Dragonball vs Dragon Ball (space or no space?)

[jpranevich]

On another board, I was recently corrected that I misspelled "Dragon Ball" as "Dragonball". And I realize that I've probably always spelled it that way. I've been in DB fandom since the early days and I must have started without a space and never noticed. I suspect I'm not very consistent.

So, to ask the stupid question:

Why does Kanzenshuu prefer the spelling with the space? Is that a standard convention now? I'm sure that everyone thinks VERY HARD about every aspect of the franchise here, so you must have answered this already but if so I cannot find it.

I notice that I'm not alone. Team Four Star, for example, consistently spell it without a space on their site. And browsing the boards here, I see it spelled either way. Obviously the title cards have the space when rendered with limited horizontal space and a word-wrap, but tends to not have a space when there is horizontal space. (Compare the Dragon Ball Super logo with no space, for example, with the original Dragon Ball title when it was in the larger font.)

No flame wars here. Honestly interested if someone has knowledge of the space-vs-no-space debate.

[Kendamu]

I think it mostly comes down to user preference. On Amazon Japan, every time I see "DRAGON BALL" in English, it's with the space (and often in all caps, too). I remember it being very popular here for awhile just to write it out as Dragonball, though. I think if you wanted to be technical, it's two words just based on official product listings. However, in conversations like these, it really doesn't matter.

[Gog]

Don't worry its fine either way you spell. Comes down to a matter of preference in the end

[VegettoEX]

I used "DragonBall" (no space, capital "B") on Daizenshuu EX for the longest time as a compromise between it being one word vs. two words and capitalized vs. not capitalized. We took the opportunity with the site merger to reevaluate what all four of us were doing and collectively decided on "Dragon Ball" for the series title (space, both words capitalized), mostly based on the look alone, but also on most-common, general usage out there.

There is official merchandise spelled with every variant you can think of. In terms of "Dragonball" (no space, only the "D" capitalized), look no further than the kanzenban covers.

Shueisha actually holds trademarks on every variant you can think of (space, no spacing, all caps, normal case, etc.) in our alphabet alongside the katakana spelling.

[nickzambuto]

I mean, the series name is based off the titular objects, the dragon balls. So it's definitely two words, and since it's a title, it should be capitalized. What's the logic behind making it one word?

[VegettoEX]

I mean, the series name is based off the titular objects, the dragon balls. So it's definitely two words, and since it's a title, it should be capitalized. What's the logic behind making it one word?

Who says the objects have to be written out as two words, though? Again, there's at least one major version of the manga that has the title written out as one word consistently across the cover for its entire run. Trademarks have been filed for both one word and two words with our alphabet.

For every logical answer, there's an equally-logical counter.

[TheGreatness25]

Just look at the title. If you look at the logo, there's no spacing at all. Then, there's merchandise that has it spelled however you can think of. It's a matter of preference and there's no right or wrong way.

I know that some might go on and be like, "Well, it's typical DB fans, needing to get a straight answer for everything and they don't accept more than one answer!" but really, it is kind of silly. I mean, it's the title of the series. Usually you pick a title style and run with it. But DB doesn't really have one.

I have a simple example. Right now, staring me in the face, is a boxed set for the Namek Saga and on the bottom (happened to be the side facing me) it says "Dragon Ball Z TV series on DVD." Then, on the Bruce Faulconer soundtracks, it has "Dragonball" and "DragonBall" depending on which volume you're looking at.

So at the end of the day, it's just preference. I prefer "Dragon Ball" because I think that's the most aesthetically appealing one. However, that might be a bias since Steve Simmons's subtitles (and even Funimation's) spell it as such. Then again, there are some dub subtitles in some episodes that have it as "Dragonball." Just go with what you like, I guess.

[ChronoTwigger]

It's... Dragon-Space-Ball.
'Cause... Balls are more often found in space than Earth.

[floofychan333]

There's really no difference. It's officially spelled Dragon Ball but on a lot of merch and some manga covers it's Dragonball. Either way, it seriously doesn't matter.

[Robo4900]

The original Tankōbon cover splits "Dragon" and "Ball" into two line, thus implying two separate words. The original Dragon Ball intro, and Z's intro also do this, but go as far as to even colour the two lines differently. Super's logo doesn't split them into separate lines, but still colours them differently, and to top it all off, Dragon Ball, Z, GT, and Super are all abbreviated as DB, DBZ, DBGT, and DBS. If it was one word, those abbreviations wouldn't make sense unless you abbreviate Jazz Jackrabbit as JJR, Rayman as RM, and Gundam as GD.

That's my view on it, anyway.