Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball shouldn't even be worth reviewing at this point. Nearly everybody is familiar with the story, the characters, the ridiculous battle scenes, the even more ridiculous haircuts. But I think there are some overlooked aspects of the series that are still worth talking about.

A favorite of mine (and many others) growing up, with hindsight it is easy to point out the flaws in Toriyama's manga. The plotting in the later volumes is the most prominent, as characters get stronger and stronger with seemingly no limit, and bad guys just keep on coming (this guy is the strongest in the universe. Wait, no I lied, THIS guy is the strongest in the universe. Now go train for a day, come back with a new technique, and kick the crap out of him.)

Alas, though these flaws are glaring, I am willing to overlook them for the sheer joy this manga has brought me over the years. Toriyama crafts an interesting world with memorable characters who the reader genuinely grows to care about. From the series' beginnings as a whimsical fantasy adventure, to its gradual shift in focus to larger-than-life martial arts battles, Toriyama has always kept a good sense of pace. It's a manga where you start reading and you just don't want to stop, regardless of how many times you've experienced the story before. And through re-reading, I've noticed several subtleties that Toriyama injects that help the series aspire to something a little deeper (for example, the complex father-son-caretaker relationshiip of Goku, Gohan and Piccolo, and the gradual, not immediate, redemption of several supposedly irredeemably evil characters).

Though the manga is not perfect by any means, and the last couple arcs produce some truly cringe-worthy moments, it never stops being enjoyable, and actually contains some deeper aspects that push it above the average shounen manga. I will be re-reading this series for the rest of my life, and each time I will enjoy it just as much as the last.

Everywhere in the world were you go, you will find people who heard about dragon ball. I dont exagerate. I have been in europe and afrika and yes they have all heard about dragon ball.

And also dragon ball is the first anime that i have ever seen.

Akira toriyama has made a masterpiece of a manga. It is animated and was sold world wide.

If you dont know dragon ball you dont know what you are missing.

Everyone is aware of the fact that 'Dragon Ball' brought the golden age of Shounen Manga. It is a epic and masterpiece in nature. Story has its origanility with a classic sense of humour and fantasy.
Artwork is the best.
Well Dragon Ball become the standard defination of shounen manga(cool fights,strong enemy,training,power-ups.)
I am sure you will find it interesting.

... Last updated on June 20th, 2012, 2:34am

well if you go to Japan and you ask about Dragon Ball, maybe most of Japanese know about this manga / anime
it's what you call a masterpiece of manga...
the story is epic, the characters is epic...
you can found many great battle that's so powerful so you can call that the most powerful battle of all mangas
i read it and watch its anime since 12 years ago i guess and even though it's already completed for such a long time, it's still one of my favourite
and for further excitement, here in this manga you can found MANY of the strongest character in the history of manga
yes. many of them can easily destroy a planet, and can move very fast (i remember that there are character that can travel around the world in just some seconds) in the later chapter, and especially in the continuation of the anime : Dragon Ball GT which story isn't written in manga.

and if you don't know, Akira Toriyama with his Dragon Ball influenced many great mangaka such as Eichiro Oda with his One Piece and Mashima Hiro with his Rave & Fairy Tail

another point for Dragon Ball is that this manga was the one that make Weekly Shounen Jump as the number one manga magazine in Japan. when Dragon Ball was completed, Weekly Shounen Jump entered the Dark Age, and the position of number one was stolen by its rival which were the former top rank : Weekly Shounen Magazine. I don't really know when WSJ come back to the top (although the different in sale is not far from WSM nowadays) but Dragon Ball really had a big contribution for the magazine

... Last updated on May 11th, 2010, 6:41am

im not exaggerate it its true every shonen manga will one way or another steal some element from dragon ball,
and this manga is already withstand the test of time for decades. even to this day remake still coming out, games, anime action figure
this manga has everything shonen series is all about and everything in it is all original to boot

actually, dragon ball is my favorite manga since i was a child -a little girl. It was my past time or just watching it was my past time, though since then I started to watch other manga series. i love Goku's adventures. just when he defeated those enemies and other rivals.. And when he punch and kick those funny guys and put them on in a funny situation,. I also like those times when he had the good times and had those happy moments. It' really nice.. And it's also my brother's favorite manga in his childhood days.
And talking about the story itself. It' really a great story too, coz it's about looking for the dragon balls and defeating those enemies and especially when he finally got the dragon balls, and then the dragon comes out and ask for their wishes..that's really awesome. and when he comes back to life from the other world....yeah,.. definitely awesome..!

Dragonball was the first manga I read. It's my childhood manga, both the manga and the anime. I was 9 when I read a manga for the first time, and thanks to Dragonball it dragged me to the manga world =]
The story is really special, unique, an exciting story. Goku, the main character is so funny and the whole story is really funny. The author got absolute sense of humor, I laughed at least 3 times in every volumes. Well, I have to admit that the humor decreases a bit when Goku and everyone becomes adult (around Babidi's saga) but don't worry, none of these sagas is shallow
There's holy bunch of characters in dragonball, and I'm the typical person who forget easy who's who. But the good thing about this manga is that every character has their own uniqueness (even evil monsters hahaha) and there's a lot of action and abnormal stuff happening Every saga has a great plot, trust me.

Of course there's some downsides about the story, but it's nothing really big in my opinion:
Goku is the main character, so it's obvious everything is about him but I didn't always like that at first there's always his friends who fights a battle and Goku always finish the final blow at the strongest monster in almost every saga.
There's a lot of questions which might appear in your head which might not be cleared u e.g
PS: The anime and the game is also awesome! I would recommend Dragonball and One piece among Shounen manga I've read most !

Oh My God! this is the best battle-manga i've read in my life, the battles are just to epic. When I was done reading the manga I started to watch the anime right away (even though I don't really like to watch anime). I mean it's not the best manga i've read, but in the catagory of battle-manga this one is most deffinetly number one by a long shot. It's to bad the manga ended, I wish it would go on forever. But I guess it's for the best. Normally when I finish a manga, I'm like ''WTF why did it end here, and why now, there are stil so many questions left!'' But with this manga I felt happy it ended, en especially this way. I mean, there is nothing left for me to know.

... Last updated on December 8th, 2011, 9:27am

I read the manga when I had seen Z and also GT, which I love. I was curious and had some idea of what happens in the manga as I had played several games which featured Kid Goku and his adventures. The manga seriously isn't for everyone, as it seems that the genre changed with age, going from Adventure-based to Action-based. Some characters have also become essentially useless, ( read : Yamcha, Krillin, Tien ) as the series progressed and the rivals became absurdly stronger than the last.
I would have preferred if Bulma didn't end up with Vegeta, as I preferred Yamcha over him. It would have set up an interesting concept for future Trunks, as he would belong to a timeline where Vegeta was his father, whereas in the timeline we read about primarily, it would have been Yamcha.
I would also have preferred if there was no Super Saiyan Two, as the One and Three seem perfect, and as the respected author also stated : Even he forgot Super Saiyan Two existed. Two is essentially a One with spikier hair and electric around the body. The vast number of Super Saiyan forms degrade the legend that surrounded it. In my opinion, there should be only two Super Saiyan forms, SSJ 1, with the golden-yellow hair and SSJ2 should have the features of SSJ3. And the Third form should have been SSJ4, which should only be available for those who have their tail
Another way the legend was degraded was that during the Buu arc, two children recieved the forms as well. Gohan getting the form was stretching it, but understandable, as he was already 11 years old, and was training with his father. Goten and Trunks, who are 4 & 5 respectively, should not have achieved the form, as it seems that when they first showed the form, it was in a comedic purpose.
Well, that is all I have to say. Over all, a 8/10 story.

One of the first mangas I ever read, and one I always liked more before it became DBZ ultimately. The fights were always a little more clever and the humor a little more genuine. This is still a classic for a reason, there's never been anyone quite like Goku even though practically every shounen hero since has been a copy of him in some way. Though the series does have some flaws (like the pacing and the fact that most side characters become practically useless) I certainly recommend giving it a read.

... Last updated on April 28th, 2016, 4:07pm