In my view Freeza should have been the ultimate Dragon Ball villain. The most powerful being in the universe, until defeated by the Super Saiyan.
ThenIn my view Freeza should have been the ultimate Dragon Ball villain. The most powerful being in the universe, until defeated by the Super Saiyan.
Then, suddenly Freeza returns and the mysterious Trunks shows up. It was certainly a bold way to introduce the new addition to the cast, and he's a solid character. But to easily defeat Freeza and even his dad King Cold was a bit of a cheap way to show how the next arc will have villains EVEN MORE POWERFUL.
(I mean, they blow up planets, what did it even mean at this point to be so powerful...)
I will have some thoughts to share about the upcoming Cell Saga in future volumes. I wonder if it should have ended before, but in any case it was certainly interesting to keep up with the science fiction evolution of Dragon Ball, by shifting from space opera to time travel. ...more
A great epic fight, as DBZ continues to up the ante.
What's interesting about this earlier story is Vegeta clearly outpowers Goku. He needed to be cleA great epic fight, as DBZ continues to up the ante.
What's interesting about this earlier story is Vegeta clearly outpowers Goku. He needed to be clever to outmaneuver him, and teamed up with others to win (even Gohan).
Weird how Vegeta gets redeemed after this, still for the time being what a villain he was...
It was also a good denouement to the alien Saiyan ape transformation thing, finally explaining it in what felt like a good conclusion planned since early Dragon Ball. Next, of course, comes the Super Saiyan era.
I do live the Frieza arc that comes next, but from then on its more about who has the higher power level in one-on-one fights of willpower. It's a different kind of story compared to when heroes found smart ways to defeat stronger bad guys.
Lastly, have to say that the manga reads so much faster compared to the famously slow anime. That can be good for impatient readers or a little disappointing for fans who watched it on TV first. Still, this was such an important volume for the history not only of Dragon Ball Z but for all Shonen genre!...more
And with that, the original Dragon Ball is concluded!
It had a weird start, a fantasy gag comic somewhat based on Chinese mythology with constant pervAnd with that, the original Dragon Ball is concluded!
It had a weird start, a fantasy gag comic somewhat based on Chinese mythology with constant perverted jokes that have mostly aged terribly. Then there was the tournament of power, then an adventure story about fighting evil villains, as Goku kept on training and leveling up and finding mystical mentors to teach him yet more ultimate power, until finally Toriyama-sama had basically created an entire genre that is the modern shonen manga.
So many of the tropes started here. In the final volume before we transition to Dragon Ball Z, there's another tournament and the ultimate enemy to save the world from is none other than Piccolo Jr (the reincarnation of the previous demon king, it's a long story). Even if DBZ wasn't such a huge success, if Dragon Ball ended there, it would have been forever remembered as a classic. In many ways, the fun and imagination here was even better than the epic cosmic stories of the later Z era. And at least Goku didn't even win the first two tournaments, so it felt like real stakes.
Like many of my generation, I grew up on the Dragon Ball Z fighting. That may be where my nostalgia lies, but it's been very much worth it going back to the beginning and seeing how it all started. Before the timeskips, and the aliens and afterlife and the intergenerational storytelling, the originals were smaller in scope were still some of the best.
Well, on to the next chapter: In Japan it was volume 17, but in the rest of the world it's time for a new volume 1......more
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