Reviewers have praised the manga for its comedy, fight scenes, and pacing, while recognizing a coming-of-age theme and its use of cultural references from Chinese mythology and Japanese folktales.

Their journey leads to the desert bandit Yamcha, who later becomes an ally; Chi-Chi, whom Goku unknowingly agrees to marry; and Pilaf, an impish man who seeks the Dragon Balls to fulfill his desire to rule the world.

After the tournament, Goku searches for the Dragon Ball his grandfather left him and almost single-handedly defeats the Red Ribbon Army and their hired assassin, Taopaipai.

Karin then directs Goku to Kami, the original creator of the Dragon Balls and Piccolo Daimao's other half, to restore Shenlong and revive his slain friends.

Within roughly six months of creating the popular manga Dr. Slump in 1980, Akira Toriyama wanted to end the series but his publisher Shueisha would only allow him to do so if he agreed to start another serial for them shortly after.

[7][8][page needed] He was particularly influenced by the fight scenes in Jackie Chan movies,[9] and said he would never have come up with Dragon Ball if he had not watched Drunken Master,[10] which he enjoyed partly due to its light-hearted tone.

[16] Torishima said he chose the novel largely because it was a free intellectual property, but also because its Chinese setting was not common in manga at the time and would make it both unique and differentiate it from Dr. Slump's US West Coast feel.

[3] He changed the objective from Journey to the West, where the protagonists travel through the Western Regions (Central Asia) to collect sacred Buddhist texts from the Indian subcontinent, to something simpler, gathering seven orbs which grant a wish.

[17] Toriyama added the idea of the Dragon Balls to give the characters a game-like activity of gathering something in order to appeal to its shōnen manga magazine audience.

[15] His concept of the Dragon Balls was inspired by the epic Japanese novel Nansō Satomi Hakkenden (1814–1842), which involves the heroes collecting eight large Buddhist prayer beads of a necklace from eight different regions of Japan, which Toriyama adapted into finding seven Dragon Balls from seven different locations; he chose the number seven to avoid being the same as the number of beads in Hakkenden.

Wanting to make it even clearer that Goku's battles were over, and a new generation was taking over, Toriyama slightly altered the ending for the kanzenban re-release of Dragon Ball which finished in 2004.

He received free Kent paper, similar to Bristol board, from a seller connected to Shueisha, and used a 0.5mm 2B lead mechanical pencil and a wide ruler at least 30 cm long.

[32] Toriyama explained that he had Goku grow up so that drawing fight scenes would be easier, even though Torishima was against it initially because it was rare to have the main character of a manga series change drastically.

[42] With their predominantly white color and the singular picture that continues across their various spines, Torishima said the covers to these collected volumes were purposely designed to stick out on store bookshelves.

Although Toriyama had already drafted the first four covers with a vibrant green, Shimada proposed bright red after seeing South Korea compete in the 2002 FIFA World Cup and he agreed.

[47] It was an editor who suggested having a singular picture that continues across the various spines, but unlike the tankōbon edition, the number of volumes was already determined, so they knew exactly how long it needed to be.

[51][52] Dragon Ball was also released in a sōshūhen edition that aims to recreate the manga as it was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump in the same size, with the color pages, promotional text, and next chapter previews, in addition to foldout posters.

In November 1999, Toys "R" Us removed Viz's Dragon Ball from their stores nationwide when a Dallas parent complained that the series had "borderline soft porn" after he bought them for his four-year-old son.

"[81] A fan petition was created, garnering over 10,000 signatures, and a year later, Viz announced they would stop censoring Dragon Ball and increased its "age rating" to 13 and up instead, reprinting the first three graphic novels.

[84] While Dragon Ball was licensed in the United States by Viz Media, it has been licensed in other countries as well for regional language releases in French by Glénat Editions,[85] in Spanish by Planeta DeAgostini for European versions,[86] and Panini Comics for Latin American versions,[87] in Italian by Star Comics,[88] in German by Carlsen Verlag,[89] in Russian by Comix-ART,[90] in Polish by Japonica Polonica Fantastica,[91] and in Swedish by Bonnier Group.

[96] The final chapter of Toriyama's 2013 manga series Jaco the Galactic Patrolman revealed that it is set before Dragon Ball, with several characters making appearances.

[98] Dragon Ball SD is a colored spin-off manga written and illustrated by Naho Ōishi was published in Shueisha's Saikyō Jump magazine in December 2010.

The manga's story revolves around Bardock, Goku's father, who is featured in a scenario where he did not die at the hands of Freeza and fights his enemy's ancestor as a Super Saiyan.

[121] In November 2014, readers of Da Vinci magazine voted Dragon Ball the greatest Weekly Shōnen Jump manga series of all time.

[126] Thompson cited the artwork as influential, pointing out that popular shōnen manga of the late 1980s and early 1990s had "manly" heroes, such as City Hunter and Fist of the North Star, whereas Dragon Ball had the cartoonish and small Goku, thus starting a trend that he says still continues.

[134] Animerica felt the series had "worldwide appeal," using dramatic pacing and over-the-top martial arts action to "maintain tension levels and keep a crippler crossface hold on the audience's attention spans".

Many manga artists have cited it and Toriyama as inspirations, including Fairy Tail and Rave author Hiro Mashima, Black Clover creator Yūki Tabata, and Boruto: Naruto Next Generations illustrator Mikio Ikemoto.

[143][144] For the kanzenban re-release of Dragon Ball, every odd-numbered volume included a tribute illustration by a popular manga artist who was a child when it was serialized, accompanied with a few words about how the series influenced them.

[153] 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.

[158] On March 27, 2013, the "Akira Toriyama: The World of Dragon Ball" exhibit opened at the Takashimaya department store in Nihonbashi, attracting 72,000 visitors in its first nineteen days.