Dragon Ball is a Japanese manga series by Akira Toriyama, serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump from November 20, 1984, to June 5, 1995, and widely regarded as one of the most influential adventure and battle comics ever created.
The story follows Son Goku, a tailed boy raised on Earth, and the quest for the seven mystical Dragon Balls, which summon the dragon Shenron and grant one wish.
What begins as a light adventure comedy gradually grows into a vast action epic about friendship, martial arts, alien heritage, rising power, and battles that decide the fate of worlds.
The manga ran for 519 chapters and was collected in 42 standard volumes and 34 kanzenban volumes.
It became a landmark franchise in manga, television, film, games, merchandise, and global popular culture.
In Japan, the manga has sold more than 160 million copies, including the kanzenban edition.
Worldwide circulation has reached about 260 million copies.
The broader franchise, including manga, anime, films, and games, has generated an estimated 23 billion US dollars in total revenue.
Early Adventure Arc
Living alone in the mountains, Son Goku meets Bulma, a brilliant girl from West City searching for the Dragon Balls.
When Goku learns that the treasured keepsake from his adoptive grandfather Son Gohan is actually the Four-Star Dragon Ball, he joins Bulma on her journey.
Along the way, they encounter Oolong, Yamcha, and many strange allies and enemies.
Their first major conflict is with Emperor Pilaf and his gang, who also seek the Dragon Balls for their own ambitions.
Training and the World Martial Arts Tournament
After the first Dragon Ball hunt, Goku trains under Muten Roushi, one of the world’s greatest martial arts masters.
He trains alongside Kuririn, who becomes his best friend and lifelong rival in spirit.
Their training leads to the Tenkaichi Budokai, the World Martial Arts Tournament, where Goku finishes as runner-up after losing to a disguised Muten Roushi.
Goku then continues traveling, fighting the Red Ribbon Army and becoming dramatically stronger.
At the next tournament, he faces Tenshinhan and again falls just short of victory.
Piccolo Daimao Arc
After the tournament, the ancient demon Piccolo Daimao is released and begins murdering martial artists and Goku’s allies.
Driven by revenge and grief, Goku climbs to new heights, survives the deadly Ultra Divine Water, and defeats Piccolo Daimao.
To restore those who died and revive Shenron, Goku travels to the heavenly realm and meets Earth’s Kami, the creator of the Dragon Balls.
Goku then trains under Kami for several years.
At the following world tournament, now grown into a young man, Goku reunites with his friends, marries Chi-Chi, and defeats Piccolo, the reincarnation of Piccolo Daimao, to win his first championship.
Saiyan Arc
Years later, Goku is living peacefully with Chi-Chi and their son Gohan Son when his older brother Raditz arrives from space.
Raditz reveals that Goku is actually a member of the warrior race known as the Saiyans, and that his birth name is Kakarot.
To save Gohan, Goku allies with his old enemy Piccolo, and the battle ends with Goku sacrificing his own life.
Before dying, Raditz warns that two far stronger Saiyans, Nappa and Vegeta, are coming to Earth.
While dead, Goku trains in the afterlife under King Kai.
When the Saiyans arrive, many of Goku’s allies fall in battle before he returns and fights Vegeta in one of the series’ most iconic showdowns.
Freeza Arc
Because Piccolo’s death also means Kami’s death and the disappearance of Earth’s Dragon Balls, Gohan, Kuririn, and Bulma travel to Planet Namek.
There they find that Vegeta is also searching for the Dragon Balls, while the tyrant Freeza and his forces slaughter Namekians in pursuit of immortality.
This arc becomes a tense three-way struggle among Gohan’s group, Vegeta, and Freeza’s army.
Goku eventually arrives on Namek and confronts the terrifying power of Freeza.
After Kuririn is killed before his eyes, Goku erupts in rage and transforms into a Super Saiyan for the first time.
This legendary transformation becomes one of the defining moments in manga and anime history.
Goku defeats Freeza as Planet Namek collapses.
Android and Cell Arc
About a year later, Freeza returns to Earth, only to be destroyed by a mysterious young Super Saiyan named Trunks.
Trunks reveals that he is the son of Bulma and Vegeta from a future devastated by killer androids.
He warns Goku that he will soon die from a heart virus and that terrible enemies are coming.
After years of training, events unfold differently from Trunks’s future, and multiple androids appear, including Jinzouningen 17-gou and Jinzouningen 18-gou.
Soon after, the bio-engineered monster Cell emerges, a being created from the cells of the series’ greatest fighters.
By absorbing Jinzouningen 17-gou and Jinzouningen 18-gou, Cell achieves his Perfect Form and announces the Cell Games.
Goku and Gohan train in the Room of Spirit and Time, where one day outside equals one year inside.
During the Cell Games, Goku eventually steps aside and entrusts the battle to Gohan.
When Cell’s cruelty pushes him too far, Gohan awakens as Super Saiyan 2 and defeats Cell after a climactic father-son Kamehameha.
Majin Buu Arc
Seven years later, Gohan is a high school student and Goku is allowed to return to Earth for one day to participate in the next world tournament.
During the event, the heroes become entangled in a plot involving the wizard Babidi and the ancient being Majin Buu.
Buu proves wildly unpredictable, terrifyingly destructive, and capable of changing forms through emotion and absorption.
Goku’s younger son Goten Son and young Trunks learn the fusion technique and become Gotenks.
Gohan also gains a major power-up, but even that is not enough to stop Buu’s escalating transformations.
In the final battle, Goku and Vegeta join forces in the world of the Kaioshin and confront Kid Buu, Buu’s purest and most dangerous form.
With help from people across Earth, Namek, and the afterlife, Goku forms a gigantic Spirit Bomb and destroys Buu.
Ten years later, at another tournament, Goku meets Uub, Buu’s human reincarnation, and leaves to train him.
That departure closes the original manga.
Son Goku
Son Goku is the protagonist, an innocent and battle-loving martial artist raised on Earth.
Though cheerful and simple on the surface, he possesses extraordinary fighting instinct and endless potential.
As the story expands, he is revealed to be a Saiyan named Kakarot.
Gohan Son
Gohan Son is Goku’s first son and one of the emotional centers of the series.
He begins as a gentle child with hidden power and grows into a scholar-warrior whose rage can surpass even his father’s.
Goten Son
Goten Son is Goku’s second son.
He is playful, talented, and forms a fast friendship with young Trunks.
Vegeta
Vegeta begins as a ruthless Saiyan prince and invader.
Over time, he becomes one of the series’ most compelling characters, shifting from villain to rival to protector of Earth.
Bulma
Bulma is the genius inventor who launches the story by seeking the Dragon Balls.
She is one of the franchise’s smartest and most important supporting characters, often saving the day through technology rather than brute force.
Trunks
Trunks appears in multiple versions, including the future warrior and the child from the main timeline.
Both versions are central to major arcs, and the future Trunks especially became a fan favorite from his first appearance.
Piccolo
Piccolo begins as Goku’s enemy but gradually becomes one of the noblest heroes in the series.
His bond with Gohan is especially important and gives him a lasting emotional role beyond combat.
Kuririn
Kuririn is Goku’s training partner and closest friend.
Though often overshadowed by stronger fighters later on, he remains one of the heartiest and most relatable characters in the story.
Mr. Satan
Mr. Satan, also known as Hercule in some localizations, is a comic champion figure who becomes unexpectedly important.
Despite his bravado, he plays a key role in humanity’s survival during the Majin Buu conflict.
Freeza
Freeza is one of the most iconic villains in manga history.
Cold, elegant, and cruel, he dominates the Namek arc and leaves a lasting mark on the series.
Cell
Cell is a bio-engineered lifeform built from the cells of elite fighters.
His obsession with reaching perfection and hosting the Cell Games gives his arc a chilling edge.
Majin Buu
Majin Buu is both absurd and terrifying, capable of childlike innocence and catastrophic violence.
His many forms make him one of the most unpredictable antagonists in the franchise.
The World
The setting of Dragon Ball includes the living world, the afterlife, and the Kaioshin Realm.
There is also a broader universe filled with alien civilizations, advanced science, mystical beings, and gods.
Earth in Dragon Ball blends futuristic machines with old-fashioned martial arts fantasy.
The world features devices such as Hoi-Poi Capsules, which can store and deploy full-sized objects instantly, and the Dragon Radar, which tracks Dragon Balls.
Currency and Calendar
The standard currency is the zeni, treated roughly as equivalent to the Japanese yen in-universe.
The calendar uses the era name Age, with the main story beginning in Age 749 and ending in Age 784.
Races and Species
The series includes many intelligent races, including Saiyans, Namekians, Earthlings, and various extraterrestrial peoples.
The galaxy is administratively divided into four sectors: North, South, East, and West.
Earth belongs to the North Galaxy.
Ki
A central concept in the series is ki, the life energy within living beings.
Fighters use ki to fly, sense one another, fire blasts, strengthen their bodies, and conceal their presence.
Power Level
The idea of power level becomes important starting in the Saiyan arc.
It is often measured by the scouter, a monocle-like device used by Saiyans and Freeza’s army.
Although famous, power levels are not presented as an absolute measure of victory, since skill, willpower, and sudden surges of ki can change everything.
Dragon Ball was created after Akira Toriyama ended Dr. Slump and began searching for a fresh long-form concept.
Early ideas were influenced by Journey to the West, Toriyama’s earlier one-shots such as Dragon Boy, and the concept of collecting magical objects inspired by Nansō Satomi Hakkenden.
The title was inspired by the martial arts film Enter the Dragon.
At first, the manga was not an immediate smash hit and even risked underperforming.
Its popularity surged once the martial arts tournament format began and Goku’s identity as a fighter became more central.
That shift helped define the series’ lasting formula of training, rivalry, escalating threats, and transformation.
The manga ended in 1995 after a run of roughly ten and a half years.
Its conclusion was such a major industry event that ending it reportedly required negotiations among top executives across multiple companies because of the franchise’s enormous business impact.
The final collected volume, Volume 42, was published on August 4, 1995.
Toriyama later said that by the Buu arc he had grown tired of drawing nonstop combat and wanted to move on to other work.
Television Series
The original television adaptation, Dragon Ball, aired from 1986 to 1989.
It was followed immediately by Dragon Ball Z, which aired from 1989 to 1996 and adapted the later and more battle-heavy part of the manga.
After that came Dragon Ball GT, an anime-original sequel that aired from 1996 to 1997.
Years later, Dragon Ball Kai re-edited Dragon Ball Z with updated visuals and a pace closer to the manga.
Dragon Ball Super, based on original concepts by Toriyama, began airing in 2015 and continued the story after the defeat of Majin Buu.
Dragon Ball DAIMA, another new anime project based on Toriyama’s ideas, began in 2024.
Television Specials and Promotional Anime
The franchise also includes television specials such as Bardock: The Father of Goku and The History of Trunks.
Other productions include promotional anime, crossover specials, educational shorts, and game tie-ins.
Films
Dragon Ball has a long theatrical history.
Animated films began in 1986 with Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies and continued through the Z era with titles such as The Tree of Might, Cooler’s Revenge, Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan, and Fusion Reborn.
A twentieth-century reboot film, Dragon Ball: The Path to Power, reimagined early material.
After a long gap, the series returned to theaters with Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods in 2013.
That was followed by Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F', Dragon Ball Super: Broly, and Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.
These later films involved much closer creative participation from Toriyama than the older theatrical features.
Akira Toriyama has often said that he did not map out every major development far in advance.
Instead, he tended to discover new directions as he drew, which gave the manga a lively, improvisational energy.
Many major revelations, including the deeper details of the Saiyans, were developed as the series progressed.
He also enjoyed creating hidden backstories and structural ideas that were not always directly explained in the manga.
Editorial influence was significant.
Former editors pushed for stronger rivals, more dramatic villains, and visual redesigns, and this input helped shape the evolution from the Android arc into the Cell arc.
The concept of measurable power levels reportedly came from the need to make rapidly rising strength easier for readers to understand.
Dragon Ball has been published in more than 40 countries and its anime has aired in more than 80 countries and regions.
It is one of the clearest examples of a Japanese manga becoming a truly global franchise.
The series was especially important in spreading anime culture internationally, including in North America, Latin America, Europe, and across Asia.
In many countries, Dragon Ball was not just popular but a generation-defining phenomenon.
North America
In the United States, early broadcasts had a limited impact, but the series exploded after Cartoon Network began showing Dragon Ball Z regularly in 1998.
It became one of the network’s most watched programs and played a major role in bringing anime into mainstream American households.
Its success also made Dragon Ball one of the strongest anime brands in the United States home video market.
The franchise later scored theatrical success in North America with films such as Battle of Gods, Resurrection 'F', Broly, and Super Hero.
In 2009, a live-action Hollywood adaptation titled Dragonball Evolution was released.
Latin America
Dragon Ball became enormously popular across Latin America, where it reached iconic status.
In countries such as Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Brazil, Chile, and others, it became part of everyday pop culture and inspired huge public screenings, fan events, and local media attention.
In Mexico in particular, public square screenings of Dragon Ball Super drew crowds so large they were compared to major sports events.
Europe
In France, Dragon Ball became one of the core works that helped establish manga as a mainstream publishing category.
The French edition has sold tens of millions of copies and remains one of the country’s most successful manga properties.
In Spain, Italy, and Germany, the anime and manga also achieved massive popularity and helped fuel local manga booms.
Germany in particular saw Dragon Ball become one of the most successful manga series ever published in the country.
Asia and Other Regions
Outside Japan, Dragon Ball found huge audiences in places such as South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, and Malaysia.
In several markets, piracy spread before official editions became available, which itself reflected the sheer demand for the series.
The franchise also became widely known in the Middle East, Africa, and Oceania.
In Saudi Arabia, a Dragon Ball theme park project was announced in 2024.
The manga had reached about 200 million copies worldwide by 2006.
That figure rose to 230 million by 2012, 240 million by 2016, 250 million by 2018, and 260 million by 2020.
The anime maintained average ratings above 20 percent across an eleven-year run in Japan.
The television series Dragon Ball reached a peak audience rating of 29.5 percent, while Dragon Ball Z later reached 27.5 percent.
The franchise also holds a Guinness World Record for being the comic series adapted into the most video games.
Bandai Namco has consistently listed Dragon Ball among its top-earning intellectual properties.
By the fiscal year ending March 2025, Bandai Namco reported Dragon Ball-related sales of 190.6 billion yen.
Dragon Ball has produced one of the largest game libraries of any anime or manga franchise.
Its video games span home consoles, handheld systems, arcades, mobile devices, and online platforms.
Important series include the early Famicom role-playing and card battle games, Super Butoden, Budokai, Budokai Tenkaichi, Raging Blast, Xenoverse, FighterZ, Kakarot, and Sparking! ZERO.
Arcade and card-based lines such as Dragon Ball Heroes and Super Dragon Ball Heroes also became major hits.
The franchise’s cumulative game sales worldwide have surpassed 50 million copies.
Among individual hits, Dragon Ball FighterZ and Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 each passed 10 million copies, while Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot surpassed 8 million.
The mobile game Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle became one of the franchise’s biggest financial successes, earning more than 500 billion yen in lifetime revenue by early 2023.
Dragon Ball has had a huge merchandise presence since the 1980s.
One of its greatest non-comic successes was the Carddass Dragon Ball Series, which launched in 1988 and became a huge boom in collectible cards.
By 1995, Dragon Ball Carddass had surpassed 2 billion cards sold.
Later card projects, including Super Dragon Ball Heroes, also became major commercial successes, with cumulative card shipments reaching into the billions.
The franchise has also produced toys, capsule products, figures, apparel, snacks, and branded collaborations with many major companies.
Standard Edition
The original manga was collected in 42 Jump Comics volumes.
The first volume was released in September 1985, and the final volume was released in August 1995.
Kanzenban Edition
A 34-volume kanzenban edition began publication in 2002.
It featured larger pages, revised artwork, new covers by Toriyama, and small corrections.
The final volume also included additional pages and revisions that changed the tone of the ending slightly and clarified Toriyama’s intended emphasis on generational succession.
Full Color Edition
A full-color edition was later released in multiple arc-based segments, including the Saiyan, Freeza, Cell, Buu, early adventure, and Piccolo Daimao arcs.
Reference Books
The franchise has also produced major guidebooks such as the Daizenshuu, Chouzenshuu, art books, data collections, and anniversary volumes.
These books document the story, characters, worldbuilding, animation history, and production background in detail.
Dragon Ball SD
Dragon Ball SD, written under Toriyama’s supervision and drawn by Naho Ooishi, is a super-deformed comedic retelling of the original story.
It follows the same broad narrative while adding modern jokes and a lighter tone.
Dragon Ball Super
Dragon Ball Super, written by Akira Toriyama and drawn by Toyotaro, began in 2015.
It adapts some storylines shared with the television anime and then continues with arcs not yet animated.
By April 2025, it had reached 12 million copies in circulation.
Other Side Stories and Crossovers
Related works include Trunks The Story, Episode of Bardock, That Time I Got Reincarnated as Yamcha, and manga linked to Dragon Ball Heroes, Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, Dragon Ball Fusions, and other games.
Dragon Ball has also crossed over with Dr. Slump, One Piece, and Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Koen-mae Hashutsujo.
Dragon Ball has inspired many exhibitions, live events, themed attractions, and anniversary campaigns.
These include science-themed exhibitions, large-scale stamp rallies, collaboration cafés, pop-up stores, orchestral concerts, major convention showcases, and international touring events.
Exhibitions dedicated to Akira Toriyama’s art and the world of Dragon Ball have also been staged in Japan and abroad.
The franchise has appeared in settings ranging from snow festivals to shopping centers to museum exhibitions.
In 2018, Son Goku became the first Japanese manga character balloon featured in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York.
Dragon Ball is often described as one of the foundational works of modern battle manga.
Its influence can be seen in countless later series through its tournament structure, escalating transformations, rival dynamics, humor-action balance, and emphasis on personal growth through combat.
It helped define the global image of Japanese manga and anime for multiple generations.
For many readers and viewers around the world, Dragon Ball was not just a hit series but the gateway into the wider world of anime and manga.
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