Dragon Ball Creator Unveils Reason Why He Has Stopped Drawing Manga

Akira Toriyama – Dragon Ball Creator, has revealed that he is no longer able to draw manga because of a specific equipment that is missing.

The reason behind Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball, giving up drawing manga has recently been disclosed. According to Anime Senpai, Toriyama stopped drawing manga because he misplaced his beloved wooden pen holder, which he had bought during his teenage years. This pen holder held immense sentimental value for the artist as he had used it throughout his manga career until the release of Dragon Ball Super, which was drawn by Toyotarou and written by Toriyama. This unfortunate incident took place while he was working on Sand Land, a movie adaptation of his manga series named the same.

Akira Toriyama has used the same pen for 51 years! He bought this pen holder when he was 14 years old, and has used it to ink every manga he’s ever drawn, including DBZ. But because his office is so messy, he often has to search for it before working. #DragonBallCultureDaily pic.twitter.com/djplflPYpQ

— Derek Padula (@derekpadula) November 11, 2020

Toriyama shared that he completed Sand Land by digitizing the inked paper manuscript and utilizing software to add solid colors to his own tones. He admitted to hardly sleeping during that time. After finishing all the episodes, he lost his beloved wooden pen holder that he had been using since before his debut. The pen holder was familiar to his hand as it had been carved and worn down with a knife and sandpaper. Despite buying a new pen holder and trying to sharpen it in various ways, it just didn’t feel right. Toriyama used this as an excuse for not drawing much manga since then and chuckled about it.

Toriyama Treasured His Pen Holder

Toriyama has previously talked about his pen holder. In an interview with Dragon Ball: El Manga Legendario magazine, he explained how he always goes back to using the original holder despite owning several others. However, Toriyama also confessed that he frequently loses the holder due to his carelessness. During the same interview, he shared that it took him more than thirty minutes to find the holder within his office.

The manga series Sand Land, created by Toriyama, was serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump from May to August 2000. Despite being shorter than the well-known Dragon Ball series, Sand Land has received praise from critics for its amusing and engaging plot. The story follows a corrupt king who exploits his people by overcharging them for the scarce resource of water. To put an end to this injustice, an elderly sheriff teams up with a demon prince named Beelzebub and a mature demon named Thief to find Phantom Lake and defeat the king’s formidable army. The film adaptation is scheduled to premiere in August.

English versions of Akira Toriyama’s manga series, Dragon Ball and Sand Land, can be obtained through VIZ Media.