Bird Studio

This article is about the real world.

Akira Toriyama in his studio

Bird Studio (バードスタジオ, Bādo Sutajio) is a manga and design production studio created by Akira Toriyama that is based in Nagoya, Japan. The studio was founded in 1983, following the success of Toriyama's Dr. Slump series.

Overview

Matsuyama and Toriyama working in the studio (1983)

The name of the studio is a play on Toriyama's name, tori meaning "bird". Toriyama created this working studio because he wanted more than anything to keep some independence. Toriyama does almost all of the work in Bird Studio; his assistant Takashi Matsuyama doing mostly backgrounds. Most notably, in Bird Studio, Akira Toriyama worked on the Dragon Ball manga with the manga publishers Kazuhiko Torishima, Yū Kondō, and Fuyuto Takeda for Shueisha.

Bird Studio in 1990 (Toriyama - The World)

Other than manga, the studio realized scale models in collaboration with Fine Molds, a company created in 1991 by one of Akira Toriyama's friends, Kunihiro Suzuki. In collaboration with Kunihiro Suzuki, Toriyama realized the design of the box and the assembly instructions for the scale models called LISA (1986) and Scout Mobile Tong Poo (1987). He then created the logo for the Fine Molds company in 1991 and gave it a facelift in 1999. Between 1992 and 1994, Akira Toriyama created seven models (the same number as the Dragon Balls) for Kunihiro Suzuki's company as part of a collection called "World Fighter Collection".

The studio has not been very active after the end of Dragon Ball in 1995 and has only done occasional one-shots such as Cowa! (1997-1998), Kajika (1998-1999), Sand Land (2000), Nekomajin (1999-2005), Kintoki (2010), and Jaco the Galactic Patrolman (2013).

QVolt, car designed by Bird Studio

In 2005, Bird Studio designed an original electric car, the QVolt. Only nine copies of the car exist in the world, but numerous QVolt figurines are sold in Japan. In 2008, Toriyama drew two covers for the magazine specialized in scale model Armour Modelling, as well the design and implementation of a model for a contest Armour Modelling held in collaboration with Fine Molds. The result of this work was shown at the Model Hobby Show 2008.

Creations

Manga

• Dr. Slump (1980-1984)
• Chobit (1983)
• Dragon Boy (1983)
• The Adventures of Tongpoo (1983)
• Akira Toriyama's Manga Theater (1983, 1988, 1997)
• Dragon Ball (1984-1995)
• Hetappi Manga Kenkyūjo (1985)
• Mister Hō (1986)
• Lady Red (1987)
• Kennosuke-sama (1987)
• Sonchoh (1988)
• Mamejiro (1988)
• Clear Skies, Karamaru (1989)
• Rocky (1989)
• Wolf (1990)
• Cashman - Saving Soldier (1990)
• Monmon no Sumō Yūgi (1992)
• Dub & Peter 1 (1992)
• Go! Go! Ackman (1993)
• Alien X-Peke (1996)
• Tokimecha (1996)
• Bubul & the magical village (1997)
• Cowa! (1997-1998)
• Kajika (1998)
• Haigyo no Mahimahi (1999)
• Nekomajin (1999-2005)
• Hyowtam (2000)
• Sand Land (2000)
• Bitch's Life (2001)
• Toccio the Angel (2003)
• KochiKame (2006)
• Cross Epoch (2006)
• Dr. Mashirito and Abale-chan (2007)
• Sachi-chan Gū!! (2008)
• Oishii Shima no Ū-sama
• Jiya (2009-2010)
• Kintoki (2010)
• Jaco the Galactic Patrolman (2013)

Films

• Apple Pop (1988)
• Kosuke & Rikimaru - The Dragon of Konpei Island (1988)
• Pink - Water Bandit, Rain Bandit (1990)
• Kennosuke-sama (1990)

Video games

• Dragon Quest (Enix, May 1986)
• Dragon Quest II (Enix, January 1987)
• Dragon Quest III (Enix, February 1988)
• Dragon Quest IV (Enix, February 1990)
• Dragon Quest V (Enix, September 1992)
• Torneko No Daibōken: Fushigi No Dungeon (Chunsoft, September 1993)
• Chrono Trigger (Squaresoft, March 1995)
• Dragon Quest VI (Enix, December 1995)
• Tobal No. 1 (Squaresoft, August 1996)
• Tobal 2 (Squaresoft, April 1997)
• Dragon Quest Monsters (Enix, 1998)
• Torneko: The Last Hope (Enix, September 1999)
• Dragon Quest VII (Enix, August 2000)
• Dragon Quest Monsters 2 (Enix, 2001)
• Torneko no Daibōken 3 (Enix, October 2002)
• Dragon Quest Monsters: Caravan Heart (Enix, 2003)
• Slime MoriMori Dragon Quest (Square Enix, 2003)
• Kenshin Dragon Quest (Square Enix, 2003)
• Dragon Quest VIII (Square Enix, November 2004)
• Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime (Square Enix, December 2005)
• Dragon Quest: Shōnen Yangus to Fushigi no Dungeon (Square Enix, April 2006)
• Blue Dragon (Microsoft Studios, December 2006)
• Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker (Square Enix, December 2006)
• Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors (Square Enix, July 2007)
• Dragon Quest IX (Square Enix, July 2009)
• Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 (Square Enix, April 2010)
• Slime MoriMori Dragon Quest 3 (Square Enix, November 2011)
• Dragon Quest X (Square Enix, August 2012)

Objects

• LISA (scale model, 1986)
• Scout Mobile Tongpoo (scale model, 1987)
• World Fighter Collection (scale models, 1992–1994)
• QVOLT (electric car, 2005)

Gallery

Toriyama working in his studio (1983) Toriyama and Matsuyama in the studio Outside the studio Toriyama inks Dr. Slump pages Toriyama and Matsuyama prepare the next day's work (1 AM) Toriyama and Matsuyama having a lunch (2 AM) Toriyama's scale models in the studio Toriyama's scale models Bird Land Press #1 Bird Land Press #2 Bird Land Press #3 Bird Land Press #4 Bird Land Press #5 Bird Land Press #6 Bird Land Press #7 Bird Land Press #8 Bird Land Press #9 Bird Land Press #10 Bird Land Press #11 Bird Land Press #12 Bird Land Press #13 Bird Land Press #14 Bird Land Press #15 Bird Land Press #16 Bird Land Press #17 Bird Land Press #18 Bird Land Press #19 Bird Land Press #20 Bird Land Press #21 Bird Land Press #22 Bird Land Press #23 Bird Land Press #24 Bird Land Press #25 QVolt, a car designed by Bird Studio QVolt concept art QVolt QVolt QVolt Blue QVolt