Dragon Ball has produced numerous anime series, movies, and merchandise to this day. However, the mangaka Akira Toriyama originally intended to tell a somewhat different story. His first prototype for Dragon Ball was called Dragon Boy.
What was Dragon Boy as a manga? Dragon Boy was released in 1983, one year before the publication of Dragon Ball. The manga is considered a prototype of Dragon Ball and consists of only two chapters.
- The story is based like Dragon Ball on the Chinese story “Journey to the West.”
- The manga is a mix of comedy and action, combining the humor of Dr. Slump with the battles of Dragon Ball.
- In the Dragon Boy manga, there are even the first prototypes of the Dragon Balls. However, they could only produce small dragons when hit by an energy blast.
- Son-Goku was called Tangtong in this manga, and Bulma was the princess of Flower Country. Pingyao, on the other hand, is a flying shape-shifting cat from which Pool and Oolong later emerged.
In the tweet from X-user ToriyamaArts, you can see what Tangtong and the princess looked like:
There are many elements in Dragon Boy that Toriyama used as inspiration when drawing the first manga chapters of Dragon Ball. For example, the flying supersonic cloud originates from the Flying Nimbus in Dragon Boy, and the backgrounds of Bulma and Son-Goku resemble their counterparts.
However, he slightly changed the appearance of Son-Goku and Bulma. The princess resembles Chi-Chi more in her appearance, as she also has black hair. Bulma has a different hair color, which constantly changes in the anime.
The next anime related to Dragon Ball will be Daima:
Multiple Prototypes of Dragon Ball
What is the story about? Tangtong lives in the land of Sen and trains with his master. One day, the boy is tasked with escorting the princess of Flower Country back to her homeland.
However, the princess complains about many little things during the journey. She is hungry, exhausted, or thirsty. She seems to Tangtong like an annoying creature. Besides dealing with the whining princess, Tangtong must also face some monsters that he has to confront.
Was there another predecessor? Between the release of Dragon Boy and Dragon Ball, there was actually another one-shot that combines many elements from both mangas. The Adventures of Tongpoo introduced an early concept of capsules.
Additionally, the Kame House appears here, which in the one-shot is still the house of Plamo, Bulma’s predecessor. So it took two stories for Dragon Ball to become what it is today.
Fans of the anime can look forward to a new MOBA. Dragon Ball: Project Multi is expected to be released for PC and mobile devices sometime: New game for Dragon Ball will be a MOBA, and you can test it before its release
