Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama receiving overdue award at NYCC 2024

Akira Toriyama, creator of the incredible Dragon Ball franchise, is getting a prestigious posthumous honor at New York Comic-Con 2024.

The mastermind behind Dragon Ball, Akira is undoubtedly one of the most influential figures in modern manga and anime. His work across multiple anime shows and his longrunning Shonen manga have garnered generations of fans over the last 40 years.

The Harvey Awards has revealed he’ll be part of the 2024 inductees for their hall of fame, where icons of sequential art are recognized for their contributions across comics, manga, and beyond. He’ll be formally inducted at this year’s NYCC.

Akira is the third mangaka to get such a prestigious award, after Osamu Tezuka, creator of Astro Boy, and Rumiko Takahashi, the writer and artist behind InuYasha. He’s in good company, though there’s a tinge of sadness that this didn’t happen sooner, when he was alive.

This comes on the back of Dragon Ball Daima, his last contributions to the property as a creative lead. The TV show features Goku and the Z Fighters turned into childlike version of themselves by a mysterious baddie.

It’s set before the events of Dragon Ball Super, and features a return to a more comedic tone for the franchise. Daima’s not the only release featuring his style, though, as Sand Land, an original mini-series from Akira, came out this year as well.

A Mad Max-style post apocalyptic romp, Sand Land is an important reminder that Dragon Ball wasn’t Akira’s only artistic work. Since starting his career with Dr Slump in 1980, he’s made all sorts of contributions across the industry, including to video games such as Dragon Quest and Chrono Trigger.

With any luck, this will lead to more fans digging further into his back catalog. Have a look at our upcoming anime guide for other legends in the making.