Saudi Arabia To Open First ‘Dragon Ball’ Theme Park

Saudi Arabia plans to build a massive theme park dedicated to the Japanese video game franchise Dragon Ball. Created by Akira Toriyama, who died earlier this month, Dragon Ball became an internationally known manga series and anime with movies, video games and other merchandise produced.

The new theme park is said to boast a size of 5.3-million square feet, 30 rides and a 230-feet-high roller coaster. The park will also include 400 attractions, a Six Flags and a waterpark. Construction will take place in Qiddiya, a city outside of Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh. A completion date has yet to be announced.

The announcement of the theme park was met with backlash from some fans, who cited the country’s human rights issues.

“But also sucks its all the way in [Saudi Arabia]. . . a land where women and rights are restricted!” one person wrote in response.

In the past, citizens and tribes were evicted from their lands to make way for new buildings in the kingdom. Saudi Arabia runs under conservative Islamic law where women have limited rights and homosexuality is a crime. Human rights activists have criticized the country for trying to distract people from these issues by advertising its luxurious tourist destinations and continuously modernizing its cities.

The theme park is one part of Saudi Arabia’s plans to expand its economy outside of the oil industry. The country plans to home in on the tourism industry and attract more tourists.

The country has garnered a lot of attention by signing some the world’s top soccer players to compete in its league. However, attendance has frequently been fewer than two hundred people leading many to wonder if their billion-dollar investment was worth it.