Anime and Manga
Subject: Akira Toriyama exhibit

   The following review is Copyrighted by Curtis H. Hoffmann, Feb. 3,
1994.  It may be freely cross-posted to other networks.  It may also be
printed in any non-commercial fanzine, in return for a copy of the issue
it appears in.  This article may NOT be altered in any way, or printed
in a commercial magazine without the prior approval of the author.


   There are a few people on the nets that recognize Akira Toriyama by
name, and a few more that are familiar with his more famous works:
Dragon Ball, and Dr. Slump.  He has also contributed various manga to V
Jump, and experimented with one-shot stories published through Shonen
Jump.  His works have been translated into a number of languages, and
Dragon Ball has appeared on TV in France, Spain, and Hong Kong.
   In an attempt to create a formal museum-quality presentation of manga
and anime as art, a group of people chose Toriyama as the subject of
their first exhibit.  Only Tezuka, the god of manga, has received this
kind of treatment, but not on the same scale.

   The exhibit schedule is:

   Kawasaki City Museum                 Dec.  4, 1993 -- Jan. 30, 1994
   Iwaki City Art Museum                Apr.  9, 1994 -- May  29, 1994
   Takamatsu City Museum of Art         Aug.  5, 1994 -- Sep.  4, 1994
   Hokkaido Asahikawa Museum of Art     Oct. 22, 1994 -- Nov. 27, 1994
   Kobe Hankyu Museum                   Mar. 10, 1995 -- Apr. 19, 1995
   Kumamoto Prefectural Museum of Art   July 20, 1995 -- Aug. 20, 1995

   First off, the collection is very extensive: including sample pages
of original art used for manga, sample anime on laser disc, a mini
computer animation movie, a large-scale model of Penguin Village, a
collection of paraphenalia based on his characters, and video tape
footage of one of the Super Famicon Dragon Ball Z computer games.  It
took me 2 hours to walk around and look at everything.  At the end, I
picked up a copy of the exhibit book for 2000 yen (about $18 US.)  [Most
of the data presented here comes from the book.]
   Toriyama, age 39, started out when he graduated from the design
department of his high school in 1974.  He went on to a design company,
and quit in 1977.  He debuted as a manga artist with the publication of
"Wonder Island" in the December, 1978, #52 issue of Shonen Jump.  From
there, he experimented with different ideas and character designs with
one-shot stories published in SJ ("Today's Highlight Island", and
"Tomato, Girl Detective.")
   In January, 1980, "Dr. Slump" started with issue #5/6 of SJ, and
ended in August, 1984.  There were a few other one-shots ("Chobit,"
"Pink," "Dragon Boy," and "The Adventure of Tongpoo".)  The Dr. Slump TV
series started in April, 1981, and ran until Feb., '86.  Then, the Dragon
Ball manga burst into Shonen Jump with #51, the November, '84 issue.
It's still going strong.  The DB TV series started in February, 1986.
Along the way, there have been numerous movies, and video games
(Toriyama did the character designs for the "Dragon Quest I-IV" and
"Torneco's Great Adventure" TV games.)

   As a sidenote, the exhibit book credits Toriyama as being in charge
of the main character designs for the Dragon Quest I and II TV series.

   Concerning the exhibit itself -- Spectacular.
   The walls are covered with original example pages of manga from Pink,
Chobit, (a bunch of other one-shots,) Dr. Slump, and Dragon Ball.  There
are five (or so) monitors running about 10 minutes each worth of anime
in a loop on laser disc.  The idea is that you can look at the manga,
and look at the transformed version in the media of anime.  There are a
number of pencil sketches, showing the steps and progress to the
finalized characters used in the manga.
   The multimedia elements come forward in several forms.  First is the
8' x 8' scale model of Dr. Slump's Penguin Village.  4" tall models of
Arale, Tarou, Akane, and Dr. Slump can be see posed in front of their
various work places or abodes.  The faces are a little wrong -- too fat
and round -- but the detail work is impressive.
   Next, there is a box on one wall of the museum -- about 8" x 6" x 18".
Inside the box is a small model of Kame Island and several characters
standing outside Kame House.  On the beach are the seven Dragon Balls.
A sheet of glass in back is painted with clouds and blue sky.  However,
when the box changes from front lighting to back lighting, we get a
towering model of Shenlon reaching into the black sky, and even random
flashes of lightning.  The illusion isn't perfect (Shenlon can be seen
through the painted glass when he's supposed to be invisible,) but it's
a very good try, and the models are well-made.
   Third is the set of glass cases containing Arale-chan dolls and
posters, Dragon Ball dolls, cans of DBZ juice, pencils, towels, and
fans.  (Showing the various of merchandising spawned by the different
shows.)
   Fourth is the monitor with video taped footage of one of the DBZ
video games, trying to demonstrate that computer games can also be a
form of art.  The tape is probably 2nd generation, with a noticible
amount of snow.  The people who made the tape liked having Vejita pitted
against himself.
   Lastly, there was the computer-animated movie.  In the middle of the
exhibit area, a room was made by hanging up black curtains.  A
projection TV was used, with a 6' screen.  The movie consists of
cel-based animation combined with live background model sets, and some
computer animation of the main DBZ characters; all put to a rock piece.
There's not much story, just Freeza, Freeza's father, and Cell coming
forward to fight Gohan, Gokuu, and Vejita.  The shots are spliced
together to form a larger impression, and include break-dancing
silohettes of Cell and Gokuu (VERY funny.)  Some of the computer
animation has been used in making the commercials for the DBZ Super
Famicon games.  It's visually impressive, and I'd like to get a copy of
it some time.

   In an attempt to show Toriyama's versatility, there are examples of
the character designs for Dragon Quest and Torneco, some wolf-puppets
used for a puppet TV series, and a number of cells from the Dragon Ball Z
TV series and movie (with backgrounds.  I'd kill to get my hands on
them.  Can't buy set-ups of this quality very easily.)

   As a memento, the exhibit organizers created a full-color, 144 page
book containing ALL of the art used in the exhibit.  At 2000 yen, it's a
good deal; about 9" x 12".  The captions are in Japanese and English,
with lots of explanations, articles by various people, and a
comprehensive timeline in back.
   The first thing I noticed when looking at the pictures was just how
much of a war-influence there is.  On the cover, Gokuu is wearing an old
U.S. army uniform (maybe from WW I or II) and riding a motorcycle
equiped with holster for a short-barrelled assault rifle.  On the back,
Dr. Slump and Arale are in Nazi army uniforms, riding a motorcycle and
sidecar -- Arale is happily controlling the mounted machine gun.  This
war-theme appears repeatedly in other cover art for the Dr. Slump manga.
   There's lots of good stuff in the book.

   The entrance fee was 700 yen, the book costs 2000 yen.  There are
also t-shirts (3500 yen each), wall hangings, and other stuff (mostly
expensive) available at the museum's shop.
   I highly recommend the exhibit to any Toriyama fans visiting Japan,
and to anyone interested in learning more about creating manga.  (There
were a number of would-be manga artists staring very intently at the
pictures, trying to figure out how it was done.)

   ======================================================================

   It would be a major effort to describe all of the manga stories that
Toriyama has created in the past, and I'm not quite up to typing in the
entire chronology.  Instead, I'll currently settle for highlighting a
few titles that are worthy of note.  (From the captions printed in the
exhibit book.)
   SJ  == Shonen Jump
   SpJ == Super Jump
   FJ  == Fresh Fump
   VJ  == V Jump

   Wonder Island: A strange place inhabited by King Ghidra, a witch, and
a Tarzan-like caveman.  The stories start off with things like a
Japanese Special Attack Force washing ashore, or a detective arriving to
arrest a criminal.  (SJ #25, Jan., 1979)

   Today's Highlight Island:  A junior high school student, Kanta, lives
on Highlight.  A toothache keeps him from eating, even though he loves
school lunches.  The dentist can't cure him, and when he is completely
unable to attend classes, the result is a hugh uproar.  (SJ #20, April,
1979)

   Tomato, Girl Detective: Akai Tomato, 18, is assigned to the Yoikora
Police Station.  Everything she does gets messed up, but she eventually
catches the criminal.  This work leads up to Dr. Slump, and the use of a
girl as the main character.  (SJ Special #15, Aug., 1979)

   Pola & Roid:  Roid is a Galaxy Taxi pilot, called to planet
Kongaratta by the young girl Pola.  Roid encounters and defeats the evil
Emperor Gaganbo, then returns home to Earth.  Winner of the Shonen Jump
reader's award.  (SJ #17, 1981)

   Escape: A short story heavily influenced by western comics.  Very
much like something from Frank Miller in terms of visual feel and use of
color.  It's simply a game of tag on the planet Umekobucha.  Very good.
(SJ Special #10, Jan., 1982)

   Mad Matic:  Influenced by The Road Warrior.     (SJ #12, 1982)
   Pink:       Made into a TV movie.               (FJ, Dec., 1982)
   Chobit:     Tiny alien girl with magic powers.  (FJ, June, 1983)
   Dragon Boy: Predecessor to Dragon Ball.         (FJ, Aug., 1983)
   The Adventure of Tongpoo:                       (SJ #52, 1983)
               Young adventurous space cyborg.
   Mr. Ho:     Black Beret fights cowboys.         (SJ #49, 1986)
   Lady Red:   Young girl gets laid, for young adults.
                                                   (SpJ #10, Apr. 1987)
   Kennosuke-sama:                                 (SJ #38, 1987)
               A young samurai prepares for his first date.
               Made into a TV-movie.
   Sonchoh:    Super Mayor polices his city.       (SJ  #5, 1988)
   Mamejirou:  A young boy likes ice cream.        (SJ #38, 1988)
   Clear Skies, Karamaru:                          (SJ #13, 1989)
               Ninja, age 4, sells mushrooms.
   Cashman, Savings Soldier:                       (VJ #12, 1990)
               Crash-landed alien rescues people for money.
   Dub & Peter 1:                                  (VJ #22, 1992)
               Dub has a computer-controlled car made, to
               impress girls.
   Go! Go! Ackman:                                 (VJ, July 1993)
               Demon-boy Ackman sets out to find good-priced
               souls, and to kill people in town.

   Dr. Slump:  Inveterate, and mostly incompetent, inventor Senbe
Norimake creates a young girl robot named Arale.  Lots of strange
characters, visual puns, scatological humor, and weird villians.  Very
funny.

   Dragon Ball: Originally based on the Chinese Monkey King legends.
Son Gokuu starts out as a strong, naive boy, who sets out to find the
rumored 7 Dragon Balls.  The series follows Gokuu as he becomes an
adult, and changes from a gag manga, to an adventure-combat series.
Recently, Gokuu stepped aside to allow his boy, Son Gohan to become the
new focus of the series.  A kind of epic story.

                                         -- Curtis H. Hoffmann
                                            Feb. 3, 1994