Dragon Ball (manga)

Within roughly six months of creating the popular manga Dr. Slump in 1980, Akira Toriyama wanted to end the series but his publisher Shueisha would only allow him to do so if he agreed to start another serial for them shortly after.[2][3] He worked with his editor, Kazuhiko Torishima, on several one-shots but none were successful.[4] Torishima then suggested that, as Toriyama enjoyed kung fu films, he should create a kung fu shōnen manga.[5] He was inspired by Hong Kong martial arts films such as Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon (1973) and Jackie Chan's Drunken Master (1978).[6][7] He was particularly influenced by the fight scenes in Jackie Chan movies,[8] and said he would never have come up with Dragon Ball if he had not watched Drunken Master,[9] which he enjoyed partly due to its light-hearted tone.[10] This led to the two-part Dragon Boy,[11] published in the August and October 1983 issues of Fresh Jump. It follows a boy, adept at martial arts, who escorts a princess on a journey back to her home country. Dragon Boy was very well-received and evolved to become the serial Dragon Ball.[2][12]

The plot and characters of Dragon Ball were loosely modeled on the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West,[12][13] with Goku being Sun Wukong ("Son Goku" in Japanese), Bulma as Tang Sanzang, Oolong as Zhu Bajie, and Yamcha being Sha Wujing.[5] Toriyama wanted to create a story with the basic theme of Journey to the West, but with "a little kung fu"[14] by combining the novel with elements from the kung fu films of Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee.[15] Torishima said he chose the novel largely because it was a free intellectual property, but also because its Chinese setting was not common in manga at the time and would make it both unique and differentiate it from Dr. Slump's US West Coast feel.[2]

He changed the objective from Journey to the West, where the protagonists travel through the Western Regions (Central Asia) to collect sacred Buddhist texts from the Indian subcontinent, to something simpler, gathering seven orbs which grant a wish.[16] Toriyama added the idea of the Dragon Balls to give the characters a game-like activity of gathering something in order to appeal to its shōnen manga magazine audience.[14] His concept of the Dragon Balls was inspired by the epic Japanese novel Nansō Satomi Hakkenden (1814–1842), which involves the heroes collecting eight large Buddhist prayer beads of a necklace from eight different regions of Japan, which Toriyama adapted into finding seven Dragon Balls from seven different locations; he chose the number seven to avoid being the same as the number of beads in Hakkenden.[17][18] The title Dragon Ball was inspired by Enter the Dragon as well as later Bruceploitation knockoff kung fu movies which frequently had the word "Dragon" in the title.[6] He originally thought the story would last about a year, or end once the Dragon Balls were collected.[4] Toriyama said that although the stories are purposefully easy to understand, he specifically aimed Dragon Ball at an older audience than Dr. Slump.[19]

The manga was not popular initially. Although he suspected the fighting genre would appeal more to its shōnen audience, Toriyama tried to stick to the Journey to the West adventure aspect which he himself enjoyed. Such as having the setting change each chapter, different enemies popping up, and different locations. It was only after he became tired of Torishima nagging about its popularity that Toriyama gave in and developed more battles with the first shown Tenkaichi Budōkai. Despite his reluctance, the author said it felt good when the series picked up in popularity at that point. However, he said he still tried to resist by returning to the adventure aspect with the Red Ribbon Army arc, and visiting Penguin Village from Dr. Slump to add comedy. When that did not work out, fighting became the main theme for the manga.[20]

Toriyama said that by the second half of the series, he had become more interested in coming up with the story than drawing it, and that the battles became more intense by him simplifying the lines. He also said he would get letters from readers complaining that the art had become "too square", so he intentionally made it more so.[8] Years later 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 elaborately, suggesting that he was not interested in the art.[21] As the manga progressed, Toriyama struggled with the Android and Cell arc, feeling that he could not outdo the Freeza arc.[20] He added time travel, but said he had a hard time with the plot, only being able to think of what to do that week.[5] After Cell's death, Toriyama intended for Gohan to replace Goku as the series' protagonist, but felt the character was not suited for it and changed his mind.[5] Even after the Cell arc, Toriyama felt it could not end there and so continued to the Majin Boo arc. Having resolved it would be the finale, he decided to draw what he wanted and inserted comedy with Gohan's Great Saiyaman persona and the character Gotenks. However, he did not think of an ending until the final chapter.[20] At the time, Toriyama said he gave Dragon Ball a low-key ending to make it seem as if the story might continue.[22] But would later say he skipped 10 years ahead in the story to signal that it was truly the end. Wanting to make it even clearer that Goku's battles were over, and a new generation was taking over, Toriyama slightly altered the ending for the kanzenban re-release of Dragon Ball which finished in 2004.[20]

Akira Toriyama did not plan the series' story in advance; he developed it on a weekly basis as he drew it.

Typically, when creating a manga chapter, an artist draws a rough draft or "name", then a more detailed storyboard, and lastly the finalized version. However, Toriyama only draws a storyboard and then the final product simply because it is less work.[4] He did not plan the details of his stories in advance. When he began the serialization of Dragon Ball, he had only prepared storyboards for three chapters.[4] The author said that during its serialization he would wait about two days before his deadline to begin developing the storyboard. Starting around midnight, he would finish it around six in the morning and spend until that night inking, finishing everything in about a day-and-a-half.[6] Unlike other artists, he had only one assistant helping him.[23] Toriyama said that thinking only about the story for each chapter put him in some tight spots, particularly with Trunks' time travel.[4] The only thing he has confidence in is his ability to connect a story back to an earlier aspect, making it seem to have been foreshadowing.[20] The author used suggestions in fan mail he received, though generally doing the opposite of what was suggested. As an example, many fans told him not to kill Vegeta, which is exactly what he did.[24]

Wanting to escape the Western themes that influenced Dr. Slump, Toriyama used Eastern/Oriental scenery in Dragon Ball. In addition to referencing Chinese buildings and scenery, the island where the Tenkaichi Budōkai is held is modeled on Bali (in Indonesia), which he visited in 1985. The area around Bobbidi's spaceship was inspired by photos of Africa. When including fights in the manga, Toriyama had the characters go to uninhabited locations to avoid the difficulties of drawing residents and destroyed buildings.[25] 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.[26][25] Toriyama was also inspired by the jinn (genies) from The Arabian Nights.[27] For the training scenes, Jackie Chan's Drunken Master served as a reference.[23] The author said that Muscle Tower in the Red Ribbon Army storyline was inspired by the beat 'em up 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), and that the fights were similar to the ones in the Tenkaichi Budōkai, just not in a tournament setting.[5]

Toriyama personally dislikes the idea of naming fighting techniques, joking that in a real fight you would be killed before you could yell their names, but Torishima felt it would be best. Toriyama proceeded to create names for all the techniques, except for the series' signature Kamehameha (かめはめ波（かめはめは）, lit. "Kamehame Wave") which his wife came up with when he was indecisive about what it should be called. He even selected them specifically for each character, saying someone like Vegeta would use English names, and using kanji for the more sophisticated like Piccolo.[25]

In order to advance the story quickly by having characters travel without inconvenience, he created the flying cloud Kinto-un (筋斗雲（きんとうん）, lit. "Somersault Cloud"), then gave most fighters the flying technique Bukū-jutsu (舞空術（ぶくうじゅつ）, lit. "Air Dance Technique"), and granted Goku the teleportation ability Shunkan Idō (瞬間移動（しゅんかんいどう）, lit. "Instant Teleport").[25] While talking to his long-time friend and fellow manga artist Masakazu Katsura about how there was nothing stronger than a Super Saiyan, Katsura suggested having two characters "fuse" together, leading to the creation of the Fusion (フュージョン, Fyūjon) technique.[28][29]

Toriyama enjoyed designing and drawing the distinctive machines of the series.[20] He finds the most fun in designing original mecha, thinking about how a pilot enters and where the engine is. With real world items he would have to look at references, and being off even a little would be noticeable.[8] He goes against whatever is popular at the time, explaining that when he was creating Dragon Ball, most cars were very square, so he drew only round car designs.[20]

In 1995, Toriyama detailed the equipment he used for Dragon Ball. He used a G-pen nib by Zebra, usually getting three chapters out of one because he typically does not press down hard. Toriyama used black drawing ink made by Pilot, but his color ink was produced by Luma and applied with a ten-year-old fine point Tenshōdō brush. His whiteout was also made by Luma. He received free Kent paper, similar to Bristol board, from a seller connected to Shueisha, and used a 0.5mm 2B lead mechanical pencil and a wide ruler at least 30 cm long.[30]

When creating a character, his process was to draw their face and body type first, and then the clothes, while thinking if the fighters can move around in them.[24] He said that he does not draw "bad guys" so unscrupulous that it affects readers psychologically. This is not out of concern for others, but because he does not enjoy drawing such things.[20] Few of his characters have screentone because he found it difficult to use. Toriyama was not concerned about consistency with the color of characters' clothes for the occasional color pages, having sometimes used different ones than he had before.[8] He even specifically asked Torishima to produce as few color pages as possible.[21] Character names are almost always puns sharing a theme with characters related to them, most commonly food. For example, all Saiyans are named after vegetables, saiya (サイヤ) being an anagram of the syllables for yasai (野菜) which means vegetable; such as Kakarrot (カカロット, Kakarotto) taken from carrot (キャロット, kyarotto).[14]

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, including Goku, with small statures.[31] Toriyama explained that he had Goku grow up so that drawing fight scenes would be easier, even though Torishima was against it initially because it was rare to have the main character of a manga series change drastically.[21] Torishima later referred to this as his own biggest crisis during the series, with Toriyama threatening to end it if Goku could not grow up. The editor said his concerns were unfounded, as readers accepted the change without complaint.[4]

Having created Piccolo Daimao as the first truly evil villain, he said that his part of the series was the most interesting to draw.[5] Freeza was created around the time of the Japanese economic bubble and inspired by real estate speculators, who Toriyama called the "worst kind of people".[5] Yū Kondō, Toriyama's second editor, from the Saiyan arc until the appearance of Perfect Cell, and Fuyuto Takeda, his third editor from Perfect Cell until the end of the series, said that Dragon Ball hit its peak in popularity during the Freeza arc. In a one-thousand ballot popularity poll held in Weekly Shōnen Jump, Dragon Ball received 815 votes.[32] Finding the escalating enemies difficult, Toriyama created the Ginyu Force to add more balance to the manga.[5]

When Toriyama created the Super Saiyan transformation during the Freeza arc, he gave Goku blond hair because it was easier to draw for Toriyama's assistant, who spent a lot of time blacking in Goku's hair. He also gave him piercing eyes, based on Bruce Lee's paralyzing glare.[33]

Dragon Ball was serialized in the manga anthology Weekly Shōnen Jump from issue No. 51 on December 3, 1984, to No. 25 on June 5, 1995.[34][35] As the readership of Dragon Ball grew up, the magazine changed to reflect their changing interests.[36] The 519 individual chapters were collected into 42 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha from September 10, 1985, through August 4, 1995.[37][38] These saw any color or partly colored artwork grayscaled.[39] For the series' 24th anniversary, the tankōbon received new cover art that has been used on all reprints since 2009.[40] Between December 4, 2002, and April 2, 2004, the series was released in a collection of 34 kanzenban volumes that retain the color artwork from its Weekly Shōnen Jump run.[41][42] This edition received newly drawn cover illustrations, and each volume included a poster of their respective cover image. These new illustrations were initially drawn in ink, scanned into a computer and colored using Corel Painter. Midway through, Toriyama changed to drawing them on a graphics tablet and coloring them with Adobe Photoshop.[3]

The December 2012 (cover date February 2013) issue of V Jump announced that parts of the manga would be fully colored digitally and re-released as Dragon Ball Full Color.[43] Twenty volumes, beginning from chapter one hundred and ninety-five and grouped by story arcs, were released between February 4, 2013, and July 4, 2014.[44][45] Twelve volumes covering the first one hundred and ninety-four chapters were published between January 4 and March 4, 2016.[46][47] Dragon Ball was also released in a sōshūhen edition that aims to recreate the manga as it was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump in the same size, with the color pages, promotional text, and next chapter previews, in addition to foldout posters.[48] Eighteen volumes of Dragon Ball Sōshūhen Chō Gōku Den were published between May 13, 2016, and January 13, 2017.[49][50]

The English language version of the Dragon Ball manga is licensed for North America by Viz Media. Viz originally published the first 194 chapters as Dragon Ball and chapters over 195 as Dragon Ball Z to mimic the names of the anime series, feeling it would reduce the potential for confusion by its readers. They initially released both series simultaneously, chapter by chapter in a monthly comic book format starting in 1998, before stopping in 2000 to switch to a graphic novel format similar to the Japanese tankōbon. In 2000, while releasing Dragon Ball in the monthly format, Viz began to censor the manga in response to parental complaints about sexual innuendos.[51][52] Viz changed their publishing format for the series again in 2003; the first ten collected volumes of both series were re-released under their Shonen Jump imprint. They have slightly smaller dimensions. The manga was completed in English with Dragon Ball in 16 volumes between May 6, 2003, and August 3, 2004,[53][54] and Dragon Ball Z in 26 volumes from May 6, 2003, to June 6, 2006.[55][56] However, when publishing the last few volumes of Z, the company began to censor the series again by changing or removing gun scenes and changing the few sexual references.[57] Dragon Ball Z, from Trunk's appearance to chapter 226, was published in Viz's monthly magazine Shonen Jump from its debut issue in January 2003 to April 2005.[58]

Viz released both series in a wideban format called "Viz Big Edition", which collects three volumes into a single large volume. Dragon Ball was published in five volumes between June 3, 2008, and August 18, 2009,[59][60] while Dragon Ball Z was published in nine volumes between June 3, 2008, and November 9, 2010.[61][62] Viz published new 3-in-1 volumes of Dragon Ball, similar to their Viz Big Edition, across 14 volumes between June 4, 2013, and September 6, 2016. This version uses some Japanese kanzenban covers and marks the first time in English that the entire series was released under the Dragon Ball name, though it is still censored.[63][64] Viz serialized chapters 195 to 245 of the fully colored version of the manga in their digital anthology Weekly Shonen Jump from February 2013 to February 2014.[65] They published the Saiyan and Freeza arcs of Dragon Ball Full Color Edition in large format volumes between February 4, 2014, and January 3, 2017.[66][67] Although it uses the same translation as their other versions, this release has some slight dialogue changes including censoring any profanity and abbreviating lengthy sentences. It also leaves the Japanese sound effects and word bubbles unaltered.[39]

The manga has also been licensed in other English-speaking countries, distributed in the same Viz format separating it into Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z. From August 2005 to November 2007, Gollancz Manga, an imprint of the Orion Publishing Group released the 16 volumes of Dragon Ball and the first four of Dragon Ball Z in the United Kingdom.[68][69] Viz took over the UK license after Gollancz left the manga market.[70] In Australia and New Zealand, Madman Entertainment has released all 16 volumes of Dragon Ball and the nine "Viz Big" volumes of Dragon Ball Z between 2009 and 2010.[71][72][73][74]

The manga's content 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 that the series had "borderline soft porn" after he bought them for his four-year-old son.[75] Commenting on the issue, manga critic Susan J. Napier determined the ban as a difference in culture due to Japan having tolerance for sexuality in manga while other countries do not.[75] After the ban, Viz reluctantly began to censor the series in 2000 to maintain its wide distribution.[52][76] Viz made some "concessions" as well,[76] and assured readers that all changes were approved by Toriyama and Shueisha. Toriyama made suggestions himself such as obscuring Goku's genitals with objects, rather than "neuter him."[76] A fan petition was created, garnering over 10,000 signatures, and a year later, Viz announced they would stop censoring Dragon Ball and increased its "age rating" to 13 and up instead, reprinting the first three graphic novels.[52][77] However, they continued to censor several characters' lips by shading them in completely. This avoided racist stereotypes, such as that of Mr. Popo's image.[78] 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."[75] Esther Keller, Robin Brenner and Eva Volin of School Library Journal had no opinion on whether or not removing the manga from all schools in that district was right. However, Brenner and Volin criticized the parents who had a problem with the manga for going to a county council member who is involved with politics instead of to the librarian of the school that carried the manga.[79]

While Dragon Ball was licensed in the United States by Viz Media, it has been licensed in other countries as well for regional language releases in French by Glénat Editions,[80] in Spanish by Planeta DeAgostini for European versions,[81] and Panini Comics for Latin American versions,[82] in Italian by Star Comics,[83] in German by Carlsen Verlag,[84] in Russian by Comix-ART,[85] in Polish by Japonica Polonica Fantastica,[86] and in Swedish by Bonnier Group.[87]

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.[127][128] 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.[127][129][128] During Dragon Ball's serialisation between 1984 and 1995, Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine had a total circulation of over 2.9 billion copies.[130][lower-alpha 8]

The collected tankōbon volumes of Dragon Ball have sold in record numbers. By 2000, more than 126 million copies had been sold in Japan.[131] As of 2008, it had over 150 million copies in circulation and was the best-selling manga ever at the time.[132] In 2012, Shueisha announced that its tankōbon sales had grown to more than 156 million, making it the second best-selling Weekly Shōnen Jump manga of all time, behind One Piece.[133] This number grew to 159.5 million copies by 2014.[134] By 2018, Dragon Ball had a circulation (including the kanzenban edition) of more than 160 million in Japan.[104][135]

The manga is similarly popular overseas, having been translated and released in over 40 countries worldwide.[136] The total number of volumes in circulation worldwide is more than 300 million according to Kazuhiko Torishima, a former editor of the series.[137] Other estimations increase the figure to 350 million copies worldwide.[138][139][140][141] If including unofficial pirated copies; an estimated total of over 400 million official and unofficial copies are in circulation worldwide.[lower-alpha 7]

For the 10th anniversary of the Japan Media Arts Festival in 2006, close to 79,000 Japanese fans voted Dragon Ball the third greatest manga of all time.[142] In a 2007 survey of one-thousand people conducted by Oricon, Goku ranked in first place as the "Strongest Manga Character of All Time".[143] Coinciding with the 2012 Summer Olympics, Oricon conducted a survey at the international World Cosplay Summit on which manga and anime series attendees considered world class works. Dragon Ball was overwhelmingly in first place.[144] In November 2014, readers of Da Vinci magazine voted Dragon Ball the greatest Weekly Shōnen Jump manga series of all time.[145] The Portuguese edition of Dragon Ball won the 2001 Troféu HQ Mix for Best Serial.[146] On TV Asahi's Manga Sōsenkyo 2021 poll, in which 150,000 people voted for their top 100 manga series, Dragon Ball ranked fifth.[147]

In 2011, manga critic and editor of Viz's editions of the series Jason Thompson said that: "Dragon Ball is by far the most influential shonen manga of the last 30 years, and today, almost every Shōnen Jump artist lists it as one of their favorites and lifts from it in various ways."[148] Explaining its basic formula of "lots of martial arts, lots of training sequences, [and] a few jokes" became the model for other shōnen series, such as Naruto.[149] Thompson cited the artwork as influential, pointing out that popular shōnen manga of the late 1980s and early 1990s had "manly" heroes, such as City Hunter and Fist of the North Star, whereas Dragon Ball had the cartoonish and small Goku, thus starting a trend that he says still continues.[148] Commenting on Dragon Ball's global success nearly two decades after it ended, 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."[150]

The manga has received a mostly positive reception from critics. Jason Thompson commented that Dragon Ball "turns from a gag/adventure manga to a nearly-pure fighting manga".[148] James S. Yadao, author of The Rough Guide to Manga, explains that the first several chapters "play out much like Saiyuki (Journey to the West) with Dr. Slump-like humour built in" and that Dr. Slump, Toriyama's previous manga, has a clear early influence on the series. He feels the series "established its unique identity" after the first time Goku's group disbands and he trains under Kame-sen'nin. On the second half of the manga, he commented that it developed "a far more action-packed, sinister tone" with "wilder" battles and aerial and spiritual elements with an increased death count.[16] David Brothers for ComicsAlliance wrote that: "Like Osamu Tezuka and Jack Kirby before him, Toriyama created a story with his own two hands that seeped deep into the hearts of his readers, creating a love for both the cast and the medium at the same time." He said that while the author has "a sublime combination of Looney Tunes-style classic humor and dirty jokes," the best part of Dragon Ball is the fight scenes. Brothers explained that while Western superhero comics "would focus on a series of cool poses or impact shots" with the reader having to fill in the blanks between panels, Dragon Ball has a panel dedicated to one action and the next panel features the very next maneuver, making them incredibly easy to follow.[151]

Fusanosuke Natsume says that the theme of disaster and growth in the manga is a reference to "post-War Japanese manga" that Osamu Tezuka began in the mid 1940s. He also comments that the violence in the manga has context that children can understand, and is not just there at random.[152] While Toriyama has said that Journey to the West was an influence on the manga, Xavier Mínguez-López comments that it is a parody of the Chinese novel, since the stories are similar. He notes that Toriyama uses Chinese mythology and Japanese folktales, the dragon Shenlong who is summoned from the Dragon Balls, as well as characters who are able to come back to life as examples of similarities.[153] Rachel Cantrell says that the manga parodies martial arts very well, and mentions how Toriyama uses panels to a full extent. She notes that the manga has a coming-of-age theme due to how the story captures Goku from a child to an adult.[154] Dr. Frédéric Ducarme compared Goku's backstory to that of Superman, with whom the character has often been compared, but wrote that Goku remains a sportsman throughout the manga, not an avenger or vigilante.[155]

Carlo Santos of the Anime News Network described Dragon Ball's setting as "a melting pot of sci-fi, fantasy, and folklore". Santos praised its quick development of new characters and storylines, and claimed that the series' crowning achievement is in its dynamic fight scenes. However, he did not enjoy the cliché training and tournament segments, nor its crude humor.[156] His colleague Allen Divers praised the manga's story and humor as being very good at conveying all 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.[157] 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".[158] Comic Book Bin's Leroy Douresseaux described Toriyama as a "super-cartoonist," a blend of Carl Barks, Jack Kirby, and Peyo. He gave Dragon Ball a perfect rating and called it one of the best manga and comic books he has ever read.[159] Ridwan Khan of Animefringe.com commented that the manga had a "chubby" art style, but as the series continued the characters became more refined, leaner, and more muscular. He cited one slight problem in Viz's release; the translation uses informal language to capture Goku's country accent, but it ends up feeling "forced and odd". Khan prefers the manga over the slow pacing of the anime adaptations.[160] Ollie Barber writing for Forbes echoed Khan stating with a lot less padding, the manga's "pacing is a lot tighter and makes you realize how talented Dragon Ball's creator Akira Toriyama truly is when he chooses to flex his storytelling muscles".[161] Including it on a list of "10 Essential Manga That Should Belong in Every Comic Collection", Matthew Meylikhov of Paste also praised the manga over the anime as an entirely different and more "involved experience." He wrote that "You come to know and care for the characters more intimately, and the joy and wonder of watching them fight, learn and grow throughout the series improves tenfold."[162]