It is very rare that someone is an Anime fan and has not watched the Dragon Ball or the Dragon Ball Z series. Because Dragon Ball is one of the most successful manga series ever. But do not worry. If you have not watched the Dragon Ball series yet, you can watch or read it any time on Manga Stream. So here you will find some of the most amazing facts of the Dragon Ball series, which might force you to watch and read about this series.

Origin of Dragon Ball Manga

Before talking about the attractive facts of Dragon ball, let’s start from its origin. The Manga is very famous for its anime content. It has given a lot of famous anime series over the years. But Dragon Ball is definitely the one that everyone knows about.

Dragon Ball was featured in Shueisha’s Shonen manga magazine. It used to be printed in the magazine’s Weekly Shonen Jump between 1984 to 1995. The writer and illustrator of the Dragon Ball series is Akira Toriyama, who has also given several other famous anime series as well. He created 519 individual chapters of Dragon Ball, which have been printed in 42 tankobon volumes.

When the Dragon Ball was adopted into the series version, it was converted into two different series. These series were Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z. Both of these series were produced by Toei Animation and were broadcast in Japan between 1986 to 1996. Also, both of these series are available on Manga Stream.

Approx 160 million copies in Japan and 260 million original copies worldwide of Tankobon volumes of Dragon Ball are sold. This makes it the third best-selling manga series. And not just that. The Dragon Ball manga series has created a significant impact on the creations of other anime creators as well.

The story behind the creation of Dragon Ball Manga

You may know that Akira Toriyama is also the creator of the Dr. Slump series, which he created before starting the Dragon ball. But the real story is that Toriyama wanted to end the Dr. Slump series in 1980. However, the publisher of Shueisha magazine wasn’t allowing him to do so. At last, the publishers allowed Toriyama to end the Dr. Slump Series but only on the condition that he will start a new series as soon as possible. Then Toriyama tried several One-shots, but none were successful. So he decided to start a series inspired by Chinese Kung Fu Films. Toriyama was very much obsessed with the Chinese action film Drunken Master. So he decided to create something fun with a blend of action. Thus, it ended with Dragon Ball.

The other reason Toriyama stated for opting for a Chinese theme is that Manga basically represents the Japanese culture, so opting for a Chinese plot brought some uniqueness.

Another interesting fact is that the Manga didn’t get any fame in the beginning. It was only when the magazine started printing the action genre that Manga gained popularity. And while designing and creating the Dragon Ball, Toriyama didn’t give any importance to the detailing of the sketches. Later he stated that he ignored the details to emphasize the sense of speed that the story had.

Toriyama also purposely plotted fight scenes of the series in plain and uninhabited locations, so he doesn’t have to face the trouble of drawing towns and destroyed buildings.

The Character development of Dragon Ball

When you watch or read Dragon Ball, you will realize that the lead character of the series, Goku, grows up bizarrely fast. Toriyama justified the reason for drastically changing Goku’s size as having complications in creating the fight scenes with the small statue of Goku. Toriyama said that it was very difficult for him to stretch the small legs of Goku in fight scenes.

Publication and Controversies with Dragon Ball

As we already told you, Dragon Ball was first published in the Weekly Shonen Jump between December 3, 1984, and June 5, 1995. And later, it was announced that the 519 individual chapters of Dragon ball would be divided into 42 tankobon volumes.

Then V Jump proclaimed in December 2012 that it would re-release the complete version of Dragon Ball in fully colored and digital form. And they actually did release the version in February 2013, renaming it as Dragon Ball Full Color.

Dragon Ball was also released in the English version by Viz Media and licensed for North America. Viz Media released the series in two volumes, as Dragon Ball contains the first 194 chapters of the series. And the second volume, named Dragon Ball Z, has more than 195 chapters.

One of the significant differences between DragonBall and Dragon Ball Z is that the first part is more comic and portrays Goku as Kid. Whereas the second part, Dragon Ball Z, is more serious and portrays Goku as a fully grown adult.