Word of dragon ball

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Set in a universe different from our own and taking place mainly in between Age 749 and Age 790 of the timeline, the Dragon Ball series tells the tale of a hero named Goku, who uses his incredible strength and sense of good to combat the evils that plague the cosmos. Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, and Dragon Ball Super tell the story of Goku and his comrades as they battle for good and protect the seven mystical Dragon Balls from falling into the hands of evil. The series consists of two manga, four anime series, and nineteen animated films.

In our world

Q: What is Dragon Ball?

A: Dragon Ball is a series first created in 1984 by Akira Toriyama. Dragon Ball appeals largely to a mainly teen and young adult franchise, but does appeal to younger children and even older individuals. The series was originally manga, but was later transformed into anime by Toei Animation. The series since its release has become one of the most successful manga and anime series of all time. It consists of one manga series, three anime series, seventeen animated feature-length films, a live-action movie (both unofficial and official), a collectible card game, an extensive number of video and computer games, tons of apparel, collectible products, action figures and much, much more.

Q: What are the four anime series released?

A: Dragon Ball premiered in February 1986 on Fuji TV in Japan, running weekly with new episodes every week. The series was praised for its appeal to a wide audience and its sense of adventure. In 1989, after a three-year run and after 153 episodes, Dragon Ball ended in Japan. However, North American and European audiences would soon learn of the magic that is Dragon Ball. An attempt to release Dragon Ball in the states was made in 1989, but failed and was removed without even completing a full season. The series was released once again in 1995, this time as the Ocean Group dubs. However, once again the series never completed a season in order to jump to its sequel, Dragon Ball Z. However, Dragon Ball was later released in 2002, this time as the Funimation dub, and finally received commercial success. Dragon Ball Super premiered on July 5, 2015 which aired on Fuji TV in Japan.

The World of Dragon Ball Z is a 2000 OVA special that was produced and distributed by Funimation and narrated by Christopher Sabat.

Plot

This 20-minute OVA reviews the Dragon Ball series, beginning with the Emperor Pilaf Saga and then skipping ahead to the Raditz Saga through the Trunks Saga (which was how far Funimation had dubbed both Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z at the time).

Production

Two different English dubs are featured in the OVA: the BLT/Ocean dubs of the Emperor Pilaf Saga, Raditz Saga, Vegeta Saga and Namek Saga; and the Funimation in-house dub of the Frieza Saga and Trunks Saga. This is because Funimation had not re-dubbed the early episodes of either Dragon Ball or Dragon Ball Z with its in-house voice cast at the time this OVA was made.

Home Media Release

The World of Dragon Ball Z is featured on Madman Entertainment’s DVD «Trunks — Z Warriors Prepare», as well as all of Funimation’s Androids Saga DVDs and the 2001 DVD release of Bardock — The Father of Goku.

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Dragon Ball films, specials, and stage shows
Dragon Ball adaptations
Theatrical films	Curse of the Blood Rubies • Sleeping Princess in Devil’s Castle • Mystical Adventure • The Path to Power
Public service videos	Goku’s Traffic Safety • Goku’s Fire Brigade
Live-action films	Dragonball Evolution
Dragon Ball Z (Kai) adaptations
Theatrical films	Dead Zone • The World’s Strongest • The Tree of Might • Lord Slug • Cooler’s Revenge • The Return of Cooler • Super Android 13! • Broly — The Legendary Super Saiyan • Bojack Unbound • Broly — Second Coming • Bio-Broly • Fusion Reborn • Wrath of the Dragon • Battle of Gods • Resurrection ‘F’
TV specials	Bardock — The Father of Goku • Summer Vacation Special • The History of Trunks • Looking Back at it All: The Dragon Ball Z Year-End Show!
OVAs	Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans • The World of Dragon Ball Z • The Return of Son Goku and Friends! • Episode of Bardock • Super Tenkaichi Budokai
Crossovers	Kyutai Panic Adventure! • Kyutai Panic Adventure Returns! • Super Collaboration Special
Video games with OVA elements	Atsumare! Goku Warudo • Heroes animated trailers • Xenoverse • Xenoverse 2
4-D attractions	The Real 4-D • Super Tenkaichi Budokai
Stage plays	Dragon Ball Kai: Super Battle Stage
Dragon Ball Super adaptations
Theatrical films	Broly • Super Hero
TV specials	This is the Ultimate Battle in all the Universes! Son Goku vs Jiren!! • Right Before the Dragon Ball Super Movie Debuts! Looking Back on the TV Show’s Climax
OVAs	Dragon Ball Super: Broly x Tokyo Skytree Special Event
Crossovers	History of Japan
Dragon Ball GT adaptations
TV specials	A Hero’s Legacy
Stage plays	Dragon Ball GT

The universe which forms the setting for the original Dragon Ball manga and its anime adaptations is fundamentally a giant sphere, while the 2013 theatrical film Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods and Dragon Ball Super expand on this by revealing that this sphere is simply one universe among twelve. The top half of the sphere is the afterlife, and the bottom half is split between the mortal realm that Goku and friends call home and the Demon Realm that Dabra rules. Outside this main sphere (referred to as the “macrocosm” for convenience), the Kaiōshin live in their own separate realm, which revolves around the macrocosm like a moon. None of this is apparent from the manga, but original author Akira Toriyama eventually drew a map of the Dragon Ball world to help convey all of this.

In his Super Exciting Guide: Character Volume interview, Akira Toriyama explained that he designed the world in this way to make it easy for both himself and his readers to understand.

I think it’s something I came up with so both I and the readers would be able to easily grasp it. The big ball in the center is the world known as “this world” and “the afterlife”, and the one who watches over it from outside is Kaiōshin.
 — “Super Exciting Guide: Character Volume” (p. 92)

Toriyama first drew this map as a reference for the animation staff, and in fact his design of the macrocosm can be seen a bit during the Afterlife Tournament filler arc of the Dragon Ball Z TV series. He later revised the map for its inclusion in Daizenshuu 4, adding in the Kaiōshin Realm. Over the years since, versions of this map have appeared in various other guidebooks, including Daizenshuu 7, Dragon Ball Landmark, Super Exciting Guide: Character Volume, and Chōzenshū 1.

This complete map was originally background information that I drew at the request of the anime people, but I took this opportunity to add the Kaiōshin World, which was not included in the map before, to complete it. In truth, this complete world map is something I made after I finished drawing the story, to make everything consistent. (laughs)
 — “Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 4: World Guide” (p. 164)

Much like our definition of “macrocosm”, for the sake of clarity, the following are terms of our own usage for the purposes of this particular guide:

• Dragon World: the sum total of everything known to exist within the Dragon Ball series, including all twelve universes, the Omni-King’s palace, the World of Void, etc.
• Universe: one of the twelve universes that exists with the Dragon World; the majority of each universe is set within a crystalline sphere that we will refer to as a “macrocosm”, with a separate Kaiōshin Realm that revolves around the macrocosm like a moon.
• Macrocosm: a giant sphere that is divided up into an afterlife and living world. Strictly speaking only the composition of Universe 7’s macrocosm is known in detail, so the following only applies to Universe 7.
• Living World: the lower half of the macrocosm; it is divided up into outer space and the Demon Realm.
• Outer Space: the upper portion of the living world, consisting of galaxies full of stars and planets; beneath it sits the Demon Realm.
• Demon Realm: the lower portion of the living world, ruled by magic and evil. This realm is inhabited by demonic yet living beings, and is not to be confused with Hell, which is part of the afterlife.
• Dragon Ball Earth: The version of Earth that exists within the Dragon Ball series; both Universe 6 and Universe 7 have their own separate versions of Earth.
• Parallel Timelines: Alternate versions of the twelve universes created through time travel. Future Trunks inhabits a devastated Earth in a parallel timeline, but this is part of an alternate version of all twelve universes, and is not to be confused with how Universe 6 and 7 each contain their own version of Earth.

Twelve Universes

Beyond the single macrocosm observed for the majority of the Dragon Ball series, it is revealed in the 2013 theatrical film Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods that the “Dragon World” is currently comprised of twelve separate universes. Later it is revealed that there were originally 18 universes in total, but that Omni-King destroyed six of them when slightly offended. Of these twelve remaining universes, Beerus explains that Earth exists in the 7th universe, where he is the God of Destruction. Whis provides further information on this in Dragon Ball Super episode 28 when Champa, the 6th Universe’s God of Destruction, stops by to show off some delicious food to Beerus.

This is Universe 7 and Champa-sama came here from Universe 6. These two universes are nearly identical. Their relationship is like that of twins. All things usually have a front and a back – two counterparts. For example, Universes 1 and 12. Or Universes 2 and 11. The universes whose numbers add up to 13 are counterparts.

The “World” section in Chōzenshū 4 describes Goku and co.’s universe as a huge sphere, presumably referring to the macrocosm, saying that this universe is just one of twelve. This would seem to imply that each of the twelve universes are comprised of a similar, or nearly identical, macrocosm as described above.

This world has a spherical shape overall, and what’s more, according to the God of Destruction Beerus this vast universe itself is one of twelve; it is said that the universe where Goku and the gang have their adventures is classified as “Universe 7”.
 — “Dragon Ball Chōzenshū 4: Super Encyclopedia” (p. 34)

As Whis explains, any two of the twelve universes whose numbers add up to thirteen (13) are twins, or counterparts, of one another and therefore share many similarities. This is seen within the same episode where Vados, Champa’s attendant, searches Universe 6 for its version of Earth, but finds that it is now a barren sphere where humankind went extinct long ago due to some ridiculous war. The implication is that although counterpart universes are “twins”, they are not completely identical and so the same events will not always occur within both universes. This fact is further demonstrated during the team competition held between warriors from Universes 6 and 7, when Universe 6 Saiyan Cabba explains how the Saiyans of his universe still inhabit the original Saiyan homeworld Planet Sadla. While Vegeta confirms that a version of Planet Sadla used to exist in Universe 7 as well, according to him it was destroyed due to Saiyan in-fighting. Having retained their original home, the Universe 6 Saiyans remain plentiful and have evolved to no longer grow tails. Though they are a warrior-race like their Universe 7 counterparts, they do not steal planets and instead help to defeat evildoers. Vegeta also notes that Cabba’s outfit resembles what the Saiyans of Universe 7 used to wear prior to joining Freeza’s army; the style of armor now typically associated with the Universe 7 Saiyans was in fact first provided to them by Freeza.

The Dragon Ball Super TV series depicts all twelve universes as crystalline spheres broadly consistent with Akira Toriyama’s diagram of Universe 7. However, unlike Akira Toriyama’s original diagram, the TV series does not show these spheres divided into upper and lower halves, or having separate Kaiōshin Realms that revolve around the rest of the universe like a moon. However, chapter 16 of the Dragon Ball Super manga depicts Universe 10 looking almost exactly like the original diagram, complete with an afterlife on top and its own separate Kaiōshin Realm. One might assume then that this same design holds true for all universes, but that the TV version leaves out these details for the sake of convenience.

Each of the twelve universes are associated with a specific trait, and each set of paired universes often exhibit traits that are related in some way, such as Universe 1 being called the “Supreme Universe” while Universe 12 is the “Ultimate Universe”, or Universe 4 being “scheming” while Universe 9 is “underhanded”. On the other hand, Universe 3 is associated with “intelligence” while its counterpart Universe 10 is called the “Macho Universe” and focuses more on the physical side of things. A “mortal level” ranking is also assigned to each universe by the Omni-King, which is based on the average sentient level of the inhabited worlds within that given universe. Universe 7 is ranked second-to-last with a score of 3.18, with Universe 9 at the very bottom with an average level of 1.86. Universes with “mortal level” rankings of 7 or more are considered above average.

Omni-King’s Royal Palace

Somewhere outside the twelve universes lies Omni-King’s Royal Palace, which hovers atop a jellyfish-type object. The palace is constructed in the shape of 全 (zen), the kanji for “all” (used to write the “Zen” in Omni-King’s title), which is also present on the robe Omni-King wears. Surrounding the palace are twelve floating rock pillars, with one of the twelve universes hovering over each. Whis states in Dragon Ball Super episode 55 that the Omni-King’s palace is so far away from Beerus’ planet that it takes him two days to fly there. For comparison, Whis says it takes him about 26 minutes to reach North Kaiō’s planet from Beerus’ planet in episode 3.

The Afterlife

The “World View” section of Daizenshuu 7 divides the afterlife up into three rough areas: the lower third is Hell, ruled by King Enma; the middle third is the Enma Realm, also ruled by King Enma; and the upper third is the Kaiō Realm, ruled by the Dai Kaiō. The Enma Realm consists of Enma’s palace, the Serpent Road, and the Afterlife Airport, while the Kaiō Realm is comprised of the four Kaiō planets, Heaven, the afterlife sun, and the Dai Kaiō’s planet. For a more detailed visualization of the afterlife, see the following map.

Hell

Those who King Enma judge to be evil are sent to Hell. It consists of an extremely vast, rocky plain that takes up the entire lower portion of the afterlife, and is covered by the yellow clouds that surround Enma’s palace and the Serpent Road.

While Hell is never seen in the original manga, it is referred to a number of times. Akkuman, the devil who works for Uranai Baba (the “fortuneteller crone”), calls it his homeland; Daizenshuu 7 later expands on this statement, saying that devils are one of the native life-forms to Hell, but that there are others as well. Hell is again mentioned later in the series by the oni who guides Goku to the Serpent Road. He warns him to not fall off the road, because if he does he will fall into Hell and be unable to return. During the Majin Boo story arc, when Vegeta asks Piccolo if he will be able to meet Goku in the afterlife, Piccolo tells Vegeta that because he has killed too many innocent people, he will go to a different world than Goku when he dies. His body will become nothing, he will lose all his memories, and after his soul is cleansed, he will finally be reborn as a new life-form. Though Vegeta is ultimately spared this fate, this seems to be what happens to Majin Boo when he is reborn as Oob. This idea of Hell as a place where evil souls are cleansed before being reborn is very similar to the conception of Hell as seen in Buddhism.

Devil: Life-forms that live in Hell. However, [Devil] is not a general term for life-forms in Hell; it appears to refer to one race among many. Akkuman, who fought Goku in Devil’s Toilet in [Tankōbon] Volume 9, is of the Devil race.
 — “Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 7: Dragon Ball Large Encyclopedia” (p. 44)

Conversely, Hell is frequently featured in the TV series and movies. In Dragon Ball Z, despite warnings from the guide oni, Goku does end up falling down into Hell while asleep on the back of the Serpent Road’s street sweeper. Goku lands in Block 1 of Hell, which is portrayed as a cartoonish parody of the standard Japanese depictions of Hell, with lakes of blood and mountains of needles. There are also small hills that look like piles of rocks, and prickly, leaf-less trees. Instead of being in torment, the spirits here seem to be having a great time, going boating out on the lake of blood and taking leisurely hikes up the mountains of needles. This parody concept of Hell was devised by Akira Toriyama for the animation staff in a memo, along with Goku’s other various adventures in the afterlife on his way to train with Kaiō.

Block 1 of Hell is guarded by two oni: a red one named Gozu, and a blue one named Mezu. These two are plays on Ox-Head (Gozu) and Horse-Face (Mezu), the traditional guardians of Buddhist Hell. The Ensei Tree, which only King Enma is allowed to touch, grows in Block 1, Area 3. It bears peach-like fruit that are supposed to keep you full for 100 days, and which increase one’s power. Also in Block 1 is an exit from Hell, a tunnel connected to Enma’s desk. The yellow clouds which Goku passed right through on the way down act as a solid, impassible barrier when he tries to come back up, so Goku is forced to use the desk exit, and start running along the Serpent Road all the way from the beginning. Later, during the Freeza arc, the dead members of the Ginyu Special-Squad appear on Kaiō’s planet and fight Tenshinhan and the others, and are eventually knocked down into Hell. They land in the lake of blood, and the clouds prevent them from escaping.

During the Afterlife Tournament filler story arc of the Dragon Ball Z TV series, Cell teams up with Freeza and his cohorts in Hell, and they run wild. They defeat the various oni guards in Hell, but are all taken out single-handedly by Paikuhan, at which point they are locked up in prison cells. During this filler sequence, Cell and company are shown looking just as they did while alive, only with halos over their head, as were Recoom and the others during the earlier filler scene with the Ginyu Special-Squad. This seems to go against the manga, which states that at this point Freeza and company ought to be spirits with no bodies in the process of being cleansed and eventually reborn. It is possible that they were attempting to be cleansed just before they went on this rampage, but this may simply be giving the filler material too much credit for a story idea that is just meant to pad out material in the TV series.

During Dragon Ball Z movie 12, Goku leads Janenba down to Hell to fight, which looks very different due to all the distortions Janenba is causing in the afterlife. The lake of blood has been changed into floating prisms of blood, the landscape is dotted with weird, people-shaped stones, and bright jelly bean-like objects fill the sky. The place seems deserted, presumably because all the damned have escaped back into the living world. It is not clear where the oni are, though Janenba does find an oni‘s club at one point, which he converts into his signature sword. However, Vegeta’s spirit is still in Hell, with a body of some sort, but when Janenba is destroyed and the afterlife returns to normal, Vegeta quickly reverts to a spirit.

Later, in Dragon Ball GT, Hell has a very different design than in the Dragon Ball Z TV series. Instead of the cartoony, almost friendly version of Buddhist Hell previously depicted, it now looks like a black, barren wasteland. Mountains with demonic faces in them can be seen in the distance, and there are large cavernous areas. This difference in appearance could be because this is a different part of Hell than was seen previously (considering the place is over a million kilometers long), but this is really the least of the contradictions. While in the Dragon Ball Z TV series the souls of the damned are shown as looking like they did in life, just with halos, in Dragon Ball GT the damned look exactly the same as when they were alive, without even a halo to mark them as dead. It seems that in Dragon Ball GT, a halo has been changed from a generic marker of the dead to a marker of only the good dead. This means that Piccolo initially has a halo when he is in Heaven, but his halo vanishes when he tricks Enma into damning him to Hell.

In addition to the regular portions of Dragon Ball GT Hell, there is also the Bottom of Hell, which is where Freeza and Cell dump Goku down into with their Hell Buster attack. Here, Goku is subjected to various different forms of hell, such as being boiled alive, tickled incessantly, and frozen solid by a big freezing machine, all under the surveillance of an old crone. The freezing machine is used to freeze evil people in both Heaven and Hell, but it only works on the dead; the bodies of living people are too hot for the ice spirits that the machine emits. Goku is saved by this, and uses the machine to freeze Cell and Freeza, who he then accidentally breaks (though they are later seen all in one piece again, caged and being hauled away by oni). Goku manages to “kill” Freeza and Cell a number of times before this as well, but they simply regenerate, telling Goku that because they are already dead, they can not die again. This contradicts the manga’s notion that if a dead person dies once more, they will disappear from both the living world and afterlife.

The 2015 theatrical film Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection “F” depicted Freeza being tormented in what he refers to as “Earth’s Hell” (地球の地獄), a remarkably cheerful-looking realm that seems to sit beneath a lake inside a more traditionally dark, hellish landscape. Here, Freeza hangs in a cocoon from a tree in the middle of a large field of flowers, while fairies and stuffed animals play around him. In chapter 32 of the Dragon Ball Super manga, a narration box labels this Hell as being for “Freeza only”, and Freeza assures the incredulous Goku that for him nothing is more hellish than this place. It therefore seems likely that other sinners likewise receive individualized punishments and that not everybody in Hell hangs from a tree watching stuffed animal parades.

It is never explained why Freeza calls this place “Earth’s Hell”, but the term implies it is connected to the planet Earth in some way, and Freeza even believes that destroying Earth will ensure that he will never be trapped in Earth’s Hell again. This all seems difficult to reconcile with Akira Toriyama’s diagram of the cosmos, which places Hell at the bottom of the afterlife, completely separate from Earth. It is perhaps easiest to assume that Freeza is simply ignorant of the true makeup of the cosmos and incorrectly assumed his Hell was located on Earth.

The Enma Realm

The Enma Realm is the general term for King Enma’s palace and the surrounding area. Enma’s palace is located in the very center of the afterlife: above Hell but below Heaven and the Dai Kaiō’s planet, and between the four Kaiōs’ planets. It serves as the entrance to the afterlife for all dead souls. As Earth’s God explains to Goku, when anyone from any planet dies, their souls come to Enma’s palace to receive judgment determining their fate in the afterlife. Souls can always be seen in front of Enma’s palace waiting to be judged, lined up on a road whose origin point is never shown onscreen.

The front of Enma’s palace has a big sign reading “Well Come”; this was fixed to “Welcome” by the Majin Boo story arc, and the kanzenban release of the manga fixed it from the beginning (albeit so that it looks more like “Wel Come” than “Welcome”). Enma himself sits behind a gigantic desk, reading his grade-book that has the deeds of all the dead recorded in it. In the animated adaptation, Cell is shown being sent down to Hell by a portal that appears in front of Enma’s desk. Enma is assisted by numerous oni dressed as salary-men and wearing tiger-stripe ties.

Near Enma’s palace is the starting point for the Serpent Road, and the Afterlife Airport where planes can be taken to Heaven and the Dai Kaiō’s planet. The airport was referred to by Akira Toriyama as part of his map of the afterlife, but it only ever appears in the animated adaptation. In the Afterlife Tournament filler arc of Dragon Ball Z, the plane for Heaven is nice and fancy, but the one for the Dai Kaiō’s planet is old and rundown.

In the animated adaptation, the area around Enma’s palace includes the Café Uramesha, a café frequented by all manner of ghosts and goblins. The place is also visited by Uranai Baba, and it is here that the guide oni gives her Goku’s message that he should not be brought back to life for a year. In Dragon Ball Z movie 12, the Spirits Laundering Machine is near Enma’s palace as well. It is used to cleanse the evil from those spirits that Enma sends to Hell. Unfortunately, in the movie it explodes and covers the young oni in charge of it with concentrated evil, transforming him into Janenba.

The Serpent Road

The Serpent Road is one million kilometers in length, runs from Enma’s palace all the way to North Kaiō’s planet, and those who wish to train under Kaiō must cross it. As the name implies, the road is shaped like a giant serpent. It is a rather crooked road, twisting every which way, with a few loops here and there. The road’s path is surrounded by yellow clouds as far as the eye can see, which obscure Hell below it. When Goku first travels to Kaiō’s planet, it takes him six months to cross the road, but less than two days to return to Enma’s palace after receiving Kaiō’s training. Piccolo and the others later take only a month and a half to cross the road. Prior to this, the only person to have crossed the road in the last 100 million years was King Enma.

In the animated adaptation, the road’s halfway point is home to Jadōshin, the God of Serpent Road. Jadōshin is a gigantic serpent who resembles a living version of the road itself, and has haunted the road for 1,500 years. To lure in unsuspecting passersby, she disguises herself as the beautiful (and humanoid) Serpent Princess, who lives in a Japanese-style palace with her various servant girls. In reality, the palace itself and everyone inside it are all just part of Jadōshin’s massive body.

Five hundred years ago, Enma visited the Serpent Princess on his way to Kaiō’s, and she fell in love with him. The next man to visit her is Goku, who she also falls in love with; when she learns that he has a wife and kids, she transforms into her true form and tries to devour him. Goku tricks her into tying her huge serpent body into knots and escapes. Later, when Goku is rushing back across the Serpent Road to reach Earth in time, he scares the Serpent Princess’ servants when he noisily zips by the palace. A street sweeper car also appears on the Serpent Road in the animated adaptation to keep it clean. The oni who drives it lets Goku ride on the back, but he falls asleep and drops off the car into Hell.

Daizenshuu 7 states that Enma’s palace is the starting point for the roads leading to each of the Kaiōs’ planets, although no specifics are mentioned. Other than the Serpent Road, no other roads are ever shown on maps of the Dragon Ball afterlife, although logically it makes sense that there would be some way to get to the other three Kaiōs’ planets.

The Kaiō Realm

Each of the four Kaiō reside on their own personal planet, positioned at the afterlife’s four cardinal points. The only one of these planets seen in either the manga or animated adaptation is the North Kaiō’s planet. It is an extremely small planet that floats high above the tail end of the Serpent Road. The planet contains only North Kaiō’s one-room, dome-shaped house, a garage, a road that circles around the planet, North Kaiō’s car, and a few trees. Despite its small size, the planet has ten times the gravity of Earth, similar to Planet Vegeta (the Saiyans’ planet) and Zun (Pui-Pui’s home world). North Kaiō lives with his pet monkey Bubbles (and his cricket Gregory in the animated adaptation), spending his time counting the blades of grass, contemplating the heavens, and seeing how far he can pee. During the Cell Games the planet is destroyed by Cell’s self-destruct attack, forcing Kaiō to relocate to Heaven.

North Kaio’s planet was originally much larger. In a Q&A session within the manga’s “Full Color” release in Japan, author Akira Toriyama stated that Beerus is responsible for the planet’s current size:

It used to be so big that its diameter was about 100 times that of Kaiō’s current planet. Apart from the size it was completely the same as it is now, with nothing but grassy fields and roads. Kaiō-sama enjoyed his hobby, driving, but then one day Beerus, the God of Destruction, stopped by and they played a video game together (it was a car racing one). Beerus lost, and so the planet was destroyed by the peeved God of Destruction. Kaiō then took a large leftover fragment, whittled it down to a sphere, and built a road on it so that he could have fun driving there. This became Kaiō’s current planet.
 — Akira Toriyama, Dragon Ball Full Color: Saiyan Arc Volume #03

In the extended version of the 2013 theatrical film Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, the reason for Beerus destroying Kaiō’s original planet was changed to him getting angry after losing a game of hide-and-seek, while Dragon Ball Super episode 5 implies he destroyed it as a result of being served bad food during a visit 327 years earlier.

During the Afterlife Tournament filler arc in Dragon Ball Z, North Kaiō makes a bet with West Kaiō that if Goku beats Paikuhan, he will get West Kaiō’s planet (unfortunately, this scheme falls apart when Goku and Paikuhan are both disqualified). In Dragon Ball GT, he still seems to be in Heaven at the beginning of the series, but by the Super 17 arc he is at a new planet that looks just like his old one — it is unclear whether it is actually a (new) planet just for him or if the animation staff merely forgot his old planet had been destroyed. Although the other three Kaiōs’ planets are never seen in the series, they are drawn with striking resemblance to North Kaiō’s planet in Akira Toriyama’s map of the afterlife. While the series does not reveal how to reach the other Kaiōs’ planets, Daizenshuu 7 states that there are roads leading to each planet.

For the bonus Dragon Ball Super manga chapter in the Jump Victory Carnival 2015 attendee booklet, illustrator Toyotarō tells a brief, two-page story where Kaiō attempts to wish his planet back with new features, but Goku pops in saying it should be exactly the same as before (prompting Porunga to indeed restore the planet exactly as it had been before).

Heaven

Those who King Enma judge to be good are allowed to proceed to Heaven, a large planet directly above Enma’s palace. To reach Heaven, one must ride a special plane that takes off from an airport near Enma’s palace. This plane was first referenced as part of Akira Toriyama’s drawing of the afterlife, and while it did not appear in the manga, it was showcased in the animated adaptation. Heaven is briefly shown in the manga, as identified in the Daizenshuu, while Goku is shown training for the 25th Tenka’ichi Budōkai. Heaven is depicted as a pleasant, grassy place with rolling hills and a few round buildings. The sky has odd clouds and an unknown object (possibly Dai Kaiō’s planet) is visible at one point. With his planet destroyed and nowhere else to go, Kaiō remains in Heaven throughout the Majin Boo story arc. When Dabra is killed, King Enma decides to send him to Heaven on the logic that he would be too happy in Hell. While this fact is only ever mentioned in the manga, it is actually depicted in the animated adaptation.

In the animated adaptation, Videl, Bulma, and company look for Gohan here after being killed by Boo. Heaven is said to be as wide as the entire universe itself, and seems to consist mostly of an immense field of flowers. Videl and the other dead people are shown as looking the same as in life from the waist upward — with ghostly tails instead of legs — and with the standard halo. Dabra is shown as now being ridiculously nice and happy now, to the point that he freaks everyone else out. In Dragon Ball GT, Piccolo comes to Heaven after dying in the destruction of Earth, but he purposefully makes Enma send him to Hell to save Goku. Kaiō also seems to still be hanging around Heaven at the start of Dragon Ball GT.

The manga states that those sent to Hell are eventually reborn as new life-forms, but it is not clarified whether those sent to Heaven stay there forever or are eventually reincarnated as well. In the Buddhist conception of the afterlife, souls in Heaven are reborn after they use up all the good karma that they accumulated in life. Since the Dragon Ball afterlife seems to be largely based on the Buddhist afterlife, it is possible that this is how Heaven in Dragon Ball works as well.

Dai Kaiō’s Planet

The Dai (“Grand” or “Great”) Kaiō lives on a relatively small planet that floats above Heaven, and is therefore the highest point in the afterlife and the entire macrocosm. It is never seen or mentioned in the manga, but it is included as part of Akira Toriyama’s map of the afterlife. In the animated adaptation, the Dai Kaiō’s planet appears during the Afterlife Tournament arc. It is the home of the various great martial artists from the past who have been allowed to keep their bodies in the afterlife. They train here in the hopes of eventually being able to receive Dai Kaiō’s own personal training. Goku is taken by North Kaiō here after his death in the Cell Games to train (in the manga he is only ever shown training in Heaven). This is also where the Afterlife Tournament is held to commemorate North Kaiō’s death.

The Dai Kaiō lives in a large mansion, roughly located at what appears to be the planet’s north pole. The mansion features a mote-type circular waterway surrounding it, with obelisk-type monuments scattered around the planet. One of the many rooms inside this mansion contains an alternate dimension filled with small planets, on one of which is built an arena. It is here that the Afterlife Tournament takes place. In the animated adaptation, Majin Boo briefly appears on the Dai Kaiō’s planet and begins making a ruckus, but fortunately leaves for the Kaiōshin Realm before harming anyone.

The Kaiōshin Realm

The Kaiōshin Realm is, simply put, the Realm of the Kaiōshin. It is a special realm completely separate from the macrocosm that the afterlife, universe, and Demon Realm are all enclosed within. It is made up of a giant crystalline sphere, about a 10th the size of the macrocosm, and it revolves around the macrocosm like a moon. See the following map for a more detailed view of the Kaiōshin Realm.

Inside the Kaiōshin Realm are numerous suns (often depicted as moons in the TV series), and at the center is the Kaiōshin Planet. While the Dai Kaiō and four regular Kaiō live on separate planets separated by millions of kilometers, their superiors — the five Kaiōshin — all live together on this sacred world, which Kibito says not even the Dai Kaiō is permitted to enter. The only way to reach this realm is by teleportation; East Kaiōshin himself relies on Kibito’s Kai-Kai technique, while Goku uses his own teleportation and Boo gets here by copying Kibito-Shin’s technique.

The Kaiōshin’s planet seems to be devoid of any buildings, and consists simply of grassy plains, trees, small hills, and lakes. The only real landmark on the Kaiōshins’ planet is the Z Sword’s location. In contrast, it is shown during the “Future Trunks” story arc of Dragon Ball Super that the Kaiōshin planet of Universe 10 features an ornate building, with an open courtyard in the center, residence quarters around the exterior, and a large “kai” (界) kanji at the front gate. It is possible that the Kaiōshin of each universe are responsible for constructing their own residences, or that the residences on the Kaiōshin planet in Universe 7 were destroyed during the initial battle with Boo at the time Dai Kaiōshin was absorbed. The Elder Kaiōshin describes this planet as especially durable, so it would be possible for the planet to survive while any structures are destroyed, just as the planet was significantly damaged during the final battle with Boo.

The Kaiōshin Realm’s unique position outside the macrocosm enables the Kaiōshin to oversee both the afterlife and universe, although even their eyes cannot view the Demon Realm. More prosaically, Akira Toriyama states in Daizenshuu 4 that he drew the original version of the Dragon Ball cosmos map as background info for the anime staff, but did not include the Kaiōshin Realm at this point (presumably because it had not shown up in the story yet). It was only after Dragon Ball ended that Toriyama added the Kaiōshin Realm to the map, and its position as separate from everything else is probably because of the fact that it was tacked on later like this.

This complete map was originally background information that I drew at the request of the anime people, but I took this opportunity to add the Kaiōshin World, which wasn’t included in the map before, to complete it. In truth, this complete world map is something I made after I finished drawing the story, to make everything consistent. (laughs)
 — “Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 4: World Guide” (p. 169)

The Kaiōshin realm is so far removed from the macrocosm that East Kaiōshin and Kibito are astonished that they can sense Super Saiyan 3 Goku’s ki when he fights Boo on Earth. Despite this distance, the Kaiōshins’ godly eyes still enable them to oversee conditions in the macrocosm; in particular, Elder Kaiōshin likes to watch women as they change. In the TV series’ flashback showing Boo’s origin, the five Kaiōshin are shown living peacefully on their planet, fishing and goofing around.

Planet Kai-Shin

Planet Kai-Shin is located in an unknown part of the macrocosm, and is described as a larger version of the planets that each of the Kaiō live on. The planet is home to the gigantic “World Tree” (界樹; kaiju), whose fruit give birth to a race known as the Shin-jin (芯人), or “Core People”. The Shin-jin are neither male nor female, and their average lifespan is about 75,000 years. There are roughly 80 Shin-jin living on Planet Kai-Shin, and they spend their days living peacefully, studying various topics in a large castle. The Shin-jin are clairvoyant, have telepathic powers and the ability to materialize objects through mere thought. When one of the five Kaiō dies, a replacement is chosen from among the Shin-jin by lottery. Very rarely, the World Tree produces a golden fruit, from which a special type of Shin-jin is born, far more powerful and capable of living for millions of years. Only the Shin-jin born from the rare golden fruit are selected by lottery to serve as Kaiōshin.

When Akira Toriyama first explained the existence of the Shin-jin in his interview in the Super Exciting Guide: Character Volume, it was left unclear whether they had randomly taken it upon themselves to becomes gods, organizing and overseeing the cosmos, or if they had been strategically placed within the macrocosm and provided some direction for governance from a higher authority. However, with the appearance of Zen’ō and the revelation of twelve similarly-structured universes, it is possible that Zen’ō or the Great Priest played a significant role in establishing the governing structure and hierarchy seen in each universe. As each universe is shown to have at least a Kaiōshin, it could potentially be assumed that each universe must at least also have their own Planet Kai-Shin inhabited by Shin-jin. While yet to be officially stated anywhere, it is possible that however, and whenever, the universes were created, that a “World Tree” was planted in each universe and the Shin-jin first born from these trees were provided instructions as to how their specific universe should be organized and governed.

The Living World

The living world is the lower half of the macrocosm. It is perfectly sealed within opaque walls marked with strange patterns, in contrast to the transparent crystalline dome that covers the afterlife. The living world is split into two dimensions described as being like the two sides of a coin. The top half is outer space, overseen by the Kaiō and Kaiōshin, and run according to science (or what passes for it in the Dragon Ball world). The bottom half is the Demon Realm, where magic has more sway than science, and where the evil Makaiō and Makaiōshin are gods. Despite the two dimensions being polar opposites, when beings from either one die their spirits still travel to the afterlife with no distinction. There are apparently other dimensions that can be accessed from the living world (such as the Room of Spirit and Time, and Sugoroku Space in Dragon Ball GT), but it is unclear where they fit into the grand scheme of things. Click the following map for a more detailed view of the Living World.

Outer Space

Outer space is the upper portion of the living world, and is the realm where Goku and the other main characters live. It is the only portion of the Dragon Ball world that even remotely resembles reality, being based off of the actual universe. As such it consists of planets, stars, and other celestial bodies. Daizenshuu 7 explains that in the Dragon Ball universe a collection of planets forms a nebula, and a collection of nebulas forms a galaxy; in actual modern astronomy, nebula are collections of space dust and gas rather than planets, though the term was originally much broader and did include galaxies. Galaxies within Universe 7 are divided up into north, south, east, and west. Universe 10 seems to follow this same scheme, as the Dragon Ball Super manga states that Zamasu was previously Universe 10’s North Kaiō, but it is unknown how or if the other universes are divided up.

The universe is divided into four galaxies, and in addition to these, a chaotic place known as the Demon Realm also exists somewhere in the universe. The East, West, North, and South Galaxy sections [of the universe] only utilize Gods as administration units, and the lifeforms who reside in the Living World are able to freely travel the galaxies. Of course, that is supposing they have the technology…
 — “Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 7: Dragon Ball Large Encyclopedia” (p. 36)

These divisions serve as the governing areas for the gods, and so each one is overseen by the Kaiō and Kaiōshin with the corresponding cardinal direction in their title. As quoted above, Daizenshuu 7 states that the “galaxies” in Dragon Ball are merely administrational units used by the gods, and so there is nothing stopping races from travelling from one galaxy to another, provided they have the technology to do so. These “galaxies” do not have physical divisions between them, and can be considered as borders drawn on a map between countries. It is not clear what significance the cardinal directions could have in space, but the map of the Dragon Ball world shows what appear to be division lines between galaxies engraved into the living world’s outer walls.

According to Dragon Ball Super, Universe 7 currently contains only 28 planets inhabited by mortals (presumably meaning sentient life), although in his Super Exciting Guide: Character Volume interview, Akira Toriyama estimates that Freeza himself had controlled hundreds of planets, not including the ones he destroyed. Among these inhabited planets is Earth, located on the outskirts of the North Galaxy, which Daizenshuu 7 states is home to many beautiful planets similar to it. Other than Earth, there is little mention of what specific galaxies planets are located in. Based on dialogue, it is inferred that Planet Namek is located somewhere outside the North Galaxy. During the end of the Freeza arc, North Kaiō explains that he can not do anything to help revive Goku or Kuririn because they died on Plant Namek, which is outside of his region. Some translations make it sound as if Kaiō is referring to the area of death as being outside his jurisdiction, as it is Enma’s duty, but the word used for “region” (地域; chi’iki) in this instance implies a physical region. Furthermore, Bulma states shortly thereafter that Planet Namek is located outside of Kaiō’s region, though this line is left out in Viz’s English translation of the manga.

While it is never explicitly stated in which galaxy Planet Namek is located, some educated guesses about its location can be made. The maps of the Dragon Ball world that do showcase planets always place Earth and Namek as being on opposite sides of one of the galaxy-dividing lines etched into the macrocosm’s side. Based on this, it can be assumed that Namek would be in either the East or West Galaxy, but unfortunately it is not easily distinguishable exactly which galaxy it is in due to the side-perspective of the map. However, the Elder Kaiōshin does state that he warned the Namekians about using the Dragon Balls, and as he is the East Kaiōshin of 15 generations ago, it would be logical to infer that Planet Namek would therefore be in his region of the East Galaxy. The map of the Dragon Ball world also indicates that Planet Vegeta and Planet Freeza No. 79 are within the same galaxy as Planet Namek.

Of the limited information available about the South Galaxy, the majority of it is revealed in the animated adaptation. In the manga, the South Kaiō brags to North Kaiō about his pupil Papoi — supposedly the strongest fighter from the South Galaxy — but he quickly loses confidence that Papoi is a match for Goku after watching him train in Heaven. In Dragon Ball Z movie 13, Tapion’s home planet of Konats is said to be located in the South Galaxy, which is unfortunately also the galaxy Broli is said to destroy in Dragon Ball Z movie 8. In the Afterlife Tournament filler story arc, Olibu says that the South Galaxy must be very peaceful, since the Southern warrior Catepy’s special attack is to simply tickle people.

Very little is known about the history or creation of the universe. The only solid information available revolves around the destruction of various areas of the universe. As Kaiōshin explains in chapter 445, five million years ago when humans on Earth were just beginning to walk upright, Majin Boo destroyed hundreds of planets in the space of only a few years before being sealed away. The historical timeline of “Dragon World” events provided in Daizenshuu 7 shows that the Legendary Super Saiyan ravaged the universe 1,000 years ago. More recently, in Age 737 (12 years before Dragon Ball begins), Planet Vegeta was destroyed by Freeza. In Dragon Ball Z movie 9, Bojack and his crew are said to have rampaged throughout the universe before being sealed away by the four Kaiō at the edge of the universe. All of this destruction (to say nothing of Beerus’ actions) may be the reason Universe 7 is now down to only 28 inhabited planets.

Sentient Life

Virtually all sentient species in the “Dragon World” are humanoid. In fact, the term “human” (人間; ningen) is used throughout the series as a catch-all term for just about any sentient race, as opposed to just Earthlings. For example, in the manga Vegeta refers to regular Saiyans as “human” (in contrast to their Ōzaru form) and Ginyu describes himself as the kind of “human” who can control his battle power. More recently, Dragon Ball Super contains numerous instances of 人間 (ningen) being used as a general term to refer to any non-divine being from any planet or universe. As a result, it has become common for official translations of the series to translate the term as “mortal” to reflect this broader meaning, although even the gods of the “Dragon World” can be killed and should technically qualify as “mortal” themselves.

Many races throughout the universe also have the ability to transform, some for camouflage and some to conserve energy. Zarbon identifies himself and Freeza as belonging to this final group, which he describes as “transforming-type aliens”. According to Ginyu, races that are able to raise and lower their battle power at will without transforming are quite rare.

Law Enforcement

The Galactic Patrol is in charge of protecting the peace throughout the galaxy. Scout robots are occasionally sent out to observe planets (one in every hundred thousand flies on Earth is actually a scout robot), while other times actual members of the patrol themselves are dispatched. There are 38 members of the Galactic Patrol, which handle the limited number of planets with intelligent lifeforms. When Jaco applied, there were nine applicants for five open positions. The Galactic Patrol is overseen by the Galactic King. Members of the patrol have access to various knowledge databases that can be directly inserted into a patrolman’s brain, including alien languages and that of mechanical repair. Special ear receivers can hear the sounds an ant makes more than 100 meters away. Even older models of Galactic Patrol ships have gravity control devices and store energy inside the mass of a certain type of metal (with copper being an Earth equivalent).

Depending on the circumstances, Galactic Patrol duties may include saving a species or eradicating it; to accomplish the latter, the patrol may use an extinction bomb specially made to spread a virus affecting only a particular species. Jaco once mistakenly eradicated a planet’s population, much to the annoyance of his boss. By Galactic Patrol standards, Earth is not a particularly important planet; the Galactic King admits that even a klutz like Jaco is capable of handling a mission there, and gives Jaco the authority to eradicate its population if he so desires.

While Galactic Patrol members are capable fighters, they are no match for certain aliens such as adult Saiyans or Freeza, nor will their extinction bomb work against them. This fact was previously stated in Daizenshuu 7, prior to the appearance of the Galactic Patrol in the series proper.

A “Galactic Police Organization” exists in the universe. However, they lack the fighting ability to oppose Freeza and the Saiyans.
 — “Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 7: Dragon Ball Large Encyclopedia” (p. 44)

Additionally, the background information published in Akira Toriyama: The World Anime Special on Tullece’s henchmen states that Amond was originally a galactic criminal imprisoned by the Galactic Police on Planet Nutts before being freed by Tullece. There are also instances of interplanetary cooperation efforts in Dragon Ball GT, such as Planet Pital functioning as large hospital serving patients from many different planets.

Language

As stated in Daizenshuu 7, every sentient race throughout the universe speaks an established “universal official language” that allows them to communicate without issue. It is never elaborated on how this standard language originated, or why it is used on planets such as Earth, which do not have contact with other planets. Even gods are shown to speak this standard language among themselves, as do beings from the Demon World like Dabra.

Despite the existence of a standard language, there are also races that speak their own native languages, such as Namekian. In Dragon Ball chapter 252 when Freeza and co. attack Dende’s village, Muri starts out speaking to Freeza in Namekian, but Freeza cuts him off and tells him to instead “speak with words which we can understand”, since he knows they can. Supplemental Dragon Ball Z movie 5 information published in Weekly Shōnen Jump 1991 #25 states that Sauzer knows over 7,000 languages, so it can be assumed that there must be at least that many languages spoken throughout the universe. In spite of the fact that aliens and Earthlings speak the same language, they seem to have completely different alphabets and numeric systems, such as seen on unconverted scouters or screens in space ships.

Lord Zuno explains in Dragon Ball Super episode 31 that one must speak the divine “language of the gods” in order to make a wish with the Super Dragon Balls. Whis later translates Beerus’ wish into the language of the gods for Super Shenlong, which turns out to actually just be the universal official language spoken backwards, syllable by syllable. Outside of using the language of the gods to communicate with Super Shenlong, the gods are never shown speaking it among themselves.

Beerus’ Planet

Located somewhere within outer space, God of Destruction Beerus lives here with his attendant Whis. The planet has a pyramid motif, with the lower part resembling an inverted quadrangular pyramid and a number of spiraling buildings are built on top of it so that they enter a thick tree. The inside of the castle consists of Beerus’ sleeping chamber, a bathing area, and a few dining areas, with one surrounded by a huge aquarium. Beerus’ bed floats in the middle of the sleeping chamber, surrounded by numerous explosive alarm hourglasses. The landscape around the castle is well-vegetated with trees and features a courtyard area with gardens.

Although the exact location of Beerus’ planet is unknown, the geographical dictionary in Chōzenshū 4 says it is outer space (as opposed to the afterlife). Whis tells Beerus in Dragon Ball Super episode 3 that it will take them 26 minutes to reach North Kaiō’s planet from their own world, while later in episode 23, he explains to Goku that it will take them 35 minutes to get from there to Earth.

The Demon Realm

The Demon Realm is the lower half of the living world, a dimension that exists on the reverse side of outer space. It is not to be confused with Hell, which exists in the afterlife. According to Daizenshuu 7, the Demon Realm is a chaotic place where magic has more influence than science. The Kaiō and Kaiōshin themselves do not really understand the Demon Realm, as not even the gods’ eyes can reach it. As a result, not much is known about it other then that it is the home of evil life-forms. Daizenshuu 7 recounts these life-forms interfering with the peace of the universe’s planets. In fact, it states that one of the factors in the 43 nations of the Dragon Ball Earth unifying into a single world state was to guard against such threats from the Demon Realm.

Similar to the divisions of outer space into four cardinal directions, the Demon Realm is divided into several different spatial areas, though it is unknown how many there are or what these divisions are based on. All of these areas are unified under the rule of Dabra, the king of the Demon Realm, who according to Kaiōshin was its strongest resident until being brainwashed by the wizard Bobbidi into becoming his servant. Dabra has been working for Bobbidi for at least the last 300 years and it is not known if anyone else has taken control of the Demon Realm in Dabra’s absence.

According to Akira Toriyama in his Super Exciting Guide: Character Volume interview, the Demon Realm has its own special gods, the “Makaiō” and “Makaiōshin”. They are the antitheses of the Kaiō and Kaiōshin, and govern evil. For more information about the Makaiō and Makaiōshin, visit the “God Hierarchy” section of this guide.

The Demon Realm is never officially shown in the manga, but when Gohan faces off against Dabra, Bobbidi teleports them to some different world, one of rocky plains and blood-red water. Since Bobbidi transported his other henchmen Pui-Pui and Yakon to their respective home worlds during their fights with Goku and company, it is possible that this is actually the Demon Realm. When Dabra dies, King Enma sends him to Heaven on the reasoning that he would be happy to go to Hell. This implies that Hell and the Demon Realm are similar, and in fact the place where Gohan and Dabra fight does somewhat resemble Hell as seen in the animated adaptation.

The Demon Realm is featured in Dragon Ball episode 81, when Goku travels there through the Demon Realm Gate in order to rescue Princess Misa, who was kidnapped by Shura, the martial arts master of the Demon Realm. This reference is made years before the Demon Realm was ever mentioned in the manga, although it should be noted that the “Demon World” is a fairly generic term that pops up in numerous manga and anime series, so its use here is likely a coincidence. In the episode Goku visits a village being attacked nightly by beings from the Demon Realm. In another premonition of things to come, the inhabitants of the Demon Realm are called majin in this episode, with females being called majo, literally “demon woman” but generally used to mean “witch”. These fiends are coming to mortal realm through the Demon Realm Gate, a portal in a cave linking the living world to the afterlife. This portal is only supposed to be used by grim reapers, who are authorized to do so by King Enma and God.

This filler version of the Demon Realm has several inconsistencies between the Demon Realm that later figures in the Majin Boo arc (such as the Demon Realm apparently being part of the afterlife), as would be expected from filler material that existed many years before the original author would independently visit such types of ideas.

Dragon Ball
Created by	Akira Toriyama
Original work	Dragon Ball (1984–1995)
Owner	Bird Studio/Shueisha
Years	1984–present
Print publications
Book(s)	Companion books
Comics	Manga
Films and television
Film(s)	List of films
Short film(s)	Yo! Son Goku and His Friends 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–present)
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
https://en.dragon-ball-official.com/

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 21 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, and 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 over 160 million copies sold in Japan and 350 million copies sold worldwide,^{[1][2][3][4][5]} making it one of the best-selling manga series. Reviewers have praised the art, characterization, and humor 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.

Setting[edit]

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 the Saiyan Son Goku; upon meeting Bulma at the beginning of the series, the two embark on an adventure to gather the seven Dragon Balls, a set of orbs that summon the wish-granting dragon Shenlong.^[ch. 1] Goku later receives martial arts training from Kame-Sen’nin, meets his lifelong friend Kuririn, and enters the «Strongest Under the Heavens» Martial Arts Tournament to fight the world’s strongest warriors. When the Demon 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 is revived after training in the afterlife under the tutelage of North Kaio to combat the other incoming Saiyans, Nappa and Vegeta. He later becomes a Super Saiyan and defeats the powerful alien tyrant Freeza; 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^[6] composed of twelve^{[N 1]} numbered universes, with the majority of the Dragon Ball series taking place in Universe 7 (第７宇宙, Dai-Nana Uchū, lit. «Number Seven Universe»). Each universe is ruled by a number of benevolent and malevolent deities, respectively called Kaioshin and Gods of Destruction who are appointed by a higher being called the Grand Zeno, who watches over the multiverse.

Production[edit]

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.^[7][8][9] This led to Toriyama creating the 1983 one-shot manga Dragon Boy, which he later redeveloped into Dragon Ball.^[10] Toriyama loosely modeled the plot and characters of Dragon Ball on the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West,^[11][10] with Goku being Sun Wukong («Son Goku» in Japanese), Bulma as Tang Sanzang, Oolong as Zhu Bajie, and Yamcha being Sha Wujing.^[12] Toriyama wanted to create a story with the basic theme of Journey to the West, but with «a little kung fu»^[13] by combining the novel with elements from the kung fu films of Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee.^[14] 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,^[7] and the fighting scenes were influenced by Jackie Chan movies.^[15][12] 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.^[13] 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.^[16][17]

He originally thought it would last about a year or end once the Dragon Balls were collected.^[18] 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.^[19] 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.^[20] 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.^[21] 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.^[20] Toriyama was also inspired by the jinn (genies) from The Arabian Nights.^[22]

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.^[12] 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 which enemies appear very fast as the player ascends a tower (the game was in turn inspired by Jackie Chan’s Wheels on Meals and Bruce Lee’s Game of Death). He then created Piccolo Daimao as a truly evil villain, and as a result called that arc the most interesting to draw.^[12]

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.^[23] 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.»^[12] Finding the escalating enemies difficult, he created the Ginyu Force to add more balance to the series. When Toriyama created the Super Saiyan (超(スーパー)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.^[24] 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.^[25] Dragon Ball Z anime character designer Tadayoshi Yamamuro also used Bruce Lee as a reference for Goku’s Super Saiyan form, stating that, when he «first becomes a Super Saiyan, his slanting pose with that scowling look in his eyes is all Bruce Lee.»^[26] Toriyama later added time travel 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.^[12] After Cell’s death, Toriyama intended for Gohan to replace Goku as the series’ protagonist, but later felt the character was not suited for the role and changed his mind.^[12]

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.^[27] 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.^[28] When including fights in the manga, Toriyama had the characters go to uninhabited locations to avoid difficulties in drawing residents and destroyed buildings.^[20] 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.^{[15][13][18][29]} 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.^[15] 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.^[28] He also once said that his goal for the series was to tell an «unconventional and contradictory» story.^[27] 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.»^[30]

Manga[edit]

Written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama, Dragon Ball was serialized in the manga anthology Weekly Shōnen Jump from December 3, 1984 to June 5, 1995,^[31][32] when Toriyama grew exhausted and felt he needed a break from drawing. The 519 individual chapters were published into 42 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha from September 10, 1985 through August 4, 1995.^[33][34][35] Between December 4, 2002 and April 2, 2004, the chapters were re-released in a collection of 34 kanzenban volumes, which included a slightly rewritten ending, new covers, and color artwork from its Weekly Shōnen Jump run.^[36][37] The February 2013 issue of V Jump, which was released in December 2012, announced that parts of the manga will be fully colored and re-released in 2013.^[38] Twenty volumes, beginning from chapter 195 and grouped by story arcs, were released between February 4, 2013 and July 4, 2014.^[39][40] Twelve volumes covering the first 194 chapters were published between January 4 and March 4, 2016.^[41][42] A sōshūhen edition that aims to recreate the manga as it was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump with color pages, promotional text, and next chapter previews, was published in eighteen volumes between May 13, 2016 and January 13, 2017.^[43][44]

Spin-offs[edit]

Another manga penned by Ōishi, the three-chapter Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock that revolves around Bardock, Goku’s father, was published in the monthly magazine V Jump from August and October 2011.^[45]

The final chapter of Toriyama’s 2013 manga series Jaco the Galactic Patrolman revealed that it is set before Dragon Ball, with several characters making appearances.^[46] Jaco‘s collected volumes contain a bonus Dragon Ball chapter depicting Goku’s mother.^[47]

In December 2016, a spin-off manga titled Dragon Ball Side Story: The Case of Being Reincarnated as Yamcha began in Shueisha’s Shōnen Jump+ digital magazine. Written and illustrated by Dragon Garow Lee, it is about a high school boy who after an accident wakes up in the body of Yamcha in the Dragon Ball manga.^[48]

Crossovers[edit]

Toriyama also created a short series, Neko Majin (1999–2005), that became a self-parody of Dragon Ball.^[49] In 2006, a crossover between Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kōen-mae Hashutsujo (or Kochikame) and Dragon Ball by Toriyama and Kochikame author Osamu Akimoto appeared in the Super Kochikame (超こち亀, Chō Kochikame) manga.^[50] That same year, Toriyama teamed up with Eiichiro Oda to create a crossover chapter of Dragon Ball and One Piece titled Cross Epoch.^[51]

Reception[edit]

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

Market(s)	Publisher	Volume sales/circulation	As of	Ref
Japan	Shueisha	160,000,000+	2016	[52][53]
Overseas (40+ countries)		190,000,000[d]		[54][55][56][57][58]
France	Glénat Editions	35,000,000+	2019	[59]
South Korea	Seoul Cultural Publishers	22,400,000+[c]	2009	[61]
Spain	Planeta deAgostini	20,000,000	2013	[62]
Italy	Star Comics	16,000,000+	2017	[63]
Hong Kong	Culturecom	14,700,000+	2022	[64]
China	China Children’s Press & Publication Group	10,000,000+[b]	2013	[66][67]
Taiwan	Tong Li Publishing	10,000,000+[e]	2009	[68]
Germany	Carlsen Verlag	8,000,000+	2015	[69][70][71]
Brazil	Conrad Editora	6,000,000	2002	[72]
United States	Viz Media	2,185,000+	2016	[73]
Denmark	Carlsen Verlag	1,500,000+	2007	[74][75]
Sweden	Bonnier Carlsen	1,300,000	2006	[75]
Finland	Sangatsu Manga	500,000	2009	[76][77]
Poland	Japonica Polonica Fantastica	420,000+	2008	[78]
United Kingdom	Gollancz / Viz Media	78,554	2010	[79]
Vietnam	Kim Đồng Publishing House	60,000+[f]	2009	[80]
Other Countries (24+ countries)		41,856,446[g]		[81][82][83][84][85]
Worldwide		260,000,000[h]

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.^[98][99] 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.^{[98][99][100]} During Dragon Ball‘s serialisation between 1984 and 1995, Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine had a total circulation of over 2.9 billion copies,^[101][i] with those issues generating an estimated ¥554 billion ($6.9 billion) in sales revenue.^[i]

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.^[102] It sold over 150 million copies in Japan by 2008, making it the best-selling manga ever at the time.^[103] 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.^[104] Dragon Ball‘s tankobon volumes sold 159.5 million copies in Japan by February 2014,^[105] and have sold over 160 million copies in Japan as of 2016.^[53]

The manga is similarly popular overseas, having been translated and released in over 40 countries worldwide.^[106] The total number of tankōbon volumes sold have reached 350 million copies worldwide.^{[107][108][109][110][111]} 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.^[j][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.^[112] 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.»^[113] Goku’s journey and his ever-growing strength resulted in the character winning «the admiration of young boys everywhere».^[11] 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.^[114][115]

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.»^[116] He says the series «turns from a gag/adventure manga to an nearly-pure fighting manga»,^[116] 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.^[117] Thompson also called Toriyama’s art influential and cited it as a reason for the series’ popularity.^[116] 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.^[118] 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.^[118] 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.»^[119]

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».^[120] 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.»^[102] 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.^[121] 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.^[122] 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.^[123]

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.^[124] Commenting on the issue, Susan J. Napier explained it as a difference in culture.^[124] After the ban, Viz reluctantly began to censor the series to keep wide distribution.^[125] However, in 2001, after releasing three volumes censored, Viz announced Dragon Ball would be uncensored and reprinted due to fan reactions.^[125] 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.»^[124]

Anime[edit]

Additionally, Dragon Ball is an anime television metaseries. Dragon Ball (1986-89), Dragon Ball Z (1989-96), and Dragon Ball Super (2015-18) are set in a uniform main continuity, while Dragon Ball GT (1996-97), and Super Dragon Ball Heroes (since 2018) explore several alternate continuities.

Dragon Ball[edit]

Toei Animation produced an anime television series based on the first 194 manga chapters, also titled Dragon Ball. The series premiered in Japan on Fuji Television on February 26, 1986 and ran until April 19, 1989, lasting 153 episodes.^[10] It is broadcast in 81 countries worldwide.^[126]

Dragon Ball Z[edit]

Instead of continuing the anime as Dragon Ball, Toei Animation decided to carry on with their adaptation under a new name and asked Akira Toriyama to come up with the title. Dragon Ball Z (ドラゴンボールZ(ゼット), Doragon Bōru Zetto, commonly abbreviated as DBZ) picks up five years after the first series left off and adapts the final 325 chapters of the manga. It premiered in Japan on Fuji Television on April 26, 1989, taking over its predecessor’s time slot, and ran for 291 episodes until its conclusion on January 31, 1996.^[10] Two television specials based on the Z series were aired on Fuji TV in Japan. The first, The One True Final Battle ~The Z Warrior Who Challenged Frieza – Son Goku’s Father~, renamed Bardock – The Father of Goku by Funimation, was shown on October 17, 1990. The second special, Defiance in the Face of Despair!! The Remaining Super-Warriors: Gohan and Trunks, renamed The History of Trunks by Funimation, is based on a special chapter of the original manga and aired on February 24, 1993.

Dragon Ball GT[edit]

Dragon Ball GT (ドラゴンボールGT(ジーティー), Doragon Bōru Jī Tī, G(rand) T(ouring)^[127]) premiered on Fuji TV on February 7, 1996 and ran until November 19, 1997 for 64 episodes.^[10] Unlike the first two anime series, it is not based on Akira Toriyama’s original Dragon Ball manga,^[128] being created by Toei Animation as a sequel to the series or as Toriyama called it, a «grand side story of the original Dragon Ball.«^[127] Toriyama designed the main cast, the spaceship used in the show, the design of three planets, and came up with the title and logo. In addition to this, Toriyama also oversaw production of the series, just as he had for the Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z anime. The television special episode, Goku’s Side Story! The Proof of his Courage is the Four-Star Ball, or A Hero’s Legacy as Funimation titled it for their dub, aired on March 26, 1997, between episodes 41 and 42, serving as a kind of precursor to the epilogue to the series shown at the end of episode 64.

Dragon Ball Z Kai[edit]

In February 2009, Dragon Ball Z celebrated its 20th anniversary, with Toei Animation announcing that it would broadcast a re-edited and remastered version of the Dragon Ball Z anime under the name Dragon Ball Kai (ドラゴンボール改, Doragon Bōru Kai, lit. «Dragon Ball Revised»). The footage would be re-edited to follow the manga more closely, eliminating scenes and episodes which were not featured in the original manga, resulting in a more faithful adaptation, as well as in a faster-moving, and more focused story.^[129] The episodes were remastered for HDTV, with rerecording of the vocal tracks by most of the original cast, and featuring updated opening and ending sequences. On April 5, 2009, the series premiered in Japan airing in Fuji TV.^[130][131] Dragon Ball Z Kai reduced the episode count to 159 episodes (167 episodes internationally), from the original footage of 291 episodes. Damaged frames were removed, resulting in some minor shots being remade from scratch in order to fix cropping, and others to address continuity issues.^[132] The majority of the international versions, including Funimation Entertainment’s English dub, are titled Dragon Ball Z Kai.^[133][134]

Dragon Ball Super[edit]

On April 28, 2015, Toei Animation announced Dragon Ball Super (ドラゴンボール超, Doragon Bōru Sūpā), the first all-new Dragon Ball television series to be released in 18 years. It debuted on July 5 and ran as a weekly series at 9:00 am on Fuji TV on Sundays until its series finale on March 25, 2018 after 131 episodes.^[135] Masako Nozawa reprises her roles as Goku, Gohan, and Goten. Most of the original cast reprise their roles as well.^[136][137] Koichi Yamadera and Masakazu Morita also reprise their roles, as Beerus and Whis, respectively.^[137]

The story of the anime is set four years after the defeat of Majin Buu, when the Earth has become peaceful once again. Akira Toriyama is credited as the original creator, as well for «original story & character design concepts.»^[138] It is also being adapted into a parallel manga.^[139]

Super Dragon Ball Heroes[edit]

In 2018, an anime to promote the Super Dragon Ball Heroes card and video game series was announced with a July 1 premiere.^[140] The series’ announcement included a brief synopsis:

Trunks returns from the future to train with Goku and Vegeta. However, he abruptly vanishes. The mysterious man «Fu» suddenly appears, telling them that Trunks has been locked up on the «Prison Planet», a mysterious facility in an unknown location between universes. The group searches for the Dragon Balls to free Trunks, but an unending super battle awaits them! Will Goku and the others manage to rescue Trunks and escape the Prison Planet?

Other installments[edit]

The short film Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!! was created for the Jump Super Anime Tour,^[141] which celebrated Weekly Shōnen Jump‘s 40th anniversary, and debuted on September 21, 2008. A short animated adaptation of Naho Ōishi’s Bardock spinoff manga, Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock, was shown on December 17–18, 2011 at the Jump Festa 2012 event.^[142]

A two-episode original video animation (OVA) titled Dragon Ball Z Side Story: Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans was created in 1993 as strategy guides for the Famicom video game of the same name.^[143] A remake titled Dragon Ball: Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans was created as a bonus feature for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 video game Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2, which was released on November 11, 2010.^[144]

A two-part hour-long crossover special between Dragon Ball Z, One Piece and Toriko, referred to as Dream 9 Toriko & One Piece & Dragon Ball Z Super Collaboration Special!! aired on April 7, 2013.^[145]

Reception[edit]

The anime adaptations have also been very well-received and are better known in the Western world than the manga, with Anime News Network saying, «Few anime series have mainstreamed it the way Dragon Ball Z has. To a certain generation of television consumers its characters are as well known as any in the animated realm, and for many it was the first step into the wilderness of anime fandom.»^[146] In a survey conducted by Oricon, «Japanese anime that I think is world-class» and «world-class Manga & Anime» «Dragon Ball» was selected as No. 1 with an overwhelming number of votes in both surveys^[147][148].In 2000, satellite TV channel Animax together with Brutus, a men’s lifestyle magazine, and Tsutaya, Japan’s largest video rental chain, conducted a poll among 200,000 fans on the top anime series, with Dragon Ball coming in fourth.^[149] «Dragon Ball» won first place in the «100 Best Anime in Japan that has advanced to the world» questionnaire on TV Asahi ‘s » Decision! This is Japan’s Best «.^[150] TV Asahi conducted two polls in 2005 on the Top 100 Anime, Dragon Ball came in second in the nationwide survey conducted with multiple age-groups and in third in the online poll.^[151][152]

Dragon Ball is one of the most successful franchises in animation history.^[153] The anime series is broadcast in more than 80 countries worldwide.^[126] In Japan, the first sixteen anime films up until Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon (1995) sold 50 million tickets and grossed over ¥40 billion ($501 million) at the box office, in addition to selling over 500,000 home video units, by 1996.^[154][155] Later DVD releases of the Dragon Ball anime series have topped Japan’s sales charts on several occasions.^[156][157] In the United States, the anime series sold over 25 million DVD units by January 2012,^[158] and has sold more than 30 million DVD and Blu-ray units as of 2017.^[153] In Latin America, public screenings of the Dragon Ball Super finale in 2018 filled public spaces and stadiums in cities across the region, including stadiums holding tens of thousands of spectators.^[159]

Dragon Ball Z also proved to be a rating success in the United States, outperforming top shows such as Friends and The X-Files in some parts of the country in sweeps ratings during its first season.^[160] The premiere of season three of Dragon Ball Z in 1999, done by Funimation’s in-house dub, was the highest-rated program ever at the time on Cartoon Network.^[161] In 2002, in the week ending September 22, Dragon Ball Z was the #1 program of the week on all of television with tweens 9-14, boys 9-14 and men 12-24, with the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday telecasts of Dragon Ball Z ranked as the top three programs in all of television, broadcast or cable, for delivery of boys 9-14.^[162] Dragon ball GT has also had high ratings^[163] In 2001, it was reported that the official website of Dragon Ball Z recorded 4.7 million hits per day and included 500,000+ registered fans.^[164] Dragon Ball Z topped the Lycos 50 list of ‘most searched’ items for the second consecutive year — the first time that any topic has ever been able to repeat its dominance over a two-year period.^[165] Dragon Ball ranked second overall in the search number ranking for the past 10 years released by LYCOS in 2005.^[166] and ranked 3rd in Yahoo! in 2002 with Playstation 2 topping the list^[167] Even after it ended, the «Dragon Ball» series continues to maintain a high level of popularity, surpassing that of new anime, and is also often being rebroadcast, making the «Dragon Ball» series Funimation’s most important anime license^[168] The audience rating of the first Dragon ball Kai episode on Nicktoons is the highest since the station opened^[169]

Carl Kimlinger of Anime News Network summed up Dragon Ball as «an action-packed tale told with rare humor and something even rarer—a genuine sense of adventure.»^[170] Both Kimlinger and colleague Theron Martin noted Funimation’s reputation for drastic alterations of the script, but praised the dub.^[170][171] However, some critics and most fans of the Japanese version have been more critical with Funimation’s English dub and script of Dragon Ball Z over the years. Jeffrey Harris of IGN criticized the voices, including how Freeza’s appearance combined with the feminine English voice left fans confused about Freeza’s gender.^[172] Carlos Ross of T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews considered the series’ characters to be different from stereotypical stock characters and noted that they undergo much more development.^[173] Despite praising Dragon Ball Z for its cast of characters, they criticized it for having long and repetitive fights.^[174]

Dragon Ball Z is well-known, and often criticized, for its long, repetitive, dragged-out fights that span several episodes, with Martin commenting «DBZ practically turned drawing out fights into an art form.»^[175] However, Jason Thompson of io9 explained that this comes from the fact that the anime was being created alongside the manga.^[176] Dragon Ball Z was listed as the 78th best animated show in IGN’s Top 100 Animated Series,^[177] and was also listed as the 50th greatest cartoon in Wizard magazine’s Top 100 Greatest Cartoons list.^[178]

Harris commented that Dragon Ball GT «is downright repellent», mentioning that the material and characters had lost their novelty and fun. He also criticized the GT character designs of Trunks and Vegeta as being goofy.^[172] Zac Bertschy of Anime News Network also gave negative comments about GT, mentioning that the fights from the series were «a very simple childish exercise» and that many other anime were superior. The plot of Dragon Ball GT has also been criticized for giving a formula that was already used in its predecessors.^[179]

Other media[edit]

Anime films[edit]

Twenty animated theatrical films based on the Dragon Ball series have been released in Japan. The most recent films, Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods (2013), Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’ (2015), Dragon Ball Super: Broly (2018), and Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero (2022), were produced as full-length feature films and were given stand-alone theatrical releases in Japan (as well as limited theatrical releases in the U.S.). They’ve also been the first movies to have original creator Akira Toriyama deeply involved in their production; Battle of Gods and Resurrection ‘F’ were remade into the first and second arcs of the Dragon Ball Super anime, which told the same stories as the two films in expanded detail.^[180][181] The 1996 feature film, Dragon Ball: The Path to Power, was also a full-length theatrical release with a running time of 80 minutes, and was produced to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the anime as a re-imagining of the first few arcs of the series.

All previous films were mostly below feature length (around 45–60 minutes each), making them only slightly longer than one or two episodes of the TV series; this is due to them being originally shown as back-to-back presentations alongside other Toei film productions. These films are also mostly alternate re-tellings of certain story arcs (like The Path to Power), or extra side-stories that do not correlate with the continuity of the series. The first three films, along with The Path to Power, are based on the original Dragon Ball anime series. The remaining thirteen older films are based on Dragon Ball Z. The first five films were shown at the Toei Manga Festival (東映まんがまつり, Tōei Manga Matsuri), while the sixth through seventeenth films were shown at the Toei Anime Fair (東映アニメフェア, Toei Anime Fea).

Live-action film[edit]

An American live-action film titled Dragonball Evolution was produced by 20th Century Fox after it acquired the feature film rights to the Dragon Ball franchise in March 2002. Previous to the film, two unofficial live-action films had been produced decades prior. The first was a Korean film titled Dragon Ball: Ssawora Son Goku, Igyeora Son Goku (드래곤볼 싸워라 손오공 이겨라 손오공; Deulaegonbol Ssawola Son Ogong Igyeola Son Ogong; lit. Dragon Ball: Fight Son Goku, Win Son Goku), while the second was a Taiwanese film titled Dragon Ball: The Magic Begins (新七龍珠; Xīn qī lóng zhū), which was also dubbed in English.^[182][183] The film was directed by James Wong and produced by Stephen Chow, it was released in the United States on April 10, 2009.^[183][184] The film was meant to lead into sequels,^[185][186]
which were cancelled, after the film flopped at the box office and became universally heralded as one of the worst adaptations of all time, being considered by the fans as being unfaithful to the source material.^[187] Franchise creator Akira Toriyama also criticized the film adding he was completely left out of the creative process, despite having himself offered to help, going as far as saying: «the result was a movie, I couldn’t even call Dragon Ball«.^[188] Years after its release, the writer of the film, Ben Ramsey, released a public apology in which he admitted to have written the film «chasing for a payday» instead of «as a fan of the franchise».^[189][190]

With the news of 20th Century Fox selling itself, its assets; which include the film rights to the Dragon Ball franchise, will now be owned by its purchaser, The Walt Disney Company.^[191] Jackie Chan had openly expressed interest in adapting the series into a live action movie.^[192]

Theme park attractions[edit]

«Dragon Ball Z: The Real 4D» debuted at Universal Studios Japan in the summer of 2016. It features a battle between Goku and Freeza. Unlike most Dragon Ball animation, the attraction is animated with CGI. A second attraction titled «Dragon Ball Z: The Real 4-D at Super Tenkaichi Budokai» debuted at Universal Studios Japan in the summer of 2017, which featured a battle between the heroes and Broly.

Video games[edit]

The Dragon Ball franchise has spawned multiple video games across various genres and platforms. Earlier games of the series included a system of card battling and were released for the Famicom following the storyline of the series.^[193] Starting with the Super Famicom and Mega Drive, most of the games were from the fighting genre or RPG (Role Playing Game), such as the Super Butoden series.^[194] The first Dragon Ball game to be released in the United States was Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout for the PlayStation in 1997.^[195] For the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable games the characters were redone in 3D cel-shaded graphics. These games included the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai series and the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi series.^[196][197] Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit was the first game of the franchise developed for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.^[198] Dragon Ball Xenoverse was the first game of the franchise developed for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.^[199][200] A massively multiplayer online role-playing game called Dragon Ball Online was available in Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan until the servers were shut down in 2013.^[201] A few years later fans started recreating the game. Today, «Dragon Ball Online Global» is a new, European version of Dragon Ball Online and it is being developed, while open beta server is running.^[202]

The mobile game Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle (2015) has received over 350 million downloads worldwide, as of 2021.^[203] A notable recent release is Dragon Ball FighterZ (2018), a fighting game developed by Arc System Works. The game received massive fan and critical acclaim for its fast paced frantic 3v3 battles and great visuals, also winning Best Fighting Game of 2018 at The Game Awards^[204] and many other awards and other nominations. It also has a large eSports scene, where it is one of the most popular fighting games.^[159] It also did very well commercially, selling 4 million units across all platforms.^[205]

Merchandise[edit]

Dragon Ball merchandise sales

Period	Retail sales	Notes	Ref
1989 to 2011	$5 billion	Dragon Ball Z merchandise	[206]
January 2012 to March 2012	¥2.7 billion ($34 million)	Bandai Namco toys only	[207][208]
April 2012 to March 2013	¥4.8 billion ($60 million)	Bandai Namco toys only	[209]
April 2013 to March 2014	¥6.4 billion ($66 million)
April 2014 to March 2015	¥5.8 billion ($55 million)	Bandai Namco toys only	[210]
April 2015 to March 2017	¥21.9 billion ($201 million)	Bandai Namco toys only	[211][212]
April 2017 to December 2018	¥29.7 billion ($269 million)	Bandai Namco toys only	[213][208]
2019	$1.95 billion+	Licensed merchandise	[214]
January 2020 to December 2020	¥15 billion ($146 million)	Bandai Namco toys only	[208][215]
Total known sales	$7.781 billion+

In 1994, the licensee Bandai earned $140 million annually from sales of licensed Dragon Ball toys, video games and other character goods in Japan.^[216] In 1996, Dragon Ball Z grossed $2.95 billion in merchandise sales worldwide.^[217] As of early 1996, more than 100 companies outside Japan applied for character goods .^[218]Bandai sold over 2 billion Dragon Ball Carddass cards in Japan by 1998,^[219] and over 1 million Dragon Stars figurines in the Americas and Europe as of 2018.^[220] In 2000, Burger King sponsored a toy promotion to distribute 20 million Dragon Ball Z figurines across North America.^[221] By 2011, the franchise had generated $5 billion in merchandise sales.^[206] In 2012, the franchise grossed ¥7.67 billion ($96.13 million) from licensed merchandise sales in Japan.^[222]

Soundtracks[edit]

Myriad soundtracks were released in the anime, movies and the games. The music for the first two anime Dragon Ball and Z and its films was composed by Shunsuke Kikuchi, while the music from GT was composed by Akihito Tokunaga and the music from Kai was composed by Kenji Yamamoto and Norihito Sumitomo. For the first anime, the soundtracks released were Dragon Ball: Music Collection in 1985 and Dragon Ball: Complete Song Collection in 1991, although they were reissued in 2007 and 2003, respectively.^[223] For the second anime, the soundtrack series released were Dragon Ball Z Hit Song Collection Series. It was produced and released by Columbia Records of Japan from July 21, 1989 to March 20, 1996 the show’s entire lifespan. On September 20, 2006 Columbia re-released the Hit Song Collection on their Animex 1300 series.^[224][225] Other CDs released are compilations, video games and films soundtracks as well as music from the English versions.^[226]

Companion books[edit]

There have been numerous companion books to the Dragon Ball franchise. Chief among these are the Daizenshuu (大全集) series, comprising seven hardback main volumes and three supplemental softcover volumes, covering the manga and the first two anime series and their theatrical films. The first of these, Dragon Ball: The Complete Illustrations (Daizenshuu volume 1), first published in Japan in 1995, is the only one that was released in English, being printed in 2008 by Viz Media.^[227] It contains all 264 colored illustrations Akira Toriyama drew for the Weekly Shōnen Jump magazines’ covers, bonus giveaways and specials, and all the covers for the 42 tankōbon. It also includes an interview with Toriyama on his work process. The remainder have never been released in English, and all are now out of print in Japan. From February 4 to May 9, 2013, condensed versions of the Daizenshuu with some updated information were released as the four-volume Chōzenshū (超全集) series.^[38] For Dragon Ball GT, the Dragon Ball GT Perfect Files were released in May and December 1997 by Shueisha’s Jump Comics Selection imprint. They include series information, illustration galleries, behind-the-scenes information, and more. They were out of print for many years, but were re-released in April 2006 (accompanying the Japanese DVD release of Dragon Ball GT) and this edition is still in print.^[228][229]

Coinciding with the 34-volume kanzenban re-release of the manga, and the release of the entire series on DVD for the first time in Japan, four new guidebooks were released in 2003 and 2004. Dragon Ball Landmark and Dragon Ball Forever cover the manga, using volume numbers for story points that reference the kanzenban release,^[230][231] while Dragon Ball: Tenkaichi Densetsu (ドラゴンボール 天下一伝説) and Dragon Ball Z: Son Goku Densetsu (ドラゴンボールZ 孫悟空伝説) cover the Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z anime, respectively.^[232][233] Much of the material in these books is reused from the earlier Daizenshuu volumes, but they include new textual material including substantial interviews with the creator, cast and production staff of the series. Son Goku Densetsu in particular showcases previously-unpublished design sketches of Goku’s father Bardock, drawn by character designer Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru prior to creator Akira Toriyama’s revisions that resulted in the final version.

Following the release of Dragon Ball Kai in Japan, four new guidebooks were released: the two-volume Dragon Ball: Super Exciting Guide (ドラゴンボール 超エキサイティングガイド) in 2009, covering the manga,^[234][235] and two-volume Dragon Ball: Extreme Battle Collection (ドラゴンボール　極限バトルコレクション) in 2010, covering the anime series.^[236][237] Despite the TV series airing during this time being Kai, the Extreme Battle Collection books reference the earlier Z series in content and episode numbers. These books also include new question-and-answer sessions with Akira Toriyama, revealing a few new details about the world and characters of the series. 2010 also saw the release of a new artbook, Dragon Ball: Anime Illustrations Guide – The Golden Warrior (ドラゴンボール アニメイラスト集 「黄金の戦士」); a sort of anime-counterpart to the manga-oriented Complete Illustrations, it showcases anime-original illustrations and includes interviews with the three principal character designers for the anime. Each of the Japanese «Dragon Box» DVD releases of the series and movies, which were released from 2003 to 2006, as well as the Blu-ray boxed sets of Dragon Ball Kai, released 2009 to 2011, come with a Dragon Book guide that contains details about the content therein. Each also contains a new interview with a member of the cast or staff of the series. These books have been reproduced textually for Funimation’s release of the Dragon Ball Z Dragon Box sets from 2009 to 2011.

Collectible cards

Collectible cards based on the Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT series have been released by Bandai. These cards feature various scenes from the manga and anime stills, plus exclusive artwork from all three series. Bandai released the first set in the United States in July 2008.^[238]

Tabletop role-playing game

• Dragon Ball Z: The Anime Adventure Game, a tabletop role-playing game produced by R. Talsorian Games.^[239][240]

Cultural impact[edit]

Since its debut, Dragon Ball has had a considerable impact on global popular culture.^[159][241] In 2015, the Japan Anniversary Association officially declared May 9 as «Goku Day» (悟空の日, Gokū no Hi); in Japanese, the numbers five and nine can be pronounced as «Go» and «Ku».^[242] It is similarly influential in international popular culture across other parts of the world.^[159] In the Philippines, a children’s musical titled Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z: Myth, Magic, Music, was staged in June 1996.^[243] Dragon Ball is widely referenced in American popular culture, from television and music to celebrities and athletes, and the show has been celebrated with Goku making an appearance at the 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2022 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parades, and with Dragon Ball murals appearing in cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Kansas City and Denver.^[241]

Dragon Ball is also immensely popular in other regions of the world, such as Latin America, where public screenings of the Dragon Ball Super finale in 2018 filled public spaces and stadiums in cities across the region, including stadiums holding tens of thousands of spectators.^[159] Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama was decorated a Chevalier or «Knight» of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in May 2019 for his contributions to the arts, particularly for Dragon Ball which has been credited with popularizing manga in France.^[244][245]

Vegeta’s quote «It’s Over 9000!» from the Saiyan Saga in the English dub of Dragon Ball Z is a popular internet meme.^[246] Goku has been identified as a superhero,^[247][248] as well as Gohan with his Great Saiyaman persona.^[249] Motorola’s Freescale DragonBall and DragonBall EZ/VZ microcontroller processors, released in 1995, are named after Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, respectively.^[250]

Comics and animation[edit]

Dragon Ball has been cited as inspiration across various different media. Dragon Ball is credited with setting trends for popular shōnen manga and anime since the 1980s, with manga critic Jason Thompson in 2011 calling it «by far the most influential shōnen manga of the last 30 years.» Successful shōnen manga authors such as Eiichiro Oda (One Piece), Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto), Tite Kubo (Bleach), Hiro Mashima (Fairy Tail) and Kentaro Yabuki (Black Cat) have cited Dragon Ball as an influence on their own now popular works. According to Thompson, «almost every Shonen Jump artist lists it as one of their favorites and lifts from it in various ways.»^[116]

Ian Jones-Quartey, a producer of the American animated series Steven Universe, is a fan of Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump, and uses Toriyama’s vehicle designs as a reference for his own. He also stated that «We’re all big Toriyama fans on [Steven Universe], which kind of shows a bit.»^[251] Comic book artist André Lima Araújo cited Dragon Ball, along with several other manga and anime, as a major influence on his work, which includes Marvel comics such as Age of Ultron, Avengers A.I., Spider-Verse and The Inhumans.^[252] Filipino comic artist Dexter Soy, who has worked on Marvel and DC comics such as Captain America, cited Dragon Ball as a major inspiration.^[253] Tony Stark: Iron Man #11 (2019) makes references to Dragon Ball Z, including Miles Morales as Spider-Man referencing the Super Saiyan transformation.^[254]

Film and television[edit]

In December 1990, an unofficial live-action Korean film adaptation Dragon Ball: Ssawora Son Goku, Igyeora Son Goku was released.^[255][256] Another unofficial live-action film adaptation of the series, Dragon Ball: The Magic Begins, was released in Taiwan in November 1991,^[10] and was later released in 2007 as an «Ultimate Edition,» with new effects added à la Star Wars.

Action film star Jackie Chan is a fan of the franchise, and said Goku is his favorite Dragon Ball character. In 1995, Chan had expressed some interest in adapting Dragon Ball into a film, but said it would require «a lot of amazing special effects and an enormous budget.»^[257] Later in 2013, Toriyama said his ideal live-action Goku would have been a young Jackie Chan, stating that «nobody could play Goku but him.»^[258]

The Matrix franchise echoes Dragon Ball Z in several action scenes, including the climactic fights of the 2003 films The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions.^[259] Filipino-American film storyboard artist Jay Oliva has cited Dragon Ball as a major inspiration on his work, particularly the action scenes of 2013 Superman film Man of Steel, which launched the DC Extended Universe.^[260] Several films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have also been visually influenced by Dragon Ball Z. Erik Killmonger’s battle armour in Black Panther (2018) bears a resemblance to Vegeta’s battle armour,^[261][262] which actor Michael B. Jordan (himself a Dragon Ball fan) said may have inspired Killmonger’s battle armor.^[263] The fiery look of Carol Danvers’ Binary powers in Captain Marvel (2019) also drew some influence from Dragon Ball Z.^[264] In Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), Katy refers to one of Shang-Chi’s techniques as a «Kamehameha fireball»;^[265] the film’s director Destin Daniel Cretton cited Dragon Ball Z as an inspiration behind the film’s climactic fight scene.^[266]

A key characteristic that set Dragon Ball Z (and later other anime shows) apart from American television shows at the time was a serialization format, where a continuous story arc stretches over multiple episodes or seasons. Traditional American television had an episodic format, with each episode typically consisting of a self-contained story, whereas Dragon Ball Z and later anime shows had a serialization format where continuous story arcs stretch over multiple episodes or seasons. Serialization has since also become a common characteristic of American streaming television shows during the «Peak TV» era.^[267]

Music and sports[edit]

Dragon Ball has been channeled and referenced by numerous musicians. It is popular in the hip hop community, and has been referenced in numerous hip hop songs by rappers and artists such as Chris Brown, Chance the Rapper, Big Sean, Lil Uzi Vert, G-Mo Skee, The Weeknd, Childish Gambino,^[241] Denzel Curry, Thundercat, B.o.B, Soulja Boy,^[268] Drake,^[269] Frank Ocean, and Sese.^[270] Mark Sammut of TheGamer notes that Gohan occasionally performs the dab move (as The Great Saiyaman), decades before it became a popular hip-hop dance move in American popular culture.^[271]

Numerous athletes have also channeled and referenced Dragon Ball, including NBA basketball players such as Sacramento Kings guard De’Aaron Fox, Chicago Bulls forward Lauri Markkanen, Golden State Warriors player Jordan Bell, and Chicago Bulls guard Lonzo Ball, American football NFL stars such as Cleveland Browns players Darren Fells and David Njoku, mixed martial artist Ronda Rousey,^[241] and WWE wrestlers such as The New Day.^[272][273] Japanese kickboxer Panchan Rina took her nickname from the Dragon Ball character Pan.^[274] Japanese mixed martial artist Itsuki Hirata is nicknamed «Android 18» due to her resembling the Dragon Ball character.^[275] Canadian mixed martial artist Carlos Newton dubbed his fighting style «Dragon Ball Jiu-Jitsu» in tribute to the series.^[276] Other mixed martial artists inspired by Dragon Ball include Kana Watanabe, Yushin Okami, Yoshihiro Akiyama and Yuya Wakamatsu.^[277][278] The French group Yamakasi cited Dragon Ball as an influence on their development of parkour, inspired by how the heroes attain extraordinary abilities through hard work.^[279]

Video games[edit]

The producer of the Tekken video game series, Katsuhiro Harada, said that Dragon Ball was one of the first works to visually depict chi and thereby influenced numerous Japanese video games, especially fighting games such as Tekken and Street Fighter.^[280] Masaaki Ishikawa, art director of the video game Arms, said that its art style was largely influenced by Dragon Ball and Akira.^[281] French video game designer Éric Chahi also cited Dragon Ball as an influence on his 1991 cinematic platformer Another World.^[282] Other video game industry veterans who were inspired by Dragon Ball include Suda51, SWERY, Insomniac Games, Nina Freeman, Heart Machine, Iron Galaxy, and Mega64.^[280]

Notes[edit]

Footnotes[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Official Dragon Ball website (in Japanese)

Description:

A modern youth accidentally entered the Dragon Ball World and has since set foot on the road of training. Step by step, step by step, break your shackles and get rid of Fate’s shackles. Dragon Ball World can do it for me, and I can’t help it. Break through the Vanguard Starry Sky and climb to the top of Martial Arts. Under the sky, who fights.

The fact that every kid’s obsession with anime began shortly after drawing Goku is a testament to Dragon Ball’s popularity. The very mention of the series is enough to fill otakus with nostalgia.

The evergreen hero, Goku, has managed to capture our attention no matter how impossible his conquests become over time.

To no one’s surprise, Dragon Ball has received 807 episodes which can be distributed under five seasons. It has also received 21 movies and plenty of OVAs and specials till date. This saga begins from Goku’s childhood and is still continuing, now that Goku is a grandfather.

Of course, it is a daunting task to begin such a massive anime, but Dragon Ball’s charisma will take you through it with no hitches at all. Our article is here to help you along the way, so that you know which watch order works best for you.

1. Release Order

TV Series

• Dragon Ball (1986)
• Dragon Ball Z (1989-1996)
• Dragon Ball GT (1996-1997)
• Dragon Ball Z Kai (2009-2011)
• Dragon Ball Super (2015-2018)

Movies

• Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies (1986)
• Dragon Ball: Sleeping Princess in Devil’s Castle (1987)
• Dragon Ball: Mystical Adventure (1988)
• Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone (1989)
• Dragon Ball Z: The World’s Strongest (1990)
• Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might (1990)
• Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug (1991)
• Dragon Ball Z: Cooler’s Revenge (1991)
• Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Cooler (1992)
• Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13! (1992)
• Dragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan (1993)
• Dragon Ball Z: Bojack Unbound (1993)
• Dragon Ball Z: Broly – Second Coming (1994)
• Dragon Ball Z: Bio-Broly (1994)
• Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn (1995)
• Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon (1995)
• Dragon Ball: The Path to Power (1996)
• Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods (2013)
• Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’ (2015)
• Dragon Ball Super: Broly (2018)
• Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero (2022)

OVAs

• Dragon Ball Z: Atsumare! Gokuu World (1992)
• Dragon Ball Z: Plan to Destroy the Saiyajin (1993)
• The World of Dragon Ball Z (2000)
• Dragon Ball Z: Plan to Eradicate Super Saiyans OVA Remake (2010)

Specials

• Dragon Ball Specials (1988)
• Dragon Ball Z Special 1: Bardock, The Father of Goku (1990)
• Dragon Ball Z: Summer Vacation Special (1992)
• Dragon Ball Z Special 2: The History of Trunks (1993)
• Looking Back at it All: The Dragon Ball Z Year-End Show! (1993)
• Dragon Ball GT: A Hero’s Legacy (1997)
• Dragon Ball: Yo! The Return of Son-Goku and Friends!! (2008)
• Dragon Ball Z Kai: Bring Peace to the Future! Goku’s Spirit is Eternal (2011)
• Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock (2011)
• Dragon Ball Super: Broly – Skytree Super (2018)
• Super Dragon Ball Heroes (2018 – ongoing)

2. Chronological Order

• Dragon Ball
• Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies (1986)
• Dragon Ball: Sleeping Princess in Devil’s Castle
• Dragon Ball Z (Episodes 1- 86)
• Dragon Ball Z Special 1: Bardock, The Father of Goku
• Dragon Ball Z (Episodes 87-107)
• Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock
• Dragon Ball Z: The World’s Strongest
• Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might
• Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug
• Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone
• Dragon Ball Z (Episodes 108-123)
• Dragon Ball Z Special 2: The History of Trunks
• Dragon Ball Z (Episodes 124-125)
• Dragon Ball Z: Cooler’s Revenge
• OVA: The World of Dragon Ball Z
• Dragon Ball Z (Episodes 126-146)
• Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13!
• Dragon Ball Z (Episodes 146-173)
• Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Cooler
• Dragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan
• Dragon Ball Z (Episodes 173-194)
• Dragon Ball Z: Bojack Unbound
• Dragon Ball Z (Episodes 194-207)
• Dragon Ball Z: Broly – Second Coming
• Dragon Ball Z (Episodes 207-250)
• Dragon Ball Z: Bio-Broly
• Dragon Ball Z (Episodes 250-253)
• Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn
• Dragon Ball Z (Episodes 253-288)
• Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon
• Dragon Ball Z (Episodes 288-291)
• Dragon Ball GT
• Dragon Ball: The Path to Power
• Dragon Ball Z Kai
• Dragon Ball Z: Plan to Destroy the Saiyajin
• Dragon Ball Super (Episodes 1-3)
• Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods
• Dragon Ball Super (Episodes 4-18)
• Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’
• Dragon Ball Super (Episodes 19-131)
• Dragon Ball Super: Broly – Skytree Super
• Dragon Ball Super Movie: Broly
• Super Dragon Ball Heroes (ONA)
• Dragon Ball Super Movie: Super Hero
• Super Dragon Ball Heroes (ONA)

3. Where to watch Dragon Ball with Eng subtitle and dub?

Despite Dragon Ball’s massive popularity, not all installments are available for fans to stream. While the original seasons are somewhat there on Crunchyroll, Funimation and other websites, very few movies can be found.

Below is a list of all Dragon Ball series, specials and movies you can stream, and where you can watch them with English subtitles and dub.

Title	Where to watch with Eng sub?	Where to watch with Eng dub?
Dragon Ball (1986)	–	–
Dragon Ball Z (1989-1996)	Crunchyroll, Funimation, Prime Video	Crunchyroll, Funimation
Dragon Ball GT (1996-1997)	Crunchyroll, Prime Video, Funimation, Hoopla, Hulu	Crunchyroll, Funimation
Dragon Ball Z Kai (2009-2011)	Prime Video	–
Dragon Ball Super (2015-2018)	Crunchyroll, Funimation, Prime Video, Hulu	Crunchyroll, Funimation
Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods	Prime Video, Hulu	–
Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’	Prime Video, Hulu	–
Dragon Ball Super: Broly	Prime Video	–
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero	Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime Video	Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime Video

4. Can you download and watch Dragon Ball offline?

Several websites offer download options with their different packages, and we have the readymade list right here:

Website	Subscription Packages	Offline Viewing
Crunchyroll	Fan – $7.99/month	No
	Mega Fan – $9.99/month	Yes
	Ultimate Fan – $14.99/month	Yes
Funimation	Premium: $5.99 a month / $59.99 per year	No
	Premium Plus: $7.99 a month / $79.99 per year	Yes
	Premium Plus Ultra: $99.99 per year	Yes
Netflix	Basic with ads: $6.99/month	No
	Basic: $9.99/month	Yes
	Standard: $15.49/month	Yes
	Premium: $19.99/month	Yes
Hulu	Ad-Supported: $7.99/month (or $79.99/year)	Yes
	No Ads: $14.99/month	Yes
Prime Video	$8.99 per month	Yes
Vudu	Only Owned or Rented Movies/ Series	Yes

5. What to do if Dragon Ball is unavailable in your region?

A lot of anime are geo-blocked for several countries. If the anime isn’t available on any streaming website in your area, then you can use a VPN to bypass the geo-block.

There are many paid VPN services available, but you also have free options at hand. You can also use free browser extensions VPNs that you will find in the extension store.

If you are accessing streaming websites from your phone, you will find several VPNs from the app store. The important thing is that Dragon Ball and its different installments are present on Netflix, Crunchyroll, Funimation, Hulu, and many other streaming websites’ catalogs, so set your VPN to a suitable location to access the anime from anywhere.

6. How much time will it take to watch Dragon Ball?

It will take you 284 hours and 3 minutes (approx. 12 days) to watch all Dragon Ball installments. This includes all the TV series, movies, OVAs, and specials.

Here’s a quick list of each installment and their run time:

• Dragon Ball: 53 hours and 31 minutes
• Dragon Ball Z: 96 hours
• Dragon Ball GT: 22 hours and 24 minutes
• Dragon Ball Kai: 37 hours and 13 minutes
• Dragon Ball Super: 31 hours 12 minutes
• Movies, Specials, and OVAs: 37 hours 59 minutes (Including Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero)
• Super Dragon Ball Heroes (43 episodes): 344 minutes

7. Conclusion

Th chronological order is the way to go for Dragon Ball fans. However, if you are short on time and don’t care about any extra additions, you can follow the release order to watch all the different seasons first.

All the Dragon Ball movies are either non-canon or partial canon, so you can skip them. The same goes for the OVAs and specials. If you have finished the main seasons and are looking for extra stuff to watch then these will be your best friend.

8. About Dragon Ball

Dragon Ball, Akira Toriyama’s brainchild, came into existence in 1984. It has spawned several manga, anime, films, and other media adaptations.

The initial series follows Son Goku and his adventures when he was a child. It is here that we are first introduced to Goku as he meets Bulma, Yamcha, and others.

He trains in martial arts and participates in the World Martial Arts Championship for the first time in this series.

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