Takao Koyama

Takao Koyama was the principal scriptwriter of the original Dragon Ball Z anime at Toei Animation, and more than anyone else he defined the voice of the Z era theatrical films. He wrote the stories of every Dragon Ball Z movie, from the early entries through the run of Broly and Bojack features, with only The History of Trunks and the later Episode of Bardock falling outside his pen. That is a staggering stretch of the franchise's most loved action set pieces, delivered one summer at a time.

Koyama also wrote the two big Dragon Ball Z television specials, In the Name of Piccolo Daimao in 1989 and Great Pride, The Saiyan Prince Vegeta in 1991, as well as the original video animations Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans and The Return of Son Goku and Friends. Generations of fans first met Turles, Lord Slug, Cooler, Android 13, and the Bojack gang through dialogue he drafted.

Born in Akishima, Tokyo in April 1948, Koyama graduated from Waseda University in 1972 and joined Tatsunoko Production as a story creator and screenwriter. He stayed connected to the studio's Time Bokan comedy adventures across its entire run, then moved on to a remarkably busy freelance career. His non Dragon Ball credits read like a syllabus of Japanese animation: Dr. Slump and Arale chan, Dragon Quest, Saint Seiya, Sailor Moon, Go Go Ackman, Yawara, High School Kimengumi, and Galaxy Angel, among many others.

His Dragon Ball scripts tend to set up a dramatic hook quickly, give each fighter a clean moment of spotlight, and let a villain monologue land with real weight before Goku or Gohan answers with a Kamehameha. That structure is why so many of the Z films feel like miniature sagas rather than side stories. He also stayed close to Akira Toriyama's other worlds, co creating the manga sequel Dr. Slump Returns, But Only For a Little While with illustrator Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru, and later the Toriyama supervised New Cashman.

Alongside his writing, Koyama has spent decades mentoring the next wave of anime screenwriters. In 1986 he founded Anime Scenario House, a school dedicated to training young scenario writers, and by 1988 it had evolved into the screenwriter support company Brother Noppo. Several working anime writers passed through his classrooms, including names now credited on major shows of their own.

In 1999 he received the Special and Lifetime Achievement Award at the fourth Animation Kobe ceremony, a rare recognition for a screenwriter in a medium usually celebrated through its directors and designers. He has also held a professorship at the Osaka University of Arts in the Character Design Department. For Dragon Ball fans, though, the most lasting honor is simpler: whenever Goku yells across a cratered battlefield in a Z movie, Takao Koyama probably wrote the words.