'Dragon Ball' turns 40! Behind the hit franchise and its success

‘Dragon Ball’ is a classic anime series that many remember as it has been around since its conception in the 80s. Here’s the history behind the show’s success!

‘Dragon Ball’ started off as an original manga, a Japanese graphic novel series that was the brainchild of the Japanese manga artist Akira Toriyama.

According to the official website for Dragon Ball, the series started off on November 20, 1984. The date was when the series was first serialised in Weekly Shonen Jump, one of Japan’s longest-running and biggest manga anthology magazines.

Image: Fuji TV

According to an interview with Shonen Jump, Dragon Ball was inspired by several Hong Kong martial arts films such as ones that featured Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan.

Another interview with Shueisha stated too that Akira Toriyama had also modelled the plot of Dragon Ball after the Chinese myth and classical novel ‘Journey to the West’.

The interview with Shueisha continues to state that several characters in Dragon Ball were reimagined equivalents of the Chinese original, such as Dragon Ball main character Son Goku being modelled after the Monkey King Sun Wukong from ‘Journey to the West’.

Image: Toei Animation

One of the main plot elements in Dragon Ball also can be creditied to the inspiration behind it, which was the Japanese epic ‘Nanso Satomi Hakkenden’.

In another interview with Shueisha, Akira Toriyama explains that the series' theme of collecting seven Dragon Balls was inspired by characters in 'Nanso Satomi Hakkenden' who had to collect eight Buddhist prayer beads as part of their journey.

Despite it’s mostly Asian-centric influences, did you know that Dragon Ball too had elements from India, Africa, Indonesia, and the Arab world?

Image: Fuji TV

These influences were present in several different aspects of Dragon Ball, such as the location of one of the series’ key fighting tournaments, which was inspired by Bali in Indonesia.

Dragon Ball immediately became a popular manga series, and it has even been attributed with boosting manga readership in the 1980s and 1990s, according to Comipress. It has since been adapted for anime, movies, and video games.

Image: 20th Century Studios

The popularity of Dragon Ball is one to be marvelled at, as not only has it been voted as one of the greatest manga series of all time according to Anime News Network, but it has also been called “the most influential shonen manga” by manga critic Jason Thompson.

Not only was Dragon Ball popular in Japan, Dragon Ball had also become a huge hit globally, with it being referenced in many pop culture moments in the United States, reports The Plain Dealer.

According to the BBC, in 2018, Dragon Ball caused a diplomatic incident between Mexico and Japan with the illegal screening of the 'Dragon Ball Super' finale, after Toei Animation, the official studio for Dragon Ball, denounced the illegal screenings to Dragon Ball fans in Latin America.

Dragon Ball fans had sad news this year just a few months short of Dragon Ball turning 40, as series creator Akira Toriyama had unfortunately passed from acute subdural hematoma on March 1, 2024, reports The Japan Times.

Despite the death of Akira Toriyama, the Dragon Ball series continues to thrive, with the most recent installment, 'Dragon Ball Daima', continuing in production. According to Anime News Network, the show is Akira Toriyama's most recent and final engagement in the work, and it serves as his posthumous legacy in addition to his total contribution to this outstanding series.