Akira Toriyama is one of the veterans of the manga industry and since he’s the author of one of the most successful series till today – Dragon Ball, he is entitled to be a critic now and then. For quite some time, Toriyama has been stating how new manga have no unique factor; and recently, he has once again said something which might be of use to the current artist’s generation.
One’s Own Spin Just Has to be Incorporated
Once again Toriyama’s comments seem to have been consistent for instance, he made a similar comment about how in 2018 a demand wasn’t met. This year, the legendary mangaka was on the panel of judges for the hard-earned Tezuka Awards, which provides the winner with money and assurance of publishing the winner’s work in Weekly Shonen Jump.
In a recent interview with Takehiko Inoue who is the creator of Slam Dunk, Akira Toriyama shared insights on the current trends in the manga industry considering the trends and the award sentiments. Moreover, he advised very vital tips to the new generation creators.
It’s inspiring to know that today’s manga writers take their anchormen from their ideal authors. But at the same time, I wish they could be a little more creative and incorporate something that only they can,” Toriyama stated. “We might see an increase in the quality of works produced, but we don’t appear to be seeing an increase in the pride and individuality of each author. I would want to see a manga and think to myself, ‘This writer must be insane!”’
Toriyama is not wrong in this case. Many writers looking to launch their careers will often take imitating their favorite manga, beginning with a strong foundation, which is almost always the very thing that made their favorite manga successful. The same can be said about the shonen genre which makes itself difficult to stand out because most works follow many overused stereotypes and frameworks in story and presentation. Only those that break these kinds of formulaic structures manage to rise above the rest—simply wanting to replicate the success of Naruto or One Piece will not get you anywhere.
And so, while some might say that Toriyama is being too crude, he is simply stating facts. He is also right on this particular subject because he knows better than most, owing to his knowledge and experience.