RIP Akira Toriyama And Fond Memories He's Created (Special Post)

Another childhood icon goes away, right? This time, any 1980s to 1990s child would remember the late Akira Toriyama (who died at 68 of a brain blood clot) for many things they enjoyed. Toei Ltd. didn't just bring the world Super Sentai, Power Rangers, Kamen Rider, the now-canceled but never-forgotten Metal Hero franchise (and references pop out even after it was ended), the now-canceled Super Robot Anime (and the last one was Dairugger XV which was adapted to the even less popular Vehicle Voltron). Toei was also responsible for Dr. Slump, the Dragon Ball franchise, and Dragon Quest (which was localized as Dragon Warrior for the American audience, without otherwise changing the story).

Toei was hitting across the American market. A lot of its shows had to be localized. Before Power Rangers - there was the Voltron franchise based on Hyajakuu Golion and Kikou Kantai Dairugger XV. World Events Productions (WEP) was given permission to create a show based on the original source material. Later, Haim Saban went to Japan and wanted to take Super Sentai to America. Networks weren't interested for various reasons. Toei gave Saban permission to make a totally different story based on Super Sentai. Power Rangers became a huge hit and Toei knew it. 

What I find funny is how Toei and Saban agreed to let the latter create Power Rangers while Dragon Bal Z was simply edited and redubbed. Yes, it's been the same story except with a few changes for the American audiences. People by now would know that Hercule's original dub name was Mr. SATAN (though I still call him Master Pogi). There's also that "another dimension" censorship which I think was just too stupid. The censorship rule probably came out because of Optimus Prime's death in Transformers: The Movie. 

Toy stores from my childhood (one of them is now-closed Nova Fontana) often put Power Rangers toys (though some Super Sentai toys were placed there too) near the Dragon Ball toys. I recall seeing the Bandai logo on all of them. That's why I wasn't surprised about Power Rangers as a licensed production with Toei's permission. Growing up, I started talking about the history of Super Sentai and telling people about the Japanese source material for Power Rangers. I would tell people that Power Rangers was a joint production between Saban Entertainment and Toei Ltd. Later, I'd talk about international marketing as to why Power Rangers was created. 

Sure, a lot of things have changed. There are some things I used to enjoy that I didn't enjoy later. I didn't even bother watching Dragon Ball Super except the Resurrection of F movie. However, Toriyama is still a legendary contributor to Toei. He had his flaws but he sure did what he could for Toei and also for Square Enix (the Dragon Quest video game series has him involved). It's never going to be the same without him.