Who is Akira Toriyama's wife? Family explored as mangaka passed away at 68

Modified Mar 08, 2024 07:03 GMT

Akira Toriyama and his family, who played a role in the creation of Dragon Ball (Image vai Akira Toriyama)

Mangaka Akira Toriyama passed away at the age of 68 on Friday, March 1, 2024. He is one of the most celebrated and influential artists who has done a lot for the medium of anime and manga. His magnum opus, Dragon Ball, is largely responsible for the reach that anime has today. He also contributed to and popularized an entire genre of anime and manga series today - shonen.

Akira Toriyama has inspired and molded millions of people who grew up watching his creation. His passing is being mourned by people all over the world.

Fans wish to pass on their condolences to his two children and his beloved wife, Yoshimi Kato, a celebrated manga artist who retired some time ago. She has not only created her own manga series but also helped Akira Toriyama with Dragon Ball.

More about Akira Toriyama’s wife - Yoshimi Kato

A photograph of Yoshimi Kato and her husband on the day of their wedding (Image via Shintaro Suda)

Yoshimi Kato is also a manga artist, who published works under the pseudonym of Nachi Mikami. Akira Toriyama and Yoshimi Kato's interest in manga and drawing seemingly brought them closer. The pair were from Nagoya and married each other on May 2, 1982.

Something that might come as a bit of a surprise to fans is that Akira Toriyama had a talented manga artist helping him at various stages of the series. There is no doubt that the Dragon Ball series is a stroke of genius, and he deserves all the credit. However, he had a partner who not only believed in him but also helped him with design at certain stages of the manga.

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Even before he created the Dragon Ball series, there was another manga title that made the mangaka famous - Dr. Slump. While working on this series, Akira Toriyama has received quite a bit of help from his wife in situations where time was a massive constraint.

The very creation of Dragon Ball involved Yoshimi Kato. She took a great deal of interest in China and its aesthetics and her husband wanted to change things up and draw a Kung Fu manga. She knew about his interests and therefore pitched the idea to an editor who visited their house.

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At first, Toriyama was hesitant since he didn’t want his personal project to transition to work. However, he proceeded to make two one-shot manga titles called Dragon Boy and The Adventure of Tongpoo. A fusion of this is what created the Dragon Ball series. Kato played a role in naming the iconic Kamehameha attack as well.

Yoshimi Kato certainly played a small role in this beautiful project which went on to inspire millions of people across the world. It went on to become an era-defining anime series that also defined and created tropes for most shonen animanga series in the years to follow.

This is the story of how the mangaka’s wife influenced the creation of the Dragon Ball series. Fans hope that his wife and children find solace in these trying times. The entire anime and manga community is thankful for his efforts and contribution to this industry which the world has come to love.

Stay tuned for more anime and manga news as 2024 progresses.