Nerdee Birdee | Dragon Ball

The History

Dragon Ball is a Japanese media franchise created by Akira Toriyama. It started as a manga written and illustrated by Toriyama in 1984. From 1986 to present time, Toei Animation has adapted the manga into several anime television series as well as movies.
The main story follows the journey of a boy (named Son Goku) and his life of training in the martial arts. On his planet are 7 magical balls scattered but once these seven balls are together, a giant dragon emerges and grants one wish to whomever asks. The prospect of the Dragon Balls always catches the attention of bad guys and, oftentimes, Goku and the friends he makes along the way are there to stop their evil plans.
The Dragon Ball story continues to this day with much more characters, stories, and action-packed entertainment. Today, the Dragon Ball anime series (and movies) have been considered one of the best martial arts anime of all time.
The Fighting
A lot of the character's fighting styles are influenced from actual martial arts but if you're at all familiar with the manga/anime you'd know that the fighting involves a lot more than martial arts. Most characters have fantastical moves involving fireball blasts, moving near the speed of light, and teleportation to name a few. Some characters evolve into different forms with higher "power levels" and others can even fuse together!

Son Goku (or simply Goku)

The Manga

Dragon Ball

Volumes: 42
Original run: Dec 3, 1984 – June 5, 1995

Dragon Ball Z

Volumes: 42
Original run: Sept 10, 1985 - Aug 4, 1995

Dragon Ball SD

Volumes: 10 (ongoing)
Run: Dec 2010 – present

Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultra God Mission!!!!

Volumes: 1
July 29, 2013 – October 14, 2013

Dragon Ball Super

Volumes: 23 (ongoing)
Run: June 20, 2015 – present

Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Dark Demon Realm Mission!

Volumes: 3
Original run: Aug 05, 2016 – Feb 01, 2020

That_time_I_got_reincarnated_as_Yamcha_Viz_Cover

Dragon Ball: That Time I Got Reincarnated as Yamcha!

Volumes: 1
Original Run: Dec 11, 2016 – Aug 14, 2017

Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Universe Mission!!

Volumes: 2
Original run: Apr 06, 2018 – Feb 01, 2020

Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Big Bang Mission!!!

Volumes: 3
Original run: Apr 02, 2020 – Feb 04, 2022

Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultra God Mission!!!!

Volumes: 1
March 04, 2022 – TBA

The TV Series

Dragon Ball

# of Episodes: 153
Feb 26, 1986 - April 19, 1989

Dragon Ball Z

# of Episodes: 291
Apr 26, 1989 - January 31, 1996

Dragon Ball GT

# of Episodes: 64
Feb 7, 1996 - November 19, 1997

Dragon Ball Super

# of Episodes: 131
July 5, 2015 - Mar 25, 2018

Super Dragon Ball Heroes

# of Episodes: 56
July 1, 2018 – August 8, 2024

Dragon Ball Daima

# of Episodes: (ongoing)
October 11, 2024 – present

The Movies

Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies

Dragon Ball
Dec 20, 1986

Dragon Ball: Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle

Dragon Ball
July 18, 1987

Dragon Ball: Mystical Adventure

Dragon Ball
July 9, 1988

Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone

Dragon Ball Z
July 15, 1989

Dragon Ball Z: The World's Strongest

Dragon Ball Z
March 10, 1990

Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might

Dragon Ball Z
July 7, 1990

Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug

Dragon Ball Z
Mar 9, 1991

Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge

Dragon Ball Z
July 20, 1991

Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Cooler

Dragon Ball Z
March 7, 1992

Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13!

Dragon Ball Z
July 11, 1992

Dragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan

Dragon Ball Z
Mar 6, 1993

Dragon Ball Z: Bojack Unbound

Dragon Ball Z
July 10, 1993

Dragon Ball Z: Broly – Second Coming

Dragon Ball Z
Mar 12, 1994

Dragon Ball Z: Bio-Broly

Dragon Ball Z
July 9, 1994

Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn

Dragon Ball Z
Mar 4, 1995

Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon

Dragon Ball Z
July 15, 1995

Dragon Ball: The Path to Power

Dragon Ball
Mar 2, 1996

Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods

Dragon Ball Z
Mar 30, 2013

Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F'

Dragon Ball Z
Apr 11, 2015

Dragon Ball Super: Broly

Dragon Ball Super
Nov 14, 2018

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero

Dragon Ball Super
June 11, 2022

Two unofficial films were also released: Dragon Ball: Ssawora Son Goku, Igyeora Son Goku (1990) and Dragon Ball: The Magic Begins (1991) as well as a 2009 live action film, Dragonball Evolution as well as many OVAs, and TV specials.

Original Video Animations, or OVAs, are special episodes, or movies, made separately from the rest of the season episodes. They are sometimes alternate story lines from a series or even stories focusing on characters that played a smaller role in a series.

The Trading Cards

These are/were the main Dragon Ball card game releases. They each have different types of cards based on the gameplay and with almost every major card game release came gameplay improvements. They all included their own expansions, subsets, and promotional cards with the typical common, uncommon, rare, super rare, and starter-exclusive super rares that are often found in collectible card games.

Dragon Ball Z Trading Card Game: 2000 (out-of-print)

Dragon Ball GT Collectible Card Game: 2004 (out-of-print)

The Dragon Ball Collectible Card Game: 2008 (out-of-print)

Remake of the original Dragon Ball Z Trading Card Game: 2014 (out-of-print)

Dragon Ball Super Collectible Card Game: 2017

Dragon Ball Super Card Game Fusion World: 2024

For an introduction and rules of play: dbs-cardgame.com

Golden Frieza

Dragon Ball Z Collectible Card Game (2014)