The organizers of Harvey Awards, which honor outstanding work in comics and sequential art, announced on Monday that they will induct the late manga creator Akira Toriyama as one of five new members into their Hall of Fame this year, alongside Arthur Adams, Sergio Aragones, the late John Busceme, and Larry Hama.
Toriyama began his first serialized manga, Dr. Slump, in 1980, and it inspired two television anime and multiple films. Toriyama followed it up with Dragon Ball, which ran from 1984 to 1995, and is still inspiring manga and anime sequels and spinoffs today. The manga's Dragon Ball anime adaptation, its sequel Dragon Ball Z, and its other numerous sequels and anime films are equally as well-known as the manga, and its hero Goku has become a character known throughout the world.
Toriyama is also well-known as the character designer for the Dragon Quest, Chrono Trigger, and Blue Dragon games.
Most recently, Toriyama was working closely with the production for the Dragon Ball Daima anime series, the latest anime based on Dragon Ball, and is credited for the new anime's story and character designs. The series premiered in Japan in a new evening anime programming block on Friday evenings on Fuji TV, on October 11. His Sand Land manga also recently inspired an anime film that opened in Japan in August 2023, an anime series that debuted worldwide on March 20, and a game that launched on April 26.
The Harvey Awards inducted "God of Manga" Osamu Tezuka and manga creator Rumiko Takahashi in its Hall of Fame in 2020 and 2021, respectively.
Manga nominees for the Harvey Awards' Best Manga category this year include Mokumokuren's The Summer Hikaru Died, Kamome Shirahama's Witch Hat Atelier, Ryōko Kui's Delicious in Dungeon, Kanehito Yamada and Tsukasa Abe's Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Junji Ito's Soichi: Junji Ito Story Collection, Gou Tanabe's The Shadow Over Innsmouth (based on H.P. Lovecraft's novella), Kentarō Miura's Berserk Deluxe Edition Vol. 14, Yamada Murasaki's Second Hand Love, Maki Fujiwara's My Picture Diary, and Susumu Higa's Okinawa.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba The Hinokami Chronicles — Sega's game based on Koyoharu Gotouge's Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba manga — and Attack on Titan: The Musical — Gō Ueki's stage musical based on Hajime Isayama's Attack on Titan manga — each received a nomination in the Best Adaptation from Comic Book/Graphic Novel category.
The Harvey Awards added the Best Manga category in 2018. Kabi Nagata's My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness manga won the first award in this category. Kōhei Horikoshi's My Hero Academia won the award in 2019, and Kamome Shirahama's Witch Hat Atelier won the award in 2020. Tatsuki Fujimoto's Chainsaw Man won the award in 2021, 2022, and 2023.
The Harvey Awards will announce the winners at New York Comic Con on Friday.
Source: ICv2 (Milton Griepp)
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