Dragon Ball is a manga series written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama in 1984. It follows the main character, Son Goku, through childhood and adulthood, and shows his various adventures and battles as he gets better at martial arts. Its best known property is the Dragon Ball Z anime, which aired from 1989 to 1996, and was brought to the US not too long after that. The series originally started as a comedy adventure, since the author Akira Toriyama was best known for his comedic manga Dr. Slump prior to the release of Dragon Ball. As time went on, it became more serious and action/battle oriented, primarily in the Z portion of the story.