It is a feature-length manga that depicts adventures, dreams, battles, friendship, and more, centering on the protagonist Son Goku and the Dragon Balls, a treasure that is said to grant one wish if all seven balls scattered around the world are collected. The anime series began airing on Fuji TV in 1986, and has been made into an anime film and a Hollywood movie, with the series airing in over 80 countries outside of Japan. Even after the serialization ended, new anime and games have been developed, making it a representative work of Japanese manga and anime that enjoys immense popularity around the world.
Young Son Goku
One day, Son Goku, a boy with a tail living deep in the mountains on Earth, meets Bulma, a girl from the Western Capital. There, he learns about the existence of the Dragon Balls, which, if seven are collected, will summon Shenron and grant one wish. He also learns that one of the Dragon Balls, the Four-Star Ball, is a treasured keepsake from his foster father, Son Gohan. Together with Bulma, he sets out on a journey to find the remaining Dragon Balls. After a search for the balls that involves the kidnapper Oolong and the thief Yamcha, the balls are stolen by the Pilaf Gang, who are plotting world domination, and Shenron is summoned, but Oolong thwarts the gang's ambitions by granting a silly wish he blurts out on the spur of the moment.
Afterwards, Goku trains for eight months under the tutelage of martial arts master Kame-Sennin, whom he met during his journey, along with Krillin, who later becomes his best friend. To see the results of his training, he competes in the Tenkaichi Budokai, a tournament to determine the world's greatest martial arts master. Although he is defeated by Kame-Sennin, who is competing in disguise, he still comes in second.
Goku sets out on another training journey, and grows even stronger through battles with the Red Ribbon Army, who are plotting to misuse the Dragon Balls, and a reunion with Son Gohan. Three years later, at the Tenkaichi Budokai, he fights Tenshinhan of the Kakusen-ryu, a rival of the Kame-ryu style, but is defeated by just a hair's breadth, finishing as runner-up just like last time.
The Demon King Piccolo Arc
After the Tenkaichi Budokai, King Piccolo, resurrected by Pilaf's gang, kills Goku's friends, including Krillin and Master Roshi, as well as many other martial artists. To avenge his death, Goku risks his life to unleash his hidden powers, enlisting the help of Yajirobe and the Mystic Cat Karin, whom he meets along the way. He challenges King Piccolo to a duel and emerges victorious.
After the battle, Goku travels to heaven to revive Shenron and his friends, who were killed by King Piccolo, and meets Kami, the creator of the Dragon Balls. He is then told that the condition for Shenron's revival is to train under Kami in heaven.
Approximately three years later, having grown from a boy into a young man, Goku reunites with his friends at the Tenkaichi Budokai. During the tournament, he meets Chi-Chi, the daughter of Ox King, whom he had promised to marry when they met as boys, and they marry on the spot. He then faces off against Majunia, the reincarnation of King Piccolo, who was also competing in the tournament, in the finals, and wins, becoming his first Tenkaichi Budokai champion.
Saiyan Saga
Approximately five years after his battle with Piccolo (Majunior), Goku was living a peaceful life with his son, Son Gohan, when his older brother, Raditz, arrived from space and revealed to him that he was a Saiyan, a warrior race from Planet Vegeta. To rescue the kidnapped Son Gohan, Goku teams up with his nemesis, Piccolo, and defeats Raditz at the cost of his own life. However, he learns that approximately one year later, even more powerful Saiyans will invade Earth in search of the Dragon Balls.
Before being brought back to life by the Dragon Balls, Goku trained under King Kai in the afterlife and, together with his allies, fought off the Saiyans who had invaded Earth. With the strength increased by his training, Goku easily defeated Nappa and dueled Vegeta, the prince of the Saiyans. With the help of his allies, he barely managed to win and force Vegeta to retreat, but he lost many of his allies, and with Piccolo's death in battle, Kami, who had been one with him, also died, and the Dragon Balls on Earth were destroyed.
Frieza Arc
Gohan, Krillin, and Bulma head to Namek, the home planet of God and Piccolo, to revive the Earth's god and his slain comrades while Goku is hospitalized with serious injuries.
However, they find that Frieza, the cosmic emperor feared even by Vegeta, their Earth-bound rival, and King Kai, and his gang have invaded in search of immortality, slaughtering the Namekians and looting the Dragon Balls.
After a three-way battle over the Dragon Balls with Vegeta and Frieza's gang, Gohan and his friends summon Namek's Shenron, Porunga, with the help of Goku, who arrives later, and the Namekians, and revive Piccolo and Earth's Dragon Balls.
Outwitted and his wish not granted, Frieza becomes enraged, forcing the group into a showdown. Even Vegeta, Piccolo, and Goku are no match for Frieza's power, and their comrades lose their lives one after another. In his rage, Goku awakens as the legendary warrior, a Super Saiyan, and defeats Frieza, who unleashes his full power.
Porunga returns Gohan and his friends to Earth, where they use the revived Dragon Balls to revive the Saiyans and those killed by Frieza's gang. Meanwhile, Goku barely manages to escape the exploding Namek and drifts to Yardrat, surviving the fate of his people.
Androids: Cell Saga
Approximately one year after the battle on Namek, Frieza and his crew, who had secretly survived, attack Earth, but are repelled by a mysterious Super Saiyan. The young man, calling himself Trunks, reveals that he is the son of Bulma and Vegeta from the future, and warns that two androids will appear in three years, bringing with them a despairing future.
Goku and his friends trained individually for three years in preparation for the day to come, but the events that unfolded were very different from the history Trunks knew. Androids even he hadn't known about appeared, and then the ultimate android, Cell, appeared from the future. Warriors far beyond Goku and his friends' expectations appeared one after another.
Cell, who had become perfect by absorbing the other androids, announced to the world the holding of the Cell Games, a martial arts tournament with the fate of the Earth at stake. Goku and his friends trained in the "Room of Spirit and Time" in heaven, where one day is equivalent to a year's training, but in a harsh environment. They grew stronger and took on the Cell Games, but Goku lost his life in the battle with Cell while protecting the Earth.
However, his son, Gohan, who inherited his father's will, awakened as a Super Saiyan 2 and, together with a vision of his father Goku, unleashed a Kamehameha wave, defeating Cell and winning the Cell Games.
Majin Buu Arc
Approximately seven years after the Cell Games, Goku learns that Gohan, now a high school student, will be competing in the Tenkaichi Budokai. He returns to the human world for one day to compete himself. During the tournament, Goku and his friends are informed by Kaiōshin, a being even higher in rank than King Kai, that the seal on the terrifyingly powerful Majin Buu is about to be broken.
With Gohan and Vegeta defeated by the revived Majin Buu and Goku returning to the afterlife, the fate of the Earth rests in the hands of Goku's young son, Son Goten, and young Trunks. Meanwhile, Majin Buu transforms into an even more evil and powerful demon after meeting various people.
Gotenks, the warrior born from the fusion of Goten and Trunks, and Gohan, who has unleashed his potential and returned even more powerful, fight back, but they are forced to struggle against Majin Buu, whose form changes one after another. Goku and Vegeta return to the present world to save Gohan and his friends from peril, and in the Supreme Kai's Realm, they face a final battle against Majin Buu, who has revealed his true form.
With the help of the Dragon Balls, a gigantic Spirit Bomb is created using the energy of the people of Earth, Namek, and the afterlife, completely destroying Majin Buu.
Majin Buu Saga 5
Ten years later, Goku and his grandson Pan compete in the Tenkaichi Budokai for the first time in a long while, where they meet a young boy named Uub, the reincarnation of Majin Buu. Together, Goku and Uub embark on a journey of training in pursuit of unparalleled strength, and the story concludes.
Summary
In a 1991 reader survey conducted by Weekly Shonen Jump, Dragon Ball received 815 votes, the highest number in the magazine's history, and by 1995, the magazine's circulation had reached 6.53 million copies. After the series' end, the magazine's circulation rapidly declined, making it one of the most impactful serialized works of all time.
Total circulation, including the complete edition, is over 160 million copies in Japan (as of 2016), 20 million copies for the complete edition, and over 250 million copies worldwide (as of 2018). Meanwhile, according to publishers outside Japan, the series has sold over 114 million copies in 13 countries outside of Japan, including 30 million in France and 20 million in Spain and South Korea, for a total of over 274 million copies in Japan and overseas.
