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Kiyosu City Uses Late Akira Toriyama's Design for 20th Anniversary Logo

The anime and manga world was stricken with sad news in early March with the passing of legendary manga author Akira Toriyama. His works influenced many anime and manga fans, illustrators, and authors around the world. While his legacy still lives on in Dragon Ball Daima, Sand Land, and the Dragon Ball Super manga, among a few other projects, he will always be remembered for his work on Dr. Slump, Dragon Ball, and Dragon Quest. One of his final pieces will likely be enshrined for eternity in Kiyosu City, Aichi Prefecture as he created the new logo for the city just before his passing.

The official X (formerly Twitter) account for Kiyosu City's announced the new logo on January 23 with Mayor Sumio Nagata presenting the new logo. The tweet also notes the design was made by Toriyama, himself.

The late Toriyama's fun design captures the rounder strokes he used in his later works. Unfortunately, the tweet and Kiyosu City homepage do not list who the samurai in the logo is. However, considering the history of the city, we can extrapolate the figure as potentially Oda Nobunaga.

After the joyous news for the city, the world was hit with the sad news of Toriyama's passing. The city's X account posted words of condolence and Mayor Nagata posted an official message on the city's homepage.

Although the design was made to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Kiyosu City, it may just as likely remain the city's logo indefinitely. As one of Toriyama's final pieces of art, it's nice to know it was to promote his hometown.

Sources: Kiyosu City website (link 2), Kiyosu City X/Twitter account (link 2), Comic Natalie