Alternative TitlesSynonyms: Dragonball Japanese: ドラゴンボール
Information
Type: Manga
Volumes: 42
Chapters: 520
Status: Finished
Published: 1984 to 1995
StatisticsScore: 8.361 (scored by 6668 users)
Ranked: #1722
Popularity: #30
Members: 8,990
Favorites: 1,484 1 indicates a weighted score
My Info
Popular Tags
action adventure comedy shounen undefined |
SynopsisBulma is a girl in search of the seven mystical Dragonballs who is told that that, when brought together, can grant any wish. Son Goku is a strange boy with a tail who lives in the woods and is the owner of one of the Dragonballs. The two cross paths and a grand adventure begins, on the way meeting a cast of characters such as a desert bandit, Yamucha; the transforming pig, Oolong; and the great martial master of Kame-Sennin, Muten Roshi. The story starts off based on the traditional Chinese folktale 'Journey to the West.' This series also includes what is known in the United States as 'Dragonball Z.' (Source: ANN) |
Related MangaAdaptation: Dragon Ball Z (Original), Dragon Ball Z (U.S.), Dragon Ball Kai, Dragon Ball
Spin-off: Cross Epoch
Side story: Dragon Ball: Heya! Son Goku and His Friends Return!!
Reviews
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Chenoan
4 of 10 people found this review helpful
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520 of 520 chapters read
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| Overall |
10 |
| Story |
10 |
| Art |
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| Character |
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| Enjoyment |
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Ever since I was little I was a hardcore fight fan, I loved watching shows where the antagonists had to battle for the survival of all they held dear, even now I hold fondly the anime that had given me my first taste as it aired on my morning cartoon network "Cheese TV." It was a boring morning when I stumbled upon the Dragonball manga and I soon found that morning cheering up as I delightfully relived the story of Goku and his Dragonball adventures.
Story [10/10]
If a manga like Dragonball were to only appear now, I would have probably given it an 8 or 9, though I have chosen to keep its original context in mind.
As I just mentioned; if Dragonball were to be released now, then it wouldn't have been as popular as it is today, this is because when the manga came out it was something new and unbelievable that the world had never really seen. The manga was one of the crucial founders of shounen fighting manga and anime; it set all the stereotypes and the benchmarks. Dragonball was one of the greatest stories of its generation and would leave a legacy on all shounen manga that would follow as the style continues to advance and refine to suit the times. Popular anime and manga like Naruto and Bleach all have roots in Dragonball.
Now, as for the story itself, I would say it's very good on its own terms. It takes an ancient Chinese tale and turns it into something completely different: a wacky adventure of a monkey-tailed jungle boy and a blue-haired tech head heiress of which would later be joined by more and more companions, some with rocky beginnings though all charmed by the protagonist, Goku's, innocence.
Goku's natural strength would always be questioned until later in the manga when his true identity is revealed as an adult (I would expect everyone to know, but I won't spoil it, just in case) which would give him the opportunity to face opponents stronger than he'd ever faced in an intergalactic setting.
Dragonball's sense of romance was kind of vague; the manga would skip large amounts of time, rarely even offering as much as a montage to explain the gap. Most romantic relationships would take place between these times. I felt that this was probably one of the best methods, the concept of lovey-dovey romance happening within Dragonball is shudder-worthy, it would undermine the true focus of the anime and so, as a result, even the cutest pairing were laced with violence, screaming spouses throwing threats at one another, it was the manga's own form of love.
Art [10/10]
The style enjoyed sitting out of the box.
Before Dragonball most anime and manga were similar to Astro Boy or the work of Hayao Miyazaki, but then came Dragonball sporting veined muscles and antagonists like king Piccollo and Frieza.
The settings were unique as well, like an alternate universe to our own world filled with amusing sterotypes from around the world, the terrain ranging from desert to jungles, cities to islands.
The world was made the playground for this manga.
Characters [10/10]
Like any fighting manga or anime, it was very character driven, creating unique and wacky personalities and character designs with very well thought out back story that would always come back to bite them somewhere in the manga, no matter how far forward. In Dragonball especially, the character development was evident, as the characters changed and aged physically and mentally, maturing in all their own chosen occupations.
Enjoyment [10/10]
I will have to say that the reason I enjoyed this manga the most was because of the nostalgia that I felt from reading it, I could remember a time back when I was just four or five years old when I would sit and watch, even though I can't remember much about my childhood, I still hang onto so many memories of watching Goku fight Frieza on planet Namek, of trunks and his father fighting cell among others.
I remember and it feels good to be reminded. read more
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Fnukk
3 of 10 people found this review helpful
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520 of 520 chapters read
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| Overall |
9 |
| Story |
8 |
| Art |
8 |
| Character |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
This is the reason I started to get interested in anime/manga, it's also my first experience with anime/manga.. And I got to say it's fantastic..
I got stuck after the first book and that feeling lasted until the end.
The story itself is really hilarious with loads of moments wich makes you laugh while following Son Goku (The main character) on his adventure of getting all the Dragon balls, along of getting unexpected friends and visiting amazing places.
And a thing I really love about the story is the aging of the characters during the 42 books, it's brilliant and makes you get more involved with the characters themself.
So is this worth reading? Definitely! This is something you don't want to miss! read more
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As shown in the cross-over between these series, almost all the main characters deal some similarities, so do the villians, the major fights and most of the dialogue's and characteristics of people in the series. The storyline and the art are the things that are the things that are different for the most part, but for the rest, they are pretty similar.
Akira Toriyama's 'Dragon Ball', and later 'Dragon Ball Z' was what sparked One Piece author, Eiichiro Oda, to go into manga writing.
He studied Akira Toriyama's art in every chapter released. Though Eiichiro Oda developed a style all his own, his muse will always be Akira Toriyama's work.
To top it off, Akira Toriyama and Eiichiro Oda are now good friends and have worked together or collaborations. Their collaborations include puzzles, art of eachothers characters, a special displayed on the Going Merry floating museum, and a one chapter comic merging the characters together.
The special: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYSdWbcLGuE
They have almost the same huge pack of originalty, adventure, emotion, epicness and an uniquie style that makes One Piece the successor of the best anime/manga title. One Piece is destined to be as famous as Dragon Ball if it ever gets a decent dub.
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Cross Epoch is a cross-over oneshot between Dragon Ball and One Piece... So obviously if you liked the Dragon Ball/One Piece manga then you'll like Cross Epoch.
Cross Epoch is a cross-over one-shot between the popular series Dragonball and One Piece, this serie deals with .. almost no issues, except some random idea that gets the main characters together. This gives you the idea how the characters are similar and why both became popular.
A cross over devised by One Piece author, Eiichiro Oda, and Dragon Ball Z author, Akira Toriyama.
The cross over is one chapter long and displays the characters living in a world together.
One character from each series is teamed up with their 'counterpart' from the other.
Ie: Luffy and Goku (the strongest)
Zoro and Piccilo (the badasses)
Nami and Bulma (the 'babes')
Sanji and Roshi (the perverts)
then Vegeta is a lord with Robin, Usopp, and Trunks as his loyal crew
It's quite amusing and very fun
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External LinksMangaUpdates, Wikipedia
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