>>263821444Toriyama had surgery to get a tumor removed. The subdural hematoma may have been a surgical complication.
https://www.sponichi.co.jp/entertainment/news/2024/03/08/kiji/20240308s00041000594000c.html#goog_rewardedComedian Ohkawa Tomohide of the Comedy duo "Chicken Nanban" had been friends for 16 years with the famously private Toriyama Akira (Dr. Slump, Dragonball), and shared a few details of his friendship with the mangaka in an interview.
Some interesting details:
Toriyama was extremely kind and genuine in his personal life. They got to know each other when Toriyama came to see a live performance in 2007 or 2008 and came to the "uchiage" (where a band or performance group goes to a bar or a pub after a performance).
He gave an impression of being like a normal "oji-san." Every time they met, Toriyama came dressed in a t-shirt, jeans, a baseball cap and a shoulder pouch. He was a heavy smoker that smoked at least a pack a day.
Toriyama didn't own a smartphone or even a flip phone. He felt he would lose his private life if he got one. He communicated primarily by email from his PC.
He didn't appear in public in part because he didn't like the idea of having a public persona in peoples' imagination.
Toriyama had almost no health issues until 2022, but was hospitalized during the pandemic. Then around April 2023, he emailed Ohkawa letting him know he was considering being hospitalized due to a brain tumor. Ohkawa was concerned, but not overly so since Toriyama seemed so healthy at the time.
Toriyama later emailed saying he was undergoing brain surgery in February 2024 to remove the tumor, before passing away on March 1st of an acute subdural hematoma. Ohkawa doesn't know whether the two were related.
