Dragon Ball (artifact)

A Dragon Ball (ドラゴンボール) is a fictional artifact from the Dragon Ball manga and anime series. A similar version of them with the same name also appear in the Akira Toriyama manga Dragon Boy (a manga before Dragon Ball).

The Legend of the Dragon Balls
Long ago, a mystical orange ball came to an island and brought prosperity to it. However, when thieves attempted to steal this magnificent relic, the object responded by separating into seven magical orbs called the Dragon Balls, which were scattered across the Earth. When gathered together, the Dragon Balls can summon the dragon Shenron who will grant the summoner a single wish within his supernatural power, including but not limited to, reviving a person who had died of unnatural causes, provided that the person's death occurred within one year prior the summon. There are certain limitations, such as that Shenron cannot grant the same wish a second time. This regulation is also applied to the revival of a deceased person: Shenron can't revive a person a second time. In addition, he can't transform someone into something that they naturally are not. For example, one of the wishes was to make an android human, but he can grant eternal life. There are consequences of using the Dragon Balls, if used too often negative energy will be transferred into the balls. Then the planet the balls were used on will be destroyed.

Each Dragon Ball is about the size of a softball and is a crystalline orange color. The Dragon Balls also have reddish colored stars inside (Black in the case of the Black-Star Dragon Balls introduced in Dragon Ball GT). Each Dragon Ball has a different number of stars (the balls are ordered 1 through 7) and are often called by their respective numbers (i.e., the ball with four stars is called The Four Star Ball). After each usage, the Dragon Balls scatter randomly around the Earth and turn to stone for one year. It was later stated in Dragon Ball GT that the Dragon Balls were meant to be used only once every hundred years, due to the negative energy that builds from each wish.

The Dragon Balls were originally created by the Namekians. Kami made the Earth Dragon Balls after he traveled to Earth from his home planet called Namek. The Dragon Balls are directly connected to Kami's life force, so when Kami dies or his individual life force becomes absorbed into something, the Dragon Balls turn to stone, permanently, unless the balls are revived by another Namekian.

Although the Dragon Balls are most of the time revered, they were shunned by the Supreme Kai, because they disrupted the natural order of the Universe. The Namekians had made a promise with the Supreme Kai to not use the Dragon Balls outside Namek, but a colossal storm on Namek forced one Namekian (Kami) to retreat to Earth, where he had made a set of Dragon Balls, unaware of the promise to the Supreme Kai.

The first Earth Dragon Ball we are introduced to is the "Four-Star Ball" (sì-xīng-qiú, katakana Sūshinchū), possessed by the series' main protagonist Son Goku. Goku's adoptive grandfather named Grandpa Son Gohan (Goku named his first-born Son Gohan as an homage to his adoptive grandfather. The two should not be confused) had given one to Goku before he died. Goku spent his life guarding the Four-Star Dragon Ball, until he learned of their true purpose from Bulma, a young girl who came looking for the Dragon Balls so she could get her wish granted of having the perfect boyfriend.

Another set of Dragon Balls we know of reside on Namek, created by Guru. These Dragon Balls are similar to the ones on Earth in powers and appearance, however the Namek ones are as large as volleyballs. There are also two extra precautions taken on the Namekian Dragon Balls; the summoner is required to utter a Namekian password in order to summon the dragon, Porunga. The other precaution is that the wishes must be spoken in the Namekian language. Once Porunga is summoned, he has the ability to grant three wishes, that are somewhat less powerful than Shenron's wishes. For example, Porunga could only revive one person at a time while Shenron could revive an infinite number of people at a time, but Porunga can grant the same wish as many times as the summoner pleases. The time the Namekian Dragon Balls take to restore is 130 days, not like the 365 days required for the Dragon Balls on Earth, this is because a year for the planet Namek lasts only 130 days.

Later on in the series, both dragons were modified, after the conflict with an evil overlord named Frieza which resulted in the destruction of the planet Namek. Porunga (on a re-established Planet New Namek) was modified to have the power to revive more than one person at time. Shenron's modification was that he was given the ability to grant two wishes instead of one.

Dende, a Namekian, became the Earth's Guardian when Kami combined with Piccolo in order to become strong enough to defend Earth against Cell. Since Piccolo and Kami's individual life forces became one, the Dragon Balls became inert because Kami's individual life force ceased to exist. Rather than creating a new set of Dragon Balls, Dende revived and modified the old ones based on Kami's design. This was when Dende also gave Shenron the power to grant 2 wishes instead of the original 1. This was the result of both a request by the Z Fighters (originally they requested for 3 wishes like the Dragon Balls on Namek but settled for two) and Dende's life force being strong enough to sustain two of the nearly infinite power wishes.

Black Star Dragon Balls
In Dragon Ball GT, the Black Star Dragon Balls were introduced. This set of Dragon Balls was created by Kami, during the time period when he still had the influence of Piccolo Daimaō. It is thought that after Kami and Piccolo became separate entities that the Black Star Dragon Balls became stone as their creator was no longer "alive". The being Kami was pushed to keep the Black Star Dragon Balls as a reminder of his once corrupted heart. Once Kami and Piccolo merged again the balls became active but remained hidden and undisturbed in the tower.

The Black Star Dragon Balls can summon a much more powerful "Red Shenron", a mighty dragon who is not restricted like the regular Shenron (e.g. Red Shenron can kill a person if wished to). To counter this powerful improvement, the side effects of a wish made on the Black Star Dragon Balls are catastrophic. There are four major side effects that happen when a wish is made on the Black Star Dragon Balls: These Dragon Balls will not reset like the other Dragon Balls; should they be recollected and another wish made then both planets will be at risk of destruction. The Black Star Dragon Balls and the Red Shenron were destroyed forever when Piccolo allowed himself to be killed by Earth's destruction, as he was the creator of the Black Star Dragon Balls.
 * 1) When a wish is made they scatter across the galaxy.
 * 2) Unlike the Earth and Namekian Dragon Balls, the Black Star Dragon Balls do not turn to stone after the wish is made
 * 3) The Black Star Dragon Balls can be used over and over again if these Dragon Balls are collected.
 * 4) The planet on which Red Shenron grants a wish will be destroyed in one year unless the Black Star Dragon Balls are returned to that planet within a year from when the initial wish was granted, stopping another wish from being made as this would scatter the Dragon Balls again.

Dragon Radar
The Dragon Radar was built by Bulma to find Dragon Balls very quickly when compared to conventional methods. This is due to the fact that Dragon Balls emit a faint electromagnetic pulse, which the Radar can detect. It then points arrows in the directions of nearby Dragon Balls. Pressing the button on the top can cause the view to zoom out and show more and more of the planet. The radar is used frequently by Goku and his friends in Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, but in Dragon Ball GT, the Dragon Ball Radar is assimilated by the robot Giru, thus giving Giru the ability to find the Dragon Balls for Goku and the others.

During their hunt for the Dragon Balls, the Red Ribbon Army had their own version of the Dragon Radar, but it was rather primitive and could only give a general idea of where the Dragon Balls were. Emperor Pilaf eventually built his own, superior version of the Dragon Radar; shaped like a globe and installed in his floating airship, it was able to show the exact location of the Dragon Balls on the planet.

In the story of Love Hina, the exact dimension and shape of this device was shown being used by the Hinata House resident Su who uses the radar to track a number of objects including mail.

Appearances in other media
In the manga Dragon Boy, Dragon Balls are small balls that appear very similar to the balls in the Dragon Ball series. However, instead of granting wishes, they can be opened using chi energy to release a small baby dragon. This dragon, however, does not grant wishes. In the first chapter of the Yu-gi-oh manga, Yugi wonders if when he completes the Milleunium Puzzle, he will be granted a wish. As he is thinking this he says, "Like the Dragonballs."

In the anime Puni Puni Poemy, the main character is shown to have collected 3 Dragon Balls to wish back her deceased parents. This is simply a gag on Dragon Ball and not meant to be taken seriously.

In the video game Waku Waku 7, the players must fight opponents to collect the seven "WakuWaku Balls" to free a fairy and receive a single wish. In the video game No More Heroes, there are items called "Lovikov Balls" which, when seven are collected, grant the player a new technique.

At Comic Con '06, a glass replica of a Dragon Ball with four stars was shown for display. Funimation held a contest where glass replicas of the Dragon Balls were given to the winners.