Fan-favourite Dragon Ball moments and lessons honour Akira Toriyama’s legacy

Modern-day affinity for anime wouldn’t even exist without pioneer manga creators like Akira Toriyama, who invested a significant portion of his life to breathe life into combat-fuelled fictional universes on paper. As the news of the iconic Dragon Ball manga artist’s passing hit the world earlier today, fans and fellow illustrators alike struggled to make peace with it. Having birthed legendary characters like Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo and others, Toriyama’s work undoubtedly served as a direct inspiration for later projects emerging from the Battle Shonen domain. While new-age fans are widely familiar with relatively recent releases like Demon Slayer, My Hero Academia, and Jujutsu Kaisen, Dragon Ball Z’s legacy firmly established its hold from the ’80s itself.
Toriyama heroically departed from the living world’s action. But his immortal goodwill lives on in his characters and the tons of lessons left behind in the gloriously vibrant pages of his Japanese graphic novels and the consequent larger-than-life anime productions. It’s no news to Otakus that his magnum opus instituted countless Shonen manga tropes that have been rediscovered in endless streams of subsequent fan-favourite titles. The revolutionary masterpiece might as well be older than most of its consumers, but it still maintains its famed sublimity, which even extends to non-fans recognising monumental finishing attacks like Kamehameha.
From over-the-top power-up transformations, training arcs following the coming-of-age chapters of the pivotal heroes to tear-jerking redemption stories and rivalries – Dragon Ball had it all. Akira Toriyama made sure to infuse a beating heart into the story that surpassed the stereotypically single-minded vision of action. The impact is still well and alive and will continue to thrive as its own thing. Here’s how fans will remember Toriyama’s classic manga/anime offering till the end of time:
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Otakus recalled Toriyama’s efforts in shaping his main character, Goku, as someone more than a shallow, action-hungry beast. Travelling back in time to their old memories of the anime series, they remembered how, despite going head-to-head with “PURE EVIL”, Goku hoped for these dark forces to be “reborn as someone- good” eventually. Diving deeper into that sentiment, the X (formerly Twitter) user reiterated Toriyama’s belief that everyone could be redeemed.
Another netizen picked Piccolo and Vegeta’s characters on the same page and felt moved by how “even these monsters can be men, good men – I do think they’re like the earliest examples of me even really knowing what antiheroes could be.”
Instances like this have left a significant mark on the fans just as much as they have left them with life lessons with Son Goku as their biggest guide through tough times. “Lesson learned in life. Son Goku can always see the good things in his biggest enemy. Son Goku can always turn his biggest enemy into his friend,” wrote an X user.
Yet another Twitterati went back to Piccolo and how he “slowly, subtly transformed from being hellbent on world domination to easing into being the guardian of the Earth. He achieved his ends but only through developing compassion, care, and responsibility through duress.”
Then, some messages of gratitude poured in. “#ThankYouToriyama for designing one of my favourite characters of all time, Goku Black means a lot to me, his Rosé transformation was one of the first things I saw from Dragon Ball and it amazed me, I got into the whole series from there and I’m so happy I did.”
One of the most common favourite takeaways among the series fans was Goku’s Super Saiyan transformation: “Kid me cried when Goku went Super Saiyan for the first time. My classmates hyped up the moment & I remember sprinting home off the bus to not miss the episode. It was magical & to this day, I still work out to DBZ music.”
An endless stream of tweets merely talked about how Dragon Ball Z had shaped people’s childhoods and they would do their best not to miss even a single episode of the anime. The magical essence of the watching experience couldn’t be translated into words, but one X user came close to putting it together. “Remember when toriyama sensei made us sit on the edge of our seats multiple times? Remember when he made a hero so real you raised your hand in front of the TV to lend him your energy? Goku was a friend and hero for all of us.”
And above all, Goku’s victories always resonated with the audience: “Goku Defeating King Piccolo was something that always stuck to me during Dragon ball. The tears in Goku’s eyes finally able to avenge the deaths of his master and best friend who he spent most of the series with❤️”
At 68, the Dragon Ball creator reportedly passed away on March 1 from acute subdural hematoma. Rest in power, Akira Toriyama.