Reception

Dragon Ball manga tankōbon volume estimated sales/circulation[a]

Market(s) Publisher Volume sales/circulation As of Ref

Japan Shueisha 160,000,000+ 2016 [47][48]

Overseas (16 countries) 129,667,054+[d]

France Glénat Editions 26,063,500 2022 [49][50]

South Korea Seoul Cultural Publishers 20,000,000+[c] 2009 [52]

Spain Planeta deAgostini 20,000,000 2013 [53]

Italy Star Comics 16,000,000+ 2017 [54]

China China Children's Press & Publication Group 10,000,000+[b] 2013 [56][57]

Taiwan Tong Li Publishing 10,000,000+[e] 2009 [58]

Germany Carlsen Verlag 8,000,000+ 2015 [59][60][61]

Hong Kong Culturecom 7,560,000 2004 [62]

Brazil Conrad Editora 6,000,000 2002 [63]

United States Viz Media 2,185,000+ 2016 [64]

Denmark Carlsen Verlag 1,500,000+ 2007 [65][66]

SwedenBonnier Carlsen 1,300,000 2006 [66]

Finland Sangatsu Manga 500,000 2009 [67][68]

Poland Japonica Polonica Fantastica 420,000+ 2008 [69]

United Kingdom Gollancz / Viz Media 78,554 2010 [70]

Vietnam Kim Đồng Publishing House 60,000+[f] 2009 [71]

Worldwide 289,667,054[g]

Further information: Dragon Ball (manga) § Reception

See also: Weekly Shōnen Jump § Circulation figures

Dragon Ball is one of the most popular manga series of all time, and it continues to enjoy high
readership today. Dragon Ball is credited as one of the main reasons manga circulation was at its highest
between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s.[72][73] During Dragon Ball's initial run in Weekly Shōnen Jump,
the manga magazine reached an average circulation of 6.53 million weekly sales, the highest in its
history.[72][73][74] During Dragon Ball's serialisation between 1984 and 1995, Weekly Shōnen Jump
magazine had a total circulation of over 2.9 billion copies,[75][h] with those issues generating an
estimated ¥554 billion ($6.9 billion) in sales revenue.[h]
Dragon Ball also sold a record number of collected tankōbon volumes for its time. By 2000, more than
126 million tankōbon copies had been sold in Japan alone.[76] It sold over 150 million copies in Japan by
2008, making it the best-selling manga ever at the time.[77] By 2012, its sales in Japan had grown to
pass 156 million, making it the second best-selling Weekly Shōnen Jump manga of all time, behind One
Piece.[78] Dragon Ball's tankobon volumes sold 159.5 million copies in Japan by February 2014,[79] and
have sold over 160 million copies in Japan as of 2016.[48]

The manga is similarly popular overseas, having been translated and released in over 40 countries
worldwide.[80] The total number of tankōbon volumes sold have reached 300 million copies worldwide,
as of August 2021.[81][82][i] not including unofficial pirated copies; when including pirated copies, an
estimated total of more than 400 million official and unofficial copies have been sold worldwide.[g][b][c]

For the 10th anniversary of the Japan Media Arts Festival in 2006, Japanese fans voted Dragon Ball the
third greatest manga of all time.[89] In a survey conducted by Oricon in 2007 among 1,000 people, Son
Goku, the main character of the franchise, ranked first place as the "Strongest Manga Character of All
Time."[90] Goku's journey and his ever-growing strength resulted in the character winning "the
admiration of young boys everywhere".[6] Manga artists, such as One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda and
Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto, have stated that Goku inspired their series' main protagonists as well
as series structure.[91][92]

Manga critic Jason Thompson stated in 2011 that "Dragon Ball is by far the most influential shonen
manga of the last 30 years, and today, almost every Shonen Jump artist lists it as one of their favorites
and lifts from it in various ways."[93] He says the series "turns from a gag/adventure manga to an
nearly-pure fighting manga",[93] and its basic formula of "lots of martial arts, lots of training sequences,
a few jokes" became the model for other shōnen series, such as Naruto.[94] Thompson also called
Toriyama's art influential and cited it as a reason for the series' popularity.[93] James S. Yadao, author of
The Rough Guide to Manga, claims that the first several chapters of Dragon Ball "play out much like
Saiyuki with Dr. Slump-like humour built in" and that Dr. Slump, Toriyama's previous manga, has a clear
early influence on the series.[95] He feels the series "established its unique identity" after the first
occasion when Goku's group disbands and he trains under Kame-sen'nin, when the story develops "a far
more action-packed, sinister tone" with "wilder" battles with aerial and spiritual elements and an
increased death count, while humor still makes an occasional appearance.[95] Yadao claims that an art
shift occurs when the characters "lose the rounded, innocent look that he established in Dr. Slump and
gain sharper angles that leap off the page with their energy and intensity."[96]

Animerica felt the series had "worldwide appeal", using dramatic pacing and over-the-top martial arts
action to "maintain tension levels and keep a crippler crossface hold on the audience's attention spans".
[97] In Little Boy: The Art of Japan's Exploding Subculture, Takashi Murakami commented that Dragon
Ball's "never-ending cyclical narrative moves forward plausibly, seamlessly, and with great finesse."[76]
Ridwan Khan from Animefringe.com commented that the manga had a "chubby" art style, but as the
series continued the characters got more refined, leaner, and more muscular. Khan prefers the manga
over the slow pacing of the anime counterparts.[98] Allen Divers of Anime News Network praised the
story and humor of the manga as being very good at conveying all of the characters' personalities. Divers
also called Viz's translation one of the best of all the English editions of the series due to its faithfulness
to the original Japanese.[99] D. Aviva Rothschild of Rationalmagic.com remarked the first manga volume
as "a superior humor title". They praised Goku's innocence and Bulma's insistence as one of the funniest
parts of the series.[100]

The content of the manga has been controversial in the United States. In November 1999, Toys "R" Us
removed Viz's Dragon Ball from their stores nationwide when a Dallas parent complained the series had
"borderline soft porn" after he bought them for his four-year-old son.[101] Commenting on the issue,
Susan J. Napier explained it as a difference in culture.[101] After the ban, Viz reluctantly began to censor
the series to keep wide distribution.[102] However, in 2001, after releasing three volumes censored, Viz
announced Dragon Ball would be uncensored and reprinted due to fan reactions.[102] In October 2009,
Wicomico County Public Schools in Maryland banned the Dragon Ball manga from their school district
because it "depicts nudity, sexual contact between children and sexual innuendo among adults and
children."[101]

Anime