Dragon Ball
Dragon Ball is both a franchise about the life of Son Goku, one of the strongest fighters on Earth that started as a manga in 1984 and adapted into anime. The property as it continued in Dragon Ball Z went from being a comedy and action into a more sci-fi/action.
The stories are generally done by the franchise artist Akira Toriyama who even though not involved with the story of Dragon Ball GT provided the character designs.
The two properties slightly crossed over via Jump Force as Dai and several DB characters are on the roster.
References to the Dragon Quest seriesEdit
- Puff-Puff originates from Chapter 5 of Dragon Ball.
- A pterodactyl strongly resembling a Terrordactyl appears in the manga, where it kidnaps Bulma to eat her, but Goku saves the day and kills it.
- The Archdemon makes a cameo in the Tenshinhan/Tien Shinhan saga of Dragon Ball. It tries to enter the Tenkaichi Budokai but is defeated at the preliminaries.
- The Japanese name of Flying saucers from Dragon Quest Monsters 2 is the same one used by a ki-technique from Frieza.
References from the Dragon Quest seriesEdit
- The splitting of Malroth into good and bad halves in Builders 2 is reminiscent of the characters Kami and Piccolo. The two were originally an unnamed being whose expelled inner darkness manifested as a violent doppelganger.
- Baramos' design bears a slight similarity to the character Piano, one of Demon King Piccolo's henchmen.
- Xenlon from the remakes of III is likely a tribute to the Dragon God Shenron. Not only do they (Along with Ethereal serpent, Boreal serpent and Infernal serpent) look extremely similar (the only differences being say Shenron's glowing red eyes and Xenlon's purple accents), they also grant wishes. In addition, the kanji for Shenron's name is 神龍 (meaning "god dragon"), which can be read as "shen long" in Mandarin Chinese (which, when the Chinese reading is said aloud by a Japanese person, becomes "シェンロン Shenron" - the same as his name in Dragon Ball), whereas it is read as "しんりゅう shinryū" in Japanese, the same as Xenlon's name in the Japanese version of Dragon Quest.
- Jackanape, Whackanape and Smackanape bear a striking similarity to the Oozaru transformations.
- Parry's hair style is the same as Son Gohan in his super saiyan form. Akira Toriyama was in the middle of drawing the Cell saga of the manga when V was developed and released, and likely used the cameo as a hint towards the lad's capability.
- Conkerer's last default name, Marron is shared by the daughter of Kuririn/Krillen.
- Carver bears a strong resemblance to the Southern Daikaioshin/South Kai. Appropriately, said character is the physically strongest of his group.
- The Demonrider's outfit bears a resemblance to that of Emperor Pilaf's henchman Shu.
- Grody Gumpdrops is very similar in appearance to Majin Buu. The two have rotund, amorphous bodies with antenna-like structures on top of their heads and possess a variety of different magical powers. His name evokes gumdrops, a type of candy which Grody Gumpdrops's body somewhat resembles, similar to how Majin Buu's body is similar to chewing gum.
- In the PS2 version of VIII, when The Hero's Tension is maxed, his appearance changes drastically. His bandana flies off and his hair spikes up, making him resemble Super Saiyan Son Goku. This little feature was added to the Western release of the game, as a shoutout to fans of DB
- Morrie's appearance is loosely based on Akira Toriyama's own Mr. Satan/Hercule character from the famous Dragon Ball series.
- Many hairstyles available for character customization in IX pay homage to prior character designs created by Akira Toriyama:
- One of the available hairstyles for the male Hero is identical that of the Hero of Dragon Quest VI, and to Super Saiyan 2 Gohan's.
- Another hairstyle for a male is a mohawk similar to that of Carver from Dragon Quest VI, or of Android 16 or Uub.
- Nelgel's (From X) humanoid appearance is similar to Orgodemir's, as well as Whis from the revival of DB other characters designed by Akira Toriyama, like Magus from Chrono Trigger
- Nadraga's (From X) design is a combination of Rhapthorne (From VIII) and Cell.
- The stock art of the male Elf in X greatly resembles the Eastern Kaioshin (Supreme Kai), with only the clothing and hair being different.
- The Luminary has the same hairstyle as Android 17, as well as a similar physique.
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JapaneseEdit
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EnglishEdit
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TriviaEdit
- Prince Kameha from Dragon Quest Monsters 2 and the DB fighting move Kamehameha share the same namesake who is the real-life 19th century King Kamehameha.
GalleryEdit
External linkEdit
- Dragon Ball on Wikipedia
- Dragon Ball Z on Wikipedia
- Dragon Ball at IMDb
- Dragon Ball Z at IMDb