Dragon World
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This page describes the planet Earth as seen in the fictional Dragon Ball universe (sometimes called Dragon World). It is featured in the three Dragon Ball anime/manga series Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball GT. Less canonically, it is also the setting for two other mangas by Akira Toriyama: Dr. Slump and Neko Majin Z.
In the world of Dragon Ball, the Earth is roughly similar to the present Earth, but with several large distinctions:
- Future technology. The world of Dragon Ball features flying cars and other vehicles, capsules that can shrink inanimate objects down to pocket size, robots and other near-future Sci-Fi staples.
- Special architecture. The buildings are usually round.
- Dinosaurs and other extinct creatures still roam the earth.
- Intelligent anthropomorphic humanoid (and sometimes non-anthropomorphic) animals are integrated into the population and well-adjusted. (This is similar to fairy tale animals in European fiction, such as the Three Little Pigs, Puss in Boots, etc.)
- All topology and political units are fiction, It is divided into 42 "Countries" each with a their own ruler. There is also a king of the world.
- Other changes befitting a fantasy setting.
The locations depicted in Dragon Ball are obviously heavily influenced by Asian cities, and a lot of Eastern customs are seen in the series. For example, when characters are depicted as eating, the style of cuisine is usually Asian (although that is a great habit in manga/anime...).
In the Dragon Ball universe, all planets benefit from an appointed guardian. Throughout most of Dragon Ball, the guardian of the Earth is Kami, but later that position was given to Dende after Kami had fused with Piccolo. Because both Kami and Dende are Namekians they have the ability to create Dragonballs, which can grant wishes if they are collected. These wishes are used regularly throughout Dragon Ball for many various things, such as bringing people back to life or wishing for the world's most comfortable pair of underpants.
At one point the Earth is blown up by Kid Buu, but it is wished back by the new Namekian Dragonballs.
Dragon World is also the name given to Story Mode in the Playstation 2 video game Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2.