Don't read below.

Naruto[a] is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. It tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, a young ninja who seeks recognition from his peers and dreams of becoming the Hokage, the leader of his village. The story is told in two parts – the first set in Naruto's pre-teen years, and the second in his teens. The series is based on two one-shot manga by Kishimoto: Karakuri (1995), which earned Kishimoto an honorable mention in Shueisha's monthly Hop Step Award the following year, and Naruto (1997).

Naruto was serialized in Shueisha's magazine, Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1999 to 2014, and released in tankōbon (book) form in 72 volumes. The manga was adapted into an anime television series produced by Pierrot and Aniplex, which broadcast 220 episodes in Japan from 2002 to 2007; the English dub of the series aired on Cartoon Network and YTV from 2005 to 2009. Naruto: Shippuden, a sequel to the original series, premiered in Japan in 2007, and ended in 2017, after 500 episodes. The English dub was broadcast on Disney XD from 2009 to 2011, airing the first 98 episodes, and then switched over to Adult Swim's Toonami programming block in January 2014, starting over from the first episode. The English dub is still airing weekly on Adult Swim to this day. Viz Media began streaming the anime series on their streaming service Neon Alley in December 2012 on 99 episodes, and ended in March 2016, after 338 episodes. Besides the anime series, Pierrot has developed eleven movies and twelve original video animations (OVAs). Other Naruto-related merchandise includes light novels, video games, and trading cards developed by several companies.

Viz Media licensed the manga and anime for North American production and serialized Naruto in their digital Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. The anime series began airing in the United States and Canada in 2005, and in the United Kingdom and Australia in 2006 and 2007, respectively. The films and most OVAs from the series were also released by Viz, with the first film premiering in movie theaters. The story of Naruto continues with Naruto's son, Boruto Uzumaki, in Boruto: Naruto Next Generations: Boruto wishes to create his own ninja way instead of following his father's.

Naruto is one of the best-selling manga series in history having 250 million copies in circulation worldwide in 47 countries and regions, with 153 million copies in Japan alone and remaining 97 million copies elsewhere. It has become one of Viz Media's best-selling manga series; their English translations of the volumes have appeared on USA Today and The New York Times bestseller list several times, and the seventh volume won a Quill Award in 2006. Reviewers praised the manga's character development, strong storylines, and well-executed fight scenes, though some felt the fight scenes slowed the story down. Critics noted that the manga, which has a coming-of-age theme, makes use of cultural references from Japanese mythology and Confucianism.

Part I

See also: List of Naruto chapters (Part I)

A powerful fox known as the Nine-Tails attacks Konoha, the hidden leaf village in the Land of Fire, one of the Five Great Shinobi Countries in the Ninja World. In response, the leader of Konoha and the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze seals the fox inside the body of his newborn son, Naruto Uzumaki, making Naruto a host of the beast;[i] this costs Naruto's father his life, and the Third Hokage returns from retirement to become the leader of Konoha again. Naruto is often scorned by Konoha's villagers for being the host of the Nine-Tails. Due to a decree by the Third Hokage forbidding any mention of these events, Naruto learns nothing about the Nine-Tails until 12 years later, when Mizuki, a renegade ninja, reveals the truth to Naruto. Naruto then defeats Mizuki in combat, earning the respect of his teacher, Iruka Umino.[ii]

Shortly afterward, Naruto becomes a ninja and joins with Sasuke Uchiha, against whom he often competes, and Sakura Haruno, on whom he has a crush, to form Team 7, under an experienced sensei, the elite ninja Kakashi Hatake. Like all the ninja teams from every village, Team 7 completes missions requested by the villagers, ranging from doing chores and being bodyguards to performing assassinations.

After several missions, including a major one in the Land of Waves, Kakashi allows Team 7 to take a ninja exam, enabling them to advance to a higher rank and take on more difficult missions, known as Chunin Exams. During the exams, Orochimaru, a wanted criminal, invades Konoha and kills the Third Hokage for revenge. Jiraiya, one of the three legendary ninjas, declines the title of Fifth Hokage and searches with Naruto for Tsunade whom he chooses to become Fifth Hokage instead.

During the search, it is revealed that Orochimaru wishes to train Sasuke because of his powerful genetic heritage, the Sharingan.[iii] After Sasuke attempts and fails to kill his older brother Itachi,[iv] who had showed up in Konoha to kidnap Naruto, he joins Orochimaru, hoping to gain from him the strength needed to kill Itachi. The story takes a turn when Sasuke leaves the village: Tsunade sends a group of ninja, including Naruto, to retrieve Sasuke, but Naruto is unable to persuade or force him to come back. Naruto and Sakura do not give up on Sasuke; Naruto leaves Konoha to receive training from Jiraiya to prepare himself for the next time he encounters Sasuke, while Sakura becomes Tsunade's apprentice.

Part II

See also: List of Naruto chapters (Part II, volumes 28–48) and List of Naruto chapters (Part II, volumes 49–72)

Two and a half years later, Naruto returns from his training with Jiraiya. The Akatsuki starts kidnapping the hosts of the powerful Tailed Beasts. Team 7 and other Leaf ninja fight against them and search for their teammate Sasuke. The Akatsuki succeeds in capturing and extracting seven of the Tailed Beasts, killing all the hosts except Gaara, who is now the Kazekage. Meanwhile, Sasuke betrays Orochimaru and faces Itachi to take revenge. After Itachi dies in battle, Sasuke learns from the Akatsuki founder Tobi that Itachi had been ordered by Konoha's superiors to destroy his clan to prevent a coup; he accepted, on the condition that Sasuke would be spared. Devastated by this revelation, Sasuke joins the Akatsuki to destroy Konoha in revenge. As Konoha ninjas defeat several Akatsuki members, the Akatsuki figurehead leader, Nagato, kills Jiraiya and devastates Konoha, but Naruto defeats and redeems him, earning the village's respect and admiration.

With Nagato's death, Tobi, disguised as Madara Uchiha (one of Konoha's founding fathers), announces that he wants to capture all nine Tailed Beasts to cast an illusion powerful enough to control all humanity and achieve world peace. The leaders of the five ninja villages refuse to help him and instead join forces to confront his faction and allies. That decision results in a Fourth Shinobi World War between the combined armies of the Five Great Countries (known as the Allied Shinobi Forces) and Akatsuki's forces of zombie-like ninjas. The Five Kage try to keep Naruto, unaware of the war, in a secret island turtle near Kumogakure (Hidden Cloud Village), but Naruto finds out and escapes from the island with Killer Bee, the host of the Eight-Tails. At that time, Naruto—along with the help of Killer Bee—gains control of his Tailed Beast and the two of them head for the battlefield.

During the conflict, it is revealed that Tobi is Obito Uchiha and not Madara as he claimed. Obito is a former teammate of Kakashi's who was thought to be dead. The real Madara saved Obito's life, and they have since collaborated. As Sasuke learns the history of Konoha, including the circumstances that led to his clan's downfall, he decides to protect the village and rejoins Naruto and Sakura to thwart Madara and Obito's plans. However, Madara's body ends up possessed by Kaguya Otsutsuki, an ancient princess who intends to subdue all humanity. A reformed Obito sacrifices himself to help Team 7 stop her. Once Kaguya is sealed, Madara dies as well. Sasuke takes advantage of the situation and takes control of all the Tailed Beasts, as he reveals his goal of ending the current village system. Naruto confronts Sasuke to dissuade him from his plan, and after they almost kill each other in a final battle, Sasuke admits defeat and reforms. After the war, Kakashi becomes the Sixth Hokage and pardons Sasuke for his crimes. Years later, Kakashi steps down while Naruto marries Hinata Hyuga and becomes the Seventh Hokage, raising the next generation.

Development

In 1995, Shueisha released Karakuri, a one-shot manga by Masashi Kishimoto that earned an honorable mention in the Hop Step Award in 1996. Kishimoto was unsatisfied with his subsequent drafts for a follow up, and decided to work on another project.[3] The new project was originally going to feature Naruto as a chef, but this version never made it to print. Kishimoto originally wanted to make Naruto a child who could transform into a fox, so he created a one-shot of Naruto for the summer 1997 issue of Akamaru Jump based on the idea.[4][5] Despite the positive feedback it received in a readers' poll, Kishimoto was unhappy with the art and the story, so he rewrote it as a story about ninjas.[6]

The first eight chapters of Naruto were planned before it appeared in Weekly Shōnen Jump, and these chapters originally devoted many panels of intricate art to illustrating the Konoha village. By the time Naruto debuted, the background art was sparse, instead emphasizing the characters.[6] Though Kishimoto had concerns that chakra (the energy source used by the ninjas in Naruto) made the series too Japanese, he still believed it is an enjoyable read.[7] Kishimoto is a fan of Godzilla, and the tailed beasts mythology was introduced because Kishimoto wanted an excuse to draw monsters.[8] He has said that the central theme in Part I of Naruto is how people accept each other, citing Naruto's development across the series as an example.[9]

For Part II of the manga, Kishimoto tried to keep the panel layouts and the plot easy for the reader to follow, and avoid "overdo[ing] the typical manga-style".[10] He considers that his drawing style has changed from "the classic manga look to something a bit more realistic."[10] Because of wishing to end the arc involving Sasuke Uchiha's search for his brother, Itachi, in a single volume, Kishimoto decided that volume 43 should include more chapters than regular volumes. As a result, Kishimoto apologized to readers for this since volume 43 was more expensive than regular volumes.

Characters

Main article: List of Naruto characters

When he created Naruto, Kishimoto looked to other shōnen manga as influences for his work and tried to make his characters unique, while basing the story on Japanese culture.[12] The separation of the characters into different teams was intended to give each group a particular flavor. Kishimoto wanted each member to have a high level of aptitude in one skill and be talentless in another.[13] He found it difficult to write about romance, but emphasized it more in Part II of the manga, beginning with volume 28.[9] He introduced villains into the story to have them act as a counterpoint to his characters' moral values and clearly illustrate their differences.[14] As a result of how the younger characters were significantly weaker than the villains, Kishimoto made the ellipsis in order to have them age and become stronger during this time.[15]

Setting

Kishimoto made use of the Chinese zodiac tradition, which had a long-standing presence in Japan; the zodiac hand signs originate from this.[7] When Kishimoto was creating the primary setting of the Naruto manga, he concentrated initially on the designs for the village of Konoha. The idea of the setting came to him "pretty spontaneously without much thought", but admits that the scenery became based on his home in the Japanese prefecture of Okayama. Since the storyline does not specify when it is set, he was able to include modern elements in the series such as convenience stores.[16] He considered including automobiles, planes and simple computers, but excluded projectile weapons and vehicles from the plot.[16][17]

Conclusion

Masashi Kishimoto's home was close to Hiroshima where his grandfather lived. He would often tell his grandson stories of war and how it was related to grudges. In retrospect, Kishimoto commented he could not criticize anyone as a result of the war based on it was built. Upon further researching, Kishimoto decided to create world war story arc for the manga's finale. However, unlike the stories he heard from his grandfather, Kishimoto wanted to give the war covered in Naruto a more hopeful feeling.[18] Nagato's arc paved the way for the ending of Naruto to occur. Nagato stood out as a villain due to suffering war and killing Naruto's mentor Jiraiya. Understanding the fears of war, Naruto's characterization was made more complex for him to experience the Fourth Great Shinobi War. These events end with Naruto forgiving Sasuke as he had forgiven Nagato in the final battle.[15]

Due to unknown issues, the series' finale was delayed. Once volume 66 was released, Kishimoto commented he reached a moment from the narrative involving something he always wanted to draw.[19] When serialization began, Kishimoto decided the ending would feature a fight between two characters: Naruto and Sasuke. However, the writer felt the two were not equals as the former was not a victim of war like the latter whose family was killed to stop a possible civil war.[20]

Kishimoto chose Hinata Hyuga as Naruto's romantic partner from the early stages of the manga, since Hinata had always respected and admired Naruto even before the series' beginning, and Kishimoto felt this meant the two of them could build a relationship.[21] When Hinata first appeared, Kishimoto thought of expanding romantic plotlines.[22][23] but decided to leave Naruto's maturation through romance as an idea for the film 2014 The Last: Naruto the Movie where he worked alongside screenwriter Maruo Kyozuka, a writer more skilled at the theme of romance.[24] Similarly, the title character's relationship with his first son, Boruto, was explored furthermore in the 2015 film Boruto: Naruto the Movie to end N

Manga

Main article: List of Naruto volumes

Written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto, Naruto was serialized for a fifteen-year run in Shueisha's magazine, Weekly Shōnen Jump from September 21, 1999,[26][27] to November 10, 2014.[28][29] Shueisha collected its chapters in 72 tankōbon volumes—27 for Part I, and the rest for Part II; they were released between March 3, 2000,[30] and February 4, 2015.[31] The first 238 chapters are Part I and constitute the first section of the Naruto storyline. Chapters 239 to 244 include a gaiden (side-story) focusing on Kakashi Hatake's background. The remaining chapters (245 to 700) belong to Part II, which continues the story after a 2+1⁄2-year gap in the internal timeline. Shueisha have also released several ani-manga tankōbon, each based on one of the Naruto movies,[32] and has released the series in Japanese for cell-phone download on their website Shueisha Manga Capsule.[33] A miniseries titled Naruto: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring[b], centered on the main characters' children, began serialization in the Japanese and English editions of Weekly Shōnen Jump on April 27, 2015, and ended after ten chapters on July 6 of the same year.[34][35]

Naruto was scanlated (translated by fans) and available online before a licensed version was released in North America;[36] the rights were acquired by Viz Media, who began serializing Naruto in their anthology comic magazine Shonen Jump, starting with the January 2003 issue.[37] The schedule was accelerated at the end of 2007 to catch up with the Japanese version,[38] and again in early 2009, with 11 volumes (from 34 to 44) appearing in three months, after which it returned to a quarterly schedule.[39] All 27 volumes of Part I were released in a boxed set on November 13, 2007.[40] On May 3, 2011, Viz started selling the manga in an omnibus format with each book containing three volumes.[41]

The franchise has been licensed in 90 countries, and the manga serialized in 35 countries.[42][43] Madman Entertainment began publishing Naruto volumes in Australia and New Zealand in March 2008 after reaching a distribution deal with Viz Media.[44] Carlsen Comics has licensed the series, through its regional divisions, and released the series in German and Danish.[45] The series is also licensed for regional language releases in French and Dutch by Kana,[46] in Polish by Japonica Polonica Fantastica,[47] in Russian by Comix-ART,[48] in Finnish by Sangatsu Manga,[49] in Swedish by Bonnier Carlsen,[50] and Italian by Panini Comics.[51]

Spin-offs

A spin-off comedy manga by Kenji Taira, titled Naruto SD: Rock Lee no Seishun Full-Power Ninden[c], focuses on the character Rock Lee, a character who aspires to be strong as a ninja but has no magical jutsu abilities. It ran in Shueisha's Saikyō Jump magazine from December 3, 2010, to July 4, 2014,[52][53] and was made into an anime series, produced by Studio Pierrot, and premiering on TV Tokyo on April 3, 2012.[54] Crunchyroll simulcasted the series' premiere on their website and streamed the following episodes.[55] Taira also wrote Uchiha Sasuke no Sharingan Den[d], which released on October 3, 2014, which runs in the same magazine and features Sasuke.[56]

A monthly sequel series titled Boruto: Naruto Next Generations began in the Japanese and English editions of Weekly Shōnen Jump in early 2016, illustrated by Mikio Ikemoto and written by Ukyō Kodachi, with supervision by Kishimoto. Ikemoto was Kishimoto's chief assistant during the run of the original Naruto series, and Kodachi was his writing partner for the Boruto: Naruto the Movie film screenplay. The monthly series was preceded by a one-shot written and illustrated by Kishimoto.[57] The staff from Shueisha asked Kishimoto if he would write a sequel to Naruto. However, Kishimoto refused the offer and offered his former assistant Mikio Ikemoto and writer Ukyō Kodachi write Boruto: Naruto Next Generations as the sequel to Naruto.[58]

The Naruto anime, directed by Hayato Date and produced by Studio Pierrot and TV Tokyo, premiered in Japan on October 3, 2002, and concluded on February 8, 2007, after 220 episodes on TV Tokyo.[59][60] The first 135 episodes were adapted from Part I of the manga; the remaining 85 episodes are original and use plot elements that are not in the manga.[61] Tetsuya Nishio was the character designer for Naruto when the manga was adapted into an anime series; Kishimoto had requested that Nishio be given this role.[62][63] Beginning on April 29, 2009, the original Naruto anime began a rerun on Wednesdays and Thursdays (until the fourth week of September 2009 when it changed to only Wednesdays). It was remastered in HD, with new 2D and 3D effects, under the name Naruto: Shōnen Hen[e].[64] Episodes from the series have been released on both VHS and DVD, and collected as boxed sets.[65][66][67][68]

Viz licensed the anime series for broadcast and distribution in the Region 1 market.[69] The English dub of the anime began airing on September 10, 2005, and concluded on January 31, 2009, with 209 episodes aired on Cartoon Network's Toonami in the United States.[70] The episodes were also broadcast on YTV's Bionix (Canada),[71] Jetix (United Kingdom)[72] and SABC 2's (South Africa)[73] programming blocks, and were released on DVD on March 28, 2006.[74] On August 25, 2017, Starz announced that they would be offering episodes of the series for their Video on Demand service starting September 1, 2017.[75] The first 26 volumes contain four episodes; later DVD volumes have five episodes.[76] Uncut editions were released in DVD box sets, each containing 12–15 episodes, with some variation based on story arcs.[77] In the American broadcast, references to alcohol, Japanese culture, sexual innuendo, and the appearance of blood and death were sometimes edited but remained in the DVD editions.[78] One of the censored scenes was the accidental kiss between Naruto and Sasuke, fitting in the long trend of removing content that alludes to homosexual relationships.[79] The series was also licensed to Hulu, Joost, and Crunchyroll, which aired the episodes online with the original Japanese audio tracks and English subtitles.[80][81][82] On June 1, 2017, it was announced that an HD remaster version of the original Naruto television anime series would debut on Japanese TV on June 24, starting with the show's first episode.[83]

Naruto: Shippuden[i], developed by Studio Pierrot and directed by Hayato Date, is the sequel to the original Naruto anime; it corresponds to Part II of the manga.[84] It debuted on Japanese TV on February 15, 2007, on TV Tokyo, and concluded on March 23, 2017.[85][86] On January 8, 2009, TV Tokyo began broadcasting new episodes via internet streaming to monthly subscribers. Each streamed episode was available online within an hour of its Japanese release and includes English subtitles.[87]

Viz began streaming English subtitled episodes on January 2, 2009, on its series' website, including episodes that had already been released as well as new episodes from Japan.[88] In the United States, the English dub of Naruto: Shippuden premiered weekly on Disney XD from October 28, 2009, up until episode 98 on November 5, 2011.[89] Episodes 99 through 338 premiered uncut on the anime web channel Neon Alley until its shutdown on May 4, 2016.[90] The anime started airing from the beginning on Adult Swim's Toonami programming block on January 5, 2014, where it continues to air on a weekly basis.[91]

The series was released on Region 2 DVD in Japan with four or five episodes per disk; there are four series of DVD releases divided by story arc.[92] There was a special feature included with the seventh Naruto: Shippuden compilation DVD called Hurricane! "Konoha Academy" Chronicles.[93] Kakashi Chronicles: Boys' Life on the Battlefield[j] was released on December 16, 2009; featuring episodes 119–120, the story revolves around Kakashi Hatake's childhood.[94]

The first North American DVD of the series was released on September 29, 2009.[95] Only the first 53 episodes were made available in this format before it ended with the 12th volume on August 10, 2010.[96] Subsequent episodes were released as part of DVD boxed sets, beginning with the first season on January 26, 2010.[97] In the United Kingdom, the series was licensed by Manga Entertainment who released the first DVD collection on June 14, 2010.[98]

The series was adapted into eleven theatrical films and twelve original video animations (OVAs). The first three films correspond to the first anime series, and the remaining eight correspond to the second series. In July 2015, Lionsgate announced they were developing a live-action Naruto film with Avi Arad through his production company Arad Productions.[99] Michael Gracey will be directing, Jonathan Levine will be writing and Ari Arad, Brady Fujikawa, and James Myers will produce the film.[100] On December 17, 2016, Kishimoto announced that he has been asked to help develop the movie.[101]

Novels

Twenty-six Naruto light novels, the first nine written by Masatoshi Kusakabe, have been published in Japan.[102] Of these, the first two have been released in English in North America. The first adapted novel, Naruto: Innocent Heart, Demonic Blood (2002), retells a Team 7 mission in which they encounter the assassins Zabuza and Haku;[103][104] the second, Naruto: Mission: Protect the Waterfall Village! (2003) was based on the second OVA of the anime.[105][106] Viz has also published 16 chapter books written by Tracey West with illustrations from the manga. Unlike the series, these books were aimed at children ages seven to ten.[107] Thirteen original novels have appeared in Japan;[102] eleven of these are part of a series, and the other two are independent novels unconnected to the series. The first independent novel, titled Naruto: Tales of a Gutsy Ninja (2009), is presented as an in-universe novel written by Naruto's master Jiraiya. It follows the adventures of a fictional shinobi named Naruto Musasabi, who served as Naruto's namesake.[108] The other independent novel, Naruto Jinraiden: The Day the Wolf Howled (2012), is set shortly after Sasuke's fight with Itachi.[109]

Itachi Shinden, which consists of two novels, and Sasuke Shinden, a single novel, both appeared in 2015, and both were adapted into anime arcs in Naruto: Shippuden in 2016, titled Naruto Shippūden: Itachi Shinden-hen: Hikari to Yami and Book of Sunrise respectively.[110][111] Hiden is a series of six light novels published in 2015 that explores the stories of various characters after the ending of the manga.[112]

Music

Toshio Masuda composed and arranged the Naruto soundtracks. Naruto Original Soundtrack was released on April 3, 2003, and contains 22 tracks used during the first season of the anime.[113] This was followed by Naruto Original Soundtrack II, released on March 18, 2004, which includes 19 tracks.[114] The third, Naruto Original Soundtrack III, was released on April 27, 2005, with 23 tracks.[115] Two soundtracks containing all the opening and ending themes of the series, titled Naruto: Best Hit Collection and Naruto: Best Hit Collection II were released on November 17, 2004, and August 2, 2006.[116][117] Eight tracks from the series were selected and released on a CD called Naruto in Rock -The Very Best Hit Collection Instrumental Version- released on December 19, 2007.[118] Soundtracks for the three movies based on the first anime series were available for sale near their release dates.[119][120][121] On October 12, 2011, a CD collecting the themes from Naruto Shōnen Hen was released.[122] Various CD series were released with voice actors performing original episodes.[123]

The soundtracks of Naruto: Shippuden were produced by Yasuharu Takanashi; they were titled Naruto Shippūden Original Soundtrack I, II, and III, and were released in 2007, 2009, and 2016.[124][125][126] Naruto All Stars, released in 2008, consists of 10 original Naruto songs remixed and sung by characters from the series.[127] Ten themes from the two anime series were collected in the DVD box Naruto Super Hits 2006–2008, which appeared in 2008.[128] Soundtracks from the Shippuden films have also been released, with the first one available in 2007.[129][130] A final one composed of the series is set to be released in late 2017 with Aniplex having started a survey of all Naruto and Naruto Shippuden themes to be included in the CD.[131]

Video games

Main article: List of Naruto video games

Naruto video games have been released on various consoles by Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft. The majority of them are fighting games in which the player directly controls one of the characters from Naruto. The player pits their character against another character controlled by the game's AI or by another player; the objective is to reduce the opponent's health to zero using basic attacks as well as special techniques unique to each character derived from techniques they use in the Naruto anime or manga.[132] The first Naruto video game was Naruto: Konoha Ninpōchō, which was released in Japan on March 27, 2003, for the WonderSwan Color.[133] Most Naruto video games have been released only in Japan. The first games released outside of Japan were the Naruto: Gekitou Ninja Taisen series and the Naruto: Saikyou Ninja Daikesshu series, released in North America under the titles of Naruto: Clash of Ninja and Naruto: Ninja Council.[134][135] In March 2021, Namco Bandai announced that Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm series has sold 20.8 million units worldwide.[136]

Art and guidebooks

Main article: List of Naruto supplemental material

Three official artbooks based on the Naruto series have been released. The first two, titled Art Collection: Uzumaki, and Illustration Collection: Naruto, were released in Japan in 2004 and 2009, with North American editions following in 2007 and 2010 respectively.[137][138][139][140] The third artbook Illustration Collection: Naruto Uzumaki, was published in 2015 in Japan and later the same year in North America;[141][142] it contains artwork originally on Shonen Jump comic covers. It has no text except a brief commentary by Kishimoto about his favorite artworks.[143] An interactive coloring book called Paint Jump: Art of Naruto was released in 2008.[144] An unreleased artbook titled Naruto Exhibition Official Guest Book by Masashi Kishimoto was given to those who attended the Naruto art exhibition at the Mori Art Museum on April 25, 2015.[145]

Four guidebooks titled First Official Data Book through Fourth Official Data Book have been released; the first two cover Part I of the manga, and were released in 2002 and 2005; the third and fourth volumes appeared in 2008 and 2014.[146][147][148] These books contain character profiles, Jutsu guides, and drafts by Kishimoto.[149] For the anime, a series of guidebooks called Naruto Anime Profiles was released. These books contain information about the production of the anime episodes and explanations of the characters' designs.[150] A manga fan book titled Secret: Writings from the Warriors Official Fanbook appeared in 2002,[151] and another fan book was released to commemorate the series' 10th anniversary, including illustrations of Naruto Uzumaki by other manga artists, a novel, Kishimoto's one-shot titled Karakuri, and an interview between Kishimoto and Yoshihiro Togashi.[152]

Collectible card game

Produced by Bandai, the Naruto Collectible Card Game was released in Japan in 2003,[153] and in North America in 2006.[154] The game is played between two players using a customized deck of fifty cards from the set, and a game mat. To win, a player must either earn ten "battle rewards" through their actions in the game or cause the other player to exhaust their deck.[155] The cards were released in named sets called "series", in the form of four 50-card pre-constructed box sets.[153][154] Each set includes a starter deck, the game mat, a turn-counter, and one stainless steel "Ninja Blade Coin". Extra cards are available in 10-card booster packs, and deck sets. Four box sets sold in retailers are available for each series. Cards for each set are available in collectible tins, containing several booster packs and exclusive promotional cards in a metal box.[156] By October 2006, seventeen series had been released in Japan with 417 unique cards.[153] As of August 2008, ten of these series had been released in North America.[157]

Manga

Naruto won the 16th Spanish Manga Barcelona award for the shonen category in 2010.[158] The manga won the Quill Award for graphic novel in 2006.[159][160] It was nominated for Favorite Manga Series in Nickelodeon Magazine's 2009 Comics Awards.[161] In 2015, it was nominated for the 19th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize.[162] Kishimoto Masashi was the winner of Rookie of the Year for the series in the Japanese government's Agency for Cultural Affairs 2014 Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology Fine Arts Recommendation Awards.[163] On TV Asahi's Manga Sōsenkyo 2021 poll, in which 150.000 people voted for their top 100 manga series, Naruto ranked seventh.[164]

The manga has 250 million copies in circulation worldwide, making it one of the best-selling manga series in history. More than half of the total circulation were in Japan, with the remaining circulation from 46 countries and regions.[165][43] It has become one of North American publisher Viz Media's best-selling manga series;[166] their translation of the series appeared on USA Today and The New York Times bestseller lists several times. It was included in the fiction section of Teacher Librarian's recommended list for 2008,[167] and School Library Journal described it as an essential manga for school libraries.[168] Volume 28 of the manga reached 17th place in the USA Today Booklist in its first week of release in March 2008, only two places short of the record for a manga, held by Fruits Basket.[169] The volume had one of the biggest debut weeks of any manga in years, becoming the top-selling manga volume of 2008 and the second best-selling book in North America.[170][171] In 2010, Viz, the publisher, commented on the loyalty of readers, who reliably continued to buy the manga as the volume count went over 40.[172] In April 2007, volume 14 earned Viz the Manga Trade Paperback of the Year Gem Award from Diamond Comic Distributors.[173] Responding to Naruto's success, Kishimoto said in Naruto Collector Winter 2007/2008 that he was "very glad that the American audience has accepted and understood ninja. It shows that the American audience has good taste [...] because it means they can accept something previously unfamiliar to them."[174]

Several reviewers commented on the balance between fight scenes and plot development; A. E. Sparrow of IGN and Casey Brienza of Anime News Network felt that the result was a strong storyline,[175][176] but Carl Kimlinger, also writing for the same website, suggested that there were too many fights, which slowed down the plot.[177] Kimlinger liked the character designs, and approved of the fight scenes themselves[177] which also drew positive comments from Rik Spanjers, who felt that the excitement of the scenes depends on Kishimoto's skill in depicting action.[177] Javier Lugo, writing for Manga Life, agreed, describing the artwork as "dramatic, exciting, and just right for the story he's telling".[178] Briana Lawrence from Mania Entertainment describes the growth of the characters gave Part II an adult feel.[179] In a review of volume 28 Brienza also praised Part II's storyline and characterization, though she commented that not every volume reached a high level of quality.[175] The fights across the Part II received praise, most notably Naruto's and Sasuke's, resulting in major changes into their character arcs.[180][181][182] Meanwhile, the final battle between the two characters in the finale earned major praise for the choreography and art provided as well as how in depth the two's personalities were shown in the aftermath. Some writers criticized Kaguya being the least entertaining villain, making the showdown between Naruto and Sasuke more appealing as a result. The finale earned nearly perfect scores from both Anime News Network and Comic Book Bin, with the latter acclaiming the popularity of the title character.[183][184][185]

Gō Itō, a professor in the manga department of Tokyo Polytechnic University, compared the series' development to the manga of Dragon Ball, saying that both manga present good illustrations of three-dimensional body movements that capture the characters' martial arts very well. Gō felt readers could empathize with the characters in Naruto via their inner monologue during battles.[186] The series also influenced the movie Scott Pilgrim vs. The World with director Edgar Wright saying he was inspired by how whenever there is a "killer move" in the manga, there is an impact in the background following any technique's usage.[187] When the manga ended, multiple authors from the magazine expressed congratulations to Kishimoto's work.[188] The fight scenes in general earned acclaim for how well written they are, something game developer CyberConnect2 took into account when developing the Naruto games.[189][190][191][192] Christel Hoolans, managing director director of Kana and Le Lombard, called Naruto the first long-running series after Dragon Ball to become a classic in France.[193]

Anime

The Naruto anime was listed as the 38th best animated show in IGN's Top 100 Animated Series.[194] In September 2005, Japanese television network TV Asahi broadcast a popularity poll based on a nationwide survey in which Naruto placed 17th.[195] Mike Hale of The New York Times described the series as much better than American animation aimed at children,[196] but the animation received some criticism from both the THEM Anime Reviews critics: Christina Carpenter felt Kishimoto's artistic style translated poorly into animation,[197] and Derrick Tucker was also negative, though he felt that at their best, the depictions "[left] little to be desired".[198] As with the manga, some reviewers, such as Theron Martin of Anime News Network, along with Tucker, felt there were too many fight scenes,[198][199] though Justin Rich argued that the fight scenes were the most important and enjoyable element of the show.[200] Carpenter also commented positively on the characters, though she felt that most were fairly typicals.[197] Hiroshi Matsuyama further reflected the anime's 133rd episode to be one of his favorites not only for the action sequences between Naruto and Sasuke but also the emotional value displayed.[201]

In 2011, Naruto helped Viz Media generate $200 million in annual licensed merchandise sales.[202] As of 2019, Viz Media has sold more than 3 million Naruto anime home video units, while Naruto is also a top digital streaming performer on Hulu.[203] Naruto has been also the top-earning (gross profit) anime franchise for TV Tokyo (surpassed by Pokémon in 2011 and Yo-kai Watch in 2015) due to strong overseas and domestic sales.[vi] In 2020, Naruto was the third most watched series in the United States.[215]

Naruto: Shippuden has been ranked several times as one of the most watched series in Japan.[216][217] The first DVD compilation released by Viz received a nomination from the American Anime Awards for Best Package Design.[218] It was well-reviewed by Activeanime's David C. Jones who commented that the animation had improved.[219] Carl Kimlinger of Anime News Network opined that the series has a more serious tone and a better balance between comedy and drama than the first anime series; with more interesting digressions from the main plot.[220][221] Although the pacing for the first episodes was criticised as slow, the delivery and development of the interactions between the characters received positive comments.[222][223] Writing for the Los Angeles Times, Charles Solomon ranked Shippuden the third best anime on his "Top 10".[224] In 2011, readers of Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition voted Naruto as the 29th-top video game character of all time.[225]

Themes

Amy Plumb argues that Kishimoto's use of references to Japanese mythology in Naruto is intended to add further layers to the story. Kishimoto expects his readers to decode the references, which allows him to avoid direct explanations. One example is Itachi, who has three ninja techniques named after Shinto deities: Tsukiyomi, Amaterasu, and Susano-o. Plumb also cites Sasuke's clan's heraldic symbol, a fan known as an uchiwa. These fans are used in Japanese myths to exorcise evil, by blowing it away; Sasuke discovers late in the series that he has the ability to "blow away" the influence of the Nine-Tailed Fox on Naruto. Foxes (kitsune tsuki) are tricksters in Japanese mythology, and in some stories, they take over human bodies; Plumb comments on the obvious similarities to the Nine-Tail sealed in Naruto, and the pranks Naruto plays.[226]

Christopher A. Born notes that the Naruto storyline contains traditional Confucian values, and suggests that students who analyse manga such as Naruto and Bleach will learn more about Confucianism than they would from studying its abstract ideas.[227] Norman Melchor Robles Jr. evaluated the portrayal of both positive and negative ideas in Naruto by counting words in the script which were associated with either violence or positive values; he found that a small majority of tagged words were violent, but commented that the portrayal of violence seemed organized to show how positive strategies on the part of the protagonists could overcome the violence.[228] Sheuo Hui Gan considers the series to have a set of "traditional ethical values". She also compares the treatment of alienation in Naruto, which Naruto overcomes by joining his society, to the portrayal of alienation in Akira and Neon Genesis Evangelion, where the main characters remain alienated.[229]

Naruto has been described by several critics as a coming-of-age story.[230][231][232] Psychologist Lawrence C. Rubin suggests that the storylines would appeal to readers of any age who have lost loved ones, or are having difficulty finding friends, or who are in other situations shown in the series.[230] In Yukari Fujimoto's view, as the characters mature, they show respect to the adults who have raised and taught them, making it a conservative storyline in comparison to other manga of the same time period such as One Piece and Air Gear.[231] Rik Spanjers sees the difference between Sasuke (a loner) and Naruto (an optimist) as tragic, arguing that the contrast between the two protagonists' approach to the world is fundamental to the plot: "Naruto's strength grows as he gains more loved ones to protect, while Sasuke remains alone and is increasingly absorbed by his quest for revenge".[232] Omote Tomoyuki points out that there are many comic moments in the story despite the difficulties Naruto finds himself in, but the comic elements diminish dramatically over time as Naruto grows into a teenager, particularly once Part II begins. Shōnen Jump began to carry comedies such as Gintama and Reborn! from 2003 onwards, and in Tomoyuki's view this is part of the reason for the change in emphasis: Naruto "was not supposed to provide laughter anymore".[233]

Fujimoto argues that the story has overly traditional gender roles, noting "[...] its representations suggest that men are men and women are women and that they differ naturally regarding aptitude and vocation". For example, the girls initially outperform the boys in the Ninja Academy, but "once the boys get serious, the girls cannot keep pace". Fujimoto points out that this does not upset Sakura, who is now surpassed by Naruto. Character development based on female roles, when it does occur, again uses stereotypical roles: Tsunade, for example, a middle-aged woman with large breasts, is a clear mother figure, and when she teaches Sakura to be a medical ninja, which requires special skills possessed only by women, the story reinforces the idea that women only belong on the battlefield as healers. Tsunade herself, who is a figure of authority in Naruto, is portrayed as ridiculous in a way that men in the same position are not. Fujimoto suggests this presentation of women may explain why the female characters are often the most disliked characters among readers of the manga.[234]

The Naruto run, or ninja run, is a running style based on the way the characters run leaning forward with their arms outstretched behind their backs. It became popular in 2017 when groups worldwide organized events to run like Naruto characters, especially on anniversaries of the series.[235][236][237] On June 27, 2019, Matty Roberts posted a satirical event called "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us" on Facebook where he wrote "We will all meet up at the Area 51 Alien Center tourist attraction and coordinate our entry. If we naruto run, we can move faster than their bullets. Let's see them aliens."[238] This quickly became an Internet meme, resulting in nationwide alerts and warnings issued by Nevada law enforcement and the U.S. Air Force to not go to Area 51.[239]

Black Clover (Japanese:, Hepburn: Burakku Kurōbā) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yūki Tabata. It has been serialized in Shueisha's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump since February 2015, with its chapters collected in 33 tankōbon volumes as of November 2022. The story follows Asta, a young boy born without any magic power. This is unknown to the world he lives in because seemingly everyone has some sort of magic power. With his fellow mages from the Black Bulls, Asta plans to become the next Wizard King.

The series focuses on Asta, a young orphan who is left to be raised in an orphanage alongside his fellow orphan, Yuno. While everyone is born with the ability to utilize mana in the form of magical power, Asta, with no magic instead focuses on physical strength. Conversely, Yuno was born as a prodigy with immense magical power and the talent to control wind magic.

Motivated by a desire to become the next Wizard King, an authority figure second to the king of Clover Kingdom, the two youths developed a friendly rivalry. Yuno obtains a legendary four-leaf grimoire held by the kingdom's first Wizard King. The four-leaf grimoire is a rare grimoire, only given to the most immense mages. Asta, despite his lack of magic, obtained a mysterious five-leaf grimoire that contains mysterious elf swords and a bodiless member of the Devil race who utilizes rare anti-magic. Afterward, he and Yuno each join a Magic Knight squad as the first step to fulfill their ambitions.

Asta joins the Black Bulls under Yami Sukehiro alongside Noelle Silva while Yuno becomes a member of the Golden Dawn. They embark on various adventures while contending with an extremist group called the Eye of the Midnight Sun, whose leadership is manipulated by a Devil in avenging an injustice committed against the Elves by the Clover Kingdom at the time of its founding. The Magic Knights then face the Dark Triad of the Spade Kingdom, with Asta and Yuno learning of their Devils' influence on their lives and of the Dark Triad's plan to fully manifest the Devils into their world.

Production

Edit

Manga author Yūki Tabata started in the manga industry at the age of 20 and worked as an assistant for seven years before his science fiction one-shot Hungry Joker was briefly serialized in the Shueisha magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump. Tabata considered this manga a failure which he attributed largely to its quiet and dark-natured main character, who was very unlike the author himself. After its cancellation his friends advised him to develop an energetic, happy-go-lucky protagonist that more closely resembled Tabata and he began working on the fantasy-themed one-shot for Black Clover.[2][3][4] After its publication, he was assigned a new editor (Tatsuhiko Katayama) and Shueisha picked up the series for full serialization.[2][4]

The weekly production process for Black Clover involved Tabata consulting with Katayama for the first few days on the thumbnails of the chapter then spending the remaining days composing the actual art.[2][4] Tabata credited himself for coming up with a rough outline and ending for the chapter while Katayama aided him in filling in its content and making corrections.[2] Early in the series the artist claimed to only sleep an average of three hours per night due to stress, but after the anime adaptation of Black Clover began airing he was able to increase this to six hours per night.[2][4] As of at least the seventh volume of Black Clover, he did not utilize digital tools in his drafting, opting for traditional "analog" inking and toning by hand.[5] Tabata stayed motivated during the manga's long run due to his readers looking forward to each week's chapter.[6] Despite the fast pace of most chapters, the author expressed a desire to occasionally create slower yet still satisfying stories.[2] The dark fantasy seinen series Berserk by Kentaro Miura was a heavy influence on Tabata. He wanted to craft a shōnen equivalent of Berserk while also taking inspiration from other fantasy properties such as Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai, The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and the films of Guillermo del Toro.[3] Tabata professed to not be a big fan of fantasy role-playing video games like Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy and used the few fantasy movies he did watch as reference material.[2] To give Black Clover's world a European look, Tabata researched photograph books for sets and locations and documented various weapons, clothing, and buildings.[3]

Tabata stated he enjoyed both writing the manga's script and illustrating its battle scenes, particularly in magnifying his characters' movements and making the action more dynamic. For this latter aspect, he took ideas from the shōnen fighting manga Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama.[3] Tabata recounted he was inspired to become a manga artist after seeing the Dragon Ball Z anime series as a child then learning it was an adaptation of Toriyama's work.[4][7] He stated that he was also a fan of other shōnen series, such as YuYu Hakusho by Yoshihiro Togashi and Bleach by Tite Kubo.[8][9] Tabata wished to create a diverse cast of archetypical characters with opposing attributes. He modeled the characters Asta and Charmy Pappitson after himself and his wife respectively.[3] He admitted in the manga's fourth volume that Charmy was his favorite character to draw.[10] He chose names for characters by looking up words he found interesting in dictionaries of various languages.[11] He found that an important aspect of character design in Black Clover was giving them traits that make them easy to remember for the reader. He also wanted to "feel good" drawing them, would revise the characters if he was getting frustrated, and strived to improve on balancing the attention each one gets during the course of the story.[6] Once the characters were made, Tabata decided on their magic abilities based on their personalities and whatever magic would fit the current events of the plot.[2]

Media

Edit

Manga

Edit

Main article: List of Black Clover chapters

Written and illustrated by Yūki Tabata, Black Clover has been serialized in Shueisha's shōnen manga anthology Weekly Shōnen Jump since February 16, 2015.[12][13] The manga is Tabata's second series in Weekly Shōnen Jump: his first series, Hungry Joker, ran in the magazine for 24 chapters from November 12, 2012, to May 13, 2013, before being canceled.[14][15][16] In April 2022, it was announced that the series would enter on a three-month hiatus to prepare it for its final arc.[17] Shueisha has collected its chapters into individual tankōbon volumes. The first volume was published on June 4, 2015.[18] As of November 4, 2022, thirty-three volumes have been released.[19]

On February 9, 2015, Viz Media announced that they would publish the first three chapters of the series in their Weekly Shonen Jump digital magazine as part of their "Jump Start" program in North America.[20] On March 30, 2015, they announced that the series would join their weekly lineup, beginning with chapter 4 on April 6, and publishing at an accelerated rate until the chapters were current with Japan.[21][22] Plans to release the series in print were announced during their panel at New York Comic Con on October 9, 2015.[23] Shueisha began to simulpublish the series in English on the app and website Manga Plus in February 2019.[24]

Crunchyroll has simulcast the series,[53] while Funimation produced an English dub as part of its SimulDub program as it aired.[54][55] Adult Swim's Toonami programming block premiered the English dub on December 2, 2017.[56] The series was added to the Hulu streaming service.[57] Sony Pictures UK and Funimation released the first part of the series on home video in the United Kingdom and Ireland,[58] with subsequent parts released by Manga Entertainment.[59] Universal Sony classified the first part of the series for release in Australia and New Zealand, on behalf of Funimation,[60] with Madman Entertainment releasing subsequent parts.[61] The first of Black Clover became available on Netflix India with Japanese audio and English subtitles on February 23, 2021.[62]

agreed on DxD being "a whole lot of fun", praising the characters, fanservice, and visuals. Writing that "High School DxD turned out to be a really pleasant surprise", Høgset continued that "I will certainly look into the sequel if FUNimation ever gets it out the door on disc."[56]

Anime News Network's Theron Martin in his official series review of High School DxD, praised the color, musical, fanservice and character developments, but criticized the lack of freshness of the show, concluding that "Evaluated as a general release series, High School DxD has enough going for it to be a little better than average. Evaluate it as a fan service-focused series, though, and it is one of the top recent titles of its type."[57]

Dragon Ball (Japanese: , Hepburn: Doragon Bōru) is a Japanese media franchise created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. The initial manga, written and illustrated by Toriyama, was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1984 to 1995, with the 519 individual chapters collected into 42 tankōbon volumes by its publisher Shueisha. Dragon Ball was originally inspired by the classical 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West, combined with elements of Hong Kong martial arts films. The series follows the adventures of protagonist Son Goku from his childhood through adulthood as he trains in martial arts. He spends his childhood far from civilization until he meets a teen girl named Bulma, who encourages him to join her quest in exploring 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 other friends, becomes a family man, discovers his alien heritage, and battles a wide variety of villains, many of whom also seek the Dragon Balls.

Toriyama's manga was adapted and divided into two anime series produced by Toei Animation: Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, which together were broadcast in Japan from 1986 to 1996. Additionally, the studio has developed 21 animated feature films and three television specials, as well as two anime sequel series titled Dragon Ball GT (1996–1997) and Dragon Ball Super (2015–2018). From 2009 to 2015, a revised version of Dragon Ball Z aired in Japan under the title Dragon Ball Kai, as a recut that follows the manga's story more faithfully by removing most of the material featured exclusively in the anime. Several companies have developed various types of merchandising based on the series leading to a large media franchise that includes films, both animated and live-action, collectible trading card games, numerous action figures, along with several collections of soundtracks and numerous video games. Dragon Ball has become one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time.

Since its release, Dragon Ball has become one of the most successful manga and anime series of all time, with the manga sold in over 40 countries and the anime broadcast in more than 80 countries. The manga's 42 collected tankōbon volumes have over 160 million copies sold in Japan and 350 million copies sold worldwide,[1][2][3][4][5] making it one of the best-selling manga series. Reviewers have praised the art, characterization, and humor of the story. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential manga series ever made, with many manga artists citing Dragon Ball as a source of inspiration for their own now-popular works. The anime, particularly Dragon Ball Z, is also highly popular around the world and is considered one of the most influential in boosting the popularity of Japanese animation in Western culture. It has had a considerable impact on global popular culture, referenced by and inspiring numerous artists, athletes, celebrities, filmmakers, musicians and writers around the world.

Earth, known as the Dragon World ) and designated as "Planet 4032-877" by the celestial hierarchy, is the main setting for the entire Dragon Ball series, as well as related media such as Dr. Slump, Nekomajin, and Jaco the Galactic Patrolman. It is mainly inhabited by Earthlings (, Chikyūjin), a term used inclusively to refer to all of the intelligent races native to the planet, including humans, anthropomorphic beings, and monsters. Starting from the Dragon Ball Z series, various extraterrestrial species such as the Saiyans (, Saiya-jin) and Namekians ( Namekku-seijin) have played a more prominent role in franchise media.

The narrative of Dragon Ball predominantly follows the adventures of the Saiyan Son Goku; upon meeting Bulma at the beginning of the series, the two embark on an adventure to gather the seven Dragon Balls, a set of orbs that summon the wish-granting dragon Shenlong.[ch. 1] Goku later receives martial arts training from Kame-Sen'nin, meets his lifelong friend Kuririn, and enters the "Strongest Under the Heavens" Martial Arts Tournament to fight the world's strongest warriors. When the Demon King Piccolo, and later his offspring Piccolo, tries to conquer the planet, Goku receives training from Earth's deities to defeat them. Goku later sacrifices his life to save the planet from his estranged brother Raditz,[ch. 205] but is revived after training in the afterlife under the tutelage of North Kaio to combat the other incoming Saiyans, Nappa and Vegeta. He later becomes a Super Saiyan and defeats the powerful alien tyrant Freeza; this sets the tone of the rest of the series, with each enemy the characters face becoming stronger than the last, requiring them to attain further training.

Dragon Ball Super establishes that the franchise is set in a multiverse[6] composed of twelve[N 1] numbered universes, with the majority of the Dragon Ball series taking place in Universe 7 , lit. "Number Seven Universe"). of benevolent and malevolent deities, respectively called Kaioshin and Gods of Destruction who are appointed by a higher being called the Grand Zeno, who watches over the multiverse.

Production

Edit

See also: List of Dragon Ball characters and Dragon Ball (manga) § Production

Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball

Akira Toriyama was a fan of Hong Kong martial arts films, particularly Bruce Lee films such as Enter the Dragon (1973) and Jackie Chan films such as Drunken Master (1978), and wanted to create a manga inspired by martial arts films.[7][8][9] This led to Toriyama creating the 1983 one-shot manga Dragon Boy, which he later redeveloped into Dragon Ball.[10] Toriyama loosely modeled the plot and characters of Dragon Ball on the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West,[11][10] with Goku being Sun Wukong ("Son Goku" in Japanese), Bulma as Tang Sanzang, Oolong as Zhu Bajie, and Yamcha being Sha Wujing.[12] Toriyama wanted to create a story with the basic theme of Journey to the West, but with "a little kung fu"[13] by combining the novel with elements from the kung fu films of Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee.[14] The title Dragon Ball was inspired by Enter the Dragon and later Bruceploitation knockoff kung fu films which frequently had the word "Dragon" in the title,[7] and the fighting scenes were influenced by Jackie Chan movies.[15][12] Since it was serialized in a shōnen manga magazine, he added the idea of the Dragon Balls to give it a game-like activity of gathering something, without thinking of what the characters would wish for.[13] His concept of the Dragon Balls was inspired by the epic Japanese novel Nansō Satomi Hakkenden (1814–1842), which involves the heroes collecting eight Buddhist prayer beads, which Toriyama adapted into collecting seven Dragon Balls.[16][17]

He originally thought it would last about a year or end once the Dragon Balls were collected.[18] Toriyama stated that although the stories are purposefully easy to understand, he specifically aimed Dragon Ball at readers older than those of his previous serial Dr. Slump.[19] He also wanted to break from the Western influences common in Dr. Slump, deliberately going for Chinese scenery, referencing Chinese buildings and photographs of China his wife had bought.[20] Toriyama wanted to set Dragon Ball in a fictional world largely based on Asia, taking inspiration from several Asian cultures including Japanese, Chinese, South Asian, Central Asian, Arabic and Indonesian cultures.[21] The island where the Tenkaichi Budōkai (Strongest Under the Heavens Martial Arts Tournament") is held is modeled after Bali (in Indonesia), which he, his wife and assistant visited in mid-1985, and for the area around Bobbidi's spaceship he consulted photos of Africa.[20] Toriyama was also inspired by the jinn (genies) from The Arabian Nights.[22]

The Earth of Dragon Ball, as published in Daizenshuu 4: World Guide

During the early chapters of the manga, Toriyama's editor, Kazuhiko Torishima, commented that Goku looked rather plain, so to combat this he added several characters like Kame-Sen'nin and Kuririn, and created the Tenkaichi Budōkai martial arts tournament to focus the storyline on fighting. It was when the first Tenkaichi Budōkai began that Dragon Ball truly became popular, having recalled the races and tournaments in Dr. Slump.[12] Anticipating that readers would expect Goku to win the tournaments, Toriyama had him lose the first two while planning an eventual victory. This allowed for more character growth as the manga progressed. He said that Muscle Tower in the Red Ribbon Army storyline was inspired by the video game Spartan X (called Kung-Fu Master in the West), in which enemies appear very fast as the player ascends a tower (the game was in turn inspired by Jackie Chan's Wheels on Meals and Bruce Lee's Game of Death). He then created Piccolo Daimao as a truly evil villain, and as a result called that arc the most interesting to draw.[12]

Once Goku and company had become the strongest on Earth, they turned to extraterrestrial opponents including the Saiyans , Saiya-jin); and Goku himself was retconned from an Earthling to a Saiyan who was sent to Earth as a baby.[23] Freeza, who forcibly took over planets to resell them, was created around the time of the Japanese economic bubble and was inspired by real estate speculators, whom Toriyama called the "worst kind of people."[12] Finding the escalating enemies difficult, he created the Ginyu Force to add more balance to the series. When Toriyama created the Super Saiyan ) transformation during the Freeza arc, he was initially concerned that Goku's facial expressions as a Super Saiyan made him look like a villain, but decided it was acceptable since the transformation was brought about by anger.[24] Goku's Super Saiyan form has blonde hair because it was easier to draw for Toriyama's assistant (who spent a lot of time blacking in Goku's hair), and has piercing eyes based on Bruce Lee's paralyzing glare.[25] Dragon Ball Z anime character designer Tadayoshi Yamamuro also used Bruce Lee as a reference for Goku's Super Saiyan form, stating that, when he "first becomes a Super Saiyan, his slanting pose with that scowling look in his eyes is all Bruce Lee."[26] Toriyama later added time travel during the Cell arc, but said he had a hard time with it, only thinking of what to do that week and having to discuss it with his second editor Yu Kondo.[12] After Cell's death, Toriyama intended for Gohan to replace Goku as the series' protagonist, but later felt the character was not suited for the role and changed his mind.[12]

Going against the normal convention that the strongest characters should be the largest in terms of physical size, he designed many of Dragon Ball's most powerful characters with small statures, including the protagonist, Goku.[27] Toriyama later explained that he had Goku grow up as a means to make drawing fight scenes easier, even though his first editor Kazuhiko Torishima was initially against it because it was rare to have the main character of a manga series change drastically.[28] When including fights in the manga, Toriyama had the characters go to uninhabited locations to avoid difficulties in drawing residents and destroyed buildings.[20] Toriyama said that he did not plan the details of the story, resulting in strange occurrences and discrepancies later in the series, including changing the colors of the characters mid-story and few characters having screentone because he found it difficult to use.[15][13][18][29] Since the completion of Dragon Ball, Toriyama has continued to add to its story, mostly background information on its universe, through guidebooks published by Shueisha.

During the second half of the series, Toriyama has said that he had become more interested in coming up with the story than actually drawing it, and that the battles became more intense with him simplifying the lines.[15] In 2013, he stated that because Dragon Ball is an action manga the most important aspect is the sense of speed, so he did not draw very elaborate, going so far as to suggest one could say that he was not interested in the art.[28] He also once said that his goal for the series was to tell an "unconventional and contradictory" story.[27] In 2013, commenting on Dragon Ball's global success, Toriyama said, "Frankly, I don't quite understand why it happened. While the manga was being serialized, the only thing I wanted as I kept drawing was to make Japanese boys happy.", "The role of my manga is to be a work of entertainment through and through. I dare say I don't care even if [my works] have left nothing behind, as long as they have entertained their readers."[30]

Manga

Edit

Main article: Dragon Ball (manga)

Dragon Ball debuted in Weekly Shōnen Jump No. 51, on December 3, 1984 which is also considered to be highly sought after among fans and collectors.

Written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama, Dragon Ball was serialized in the manga anthology Weekly Shōnen Jump from December 3, 1984 to June 5, 1995,[31][32] when Toriyama grew exhausted and felt he needed a break from drawing. The 519 individual chapters were published into 42 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha from September 10, 1985 through August 4, 1995.[33][34][35] Between December 4, 2002 and April 2, 2004, the chapters were re-released in a collection of 34 kanzenban volumes, which included a slightly rewritten ending, new covers, and color artwork from its Weekly Shōnen Jump run.[36][37] The February 2013 issue of V Jump, which was released in December 2012, announced that parts of the manga will be fully colored and re-released in 2013.[38] Twenty volumes, beginning from chapter 195 and grouped by story arcs, were released between February 4, 2013 and July 4, 2014.[39][40] Twelve volumes covering the first 194 chapters were published between January 4 and March 4, 2016.[41][42] 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 eighteen volumes between May 13, 2016 and January 13, 2017.[43][44]

Spin-offs

Edit

Another manga penned by Ōishi, the three-chapter Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock that revolves around Bardock, Goku's father, was published in the monthly magazine V Jump from August and October 2011.[45]

The final chapter of Toriyama's 2013 manga series Jaco the Galactic Patrolman revealed that it is set before Dragon Ball, with several characters making appearances.[46] Jaco's collected volumes contain a bonus Dragon Ball chapter depicting Goku's mother.[47]

In December 2016, a spin-off manga titled Dragon Ball Side Story: The Case of Being Reincarnated as Yamcha began in Shueisha's Shōnen Jump+ digital magazine. Written and illustrated by Dragon Garow Lee, it is about a high school boy who after an accident wakes up in the body of Yamcha in the Dragon Ball manga.[48]

Crossovers

Edit

Toriyama also created a short series, Neko Majin (1999–2005), that became a self-parody of Dragon Ball.[49] In 2006, a crossover between Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kōen-mae Hashutsujo (or Kochikame) and Dragon Ball by Toriyama and Kochikame author Osamu Akimoto appeared in the Super Kochikame , Chō Kochikame) manga.[50] That same year, Toriyama teamed up with Eiichiro Oda to create a Dragon Ball and One Piece titled Cross Epoch.[51]

Reception

Edit

Dragon Ball manga tankōbon volume estimated sales/circulation[a]

Market(s) Publisher Volume sales/circulation As of Ref

Japan Shueisha 160,000,000+ 2016 [52][53]

Overseas (40+ countries) 190,000,000[d] [54][55][56][57][58]

France Glénat Editions 35,000,000+ 2019 [59]

South Korea Seoul Cultural Publishers 22,400,000+[c] 2009 [61]

Spain Planeta deAgostini 20,000,000 2013 [62]

Italy Star Comics 16,000,000+ 2017 [63]

Hong Kong Culturecom 14,700,000+ 2022 [64]

China China Children's Press & Publication Group 10,000,000+[b] 2013 [66][67]

Taiwan Tong Li Publishing 10,000,000+[e] 2009 [68]

Germany Carlsen Verlag 8,000,000+ 2015 [69][70][71]

Brazil Conrad Editora 6,000,000 2002 [72]

United States Viz Media 2,185,000+ 2016 [73]

Denmark Carlsen Verlag 1,500,000+ 2007 [74][75]

Sweden Bonnier Carlsen 1,300,000 2006 [75]

Finland Sangatsu Manga 500,000 2009 [76][77]

Poland Japonica Polonica Fantastica 420,000+ 2008 [78]

United Kingdom Gollancz / Viz Media 78,554 2010 [79]

Vietnam Kim Đồng Publishing House 60,000+[f] 2009 [80]

Other Countries (24+ countries) 41,856,446[g] [81][82][83][84][85]

Worldwide 260,000,000[h]

Dragon Ball is one of the most popular manga series of all time, and it continues to enjoy high readership today. Dragon Ball is credited as one of the main reasons manga circulation was at its highest between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s.[98][99] During Dragon Ball's initial run in Weekly Shōnen Jump, the manga magazine reached an average circulation of 6.53 million weekly sales, the highest in its history.[98][99][100] During Dragon Ball's serialisation between 1984 and 1995, Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine had a total circulation of over 2.9 billion copies,[101][i] with those issues generating an estimated ¥554 billion ($6.9 billion) in sales revenue.[i]

Dragon Ball also sold a record number of collected tankōbon volumes for its time. By 2000, more than 126 million tankōbon copies had been sold in Japan alone.[102] It sold over 150 million copies in Japan by 2008, making it the best-selling manga ever at the time.[103] By 2012, its sales in Japan had grown to pass 156 million, making it the second best-selling Weekly Shōnen Jump manga of all time, behind One Piece.[104] Dragon Ball's tankobon volumes sold 159.5 million copies in Japan by February 2014,[105] and have sold over 160 million copies in Japan as of 2016.[53]

The manga is similarly popular overseas, having been translated and released in over 40 countries worldwide.[106] The total number of tankōbon volumes sold have reached 350 million copies worldwide.[107][108][109][110][111] not including unofficial pirated copies; when including pirated copies, an estimated total of more than 400 million official and unofficial copies have been sold worldwide.[j][b][c]

For the 10th anniversary of the Japan Media Arts Festival in 2006, Japanese fans voted Dragon Ball the third greatest manga of all time.[112] In a survey conducted by Oricon in 2007 among 1,000 people, Son Goku, the main character of the franchise, ranked first place as the "Strongest Manga Character of All Time."[113] Goku's journey and his ever-growing strength resulted in the character winning "the admiration of young boys everywhere".[11] Manga artists, such as One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda and Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto, have stated that Goku inspired their series' main protagonists as well as series structure.[114][115]

Manga critic Jason Thompson stated in 2011 that "Dragon Ball is by far the most influential shonen manga of the last 30 years, and today, almost every Shonen Jump artist lists it as one of their favorites and lifts from it in various ways."[116] He says the series "turns from a gag/adventure manga to an nearly-pure fighting manga",[116] and its basic formula of "lots of martial arts, lots of training sequences, a few jokes" became the model for other shōnen series, such as Naruto.[117] Thompson also called Toriyama's art influential and cited it as a reason for the series' popularity.[116] James S. Yadao, author of The Rough Guide to Manga, claims that the first several chapters of Dragon Ball "play out much like Saiyuki with Dr. Slump-like humour built in" and that Dr. Slump, Toriyama's previous manga, has a clear early influence on the series.[118] He feels the series "established its unique identity" after the first occasion when Goku's group disbands and he trains under Kame-sen'nin, when the story develops "a far more action-packed, sinister tone" with "wilder" battles with aerial and spiritual elements and an increased death count, while humor still makes an occasional appearance.[118] Yadao claims that an art shift occurs when the characters "lose the rounded, innocent look that he established in Dr. Slump and gain sharper angles that leap off the page with their energy and intensity."[119]

Animerica felt the series had "worldwide appeal", using dramatic pacing and over-the-top martial arts action to "maintain tension levels and keep a crippler crossface hold on the audience's attention spans".[120] In Little Boy: The Art of Japan's Exploding Subculture, Takashi Murakami commented that Dragon Ball's "never-ending cyclical narrative moves forward plausibly, seamlessly, and with great finesse."[102] Ridwan Khan from Animefringe.com commented that the manga had a "chubby" art style, but as the series continued the characters got more refined, leaner, and more muscular. Khan prefers the manga over the slow pacing of the anime counterparts.[121] Allen Divers of Anime News Network praised the story and humor of the manga as being very good at conveying all of the characters' personalities. Divers also called Viz's translation one of the best of all the English editions of the series due to its faithfulness to the original Japanese.[122] D. Aviva Rothschild of Rationalmagic.com remarked the first manga volume as "a superior humor title". They praised Goku's innocence and Bulma's insistence as one of the funniest parts of the series.[123]

The content of the manga has been controversial in the United States. In November 1999, Toys "R" Us removed Viz's Dragon Ball from their stores nationwide when a Dallas parent complained the series had "borderline soft porn" after he bought them for his four-year-old son.[124] Commenting on the issue, Susan J. Napier explained it as a difference in culture.[124] After the ban, Viz reluctantly began to censor the series to keep wide distribution.[125] However, in 2001, after releasing three volumes censored, Viz announced Dragon Ball would be uncensored and reprinted due to fan reactions.[125] In October 2009, Wicomico County Public Schools in Maryland banned the Dragon Ball manga from their school district because it "depicts nudity, sexual contact between children and sexual innuendo among adults and children."[124]

Anime

Edit

Main article: List of Dragon Ball anime

Additionally, Dragon Ball is an anime television metaseries. Dragon Ball (1986-89), Dragon Ball Z (1989-96), and Dragon Ball Super (2015-18) are set in a uniform main continuity, while Dragon Ball GT (1996-97), and Super Dragon Ball Heroes (since 2018) explore several alternate continuities.

Dragon Ball

Edit

Main article: Dragon Ball (TV series)

Further information: List of Dragon Ball episodes

Toei Animation produced an anime television series based on the first 194 manga chapters, also titled Dragon Ball. The series premiered in Japan on Fuji Television on February 26, 1986 and ran until April 19, 1989, lasting 153 episodes.[10] It is broadcast in 81 countries worldwide.[126]

Dragon Ball Z

Edit

Main article: Dragon Ball Z

Further information: List of Dragon Ball Z episodes

Instead of continuing the anime as Dragon Ball, Toei Animation decided to carry on with their adaptation under a new name and asked Akira Toriyama to come up with the title. Dragon Ball Z Doragon Bōru Zetto, picks up five years after the first series left off and adapts the final 325 chapters of the manga. It premiered in Japan on Fuji Television on April 26, 1989, taking over its predecessor's time slot, and ran for 291 episodes until its conclusion on January 31, 1996.[10] Two television specials based on the Z series were aired on Fuji TV in Japan. The first, The One True Final Battle ~The Z Warrior Who Challenged Frieza – Son Goku's Father~, renamed Bardock – The Father of Goku by Funimation, was shown on October 17, 1990. The second special, Defiance in the Face of Despair!! The Remaining Super-Warriors: Gohan and Trunks, renamed The History of Trunks by Funimation, is based on a special chapter of the original manga and aired on February 24, 1993.

Dragon Ball GT

Edit

Main article: Dragon Ball GT

Further information: List of Dragon Ball GT episodes

Dragon Ball GT ), Doragon Bōru Jī Tī, G(rand) T(ouring)[127]) premiered on Fuji TV on February 7, 1996 and ran until November 19, 1997 for 64 episodes.[10] Unlike the first two anime series, it is not based on Akira Toriyama's original Dragon Ball manga,[128] being created by Toei Animation as a sequel to the series or as Toriyama called it, a "grand side story of the original Dragon Ball."[127] Toriyama designed the main cast, the spaceship used in the show, the design of three planets, and came up with the title and logo. In addition to this, Toriyama also oversaw production of the series, just as he had for the Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z anime. The television special episode, Goku's Side Story! The Proof of his Courage is the Four-Star Ball, or A Hero's Legacy as Funimation titled it for their dub, aired on March 26, 1997, between episodes 41 and 42, serving as a kind of precursor to the epilogue to the series shown at the end of episode 64.

Dragon Ball Z Kai

Edit

Main article: List of Dragon Ball Z Kai episodes

In February 2009, Dragon Ball Z celebrated its 20th anniversary, with Toei Animation announcing that it would broadcast a re-edited and remastered version of the Dragon Ball Z anime under the name Dragon Ball Kai d"). The footage would be re-edited to follow the manga more closely, eliminating scenes and episodes which were not featured in the original manga, resulting in a more faithful adaptation, as well as in a faster-moving, and more focused story.[129] The episodes were remastered for HDTV, with rerecording of the vocal tracks by most of the original cast, and featuring updated opening and ending sequences. On April 5, 2009, the series premiered in Japan airing in Fuji TV.[130][131] Dragon Ball Z Kai reduced the episode count to 159 episodes (167 episodes internationally), from the original footage of 291 episodes. Damaged frames were removed, resulting in some minor shots being remade from scratch in order to fix cropping, and others to address continuity issues.[132] The majority of the international versions, including Funimation Entertainment's English dub, are titled Dragon Ball Z Kai.[133][134]

Dragon Ball Super

Edit

Main article: Dragon Ball Super

Further information: List of Dragon Ball Super episodes

On April 28, 2015, Toei Animation announced Dragon Ball Super ( Doragon Bōru Sūpā), the first all-new Dragon Ball television series to be released in 18 years. It debuted on July 5 and ran as a weekly series at 9:00 am on Fuji TV on Sundays until its series finale on March 25, 2018 after 131 episodes.[135] Masako Nozawa reprises her roles as Goku, Gohan, and Goten. Most of the original cast reprise their roles as well.[136][137] Koichi Yamadera and Masakazu Morita also reprise their roles, as Beerus and Whis, respectively.[137]

The story of the anime is set four years after the defeat of Majin Buu, when the Earth has become peaceful once again. Akira Toriyama is credited as the original creator, as well for "original story & character design concepts."[138] It is also being adapted into a parallel manga.[139]

Super Dragon Ball Heroes

Edit

Main article: Super Dragon Ball Heroes (anime)

Further information: List of Super Dragon Ball Heroes episodes and Dragon Ball Heroes

In 2018, an anime to promote the Super Dragon Ball Heroes card and video game series was announced with a July 1 premiere.[140] The series' announcement included a brief synopsis:

Trunks returns from the future to train with Goku and Vegeta. However, he abruptly vanishes. The mysterious man "Fu" suddenly appears, telling them that Trunks has been locked up on the "Prison Planet", a mysterious facility in an unknown location between universes. The group searches for the Dragon Balls to free Trunks, but an unending super battle awaits them! Will Goku and the others manage to rescue Trunks and escape the Prison Planet?

Other installments

Edit

The short film Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!! was created for the Jump Super Anime Tour,[141] which celebrated Weekly Shōnen Jump's 40th anniversary, and debuted on September 21, 2008. A short animated adaptation of Naho Ōishi's Bardock spinoff manga, Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock, was shown on December 17–18, 2011 at the Jump Festa 2012 event.[142]

A two-episode original video animation (OVA) titled Dragon Ball Z Side Story: Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans was created in 1993 as strategy guides for the Famicom video game of the same name.[143] A remake titled Dragon Ball: Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans was created as a bonus feature for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 video game Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2, which was released on November 11, 2010.[144]

A two-part hour-long crossover special between Dragon Ball Z, One Piece and Toriko, referred to as Dream 9 Toriko & One Piece & Dragon Ball Z Super Collaboration Special!! aired on April 7, 2013.[145]

Reception

Edit

The anime adaptations have also been very well-received and are better known in the Western world than the manga, with Anime News Network saying, "Few anime series have mainstreamed it the way Dragon Ball Z has. To a certain generation of television consumers its characters are as well known as any in the animated realm, and for many it was the first step into the wilderness of anime fandom."[146] In a survey conducted by Oricon, "Japanese anime that I think is world-class" and "world-class Manga & Anime" "Dragon Ball" was selected as No. 1 with an overwhelming number of votes in both surveys[147][148].In 2000, satellite TV channel Animax together with Brutus, a men's lifestyle magazine, and Tsutaya, Japan's largest video rental chain, conducted a poll among 200,000 fans on the top anime series, with Dragon Ball coming in fourth.[149] "Dragon Ball" won first place in the "100 Best Anime in Japan that has advanced to the world" questionnaire on TV Asahi 's " Decision! This is Japan's Best ".[150] TV Asahi conducted two polls in 2005 on the Top 100 Anime, Dragon Ball came in second in the nationwide survey conducted with multiple age-groups and in third in the online poll.[151][152]

Dragon Ball is one of the most successful franchises in animation history.[153] The anime series is broadcast in more than 80 countries worldwide.[126] In Japan, the first sixteen anime films up until Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon (1995) sold 50 million tickets and grossed over ¥40 billion ($501 million) at the box office, in addition to selling over 500,000 home video units, by 1996.[154][155] Later DVD releases of the Dragon Ball anime series have topped Japan's sales charts on several occasions.[156][157] In the United States, the anime series sold over 25 million DVD units by January 2012,[158] and has sold more than 30 million DVD and Blu-ray units as of 2017.[153] In Latin America, public screenings of the Dragon Ball Super finale in 2018 filled public spaces and stadiums in cities across the region, including stadiums holding tens of thousands of spectators.[159]

Dragon Ball Z also proved to be a rating success in the United States, outperforming top shows such as Friends and The X-Files in some parts of the country in sweeps ratings during its first season.[160] The premiere of season three of Dragon Ball Z in 1999, done by Funimation's in-house dub, was the highest-rated program ever at the time on Cartoon Network.[161] In 2002, in the week ending September 22, Dragon Ball Z was the #1 program of the week on all of television with tweens 9-14, boys 9-14 and men 12-24, with the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday telecasts of Dragon Ball Z ranked as the top three programs in all of television, broadcast or cable, for delivery of boys 9-14.[162] Dragon ball GT has also had high ratings[163] In 2001, it was reported that the official website of Dragon Ball Z recorded 4.7 million hits per day and included 500,000+ registered fans.[164] Dragon Ball Z topped the Lycos 50 list of 'most searched' items for the second consecutive year -- the first time that any topic has ever been able to repeat its dominance over a two-year period.[165] Dragon Ball ranked second overall in the search number ranking for the past 10 years released by LYCOS in 2005.[166] and ranked 3rd in Yahoo! in 2002 with Playstation 2 topping the list[167] Even after it ended, the "Dragon Ball" series continues to maintain a high level of popularity, surpassing that of new anime, and is also often being rebroadcast, making the "Dragon Ball" series Funimation's most important anime license[168] The audience rating of the first Dragon ball Kai episode on Nicktoons is the highest since the station opened[169]

Carl Kimlinger of Anime News Network summed up Dragon Ball as "an action-packed tale told with rare humor and something even rarer—a genuine sense of adventure."[170] Both Kimlinger and colleague Theron Martin noted Funimation's reputation for drastic alterations of the script, but praised the dub.[170][171] However, some critics and most fans of the Japanese version have been more critical with Funimation's English dub and script of Dragon Ball Z over the years. Jeffrey Harris of IGN criticized the voices, including how Freeza's appearance combined with the feminine English voice left fans confused about Freeza's gender.[172] Carlos Ross of T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews considered the series' characters to be different from stereotypical stock characters and noted that they undergo much more development.[173] Despite praising Dragon Ball Z for its cast of characters, they criticized it for having long and repetitive fights.[174]

Dragon Ball Z is well-known, and often criticized, for its long, repetitive, dragged-out fights that span several episodes, with Martin commenting "DBZ practically turned drawing out fights into an art form."[175] However, Jason Thompson of io9 explained that this comes from the fact that the anime was being created alongside the manga.[176] Dragon Ball Z was listed as the 78th best animated show in IGN's Top 100 Animated Series,[177] and was also listed as the 50th greatest cartoon in Wizard magazine's Top 100 Greatest Cartoons list.[178]

Harris commented that Dragon Ball GT "is downright repellent", mentioning that the material and characters had lost their novelty and fun. He also criticized the GT character designs of Trunks and Vegeta as being goofy.[172] Zac Bertschy of Anime News Network also gave negative comments about GT, mentioning that the fights from the series were "a very simple childish exercise" and that many other anime were superior. The plot of Dragon Ball GT has also been criticized for giving a formula that was already used in its predecessors.[179]

Other media

Edit

See also: List of Dragon Ball films

Anime films

Edit

Twenty animated theatrical films based on the Dragon Ball series have been released in Japan. The most recent films, Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods (2013), Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' (2015), Dragon Ball Super: Broly (2018), and Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero (2022), were produced as full-length feature films and were given stand-alone theatrical releases in Japan (as well as limited theatrical releases in the U.S.). They've also been the first movies to have original creator Akira Toriyama deeply involved in their production; Battle of Gods and Resurrection 'F' were remade into the first and second arcs of the Dragon Ball Super anime, which told the same stories as the two films in expanded detail.[180][181] The 1996 feature film, Dragon Ball: The Path to Power, was also a full-length theatrical release with a running time of 80 minutes, and was produced to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the anime as a re-imagining of the first few arcs of the series.

All previous films were mostly below feature length (around 45–60 minutes each), making them only slightly longer than one or two episodes of the TV series; this is due to them being originally shown as back-to-back presentations alongside other Toei film productions. These films are also mostly alternate re-tellings of certain story arcs (like The Path to Power), or extra side-stories that do not correlate with the continuity of the series. The first three films, along with The Path to Power, are based on the original Dragon Ball anime series. The remaining thirteen older films are based on Dragon Ball Z. The first five films were shown at the Toei Manga Festival (, Tōei Manga Matsuri), while the sixth through seventeenth films were shown at the Toei Anime Fair Anime Fea).

Live-action film

Edit

An American live-action film titled Dragonball Evolution was produced by 20th Century Fox after it acquired the feature film rights to the Dragon Ball franchise in March 2002. Previous to the film, two unofficial live-action films had been produced decades prior. The first was a Korean film titled Dragon Ball: Ssawora Son Goku, Igyeora Son Goku Deulaegonbol Ssawola Son Ogong Igyeola Son Ogong; lit. Dragon Ball: Fight Son Goku, Win Son Goku), while the second was a Taiwanese film titled Dragon Ball: The Magic was also dubbed in English.[182][183] The film was directed by James Wong and produced by Stephen Chow, it was released in the United States on April 10, 2009.[183][184] The film was meant to lead into sequels,[185][186] which were cancelled, after the film flopped at the box office and became universally heralded as one of the worst adaptations of all time, being considered by the fans as being unfaithful to the source material.[187] Franchise creator Akira Toriyama also criticized the film adding he was completely left out of the creative process, despite having himself offered to help, going as far as saying: "the result was a movie, I couldn't even call Dragon Ball".[188] Years after its release, the writer of the film, Ben Ramsey, released a public apology in which he admitted to have written the film "chasing for a payday" instead of "as a fan of the franchise".[189][190]

With the news of 20th Century Fox selling itself, its assets; which include the film rights to the Dragon Ball franchise, will now be owned by its purchaser, The Walt Disney Company.[191] Jackie Chan had openly expressed interest in adapting the series into a live action movie.[192]

Theme park attractions

Edit

"Dragon Ball Z: The Real 4D" debuted at Universal Studios Japan in the summer of 2016. It features a battle between Goku and Freeza. Unlike most Dragon Ball animation, the attraction is animated with CGI. A second attraction titled "Dragon Ball Z: The Real 4-D at Super Tenkaichi Budokai" debuted at Universal Studios Japan in the summer of 2017, which featured a battle between the heroes and Broly.