You don't have to be an anime fan to know how popular it is Dragon Ball is Akira Toriyama's iconic adventure series has captured the hearts of fans for decades and stands as one of the most recognizable anime out there.
Dragon Ball is hard to beat, and the series inspired various anime and manga that followed. But that doesn't mean there aren't series coming close. These anime rivals Dragon Ball As some of the best the medium has to offer.
Dragon Ball: 7 Techniques to Rival Vegeta's Big Bang Attack
Vegeta's Big Bang Attack may be strong, but these techniques can be devastating.
Attack on Titan
However, this level may not be sufficient dragon ball, Attack on Titan Became a global phenomenon in the 2010s. Its conclusion even after years AoT Still has a devoted fan base and continues to be talked about and looked back on fondly.
What really makes it Attack on Titan Its strong story and world building. Sure, the action is great, and the animation is top-notch, but what sticks with this series the most is the characters, their struggles, and how the world they live in shapes them, as well as your understanding of their motivations and morals.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
Having at one point shared the pages of Weekly Shonen Jump Dragon Ballof Hirohiko Araki JoJo's Bizarre Adventure The series has been a fan favorite for decades. This took a little longer jojo To achieve the same kind of international recognition Dragon Ball did, but now that the series has a wider reach, fans have been able to see just how great it is.
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With different 'parts' spanning many eras and timelines, jojo It has a versatile cast of characters and is one of the few long-running series to avoid becoming stale. It constantly reinvents itself and can always be counted on to give fans an interesting story with great characters and memorable moments.
Bleach
One of the 'Big 3', Bleach is a series influenced by Dragon Ball And will carry on the legacy left by running on Weekly Shonen Jump. Although the anime doesn't seem to adapt the manga completely, the series is experiencing a resurgence thanks to A Thousand Years of Blood War Anime has been a welcome surprise to many.
of bleach Transformations, strong rivalries, and a focus on world-threatening villains are some of the things it has in common. Dragon Ball. Kubo does a lot to set Bleach apart from itself, but like the rest of the 'Big 3', you can see Dragon Ball affects throughout.
You could also argue that the original 2003 adaptation Fullmetal Alchemist It's here, though Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Still stands as the best anime of the 2000s.
It's easy to see why brotherhood Such a beloved classic. The story is full of interesting and impressive moments, but most important is the strong bond between its leads, Ed and Al, as well as the wonderful development the series has given to its supporting cast. Ed and Al's journey to reclaim their bodies and atone for the sin of human transmutation is filled with emotional highs and lows, and by the end of it, you'll see why so many anime fans hold the series in such high regard.
Naruto
Another one of the 'Big 3' that served as the face of Shonen Jump Dragon Ball was over Naruto is a quintessential adventure anime. There have been plenty of anime to use ninja as a hook, but none have been as unique and interesting as Masashi Kishimoto's magnum opus.
There are a bunch of little things Naruto Which as you can see were probably inspired Dragon Ball. Things like a greasy hero with an insatiable appetite, a brooding rival, a sleazy trainer, and an energy-based power system are some of the similarities between the two. Like many great shonen that came later Dragon Ball, Naruto was able to take the elements and tropes that made Toriyama's series so beloved and use that template to create something that really stuck to itself.
Yu Yu Hakusho
Dragon Ball may be one of the greatest anime of the 90s, but another shonen series that is just as good, and sometimes overlooked, is Yu Yu Hakusho. Some fans may recognize series creator Yoshihiro Togashi hunter x hunter, And while it's a hit, it wasn't Togashi's only big success.
Yu Yu Hakusho and Dragon Ball are somewhat similar, both being fighting shonen and coming from the same era. But there are several things that distinguish it from Toriyama's classic. Yu Yu Hakusho Many consider it to have strong character development, especially when it comes to Yusuke. It also comes across as a bit more grounded than static one-upmanship Dragon Ball Will be attached later in the series.
a piece
Just wasn't a piece Dragon Ball was inspired by Naruto and formed the 'Big 3' along with Bleach, but Ichiro Oda's pirate adventures may well have surpassed Dragon Ball in popularity over the nearly three decades the series has been running.
It's easy to see why fans love it a piece. Oda has done a wonderful job of carefully crafting a fun adventure with some of the best world-building in anime and manga. You'd think an ongoing series would run out of juice by having one piece, but Oda has a plan, and he's been executing it flawlessly for years. There's so much payoff and so much more to come that it's hard to suggest a piece that will interest any anime fan. It can be notoriously long, but the characters, unique world, and still unanswered mystery behind the eponymous One Piece make it all worth it.
Dragon Ball
- Release date
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1986 – 1989
- network
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Fuji TV
- directors
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Osamu Kasai, Daisuke Nishio, Kazuhisa Takenouchi, Minoru Okazaki, Mitsuo Hashimoto, Yoshihiro Ueda, Yutaka Satoh, Yuji Endô
- The authors
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Akira Toriyama, Keiji Terui, Toshiki Inoue, Takao Koyama, Michiru Shimada, Yasushi Hirano, Katsuyuki Sumisawa, Yuichiro Oguro, Miho Maruo, Shunichi Yukimuro
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Masako Nozawa
Son Goku (voice)
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Mayumi Tanaka
Krillin (voice)