Dragon Ball is one of the most influential anime of all time, and here are 10 anime, in particular, that do the best job of following its legacy.
Dragon Ball is, without a doubt, one of the most influential anime of all time. Its style of action and character writing can be seen as a clear influence on dozens of anime and manga, with One Piece and Naruto being particularly transparent about how much Dragon Ball influenced them, and even Western creators like the staff behind Steven Universe have openly talked about how much Dragon Ball inspired them.
Dragon Ball’s influence on pop culture can’t be understated, and there are some anime that have done the best job of following its legacy. Some do so by taking clear influence from Dragon Ball’s art style and putting their own spin on it, while others do so by having their own take on Dragon Ball’s style of writing, whether it’s the character writing or the penchant for stylistic, over-the-top combat. Whatever the case, these anime and many others were clearly influenced by Dragon Ball, and they’ve all done a great job of living up to its tremendous legacy.
The first noteworthy anime that followed Dragon Ball’s legacy is Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai. Akira Toriyama’s second-most-famous creative endeavor is providing character designs for the JRPG franchise Dragon Quest, and very appropriately, the manga spinoff Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai goes right along with that by perfectly capturing Toriyama’s art style and character writing. The 2020 anime took this even further by using its stellar animation to replicate Dragon Ball’s penchant for explosive combat, and the result is an anime that expertly uses Dragon Ball’s influence on its writing while still succeeding at being its own thing.
Another anime that does a great job of following Dragon Ball’s legacy is The Seven Deadly Sins. Just like Dragon Ball, The Seven Deadly Sins prides itself on over-the-top combat and abilities, the series even introduced its own take on Scouters and power levels that helped define the early parts of Dragon Ball Z. The writing also takes clear inspiration from Dragon Ball with how effortlessly it mixes serious drama with moments of levity, in addition to how much it emphasizes the importance of willpower and friendship among the characters, and it all comes together for a series that does a great job of building on Dragon Ball’s foundations.
When it comes to following Dragon Ball’s writing style, one of the anime that’s the best at following in its footsteps is Zatch Bell! While Zatch Bell!’s style of combat might be very different from Dragon Ball’s, the writing has much clearer parallels through its penchant for comedy and emphasis on willpower and friendship, and Zatch, himself, even has a clear parallel to Goku by being a little kid with incredible power and a massive appetite. Zatch Bell! might not have as many parallels to Dragon Ball as other anime, but it still succeeds at living up to its legacy in its own way.
With Dragon Ball being a Weekly Shonen Jump manga, it’s common for Shonen Jump manga to take after it, and a perfect example of that is Black Clover. Not only does Asta overlap with Goku by being an energetic, idiot shonen protagonist with tremendous willpower, but the combat also has plenty of parallels to Dragon Ball. The way magic is used in Black Clover is very reminiscent of Dragon Ball’s energy attacks, and Asta and other characters even develop transformations in the same vein as Super Saiyan. Add in how big the scale of the combat gets, and Black Clover does a great job of following after Dragon Ball.
Another magic-based anime that does a great job of following Dragon Ball’s legacy is Fairy Tail. Much like Black Clover, Fairy Tail’s use of magic and general combat is very similar to Dragon Ball’s combat, with it also tending to get explosive and over-the-top, and Natsu is another character who follows the archetype of an idiot hero who loves fighting that Goku popularized. Not only that, but the art also follows Dragon Ball’s example not just through its similar style, but for creating dynamic imagery through the simplest of means, and in doing so, Fairy Tail successfully captures one of the core elements of what made Dragon Ball work.
On the surface, My Hero Academia might not have a lot in common with Dragon Ball, but it still takes after it in some notable ways. The art style has the same sort of simplicity that defined Dragon Ball, and just like Dragon Ball, it’s used to make its action stand out as effectively as possible. Said action also greatly follows Dragon Ball due to how often the fighting involves skillfully choreographed hand-to-hand combat, something that, despite being one of Dragon Ball’s defining features, is often ignored, so seeing My Hero Academia put so much emphasis on it shows a true understanding of Dragon Ball’s charm.
When it comes to taking after Dragon Ball’s over-the-top action, there are very few anime that do as good a job as One-Punch Man. Every episode of One-Punch Man has combat on a massive scale that seems to go out of its way to continually top itself, even reaching galactic-sized proportions at various points, and that comes off as a perfect representation of Dragon Ball’s penchant for always increasing the scale of its battles. The first episode even opened with a villain bearing a clear resemblance to Piccolo, so just from that, it’s easy to assume that One-Punch Man’s action is meant to follow in Dragon Ball’s footsteps.
Another anime that does a great job of taking after Dragon Ball in terms of action is Toriko. The scale of Toriko’s fights starts big and get progressively bigger to the point that by the end of the series, every character can unleash attacks capable of ending the world, and the series never shies away from depicting that in perfect detail. Thanks to that, Toriko does an amazing job of following Dragon Ball’s style of putting combat on a massive scale, and the overlap was even big enough for an official crossover between them, so it’s a rare example of Dragon Ball’s influence being acknowledged in an official capacity.
Of all the anime to try to follow Dragon Ball’s legacy, there are very anime that are as noteworthy as Naruto. Between his orange clothes, blonde hair, lack of education, and immense strength and willpower, Naruto is a clear pastiche of Goku, with his later power-ups even being clear references to Dragon Ball’s iconic Super Saiyan transformation. Beyond that, the martial arts leanings of Naruto’s combat, combined with jutsu of increasingly massive scale, are very reminiscent of Dragon Ball’s combat style, and with all of that taken into account, it’s no wonder that Naruto and Dragon Ball are so often spoken of in the same breath.
Though the original Naruto is available on Netflix and many other streaming services, Crunchyroll and Hulu both have the original series and Shippuden.
The last noteworthy anime to follow Dragon Ball’s legacy is undoubtedly One Piece. Not only is Luffy another character to fit into Luffy’s archetype, with Gear 5 even copying the visual aesthetic of both Super Saiyan and Ultra Instinct, but the writing very much takes after Dragon Ball. One Piece’s anachronisms and utterly bizarre locations and character designs perfectly match Dragon Ball’s goofiness, and the character writing, use of comedy, and especially the fighting are all reminiscent of Dragon Ball’s style while still having their own identity. One Piece has probably done the best job of following Dragon Ball, and that’s undoubtedly played a big part in its enduring popularity.
Dragon Ball came out at a time when anime was at its peak of popularity, so with a combination of incredible action and great writing that never tries to be too complicated, it’s no wonder that it became such an iconic and influential series. Each of these anime and others have shown their reverence for Dragon Ball in one way or another, and seeing them use that to forge their own identities adds a lot to both their quality and the enduring legacy of Dragon Ball. There are very few anime with as big a legacy as Dragon Ball, and it’ll undoubtedly keep inspiring creators for years to come.
Source: LA Weekly.
