The anime and manga of “dragonball“He gave war non-stop for decades, and for many current works he was a necessary inspiration and guideline in finding what really excites readers and viewers. Akira Toriyama He’s quite simply a genius who invented one of the most popular entertainment products in history, but with everything known and seen about the franchise. there are still many who wonder the following: why is it called “Dragon Ball”?

The origin of the name “Dragon Ball”

  • The reason the franchise is called Dragon Ball is very simple: refers to the orange spheres that meet Bulma and Goku for the first time. So when they first meet, these two characters embark on a journey to find each of those ‘Dragon Balls’ that allow them to summon a wish-granting dragon called Shenron.
  • Although the Dragon Balls have been a recurring element of the various storylines of the franchise, it may be that with all that is seen, we think that the title as such has lacked a bit of representation of what the franchise. But what many may not know is that Toriyama came to plan that Dragon Ball ended the search for the spheres as such.
This is how it all began in the Dragon Ball universe
  • Indeed, even someone like Akira Toriyama was a complete stranger at the time, and if the play hadn’t initially been a hit, it was. everything is planned to take stock and end with Bulma and Goku finding these magic spheres and request the relevant wish.
  • If in doubt, obviously in Spain, we would end up seeing this translated as ‘dragonball‘, and that later the characters would seek precisely the ‘dragon balls‘, makes it more than obvious that these spheres are the ones that house the origin of the name of the franchise.

Why then was the name changed to Dragon Ball Z?

  • Perhaps more than one does not know this detail, but the reality that Dragon Ball never officially changed its name until Dragon Ball Super.
  • No, I’m not drunk the ‘Dragon Ball Z’ thing was something that was forced by the animation team at Toei Animation as a marketing movethus seeking to represent the idea that the franchise was entering a new stage.
  • However, if we look at the original version of the Dragon Ball manga, we will realize that each of the sagas that go from Goku’s childhood until he confronts Majin Buu, are simply collected in the manga ‘Dragon Ball’.
dbz good
Dragon Ball Z was a simple marketing move pushed by Toei Animation
  • How did the name Dragon Ball Z come about? Although Toriyama didn’t see the need to make any changes, he eventually decided what it should be. The reason for this name is very simple: Toriyama-sensei wanted to express the idea of ​​the journey’s end.
  • The author of the franchise argued at the time that the last letter of the alphabet is a Z, and that by giving this name to the “sequel” in the anime, he meant that there would be nothing else after.
  • In fact, from what is known of Toei himself, they mixed up names like Dragon Ball 2, Dragon Ball 90, Dragon Ball: Wonder Boy and others which were eventually completely rejected, probably because none conveyed what Toriyama-sensei was looking for.

If we think mainly about the origin of the name “Dragon Ball Z”, it makes sense that Toriyama-sensei did not create “Dragon Ball GT” and that “Dragon Ball Super” takes place just before “The End of Z”. This, in turn, leads one to think what will happen once “Dragon Ball Super” is over, because at this point it seems inevitable that we will eventually overtake the events of “Z” unless the franchise ends “abruptly” which I consider as unlikely. In any case, what is clear is that the names of the sagas were not chosen at random.

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