I recently received a copy of Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Quest Illustrations 30th Anniversary Edition for review from VIZ Media. First off, I am a huge fan of Akira Toriyama’s art style made famous by his work on Dragon Ball. His work has been seen in video games in titles such as Chrono Trigger, Tobal 1., and Blue Dragon. Before those games however, Toriyama worked on a series called Dragon Quest  which debuted on the Nintendo Famicom in Japan in 1986 (later brought to the US under the title Dragon Warrior in 1989). Fast forward to 2018 and Dragon Quest 11 has just been released in the past several months and the series, still with Toriyama attached, is thriving.

Dragon Quest Illustrations has been out in Japan since 2016 but to help celebrate the 30th anniversary of the US release, VIZ Media is bringing it over to American fans in December. There is one real question you need to ask yourself if you are interested in buying this beautiful book for yourself “Do I like Dragon Quest?”. If you said “Yes” then obviously you should buy this. The book spans the main series (with the exception of 11) and a lot of the spin-off games such Dragon Quest Heroes II. Each page is graced with art featuring main characters, common enemies, and main villains from the series. I only collect art books of series/games that I am really into and I am thrilled to add this book to my collection. It is really cool to see the evolution of Toriyama’s style in each passing game (as well as the uncanny resemblance to Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z).

Included in the book is a fold out poster with a timeline of the released of the game, as well as notes from Akira Toriyama himself as well as game creator Yuji Horii. This hard cover book clocks in at 240 pages of Toriyama goodness! You can pre-order the book on Amazon which is due for release on December 11, 2018. I took a couple photos of the book below as examples of what you’ll find in the book. Are you a fan of the series? If so comment below what your favorite in the series is or send me a tweet at @LegionofSand.