Why does Akira Toriyama keep getting work?

Lartrak · Post by **Lartrak** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 4:59 pm

I don't get it. You could swap in any single projects of his design's, and just change the clothes a little. That's all he's ever done since he designed the DBZ characters. He has the most trite, repetitive style I have ever seen in a character designer. He has two or three male type faces which haven't changed in like 15 years (compare the leads face in Dragon Quest 8 to half the male characters in DBZ).

To top it all off, his designs look stupid. All the men look constipated and all the women look like they've had their faces smashed.

Zealous zerotype · Post by **Zealous zerotype** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 5:08 pm

Becuase people keep buying it. End of story.

Lartrak · Post by **Lartrak** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 5:29 pm

Zealous zerotype wrote:Becuase people keep buying it. End of story.

You don't need to state the obvious. I wanted to know what people see in his work as I clearly don't understand it.

AgentGreen · Post by **AgentGreen** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 5:38 pm

Even though it's the same crap over and over again, it still stands out amongst the sea of generic anime faces. It's not good stuff but his work is distinguishable unlike most other anime artists. But the reason he has work with the Dragon Quest/Warrior franchise is because he was there from the beginning, right with DQ/W 1.

Veggita2099 · Post by **Veggita2099** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 6:46 pm

I noticed Chrono from the ps1 remake of Chrono Trigger also looks like goku/dude from dq8, etc.

Joestar · Post by **Joestar** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 6:47 pm

The world and creature/monster designs that he creates for his stuff are usually quite impressive. It's just his characters that lack a bit of imagination.

But yeah like AgentGreen said, when you see his stuff you'll know it's drawn by him, so atleast he's done something right.

Sir Savant · Post by **Sir Savant** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 6:47 pm

Yes. Yes he does. That is because Toriyama worked on Chrono Trigger, as did many famous Japanese artists and composers of the time did.

Right?

Joestar · Post by **Joestar** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 6:59 pm

yup.

iirc Square and Enix (specifically the DQ staff) colloborated for that game, and he was part of enix at the time.

navi · Post by **navi** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 7:33 pm

Because Americans and Stupid and give into trends

And yes I say this as an american.

Post by **Quzar** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 8:30 pm

Lartrak wrote:I don't get it. You could swap in any single projects of his design's, and just change the clothes a little. That's all he's ever done since he designed the DBZ characters. He has the most trite, repetitive style I have ever seen in a character designer. He has two or three male type faces which haven't changed in like 15 years (compare the leads face in Dragon Quest 8 to half the male characters in DBZ).

To top it all off, his designs look stupid. All the men look constipated and all the women look like they've had their faces smashed.

Because before it was trite and repetative, people liked it, so if given more of the same, why not like that too?

Lartrak · Post by **Lartrak** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 11:13 am

Joestar wrote:The world and creature/monster designs that he creates for his stuff are usually quite impressive. It's just his characters that lack a bit of imagination.

But yeah like AgentGreen said, when you see his stuff you'll know it's drawn by him, so atleast he's done something right.

I can recognize his work TOO well. I will give him credit for at least having characters that are significantly different from most in anime/manga though.

Because Americans and Stupid and give into trends

He's more popular in Japan than here.

Sir Slash · Post by **Sir Slash** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 12:08 pm

navi wrote:Because Americans and Stupid and give into trends

And yes I say this as an american.

and i realllllllllly don't see how this has anything to do with America ...its not like EA is having Toriyama do work.... Toriyama has been designing characters for the dragon quest series since the first. That is for Enix...now square-enix

why does that have anything to do with Americans?

(ironiclly I have Crono as a avstar)

ASCIIN · Post by **ASCIIN** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 12:47 pm

Bah atleast he has his own style, hes a great artist and really doesnt need to changed his style because its works well for him, and I personally would like to see you do better

navi · Post by **navi** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 1:56 pm

Sir Slash wrote:
navi wrote:Because Americans and Stupid and give into trends

And yes I say this as an american.
and i realllllllllly don't see how this has anything to do with America ...its not like EA is having Toriyama do work.... Toriyama has been designing characters for the dragon quest series since the first. That is for Enix...now square-enix

why does that have anything to do with Americans?

(ironiclly I have Crono as a avstar)

Because the Marketing in that is. "hey you should play Dragon Quest 8, Akira Toriyama Drew the Characters!!" "zOMG R3@11y?!!!"

I know because when I was younger that's the only reason I wanted Chrono Trigger aside from Loving Square RPG's. (Yes I love Chrono Trigger I'm not dissing it)

I'm saying I don't like how Americans, Particularly young teens who are insecure about their masquelinty, swarm to this crap thinking it will make them 'cool'.

Sir Slash · Post by **Sir Slash** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 1:06 am

ok point made... i wasnt even familar with Akira Toriyama until i saw DBZ on cartoon network back around 98 99 (watching because they reminded me of CT)

but any way he is way over hyped
I remember a magazine that wanted to put Chrono Trigger on the cover and couldnt because of how anal he was about his work... might have been gamefan or egm

Lartrak · Post by **Lartrak** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 2:27 am

ASCIIN wrote:Bah atleast he has his own style, hes a great artist and really doesnt need to changed his style because its works well for him, and I personally would like to see you do better

I don't think he's a great artist. I wouldn't say he's bad, really. He doesn't ever make serious errors, like bad proportions or whatnot. But I wouldn't say he's good either. And his designs suck and have always sucked.

Whether I can do better or not is completely irrelevant.

Dreamcast ? · Post by **Dreamcast ?** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 7:54 am

Does the girl in Dragon Quest 8 remind anyone else of any particular character in a Dreamcast title?

Perhaps:

Post by **Quzar** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 2:03 pm

navi wrote: Because the Marketing in that is. "hey you should play Dragon Quest 8, Akira Toriyama Drew the Characters!!" "zOMG R3@11y?!!!"

I know because when I was younger that's the only reason I wanted Chrono Trigger aside from Loving Square RPG's. (Yes I love Chrono Trigger I'm not dissing it)

I'm saying I don't like how Americans, Particularly young teens who are insecure about their masquelinty, swarm to this crap thinking it will make them 'cool'.

I pity the fool who things that liking Akira Toriyama in America will make them cool.

Post by **melancholy** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 3:22 pm

navi wrote:Because the Marketing in that is. "hey you should play Dragon Quest 8, Akira Toriyama Drew the Characters!!" "zOMG R3@11y?!!!"

Actually, I think the reaction more people are going to have is, "hey you should play Dragon Quest 8, it comes with a FF12 demo!!" "zOMG R3@11y?!!!"

Joestar · Post by **Joestar** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 11:49 am

navi wrote:Because the Marketing in that is. "hey you should play Dragon Quest 8, Akira Toriyama Drew the Characters!!" "zOMG R3@11y?!!!"

During the battle scenes of DQ8, you can power up (called 'tension') your hero. Once you power up to the max level your character will have spiky hair and a glowing aura (ala Super sayajin DBZ). In the Japanese version you can do all that, and the character would glow but without the spiked hair.

They've shown this sequence in the trailers, so clearly they think they needed more confirmation it's made by the dbz creator.

Why does Akira Toriyama keep getting work?

Why does Akira Toriyama keep getting work?

Re: Why does Akira Toriyama keep getting work?