Title: Dragon Ball
Volume(s): 42
Creator(s): Akira Toriyama
Format: Unflipped; Right-to-Left
Publisher: VIZ, LLC.
MSRP: $7.95
Genre(s): Action/Comedy
Rated: Teen (13+)

CONSUMER ADVICE

Parents who are concerned about whether or not they should let there kids read this series should know there there is violence, crude humor, and mild language throughout the entire series. Fans of action and comedy will love this series. Women may not like this series very much since this is a martial arts series, and the fact that women don't play a very big role in the story.

Akira Toriyama is one of Japan's best artists. Over the years Toriyama has written comic books, children's books, he's done character designs for popular video games like the “Dragon Warriors” series and “Chrono Trigger,” and has helped in the making of some popular cartoons. His profile of work is quite impressive, but the shining jewel in his crown of creations is his 1984 comic “Dragon Ball.” Premiering in the Japanese magazine “Weekly Shonen Jump” in 1984 (And currently running in America's own “Shonen Jump”), “Dragon Ball” was a run away hit that created a merchandise monster that included toys, video games, a hit TV show, movies, and more. From 1984 until Toriyama finally ended his comic in 1995, with 42 graphic novels (That included all 519 chapters of his epic), 500+ episodes of the TV show, and over 13 movies. “Dragon Ball” had left it's mark on the world, and became a staple of Japanese pop culture, which has also become a success throughout the rest of the world.

And it's not hard to see why.

The story starts out with us meeting the star of the story Son Goku, an unusually strong boy who has the tail of a monkey. Goku lives a peaceful life in the middle of nowhere, where he cuts firewood, hunts for his food, and practices martial arts. One day while bringing home a giant fish from the hunt, he is almost run over by a car, with the driver being a pig tailed girl named Bulma. Goku, not knowing what a car is, lifts the car (With Bulma still inside), tosses it aside, and when Bulma tries to shoot Goku with a gun she finds out that bullets don't kill him. After witnessing how strong Goku is Bulma gives up and explains to Goku who she is. Once Bulma explains to Goku who she is Goku apologies to her, and offers her lunch at his house. However once they get to Goku's house Bulma spots something that catches her eye: An orange ball with three stars in the center of it.

Apparently this orange ball is known as a dragon ball, and there are seven of these balls scattered across the world (Hence why there are a certain number of stars in each ball). As legend has it, when someone gathers all seven of these balls together, the legendary Dragon God Shenlong will appear and will grant the gatherer a single wish. Goku is amazed by this story, but when Bulma asks him for his dragon ball he refuses to give it to her as it had been the last thing his grandpa gave to him before he died. After a few offers fail to convince Goku to give her his dragon ball Bulma comes up with an inspiring idea: Ask Goku to join her on her quest to gather the dragon balls. Not only would she get to use Goku's dragon ball, but she could also use Goku's strength for protection. Goku agrees to join Bulma with the promise that he'll get his dragon ball back once the wish has been made, only problem is Bulma doesn't tell Goku that after a wish is made with the dragon balls they turn to stone for a whole year. And thus the epic known as “Dragon Ball” begins.

At first glance “Dragon Ball” looks like a basic story, and to tell you the truth is kind of is, but Toriyama keeps the journey interesting with his witty sense of humor and gorgeous art. One of the things I feel is best about the whole “Dragon Ball” universe is the art work. What Toriyama has created here is a fully realized world in the same sense of “The Lord of The Rings” world. Like T.R. Tolkins famous creation, “Dragon Balls” world is always vibrant, always intriguing, and always wonderful to look at, you've got to hate Toriyama for being so talented. This is probably the only comic where you'll see the afterlife portrayed as a parody of Buddhist and Christian imagery. And despite Toriyama being Japanese, “Dragon Ball” has a distinctive Chinese look to the whole thing, making the martial art fights look that much cooler then they probably would have looked otherwise.

Also despite the fact that I've only mentioned two characters in the story description, the cast in this series is HUGE, and every character has a purpose for being there! From the rival Kurrin, to the personality changing Lunch, to the pro-wrestler Mr. Satan, every character feels unique and is a lot of fun! Also keep an eye out for Toriyama's characters who have “food” and “instrument” puns as names, as many people seem to overlook the fact that many of these characters (Despite how cool they are) are named after vegetables. Yes folks, this is Toriyama humor at his best. “Dragon Ball” is a true classic, but I must warn people that the earlier volumes might not be everyone's cup of tea. Some of the earlier volumes had some perverted jokes and sexist portrayals that are sure to offend someone. The earlier volumes portray all the women as useless crybabies, and the men are all portrayed as perverts who view women as objects for the most part.

This changed shortly after Toriyama got married and had a kid, and I believe the changes were for the best. Goes to show how much getting married can effect a persons thinking. Despite some of the stereotypes in earlier volumes “Dragon Ball” has great characters, excellent artwork, and action and humor to boot. For those of you who haven't checked out Toriyama's masterpiece I highly recommend you do.

- -Review By Kevin T. Rodriguez- -

Note: The entire "Dragon Ball" arc is 42 volumes long. However there was never a "Dragon Ball Z" manga ever written. Toei Animation decided to change the name of the series at one point, and so there is a "Dragon Ball Z" show, but there is not a "Dragon Ball Z" manga! Viz however decided to follow Toei's advice, and thus Viz renamed volumes 17-42 of "Dragon Ball" to "Dragon Ball Z," to follow the show more closely! It should be noted however that since "Dragon Ball" is a continuing story, the manga is best read as a whole, and to get the full effect of the story you should hold off on reading any of the Z books until you finish reading the first 16 books of "Dragon Ball."