The beginning of the year is manga time around here, and in 2020 I've decided to look at the latest iteration of a series that's near and dear to me: DRAGON BALL. I think I got into DRAGON BALL Z somewhere around early college, when it aired weekday afternoons on Cartoon Network's Toonami programming block. Not too long after that, I started reading the manga upon which the series was based -- first "scanlations" found online, and later official releases from Viz. It was in the manga format that I fell in love with the original DRAGON BALL, which followed the main characters as kids and teenagers, and I still prefer that iteration to this day over "Z".
But right now, we aren't talking about the original series or its anime adaptation. Because in recent years, after a couple decades of very little new material, there's been a DRAGON BALL resurgence in Japan, with tons of new content which has naturally found its way to America as well. It started in 2013 with a theatrical film called BATTLE OF GODS, which was followed in 2015 by a sequel, RESURRECTION "F". also in 2015, a new TV series debuted: DRAGON BALL SUPER -- and its earliest storylines adapted the two films into a serialized format before moving along into new material.
Alongside SUPER, a new DRAGON BALL manga series with the same title premiered... and that, dear reader, is what we'll be looking at here over the next few weeks. The SUPER manga follows the same general plot as the show, but with some tweaks here and there. It's written by the series' creator, Akira Toriyama, with artwork from Toyotarou. (The TV show also follows a general outline from Toriyama, though I understand the two series have diverged here and there in certain ways, and the manga has now passed the anime to move into original territory.)
But! Before we jump into DB SUPER, we're going to make one quick detour to check out a manga Toriyama wrote and drew in 2013, JACO THE GALACTIC PATROLMAN. I'm not sure anyone expected it at the time, but the series' title character would become a recurring presence in SUPER, so that seems like a good place to kick things off.
So -- one week from today. DRAGON BALL. Be there.
Hoped that you would do this. Tell the truth, I haven't read the SUPER Manga (for reasons I will reveal later), but I will still give my comments about the Anime. On a different note, it could be the wrong wording, but I think it would be a mistake to say 'written by Akira Toriyama.' Toyataro is the major scribe of the Manga. Toriyama gave outlines to both TOEI and Toyotaro to do the rest. From what I've gathered, it is the Anime that Toriyama has a closer association. Anyhoo, will look forward to the Jaco review and its controversial MINUS chapter.
ReplyDeleteYou're right; "written by" was probably a poor choice of words. The official credits, at least in the Viz translation, say "story by" Akira Toriyama with art by Toyotarou. Though the first or second volume has a little interview with Toyotarou where he sort of explains the process, and sounds almost like "Marvel style":
Delete"I draw a rough draft based on original scripts from Toriyama Sensei. I pass it on to the editor and Sensei and they review it."
He also says that sometimes Toriyama sends him rough drawings of how he wants things to look, and that he also makes art corrections occasionally. So Toriyama is definitely "hands-on" with the SUPER manga in some capacities.
I still need to read Jaco! It was a last-minute addition to the schedule. I've already read and written posts for most of the SUPER volumes, but now I need to go back and try to do my Jaco post by Monday. So don't be surprised if it's a day or two late next week.
I look forward to reading the MINUS story. I haven't seen the new Broly movie yet, which I know incorporates some aspects of MINUS, so this will be my first exposure to whatever it is Toriyama did there.
I'm actually a "Dragon Ball" fan, so I greatly approve of this post. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat, glad to have you aboard!
DeleteOh man, be careful, DBZ fanboys cruise the internet looking for ANY mention of Super to beat up on it. Sometimes it's even IN posts about Dragon Ball!
ReplyDeleteSeriously, Youtube is hilarious about that. Post a video of any anime series from any time, wait five minutes, someone shows up to say the animation is better than Super's.
I have all the volumes released so far of Super, and have watched the entire anime (love it myself) so this is gonna be good.
Meant to respond to this a week ago to say: if I could deal with John Byrne's ire, I hope I can handle angry DBZ fans too!
DeleteAnyway, glad you're aboard, Jack!