Dragon Ball

Original title: Dragon Ball: Doragon bôru

IMDb RATING

8.5/10

72K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

1,950

Tôru Furuya, Kôhei Miyauchi, Masako Nozawa, Mayumi Tanaka, Naoki Tatsuta, Hiromi Tsuru, and Naoko Watanabe in Dragon Ball (1986)

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Adult Animation Anime Martial Arts Shōnen Superhero Action Adventure Animation Comedy Fantasy

A naive but strong boy named Goku sets off to find seven mystical Dragon Balls, sparking a wild adventure filled with martial arts, quirky allies, strange foes, and a journey of growth acros... Read allA naive but strong boy named Goku sets off to find seven mystical Dragon Balls, sparking a wild adventure filled with martial arts, quirky allies, strange foes, and a journey of growth across a fantastical world.A naive but strong boy named Goku sets off to find seven mystical Dragon Balls, sparking a wild adventure filled with martial arts, quirky allies, strange foes, and a journey of growth across a fantastical world.

Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

8.5/10

72K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

1,950

Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Top rated TV #185

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Episodes153

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TopTop-rated Season4 years

Top cast99+

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Masako Nozawa

Son Gokû

Jôji Yanami

Narrator…

Brice Armstrong

Narrator…

Stephanie Nadolny

Goku

Hiromi Tsuru

Bulma

Mayumi Tanaka

Kuririn…

Christopher Sabat

Yamcha…

Tôru Furuya

Yamcha

Naoko Watanabe

Puar…

Kôhei Miyauchi

Kamesennin Muten Roshi…

Mike McFarland

Master Roshi…

Tiffany Vollmer

Bulma

Naoki Tatsuta

Oolong…

Mami Koyama

Launch…

Bradford Jackson

Oolong…

Monika Antonelli

Puar…

Kenji Utsumi

Announcer…

Laurie Steele

Krillin…

User reviews52

Featured review

Superb!

Dragonball is one of the best cartoons ever made. Dragonball Z is a bit disapointing compared to this one. Dragonball tells the story of Son Goku, a kid with a tail(?), who's origin is really explained only on Dragonball Z, and the story is all made up around 7 crystal balls that when all are together, allow you to ask any wish to the Dragon. It doesn't have all those "Super" stuff of Dragonball Z, all characters have different combat tactics and special moves, and they obtain their skills through hard training and not fury or spells. For Dragonball Z fans, if you want to see Bulma still young and more beautiful, Yamcha still an honourable fighter and Piccolo a bad guy, you have to see this!

AgentGunman
Jul 22, 1999
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Trivia
In the episode in which Bulma, Goku, and Oolong are camping out in the desert, there is a scene in which a nude Bulma looks out the window, and glare covers her bare breasts. Contrary to popular belief, this scene is not edited for the dub. The glare is there in all versions, uncut Japanese included.

Goofs
When Master Roshi is introduced he knows nothing about the Dragon Balls. Yet later in the series, he tells Goku and company an extremely detailed story about their origin.

Quotes
[Japanese opening song]
Singer: Grab them in the hands! Dragon Ball! / One of the world's most thrilling secrets / Hunt those down! Dragon Ball! / One of the world's most pleasant miracles / This world is a huge treasure island / That's right, right now, Adventure! / The chest is tightened excitedly in love, dreaming lots of various colors / Somewhere in this world it's glowing / Let's go and find those, boy, striking out the ghosts and goblins / We'll also fly on the cloud machine today / Let's try, try, try, mystical adventure / Across the sky and over the mountains / Let's fly, fly, fly, great adventure / The wonderful trip has begun! / Grasp them in your hands! Dragon Ball! / One of the world's most tough chances / Chase those down! Dragon Ball! / One of the world's most enjoyable dramas / This world is a huge treasure island / That's right, right now, Adventure!

Crazy credits
The closing credits are a montage of images based on covers from the "Dragon Ball" manga.

Alternate versions
The French version, distributed across most of Europe during the 90s, reinterpreted or outright deleted several scenes in an effort to make the series suitable for their intended audience, young kids. Most famously, much of the perverted antics of Master Roshi and a great deal of crass jokes were rewritten, but the animation was often left intact. This has lead to the animation at times clearly showing that the characters were thinking "dirty" thoughts, even though the dialogue itself was more kid-friendly. For example, Yamcha's fear of seeing naked women was twisted into him being afraid of shampoo. However, several similar gags were actually kept and only slightly toned down.