Dragon Ball is a Japanese media franchise created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. The Dragon Ball (manga), initial manga, written and illustrated by Toriyama, was Serial (literature), serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1984 to 1995, with the 519 indi ...

'' is a Japanese

media franchise A media franchise, also known as a multimedia franchise, is a collection of related media in which several derivative works have been produced from an original creative work of fiction, such as a film, a work of literature, a television program, o ...

created by

Akira Toriyama was a Japanese manga artist and character designer. He came to be regarded as one of the most influential and important authors in the history of manga, authoring highly influential and popular series, particularly Dragon Ball (manga), ''Dra ...

in 1984. Six

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

installments based on the franchise have been produced by

Toei Animation is a Japanese animation studio primarily controlled by its namesake Toei Company. It has produced numerous series, including '' Sally the Witch'', '' GeGeGe no Kitarō'', '' Mazinger Z'', '' Galaxy Express 999'', '' Cutie Honey'', '' Dr. Slu ...

: ''

'' (1986); ''

Dragon Ball Z ''Dragon Ball Z'' (''DBZ'') is a Japanese anime television series produced by Toei Animation. Part of the ''Dragon Ball'' media franchise, it is the sequel to the 1986 ''Dragon Ball'' television series and adapts the latter 325 chapters ...

'' (1989); ''

Dragon Ball GT is a Japanese anime television series based on Akira Toriyama's ''Dragon Ball'' manga franchise that ran from February 1996 to November 1997. Produced by Toei Animation, the series premiered in Japan on Fuji TV and ran for 64 episodes. Unl ...

'' (1996); '' Dragon Ball Super'' (2015); and '' Dragon Ball Daima'' (2024); followed by the

web series A web series (also known as webseries, short-form series, and web show) is a series of short scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet (i.e. World Wide Web), which first emerged in the late 1 ...

'' Super Dragon Ball Heroes'' (2018). Since 1986, twenty one theatrical animated films based on the franchise have been released: four based on the original ''Dragon Ball'' anime, fifteen based on ''Dragon Ball Z'', and two based on ''Dragon Ball Super''. There are also several television specials that were broadcast on

Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as or , is a Japanese television station that serves the Kantō region as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network System (FNS). The station is owned-and- ...

and two short films, which were shown at the 2008 Jump Super Anime Tour and Jump Festa 2012 respectively. A two-part hour-long crossover TV special between ''Dragon Ball Z'', ''

One Piece ''One Piece'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy and his crew, the Straw Hat Pirates, as he explores the Grand Line in search of the myt ...

'', and '' Toriko'' aired on Fuji TV in 2013. Additionally, there is a two-part

original video animation , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and special episodes of a series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the ...

created as strategy guides for the 1993 video game '' Dragon Ball Z Side Story: Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans'', which was remade in 2010 and included with the '' Raging Blast 2'' video game. As with the franchise's anime television series, all 20 films and the first three TV specials were licensed in North America by

Funimation Funimation was an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming service. Launched in 2016, the service was one of the leading distributors of anime ...

. In Europe, AB Groupe licensed the first three ''Dragon Ball'' movies, the first nine ''Z'' movies, and the first two TV specials. ''Dragon Ball'' is one of the most successful franchises in animation history. The anime series is broadcast in more than 80countries worldwide. In the United States, the anime series has sold more than 30million DVD and

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

units as of 2017.

TV series

Web series

In May 2018, ''V Jump'' announced a promotional

for the game '' Super Dragon Ball Heroes'' that adapts the games story arcs.

Films

Television specials

The ''Dragon Ball'' franchise has spawned three one-hour long

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of en ...

s that aired on

, the first two based on the "Z" portion of the series and the third based on the "GT" portion. Of these specials, the first and third are original stories created by the anime staff, while the second is based on a special chapter of the manga. Though the specials aired on TV in Japan, Funimation's North American releases of the episodes are on home video, each one labeled "Feature" the same as their theatrical films. This, doubled with the inclusion of the "Z" specials in Funimation's remastered "Movie Double Features" has caused fans to continue to erroneously believe these to be theatrical films, when they are not. On April 7, 2013, a two-part hour-long crossover TV special, between ''Dragon Ball Z'', ''

'' and '' Toriko'', referred to as ''Dream 9 Toriko & One Piece & Dragon Ball Z Super Collaboration Special!!'' aired on Fuji TV. The first part is named and the second is titled . The plot has the International Gourmet Organization (from ''Toriko'') sponsoring the Tenka'ichi Shokuōkai, a race with no rules that characters from all three series compete in. On October 8, 2017, a two-part TV special of '' Dragon Ball Super'' aired on Fuji TV. It counted as both episodes 109 and 110 of the series. On December 2, 2018, as part of promoting new film '' Broly'', a one-hour television special aired on Fuji TV in Japan entitled "''Just Before the Dragon Ball Super Movie Debut! Looking Back on the TV Show's Climax ''".

Festival films

''Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!!'' is a 35-minute anime

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

that was shown at the 2008 Jump Super Anime Tour, which visited ten Japanese cities to celebrate ''

Weekly Shōnen Jump is a weekly Shōnen manga, ''shōnen'' manga anthology published in Japan by Shueisha under the ''Jump (magazine line), Jump'' line of magazines. The manga series within the magazine consist of many Action (fiction), action scenes and a fair ...

''s 40th anniversary. It was later released as a triple feature DVD with '' One Piece: Romance Dawn Story'' and '' Tegami Bachi: Light and Blue Night Fantasy'' in 2009, that was available only through a mail-in offer exclusive to Japanese residents. In 2013, it was included in the limited edition home video release of '' Battle of Gods''. Another short film, ''Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock'', was shown at the Jump Festa 2012 event on December 17, 2011. It is an adaptation of the three part

spin-off Spin-off, Spin Off, Spin-Off, or Spinoff may refer to: Entertainment and media *Spinoff (media), a media work derived from an existing work *''The Spinoff'', a New Zealand current affairs magazine * ''Spin Off'' (Canadian game show), a 2013 Canad ...

manga of the same name by Naho Ōishi that ran in '' V Jump'' from August to October 2011, which is a spin-off sequel to the '' Bardock – The Father of Goku'' TV special. It was later released on DVD in the February 3, 2012 issue of ''

Saikyō Jump is a Japanese monthly Shōnen manga, ''shōnen'' manga magazine published by Shueisha. The magazine was started on December 3, 2010 with three completely original titles and seven spin-off (media), spin-off manga from series in ''Weekly Shōnen J ...

'' together with '' Dragon Ball: Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans''. The film was included subtitled in the European and North American exclusive

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the Xbox (console), original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detail ...

video game '' Dragon Ball Z: For Kinect'', released in October 2012.

Original video animations

In 1993, Toei Animation, in cooperation with ''

'' and '' V Jump'', produced a two-part

(OVA) that serves as a video

strategy guide Strategy guides are instruction books that contain hints or complete solutions to specific video games. The line between strategy guides and video game walkthroughs is somewhat blurred, with the former often containing or being written around the ...

to the

Family Computer The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the U ...

game titled '' Dragon Ball Z Side Story: Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans''. The first volume was released on VHS on July 23, while the second was released on August 25. The animation was also used in the 1994 two part video games, ''True Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans'', released for the Playdia. The complete OVA was included in the second ''Dragon Ball Z Dragon Box'' DVD set released in Japan in 2003. The OVA was remade for the 2010

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...

and

video game '' Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2'' under the title '' Dragon Ball: Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans''. It was included in ''Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2'' as a bonus feature, unlocked at the start of gameplay without any necessary cheat code or in-game achievement, presented in its original Japanese-language audio with subtitles appropriate for each region. It was later released on DVD in the February 3, 2012 issue of ''Saikyō Jump'' together with '' Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock''.

Educational programs

Two educational

shorts Shorts are a garment worn over the pelvic area, circling the waist and splitting to cover the upper part of the legs, sometimes extending down to the knees but not covering the entire length of the leg. They are called "shorts" because they ar ...

based on the original ''Dragon Ball'' anime were produced in 1988. The first was a traffic safety special titled , while the second was a

fire safety Fire safety is the set of practices intended to reduce destruction caused by fire. Fire safety measures include those that are intended to prevent wikt:ignition, the ignition of an uncontrolled fire and those that are used to limit the spread a ...

special titled . The two educational films were included in the ''Dragon Box'' DVD set released in Japan in 2004. Both are written by Keiji Terui.

Commercial reception

''Dragon Ball'' is one of the most successful franchises in animation history. The anime series is broadcast in more than 80countries worldwide. DVD home video releases of the ''Dragon Ball'' anime series have topped Japan's sales charts on several occasions. In the United States, the ''Dragon Ball Z'' anime series sold over 25million DVD units by January 2012. , the ''Dragon Ball'' anime franchise has sold more than 30million DVD and

units in the United States.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Dragon Ball Films *

Anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...