Tokyo: Earth Online Manga Artist.

Chapter 107 Akira Toriyama's Retirement Life

at the same time.

Starting this year, Takarajima Publishing has been collaborating with various television stations to produce special programs in response to questions from manga fans. These programs explain why the works on this year's "This Manga Is Amazing!" list made the list and analyze the exciting parts of the plot and settings.

However, this has little to do with Attack on Titan, which has gained some online attention due to being affected by the incident.

Because these episodes focused on the manga of former executives, and even because of the controversies surrounding Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece, they then discussed the manga ranked eleventh to twentieth.

The host invited several well-known manga critics to analyze the shogi duel scene in "81diver", the tea ceremony and political intrigue in "Sengoku Genius Den", and the pitching posture and plot in "Genius Pitcher" in front of the camera.

Then they started praising it lavishly to demonstrate the excellence of these top-ranked comics and the prestige of the list.

Finally, to appear more objective and reasonable, they will point out some shortcomings of the comic and express concerns, etc.

#m

As for the remaining thirty comics on the list, they were basically mentioned briefly and then nothing more.

Anyway, there isn't enough space to introduce "Attack on Titan".

Because the female section also needs to be introduced, and the program length is limited, it's impossible to discuss every single one of the hundred works in both the male and female sections.

Moreover, regardless of the industry, it's essentially a winner-takes-all situation.

Just like the weekly reader popularity survey in Weekly Shonen Jump, the top ten always get better treatment: cover, opening color page, in-page color page promotion, and GG in subway stations and bookstores.

While works ranked lower won't be completely cut short, they won't receive any decent promotional resources, and readers might not even notice which page they're on when flipping through the magazine.

There weren't many parts about Attack on Titan mentioned.

During this period, the power of online public opinion was not yet that great; even if people were chatting enthusiastically online, their influence in reality was probably only average.

In 2007 Japan, social media was not yet very popular, video websites were just starting out, and most people still obtained information through television and print media.

Moreover, the controversy surrounding Attack on Titan isn't actually that big; it's limited to a few posts on a forum, and while it looks like a heated debate, not many readers are actually involved.

A post got two hundred replies, but it was just the same few dozen people arguing over and over again. Compared to the total number of Japanese manga readers, it wasn't even a ripple.

But at the same time.

-

Aichi Prefecture, Japan.

In a relatively quiet and luxurious mansion.

This is Akira Toriyama's residence, which is little known.

Since the end of "Dragon Ball", Akira Toriyama has been living a relatively low-key, reclusive retirement life.

He moved back to his hometown in Aichi Prefecture from Tokyo, living in a house he designed himself with a studio, surrounded by farmland and mountains, with the nearest convenience store a ten-minute drive away.

Aside from Dragon Ball-related events and events like the Tekken Award, he rarely goes to Tokyo anymore.

His life also became more regular, and although Dragon Ball ended, he announced that he would no longer start long-running series.

However, after Dragon Ball ended, he continued to draw many short comics, such as the later COWA, Galactic Patrolman Jaco, as well as the Dragon Quest series and Chrono Trigger that he was in charge of.

He was also in charge of the plot and character design for later Dragon Ball Super and Dragon Ball movies, but these didn't require the same kind of deadlines as weekly serializations.

Overall, after Dragon Ball ended, he lived the secluded, slow-paced life he preferred.

When Dragon Ball had just ended, he probably still had to take care of the child occasionally during the nanny's spare time.

But now that his two children are adults and have their own jobs, he has naturally retired completely.

For example, I would walk the dog in the morning, paint for a few hours in the studio in the morning, have lunch with my wife at noon, and read comics or play with models in the afternoon.

I occasionally draw the comics mentioned above, and it's a job I maintain because of my interest and sense of responsibility.

Most of the time, he spends time with his children, raises his pets, and reads comics.

He's also a motorcycle enthusiast and a model kit lover, who enjoys modifying motorcycles and assembling models.

The garage is filled with several motorcycles that he modified himself, and the shelves in the workshop are filled with various models of cars and mecha.

Anyway, since Dragon Ball ended, he has been living a very comfortable life.

He had just returned home after walking his dog outside that day.

He walked a long way along the paddy field with his white Shiba Inu. The paddy field was not scenic in winter, with only dry straw stubble and bare mountains in the distance.

However, as soon as I got home—

Why didn't you bring your phone with you again?

His wife, Yumi Kato, stood in the entryway, waving her phone in her hand, and said with a hint of complaint, "I thought you'd gone somewhere."

"Honey, I'm sorry, I forgot again."

Akira Toriyama just smiled wryly, hung the dog leash on the hook by the door, and rubbed his hands, which were stiff from the cold wind. "Is there something you need?"

He really dislikes taking his phone out, even though phones are so small and convenient now, flip phones that can fit in his pocket without getting in the way.

But he still doesn't like carrying his phone, just like before. He always feels that carrying a phone when he goes out is like having a bell hanging around his body that others can find at any time.

Many people know this, so they usually don't call Akira Toriyama when they need something; instead, they either visit him in person or use old-fashioned email to contact him.

This doesn't refer to email, but to traditional mail, the kind with a stamp that you put in a mailbox.

The editors-in-chief and senior editors at Shueisha were already used to it; whenever they needed to contact him, they would either send a letter or visit him in person.

This clearly shows that Akira Toriyama is indeed a very traditional person in terms of habits and personality.

"It's nothing, I'm just going out for a bit later and I was wondering if you wanted me to bring anything back for you."

The wife put her phone back in her pocket, stood in the entryway adjusting her scarf in front of the mirror, and said, "Didn't you say you wanted to buy some magazine yesterday?"

"No need."

Akira Toriyama smiled and picked up the magazines in his hand. He had stopped by the small bookstore in front of the station while walking his dog. "I bought them on my way out."

Then he took the dog back to the mansion, hung his coat on the hanger, and the Shiba Inu trotted around behind him, circled twice in the doghouse in the living room, and then lay down.

Akira Toriyama walked into the studio, placed the few magazines he had just bought on the table, and pulled out "This Manga is Amazing!"

The 2008 issue and this week's serialization in Weekly Shonen Jump.

He still quite likes magazines like "This Comic Is Amazing," which serve as trend indicators and guides for comics, mainly because he's getting older.

Older people probably have a similar feeling: as they get older, even their old hobbies become less enjoyable.

Akira Toriyama is a huge fan of manga. He has loved reading manga since he was a child. He used to be so engrossed in reading manga that he would forget to eat for an entire day.

However, with limited energy now, I have less time to read comics, especially new ones.

With more and more comic magazines being published and new series constantly emerging, he no longer had the energy to follow them one by one.

Aside from his old publisher, Weekly Shonen Jump, which he still reads regularly, he rarely reads other manga.

JUMP is delivered to his home every week; the editor subscribed for him, and he never misses an issue.

He was also very worried that he might miss out on some masterpieces.

Last year, after Takarajimasha released "This Manga Is Amazing!", he bought it out of curiosity and then bought the collected volumes of other manga that were on the charts.

This method is very convenient. Someone has already screened the list for him, so he only needs to look at the list.

Furthermore, Akira Toriyama has a well-known hobby: he loves collecting autographs from manga artists.

He collects autographs from famous cartoonists, or those he admires, like a stamp collector.

His studio bookshelf has a whole row of autographed plaques, signed by Oda, Kishimoto, Inoue, and Togashi, each one carefully placed in a transparent protective bag.

He doesn't act like a famous cartoonist at all; instead, he collects things like a fan.

So "This Comic Is Amazing" can be considered a guide for him to collect autographs, and then he can see what good comics are available that suit his taste.

If I see something I like, I buy the standalone copy and then try to get the author to sign it.

As it turned out, last year's list recommendations were indeed quite good, and he found several works that suited his taste by following the list.

So he plans to buy it this year to watch it and then "catch up" on the series to get into the fandom.

He spread the magazine on the table and first flipped to the table of contents to glance at this year's approximate rankings.

"I wonder if Oda's One Piece will rank higher, and also—will Attack on Titan, the manga by I don't eat pears, make the list."

As Akira Toriyama thought this, he scrolled down the ranking list with his finger and muttered to himself.

In recent years, his favorite work has been "One Piece", and he has praised "One Piece" to others more than once.

He praised it in interviews, in conversations with Oda, and in various public occasions he never hesitated to express his love for the work, hoping that Oda would surpass him.

However, this year he has another favorite cartoonist—that is, "Not Eating Pears".

Yes, it's not about my favorite comic works, but rather my favorite comic artists.

Because Akira Toriyama no longer liked *Attack on Titan* as much as he did at the beginning; he still preferred simpler, more positive stories.

A more upbeat comic.

He initially liked Eri Aragaki's short story submission for the Attack on Titan Award.

Humanity was driven to the brink of despair by the Titans and then rose up in resistance. Eren transformed into a Titan and carried a stone to block the city wall; that scene was truly thrilling.

But what happens next—

As the story of Titans takes a dark turn, with comrades being killed, the entire Levi Squad being wiped out, the Female Titan massacring the Survey Corps, comrades' bodies being pushed off a vehicle, and Petra's father pulling on Levi's sleeve and asking where his daughter was, he didn't really like those kinds of plot points.

He felt it was too heavy; not that it was bad, but it just wasn't suitable for him.

He's getting old and can't handle such heavy works anymore; he prefers something lighter and more humorous, like "One Piece."

That way.

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