Part of Series
R to L (Japanese Style) The second half of Toriyama's touchstone saga, Dragon Ball Z is the ultimate science fiction martial arts manga. After years of training and adventure, Son Goku has become Earth's ultimate warrior, and his son, Gohan, shows even greater promise. But the strikes are increasing as even deadlier enemies threaten the planet. And that means non-stop action as Goku, Gohan, time travelers, aliens, deities and the mighty Super Saiyans clash over the fate of the universe! The Many Faces of Freeza After a razor-close call, Son Goku and company triumphed in rescuing the Dragon Balls from Freeza's evil claws. Now they must go head to head with one seriously ticked-off alien overlord! What's worse, Freeza's got a trick up his sleeve. He has the power to transform—not once, not twice, but three times—and with each new hideous face comes a massive power increase! With Goku recovering from his fight with Captain Ginyu, the gang must band together and hold Freeza off as long as they can. But even with all their power combined, the odds are in Freeza's favor. As the battle rages on, defeating Freeza seems more and more impossible. The only hope lies in the one thing Freeza fears—the legend of the Super Saiyan!
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.
