Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragon Ball, has died: the painful farewell to Mario Castañeda, the voice of Goku for Latin America

The news shocked and generated sadness in the millions of young (and not so young) people they grew up with dragon ball. Akira Toriyamacreator of world-famous anime and manga, has died at the age of 68.

Although it was announced in the early hours of this Friday by his publishing house and production studio, the Japanese cartoonist’s death occurred on March 1st due to an acute subdural hematoma.

One of the first to use social media to show his dismay and fire Toriyama was none other than Mario Castanedathe Mexican voice actor responsible for giving voice to the adult version of Goku in the series and films broadcast in Latin America.

“I just learned about the death of Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragon Ball… I can’t believe it…!!! Your work, Goku, changed my life…!! Rest in peace…!!”, he wrote on his X (formerly Twitter) account. Within an hour of publication, her message already had a thousand comments and more than 86 thousand likes.

In addition to Goku, Castañeda has voiced famous actors such as Jim Carreyin films like Almighty and Ace Ventura, and Bruce Willis in Armageddon and Look Who’s Talking.

He is also a cartoonist Eiichiro Odaauthor of ‘One Piece’ and with whom Toriyama had recently worked on the comic ‘Cross Epoch’, joined the voices who expressed their sorrow at the sad news.

Oda said Toriyama’s death came too soon and leaves “a big void”. “He taught us that manga made many things possible and he made us dream of being able to go into their universes. It was like seeing a hero who was one step ahead of the rest.”

Toriyama’s death

Through a surprising press release, Bird Studio announced the death of the Japanese cartoonist. “We are extremely sorry to report this to the creator of the manga Akira Toriyama died on March 1st due to an acute subdural hematoma,” he explained.

“We are very sorry that he still had several works in the midst of creating with great enthusiasm. Furthermore, he had many other things to accomplish,” the letter adds.

Toriyama’s team highlighted the works that the author leaves for later and added: “Thanks to the support of so many people around the world, he has been able to continue his creative activities for more than 45 years. We hope that the world Toriyama’s unique creation continues to be loved by all for a long time.”

Bird Studio explained that the author’s funeral had already taken place among his family and friends, and asked the public to refrain from sending flowers or other offers of condolence, “following his wish for tranquility”.

Born on April 5, 1955 in the city of Nagoya, central Japan, Toriyama was known throughout the world for works such as ‘Dragon Ball’ or ‘Dr. Slump’, and was also responsible for the character design of important titles in the history of video games such as ‘Dragon Quest’, ‘Chrono Trigger’ or ‘Blue Dragon’, among others.