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is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. Originally serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1984 to 1995, the 519 individual chapters were collected in 42 volumes. The story follows the adventures of Son Goku, from childhood to adulthood, as he trains in martial arts and explores the world in search of the Dragon Balls, seven magical orbs which summon a wish-granting dragon when gathered. Along his journey, Goku makes several friends and battles villains, many of whom also seek the Dragon Balls. Dragon Ball was inspired by the Chinese novel Journey to the West and Hong Kong martial arts films. It initially had a comedy focus but later became an action-packed fighting series.
The original manga was adapted into three anime series produced by Toei Animation: Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, which were broadcast in Japan from 1986 to 1996, and Dragon Ball Z Kai, a recut and remastered version of Z which was broadcast in Japan from 2009 to 2015. The series spawned a wider media franchise; among merchandise, there have been animated sequel and midquel series, both animated and live-action films, collectible trading card games, action figures, collections of soundtracks, and numerous video games. The series was licensed for an English-language release in North America and the United Kingdom by Viz Media, and in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment. The companies initially split the manga into two parts, Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z to match the anime series, but the most recent edition of the series was released in full under its original title.
Dragon Ball became one of the most successful manga series of all time. Its initial serialization in Weekly Shōnen Jump was partly responsible for the magazine reaching its highest circulation of weekly sales. Its collected volumes have 160 million copies sold in Japan and sold worldwide, making it one of the best-selling manga series of all time. Reviewers have praised the manga for its comedy, fight scenes, and pacing, while recognizing a coming-of-age theme and its use of cultural references from Chinese mythology and Japanese folktales. Complaints from parents in the United States resulted in English-language releases being edited to remove nudity, racial stereotypes, and other content.
Also regarded as one of the most influential manga series, Dragon Ball has inspired numerous manga artists, including Eiichiro Oda (One Piece), Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto), and Tite Kubo (Bleach). A midquel series, titled Dragon Ball Super, has been published in V Jump since 2015. It was written by Toriyama and illustrated by Toyotarou.
Plot summary
Son Goku, a monkey-tailed boy, and Bulma, a teenage girl, travel to find the seven Dragon Balls, which summon the dragon Shenlong to grant the user one wish. Their journey leads to the shapeshifter Oolong; the desert bandit Yamcha, who later becomes an ally; Chi-Chi, whom Goku unknowingly agrees to marry; and Pilaf, an impish man who seeks the Dragon Balls to fulfill his desire to rule the world. Pilaf gathers the Dragon Balls, but Oolong stops his wish from being granted. Goku undergoes rigorous training regimes under the martial arts master Kame-Sen'nin to fight in the . He becomes friends with a monk named Kuririn, his training partner and initial rival. After losing the tournament to Kame-Sen'nin, Goku searches for the Dragon Ball his grandfather left him and almost single-handedly defeats the Red Ribbon Army and their hired assassin, Taopaipai. Goku then reunites with his friends to defeat the fortune teller Baba Uranai's fighters and use her to find the last Dragon Ball held by Pilaf in order to revive a friend killed by Taopaipai.
Three years later at the Tenka'ichi Budōkai, Goku and his allies oppose Kame-Sen'nin's rival and Taopaipai's brother, Tsuru-Sen'nin, and his students Tenshinhan and Chaozu. Tenshinhan, the winner of that year's tournament, and Chaozu reject their former master and their old assassin ways. Kuririn is killed after the tournament; Goku tracks down the murderer's leader, the Great Demon King Piccolo, but is defeated. The samurai Yajirobe takes Goku to the hermit Karin, who heals him and gives him a power boost. Meanwhile, Kame-Sen'nin and Chaozu die in battle against Piccolo. Piccolo uses the Dragon Balls to regain his youth and then destroys Shenlong. Goku then kills the Great Demon King Piccolo, who, before dying, spawns his son/reincarnation Piccolo. Karin then directs Goku to Kami, the original creator of the Dragon Balls and the Great Demon King Piccolo's other half, to restore Shenlong and revive Goku's slain friends. Goku trains under Kami for the next three years, once again reuniting with his friends at the Tenka'ichi Budōkai. There, he defeats Piccolo, whose life he spares as it would also kill Kami and Shenlong. Goku leaves with Chi-Chi to keep his promise to marry her.
Five years later, Goku is a young adult and father to a son, Gohan. A man named Raditz arrives on Earth, identifies Goku as his younger brother Kakarrot, and reveals to him that they are members of a nearly extinct extraterrestrial race called the , who sent Goku to conquer Earth for them; however, Goku had suffered a severe head injury as an infant and lost all memories of his mission. Goku refuses to continue the mission, and sides with Piccolo to kill Raditz at the cost of his own life. In the afterlife, Goku trains under the Lord of the Northern Worlds, until he is revived by the Dragon Balls to save the Earth from the invading Saiyans Nappa and Vegeta a year after his death. Goku and his friends defeat the Saiyans; Goku asks Kuririn to spare Vegeta's life so he can have a rematch. In the battle, Yamcha, Chaozu, Tenshinhan, and Piccolo are killed, and the Dragon Balls cease to exist. Kuririn and the galactic tyrant Freeza learn of another set of Dragon Balls on the planet , Piccolo's homeworld. Bulma, Gohan, and Kuririn search for them to revive their friends and thus restore Earth's Dragon Balls, while Vegeta and Freeza are searching for them to have their wishes of immortality granted. Vegeta and Goku later stand alongside Gohan and Kuririn to fight Freeza and his team of mercenaries, the Ginyu Force. The long battle with Freeza ends when Goku transforms into a legendary and defeats him. The wish of bringing Goku's friends back to life is granted by Namek's version of Shenlong, Porunga. Barely surviving, Freeza recovers and goes to Earth to take his revenge on Goku; however, he is killed by a Super Saiyan from the future named Trunks.
Three years later, a group of created by a member of the former Red Ribbon Army, Doctor Gero, appears, seeking revenge against Goku. During this time, an evil life form also created by Gero called Cell emerges and, after absorbing two of the Androids to achieve his "perfect form", holds his own fighting tournament to challenge the protagonists. After Goku sacrifices his own life to no avail, Gohan avenges his father by killing Cell. Seven years later, Goku—revived for one day to compete in the Tenka'ichi Budōkai again—and his allies are drawn into a fight against Boo the Djinn. After many battles, including the destruction and re-creation of the Earth, and Goku's proper resurrection, Goku destroys Boo with a Genki-Dama (a sphere of pure energy drawn from all intelligent beings on Earth), and wishes for him to be reincarnated as a "good guy". Ten years later, at the Tenka'ichi Budōkai, Goku meets Boo's human reincarnation, Oob. After testing his powers, Goku departs with Oob to train him to be the Earth's new protector.
Production
Writing Within roughly six months of creating the popular manga Dr. Slump in 1980, Akira Toriyama wanted to end the series but his publisher Shueisha would only allow him to do so if he agreed to start another serial for them shortly after. He worked with his editor, Kazuhiko Torishima, on several one-shots but none were successful. Torishima then suggested that, as Toriyama enjoyed kung fu films, he should create a kung fu manga. He was inspired by Hong Kong martial arts films such as Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon (1973) and Jackie Chan's Drunken Master (1978). He was particularly influenced by the fight scenes in Jackie Chan movies, and said he would never have come up with Dragon Ball if he had not watched Drunken Master, which he enjoyed partly due to its light-hearted tone. This led to the two-part published in the August and October 1983 issues of Fresh Jump. It follows a boy, adept at martial arts, who escorts a princess on a journey back to her home country. Dragon Boy was very well-received and evolved to become the serial Dragon Ball.
The plot and characters of Dragon Ball were loosely modeled on the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, with Goku being Sun Wukong ("Son Goku" in Japanese), Bulma as Tang Sanzang, Oolong as Zhu Bajie, and Yamcha being Sha Wujing. Toriyama wanted to create a story with the basic theme of Journey to the West, but with "a little kung fu" by combining the novel with elements from the kung fu films of Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee. Torishima said he chose the novel largely because it was a free intellectual property, but also because its Chinese setting was not common in manga at the time and would make it both unique and differentiate it from Dr. Slumps US West Coast feel.
He changed the objective from Journey to the West, where the protagonists travel through the Western Regions (Central Asia) to collect sacred Buddhist texts from the Indian subcontinent, to something simpler, gathering seven orbs which grant a wish. Toriyama added the idea of the Dragon Balls to give the characters a game-like activity of gathering something in order to appeal to its manga magazine audience. His concept of the Dragon Balls was inspired by the epic Japanese novel Nansō Satomi Hakkenden (1814–1842), which involves the heroes collecting eight large Buddhist prayer beads of a necklace from eight different regions of Japan, which Toriyama adapted into finding seven Dragon Balls from seven different locations; he chose the number seven to avoid being the same as the number of beads in Hakkenden. The title Dragon Ball was inspired by Enter the Dragon as well as later Bruceploitation knockoff kung fu movies which frequently had the word "Dragon" in the title. He originally thought the story would last about a year, or end once the Dragon Balls were collected. Toriyama said that although the stories are purposefully easy to understand, he specifically aimed Dragon Ball at an older audience than Dr. Slump.
The manga was not popular initially. Although he suspected the fighting genre would appeal more to its audience, Toriyama tried to stick to the Journey to the West adventure aspect which he himself enjoyed, such as having the setting change each chapter, different enemies popping up, and different locations. It was only after he became tired of Torishima nagging about its popularity that Toriyama gave in and developed more battles with the first shown Tenkaichi Budōkai. Despite his reluctance, the author said it felt good when the series picked up in popularity at that point. However, he said he still tried to resist by returning to the adventure aspect with the Red Ribbon Army arc, and visiting Penguin Village from Dr. Slump to add comedy. When that did not work out, fighting became the main theme for the manga.