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Nappa may be ruthless, but he is still the lunkheaded henchman of Vegeta, who may be smaller, but his menacing stance is enough to establish that he is even more powerful. We start to witness Vegeta’s power once Goku finally makes to the battle, despite being too late to save most of his allies. However, being trained by the Lord of Worlds, Kaiō-Sama, Goku avenges his friends’ deaths by easily whooping Nappa’s ass. Although Goku doesn’t specifically kill him, Vegeta does the honour and kills Nappa, based on his own sense of what weakness is. Vol. 1: The Monkey King (1985) - I know absolutely nothing about Dragonball going into this. Since I read so much manga now I thought it would be good to introduce myself to some old school popular series and decided to give this a shot. I found this first volume absolutely hilarious and such a fun, compelling story with so much happening. Goku is so cute and naive that I loved him right away and the shots of him without his pants on are a riot because he looks like a toddler, even though he is 14 but soo unworldly. The interaction between him and Bulma is also a riot as he learns the difference between boys and girls. Lots of sexual innuendo but of the pre-adolescent variety that is was all just silly fun. The plot was also fun with all 5 main characters being introduced in this volume and them finding 5 (I think) of the 7 dragonballs. I had no idea what the plot was going to be going into this and was quite amused to get almost a whole quest just from this first volume. I have to say I did not expect to enjoy this as much as I did and am eager to read Vol. 2! (5/5) Dragon Ball introduces a young monkey-tailed boy named Goku (a wry update of the classic Chinese "Monkey King" legend), whose quiet life changes when he meets a girl named Bulma who is on a quest to collect seven "Dragon Balls." If she gathers them all, an incredibly powerful dragon will appear and grant her one wish. But the precious orbs are scattered all over the world, and Bulma could use the help of a certain super-strong boy... Legend has it that if all seven of the precious orbs called “Dragon Balls” are gathered together, an incredibly powerful dragon god will appear to grant one wish. Unfortunately, the orbs are scattered across the world, making them extremely difficult to collect. Enter 16-year-old Bulma, a scientific genius who has constructed a radar to detect the exact locations of the Dragon Balls. She’s on a mission to find all seven orbs, but first she must convince young Son Goku to join her on her quest. With a monkey tail, superhuman strength and a magic staff for a weapon, Son Goku is ready to set out on the adventure of a lifetime… Speaking of Goku, once he’s finally healed, he does not hesitate as he swiftly flies into the battlefield. Before his fight with Freeza, Goku shows some sympathy towards the defeated Vegeta and for the first time, seems to embrace his part as a Saiyan. He will always be Goku as he still has his quips when facing off against Freeza, who is now his final elegant form. What became the longest fight in the TV adaptation of DBZ, the Goku versus Freeza fight in the source material has been just as iconic, with every chapter giving us something new as these two super-powered figures are equal in strength, so the outcome can go either way. Based on the front cover, you notice that Goku goes his own transformation as we finally get the Super Saiyan and is glorious as he looks bad-ass and ditches the quips.
What I didn't like: The unsure tone of what it wanted to be. It's at the end of this volume you seem to have a clear set mind of what this series will evolve to. Till then it seems a bit fuzzy and sometimes makes it a slog to read. Vol. 2: Wish Upon a Dragon (1986) - Just what I had hoped for, more of the same. Lots of action, plenty of plot and characters. A few new ones are added who seem to be the type we'll see again in the future. The final dragonballs are found ending our first quest. However that doesn't mean all goes quite as planned leaving only one person pleased when all is said and done. Now they must wait a year for the dragonballs to be ready again so they can search them out and everyone has their own ideas and plans for what they will do. As for Goku, he is off to find The Invincible Old Master to finally start his promised training but he has to bring a treat for the old "pervert". Just as laugh out loud funny and I really enjoy all the main characters but especially Goku and Bulma. The monsters battled to date have all turned out to be quite interesting themselves as well. One more volume to go in this fun collection. (5/5)Es bastante gracioso. En particular la mancuerna Son Goku—Bulma, y por supuesto el Maestro Roshi me sacar carcajadas (hablando de forma literal) y eso es poco común en este tipo de productos, así es claro que es un punto a favor. Most of this volume is about the final battle with Freeza being the big baddie that the few heroes that are left on the planet to go up against. This is a fight that is always changing, not just with Freeza’s multiple transformations, but how each character is giving everything they’ve got, from Gohan’s hidden power, Vegeta’s arrogance as thinks he’s the Super Saiyan, to Piccolo merging with Nail so that the former’s power can be greater. With Freeza is becoming stronger with each new transformation and continues to be merciless, it’s also a turning point for Vegeta, who becomes scared and realises his own weakness. Whatever salvation he hopes to achieve is the defeat of Freeza, if not by his own hands, then perhaps Goku. In terms of characterisation, don’t expect much nuance with each character having one or two defining features and runs with it. For instance, Goku may have a monkey tail and super strength, but is rather clueless about certain things of the outside world, such as unable to identify someone’s gender. As for Bulma, she may be a scientific genius who had constructed a radar to detect the exact locations of the Dragon Balls, but she’s a rather shallow teenager who is concerned about her looks and her only wish once she gets the Balls is to get a boyfriend. She's certainly not a role model for female readers, but the banter between her and Goku is a lot of fun. Apart from there being a few different names than the ones that I'm used too, the comic read really well, and it is absolutely hilarious! It's easy to forget that this whole franchise began as a big goof before growing into the massive franchise that it is today. As Goku, Bulma and Kuririn travel across the world to find the seven Dragon Balls, they have other things to worry about, such as being hunted by General Blue of the Red Ribbon Army, who is also trying to gain the Dragon Balls for what we assume was for world conquest, only to be revealed later that its leader Commander Red wants to wish for something personal and frankly silly, in typical Toriyama comedy form.
Granted that both the manga and anime of DBZ was actually a continuation of Son Goku’s journey who started off as a monkey-tailed boy living in the wilderness, as a late bloomer to reading manga, I felt now is the time to Toriyama’s story that was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine. When he meets the teenager Bulma – the first girl he has ever seen – Goku is recruited as her bodyguard to travel and find the wish-granting Dragon Balls. From its first chapter, Toriyama sets up the Journey to the West-inspired premise, the two unlikely protagonists and their dynamic that is, let’s say, dysfunctional. Dragon Ball was inspired by the classical Chinese novel, Journey to the West (or ‘Monkey’), attributed to Wu Cheng'en. In Journey to the West, the almost-invincible Monkey and his motley crew of friends travel (west) to India to seek sacred Buddhist sūtras and return after many adventures, trials and much suffering. Dragon Ball tells of the adventures of the almost-invincible monkey-tailed Son Goku and his own motley crew of friends, as he grows from childhood through to adulthood, trains in martial arts and searches for seven orbs known as the Dragon Balls which, when gathered, summon a dragon who will grant one wish. This omnibus edition comprises the first three volumes. It’s an exciting, fast paced, funny, inventive read, with genuinely great characters and beautiful artwork. Toriyama’s eye is like a camera, with a roving point of view and genius, mind-popping perspectives. It's also amazing how modern this story feels, considering that it is nearly FOURTY years old. If I were new to the series and you told me that this had just came out, it wouldn't be a stretch to believe it. I think that just proves how influential it is. What I liked: Volume 8 as a whole is super fun, super serious at times, and really well done. Goku fights off against his strongest opponent yet. This bastard kills Goku's friend and then leaves Goku for dead. The little monkey boy uses his skills to climb the tower and become even stronger! It's a lot of fun and the end of this arc where Goku just destroys the red ribbon army made me happy and say "FINALLY!" lol. Also Bulma's BOOBS = 10/10.La calidad del dibujo es muy buena, creo que incluso es algo superior a otros mangas que he podido ver. Así que no solo es sencillo seguir la trama, sino que es un gusto hacerlo. With sixteen fighters chosen to compete in the main tournament – including Goku, Gohan, Vegeta, Piccolo, Kuririn, and #18 – it starts off in a typical direction when it comes to the Tenka'ichi Budōkai with the first fight (Kuririn versus Punta) played for laughs, but the inclusion of four new players eventually changes the whole game. On one side, you have Yamu and Spopovich, who are two henchmen of a new evil force; and on the other side, you have the Lord of Lords, Shin, and his attendant Kibito, who seek the help of the Z fighters to stop this new threat. The joy of reading early Dragon Ball was that Toriyama was making it up as he was writing it with the storytelling having an episodic nature with a chapter or two focusing on a situation like, the confrontation against Oolong, a shapeshifting pig that can change into anything, but only for five minutes at a time. The first two-thirds of this volume may be about the search for the Dragon Balls, but it’s really about Toriyama is spontaneous with the world-building where he can introduce characters, big or small, can come and go, with really more of an emphasis on comedy than action. I read this last year but I guess I never reviewed it. Thing is I read all of Dragon Ball in Korean when I was 10. More like looked at all the pictures and guessed what they were saying. Dragon Ball has a ton of humor though and I missed that. it wasn't until I was older I got to read Dragon Ball in english. Now that it's here what do I think? Well shit man, this is fun stuff.
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