Popular manga artist and creator of Dragon Ball, Akota Toriyama has reportedly passed away due to acute subdural hematoma. On Friday, his production team confirmed the tragic news in a statement. He was 68 years old.

The statement shared by the official Dragon Ball account read, “We are deeply saddened to inform you that Manga creator Akira Toriyama passed away on March 1st due to acute subdural hematoma.”

Information ; Dear Friends and Partnershttps://t.co/85dXseckzJ pic.twitter.com/aHlx8CGA2M

— DRAGON BALL OFFICIAL (@DB_official_en) March 8, 2024

It further read, “It’s our deep regret that he still had several works in the middle of creation with great enthusiasm.”

Dragon Ball which was first released in 1984 is one of the most popular manga series of all time. It has several animated adaptations including movies and video games. 

Oda Eiichiro, the creator of One Piece mourned Akira Toriyama’s demise. He said, “To think I’ll never see him again… I’m overwhelmed by sadness.”

Naruto author Masashi Kishimoto said, “I wanted to make manga like yours! I wanted to be like you!”