I feel that it's safe to say that Dragon Ball is a franchise with an insane level of influence. What started as Akira Toriyama’s follow-up to his successful gag manga Dr. Slump, ended up eclipsing it in popularity and global impact. It is such a beloved franchise that it has influenced multiple different franchises; from comics, manga, anime, games, and films internationally.
In fact, this love for the franchise is so influential, that there are many talented artists and writers who have decided to make their own take on Toriyama’s iconic franchise. Some have even gotten to work on official Dragon Ball projects because of their fan works, like Toyotaro going from working on Dragon Ball AF to now being the official mangaka of the Dragon Ball Super manga. It goes to show that there are a lot of talented people in the Dragon Ball fandom, and I wanted to highlight five of the projects I’ve had the chance to read, watch, and listen to over the last couple of years.
Honorable Mention: Team Four Star Still Going Strong
So when I said five, I kind of lied. I would be remiss to not include some of the most influential content creators in the Dragon Ball fandom, that being TeamFourStar. Founded by Nick “Lanipator” Landis, Scott “KaiserNeko” Freirichs, and Curtis “Takahata101” Arnott, this team has brought laughter and an online resurgence in popularity for the franchise since 2008 beginning with their now iconic Dragon Ball Z Abridged series that released in the wake of the anime abridging boom of the late 2000’s.
It cannot be understated what kind of impact that they have had on fans of the series. If it wasn’t for their content, I probably would not have gotten back into Dragon Ball at all and explored the multiple different fan works I’m mentioning here. They have a genuine respect for a franchise that they themselves bolstered a revival with their parodies. This all while promoting the importance of supporting the official release and even getting to do some official English dub roles in the franchise proper.
The only real reason I felt like I couldn’t really put them in the core list being that their time with the franchise is winding down, albeit slightly. After announcing the end of Dragon Ball Z Abridged in 2020, primarily to help their expanding business and deal with less issues with copyright, they have slowly changed their focus to creating their own content outside of the abridging realm.
Even with DBZA wrapped, they do still contribute to the fandom with it’s spiritual successor series DragonShortz and HFIL: Home For Infinite Losers, giving up and coming animators the opportunity to work on bigger projects and become more well known while creating original Dragon Ball animations that the community can enjoy.
5. DevilArtemis and His Insane Cell Vs. Universe
Speaking of one such animator, to say that DevilArtemis has had an interesting impact on the fandom would be selling him short. Starting his channel back in 2017, he became a major part of the fandom with his Dragon Ball Super Friends and Cell Vs. series of videos, which itself was a follow-up/parody of a similar series of videos that Team Four Star created.
Using his take on the character of Perfect Cell as the focus, he’s created some of the strangest videos I think I’ve seen a Dragon Ball YouTuber make. From fighting the likes of Shaggy and Kermit the Frog, to being antagonized by Jojo protagonists and Ugandan Knuckles (yes really), he finds a way to take characters from anime, film, cartoons and sometimes even dead memes and make videos that feel like a fever dream. They are also absolutely hilarious.
It is almost as if DevilArtemis looked at the internet humor heavy first season of DBZA, modernized it, and made it into his own over the top baby all the while tackling recurring jokes of various other fandoms in addition to Dragon Ball. Now if your not super into memes or fanservice, it might initially be a little off putting, but really
The humor has gotten so all encompassing that he created his own universe in which all of these other characters reside, making for some great comedy and even some really fun fight scenes. You honestly have no idea what will come next. He has done such a great job with improving his craft in both Valve’s Source Filmmaker and Blender that it has allowed him to gain opportunities to work on series like Death Battle and the previously mentioned HFIL: Home for Infinite Losers, and I will happily continue to watch his insane takes on everyone’s favorite bug man and his best Muppet pal.
4. Dragon Ball Kakumei: A Visceral and Exciting New Addition
So now we are getting into more of my wheelhouse here, as I am talking about a French doujinshi (fan manga) in the form of Dragon Ball Kakumei. Released last summer, Kakumei is the newest series I am talking about today, and while there is admittedly not yet a large amount of content to talk about, what I have read has made me so excited that I couldn’t pass up talking about it.
Taking place after the most recent film, Dragon Ball Super: Broly, the series presents an alternate scenario of the timeline that Dragon Ball Super has created in which Android 17’s wish on the Super Dragon Balls led to the revival of an incredibly powerful universe that is intent on destroying the now established multiverse. It also shows the potential of Goku’s strength with Ultra Instinct fully mastered, the introduction of Universe 6’s Planet Sedala and its Saiyans, and the idea of a multiversal war for survival far exceeding the scale of the Tournament of Power.
Just the concepts in this series are enough to sell me on it, but it far exceeds that with some of the most ambitious artwork that I’ve seen in a fan project by far. From the sharp angular design that puts Toriyama to shame at times, to the dazzling effects of energy attacks and visceral detail of musculature and combat that gives the fights (or so far single fight) a sense of the spectacle I felt back in the early days watching Dragon Ball Z.
The level of intensity and sheer scale in the opening fight between Beerus and Goku alone has me anticipating the future fights that the team of PoissonLabo, Reenko, and Darkows can come up with for fans to see. The only downside of this series, if any, is the fact that there is still so little to talk about, and that is something I hope will be resolved soon.
3. Dragon Ball Multiverse and It's Magnificent Madness
If Dragon Ball Kakumei shows the potential of a fan project in its early stages based on newer material, then Dragon Ball Multiverse would be an example of one in its final form with years of effort, collaboration, and knowledge of the franchise put behind it. Another French doujinshi originally created by the author Salagir and artist Geogeta Jr., this series has had almost FOURTEEN years of development, emphasized by the amount of effort put into its creation and its overall premise.
Following the events of the original manga, the series introduced the concept of a multiverse tournament (and the very concept of multiverses in Dragon Ball) before Dragon Ball Super even existed. This multiverse however, is the more traditional type, as the series looks at different potential scenarios and concepts throughout the main Dragon Ball timeline. What if Earthlings were the strongest warriors in the universe? Or what if the Saiyans were never destroyed and Vegeta became king? Or maybe what if a specific villain was able to defeat the heroes we’ve come to know and love and conquer the universe?
All of that is explored and more within the realms of DBM, with even some movie villains like Cooler and Broly being thrown in for some extra flavor. All of this is explored in a long and winding tournament that makes the anime version of the Tournament of Power blush with its length. Not every chapter is devoted to the tournament though, as the team has enlisted the help of multiple talented artists and writers over the years to expand the multiverses of the series to bring each individual universe within to life.
When it comes to the core tournament itself, fights are presented well with some incredible and absolutely over the top visuals while introducing some really unique designs, like a final form version of King Cold or the Super Namekian Gast Carcolh. This is a manga created by fans who were wanting more Dragon Ball at a time when Toriyama, Shueisha, and Toei Animation were not providing any. They even threw in a cameo for Beerus and Whis when Battle of Gods came out, which at the time was five years into the comics run.
Multiverse was actually the first fan project I found outside of DBZA and also helped keep my fandom alive as I was hoping for new Dragon Ball content. For that alone I had to highlight the impact of the series here, but for its amazing fights, crazy what if scenarios, and the fact that it created an avenue for fans and creatives to go to during the Dragon Ball drought preceding Battle of Gods, I can recommend this still ongoing series wholeheartedly as a fun time for any long standing fan.
2. Dragon Ball Sai's Simplicity Makes It Special
As much as I just gushed about Dragon Ball Multiverse for its multiple what if scenarios, it shouldn’t be a surprise to see another one in the number two spot. That said, what makes Dragon Ball Sai's 5 chapter story stand out from Dragon Ball Multiverse and its several alternate timelines? To me, the key factor has to be its story and the author behind it.
Dragon Ball Sai asks a simple question; "What if Vegeta was sent to Earth instead of Goku?" What unfolds in its brief run is a story that shows how such a simple change could drastically affect the entire narrative. From Vegeta handling multiple early opponents in Dragon Ball with ease, meeting Bulma earlier and their romance coming sooner, to the iconic fight with the now Kakarot now inverted with Vegeta as Earth’s protector.
That fight in particular is such a great role reversal, from seeing how the core of each characters personality is altered slightly due to their change in upbringing, while still staying true to their fundamental character traits. All of these changes are fascinating and exciting to see and show a lot of love and attention behind them. In fact, it is that passion in the story that makes it feel like it came from Akira Toriyama himself.
Every fan work I’ve talked about up to this point is an example of someone taking the story and characters of Dragon Ball and making it their own and establishing their own identity. In the case of Sai’s mangaka, DragonGarowLEE, he has taken a painstaking amount of effort in recreating Toriyama’s style and making you feel like you are reading an official product, down to the character designs and the fights and comedy within.
This understanding of all things Toriyama and Dragon Ball is what makes DragonGarowLEE such an amazing talent. It's this x-factor of his that led him to actually work on an official spin-off manga for Shueisha in the form of Dragon Ball: That Time I Got Reincarnated as Yamcha in 2016. That short series was a hilarious read and I can recommend it easily. If you have the time, however, I would highly recommend Dragon Ball Sai first to see his skill in action. It’s simple, effective, and as true to the spirit of Dragon Ball as any other piece of fan work out there.
1. MasakoX’s "What If?" Factory
If you couldn’t already tell from this list, a lot of the most interesting fan projects in Dragon Ball stem from the concept of the “What If?” scenario. As much as I loved Dragon Ball Sai for it’s understanding of what makes Dragon Ball as a series great, and Dragon Ball Multiverse for its willingness to have fun and to create a sizable set of stellar scenarios, I feel that the “What IF?” series from the YouTube channel Masako X combines both such aspects to almost a perfect degree.
The channel, which doubles as the screen name for its creator Lawrence Simpson, started doing these scenarios around 2017, with Masako already having a previous connection to the fandom with his Dragon Ball Discussion series on the channel. In fact, his connection preceded this with his time working on Dragon Ball Z Abridged, voicing both Goku and Gohan and being apart of Team Four Star.
What separates Masako’s what if scenarios ahead of others for me personally is the level of passion and consistency that he and his team put into each specific story. With each video comes new scenarios and characters with thought out development and planning, all the while having them fit within the established timeline of Dragon Ball.
Have you ever thought about if Raditz played a larger part in the story, resulting in having a family and an emotional rivalry with Vegeta? Or maybe if Frieza was dethroned by his own father, had to crawl his way up from the gutter and ultimately find himself friends and a new life? Well if you hadn’t, MasakoX did, and in turn has created some of the most endearing alternate timelines in the fandom. In fact, those stories were so popular that he created two different ongoing audio dramas for both stories, known as Dragon Ball R&R and Revelation F, hiring voice actors and illustrators to help bring these and other what if stories alive.
Keep in mind he and his team do this on a regular basis, with new episodes for multiple stories released weekly alongside Masako’s discussions on the current official projects of the franchise. Some of my favorite “What If’s…?” have come from this channel, especially his series on Videl and Chi Chi being Z Fighters, and it has become one of my consistent sources for Dragon Ball content in recent years. Masako has also been a major inspiration in creating this blog for having such commitment and passion in creating his content, and the fact that he helps aspiring writers, voice actors, and illustrators gain exposure through his channel makes him one of my favorite content creators online.
In fact, all of these projects have been a surprisingly large part of my life in some way, shape, or form. They’ve helped me unwind dealing with my stress, inspire me to be creative, and kept my love for Dragon Ball alive. If you thought any of these series or channels sound interesting, please check them out and give these creators the attention they deserve. It shows them that they are making great work and will help them continue to grow.
Now I’m about to catch up with Revelation F and then watch Ultra Instinct Shaggy fight El Hermano again.