Cultural impact of Dragon Ball

[1][2] In 2015, the Japan Anniversary Association officially declared May 9 as "Goku Day" (悟空の日, Gokū no Hi) after the main character; in Japanese, the numbers five and nine can be pronounced as "Go" and "Ku".

[1] Dragon Ball is widely referenced in American popular culture, from television and music to celebrities and athletes, and the show has been celebrated with Goku making an appearance at multiple Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parades,[4] and with murals based on Dragon Ball appearing in cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Kansas City, and Denver.

Successful shōnen manga authors such as Eiichiro Oda (One Piece), Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto), Tite Kubo (Bleach), Hiro Mashima (Fairy Tail) and Kentaro Yabuki (Black Cat) have cited Dragon Ball as an influence on their own now popular works.

"[12] Ian Jones-Quartey, a producer of the American animated series Steven Universe, is a fan of Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump, and uses Toriyama's vehicle designs as a reference for his own.

[15] Tony Stark: Iron Man #11 (2019) makes references to Dragon Ball Z, including Miles Morales as Spider-Man referencing the Super Saiyan transformation.

[16] Goku is occasionally compared to or identified as a superhero by media due to the similarities shared between Western comics and the Dragon Ball franchise.

It is popular in the hip hop community, and has been referenced in numerous hip hop songs by rappers and artists such as Chris Brown, Chance the Rapper, Big Sean, Lil Uzi Vert, G-Mo Skee, The Weeknd, Childish Gambino,[2] Denzel Curry, Thundercat, B.o.B, Soulja Boy,[34] Drake,[35] Frank Ocean, and Sese.

[41] Canadian mixed martial artist Carlos Newton dubbed his fighting style "Dragon Ball jiu-jitsu" in tribute to the series.

[42] Other mixed martial artists inspired by Dragon Ball include Kana Watanabe, Yushin Okami, Yoshihiro Akiyama and Yuya Wakamatsu.

[43][44] The French group Yamakasi cited Dragon Ball as an influence on their development of parkour, inspired by how the heroes attain extraordinary abilities through hard work.