Dragon Ball (anime)

Dragon Ball
ドラゴンボール Doragon Bōru
Original Run	26 February 1986 – 19 April 1989
Broadcast	Fuji TV (Wednesday, 7:00 – 7:30PM)
Animation	Toei Animation
Production	Fuji TV Toei Animation
Episodes	153 (List of Episodes)
Chapters	Chapter 1 to Chapter 194
Main Staff
Series Director	Minoru Okazaki Daisuke Nishio
Series Organizer	Takao Koyama
Planning	Keizō Shichijō
Character Design	Minoru Maeda
Art Design	Tadanao Tsuji Yūji Ikeda
Music	Shunsuke Kikuchi

History

Following the success and popularity of Akira Toriyama's new manga series Dragon Ball, Toei Animation announced it would be creating an animated adaptation of the series. The first episode aired 26 February 1986, after the series first premiered in Weekly Shōnen Jump a little over a year earlier. The series took over the 7:00PM time slot every Wednesday on Fuji TV which was previously held by Toriyama's other hit anime series, Dr. Slump – Arale-chan. This time slot became known as the "Toriyama Block" amongst fans, as one of his series was broadcast in this specific time slot for over an astounding 18 years!

Much of the main staff from Dr. Slump would remain to work on Dragon Ball, including Minoru Okazaki as series director, Shunsuke Kikuchi as musical composer, Keizō Shichijō as series planner, and Minoru Maeda as the chief animator. In March 1987, the Red Ribbon Army arc of the series featured a humorous cross-over with characters from the Dr. Slump series as Toriyama had originally done in the manga, forever linking the two series. As the story progressed, Dragon Ball transitioned from a gag series into a much more action-oriented series, further increasing the series' popularity.

However, with the anime nearing one of the manga's major turning points, the anime staff decided it was necessary to change the name of the anime series to denote such. Over the course of its three years the Dragon Ball series had come to a total of 153 episodes and three theatrical films, all of which were based on previously established events in the TV anime series. Unfortunately, the series is often overlooked by fans and merely remembered as a small stepping stone to one of the most successfully popular action anime series of all time – Dragon Ball Z.

Characters

Further information: Dragon Ball Characters and Anime Original Characters

Episodes

Further information: List of Dragon Ball Episodes

Theatrical Films

• Dragon Ball – The Legend of Shenlong (20 December 1986)
• Dragon Ball – The Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle (18 July 1987)
• Dragon Ball – A Mystical Great Adventure (09 July 1988)
• Dragon Ball – The Path to Ultimate Strength (04 March 1996)