Dragon Ball Books

Mooks/Magazines

Both during and after Dragon Ball's serialization, Shueisha has released a number of guides pertaining to the series in the form of special issues of Jump, known in Japanese as "mooks" (i.e. magazine books).

• "Dragon Ball: Adventure Special" (18 November 1987)
• "Jump Gold Selection 4: Dragon Ball Z Anime Special" (18 October 1989)
• "Jump Gold Selection 5: Dragon Ball Z Anime Special Vol. 2" (06 June 1991)
• "Jump Anime Library 1: Dragon Ball Z Movie 12" (03 June 1995)
• "Jump Anime Collection 3: Dragon Ball Z Movie 13" (21 October 1995)
• "'Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods' Official Movie Guide" (21 March 2013)
• "'Dragon Ball Super' Super Start Guide" (03 July 2015)

Daizenshuu

Advertisement for the Daizenshuu volumes in Weekly Shōnen Jump 1996 #13.

The largest group of Dragon Ball guidebooks are the Daizenshuu (大全集, "Great Complete Collections"), which were made shortly after the manga ended its serialization. These are divided up into a main series of seven hardcover books, followed by three soft-cover supplemental volumes. Some of these books cover the manga, while some cover the anime and movies, and others cover the Carddass card games that were released in Japan. The first six hardcover books feature an interview with author Akira Toriyama, and all seven came with a bonus insert pamphlet called the "Shenlong Times" that contained interviews with various other important people involved with Dragon Ball. Altogether, these books contain a nearly complete Dragon Ball knowledge, for all elements of the series that existed at the time.

• "Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 1: Complete Illustrations" (20 June 1995)
• "Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 2: Story Guide" (04 August 1995)
• "Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 3: TV Animation Part 1" (04 September 1995)
• "Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 4: World Guide" (04 October 1995)
• "Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 5: TV Animation Part 2" (04 November 1995)
• "Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 6: Movies & TV Specials" (04 December 1995)
• "Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 7: Dragon Ball Large Encyclopedia" (05 February 1996)
• "Dragon Ball Extra Daizenshuu: Carddass Perfect File Part 1" (10 January 1996)
• "Dragon Ball Extra Daizenshuu: Carddass Perfect File Part 2" (11 March 1996)
• "Dragon Ball Supplemental Daizenshuu: TV Animation Part 3" (10 July 1996)

Dragon Ball GT Perfect Files

With the Daizenshuu guidebooks all being released prior to, or very shortly after, the premiere of Dragon Ball GT , they contain only a brief preview of the series. To more adequately cover the Dragon Ball GT TV series, Shueisha released two "Perfect Files" volumes. The first volume covers the beginning of the series up until the end of the Baby arc, and contains a look ahead, while the second volume covers the rest of the series and the series' TV special. While these guidebooks have no interview with Akira Toriyama, it does contain notes from the series' staff. The guidebooks were later re-released on 04 April 2006 with slightly different covers, but the contents of the books remained virtually identical.

• "Dragon Ball GT: Perfect File Vol. 1" (24 May 1997)
• "Dragon Ball GT: Perfect File Vol. 2" (17 December 1997)

Kanzenban Official Guides

In response to the release of the kanzenban edition of the manga starting in 2002, new guides were published to go along with them. The first of these, "Dragon Ball Landmark", was published midway through the kanzenban's release, and covers the beginning of the series up until the Freeza arc. "Dragon Ball Forever", published following the end of the kanzenban release, includes information on the rest of the series, with some features on the series as a whole, including the results of polls from Japanese fans on their favorite characters, battles, etc. Both books include lengthy interviews with Akira Toriyama, and "Dragon Ball Landmark" notably includes pictures of Dragon Ball characters drawn by various famous manga artists who were inspired by the series.

• "Dragon Ball Kanzenban Official Guide: Dragon Ball Landmark" (19 December 2003)
• "Dragon Ball Kanzenban Official Guide: Dragon Ball Forever" (30 April 2004)

TV Animation Guides

Around the same time as the kanzenban official guides, two new animation guides were released; "Dragon Ball Tenka'ichi Densetsu", covering the original Dragon Ball animated series, and "Dragon Ball Z Son Goku Densetsu", covering Dragon Ball Z. "Tenka'ichi Densetsu" contains short interviews with the main character's various voice actors, including those from both Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, while "Son Goku Densetsu" contains a lengthy interview with Akira Toriyama and Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru, one of the main illustrators and character designers for the animated TV series.

• "TV Animation Guide: Dragon Ball Z Son Goku Densetsu" (03 October 2003)
• "TV Animation Guide: Dragon Ball Tenka'ichi Densetsu" (02 July 2004)

Super Exciting Guides

The Super Exciting Guides are divided up into two volumes, the "Story Volume" and the "Character Volume". Both volumes contain an interview with Akira Toriyama, and are based on the kanzenban release of the manga. As the name suggests, the "Story Volume" focuses heavily on the manga's story development, including the main battles, training, and of course friendships. The "Character Volume" contains information very similar to that presented in both volumes 2 and 4 of the Daizenshuu, covering the main characters, the "Dragon World" and its many races, and many of the main techniques used throughout the series.

• "Dragon Ball Super Exciting Guide: Story Volume" (04 March 2009)
• "Dragon Ball Super Exciting Guide: Character Volume" (03 April 2009)

Chōzenshū & Chōgashū

In 2013, Shueisha released the "Chōzenshū" (超全集, "Super Complete Collections"), the second largest group of Dragon Ball guidebooks to date. This condensed four volume collection of hardcover guidebooks was published to replace and expand upon the out of print Daizenshuu volumes, and although this collection is based on the contents of the original Daizenshuu, they feature new and updated information revealed since the series' finale in the mid-1990s. Each volume contains a B4-sized poster of a previous Daizenshuu cover illustrations by Akira Toriyama. Along with the release of the Chōzenshū volumes, a "Super Illustration Collection" (超画集; Chōgashū) featuring over 400 Dragon Ball-related illustrations from Akira Toriyama was released, expanding upon those featured in the first Daizenshuu volume in 1995.

• "Dragon Ball Chōzenshū 1: Story & World Guide" (05 February 2013)
• "Dragon Ball Chōzenshū 2: Animation Guide Part 1" (05 March 2013)
• "Dragon Ball Chōzenshū 3: Animation Guide Part 2" (04 April 2013)
• "Dragon Ball Chōzenshū 4: Dragon Ball Super Encyclopedia" (09 May 2013)
• "Dragon Ball Chōgashū" (09 May 2013)

Dragon Ball 30th Anniversary

As part of the Dragon Ball franchise's 30th anniversary celebration, Shueisha published a commemorative anniversary book covering the series' illustrious 30 year history of manga, animation, games, and more. The "Super History Book" features a lengthy interview with author Akira Toriyama, numerous interviews with various staff and cast members, tribute illustrations from famous manga artists, a number of previously unpublished illustrations, character and setting sketches, the final chapter's storyboard, and much more.

• "30th Anniversary: Dragon Ball Chōshishū –Super History Book–" (21 January 2016)