Dragonball

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Dragon Ball (ドラゴンボール , lit. Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball^?) is a manga written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. It was originally published in the Shōnen Jump magazine, by the Japanese publisher Shūeisha, between 1984 and 1995. Its plot describes the adventures of Gokū, a Saiyan warrior, an expert in martial arts that in his childhood begins his travels and adventures in which he tests and improves his fighting skills, facing opponents and protecting the Earth from other beings who want to conquer it and exterminate humanity. As the plot unfolds, he meets other characters who help him with this purpose. The name of the series comes from magical spheres that, when assembled, summon a dragon that grants wishes. On several occasions they are useful both for Goku and his friends and for humanity, although they are also constantly sought by some evil beings.

The manga had 519 printed chapters collected into 42 tankōbon volumes. Two years after its release, Toei Animation released an anime adaptation that spanned roughly the first half of the manga. After its broadcast in 1989 on the Fuji Television channel in Japan, Toei released a sequel titled Dragon Ball Z, which incorporated the remaining content of the manga. A third anime produced by the same studio was released. premiered in 1996. Called Dragon Ball GT, it has an unpublished plot whose writing Toriyama did not participate in. In 2015 Dragon Ball Super began airing on Fuji Television, an anime that continues the events of Dragon Ball Z and which has a manga adaptation, published from June of the same year in Shōnen Jump. The violence and nudity present in some episodes Both the anime and the manga provoked censorship by distributors in different countries.

Sales of printed material, quantified at more than 160 million copies sold in Japan and 260 million worldwide, led Dragon Ball to be one of the most successful titles of Shūeisha. The anime adaptations also achieved notable success; in 1999, for example, one of its chapters achieved an audience record in the US on Cartoon Network, with 1.7 million viewers. Dragon Ball is considered one of the most influential and popular of contemporary times, and has served as inspiration for other mangakas such as Eiichirō Oda, Masashi Kishimoto, Tite Kubo and Hiro Mashima, creators of One Piece, Naruto, Bleach and Fairy Tail, respectively. originals, video games, collectible cards, action figures and toys, among others. In the survey carried out by the Japanese television network TV Asahi to choose the 100 Best Manga in History, Dragon Ball reached number 5.

Plot

Freeza is a being who conquers planets to sell them later through an organization to which creatures of different races belong. One of them is that of the Saiyans, beings with a human appearance and possessing considerable strength. Fearing that they pose a threat to his domain, Frieza decides to use his powers to annihilate them by destroying his home planet Vegeta. Only a few Saiyans survive the massacre, including Vegeta, Nappa, and the brothers Raditz and Kakarot, whom he prefers. let them live so that they continue to serve their purpose. To ensure their continued loyalty, he lies to them that the destruction of their planet was caused by a meteorite impact. Kakarot, still a baby, is sent in a spaceship to Earth, so that when he grows up exterminate humanity and take over the planet.

Kakarot's ship arrives at its destination and crashes somewhere, whereupon an old man named Son Gohan arrives who discovers Kakarot inside the space vehicle. Although he is unaware of his origin, Gohan adopts him as his own grandson and baptizes him "Gokū". Shortly after, due to carelessness, the baby falls from a cliff and hits his head, which causes him an amnesia that makes him forget his Saiyan origin.Gohan takes care of the little one until his death a few years later, after which the child is helpless. Shortly after, he meets Bulma, a young woman who is looking for the Dragon Balls, seven magical spheres that, when gathered together, allow the dragon Shenlong to be called, a creature capable of granting any wish to the person responsible for collecting all the spheres. Goku decides to accompany Bulma on her search., where they both meet other characters such as Oolong, Yamcha and Puar, as well as the villain Pilaf who also wants the Dragon Balls to "conquer the world". To improve his combat skills and participate in a martial arts tournament called Tenkaichi Budōkai, the protagonist trains with Kame Sennin, an old martial arts master who teaches him various techniques, among which the Kame Hame Ha stands out. In his training Gokū he meets Krillin, another student of Kame Sennin who accompanies the Saiyan on various other adventures and Ten Shin Han.

As the series progresses, Goku faces other antagonists such as the Red Ribbon army, Tao Pai Pai, and Piccolo Daimaō, and continues his training with other masters such as Karin and Kamisama, god of Earth and creator of the Dragon Balls. He marries Chi-Chi, with whom he has two children: Gohan and Goten. It is not until the appearance on Earth of the other Saiyan warriors, and of Frieza himself, that Goku finds out about his past. In his eagerness to protect humanity, he confronts them and defeats them. This same ideal leads him to later fight other enemies, among which the android Cell and the creature Majin Boo stand out. He is helped by other characters such as Piccolo, Vegeta or Trunks; obtaining teachings from spiritual beings such as Kaiō Sama, who instructs him with the Genkidama and Kaiō Ken techniques; and Kaiō Shin of the East. Later he learns that there are other powerful beings who rule the universe, such as Bills, the god of destruction, as well as other types of Dragon Balls with greater power than the originals: the "definitive Dragon Balls" - whose location leads him to travel through outer space together with Trunks, his granddaughter Pan and the robot Giru, which leads them to face a new enemy called Baby, and battle evil dragons—and the "Super Dragon Balls" that are each the size of a planet. At the end of Dragon Ball GT, because the original Dragon Balls accumulate a high level of "negative energy" inside, due to its constant use on Earth, Goku leaves aimlessly along with Shenlong to keep the energy of the spheres balanced. His body vanishes as the Dragon Balls disappear.

Aspects of the series

An important part of the plot of Dragon Ball takes place on planet Earth (地球 , Chikyū^?). Toriyama conceived the universe of his work as a "great sphere" divided into two sectors: the lower one is inhabited by living beings ("kingdom of the living"), while the upper one is the "beyond" (あの世, Anoyo^?), that place where the characters go after his death, as well as home to certain spirits and deities. In the middle of the two sectors is Hell (地獄, Jigoku^?), destination of those evil beings when they die. Four quadrants can be distinguished in the realm of the living, each of which is ruled by a divine being known as a Kaiō (界王, Kaio^?). In turn, there are other more powerful beings that supervise the Kaiō, the Kaiō Shin (界王・界王神, Kaio Shin^?), considered as "gods of creation". On the other hand, there are "gods of destruction" whose objective is to exterminate life to guarantee thus a balance in the universe. There are a dozen universes; the Earth is in the seventh, located in the northeastern region of the cosmos. It is ruled by the god Kamisama (神様, Kami-sama^?) —creator of the terrestrial Dragon Balls—, which is supervised by Kaiō of the North.

Other notable locations in Dragon Ball are Planet Vegeta (惑星ベジータ, Wakusei Bejīta^?) where do saiyans come from (サイヤ 人, saiyan^?), warriors with superhuman strength and combat skills; Namek (ナメック星, Namekku-sei^?), where Kamisama comes from and in which there are other Dragon Balls created by Saichōrō, its ruler; or the small planet where Kaiō of the North lives, located in the afterlife (Originally a planet of normal proportions, but shrunk by the destroyer god Bills). On Earth there are beings with characteristics identical to humans, which in some cases are weaker than Saiyans and other alien races, as well as talking anthropomorphic creatures -for example Oolong and Puar- and dinosaurs, as well as organisms known as androids (人造人間, jinzōningen^?). Here is Karin's Tower (カリン塔, Karin-tō^?), where Master Karin lives and which is connected to Kamisama Palace (神様の神殿 , Kamisama no Shinden^?), home of the god of Earth, as well as the venue of the Tenkaichi Budōkai tournament (天下一武道会, Tenkaichi Budōkai^?), where the strongest warriors in the world participate. The events of the anime Dragon Ball GT, whose plot was not written by Toriyama, mostly take place in outer space and on other planets that do not appear in the manga. Similarly, other universes and their inhabitants are described in the anime Dragon Ball Super.

The main objects in the series are the Dragon Balls, seven orange spheres with a different number of red stars each inside. There are four different types: the terrestrial ones, the ones from the planet Namek, the final ones —the latter appear only in Dragon Ball GT— and the “Super Dragon Ball” ones —which appear in Dragon Ball Super— When all are gathered, they allow you to summon a different magical dragon —Shenlong (神龍, Shenlong ^?), Polunga (ポルンガ, Porunga^?), Red Shenlong (赤いシェンロン, Akai Shenron^?) and Super Shenlong (超神龍, Super Shenlong^?) respectively—, who can fulfill one or more wishes to the person responsible for gathering the spheres. Although the original events deal with the search for these objects, as Dragon Ball unfolds, its plot focuses on the fight of the Z warriors —Gokū and his friends— against other beings who yearn to conquer the planet., destroy it or exterminate the surviving Saiyans to the destruction of planet Vegeta. One of the main elements of the series is combat: in addition to fighting with the body, it is also possible for the characters to develop special powers and techniques. Some of the most important are the Kame Hame Ha (かめはめ波, Kame Hame Ha ^?), taught to Goku by Kame Sennin; the Kaiō Ken (界王拳, Kaiō Ken^?), capable of increasing body energy —known as Ki (気, Ki^?)—; and the Spirit Bomb (元気玉 , Genkidama^?), a sphere of energy with destructive capacity. Some characters can resort to physical transformation to acquire greater energy or speed, as is the case with the Saiyans —who can reach more than four levels of transformation; or villains such as Frieza, Cell and Majin Boo. In other cases, characters may resort to physical fusion to combine their energy for more power.

Main characters

Saiyan

• Gokū ( , Son Gokū^?): The protagonist Dragon Balla saiyajin, also called Kakarotto (أ م ك ك ماد, Kakarotto^?)which is sent to Earth to exterminate humanity as part of the conqueror plan of Freezer. He's raised as a human by Son Gohan. Since his childhood he is involved in the search for the Dragon Ball along with Bulma, Yamcha, Oolong and Puar. Over the years he acquires greater strength and learns useful techniques to defeat enemies who try to end the last saiyajin, the Earth and its inhabitants, or who want to gather the spheres to ask for evil desires. He has two children, Goten and Gohan. In the original Japanese version, Masako Nozawa vocally interprets the character in the audiovisual adaptations of the sleeve.

• Vegeta (▪, Bejīta^?): He was the crown prince of the planet Vegeta. Freezer deceives him about the fate of his planet and asks for his support to continue his conquest plans. Years after the arrival of Gokū to Earth, Vegeta arrives there along with Nappa to find the Dragon Balls and ask for a desire to become immortal. Because Freezer also learns about the power of these objects and wants eternal life, Vegeta begins a rivalry with this and the members of his organization, finally helping Gokū face the villain. Throughout the series, Vegeta expresses his intention to surpass the power of Gokū. In Japan, actor Ryo Horikawa interprets the character.

Hybrid Saiyan

• Gohan ( , Son Gohan^?): He is trained by Piccolo when he is barely a child. He participates in several clashes against villains seeking to exterminate humanity and is responsible for the defeat of the android Cell. He marries Videl and both have a daughter, Pan. Like Gokū, Nozawa gave his voice to the Japanese character.

• Trunks (♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫, Torankusu^?): It appears originally as a young warrior from the future, whose mission is to warn the Z warriors of the emergence of androids created by Dr. Gero, whose objective is to kill Gokū. After helping the protagonists in their struggle against these evil beings, he returns to his original era. In the normal chronology of the series, Trunks appears as a child facing Goten the evil Majin Boo. It is then one of the protagonists of Dragon Ball GT. In the Japanese version of the anime is played by Takeshi Kusao.

Humans

• Krilin (♫ ♫ ♫ ♫, Kuririn^?): Friend of Gokū, whom he knows during training with Kame Sennin. He is part of the Z warriors, and intervenes in several clashes with the different villains who plan to invade the Earth. The character's interpretation in the anime adaptation recayed in Mayumi Tanaka.

• Bulma (⋅, Buruma^?): It meets Gokū when she is a teenager and both begin searching for the dragon's spheres with the help of the dragon's radar, a device that she herself created and which is able to locate the location of the magic spheres. He's the wife of Vegeta and mother of Trunks and Bra. In the Japanese version of the anime was interpreted by Hiromi Tsuru.

• Kame Sennin (仙국, Kamesennin^?), also known as "Muten Rōshi": he is a martial arts instructor living on a small island along with a talking turtle. Train Gokū and Krilin when both are children and teach them the Kamehameha technique he himself invented. He gave Gokū a flying cloud that serves the protagonist to move to different places in a short time. His Japanese voice actors are Kōhei Miyauchi and Hiroshi Masuoka.

• Mr. Satan (English Interpretation of the Manifesto, Misutā Satan^?): Constantly referred to as the “hero” of the Earth, it is usually present in several of the clashes of the Z warriors against their adversaries.

• Yamcha ( watch, Yamucha^?): It appears for the first time as a bandit who seeks to steal the Dragon Balls from Gokū and Bulma and who lives in a deserted place, accompanied by Puar, a blue creature that flies and can adopt various physical forms. He was Bulma's boyfriend. However, he becomes a friend of both and helps them in finding the other Dragon Balls. Then he joins the Z warrior team. It is played in Japanese by Tōru Furuya.

Others

• Ten Shin Han (日本語, Tenshinhan^?): Originally appears as a rival of Gokū and Kame Sennin, as a pupil of the teacher Tsuru Sen'nin, in the second edition of the Tenkaichi Budōkai in which the protagonists of Dragon Ball. Shortly afterwards he joined the Z warriors. He is often accompanied by his friend Chaozu. It is played by Hirotaka Suzuoki in the Japanese version of the anime.

• Piccolo (أعربية Русский, Pikkoro Junia^?): Allied of Gokū and his friends, despite being begotten by the evil Piccolo Daimaō. To become God of the Earth, Kamisama separated from his spirit the evil part, which came to be Daimaō. Given such a link, if one of us dies, the other would. Piccolo comes from the race that inhabited the planet Namek. It is vocally interpreted in Japanese by Toshio Furukawa.

• Freezer (., Furīza^?): It is a being that takes care of conquering planets to sell them. He is responsible for the massacre of the Saiyajin race and one of the great antagonists of the series. He comes to Namek willing to find the Dragon Balls of that planet with which he seeks immortality. He is defeated by Gokū, although he then reappears with some parts of his body replaced by robotic prosthesis. Trunks of the future is responsible for ultimate defeat. His Japanese voice actor is Ryūsei Nakao.

• Cell (Đ, Seru^?): It is another of the enemies of Gokū and one of the androids created by Dr. Gero, a scientist who had previously worked with the Red Ribbon army whom Gokū faced when he was a child, to get revenge on the saiyajin. It is created from the cells of different characters, such as Gokū, Piccolo and even Freezer, which allows you to use techniques like Kamehameha. Like the latter, he is able to adopt different physical transformations to increase his power. To determine the fate of humanity, it calls for a tournament similar to the Tenkaichi Budōkai in which it is defeated by Gohan. In the anime, the voice performance in its original language fell in Norio Wakamoto.

• Majin Boo (▪, Majin Bū^?): It is a being created by the Bibidi sorcerer long before the related events Dragon Ballwith the original objective of destroying everything around it. His creator kept him locked up in order to conquer the Earth with his help. Eventually, Babidi (son of Bibidi) manages to release him, but is killed by the creation of his father. Then he becomes a friend of Mr. Satan, a human who practices martial arts, and as a result of this affective bond the creature is separated from his evil side, similar to what happened with Kamisama and Piccolo. This perverse being is the one who faces Gokū, who defeats him with the help of a Genkidama. Like Freezer and Cell, Majin Boo passes through several physical transformations during his combat. His perverse side reincarnates in Oob, whom Gokū trains at the end of Dragon Ball Z. Anime adaptation is played by Kōzō Shioya.

Themes

Dragon Ball is basically about the fight between good and evil. At first, some of the characters want to gather the seven Dragon Balls to make some personal wish, but they find out that said objects are also sought by others for evil purposes, which leads them to confront them on more than one occasion. Later, more powerful adversaries than the previous ones appear, with objectives such as conquering the Earth or exterminating humanity; in such a way that several characteristic elements of science fiction abound in the plot. Goku and his friends represent good and try to eradicate evil. evil with the help of Dragon Balls and other magical objects, without death representing a definitive obstacle for them, since they can revive with the help of said objects.

One of the values it deals with is friendship, since several of the wishes that the protagonists ask for when putting together the spheres are to revive friends who died. In addition, Goku always comes to help his friends when they are in danger. The protagonist offers an image of "redemption and hope" as well as personal growth by increasing his power significantly as the series progresses: "Gokū fights to improve and develop his abilities because it makes him feel stronger and happier [...] He looks for stronger enemies to force himself to improve and prove that he is better than before, not to ratify his existence and invalidate that of his opponents». It is exemplified in the different occasions in which the character gets excited when meeting a challenging enemy or when, shortly before defeating Majin Buu, he tells him: «[Majin Buu] You are an incredible being, you gave your best and that's why I admire you. You went through several transformations, you were so powerful that all of us hate you... [...] I will be waiting for you to fight, I will also train, I will train a lot to become stronger. Goodbye Majin Boo". Broadly speaking, the series implies that anyone can improve themselves and achieve their goals, as long as one constantly strives in what they do or yearn for, and that one must "face problems instead to run away from them". Likewise, he assumes that if there is proper anger management, it is possible to use it as a "motivational tool" to try harder, as occurs when Saiyans use this feeling to acquire more power and determination in their fights. And he explains that evil can become good, as happens with some characters in the series like Vegeta.

The series also contains several references to sexual themes. These abound especially in the first part of the work; for example, Oolong has a secret crush on Bulma and tends to think pervertedly around her, while Kame Sennin has recurring nosebleeds when he gets aroused by seeing or thinking about naked women. This type of allusion caused controversy and censorship of various scenes in the anime throughout its broadcast outside of Japan.

Production

Background

Akira Toriyama.

Before Dragon Ball, Akira Toriyama (b. 1955) worked on Dr. Slump , a manga starring Arale Norimaki, a robot girl and her creator Sembei Norimaki, whose plot recounts her experiences and those of the inhabitants of the Penguin village. It was originally published between 1980 and 1984.

Back then, Toriyama was fascinated by the films of actor Jackie Chan, especially The Drunken Master (1978); Toriyama was asked by Kazuhiko Torishima to create a kung fu manga with elements of the shōnen genre. After meeting with his editor Torishima to discuss ideas for his new projects, Toriyama created Dragon Boy., which unlike Dr. Slump contains more elements of the action genre. This one-chapter manga, published in 1983, is about the adventures of a boy named Tanton and his friends during their trip to "Flower Country."

Plot and narrative elements

In Dr. Slump Toriyama had imagined a story with elements of Western culture, so this time he wanted to develop one set in Eastern culture, specifically that of China, just as he did with Dragon Boy . For inspiration, he chose the Chinese novel Journey to the West as reference material. This tells the experiences of Sun Wukong —a character with physical features reminiscent of a monkey, which is why he is nicknamed "king monkey"—and four of his friends—one of them with a pig's head—as they search for some sacred Buddhist writings with the intention of bringing them back to China with them. The monkey king, known in Japan as "Son Goku", travels on a cloud that allows him to travel long distances in a short time, can take on various physical forms, has an indestructible staff that can be extended, and is a practitioner of martial arts. these characteristics are also present in the protagonist of Dragon Ball. Another similarity between both works lies in the number of friends that accompany the protagonist in his initial adventure and the features of some of them.

For the combat scenes, Toriyama relied on some Jackie Chan movies, and introduced kung fu moves at Torishima's suggestion. Soon after he added the concept of the Dragon Balls, a set of seven spheres that, when assembled, allow the summoning of a dragon that grants wishes. His intention was to provide the protagonists with a primary goal—the location of these spheres—analogue to the search for the Buddhist scriptures in Journey to the West. Toriyama was initially unaware of what the characters would wish for. once they found the dragon; in fact, he planned to finish the story at that time, or until one year after the publication of the manga. The success of his work was something unexpected for the mangaka: “Frankly, I don't understand how [the success] happened. When the manga was being published, the only thing that kept me drawing was to encourage children in Japan to be happy [...I want Dragon Ball] to represent a form of entertainment that is passed down from generation to generation. generation. I even dare to say that I am not interested in whether any of my works leave a legacy, I am only interested in whether they [manage] to entertain the readers».

Torishima was aware that Dragon Ball could gain greater notoriety in the market and for this reason he suggested to Toriyama that he delve into its protagonist, Goku, because he thought it was "very simple". Eventually Toriyama introduced the martial arts tournament, a competition concept similar to others he had already used in Dr. Slump and that had been liked by his followers. As many would have thought that the champion of the tournament should be Goku, the mangaka preferred that another character be the champion to surprise the followers of his work. For the next episode he chose the video game Spartan X as a source of inspiration. From there came the idea of the Red Ribbon army that the young Saiyan faces and who is also looking for the Dragon Balls. Also the «Muscle tower» was based on the game system of Spartan X; In this building, Goku faces several rivals, each of whom turns out to be stronger than the last. For the following volumes, Toriyama wanted to create a "truly evil" character, since in his opinion all the enemies that Goku had defeated so far had "some aspect that [the followers of Dragon Ball]». It was thus that the villain Piccolo Daimaō emerged.

Toriyama continued to diversify the plot by incorporating sci-fi and sentai elements, such as alien characters and settings. One of these characters was Frieza, whom the author conceived during the Japanese financial and real estate bubble as representing the "number one speculator in the universe", who in his opinion was "the worst kind of person [there could be]". The names of several of these new characters were a calambur: the Saiyans were derived from the names of vegetables, while Frieza came from the English term "freezer". For the first time since the manga's appearance, Toriyama explored the origins of Goku, whom he he did not originally conceive as an extraterrestrial being. This idea came to him when he created Vegeta and the other Saiyan characters, he later included the concept of time travel in the plot. Around this period, he thought about replacing Goku with his son Gohan as the main character of Dragon Ball, however, "[after] comparing him to Goku, I felt [Gohan] wasn't right for me." that role". It should be added that the favorite character of the mangaka is Piccolo. From the Majin Boo saga, the concept of a wormhole is introduced, an appreciable event in said saga and in Dragon Ball GT.

Character and scene design

The design for several of the locations in Dragon Ball came from the structure of some buildings in China, as well as photographs of other locations that his wife had previously purchased. For example, the island where the martial arts tournament takes place bears similarities to Bali, Indonesia, where Toriyama and his wife had previously gone.

When creating the characters, an important aspect for Toriyama was their height: he drew the most powerful characters smaller, contrary to what he saw as a convention where the most powerful characters were supposed to be bigger. Before drawing them, Toriyama imagined their biography and personality type. He usually started by tracing the face and then continued with the clothing. As for Goku, he revealed that he found it more difficult to draw him when he was a child, especially during combat scenes. He wanted the female characters to look like a woman." beautiful, sexy [...and] strong", a more complex task than drawing the male characters, which is why he opted to add few women to the plot. Similarly, he found it easier to situate the combats in uninhabited settings and lacking buildings, since otherwise he had to give more detail to the elements destroyed in other types of settings. To color the images he used an ink known as "Luma", which allowed him to illuminate large surfaces in little time and with less effort. The colors of Goku's clothing come from the clothing worn by Buddhist monks living in China. Anecdotally, Torishima was not satisfied with androids 19 and 20. As a solution, Toriyama created 17 and 18. However, these were not liked enough by the publisher either, which is why Cell came into existence. This in turn did not like another of his editors, Yū Kondō, who thought that the character looked "ugly" at first. From the second half of the work, Toriyama began to be more interested in the story than in the quality of the drawing. This was reflected in the drawing of thinner lines and framed images. Some fans expressed their disagreement with him through letters. However, the creator of Dragon Ball ignored the complaints, since, in his opinion, being an action manga, it was irrelevant to be meticulous in each drawing. His main interest was "to give know an unconventional and contradictory history".

Fighting Techniques and Powers

Originally the techniques and powers would not have names, but on Torishima's recommendation, Toriyama decided to give them a distinctive name. The only one that he did not title was that of Kame Hame Ha, named instead by his wife. Some of the most used techniques are flying —Bukūjutsu— and of teleportation —Shunkan Idō—. Goku's physical transformations are something he thought about after introducing the concept of the Super Saiyan. Since these were prompted by the character's courage, the face had to look evil during transition. Fusion is another concept he added from a conversation he had with his friend Masakazu Katsura, who helped him think of a transformation that would be superior to Super Saiyan.

Content of the work

Manga

Shūeisha Publishing House began publishing Dragon Ball on December 3, 1984, in the weekly Shūkan Shōnen Jump manga magazine. After more than a decade and a total of 519 chapters compiled into 42 tankōbon volumes, the last chapter was released on June 5, 1995. The conclusion was due to Toriyama he felt exhausted and wanted to stop drawing for a while. Kazuhiko Torishima, Yū Kondō, and Fuyuto Takeda were responsible for editing the content.

Shūeisha has reissued Dragon Ball on different occasions. In December 2002, he compiled it in a special format called kanzenban —“perfect edition”—, in which he condensed the original material into 34 volumes, and included a slight modification to the ending, as well as covers and new illustrations. More than a decade later, in February 2013, the publisher released another edition with full-color illustrations in which it omitted Goku's adventures as a child to focus on the plot of the Z fighters. Simultaneously, the first digital edition appeared on Shueisha's official website.

In addition to the aforementioned publications, the publisher has distributed Toriyama's work in other types of editions, such as his line Shueisha Jump Remix, a magazine that revisits the company's old series. A characteristic feature of this edition is that, unlike Shūkan Shōnen Jump, which contained different manga in a single publication, in this new magazine a title was edited for each volume released and did not return to the original content of the magazine. manga, but focused on the manga adaptation of the various animated films that had been produced up to then. In total, it had ten volumes. Previously, the publisher had already published between 1992 and 2010 some printed editions based on the films and television specials of the series, which in 2009 began to be distributed in kanzenban. Like these latest publications, there is a manga line that consists of an adaptation of the anime series produced by Toei Animation that began to be marketed in 2005. An edition aimed at the children's market consisting of another adaptation of the anime was available between 1994 and 1995.

In the United States, Viz Media owns the distribution rights to the manga. Unlike the original Japanese publication, the US edition was titled Dragon Ball Z between volumes 17 and 42, to be consistent with the anime adaptation and avoid confusion for its readers. The original distribution was for a single chapter per month; beginning in 2000, the publisher began compiling them in graphic novel format. That same year, Viz began censoring some elements of the series as "concessions", due to complaints from parents. These modifications relied on the approval of Shūeisha and Toriyama himself, who even advised them, for example, to hide Goku's genitals with objects, instead of erasing them. In 2001, more than 10,000 fans asked Viz to stop censoring the work. The publisher agreed and the following year relaunched the series with a new age rating, this time for an audience older than 13 years of age. In other countries, the manga has been published the same as the Viz Media print run, that is separating the content into Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z; in the United Kingdom, the material is distributed by different publishers, such as Gollancz Manga and Viz; in Australia and New Zealand under the Madman Entertainment publishing label; Glénat Editions in France; Editions Star Comics in Italy; Carlsen Comics in Germany and Denmark; Glénat Benelux in the Netherlands; Comix-ART in Russia; Japonica Polonica Fantastica in Poland; Conrad in Brazil; Bonnier Carlsen in Sweden; China Children Press & Publication Group and Tong Li Publishing in China; Grupo Editorial Vid and later Panini Cómics in Mexico, Editorial Ivrea in Argentina; and Planeta DeAgostini in Spain. It should be noted that Spain was the first country in the West where Dragon Ball began to be distributed.

Derivatives and crossovers

In 1999, Toriyama created Nekomajin, a short series that constitutes a parody of Dragon Ball and was published sporadically in Shūkan Shōnen Jump magazines. and Gekkan Shōnen Jump. Its last chapter appeared in 2005. In April of that same year, all the chapters were collected into one kanzenban edition. The following year, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Kochira Katsushika's original publication -ku Kameari Kōen Mae Hashutsujo, a special edition titled Super Kochikame went on sale, which incorporated characters from other manga as a crossover, among they from Dragon Ball , specifically in the chapter "This is the Police Station in front of Dragon Park on Planet Namek" — "This is the police station in front of Dragon Park on Planet Namek"—. Toriyama and Osamu Akimoto collaborated in this production. Also in 2006 appeared a crossover between Dragon Ball and One Piece, in which the authors of both works were involved. The special chapter is called Cross Epoch.

In 2009, an adaptation of the OVA Ossu! Kaette kita Son Gokū to nakamatachi!!, illustrated by Naho Ōishi and published in V Jump. Ōishi also produced Dragon Ball SD, first launched in 2010 in the Saikyō Jump magazine, whose narrative would span several chapters recounting Goku's adventures as a child, albeit with some modified visual details in an art style known as super deformed. In mid-2011, Ōishi participated in the production of Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock, which consisted of three chapters published in V Jump, and which continues the story told in the 1990 television special about Goku's father. In order to promote the film The Battle of the Gods, Ōishi was also in charge of an adaptation in manga from the film, which ran in April 2013 in Saikyō Jump. Starting in September 2012, V Jump similarly bundled a short-lived manga series to promote the game Dragon Ball Heroes.

Anime

The story of Dragon Ball has been adapted to anime on different occasions and in different formats starting with the original series, Dragon Ball in 1986 until Dragon Ball Super in 2018. To this we must add OVAs, television specials and movies.

Dragon Ball

Logo design Dragon Ball.

Toei Animation produced the anime adaptation of Dragon Ball, animated by Studio Live, Astroimpact, Inc, Bird Studio, and Shūeisha, directed by Daisuke Nishio and Minoru Okazaki, and scored by Shunsuke Kikuchi. Several of the production team members had previously collaborated with Toriyama on Dr. Slump. The mangaka collaborated in the production as an assistant in the design and lighting of the characters. Fuji Television originally broadcast the anime of 153 episodes in total, based on the first part of the manga that narrates the adventures of Goku. in his childhood, from February 26, 1986 to April 19, 1989.

The voice cast for the main characters included Masako Nozawa as Goku, Hiromi Tsuru as Bulma, Kōhei Miyauchi as Kame Sennin, Mayumi Tanaka as Krillin, Tohru Furuya as Yamcha, Hirotaka Suzuoki as Ten Shin Han, and Toshio Furukawa as Piccolo.. Toriyama had a decisive role in the selection of the voice actors who played the main characters in the Japanese version, including Goku and Krillin.

As was the case with the original manga, the anime was censored by American television networks, such as FUNimation Entertainment, which edited several scenes with sexual content and language, blood or violence, as well as some dialogues with so that they would be more appropriate for a Western audience. The original uncensored content was not available until the anime's release on DVD. cultural stereotypes of American society, as well as taboos. The first DVD of the series was first released in 2003, produced by Pony Canyon.

Dragon Ball Z

Logo design Dragon Ball Z.

The continuation of Dragon Ball that recounts the adventures of Goku in his adult stage premiered on April 26, 1989 on Fuji Television. It was also produced by Toei Animation and animated by the same studios as the predecessor series. Nishio returned as director, as did Kikuchi as responsible for the musical composition. It is based on the 26 volumes of the manga that were not covered by the other anime. It had a total of 291 episodes and its broadcast ended on January 31, 1996. The anime's opening theme is "Cha-La Head-Cha-La" (Exc. in the Boo saga, where "WE GOTTA" was used POWER" instead).

The original Japanese voice cast was joined by actors such as Ryo Horikawa as Vegeta, Takeshi Kusao as Trunks, Yūko Minaguchi as Videl, Ryūsei Nakao as Frieza, Norio Wakamoto as Cell and Kōzō Shioya as Majin Boo, among others.

It should be added that the anime's title arose as Toriyama's own idea —the manga was always titled Dragon Ball throughout its publication history—, once the anime's production team consulted with him a title to differentiate this series from the one that recounted Goku's adventures as a child. The author of the manga then thought that the story would probably end soon, so he decided to add the last letter of the alphabet to the original title, as an analogy to indicate that this would be the end of Dragon Ball .

Dragon Ball GT

Logo design Dragon Ball GT.

After the completion of the manga and Dragon Ball Z, due to the author's refusal to continue the story, Toei Animation produced an original series as a continuation of Dragon Ball Z with the title of Dragon Ball GT, directed by Osamu Kasai, musicalized by Akihito Tokunaga and broadcast by Fuji Television from February 2, 1996 until its conclusion on November 19, 1997, after a total of 64 episodes aired. The Japanese voice cast once again featured Nozawa as Goku and Kusao as Trunks, as well as Yūko Minaguchi as Pan.

Toriyama was not directly involved in this version, although at the request of Toei Animation the author of the series designed the main characters at the beginning of the project and chose the acronym «GT» for the title, which alludes to the term «Grand Touring " -"The great journey"-. Toriyama has referred to it verbatim as a "great Dragon Ball alternate history".

Dragon Ball Z Kai

On the occasion of the manga's 20th anniversary, Toei Animation published a new version of Dragon Ball Z, titled Dragon Ball Kai (ドラゴンボール改(カイ), Dragon Bōru Kai^?, lit. "Dragon Ball revisited", also known as Dragon Ball Z Kai) which consists of the remastering in high definition of the material originally broadcast in the 1990s, with new opening and closing sequences, as well as a new version of the dubbing. The first part of this version, consisting of 98 chapters, was broadcast on Fuji Television from April 5, 2009 to March 27, 2011, while the second part, with 69 chapters, was broadcast from April 6, 2009. from April 2014 to June 28, 2015.

Dragon Ball Super

Logo design Dragon Ball Super.

Through its official website, Toei Animation announced on April 28, 2015 the production of a new series titled Dragon Ball Super (ドラゴンボール超, Doragon Bōru Sūpā^?), which opened in Japan on July 5 of the same year. Its plot continues the events related in Dragon Ball Z after the Majin Boo Saga. The series is co-produced by Fuji TV and is supervised by Toriyama as story manager and character designer. The series ended on March 25, 2018, after airing 131 episodes.

TV specials and original animations

Various television specials have been produced that expand the original Dragon Ball universe. The first, titled A Lonely Final Battle ～Z Warrior's Father Son Gokū Who Faced Freeza～ ((ドラゴンボールZ たったひとりの最終決戦〜フリー���に挑んだZ戦士 孫悟空の父〜, Tatta Hitori no Saishū Kessen - Freeza ni Idonda Z Senshi Kakarrot no Chichi^? ), had its premiere on October 17, 1990 on the Fuji TV channel, directed by Daisuke Nishio.Its plot consists of a prequel to the events related in Dragon Ball, when recounting the experiences of Bardock -Goku's father- and his confrontation against Frieza in a vain attempt to prevent the massacre of the Saiyans. This production inspired Naho Ōishi to draw the manga Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock , published in mid-2011, and served as the basis for the short film Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock (2011), directed by Yoshihiro Ueda, which continues the previous events by recounting how Bardock, after surviving Frieza's massacre, he becomes the legendary Super Saiyan. In February 1993 Resistance to Despair!! The Last Super Warriors: Gohan and Trunks (ドラゴンボールＺ・絶望への反抗！！残された Dragon Ball Z: Zetsubō e no Hankō , Dragon Ball Z: Zetsubō e no Hankō !!Nokosareta Chō Senshi - Gohan to Trunks^?), also directed by Nishio, whose plot is set in an alternate future where Gohan and Trunks are the only surviving Z fighters on Earth and must defeat Androids 17 and 18. Later, in March 1996 another special based on Dragon Ball GT and titled Dragon Ball GT: 100 Years Later (ドラゴンボールGT 悟空外伝！ 勇気の証は四星球, Dragon Ball GT: Goku Gaiden! Yûki no Akashi wa Sûshinchû^?). The plot is a continuation of the events that occurred in Dragon Ball GT and focuses on Pan, the only surviving Z warrior and her grandson Gokū Jr.

There are two original video animations: the first, Dragon Ball Z: Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans (ドラゴンボールＺ／外伝・サイヤ人絶滅計画, Dragon Ball Z Gaiden: Saiya-jin Zetsumetsu Keikaku^?), was directed by Shigeyasu Yamauchi and premiered in August 1994. It tells of an adventure in which an enemy, resentful of the massacre of the Tsufurujin race, tries to spread a gas with which he intends to end humanity. The other animation is a new version of the previous one and is entitled Dragon Ball: Super Saiyan zetsumetsu keikaku|Dragon Ball Z: The Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans (ドラゴンボール 超サイヤ人絶滅計画 , Dragon Ball: Super Saiyan zetsumetsu keikaku^?). Its premiere occurred in 2011, simultaneously with the video game Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2. Additionally, in 2008 the original animation for the Internet was released Hey! Son Goku and his friends are back! (ドラゴンボール オッス！帰ってきた孫悟空と仲間たち！！ , Dragon Ball: Ossu! Kaette Kita Son Goku to Nakamatachi!!^?), a single chapter directed by Yoshihiro Ueda to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the publication of Shōnen Jump magazine. The story takes place just after Majin Buu's defeat and tells of a new adventure in which Goku must face the brothers Avo and Cado, former soldiers of Frieza, who threaten to invade Earth. Other types of animated productions include crossover, that is, those in which stories and characters from different series converge. In 2013, for example, Fuji TV broadcast 'Dream 9 Toriko & One Piece & Dragon Ball Z Chō Collaboration Special!! (ドリーム9 トリコ&ワンピース&ドラゴンボールZ超コラボスペシャル !!, Dream 9 Toriko & One Piece & Dragon Ball Z Chō Collaboration Special!!'^?), where some characters from the animes Toriko, One Piece and Dragon Ball Z appeared. under the direction of Akifumi Zako —director of a chapter of Toriko— and Hiroaki Miyamoto —director of several chapters of One Piece—.

Movies

There are more than fifteen animated feature films set in the elements and events recounted in Dragon Ball. However, the vast majority are not considered part of the official canon of the series, as Toriyama has not been responsible for their plots. The only exceptions are Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods (2013) and Dragon Ball Z: Fukkatsu no F (2015), in which he did collaborate. Generally, the films tell alternative stories that are complementary to the manga. All of them have been shown in theaters in Japan, while in other countries most were distributed through home video formats or on television.

The first film was released in December 1986, under the title Dragon Ball: The Legend of Shenron (ラゴンボール 神龍の伝説, Dragon Bōru Shenron no Densetsu^?), directed by Daisuke Nishio and distributed by Toei Animation. The plot constitutes a reinvention of the original; Although it has the same characters from the manga, they look for the Dragon Balls with reasons other than those reported in the original material. It also features a new villain, King Gourmeth. From then on, movies were produced every year, uninterrupted, until 1996 when The Road to Maximum Strength (ドラゴンボール 最強への道, Dragon Bōru Saikyō e no Michi^?), directed by Shigeyasu Yamauchi and specially produced to commemorate the manga's tenth anniversary. Its plot is similar to that of the first Dragon Ball tape, only that unlike that in the latter the events extend to the appearance of the Red Ribbon and his confrontation against Goku. A decade later, the previously mentioned Dragon Ball Z: Battle of the Gods (2013) was released, directed by Masahiro Hosoda, which focuses on Goku's confrontation against Beerus, the god of destruction., which threatens to destroy the Earth if he does not find the legendary super Saiyan God. Regarding the latter, Toriyama commented that he had written the script as if it were a new continuation of the manga, and that although it represented his first approach to the production of a feature film of Dragon Ball as responsible for the plot, «my point has not changed at all, because Dragon Ball began as a story for boys in the Jump. So I tried to make the story as simple as I could. I made this film so everyone could enjoy it."

In the same way, live action films have been produced. The first, Dragon Ball: The Magic Begins (1989) was directed by Joe Chan Jun-Leung and its story has several modifications compared to Toriyama's original material, especially regarding the names of the characters. It is about an evil alien named King Horn who attacks Earth with the goal of finding seven objects known as "Dragon Pearls", which could help him conquer the universe. However, his plans are thwarted when he confronts Monkey Boy (Gokū) and his friends. The following year, the South Korean production Dragon Ball Ssawora Son Gokū, Igyeora Son Gokū, directed by Ryong, was released. Wang, in which the Dragon Balls are also replaced by "magical spheres", sought by the protagonist of the story. 20th Century Fox produced another film, Dragonball Evolution, starring Justin Chatwin as Goku and released in 2009, which had a poor critical reception.

Dragon Box

Several DVD box sets containing the entire series and bonus material were released in Japan on March 19, 2003; the first includes episodes 1-147 of Dragon Ball Z and the second went on sale on September 18 of the same year and contains the rest of the episodes of that same series. Subsequently, on July 7, 2004, a third box appeared with the 153 episodes of the original anime series and a fourth box went on sale on June 15, 2005 with the Dragon Ball GT series. On April 14, 2006, another box containing all the animated films was distributed. Apart from these box sets, starting November 2, 2005, individual DVDs containing 4 to 6 episodes each began to be released.

Soundtracks and musical themes

The various soundtracks that contain the musical themes of the anime and movie versions of Dragon Ball have been produced since 1986, the year in which the record label Columbia Records released the first compilation on vinyl record format named Makafushigi Adobenchā! / Romantikku Ageru Yo, which includes the opening and closing songs of the first anime adaptation. Some of these music collections include remixes of the anime's opening and ending themes, such as Makafushigi Adobenchā!, released in 2005. The most recent compilation is HERO 〜 Kibō no Uta 〜 / “CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA”, featuring a new version of the first opening theme of Dragon Ball Z, performed by the Japanese band Flow, the same one that was used to musicalize some scenes of the feature film Dragon Ball Z: The Battle of the Gods. In addition to the above, there are twenty albums that are part of a collection known as Dragon Ball Z Hit Song Collection, which is distributed by Sony Music and each contains some opening and closing songs, others that also appeared in some episodes of the anime productions as well as some of the franchise's video games, among others. Similarly, some compilation sets were also distributed, each containing more than one compact disc in its content. It should be added that each non-animated feature film and video game in the franchise also has its own soundtrack.

The opening and closing themes of Dragon Ball, in their original language, were performed by Hiroki Takahashi and Ushio Hashimoto, respectively; for Dragon Ball Z, two different songs were used for the opening and closing of each chapter, the first two performed by Hironobu Kageyama and the last two by MANNA Y Kageyama, correspondingly. In the case of Dragon Ball GT, Field of View took over the opening theme, while the four ending themes were sung by the band Deen, Zard, Shizuka Kudou, and Wands. Finally, in the case of Dragon Ball Kai, Tanimoto Takayoshi performed both songs.

Video Games

Several video games based on Toriyama's original material have been released for second-generation video game consoles and up. The first home console game that one is aware of is Dragon Ball: Dragon Daihikyô (ドラゴンボール ドラゴン大秘境, Dragon Bōru: Dragon Daihikyō^?), intended for the Super Cassette Vision, developed and distributed by the Epoch company in late 1986.

Since then, games related to the series have been published on various consoles from different companies, including Nintendo, Sega, Sony and Microsoft, as well as on arcade machines. A good part of the games published in the 1990s were distributed in European countries such as France, Spain or Portugal due to the early success of the series in these territories. The first game to be published in North America (with the exception of the graphically altered version of Dragon Ball: Shenlong was not born due to lack of a license) was Dragon Ball Final Bout in 1997. In 2008 it was quantified that the Dragon Ball video game franchise had managed to exceed 38 million copies sold worldwide. The most commercially successful video game was Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 released for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows and Nintendo Switch, reaching more than seven million units sold in 2020 among all platforms.

Companion Books & Trading Cards

There are several companion books dealing with the Dragon Ball universe. Among them are the series Daizenshuu (大全集, 'Daizenshuu'^?), made up of seven main volumes and three supplementary volumes that cover the manga, the first two animes and the animated movies. The first volume, Dragon Ball: The Complete Illustrations (Daizenshuu volume 1), first published in Japan in 1995, is the only one released in English, in 2008. by Viz Media. Contains the 264 illustrations that Toriyama drew for the covers of each chapter of the manga, as well as those of the 42 tankōbon volumes. It also includes an interview with the mangaka about the creation of Dragon Ball. Another version entitled Chōzenshū (超全集) was released in 2013. , ' Chōzenshū'^?), made up of four volumes, which synthesizes the content from the Daizenshuu series and includes updated franchise information. In turn, Dragon Ball GT was covered by the print series Dragon Ball GT Perfect Files, published in 1997 by Shūeisha, which contains information about the anime, as well as illustrations.

Simultaneously with the release of Dragon Ball on DVD in Japan, between 2003 and 2004 four guides were published, including content from the Daizenshuu volumes. as well as interviews with Toriyama, the production team and cast of the series. Four other guides have been distributed since the release of Dragon Ball Z Kai in Japan. Its content includes new interviews with Toriyama about the production of Dragon Ball.

Other types of franchise products are collectible card games, some of them produced by Bandai. Bandai has also produced several lines of toys and action figures of the characters.

Dubbing into Spanish

Laura Torres is known as the voice of small Gokū, Gohan and Goten in the Hispanic-American fold of the anime.

The adaptation of the original anime had two dubbings in Spanish: one for Spain and the other for Latin America.

Transmission in Spain is the oldest in Spanish-speaking countries. In 1988, Mario Bistagne Fabregat (1925-2018), owner of the dubbing studio Dovi S.L. from Esplugues de Llobregat (Barcelona), bought the first 26 episodes from the French distributor AB Distribution (owner of the rights for all of Europe) to distribute them in Spain. These episodes were dubbed into Spanish and Catalan, with the most likely direction by veteran actor Joan Velilla, at the end of 1988 in Barcelona.

Ángeles Neira would direct the second Spanish dubbing, recorded at the Alta Frecuencia studio, located in Seville. The main voice cast was made up of Ana Cremades as Gokū as a child and Adolfo Martínez, José Antonio Gavira and Miguel Ángel Montero in the adult stage of the protagonist; Alejandro Albaiceta and Alberto Hidalgo as Vegeta; Ana Cremades and Ana Fernández as Gohan in his childhood stage and Alejandro Albaiceta in his adult stage; María del Pilar Valdés as Trunks as a child and Luis Fernando Ríos and Rafael Torres for the adult stage of the character, Ana Pallejá and Nonia de la Gala in the role of Bulma; Antonio Crespo and Mariano Peña as Kame Sennin; Jordi Ribes, Francisco Lozano, David Arnáiz and Adolfo Martínez as Yamcha; Ángeles Neira and Francesc Figuerola as Krillin; Daniel Palacios as Ten Shin Han; Luis Fernando Ríos and Antonio Inchausti as Piccolo; Ángel Corpa and Mariano Peña as Frieza; Alejo de la Fuente as Cell; and Daniel Palacios as Majin Boo.

Hispanic America had a first adaptation in which they changed the anime's title to Zero and the Magic Dragon, based on an American pilot made by the company Harmony Gold. In this version, the names of several characters were changed, for example: Son Goku was renamed Zero, Krillin was renamed Cachito and Yamcha was renamed Zedaki, among others. Sixty episodes were broadcast with this dubbing. Later, with the direction of Gloria Rocha and Mario Castañeda, a second adaptation was carried out by the Intertrack, S.A. studio, produced by the Cloverway company, a subsidiary of Toei Animation. The cast of voices for the main characters in this version was made up of Laura Torres and Castañeda for the child and adult stages of Gokū, respectively; René Garcia as Vegeta; Laura Torres and Luis Alfonso Mendoza for Gohan's childhood and adult stage; Gabriela Willert and Sergio Bonilla for child and adult Trunks, correspondingly; Rocío Garcel, Laura Ayala, Mónica Manjarrez in the role of Bulma; Jesus Colin as Kame Sennin; Jesus Barrero and Ricardo Mendoza as Yamcha; Rosita López Aguirre, Eduardo Garza and Luis Daniel Ramírez as Krillin; Ismael Larumbe as Ten Shin Han; Carlos Segundo Bravo as Piccolo; Gerardo Reyero as Frieza; Ricardo Brust as Cell and Mario Sauret as Majin Boo.

For the later dubbing of Dragon Ball Kai, released in 2009, Toei Animation Inc. replaced Cloverway and replaced the vast majority of the actors who participated in the original dubbing, which caused controversy among various fans of the series. The recording took place at Candiani studios and was directed by Irwin Daayan. On this occasion, the voice cast was made up of Edson Matus as Goku; Andres Gutierrez Coto as Vegeta; Karina Altamirano as Gohan; Luis Fernando Orozco as Trunks; Rocio Garcel as Bulma; Jorge Roig as Kame Sennin; Idzi Dutkiewicz as Piccolo; Dafnis Fernández as Frieza; and Salvador Reyes as Cell; of the original cast, only Rocio Garcel as Bulma, Mendoza as Yamcha, Larumbe as Ten Shin Han and Garza as Krillin were present.

Reception

Cosplay of Dragon Ball Z in 2008.

The popularity of Dragon Ball had a greater boom from the chapters of the Tenkaichi Budōkai tournament. It is one of Shueisha's best-selling titles, with a total of 156,630,000 volumes marketed in Japan until February 2012. Until 2008 it was the best seller in the country. Its formula of "unexpected and sudden characters and narrative" led to the development of a franchise of products made by various companies such as Mattel and Hasbro, for example. Between 1986 and 1999 the brand generated worldwide revenues amounting to 3 billion USD. The franchise arose two years after the appearance of the manga, from the anime version produced by Toei Animation. This adaptation allowed the successful dissemination of Toriyama's work in other countries such as Germany —where between 1997 and 2003 it was the best-selling manga in the country until then with more than 5 million copies sold—, France, Italy —in where up to 250,000 copies were sold for each volume published at the end of the 1990s—, Spain, the United States —where it has sold more than a million copies since the 2000s—, Canada and Mexico, among others. Worldwide, more than 200 million copies of the manga have been sold, and as of 2004 its sales were estimated at $30 billion.

For editor Masahiko Ibaraki, from Shueisha, Dragon Ball was one of the manga that marked a commercial milestone in the publisher's history. Writer Jason Thompson, in addition to praising the drawing, commented that it is "by far the most influential shōnen manga of the last thirty years and today almost every Shōnen Jump mangaka cites it as one of their favorite works." ». "It goes from being an adventure and comedy manga to one exclusive to combat" where the fight scenes stand out, "showing a diversity of martial arts and training sequences interspersed with some jokes", which would eventually become adopted as a model for other shōnen series. In another opinion, Annette Wannamaker, in her book Boys in Children's Literature and Popular Culture, considered that Dragon Ball exaggerates the "masculinity" of its characters by depicting them as "overly muscular martial arts warriors, capable of flight and modifying their energy to launch powerful attacks against their enemies." He criticized the "sadism" of the villains in their destructive intent, as well as the sacrifice of the protagonists in order to save their friends or the Earth. In a poll conducted at the 2006 Japan art festival, several Japanese people chose him. as the third best manga of all time, surpassed only by Slam Dunk and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. In a poll conducted by Oricon, Goku was selected as the "the most powerful manga character of all time", while in a list compiled by About.com, both Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z appear among the " critically acclaimed classics" that any bookstore should offer for sale. It is ranked as one of the most popular manga of all time in another survey conducted by Anime News Network.

Regarding the other products of the franchise, the anime adaptations enjoyed a positive reception, although they were the subject of several criticisms for the violence and nudity of certain characters in some scenes. For its international release, the corresponding distributors aired edited versions of the original anime, in which they censored several takes. For example, in Spain —the first Spanish-speaking country where Dragon Ball was broadcast— up to seven minutes of one of the chapters were removed to avoid controversy. Even so, several Spanish viewers criticized the series for "exalting violence, competitiveness and sexism". But, despite the criticism, reflected in the press of the time, there are also "less alarmist references and even defenses in a humorous way." Meanwhile, in Finland the publication of the manga ceased due to pressure from a group of people who complained about sexual references in the content of the work. In the US, the distributor Funimation edited out some scenes where blood appeared and gave it a Y7-FV rating, calling it a violent fantasy show suitable for children over seven years of age; this qualification appeared in the opening scenes of each broadcast episode of the series, as a warning to the viewer. It is important to point out that, although at that time programs with controversial content were already being broadcast on television such as The Simpsons or South Park, and even these were in prime time, always they were promoted to the audience as content aimed at an adult audience. Instead, Dragon Ball was aimed at both children's and youth audiences. During its broadcast in Japan, the anime enjoyed unprecedented popularity. His violence was seen as an innovative element in anime. Despite these controversies —censorship was considered a commercial strategy—, and the fact that the series alternated between various television channels and broadcast schedules, leading to doubts about its success in the United States, in September 1999 one of its chapters achieved the highest audience record on the Cartoon Network television network until then, with 1.7 million viewers, in addition to the term "Dragon Ball" being one of the most searched on the Lycos web portal.

In 2009, the site IGN chose Goku as the "best anime character of all time" and highlighted his power to defeat opponents more powerful than him. Likewise, editor Ramsey Islers, also from IGN, recognized Dragon Ball as one of the most influential and successful franchises in history, although he criticized some aspects of both the manga and the anime, such as the extensive dialogues of the characters during each battle, Goku's lack of maturity in contrast to his excessive humor and power, the alleged racism of the author in some characters such as Mr. Popo and the sexist stereotype inherent in the little importance that female characters have in the plot. After its premiere in the mid-1990s in the US, Sally Beaty, of The Wall Street Journal, described it as a combination of Pokémon and Pulp Fiction (1994) when criticizing the violence present in the death of some characters. Wannamaker described the narrative structure of the anime's chapters as a series of "endless melodramatic battles that can last dozens of chapters each and can be more complex than a soap opera", calling some characters and their roles "ambiguous". ideologies. In a survey carried out at the beginning of 2014 by the publisher Selecta Visión, the results showed that Goku was the "favorite male character" while the series was the second favorite below Attack on Titan .Actress Masako Nozawa, who plays the original Japanese voice of Goku in the Dragon Ball anime and films, received a merit award at the 2013 Seiyū Awards for her performance in the series. Although animated films are not part of the official canon, some of them have been well received. Richard Eisenbeis, in his review for the Kotaku.com website, concluded that although Battle of Gods "it's not deep, it [is] very funny". As for film adaptations of live images, the most recent was Dragon Ball: Evolution (2009), which received poor reviews. criticism in general for "lacking the magic of print that allowed Dragon Ball to become a cult sensation". Finally, in the area of video games, the most successful has been Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 (2007) for the PlayStation 2 and Wii, which has sold more than four million copies as of 2014.

In the second volume of the work The Dragon Ball Z Legend: The Quest Continues, published by DH Publishing, it is mentioned that the success of Dragon Ball could be because “it is not simply about the confrontation between the good guys and the bad guys. Although it is fantasy, it has dramatic elements typical of real life and includes references to how friendship develops or how bad guys can become good guys and vice versa. All described in an optimistic way." Its acceptance in different countries could be the result of its "dramatic development and immoderate martial arts content [that] maintains the tension levels." For Aaron Chumbris, of the Examiner.com website: "its message of camaraderie and fighting to face adversity" have led it to be one of the most popular and influential manga and anime of all time. The validity of its popularity, according to Thompson, could be due to the fact that it is about a "well-crafted" work that continues to be re-released in various classes of merchandise.

In countries like Thailand, the age range of the audience for Dragon Ball in 1997 was from 4 to 26 years old. The press highlighted that it was an important fact, since most animated series generally have a viewing audience whose ages vary between 4 and 11 years old. It has been a source of inspiration for other mangakas, such as Eiichirō Oda. and Masashi Kishimoto, responsible for One Piece and Naruto, who revealed that Goku had been an important influence for them when conceiving the protagonists of their respective works, while Bleach , written by Tite Kubo, has some similarities in its narrative structure and direct nods to Toriyama's work. His characters have appeared or been alluded to, sometimes in a parody tone, in other shows like Robot Chicken, or Gintama —in which the character Brieza is very similar to Frezeer, as well as having a setting called planet Hamek, in reference to Namek, from Dragon Ball—.