Baba Uranai

Overview

The Dragon Ball franchise begins during Goku's childhood as he trains in martial arts and explores a fantastical world. The story centers on his quest for the seven Dragon Balls, which summon a wish-granting dragon. As Goku grows into adulthood, the series shifts from a comedic tone to a more action-oriented one. He and his allies defend Earth from various threats, overcoming increasingly powerful enemies. The series also includes depictions of the afterlife and time travel, which create historical divergences. Dragon Ball Super expands the setting to include parallel universes, with most of the series taking place in Universe 7.

Concept and design

Akira Toriyama based many characters on those from Journey to the West, such as Goku from the Monkey King and Bulma from Tang Sanzang, and also drew from his earlier one-shot Dragon Boy. He included many anthropomorphic characters because they were easier to visually differentiate than humans. Toriyama designed female characters to be beautiful, sexy, and strong, but noted he struggled to draw them, resulting in fewer female characters. To speed up the story, he introduced Goku's flying nimbus cloud, later gave most fighters flight, and eventually granted Goku teleportation.

Many character names are puns: Bulma's family are named after undergarments, Saiyans after vegetables, and Frieza and the Ginyu Force after refrigerator-related items. A study found that villain names often use the consonants /g/ and /b/, linking sound to meaning. Toriyama disliked naming techniques but did so at his editor's suggestion; his wife named the series' signature attack, while he named all others, choosing English names for Vegeta and kanji for Piccolo.

Anime and film adaptations include original characters from Toei Animation, with most films and Dragon Ball GT existing in separate continuities. Toriyama personally designed some characters for films and video games, such as Android 21.

Main characters

The Dragon Ball series has an ensemble cast of main characters. The primary protagonist is Goku, who with Bulma forms the Dragon Team to search for the Dragon Balls at the start. After Goku's Saiyan heritage is revealed, Saiyan characters become central from Dragon Ball Z onward: Bardock and Future Trunks are protagonists of their own side stories, while Goku's son Gohan briefly takes over as series protagonist after the Cell Games Saga. Vegeta is the co-protagonist in Dragon Ball Super.