If this weekend's release of Dragonball: Evolution has left you in the mood to look up some similar manga and anime, we've rounded up some of the stories that followed in Dragon Ball's footsteps.

Before there was Dragonball Evolution, there was Akira Toriyama's crisp, colorful art. His work seems taken from children's books rather than a gut-punching martial-arts tale, but incongruity is what makes his manga appealing. Gallery below.

Yes. No. Sort of. Many of the stereotypes about Dragon Ball come not from the original manga but rather from the anime adaptations, particularly Dragon Ball Z. The anime, like many popular anime TV shows including Bleach and Naruto, was not produced in "seasons" like American shows; it was produced continuously, one…

In Japan, the original manga is, and always has been, Dragon Ball. (The original Japanese title is the phonetic English words "Dragon Ball,.") However, when the series was optioned for TV, things got complicated.

In its original form, Dragon Ball is a manga (Japanese comic) written and drawn by Akira Toriyama from 1984 to 1995. Published by Shueisha, one of the three biggest Japanese publishers, it was the most popular series in Weekly Shônen Jump, a 400+ page comic anthology which features about 20 ongoing serials by…

The quick answer is: (1) yes, (2) both and (3) as long as your definition of "science fiction" isn't too particular. The world of Dragon Ball is full of high technology, most notably the convenient pocket-sized capsules (as seen in the trailer) which pop open into motorcycles, houses, guns or what have you. Several…

The movie Dragonball: Evolution opens Friday, and complaints among fans make the arguments about Watchmen look like nitpicks about Dr. Manhattan's genitals. What's the story on this flick, and the manga phenomenon that inspired it?

With any movie adaptation of a popular story, there are criticisms. One fairly thorough list of differences between the anime and manga is here. Here are some of the main points:

Silly names, usually involving foreign words, are a trademark of Japanese manga for children. It's sometimes easy to forget that Dragon Ball was originally printed in a magazine for junior high students (the average age of Weekly Shônen Jump readers is approximately 12-14). Furthermore, Toriyama had his comedy…

The Dragon Balls are seven magic orbs about the size of baseballs, each with a number of tiny glowing stars in them, from one to seven. An ancient legend explains their powers: when the seven Dragon Balls are gathered together and the correct invocation is made, a mighty dragon appears and grants any one wish of…