15 Anime That Are Clearly Inspired By Dragon Ball (2024)

It's not just anime fans who love Akira Toriyama's signature Dragon Ball series. Anime creators love the series too, which is why so many shows wind up inspired by the legendary shonen series. So many shonen tropes come directly from Dragon Ball Z, while there are also a healthy amount of shonen anime protagonists clearly modeled after Goku.

Not every shonen series unapologetically copies Goku, but that doesn't mean that other sneaky references to Toriyama's action series can't still make their way in. It's been nearly four decades since Dragon Ball's debut and yet it's more relevant than ever with plenty of new series, and pop culture in general, that pay service to the long-running series.

Updated on March 22nd, 2024 by Sage Ashford: Dragon Ball will always be one of the most inspirational creations of all time. Its influence on all media is unmistakable, but its felt more than anywhere else in anime. This list has been updated to add more information about some of the best anime that are clearly inspired by Dragon Ball.

15 My Hero Academia Combines Shonen Storytelling Staples With Superhero Stereotypes

With more than 100 episodes and three feature films under its belt, My Hero Academia has emerged as one of the decade’s most popular shonen series. The ongoing adventures of Izuku “Deku” Midoriya and his fellow heroes-in-training tackle more dangerous heights with each new season.

The traditional hero’s journey that Deku finds himself on bears a lot in common with Goku’s own magical adventure in Dragon Ball. Meanwhile, one of the story's most popular arcs in the Sports Festival Arc is clearly inspired by the Tenkaichi Budokai, which popularized the idea of tournaments in battle shonen. Lastly, the not-so-friendly rivalry between Deku and Bakugo owes a lot to the combative chemistry between Goku and Vegeta.

My Hero Academia (2016)

Action

Superhero

Animation

Izuku has dreamt of being a hero all his life—a lofty goal for anyone, but especially challenging for a kid with no superpowers. That’s right, in a world where eighty percent of the population has some kind of super-powered “quirk,” Izuku was unlucky enough to be born completely normal. But that’s not enough to stop him from enrolling in one of the world’s most prestigious hero academies.

Release Date

April 3, 2016

Cast

Aoi Yuki , Ayane Sakura , Christopher R. Sabat , Yûki Kaji , Nobuhiko Okamoto , Luci Christian , David Matranga , Justin Briner , Kenta Miyake , Clifford Chapin , Daiki Yamashita

Main Genre

Anime

Rating

TV-14

Seasons

7

Production Company

Bones

Number of Episodes

113

14 The God Of High School Focuses On Intense Tournament Battles With A Monkey King Protagonist

The God of High School focuses on tournament battles between the strongest teens from across the world. This competitive framework and the superpowered energy attacks quickly bring Dragon Ball's World Martial Arts Tournament to mind. Much like Dragon Ball too, there's a constant escalation in terms of threats, resulting in some of the most ridiculous power scaling in anime.

The biggest unavoidable similarity between Dragon Ball and The God of High School however comes in the form of their main characters, Goku and Jin Mori, both of which draw inspiration from Journey to the West's Monkey King, Sun Wukong. At the end of the day, Jin Mori also carries the same precocious innocence and aggressive fighting spirit that brews inside Goku.

The God of High School

TV-14

Action

A tournament takes place to determine the best fighter among all high school students in Korea.

Release Date

July 6, 2020

Creator(s)

Yongje Park

Cast

Robbie Daymond , Sean Chiplock , Veronica Taylor , Griffin Puatu , Kyle McCarley , Kaiji Tang , Michael Sorich

Main Genre

Action

Seasons

1

Creator

Yongje Park

Producer

Joseph Chou

Production Company

Mappa

Writers

Kiyoko Yoshimura

Streaming Service(s)

Crunchyroll

Franchise(s)

The God of High School

Directors

Sunghoo Park

13 Hunter X Hunter Is A Smart Shonen Series That Builds Upon Dragon Ball’s Solid Foundation

Many battle shonen series fall into similar patterns, but Hunter x Hunter actively strives to deliver fresh material and not repeat its past highlights. The plucky Gon Freecss bears quite a resemblance to Goku, especially when it comes to the powerful dichotomy of emotions that exists inside of him. In some ways, the character often feels like a deconstruction of Goku. Despite his immense talent, his inexperience often keeps him from winning every battle, and he has to deal with pushing his body too far, something Goku never has to think about.

Hunter x Hunter utilizes nen energy to power its incredible attacks instead of ki, like in Dragon Ball, but these two sources essentially operate the same. Gon's own transformations are also quite different from Dragon Ball's Super Saiyans, but their explosive auras and releases of energy look very similar to outsiders.

Hunter x Hunter

TV-14

Animation

Action

Adventure

Gon Freecss aspires to become a Hunter, an exceptional being capable of greatness. With his friends and his potential, he seeks out his father, who left him when he was younger.

Release Date

April 17, 2016

Creator(s)

Yoshihiro Togashi

Cast

Issei Futamata , Megumi Han , Cristina Valenzuela , Mariya Ise , Michael McConnohie

Main Genre

Animation

Seasons

1

Creator

Yoshihiro Togashi

Streaming Service(s)

Netflix , Hulu , Crunchyroll , Tubi , Peacock

See Also

10 Inspiring Anime Series To Motivate You For 202210 Anime Inspired By Classic Literature10 Anime That Are Clearly Inspired By Naruto10 Anime That Were Influenced By Berserk

12 Yu Yu Hakusho’s Emphasis On Dark Tournaments Brings Dragon Ball’s Structure To Mind

Yu Yu Hakusho is a strange case in terms of inspiration, as it was created while Dragon Ball still existed, making both series contemporaries. Nonetheless, the series earned the reputation of one of the strongest shonen series to come out of the 1990s and many audiences even consider it to be superior to Dragon Ball since it’s only a fraction of the length. Yu Yu Hakusho struggles through its earliest episodes, which focus on Yusuke Urameshi’s transition from juvenile delinquent into heroic spirit detective.

However, Yu Yu Hakusho comes into its own after it begins to focus on monstrous competitions. These constant tournaments are highly evocative of Dragon Ball’s structure, but the core cast of characters and their relationship with their martial arts mentors is also reflective of Toriyama’s series.

Yu Yu Hakusho

TV-PG

Anime

Action

Adventure

After a teenage delinquent is killed while saving a child's life from an approaching car, the rulers of the underworld send him back to become an "Underworld Detective" investigating demons apparitions in the human world.

Release Date

October 10, 1992

Cast

Nozomu Sasaki , Justin Cook , Tomomichi Nishimura , Sanae Miyuki , Shigeru Chiba , Christopher Sabat

Main Genre

Anime

Seasons

1

Studio

Pierrot

Creator

Yoshihiro Togashi

Number of Episodes

112

11 Slayers Follows A Special Team Of Sorceresses On Amazing Adventures

Slayers, admittedly, isn't the first anime series that comes to mind when audiences think of Dragon Ball. One of the biggest differences between these two series is that Slayers has a cast primarily made up of crafty female magic users rather than burly male brawlers.

Aesthetically, Slayers and Dragon Ball are quite distinct, but the adventure and scope of these series are quite similar, at least at first. Slayers even has a shrewd sense of humor that's not unlike the gags that come out of the original Dragon Ball.

Slayers

Fantasy

Comedy

Action

The adventures of a teenage sorceress and her companions as they quest for gold and glory (especially gold).

Release Date

April 7, 1996

Main Genre

Anime

Studio

E&G Films

Main Cast

Megumi Hayashibara, Hikaru Midorikawa, Yasunori Matsumoto, Masami Suzuki, Lisa Ortiz, Crispin Freeman, Eric Stuart and Veronica Taylor

10 Good Luck Girl! Features Goku And Vegeta In Its Playful Intro

Good Luck Girl! is a ridiculous 13-episode parody gag series with supernatural elements, but it has its roots in shonen publications and often uses series like Dragon Ball as joke fodder. 16 year-old Sakura's extremely good fortune throws the world off balance and requires the intervention of Momiji, a God of Misfortune, to sap Sakura's luck and reset the karmic scales.

The series' emphasis on comedy over action may not make it seem like a natural successor to Dragon Ball. However, the characters will engage in heightened Super Saiyan-esque spectacles to emphasize their points.

Good Luck Girl!

TV-14

Comedy

Fantasy

A goddess of misfortune comes to Earth to deal with the obnoxious but lucky girl whose good fortune is causing the world to fall out of balance.

Release Date

July 4, 2012

Cast

Brina Palencia , Colleen Clinkenbeard , Kana Hanazawa

Main Genre

Animation

Seasons

1 Season

Creator

Taketo Shimoyama

Production Company

Sunrise

Number of Episodes

13 Episodes

9 Naruto's Masashi Kishimoto Drew Inspiration From Dragon Ball and Goku

Masashi Kishimoto has admitted that he started working on manga because of Dragon Ball and Goku in particular. It’s not difficult to see the influence either — Naruto and Goku are both big eaters with a taste for battle. They even dress similarly, with Naruto having Goku's trademark orange and blue color scheme.

Of course, while Naruto doesn’t want to fight “strong” people, he also has a hidden, monstrous version of himself that occasionally unleashes itself. Goku boasts plenty of powerful transformations himself, but Naruto might be one of the few anime characters that have more transformations than the special Saiyan. Naruto has nine distinct transformations to date, but more might be revealed in the future.

Naruto

TV-PG

Action

Adventure

Naruto Uzumaki, a mischievous adolescent ninja, struggles as he searches for recognition and dreams of becoming the Hokage, the village's leader and strongest ninja.

Release Date

September 10, 2002

Cast

Junko Takeuchi , Maile Flanagan , Kate Higgins

Main Genre

Anime

Seasons

1

Creator

Masashi Kishimoto

Production Company

Pierrot, Staralis Film Company

Number of Episodes

220

8 One-Punch Man's Saitama Is Like If Goku Suddenly Ran Out Of Competition

Dragon Ball focuses on Goku, a character who wants to continuously face stronger foes. On the other hand, One-Punch Man's Saitama is actively bored over the minimal challenges that exist for him in the world. He's so powerful that nobody even registers as a challenge.

Saitama and Goku wind up on very different paths in life, which becomes a striking reflection of nature versus nurture. Society in One-Punch Man is heavily insulated to protect the public from evil, but the anime still intentionally invites comparisons to Dragon Ball. For instance, Saitama's first opponent, Vaccine Man, is practically identical to Piccolo, minus a color palette swap.

One Punch Man

TV-PG

Animation

Action

Comedy

The story of Saitama, a hero that does it just for fun & can defeat his enemies with a single punch.

Release Date

October 5, 2015

Cast

Makoto Furukawa , Kaito Ishikawa , Zach Aguilar , Robbie Daymond

Main Genre

Anime

Seasons

2

Studio

Madhouse

Creator

One

7 My Bride Is a Mermaid Sneaks in Goku, Vegeta, and Trunks into the Background

My Bride is a Mermaid operates with the same level of bombastic comedy as One-Punch Man, but it's a decidedly more niche vehicle due to how it doesn't hide behind popular superhero stereotypes. Instead, My Bride is a Mermaid looks at a story of star-crossed lovers after a young boy gets saved from drowning courtesy of a mermaid.

Comedy is more of a concern than groundbreaking storytelling in My Bride is a Mermaid, but there's a passionate love for Dragon Ball that expresses itself at odd moments. There are some really cute background gags that fit in chibi versions of Goku, Future Trunks, and even Vegeta among the student body. Characters also explicitly refer to the Dragon Balls and Shenron, which opens the series up to some interesting implications.

My Bride Is A Mermaid

TV-MA

Comedy

Fantasy

Nagasumi's in hot water after a beautiful, young mermaid named Sun saves him from drowning. The deep-sea sweetheart's dad is a merman yakuza prone to executing anyone who learns his family's scaly secret! Luckily, there's a catch - if Nagasumi agrees to marry Sun, he just might avoid sleeping with the fishes!

Release Date

April 1, 2007

Main Genre

Animation

Seasons

1 Season

Characters By

Todd Haberkorn, Alexis Tipton, John Swasey

Creator

Makoto Uezu

Production Company

Anime International Company (AIC), Avex Mode, Gonzo

Number of Episodes

26 Episodes

6 Bobobo-Bo Bo-Bobo Embraces Dragon Ball To Compliment Its Comedy

The name of the anime Bobobo-Bo Bo-Bobo should be a clear indication to most audiences that it isn't meant to be taken seriously. Bobobo is technically a shonen series, but its priority is absurdist gags and it's an anime that truly relishes surreal humor and unexpected pop culture parodies. There are clear allusions to Fist of the North Star with the lead character's nose hair-based fighting style, but Dragon Ball nods are also quite common.

Much of the fighting in Bobobo pulls directly from Dragon Ball Z, including the fact that characters are known to fuse together to create more powerful combined fighters. That’s to say nothing of Don Patch, whose transformation, Professional Patch, is absolutely a shout-out to Dragon Ball's famous Super Saiyans.

Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo

TV-Y7-FV

Anime

Action

Adventure

The impossible adventures of Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, a warrior who fights using his nose hairs to defeat an evil empire that wants to turn the human race bald.

Release Date

September 30, 2003

Cast

Takehito Koyasu , Ai Nonaka , Yuri Lowenthal , Liam O'Brien

Main Genre

Anime

Seasons

1

Characters By

Takehito Koyasu, Ai Nonaka, Masaya Onosaka

Creator

Yoshio Sawai

Producer

Atsutoshi Umezawa

Production Company

Toei Animation

Number of Episodes

76 Episodes

5 Bleach's Tite Kubo Took Notes From Dragon Ball's Bold Villains

Many Bleach fans are aware that Akira Toriyama wrote a letter to Tite Kubo that encouraged him to keep writing after his initial Bleach submission was turned down. Kubo elaborates upon this anecdote in Dragon Ball Landmark, in which he highlights how Toriyama inspired him beyond his initial kind words.

The work that Akira Toriyama has done with the intense villains in Dragon Ball became a direct influence on Kubo's constuction of Bleach's Big Bads. Superior strength is important, but Toriyama helped Kubo understand that villains also need to be striking, scary, and persuasive. A single look at Bleach’s villains highlights their similarities with the Dragon Ball crew. Unsurprisingly, Ichigo also has multiple transformations that grant him increasingly greater abilities.

Bleach

TV-14

Action

Adventure

Fantasy

Bleachrevolves around Kurosaki Ichigo, a regular always-grouchy high-schooler who for some strange reason is able to see the souls of the dead around him.

Release Date

October 5, 2004

Cast

Masakazu Morita , Fumiko Orikasa , Hiroki Yasumoto , Yuki Matsuoka , Noriaki Sugiyama , Kentarô Itô , Shinichirô Miki , Hisayoshi Suganuma

Main Genre

Anime

Seasons

17 Seasons

Creator

Tite Kubo

Production Company

TV Tokyo, Dentsu, Pierrot

Number of Episodes

366 Episodes

Streaming Service(s)

Hulu , Prime Video

4 Eiichiro Oda's One Piece Lead, Luffy, Is Inspired By Goku

At this point, One Piece has usurped D ragon Ball as Japan's top shonen manga series. One Piece's popularity only grows more intense over time and it's even set to have a live-action Netflix series. It's no easy feat to keep a series going for as long as One Piece, yet Eiichiro Oda's consistency with his storytelling owes a lot to Akira Toriyama's storytelling staples.

The pacing and adventures in One Piece pay respect to Dragon Ball in various ways, but the most obvious lies in how Luffy, leader and strongest of the Straw Hat Pirates, doesn't feel very far removed from the plucky protagonist, Goku. Goku and Luffy are both tirelessly devoted to their goals and pursuits for greater strength, but they also contain massive appetites that are at times more impressive than their brute strength. Luffy's Gear Transformations are also quite clearly inspired by Dragon Ball Z, right down to each new transformation being numbered the way Super Saiyan forms are.

One Piece

TV-14

Action

Adventure

Comedy

Drama

Fantasy

Super Power

Follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy and his pirate crew in order to find the greatest treasure ever left by the legendary Pirate, Gold Roger. The famous mystery treasure named "One Piece".

Release Date

October 20, 1999

Creator(s)

Eiichiro Oda

Cast

Mayumi Tanaka , Kazuya Nakai , Akemi Okamura , Kappei Yamaguchi , Hiroaki Hirata , Ikue Ôtani , Yuriko Yamaguchi , Kazuki Yao , Chō

Main Genre

Action

Seasons

20

Studio

Toei Animation

Creator

Eiichirô Oda

Production Company

Toei Animation

Number of Episodes

1K+

Streaming Service(s)

Crunchyroll

3 School Rumble Turns Harima Into A Genuine Super Saiyan

One can always count on a good comedy for references to pop culture. In one of the later episodes of School Rumble, lead character Harima transforms into an actual Super Saiyan for a fight with his opponent, Ouji Karasuma.

Harima happens to be a manga writer, so it's not exactly surprising that he has a healthy knowledge of other manga archetypes. It actually makes a lot of sense that Harima would be inspired by Toriyama and aspire towards comparable levels of power. Harima gets into a fight with Karasuma that reaches such heights that the characters develop intense energy auras.

School Rumble

TV-PG

Comedy

Romance

A young high schooler is in love with an oblivious classmate; a delinquent classmate is in love with her. Both struggle to confess their feelings and their antics lead to crazy situations.

Release Date

August 28, 2007

Cast

Luci Christian , Brina Palencia , Caitlin Glass

Main Genre

Animation

Seasons

2 Seasons

Creator

Jin Kobayashi

Production Company

Studio Comet

2 Assassination Classroom Features A Direct Reference To Dragon Ball's Saiyan Saga

Assassination Classroom is a compelling shonen series where the fate of the world rests on the shoulders of a class full of delinquent mercenaries. These stakes are undeniably high, but that doesn't keep the series from indulging in playful parodies that are right out of a gag manga series. Koro-Sensei is a loose cannon of sorts who's frequently as silly as he is scary.

Koro-Sensei's class is rocked by the revelation that Itona is Koro-Sensei's estranged brother. These students begin to think of the only real reference point that they have for such tumultuous showdowns--classic anime series. Koro-Sensei and Itona's reunion visually references Goku's discovery of his distant alien brother, Raditz.

Assassination Classroom (2013)

TV-14

Animation

Action

Comedy

Original title: Ansatsu kyôshitsu.
A powerful creature claims that within a year, Earth will be destroyed by him, but he offers mankind a chance by becoming a homeroom teacher where he teaches his students about how to kill him. An assassination classroom begins.

Release Date

February 18, 2015

Cast

Jun Fukuyama , Bryce Papenbrook , Vic Mignogna , Patrick Seitz , Jessie James Grelle , Luci Christian , Michael Johnston , Mike McFarland

Main Genre

Anime

Seasons

2

Creator

Yûsei Matsui

Production Company

Fuji Television Network, Lerche

Number of Episodes

49

Streaming Service(s)

Crunchyroll , Hulu

1 Gintama's Characters Frequently Engage In Elaborate Dragon Ball Parodies

Gintama succeeds as an action shonen series, but it's also quite possibly the funniest anime of all-time, and easily one of the best anime on Crunchyroll. Nothing is off limits in Gintama, and it has poked fun at all the biggest series and trends to come out of Japan. Unsurprisingly, Gintama has riffed on Dragon Ball many times over, whether it's through easy Super Saiyan puns or entire episodes that parody the series' Namek Saga or feud with Vegeta. Gintama even callously refers to characters as "Yamcha" as an easy way to mock their worth.

Gintoki has tried to perform Goku's signature Kamehameha and the whole cast as put on their best Dragon Ball cosplay in the past. The introduction for the final Gintama feature film even models itself entirely after Dragon Ball's iconic recaps, right down to the use of the same background music and revised character models that mimic Toriyama's art style.

Gintama

In an era where aliens have invaded and taken over feudal Tokyo, an unemployed samurai finds work however he can.

Release Date

April 4, 2006

Cast

Susumu Chiba , Satsuki Yukino , Tetsuharu Ota , Michael Daingerfield , Akira Ishida

Main Genre

Animation

Rating

TV-14

Seasons

8 Seasons

Creator

Hideaki Sorachi

Producer

Hiroshi Muto, David Del Rio, John Ledford

Production Company

Bandai Namco Pictures (BNP), Bandai Namco, Dentsu, Sunrise, TV Tokyo

Number of Episodes

375 Episodes