Kazuyoshi Torii (とりいかずよし, November 12, 1946-February 9, 2022) was a Japanese manga-ka and media professor at Aichi Shukutoku University, formerly associated with Fujio Akatsuka and Fujio Pro from the span of 1968 to 1971.
Life and Career[]
Torii was born and raised in Nukata, Aichi Prefecture. At the age of 19, he intended to become a filmmaker but instead became an animator at Nippon TV Douga before later moving to Studio Zero. Having been scouted by Akatsuka, who was part of the company and had a workplace in the same building, Torii would become part of Fujio Pro in 1968 and be part of the idea meetings for Osomatsu-kun, The Genius Bakabon, and Extraordinary Ataro.
After entering manga on his own in 1969, he would publish the "Dr. Toilet" pilot in Shonen Jump as part of the Akatsuka Gag Laughter Reserved Seating feature. The exceedingly scatological content was advised by Akatsuka, who encouraged Torii to break out of his comfort zone and draw something dirty to fit his "dirty face" (which often had stubble due to Torii's refusal to shave in his depression). It was figured that if Akatsuka broke taboos about money in manga, and Go Nagai broke taboos about sex, then it was time for Torii to break taboos about depiction of poop.
Though intended as a one-shot, the popularity caused the staff to extend it to be a regular title from 1970 to 1977. It was also considered to be adapted to animated form, however, the inappropriate title and content and refusal to change it to something more family-friendly caused this idea to halt.
During that span of time, Torii became independent from Fujio Pro and published many gag series on his own up until the mid-1980s.
He died on February 9, 2022 from pancreatic cancer.
List of works[]
Years and detailed serialization information must be found and determined for some works.
- Dr. Toilet (1969-1977, トイレット博士 Weekly Shonen Jump)
- Do-Chojin Do-3-Biki! (ド超人ド3匹！Weekly Bokura Magazine #38-45)- Collaboration with Kunio Nagatani and Mitsutoshi Furuya. Handled the last chapters as the lead artist, with the credit being for "Kazuyoshi Torii and Fujio Pro".
- Sunami-chan of 1-chome (一丁目のスナミちゃん 1979, Weekly Young Jump)- Sequel to Dr. Toilet, reprinted in a single volume due to its short length.
- Matankey (マタンキー, Weekly Playboy)- Spinoff of Dr. Toilet
- Hanako-sensei (花子先生, Adventure King)
- Gokudo-sensei (極道先生, Monthly Shonen Magazine)
- Bean Father (豆おやじ, Deluxe Shonen Sunday)
- Kutabare! Dad (くたばれ!とうちゃん, Weekly Shonen Champion)
- Dorapapa (ドラパパ, Monthly Dragons)
- Robota-kun (ロボッ太くん, Monthly CoroCoro Comic)- Younger-aimed equivalent to Dr. Toilet, with a Sunami-esque man recruiting elementary school students.
- Hot American (ほっとアメリカン, Separate Edition Manga Action)
- Kazuyoshi Torii Family Theater (とりいかずよしファミリー劇場, Separate Edition CoroCoro Comic)
- I'm at the Top! The Best Salesman in Japan! (トップはオレだ!!, Big Comic Superior)