This is a tough one, man. It only gets tougher every time, too. Last night, news broke that Akira Toriyama passed away back on March 1st . This is a very tough pill to swallow. It means a lot to me to see people who helped mold me into the person I am today live out their lives and be happy, especially these last couple years where I’ve been able to see various older Hip-Hop heads do simple things that truly make them happy, so losing the guy who is responsible for such a large part of my childhood and, quite honestly, my participation in most of my hobbies is just too much, man. My heart is too heavy.

I am not an anime/manga head without Dragon Ball Z. I am not a fighting game player without those days spent mashing on Budokai 2 and Tenkaichi 3. I don’t take an interest in game dev, which later turns into computer science, without being introduced to a bunch of technology in my pursuit of being the biggest DBZ on the planet.

I was the biggest fucking Dragon Ball Z nerd you could ever know when I was a kid. I loved it all, even with wack-ass Mr. Popo on the screen. I had Dragon Ball Z toys, watched it whenever it was on, could quote lines from movies and shit, played Budokai 2 every day when I got back home from school. No bullshit, years before I would ever play a proper fighting game, Tenkaichi 3 was the first game I ever labbed. I learned like every combo you could do in that game. I messed up so many analog sticks from doing kamehameha wars against my older brother and the cpu. Hell, man. The first fighting game I was really able to play offline sorta regularly like that was Dragon Ball FighterZ because everyone fucking loves Dragon Ball. I was grinding combos in that game and playing everybody in the dorm that I could. I got to share my love of fighting games with other people and take part in appreciation for Dragon Ball at the same time.

Dragon Ball GT’s ending is still my favorite ending of anything I’ve ever watched. I grew more aware of GT’s flaws as I got older, but I could never write it off just off the strength of that ending. I’ve forgotten a lot of stuff about GT; that ending is almost picture perfect in my brain, man.

I’m pretty sure the Italian openings were the first anime openings I ever jammed on Youtube. They were just so happy and full of life, and I still go back and listen to them. SPeaking of Youtube, I watched so many amvs for DBZ. DBZ and Linkin Park music had a connection back in the day, boy.

So many of my preferences in media come from my exposure to DBZ, man. I love the idea of fusions/characters combining because of DBZ. I love rivals teaming up. I love tournament arcs and training arcs. I love characters who just wnna run fades. All of it. It shaped my view on things even after I found new favorites.

And that’s just me gushing about Dragon Ball. I’m not a Dragon Quest guy, but he obviously did it big there. Same with Chrono Trigger. I liked Blue Dragon a lot because of the anime, and even today, hold a real soft spot for it. He had a hand in so many things and touched so many people. He’s your favorite mangaka’s favorite mangaka. This man’s stories helped define multiple generations across different mediums and hobbies. Probably the biggest reason there are as many black anime fans as there are today. We were all drawing Goku in notebooks back in the day, trying to turn super saiyan, trying to be stronger.

I’ve gone on and on, and it’s really just to say this:

Thank you for everything, Akira Toriyama. You made my childhood and my adulthood so much more fun. You brought me and so many like me so many smiles, more than we could ever count. Thank you for your hard work.

Until we meet again, Toriyama-Sensei.