Every Dragon Ball Spin-Off Manga, Explained

Summary

• Dragon Ball has an expansive universe with various spin-offs focusing on different aspects of the franchise.
• Spin-offs include adaptations of anime content like Dragon Ball GT and Dragon Ball Super, expanding the lore.
• Parodies and crossovers like Neko Majin and That Time I Got Reincarnated as Yamcha offer a fresh take on the series.

Dragon Ball is a long-running franchise with a vast universe to explore. Dragon Ball has been around for over 40 years, and what started as a simple adventure has evolved into a fun universe filled with powerful aliens.

With an ever-expanding lore, many spin-offs have been released, focusing on different fronts of this beloved franchise. But, there are so many of them that fans may not even know what’s out there—don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.

Let’s start with the spin-offs that are related to anime content in any way.

Dragon Ball GT Anime Manga

This one is not exactly a manga adaptation in the way we generally think of it: instead of an author rewriting the story with their own perspective, it is literally Dragon Ball GT turned into comics — they rearrange some frames of the anime in order to tell an illustrated story and add dialogue to them.

The good part is that it is fully colored (after all, the frames are colored). Other anime media, like the movies, were also “adapted” into anime comics.

Dragon Ball Special — Jump Super Anime Tour 2008

An adaptation of a special movie directed by Yoshihiro Ueda and released in Japan in 2008, during the Jump Super Anime Tour. It is a short story set two years after the end of the Buu Saga. It introduces Vegeta’s younger brother, Tarble, and his wife, Gure. The enemies this time are two soldiers who served Frieza. It is titled Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!!.

Dragon Ball Z: Ressurection ‘F’ Prelude Manga

A three-chapter manga that introduces the events of the movie Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’, directed by Tadayoshi Yamamuro and released in 2015. As the title suggests, Frieza is back to fight with the Z warriors.

Dragon Ball Super – Adaptation and Sequel

Dragon Ball Super initially followed the same storyline as the Dragon Ball Super anime — the manga and the TV anime debuted almost at the same time. After the anime ended, the manga continued to be serialized, creating new arcs (but still eventually adapting content from the DBS movies). It is regarded as the “canon” sequel to the original story — or, at least, it was regarded that way before Dragon Ball Daima.

The Galactic Patrol Series

The Galactic Patrol series is a broad name for stories featuring the Galactic Patrol, a space police that should enforce the law in order to keep the Milky Way safe. Sometimes, they may not be fully up to such a hard job.

Sachie-chan Good and Jiya One-Shots

These two spin-offs, born from a collaboration between Toriyama and Zetman creator Masazaku Katsura, were the first ones to establish the Galactic Patrol as a more solid concept. While they are separate stories, following, respectively, the average human Sachi (one chapter) and the alien patrolman Jiya (three chapters), they were compiled into a single volume in 2014 (titled Katsura-Akira).

Jaco the Galactic Patrolman

Jaco is a story penned by Toriyama himself, and it takes place about 11 years prior to the start of Dragon Ball. It follows Jaco, a patrolman sent to the Earth to deal with a Saiyan sent from Planet Vegeta. But things turned out quite different than he imagined.

Dragon Ball Crossovers and Parodies

Self-explanatory section title, there have been a few Dragon Ball self-parodies and crossovers since the series debuted. Let’s learn all about them.

Neko Majin — Dragon Ball Parody

Neko Majin is a parody series created by Akira Toriyama, best known for the Neko Majin Z arc, when the manga officially became a Dragon Ball parody — the Dragon Ball parody sums up five of the eight chapters of the manga. Neko Majin Z was later featured in the Dragon Ball Heroes: Victory Mission manga by Toyotaro.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as Yamcha

Maybe the best known Dragon Ball parody, the story follows a Dragon Ball fan from our world who gets reincarnated in the series’ universe as Yamcha, after dying in the real world. Knowing that his fate is to die (again), he will do everything he can in order to change the course of the story.

One Piece and KochiKame Crossovers

The Dragon Ball x KochiKame crossover is titled Kochira Namekku-sei Doragon Koen-mae Hashutsujo, and follows Ryo, the main character in KochiKami, as he goes about his daily routine in Namek during the Frieza Saga. As a police officer, it’s his duty to fine those who park their spaceship illegally and stuff like that.

This was part of a Shonen Jump issue celebrating Kochikame‘s 30th anniversary, and all the other series in the magazine had a special chapter featuring Ryo.

The Dragon Ball x One Piece crossover is titled Cross Epoch and shows the main characters of both series trying to make their way to a party hosted by Mr. Satan (or Hercule Satan) on an island.

Other Dragon Ball Spin-Off Mangas

Everything that doesn’t match very well with the previous categories.

Piccolo, Vegeta and Trunks Illustrated Stories

These were stories produced by the anime staff and the first two were included in Dragon Ball-themed Jump Gold Selection editions released back in the 1990s. They are not actually manga, but side-stories with illustrations by Minoru Maeda.

The first one was In the Name of Piccolo Daimaou (1989), focusing on Piccolo’s journey from villain to Gohan’s mentor. The second one, High Pride! The Saiya Prince Vegeta (1991) is about Vegeta’s childhood. The Lonely Future Warrior!! Trunks (1993), the only one written by Aya Matsui and not Takao Koyama, and included in the Bardock – The Father of Goku anime comic, and focuses on Future Trunks.

Game-Related Spin-Off Mangas

There are too many game-related manga, as most Dragon Ball games have spawned at least one promotional manga. Here are some that have been followed by manga:

• Dragon Ball Fusions
• Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2
• DesPo FighterZ
• Dragon Ball Heroes (includes many sub-series)
• Dragon Ball Super Divers

The most famous game-related manga is probably the Dragon Ball Heroes series, which even spawned the Super Dragon Ball Heroes anime. The first DBH manga, DBH: Victory Mission, was serialized by Toyotaro from 2012 to 2016 (with an extra chapter in 2024), following Beat, a guy who joins the DBH arcade game.

There are also DBH manga covering the in-game arc stories (Dark Demon Realm, Universe, Big Bang, Ultra God, Meteor) — these were all written by Yoshitaka Nagayama. Other DBH manga include Avatars!!, by Yuji Kasai and Charisma Mission!, by Nagayama.

Dragon Ball SD – A Simplified Remake

Dragon Ball SD is basically a remake of the original manga drawn in a chibi style (that’s what “SD” means), aimed at very young children — thus, the language is even simpler than in the original one.

Although it is mostly a remake, Oishi sometimes writes additional content that ends up included in the volumes, like the SD manga of Dragon Ball Z: Battle of the Gods (it’s only 12 pages, so not exactly a faithful adaptation), which was included as an extra chapter in Volume 2.

VIZ Media licenses the Dragon Ball manga (and spin-offs) in the US, but some titles may not be available in English.