This is my favorite manga. Akira Toriyamas work is incredible. I highly recommend reading Dr Slump and looking up early interviews. He’s very inspired by western films and that comes through a lot in Dragon Ball which started as his obsession with the Chinese story of Journey to the West but became basically his ultimate culmination of everything he enjoys. The only other manga that follows this same type of mindset would be One Piece.
The capsule houses/vehicles are amazing! That first RV type vehicle they stay in that has an upstairs bedroom literally makes me want to live in it! Lol this world in general of the original series.
Man, this is perfect. My wife just earlier this week came home from shopping and had found a later printing of this book at a thrift store. Had said I'd always meant to give the manga a read...
Guys, I've been waiting for this video since day one! Thanks for chatting about my favorite comic ever. As for the colors, Toriyama said in an interview he used to buy some color markers, break them and use the ink inside as some kind of watercolor or color ink to paint. This was because being from the rural side of Japan, he didn't have access to fancy materials there.
What’s nice about the Kanzenban versions you guys are reviewing have a much better translation than the other releases by viz. Also no censorship! Where as the Vizbig editions have incredible paper+some color chapters but iffy translation and censorship. Those early Pervy moments Toriyama’s editor pushed on him to have in DB just don’t hit the same with censorship! Still tho that’s the version I went with as I love the paper quality and color chapters(same as they appeared in the WSJ issues in Japan so some pages might use full RGB colors and others will be more of a monocromatic red mixture that Toriyama was known to do!)
When I was about 12 years old (give or take) Dragon Ball Z anime was beginning to air in the states… I can easily say DBZ is the one comic that brought me back to wanting to make my own comics! The rigorous methods of rewrites that go into the making of the namu and editorial feed back might be what those speculator boom 90’s Image comics are missing. Fantastic
Toriyama is one of my favorite comic artists ever. He's known for a lot of interesting tricks in both writing and panel pacing. Hope they reprint Sandland soon.
Being European, there wasn't such a widespread comics culture back in the 90s. Growing up during that period, we did have however a big manga culture that exploded both in print and TV. I remember we would religiously look for DB issues at different bookshops and the equivalent of newspaper stands every week. My brothers and I would read one after the other each edition and we had our favourites (mine was Bulma - decades later I found a B-Side Label keychain with the Bulma from the early days in Japan and I still carry it in my purse). The other manga that was pretty popular as well was Sailor Moon.
As good as Dragon Ball is, I don’t really think it was what was solely holding Shonen jump up in the 80s. Other great manga like Hakuto No Ken, Saint Saiya, and City Hunter really made Shonen Jump the mag to read.
Holy hells. My favorite comic TH-cam channel looks at my favorite ever manga series. I'm one of those weirdos that loves the first few volumes of Dragonball where Toriyama was hitting the Legend of the Monkey King stuff hard... love the humor, adventure, and everything else BEFORE it devolved into the typical Shounen Jump "power creep" story. Love the world-building so much. I was about 20 back in 1993, and I was doing a college year abroad in Spain. They were publishing DB (and "DBZ") as weekly newsstand floppies for a crazy cheap price, so I was able to find nearly all of the back issues and was aware of DB way before most people in the US were able to read it.
@@MrJimlogan Hey Jim! I actually think there were two versions... one that served the Catalan speakers, and one that was in Madrid/the rest of the country. I was in Madrid, and my issues were only ever "Dragonball" (white and red). I carted home about 200 issues in my suitcase when I returned to the US!
I don’t really do anime or manga, but Toriyama’s work is the exception. I’ve been waiting a long time for this video as a lifelong Toriyama fan and Kayfabe devotee. 👊
This is the standard I hold my storytelling to in terms of action. Nobody does it quite the same way Toriyama does it. And based on interviews with him done over the years, it’s chalked up to pure natural design sensibility and talent. I’d love to see you guys cover more of his work on the channel.
Crazy how Bulma is like the first side character we meet in this series. No Chi-chi, no Yamcha, no Roshi, not even Krillin. You can argue that not only she's the most important side character of the series, but even the introduction/foundation of the world that Toriyama presents to us.
I recently gave away my whole DragonBall collection I've had for about 20 years to my cousin. I had it in my native language (Swedish), so I'm currently looking into which English version I'll start to collect. I wish there was a hardcover version to pick up. Maybe in the future ^^'
it should also be noted that Son Goku (Sun Wukong) is the monkey in the tale of Chinese origin Journey to the West. He is a well-known and familiar figure in Japanese-Chinese culture. To make a comparison it's a bit like when in Western movies / TVshow we use angels, demons, holy water, and so on. It's a cultural substratum that is familiar to us. The magic cloud, the magic staff, Oolong, at the beginning of the manga there are a lot of reference to the Journey to the West.
Akira Toriyama is very good with his panel layouts. His worldbuilding, and cartooning is great. He leads the reader's eye well. I just wish they would release a version adapted to the left to right reading orientation of the western audience, like Akira and some other manga did.
It's a shame that you are not flipping the Definitive edition of the first volume, with colored pages and original sound effects. I don't know if manga in America are ever published with original sound effects, we got the real definitive edition of Dragonball in italy last year.
This is my favorite manga. Akira Toriyamas work is incredible. I highly recommend reading Dr Slump and looking up early interviews. He’s very inspired by western films and that comes through a lot in Dragon Ball which started as his obsession with the Chinese story of Journey to the West but became basically his ultimate culmination of everything he enjoys. The only other manga that follows this same type of mindset would be One Piece.
Toriyama is really a great creator. Goku going into Z was inspired by Superman as well. The character comparisons are evident.
Never heard someone equate Toriyama to Moebius/Otomo but honestly I completely agree.
It's just so amazing how readable this book is.
I've been waiting for them to do Dragonball for Years, finally
Exactly. Been waiting a long time for this. 🙌
Dragon Ball is a masterclass in page layout and composition. It doesn’t get much better and really is a role model for how to do it.
That first page Goku is holding a Japanese pull saw it's a really efficient tool
did anyone else get a whiff of the paper when ed opened the book.
The capsule houses/vehicles are amazing! That first RV type vehicle they stay in that has an upstairs bedroom literally makes me want to live in it! Lol this world in general of the original series.
Man, this is perfect. My wife just earlier this week came home from shopping and had found a later printing of this book at a thrift store. Had said I'd always meant to give the manga a read...
Guys, I've been waiting for this video since day one! Thanks for chatting about my favorite comic ever.
As for the colors, Toriyama said in an interview he used to buy some color markers, break them and use the ink inside as some kind of watercolor or color ink to paint. This was because being from the rural side of Japan, he didn't have access to fancy materials there.
I read a LOT of manga but none got me as captivated as Dragon Ball did in 1994.
really need you two to read Takehiko Inoue's Vagabond on the channel
What’s nice about the Kanzenban versions you guys are reviewing have a much better translation than the other releases by viz. Also no censorship! Where as the Vizbig editions have incredible paper+some color chapters but iffy translation and censorship. Those early Pervy moments Toriyama’s editor pushed on him to have in DB just don’t hit the same with censorship!
Still tho that’s the version I went with as I love the paper quality and color chapters(same as they appeared in the WSJ issues in Japan so some pages might use full RGB colors and others will be more of a monocromatic red mixture that Toriyama was known to do!)
When I was about 12 years old (give or take) Dragon Ball Z anime was beginning to air in the states… I can easily say DBZ is the one comic that brought me back to wanting to make my own comics! The rigorous methods of rewrites that go into the making of the namu and editorial feed back might be what those speculator boom 90’s Image comics are missing. Fantastic
The boys talkin' Dragonball. Brilliant
Toriyama is one of my favorite comic artists ever. He's known for a lot of interesting tricks in both writing and panel pacing. Hope they reprint Sandland soon.
Being European, there wasn't such a widespread comics culture back in the 90s. Growing up during that period, we did have however a big manga culture that exploded both in print and TV. I remember we would religiously look for DB issues at different bookshops and the equivalent of newspaper stands every week. My brothers and I would read one after the other each edition and we had our favourites (mine was Bulma - decades later I found a B-Side Label keychain with the Bulma from the early days in Japan and I still carry it in my purse). The other manga that was pretty popular as well was Sailor Moon.
I have read this whole series up to what's currently out in the West for Super. Its amazing!
As good as Dragon Ball is, I don’t really think it was what was solely holding Shonen jump up in the 80s. Other great manga like Hakuto No Ken, Saint Saiya, and City Hunter really made Shonen Jump the mag to read.
Holy hells. My favorite comic TH-cam channel looks at my favorite ever manga series. I'm one of those weirdos that loves the first few volumes of Dragonball where Toriyama was hitting the Legend of the Monkey King stuff hard... love the humor, adventure, and everything else BEFORE it devolved into the typical Shounen Jump "power creep" story. Love the world-building so much.
I was about 20 back in 1993, and I was doing a college year abroad in Spain. They were publishing DB (and "DBZ") as weekly newsstand floppies for a crazy cheap price, so I was able to find nearly all of the back issues and was aware of DB way before most people in the US were able to read it.
@@MrJimlogan Hey Jim! I actually think there were two versions... one that served the Catalan speakers, and one that was in Madrid/the rest of the country. I was in Madrid, and my issues were only ever "Dragonball" (white and red). I carted home about 200 issues in my suitcase when I returned to the US!
The character design is so amazing
I don’t really do anime or manga, but Toriyama’s work is the exception. I’ve been waiting a long time for this video as a lifelong Toriyama fan and Kayfabe devotee. 👊
There are great coloured editions of these. Might be coloured afterwards but still beautiful.
Toriyama has the best layout and panneling comics has seen since Eisner, IMHO.
Nice video guys keep it up
There is no surprise Dragon Ball is an absolute classic
This is the standard I hold my storytelling to in terms of action. Nobody does it quite the same way Toriyama does it. And based on interviews with him done over the years, it’s chalked up to pure natural design sensibility and talent. I’d love to see you guys cover more of his work on the channel.
Dragon ball and Dragon ball Z are a staple to many of us 90s kids
Crazy how Bulma is like the first side character we meet in this series. No Chi-chi, no Yamcha, no Roshi, not even Krillin.
You can argue that not only she's the most important side character of the series, but even the introduction/foundation of the world that Toriyama presents to us.
I recently gave away my whole DragonBall collection I've had for about 20 years to my cousin. I had it in my native language (Swedish), so I'm currently looking into which English version I'll start to collect. I wish there was a hardcover version to pick up. Maybe in the future ^^'
I got the large edition collection of the Dragon Ball manga. It’s such a fun adventure and action story all the way through.
it should also be noted that Son Goku (Sun Wukong) is the monkey in the tale of Chinese origin Journey to the West. He is a well-known and familiar figure in Japanese-Chinese culture. To make a comparison it's a bit like when in Western movies / TVshow we use angels, demons, holy water, and so on. It's a cultural substratum that is familiar to us. The magic cloud, the magic staff, Oolong, at the beginning of the manga there are a lot of reference to the Journey to the West.
The original Dragon ball manga is a masterclass in storytelling and cartooning. Just a blast from page to page. No panel is wasted. 10/10
Always here for toriyama
Akira Toriyama is very good with his panel layouts. His worldbuilding, and cartooning is great. He leads the reader's eye well. I just wish they would release a version adapted to the left to right reading orientation of the western audience, like Akira and some other manga did.
Dragon Ball, c'est la vie!
"for the pacific-northwesterners out there, i'm sorry"
I'd argue Toriyama is the HOTTEST manga artist ever. I wish he wasn't so humble and would let someone make a documentary on him or SOMTHING
I know, right? Talk about Kayfabe, the dude is always self-deprecating. We need a Toriyama doc.
In the introduction to one of the volumes of DBZ, Toriyama directly states that he doesn't use screentones because it's too much work.
Everytime someone says Viz Comics, my mind immediately goes to the British humour comic magazine. The Manga company really need to change their name.
Bulma actually means panties
Are the English manga volumes still censored? I’d always wanted to buy them but not if they’re censored.
Manga is better than western comics
Please check out My Hero Academia. 🙏 It's a masterful mix of Watchmen and Spider-Man.
It's a shame that you are not flipping the Definitive edition of the first volume, with colored pages and original sound effects.
I don't know if manga in America are ever published with original sound effects, we got the real definitive edition of Dragonball in italy last year.
PO Box is in the description. Send 2 copies.
Once it went to z it just went more and more downhill