Most of you probably didn't read the description of this book, but if you did, yes Dragon Ball technically has an Extended Universe. Most of these DBEU series is just spin-off manga like Nekomajin and Jaco the Galactic Patrolman. Other's are completely new series that exist within the same world as Dragon Ball like Dr. Slump. However, the Dragon Ball EU is fairly new given that Shueisha just recently opened up the Dragon Ball room for spin-off series for the DBEU. The first of these mangas is  Dragon Ball Sidestory: The Case of Being Reincarnated as Yamcha. 

So, where do we begin when exploring the expansive world of Dragon Ball?

Of course, we'll start with the original 42 volumes of Dragon Ball. If you have not at least read one volume of the Dragon Ball manga, you're not a true Dragon Ball fan. 

Then, we move onto Dragon Ball Super which is a direct sequel to Dragon Ball. Consuming this series may be different than the original series. Both the anime and manga are considered canon as Toriyama writes the outline for the stories, and Toei and Toyotaro create their own take on it. However, I'm more inclined to say that the manga is more canon as Toriyama is more directly involved with it and has granted Toyotaro the series in case anything were to happen to him. 

Now, we finally reach the "Extended Universe" starting with Dr. Slump. Dr. Slump is a 19  volume gag manga Akira Toriyama wrote four years prior to writing Dragon Ball. Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump share the same universe as it's seen both in the original Dragon Ball manga and in Super that the characters of Dr. Slump make cameos from time to time. 

Moving on from that, we have Nekomajin. Nekomajin is the first true spin-off of Dragon Ball written by Akira Toriyama in 1999 and in many ways, it's a parody of Dragon Ball. The story follows a cat named Neko Majin, a student of Goku along with Uub. It's another gag manga about the Majin Buu-like cat and his adventures. However, there are some scenes within it that may make you question things like why is Vegeta working with Frieza again? My best explanation for this is that it occurs in a separate timeline in which most of the events of Ball are the same with a few changes. This manga only has 7 chapters, but they're really funny and I recommend it to all Dragon Ball fans!

Next up, we have Jaco the Galactic Patrolman. Jaco the Galactic Patrolman is about the adventures of Jaco and Bulma's older sister Tights. It's another short manga series of fun and adventure about a Galactic Police Officer that feels very Toriyama-like. Of course, we see characters of this spin-off within Super a lot. Mainly, Jaco and the Galactic King. This mini-series is another thing that I'd recommend to all Dragon Ball fans. (Also, at the end of the volume is special chapter about Bardock and the canon confrontation he had with Frieza as well as revealing Goku's mother!)

Dragon Ball SD is also a spin-off manga that I consider to occur in a different timeline from the main continuity. It's basically a retelling of the original 42 volumes in a much more condensed way as well as answering a few "What if" questions. If you don't know, SD stands for "Super Deformed" as the art of the series turns ever character in Chibi's in a way. It's a really cute retelling of the story that I think most Dragon Ball fans would enjoy!

Lastly, we have Dragon Ball Sidestory: The Case of Being Reincarnated as Yamcha. This spin-off manga is the first manga to be released from the Dragon Ball room at Shueisha. It's about a boy who is a HUGE fan of Dragon Ball, but one day he dies and is reincarnated as Yamcha at the end of the Pilaf Saga. It follows the adventures of the reincarnated Yamcha as he tries to prevent his fate of dying. It's another really good one with a great twist ending! It's only three chapters long, but the storytelling and art are A-1! 

Have you read any of these series? Do you want to? Did you even know the existence of them? Are you ready for more DB Extended Universe content?

If you liked this post, please vote and follow! I'll be making random posts of Dragon Ball once a week as well as reviewing Super episodes every Saturday! Have a great day!

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