Dragon Ball Introduction

Dragon Ball (ドラゴンボール, Doragon Bōru) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. It was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1984 to 1995; later the 519 individual chapters were published into 42 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha. Dragon Ball was inspired by the classical Chinese novel Journey to the West. The series follows the adventures of the protagonist Goku from his childhood through adulthood as he trains in martial arts and explores the world in search of the seven mystical orbs known as the Dragon Balls, which can summon a wish-granting dragon when gathered. Along his journey, Goku makes several friends and battles a wide variety of villains, many of whom also seek the Dragon Balls for their own desires.

The 42 tankōbon have been adapted into two anime series produced by Toei Animation: Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, which together were broadcast in Japan from 1986 to 1996. Additionally, Toei has developed seventeen animated feature films and three television specials, as well as an anime sequel titled Dragon Ball GT, which takes place after the events of the manga. From 2009 to 2011, Toei broadcast a revised, faster-paced version of Dragon Ball Z under the name of Dragon Ball Kai, in which most of the original version's footage not featured in the manga was removed. Several companies have developed various types of merchandising such as a collectible trading card game, and a large number of video games.

The manga series was licensed for an English-language release in North America by Viz Media, in the United Kingdom by Gollancz Manga, Australia and New Zealand by Chuang Yi and Malay-language release in Malaysia by Comics House. The entire anime series was licensed by Funimation Entertainment for an English-language release in the United States, although the series has not always been dubbed by the same studio. In China, a live-action film adaptation was produced in 1989. In 2002, 20th Century Fox acquired the rights to produce an American-made live-action film that received a negative reception from critics and fans; the movie was released on April 10, 2009 in the United States.

Since its release, Dragon Ball has become one of the most successful manga and anime series of all time. The manga's 42 volumes have sold over 152 million copies in Japan and more than 200 million copies worldwide. Reviewers have praised the art, characterization, and humor of the story. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest manga series ever made, with many manga artists such as Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto), Eiichiro Oda (One Piece), Tite Kubo (Bleach), Makoto Raiku (Zatch Bell), Yoshio Sawai (Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo), and Hiro Mashima (Rave Master, Fairy Tail) citing Dragon Ball as a source of inspiration for their own now popular works. The anime, particularly Dragon Ball Z, is also highly popular in various countries and was arguably one of the most influential in greatly boosting the popularity of Japanese animation in Western culture.

Plot summary

See also: List of Dragon Ball characters

The series begins with a young monkey-tailed boy named Goku befriending a teenage girl named Bulma. Together, they go on a quest to find the seven Dragon Balls. Goku later undergoes rigorous training regimes and educational programs under the martial artist Master Roshi in order to fight in the World Martial Arts Tournament, a competition involving the most powerful fighters in the world. During his training time with Roshi, he meets a bald Shaolin monk named Krillin, who starts out as Goku's rival classmate; however, they soon become best friends. Outside the tournaments, Goku faces diverse villains such as Emperor Pilaf, the Red Ribbon Army, and the Namekian King Piccolo. Several of the enemies and rivals Goku encounters eventually become his allies and close friends, including the desert bandit Yamcha, the assassin Tien Shinhan, the samurai Yajirobe, and King Piccolo's offspring/reincarnation Piccolo Jr.

As a young adult, Goku meets his older brother Raditz, who reveals to him that they are members of a nearly extinct extraterrestrial race called the Saiyans. The Saiyans had sent Goku to Earth as an infant to conquer the planet for them, but he suffered a severe head injury soon after his arrival and lost all memory of his mission, as well as his blood-thirsty Saiyan nature. Goku refuses to help Raditz continue the mission, and is soon killed along with Raditz in battle; however, he is revived a year later by the Dragon Balls. He then begins to encounter other enemies from space, most notably the Saiyan prince Vegeta, who becomes his rival and eventually ally. Goku also encounters Frieza, the galactic emperor responsible for the destruction of almost the entire Saiyan race, whose actions cause Goku to transform into a legendary Super Saiyan. After an epic battle on the planet Namek, Goku defeats Frieza, avenging the lives of billions across the galaxy.

Some time later, a group of androids from the former Red Ribbon Army appear, seeking revenge against Goku. During this time, an evil life form called Cell emerges and, after absorbing two of the androids to achieve his final form, holds his own fighting tournament to decide the fate of the Earth entitled the Cell Games. However, Cell is eventually defeated by Goku's son Gohan in a desperate Kamehameha wave struggle. Seven years later, Goku and his allies are drawn into yet another battle for the universe against a magical demon named Majin Buu. After numerous battles, Goku destroys Buu with his ultimate attack; the Spirit Bomb. Ten years later, at another World Martial Arts Tournament, Goku meets Buu's human reincarnation, Uub. Leaving the match between the two of them unfinished, Goku takes Uub away on a journey to train him.

Themes

At its core, Dragon Ball maintains the central tenets of the Weekly Shōnen Jump philosophy of "friendship, struggle, and victory". As the series shifts from a "heart warming" story into a more action-oriented piece, the protagonists go through an unending cycle of fighting, winning, losing and improving. They continue this cycle by using miraculous devices to achieve life after death and continue to learn lessons as they defeat their challengers.The series also follows the idea that people can better themselves and achieve their goals by constantly challenging themselves.

Production

Wanting to break from the Western influences common in his other series, Akira Toriyama loosely modeled Dragon Ball on the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West. He also redeveloped one of his earlier one shot manga series, Dragon Boy, which was initially serialized in Fresh Hump and released in a single tankōbon volume in 1983.This short work combined the comedic style of Toriyama's successful six-year series Dr. Slump with a more action-oriented plot and paid homage to famous martial art actor Jackie Chan. Toriyama notes that his goal for the series was to tell an "unconventional and contradictory" story.

In the early concept of the series, Goku and Piccolo were from Earth. With the introduction of Kami, the idea of having fights from other planets was established and Goku and Piccolo were changed to alien species. For the female characters, Toriyama felt it was not fun to draw "weak females" so he created women that he felt were not only "beautiful and sexy", but also "strong". Going against the normal convention that the strongest characters should be the largest in terms of physical size, he designed many of Dragon Ball's most powerful characters with small statures, including the protagonist, Goku.

The Earth of Dragon Ball

The fighting techniques were initially unnamed, but the series editor felt it would be better to name them all. Toriyama proceeded to create names for all of the techniques, except for the Kamehameha which his wife named when Toriyama was indecisive about what it should be called. When creating the fictional world of the series, Toriyama decided to create it from his own imagination to avoid referencing popular culture. However the island where the World Martial Arts Tournament is held is modeled after Bali. When including fights in the manga, Toriyama had the characters go to uninhabited locations to avoid difficulties in drawing destroyed buildings. In order to advance the story quickly, he also gave most fighters the ability to fly so they could travel to other parts of the world without inconvenience. This was also the reasoning behind Goku learning to use Instant Transmission (thus allowing characters to teleport to any planet in a second).

After the first chapters were released, readers commented that Goku seemed rather plain, so his appearance was changed. New characters (such as Master Roshi and Krillin) were added and martial arts tournaments were included to give the manga a greater emphasis on fighting. Anticipating that readers would expect Goku to win the tournaments, Toriyama had him lose the first two while continuing his initial goal of having Goku be the champion and hero. After Cell's death, he intended for Gohan to replace Goku as the series' protagonist, but then felt the character was not suited for the role and changed his mind.

Toriyama based the Red Ribbon Army on a video game he had played named Spartan X in which enemies tended to appear very fast. After the second tournament concluded, Toriyama wanted to have a villain who would be a true "bad guy". After creating Piccolo as the new villain, he noted that it was one of the most interesting parts of the stories and that he and his son became the favorite characters of the series. With Goku established as the strongest fighter on Earth, Toriyama decided to increase the number of villains that came from outer space. Finding the escalating enemies to be a pain to work with, he created the Ginyu Force to add more balance to the series. During this period of the series, Toriyama placed less emphasis on the series' art work, simplifying the lines and sometimes making things "too square." He found himself having problems determining the colors for characters and sometimes ended up changing them unintentionally mid-story. In later accounts, Toriyama noted that he didn't plan out the details of the story, resulting in strange occurrences and discrepancies later in the series.

Media

Manga

Dragon Ball

See also: List of Dragon Ball manga volumes

Written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama, Dragon Ball was initially serialized in the manga anthology Weekly Shōnen Jump starting on December 3, 1984. The series ended on June 5, 1995 when Toriyama grew exhausted and felt he needed a break from drawing. The 519 individual chapters were published into 42 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha from November 10, 1985 through August 4, 1995. In 2002, the chapters were re-released in a collection of 34 kanzenban volumes, which included a slightly rewritten ending, new covers, and color artwork from its Weekly Shōnen Jump run. Toriyama also created a short series, Neko Majin, that became a self-parody of Dragon Ball. First appearing in Weekly Shōnen Jump in August 1999, the eight chapter series was released sporadically until it was completed in 2005. These chapters were compiled into a "kanzenban"-style package for release in Japan on April 4, 2005.

The Dragon Ball manga was licensed for release in English in North America by Viz Media which has released all 42 volumes. Viz released volumes 17 through 42 under the title Dragon Ball Z to mimic the name of the anime series adaptated from those volumes, feeling it would reduce the potential for confusion by its readers. They initially released both series in a monthly comic book format starting in 1998, and later began collecting them in graphic novels. The first 10 volumes of both series were re-released from March to May 2003 under the "Shonen Jump" format, with Dragon Ball being completed on August 3, 2004 and Dragon Ball Z finishing on June 6, 2006.In June 2008, Viz began re-releasing the two series in a wideban format called "VIZBIG Edition," which collects three individual volumes into a single large volume.

In 2006, Toriyama and One Piece author Eiichiro Oda teamed up to create a single chapter crossover of their individual hit series. Entitled Cross Epoch, the chapter was published in the December 25, 2006 issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump.

Spin-offs

A manga adaptation of Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!! illustrated by Naho Ōishi, was published in the March 21, 2009 and April 21, 2009 issues of V Jump.

A spinoff manga titled Dragon Ball SD, also written by Naho Ōishi, has been published in Shueisha's Super Strong Jump magazine beginning in December 2010. A second issue was released in April 2011. This manga is a condensed retelling of Goku's adventures as a child, with many details changed.

Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock is a three-chapter manga, once again penned by Naho Ōishi, that was published in the monthly magazine V-Jump between August and October 2011. This manga is a sequel to the 1990 TV special Bardock - The Father of Goku with some key details changed. As the title indicates the manga's story revolves around Bardock, Goku's father, who in this special is featured in a "what-if" scenario in which he did not die at the hands of Frieza and gets to fight his enemy as a Super Saiyan. The fact that Bardock appears as a Super Saiyan is based on the Dragon Ball Heroes card featuring him as one.

Anime series

Dragon Ball

See also: List of Dragon Ball episodes

Toei Animation produced an anime series based on the manga chapters, also titled Dragon Ball. The series premiered in Japan on Fuji Television on February 26, 1986 and ran until April 12, 1989, lasting 153 episodes.

Harmony Gold USA licensed the series for an English-language release in the United States in 1989. In their voice dub of the series, Harmony renamed almost all of the characters, for example, Goku was renamed "Zero." This dub version was test-marketed in several cities, but was cancelled before it could be broadcast to the general public.

In 1995, Funimation Entertainment acquired the license for the distribution of Dragon Ball in the U.S., as well as its sequel series Dragon Ball Z. Funimation contracted BLT Productions to create an English voice track for the first anime at their Canadian-based dubbing studio and the dubbed episodes were edited for content. Thirteen episodes aired in first-run syndication during the fall of 1995 before Funimation cancelled the project due to low ratings and decided to shift their focus on the more action-oriented Dragon Ball Z. Vidmark Entertainment (later known as Trimark Pictures) purchased the home video distribution rights for these dubbed episodes sometime after. In March 2001, following the success of Dragon Ball Z on Cartoon Network, Funimation announced the return of Dragon Ball to American television, featuring a new English audio track produced at their own Texas-based dubbing studio, as well as slightly less editing, and left the original background music intact unlike their dubs of the two sequel series. The re-dubbed episodes aired on Cartoon Network from August 20, 2001 to December 1, 2003. Funimation also broadcast the series on Colours TV and their own Funimation Channel starting in 2006.

Funimation began releasing their in-house dub to Region 1 DVD box sets in March 2003. Each box set, spanning an entire saga of the series, included the English dub track and the original Japanese audio track with optional English subtitles. However, they were unable to release the first thirteen episodes at the time, due to Lionsgate Entertainment holding the distribution rights to their original dub of the same episodes, having acquired them from Trimark after the company became defunct. After Lionsgate's license to the first thirteen episodes expired in 2009, Funimation remastered and re-released the complete Dragon Ball series to DVD in five individual season box sets, with the first set released on September 15, 2009 and the final set released on July 27, 2010.

Dragon Ball Z

With the ending of Dragon Ball, Toei Animation quickly released a second anime series, Dragon Ball Z (ドラゴンボールZ(ゼット), Doragon Bōru Zetto?, commonly abbreviated as DBZ). Picking up where the first left off, Dragon Ball Z is adapted from the final twenty-six volumes of the manga series on Weekly Shounen Jump from 1988–1995, it premiered in Japan on Fuji Television on April 26, 1989, taking over its predecessor's time slot, and ran for 291 episodes until its conclusion on January 31, 1996.

Following their short-lived dub of Dragon Ball in 1995, Funimation began production on an English-language release of Dragon Ball Z. They collaborated with Saban Entertainment to finance and distribute the series to television, sub-licensed home video distribution to Pioneer Entertainment (later known as Geneon Universal Entertainment), contracted Ocean Productions to dub the anime into English, and hired Shuki Levy to compose an alternate musical score. This dub of Dragon Ball Z was heavily edited for content, as well as length; reducing the first 67 episodes into 53. The series premiered in the U.S. on September 13, 1996 in first-run syndication, but also struggled to find a substantial audience during its run and was ultimately cancelled after two seasons. On August 31, 1998, however, these cancelled dubbed episodes began airing on Cartoon Network's weekday-afternoon programming block, Toonami, where the series received much more popularity. With new success, Funimation continued production on the series by themselves, now with less editing due to fewer restrictions on cable programing. However, they could no longer afford the services of either the Ocean voice cast or Shuki Levy's music without Saban's financial assistance, resulting in the creation of their own in-house ADR studio and a new musical score composed by Bruce Faulconer. Dragon Ball Z was now in full production in the U.S. and the new dub of the series aired on Cartoon Network from September 13, 1999 to April 7, 2003. In 2004, Geneon's distribution rights to the first 53/67 episodes of Dragon Ball Z expired, allowing Funimation to re-dub them with their in-house ADR Studio and restore the removed content. These re-dubbed episodes aired on Cartoon Network during the summer of 2005.

In 2006, Funimation remastered the episodes cropped to 16:9 widescreen format and then began re-releasing the series to Region 1 DVD in nine individual season box sets, with the first set released on February 6, 2007 and the final set released on May 19, 2009. These sets were notable for including the option of hearing Funimation's in-house dub alongside the original Japanese music, an option that had previously not been available. Other options included hearing the in-house dub with the American soundtrack composed by Bruce Faulconer and Nathan Johnson, and a third option included watching the original Japanese version, with the original Japanese soundtrack and English subtitles. In July 2009, Funimation announced that they would be re-releasing Dragon Ball Z in a new seven-volume DVD set called the "Dragon Boxes." Based on the original series masters with frame-by-frame restoration, the first set was released on November 10, 2009 and the final set was released on October 11, 2011.Unlike the season box sets, Funimation's "Dragon Box" release is presented in the original 4:3 fullscreen format.

Funimation and Toei released a statement in January 2011 confirming that they would stream Dragon Ball Z within 30 minutes before their simulcast of One Piece. Dragon Ball Z is now being streamed on Hulu, containing the English dub with the Japanese music and uncut footage, as well as subtitled Japanese episodes.

In July 2011, Funimation announced plans to release Dragon Ball Z in Blu-ray format. Dragon Ball Z Level 1.1, containing the first 17 episodes, was released on November 8, 2011. However, on January 26, 2012, Funimation suspended the release of the third Blu-ray volume of Dragon Ball Z, as well as production of the rest of the Blu-ray releases, citing concerns over restoring the original film material frame by frame.

Dragon Ball GT

Produced by Toei Animation, Dragon Ball GT (ドラゴンボールGT(ジーティー), Doragon Bōru Jī Tī?, G(rand) T(our)) premiered on Fuji TV on February 2, 1996, and ran until November 19, 1997. Unlike the first two series, it was not based on the original Dragon Ball manga. The series lasted 64 episodes. In Dragon Ball GT, Goku is transformed back into a child by the Black Star Dragon Balls and is forced to travel across the galaxy to retrieve them in order to transform back into an adult.

Following the success of both Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z on Cartoon Network, Funimation licensed Dragon Ball GT for distribution in the U.S. as well. Funimation's dub of the series aired on Cartoon Network from November 14, 2003 to April 16, 2005. The television broadcast initially skipped the first sixteen episodes of the series. Instead, Funimation created a composition episode entitled "A Grand Problem," which used scenes from the skipped episodes to summarize the story. The skipped episodes, advertised as "The Lost Episodes," were later aired after the remaining episodes of the series had been broadcast.

Funimation later released their dub to bilingual Region 1 DVD in two season box sets, with the first set released on December 9, 2008 and the final set released on February 10, 2009, which also featured the Dragon Ball GT TV special, A Hero's Legacy. In a similar fashion to their DVD releases for Dragon Ball Z, the DVD box sets have the option of hearing the English dub alongside the original Japanese music, and the rap song used for the TV airing of the show (nicknamed by fans "Step Into the Grand Tour") has been replaced by English-dubbed versions of the original Japanese opening and ending songs. Funimation later released a "Complete Series" box set of Dragon Ball GT (using the same discs as the two season sets, but with different packaging) on September 21, 2010.

Dragon Ball GT has been re-broadcast in the U.S. on Nicktoons, beginning on January 16, 2012.

Dragon Ball Z Kai

In February 2009, Toei Animation announced that it would begin broadcasting a revised version of Dragon Ball Z as part of the series' 20th anniversary celebrations. The series premiered on Fuji TV in Japan on April 5, 2009, under the name Dragon Ball Kai (ドラゴンボール改(カイ), Doragon Bōru Kai?, lit. "Dragon Ball Revised"), with the episodes remastered for HDTV, featuring updated opening and ending sequences, and a rerecording of the vocal tracks by most of the original cast. The footage was also re-edited to more closely follow the manga, resulting in a faster-moving story, and damaged frames removed. As such, it is a new version of Dragon Ball Z created from the original footage.

On March 9, 2011, Toei announced that due to Kenji Yamamoto's score for Dragon Ball Kai infringing on the rights of an unknown third party, the score for remaining episodes and replays of previous episodes would be replaced.Later reports from Toei claimed that with the exception of the series' opening and closing songs, as well as eyecatch music, Yamamoto's score was replaced with Shunsuke Kikuchi's original score from Dragon Ball Z. The series concluded with the finale of the Cell arc as opposed to including the Majin Buu arc. It was originally planned to run 98 episodes, however due to the Tōhoku offshore earthquake and tsunami, the final episode of Dragon Ball Kai was not aired and the series ended on its 97th episode in Japan on March 27, 2011.

Like all other Dragon Ball-based anime, Funimation licensed Dragon Ball Kai for an English-language release in the U.S., under the title Dragon Ball Z Kai. The series was broadcast on Nicktoons from May 24, 2010 to January 1, 2012. In addition to Nicktoons, the series also began airing on The CW's Saturday-morning programming block, Toonzai, on August 14, 2010.Both the Nicktoons and Toonzai airings are edited for content, though the Toonzai version is censored even more so than Nicktoons', most likely due to The CW being a broadcast network. Both these versions are rated TV-Y7-FV. However, in addition to the TV airings, Funimation is also releasing bilingual Region 1 DVD and Blu-ray volumes of the show. These box sets contain the original Japanese audio track with English subtitles, as well as the uncut version of the English dub, which does not contain any of the edits made for the TV airings. The uncut version is rated TV-PGFollowing the plagiarizing accusations of the series' original musical score, both the Nicktoons and Toonzai airings have also been featuring the original Dragon Ball Z background music, as well as the uncut DVD/Blu-ray version beginning with its fifth volume release.

Anime films

See also: List of Dragon Ball films

Seventeen anime films based on the Dragon Ball series have been released in Japan. The first three films were based on the original Dragon Ball anime series. The remaining films included thirteen Dragon Ball Z films and one tenth anniversary special (also based on the first anime series). However, the films are generally either alternate re-tellings of certain story arcs or extra side-stories that don't correlate with the same timeline as the series. Funimation has licensed and released all of the films to home video in North America.

Specials

Three television specials based on the metaseries were released in Japan. The first, Bardock – The Father of Goku, was released on October 17, 1990. It is a prequel to the series, set years before the start of the manga and details how Goku's father, Bardock, discovers that Frieza is planning to kill all the other Saiyans, and his efforts to stop him. The second special, The History of Trunks was released on March 24, 1993. Based on an extra chapter of the original manga, it is set in a parallel universe where most of the series characters are killed by the evil androids and focuses on Bulma and Vegeta's son Trunks. A Hero's Legacy, released on March 26, 1997, is set 100 years after the end of Dragon Ball GT. It features one of Goku's descendants who begins looking for the Dragon Balls in order to help his sick grandmother, Pan.

Two other specials were also released in Japan. A two-episode original video animation (OVA) series titled Dragon Ball Z Side Story: Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans, based on the Famicom video game of the same name, was released in 1993 and was set during Dragon Ball Z.Another special, Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!!, premiered at the Jump Super Anime Tour on November 24, 2008. The special is set two years after the defeat of the evil Buu and has Goku and his friends facing against new enemies, Abo and Kado, and meeting Vegeta's younger brother, Tarble and his wife, Gure.

A remake of Dragon Ball Z Side Story: Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans titled Dragon Ball: Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans was released on November 11, 2010 as bonus feature on Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2. In November 2011, V-Jump announced an animated adaptation from Bardock's spinoff manga by Naho Ōishi titled Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock which aired in Japan on December 18, 2011.

Video games

The Dragon Ball franchise has spawned multiple video games across various genres and platforms. Earlier games of the series included a system of card battling and were released for the Nintendo Entertainment System following the storyline of the series. Starting Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the Sega Saturn and the PlayStation most of the games were from the fighting genre including the series Super Butoden. The first Dragon Ball game to be released in the United States was Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout for the PlayStation on July 31, 1997. For the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable games the characters were redone in 3D cel-shaded graphics. These games included the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai series and the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi series. Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit was the first game of the series developed for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. A massively multiplayer online role-playing game called Dragon Ball Online is currently playable. It has been stated that Akira Toriyama has been working on character designs for this project for several years, and the game is available in Japan and South Korea.

Soundtracks

See also: List of Dragon Ball soundtracks

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

       Nintendo DS

 Dragon Ball: Origins

Follow Goku and his sidekick Bulma as they travel the world overcoming enemies and obstacles to collect the 7 Dragon Balls.
      



Playstation 3

  Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit

Dragonball Z: Burst Limit is the first game of the Dragonball Z series to hit the next generation consoles. The game features detailed graphics and dramatic, seamless battles, expected from a next generation console. The plans are to have characters and movement reminiscent of the animation, and high-intensity battles. During each battle, find conditions to create new dramatic scenes. After the battles, watch a unique story unfold each time you play. There is also a stronger element of offence and defence, due to added energy saving and fighting techniques. Features characters: Goku (Base, Kaio-ken, Super Saiyan), Kid Gohan, Teen Gohan (Base, Super Saiyan, Super Saiyan 2), Piccolo, Vegeta (Base, Super Saiyan), Future Trunks (Base, Super Saiyan), Kuririn, Tenshinhan, Yamcha, Saibaman, Raditz, Nappa, Recoome, Captain Ginyu, Freeza (1st Form, 2nd Form, 3rd Form, Final Form, 100% Full Power, Mecha), Android 16, Android 17, Android 18, Cell (Imperfect, Semi-perfect, Perfect, 100% Perfect Form), Bardock Broly (Base,Legendary Super Saiyan)


         Dragon Ball: Raging Blast

Dragon Ball: Raging Blast is a 3D fighting game featuring over 70 Dragon Ball Z characters. Experience the fast and powerful fighting style of the popular Dragon Ball Z series in a brand new game for the next gen systems! Dragon Ball: Raging Blast features over 70 playable characters, including transformations, and allows you to relive epic battles from the series or experience alternate moments not included in the original anime and manga.

IMPORT Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Blast Fight with Furious Combos and experience the new generation of Dragon Ball Z! Dragon Ball Z Ultimate Tenkaichi features upgraded environmental and character graphics, with designs drawn from the original manga series. Destructible battlefields, including massive craters and ki blasts cutting across the sky deliver a more dynamic experience and immediate sense of urgency to the exhilarating fights. An enhanced story mode drops players into the rich Dragon Ball Z universe, filled with beloved characters and powerful enemies. An accessible battle system allows gamers of all ages to hold their own in fast-paced battles, while still retaining tactical depth for hardcore fans. IMPORT Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit More info coming! IMPORT Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2 Come fight until you drop. Transform into Super Saiyans, release your Kamegameha and smash your opponents into the rocks in Dragon Ball Raging Blast 2. The Sequel to the Raging Blast will feature more characters, so if your favourite wasn't in the last game, check this one out. Try out everybody's skill sets and see how combos could be stringed together for more points. Very little about the game is actually known at the moment, please check back regularly for updates. Xbox 360

IMPORT Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit

More info coming!

IMPORT Dragon Ball: Raging Blast

Dragon Ball is out with Raging Blast, an exhilirating 3D fighter. Veteran Fighters can enjoy facing off against the strongest of the strong while novices can start their fighting career here.

Controls are easy, launch the characters' special skills with a press of a single button, all characters have their specialized skill set, be sure to have a go at them all. Make use of the area, move in all directions, having the fight in 3D gives that so much more room to dash around.

Characters' expressions change during the fight and the environment play a big part in your victories. Learn to destroy mountains and hide behind rocks to ambush your enemies.

 

IMPORT Dragon Ball: Raging Blast

Come fight until you drop. Transform into Super Saiyans, release your Kamegameha and smash your opponents into the rocks in Dragon Ball Raging Blast 2. The Sequel to the Raging Blast will feature more characters, so if your favourite wasn't in the last game, check this one out.

Try out everybody's skill sets and see how combos could be stringed together for more points. Very little about the game is actually known at the moment, please check back regularly for updates.





PlayStation 2

Dragon Ball: Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3

Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 delivers an extreme 3D fighting experience, with over 150 playable characters, enhanced fighting techniques, beautifully refined effects and shading techniques, making each character's effects more realistic, and over 20 battle stages. The PlayStation 2 version of this game comes with with a bonus Fusion Disc System that will help unlock gameplay modes in the previous two games after they are inserted.






DragonBall Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2

Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 takes the acrobatic and intense 3D flying and fighting dynamic made popular in last year?s blockbuster and takes it to a whole new level with exciting new features sure to please die-hard Dragon Ball fans and those new to the franchise. Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 offers the complete DBZ mythology from Dragon Ball to Dragon Ball GT with a staggering roster of over 100 DBZ heroes and villains and an expansive story mode that allows players to recreate some of the storied confrontations from the TV show, or all-new showdowns of their own with characters that never actually fought in the animated series. Lightning-fast fighting, light RPG and action gameplay elements give players the power to engage in titanic battles set in 15 vast and vibrant 3D highly destructible environments. The game also features levels that are twice the size of those in the original, in-game transformations, tag battles, an all new vanishing attack and complete environmental destruction.

Dragon Ball Z: Infinite World

Dragon Ball Z: Infinite World combines all the best elements of previous Dragon Ball Z games, while boasting new features such as “Dragon Missions”, new battle types and drama scenes for fans to delve deeper than ever before into the Dragon Ball Z® universe. The new “Dragon Missions” in Dragon Ball Z: Infinite World include many famous scenes from the Dragon Ball Z series never before seen in a video game. A range of missions from time attack in the “Snake Road Mission” alongside other action and racing-style missions puts players’ strategy and quick-thinking skills to the test beyond simply showing off their deadly fighting skills.





Dragonball Z Trilogy

Everything before it was just a training. Dragonball Z Trilogy combines the unprecedented power and freedom of Budokai Tenkaichi, the expansive storyline and character roster of Budokai Tenkaichi 2, and the reinvented, combo intensive fighting system of Super Dragonball Z. Never before has there been such an electric combination of ground-breaking Dragonball Z fighting games -until now. Are you ready to challenge the most powerful beings on Earth?





Dragonball Z: Budokai

Enter the Dragon Ball Z Budokai! A spectacular 3D world filled with the fiercest fighters the universe has ever known. Test your skills against the most powerful Dragon Ball Z heroes and the most sinister villains. Every battle is more intense, more dangerous, and more epic than the one before. Will you be the last warrior standing? Also get the hint guide for $10.00 more!!

Dragonball Z: Budokai 2

The time has come to go beyond the Dragon Ball Z? sagas and experience the full force of the most powerful fighters in the universe. Dragon Ball Z?: Budokai? 2 will challenge players like no other DBZ? game before. Begin with an all-new single player ?Dragon World? that opens the story to new match-ups, surprising character appearances, and missions that will amaze. You can also battle your friends in multiplayer ?VS.? and ?Tournament? modes. If your will and skill prevail, you will come face-to-face with Buu?, the most lethal of all DBZ? villains. Do you have what it takes not only to survive, but to dominate?





Dragonball Z: Budokai 3

The Greatest Warriors. A Tournament of Champions. Only One Will Prevail. Features: Pulverize opponents with the Saiyan Overdrive Fighting System, including: Teleportation Counter ? Recreate the lightening speed of DBZ. Teleportation Tornado Combo ? Pinball opponents in the air. Dragon Rush Attack ? Experience explosive, cinematic new attack moves. Bukujutsu Flight Mode ? Go airborne at any time in the game. Unlock up to 40 bonus characters from Dragon Ball Z?, DBZ? movies, and Dragon Ball GT?. Customize your DBZ? warriors and build the ultimate fighter. Post and retrieve character profiles from the Internet


Dragonball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi

Everything before it was just training! Dragon Ball Z?: Budokai? Tenkaichi combines fighting and flying in wide open, destructible 3D environments. In the air, on the ground or under water, DBZ Budokai Tenkaichi gives players the ability to battle with unprecedented power and freedom. Experience the intensity of DBZ fighting in an all-new way by combining melee combat, energy attacks and awesome 3D flight with fully interactive recreation of the Dragon Ball universe. With its intense battles, high-speed flight and deep storyline, DBZ Budokai Tenkaichi offers players a ?superhero? experience of epic proportions ? it?s the DBZ game fans have been waiting for





DragonBall Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2

Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 takes the acrobatic and intense 3D flying and fighting dynamic made popular in last year?s blockbuster and takes it to a whole new level with exciting new features sure to please die-hard Dragon Ball fans and those new to the franchise. Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 offers the complete DBZ mythology from Dragon Ball to Dragon Ball GT with a staggering roster of over 100 DBZ heroes and villains and an expansive story mode that allows players to recreate some of the storied confrontations from the TV show, or all-new showdowns of their own with characters that never actually fought in the animated series. Lightning-fast fighting, light RPG and action gameplay elements give players the power to engage in titanic battles set in 15 vast and vibrant 3D highly destructible environments. The game also features levels that are twice the size of those in the original, in-game transformations, tag battles, an all new vanishing attack and complete environmental destruction.

Dragonball Z Sagas Go deeper into the world of DBZ than you have ever gone before. Recreate the most exciting elements of the Saiyan-Cell Games Sagas, and experience all-new elements from the show that have never been seen before. It is a journey worthy of a Saiyan.

Super Dragon Ball Z

Based on the arcade game, this is a fighting game in the Dragon Ball Z universe, developed by Craft and Master (whose team members include former Street Fighter producer Noritaka Funamizu. Super DBZ is a cell-shaded fighter featuring your favorite Dragon Ball characters. Each character has his own special abilities, with Frieza making use of warps and Trunks using swords for up-close attacks. The game uses a four button setup. Two buttons are reserved for strong and weak attacks. One button is used for guarding with another used for making your character jump. The guard and jump button can be pressed together to execute a dash move. Super DBZ features both ground-based and air-based fighting. Stages are multi-layered, and you can move between different areas, taking the fight to an area that's more advantageous to your character.


 IMPORT Dragon Ball Games Section
Join Goku and friends in their fight to protect Earth and the universe!

Check out our selection of Japanese Dragon Ball PS2 video games






Gameboy


Dragonball GT: Transformation

Transformation is the first in a series of two thrilling Dragon Ball GT action/RPGs. Play as one of seven playable DBGT characters and face off against General Rilldo, Luud, Baby and other intergalactic villains. In this game the battles are bigger and the enemies are more dangerous. Can you take your game to the Next Level?

Dragonball Z: Buu's Fury

It all comes down to this: the last great enemy of Goku and the Z-Warriors must be defeated. Only by using all of your skill, teamwork and training will you take down the evil Buu. You must prevail! Play as Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Goten, and Trunks. Create fusion characters ? Gotenks and Vegito. Match the best character with the right mission to achieve ultimate victory. Unleash authentic, intense attacks with an upgraded combat system that includes powerful combos and super moves. Challenge friends and trade items using the Game Boy Advance Game Link cable. Unlock a secret bonus characters. 


Dragonball Z: Legacy of Goku

Dragon Ball Z? - The Legacy of Goku?? will take you on an incredible journey to protect the Universe from the evil Frieza once and for all! You?ll use combat strategies to help fulfill the Legacy of Goku?, the greatest warrior the Universe has ever known!The kidnapping of Goku?s? son Gohan? threatens the safety of the Universe. The future depends on your ability to use your powers to help Goku? defeat his enemies. Get ready to Power Up!



Dragonball Z: Legacy of Goku II

Just when the Z Fighters thought the struggle against evil was over, a new evil approaches. In this RPG, the next episode in the Z Fighters' quest to rid the universe of evil, players will take on the role of Trunks?, Goku?, Gohan?, Piccolo? or Vegeta? as they journey through the Cell Saga and prepare to do battle with the mighty Cell himself. With five playable characters, hours of gameplay, and massive game maps to explore, it?s a DBZ? adventure of epic proportions



Dragonball Z: Legendary Super Warriors (Gameboy Color)

Re-enact your favorite Dragon Ball Z? battles by using high-intensity fighting cards to protect the universe from complete domination! Build custom decks from five unique card types and position your characters to move through level after level of combat! Start out as Gohan? and train against Piccolo??then battle Nappa?, Vegeta? and Frieza?! But it?s not over yet! Have you got what it takes to stand your ground when you come up against the mighty powers of Cell? and Buu?? You can even attain multiplayer and trading status?if you?re fast enough, brave enough and strong enough to defeat your enemies.


Dragonball Z: Taiketsu

Now, take the most intense DBZ battles wherever you go!Unleash devastating combos and super moves alone or against friends in huge multiplayer battles. The gauntlet has been thrown down, the challenge issued. Can you fight your way to the top? Play as one of 15 of the greatest warriors from the DBZ universe including the mighty Broly. Pulverize opponents with powerful combos and super moves. Battle opponents on the ground or in the air with DBZ flight action. Use your power to transform to the next level and let loose massive attacks. Challenge friends using the Game Boy Advance Game Link cable in multiplayer mode.


Dragonball Advance Adventure

Take on the role of Goku in this new adventure game. The game features side scrolling action, as you control Goku punching and kicking enemies along the way.game.More info coming!




Gamecube

Dragonball Z: Budokai 2

The time has come to go beyond the Dragon Ball Z sagas and experience the full force of the most powerful fighters in the universe. Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2 will challenge players like no other DBZ game before. Begin with an all-new single player "Dragon World" that opens the story to new match-ups, surprising character appearances, and missions that will amaze. You can also battle your friends in multiplayer "VS." and "Tournament" modes. If your will and skill prevail, you will come face-to-face with Buu, the most lethal of all DBZ villains. Do you have what it takes not only to survive, but to dominate?





  Playstation

Dragonball Z: Ultimate Battle 22 Experience the excitement of DragonBall Z with this vintage PSone fighting game. Previously only available in Japan, DragonBall Z: Ultimate Battle 22 features 22 playable characters as well as 5 unlockable ones. Will you be the last one standing?

Dragonball GT: Final Bout

The original Dragonball Z game is still one of the most popular among kids and grown-ups alike. With 22 selectable characters, plus 5 more secret characters, mastering this game will take quite some time. Fast and furious 3D fighting is brought to your home in this classic import title. No reading is required and this can be enjoyed by all fans of the show!








Dragonball Z: Legends

The original Dragonball Z game is still one of the most popular among kids and grown-ups alike. With 22 selectable characters, plus 5 more secret characters, mastering this game will take quite some time. Fast and furious 3D fighting is brought to your home in this classic import title. No reading is required and this can be enjoyed by all fans of the show!








Dragonball Z: Ultimate Battle 22

The original Dragonball Z game is still one of the most popular among kids and grown-ups alike. With 22 selectable characters, plus 5 more secret characters, mastering this game will take quite some time. Fast and furious 3D fighting is brought to your home in this classic import title. No reading is required and this can be enjoyed by all fans of the show!



Live-action films

A live-action Mandarin Chinese film adaptation of the series, Dragon Ball: The Magic Begins, was released in Taiwan in 1989. Considered a "tacky" version of the story by critics, the plot revolves around a rag-tag group of heroes, led by "Monkey Boy" (Goku) trying to stop King Horn from using the wish-granting "Dragon Pearls" (Dragon Balls) to rule the world.

In December 1990, the unofficial live-action Korean film Dragon Ball: Ssawora Son Goku, Igyeora Son Goku was released. The movie follows the original Dragon Ball story, and does so more closely than The Magic Begins. This live action adaption from Korea is an adaptation of the events of the first Dragon Ball story arc and a little of the Saiyan arc of Dragon Ball Z, as Vegeta's partner Nappa makes an appearance in this film.

In March 2002, 20th Century Fox acquired feature film rights to the Dragon Ball franchise and began production on an American live action film entitled Dragonball Evolution.Ben Ramsey was tapped to create a screenplay based on Dragon Ball Z. Directed by James Wong and produced by Stephen Chow, the film was released in the United States on April 10, 2009. The film was largely considered a failure by both critics and Dragon Ball fans,and it only grossed $57 million at the box office.

Art books

Cover art of Dragon Ball - The Complete Illustrations.

There are two companion books to the series, one called Dragon Ball - The Complete Illustrations, first published in Japan in 1995, which was then translated and printed in 2008 by VIZ Media. It contains all the 264 coloured illustrations Akira Toriyama done for the Weekly Jump magazines' covers, bonus giveaways and specials, and all the covers for the 42 tankōbon. It also includes an interview with Akira Toriyama on his work process. In Japan it was originally released as Volume 1 of the 7 part Daizenshuu series.

The other was Dragon Ball GT Perfect Files, released in May 1997 and December 1997 by Shueisha's Jump Comics Selection imprint. It include series information, illustration galleries, behind-the-scenes information, and more. They were out of print for many years, but were re-released in April 2006 and this edition is still in print.

Collectible cards

There have been collectible cards, based on the Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT series, released under Bandai. They feature various scenes from the manga and anime stills, plus exclusive artwork from all three series. They were previously released in other countries, like Taiwan and Singapore, before making their debut in the United States in July 2008.

Reception

Manga

Dragon Ball is one of the most popular manga series of all time, and it continues to enjoy high readership today. By 2000, more than 126 million copies of its tankōbon volumes had been sold in Japan alone.By 2007, this number had grown to pass 152 million in Japan and 200 million worldwide. In Little Boy: The Art of Japan's Exploding Subculture Takashi Murakami notes that Dragon Ball's "never-ending cyclical narrative moves forward plausibly, seamlessly, and with great finesse."Goku's journey and his ever growing strength resulted in the character winning "the admiration of young boys everywhere".

In a survey conducted by Oricon in 2007 between 1,000 people, Goku, the main character of the franchise, ranked first place as the "Strongest Manga character of all time." Manga artists, such as Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto and One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda, have stated that Goku inspired their series' main protagonists as well as series structure. Dragon Ball was also high inspiration to Yaiba, the manga written by Gosho Aoyama, best known as the creator of the manga series Detective Conan. Both Yaiba and Dragon Ball began as a kind of light-hearted gag manga, but towards the end of their run the tone became more serious and action-packed. When TV Asahi conducted an online poll for the top one hundred anime, the Dragon Ball series came in place twelve.

Animerica felt the series had "worldwide appeal" that uses 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". Ridwan Khan from Animefringe.com commented on the manga to have a "chubby" art style but as the series continued it gets more refined with the characters leaner and more muscular. He also noted he preferred the manga versions of the series to their animated counterparts that makes the story slower and pointless.Anime News Network praised the story and humor of the manga to be very good due conveying of all the characters's personalities. They also remarked Viz's translation to be one of the best ones of all the English editions of the series, praising the lack of censor.Rationalmagic.com remarked the first manga volume as "a superior humor title". They praised Goku's innocence and Bulma's insistence as one of the funniest parts of the series. Writer Jason Thompson commented that the series popularity comes from a formula that Toriyama used in various story arcs from which he describes as "lots of martial arts, lots of training sequences, a few jokes." Yet, he noted that such formula became the model for other manga from the same genre such as Naruto.

Anime

The anime adaptations have also received positive reviews. Dragon Ball Z was listed as the 78th best animated show in IGN's Top 100 Animated Series, and was also listed as the 50th greatest cartoon in Wizard magazine's "Top 100 Greatest Cartoons" list. T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews considered the series characters to be different from stereotypical stock characters and noted that they undergo much more development. Despite praising Dragon Ball Z for its cast of characters, they criticized it for having long and repetitive fights. Anime News Network considered Trunks's storyline to be one of the better story arcs of the series, with the characters having more motivation than in previous stories. Some critics and most fans of the Japanese version have given Funimation's English dub of Dragon Ball Z mixed feelings over the years. IGN criticized some of the voices to be "quite annoying" and also noted that Frieza's English voice "made him sound like a lady. This combined with Frieza's appearance left a lot of fans confused about Frieza's gender for a while." IGN commented Dragon Ball GT "is downright repellent" mentioning that the material and characters had lost their novelty and fun. They also criticized the character designs of Trunks and Vegeta as being goofy. Anime News Network also gave negative comments about Dragon Ball GT, mentioning that the fights from the series were "a very simple childish exercise" and that many other anime were superior. The plot of the series has also been criticized for giving a formula that was already used in its predecessors. On several occasions the Dragon Ball anime series has topped Japan's DVD sales The first episode of Dragon Ball Kai earned a viewer ratings percentage of 11.3, ahead of One Piece and behind Crayon Shin-Chan. Although following episodes had lower ratings, Dragon Ball Kai was among the top 10 anime in viewer ratings every week in Japan for most of its run.