Dragon Ball is a Japanese media franchise created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. It is very popular around the world and is considered one of the most influential works to promote the popularity of Japanese anime in Western culture. It was originally inspired by the 16th-century Chinese classical novel Journey to the West, combined with elements of Hong Kong martial arts movies, telling the adventures of the protagonist Sun Wukong from childhood to adulthood. It has had a considerable impact on global pop culture and has a series of popular spin-offs.