It’s hard to argue with the idea that Dragon Ball is one of the most influential anime franchises of all time, if not the most influential. Creators worldwide have constantly hailed Dragon Ball as an influence on their work, One Piece and Naruto being two of the most notable examples, and considering its age and enduring popularity, it would be weirder if that wasn’t the case.

Dragon Ball’s influence on anime and manga cannot be understated, but some parts of it have done that better than others. Even stories that blatantly take after Dragon Ball don’t copy everything, and that’s because whether it’s through the intense drama of a scene or the various memes that might be associated with it, certain scenes in Dragon Ball have become more representative of the franchise than any other scenes in its 40-year history.

Those sorts of scenes have defined both Dragon Ball and the stories that were inspired by it, and each one is plenty worth highlighting.

10

The Father-Son Kamehameha Started a Big Trend for Final Attacks

One of Anime’s Most Iconic Attacks

In the final battle against Cell, Gohan, having his arm broken and feeling responsible for Goku’s death, had given up all hope, but Goku contacted him from the afterlife and told him not to give up when he was everyone’s hopes were riding on him. With renewed resolve, Gohan used his good arm to fire off one final Kamehameha, with Goku’s image being overlaid next to him; this would later be known as the Father-Son Kamehameha, and after a bit of back-and-forth, it put an end to Cell, once and for all.

The Father-Son Kamehameha is one of the most iconic attacks in all of Dragon Ball, and its presentation has seen a lot of repetition. The image of Goku supporting Gohan in spirit made for compelling imagery, and ever since then, the Father-Son Kamehameha made it common for stories to have a character’s final attack include their friends and loved ones supporting them, whether they’re doing it in person or doing it in spirit like with the original move. Even Dragon Ball has repeated the imagery from time to time, and that perfectly shows just how iconic a move it was.

9

Master Roshi Popularized One of Anime’s Most Common Character Archetypes

The Original Eccentric Mentor in Anime

Master Roshi was Goku’s first teacher in Dragon Ball, and his teaching style was very unconventional for a martial arts story. Master Roshi was certainly a strong and wise fighter, but befitting Dragon Ball’s roots as a comedy story, he was a surprisingly goofy character, always making jokes in tense situations and, most notably, being a massive pervert who would ogle and make passes at girls whenever he had the chance.

Master Roshi has always been one of Dragon Ball’s most central characters, and for better or worse, he created a very common character archetype in anime. From his first appearance, Master Roshi established himself as a mentor figure as wise as he was goofy and perverted, and ever since then, many anime have introduced mentor figures that take after Master Roshi’s personality. Many of those characters are just as perverted as Master Roshi, if not more so, but their writing will sometimes just stick to making them goofy and eccentric; whatever the face, Master Roshi’s influence cannot be denied.

8

The Ginyu Force Created a Brand-New Type of Anime Villain

The Original Quirky Villain Team

The Ginyu Force was the elite squadron of the Frieza Force, called to Namek to deal with the problems Gohan, Krillin, and Vegeta were causing during his quest for the Dragon Balls. Even Vegeta, feeling overconfident from his multiple power boosts and theft of most of the Dragon Balls, was stricken in fear by their arrival, which made it all the weirder to see them be introduced doing Super Sentai-esque poses, with Dragon Ball Z Kai even giving them their own theme song.

The Ginyu Force are some of the goofiest characters in all of Dragon Ball, and that’s helped to make them some of the most iconic ones, as well. While the individual members aren’t typically replicated in other media, the Ginyu Force, as a whole, being the tough but eccentric henchmen of the main villain started a trend of groups like that appearing in anime, with many shows even having those characters do similar poses, as well. The Ginyu Force might have only played a small part in Dragon Ball, but their legacy can still be felt in anime decades later.

7

Ultra Instinct Became the Biggest Dragon Ball Meme in Years

Dragon Ball Super’s Most Iconic Moment

Dragon Ball Super introduced a major shakeup to Goku’s character when, during the Tournament of Power, he unlocked the ultimate power of Whis and the other Angels known as Ultra Instinct. Ultra Instinct allowed Goku to move instantaneously without thinking, thus letting him bring out every ounce of his massive power, and Goku’s quest to master Ultra Instinct has been a major part of Dragon Ball Super ever since.

Ultra Instinct might not be as old as other elements of Dragon Ball, but it was quick to become an iconic part, nonetheless. Immediately after its first appearance in Dragon Ball Super, Ultra Instinct inspired a massive wave of memes surrounding its presentation and theme music, even famously inspiring the “Ultra Instinct Shaggy” meme that led to his inclusion in MultiVersus. Despite its recent history, it’s undoubtedly left its mark on Dragon Ball and anime, as a whole.

6

Yamcha’s Death Is Dragon Ball’s Darkest & Most Hilarious Moment

Dragon Ball’s Most Iconic Death

During the Saiyan saga, the Z Fighters first had to deal with Vegeta and Nappa’s Saibamen minions before they could fight the Saiyans. Yamcha was one of the first to volunteer to fight the Saibamen, and while he defeated the one he fought, his overconfidence kept him from realizing that the Saibaman was only playing dead, and it used that to kill Yamcha in a massive explosion.

Yamcha’s death in Dragon Ball Z was a dark moment for the story, but at the same time, Yamcha’s death became one of the biggest memes in all of Dragon Ball and cemented his reputation of being a loser, something he’s never truly recovered from. The seriousness of Yamcha’s death made it okay for anime to kill off their heroes, and the memetic nature of Yamcha’s death has been repeated countless times in anime and manga, with even Dragon Ball making fun of it, so for better or worse, Yamcha has certainly left his mark on the franchise.

5

Power Levels Are Still a Concept in Anime Thanks to Dragon Ball

Dragon Ball’s Best Subverted Trope

With the introduction of the Frieza Force in Dragon Ball Z came the introduction of Scouters, special devices that could display a person’s power level as a measurable number. These were used by Frieza and everyone in his employ, and while the Z Fighters would repeatedly show how unreliable they were thanks to their ability to control their power, Scouters still see appearances in Dragon Ball as recent as Dragon Ball Super: Broly.

While Dragon Ball Z wasn’t the first anime to use power levels, with how big an anime it was, it undoubtedly made this tope widespread. Granted, most anime tend to forget that Dragon Ball Z only brought in power levels to show off how worthless they were, and that Toriyama himself immediately forgot about them, but the ones that do remember that show that they were taking all the right things from Dragon Ball’s writing.

4

Frieza Made It Cool for Villains to Be Attractive in Their Final Forms

Dragon Ball Revolutionized Villains

During the fight with Frieza in the Namek saga, Frieza repeatedly transformed to increase his power which had the side effect of making him increasingly monstrous and grotesque, his third form even being a blatant reference to the Xenomorphs from Alien. Frieza’s final form, however, went in the opposite direction; not only did Frieza’s size decrease to only a little taller than his first form, but he lost his monstrous features and was made to look outright handsome, and even with all of that, he was stronger than he was at any other point in the fight.

Frieza marked a big shift in how villainous transformations would be handled in anime and media, in general. While it was, and still is, common for villains to become more monstrous with each new form they undergo, Frieza and other Dragon Ball villains popularized the idea of villains becoming more attractive and less visibly threatening in their final forms, usually to create a contrast between their appearances and their power and sadistic personalities. A lot of anime and manga have used that idea to great effect, and it’s easily one of the most interesting ideas Dragon Ball ended up popularizing.

3

Dragon Ball’s Fusion Technique Is One of the Franchise’s Most Iconic Abilities

One of Dragon Ball’s Most Iconic Gimmicks

Dragon Ball Z’s Buu saga was the proper introduction of the Fusion technique, a technique which, as the name implies, allows two people to combine into a single person whose power would be leagues above either of the original people. The two main versions of Fusion were the Fusion Dance, which only worked when specific dance moves were done perfectly and lasted 30 minutes, and the Potara earrings, which only necessitated two people wearing them at once and was originally permanent, but was later retconned into only lasting an hour if not used by a Kai.

Fusion is one of the simplest concepts in all of Dragon Ball, and it’s also become one of the most influential. Thanks to the popularity of Dragon Ball and its Fusions, characters fusing to become stronger has become an increasingly common occurrence in anime and fiction, in general, with shows like Steven Universe even maintaining the dancing element of the original Fusion technique. Despite coming so late into Dragon Ball, Fusion has always been an amazing concept, and it’s great that it inspired so many other stories to do the same.

2

The Kamehameha Made Over-the-Top Energy Attacks a Staple of Anime

The Biggest Reason Behind Energy Attacks in Anime

Early on in Goku’s first search for the Dragon Balls, Goku needed Master Roshi to help put out a fire in a building that housed one of them. Lacking the proper tools for the job, Master Roshi blew the fire away with the Kamehameha, a powerful energy beam formed from his ki, and Goku, not caring that it was supposed to be complicated, immediately did his own, although it paled in comparison to Master Roshi’s.

The first appearance of the iconic Kamehameha technique changed not only Dragon Ball, but anime, in general. The Kamehameha showed that Dragon Ball wouldn’t limit itself to hand-to-hand combat, and as it served as a precursor to over-the-top energy attacks being the standard in the series. It’s easy to say that the Kamehameha and its derivatives helped make over-the-top energy attacks a staple of action anime. This is especially true of stories that directly take after Dragon Ball, and it’s hard to imagine what the landscape of anime would be like without that.

1

Anime Transformations Might Not Exist Without Super Saiyan

Dragon Ball’s Most Iconic Scene and Biggest Contribution to the Medium

During the Namek saga, Goku’s power had risen to the point where allies and enemies alike thought that he had become the legendary Super Saiyan, the strongest warrior of the Saiyan race and the only being who had any chance of defeating Frieza. At first, it seemed like it was nothing but a story, but after Frieza killed Krillin right in front of Goku, he was so consumed with rage that his hair turned blonde and his power skyrocketed, meaning he truly was a Super Saiyan, and unknown to everyone, he would be the first of many.

Super Saiyan is easily the most iconic transformation in Dragon Ball, and it definitely influenced everything that came after that. Thanks to the popularity of the sequence of Goku turning into a Super Saiyan, anime characters transforming into powerful new forms has become one of the biggest parts of the medium, many of them even screaming for lengthy amounts of time just like Goku did. It’s hard to imagine what anime would be like if Super Saiyan was never a thing, and that’s why it’s easily the most influential moment in Dragon Ball.