ReviewMasters Guild: Dragonball manga

Type: Manga

Genre: Fantasy comedy

Pricing: $2.95/$4.50 Canada

Rating: along PG-13
(mild language, mature situations, brief nudity)

Everyone knows that Goku is considered the stongest man in the world, that he is a loving and caring father, and that he has... ahem, a short wit. Not everyone, however, knows how it all began. Dragonball is the beginning of the legacy. It really starts with Bulma, who is on her summer vacation and is on the hunt for the dragonballs. Her scanner leads her to a kid, named Goku, who does have one of the dragonballs. However, he's not all to willing to part with it since it was his grandfathers, who passed away due to mysterious circumstances (read to find out how). So Goku, having nothing better to do, and wanting to fight the Eternal Dragon that is summoned when all the dragonballs are brought together, tags along with Bulma. This series isn't as action oriented as is the better known Dragonball Z series, but more comedy oriented. Goku, living outside of the mainstream society, has a lot to learn, and his manner are really lacking. If you're looking for action, this isn't the exact place to find it. If you're looking for humor, and a good bit of it dirty (hehe), then you've got to pick up this manga series

DragonBall, the manga that started it all. I've seen the anime but from what I've read now the Manga and Anime are two different vehicles. When I compared the new Manga by Viz Communications it to the original Japanese Manga I noticed that they were able to get all of the art in and everything. However, one thing weirds me out. When I read it sometimes words are backwards. After looking into this I found out that they used a mirror trick to make the art so sometimes stuff may look backwards. Also, I think that the action part of DB is good but there isn't enough for me because I saw DBZ first as a anime. I think that the manga has some good points and some bad and in me they are mixed. 2.5/5

BACK

Dragonball artwork by and created by Akira Toriyama. First published by Shueisha, Inc., Tokyo, 1983. English translation arranged by Shueisha, Inc. through Cloverway, Inc. Copyrighted 1984, Bird Studio. Current publication by ViZ Comic, 1998. All titles, images, names, etc. are protected by the above and used without their permission or knowledge.