I don't have the connection with Akira Toriyama and his work that most other folks my age (and many others older and younger than me) do. I was a latecomer to actually watching Dragon Ball (to this day I've never really given it a full viewing), and even later to playing things like Dragon Quest, Chrono Trigger, and other "Toriyama things" most folks associate with him.
And even then, as "casual" as I could be, you simply couldn't escape the gravity of his work and skill and talent. Whether it was friends talking about dragon ball in high school or my very first trip to Japan with my parents and staying at a friend's house in Aomori around 1993, and seeing, on that friend's TV, a cartoon man I didn't know, speaking a language I didn't understand, wearing a silly orange suit, getting blown the fuck up by an alien creature and coming to rest in a pose that would be remembered for all eternity.
Even for people who've never given his work the time of day, it's impossible to to be entirely untouched by his influence. What a life. Rest in Peace, Toriyama-sensei.