Dragon Ball Creator Akira Toriyama Nominated for an Eisner Award

Dragon Ball fans are finally getting to see a long-awaited milestone come to pass, as Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama has been officially nominated for an Eisner Awardd. Toriyama has been nominated in the “Voters Choice” category for the Eisner Hall of Fame awards, as was revealed in the website for San Diego Comic-Con.

Needless to say it’s acknowledgement that’s long overdue, but as the saying goes: it’s definitely better late, than never. Here’s the blurb that was included on the Comic-Con website, regarding Toriyama’s nomination:

“Akira Toriyama is a Japanese manga artist, game artist, and character designer who created the popular series Dr. Slump, which earned the 1981 Shogakukan Manga Award, has sold more than 35 million copies in Japan, and was adapted into two anime series. His next series, Dragon Ball, was even more popular and 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. He also designed characters for several popular video games, such as the Dragon Quest series, Chrono Trigger, and Blue Dragon.”

If you’re not familiar, the Eisner Awards are prizes given for creative achievement in comic books, mainly American comic books. It was started in 1988 and named after influential comic creator Will Eisner (The Spirit), and the awards ceremony has been held as part of San Diego Comic-Con ever since 1991. The fact that the Eisner Awards focus on American comics has grown into something of a controversy over the last few years – due mostly to the fact that the comic book medium has opened up and become mainstream on a global level.

That’s why Akria Toriyama’s nomination for the Eisner Awards Hall of Fame couldn’t be more timely. Dragon Ball has gone through a rapid power-up over the last few years, becoming a billion-dollar earner with the anime series, manga, video games and a wordwide hit movie all propelling the series to new heights of visibility. It’s also the 30th anniversary of Dragon Ball Z, the installment of the franchise that really gave Dragon Ball its crossover success in markets outside of Japan. If there’s no other indicator of how long Toriyama has overlooked by the awards events like the Eisners, that’s a pretty solid one.

Best of all: Toriyama’s work is still earning serious acclaim today, as his currrent storyline in the Dragon Ball Super manga is quickly becoming one of fans’ favorite, and most buzzed about (see the video above!).

Dragon Ball Super: Broly is out now. Dragon Ball Super currently airs its English dub on Adult Swim during the Toonami block Saturday evenings. It is also available to stream on Funimation and Amazon Video. The Japanese language release is available to stream on FunimationNOW, VRV, and Crunchyroll.

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