Dragon Ball has been made into animated films.
Dragon Ball . The Dragon Ball manga has been adapted into two anime series produced by Toei Animation : Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z , which together were broadcast in Japan from 1986 to 1996 . Additionally , the studio has developed 19 animated feature films and three television specials , as well as two anime sequel series titled Dragon Ball GT ( 1996 -- 1997 ) and Dragon Ball Super ( 2015 -- present ) . Several companies have developed various types of merchandising based on the series leading to a large media franchise that includes films , both animated and live-action , collectible trading card games , numerous action figures , along with several collections of soundtracks and a large number of video games .