Dragon Ball

Gokuu Son is a young boy who lives in the woods all alone—that is, until a girl named Bulma runs into him in her search for a set of magical objects called the "Dragon Balls." Since the artifacts are said to grant one wish to whoever collects all seven, Bulma hopes to gather them and wish for a perfect boyfriend. Gokuu happens to be in possession of a dragon ball, but unfortunately for Bulma, he refuses to part ways with it, so she makes him a deal: he can tag along on her journey if he lets her borrow the dragon ball's power. With that, the two set off on the journey of a lifetime.

They don't go on the journey alone. On the way, they meet the old Muten-Roshi and wannabe disciple Kuririn, with whom Gokuu trains to become a stronger martial artist for the upcoming World Martial Arts Tournament. However, it's not all fun and games; the ability to make any wish come true is a powerful one, and there are others who would do much worse than just wishing for a boyfriend. To stop those who would try to abuse the legendary power, they train to become stronger fighters, using their newfound strength to help the people around them along the way.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Son, Gokuu Main

Nozawa, Masako Japanese

Bulma Main

Tsuru, Hiromi Japanese

Muten-Roushi Main

Yanami, Jouji Japanese

Kuririn Main

Tanaka, Mayumi Japanese

Yamcha Main

Furuya, Toru Japanese

Piccolo Supporting

Tsuru, Hiromi Japanese

Tenshinhan Supporting

Suzuoki, Hirotaka Japanese

Norimaki, Arale Supporting

Koyama, Mami Japanese

Mr. Popo Supporting

Nishio, Toku Japanese

Lunch Supporting

Koyama, Mami Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer, ADR Director

Watson, Barry Producer, Script

Shimizu, Kenji Producer

Nishio, Daisuke Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Jun 2, 2025

Manjirin

Recommended

Dragon Ball is a shonen classic, but not quite a shonen masterpiece. For those who grew up with Dragon Ball Z as their first and formative introduction to this IP, it can be hard not to approach Dragon Ball as this sort of silly prequel to a much larger and more ambitious space and time-faring epic. Despite that tendency, there is no denying that Dragon Ball maintains a high bar for quality throughout its run and influences so much of what comes after in the genre that the appropriate recognition is both due and earned.

The strengths here lie both in the characters Toriyama has ... designed and written, and the interesting blend of Wuxia martial arts fantasy with 1980s sci-fi aesthetics. There is something so charming and unique about the feeling and mood of the original Dragon Ball that it's hard to place another closely comparable anime. Much of it comes away firmly as a gag series, which isn't bad but certainly distracts from the more serious tone that the series increasingly tries to take as it goes on, especially towards the end.

The biggest misstep, I think, with Dragon Ball as an anime is the pacing. This does not feel like a story that needed 153 episodes or even really 100. Some of it is due to drawn-out and repetitive action scenes and a sizeable chunk of filler episodes (20+), but much of it is eaten up by regular periods of glacial pacing. Not that any of this stuff is bad necessarily, but you do get the sense the series doesn't fully respect your time, something I never felt was the case over 291 episodes of Dragon Ball Z, filler and all.

The other hit against Dragon Ball is that most of the best stuff happens in the front half; the stuff with Pilaf, Muscle Tower, General Blue, Goku wiping the floor with the Red Ribbon Army - after that, the series is never again quite as fun or as funny as it was in this first half, or as epic and serious as it would get later in Dragon Ball Z. Everything in this in-between occupies a sort of weird middle ground between those two styles and focuses that is certainly still a good watch but is just simply not as memorable as everything before and after it. The time skip at the end was a welcome change to develop Goku and company, and did a decent job setting up Dragon Ball for a very respectable final arc, but nothing here at the end really holds a candle to what awaits in the Saiyan arc and beyond.

Dragon Ball is a very competent and endearing series in its own right, there is no question about that, but it ultimately has a very different tone and formula than Dragon Ball Z. I feel that what it goes for (and succeeds in achieving) is just not quite as enduring or as powerful. As far as comedy shonen series go, this is up there with the best of them, but as an action-epic, it falls a bit short. You'll be entertained, but you won't be getting goosebumps regularly crawling up your arm as they would with Dragon Ball Z.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Dec 24, 2025

gokusolosfiction

Mixed Feelings

This is my childhood show and the show that got me into anime. I would watch this on dvd at my grandma's house every day from grades 2-5. I will admit that there is weird shit with teen bulma here. I will admit that a lot of the fighting has not aged well. I admit a lot of it is choppy and more strong in concept than an actual work, and that we can see the full vision in DBZ. I still love it. But with all the flaws, I cannot give this any more than a 7. Still holds a huge place in my ... heart though.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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May 31, 2025

_Bubassotto_

Not Recommended

Many expectations and few of them met...

That was my first thought when I watched this part of Dragon Ball because I expected to see at least one fight that would be memorable in this part, but I ended up disappointed. I didn't see anything worth remembering. I was a little frustrated but I kept watching, thinking that would change that. Unfortunately, there was no change in that regard. For me, who always had a problem with Dragon Ball, watching the anime was a real war against the desire to abandon the work. The only thing that made me want to watch it was the fact ... that by watching this part of Dragon Ball I would have a better understanding of Dragon Ball Z and its other sequels, which are the parts I really want to see. I tried to watch this anime a long time ago but I didn't get past episode 32. At the time, because the work was especially tiring to watch and was long, I ended up giving up on watching it. Maybe at the time it was released it was a wonderful thing to watch, but for those who watch it today (which is my case), it's just something tiring and unpleasant. About the animation, I honestly don't see much of a problem. I don't really like the animation, which is kind of stiff and caricatured in this part. This is due to the fact that it is very old, which ends up making it a bit dated. As for the sagas here, the most interesting ones are the last ones. The first ones are too boring, like for example Pilaf's, which is dragged out and doesn't show any danger, or the Red Ribbon group's, which is definitely the worst of all because it is very boring. There is not a villain in this part that is in the least memorable. These two sagas are good examples of the suffering that it is to watch this part of the work. Overall, I conclude that this first, more classic part of Dragon Ball is the one that has the least of Dragon Ball's essence (I say this with some basis because I watched some episodes of Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT and Dragon Ball Super). We don't have any great or impactful moments in this part of the work. This is so clear to me that I only hear two things about this part of Dragon Ball in my social circle: I only hear about Kuririn's "death" and Son Gohan's death. Basically, only a few things from Dragon Ball's story are relevant in this part. Otherwise, there's nothing special here. Anyway, for me, this part of Dragon Ball is boring, drawn out and tedious. I definitely won't watch this part of the work again. In my opinion, this part alone doesn't stand up on its own in its battles or in its narrative. The only thing that kept me watching it is that it's the prequel to Dragon Ball Z. If it weren't for this fact, I wouldn't even watch this part. I don't recommend watching this part, if you want something from Dragon Ball watch its sequels which are much more interesting than this part here.

=================================================================================================================Versão em Português=====================================

Muitas expectativas e poucas atendidas...

Esse foi o meu primeiro pensamento ao ver essa parte de Dragon Ball pois esperava ver ao menos alguma luta que fosse marcante dessa parte mas acabei decepcionado, não vi nada que fosse digno de ser mantido na memória, me frustrei um pouco mas continuei a ver pensando que mudaria isso, infelizmente não houve mudança nessa questão. Para mim que sempre tive um pé atras com Dragon Ball assistir o anime foi uma verdadeira guerra contra a vontade de abandonar a obra, única coisa que me fez manter à vontade assisti-la foi pelo fato de que vendo essa parte de Dragon Ball eu teria mais entendimento do Dragon Ball Z e suas demais sequencias que são as partes que realmente quero ver. Tentei assistir esse anime a muito tempo atras mas não passei do episódio 32, na epoca devido a obra ser especialmente cansativa de se ver e ser longa acabei desistindo de vê-la, pode ser que para a epoca do lançamento fosse uma coisa maravilhosa de se ver mas para quem vê hoje em dia (que é o meu caso) é só algo cansativo e desagradável. Sobre a animação eu sinceramente não vejo muito problema, não gosto muito da animação meio travada e bem caricata dessa parte, isso se deve pelo fato dela ser muito antiga acabando deixando-a meio datada. Já sobre as sagas daqui, as sagas mais interessantes são as últimas, as primeiras são chataaaaaaaaas demais, como por exemplo a do Pilaf que é arrastada e não demonstra perigo nenhum ou a do grupo Red Ribbon que é definitivamente a pior de todas pelo fato de ser muito sem graça, não há um vilão dessa parte que seja no mínimo memorável, essas duas sagas são bons exemplos do sofrimento que é ver essa parte da obra. No geral concluo que essa primeira parte mais clássica de Dragon Ball é a que menos tem a essência de Dragon Ball (digo com certa base pois assisti alguns episódios do Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT e Dragon Ball Super), não temos momentos grandiosos ou impactantes nessa parte da obra, isso para mim se torna tão claro ao ponto de que só ouço em meu ciclo social duas coisas sobre essa parte de Dragon Ball, só ouço falar da “morte” do Kuririn e sobre a morte do Son Gohan, basicamente só algumas coisas da história de Dragon Ball são relevantes nessa parte, de resto não há nada demais aqui. Enfim, de todo modo para mim essa parte de Dragon Ball é chata, arrastada e entediante, definitivamente não assistirei novamente essa parte da obra, ao meu ver essa parte por si só não se sustenta sozinha em suas batalhas e nem em sua narrativa, única coisa que me manteve a vê-la é que ela é a prequel do Dragon Ball Z, se não fosse por esse fato eu nem veria essa parte. Não recomendo a verem essa parte, se querem algo de Dragon Ball vejam as suas sequencias que são muito mais interessantes que essa parte aqui.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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