Masashi Kishimoto
In September 1999, the serialized version of "Naruto" premiered in "Weekly Shōnen Jump 1999 No. 43" and quickly became a hit. "Naruto" ended on November 10, 2014 after more than 15 years of serialization, with a total of 700 chapters collected in 72 volumes. Sales have exceeded 113 million copies in Japan and over 95 million copies in the US, followed by over 93 million copies worldwide (outside Japan and United States) as of volume 36. Making total sales for the series approximately 301 million copies. Kishimoto was also the winner of "Rookie of the Year" for the series in the Agency for Cultural Affairs. It was adapted into two successful anime series, "Naruto" and "Naruto Shippuden". Kishimoto requested that Tetsuya Nishio oversee the character designs of "Naruto" when the manga was adapted into an anime series. The "Naruto" manga series became one of Viz Media's top properties, accounting for nearly 10% of all manga sales in the US in 2006. The seventh volume of Viz's release became the first manga to ever win a Quill Award when it claimed the award for "Best Graphic Novel" in 2006. Responding to "Naruto"'s success, Kishimoto said in "Naruto Collector Winter 2007/2008" that he was "very glad that the American audience has accepted and understood ninja. It shows that the American audience has good taste... because it means they can accept something previously unfamiliar to them." While writing the manga, Kishimoto met Eiichiro Oda, author of "One Piece" who he considered his rival. When "Naruto" ended, Oda left a message in the series' final volume acknowledging him as a rival. According to Kishimoto "That felt so gratifying." Additionally, before the anime adaptation's premiere of "My Hero Academia", he praised Kōhei Horikoshi's work, believing it would be a success overseas. Additionally, Kishimoto referred to Yoshihiro Togashi as one of his favorite artists.
Dragon Ball (manga)
Many manga artists have cited "Dragon Ball" and Toriyama as inspirations, including "Fairy Tail" and "Rave" author Hiro Mashima. Both "One Piece" creator Eiichiro Oda and "Naruto" creator Masashi Kishimoto have said that Goku inspired their series' main protagonists as well as their structures. For the "kanzenban" re-release of "Dragon Ball", every odd-numbered volume included a tribute illustration by a popular manga artist who was a child when it was serialized, accompanied with a few words about how the series influenced them. The artists who contributed include: "Bleach" creator Tite Kubo, "Black Cat" author Kentaro Yabuki, "The Seven Deadly Sins" author Nakaba Suzuki, "Eyeshield 21" and "One-Punch Man" illustrator Yusuke Murata, "Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo" creator Yoshio Sawai, "Pretty Face" author Yasuhiro Kanō, "Mr. Fullswing" author Shinya Suzuki, "Hellsing" creator Kouta Hirano, "Claymore" author Norihiro Yagi, "Phantom Thief Jeanne" and "Full Moon o Sagashite" creator Arina Tanemura, "Excel Saga" author Rikdo Koshi, "Dragon Drive" creator Kenichi Sakura, and "Happy World!" author Kenjiro Takeshita. The producer of the "Tekken" video game series, Katsuhiro Harada, said that "Dragon Ball" was one of the first works to visually depict chi and thereby influenced "Tekken" and other Japanese games such as "Street Fighter". Ian Jones-Quartey, a producer of the American animated series "Steven Universe", is a fan of "Dragon Ball" and "Dr. Slump", and uses Toriyama's vehicle designs as a reference for his own. He also stated that "We're all big Toriyama fans on ["Steven Universe"], which kind of shows a bit."