The basic elements of manga are characters, motif, story, theme, direction in the form of picture composition, sound, action, effects . . . and then timing, sense and many other factors . . . . I began to understand that unless I comprehended and mastered all those factors myself, I couldn’t even begin to draw even a simple “Well, it’s kinda interesting,” light-read type of manga.

Toriyama-sensei is like a god to me.

- Mashashi Kishimoto, creator of Naruto

The man who brought you all the characters from Dragon Quest/Dragon Warrior and Chrono Trigger has a magnum opus. It is one of the most widely disseminated and influential works of fiction from the waning decades of the 20th century. Many mock it, everyone imitates it, but no one duplicates it, because it has duplicated itself more than an ancestral family yogurt culture. It is a genre of one.

Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball just may be the best printed work you’ve never taken seriously. If you have taken it seriously, we here at Overthinking It are here to say: you’re probably crazy. And you’re not alone.

Today begins a series of in-depth discourses on this chi-blasting work of staggering genius. But first, I need you to do me a favor:

Stand up.

Assume a ready position, feet shoulder-width apart, staring straight ahead.

Scream for five minutes straight.

Done? Good. Now, read on –