Akira Toriyama (1955–2024)

I have to admit that I love tournament arcs and I remember being on the edge of my seats watching the tournament arc unfold after school on TV. (This tournament arc passes much quicker than I remember, owing to my ability to read the manga faster than I can watch an episode of the anime.)

I love the Jackie Chun persona that Master Roshi adopts, its so silly, a very amusing professional wrestling gimmick that manages to be funny, and thrilling at the same time. Goku and Krillin's master show more enters the tournament in secret? Genuinely a thrilling development!

Definitely a lot more goofiness in the tournament than I initially recalled. The bit where Jackie Chun (Roshi) and Krillin reenact their most recent exchange for the commentators because it was too fast for anyone to follow, up to the point that said commentator lifts Roshi into the air to imitate his aerial maneuvers had me howling. show less

Kame-sennin (aka Master Roshi aka Mouten Roshi) is a huge pervert, which I don't remember at all from my time watching the anime many years ago.

It's interesting to come back to this after many years away because I do remember quite clearly which parts of the story I was entranced with. This is a delightful fantasy world with colourful science fiction elements thrown on as a charming glaze.

Krillin is amusing in that he hasn't yet been retconned as an ineffectual sidekick, and here, he's show more still a somewhat ineffectual sidekick! Except that he's snide and obnoxiously precocious as well! (He gets better, as the series goes on!)

Lunch is a really random character, this feels like something out of a completely different story, and it is still quite surprising to see how much the story is comprised out of Goku, Bulma, and co getting into hijinks and not the much more serious fight a bunch of increasingly strong aliens and assorted bad guys. It's very goofy to see a random lady whose personality changes when she sneezes when you are expecting Frieza, Majin Buu, or even Vegeta. Piccolo won't turn up for at least 12 volumes!

(There's a rabbit guy who can turn people into carrots, and we see a character who looks vaguely like Piccolo appear in this volume. It all feels delightfully random, and fascinating to see what gels and ultimately coheres into the familar narrative of the Dragon Ball series!) show less

Akira Toriyama's classic take on Journey to the West. Also features dinosaurs, shapeshifiting cats and pigs, human/animal hybrids, lovingly detailed souped-up motorcycles and other fantastical machinery, in addition to magic wish granting orbs.

If you took all this, and presented the story as if the plotlines were something that a pro wrestling promotion would come up with, you have Dragon Ball.

While this hasn't aged particularly well regarding the sexual humour (how this passed muster even show more in the 80's is pretty wild to think about), it's a stupendous and colourful story about a really strong socially awkward child who can turn into a homicidal giant monkey (not an ape) during the full moon.

Akira Toriyama has an incredibly distinct art style which has won himself fans worldwide, for very good reason. Phenomenal artwork in every respect.

I am almost certainly going to have to check out Dr. Slump, because in my opinion, a really underrated part of this series is all the weird sci-fi gadgetry. Bulma would be the main character if this wasn't a story about a really strong little boy who loves punching and kicking. What do you mean, she builds tiny capsules that can contain literally almost anything?

I have incredibly fond memories of watching the anime growing up and so far I am really enjoying revisiting this series. show less

Dragon Ball Volume 6 is especially goofy in a very goofy story, as we have a shirtless communist(?) with hypnosis powers trying to beat Goku and the gang to a pirate's sunken treasure and one of the dragon balls. Absolutely silly.

There is also a strange saurian robot that Goku has to fight, and Bulma gets a tad homophobic. This is where the story really starts to feel like an after school adventure serial, a throwback to Saturday morning cartoons in the heyday of my sugar-addled show more cartoon-ridden childhood.

Overall, a very fun time to be had! show less