Cartoons, books, video games but also t-shirts, figurines, school bags... Whatever your age, and unless you have lived deep in the Amazonian forest, you have inevitably crossed paths with Son Goku one day, the hero of the manga phenomenon “Dragon Ball”, sold between 260 and 300 million copies worldwide, depending on sources, and available in a multitude of derivative products.
In France, its publisher, Glénat, announces 30 million albums sold.
The top, just behind “One Piece”.
The author of this cult comic published between 1985 and 1995, Akira Toriyama, died on March 1, at the age of 68, "from an acute subdural hematoma", the production studio he created announced this Friday .
What we must remember about this worldwide success and its author with a “twisted and difficult” personality, as he defined himself, and an almost unhealthy discretion.
It struggled for a long time before being published.
After high school, Akira Toryama embarked on a working life rather than starting higher studies.
He has known he was gifted at drawing since childhood and even won a local competition.
Initially an illustrator in an advertising agency, he resigned after two years.
Unemployed, staying with his parents, he hangs out in cafes.
It was in one of them that he came across an ad for a comic book competition organized by a magazine with a prize of 4,000 euros.
He tries it.
Without any success.
VIDEO.
'Dragon Ball' Creator Akira Toriyama Dies at 68
For more than a year and a half, he multiplied the competitions, sending hundreds of pages to the editorial offices.
In 1979, Weekly Shônen Jump published its first story... Which did not please the public.
Two years later, on the other hand, the success of “Dr Slump” was dazzling.
Little known in France but huge hit in Japan, the series is racking up awards.
“He started it at age 25 while still living at home with his parents, but by the time the series ended in 1984, he was a manga superstar,” his publisher summarized in 2011.
A manga inspired by Chinese legends… And Jackie Chan
In 1984, Akira Toriyama decided to abandon “Dr Slump” for a new series, “Dragon Ball”, the story of a young boy with a monkey tail, gifted in combat sports, going in search of seven balls of crystal (the dragon balls).
The manga was born more from the will of the publisher than from that of the author, the first suggesting a series “oriented towards martial arts”.
To give birth to it, the young author will turn to tradition and in particular a Chinese tale from the 16th century: “The pilgrimage to the west”.
He keeps the name of his hero, Son Goku, his monkey tail or even the flying cloud as a mode of transport.
Another source of inspiration for Toriyama: cinema and Kung-fu films.
And above all the schoolboy humor of Jackie Chang's films, like "The Chinese Master", which he has seen dozens of times and which sets the tone for "Dragon Ball".
A global success that caused controversy
Starting from Japan, the “Dragon Ball” wave will sweep across the world.
Between 1984 and 1995, Toriyama drew and published 42 volumes of his saga.
In France, and as in many countries, it was first and foremost the animated series that forged this success.
The cartoon arrived on our small screens in 1988, five years before the manga published by Glénat, in the “Club Dorothée”.
The broadcast of “Dragon Ball” then “Dragon Ball Z” continued until 1996. From 1986, the studios also produced 38 films for television and cinema.
To this must be added around fifty video games.
Between 1984 and 1995, Toriyama drew and published 42 volumes of his saga.
AFP/Richard A. Brooks
A success which will not go without some controversies, especially from 1990. “Dragon Ball” is accused of being too violent, sexist, obscene, inciting pedophilia because it often shows the panties of a young heroine.
Certain scenes are even censored, episodes are banned in Spain or even Argentina.
“In 1986, the King of the Belgians even had our premises raided and the series banned,” remembers Jacques Glénat.
An author who lived as a recluse
“I will never know him.
It's the first thing I said to myself when I learned of his death..." Editor who made "Dragon Ball" known in France and a regular traveler to Japan, Jacques Glénat, reached by telephone this Friday, has never met Akira Toriyama.
But he is not the only one.
Since his beginnings, the designer has been almost invisible, based more than 300 km from Tokyo.
He flees photographers and journalists, defines himself as agoraphobic.
One of his last known photos dates back… more than twenty years.
“When I think about it, I don't really like people, and socializing is really awful.
Apart from my family, my friends, and those related to my work, I don't think I want to see anyone,” he confided during one of his rare interviews in Japan. .
And if he sometimes draws himself in his comics, he always depicts his face covered with a gas or surgical mask.
“He was quite a special being… This is the case for many Japanese authors.
But he was more Japanese than Japanese,” says Jacques Glénat.
It should have been Grand Prix d'Angoulême
We are in 2013. The Angoulême festival is experiencing a small revolution.
For the first time, accredited authors are asked to vote for the winner of the Grand Prize to be chosen from a list of sixteen recognized authors.
However, the Grand Prix Academy, the only one to decide before, also had its say.
Also read: France, gaga for manga
The rest is told by Benoît Mouchart, then head of the festival.
“The vote of the authors gave the majority to Akira Toriyama.
But the Academy preferred to give it to Willem, who also had many votes and above all a lot of talent.
It’s true that it caused a bit of controversy… So we decided to award the special 40th anniversary prize to Toriyama,” he says.
“It was not yet customary in Angoulême to give the prize to a Japanese,” smiles Jacques Glénat.
Two have had it since… On the other hand, I requested and obtained for him the distinction of Knight of Arts and Letters in 2019.”