Blue Dragon

Blue Dragon is a role-playing video game developed by Mistwalker and Artoon, published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360. The project originated from a collaboration between Hironobu Sakaguchi, creator of the Final Fantasy series, who supervised development and wrote the plot, and Akira Toriyama, who designed the game's characters. This partnership gives Blue Dragon a visual identity immediately recognizable to fans of Toriyama's work, with character designs carrying his distinctive style into an entirely original setting.

The game follows five friends: Shu, Jiro, Kluke, Zola, and Marumaro, as they travel through an open-world environment to confront Nene, the evil ruler of the Grand Kingdom. The core gameplay loop follows a traditional role-playing structure centered on exploration and turn-based combat. Blue Dragon was notable for being the first Xbox 360 game to span multiple discs, requiring three discs to contain its full content. It launched in Japan in December 2006, followed by a worldwide release in August 2007.

Blue Dragon tells the story of Shu and his companions as they chase Nene, whose Grand Kingdom has brought suffering to the world. The characters' shadows are their primary weapons in battle, taking the forms of powerful creatures that reflect each character's fighting style. The story combines elements of classic RPG adventure with the visual warmth and humor typical of Akira Toriyama's character work, resulting in a game that feels approachable yet emotionally engaged.

The setting proved rich enough to inspire multiple additional works. An anime television series was produced by Studio Pierrot and broadcast on TV Tokyo, running for 51 episodes from April 2007 through March 2008. A second season, titled Blue Dragon: Trials of the Seven Shadows, followed with another 51 episodes from April 2008 through March 2009. Viz Media licensed both seasons for North America. Comic adaptations also followed, each interpreting the source world with varying degrees of fidelity to the game's original story.

Blue Dragon received a generally positive reception upon release, with critics praising its visual design and the novelty of seeing Akira Toriyama's character work in an original video game context outside the Dragon Ball franchise. The game was also recognized as a significant early title in Microsoft's strategy to establish the Xbox 360 in Japan, where the console faced strong competition from PlayStation 3 and Wii.

For Dragon Ball fans, Blue Dragon stands as a compelling example of what Toriyama's design sensibility produces when applied to an entirely new world. The game demonstrated that his visual language could carry a substantial RPG without relying on the Dragon Ball name, while its anime and manga spinoffs confirmed the setting had genuine staying power beyond the original release.