Final Flash – March 07, 2024 (74/365)

I was supposed to write something else entirely, in preparation for Sunday… but I need this out first.

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When a close relative dies, or when the relative of a friend dies, I do feel sadness. But for some reason, when news of the death of Akira Toriyama was out… well, at first I was surprised, and the more I go through X and see everyone else posting, the sadder I get… like I posted, to the point that I cried.

I thought to myself, I barely cry about anyone else, so why does the death of this Japanese mangaka, who know absolutely nothing about personally, leave me with such an impact? Could it be because of the posts of the other folk I’ve been reading?

…Or could it be a genuine grief, in consideration that he really did leave that much of an impact to me?

Because, if you were to ask me, his work really did leave an impact.

I first heard about Goku and the world of Dragonball from my childhood friends. We enjoyed the art as seen from bootleg reproductions of Dragonball, trying our best to re-draw Goku, Gohan, Vegeta, and Trunks on endless sheets of paper, with pencil (and if we were feeling pretty confident about our skills we’d draw with ink ball-point pens). I’m laughing right now because I remember one time that I wished that I could become Super Saiyan.

Coming from the Philippines, we didn’t have the most recent episodes released to us – we were following the Saiyan arc on local TV (5:30 every Sunday on RPN-9), and I was very frustrated when they suddenly stopped airing Dragonball Z in favor of Transformers. A little later the same TV station was teasing a silhouette of who I thought was Goten (I think the Buu saga was the most recent one in the series), only to find out that they were airing the original Dragonball – That wasn’t Goten, it was kid Goku.

While we had mixed results with what we had on TV (only the rich kids with cable had access to the more recent stuff), we were at least blessed to live on a school campus, complete with Japanese and Korean boarders with their more recent original Dragonball Z comics. We had to work with our imagination – though that didn’t require too much effort because we were amazed by the illustrations, without caring for the dialogue.

Anyway, eventually we sort of ‘graduated’ from Dragonball Z and anime in general, and we grew up… But apparently the fascination never left us. When news of Battle of the Gods was out, and when I heard that Goku had a new form beyond SSJ3, it was like I was back in grade school again. Pretty soon I was trying my darndest to stay current with what they unveiled was Dragonball Super, and at the end of the (awesome, breathtaking) Tournament of Power, I continued reading the manga, while spending a little bit too much on Dragonball Legends for the iPhone (honestly though, when I drew Majin Vegeta I was pretty much done with that game).

Let’s see, there was Moro, and then the Heeters, and man… Ultra Ego Vegeta.

In between all this I was watching and reading One Punch Man, I tried Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures, went back to Yaiba (Takeshi was also voiced by Vegeta’s Ryo Hosokawa), and a whole bunch of others… but I dare say, had it not been for Akira Toriyama’s work, I would never have cared about anime as much as I do today… even in my more ‘experienced’ years.

You get a lot from the characters. Goku demonstrates his obvious power through his childlike innocence. I started taking on the 1000+ episodes of One Piece, and assumed that part of why people stay for that long is because Luffy shared the same attitude as Goku: facing challenges head-on, approaching things so matter-of-factly.

Then there’s Vegeta’s pride and his ability to back his arrogance up with BOTH identity and raw talent. There as his absolute refusal to ask for help from Goku and/or his own son, and the willingness both he and Goku apparently shared, to risk the future of their universe just for a good fight.

I could go on and on with what I think I remember, and it may not come near the actual impact and effect it has on my entire personality.. Like I said, I was slightly surprised that I cried over Mr. Toriyama’s death.

It’s funny because I could imagine that if I told anyone else about this sadness, they’d probably laugh, thinking I was sad over (1) someone I never met or knew personally and (2) a Japanese cartoonist. I’d understand if you were laughing at me about this.

I’m not sure I was fighting back the sadness, but I’m pretty sure a thought also crossed my mind – do I think of Christ the same way? He should have left such a great impact on me, right? Or I’d like to think that nothing comes close to the impact He has on me?

Well, for one thing, I’m only writing about Mr. Toriyama now, while even if I don’t write about Christ, I find myself coming back to Him. When I have nothing to write, I remember Christ, and the words just follow.

But most of all, even if I don’t toot my own horn about my claims of His impact on my life… well, His impact is still seen, still.

Reflecting on the death of Mr. Toriyama had me thinking, not only about the specifics of God’s impact upon me, through Christ… but it also has me wishing I had the same impact Mr. Toriyama had. And because of that it has me thinking of Christ AGAIN – because while Mr. Toriyama’s impact was felt upon his death, Christ impacted all of us by His birth, death, resurrection and ascension.

I don’t know, I guess I just wanted this all off of my chest, before I went any further or posted about anything else.

I thank God for people like Akira Toriyama, and through his passing, the reminder of Christ’s eternal impact upon us, and the resultant impact we can have to others.

Thank you for reading through this little boy’s ramblings. I’ll end with something Master Roshi used to share to a young Goku and Krillin:

“Work hard,

study well,

eat and sleep plenty.

That’s the Turtle Hermit way.”

May we all impact others, as we go deeper into the eternal impact of Christ and His finished work.

God bless us all.

74211/365000

#AkiraToriyama #Dragonball #DragonballZ #DragonballSuper #Goku #Vegeta #SaiyanPride #Impact #PracticalChristianity #JesusChrist