Dragon Ball

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This article is about the media franchise in general. For other uses, see Dragon Ball
(disambiguation).

Dragon Ball

Created by Akira Toriyama

Original work Dragon Ball (1984–1995)

Owned by Bird Studio/Shueisha

Print publications

Book(s) Companion books

Comics Manga

Films and television

Film(s) List of films

Yo! Son Goku and His Friends

Short film(s)
Return!! (2008)

Episode of Bardock (2011)

Animated series List of anime

Dragon Ball (1986–1989)

Dragon Ball Z (1989–1996)

Dragon Ball GT (1996–1997)

Dragon Ball Kai (2009–2011; 2014–

2015)

Dragon Ball Super (2015–2018)

Super Dragon Ball Heroes(2018–)

 Television special(s) Bardock – The Father of Goku(1990)

The History of Trunks (1993)

A Hero's Legacy (1997)

Direct-to-video Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans(1993)

Plan to Eradicate the Super

Saiyans (2010)

Games

Traditional Carddass

Dragon Ball Z: The Anime Adventure

Game
Dragon Ball Collectible Card Game

Video game(s) List of video games

Audio

Soundtrack(s) List of soundtracks

Official website

dragonball.news

Dragon Ball (Japanese: ドラゴンボール, Hepburn: Doragon Bōru) is a

Japanese media franchise created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. The initial manga,
written and illustrated by Toriyama, was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from
1984 to 1995, with the 519 individual chapters collected into 42 tankōbon volumes by
its publisher Shueisha. Dragon Ball was initially inspired by the classical Chinese
novel Journey to the West, as well as Hong Kong martial arts films. The series
follows the adventures of the protagonist, Son Goku, from his childhood through
adulthood as he trains in martial arts. He spends his childhood far from civilization
until he meets a teen girl named Bulma, who encourages him to join her quest in
exploring the world in search of the seven orbs known as the Dragon Balls, which
summon a wish-granting dragon when gathered. Along his journey, Goku makes
several other friends, becomes a family man, discovers his alien heritage, and
battles a wide variety of villains, many of whom also seek the Dragon Balls.
Toriyama's manga was adapted and divided into two anime series produced by Toei
Animation: Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, which together were broadcast in Japan
from 1986 to 1996. Additionally, the studio has developed 20 animated feature
films and three television specials, as well as two anime sequel series titled Dragon
Ball GT (1996–1997) and Dragon Ball Super (2015–2018). From 2009 to 2015, a
revised version of Dragon Ball Z aired in Japan under the title Dragon Ball Kai, as a
recut that follows the manga's story more faithfully by removing most of the material
featured exclusively in the anime. Several companies have developed various types
of merchandising based on the series leading to a large media franchise that
includes films, both animated and live-action, collectible trading card games,
numerous action figures, along with several collections of
soundtracks and numerous video games. Dragon Ball is one of the top
 twenty highest-grossing media franchises of all time, having generated an
estimated $30 billion in total franchise revenue.[1]
Since its release, Dragon Ball has become one of the most successful manga and
anime series of all time, with the manga sold in over 40 countries and the anime
broadcast in more than 80 countries. The manga's 42 collected tankōbon volumes
have sold over 160 million copies in Japan, and are estimated to have sold more
than 250–300 million copies worldwide, making it the second best-selling manga
series in history, behind only One Piece. Reviewers have praised the art,
characterization, and humour of the story. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest
and most influential manga series ever made, with many manga artists citing Dragon
Ball as a source of inspiration for their own now popular works. The anime,
particularly Dragon Ball Z, is also highly popular across the world and is considered
one of the most influential in boosting the popularity of Japanese animation in
Western culture. It has had a considerable impact on global popular culture,
referenced by and inspiring numerous artists, athletes, celebrities, filmmakers,
musicians and writers across the world.

Contents

 1Setting
 2Production
 3Manga
o 3.1Spin-offs
o 3.2Crossovers
o 3.3Reception
 4Anime
o 4.1Main installments
 4.1.1Dragon Ball
 4.1.2Dragon Ball Z
 4.1.3Dragon Ball Super
o 4.2Manga-inspired series
 4.2.1Dragon Ball GT
 4.2.2Super Dragon Ball Heroes
o 4.3Other installments
o 4.4Reception
 5Other media
o 5.1Anime films
o 5.2Live-action film
o 5.3Theme park attractions
o 5.4Video games
 6Merchandise
o 6.1Soundtracks
o 6.2Companion books
 7Cultural impact
o 7.1Popular culture
o 7.2Comics and animation
o 7.3Film
o 7.4Music and sports
o 7.5Video games
 8Notes
 9References
 10External links

Setting[edit]
The Dragon Ball story takes place on Earth where Goku goes on adventures to find
the Dragon Balls, as well as aspiring to become a great fighter, and compete in
multiple martial arts tournaments. Goku later stops the evil Red Ribbon Army, then 3
years later, thwarts the Grand Demon King Piccolo's plans for world conquest,
afterwards he and his friends protect the Earth from the Saiyan invasion. The setting
also goes to Planet Namek later on in the series for Bulma, Gohan, and Kuririn to
revive Goku's fallen friends from the Saiyan's attack, where they encounter Vegeta's
higher ups, as well as the cosmic emperor, Freeza.
The Dragon Ball franchise is set in a multiverse[2] composed of twelve[N 1] numbered
universes, each ruled by a number of benevolent and malevolent deities,
respectively called Supreme Kais and Gods of Destruction. Almost all of the Dragon
Ball series, except for parts of Dragon Ball Super, takes place in Universe 7. Years in
the timeline are called "Ages", with most of the story occurring between Age 749 and
Age 790.
Universe 7 contains several planets, including a fictionalized Earth, where humans
reside, and Planet Vegeta, the home world of the Saiyans, a powerful and
destructive race. Many other races also inhabit Universe 7, including Angels,
Demons, Androids, Tuffles and Namekians. Humans are among the weakest races
in the universe. The protagonist Goku is raised as a human on Earth but finds out
that he is actually a Saiyan from Planet Vegeta.
Dr. Slump, an earlier manga series by Akira Toriyama, is set in the same multiverse.

Production[edit]
See also: List of Dragon Ball characters and Dragon Ball (manga) §  Production

Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball

Akira Toriyama was a fan of Hong Kong martial arts films, including Bruce Lee films
such as Enter the Dragon (1973) and Jackie Chan films such as Drunken
Master (1978), and wanted to create a manga inspired by martial arts films.[3][4] This
led to Toriyama creating the 1983 one-shot manga Dragon Boy, which he later
redeveloped into Dragon Ball.[5] Toriyama loosely modeled the plot and characters
of Dragon Ball on the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West,[6][5] with Goku
being Sun Wukong ("Son Goku" in Japanese), Bulma as Tang
Sanzang, Oolong as Zhu Bajie, and Yamchabeing Sha Wujing.[7] Toriyama wanted to
create a story with the basic theme of Journey to the West, but with "a little kung
fu."[8] The title Dragon Ballwas inspired by Enter the Dragon and
later Bruceploitation knockoff kung fu films which frequently had the word "Dragon"
in the title,[3] and the fighting scenes were influenced by Jackie Chan movies. [9][7] Since
it was serialized in a shōnen manga magazine, he added the idea of the Dragon
Balls to give it a game-like activity of gathering something, without thinking of what
the characters would wish for.[8] His concept of the Dragon Balls was inspired by the
epic Japanese novel Nansō Satomi Hakkenden (1814–1842), which involves the
heroes collecting eight Buddhist prayer beads, which Toriyama adapted into
collecting seven Dragon Balls.[10]
He originally thought it would last about a year or end once the Dragon Balls were
collected.[11] Toriyama stated that although the stories are purposefully easy to
understand, he specifically aimed Dragon Ball at readers older than those of his
previous serial Dr. Slump.[12] He also wanted to break from the Western influences
common in Dr. Slump, deliberately going for Chinese scenery, referencing Chinese
buildings and photographs of China his wife had bought.[13] Toriyama wanted to
set Dragon Ball in a fictional world largely based on Asia, taking inspiration from
several Asian cultures including Japanese, Chinese, South Asian, Central
Asian, Arabic and Indonesian cultures.[14] The island where the Tenkaichi Budōkai (天
下一武道会, lit. "Strongest Under the Heavens Martial Arts Tournament") is held is
modeled after Bali (in Indonesia), which he, his wife and assistant visited in mid-
1985, and for the area around Bobbidi's spaceship he consulted photos of Africa.
[13]
 Toriyama was also inspired by the jinn (genies) from The Arabian Nights.[15]

The Earth of Dragon Ball, as published in Daizenshuu 4: World Guide

During the early chapters of the manga Toriyama's editor, Kazuhiko Torishima,

commented that Goku looked rather plain, so to combat this he added several
characters like Kame-Sen'nin and Kuririn, and created the Tenkaichi Budōkai martial
arts tournament to focus the storyline on fighting. It was when the first Tenkaichi
Budōkai began that Dragon Ball truly became popular, having recalled the races and
tournaments in Dr. Slump.[7] Anticipating that readers would expect Goku to win the
tournaments, Toriyama had him lose the first two while planning an eventual victory.
He said that Muscle Tower in the Red Ribbon Army storyline was inspired by the
video game Spartan X, in which enemies tended to appear very fast. He then
created Piccolo Daimao as a truly evil villain, and as a result called that arc the most
interesting to draw.[7]
Once Goku and company had become the strongest on Earth, they turned to
extraterrestrial opponents including the Saiyans (サイヤ人, Saiya-jin); and Goku
himself was retconned from an Earthling to a Saiyan who was sent to Earth as a
baby.[16] Freeza, who forcibly took over planets to resell them, was created around the
time of the Japanese economic bubble and was inspired by real estate speculators,
whom Toriyama called the "worst kind of people." [7] Finding the escalating enemies
difficult, he created the Ginyu Force to add more balance to the series. When
スーパー
Toriyama created the Super Saiyan ( 超 サイヤ人, Sūpā Saiya-
jin) transformation during the Freeza arc, he was initially concerned that Goku's
facial expressions as a Super Saiyan made him look like a villain, but decided it was
acceptable since the transformation was brought about by anger. [17]Goku's Super
Saiyan form has blonde hair because it was easier to draw for Toriyama's assistant
(who spent a lot of time blacking in Goku's hair), and has piercing eyes based on
Bruce Lee's paralyzing glare.[18] Toriyama added time travel next during the Cell arc,
but said he had a hard time with it, only thinking of what to do that week and having
to discuss it with his second editor Yu Kondo.[7] After Cell's death, Toriyama intended
for Gohan to replace Goku as the series' protagonist, but felt the character was not
suited for the role and changed his mind. [7]
Going against the normal convention that the strongest characters should be the
largest in terms of physical size, he designed many of Dragon Ball's most powerful
characters with small statures, including the protagonist, Goku. [19] Toriyama later
explained that he had Goku grow up as a means to make drawing fight scenes
easier, even though his first editor Kazuhiko Torishima was initially against it
because it was rare to have the main character of a manga series change drastically.
[20]
 When including fights in the manga, Toriyama had the characters go to
uninhabited locations to avoid difficulties in drawing residents and destroyed
buildings.[13] Toriyama said that he did not plan the details of the story, resulting in
strange occurrences and discrepancies later in the series, including changing the
colors of the characters mid-story and few characters having screentone because he
found it difficult to use.[9][8][11][21] Since the completion of Dragon Ball, Toriyama has
continued to add to its story, mostly background information on its universe, through
guidebooks published by Shueisha.
During the second half of the series, Toriyama has said that he had become more
interested in coming up with the story than actually drawing it, and that the battles
became more intense with him simplifying the lines. [9] In 2013, he stated that
because Dragon Ball is an action manga the most important aspect is the sense of
speed, so he did not draw very elaborate, going so far as to suggest one could say
that he was not interested in the art.[20] He also once said that his goal for the series
was to tell an "unconventional and contradictory" story. [19] In 2013, commenting
on Dragon Ball's global success, Toriyama said, "Frankly, I don't quite understand
why it happened. While the manga was being serialized, the only thing I wanted as I
kept drawing was to make Japanese boys happy.", "The role of my manga is to be a
work of entertainment through and through. I dare say I don't care even if [my works]
have left nothing behind, as long as they have entertained their readers." [22]
Manga[edit]
Main article: Dragon Ball (manga)