Dragonball History

The story of Dragonball was written by Akira Toriyama. He based his story on one of his favourites called Journey to the West. Journey to the west was about Monkey, who journeyed with his friends Tripitaka, Pigsy, and Sandy, in search of seven legendary scrolls. Toriyama really enjoyed this story, and decided to make up his own based on his favourite characters. He came up with several ideas, but eventually landed on Dragonball; the story of a monkey-tailed boy and his friends searching for the seven dragonballs, in order to be granted a wish from the eternal dragon. There are several obvious simliarities between the Dragonball and Journey to the West. Goku, a young boy with a monkey tail, and Monkey, a talking monkey, both posess magic staffs capable of growing and retracting. Although they travelled on foot, Monkey and his friends used the nimbus clouds to travel short distances quickly. Goku had a nimbus cloud he used to travel around as well. Pigsy, and Sandy, who were probably cowardly, are often compared to Oolong, and Yajirobe. Dragonball started out based on Journey to the West, but drastically changed.

Dragonball was featured in Shonen Jump, a magazine which publishes different anime monthly in Japan. Dragonball quickly gained popularity, encouraging Toriyama to continue writing it after his original storyline for the manga had ended. Dragonball became so popular that the company Toei Animation decided to turn it into an anime. The anime was an instant hit and remained on TV for several years. After Goku defeated Piccolo at the Tenkaichi Bodoukai, and finally married Chi Chi, Toriyama decided to end Dragonball, and begin the series Dragonball Z to demonstrate the change in focus of the series. Where Dragonball was mostly a comedy, Dragonball Z would be an action series. Dragonball Z was much more popular than Dragonball and aired for almost twice as long Dragonball did.

Dragonball Z's success spread across the world, as many international companies decided to translate the show and air in their countries. In North America companies Funimation and Ocean Group worked on the show together to air it in the US and Canada. Initially they were unsuccessful at finding it a fanbase. Many fans of the original Japanese version didn't like how blatantly censored it was. Dragonball didn't work out. They tried skipping Dragonball and going straight to Dragonball Z, that didn't work either. The companies tried once more this time translating more episodes, and working deals with YTV, and Cartoon Network to get them on their afterschool programs The Zone, and Toonami. Their final attempt was more successful, and Toonami even had to show the first three Dragonball Z movies to keep its viewers sastisfied until the next season.

Tired of the drama of working on Dragonball, Ocean Group broke off the project, leaving Funimation to work on it solo. The Ocean Group company had provided most of the voice talent, and their departure left Funimation in a bind. The company didn't give up though, they continued to work on the show, founding their own recording studio, and hiring new actors to pick up where the old ones left off. The end result a delayed mid-season of episodes. For their next season of episodes, Funimation managed to translate and showcase the entire Android/Cell story arc. With the success of the new season, it encouraged them to take up more projects including Yu Yu Hakusho, Blue Gender and Dragonball once more. Ocean Group has also taken up Dragonball Z again. Translating the Majin Buu story arc for Canada and now taking up Dragonball and Dragonball GT for the new season.

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