Hey there gang!
Those paying attention will be aware that I have little over a day to finish (in some regards, to start) my entry into DABR against the estimable
. I won't lie, I'm behind. I've been in a terrible mood the past few days (which I spent for the most part at work) and the entry I wrote on monday proved to be worse than subpar (and helped explain to me exactly why I lost in Willow Hill). This is a good thing. My realising that (or being told it really) will help me perhpas surpass my foe. Though I am by no means underestimating him. I've read his pieces, comics and written, they're good. Very good. So naturally I'm not thrilled that I have little over a day (several hours of which I will be sacrificing to work) and I have yet to rewrite it.
So naturally to combat this last minute panic and to shake my funk over the last couple of days, I reread Dragon Ball. All of it. It was....well, sublime.
You've heard me fangirl at great length in these here pages, and so far have seemed to put up with me, and I thank you for it. But I must ask you to lend me your ears once again. Goddamn this is a fucking good Manga. It surpasses good. It's pretty much the height of Shonen, as I perceive the genre. I don't mean it's my favourite manga, The above picture clearly demonstrates that my hear with forever lie with One Piece, but as a single unit, separate from DBZ and the later DBGT this series is truly unbelievable.
It possesses that wonderful youthful charm, most particularly through the first half of it, that I think of as truly anime. The whacky antics of Goku and Bulma on their (actually very short) quest for the Dragon Balls. The series begins on a bouncy note, very innocent, very easy going. Though the gang fight their way past trials and tribulations, making friends and enemies, it is remains an easy trip for them all. And then they up the anti. After a short training montage Goku must fight his strongest enemies yet in the Tenkaichi Budokai (spelling may be off). He is defeated by a hair and comes up ever strong for the lessons.
Then he must face an army, then Satan, then his own Grandfather, then a bald guy, then the blackest of all Demons, then that same Demon again, ever more powerful in a fight that leaves you breathless and wondering.
Not even kidding, it sent chills down my spine.
Akira Toriyama is truly a god of the shonen Genre. Through all these climactic encounters he keeps the tone light and entertaining. Humour is never too far from the surface, meaning the training montages and travel scenes that meat out the stories between the climaxes are always entertaining and enjoyable. Despite the good humour, Toriyama knows, that when the stakes are raised, we don't want to be distracted by random absurd humour or fanservice (the latter being a VERY frequently made mistake in modern shonen). We want to watch the fight, we want to see the characters that he artfully introduces and develops beat the everloving crap out of each other. And boy oh boy do they ever do that.
This is one area where I believe the anime really drops the ball (though I know why it happened). In Dragon Ball the fight scenes are beautiful. Intense, climactic, fast and brutal. Granted the tournament fights can be long, not that you ever dream of complaining about that while reading it, but no individual fight is given too much time, especially not the early matches. Nor are they rushed by any means. Given how fantastic the side characters are in DB (and DBZ for that matter) it would annoy me know end to be told how well my favourite character (Krillin is fucking awesome, you all shut up) is doing in his fight, rather than see it myself. This is one thing One Piece has always excelled at (and Naruto often fumbled, and Bleach often failed completely). The excellent coreography of these fights is somewhat less in DBZ (though not nearly as bad as the show would have you believe). DBZ I think went a similar way to Naruto in shipuuden. Too much reliance on Ki (chi) attacks. Magic looks awesome, no doubt about it. It's why I've started playing mages in RPGs. But nothing beats that satisfying punch that knocks the opponent flying. This is why Naruto (in particular the Chuunin exams) was so much stronger in it's early days. It is part of why it's being so much better now in fact. Hand to hand just looks freaking cool. And magic looks best when it's a last ditch all out attack that almost kills you but finally brings down your enemy (same applies to Swords by the by). It's again why I love Yu Yu Hakusho so much, hell, they placed deliberate caps on their use of magic (like Yusuke's three shot limit).
I've touched on it a bit already, but it has to be said: The other thing that makes DB awesome, the cast!
Seriously man, these characters are so much fun. Tien and Roshi are supreme baddasses. Bulma is a surprisingly useful sidekick. Kami is pretty ineffective I'll admit, but Yajirobe's cool, as is Karen. Not so fond of Yamcha or Chaozu...Yamcha especially is all kinds of useless.
Goku. What a dude. He's got the innocent shonen hero thing down pat and he plays it beautifully. What's better, they let him grown beyond that so in the final chapters he's no longer the dumb and powerful kid he was at the beginning. No, then he's a true hero, honorable, powerful, smart and in control. Bulma put it perfectly:
Ho ho...Goku used to such a shrimp...Now he's lika mountain.
The villains. Theses guys are so cool. From the stupid power hungry pilaf, to the whacky antics of the Red Riboon army. From the violent horror of the first arrival of Tao Pie Pie to the true horror of Piccolo in his prime. These guys are just so much fun, and included among them is one of my favourite characters of all time (Oh Piccolo, you can be my Demon lord any time
)
And then there is my absolute favourite character in Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, the baddest dude and the strongest Human fighter ever to be born of Earth (not to mention the guy with one of the hottest girlfriend's in DBZ). I am talking of course of Krillin. And I am not freaking kidding here. Don't even try to question me on this one. Krillin is fucking epic. I know he tends to be a laughing stock among fans, and DBZ abridged (which is awesome) has a great running counter of the number of he has been owned, but believe the man is incredible. He keeps up with some of the best fighters in the universe, able to continue standing among them till long after Tien and Yamcha (pathetic weakling that he is) have dropped out of the running. I'll grant it the saiyans are all stronger than him. Fair enough, they're haxs. Piccolo too is stronger, though he did absorb two other people to get there, one of which was a God. And that's about it (not counting random villains as it's fucking hard to judge their levels). I'm pretty certain that by the end of DBZ Krillin is strong than Frieza was and frankly, when you're stronger than the (deceased) ruler of most of the known universe, and you're some Hick from fucking Earth, you're can be counted among the truest baddass there ever was.
So yeah, I'm kind of a fan.
Dragon Ball is awesome. Buy it. Read it. Give Toriyama all the hard cash he deserves for forging something so freaking awesome.
Now what was I-OH SHIT DABR! DAMN FANGIRLING, when will the maddness end!?!
Art (c) eatinghappypills.deviantart.com
