Dragon Ball

## Dragon Ball **Dragon Ball** (ドラゴンボール) is a 1986 anime television series produced by Toei Animation, adapted from Akira Toriyama's manga and broadcast until 1989 across 153 episodes. It is the foundational entry of one of the most globally influential media franchises in history — the origin of Goku, the Dragon Balls, and the visual and narrative DNA that would define battle shonen manga and anime for decades to come. Before the dramatic power escalation of its sequel *Dragon Ball Z*, the original series was primarily a playful, inventive adventure-comedy in the spirit of *Journey to the West*. Son Goku is a strange, cheerful child living alone in the wilderness with a tail and superhuman strength. His life changes when he meets Bulma, a teenage girl searching for the seven Dragon Balls — legendary orbs that, when collected, summon a wish-granting dragon. Together they set off on a grand adventure, encountering eccentric characters, dangerous villains, and the various eccentric factions also hunting the Balls. As Goku trains under martial arts masters like the Turtle Hermit Kame-Sen'nin and eventually enters the World Martial Arts Tournament, the series charts his growth from wild child to skilled fighter, while Toriyama's irreverent humor and gift for action choreography combine into something both fresh and timeless. The series that spawned a phenomenon.