Arale, ran from 1980 to 1985 in Shônen Jump. Despite being a robot, Arale is subjected to all sorts of everyday things that concern little children. The series has also been turned into a television series. 'Dr Slump' also features the character Suppaman, a parody on the American superhero.
Akira Toriyama created 'Dragon Ball', starring the character of Son Gokuu, in 1984. This was based on a series ancient Chinese legends, containing such ingredients as science-fiction and kung-fu. This series became very successful and was made into a popular animation series.
Toriyama has made two series of 'Dragon Ball', the first one dealing with Son Gokuu as a child, and the second one as an adult. In the anime version, the second series is called 'Dragon Ball Z'. A common perception of the adult one because ths is the one they show over here in the uk but they severely edit it and that is what makes it the common T.V anime you see today although it isnt meant to be.
