Shueisha's lack of tribute towards Toriyama's death has Dragon Ball editors worried for future mangakas

Modified Mar 27, 2025 06:30 GMT

Dragon Ball editors lament Shueisha's treatment of Toriyama's passing (Image via Akira Toriyama, Toei Animation)

The Dragon Ball editors from the original manga, Kazuhiko Torishima, Yu Kondo, and Fuyuto Takeda, were recently part of a radio interview with J-Wave where they discussed several topics regarding the franchise. One of them was their disappointment regarding how the publishing house, Shueisha, treated author Akira Toriyama after his passing on March 1 of 2024.

This was exemplified by the fact that the legendary Dragon Ball editors felt that the message they published regarding his passing was too impersonal and lacked any of the special treatment that a mangaka of Toriyama's stature deserved. Torishima, Kondo, and Takeda agreed that this situation was also a concern moving forward, since this could happen to other authors as well.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the series.

Legendary Dragon Ball editors criticize Shueisha's lack of tributes to Toriyama after his passing

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As mentioned earlier, the three editors that Akira Toriyama had during his original manga run in Weekly Shonen Jump— Kazuhiko Torishima, Yu Kondo, and Fuyuto Takeda— reunited for an interview to discuss multiple elements of the franchise's history and how it was made. However, one topic that they lamented was the lack of emotion, and how impersonal Shueisha behaved, regarding the passing of the legendary mangaka.

The three editors agree that a more emotional and passionate message would have come a long way to honor Toriyama, especially considering how other countries went to great lengths to celebrate his life and legacy. They emphasized that this is concerning because other mangaka could face similar treatment after their deaths, which they don't consider fair.

All three also agreed with the fact that Toriyama, being such an important figure in the history of manga, deserved a lot more from a publishing house that received so much from him. They even suggested using the iconic manga illustration of Goku waving goodbye at the end of the manga as a template for a tribute for the mangaka.

The legacy of Toriyama and his three editors

Akira Toriyama as seen in his youth (Image via Akira Toriyama)

The rest of the interview had the Dragon Ball editors looking back on the years working with Toriyama and the making of the series. This included their methods of work with the late mangaka, their involvement with Toei Animation regarding certain elements of the anime adaptation such as the filler content, and even some interesting anecdotes— such as Torishima claiming that Toriyama never wanted to move to Tokyo, so he would have that as a threat if he missed a deadline.

The interview also had some interesting details regarding their contributions, such as Kondo requesting that Piccolo's death in the Saiyan saga had him crying while sharing his last moments with Gohan. All of this provided some clarity regarding some myths surrounding the franchise and shed some light on Toriyama's approach to making manga.

Edited by Ahana Mukhopadhyay