Dragon Ball Recalls 40-Year-Old Manga Announcement, Showing Original Series' Genre
Dragon Ball was to strike out on a different aspect than the one for which Akira Toriyama's work eventually became famous. This is evidenced by the poster promoting the manga's release.
Dragon Ball has been with fans for 40 years. Akira Toriyama's manga was released in November 1984, and since then it has gained cult status, becoming a model for many later-created shonen series that drew inspiration from Goku's adventures. The story can be classified within the action and adventure genres, but initially, the concept for Dragon Ball was slightly different and was promoted as a comedy.
This is demonstrated by the promotional artwork of Dragon Ball from 40 years ago, which was recently released on the official Dragon Ball website as part of the Toriyama Archives series, showcasing the creator's old works and available for viewing on the website for 24 hours (via CBR).
On the poster, we can see Shenron standing on a Dragon Ball, and above him is a big red text proclaiming "the ultimate comedy manga." This shows that the initial focus was on the comedy aspect of the manga, rather than the adventure, action, or martial arts that Akira Toriyama's work is now famous for.
Comedy plays a big role in Dragon Ball, especially at the beginning of the series, although the humor there could also be very controversial, especially from today's perspective. However, today DB is mainly about epic battles and unforgettable adventures of Goku. They are still being developed due to Dragon Ball Super, which was temporarily suspended, and Dragon Ball Daima, currently available for fans to watch on Crunchyroll and Netflix. The new series is quite popular, indicating that Toriyama's work continues to generate interest despite 40 years passing.