This is a late tribute to "Akira Toriyama" who unfortunately passed away at age 68 on March 1st of this year, due to acute "subdural hematoma (SDH)". He's mostly notable for being the creator of both "Dragon Ball" and "Dr. Slump". He's also known as a character designer for several video games such as the "Dragon Quest" series and "Chrono Trigger", as well as "Blue Dragon" released on the XBOX 360 in 2006. He's made a name for himself in the manga/anime and video game industry, and overall became a beloved figure of millions not only in Japan, but also overseas.

Dragon Ball was Toriyama's most famous creation, which initially first debuted as a manga series published by "Weekly Shōnen Jump" in 1984. Then 2 years later it became adapted into an anime series produced by "Toei Animation". And since then, it became a world wide sensation spawning movies, video games, merchandises, even trading card games.

Toriyama's work was so successful that it became an influence to another big media franchise known as "Sonic the Hedgehog". Back in the early 90s, Sonic's co-creator/programmer "Yuji Naka" (also credited as YU2) was a big fan of Dragon Ball that he wanted to pay homage during the development of "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" for the "SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis". Which is the first in the series to introduce both the "7 Chaos Emeralds" and "Super Sonic". And since then later on became the staple of the Sonic franchise. In "Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles", the special stages with running and collecting gumballs were based on Kaiō-Sama's (King Kai) Planet, where Goku would run around to chase bubbles.

Fun Fact: In 1993, Toei Animation (the studio behind the Dragon Ball anime) was hired by SEGA to animate the cut scenes for "Sonic CD" during the games development for the "SEGA CD".
Years later, they were also involved with animating cut scenes for the game "SEGAGAGA" released for the "SEGA Dreamcast" in 2001 only in Japan (Sonic also made brief appearances in some cuts scenes, making it the 2nd time Sonic became involved with Toei Animation).

There's arguably a big parallel between the two starting from the "7 Chaos Emeralds" (7 Dragon Balls) and "Super forms" (Super Saiyan) to the rivalry of "Shadow the Hedgehog" (Vegeta) and "Silver the Hedgehog" (Trunks) etc.

But what if it was the other way around? For example, Dr. Robotnik (Dr. Gero), Burning Blaze (Super Saiyan God), Dark Super Sonic (Goku Black), Hyper Sonic (Ultra Instinct Goku), Solaris (Merged Zamasu)? Just a guess.

All in all, I may not be much of a fan of "Dragon Ball" myself, but I will say Toriyama has created a legacy that inspired another legacy and many more. He is the inspiration of many in the animation industry, and will forever be remembered as such. Without Toriyama (or Dragon Ball), the Sonic franchise would've probably never been the same.

Rest in Peace "Akira Toriyama".

My Carrd