More than two years ago, on the 1st of March, 2024, the world of manga and anime lost a once-in-a-lifetime figure in Dragon Ball author Akira Toriyama. While Toriyama's talent is clear from seeing just a page of his work, that talent may never have been so popular without Kazuhiko Torishima, Toriyama's editor for Dr. Slump and the first half of Dragon Ball.
Speaking with us at Comicon Napoli, we asked Torishima about how he'd define the legacy he shares with Toriyama. "Well, you know, this was not only Toriyama-san's stance, but my stance as well, because the main audience for us was the kids, the main readers. And as kids, by definition, they're powerless human beings, they do have so many problems, they could be sad, they don't know how to stress out, to get rid of the stresses, and so the manga could be a means to forget all the sadness, all the annoying things, and all the things that they might be bothered about," he said.
"Toriyama and I, we used to talk for hours about this. Because at school, the kids have the teachers who are sort of just not teachers, they rule their world in the school. And at home, they have their parents, and the parents, they rule the kids' world. And of course, the kids have no money. They don't have the means to enjoy themselves, to forget about stress and all the sadness. So by reading the manga, they can get into another world and have an experience, an adventure, where they can forget any issues, any cause of their stress, and they can really enjoy it. So that was something typical that we talked about."
Torishima said in an earlier panel that he had some criticisms about modern manga and anime, because they were becoming too wordy, too adult, and too expensive for children. As kids need this escapism through manga and anime, it's important these trends don't push them away from the medium.
If you want to read more of our in-depth chat with Torishima, check out our full interview here.
