DRAGONBALL is very cool.The animated Dragonball TV series began in 1986 and ran for three years until 1989, when the title changed to Dragonball Z (pronounced 'Dragonball Zetto'). Dragonball and Dragonball Z have a considerably different style and feel, but both were popular throughout the series long history. In addition to the TV series, there have also been three Dragonball movies and thirteen(!!!) Dragonball Z movies. The translated early series is currently running in America.
In the beginning, there was Son Gokuu, an abnormally strong, innocent boy living alone in the wilderness. As an aside, Son Gokuu is also the name of the trickster monkey figure in the Chinese classic, 'A Journey to the West,' and the Dragonball character bears some resemblance to the main charactor in this Chinese story. He has a monkey's tail and a staff that can extend on command and, later, he receives a cloud on which he rides, all of which were also characteristic of the Chinese trickster monkey. Toriyama may initially have had some kind of plans for turning the series in this direction, but the resemblance ultimately ended there, except for a later picture of the Dragonball characters dressed in the style of the 'A Journey to the West' characters which had nothing to do with the series. which was also based on 'A Journey to the West'.
So anyway... Son Gokuu is living an innocent life in the wildernes |