Akira Toriyama is now one of the most famous mangakas (or manga artist) in Japan and many parts of the world. He began his career as a mangaka at the age of 23, and was first well known for the weekly series Dr. Slump, published in Shonen Jump, which became popular very quickly.

Dr. Slump is about a wacky scientist who creates a female android, Arale. Unfortunately, Arale was created with near-sightedness, and an extremely naive heart. Joined by a cast of strange (but funny) neighbors and their children, and the occational visit from invading aliens, Dr. Slump is a light-hearted series, with lots of toilet humor thrown in.

After about eight years of Dr. Slump, Toriyama-sensei ended the series, and shortly after created yet another hit series--Dragon Ball, which he also concluded just recently, after continuing it for over ten years. He also made many short stories through the years, and they have been collected into condensed into a few volumes. Along the way, Akira Toriyama has also been hired to be the character designer of several home video games, including the Dragon Warrior series, Chrono Trigger, His latest involvement is the game Tobal No.1, a 3D fighter for the Sony Playstation.

Toriyama-sensei is 174cm tall (that's about 5' 8 1/2", folks), and is a family man; he has two children, a son and a daughter, both of whom he can't help but spoil. He also has cat, which he adopted after he found it drenched in the rain.

As a young lad, whenever he wanted something really badly, he would start doodling the object, either until someone gets that certain object for him, or until he loses interest. This became a good basis for him in his career as a mangaka. (Anyone else want to start trying that, too?) Typically, when he's working, if none of his assistants are with him, he will turn on the TV to keep him company, though he claims he's not really paying attention to the TV. Some other tidbits are that he doesn't like the cold weather (in fact, he detests it), and that he is deathly afraid of rats. Don't laugh, I'm sure most of us are, too.

For more information about Akira Toriyama and his works, take a look at toriyama.org.