Akira Toriyama is often unfairly criticized by American anime and manga fans as being a one-trick pony. They claim all his characters look the same and all he knows how to do is make his characters scream. His name is always followed by “creator of Dragon Ball Z!” (which makes no sense, as he is a manga artist, and the manga was simply titled “Dragon Ball” for its entire run). While Dragon Ball is by far his most famous work, he is an incredibly imaginative man.

Sand Land, which ran in Weekly Shōnen Jump in the summer of 2000 (five years after Dragon Ball had ended its run) for twelve issues and later collected into a single tankōbon volume, really showcases what Toriyama is capable of when he’s not wrapped up in the breakneck pace of drawing an ongoing series.