Dragon Ball (manga)

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Dragon Ball
"Dragon Ball" Manga Logo
ドラゴンボール Doragon Bōru
Author	Akira Toriyama (Bird Studio)
Publisher	Shueisha
Publication	''Weekly Shōnen Jump''
Demographic	Shōnen
Manga Series
Original Run	WJ 1984 #51 - 1995 #25 (20 November 1984 - 23 May 1995)
Chapters	519 + 1 side-story (List of Chapters)
Volumes	42 Tankōbon Volumes 34 Kanzenban Volumes
Animated Adaptation
TV Series	Dragon Ball Dragon Ball Z Dragon Ball GT Dragon Ball Kai
Films	See Below

"Dragon Ball" (often abbreviated as DB) is a Japanese manga series created and illustrated by famed manga artist Akira Toriyama (Bird Studio). The series was originally a gag manga (comic) that evolved into a martial arts action manga. It is comprised of a total of 520 individual chapters, including one side-story, and began its run on 20 November 1984 in Weekly Shōnen Jump, a popular manga anthology magazine published by Shueisha in Japan. The series was serialized from 1984 to 1995, remaining a staple in Japan for nearly ten and a half years.

Each week a new chapter would be published in Weekly Shōnen Jump with approximately 14 pages per chapter. Since its serialization, these weekly manga chapters have been compiled into 42 tankōbon volumes and 34 kanzenban volumes. The manga series was adapted by Toei Animation into two animated television series: Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z. The TV series were sequentially broadcast in Japan on Fuji TV from 1986 to 1996.

Characters

Further information: Dragon Ball Characters

Chapters

Further information: List of Dragon Ball Chapters

Releases

Manga

Outside of its original serialization in Weekly Shōnen Jump, the Dragon Ball manga has been made available to consumers in various formats and quality.

Tankōbon Release

Further information: Dragon Ball Tankōbon

Beginning in September 1985, these weekly manga chapters began to be compiled into separate volumes called tankōbon ("separate volume"). In most English-speaking countries, the tankōbon are referred to as "graphic novels", while most people in Japan simply refer to them as "comics", taken from English. Each tankōbon volume contained roughly 12 chapters and was printed in a greyscale format only. Unfortunately, this meant that all of the original colored pages from Weekly Shōnen Jump could only be viewed in greyscale. This issue was later rectified with the kanzenban releases, which retained the original color pages.

Kanzenban Release

Further information: Dragon Ball Kanzenban

In 2002, Japan experienced a revival of the once forgotten Dragon Ball series. Due to this resurgence of interest, Shueisha began releasing the series in a complete kanzenban ("Perfect Edition") format in December 2002. The kanzenban release condensed the original 42 tankōbon volumes into 34, with each volume containing approximately 15 chapters. Unlike the tankōbon, the kanzenban retained all of the colored pages originally printed in Weekly Shōnen Jump. As a special treat, the kanzenban volumes featured restored artwork and newly drawn cover illustrations by Akira Toriyama. Each volume also featured an insert poster of its respective volume's cover illustration.

Full Color Comics Release

Further information: Dragon Ball Full Color

Mooks

Over the years, 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)

Daizenshuu

The largest group of Dragon Ball guidebooks are the Daizenshuu (大全集), or the "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)

Chōzenshū

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.

• "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)