A few years ago, I was absent for a month in the internet and a friend of mine at the time asked me if it was because of the death of someone famous, I said “no” and that I couldn't imagine myself crying because of the death of someone I never met.
Today I can now imagine it, because it happened, and maybe it will never happen again, because of the unique event it was and how important it is to me. It's like he was a member of my family
Dragon Ball is one of the franchises that I've known for the longest time in my life, I don't remember when exactly I discovered it, but I remember watching it on Cartoon Network in 2009 when I was just 5 years old, and since that time I was already in love, I remember that before I could watch the Boo saga, the channel had already started airing Kai in place of Z, and whenever the Cell Saga ended I kept asking myself why there wasn't the Boo Saga, because in the video game I had on the PSP there were the characters from this saga, I really wanted to see the complete work, I managed to watch GT in its entirety on another channel, and then Kai's Boo Saga and Super I watched for the first time when they were released internationally in 2017.
I may have taken a few breaks, but I never stopped being a fan of the series, especially after it returned with the release of the movie “Battle of Gods” in 2013. Since then, I've seen countless arts, videos on YouTube, and even video games, Dragon Ball Xenoverse was one of the games I played the most in my life, and even though I stopped playing video games, Dragon Ball games are one of the only ones that I still check out from time to time.
Toriyama's work is important to me in countless ways, if it weren't for Dragon Ball I don't know where I would be today in relation to the arts, I remember that I was already inspired by Toriyama and Dragon Ball's art style in my early years from school, the artistic evolution I had for more than 10 years, completely inspired by Toriyama's work.
2023 was one of the worst years for me, mainly because I started to not like my arts anymore, I didn't stop doing them but I saw them negatively, I no longer felt love for them, and I started to think that I didn't deserve to have such good skills, everything got worse when the AIs got improved, and that's when I felt totally irrelevant, a total waste and that my arts had no more value, it was a very complicated time.
At the end of 2023 I started to rewatched all of Dragon Ball in order, until the end of Super, and that's when I started to change for the better, seeing that amazing art and world all over again, it excited me, I redid my original character's design, and I started loving my arts again, nowadays I draw them and they make me happy, I'm interested again in writing stories, paying homages to manga panels, making jokes, etc., it's really enjoyable, I don't think I'm perfect, I've already made a lot of mistakes, but I will always try to do my best.
Not only I draw nowadays because of Dragon Ball, but I also listen to music because of Dragon Ball, it was from the works of Hironobu Kageyama and Shunsuke Kikuchi that I started to care so much about soundtracks, I always listen to at least one song of Dragon Ball a day, to the point that I memorized all the BGMs of DB & DBZ.
When I was introduced to Dragon Ball I didn't know that it came from Japan, I only found out about it much later, honeslt I've never read another manga that isn't Dragon Ball, and I've watched very few anime in my life, like Pokemon and Naruto, I think they're good, but none of them I kept watching and they didn't even come close to impacting me like Dragon Ball did, there's something special about Toriyama's work that I don't think can be described through words, of course, the Nostalgia factor is always strong, but when it comes to Dragon Ball, I feel like it goes beyond.
Many like Dragon Ball for the fights, violence, and these are incredible elements of the series, but they aren't the main reasons for why I love the series so much, I love this series because of the adventures, the characters, the world, the moments, they are everything that make this series so rich and alive for me.
Dragon Ball is a light, happy, simple work, something that I read and watch to smile even in its saddest moments like deaths and sacrifices, it doesn't make me angry, Dragon Ball makes me me feel like a kid again, a unique feeling, and my childhood is something I really miss, Dragon Ball is a life experience, I like other series, films and comics too, but I'm sure that only Dragon Ball would be greatly missed by me if it simply disappeared, this series, its characters, its lessons and moments that have been repeated countless times were already part of me long before writing this, Dragon Ball is essential to my life.
Akira Toriyama was more than a man, I look at this and for me it's hard to believe that he was a human being like us, but in Dragon Ball, even mortals surpass the Gods, and for me Toriyama did the same, I admit that outside of Dragon Ball, I haven't seen any of his other work, I've never checked out Dr. Slump or Sandland, and even though I plan to see check them out, I don't think that to be a fan of Toriyama you need to see everything he made, everyone is a fan in its own way, just the fact that people who have never touched the series know the names Goku and Dragon Ball or even Kamehameha, is already an excellent way to demonstrate its importance to the world, he did more than just a simple comic series for boys, he was responsible for the growth of a culture, at least for me, it is extremely difficult to imagine how the world of not only anime and manga but also Japanese culture would be without Dragon Ball, it is extremely difficult to imagine, how I would be today without Dragon Ball.
As much as I think that many good things that exist today in this series would not be possible without other talents such as the Toei Animation's team, Takao Koyama, Kazuhiko Torishima, not to mention that for me, the Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z Animes are better than the manga, it is simply undeniable that none of this would be possible without Toriyama, he could have stopped whenever he wanted, given up sooner, but he preferred to continue working tirelessly for more than 10 years without rest, simply unbelievable.
When I say that he was more than a man, it's because as a simple human being, he was also good and an example of a person, at the same time that he became this icon, this is not something that everyone can carry.
He only had 2 goals, to make a series that would make children happy, and to have a peaceful life, and he achieved it, in fact, the results were greater than he expected.
It breaks my heart that he recently wanted to work on more projects, unfortunately, he won't be able to, but everything that has been delivered is more than enough, this text is not enough to describe how important his work is to my life, on the day his death was announced, I was just in shock and had no reaction because I couldn't believe it, the next day, I finally believed it and I bursted into tears, tears that speak for themselves.
Dragon Ball was already special to me, but after this it will be even more, I don't know how I will look at the series from now on knowing that its creator is no longer in this plane, I will continue checking the new animes, manga chapters, films and games that are released, after all, the creator leaves but his work remains and will be continued by others.
I think nothing will surpass what was done between 1984 and 1995, but as long as they respect Akira Toriyama and what he did, I will accept anything and see it as a great tribute, just as what I do will also be a great tribute to this king.
Maybe I don't use something related to Dragon Ball as a cover image or avatar, but that's because I don't need to, because I believe that my arts, my art style, what I do on the internet and even my way of interacting and to speak, they already demonstrate in themselves how much I love this silly story that only had the intention of pleasing Japanese kids, not only me but the entire Mortal World which is now regretting this loss, as it loses yet another star, I wish that the Another World is as good as you imagined in the Dragon Ball universe!
I draw because of Dragon Ball
I like animations because of Dragon Ball
I like music because of Dragon Ball
I like creating stories and characters because of Dragon Ball
I created a blog to show all my stuff because of Dragon Ball
I created a YouTube channel because of Dragon Ball
I consider myself an Artist, because of Dragon Ball
All of this wouldn't be possible without Akira Toriyama, Akira Toriyama is Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball is Akira Toriyama.
Thank you very much for everything, master!!! You are not dead! You just left your physical body to have the infinite rest, A Legend is Eternal!!!
- Rafa Stary
SpeedArt
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