The death of Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama last March shook the millions of worldwide fans of Son Goku’s adventures, including the many Catalans who became fans thanks to the 1990s phenomenon on Catalan public broadcaster TV3 and who made the books the best-selling Catalan-language manga of all time. To pay him the tribute he deserves, we’ve invited manga and anime experts Pablo Mallorquí and Oriol Estrada to give this two-man talk on the secrets of Toriyama’s intergenerational success and the origins of his influential aesthetics and structure, which can be traced back to the Chinese myth Journey to the West. The two speakers will also discuss Toriyama’s relationship with science fiction, the unique features of the dragon Shenron in the original (in keeping with the main theme of the Festival’s exhibition this year) and how Dragon Ball encouraged millions of people to venture into the world of non-realist codes.

Speakers:

Pablo Mallorquí

Oriol Estrada