Dragon Ball's themes are based heavily on Buddhist philosophy. Stuff like the journey is better than the destination, no one is really evil or hopeless, the thing you are looking for is right in front of you. Also Goku's pure optimism, determination, and trust in people makes him a spiritually wise character. Bulma wishing for a boyfriend but in her journey finding yamcha is a great example. In a sense she failed to get her wish yet achieved her wish at the same time. Goku making an army of friends that were first adversarial by being a good guy is another one.
@@lydiawilder5996 you're right, characters like Frieza showed examples of people that cannot be helped. I will add, often these characters chose to be evil in spite of having other options and explicitly asked if this is how they want it to go. Also Frieza is kind of getting redeemed in DBZ super and future shows... Maybe? Theres a lot of random team ups and stuff that opens the door but it could be him turning into team rocket.
When you started One Piece Id never dreamed youd make it to Dragon Ball but Im so glad you did. For all of its flaws its still just so damn good. Such an influential piece of media.
I just recently read Dragon Ball with my kids and was surprised at how much I like it. I tried watching the show, haven't gotten into it, but I really liked the manga. My husband loves the show and got our kids watching it, so I wanted to see if I could find a way to get into dragon ball with them. Glad the manga was able to get me into it with them.
When I have kids, I will absolutely show them all of Dragon Ball (anime as a whole in fact), just like my dad showed it to me and I am so infinitely glad for it.
I wish people would stop telling her stuff about DBZ, let her find out for herself with zero input. She's somehow dodged spoilers for this long and y'all are trying to speedrun spoilers before she starts chapter 1.
Fun stream. So glad to hear you're enjoying DB for the most part. Highly recommend reading Journey To The West at some point - it's very much the inspiration for a lot of this series, particularly early on. (That definitely gets more and more mixed up, but it's fascinating reading this ancient Chinese text that is quite possibly the most anime piece of literature to be revered as a true classic.)
I had almost all volumes for this series, something about its artstyle being easy to understand and the story being slightly weird adds a certain charm to it, I love it a lot. One of my favorite moments was Krillin beating the smelly guy because Krillin didn't have a nose. Also, I really liked Goku and Krillin's initial training with Master Roshi. I used to read one volume every single day and I did it for years, cycling through the whole story. It was awesome!
I like that you're enjoying the Dragon Ball manga so far. I liked hearing your thoughts about it. Once you finish Dragon Ball will you ever plan on reading other influential manga especially shoujo like Rose of Versailles and Sailor Moon just to name a couple. I feel like a lot of people talk already talk about influential shonen manga but never once mention or credit shoujo manga for being just as influential. Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball really introduced anime to English-speaking countries and are really fun and iconic. Even celebrities have mentioned them. Also, the big three, One Piece, Naruto, and Bleach are the other series that got a lot of people into anime and manga soon after.
What an amazing stream. This is the first time I've ever seen someone do a slideshow like that for a manga review. I would love it if the next ones are going to be in the same style, and also to hear your impressions on what you think about Dragonball's later evolution. Keep it up :)
It can be difficult to display manga panels like that, especially for current series, because Japanese publishers will copyright strike you. They have a lot less tolerance for fair use in Japan.
@@squngy0 That's true. I haven't thought about that, even though I've seen it happen... Maybe she should obscure the images with a filter over it then.
Based on your appreciation of high fantasy and the Japanese comics entitled "Dragon Ball"and "One Piece" (which I love as well,) I would strongly recommend that you read a primary inspiration in the form of the classic Chinese novel "Journey to the West" by Wu Cheng'en. I just heard someone that else mentioned it on the stream. 3 volumes; 100 chapters: awesome story.
This was awesome! As someone who grew up watching the anime and who has read the manga/watched the different DBZ TH-cam channels, it's refreshing hearing from someone who knows nothing about the series in advance. Especially seeing as I knew most of the spoilers before I got into the series (the West is generally more familiar with "Z" than anything "pre-Z"). Also, I am very sorry for what your family is going through.
GREAT STREAM MERPHY !!! the slides were definitely a good addition I can't wait for you to be able to be able to delve a little deeper into the series plot-wise going forward as Toriyama was paired with a new editor starting from this point on and the writing subsequently became much more plot focused as opposed to the more episodic arcs of early DB.
Love that you started reading Dragon Ball! I read it when growing up, and have fond memories of it (especially DBZ). If you're reading Dragon Ball now, I hope we'll see you reading Naruto soon as well. 😊
Love love love the Grandpa Gohan/Tournament thing in DB I feel like so much of the storytelling and characterization goes out the window and gets replaced with the modern battle shonen type stuff, great for its time, great to grow up on, seemingly inspired the entire two generations of dudes going to the gym and getting brolic but really really hard to go back to. Super interested in what a first time viewer thinks in 2023 - especially some of the latest movies, they're trying to get back to that great characterization and explaining out characters that were pretty one dimensional before
Dragonball Z is a very different tone to OG DB, but I love them both for their own things. The writing isn't top tier like One Piece, but the art and the big moments are so brilliant.
As a life long fan of Dragon Ball (Original, Z, parts of GT and Super) I love seeing videos of people's reactions getting into the series for the first time. I discovered your channel because of One Piece but this is a nice surprise. Hope you continue to enjoy Dragon Ball and hope to see your live stream reaction to it soon.
Super is an odd case for many reasons. It's Toriyama's ideas, but it's Toyotaro's job to actually produce that work. Two movies are canon to the Super manga, which almost completely skips their content. The story arcs are largely the same as the anime (which came first somehow), yet play out very differently in the manga adaptation.
Merphy, I think you'd enjoy Dr Slump, it's also a manga by Toriyama and it's his first sucessful serialized manga before Dragon Ball. It's a straight comedy and very episodic, so it's not something you need to read all at once, it really is preferable whenever you need short breaks from something else. Edit: Also, I'd recomend you reading super chats the end of the stream, preferably with a mod filtering trolls and spoilers.
When Merphy read the superchat that said, "I've watched a lot of your videos (my condolences)," I wasn't looking at the screen, so at first I didn't realize "My condolences" came from the super-chatter, I thought that was Merphy's response to someone saying they had seen a lot of her videos.
I think you nailed it on the head, Dragonball is all about laughs and good fights. There are defintely some themes and moments of deeper introspection from the author. Overall though the author didnt take himself too seriously and I don't think we should either, have fun with the read and i hope you enjoy the rest of the series! PS Dragonball is the name of the entire manga. Dragonball Z is an anime exclusive title but its so popular that people refer to the later portions of the manga as Z as well. GT is an anime only continuation that came out to max out on the popularity Super is a seperate continuation that started 2 decades after the end of the manga. It has an anime and manga and they follow the same rough rubric but have different beats and moments because they were being released at the same time. Its convuluted to be honest, I'd take a break between Z and Super
dragon ball/dragon ball z is like the lord of the rings of shoenen manga/anime in terms of the cultural impact/tropes it introduces/just straight up creating a genre and arcs like the tournments arc. The influence cannot be understated and without it there would be no one piece, HxH, Naruto ect. While I think many shows have since built on it and surpassed it in terms of quality its still amazing and iconic and should be respected.
Love your breakdown, Merph. If you want to learn about the themes running through One Piece and Dragon Ball, read a Buddhism for Dummies and you'll be good. 👍🏿
Glad to hear you've enjoyed Dragon Ball! Definitely an underrated part of the series so it's always nice to see people get into it. Also since you've made the machoke/machamp jokes, I was wondering if anyone had ever recommended the Pokemon Adventures manga to you? They're a series of manga separated into the games as (mostly) self contained arcs (the first arc being only 3/4 volumes) made with a more teen and older audience in mind more in line with other shounen manga. I would highly recommend it if you get the chance to see this comment!
Sincere condolences. This was such a cool live stream, so annoyed that I missed it! If you remember, what was your reaction of the fight between Krillin and Piccolo Jr. in the last tournament. I always remember it fondly because it has such a different vibe and it shows how far Krillin come from first meating Goku. Wish you well and I'm so, so hyped for Naruto!! :))
Lot's of love towards you and your family! Definitely do this again after Dragon Ball Z! Also try Sailor Moon it came to America at the same time as DBZ and those 2 shows put anime on the map in America. Just as DBZ is the father of shonen anime Sailor Moon is the mother of magical girl anime. Definitely worth a read
Woooooo!!!! I don't know if you'd like dbz as much because it's much more of an over the top action manga (that I love very much!) than comedy-Action of OG DB. But you'll definitely still have a good time with it. And once you're done, you should watch the Abridged parody series that focuses more on the comedy of dbz and rewards you for being familiar with the characters and inside jikes, you'd probably love that more
The people insisting merphy reads berserk and saying “it’s not that dark” and “it’s amazing” gotta lay off. Just because it’s not dark to THEM and what they’re desensitized to doesn’t mean it’s right for everyone. It deals with really triggering subject matter and is straight up not a series for everyone! And that’s ok
Hey Merphy! if you're interested in trying a sports manga, I cannot recommend Haikyuu enough. It's one of the first manga I'd recommend to people new to the medium in general. It's a story about a rag tag volleyball team trying their best. It's so heartwarming and has a large cast of well-realised characters. There is a REAL sense of achievement any time the main characters learn a new skill or do well in a game, and the stakes and drama are so well built up. It has found family vibes out the freaking wazoo. I know you get a bajillion recommendations from very passionate people, but I genuinely do think Haikyuu is an incredible introduction to sports manga - when it was first serialised, it became so popular, that Japanese high schools had a massive uptick in volleyball teams being created. Wild! All the best for you and your family in this time.
1:10:55 yeah don’t know what that guy was smoking Berserk is SUPER dark. But also dark does not make something not beautiful it’s not mutually exclusive.
Original Dragonball is just a fun and exciting story with a good sense humor such a fun series to read. Dragonball Z is more serious but still has that exciting and fun feel of the original Dragonball. I feel like early Dragonball is very centered around it's humor so when it does get serious people will overlook or miss certain plot points. Glad your enjoying the series though!
I was too late say this in the stream, but dragon ball was supposed to end when Goku found the dragon balls. Then it went on to the tournaments and stuff, then was supposed to end with Goku being offered the position of the guardian of earth (Kami or “God”). Then it was supposed to end at at least one certain point that it didn’t end at. Someone said editor interference is a rumor, but they are wrong. toriyama has discussed it in interviews. And It is obvious at one point. Especially in the manga because there is a hard retcon that doesn’t make any sense in the manga (19 and 20 for those in the know). Magaka have editors for a reason and they are respected by the creator. I’m sure he could have said “no” and put his foot down but he didn’t and probably wouldn’t. It would be considered disrespectful. They (Shonen jump and Shueisha) wanted dragon ball to go on. It was immensely popular and made a ton of money. Toriyama finally ended it in 1996 after 12 years. This is why One Piece, Naruto and Bleach are the big three. They came out soon after dragon ball ended and they needed new big series.
Yeah, none of that first part is true at all. Those are just dumb rumors that've been passed around for years and been debunked by people who actually know what they're talking about. Toriyama ended the manga right where he wanted to (regardless of how people may have felt about it)
Just recently found the one piece reviews, so im glad I found this video! I love dragon ball and so does Oda and it reflects in his story, especially Luffy being heavily inspired by kid Goku I feel that Dragon Ball is similar to One Piece in the way that early Dragon Ball is like pre timeskip One Piece in they are heavy in adventure and gag humor, while Z is like post timeskip One Piece in that the adventure takes more of a backseat to the battles. Toriyama, for all his many faults, is an expert panelist and it shines through his gags and fight panels. He either created or popularized many anime tropes that many later stories used I highly recommend Totally Not Mark's videos on Toriyama's manga talents, it explains the medium fairly well for people new to manga. He also does great literary analysis on arcs from DragonBall and One Piece to talk about why they work or don't, but you dont have to watch them unless you enjoy another fan explaining what literary devices the creators use to build the story, and additional context for why certain creative decisions were made, from philosophical context to real life experiences of the creators. I personally enjoy his vids as it is nice to be able to analyze why i enjoyed the things i did, or at least explain them in terms to us who are not manga experts You should definitely catch up to the Z portion of the story and then check out the DBZ Abridged series by TeamFourStar, the guys that made those gag songs like Bald this Way and the Make a Man out of You parody. DBZA started as a dragon ball parody with 2008 youtube quality videos and evolved as TFS became better in their craft, to the point they have used their talents in the professional dubbing scene. For all the TFS faults in their early work (they wont shy away from regretting many of their previous creative decisions), the abridged series overall is a love letter to the series Sorry for recommending other channels on your vid, just hope someone else gets to enjoy the things i got to experience because i was a Dragon Ball fan
I didn’t mention this during the live but I would be very interested in seeing your opinions on the first two arcs of dragon ball z since the series is so long I wouldn’t wanna miss out on hearing what you have to say about some of the earlier parts
Fun Fact: Dragon Ball is something like the 15th biggest media franchise in the world. Nice to hear you enjoy it so far. Honestly, at this point, I think the whole pervert trope is just a cultural difference. I'll admit I'm not a fan of it either, though for completely different reasons. For me, it's the fact that this trope is older than I am, and it's the exact same one-note gag every single time. There are some exceptions where it's actually used as a deeper and more meaningful aspect of a characters and even times when it's just not the same old joke over and over, but those are very VERY few and far between. Not really related but I thought it'd be fun to mention another very controversial trope; the tsundere (soon-der-ay). Basically a romance trope where the girl acts aggressively towards the guy, but secretly (or not so secretly) likes him. Can also be applied to non-romantic contexts. It somehow manages to be both one of the most hated and loved tropes in anime. If you're interested in a more in-depth explanation, I'd suggest checking out Ygg Studio's (formerly Digibro) video "The De-Evolution of the Tsundere"
If you want to get more of an insight into why the Pervert character keeps showing up, I could recommend a wide variety of non fiction articles and such, but I'd rather suggest the Light Novel series Shimonetta: imagine a boring world where the concept of dirty jokes doesn't exist. You might hate it, or like it, or not be able to finish it, but each of those could start some interesting discussions.
Just like that you already know more about Dragonball than most people who called themselves fans since they start with Z and refuse to entertain the idea of reading or watching a comedy series with Kid Goku.
Naruto should be after YYH, because the writer was heavily influenced by YYH. Like the main thing of a hero and villain are both made because of 1 specific villain in YYH.
Yeah, it definitely influenced a lot of anime/manga that came after, which is why I think it should be done after Dragon Ball and before a lot of the others. haha. Bleach's whole thing is inspired by yyh. Naruto (the character)'s main technique is inspired by a villain of yyh. Pain is also inspired by the same villain. haha@@mrstrangeworld5977
I'd suggest when done or reading to watch only the last fights anime wise in a youtube compilation. Just how you search the one piece fights. The final fight is popular enough the government let people gather in spain or something in the streets and they cheered it on like a boxing match. and only watching the dbz super movie with broly is needed anything else is in the manga...oh and a filler where they get drivers license...everyone watches that. The broly movie is also fast recapped in the manga.
The character of Son Goku (literally just the Japanese name of one of the main characters in Journey to the West), in both his characteristics and his antics is heavily based on it. It’s honestly mindblowing that this is a classic novel written hundreds of years ago. (I assume the beginner/kid-friendly version turns up the humor a bit, but from reading synopses and commentary it’s clear that a lot of it is in the actual novel, too.) It’s really eye-opening as to the cultural background behind a lot of fun manga tropes.
I grew up watching Dbz. It was a big deal. Then I learned later that there was a whole series I missed. Since watching it and to this day, original series has been my favorite. Someone said the next 2 arcs are amazing tonight and that’s true. Better villains and longer arcing plot than original DB. I’ll give it that. I’ve never read much of the manga though so I’m kinda blown away here by the artwork.
I dont know if anyone mentioned it because I'm not done the video yet, but its worth noting that Krillin and Luffy have the same voice actor in the anime! Fun piece of trivia
Just fyi the consensus seems to be that Geo has some sort of humiliation thing going on. Best to not engage him or leave it at a "thanks for the donation" if ignoring him feels to mean
Tien is his anime dub name. His name is actually Tenshinhan but they split it in the English anime dub to Tien Shinhan. I guess cause they figured it would be easier for kids to remember (that’s just my assumption).
I will take a break from recommending FABLES to list a few classic mangas I recommend: 1- GUNNM (Alita, Battle Angel) , 2- Apple Seed, and 3- Lone Wolf and Cub .
I'm very surprised no one has mentioned it but I really think the 3 major arcs in Dragonball z have so much they should probably be split up unless it's a 3 hours live
I think Dragon Ball is one of those things people like to decide is bad because they liked it when they were kids, grew up and “are adults now”. The pervy parts early on are annoying but thankfully overall it is good, it is just entertaining 😂
Dragon Ball is almost to Manga what Tolkien is to Western Fantasy. While my opinions of it over the years have waned its more of in a "Seinfeld isn't funny anymore," way than a "this is bad," way. But what is unquestionable is you can see the inspirations in just about every other manga over the years, as many of them took inspiration or ideas from Dragon Ball.
I can’t remember which of these two SEW videos is the one (it’s one of those two below), but Super Eyepatch Wolf breaks down some additional points on the brilliance of Toriama’s action panels th-cam.com/video/jJK7oysHoMw/w-d-xo.htmlsi=G8VKqrYhRbOPZZSo th-cam.com/video/zFFru4q_4H8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=EVDlERaIfItAwwBz
Merphy is such a Shonen girlie like me. Good to know we have the same taste except I love romance. Anyway I think she’ll like the other shonen like Naruto and mob psycho too. I’m curious to know if she’d like Attack On Titan or if she’ll think it’s too dark 🤔 Also I think she’d love haikyuu.
this is the last manga i would expect for you to actually like, because this is THE definition of battle manga, and thats not your stuff, but cool i guess. Thanks for the video
Dragonball is a great series, and it's one of Oda's inspirations for One Piece. Oda and Toriyama have different strengths and weaknesses as writers though and it shows. In some of the interviews Toriyama made while creating Dragonball it almost seems like he's excited to find out what's going to happen next. When Toriyama created Dragonball it was a runaway success, and the scope of the story continues to grow as it goes along. As a result each Arc of Dragonball feels like it could be a conclusion of the story. But then Dragonball also does something most other Manga don't do. Things change, time progresses. Kid's grow into adults and eventually have kids of their own. 12 Years pass between the beginning of Dragonball and the End of Dragonball. The title of the series changes to Dragonball Z because it was suppose to be the ending of the story, but it ended up being so popular that ended up being longer than Dragonball. Despite that, each part of the story stands on it's own. While Oda is a master of longform storytelling and planning, Toriyama is a master of making of it as you go along.
I can't believe Merphy has missed out on being spoiled for this whole thing just from pop culture osmosis. So awesome 😂
isn't it because nobody talks about original Dragon Ball and even the Dragon Ball community online just talks about DBZ
@ChichiNaka Probably, but she's also managed to not be spoiled about DBZ, which is impressive.
Original DB doesnt get anywhere near as much attention as Z, many ppl who watched Z havent even seen the OG series
Only North americans.@@adoniscreed4031
For me all the people I know that haven’t watched/ read dragon ball really know nothing about it
Dragon Ball's themes are based heavily on Buddhist philosophy. Stuff like the journey is better than the destination, no one is really evil or hopeless, the thing you are looking for is right in front of you. Also Goku's pure optimism, determination, and trust in people makes him a spiritually wise character.
Bulma wishing for a boyfriend but in her journey finding yamcha is a great example. In a sense she failed to get her wish yet achieved her wish at the same time. Goku making an army of friends that were first adversarial by being a good guy is another one.
I loved your first paragraph so much I screenshotted it as English isn't my main language and you summed up Dragon Ball in such a perfect way. ❤
Freeza was evil and irredeemable, but Goku spared him and showed him mercy nonetheless.
@@lydiawilder5996 you're right, characters like Frieza showed examples of people that cannot be helped. I will add, often these characters chose to be evil in spite of having other options and explicitly asked if this is how they want it to go.
Also Frieza is kind of getting redeemed in DBZ super and future shows... Maybe? Theres a lot of random team ups and stuff that opens the door but it could be him turning into team rocket.
When you started One Piece Id never dreamed youd make it to Dragon Ball but Im so glad you did. For all of its flaws its still just so damn good. Such an influential piece of media.
I just recently read Dragon Ball with my kids and was surprised at how much I like it. I tried watching the show, haven't gotten into it, but I really liked the manga. My husband loves the show and got our kids watching it, so I wanted to see if I could find a way to get into dragon ball with them. Glad the manga was able to get me into it with them.
When I have kids, I will absolutely show them all of Dragon Ball (anime as a whole in fact), just like my dad showed it to me and I am so infinitely glad for it.
I wish people would stop telling her stuff about DBZ, let her find out for herself with zero input. She's somehow dodged spoilers for this long and y'all are trying to speedrun spoilers before she starts chapter 1.
The joy you show is infectious. Onward to DBZ!
I'm amazed no one recommended Dr. Slump when Murphy was talking she loved Toriyama's humour. It's a great series and it deserves more love.
Her chat was referring to Tenshinhan as Tien. Which means they probably aren't manga readers and haven't read Dr. Slump.
I am such a Dragonball and Merphy fan so this makes me so happy!! :D
Fun stream. So glad to hear you're enjoying DB for the most part. Highly recommend reading Journey To The West at some point - it's very much the inspiration for a lot of this series, particularly early on. (That definitely gets more and more mixed up, but it's fascinating reading this ancient Chinese text that is quite possibly the most anime piece of literature to be revered as a true classic.)
The slideshow to highlight your favourite parts and parts you want to talk about is a brilliant idea !
I had almost all volumes for this series, something about its artstyle being easy to understand and the story being slightly weird adds a certain charm to it, I love it a lot. One of my favorite moments was Krillin beating the smelly guy because Krillin didn't have a nose. Also, I really liked Goku and Krillin's initial training with Master Roshi.
I used to read one volume every single day and I did it for years, cycling through the whole story. It was awesome!
So sorry for your nephew, the loss of a baby that young has got to be incredibly painful and difficult, may they rest in peace
I like that you're enjoying the Dragon Ball manga so far. I liked hearing your thoughts about it. Once you finish Dragon Ball will you ever plan on reading other influential manga especially shoujo like Rose of Versailles and Sailor Moon just to name a couple. I feel like a lot of people talk already talk about influential shonen manga but never once mention or credit shoujo manga for being just as influential.
Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball really introduced anime to English-speaking countries and are really fun and iconic. Even celebrities have mentioned them. Also, the big three, One Piece, Naruto, and Bleach are the other series that got a lot of people into anime and manga soon after.
Please read Sailor Moon. It was FORMATIVE to my whole life and personality!
I read Rose of Versailles earlier this year and can highly recommend as well. I'd also recommend the anime, arguably even more.
What an amazing stream. This is the first time I've ever seen someone do a slideshow like that for a manga review. I would love it if the next ones are going to be in the same style, and also to hear your impressions on what you think about Dragonball's later evolution. Keep it up :)
It can be difficult to display manga panels like that, especially for current series, because Japanese publishers will copyright strike you.
They have a lot less tolerance for fair use in Japan.
@@squngy0 That's true. I haven't thought about that, even though I've seen it happen...
Maybe she should obscure the images with a filter over it then.
Thanks!
Based on your appreciation of high fantasy and the Japanese
comics entitled "Dragon Ball"and "One Piece" (which I love as well,) I would strongly recommend that you read a primary inspiration in the form of the classic Chinese novel "Journey to the West" by Wu Cheng'en. I just heard someone that else mentioned it on the stream. 3 volumes; 100 chapters: awesome story.
This was awesome! As someone who grew up watching the anime and who has read the manga/watched the different DBZ TH-cam channels, it's refreshing hearing from someone who knows nothing about the series in advance. Especially seeing as I knew most of the spoilers before I got into the series (the West is generally more familiar with "Z" than anything "pre-Z"). Also, I am very sorry for what your family is going through.
GREAT STREAM MERPHY !!! the slides were definitely a good addition
I can't wait for you to be able to be able to delve a little deeper into the series plot-wise going forward as Toriyama was paired with a new editor starting from this point on and the writing subsequently became much more plot focused as opposed to the more episodic arcs of early DB.
Love that you started reading Dragon Ball! I read it when growing up, and have fond memories of it (especially DBZ).
If you're reading Dragon Ball now, I hope we'll see you reading Naruto soon as well. 😊
Love love love the Grandpa Gohan/Tournament thing in DB
I feel like so much of the storytelling and characterization goes out the window and gets replaced with the modern battle shonen type stuff, great for its time, great to grow up on, seemingly inspired the entire two generations of dudes going to the gym and getting brolic but really really hard to go back to.
Super interested in what a first time viewer thinks in 2023 - especially some of the latest movies, they're trying to get back to that great characterization and explaining out characters that were pretty one dimensional before
Dragonball Z is a very different tone to OG DB, but I love them both for their own things.
The writing isn't top tier like One Piece, but the art and the big moments are so brilliant.
As a life long fan of Dragon Ball (Original, Z, parts of GT and Super) I love seeing videos of people's reactions getting into the series for the first time.
I discovered your channel because of One Piece but this is a nice surprise. Hope you continue to enjoy Dragon Ball and hope to see your live stream reaction to it soon.
Super is an odd case for many reasons. It's Toriyama's ideas, but it's Toyotaro's job to actually produce that work. Two movies are canon to the Super manga, which almost completely skips their content. The story arcs are largely the same as the anime (which came first somehow), yet play out very differently in the manga adaptation.
Merphy, I think you'd enjoy Dr Slump, it's also a manga by Toriyama and it's his first sucessful serialized manga before Dragon Ball.
It's a straight comedy and very episodic, so it's not something you need to read all at once, it really is preferable whenever you need short breaks from something else.
Edit: Also, I'd recomend you reading super chats the end of the stream, preferably with a mod filtering trolls and spoilers.
When Merphy read the superchat that said, "I've watched a lot of your videos (my condolences)," I wasn't looking at the screen, so at first I didn't realize "My condolences" came from the super-chatter, I thought that was Merphy's response to someone saying they had seen a lot of her videos.
The no nose gag is one of the greatest bits in manga history
I was so laughing so hard while I was reading
I think you nailed it on the head, Dragonball is all about laughs and good fights. There are defintely some themes and moments of deeper introspection from the author. Overall though the author didnt take himself too seriously and I don't think we should either, have fun with the read and i hope you enjoy the rest of the series!
PS Dragonball is the name of the entire manga. Dragonball Z is an anime exclusive title but its so popular that people refer to the later portions of the manga as Z as well.
GT is an anime only continuation that came out to max out on the popularity
Super is a seperate continuation that started 2 decades after the end of the manga. It has an anime and manga and they follow the same rough rubric but have different beats and moments because they were being released at the same time. Its convuluted to be honest, I'd take a break between Z and Super
dragon ball/dragon ball z is like the lord of the rings of shoenen manga/anime in terms of the cultural impact/tropes it introduces/just straight up creating a genre and arcs like the tournments arc. The influence cannot be understated and without it there would be no one piece, HxH, Naruto ect. While I think many shows have since built on it and surpassed it in terms of quality its still amazing and iconic and should be respected.
1:10:49 steezy is 100% right on this one. The Saiyan Arc and Namek Arc are not just peak Dragon Ball, they're peak anime. Buckle up!
28:30 idk if its just me, but Merphy sounded IDENTICAL to Chi-Chi's English VA lol.
Love your breakdown, Merph. If you want to learn about the themes running through One Piece and Dragon Ball, read a Buddhism for Dummies and you'll be good. 👍🏿
Imma need Merphy’s thoughts over Gohan and Piccolo’s archs asap
Glad to hear you've enjoyed Dragon Ball! Definitely an underrated part of the series so it's always nice to see people get into it.
Also since you've made the machoke/machamp jokes, I was wondering if anyone had ever recommended the Pokemon Adventures manga to you? They're a series of manga separated into the games as (mostly) self contained arcs (the first arc being only 3/4 volumes) made with a more teen and older audience in mind more in line with other shounen manga. I would highly recommend it if you get the chance to see this comment!
Hey.. my condolences.
Love your videos, you're giving much goodness to the world❤
Sincere condolences. This was such a cool live stream, so annoyed that I missed it!
If you remember, what was your reaction of the fight between Krillin and Piccolo Jr. in the last tournament.
I always remember it fondly because it has such a different vibe and it shows how far Krillin come from first meating Goku.
Wish you well and I'm so, so hyped for Naruto!! :))
Lot's of love towards you and your family!
Definitely do this again after Dragon Ball Z!
Also try Sailor Moon it came to America at the same time as DBZ and those 2 shows put anime on the map in America.
Just as DBZ is the father of shonen anime Sailor Moon is the mother of magical girl anime. Definitely worth a read
As a one piece fan and dragon Ball fan you have to read journey to the west also condolences for your loss sending positive vibes
Woooooo!!!!
I don't know if you'd like dbz as much because it's much more of an over the top action manga (that I love very much!) than comedy-Action of OG DB. But you'll definitely still have a good time with it. And once you're done, you should watch the Abridged parody series that focuses more on the comedy of dbz and rewards you for being familiar with the characters and inside jikes, you'd probably love that more
The people insisting merphy reads berserk and saying “it’s not that dark” and “it’s amazing” gotta lay off. Just because it’s not dark to THEM and what they’re desensitized to doesn’t mean it’s right for everyone. It deals with really triggering subject matter and is straight up not a series for everyone! And that’s ok
I mean she has read Vinland Saga so Berserk wouldn't be that massive of a jump. Atleast Gore wise.
Still wouldn't recommend Berserk tho.
Hey Merphy! if you're interested in trying a sports manga, I cannot recommend Haikyuu enough.
It's one of the first manga I'd recommend to people new to the medium in general. It's a story about a rag tag volleyball team trying their best. It's so heartwarming and has a large cast of well-realised characters. There is a REAL sense of achievement any time the main characters learn a new skill or do well in a game, and the stakes and drama are so well built up.
It has found family vibes out the freaking wazoo.
I know you get a bajillion recommendations from very passionate people, but I genuinely do think Haikyuu is an incredible introduction to sports manga - when it was first serialised, it became so popular, that Japanese high schools had a massive uptick in volleyball teams being created. Wild!
All the best for you and your family in this time.
1:10:55 yeah don’t know what that guy was smoking Berserk is SUPER dark. But also dark does not make something not beautiful it’s not mutually exclusive.
A lot of DragonBall's world is based in Chinese Myth and Legend, I hope you'll do a deep dive into it later!!!
Original Dragonball is just a fun and exciting story with a good sense humor such a fun series to read. Dragonball Z is more serious but still has that exciting and fun feel of the original Dragonball. I feel like early Dragonball is very centered around it's humor so when it does get serious people will overlook or miss certain plot points. Glad your enjoying the series though!
I was too late say this in the stream, but dragon ball was supposed to end when Goku found the dragon balls. Then it went on to the tournaments and stuff, then was supposed to end with Goku being offered the position of the guardian of earth (Kami or “God”). Then it was supposed to end at at least one certain point that it didn’t end at.
Someone said editor interference is a rumor, but they are wrong. toriyama has discussed it in interviews. And It is obvious at one point. Especially in the manga because there is a hard retcon that doesn’t make any sense in the manga (19 and 20 for those in the know).
Magaka have editors for a reason and they are respected by the creator. I’m sure he could have said “no” and put his foot down but he didn’t and probably wouldn’t. It would be considered disrespectful.
They (Shonen jump and Shueisha) wanted dragon ball to go on. It was immensely popular and made a ton of money. Toriyama finally ended it in 1996 after 12 years. This is why One Piece, Naruto and Bleach are the big three. They came out soon after dragon ball ended and they needed new big series.
Yeah, none of that first part is true at all. Those are just dumb rumors that've been passed around for years and been debunked by people who actually know what they're talking about. Toriyama ended the manga right where he wanted to (regardless of how people may have felt about it)
Wow merphys power level is over 9000
8000
My condolences I'm so sorry for your loss 🙏
Just recently found the one piece reviews, so im glad I found this video! I love dragon ball and so does Oda and it reflects in his story, especially Luffy being heavily inspired by kid Goku
I feel that Dragon Ball is similar to One Piece in the way that early Dragon Ball is like pre timeskip One Piece in they are heavy in adventure and gag humor, while Z is like post timeskip One Piece in that the adventure takes more of a backseat to the battles.
Toriyama, for all his many faults, is an expert panelist and it shines through his gags and fight panels. He either created or popularized many anime tropes that many later stories used
I highly recommend Totally Not Mark's videos on Toriyama's manga talents, it explains the medium fairly well for people new to manga. He also does great literary analysis on arcs from DragonBall and One Piece to talk about why they work or don't, but you dont have to watch them unless you enjoy another fan explaining what literary devices the creators use to build the story, and additional context for why certain creative decisions were made, from philosophical context to real life experiences of the creators. I personally enjoy his vids as it is nice to be able to analyze why i enjoyed the things i did, or at least explain them in terms to us who are not manga experts
You should definitely catch up to the Z portion of the story and then check out the DBZ Abridged series by TeamFourStar, the guys that made those gag songs like Bald this Way and the Make a Man out of You parody. DBZA started as a dragon ball parody with 2008 youtube quality videos and evolved as TFS became better in their craft, to the point they have used their talents in the professional dubbing scene.
For all the TFS faults in their early work (they wont shy away from regretting many of their previous creative decisions), the abridged series overall is a love letter to the series
Sorry for recommending other channels on your vid, just hope someone else gets to enjoy the things i got to experience because i was a Dragon Ball fan
I didn’t mention this during the live but I would be very interested in seeing your opinions on the first two arcs of dragon ball z since the series is so long I wouldn’t wanna miss out on hearing what you have to say about some of the earlier parts
Fun Fact: Dragon Ball is something like the 15th biggest media franchise in the world.
Nice to hear you enjoy it so far.
Honestly, at this point, I think the whole pervert trope is just a cultural difference. I'll admit I'm not a fan of it either, though for completely different reasons. For me, it's the fact that this trope is older than I am, and it's the exact same one-note gag every single time. There are some exceptions where it's actually used as a deeper and more meaningful aspect of a characters and even times when it's just not the same old joke over and over, but those are very VERY few and far between.
Not really related but I thought it'd be fun to mention another very controversial trope; the tsundere (soon-der-ay). Basically a romance trope where the girl acts aggressively towards the guy, but secretly (or not so secretly) likes him. Can also be applied to non-romantic contexts. It somehow manages to be both one of the most hated and loved tropes in anime. If you're interested in a more in-depth explanation, I'd suggest checking out Ygg Studio's (formerly Digibro) video "The De-Evolution of the Tsundere"
I heard the abridged version mentioned. I only know of DBZ abridged done by Team Four star, it is hilarious, but they don't exactly have a filter.
I recently bought all of DBZ manga lately and honestly. best way to experience the story
There is not DBZ manga pal, is just dragon ball manga
Dragon Ball (all the series) is so great. And it has surprisingly great character and storytelling techniques and cool consistent lore.
Flying Nimbus is the name of the cloud. Also, the whole 1 revive thing is kinda thrown out the window later on.
Lol im so glad you enjoyed it ... welcome to the DB fam .... you should really REALLY enjoy some of the expanded universe in the manga
If you want to get more of an insight into why the Pervert character keeps showing up, I could recommend a wide variety of non fiction articles and such, but I'd rather suggest the Light Novel series Shimonetta: imagine a boring world where the concept of dirty jokes doesn't exist. You might hate it, or like it, or not be able to finish it, but each of those could start some interesting discussions.
Just like that you already know more about Dragonball than most people who called themselves fans since they start with Z and refuse to entertain the idea of reading or watching a comedy series with Kid Goku.
I would like a more condensed video with your overall thoughts and feelings of the entire series. No pressure
yu yu hakusho is a manga that so many modern manga writers took as inspiration, so when you finish DB(Z/super) I think you should try that.
Naruto should be after YYH, because the writer was heavily influenced by YYH. Like the main thing of a hero and villain are both made because of 1 specific villain in YYH.
@@jag519I think bleach was more inspired by yyh
Yeah, it definitely influenced a lot of anime/manga that came after, which is why I think it should be done after Dragon Ball and before a lot of the others. haha. Bleach's whole thing is inspired by yyh. Naruto (the character)'s main technique is inspired by a villain of yyh. Pain is also inspired by the same villain. haha@@mrstrangeworld5977
I'd suggest when done or reading to watch only the last fights anime wise in a youtube compilation. Just how you search the one piece fights. The final fight is popular enough the government let people gather in spain or something in the streets and they cheered it on like a boxing match. and only watching the dbz super movie with broly is needed anything else is in the manga...oh and a filler where they get drivers license...everyone watches that. The broly movie is also fast recapped in the manga.
Started reading Journey to the West in Chinese (a beginner-friendly version), and wow!
The character of Son Goku (literally just the Japanese name of one of the main characters in Journey to the West), in both his characteristics and his antics is heavily based on it. It’s honestly mindblowing that this is a classic novel written hundreds of years ago.
(I assume the beginner/kid-friendly version turns up the humor a bit, but from reading synopses and commentary it’s clear that a lot of it is in the actual novel, too.)
It’s really eye-opening as to the cultural background behind a lot of fun manga tropes.
tournaments arcs became such an overused trope after Dragonball it made me crazy and drop a number of titles :D
Thanks for the live stream Merphy...and please remember OVER 5000%
there is no such thing as Dragonball and Dragonball Z. Its one big continued story, it doesnt cut of anywhere. Glad you like the series tho
I grew up watching Dbz. It was a big deal. Then I learned later that there was a whole series I missed. Since watching it and to this day, original series has been my favorite. Someone said the next 2 arcs are amazing tonight and that’s true. Better villains and longer arcing plot than original DB. I’ll give it that. I’ve never read much of the manga though so I’m kinda blown away here by the artwork.
Thanks for the good time but I prefer the review format video, I hope she does reviews for the next arcs.🥺
I dont know if anyone mentioned it because I'm not done the video yet, but its worth noting that Krillin and Luffy have the same voice actor in the anime! Fun piece of trivia
Please do more manga related content wither it live)vod used you watch you back in 2016. I'm glad I'm watching you again I missed ya
I wish I could’ve been in the stream, time zones are crappy. Anyway, I love dragon ball!!!
God damn anime fans are like herding cats in a live chat setting, so hard to get through a thought
Just fyi the consensus seems to be that Geo has some sort of humiliation thing going on.
Best to not engage him or leave it at a "thanks for the donation" if ignoring him feels to mean
Tien is his anime dub name. His name is actually Tenshinhan but they split it in the English anime dub to Tien Shinhan. I guess cause they figured it would be easier for kids to remember (that’s just my assumption).
"Bald this way" is DBZA which is a fan parody that the 2nd and 3rd seasons of I'd consider peak Dragon Ball content.
I will take a break from recommending FABLES to list a few classic mangas I recommend: 1- GUNNM (Alita, Battle Angel) , 2- Apple Seed, and 3- Lone Wolf and Cub .
I'm very surprised no one has mentioned it but I really think the 3 major arcs in Dragonball z have so much they should probably be split up unless it's a 3 hours live
I love Dragon Ball it’s my favorite thing
Glad to see Merphy is also a fan of my favorite character Yamcha.
Have you read '5 centimeters per Second'? Your thoughts on that?
I think Dragon Ball is one of those things people like to decide is bad because they liked it when they were kids, grew up and “are adults now”.
The pervy parts early on are annoying but thankfully overall it is good, it is just entertaining 😂
the pervy parts ain't annoying imo
I would be interested in seeing videos for the different DBZ sagas tbh, like you did for OP. This was fun :)
Please read Eyeshield 21, it's a very underrated manga, but imo it's one if not the best sport manga with really absurdist humor like in DB and OP
Murphy’s chuckle about the Jaco incident was awesome.
Oh boy I did not expect her to get into this woah!
Love you Merphy! Stay reading and stay strong.
Dragon Ball is almost to Manga what Tolkien is to Western Fantasy. While my opinions of it over the years have waned its more of in a "Seinfeld isn't funny anymore," way than a "this is bad," way. But what is unquestionable is you can see the inspirations in just about every other manga over the years, as many of them took inspiration or ideas from Dragon Ball.
Og DragonBall is very much what inspired oda as a mangaka.
I can’t remember which of these two SEW videos is the one (it’s one of those two below), but Super Eyepatch Wolf breaks down some additional points on the brilliance of Toriama’s action panels
th-cam.com/video/jJK7oysHoMw/w-d-xo.htmlsi=G8VKqrYhRbOPZZSo
th-cam.com/video/zFFru4q_4H8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=EVDlERaIfItAwwBz
I grew up watching dragon ball z. I'm just now jumping into original dragon ball.
dragon ball goated love roshi he isnt for everyone but im glad he exist
Merphy, you don’t have to pay attention to themes in Dragon Ball. I think you’re reading it for the right reasons, gags and fights.
Merphy is such a Shonen girlie like me. Good to know we have the same taste except I love romance. Anyway I think she’ll like the other shonen like Naruto and mob psycho too. I’m curious to know if she’d like Attack On Titan or if she’ll think it’s too dark 🤔
Also I think she’d love haikyuu.
“No thoughts on Krillin”
Oh…that will change by the middle of Z.
this is the last manga i would expect for you to actually like, because this is THE definition of battle manga, and thats not your stuff, but cool i guess. Thanks for the video
DBZ got me into art as a kid, this is a great stream your channel is premium.
if she is doing db now she has to talk to tottally not mark right??!
Hi merphy, if you like of Dragonball i definitely recommend dr slump its toriyamas manga he did before db. I also recommend the manga kingdom
OG Toriyama mangas will be great for your humor, there might be alot of poop/pervey jokes but "Dr. Slump" is very funny too. Very short series
I love early Dragon Ball days more for the adventure feel and the comedy lol
I went to sleep excitedly awaiting the morning. Ordered the boxset for my 6 year old and missed the delivery 😢 fingers crossed for tomorrow
Dragonball is a great series, and it's one of Oda's inspirations for One Piece. Oda and Toriyama have different strengths and weaknesses as writers though and it shows. In some of the interviews Toriyama made while creating Dragonball it almost seems like he's excited to find out what's going to happen next. When Toriyama created Dragonball it was a runaway success, and the scope of the story continues to grow as it goes along. As a result each Arc of Dragonball feels like it could be a conclusion of the story. But then Dragonball also does something most other Manga don't do. Things change, time progresses. Kid's grow into adults and eventually have kids of their own. 12 Years pass between the beginning of Dragonball and the End of Dragonball.
The title of the series changes to Dragonball Z because it was suppose to be the ending of the story, but it ended up being so popular that ended up being longer than Dragonball. Despite that, each part of the story stands on it's own. While Oda is a master of longform storytelling and planning, Toriyama is a master of making of it as you go along.
Merphy might actually love berserk because of its character development