Manga Reviews

 

DRAGON BALL

Plot:

The story of Dragon Ball follows the life of Son Goku, a monkey-tailed boy loosely based on the traditional Chinese folk tale Journey to the West, the eponymous Dragon Balls are one component of the universe, but are not the focus of most of the plot lines of the title. The Dragon Balls themselves are seven magical spheres which are scattered across the world. When assembled together, they can be used to summon the dragon Shenlong who will grant one wish (within limits). After the wish is granted, the balls are scattered again across the landscape and become inert for a year. In times past, it would take generations to search the world and gather the balls. In the beginning of the story however, a 16 year old genius girl named Bulma has created a "Dragon Radar" to detect the balls and making the process far easier than it was intended to be.

The Red Ribbon Army, which first appears in Dragon Ball, is an organization searching for the Dragon Balls at the same time as Goku during earlier parts of the Dragonball series. As the search goes on, the army sends a wave of fear and destruction throughout the world. They were controlled by a short man called Commander Red, who had said that he would wish for world domination. The Red Ribbon Army followed him, yet was unaware that Red was secretly going to wish to be tall. Son Goku and his friends have many encounters with the dangerous Red Ribbon army throughout the first half of the manga.


Characters:

Goku Son- Goku is very strong compared to the humans he becomes friends with, and has a tail. He also has a virtually endless appetite, and is very naive about many things until Bulma teaches him. He is the source of humor throughout the manga, he is also quick to make friends.

Bulma Briefs - Bulma is Dragon Ball's longest-appearing female character. She has a very spunky, tomboyish, temperamental personality. She is quite spoiled and vain, and known for her extreme intellect, Bulma is a genius inventor. She'll do whatever it takes to get what she wants and she won't let anything stand in her way, not mountains, not monsters, not even pride.

Oolong - He plays a large role in the beginning of Dragon Ball, Oolong has the distinction of being the first "villain" character converted over the course of the series. His favorite hobby is collecting women's underwear. Oolong is a shape shifting pig, although he was expelled from shape shifting training for stealing the teacher's underwear and lacks the ability to change his form for more than five minutes at a time without a break.

Master Roshi - Master Roshi lives on an island with a house built on it, known as Kame House; here, he trains his students. Muten-Rôshi is known as the "Turtle Hermit" due to the heavy turtle shell that he and his students wear on their backs for weight training. At the beginning of Dragon Ball, he is the strongest fighter on Earth; however his power level pales in comparison to any of the fighters in the later parts of the series.

Yamcha - He is a desert bandit who was introduced early in the series as an antagonist of Goku but quickly reformed and became an ally. His constant companion is the shape-changing Puar and, for most of the original series and the first half of the second, he had a relationship with Bulma.

Puar - Puar is a shape shifting blue cat and the constant companion of Yamcha. They worked as a team to rob anyone traveling through the Desert in which they lived. He also has an innate ability to fly (the first character in the series to do so) and is nearly always seen simply 'standing' in thin air at about human head height.

Krillin - He is the best friend of Son Goku, and is the student of Master Roshi in his first appearance in the anime and manga. He is often used as comic relief or cannon fodder by the author, and has been killed in the series, but revived by the dragon balls. When he first meets Goku, they have a rivalry, which dissipates later on in the manga. For an unknown reason, Krillin has no nose.

Tenshinhan - Informally known as Tien, he is introduced as an enemy of the series' hero, Son Goku, but soon becomes an ally. His most noticeable feature is his third eye. Tenshinhan is exceptionally strong, and the closest human to Goku's strength.

Choutzu - Choutzu was a student along with Tenshinhan of Tsuru-Sen'nin, The crane Hermit, and he has skills that involve telepathy and telekinesis. He has participated alongside Tenshinhan in the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai, representing the Crane School of martial arts, but Chaozu lost in the quarter-finals against Krillin, representing the Snake Hermit's rival Master Roshi's Turtle School. He and Tenshinhan later joined Roshi after being threatened by Master Shen.

Piccolo - A long time ago, Piccolo was one with Kami. Then Kami wanted to be Guardian of the Earth, but the Guardian at that time wouldn't let him because he had evil in him. So Kami underwent rigorous training to get rid of Piccolo. He succeeded, but Piccolo somehow managed to get a body. Piccolo Daiomo was defeated by Goku, after he had killed Master Roshi, Choutzu and through his actions Krillin. However, he was re-born later and yet again fought Goku and lost this time, not dying.


Review:

From the perverted Master Roshi, to the panty stealing pig Oolong and to the naive Goku the comedy is amazing, with more action as the plot continues. When comparing it to Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball Z, the continuation of Dragon Ball, we see just how good this manga is. Not that Dbz is bad, but that Db is superior with plot and character building. Even though the manga is good, the artwork isn't very detailed- It's a black and white version of the anime without fillers and terrible dubbing.


Live Action Anime Rating: 3/4 (Very Good)

0.5(Atrocious) 1(Horrible) 1.5(bad)2(meh...) 2.5(Good) 3(Very Good) 3.5(Excellent) 4/4(Masterpiece)


+Characters
+Plot
+Comedy
+Action
+Perverted Martial Arts Expert
-Less comedy as the manga goes on
-Characters like Oolong and Puar are neglected