>>70886201>There is the very real possibility that without him anime would still be a niche even in Japan.That's a bit of a stretch. Jump had multiple successful series before Dr. Slump and the formula most series follow even to this day was already established before Toriyama entered the scene.
Dragon Ball was a juggernaut of a series and drove a lot of sales, but Jump's lineup was absolutely stacked during the time period and would've done well even without Toriyama.
It should also be noted that while Dr. Slump has no doubt played a big part in making manga and anime more mainstream, it's more to do with the fact that 1980's is when they decided to start adapting their most popular series into anime and they started that trend with Dr. Slump.
