Dragon Ball (franchise)

Dragon Ball (ドラゴンボール, Dragonball) is an internationally popular media franchise. It consists primarily of a manga series created by Akira Toriyama in 1984, four anime series, nineteen animated feature films, an American live-action film, collectible card games and other collectible products, a large number of video games (still being produced), and action figures. Dragon Ball has an extensive online fanbase and is consistently one of the most frequently searched-for terms on Google, Yahoo!, and Lycos. As of November 2014, the franchise generated $5 billion in merchandise, making Dragon Ball one of the most merchandisable anime based media franchises of all time.

The story and characters of Dragon Ball were partly inspired by the Chinese folk novel Journey to the West, though they diverge from the novel very quickly. The plot follows the adventures of the lead character Son Goku (based on the Monkey King of the folk legend, Sun Wukong) from his childhood through his adulthood. The story includes elements both of action and comedy, though the series became more action-oriented over time.

Filmography
The Dragon Ball franchise currently consists of 4 anime series. 1989, 1995, 2001 - 2003 (United States)
 * Dragon Ball
 * Years: 1986 - 1989 (Japan)
 * No. of Films: 4

1996 - 2003 (United States)
 * Dragon Ball Z
 * Years: 1989 - 1995 (Japan)
 * No. of Films: 15
 * No. of Specials: 2

2003 - 2005 (United States)
 * Dragon Ball GT
 * Years: 1996 - 1997 (Japan)
 * No. of Specials: 1


 * Dragon Ball Super
 * Years: 2015 - 2018 (Japan) 2017 - ongoing (United States)
 * No. of Films: 1

There's also a remastered edition of Dragon Ball Z made for its 20th and 25th anniversaries. 2010 - 2013 (United States)
 * Dragon Ball Z Kai
 * Years: 2009 - 2011 (Japan)

2017 - 2018 (United States)
 * Dragon Ball Z Kai: The Final Chapters
 * Years: 2014 - 2015 (Japan)