Akira Toriyama's studio announced his death on Friday. AFP
Akira Toriyama's studio announced his death on Friday. AFP
Akira Toriyama's studio announced his death on Friday. AFP
Akira Toriyama's studio announced his death on Friday. AFP

Akira Toriyama: Late manga pioneer's seven greatest works beyond Dragon Ball


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Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball, has died aged 68.

The news was announced on Friday by his studio, citing a type of bleed near the brain as the cause.

While the manga series, first launched in 1984, was his best-known creation, his prolific work on other series helped shape the industry for ever.

Here are seven of his other comics, games and stories that continue to have an influence.

Dragon Ball comics first appeared in 1984. AFP
Dragon Ball comics first appeared in 1984. AFP

Dr Slump (1980)

A visitor looks at an Japanese artist Akira Toriyama's Dr. Slump comic book at the 27th Manga Fair 2021 in Barcelona on October 31, 2021. (Photo by Pau BARRENA / AFP)
A visitor looks at an Japanese artist Akira Toriyama's Dr. Slump comic book at the 27th Manga Fair 2021 in Barcelona on October 31, 2021. (Photo by Pau BARRENA / AFP)

Toriyama's breakthrough manga is a charming and fantastical comedy that showcases his stunning art and delightful sense of humour. Following a young robot who lives in a small village with an array of anthropomorphic animals and the man who built her. This fish-out-of-water story established much of the style and vibe that fans would come to love about Dragon Ball.

Dragon Quest (1986)

Dragon Quest (1986). photo: wikipedia
Dragon Quest (1986). photo: wikipedia

Toriyama wasn't solely a comics mastermind, he also made a huge impact on the games industry. His first foray into gaming came with Dragon Quest, which would launch a global franchise still going strong today.

His unique eye for character design and creature work was put to great use as he crafted both the human and monster designs as well as the famed box art. Following the hero Roto, the game leaned into the genres that defined Toriyama's career.

Chrono Trigger (1995)

Chrono Trigger (1995)
Chrono Trigger (1995)

Almost a decade later, Toriyama would play a part in creating another celebrated franchise when he teamed up with Final Fantasy's Hironobu Sakaguchi and Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii. This time-travelling adventure RPG became a hit on the Super Nintendo and is still regarded as one of the most important and influential games of its day.

Kajika (1998)

Kajika (1998)
Kajika (1998)

Putting his unique spin on a redemption story, Toriyama introduced readers to the titular young child who was born evil and, after committing a truly terrible act, has to spend the rest of his life becoming good. True to form given it's a Toriyama story, it's funny, sweet and steeped in intricate and fantastical lore. This is an easy read too as it's only a single volume.

Sand Land (2000)

Sand Land (2000)
Sand Land (2000)

Another single-volume entry into Toriyama's canon, this Mad Max-style story is set in a world where water is scarce and survivors battle harsh conditions. As a ragtag group head into the desert, they're unexpectedly forced into a resistance against their cruel king. Sand Land was recently adapted as a video game and an anime original video animation.

Blue Dragon (2007)

Blue Dragon (2007)
Blue Dragon (2007)

More than 20 years after Dragon Quest, Toriyama returned to gaming with this Japanese role-playing game. Blue Dragon brought a more traditional turn-based play style found in classic Japanese role-playing games to the Xbox 360. While the game wasn't a huge success on release, it's since garnered quite a following and inspired two seasons of an anime of the same name with awesome character designs by Toriyama.

Jaco the Galactic Patrolman (2013)

Jaco the Galactic Patrolman (2013)
Jaco the Galactic Patrolman (2013)

Toriyama excelled at crafting found family tales and he brought that skill to this short-lived series. It's an unexpected buddy comedy about a retired scientist whose life is turned upside down by the arrival of a futuristic alien policeman. While this is technically a prequel to the Dragon Ball series and takes place in the same world, it's different enough to stand-alone as its own creation.

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GAC GS8 Specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo

Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm

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Transmission: 8-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km

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Price: From Dh149,900

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Upcoming games

SUNDAY 

Brighton and Hove Albion v Southampton (5.30pm)
Leicester City v Everton (8pm)

 

MONDAY 
Burnley v Newcastle United (midnight)

Tree of Hell

Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla

Director: Raed Zeno

Rating: 4/5

Specs

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Range: Up to 610km

Power: 905hp

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The Cairo Statement

 1: Commit to countering all types of terrorism and extremism in all their manifestations

2: Denounce violence and the rhetoric of hatred

3: Adhere to the full compliance with the Riyadh accord of 2014 and the subsequent meeting and executive procedures approved in 2014 by the GCC  

4: Comply with all recommendations of the Summit between the US and Muslim countries held in May 2017 in Saudi Arabia.

5: Refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of countries and of supporting rogue entities.

6: Carry out the responsibility of all the countries with the international community to counter all manifestations of extremism and terrorism that threaten international peace and security

In numbers: China in Dubai

The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000

Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000

Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000

Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000

Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent

At a glance

Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.

 

Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year

 

Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month

 

Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30 

 

Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse

 

Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth

 

Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances

The specs

Engine: 6.2-litre V8

Transmission: seven-speed auto

Power: 420 bhp

Torque: 624Nm

Price: from Dh293,200

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Florence and the Machine – High as Hope
Three stars

The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.

Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins

Read part two: how climate change drove the race for an alternative 

Read part one: how cars came to the UAE

Opening Rugby Championship fixtures: Games can be watched on OSN Sports
Saturday: Australia v New Zealand, Sydney, 1pm (UAE)
Sunday: South Africa v Argentina, Port Elizabeth, 11pm (UAE)

SCHEDULE FOR SHOW COURTS

Centre Court - from 4pm (UAE time)
Angelique Kerber (1) v Irina Falconi 
Martin Klizan v Novak Djokovic (2)
Alexandr Dolgopolov v Roger Federer (3)

Court One - from 4pm
Milos Raonic (6) v Jan-Lennard Struff
Karolina Pliskova (3) v Evgeniya Rodina 
Dominic Thiem (8) v Vasek Pospisil

Court Two - from 2.30pm
Juan Martin Del Potro (29) v Thanasi Kokkinakis
Agnieszka Radwanska (9) v Jelena Jankovic
Jeremy Chardy v Tomas Berdych (11)
Ons Jabeur v Svetlana Kuznetsova (7)

SPECS

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Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
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Defence review at a glance

• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”

• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems

• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.

• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%

• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade

• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels

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The smuggler

Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple. 
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.

Khouli conviction

Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.

For sale

A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.

- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico

- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000

- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950

Innotech Profile

Date started: 2013

Founder/CEO: Othman Al Mandhari

Based: Muscat, Oman

Sector: Additive manufacturing, 3D printing technologies

Size: 15 full-time employees

Stage: Seed stage and seeking Series A round of financing 

Investors: Oman Technology Fund from 2017 to 2019, exited through an agreement with a new investor to secure new funding that it under negotiation right now. 

Karwaan

Producer: Ronnie Screwvala

Director: Akarsh Khurana

Starring: Irrfan Khan, Dulquer Salmaan, Mithila Palkar

Rating: 4/5

Global state-owned investor ranking by size

1.

United States

2.

China

3.

UAE

4.

Japan

5

Norway

6.

Canada

7.

Singapore

8.

Australia

9.

Saudi Arabia

10.

South Korea

How Alia's experiment will help humans get to Mars

Alia’s winning experiment examined how genes might change under the stresses caused by being in space, such as cosmic radiation and microgravity.

Her samples were placed in a machine on board the International Space Station. called a miniPCR thermal cycler, which can copy DNA multiple times.

After the samples were examined on return to Earth, scientists were able to successfully detect changes caused by being in space in the way DNA transmits instructions through proteins and other molecules in living organisms.

Although Alia’s samples were taken from nematode worms, the results have much bigger long term applications, especially for human space flight and long term missions, such as to Mars.

It also means that the first DNA experiments using human genomes can now be carried out on the ISS.

 

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The bio

Job: Coder, website designer and chief executive, Trinet solutions

School: Year 8 pupil at Elite English School in Abu Hail, Deira

Role Models: Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk

Dream City: San Francisco

Hometown: Dubai

City of birth: Thiruvilla, Kerala

Ferrari 12Cilindri specs

Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12

Power: 819hp

Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm

Price: From Dh1,700,000

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The specs: Rolls-Royce Cullinan

Price, base: Dh1 million (estimate)

Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbo V12

Transmission: Eight-speed automatic

Power: 563hp @ 5,000rpm

Torque: 850Nm @ 1,600rpm

Fuel economy, combined: 15L / 100km

Results

6.30pm: Mazrat Al Ruwayah Group Two (PA) US$55,000 (Dirt) 1,600m; Winner: Rasi, Harry Bentley (jockey), Sulaiman Al Ghunaimi (trainer).

7.05pm: Meydan Trophy (TB) $100,000 (Turf) 1,900m; Winner: Ya Hayati, William Buick, Charlie Appleby.

7.40pm: Handicap (TB) $135,000 (D) 1,200m; Winner: Bochart, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.

8.15pm: Balanchine Group Two (TB) $250,000 (T) 1,800m; Winner: Magic Lily, William Buick, Charlie Appleby.

8.50pm: Handicap (TB) $135,000 (T) 1,000m; Winner: Waady, Jim Crowley, Doug Watson.

9.25pm: Firebreak Stakes Group Three (TB) $200,000 (D) 1,600m; Winner: Capezzano, Mickael Barzalona, Salem bin Ghadayer.

10pm: Handicap (TB) $175,000 (T) 2,410m; Winner: Eynhallow, Mickael Barzalona, Charlie Appleby.

Pox that threatens the Middle East's native species

Camelpox

Caused by a virus related to the one that causes human smallpox, camelpox typically causes fever, swelling of lymph nodes and skin lesions in camels aged over three, but the animal usually recovers after a month or so. Younger animals may develop a more acute form that causes internal lesions and diarrhoea, and is often fatal, especially when secondary infections result. It is found across the Middle East as well as in parts of Asia, Africa, Russia and India.

Falconpox

Falconpox can cause a variety of types of lesions, which can affect, for example, the eyelids, feet and the areas above and below the beak. It is a problem among captive falcons and is one of many types of avian pox or avipox diseases that together affect dozens of bird species across the world. Among the other forms are pigeonpox, turkeypox, starlingpox and canarypox. Avipox viruses are spread by mosquitoes and direct bird-to-bird contact.

Houbarapox

Houbarapox is, like falconpox, one of the many forms of avipox diseases. It exists in various forms, with a type that causes skin lesions being least likely to result in death. Other forms cause more severe lesions, including internal lesions, and are more likely to kill the bird, often because secondary infections develop. This summer the CVRL reported an outbreak of pox in houbaras after rains in spring led to an increase in mosquito numbers.

UK-EU trade at a glance

EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years

Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products

Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries

Smoother border management with use of e-gates

Cutting red tape on import and export of food

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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My Country: A Syrian Memoir

Kassem Eid, Bloomsbury

Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
Updated: March 08, 2024, 8:54 AM`