13

Why is did they add the letter Z in this series of Dragon Ball? It seems kind of odd to throw that letter in there for no reason. I know that the Z is symbolized a lot in Dragon Ball Z (ex. The Z Sword, The Z Fighters, Zenie, etc.) but what does the Z literally stand for, and for what reason Akira Toriyama decide to use this letter in the title?

Pratyush Manocha
  • 2,003
  • 1
  • 16
  • 38
Lukifur Helbringer
  • 563
  • 3
  • 8
  • 14

1 Answers1

16

enter image description here

You can find the answer in a lot of forums:

As the Dragon Ball anime series approached one of the manga’s major turning points, the anime staff approached Akira Toriyama about changing the name of the anime series to help change the “image” of the series. Thinking he would be ending the series sometime soon, Toriyama decided to signify this by simply adding the last letter in the alphabet to the series name. Little did he know that Dragon Ball Z would go on to be one of the most successful, popular, and recognized action anime series of all time.

Also from Dragon Ball Z Wikipedia:

The title "Dragon Ball Z" was chosen by Akira Toriyama because Z is the last letter of the alphabet and he wanted to finish the series because he was running out of ideas for Dragon Ball. Conventional knowledge in Japan used the "Z" only for the anime to separate Goku's childhood and adult life.

pap
  • 1,491
  • 2
  • 20
  • 20
  • 4
    Deja vu, Final Fantasy? – Cattua Sep 05 '15 at 18:59
  • 1
    Youre correct. There a lot of answers on many forums, some of them different from what you have answered here. Like on this site, it says it was simply a mistake and that the z was originally a 2, but Toriyama went with it, and a few other theories. Im looking for real down to Earth evidence, so if you can find a quote, or maybe even an interview source, Ill accept your answer. Here's the link I was talking about: http://dragonball.wikia.com/wiki/Forum:What_does_the_Z_stand_for_in_Dragon_Ball_Z%3F – Lukifur Helbringer Sep 05 '15 at 20:34
  • If you look up on the most site and on the wiki it says: The title "Dragon Ball Z" was chosen by Akira Toriyama because Z is the last letter of the alphabet and he wanted to finish the series because he was running out of ideas for Dragon Ball. Conventional knowledge in Japan used the "Z" only for the anime to separate Goku's childhood and adult life. – pap Sep 09 '15 at 10:41
  • @pap, Then the "Z" would represent the series after the end of Goku's childhood. – StarPilot Sep 10 '15 at 03:23
  • That's what I actually said :P @StarPilot – pap Sep 10 '15 at 08:21