In the fictional world of “Dragon Ball,” the favored Japanese manga and animation franchise, the lead character embarks on a journey to gather seven magical balls to summon a wish-granting dragon.

That want seems to have manifested as a theme park exterior Riyadh for Qiddiya Investment Co., an actual property developer backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

The Persian Gulf nation’s newest try to spice up tourism may have 30 rides that includes Goku, Freeza and different characters, in keeping with the agency’s website. The park will embody greater than 5.3-million sq. ft inside Qiddiya City, a plot of desert round 40 minutes from the capital that has been marked for improvement as an leisure district, with plans for a stadium, accommodations, a water park, a Six Flags park and golf programs.

Saudi Arabia has been pouring billions of dollars into development projects that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sees as key to assist the nation lower its reliance on oil. The nation has a goal of 150 million vacationers a 12 months by 2030, and the crown prince has positioned video video games and leisure as a pillar of the nation’s future development.

Japan-based Toei Animation Co. and a unit of MBS’ MiSK Foundation have teamed up on producing anime motion pictures. The nation’s sovereign wealth fund is now Nintendo Co.’s largest exterior shareholder.

One of the park’s signature rides can be a 230-foot-high curler coaster named after Shenron, the manga’s magical dragon.

The theme park announcement comes simply days after the death of Akira Toriyama, the creator behind “Dragon Ball.” The franchise has offered greater than 260 million copies worldwide and impressed a number of anime sequence, video video games and Hollywood-produced films.

Although the Saudi desert looks as if an unlikely location for a Dragon Ball theme park, it’s assured to be scorching: Daytime temperatures in Riyadh’s summer season can simply skyrocket to greater than 122 levels Fahrenheit.