#rest easy toriyama-sensei

[pandabaozi]

thank you.

[twiststreet]

Oda's message about Akira Toriyama passing away.

"It is too early. The hole is 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.

I remember the day he called me by name for the first time, the day you used the word "friend" for me and Kishimoto, I remember being overjoyed with Kishimoto on the way back home. I also remember the last conversation we had.

He was one of those who took the baton from the days when reading manga made you a fool, and created an era when both adults and children could enjoy reading manga. He showed us the dream that manga can go global. It was like watching a hero going forward. For not only manga artists but also the creators in various industries, the excitement and emotion of the time of Dragon Ball serialization must have taken root in their childhood. His existence is like a big tree.

For the manga artists of our generation who stood on the same stage, the closer I got to Toriyama's works, the more I realised that they had a greater presence. Scary. But I am just happy to see the easy-going man himself again. Because we love Toriyama-sensei on a blood level. With respect and gratitude for the creative world he has left behind, I pray for his soulful rest in peace.

May heaven be the joyous world just as you envisioned it." (X)

[soaked-doors]

rest easy toriyama sensei

[lostinspace-art]

Rest easy, Toriyama-sensei.

[keijidraws]

Rest Easy, Toriyama Sensei 😞

[rustyburacedraws]

Rest easy, Akira Toriyama-sensei. Thank you for everything.

[sunshinesfaraway]

My childhood was not an easy one. My father was absent and verbally/mentally abusive, my brother was horrible and my mother was ill constantly. Most of the early memories I can remember are either arguing, being hit or hospitals. But one of the few things that got me through life was Toriyama, and the amazing world he had created with dragon ball. Seeing Goku and the rest of the Z Warriors press on through such tragedy gave me the strength I needed to get through my own trials and tribulations.

Toriyama and his wonderful works have touched each and every aspect of my creative process. Aspects of my love for Dragon Ball have seeped into everything I make. This man has inspired me in ways you can never imagine, and kickstarted my love for art and creating alongside Sonic - who, in turn, would not exist without Dragon Ball. I owe my very continued existance to Dragon Ball.

I went out to dinner with my family after this news broke. At my small, local mall, people were haphazardly putting up artwork and flyers of Goku and Dragon Ball. Do you see it from up there, Toriyama-sensei? This is the legacy you leave behind. We will never forget you or your works for as long as we exist.

Thank you, Toriyama, from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for creating this wonderful world and these wonderful characters, and for blessing the lives of so many across the entire planet. May you rest in peace and tranquility, like you always wanted.

[tenebraevesper]

Rest in Peace, Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball)

Dragon Ball was one of the first anime I ever watched, and while I never was a huge participant in this fandom, I certainly appreciated the adventure I went on together with Son Goku, Vegeta and all of the other characters.

I still recall the blissful childhood days of watching Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball GT, with Super Saiyan 4 always being my favorite transformation.

This franchise had a huge impact on many people's childhoods, including mine, and I'm happy to have watched it and be charmed by its story and characters.

Rest easy, Toriyama-sensei.

[silvadour]

In memory of Akira Toriyama

Words cannot describe the levels of sadness that weigh on my heart to know that one of the biggest creative figures in my and many others’ childhoods is no longer with us.

Hearing this news makes me think back to the first time I saw something Dragon Ball-related as a kid and was immediately enamored by it. That of course was when I saw my cousin’s toy collection during a Christmas reunion at their house at the age of 7. From the moment I saw those Vegeta and Goku figurines, I was immediately entranced by Toriyama’s design style even if it was diluted as something else.

Shortly a year later during another Christmas in my town, I would receive a copy of the Budokai PS2 game and that would be my first proper introduction into Akira Toriyama’s world of Dragon Ball even if it was a cliff notes version of it. A game with Japanese audio and English subtitles. But that didn’t matter from then on I was officially a Dragon Ball fan from that point onwards.

As a lover of Toriyama’s art style and his cavalier writing, I’ve made it no secret that I’ve had some difficult thoughts regarding his writing decisions in Dragon Ball, but be that as it may, I still hold a great amount of respect for him for essentially writing stories out of pure imagination without a grand thought-out plan. There is something very admirable about having full confidence in your creative ideas, playing with them, and seeing them slowly evolve. To label Toriyama as a landmark creator in the world is an understatement since the reach of Dragon Ball’s influence in other forms of media over the generations ranging from Western comics & animation, fan art, American sports culture, video games, and even other anime/manga is astounding.

For being a series that took inspiration from Sayuki and Journey to the West, Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball has certainly gone through its journey to the West and beyond to touch the hearts and minds of others. This man’s work and contributions to the development of the world of manga and anime can’t be overstated, and while we mourn his passing, I think it’s also fair to celebrate the good creative work he’s done and take inspiration from not just Dragon Ball, but from his other shorter-lived works liked Sand Land & Dr. Slump to his creative designs and involvement in JRPGS like Chrono Trigger or the Dragon Quest franchise.

What more could I add to this? With a heavy heart, I’ll still look back on the fond memories of this man’s works that contributed to my childhood, but to pay tribute to him I’ll move forward with my life, taking inspiration from some of the lessons he has imparted on generations of people in both Dragon Ball and other works.

Rest easy, Toriyama-sensei. And I hope you teach a dinosaur to ride a ball in a better place.

Words cannot describe the levels of sadness that weigh on my heart to know that one of the biggest creative figures in my and many others’ childhoods is no longer with us.

Hearing this news makes me think back to the first time I saw something Dragon Ball-related as a kid and was immediately enamored by it. That of course was when I saw my cousin’s toy collection during a Christmas reunion at their house at the age of 7. From the moment I saw those Vegeta and Goku figurines, I was immediately entranced by Toriyama’s design style even if it was diluted as something else.

Shortly a year later during another Christmas in my town, I would receive a copy of the Budokai PS2 game and that would be my first proper introduction into Akira Toriyama’s world of Dragon Ball even if it was a cliff notes version of it. A game with Japanese audio and English subtitles. But that didn’t matter from then on I was officially a Dragon Ball fan from that point onwards.

As a lover of Toriyama’s art style and his cavalier writing, I’ve made it no secret that I’ve had some difficult thoughts regarding his writing decisions in Dragon Ball, but be that as it may, I still hold a great amount of respect for him for essentially writing stories out of pure imagination without a grand thought-out plan. There is something very admirable about having full confidence in your creative ideas, playing with them, and seeing them slowly evolve. To label Toriyama as a landmark creator in the world is an understatement since the reach of Dragon Ball’s influence in other forms of media over the generations ranging from Western comics & animation, fan art, American sports culture, video games, and even other anime/manga is astounding.

For being a series that took inspiration from Sayuki and Journey to the West, Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball has certainly gone through its journey to the West and beyond to touch the hearts and minds of others. This man’s work and contributions to the development of the world of manga and anime can’t be overstated, and while we mourn his passing, I think it’s also fair to celebrate the good creative work he’s done and take inspiration from not just Dragon Ball, but from his other shorter-lived works liked Sand Land & Dr. Slump to his creative designs and involvement in JRPGS like Chrono Trigger or the Dragon Quest franchise.

What more could I add to this? With a heavy heart, I’ll still look back on the fond memories of this man’s works that contributed to my childhood, but to pay tribute to him I’ll move forward with my life, taking inspiration from some of the lessons he has imparted on generations of people in both Dragon Ball and other works.

Rest easy, Toriyama-sensei. And I hope you teach a dinosaur to ride a ball in a better place.

[confusedlocalgod]

Thank you for everything, Toriyama-sensei.

You can rest easy now.

[zayjayarts]

Rest easy, Toriyama-sensei. 🐉✨🕊

[danwhobrowses]

Dragon Ball: Why Tien Shinhan deserves respect

Not a Tinfoil Discussion because there’s no theory crafting going on but this is one of those rants that has often sat below the surface. Here I’m going to sing the praises and express the undervalue of the Dragon Ball franchise’s side characters: Tien Shinhan

So I’m gonna start this very easily: Tien Shinhan is perhaps one of the most disrespected characters in Dragon Ball. Sure, Yamcha is now a parody but he was happy to bow out of fighting post-Androids, and I can easily express disappointment in his character arc in a later date, but Tien Shinhan gets mistreated something rotten.

The Mistreatment of Tien Shinhan Imagine if you will the uproar if someone like Piccolo or Vegeta didn’t just lose to some secondary villain, but was quickly swatted off by someone who didn’t even have a name until now, that is the level Tien has to deal with in anime and manga. This guy is a Tenkaichi Budokai Winner in a tournament that involved Goku, Krillin and Master Roshi, fast forward to now and this guy is considered weaker than Krillin - the same Krillin that in Super could be harmed by bullets because he stopped training - and Roshi - the same Roshi who Tien’s power dwarfed in the Saiyans Saga. And it’s not just that, all people seem to remember of him now is the multiform technique and the Kikoho, both very self-harming techniques. Don’t even try to have him learn new attacks since ki sense has rendered the Solar Flare redundant even though he’s constantly shown up to aid Goku. Fight Semi-Perfect Cell and Gotenks-fused Super Majin Freaking Buu by himself and he’s not even considered the strongest non-saiyan earthling of the damn planet, in the manga he gets eliminated from the Tournament of Power OFF-SCREEN just been shrugged off as a ‘weak human’. And you know what the worst part of that is? Toriyama made Tien with so much power potential; his Third Eye is supposed to have untapped godlike power, he trains so much he’s a human equivalent of a Saiyan, his story is one of redemption and true dedication to friendship and the warrior’s way and he derives from a Journey of the West character (Erlang Shen) who is the greatest warrior god of heaven and frequent rival to Son Wukong. All this and his reward is being pictured as ‘that weird stoic guy who’s not Piccolo’ If you are one of those guys who don’t know why they don’t take to Tien Shinhan, maybe this will enlighten you Tien Shinhan is Vegeta before Vegeta Let’s play a game shall we? It’s called Tien or Vegeta. I’ll say some statements canon to the Dragon Ball Series, you tell me if I’m talking about Tien or Vegeta. Simple? Then let’s begin

A rival of Goku who trained in solitude to best him

A humanoid character who started off as a brutish, merciless villain with a weaker companion

A character who has unique powers due to his non-human heritage

A character who stood against an Alien ruler amassing the Dragon Balls for Immortality on a road to redemption, but failed 

A character who was defeated by said Alien ruler’s powerful subordiante until Goku arrived with new power to easily wipe them out

His love interest is a blue haired woman from the OG Dragon Ball series

Their second true canon battle with Goku comes years later in a Tenkaichi Budokai

In an attempt to kill an arc villain, they use the last of their energy into one attack, dying in the process but failing

Not that easy now was it? That’s because the answer is both of them. It is worth remembering that many people nowadays were first introduced to the Dragon Ball Franchise through Z, the ‘first come’ effect may’ve just been a term I made up on the spot, but usually when you see something for the first time you consider it the first instant, so to many the traits of Tien seem like a copy from Vegeta and Piccolo Jr - characters he in reality preceded quite a bit. Sadly the fact is that a lot of Tien was in a way ‘Vegeta in Beta’, so Vegeta’s traits came off a lot more polished - but even now with Super’s latest chapter we have Vegeta embarking on learning Ki Control to multiply, which is basically Tien’s Multiform Technique (Meanwhile Tien was referred to as one of ‘those baldies’ to basically fill numbers), so even now the mistreatment doesn’t end.

Where did it go wrong with Tien? You may’ve watched a video called ‘Japan hates Tien’ and believe straight off that the reason Tien got a short straw, but this is a misconception; people in Japan are fans and non-fans with Tien just like the rest of the world. The problem mainly lies with Toriyama ‘moving on’ from an idea. It was clear that initially there were bigger plans for him, but they were written off as the story took a life of its own. The series more or less moved on from the Z-Fighters from Namek, with Piccolo and Krillin salvaging themselves because of arching storylines in the current arc (Namek being Piccolo’s home planet and Krillin having his romance with 18). There is also the misconception that ‘if you’re not a Saiyan or some super alien you’re weak’, and despite having a third eye, Tien gets associated with the ‘weak human’ category, so despite him being a character constantly training he’s never been treated as good enough or worth being powerful. The third downfall was that Toriyama failed the characters around him, Chiaotzu and Yamcha never amounted to even being viable allies and his love interest (regardless on whether you feel it requited or not) Launch was completely dropped from the series after his death - we can discuss that another time. These three factors left Tien in Limbo, he has no arc that he can legitimately contribute to, he’s not comic relief, he’s not a mentor and he’s not a love interest, but this realisation is not without its silver lining.

Tien can be Saved He won’t, this is an ‘if it ain’t broke’ scenario where Tien is not popular enough to be considered worth salvaging in the eyes of Toyotaro (also Merus is making impressive waves), but even if it’s not this arc there are easy ways to bring Tien back on a high level. Firstly is to bring back Launch, even if it’s not for love interest Dragon Ball is better when you bring back Launch, in seriousness Tien’s strength should be acknowledged (not just his too, Humans get thrown down the gutter but it’s often cited that Gohan’s human half is why he has so much potential, if Jiren boring as his character is can achieve unimaginable strength without Zenkai hax then why not a constantly training human?), a way to make it understandable is by having him, like Vegeta did, branch out of solitude and learn something unique, and the answer is looking you dead in the eye: The Third Eye. Toriyama said that Tien’s eye has the capability of a God, but his dark past had closed it from him, I think decades is enough to bring it back - maybe track down his ancestors to unlock it using the TOP as incentive and Beerus and Whis as people who would know their whereabouts. From there we can have Tien learn newer moves and then find a proper purpose for the series, like one of the Earth’s Protector since Goku is picking fights across Space, Dimensions and Universes, he could even be Trunks and Goten’s sensei and actually fix up their characters. Fact of the matter is that opportunity is there to reintegrate Tien as a valuable ally to Goku and the Earth, maybe not as the Universe’s strongest fighter but the Best Martial Artist

So Why Does Tien Deserve Respect? Tien as a character has been through a lot, but as the first proper Dragon Ball character who went through an effective redemption arc and still sought to train his own way, Tien should deserve respect by default. But it is more than just humble hrm nodding respect, Tien may not be the strongest character in the Franchise but he has been one of Goku’s most consistent allies, almost every threat to the Earth he has come to their aid; King Piccolo, the Saiyans, Mecha Freeza, the Androids, Cell, Buu, Beerus, Golden Freeza and the Tournament of Power, compare that to the likes of Chiaotzu, Yamcha and Roshi and you’ll realise that Tien is on par with Piccolo and Krillin when it comes to backing up his friends. The moves they show him doing do severe harm to himself, reducing his power or his lifeforce, but he also had unique moves he innovated that helped characters out way down the line, also the Four Witches is still awesome and the Dodon Ray is technically still stronger than the Kamehameha (which Tien also knows by the way). The man is fiercely loyal, cares deeply for his friends and even in the face of certain defeat he has stood his ground. This is the man whose triangle made a square hole with Semi-Imperfect Cell - who prior had bested 16, 17 and Piccolo - at the bottom, this is the guy who took on Super Buu with Piccolo and a SSJ3 Fusion Gotenks absorbed within him and had just beaten Mystic Gohan, Tien has bigger balls, courage and warrior spirit than anyone gives him credit for Like him or not, all this should at least be worthy of respect.