Akira Toriyama Sometimes Slept Only 6 Hours a Week
Akira Toriyama’s dedication to creating Dragon Ball was so extreme that he reportedly slept only six hours per week to meet his deadlines. This shocking revelation came from his former editors in a recent interview on the Japanese podcast KosoKoso, hosted by Kazuhiko Torishima and Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii.
Akira Toriyama Sometimes Slept Only 6 Hours a Week
During the interview, Kazuhiko Torishima, Yu Kondo and Fuyuto Takeda shared details of the mangaka’s exhausting work routine. To avoid delays in delivering scripts and manuscripts to Weekly Shonen Jump, Toriyama made an agreement with Torishima!
If he missed a deadline, he would have to move from Kiyosu to Tokyo. Determined to avoid this move, Toriyama never missed a deadline, even if it meant sacrificing his rest. We recently published here how Toriyama continued to draw Dragon Ball despite his health problems.
At the time, fax machines were not widely available, forcing Torishima to travel to Haneda twice a week to collect storyboards and manuscripts. Even after fax machines became common, it took Toriyama two years to finally start using one.
The Impact on Toriyama’s Health
Like many other Shonen Jump authors, Toriyama faced serious health consequences due to the demanding production schedule. He once reported struggling to see traffic light colors while driving, a direct result of extreme sleep deprivation. Despite these hardships, he refused to move to “a place without a visible horizon.” Eventually, his editor adjusted his schedule, setting deadlines two months in advance to ease the pressure.
Despite these struggles, Akira Toriyama left an immeasurable legacy in the world of manga and anime, with Dragon Ball standing as one of the most iconic titles in history.
