Dragonball Creator Akira Toriyama Knighted by France
The French government conferred the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) decoration to Dragonball creator...
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Akira Toriyama, the father of Dragon Ball becomes a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters
- Thread starter Deleted member 15428
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Damn, that's some fine company who have already received the award.
... I don't think Kitano has ever been involved in a manga though, and I know he's on the record about hating anime:
"I hate anime and even though I truly hate, like, Hayao Miyazaki's work, I can recognise how great anime is just by the amount of money it earns. I think you should do things you like, but you also need to be open enough to recognise the things you think you don't."
... I don't think Kitano has ever been involved in a manga though, and I know he's on the record about hating anime:
"I hate anime and even though I truly hate, like, Hayao Miyazaki's work, I can recognise how great anime is just by the amount of money it earns. I think you should do things you like, but you also need to be open enough to recognise the things you think you don't."
So well deserved. I don't think there is a country where Dragon Ball was as successful as in France ( outside Japan ).
Funny how things change.
I can clearly remember the time -at the peak of Dragon Ball's popularity in France - when the gouvernment would have judge him responsible for every fight in every school yard.
I can clearly remember the time -at the peak of Dragon Ball's popularity in France - when the gouvernment would have judge him responsible for every fight in every school yard.
I think this would be better on etctera than gaming lol Also, I think the text means editor there, not publisher.
You're right. In Japan, the manga sold 170 million, in France it sold 30 million, in South Korea it sold 20 million, in Spain it sold 20 million and in China it sold 10 million. This is the top 5 of the countries with more sales.
You're right. In Japan, the manga sold 170 million, in France it sold 30 million, in South Korea it sold 20 million, in Spain it sold 20 million and in China it sold 10 million. This is the top 5 of the countries with more sales.
As in manga yes. In anime, who knows, we don't have any way to measure it.
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There are Dragon Ball video games. But if you want to start a thread in Etcetera, feel free to do so.
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Not really a nice thing to say, It has been wel known that Akira Toriyama is extremely shy
Apparently he really really likes his privacy. He doesn't attend any public events. There's literally a handful of old pictures of the guy online.
30 million just in France ? That's insane ! Toriyama must be a rich man :)
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I think it's pretty close between France and Mexico, at least anime-wise. Goku is as well known there as Pikachu and Harry Potter.
I don't know for Mexico sorry. But Goku ruled the TV in France for decades. The only thing that came close was maybe the Pokemon anime in the 2000s, animes like Grendizer ( Goldorak in France ) in the 70s or Saint Seya in the 80s. But not a single anime had success for decades like Dragon Ball.
Pretty sure the Dragon Ball manga never actually sold in China though! Maybe the number is for the Chinese language versions of the Hong Kong + Taiwan editions combined?
Those numbers are probably for the French editions of publisher Glenat, so Belgium and probably other French speaking territories are also included.
There is.
Dragon Ball is a religion here in Latam. Just watch all the live viewings we did for the Tournament of Power arc.
He's also getting on in years and Japan <-> France would be over 20 hours on a round trip.
Before DB started, he was already one of the top 50 (or was it 20?) richest people in Japan from the sales of Dr. Slump.
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I believe that Toriyama, Kashimoto (Naruto), and Oda (One Piece) are the richest mangaka.
Kazuki Takahashi might be in their range as well if he gets a cut of the Yu-Gi-Oh! card sales.
DB manga and DBZ ended in the mid/late 90s but the video games and franchising never stopped which Toriyama will always get a big cut of. Then the resurgence of DB happened again with DB Super rekindled alot of new and old interest in the franchise. And the video games always sold well in japan and asia.
That's some pretty big chunk of change.
I'm kinda surprised that it hadn't happened yet.
So that means that if WW3 were to start tomorrow, we get to draft Toriyama and Miyamoto, right?
So that means that if WW3 were to start tomorrow, we get to draft Toriyama and Miyamoto, right?
Yeah, how things have changed, it's funny. Japanese pop-culture gets so much respect from the cultural "elite" nowadays. It's kind of a fashionable thing even. I would say the change happened in the early 2000s when the Ghibli films started getting a bigger push in theaters.
Jesus ! I never knew he was the one behind Dr Slump. I know where the Dragon Ball humor is coming from now :)
Dragon Ball is like the Bible of every person born in the 90s in France but still, never expected that.
Well, we also have the biggest and best fan-manga of DB around.
Well, we also have the biggest and best fan-manga of DB around.
Multiverse ?
And yeah Dragon Ball is insane in France. Anything Japan related is anyway.
As most people told you here, Dragon Ball is a fucking religion in latin america (years before the US, it was already a phenomenon in mid 90s) but of course that doesn't count because here we don't buy shit lol, it was 100% thanks to public TV and piracy.
Also I want to add here that Toriyama is not only shy even in Japan, but there is a very old myth (since the nineties) that the japanese government doesn't like to see him travel too much, because if he gets hurt the economy of the manga/anime industry will be heavily damaged.
Dragon Ball success started in France in the 80s. There was a special connection between Japan and France when it comes to animes and mangas. We were just invaded with content from Japan since the 70s. An it exploded it the 80s and 90s. Salor Moon and Dragon Ball had success in the US like a decade after France.
I've never realized Dragon Ball was so big in Latam. Was it just Dragon Ball or Animes/Mangas as a whole as in France ?
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Akira Toriyama's work has been featured in many video games. But if you want to create a thread in Etcetera, feel free to do so.
I think it was a little more similar to what happened to Italy: in the seventies/eighties we were invaded by a lot of "historical" anime mostly based on european settings (like Lady Oscar or Candy Candy) and super robot anime, the latest was by far the biggest genre until probably Captain Tsubasa. Sailor Moon was a success almost the same time as France as far as I know (it was already popular before Sailor Stars ended in Japan). Before Dragon Ball there was a huge success with Saint Seiya, exactly as France as far as I know.
It was almost the same as France but 100% based on TV, buying official stuff was almost impossible because of our classic and well known poverty. I think anime started to be an industry just in mid 2000s, because that generation was now adults.
Yes Super Robots were HUGE in Italy ( never understood why ) and in Spain as well. I didn't know it was the case in Latam as well.
Of course as anybody can tell by name and pic, I was a huge Super Robots guy. In France only Grendizer / Goldorak was huge ( and Mazinger Z a little bit ), but that's all. France was never into giants robots really ( Super Robots or Mechs ). In the US, Super Robots and Mechs were big thanks to Voltron, Gundam Wing and Robotech.
Candy Candy was massive in France as well. It was so big that there was some controversy when the TV Channel airing the anime at the time ( I think it was Antenne 2 ) had to change the story of the Anime after the death of one of the main characters literally "traumatized" millions of children. They changed the story to say the character was just injured and not dead… LOL.
A well deserved award. It's shame he wasn't there to receive it though.
Dragon Ball was my childhood after Sentai/Power Rangers. I started getting into DB right when Club Dorothée stopped airing them, so I never really watched the anime, but bought all the manga and OAVs (in videotapes) and watched them dozens of times.
Dragon Ball was my childhood after Sentai/Power Rangers. I started getting into DB right when Club Dorothée stopped airing them, so I never really watched the anime, but bought all the manga and OAVs (in videotapes) and watched them dozens of times.
Rumiko Takahashi (Ranma 1/2, Inuyasha) is also part of the rich list. I think she's the richest woman in all of comics and manga.
Arale in Japan is as popular as Mickey Mouse.
And an even better reason is that Toriyama is a very prominent figure in videogames as well (Dragon Quest, Chrono Trigger, etc.). It's mentioned right in the very first paragraph of his wikipedia article:
Akira Toriyama (鳥山 明 Toriyama Akira, born April 5, 1955) is a Japanese manga artist, game artist and character designer. He first achieved mainstream recognition for his highly successful manga series Dr. Slump, before going on to create Dragon Ball—his best-known work—and acting as a character designer for several popular video games such as the Dragon Quest series, Chrono Trigger and Blue Dragon. Toriyama is regarded as one of the artists that changed the history of manga, as his works are highly influential and popular, particularly Dragon Ball, which many manga artists cite as a source of inspiration.
He's extremely shy. He hardly goes outside and when he goes he uses a mask
Latam ain't a country though and, honestly, how many in Latam actually bother consuming Dragon Ball-related products? I've never bought a single manga chapter or volume, despite loving the series a lot and considering myself a huge fan. In the last 10 years or so I've gotten a few figures, some games, the Broly Blu-ray and that's pretty much it.
Though I'm thinking about buying some manga chapters because I find a store here in Peru that sells the English version by Viz Media, they also have the Reborn as Yamcha one.
Dragon Ball is huge here, at least when it comes to its audience and viewership. Pretty much every kid/teenager during the 90s watched the show and anime in general. Among the biggest anime here you'll find Dragon Ball, Saint Seiya, Captain Tsubasa, Card Captor Sakura and Naruto. Among those, Dragon Ball is definitely on another level and DBS injected even more popularity into the brand.
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Yeah it's a shame. He must look so different nowadays now that he is an old wise pervy man as master Roshi. He could walk past by me and I probably wouldn't recognize him and I think that's precisely why he does this. So he could live peacefully without being disturbed by fans asking for sketches and autographs.
He is the absolute boss and I understand what is it being extremely shy (I am shy af too) but oh well, it would be nice if he had made an exception this time, it's an important award... I'm so curious to see how Toriyama sensei looks nowadays.
I heard the French dub was extremely goofy, but I don't know if it could beat the Italian version. That dub was so cheap that you could have heard the same voice for different character 5 time in one episode... and it was still awesome
