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Statue of Dragon Ball protagonist Son Goku in Tokyo
Photo: Franck Robichon / EPA
A new theme park based around the Japanese manga series “Dragon Ball” is being built in the new Saudi Arabian tourist destination of Kiddiya, just outside the capital Riyadh. In the future, fans will be able to experience “adventures” related to the entire “Dragon Ball” series in the 500,000 square meter theme park, the Kiddiya investment company announced on Friday.
The plans were also announced on the official “Dragon Ball” website, although the opening date and construction costs were not mentioned. The park is divided into seven areas, each of which revolves around one of the dragon balls that the hugely successful manga series is about.
In addition to around 30 rides, the park with a 70-meter-high dragon in the center will also have several restaurants and hotels.
Deceased inventor
The luxury project “Kiddiya Entertainment City” is currently being built near Riyadh as part of the “Vision 2030” program, which is intended to significantly expand Saudi Arabia's tourism sector and thereby reduce the ultra-conservative kingdom's dependence on oil sales. The entertainment city, whose construction began in 2019, includes various amusement parks, motorsport facilities and a safari landscape.
After the announcement that a “Dragon Ball” park would also be built in Kiddiya, the shares of the Japanese company Toei Animation, which produces the dragon adventures, rose by 6.7 percent. The “Dragon Ball” series was created by Akira Toriyama. He died at the beginning of March at the age of 68.
The first “Dragon Ball” episode was released in 1984. This resulted in one of the best-selling manga series in the world, which is also the basis for television series, films and video games.
hpi/AFP