From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to navigationJump to search

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)

Owner 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 Z 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 originally inspired by the
classical 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West, combined with elements of Hong Kong
martial arts films. The series follows the adventures of 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 has become one of the highest-
grossing media franchises of all time.
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
two best-selling manga series in history. 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 around 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 around the world.

Contents
 1Setting
 2Production
 3Manga
o 3.1Spin-offs
o 3.2Crossovers
o 3.3Reception
 4Anime
o 4.1Dragon Ball
o 4.2Dragon Ball Z
o 4.3Dragon Ball GT
o 4.4Dragon Ball Z Kai
o 4.5Dragon Ball Super
o 4.6Super Dragon Ball Heroes
o 4.7Other installments
o 4.8Reception
 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 7.1Comics and animation
o 7.2Film
o 7.3Music and sports
o 7.4Video games
 8Notes
o 8.1Footnotes
 9References
 10External links

Setting[edit]
See also: List of Dragon Ball characters
Earth, known as the Dragon World (ドラゴンワールド) and designated as "Planet 4032-877" by the
celestial hierarchy, is the main setting for the entire Dragon Ball series, as well as related media
such as Dr. Slump, Nekomajin, and Jaco the Galactic Patrolman. It is mainly inhabited by
Earthlings (地球人, Chikyūjin), a term used inclusively to refer to all of the intelligent races native to
the planet, including humans, anthropomorphic beings, and monsters. Starting from the Dragon Ball
Z series, various extraterrestrial species such as the Saiyans (サイヤ人, Saiya-
jin) and Namekians (ナメック星人, Namekku-seijin) have played a more prominent role in franchise
media.
The narrative of Dragon Ball predominantly follows the adventures of Goku; upon meeting Bulma at
the beginning of the series, the two then embark on an adventure to gather the seven Dragon Balls.
[ch. 1]
 Goku later receives martial arts training from Master Roshi, meets his lifelong friend Krillin, and
enters the World Martial Arts Tournament to fight the strongest warriors on the planet. When the evil
King Piccolo, and later his offspring Piccolo, tries to conquer the planet, Goku receives training from
Earth's deities to defeat them. Goku later sacrifices his life to save the planet from his estranged
brother Raditz,[ch. 205] but later trains in the afterlife under the tutelage of King Kai, to save it from the
other incoming Saiyans Nappa and Vegeta. He later becomes a Super Saiyan and defeats the
powerful tyrant Frieza. This sets the tone of the rest of the series, with each enemy the characters
face becoming stronger than the last, requiring them to attain further training.
Dragon Ball Super establishes that the franchise is set in a multiverse[1] 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 who are appointed by a higher being called the Grand
Zeno, who watches over the multiverse along with the Grand Priest, the father of all the Angels.
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.

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, particularly 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.[2][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 Yamcha being 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] by combining the novel with elements from the kung fu films
of Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee.[9] The title Dragon Ball was inspired by Enter the Dragon and
later Bruceploitation knockoff kung fu films which frequently had the word "Dragon" in the title, [2] and
the fighting scenes were influenced by Jackie Chan movies. [10][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.[11][12]
He originally thought it would last about a year or end once the Dragon Balls were collected.
[13]
 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.[14] 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.[15] 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.
[16]
 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.
[15]
 Toriyama was also inspired by the jinn (genies) from The Arabian Nights.[17]

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.
This allowed for more character growth as the manga progressed. He said that Muscle Tower in the
Red Ribbon Army storyline was inspired by the video game Spartan X (called Kung-Fu Master in the
West), in whi