DRAGON BALL SUPER VOLUME 11

Story by: Akira Toriyama | Art by: Toyotarou

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The next installment of DRAGON BALL SUPER opens with something I don't believe had ever been seen in the DB/Z saga up to this point -- a battle in outer space. But since Saiyans can't survive in the vacuum (a fact firmly established during the Freeza Saga, if it didn't already go without saying), it is the Kaioshin in Boo's body who challenges Moro in orbit over Namek. And while the Kaioshin-Boo puts up a decent showing, he isn't enough. He's weaker than Moro, and, as he discovers during their skirmish, hig "god power" is gone -- taken by the evil Kid Boo when Majin Boo split into his good and evil halves during the climax of the original DBZ era.

But Merus comes to the rescue in his spacesuit, saving Kaioshin-Boo and distracting Moro long enough for Boo to transport Moro back to Namek with the instant transmission technique. Goku and Vegeta arrive a split second later thanks to Goku's own use of that power, and the two brag that they're about to finish Moro -- which is when he reveals the third wish he made to the dragon Porunga: that all the inmates at the Galactic Prison would go free.

Following a brief flashback to the moment Moro made his wish, which shows the prisoners exiting their cells and stealing a ship, we jump back to the present as they arrive on Namek and attack. At the same time, Moro begins draining Goku's and Vegeta's energies, reducing them both to their base forms. Merus and Jaco step in to help, but the heroes are outnumbered. Kaioshin transports himself and the sole surviving Namekian child to Galactic Patrol HQ, while Goku does the same for himself, Jaco, and Merus. But Vegeta spurns Goku's assistance to leave, and instead flies aboard Merus's and Jaco's ship, ordering the pilot to set course for planet Yardrat.

DRAGON BALL SUPER VOLUME 10

Story by: Akira Toriyama | Art by: Toyotarou

The action continues on New Planet Namek, as Vegeta challenges Moro one-on-one. During the duel, Vegeta extracts from Moro the fact that he plans to collect the Dragon Balls and wish himself back to his prime in terms of power (a goal quite similar to Piccolo's when he first appeared as an elderly demon in the original DRAGON BALL). Vegeta then reveals he's been holding back and attempts to kill Moro, but learns too late that the villain's life-draining powers operate passively, and he has sucked enough vitality out of Vegeta that he's unable to go Super Saiyan and finish the fight.

Moro easily defeats Goku and Vegeta, sapping thier life forces until both are at death's door, and growing younger and stronger in the process. He heads out in search of his Freeza Force minion, Cranberry, to find Namek's Dragon Balls. Time passes (a week total since Goku and Vegeta left Earth, and three days following their incapacitation). On Earth, Bulma contacts Jaco and orders him to send a ship to take her to New Namek. On Namek, Goku and Vegeta are revived by the Namekians, but are still considerably low on power. Moro has acquired six Dragon Balls, and defeated the Namekians' graeatest warrior (a fusion of dozens of powerful Namekians) with a single blow.

Goku and Vegeta catch up with Moro again, but before they can act, Merus appears in a Galactic Patrol ship. He engages Moro and quickly subdues him. Jaco then releases Majin Boo from the ship, but Boo now has the memories of the Kaioshin inside him unlocked. He attacks and easily gains the upper hand on Moro. But in all the chaos, Cranberry has escaped -- and just as Boo is about to finish Moro, the sky over Namek goes dark and Porunga the dragon appears. Cranberry has found the final Dragon Ball. Porunga offers him the customary three wishes, and the uncreative Cranberry first wishes to be restored to full health. Then he makes Moro's wish -- to have the ancient wizard's magic fully restored. Cranberry is next about to wish himself away from Namek forever, when Moro appears and kills him.

DRAGON BALL SUPER VOLUME 9

Story by: Akira Toriyama | Art by: Toyotarou

Last week we looked at the first chunk of this volume, which featured the conclusion of the Tournament of Power. The book features a little note from Toyotarou at the beginning, where he notes that he added some additional pages for the collected editions which were not printed in the SHONEN JUMP issues. I have no idea what pages are new, though, so I'm just calling it as I see it when reading this stuff.

The tournament ends in the volume's second chapter, but that chapter then continues, reminding readers that the BROLY movie comes next, and then we skip ahead an undetermined amount of time to find Goku and Vegeta training inside the Capsule Corporation gravity chamber. But they're soon called by Bulma, who has been alerted by Mr. Satan that someone is kidnapping Majin Boo. Goku and Vegeta head for Satan's estate, where they're quickly subdued by a member of the Galactic Patrol named Merus. Later, at Patrol headquarters, the Saiyans bump into Jaco and his supervisor, who inform them that a criminal has busted out of galactic prison and the Patrol needs to remove the Kaisoshin who lives inside Boo to obtain his help in apprehending the escapee.

By the way, I should mention that I absolutely love that Merus simply zaps Goku and Vegeta with a stun ray and they're immediately knocked out. It makes little sense, given what we've seen them survive, but it's fun to see the normally all-powerful fighters taken out by a simple blaster. If they ever find themselves up against a guy with a gun as the main villain of a saga, apparently they're in big trouble! And speaking of guns, there's a moment that I can't help laughing at for some reason -- as Merus is loading the slumbering Boo into his spaceship, Mister Satan draws an automatic pistol from his gi to take a pot shot at the patrolman. No idea why the idea of Satan packing heat while hanging around his mansion tickles me so much, but it does. (Though I also find it a bit against his character. Wasn't he shown to be staunchly anti-gun when he knocked out those two guys on a shooting spree during the Boo Saga?)

DRAGON BALL SUPER VOLUME 8

Story by: Akira Toriyama | Art by: Toyotarou

The eighth DRAGON BALL SUPER installments opens with a focus on Freeza battling Caulifla and Kale, two of the Saiyans from Universe 6. Caulifla, having learned from Cabba how to go Super Saiyan, puts up a strong showing against Freeza, until the villain changes to his ultimate form -- Golden Freeza. Interestingly, however the RESURRECTION "F" storyline went in the manga (remember, we have no idea since it was inexplicably skipped with the weak reason that readers should just go watch the movie instead), it's clear that it was at least partially different from the anime -- because while Freeza revealed his Golden form in both the movie and TV versions of that story, here everyone (including Goku) is surprised by it.

When Golden Freeza gains the upper hand on Caulifla, her friend Kale steps in, revealing a "new" Super Saiyan form no one has ever seen. This is, famously, the first canon version of the "Legendary Super Saiyan" power-up achieved by Broly in the 1990s DBZ movies -- all of which existed outside of the official continuity. Kale begins beating on Freeza to the point that Goku has to step in and save him, and the pair briefly battles her together until she zips away from the fight on a rampage.

Kale singel-handedly completes the elimnation of four universes, but her mindlessness takes a toll and Universe 11's Pride Troopers work together to subdue her. Caulifla, meanwhile, reveals that she stole the Potara earrings from her universe's Kaioshin. When Champa sees this from the stands, he orders Caulfila to put on one earring and get the other on Kale. With the help (and sacrifice) of Cabba, an earring is placed on Kale, and Caulifla dons the other. The pair fuses into a being called Kefla, who promptly wipes out the majority of the Pride Troopers -- then Gohan steps in to challenge her, resulting in a double knockout which eliminates Gohan and sees Universe 6 wiped out.

DRAGON BALL SUPER VOLUME 7

Story by: Akira Toriyama | Art by: Toyotarou

The Tournament of Power begins in DRAGON BALL SUPER volume 7, as the ten best fighters from six of the twelve universes gather for a battle royale from which only one universe will emerge intact. After a few pages of the various fighters scoping each other out, the rules are explained: no flying, no killing. If you're knocked off the ring, you're eliminated from the tournament and teleported to the stands to observe the rest of the fight alongside your universe's gods. The last universe standing -- or whichever universe has the most fighters left after 48 minutes -- wins it all.

With all that out of the way, the tournament begins. Universe 9 is quickly eliminated by the other fighters' combined efforts. Meanwhile Freeza makes a deal with his Universe 6 counterpart, Frost. If Frost will go all-out first and eliminate as many fighters as he can, Freeza will "tap in" for him when he's exhausted to continue the fight. Frost abides, taking out several fighters, including Krillin and Tenshinhan of Universe 6. But he eventually tires, and Freeza reveals his true colors, taking Frost out of the fight.

We then move to follow Goku and Hit as they battle Universe 11's greatest warriors, the Pride Troopers -- led by Top, who Goku met and dueled in the previous volume. Eventually, Goku and Hit move their attention to the strongest Pride Trooper, Jiren, and despite new techniques developed by Hit since his last fight against Goku, Jiren makes fast work of Universe 6's greatest warrior. With Hit eliminated, focus switches to the rest of Universe 7's fighters, jumping around between Vegeta, Gohan, Piccolo, Seventeen, and Eighteen as they battle the various universes' other warriors. By the end of the volume, Eighteen and Piccolo have been eliminated, leaving Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Roshi, Seventeen, and Freeza as reprsentatives against the remaining fighters.

DRAGON BALL: THAT TIME I GOT REINCARNATED AS YAMCHA

Based on Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama
Story and Art by dragongarow LEE

This goofball manga was published in Japan in 2017 and received an English-language release from Viz in 2018. I read it via "scanlations" when it was first released, and liked it so much that I bought Viz's digital edition. It's the story of a Japanese teenager, who happens to be a huge DRAGON BALL fan, and who is accidentally killed when he falls down a flight of stairs -- only to wake up in the DRAGON BALL world, reincarnated in the body of Yamcha, circa the end of the initial DB story arc, the "Pilaf Saga".

Our protagonist pretty quickly adjusts to his life, and what follows is a three-chapter storyline in which he uses his meta-knowledge of future events to his own advantage. The story skips straight past all of DRAGON BALL (after establishing that Yamcha is going to train with Master Roshi alongside Goku rather than travel to the Western Capitol with Bulma), and jumps to the Saiyan Saga. We learn that Yamcha has climbed Korin's tower and trained there, and has even borrowed Piccolo's spaceship to fly to planet Namek, where the Great Elder of Namek unlocked his hidden power and he trained with the warrior, Nail. Because of all this, Yamcha is able to fight alongside Goku and defeat Vegeta.

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.)

DRAGON BALL SUPER VOLUME 5

Story by: Akira Toriyama | Art by: Toyotarou

Continuing the precedent set in the previous volume, DRAGON BALL SUPER book 5 wraps up the Future Trunks/Goku Black storyline, but does so in a vastly different fashion that the TV show. In the anime, after Goku and Vegeta have both battled the merged Zamas, Trunks steps in to deal a crippling blow, slicing Zamas in half. The villain then begins to merge with the entire universe, and Goku summons the Lord of Everything, Zeno (more on that below), to finally wipe out Zamas. Zeno does so, destroying the entire universe in the process.

The manga follows the same basic outline, but instead of the halved Zamas somehow merging with the universe, he is reborn as two full version of himself. From that point forward, any time he's injured, the pieces re-spawn into a full-fledged Zamas. It's really creepy and, for me at least, sells the hopelessness of the situation better than the anime setup.

The manga and anime re-unify after Zamas is beaten -- Goku and Trunks bring Zeno home with them, then Whis suggests that Trunks and Mai use the time machine to return to the future to a point before Zamas attacked, where they enlist the aid of Beerus to kill him. The couple agrees, even though it means they will now co-exist alongside other version of themselves in the revised timeline. With that, Trunks and Mai depart and the saga ends.

DRAGON BALL SUPER VOLUME 4

Story by: Akira Toriyama | Art by: Toyotarou

Volume 3 of DRAGON BALL SUPER ended with a defeated Goku and Vegeta returning to the present day, with Trunks left behind in his future to hold off Goku Black. As volume 4 opens, Goku and Vegeta arrive and Bulma quickly explains the facts of interdimensional time travel in the DRAGON BALL world: since Trunks' time machine is "tied" to a parallel future, it is unable to return to the exact moment it left. However long passes in the present while the machine is refueled will also pass for Trunks in his time -- and it'll take a full day for Bulma to charge the machine up again.

Vegeta spends the day training in the Room of Spirit and Time (a.k.a. the "Hyperbolic Time Chamber" in FUNimatin's TV dubs -- a name I've never liked since it makes the place sound more scientific than magical), while Goku goes to Master Roshi to learn the Mafuba technique, an ability Roshi used many years ago against the Demon King Piccolo. Basically Mafuba will seal any evil being away, so long as the proper kanji is somehow applied to whatever vessel the villain is forced into. Since future Zamas is immortal, Goku realizes Mafuba may be the only chance to beat him.

(By the way, I love the callback to the Mafuba technique (known as the "Evil Containment Wave" via FUNimation) -- as I've mentioned before, original DRAGON BALL is my favorite part of the entire DB/Z story, so anything that references it this directly is A-okay by me.)

DRAGON BALL SUPER VOLUME 3

Story by: Akira Toriyama | Art by: Toyotarou

As noted last week, we begin our look at DRAGON BALL SUPER volume 3 with a quick summary of the final few chapters from volume 2, which set up this book's main storyline.

A major story arc in the original DRAGON BALL manga (and it's DRAGON BALL Z television adaptation) was the "Cell saga", in which Trunks, son of Vegeta and Bulma from the future, returned to the present day to battle some androids alongside Goku and friends. As DB SUPER volume 2 closes out, we return to Trunks' future to find that a new threat has appeared, and he wears a familiar face: Goku, dressed all in black, is now a bad guy bent on ruling the world. He battles Trunks, kills Bulma (off-page), and apparently kills Trunks' love, Mai (the future/adult version of Emperor Pilaf's henchgirl, who you may recall has been inexplicably reverted to childhood along with Pilaf and their other pal, Shuu, in these pages). So Trunks climbs back into the old time machine and returns once more to the present, seeking help.

Which brings us to volume 3: Trunks tells the present-day heroes about "Goku Black", then following a bit of investigation to determine where the villain came from, Vegeta and Goku return to the future with Trunks to aid him.

DRAGON BALL SUPER VOLUME 2

Story by: Akira Toriyama | Art by: Toyotarou

Volume 2 of DRAGON BALL SUPER picks up where the first book ended, with Goku fighting Frost in the Universe 7 and 8 tournament. Goku appears to have the upper hand for the duration of their fight, until Frost abruptly turns the tables and knocks him out of the ring. Piccolo steps in to battle Frost next, and while he puts up a semi-decent showing, it's a foregone conclusion that he will lose as well -- and he does, in fairly short order. But the defeats of Goku and Piccolo allow Jaco's sharp eyes to spot the fact that Frost is using a poison-tipped needle against his opponents in violation of the tournament's rules. Frost is about to be disqualified, but Vegeta, Universe 7's next fighter, tells him to remain in the ring. Vegeta steps in, and swiftly eliminates Frost.

Much as I love DRAGON BALL, there is something about it which continually drives me nuts, and that's the "power creep" that runs throughout the saga. I understand that its genre requires the villains to become more and more powerful and the heroes to do likewise in order to beat them. And here we are, in the latest incarnation of a story that started with a kid who, while extraordinarily powerful, was still basically human -- and who is now able to harness the power of a god to fight his battles. I should note that, while I find the level of power on display in later DRAGON BALL (Z) and all of SUPER to be absurd, that doesn't bug me all that much. What gets me is the way certain characters are left way, way behind in the dust as these stories proceed

In early DRAGON BALL, Goku was the protagonist and maintained his position as the series' strongest fighter most of the time. But Yamcha, Krillin, and Tien were never that drastically far behind him (Tien was in fact Goku's equal when he first appeared). Then Piccolo came along and joined the good guys and became the second most powerful warrior. By the time of the Android/Cell storyline, Vegeta was a member of the team as well and had become number 2. Gohan spent a moment as the strongest fighter, but when the Boo saga hit, it was generally Goku at the top again, most of the time. And ever since, DRAGON BALL has been the "all Saiyans, all the time" series -- and that's what bugs me.

DRAGON BALL SUPER VOLUME 1

Story by: Akira Toriyama | Art by: Toyotarou

The original DRAGON BALL manga (and the DRAGON BALL Z TV series which adapted it) ended with the series' main character, Goku, defeating the evil Majin Boo* and bringing peace to the universe. There was also a brief coda following this battle, set ten years later, to wrap everything up. DRAGON BALL SUPER is set between Boo's defeat and the "ten years later" sequence, following the adventures of Goku and his friends in that timeframe.

The SUPER manga begins with an adaptation of the 2013 BATTLE OF GODS movie. Goku's existence comes to the attention of a deity named Beerus, the God of Destruction. Beerus comes to Earth to challenge Goku to a fight, in hopes that the hero will transform into the legendary "Super Saiyan God".

(By the way, I'm sort of assuming that you know what a Saiyan is. I'm writing this with the idea that the reader is familiar with at least the basics of the DRAGON BALL saga. It's hard to go in cold reviewing the new installments of a thirty-plus year-old property without having written about any of the material that came before!)

So Beerus and Goku fight and, sure enough, Goku achieves the Super Saiyan God form. Beerus thanks Goku for a good fight, then departs -- but not before informing Goku that the universe in which he lives is actually part of a multiverse comprised of a dozen near-identical universes, each with its own great warriors (Goku's universe, for the record, is Universe 7).

JACO THE GALACTIC PATROLMAN

Story ant Art: Akira Toriyama

It's been around seven years since JACO was published (the timeframe of its release included the build-up to, and release of, BATTLE OF GODS in Japanese theaters), so I don't recall if it was touted up front as a DRAGON BALL prequel -- but it becomes evident almost immediately in chapter one that that's exactly what it is. But at the same time, it's its own thing and pretty funny too, in its own right.

The story begins with our hero, a goofy space cop named Jaco, crash-landing on a small nearly-deserted island on Earth. The island's only inhabitant is an old man named Omori, who lives as a hermit following the death of his wife years earlier. Jaco reveals that he came to Earth to intercept a being currently en route from a planet of savage warriors. This, combined with glimpses of domelike architecture common in DRAGON BALL, are our first clues that the manga is set in the DB universe, and likely a prequel.

If only to get rid of Jaco, Omari -- a one-time research scientist who was originally on the island to work on a time machine -- begins repairing the patrolman's spaceship. Government operatives soon appear, ordering Omori to leave the island, and soon after, Omori realizes that he needs a rare and valuable element called "sky gold" in order to get it running. Realizing he may be stuck with Jaco for a while, Omori takes his guest to the mainland for some grocery shopping. There, Jaco stops some crimes and becomes wanted by the police. The unlikely duo meets a girl named Tights, who helps them escape the cops and returns to the island with them.

DRAGON BALL SUPER

(And a couple related items.)

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.