Akira Toriyama might be the most well-known mangaka in the world.
He is the mind behind the popular Dragon Ball Z, the artist of Chrono Trigger and character and monster designer for the Dragon Quest series.
During the mid 70's at around the age of 21 Toriyama knew he wanted to become a manga artist and he stated that he admired the anime Astro Boy and the movie One Hundred and One Dalmatians.
Of course, martial arts movies like Enter the Dragon and Drunken Master influenced his inner artist as well.
His career kickstarted in 78 when he submitted his first manga for a shonen jump prize contest.
Although he didn't make the cut, he was promoted with one shots in their magazines with illustrations from wonderland, Today's Highlight Island, Tomato the Cutesy Gumstone, Pola and Roid, Escape, Chobit and the Freakin OG Dragon Boy.
Without a doubt, there were many more but his main success were his manga's, with Dr. Slump being his first big title that counted 230 chapters and became a massive hit in Japan.
This series finished in 84' and made room for the true goat, Dragon Ball.
It became an instant success and caused Shonen Jump to get the highest sales ranking yet.
And although Toriyama's popularity quickly grew, he has in fact a pretty shy personality that never intended to become so big.
