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| One of the premiere shounen series |
Background Information
A manga and anime by Akira Toriyama that ran from 1984 - 1995. It details the adventures of Son Goku as he journeys from childhood to manhood and fatherhood, determined always to become the strongest, and defeating enemies that threaten the world along the way.
The first half of Part I started off as an action-comedy series, growing more serious upon reaching the Piccolo Daimao arc. From there it took a more traditional Shonen turn, but it reinvigorated the genre and is generally considered the father of modern Shonen manga.
DBZ was used in the dome as a benchmark against higher tier verse such as Marvel Comics, Bastard!!, Tenchi Muyo!, and TTGL until its limitations were mercilessly hammered down by Endless Mike and Munsu.
Now we know better.
There is a lot of spin-off media, including no less than 4 anime series (Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, and Dragon Ball Z Kai, which is basically a remake of Dragon Ball Z minus most of the filler).
Dragon Ball GT is a continuation of the story but it was not created by Toriyama and contains many contradictions, making it non-canon.
In addition, there are 4 animated movies based on the original Dragon Ball anime, 13 based on the Dragon Ball Z anime, 1 movie based on DBGT, 4 TV specials based on the DBZ anime, an OVA which was originally part of a video game, a hilarious old Chinese live-action movie, and an absolutely horrendous new American live-action movie which is considered to be the epitome of fail in the OBD, rivaled only by Twilight.
Back in 2008, an animated special/ova was released which was written and directed by Toriyama. The special took place two years after the end of Part II of Dragon Ball and was mostly Toriyama infusing more comedy that was his trademark skill as a mangaka. It is canon.
Not that it matters since it was mostly about some random goons of Freeza causing havoc for Vegeta's younger brother.
(See more information in the Timeline section)
Well-known and loved by nearly all members of the OBD, despite the controversy it routinely engenders, Dragon Ball offers generally excellent action and characters, and is the foundation of the OBD's collective childhood memories of anime and manga.
For many, perhaps most OBD'ers, it's the gateway series that got everything else going.
For this reason, it obviously has the OBD's "Stamp of Quality."
Standing in the Battledome
Dragon Ball is an extremely powerful verse, though its origins are more mundane compared to other series.
At the end of Part I, it topped Moon level+ of power due to Kami restoring the Moon.
In Part II, or Dragon Ball Z, the Moon-busting feat became low level and planet busting feats started right in the Saiyan Arc.
This increased to at least large planet/small star level+ with Freeza, which stuck through the majority of the series till the Buu Arc, which introduced star level+ of power with Kid Buu's destruction of Earth.
Finally, with the introduction of new material, such as Battle of Gods, Revival of F, and Dragon Ball Super, the series had jumped to at least universe level+ and above with the introduction of characters such as Whis, Beerus, and the Super Saiyan God/Blue forms.
Another big thing has been the Four Galaxies Debate (Thread 1, 2 and 3) as Dragon Ball has been long thought to have only four galaxies due to possible misinterpretation/or interpretation of the Daizenshuu databooks or a possible retcon (the databooks mention the four cardinal galaxies; the pro-side debated that there exist galaxies INSIDE the four cardinal galaxies, or that in fact, the word "ginga" meant galaxies and not a single galaxy).
The con-side debated the opposite and argued that there were simply four galaxies. It is worth noting that the Daizenshuu also states the universe is endless which the pro-side used as more supporting evidence, the con-side interpreted this to mean that the spherical shape of the universe was endless as you move around it).
The original manga also explicitly mentions the location of the Earth being in the Northern Ginga and briefly mentions a Southern Ginga implying that there exists an Eastern and Western Ginga also. Interestingly enough, in Japanese there is no plural for galaxy, so "ginga" can mean either galaxy (singular) or galaxies (plural) which further added to the confusion and supported a possible four galaxy model.
Whatever the case may be, recent evidence from the Dragon Ball Super manga and anime have proven the assertation that the universe only encompasses four galaxies to be false and the argument that the Dragon Ball universe contained as many galaxies as our very own universe to be correct.
As you can see here and here. This revelation has meant that the scope of destructive feats in the series has been given a wider range and recent feats, as a result, are not simply galaxy level but instead universal.
Strength Feats
Dragon Ball is quite lacking in definitive lifting feats compared to One Piece, they do have several often overlooked or ignored feats, i.e. Goku leaping multiple kilometers into the sky with his leg strength at the 21st Budokai, and Kid Goku and Krillin pushing a large rock formation are some examples.
One could argue whether or not Freeza ripping off Nail's arm counts as a lifting strength. At this point, it is already irrelevant.
The verse has now striking strength ranging from Class EJ to at least Universe Class
Is Vegeta gonna have to choke a bitch? Looking at ya for one more time, HST. :)
And then Beerus and Goku blow all past ones out of the water as the power of their colliding punch was felt throughout the entire Universe, sending shock waves all over.
Speed
Originally it was hard to calculate speed feats for Dragon Ball since time frames were hard to get.
However, with recent information, the end of Part I clocked in at FTL speeds due to Goku's Power Pole reaching the Moon in a short amount of time (along with an interview with Toriyama confirming that this legitimately happened; Goku also fought against Arale back then) as well as outrunning Tien's Solar Flare.
This continued with Part II with Piccolo's Moonbuster's speed, Burter's speed, and even Freeza's Death Ball's speed.
Then, with the release of Dragon Ball Super, the faster than light barrier was...for lack of a better word...SHATTERED (which was trillions to quadrillions of times faster than light) by Beerus and Whis, and now characters like Champa, Vados, Hit, Goku, Vegeta, Golden Frieza, and many others are at those levels as well.
Timeline of the Series
Part 1 Dragon Ball
- Pilaf Saga
- 21st Budoukai Saga
- Red Ribbon Army Saga
- 22nd Budokai Saga
- King Piccolo Saga
- 23rd Budokai/Piccolo Jr. Saga
Part 2 Dragon Ball
- Saiyan Saga
- Namek Saga
- Frieza Saga
- Androids Saga
- Cell Saga
- Buu Saga (Battle of Gods takes place after the defeat of Kid Buu and is several years before the 28th World Martial Arts Tournament = the blank decade between the end of the battle with Majin Buu in chapter 517 and chapter 518 of the manga. The next movie, Revival of F (Frieza), is the sequel to Battle of Gods and it is the continuation of the story. Dragonball Super = the new ongoing canon TV series, it continues six months after Buu’s defeat. The first two arcs are a “retelling” of BoG and RoF with more action, explanations, and new scenes. The series has since then moved on to several new arcs and has recently entered a hiatus after 131 episodes. A new movie known as Dragon Ball Super: Broly, takes place after the Universe Survival Saga and was released on December 14, 2018. There's also a manga adaptation by Toyotaro that's currently ahead but only because he's a lazy moron who skips entire arcs [he's skipped two thus far: RoF and the Broly movie; manga's totally the main canon, am I right?]. Not that it matters because it's secondary canon at best and the anime version is the one that's heavily promoted considering DBS was conceived of as a TV series.)
Hilarious mismatched threads involving Dragon Ball characters
- One-armed Goku vs the Narutoverse.
- Super Saiyan 2 Gohan vs Sasuke Thread 1, Thread 2.
- Captain Ginyu vs. Ino Yamanaka
- Gumdrop Vegito vs Yu Yu Hakusho.
- Jafar vs Goku
- Piccolo Daimou vs Luffy Thread 1, Thread 2.
- Orochimaru vs Tao Pai Pai.
- Mr. Popo vs Sasuke.
At the start of the OBD, there was a raging debate about who's dick was bigger. Goku's or Superman's. The match is currently banned.
Supporters of the Series
- Abigail
- Alchemist of Atlas
- Ampchu
- Aokiji
- Basilikos
- Berserkhawk_
- Blakk Jakk
- Brohan
- ChaosTheory123
- Claudio Swiss
- Crimson Dragoon
- Crimson King
- Dandy Elegance
- Darth Nihilus
- DestinyDestroyer
- dubledolix09
- Fang
- Garv
- Gig
- God Movement
- Gordo solos
- Hachibi
- Hellspawn28
- Imagine
- iwandesu
- John Wayne
- KaiserWombat
- Kazuma the Shell Bullet
- Lambda
- Lishenron
- MichaelUN89
- NemeBro
- neodragzero
- NeoKurama
- Nevermind
- NightmareCinema
- Reznor
- Rob
- Roman55
- Saint Saga
- StealthRanger
- Swajio
- Tranquil Fury
- willyvereb
- Zephos
- Zetta
Known Haters
- Comic Book Guy
- Endless Mike (PTSD victim)
- Superman Prime
- many other doubters/haters whose opinions are irrelevant :vegitoskully
OBD Profiles
Character Profiles
The Z-Fighters
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| Chaozu | Future Gohan | Future Trunks | Gogeta (Canon) | Goten | Gotenks |
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| Krillin | Piccolo | Son Gohan | Son Goku | Tenshinhan | Trunks |
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| Vegeta | Vegito | Yamucha |
Allies
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| Galactic King | Jaco Teirimenten. |
Freeza's Army
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| Burter | Captain Ginyu | Cui | Dodoria | Freeza | Guldo |
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| Jeice | King Cold | Recoome | Zarbon |
The Androids
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| Android 16 | Android 17 | Android 18 | Android 19 | Cell | Cell. Jr |
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| Doctor Gero |
Planet Vegeta
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| Bardock | Nappa | Radditz | Saibamen |
Planet Vampa
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| Broly (Canon) |
Namekians
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| Cymbal | Drum | Nail | Piccolo Daimao | Tambourine |
Red Ribbon Army
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| Black | General Blue | Hacchan | Ninja Murasaki | Tao Pai Pai |
Kame House
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| Kid Goku | Muten Roshi |
Kami's Lookout
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| Kami | Mr. Popo | Yajirobe |
Villains
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| Akkuman | Babidi | Boss Rabbit | Dabura | Majin Buu | Pui Pui |
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| Yakon |
Tenkaichi Budokai
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| Bacterian | Gilan | Mr. Satan | Nam |
Eternal Dragons
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| Porunga | Shenlong | Super Shenlong |
Gods of Destruction
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| Beerus | Champa | Sidra |
Angels
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| Daishinkan | Vados | Whis |
Kais
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| Dai Kaiō | Dai Kaiōshin | Kaiō-sama | Kibito | Kibitoshin | Shin |
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| South Kaiō | Zamasu |
Universe 6
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| Auta Magetta | Botamo | Cabba | Caulifla | Frost | Hit |
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| Kale | Kefla |
Universe 9
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| Basil | Bergamo | Chappil | Hyssop | Lavenda |
Universe 11
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| Dyspo | Jiren | Toppo |
"Beyond" Gods
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| Zen’ō |
Villains
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| Goku Black | Fused Zamasu |
a name="OBD Profiles--Anime > </a><span style="text-decoration: underline;""Anime Only
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| Chilled |
Weapon Profiles
Civilization Profiles
- Nameks
- Planet Trade Organization
- Saiya-jin
Related Series
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