‘Bleach’ author on the passing of Akira Toriyama: “as long as the work exists, the author is not dead”

The death of Akira Toriyama has shocked the world and generated all kinds of reactions among fans of ‘Dragon Ball’. Even the mangakas of the so-called “big four”, artists who were directly inspired by Toriyama in the creation of their own works, released important messages about his passing. Eiichiro Oda (‘One Piece’) and Masashi Kishimoto (‘Naruto’), had already shared letters of tribute, and now it is the turn of Tite Kubo (‘Bleach’), who has expressed himself in the following terms:

“Personally, I don’t feel any loneliness or pain,” said Kubo. “I’m not saying there aren’t any at all, but there aren’t as many as I thought. It’s the death of someone I’ve read since I was a child, someone who works in the same magazine as me, and someone I’m deeply influenced by, so it feels different than when I deal with death in general, but that’s why I feel like it doesn’t exist”.

“I’ve never really talked about this with anyone, but I’ve always believed that creating things means expanding your sensibilities and expanding your life. This is because I believe that as long as the work exists, the author is not dead. And I believe that being able to properly get used to this feeling is proof of the magnitude of the work’s existence that remains in my heart”.

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The manga with the best villains

Kubo has always been a declared fan of ‘Dragon Ball’: back in its day, a letter in which he explained that as a child he used to debate what was stronger, a Kamehameha or the Dodonpa. This was a precursor to his explanation of why he believed Akira Toriyama’s manga had the best villains: “I don’t mean that I disliked the heroe’s side. I just liked the villains. Starting with the aforementioned Tao Pai-pai, Chiaotzu, Piccolo, Raditz, Vegeta, Nappa, Zarbon, Dodoria, Ginyu, Recoom, and of course, Freeza… Once you start writing the names, there’s no end. It’d be harder to find a villain that I dislike.

“Pretty much all of them had a screwy aspect to their personalities, but that just made their strength and their fearsomeness stand out all the more (the biggest collection of such was probably Majin Boo). They were truly so cool that you’d get chills. And, precisely because the villains were so cool, when they were defeated, they would carry out their greatest role, which was to emphasize the heroes’ coolness.”

“A villain must be strong, fearsome, and cool. No exceptions. What drilled that into me was, without a doubt, Dragon Ball. Even now, whenever I open up Dragon Ball, I renew those feelings. And, whenever I turn the page, I get chills, just as much as I did back then.”