Akira Toriyama was the manga artist of Dragon Ball. From his original work, the further mangas and animes Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, and Dragon Ball Super have emerged. But did you know that the creator himself has some cameos in the series?
Which character is Akira Toriyama? In the series, there is occasionally a robot seen wearing a cap. This is “Tori-Bot.” This character is based on Akira Toriyama and is meant to represent the manga artist himself.
Before he appeared as a robot in the manga, he initially came up with an avatar named “Tori.” It was a bird wearing glasses, as “Tori” translates from Japanese to “bird.”
It is suggested that Tori-Bot may be the ultimate ruler. For example, he has the ability to delete characters from the story or to resurrect characters. This is because he is, in fact, the manga artist. He can write and do whatever he wants – after all, Dragon Ball is his work.
Did you also know what the Z in Dragon Ball Z stands for?
Tori-Bot has several appearances in Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump
When can he be seen? Tori-Bot appeared in chapters 1 and 42 of the Dragon Ball manga. He additionally appears in the third episode of the anime, when he climbs a tree. There, he mutters that this place is not Penguin Village, the setting from Dr. Slump.
Later, he also appears on a wanted poster, but his bounty has already been collected. In Dragon Ball Z, Tori-Bot appeared in the crowd in episode 215 when Son-Goku and Pikkon meet.
Even in Dragon Ball GT, he still shows up. In episode 27, he is depicted on a shaving set of Vegeta’s. In Dragon Ball Super, he has at least made it onto banknotes.
Some of the appearances have been summarized by user X-IndominusReptil:
Tori-Bot was also used when Toriyama left a note to the readers in the V-Jump magazine. Either he was involved in the content visible on that page or at least directly supervised it.
In Dr. Slump, Tori-Bot even has a few larger appearances. Additionally, he can be seen in the role-playing game Blue Dragon as Toripo. Toriyama must have included him, as he was the designer of the RPG. He also appears in Dragon Ball Online and Dragon Ball Heroes.
Unfortunately, Toriyama is no longer with us. How his current work Dragon Ball Super will continue is still unclear. The story is in a longer pause, after which Toyotaro will continue the work. The reason for the longer pause could be a legal dispute between two parties: A dispute behind the scenes could be responsible for the long pause of Dragon Ball Super
