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DRAGON BALL was originally based on the 16th century work Hsi Yu Chi (in English, "The Record of A Journey to the West"), a novel written by the Chinese satirist Wu Cheng'en. The mythological tale was a fictional account of the real-life journey of Hsuan Tsang, a Buddhist monk who in 628, left his hometown of Chang'an and traveled westward, intent on finding Buddhist scriptures that might help China learn about the religion. He was successful in his endeavors, and upon his return, was given the name "Tripitaka" by the Emperor. Tripitaka quickly became the most reknowned religious figure in Asia, and countless stories and legends were told about his journey. These stories soon became increasingly unbelievable, as tales of demons, spirits, monsters, and magic were introduced into them. At one point a monkey was added into the story, and this became so popular that all future tales of Tripitaka included the monkey. In Hsi Yu Chi, the monkey was called Sun Wukong.

DRAGON BALL, in its beginnings, was more or less a modern retelling of Hsu Yi Chi. In both, there was the journey for mystical artifacts -- in Hsu Yu Chi, it was for Buddhist sutras; in DRAGON BALL, it was for the Dragon Balls, seven magical spheres that when brought together, called forth a Dragon that would grant the discover a single wish. The popular monkey Sun Wukong was a parallel to DRAGON BALL's Son Gokuh. Both had the ability to ride clouds, both carried similar weapons, both could transform, both were "monkeys", and both had the same name -- "Son Gokuh" is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese "Sun Wukong". Various other associations can be made connecting the two stories together, such as the naive girl Bulma with Tripitaka, etc.

DRAGON BALL deviated far from the Hsu Yu Chi formula once the character Pilaf was introduced. From that point on, the story focused on the misadventures of the young Son Gokuh, who was learning how to live in a world far different from his secluded home on Paozu Yama. Through the course of 16 collected manga volumes, Son Gokuh would participate in three martial arts tournaments, encounter and defeat an army bent on taking over the world, and build lasting friendships with the people around him, many of which surprisingly were former enemies. The focus on this portion of DRAGON BALL was on humor and wild adventures.

All that changed with the arrival of the Saiyajin, a warring tribe that Son Gokuh was one of the last descendants of. The coming of the Saiyajin set off a 26 book run which pushed the focus off of comedy and into high drama and fighting. Son Gokuh and his friends were forced time and time again to battle incredibly powerful opponents in order to ensure the safety and peace of their planet. This simple plot would successfully drive the story of DRAGON BALL until its end.

I personally love everything about the DRAGON BALL story. There's enough action, adventure, and humor contained within the 42 books to last a lifetime. If you haven't gotten around to taking a look at DRAGON BALL yet, then I highly recommend that you do. I'm pretty confident you'll get mountains of enjoyment from the story.

download Curtis Hoffmann's DRAGON BALL manga volume summaries. These are brief overviews of the events covered in the manga. It would help a great deal to have the manga volumes corresponding to the summaries in front of you as you read these, but they aren't required. All that is required is a vivid imagination