Dragon Ball

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For the anime, see Dragon Ball (anime).

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Dragon Ball
ドラゴンボール (Dragon Ball)
Genre	Action, Shōnen
Manga
Authored by	Akira Toriyama
Publisher	Shueisha Chuang Yi Conrad Editora Carlsen Comics Sangatsu Manga Glénat Carlsen Comics CitiComics, Culturecom Semic Interprint Elex Media Komputindo Star Comics Comics House Production Grupo Editorial Vid Glénat (Studio de Raaf) Japonica Polonica Fantastica Planeta deAgostini Bonnier Carlsen NED comics Gollancz Manga VIZ Media
Serialized in	Weekly Shonen Jump
Original run	1984 – 1995
No. of volumes	42

Dragon Ball (ドラゴンボール, Doragon Bōru^?) is a Japanese manga by Akira Toriyama serialized in the weekly anthology magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1984 to 1995, and originally collected into 42 individual books called tankōbon. In 2004, the manga was re-released in a 34 volume collection called Kanzenban, which included a slightly rewritten ending, new covers, and color artwork from its Weekly Shōnen Jump run.

In the U.S., the manga was first released as two American-style comic books Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z starting in 2000. The split corresponds to the two different anime series, though the original Japanese manga does not distinguish between the two. This style of release was unsuccessful due to its large size and expensive cost ($2.95 for an issue of 2, and later 3, chapters), and both series were cancelled in 2003. The Dragon Ball Z manga was transitioned into a launch title for the new U.S. edition of the Shonen Jump anthology, starting in January 2003. In parallel to these releases, VIZ Media has released all 42 volumes (nearly matching the first Japanese set) in English. VIZ titles the second part of the manga Dragon Ball Z to reduce confusion for North American audiences. The series is published in the United Kingdom by Gollancz Manga.

The story of Dragon Ball follows the life of Son Goku, a monkey-tailed boy loosely based on the traditional Chinese novel Journey to the West (西遊記), from his life and adventures as a child all the way up to being a grandfather. During his life, he fights many battles and eventually becomes the strongest martial artist in the entire universe. He is not without help, however, as the manga boasts a large ensemble cast of martial artist heroes and villains which provide the conflicts which drive the story.

The eponymous Dragon Balls are one component of the universe, but are not the focus for most of the plot lines. The Dragon Balls themselves are seven magical orbs which are scattered across the world. When assembled, they can be used to summon Shenlong, the dragon who will grant one wish within its limit. After the wish is granted, the Dragon Balls are scattered again across the world and become inert for one year. In times past, it would take generations to search the world and gather the Dragon Balls. In the beginning of the story, however, a 16 year old genius girl named Bulma has created a "Dragon Radar" to detect the Dragon Balls and made the process far easier than it was intended to be.

Contents 1 Evolution 2 Recurring themes 3 Editing of the North American Version 4 Relation to the Anime 5 Relation to Journey to the West 6 Influence on other series 7 See also 8 External links

[edit] Evolution

The story of Dragon Ball unfolded gradually over 11 years of publication. During those years, the tone and the style of the stories gradually changed to reflect the tastes of the readers and the editors of Japanese Shonen Jump.

The earlier volumes of the manga (volumes 1-11) are primarily humorous fantasy stories, but containing some minor sci-fi elements, much like Dr. Slump. Notable fantasy elements include not only the monkey boy Son Goku and the Dragon Balls themselves, but also many talking animal characters, unlikely martial arts techniques, and characters identified as gods and demons. Despite the fantasy elements, the world does contain advanced technology including hoi-poi capsules, space-saving capsules which are pocket sized but can store almost any object, including flying cars, and similar "near future" objects. The overall mood of the earlier volumes is light with few deaths and an emphasis on adventure and humor.

A subtle but significant change in mood began after Son Goku's best friend Kuririn was killed (the first of many deaths in this arc). This began the Piccolo Daimaō arc (volumes 12-17) in which the manga enters a darker tone compared to its earlier volumes.

Dragon Ball fully transformed into an action based shōnen manga at the onset of the Saiyan arc (volumes 17-20). Starting with introduction of Son Goku's first son, things begin to take a much more serious and harder sci-fi approach. Many characters which previously had fantasy origins (Son Goku, Piccolo) are recast as aliens from other planets. Space travel, alien threats, and powerful cyborgs & androids take center stage instead of more fantastic villains.

After the defeat of Vegeta, and the conclusion of the Saiyan arc, the survivors of the vicious Saiyan attack head off to the Planet Namek to resurrect their friends. This begins the Freeza arc (volumes 21-28). The Freeza arc is noteworthy for introducing the first Super Saiyan, now a staple of the series. It also set the tone for more awesomely powerful characters. For example, the antagonist Freeza has a "power level" (the series' futuristic measure of a fighter's speed and strength, i.e. one average human is listed as 5) of 530,000. He then transforms into a more powerful form, at which point his power level is over one million. After two subsequent transformations, he reveals that he is still only using a fraction of his full power.

The Cell arc (volumes 29-35) introduced Trunks, a mysterious Half-Saiyan Half-Human from a destroyed future world where all of the Z Senshi have been killed by evil, seemingly invincible war machines called the Jinzōningen, and the enigmatic and villainous Cell who was made from the cells from most of the heroes. It was between this arc and the last arc that creator Akira Toriyama stopped measuring characters' power levels in the stories, deciding that it limited the stories.

After these arcs and Son Goku's death and staying in heaven is the Majin Boo arc (volumes 36-42) which is the very last arc of the Dragon Ball manga. The Majin Boo arc features more of the humor and fantastic plot elements that were present in the very early volumes of the manga. The beginning of this final arc concentrates on a teenaged Son Gohan mostly. Son Goku makes his return after being dead for seven years. All the male saiyans manage to reach the level of Super Saiyan at least (including fusions). Super Saiyan 2 is reached by Son Gohan, Son Goku and Vegeta. And the ultimate level of the Saiyans, Super Saiyan 3, is reached by Son Goku and Gotenks. A considerable number of fusions also take place to add to the series, allowing Son Goten and Trunks to merge to form Gotenks, and Son Goku and Vegeta fuse to create the incredibly powerful, invincible Super Vegetto. During this series, Majin Boo manages to kill everyone on Earth including central characters like Vegeta and increasing his own power by absorbing Gotenks, Piccolo and Son Gohan. Majin Boo also succeeds where Vegeta, Freeza and Cell had previously failed and destroys Earth. Majin Boo's evil side is destroyed by Son Goku's Genki Dama, and everyone (including Earth) is restored. Majin Boo's evil side is reincarnated into a being of pure good called Oob. Son Goku and Oob fight at the 28th Tenkaichi Budokai, and Son Goku decides to live in Oob's village in order to train Oob to become even stronger than himself, the strongest fighter in the entire Universe.

[edit] Recurring themes

Karmic themes also pervade through Dragon Ball. The young Son Goku is sent to Earth to destroy it and in many ways he fulfills his mission. After Son Goku's arrival, dozens of villains come searching for him or encounter him by accident. Son Goku manages to save Earth numerous times, even at the cost of his life. The perils that Earth face reflect the karmic repercussions of Son Goku's ruthless Saiyan ancestors. In many ways Son Goku is paying for the sins of his forebears and by defending his adopted home, Son Goku is redeeming a lost race of mighty warriors.

For all its martial arts bravado, the story of Dragon Ball centers primarily around the value of forgiveness and love, kindness and compassion, generally conveyed through "pure" ideals of Son Goku and Son Gohan, and everyone whose lives they touch. Nearly every major character in the manga entered the series as a villain but was, through one method or another, converted to the side of good by being given a chance to live, as opposed to being deprived of it by death. Often, this would entail a temporary team up to defeat a greater foe, but somehow the former enemies rarely found the motivation to begin fighting again after the common emnemy's defeat. This theme was evident from the beginning (with the conversion of Yamcha, Oolong, Pu'er, Tenshinhan and Chiaotzu) and continued even to the last arc (with the exception of Cell and Freeza). Majin Buu however, splits into good and bad personalities, and the bad one is told to be reincarnated as a good guy named Uub. This style of redemption is not unique to Dragon Ball (It is often seen even in comic books of the U.S..), but it is significant that it persisted even through other major shifts in style and tone.

Dragon Ball is also significant in its theme of self-improvement and piety. Throughout the series, the protagonists never cease in their martial arts training. Son Goku remains the strongest martial artist through the series, and he trains for no other reason than for self-improvement. Furthermore, the downfall of most of the antagonists is their own self-importance — their belief that because of their power, they are untouchable.

[edit] Editing of the North American Version

As previously mentioned, the Dragon Ball manga is published as both Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z in by Viz. Originally, both of these releases were censored for nudity and some graphic content. By the end of 2004, all Dragon Ball manga had been released almost completely unedited, including rereleases of the previously edited volumes 1 through 3. One notable exception was the removal of Mr. Popo's lips as well as a few other dark skinned characters. Another notable edit is the changing of any hand that "gives the middle finger" into a fist. As of 2006, Viz reverted to editing the Dragon Ball manga, with the majority of nudity and all profanity being removed. The Dragon Ball Z manga remains edited with Mr. Satan's name being changed to "Hercule" and nudity being removed, as well as gun edits in later volumes. Many volumes (prior to volume 17) are unedited given that they contain no objectional material. As you can see in the picture they changed the writing style of "Dragon Ball"

[edit] Relation to the Anime

Both Dragon Ball (DB) and Dragon Ball Z (DBZ) anime are based on the same original Dragon Ball manga. Dragon Ball follows Son Goku's adventures as a 12 year old up to his marriage as an 18 year old; roughly the arcs that had the most fantasy and humor elements. Dragon Ball Z takes up the story five years after Dragon Ball leaves off, with the introduction of Son Goku's young son and the arrival of a new, more powerful foe. Dragon Ball GT (DBGT) is the sequel to Dragon Ball Z.

[edit] Relation to Journey to the West

There are many parallels between Journey to the West and Dragon Ball.

• In the original story, the priest, Xuanzang and his company search for the legendary Buddhist scriptures in the West. In Dragon Ball, Bulma and her company search for the legendary Dragon Balls.
• The equivalent to Sun Wukong of the original texts is Son Goku in Dragon Ball.
• The equivalent to Xuanzang of the original texts is Kuririn in Dragon Ball (also might be Bulma)
• The equivalent to Zhu Wuneng of the original texts is Oolong in Dragon Ball.
• The equivalent to Sha Wujing of the original texts is Yamcha in Dragon Ball
• The equivalent to Niu Mo Wang of the original texts is Gyū-Maō in Dragon Ball.

Some ideas from Journey to the West are borrowed later in the series.

• Son Goku's Nyoi-bō comes from Sun Wukong's magic staff that can change to any size anytime he sees fit.
• Flying clouds are driven by both protagonists.
• The borrowing of the palm-leaf fan from the Gyū-Maō to put out the Flaming Mountains occurred in both stories.
• Son Goku finds himself in a place reminiscent of the pillars of Buddha's palm, the location which Sun Wukong's rampage was finally put to an end.

[edit] Influence on other series

Dragon Ball is so popular that it has been parodied frequently in recent times. Here are some examples.

• In the Sonic the Hedgehog series, there are arguably a few references to Dragon Ball. Both the Chaos Emeralds and Super Sonic are nods to Toriyama's work. According to the Japanese strategy guide for Sonic Jam, the special stages in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles were inspired by (North) Kaiō-sama's planet. The Jewel Radar, which bears a strong visual and functional resemblance to the Dragon Radar, is mentioned in the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Japanese manual and appears in Sonic Riders. The last reference is noted through the comparison of Sonic characters to Dragon Ball Z characters, with Sonic mimicking the role of Son Goku, Shadow taking on the role of Vegeta, Knuckles with the role of Piccolo and the time-travelling Silver to resemble Future Trunks.
• In the anime Excel Saga, Nabeshin teaches Pedro and Sandora to reach a certain powerful afro level, similar to the level of Super Saiyan in Dragon Ball. They also must use a technique called the Nabehameha, a direct parody of Muten Rōshi's Kamehameha. Near the show's end Pedro and Sandora engage in a beam struggle with the nefarious leader of ACROSS That Man (ala Gohan vs. Cell).
• In one issue of the Love Hina comic, Tama the turtle goes missing. Suu tracks him down with her patented "Turtle radar" and is immediately questioned if she isn't ripping off Dragon Ball.
• In the comic Eyeshield 21, Yukimitsu performs the Taiyō-ken while dressed as Tenshinhan.
• In the OVA Puni Puni Poemy, Poemy is shown with a collection of Dragon Balls.
• In the comic Yu-Gi-Oh!, the main character, Yugi Mutou, relates the Millennium Puzzle's power to the wishes granted by the Dragon Balls. Also, in the one of the anime versions, there is a Dragon Ball shown on a poster.
• In the anime Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, Sasshi fights in a martial arts match while dressed as Bruce Lee, and near the end, transforms to a Super Saiyan and performs the Kamehameha.
• In Masakazu Katsura's comic DNA², the main character can turn into a Super Saiyan-like state, gaining golden hair and the ability to use special abilities. Many people consider this to be a plagiarism of Dragon Ball, but it was actually suggested to Katsura by Toriyama himself.
• In an episode of the animated show The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Mandy eats a "Chicken Ball" which makes her transform into a Super Saiyan-like form. The episode is called "Chicken Ball Z"
• In the video game Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon, the hero Goemon (after finishing a certain training) goes to the "Sudden Impact" state, in which his hair grows bigger and its color becomes yellow.
• The comic series Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo has many references to Dragon Ball, including a one-off chapter making a parody of it. It had Jelly Jiggler (Tokoro Tennosuke) and Don Patch/Poppa Rocks recreating the first battle between Son Goku and Vegeta respectively, but the order and development were dissimilar.
• In another chapter of Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, while facing Kanemaru, Bo-bobo states something about a high wind air-pressure technique; it turns out that Bo-bobo had a picture board of Kuririn, Son Goku, and Piccolo with Dragon Balls spread over the board.
• Masashi Kishimoto states in his comic Naruto that he was influenced by Toriyama. Kishimoto included a picture of Arale he drew in elementary school. This can also be seen in the fact that the title character wears an orange gi (martial arts robe) similar to Son Goku 's. Also, in one volume of the manga, a mask resembling the face of Chaozu can be seen in the background.
• Eiichiro Oda, the author of the comic One Piece, stated in an interview that he was a big fan of Dragon Ball. He stated that it was Toriyama that influenced him and that he holds Dragon Ball in high esteem. Toriyama in turn is a self-professed fan of One Piece, which he was introduced to by his children. Many similarities to Dragon Ball can be seen in One Piece, especially the similarity in personalities between Son Goku and Luffy.
• In the animated series Codename: Kids Next Door, Numbuh 4 relates his fight with the Delightful Children from Down the Lane to Son Goku's fight with Freeza in a flashback.
• The Fairly OddParents TV movie Channel Chasers featured a fictional anime series parodying Dragon Ball. The series was called Maho Mushi (roughly translating to Magical Insect), and featured a Tenka-ichi Budōkai-like tournament; even the announcer was similar to the one in Dragon Ball. Also, the character drawing style was a direct reference to Toriyama's early style. Timmy wears a white gi similar to Son Goku's orange gi, while Vicky wears a black cape with shoulder protection, not unlike Piccolo's. Also, Cosmo accidentally released two Kamehameha-style attacks from his hands, crashing into the walls of the stadium in the exact way, and spot that Vegeta did in the tournament just before the start of the Majin Boo arc.
• In the anime School Rumble, an episode had Harima Kenji turn Super Saiyan in a comic he was writing. He was fighting Karasuma in a Dragon Ball-like fight. He had recently found out that Tsukamoto Tenma liked Karasuma Ōji, so he vented his feelings in comic format.
• In the comic Yakitate!! Japan, Ryo Kuroyanagi turns into Super Kuroyanagi after tasting a Super Toro Aburi bread. He then yells Hagehageha (hage = bald) to Kyousuke Kawachi who used to be bald. Also, during their 'battle' Kawachi was intentionally turned into a freezer. Super Kuroyanagi evolves one step further into Super Kuroyanagi Two and Three after tasting Kazuma Azuma's bread, Urchin Chawanmushi Bread.
• In the movie South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, Eric Cartman can shoot lightning from his hands by swearing and overloading the V-chip in his head. He also spawns a golden glow and his hair stands up.
• Ben Dunn and Robert DeJesus have parodied Dragon Ball numerous times in the Ninja High School comics, the most blatant was called PenguinBall.
• BLEACH creator, Kubo Tite was inspired by Dragon Ball.
• Wang-Tang, one of the characters of the Power Stone videogames & anime series, when transformed becomes similar to a Super Saiyan (although more green-ish).
• In the Power Puff Girls, an episode depicts The Power Puff Girls facing off against Princess in a Dragon Ball-like fight.
• In Robot Chicken, Son Goku and Gohan are used in an episode to help Santa battle against other foes.
• In Dragon Ball, Muten Rōshi is often called "Kame-Sen'nin", which means "Turtle Hermit". While in Naruto, Jiraiya was called "Gama-Sen'nin", which means "Frog Hermit". At times he was referred to by Naruto as "Ero-sen'nin", or "Pervert Hermit".
• There is an attack called Hadoken from the Street Fighter series very similar to Kamehameha. It is also used by the superboss Tail Clan in Mega Man X: Command Mission. Mega Man X can also unlock this attack in the original game, making the same cupped hand as in Dragon Ball.
• On the November 11, 2006 episode of Saturday Night Live, the TV Funhouse segment featured a short where professional eater Takeru Kobayashi transforms into a Super Saiyan and utilizes his ability to consume massive amounts of hot dogs in order to perform good deeds. Many more references to Dragon Ball were present, including usage of sound effects and music from the anime, and the display of several DBZ clips in the background at certain points throught the short. Hirudegarn, Dabura, Dr. Gero, Android 19, King Cold, and off-color lookalikes of Freeza, Captain Ginyu, and Pui Pui make appearances during the short, and Bulma, Trunks, and Chiaotzu can be seen in the DBZ clips often shown in the background.

[edit] See also

• Dragon Ball (anime)
• Dragon Ball Z
• Dragon Ball GT
• List of Dragon Ball characters
• List of Dragon Ball Villains
• List of Dragon Ball planets
• List of Dragon Ball special abilities
• List of Dragon Ball video games
• List of Dragon Ball Z Power levels
• Timeline of Dragon Ball

[edit] External links

Japan

• Official Toei Animation's Dragon Ball Website
• Official Toei Animation's Dragon Ball Z Website
• Official Toei Animation's Dragon Ball GT Website

U.S.

• Official FUNimation's Dragon Ball Website
• Official FUNimation's Dragon Ball Z Website
• Official FUNimation's Dragon Ball GT Website