Dragon Ball is Akira Toriyama's magnum opus... and the series he can't get away from. While work on the original manga is over, Dragon Ball's popularity has only grown over the years thanks to it's worldwide presence and so many sequels.

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But Dragon Ball is also drastically different from how it was when the manga was created. To keep the series fresh, Toriyama was forced to introduce all manner of concepts that pulled the story from the martial arts roots it was known for, into more of a sci-fi/action series. Despite these changes, Dragon Ball has still maintained an identity that is unmistakable in the world of anime.

10 Flight

Goku Flying At Full Speed

When Dragon Ball started early on, the only way to travel anywhere quickly was by utilizing a vehicle. In the second half of Dragon Ball, Tenshinhan and the others brought flight into the game, and by the start of Dragon Ball Z, flight is ubiquitous. Literally every character who can fight learns how to channel their ki to allow them to fly.

9 Goku's Power Pole and Flying Nimbus Are Gone

Goku On Flying Nimbus

When the series began, Goku had his Flying Nimbus cloud which allowed him to travel places quickly, and the Power Pole which aided him in combat. As the characters got more powerful, the Power Pole became less useful, and once Goku learned to fly, he started using Nimbus less and less. Goku never flies on the cloud again after coming back from Namek.

8 Aliens Are Real

Planet Namek

Dragon Ball Z immediately started explaining things that otherwise didn't need explanations. Goku was just a talented kid and a reference to the Monkey King from Journey to the West. Piccolo was just a strange demon who lived on Earth, and it wasn't weird because Dragon Ball had talking animals and other mystical creatures.

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Dragon Ball Z added science fiction to the mythology, introducing the idea that Piccolo and Goku were in fact aliens from different planets. While Planet Vegeta and the Saiyans were gone, Namek was still around and would become the focus of one of Dragon Ball Z's storylines.

7 Earthlings Don't Matter

master roshi staring with sunglasses on

When Dragon Ball started, it was a foregone conclusion that Earthlings were the most powerful. There were talking animals and animal people, but none of them were actually strong. Even Goku was believed to be an Earthling, even if he was a very special one. But by the time the Saiyan arc started, Earthlings were already being phased out. Goku was explained to be a Saiyan, while Piccolo was a Namekian. The remaining warriors were all Earthlings, and their fight against the Saiyans quickly clarified their place in the world.

6 Super Saiyan

Goku stays behind on an exploding Planet Namek in Dragon Ball Z

Before Dragon Ball, characters learned new techniques and managed to win through their own ingenuity, and the concept of a transformation was completely new to shonen anime. With Dragon Ball Z, Goku turning Super Saiyan changed not just Dragon Ball, but everything in shonen entirely. Now characters were known to transform into forms, giving them the strength they needed to overcome a major challenge.

5 A Different Dragon

Porunga Dragon DBZ

In the original Dragon Ball, the dragon that emerges from the Dragon Balls is Shenlong. Even when Demon King Piccolo killed Shenlong, Kami revives the Dragon Balls to create Shenlong again.

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After learning about the Namekians, the heroes traveled to Namek and saw their dragon. This time, the dragon was Porunga, a being that looked nothing like Shenlong and granted three wishes instead of only one.

4 A New Generation

Gohan fights Raditz

The original Dragon Ball actually had a lot of kids in it. Goku wasn’t even a teenager and neither was Krillin at the start of the series, while Yamcha was so young he didn’t know what to do in the presence of a girl. Dragon Ball actually allowed the passage of time, as seven years pass over the course of the anime itself. Then from Dragon Ball to Dragon Ball Z, another seven years pass, where Goku brings in his son Gohan to the group who learns to fight alongside them. Time continuously passes with this group.

3 Main Character Shift

dragon-ball-super-goku-vegeta

The main character of Dragon Ball is always Goku. Even when other characters become part of the cast, the central figure remains Goku. Dragon Ball Z slowly shifts Goku to more of a background role — he’s no less important, but the series is constantly finding ways to make the series not about him, centering on his son Gohan. In Super, Vegeta graduates to become a main character as well, becoming the only other person besides Goku capable of stopping a main villain.

2 Getting To Know The Gods

Beerus and Whis arguing

Near the end of the original Dragon Ball, everyone is introduced to Kami, the God of Earth. Kami is Piccolo's other half, a person thought to be the most dangerous threat to Earth. By Dragon Ball Z, deities are greatly expanded upon. Goku meets Kaio, the protector of the North Galaxy; the Buu arc introduces the Kaioshin; and Dragon Ball Super introduces Beerus, the God of Destruction, and his partner Whis, the Angel. There’s also Zen-Oh, the creator of everything.

1 Welcome To The Multiverse

Vegeta trains Super Saiyan Cabba in Dragon Ball Super

Dragon Ball's biggest change recently is the introduction of alternate universes. Eleven other alternate universes exist in the multiverse as a whole, vastly expanding the franchise fans thought they knew. Each universe has a “paired” alternate, with the Dragon Ball universe being Universe 7 and its partner being Universe 6. The other universes are largely a mystery, but fans were shown inhabitants from several of those universes during Dragon Ball Super's last arc in the anime.

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