Dragon Ball: Toonami Honors Akira Toriyama With Touching Tribute

Adult Swim’s Toonami programming block kicked off its airing last night with a special tribute to late creator Akira Toriyama, honoring all of his contributions to culture. It was unfortunately announced over the weekend that Akira Toriyama, the creator behind Dragon Ball, Dr. Slump, Sand Land and much more, had passed away at the age of 68. The creator had such a massive impact on the world at large, and has inspired many creators over the course of his legendary career. All sorts of tributes have been flowing in as the world mourns the loss, and this included Cartoon Network as well. 

Both Cartoon Network and Adult Swim took to social media to share special tributes to Akira Toriyama‘s work over the weekend, and that went the extra mile with Toonami as it included a special honor for the creator before it began its broadcast in full. With Dragon Ball Z Kai currently on the block, and Dragon Ball being one of the biggest pillars of Toonami’s history overall, it’s a full circle kind of moment that showcases how much Toriyama’s work continues to have impact after all this time. Check it out below as spotted by @swimpedia on X: 

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Dragon Ball Z on Toonami

Dragon Ball Z (and the original Dragon Ball series later) is still one of the most impactful releases ever aired with Cartoon Network’s Toonami block. Introduced to the anime block back in 1998 alongside other classics like Robotech and Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball has since taken over the United States thanks to Toonami’s reach. There are many fans of a certain generation that will likely credit Toonami with their current love of anime, and even more that will credit Dragon Ball Z‘s airing on it that pushed it even further beyond. 

Toonami even came back from cancellation years after it initially ended, and is running strong with Adult Swim to this day thanks to how prevalent anime has become in later years. While there have been other shows, it’s Dragon Ball that really feels like the true standout that helped take anime to that worldwide acclaim. After seeing so many tributes from surprising sources worldwide, it’s even harder to deny Akira Toriyama’s loss is a great one. 

What are some of your favorite memories of watching Dragon Ball Z on Toonami? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animation and other cool stuff @Valdezology on X (formerly known as Twitter)!