Dragon Ball (ドラゴンボール, Doragon Bōru?

) is a Japanese manga series written a

nd illustrated by Akira Toriyama. It was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen
Jump from 1984 through 1995, and later the 519 individual chapters were publishe
d into 42 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha. Inspired by the Chinese folk novel Journ
ey to the West, it follows the adventures of Son Goku from his childhood through
adulthood as he trains in martial arts and explores the world in search of the
seven mystical objects known as the Dragon Balls, which can summon a wish-granti
ng dragon. Along his journey, Goku meets several friends and fights against seve
ral villains who also seek the Dragon Balls.
The 42 tankōbon have been adapted into three anime series produced by Toei Anima
tion: Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT. Additionally, Toei has dev
eloped seventeen animated feature films and three television specials. In 2009,
Toei started rebroadcasting Dragon Ball Z under the name of Dragon Ball Kai whic
h changes the footage from the original anime. Several companies have developed
various types of merchandising such as a collectible trading card game, and a la
rge number of video games.
The manga series was licensed for an English language release in North America b
y Viz Media, in the United Kingdom by Gollancz Manga, and in Australia and New Z
ealand by Chuang Yi. The anime series was licensed by Funimation Entertainment f
or an English language release worldwide, although the series has been dubbed se
veral times by various studios. In China, a live-action film adaptation was prod
uced in 1989. In 2002, 20th Century Fox acquired the rights to produce an Americ
an-made live-action film, which was released on April 10, 2009.
Since its release, Dragon Ball has become one of the most popular manga series o
f its time in both Japan and North America. It enjoys a high readership, with ov
er 150 million volumes of the series sold by 2007. Several manga artists have no
ted that the manga series was the inspiration for their own now popular works, i
ncluding Naruto and One Piece. The anime is also highly popular, ranking number
12 among the best anime series of all time in 2006. Reviewers praise the art, ch
aracterization, and humor of the manga story. The anime series have had more mix
ed reviews, with the first also praised for its characterizations, but the secon
d has been often criticized for its long, repetitive fights, and the third is wi
dely considered to be completely repetitive.
Contents [hide]
1 Plot summary
2 Themes
3 Production
4 Media
4.1 Manga
4.2 Anime series
4.2.1 Dragon Ball
4.2.2 Dragon Ball Z
4.2.3 Dragon Ball GT
4.2.4 Dragon Ball Z Kai
4.3 Anime films
4.4 Specials
4.5 Video games
4.6 Soundtracks
4.7 Live action films
4.8 Art books
5 Reception
6 References
7 External links

Plot summary
See also: List of Dragon Ball characters
The series begins with a monkey-tailed boy named Goku befriending a teenage girl
named Bulma, and together they go on a quest to find the seven magic Dragon Bal
ls. Along the way, they meet and befriend a plethora of martial artists. Goku al
so undergoes rigorous training regimes and educational programs in order to figh
t in the World Martial Arts Tournament, a competition involving the most powerfu
l fighters in the world. Outside the tournaments, Goku faces diverse villains su
ch as Emperor Pilaf, the Red Ribbon Army, the demon Piccolo Daimao and his offsp
ring Piccolo Jr., who eventually becomes Goku's ally.[1]
As a young adult, Goku meets his older brother Raditz, who tells him that they c
ome from a race of extraterrestrials called Saiyans. The Saiyans had sent Goku t
o Earth as an infant to conquer the planet for them, but he suffered a severe he
ad injury soon after his arrival and lost all memory of his mission. Goku refuse
s to help Raditz continue the mission, after which he begins to encounter other
enemies from space, most notably the Saiyan prince Vegeta, who becomes his rival
and, eventually, his ally as well. He later encounters Frieza, the galactic tyr
ant responsible for the destruction of the Saiyan race, whose actions cause Goku
to transform into a legendary Super Saiyan. After an epic battle on the planet
Namek, Goku defeats Frieza, avenging the lives of millions across the universe.[
2]
Four years later, a group of androids from the former Red Ribbon Army appear, se
eking revenge against Goku. During this time, an evil life form called Cell emer
ges and, after absorbing two of the androids to increase his power, holds his ow
n martial arts tournament to decide the fate of the Earth, but is eventually def
eated by Goku's first child Son Gohan. Seven years later, Goku is drawn into ano
ther battle for the universe against an extraterrestrial named Majin Buu. Joined
by Vegeta and Gohan, Goku succeeds in destroying the evil half of Buu and the g
ood half of Buu settles down with them. Ten years later, at another World Martia
l Arts Tournament, Goku meets the evil Buu's human reincarnation, Uub. At the en
d of the series, Goku takes Uub away on a journey to train him as the Earth's ne
xt defender.[3]
Themes
At its core, Dragon Ball maintains the central tenets of the Weekly Shōnen Jump
core philosophy of "friendship, struggle, and victory". As the series shifts fro
m a "heart warming" story into a more action-oriented piece, the protagonists go
through an unending cycle of fighting, winning, losing, learning important less
ons, then returning to the fight. As the series progresses, the heroes continue
this cycle by using miraculous devices to achieve life after death while continu
ing their on-going battles with the dead heroes who continue to learn lessons as
they defeat their challengers.[4] The series also follows the idea that if some
one is trying to be "the best", they can reach their goals by constantly challen
ging themselves.[5]
Production
"Dragon Boy" redirects here. For the Canadian mini-series, see Dragon Boys.
Wanting to break from the Western influences common in his other series, when Ak
ira Toriyama began work on Dragon Ball he decided to loosely model it on the cla
ssic Chinese novel Journey to the West.[6][7] He also redeveloped one of his ear
lier one shot manga series, Dragon Boy, which was initially serialized in Fresh
Jump and released in a single tankōbon volume in 1983.[7] This short work combin
ed the comedic style of Toriyama's successful six-year series Dr. Slump with a m
ore action-oriented plot and paid homage to famous martial art actor Jackie Chan
.[7][8] Toriyama notes that his goal for the series was to tell an "unconvention
al and contradictory" story.[9]
In the early concept of the series, Goku and Piccolo were from Earth. With the i
ntroduction of Kami, the idea of having fights from other planets was establishe
d and Goku and Piccolo were changed to alien species.[10] For the female charact
ers, Toriyama felt it was not fun to draw "weak females" so he created women tha
t he felt were not only "beautiful and sexy", but also "strong".[9] Going agains
t the normal convention that the strongest characters should be the largest in t
erms of physical size, he designed many of Dragon Ball's most powerful character
s with small statures, including the protagonist, Goku.[9]

The Earth of Dragon Ball[11]The fighting techniques were initially unnamed, but
the series editor felt it would be better to name them all. Toriyama proceeded t
o create names for all of the techniques, except for the Kamehameha (かめはめ波?
, lit. "Turtle Striking Wave") which his wife named when Toriyama was indecisive
about what it should be called.[10] When creating the fictional world of the se
ries, Toriyama decided to create basing it from his own imagination to avoid ref
erencing popular culture. However the island where the World Martial Arts Tourna
ment is held is modeled after Bali. When having fights in the manga, Toriyama ha
d the characters go to a place where nobody lived to avoid difficulties in drawi
ng destroyed buildings. In order to advance the story quickly, he also gave most
fighters the ability to fly so they could travel to other parts of the world wi
thout inconvenience. This was also the reasoning behind Goku learning to teletra
nsport (thus allowing characters to move to any planet in a second).[10]
After the first chapters were released, readers commented that Goku seemed rathe
r plain, so his appearance was changed. New characters (such as Master Roshi and
Krillin) were added and martial arts tournaments were included to give the mang
a a greater emphasis on fighting. Anticipating that readers would expect Goku to
win the tournaments, Toriyama had him lose the first two while continuing his i
nitial goal of having Goku be the champion and hero. After Cell's death, he inte
nded for Gohan to replace Goku as the series protagonist, but then felt the char
acter was not suited for the role and changed his mind.[12]
Toriyama based the Red Ribbon Army from a video game he had played named Spartan
X in which enemies tended to appear very fast. After the second tournament conc
luded, Toriyama wanted to have a villain who would be a true "bad guy." After cr
eating Piccolo as the new villain, he noted that it was one of the most interest
ing parts of the stories and that he, and his son, became one of the favorite ch
aracters of the series. With Goku established as the strongest fighter on Earth,
Toriyama decided to increase the number of villains that came from outer space.
Finding the escalating enemies to be a pain to work with feeling it was too sim
ple, he created the Ginyu squad to add more balance to the series.[12] During th
is period of the series, Toriyama placed less emphasis on the series art work, s
implifying the lines and sometimes making things "too square." He found himself
having problems determining the colors for characters and sometimes ended up cha
nging them unintentionally mid-story.[8] In later accounts, Toriyama noted that
he didn't plan out the details of the story, resulting in strange occurrences an
d discrepancies later in the series.[13]
Media
Manga
Main article: List of Dragon Ball manga volumes
Written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama, Dragon Ball was initially serialized
in the manga anthology Weekly Shōnen Jump starting in 1984.[7] The series ended
in 1995 when Toriyama grew exhausted and felt he needed a break from drawing.[7]
The 519 individual chapters were published into 42 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha
from November 10, 1985 through August 4, 1995.[14][15][16] In 2004, the chapter
s were re-released in a collection of 34 kanzenban volumes, which included a sli
ghtly rewritten ending, new covers, and color artwork from its Weekly Shōnen Jum
p run. Toriyama also created a short series, Neko Majin, that became a self-paro
dy of Dragon Ball. First appearing in Weekly Shōnen Jump in August 1999, the eig
ht chapter series was released sporadically until it was completed in 2005. Thes
e chapters were compiled into a "kanzenban"-style package for release in Japan o
n April 4, 2005.[17]
The Dragon Ball manga was licensed for release in English in North America by Vi
z Media which has released all 42 volume in both censored and uncensored forms.[
18] Viz released volumes 17 through 42 under the title Dragon Ball Z to mimic th
e name of the anime series adaptated from those volumes, feeling it would reduce
the potential for confusion by its readers. The first volumes of both series we
re released in March 2003, with Dragon Ball being completed on August 3, 2004 an
d Dragon Ball Z finishing on June 6, 2006.[19][20] In June 2008, Viz began re-re
leasing the two series in a wideban format called "VIZBIG Edition", which collec
ts three individual volumes into a single large volume.[21][22]
In 2006, Toriyama and One Piece author Eiichiro Oda teamed up to create a single
chapter crossover of their individual hit series. Entitled Cross Epoch, the cha
pter was published in the December 25, 2006 issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump. A manga
adaptation of Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!! illustrated by
Ooishi Naho, was published in the March 21, 2009 and April 21, 2009 issues of V
Jump.[23]
Anime series
Dragon Ball
Main article: List of Dragon Ball episodes
Due to the high popularity of the Dragon Ball manga, Toei Animation produced two
anime television series based on the manga chapters, and a third based on the s
eries characters. The first series, also titled Dragon Ball, premiered in Japan
on Fuji Television on February 26, 1986 and ran until April 12, 1989.[7]
Harmony Gold USA licensed the series for an English language release in North Am
erica in the late 1980s. In their voice dub of the series, Harmony renamed almos
t all of the characters, with some names appearing very odd, such as the central
character Goku being renamed "Zero" and the character Korin's name changed to "
Whiskers the Wonder Cat." This dub version was eventually cancelled.[citation ne
eded]
In 1995, Funimation Entertainment (then known as Funimation Productions) acquire
d the license for the series for broadcast and home video distribution in North
America. Funimation contracted with BLT Productions to create an English voice t
rack for the series at Dick & Roger's Sound Studio, and the dubbed episodes were
edited for content.[24] Thirteen episodes aired in syndication before Funimatio
n canceled the project due to low ratings, switching to working on the second an
ime series Dragon Ball Z.[7] In March 2001, Funimation announced the return of D
ragon Ball to American television, featuring a new English audio track produced
at their in-house dubbing studio, Funimation Studios, and slightly less editing,
though they notably left the original background music intact, unlike their dub
s of the two sequel series.[24][25] The redubbed episodes aired on Cartoon Netwo
rk from August 2001[26] to December 2003. Funimation also broadcast the series o
n Colours TV and their own Funimation Channel starting in 2006.[27]
Funimation began releasing the uncut episodes to Region 1 DVD box sets in March
18, 2003. Each box set, spanning an entire saga of the series, included the Engl
ish dub track and the original Japanese audio track with optional English subtit
les. These sets were released in Australia the following year. They were eventua
lly discontinued and the series was re-released in 2008 as two box sets, the fir
st containing 12 discs and the second containing 10 discs. In 2003, a new dub, p
roduced by Blue Water Studios, was created and began to air in the United Kingdo
m and Canada. It used different episode titles and voice actors versus the Funim
ation version.
Dragon Ball Z
Main article: List of Dragon Ball Z episodes
With the ending of Dragon Ball, Toei Animation quickly released a second anime t
elevision series, Dragon Ball Z (ドラゴンボールZ(ゼット), Doragon Bōru Zetto?, c
ommonly abbreviated DBZ). Picking up where the first left off, Dragon Ball Z is
adapted from the final twenty-six volumes of the manga series. It premiered in J
apan on Fuji Television on April 26, 1989, taking over its predecessor's time sl
ot, and ran for 291 episodes until its conclusion on January 31, 1996.[7]
Following the cancelled dub of Dragon Ball, Funimation Entertainment licensed Dr
agon Ball Z for an English language release in North America. They contracted Th
e Ocean Group to handle the dubbing, Saban Entertainment to handle television di
stribution, and Geneon Universal Entertainment to handle home video distribution
. Ocean's dub of Dragon Ball Z was heavily edited for content, as well as length
, reducing the first 67 episodes into 53.[28] The series premiered in the United
States in September 1996 on The WB Television Network and aired there until May
1998 before being cancelled, once again due to low ratings. Three months later,
the Ocean dubbed episodes began airing on Cartoon Network as part of the channe
l's new Toonami programming block, where the series received much more popularit
y. Soon after, Funimation continued dubbing the series from where the cancelled
dub left off, now using their own in-house voice cast, a new musical score, and
less editing.[29] The new dub of Dragon Ball Z aired on Cartoon Network in first
-run from September 1999 to April 2003.
The Funimation dubbed episodes also aired in Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom
, Australia, and New Zealand. Beginning with episode 108 however, an alternate d
ub produced by The Ocean Group was broadcast in the United Kingdom, Canada, and
Ireland, while Funimation's dub continued to air in the United States, Australia
, and New Zealand. In August 2004, Geneon lost its licensing rights to the old O
cean dubbed episodes of Dragon Ball Z, allowing Funimation to re-dub the first 6
7 episodes, restore the removed content and replace the old voice cast with thei
r in-house one. These re-dubbed episodes aired in the United States on Cartoon N
etwork during the summer of 2005.[30][31] In 2006, Funimation remastered the epi
sodes then began re-releasing the series in nine individual season boxsets. The
first set was released on February 6, 2007; the final set on May 19, 2009. In Ju
ne 2009, Funimation announced that they would be re-releasing the episodes and m
ovies in a new seven volume set called the "Dragon Boxes". Based on the original
series masters with frame-by-frame restoration, the first set was released on N
ovember 10, 2009.[32]
Dragon Ball GT
Main article: List of Dragon Ball GT episodes
Produced by Toei Animation, Dragon Ball GT (ドラゴンボールGT(ジーティー), Dorago
n Bōru Jī Tī?, G(rand) T(our)[7]) premiered on Fuji TV on February 2, 1996, and
ran until November 19, 1997. Unlike the first two series, it was not based on th
e original Dragon Ball manga.[33] The series lasted 64 episodes.[7] In Dragon Ba
ll GT, Goku is turned back into a child by the Black Star Dragon Balls and is fo
rced to travel across the universe to retrieve them.
Funimation Entertainment licensed the series for an English language Region 1 DV
D release and broadcast in North America. Funimation's dub of the series aired o
n Cartoon Network from November 2003 to January 2005. The television broadcast s
kipped the first 16 episodes of the series. Instead, Funimation created a compos
ition episode entitled "A Grand Problem", which used scenes from the skipped epi
sodes to summarize the story. The skipped episodes were later aired after the re
maining episodes of the series had been broadcast. The dubbed episodes had earli
er aired in Canada using an English dub produced by Blue Water Studios on YTV, w
hich divided the episodes into two seasons instead of sagas.[34][35] Funimation
released their dub to bilingual Region 1 DVD in 2 sets beginning in December 200
8.[36]
Dragon Ball Z Kai
Main article: List of Dragon Ball Z Kai episodes
In February 2009, Toei Animation announced that it would begin rebroadcasting Dr
agon Ball Z as part of the series' 20th anniversary celebrations. The series pre
miered on April 5, 2009, under the name Dragon Ball Kai (ドラゴンボール改(カイ),
Doragon Bōru Kai?, lit. "Dragon Ball Revised"), with the episodes remastered fo
r HDTV, featuring updated opening and ending sequences, and a rerecording of the
vocal tracks by most of the original cast.[37][38] The footage was also re-edit
ed to more closely follow the manga, resulting in a faster moving story, and dam
aged frames removed.[39] As such, it is a "new" series created from the original
Dragon Ball Z footage. Like all other Dragon Ball-based anime, Funimation Enter
tainment has licensed Dragon Ball Kai to be released in North America, airing on
Nicktoons Network starting in May 2010, under the title Dragon Ball Z Kai.[40]
[41]
Anime films
Main article: List of Dragon Ball films
Seventeen anime films based on the Dragon Ball series have been released in Japa
n. The first three films were based on the original Dragon Ball anime series. Th
e remaining films included thirteen Dragon Ball Z films and one tenth anniversar
y special (also based on the first anime series). Funimation Entertainment has l
icensed and released all of the films to DVD in North America.
Specials
Three television specials based on the series were released in Japan. The first,
Bardock - The Father of Goku, was released on October 17, 1990. It is a prequel
to the series, set years before the start of the manga and details how Goku's f
ather, Bardock, discovers that Frieza is planning to kill all the other Saiyans,
and his efforts to stop him. The second special, The History of Trunks was rele
ased on March 24, 1993. Based on an extra chapter of the original manga, it is s
et in a parallel universe where most of the series characters are killed by the
evil androids. A Hero's Legacy, released on March 26, 1997, is set 100 years aft
er the end of Dragon Ball GT. It features one of Goku's descendants who begins l
ooking for the Dragon Balls in order to help his sick grandmother.
Two other specials were also released in Japan. A two-episode original video ani
mation (OVA) series titled Dragon Ball Z Gaiden: Saiyan Zetsumetsu Keikaku, base
d on the Famicom video game of the same name, was released in 1993 and was set d
uring Dragon Ball Z.[42] Another special, Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Frie
nds Return!!, premiered at the Jump Super Anime Tour on November 24, 2008. The s
pecial is set two years after the defeat of the evil Buu and has Goku and his fr
iends facing against new enemies, Avo and Kado, and meeting Vegeta's younger bro
ther, Tarble.
Video games
Main article: List of Dragon Ball video games
The Dragon Ball franchise has spawned multiple video games across various genres
and platforms. Earlier games of the series included a system of card battling a
nd were released for the Nintendo Entertainment System following the storyline o
f the series.[43] Starting Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the Sega Saturn
and the PlayStation most of the games were from the fighting genre including the
series Super Butoden.[44] The first Dragon Ball game to be released in the Unit
ed States was Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout for the PlayStation on July 31, 1997.[4
5] For the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable games the characters were redo
ne in 3D cel-shaded graphics. These games included the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai se
ries and the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi series.[46][47] Dragon Ball Z: Bur
st Limit was the first game of the series developed for the PlayStation 3 and Xb
ox 360 consoles.[48] A massively multiplayer online role-playing game called Dra
gon Ball Online is currently in development for release in 2010. It has been sta
ted that Akira Toriyama has been working on character designs for this project f
or the last five years.[49]
Soundtracks
Main article: List of Dragon Ball soundtracks
A myriad of soundtracks were released to the anime, movies and the games. The mu
sic for the first two anime Dragon Ball and Z and its films was directed by Shun
suke Kikuchi, while the music from GT was directed by Akihito Tokunaga and the m
usic from Kai was directed by Kenji Yamamoto. For the first anime, the soundtrac
ks released were Dragon Ball: Music Collection in 1985 and Dragon Ball: Complete
Song Collection in 1991 although they were reissued in 2007 and 2003, respectiv
ely.[50] For the second anime, the soundtrack series released were Dragon Ball Z
Hit Song Collection Series. It was produced and released by Columbia Records of
Japan from July 21, 1989 to March 20, 1996 the show's entire lifespan. On Septe
mber 20, 2006 Columbia re-released the Hit Song Collection on their Animex 1300
series.[51][52] Other CDs released are compilations, video games and films sound
tracks as well as music from the English versions.[53]
Live action films
A live-action Mandarin Chinese film adaptation of the series, Dragon Ball: The M
agic Begins, was released in Taiwan Province in Republic of China in 1989.[7] Co
nsidered a "tacky" version of the story by critics,[7] the plot revolves around
a rag-tag group of heroes, led by "Monkey Boy" (Goku) trying to stop King Horn f
rom using the wish-granting "Dragon Pearls" (Dragon Balls) to rule the world.
In March 2002, 20th Century Fox acquired feature film rights to the Dragon Ball
franchise[54] and began production on an American live action film entitled Drag
onball Evolution.[55] Ben Ramsey was tapped to create a screenplay based on Drag
on Ball Z.[56] Directed by James Wong and produced by Stephen Chow,[55] the film
was released in the United States on April 10, 2009.[57] The film was largely p
anned by both critics and Dragon Ball fans,[58] but was a modest success at the
international box office.[59]
Art books
There are two companion books to the series, called the Dragon Ball GT Perfect F
iles, released in May 1997 and December 1997 by Shueisha's Jump Comics Selection
imprint. They include series information, illustration galleries, behind-the-sc
enes information, and more. They were out of print for many years, but were re-r
eleased in April 2006 and this edition is still in print.[60][61]
Reception
Dragon Ball is one of the most popular manga series of its time, and it continue
s to enjoy high readership today. By 2000, more than 126 million copies of its t
ankōbon volumes had been sold in Japan alone.[4] By 2007, this number had grown
to pass 150 million.[14] It is the "quintessential mainstream manga" driven by a
n unending story. Its immense popularity resulted in the series being continuous
ly extended, first through the use of acrobatic devices that regularly kept the
series from falling into the routine characters and story lines, then by having
the central characters surpass death itself using miraculous devices. In Little
Boy: The Art of Japan's Exploding Subculture Takashi Murakami notes that Dragon
Ball's "never-ending cyclical narrative moves forward plausibly, seamlessly, and
with great finesse."[4] Goku's journey and his ever growing strength resulted i
n the character winning "the admiration of young boys everywhere".[6] On several
occasions the Dragon Ball anime series has topped Japan's DVD sales.[62][63]
In a survey conducted by Oricon in 2007 between 1,000 people, Goku, the main cha
racter of the franchise, ranked first place as the "Strongest Manga character of
all time."[64] Manga artists, such as Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto and One
Piece creator Eiichiro Oda, have stated that Goku inspired their series' main pr
otagonists as well series structure.[65][66] When TV Asahi conducted an online p
oll for the top one hundred anime, the Dragon Ball series came in place twelve.[
67] The first episode of Dragon Ball Kai earned a viewer ratings percentage of 1
1.3, ahead of One Piece and behind Crayon Shin-Chan.[68] Although following epis
odes have had lower ratings, Dragon Ball Kai is still maintained as one of the m
ost currently viewed anime series in Japan.[69][70]
Animerica felt the series had "worldwide appeal" that uses dramatic pacing and o
ver the top martial arts action to "maintain tension levels and keep a crippler
crossface hold on the audience's attention spans".[5] Ridwan Khan from Animefrin
ge.com commented on the manga to have a "chubby" art style but as the series con
tinued it gets more refined with the characters leaner and more muscular. He als
o noted he preferred the manga versions of the series to their animated counterp
arts that makes the story slower and pointless.[71] Anime News Network praised t
he story and humor of the manga to be very good due conveying of all the charact
ers's personalities. They also remarked Viz's translation to be one of the best
ones of all the English editions of the series praising the lack of censor.[72]
Rationalmagic.com remarked the first manga volume as "a superior humor title". T
hey praised Goku's innocence and Bulma's insistence as one of the funniest parts
of the series.[73] Writer Jason Thompson commented that the series popularity c
omes from a formula that Toriyama used in various story arcs from which he descr
ibes as "lots of martial arts, lots of training sequences, a few jokes." Yet, he
noted that such formula became the model for other manga from the same genre su
ch as Yu-Gi-Oh! or Naruto.[74]
The anime adaptations have also had different positive reviews. Dragon Ball Z wa
s listed as the 78th best animated show in IGN's Top 100 Animated Series.[75] T.
H.E.M. Anime Reviews considered the series characters are different from stereot
ypes characters and noted that they have much more development and in its sequel
s.[76] However, they criticized Dragon Ball Z for having long and repetitive fig
hts, though they remarked the show has good characterization.[77] The storylines
of Dragon Ball Z have been compared to Greek mythology.[78] Anime News Network
considered Trunks's storyline to have an actual storyline with characters having
more motivation than the common plot of the series.[79] IGN commented that Drag
on Ball GT "is downright repellent" mentioning that the material and characters
have lost their novelty and fun. They also criticized the character designs of T
runks and Vegeta as goofy.[80] Anime News Network has had negative comments of D
ragon Ball GT. They mentioned the fights from the series are a very simple child
ish exercise and that many other anime were better. The plot of the series has a
lso been criticized for giving a formula that was already used on its prequels.