Dragon Ball is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. The story follows the adventures of Son Goku from his childhood through adulthood as he trains in martial arts and explores the world in search of the seven orbs known as the Dragon Balls, which 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.
The series was serialized as 519 individual chapters in the magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from November 20, 1984, to May 23, 1995.[1][2] These chapters were collected by Shueisha in 42 tankōbon volumes; the first released on September 10, 1985, and the last on August 4, 1995.[3][4] Between December 4, 2002, and April 2, 2004, the manga was re-released in a collection of 34 kanzenban, which included a slightly rewritten ending, new covers, and color artwork from its original magazine run.[5][6] A sōshūhen edition that aims to recreate the manga as it was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump with color pages, promotional text, and next chapter previews, was published in 18 volumes between May 13, 2016, and January 13, 2017.[7][8] There have been two anime adaptations, both produced by Toei Animation; the first, also named Dragon Ball, adapted the first 194 chapters of the manga, while the second is titled Dragon Ball Z and adapted the remaining 325 chapters of the series.
The North American distributing company Viz Media has released all 42 volumes in English. Viz initially titled volumes seventeen through forty-two of the manga Dragon Ball Z to reduce confusion for their readers. They began releasing both series chapter by chapter in a monthly individual single comic book format in 1998, before switching to a graphic novel format in 2000; the last volume of Dragon Ball was released on August 3, 2004, while the last one of Dragon Ball Z was released on June 6, 2006.[9][10] Between June 2008 and August 2009, Viz re-released both series in a wideban format called "Viz Big Edition", which is a collection of three volumes in one.[11][12] Between June 2013 and September 2016, they released a new 3-in-1 edition of the series in 14 volumes.[13] This version uses the Japanese kanzenban covers and marks the first time in English that the entire series was released under the Dragon Ball name.
- ^ "週刊少年ジャンプ 1984/12/03 表示号数51". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on October 9, 2016. Retrieved October 7, 2016.
- ^ "週刊少年ジャンプ 1995/06/05 表示号数25". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on March 22, 2016. Retrieved October 7, 2016.
- ^ "DRAGON BALL 1" (in Japanese). Shueisha. Archived from the original on 2015-09-29. Retrieved 2008-06-02.
- ^ "DRAGON BALL 42" (in Japanese). Shueisha. Archived from the original on 2015-09-29. Retrieved 2008-06-02.
- ^ "DRAGON BALL 完全版 1" (in Japanese). Shueisha. Archived from the original on October 6, 2016. Retrieved October 7, 2016.
- ^ "DRAGON BALL 完全版 34" (in Japanese). Shueisha. Archived from the original on October 6, 2016. Retrieved October 7, 2016.
- ^ "DRAGON BALL総集編 超悟空伝 Legend1" (in Japanese). Shueisha. Archived from the original on July 31, 2016. Retrieved October 7, 2016.
- ^ "DRAGON BALL総集編 超悟空伝 Legend18" (in Japanese). Shueisha. Archived from the original on August 2, 2017. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
- ^ "Dragon Ball Vol. 16". Viz Media. Archived from the original on 2006-10-18. Retrieved 2008-06-02.
- ^ "Dragon Ball Z, Vol. 26". Viz Media. Archived from the original on 2006-10-18. Retrieved 2008-06-02.
- ^ "Dragon Ball, Vol. 1 (VIZBIG Edition)". Viz Media. Archived from the original on 2008-03-15. Retrieved 2008-06-08.
- ^ "Dragon Ball Z, Vol. 1 (VIZBIG Edition)". Viz Media. Archived from the original on 2008-03-15. Retrieved 2008-06-03.
- ^ "Dragon Ball (3-in-1 Edition), Vol. 1". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2014-01-15.