Author of the manga series Dragon Ball deceased. Japanese Akira Toriyama died at the age of 68 due to a cerebral hemorrhage.

Toriyama created the series in 1984. It was published as a serial until 1995 in a magazine dedicated to manga, the Japanese equivalent of comic books. The series contains a total of 519 chapters. The series tells the story of Goku, who is trying to save the world from an alien attack.

Dragon Ball They became very popular in Japan and later internationally: the books have sold hundreds of millions of copies worldwide. Many popular animated series also followed, which were also broadcast on television in the Netherlands, including: Dragon ball Z And Dragon Ball Super.

Toriyama died on March 1 and was already buried. It is not yet known whether there will be a public farewell, but his family requests that no flowers or funeral gifts be sent “given his preference for calm.”

“He still wants to achieve a lot,” his studio writes. On the official website. “Fortunately, he left the world with many titles. We hope that his unique creativity will remain loved by everyone for a long time.”

In October it was announced that Toriyama was closely involved in the final part of the anime series: Dragon Ball Dima. The first episodes will air this fall, but it’s still unclear what his death means for the project.

Here’s a trailer for the latest series: