Part of Series
Akira Toriyama's groundbreaking, iconic, best-selling series now in an omnibus edition! Dragon Ball introduces a young monkey-tailed boy named Goku (a wry update of the classic Chinese "Monkey King" legend), whose quiet life changes when he meets a girl named Bulma who is on a quest to collect seven "Dragon Balls." If she gathers them all, an incredibly powerful dragon will appear and grant her one wish. But the precious orbs are scattered all over the world, and Bulma could use the help of a certain super-strong boy... Turtle vs. Crane The next Tenka’ichi Budokai martial art tournament is just around the corner, and an eager Son Goku can’t wait to face even tougher fighters for the “Strongest Under the Heavens” title! Among the contestants include pipsqueak Chaozu and three-eyed Tenshinhan, deadly disciples of Tsuru-Sen’nin, the Crane Hermit! As it turns out, Tsuru-Sen’nin is an old rival of Goku’s teacher Kame-sen’nin (also known as the Turtle hemit). What’s worse, Tsuru-Sen’nin orders Chaozu and Tenshinhan to kill the Kame Sen’nin disciples! Will crane-style kung fu beat out turtle style? As these two martial arts schools duke it out in the tournament ring, things just might turn fatal!
Author
Akira Toriyama (鳥山明) was a Japanese manga artist and character designer. He first achieved mainstream recognition for creating the popular manga series Dr. Slump, before going on to create Dragon Ball (his most famous work) and acting as a character designer for several popular video games such as the Dragon Quest series, Chrono Trigger, and Blue Dragon. Toriyama came to be regarded as one of the most important authors in the history of manga with his works highly influential and popular, particularly Dragon Ball, which many manga artists cite as a source of inspiration. He earned the 1981 Shogakukan Manga Award for best shōnen/shōjo manga with Dr. Slump, and it went on to sell over 35 million copies in Japan. It was adapted into a successful anime series, with a second anime created in 1997, 13 years after the manga ended. His next series, Dragon Ball, would become one of the most popular and successful manga in the world. Having sold 260 million copies worldwide, it is one of the best-selling manga series of all time and is considered a key work in increasing manga circulation to its peak in the mid-1980s and mid-1990s. Overseas, Dragon Ball's anime adaptations have been more successful than the manga and are credited with boosting anime's popularity in the Western world. In 2019, Toriyama was decorated a Chevalier of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for his contributions to the arts. In October 2024, Toriyama was inducted into the Harvey Awards Hall of Fame.
