'Dragon Ball' turns 40 on its first anniversary after the death of creator Akira Toriyama

The Japanese manga Dragon Ball, a global hit whose universe keeps growing in all media and formats, celebrates 40 years this Wednesday, following the death in March of its author, Akira Toriyama.

The adventures of Son Goku, a young martial arts prodigy who protects the Earth from evil enemies, saw the light of day on November 20, 1984 in the pages of the Japanese weekly magazine Shonen Jump.

Loosely inspired by the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West, the epic tale replete with combat and touches of humor has become a planetary hit, with 260 million copies sold worldwide, according to its publisher Shueisha.

Despite the death in March this year of its creator, the franchise is being kept alive with the release last month of the video game Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO, which brings 182 characters together to engage in epic fights.

Also released in October was a new anime series, Dragon Ball Daima, which offers rejuvenated versions of the characters. And Dragon Ball Super, the sequel to one of the best-selling manga of all time and overseen so far by Toriyama, will feature new chapters.

"It's an archetype of a work that celebrates victory gained through friendship and effort," Tsutomu Tanaka, a 19-year-old student told AFP in Tokyo.

"It's a play that my father's generation loved and that we watched as a family because it was often shown at lunchtime," recalled Ayase, a 30-something Japanese woman for whom the series "is part of our life."

After comics, series, movies and video games, the Dragon Ball universe will also have a theme park in Saudi Arabia, as announced in March by Saudi Arabia, which did not disclose the opening date.

To celebrate the anniversary, the publishers of the successful franchise launched a website with exclusive content, news and activities for fans.