Dragon Ball: A Visual History

by Akira Toriyama (Artist)

A comprehensive hardcover art book in a collector’s slipcase, showcasing the work of Akira Toriyama’s best-selling manga series, Dragon Ball.

Featuring stunning full-color artwork, exclusive creator commentary and rarely seen sketches, Dragon Ball: A Visual History is the definitive journey through the artwork of one of the most influential and popular manga series of all time, Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball. 

Genres: Manga, Art, Comics, Nonfiction

240 pages, Hardcover

Published November 12, 2019

About the 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.

Reviews

[Bartosz Gawlik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great English release of the Chogashu. It has some problems like calling every volume of the Daizenshuu as "The Complete Illustrations", which is incorrect, crediting a piece of art by Tadayoshi Yamamuro to Toriyama or using the name spellings from the original translation like Djinn Boo or Vegerot. I also think that translating Kureeza as Kreeza just looks wrong and sounds even worse. But these are only small issues in an otherwise gorgeous artbook that you should totally get if you're a Dragon Ball fan.

[Jeffrey E · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's freaking Dragon Ball. What's not to like.

[Julieanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully laid-out collection of works from the esteemed creator of Dragonball. This book is generously filled with full-color artwork that has spanned from the mid 1980's up to the 2000's. There are even pieces of Dragonball art and notes that have never before been seen published in the English market.

This book is a great addition to any collection of artbooks and is a definite gift for the Dragonball fan in yourself or someone you know.

[Deshawn Vasquez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I suppose six years after the fact is better than never to have a localized Chogashu. Aside from the usual Viz-isms in translation, it's the ultimate coffee table book for someone who follows the franchise. There are pieces here that you'd probably never know about as a Western fan and snippets and interviews and character sheets, although dated now, are worth having physically.

[Jokubas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible photo book with so many interesting details about the Dragon Ball saga ❤️

[Sean Flack · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a huge fan of Akira Toriyama's art, but Dragon Ball: A Visual History isn't as good as I had hoped. And before you come at me saying, "Buuut it's a coffee table boook," The Complete Art of Fullmetal Alchemist is also a coffee table book and blows this out of the water. I guess I'm mostly disappointed with the execution. You'd think an art book would have gorgeous, full-color images that really celebrate the characters. In this, it's just assorted cutouts of varying sizes. (Seriously, some of the art is so small.) What gives it an extra star for me are the little bits of commentary or interviews from Toriyama himself. I wish there were more of that, though I know the book isn't an ORAL history. Or maybe I actually don't like Dragon Ball art as much as I thought? Toriyama always says that he didn't really put much effort into Dragon Ball's art and was more invested in the story. I guess ask me again after my Dragon Ball Z rewatch.

[Michael Lore · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an absolutely fantastic artbook, covering every year of the original Dragon Ball release up through the first two Super movies. It's laid out beautifully, with tons of full-color illustrations and some pieces never seen before in English.This isn't a book you'll devour like a novel. But it's immensely satisfying to flip through, as a lifelong fan of the series, and see all this beautiful art and little snippets and interviews.

It's a shame Toriyama passed away so relatively young. His art style is so unique and had such an outsized influence on anime and games. To have that taken away is a huge loss, but seeing how many people were inspired by his work is a real treat.

[Artiom Karsiuk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well isn't this just a little slice of heaven: a time machine and a throwback to the adolescent minefield-faced Art in his early teens. That sad, sad (sad) little man... No social life whatsoever, but God did he love his Dragon Ball on LNK. That boy would have smothered a hundred infants to lay his grubby little hands on a book like this.

Just stunning original artwork from Mr. Toriyama: the original Dragon Ball manga, then Z, even a little bit of GT. Every page just cuddles your eyeballs and gives a warm fuzzy feeling inside.

This beautiful book's power level is easily over 9000.

[chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

RIP Akira Toriyama. It was such a pleasure to devour this book in a single sitting, and to spend time with an influential artist’s body of work. I know that, in the future, I’ll return to this book often when I need to remember why I fell in love with learning to draw.

[Arlenne Soorya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tiene muy poco texto, pero vale la pena, las ilustraciones están por año en que salieron, mi personaje favorito siempre será Trunks, Giru y acabo de descubrir a Neko Majin que no lo conocía, al final viene una entrevista al autor 🙂

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite series of all time.
Read through this as a Christmas present from my hubby a couple years ago, but realized I never left a review!
The art in this book is amazing, and Toriyama was the GOAT!

[Hayden Hammond]

nice

[Fiqky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another Masterpiece artbook, this one is top of my list as the best Manga/Anime related artbook, join first place with another two masterpieces, Takeshi Obata's Blanc et Noir and Evangelion Der Mond.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

The writing is a bit small but that's only to encompass the absolutely gorgeous artwork of Akira Toriyama.

[Bud Winn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great add to the collection. I didn't realize Toriyama focused on the serial and offloaded the Manga and movies to others - explains the discontinuity

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uh yeah dude it's pretty good if you like seeing the greatest shonen manga art of all-time.

[Jessie Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first and only anime fandom. There's so many to pick from now, but still I choose Dragon Ball. Priceless accounts from artist and creator Akira Toriyama

[Alessandro Ieria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un volume che omaggia con amore il compianto Akira Toriyama sensei.
Il volume è ricco di contenuti, copertine, illustrazioni, e note sulla storia editoriale di dragonball.
Un cimelio veramente ben confezionati che consiglio a tutti i fan dell’arte iconica del Maestro Toriyama.