Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama is finally getting the recognition he deserves! The mastermind behind the world-wide, pop culture phenomenon has officially been nominated for an Eisner Award according to Comicbook.com.
Toriyama was nominated for the “Voter’s Choice” category. The Eisners are the most prestigious prizes and honors that can be awarded to comic book creators, and Toriyama was overlooked for quite some time.
While the Eisners primarily focused on recognizing American comics since its inception in 1988, this has been criticized in recent years given that the comic book medium has expanded with global reach.
Image via Comicbook.com
Dragon Ball is a prominent example, as acknowledged by Toriyama’s Eisner Awards profile, which reads:
Dragon Ball — has reportedly sold more than 350 million copies worldwide. Dragon Ball’s anime adaptations have been credited with boosting anime’s popularity in the West, and Toriyama is regarded as one of the artists who changed the history of manga.
The nomination is also timely because of the 30th anniversary of Dragon Ball Z, the installment that gave Dragon Ball its global success.
Image via Polygon
But the best news of all, is that Dragon Ball is still going strong, and with more popularity and acclaim than ever. The hype has been over 9000 in recent years, between its newest anime series, manga, video games, and its world-wide, hit movie, Dragon Ball Super: Broly.
Congratulations, Akira Toriyama! Thank you for inspiring a generation to be the best and healthiest we could be, for inspiring us to trade crack houses for the gym, for Goku’s example of strength and kindness, and for a movie that excited audiences enough to turn the “Ka-Me-Ha-Me-Ha!” into a damn sing-along (take that, Sound of Music).
Featured Image via Comicbook.com