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'Keep Doing Your Best': These Were Akira Toriyama's Final Words To Eiichiro Oda As Per A Fan
Eiichiro Oda has always been very vocal about his respect towards Akira Toriyama and how Dragon Ball inspired him as a shonen mangaka. Toriyama’s last words to Oda magnifies their relationship in the eyes of fans.
Trigger warning: This article contains mentions of death.
Akira Toriyama, a renowned manga creator, passed away on March 1, 2024, leaving thousands of fans heartbroken. Despite his death, numerous tributes have been paid to him and his work. Eiichiro Oda, creator of One Piece, has been deeply affected by Toriyama's death and has expressed his respect for him and his inspiration from Dragon Ball as a shonen mangaka.
Their bond was always heartwarming to their fans. But the revelation of Toriyama’s last words to Eiichiro Oda magnifies their relationship in the eyes of fans.
Akira Toriyama's last words to Eiichiro Oda
Last month, the world lost Akira Toriyama, creator of iconic shonen franchise Dragon Ball. Prior to his death, Toriyama had one last heartwarming exchange with Eiichiro Oda, creator of the hit One Piece series.
Recently, a One Piece fan on X known as Pew (@pewpiece) shared Toriyama's final words of encouragement to Oda. This exchange took place in a joint interview between the two artists conducted shortly before Toriyama's death. "Oda-kun, there's nothing else for me to say! My own child reads One Piece really, voraciously too. So I also read it, and I really understood why everyone was crazy about One Piece!" So, just keep doing your best from now on," Toriyama stated.
Toriyama passed away on March 1 due to an acute subdural hematoma, a blood clot forming between the brain's outer and inner surfaces. This news was devastating to artists worldwide, particularly in Japan, where many grew up reading Toriyama's classic stories.
Shortly after receiving news of Toriyama's passing, Oda posted a lengthy farewell message that conveyed how much Toriyama meant to him as both a friend and fellow artist.
"The hole is just too big. Sadness washes over me when I think that I will never see him again. I have admired him so much since I was a child, so I remember the day he called me by name for the first time. On the way home that day you used the word 'friend' for me and Kishimoto [creator of Naruto]. I remember being overjoyed...", Oda wrote.
From 1984 onward, Toriyama entertained millions of readers with the adventures of Son Goku, an energetic young boy with superhuman strength, a monkey's tail and a natural heroic spirit. According to Oda, these tales paved the way for him and other young artists who harbored their own dreams of creating manga in the future.
"He [Toriyama] created an era where both adults and children could enjoy reading manga. He showed us the dream that manga can go worldwide," Oda wrote in his farewell message. "It was like watching a hero go forward."
Toriyama's legacy is evident in modern shonen manga, featuring action-packed stories by artists like Gege Akutami, Yoshifumi Tozuka, and Yusei Matsui. Weekly Shonen Jump, the first publication to serialize Dragon Ball, dedicated a section to honoring Toriyama and other established manga artists.
Oda also participated in the tribute, expressing his admiration for Toriyama's dedication to being a mangaka and his dedication to building models without a care in the world. Both Dragon Ball and One Piece are available in English from VIZ Media, with One Piece streaming on platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and Crunchyroll.
A brief about Akira Toriyama
Akira Toriyama was a Japanese manga artist and character designer. He first achieved mainstream recognition for creating the popular manga series Dr. Slump, before going on to create Dragon Ball and acting as a character designer for several popular video games such as the Dragon Quest series, Chrono Trigger, and Blue Dragon.
Toriyama came to be regarded as one of the most important authors in the history of manga with his works highly influential and popular, particularly Dragon Ball, which many manga artists cite as a source of inspiration.
He earned the 1981 Shogakukan Manga Award for best shōnen manga with Dr. Slump, and it went on to sell over 35 million copies in Japan. It was adapted into a successful anime series, with a second anime created in 1997, 13 years after the manga ended. In 2019, Toriyama was decorated a Chevalier of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for his contributions to the arts.
On March 1, 2024, Toriyama died of an acute subdural hematoma, at the age of 68. A funeral was held privately with only his family in attendance. His death was announced by his production company Bird Studio one week later on March 8.
According to sources close to Toriyama, he had planned to undergo surgery for a brain tumor in February 2024. The news of his death caused an outpouring of grief among admirers of his works, who took to social media to express their condolences and celebrate his legacy.
ALSO READ: Dragon Ball Creator Akira Toriyama Passes Away At 68; All You Need To Know About His Life And Career
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