Dragon Ball Saga

The story starts out with Son Goku as a young boy -- very naive and innocent. Secluded in the depths of a forest, he has never seen another human with the sole exception of his late mentor and grandfather, Son Gohan. A girl in a car almost drives over Goku and the fish (about twice his size) which he had caught for dinner. After observing the damage that the boy causes to her car, she persuades him to serve as her protector (although her intentions are not clear) on her journey to recover the legendary Dragon Balls. She explains to him that the Dragon Balls are crystal-like balls with stars embedded in them. Scattered across the globe, all seven balls, when united, summon a dragon (the Shen-lon) who will grant any wish. The young girl's name is Bulma and she is an electronics whiz. She invented a Dragon Ball radar to facilitate the search. And so their adventures begin, in search of the Dragonballs.

We soon meet new friends such as the Kamesenin (Turtle Master), Yamcha (and his cat-like friend Puuru), and a shape-changing pig named Oolong. Kame and Oolong are two characters who seem to share the same dirty minds. Goku is soon taken under the wing of the great Mutenroshisama (AKA the perverted Kame-san) joined by another boy, Krillin, who comes to train with him. They provide refuge to a girl on the run, named Lunch who has a split personality. One side of here is as innocent as an angel and has blue hair, but the other persona is a violent, foul-mouthed, criminal with blonde hair. Goku and Krillin participate in their first tournament--the Tenkaichi-budokai--yet they fail to win by a narrow margin, thanks to Kame who has disguised himself to enter the event. They part ways to begin training on their own. Goku soon runs into trouble with the world terrorist movement, Red Ribbon. He then finds himself training with his next teacher, Karin (the Cat Master).After training for three days, his power increases to the extent that he manages to annihilate the Red Ribbon HQ. He soon makes his first wish, by using the Dragon Balls and ask that a little boy's murdered father to be resurrected.

Once again, Goku trains and signs up for the next Tenkai. At this tournament, we are introduced to Tenshin-han and Choazu, the pupils of Kame's nemesis. The final match is between Goku and Tenshin-han and by the stroke of bad luck, Goku loses. Suddenly, Krillin is murdered just before Goku is about to meet up with him and the rest of the gang. Goku, burning with rage, pursues the assassin, but gets beaten to a pulp since he has used up all of his energy during the tournament. In the meantime, we learn of Piccolo--the Devil himself-- who brings a reign of terror upon the world. Fearing the possibility of Goku's death when he fails to return after many hours, Kame and Tenshin-han join forces. They search for the Dragon Balls to prevent the Devil from gaining whatever he wishes, and by manga issue #13, Kame has died. Tenshin-han is about to be killed by Piccolo when Goku appears, after having taken the senzu pill from Karin which instantly restores all of Goku's power. He defeats Piccolo. But before he dies, Piccolo gives birth to his successor. God (Kame-son), knowing this, offers to train Goku and this is an opportunity he obviously won't refuse. Kame, Krillin, and Choazu are brought back to life by the dragonballs. At the next tournament, Goku appears as a fully grown man, and he has become a completely new person. The main focus of the games is the climatic confrontation between Goku and the reborn Piccolo. After a fierce fight, Goku finally wins. Goku then gets married to Chichi-- a minor character who appears briefly in manga issue #1 and who reappeared at the fight. 1