Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball series has served as a medium that introduced the world of anime to almost everyone on the planet. The series has not only amassed a global audience but has also inspired many other manga creators. Mangakas like Eiichiro Oda who created One Piece and Tite Kubo who created Bleach have openly talked about Toriyama inspiring them.
Another mangaka who has been the most inspired by Toriyama and his magnum opus is Masashi Kishimoto, the creator of Naruto. Kishimoto has explicitly talked about how much he loved Toriyama’s work and has used it as an inspiration and a reference for his own creation.
Kishimoto was so much inspired by Toriyama that there have been instances in Naruto manga and anime where fans can see the similarity between Naruto and Dragon Ball. While these might only be inspirations, they look like Naruto directly copied Toriyama’s work in plain sight and used it to develop their own storyline, characters, fights, etc.
5. The Uchiha Clan With a Single Survivor
The Uchiha clan in Naruto was one of the strongest clans in the entire Naruto universe. The clan gave some of the best Ninjas that served Konoha one way or the other. It also brought out some of the most important characters in the series. However, before fans could find out more about the clan, Itachi Uchiha massacred the entire clan, leaving behind only one survivor: Sasuke Uchiha.
This storyline is quite similar to Dragon Ball’s Saiyan race. The Saiyan race also gave some of the greatest warriors the Dragon Ball universe has ever seen, however, their entire planet was destroyed by Frieza leaving behind just one survivor known at the time: Vegeta.
4. Characters Transforming into Creatures
Although it is a common theme in the anime industry, Naruto’s idea of transforming characters into creatures like the Tailed-Beasts weirdly matched the concept Akira Toriyama had in mind with the Saiyan characters and their transformation into the Great Apes. It looked like Naruto had copied the idea from Dragon Ball.
Just like how Naruto and the other jinchuriki’s initially had no control over their mind when they transformed into the tailed-beasts, Goku and other Saiyans when looked at the full moon could not control themselves and change into the Great Ape, hell-bent on destroying the planet.
3. Similar Power-Ups
As seen multiple times in Dragon Ball, whenever Goku or any other character power-ups, an aura of energy is formed around them that indicates the level they are at. The biggest example of this is when Goku changes his form from natural to a Super Saiyan and a yellow energy aura encircles him.
While it has not been seen explicitly in Naruto, the protagonist of the series, Naruto has been witnessed multiple times, surrounding himself in the Kyuubi’s chakra whenever he is fighting someone much stronger than him. And just like Goku, it gives him a power boost and helps him in defeating the enemy.
2. Similarity Between Rasenshuriken and Destructo Disc
One of Krillin’s most potent strikes is the Destructo Disc, which is also his signature move. The Destructo Disc is a golden ki disc with razor-sharp edges that can cut through practically any material. Rasenshuriken is a version of Wind Release: Rasengan is shaped like a shuriken. It takes a lot of chakra to perform the Rasenshuriken.
The attack of Rasenshuriken is almost as similar as the Destructo disc. This adds another point to the list of Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto copying off things from Dragon Ball.
1. The Silly Main Character Personality
When first introduced, Naruto looks like a silly, goofy, and a little dumb character who wants to prove something in life but fails every time. And although this side of his personality fades away as he grows older, he still manages to bring it out and prove that although he has become strong, he might have not changed that much.
Though this character trait is quite common in the industry, the first anime series to successfully adapt it was Dragon Ball. Goku’s personality also makes him look like a goofy silly main character who only loves food and fighting, just like Naruto. But since Goku gave birth to this main character’s energy, it can be said that Naruto copied Goku in this aspect too.
You can watch Naruto on Hulu.
