Dr. Slump, Volume 01

Baby’s First Toriyama manga.

I have tons of “serious” books stacked up or in progress and needed some light filler in between, so I’m catching up on graphic novels and manga I’d been recommended over the years.

The best way to describe this volume is deranged. My thoughts upon finishing were “wtf did I just read?” It’s weird, silly, and honestly sometimes a little questionable. With my limited experience with manga (and anime) I wasn’t sure what to expect, but for the most part I was pleasantly surprised and found myself laughing often. I plan to continue the series for now.

I saw some people saying this is for kids and I’d have to strongly disagree. Some of the humor is PG but there are a lot of adult jokes and humor show more in here. Minimum age I’d recommend is 14/15. show less

Created in the early 1980s by Akira Toriyama (who would later go on to produce the ultra-popular Dragonball manga), the basic premise of Dr. Slump is that scientist Senbei Norimaki creates Arale, a girl robot. Hilarity ensues.

The art, plot, characters, etc. in Dr. Slump all point to it being a comic for ten-year-old boys, which in fact was its target market in Japan. So why does Viz rate it as T for Teen? Cultural differences. Despite a certain amount of editing, there are still plenty of scatalogical and sexual references at a level that can be appreciated by ten-year-old boys but which certain segments of American society think they shouldn't be exposed to. For instance, the plot of one early chapter involves the fact that Senbei show more failed to provide Arale with a vagina, since he has no idea what one actually looks like.

That's not to say that Dr. Slump is all sex & poop. There's plenty of other wacky hi-jinks and flights of whimsy, puns and pop-culture references, and even an occasional insight or two. The characters in Dr. Slump are also frequently aware that they are characters in a manga and provide some meta-commentary. One favorite episode in vol. 2 has Senbei creating a reality machine: any picture placed in the machine is turned into an actual thing. Akane--one of Arale's friends--decides to place a photo of the universe inside the machine. Then Arale cuts off a page of their own manga and places it in the machine too.

As I mentioned, Dr. Slump is a manga that appeals to ten-year-old boys; but then we all have a ten-year-old boy inside of us. I'm not sure I'll want to read more than a couple of volume before it gets old, but it's a good way to regress.

Rating: 3 (of 5) show less

For a fan of Dragonball this is a pure comedy. There are many jokes which are so in tune with the Japanese sense of humor that it might scare most people off. It is also very dated with its references. If you can get beyond all that you will laugh your ass off.

funny, cute-- I remember the Superman character and 2 angels with poops on their hands.