DRAGON BALL SUPER VOLUME 6

Story by: Akira Toriyama | Art by: Toyotarou

The battle royale between all the Gods of Destruction of the twelve universes comes to a premature conclusion as volume 6 opens, when the two Zenos declare that the destroyers are moving too fast and are hard to watch. It is decided that gods will not be allowed to participate in the upcoming all-universe tournament -- but to prove that the tournament is still viable, the only two mortals present at the gathering, Goku and Universe 11's Top (called Toppo in Viz's translation, but I like Top better) are instructed to stage a quick exhibition match. And quick it is, as Top defeats Goku fairly easily even when the latter transforms into his Super Saiyan Blue form.

Let's pause for a moment here to discuss Top. He's presented quite differently in the manga than in the TV series. In the show, Top doesn't like Goku from the get-go, believing he's an evil scumbag for championing the tournament -- but in the manga, he seems more indifferent toward Goku, acknowledging that he's a decent fighter and telling him that he's a strange guy. Top also has a startling secret in the anime, revealed late in the tournament, as we learn that he's in training to become Universe 11's next God of Destruction! But that surprise, which was a genuinely exciting and shocking moment in the TV version, is neutered here as we're told up front about Top's destiny.

(I suspected that perhaps the manga revealed this early on because the anime had already spoiled it, but some quick release date research reveals that the episode with the revelation aired in January of 2018 in Japan, while the manga chapter that mentioned it was released in September of 2017... so I really have no idea why Toriyama and/or Toyotarou chose to do it this way.)

Following the fight between Goku and Top, the rules of the tournament are laid out, as are the prize and punishments: Ten fighters from each of eight universes will participate. Killing, weapons, medicine, and flying are all disallowed. All you need to do to beat someone is throw them out of the ring. The fight will be a battle royale -- all eighty fighters battling at once -- and it will last nearly an hour. The team with the most fighters standing at the end of the time limit will win. The winners will be awarded the Super Dragon Balls to make a wish, while all of the losing universes will be erased from existence. The four universes not participating have the highest "mortal score" out of all twelve. The tournament is essentially a way for a fifth universe to prove itself and not be eliminated due to low scores. (The "main" DB universe is said to be in second-to-last place as far as scores, which I find hilarious.)

With that, everyone is dismissed. Goku, Kaioshin, Beerus, and Whis head to Earth to confer with Vegeta and Bulma on strategy, and to build their team. This is one departure from the anime that I don't love: Vegeta and Goku just rattle off a bunch of names, coming up with themselves, Boo, Piccolo, Gohan, Master Roshi, Krillin, Tenshinhan, Android 18, and Android 17. The anime had a lot more deliberation, and devoted several episodes to Goku traveling around and assembling the team. Yes, it did sometimes feel like the old DB/Z "filler" type of episodes, but it was fun to see nonetheless. But here, Goku and Vegeta simply rattle off all the names, and we only see Goku recruiting Piccolo, Krillin and No. 18, then No. 17.

A wrench comes into the plan when it turns out Majin Boo is sleeping and won't be able to make the tournament.* Goku decides that the team needs to recruit Freeza, and gets Roshi's sister, Urunai Baba, to bring the deceased warlord back to life for twenty-four hours (a trick she's done a few times before over the years, starting with Goku's Grandpa Gohan in the original DRAGON BALL era). It takes some convincing, but Freeza agrees to join up on the condition that Goku will use the Dragon Balls to truly resurrect him after the tournament is done.

We also get scenes in Universes 11 and 6, where Top recruits fighters from his elite peacekeeping unit, the Pride Troopers, while Cabba entreats fellow Siayans Caulifla and Kale to join the fight.

The volume ends with all of Universe 7's fighters dramatically assembled on Bulma's lawn, ready to leave for the tournament. Interestingly, Toyotarou has made a departure from the anime with Gohan's characer design. All the other characters are dressed as in the animated version of the tournament, but Gohan -- who was clad in Goku's orange-and-blue outfit on TV, as he was at the tail end of the Boo Saga in DBZ -- is here dressed in his purple-and-red outfit from the "Great Saiyaman"/early Boo DBZ period. Basically, it seems he's dressed to homage Piccolo, as he frequently did in the anime, rather than Goku.

As I noted once or twice previously, I feel like the manga speeds through certain bits that I liked in the anime. Commenter Jack noted a few weeks back that, coming from a fan background, perhaps Toyotarou is just in a hurry to get to the "good stuff", and has little interest in bridging scenes. For me, those types of scenes are often the best part of DRAGON BALL, so I'm a little disappointed if this is the case. Like I said above, I would've enjoyed seeing the manga's take on Goku gathering all of his team, rather than just a few of them -- if only for an explanation as to why he's chosen Roshi! The anime dedicated an entire episode to Goku recruiting Tien, and in that episode we learned that Roshi has been secretly training and is stronger than ever before. But here, Goku immediately throws his name in as a team member, despite the fact that the last we knew, Roshi was long retired. Even Yamcha was stronger than Roshi by the time DBZ ended, but he's only briefly mentioned here as a joke candidate.

(Which, I admit, I find equal parts funny and sad. Early on, Yamcha was a main protagonist in DRAGON BALL. Even as late as the Android Saga, he was considered a member of the team. But at some point he became a joke among fandom, and it's a little disappointing to see that Toriyama, Toyotarou, and TOEI have all embraced that joke and run with it. But as long as Tien continues to get his moments, I can't complain too much.)

Toyotarou does, however, give us a brief glimpse at the RESURRECTION "F" story, recapping it (finally) for those only reading the manga. Also, when Goku goes to Kami's Lookout to ask where Android 17 is, Dende tells Goku about Oob, the reincarnation of Majin Boo who appeared at the very, very end of DRAGON BALL (in the scenes set ten years after the Boo Saga, so still in the future at this point in SUPER). So those are nice touches, at least (even if the Freeza thing is several volumes too late).

Anyway -- at this point I've decided to bring our look at DRAGON BALL SUPER to an end (for now). Yes, there is one more volume currently available from Viz, but right here -- at the start of the Tournament of Power -- seems like a good point to set the series aside. I might return to it a year from now, when there will be more volumes available and we can hopefully look at the entire tournament.

But! We're not entirely done with DRAGON BALL just yet. Next week, it's one more post, covering a funny little DB manga tie-in that came out a few years ago (and which provides a very nice counterpoint to the "Yamcha is a Joke" trend discussed above).

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* Bulma is informed of Boo's slumber by, err... "Hercule"... which brings up a point I had wanted to make back when I looked volume 1, but forgot: it's the twenty-first century. Can we please stop calling him that? The character's name is Mr. Satan. I understand that he was renamed to Hercule when FUNimation was broadcasting DBZ on weekday afternoons for kids, but c'mon. DB SUPER was aired late at night on Cartoon Network and the character was called Mr. Satan there. Viz's manga is completely uncensored and even features occasional mild swear words. I think we, as a society, can handle a character named Mr. Satan at this point!