Alternative TitlesSynonyms: Dragonball Japanese: ドラゴンボール
Information
Type: TV
Episodes: 153
Status: Finished Airing
Aired: Feb 26, 1986 to Apr 12, 1989
Duration:
24 min. per episode Rating:
PG-13 - Teens 13 or older
L represents licensing company
StatisticsScore: 8.111 (scored by 79032 users)
Ranked: #3542
Popularity: #60
Members: 114,029
Favorites: 2,799 1 indicates a weighted score
My Info
Popular Tags
action adventure comedy martial arts shounen |
SynopsisBulma is a girl in search of the mystical dragonballs that when brought together grant any wish. In her search she bumps into the owner of one of these balls, a strange boy named Goku. The two then set off together, Bulma in search of the dragonballs and Goku on a quest to become stronger.
(Source: ANN) |
Related AnimeAdaptation: Dragon Ball
Alternative version: Dragon Ball Movie 1: Shen Long no Densetsu, Dragon Ball Movie 2: Majinjou no Nemuri Hime, Dragon Ball Movie 3: Makafushigi Daibouken, Dragon Ball Movie 4: Saikyou e no Michi
Sequel: Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Kai
Character: Dr. Slump: Arale-chan
Spin-off: Dragon Ball Specials
Characters & Voice Actors
Staff
Reviews
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L-sama
104 of 127 people found this review helpful
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153 of 153 episodes seen
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| Overall |
8 |
| Story |
7 |
| Animation |
6 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Character |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
Ah, Dragonball. The beginning of one of the longest and arguably most popular anime franchise on both sides of the pacific. Unfortunately, this anime seems to be shunned by a few based on its affiliation with its sequels. That's a shame, really.
One huge reason why this anime holds its own is that the entire franchise is in its infancy. There are no Super Saiya-jin stages to worry about, and the fights aren’t stretched out to their barely tolerable limits. The various quests that the young Z-Senshi embark on are just that: quests. There are no interstellar enemies to fight (early on), and the majority of the time spent is on the team simply trying to find the dragonballs. The comedic element in Dragonball shines just as brightly and flows smoothly with the story. The characters have such a genuinely portrayed chemisty between each other. Dragonball never seems to take itself too seriously, allowing the viewer to sit back and enjoy the ride.
For a twenty-year-old series, Dragonball looks the part. Time has taken its toll, as the art and animation haven’t aged very well, though by 1980's standards, it's pretty good. On the other hand, the fights are better planned out, particularly during the Tenkaichi Budokai. Instead of the “beat-down-to-the-brink-of-death-only-to-tap-in-to-a-hidden-power-and-win-at-the-last-second” routine, combatants actually have flaws and human weaknesses, including Goku. Some are actually enjoyable with comedic moments placed within them. As the series begins its final arc, however, we begin to sees shades of the future for this franchise. Fights begin to grow longer and longer and the comedy slowly begins to wane.
Like I said earlier, it’s a real shame that this series gets such a bad reputation because of its successors. Sure, it eventually parts into its lackluster sequels, but as the saying goes, ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover.’ Dragonball is a fun series that should be worth anyone’s time, be you a newcomer or a seasoned veteran. read more
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TheIMF
30 of 41 people found this review helpful
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153 of 153 episodes seen
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| Overall |
10 |
| Story |
10 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Character |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
Influenced heavily by Journey to the West, Dragonball follows the journey of the world's most popular anime and manga character of all time: Son Goku, the innocent yet powerful hero we follow on his adventures as he and his friends explore the mysterious world in search of the seven Dragonballs.
Contrary to common believe, Dragonball is not all about fighting. No, it is about much, much more than that. Dragonball is story of great adventure, friendship, pain and suffering and love. Most of today's seemingly generic morals in series such as "protecting nakama" or "never giving up" are derived from Toriyama's brilliance in this series.
In my eyes, Dragonball will always be the number 1 undisputed anime and manga series. It was the first of its kind to feature such a strong cast and plot in the shounen genre that it became an ambassadorial series to the world, creating conditions under which modern day series such as One Piece, Naruto and many, many others of all genres could thrive under.
As said previously, Dragonball has a strong adventurous plot and cast of characters, all of whom are very interesting and relevant to the story (an unfortunate lacking in the DB's sequel: DBZ). However, Dragonball's greatest charm is its setting, which greatly compliments the adventurous and rather ambitous plot written by Toriyama.
Dragonball takes place in a mysterious world filled with mysterious places and creatures and cohesions of real life cultures. Goku visits a great many strange and unusual places inhabited by strange and unusual people on his journies to collect the Dragonballs at first and later to become the Strongest Under the Heavens. For example, in one of the earlier episodes of Dragonball, Goku visits a village populated by cowboys and Indians (I should say Native Americans), a rather interesting and humurous occurence considering the world of Dragonball being quite futuristic over all, if not in most places. It is this unusualness, this incredible sense of awe and adventure that have made people love the series and its main character and thus made it easy for them to follow Goku's journey, during which we met creatures like Oolong and Puar and animals that could walk on their hind legs and speak the human tongue, and vampires, mermaids and zombies, mummies and androids and aliens. I could go on, but I believe I've already sketched you a painting of what it is I'm trying to convey.
Dragonball sets not limitations on the imagination of the viewers. It is truly a unparallled masterpiece in a league of its own. This is reflected in the fact that Dragonball, 30 years later, remains the highest selling manga series of all time with 300 million world wide sales to Once Piece's 228 million sales and Naruto 180-odd million sales.
I recommend all appreciators of manga and anime, new and otherwise, to at least make the effort of trying this great and wonderful series. Once you have watched this masterpiece, you will forever have a different view on manga and anime in general as this series immense influence becomes apparent.
Dragonball, without a doubt in my mind, is the greatest series of all time and deserves all the recognition it has been given and more. read more
Recommendations
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Both series are primarily light-hearted adventure-series, but they also both have some pretty serious moments. (Though in Dragonball, they're mostly in the last third of the series.) One Piece is also partially inspired by Dragonball.
Although both series are shounen and have a lot of fighting, both have also tons of adventuring through the world, meeting new people and places and both have a lot of comedy.
There is many similaries of Dragon Ball and One Piece. For example main characters are still eating something. Next is for example same style of humour, same style of battles, very similar animation, music...
They're both very liked and well-known
I recommend both of them
Funny enemies, funny fights, a lot of comedy and world travels with a group. One Piece, Dragon Ball, both are similar, of course, One Piece is inspired on Dragon Ball, Eichiro Oda is a big fan of Akira Toriyama and a big fan of your major work, dragon ball.
You Find many Dragon Ball's references in One piece. If you liked One Piece, watch dragon ball. You liked Dragon Ball, watch One Piece.
Both are great and fast-moving shonens about a goofy kid who has a beastly amount of fighting power (as well as superpowers... kind of) that adventures around and makes friends and all of that typical stuff, as well as having a lot of humor and packing in a lot of fights.
Story wise these series are completely different. The main reason they are similar is due to the characterization and humor. The main characters of both are especially similar because, personality wise, Luffy and Goku are almost completely in sync. They both have a naive charm about them, they both think about food even at the oddest times, and they both go after what they think is right. Luffy is a bit more stubborn, but if you enjoyed either one of these series because of the main character you'll likely enjoy the other.
Both are very long stories following the adventures of very similar protagonists. Both give off the same feel of adventure, hardship, and friendship.
Epic battle's, friends and wonderful special attack's
Dragonball (just the original NOT Z, GT, or Kai. Although Dragon Ball Z is also good like One Pieace, not as good) is similar to OP in so many ways. The main character personality is very similar, the importance of all of the characters (whether they be minor or main characters), the attachment to all of the characters, the good voices and voice acting (in japanese), the good background music that is fit to every detail when it is played, the complicated storyline where everything ties together so well and everything makes sense together, and even the way that OP doesn't have a common drawing style, neither does DB (not that they're the same style or anything). All of these are in both anime, (and some in DBZ too), although I still personally like DB more than OP ^_^ .
there a lot of similarities between main characters, such as sense of humor, feeling friendship, some fighting techniques
Both have some great adventure and comedy. If you liked One Piece you definitely like DB. Both also have some awesome action. Also, One Piece is also partially inspired by Dragon Ball.
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Alot of characters share similar traits and role in the story like how Natsu and Lucy are pretty close to the way Goku and Bulma are. Hiro Mashima has even noted that Akira Toriyama was an influence.
Starts out where you "think" the girl is the main, when shes not really. also simular in other ways.
well its a shounen action type anime with awesome, very funny and unique characters it has a good storyline and awesome art and animation .If you liked DB you dhould try and watch Fairy Tail
These two are similar in that they are long running shonens, obviously. But more importantly they share a similar purpose, that is for the shows to be fun. No Shippuden-esque pseudo darkness, no failed attempts to compete with the quality of story shorter anime provide, just top quality comedy and action thrown at your face from start to finish. The themes of friendship are also ever present in both anime too.
The same kind of art they have and comedy is pretty similar :)
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Opening Theme"Makafushigi Adventure" by Hiroki Takahashi
Ending Theme"Romatikku Ageru Yo" by Ushio Hashimoto
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