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[MMBosstones86]

Spoilers Obviously.

I grew up watching DBZ (N. American release), but never finished the Buu arc. I stumbled across the translated manga online and thought it'd be good to start at the beginning, having missed out on the original Dragon Ball.

Overall, the manga moves a lot quicker than the show which draws out a LOT of the action. There were also a couple sub plots from the show that I didn't see in the manga. I really enjoyed the read and actually a little sad the ride is over. Some overall thoughts below.

Dragon Ball :

This seemed to be more toned down and simpler than DBZ while being wildly more inappropriate (naked Bulma?). The story was pretty basic - find the dragon balls, then do it again - but I didn't think it got too boring. They really went over the top with the whole 'Goku lives in a bubble' angle.

Dragon Ball Z :

This is basically Power Creep : The Anime. Each arc has some variation, but it basically comes down to Goku finding a new level and doing work. It was nice to see some more character development throughout the series, specifically on Vegata.

I love Goku as much as the next guy, but I was a little disappointed that Gohan wasn't able to fill the void Post-Cell arc. Saya-man as a complete fucking joke, but things seemed set up nicely for him to have a huge hand against Buu....and then he gets fucking absorbed. Once again, Goku to save the world. I did get tired of the Hercule shtick though. That fucking guy wouldn't go away.

Again, I really enjoyed DBZ growing up and the manga gave me a little more appreciation for the work.

I guess the next progressive step would be Dragon Ball GT and maybe some of the movies that were released. Need to see how they fit into the DB universe.

 

[MetroidPrimeRib]

DB is still one of my favorite manga, all these years later, even after I started reading a lot of manga/graphic novels

 

[Sami+]

It's been so long since I read Dragon Ball, I'm itching to do that again. Now that I'm older the Bulma pandering in the first series is more creepy than funny though, so I hope I can look past that. I have a lot of fond memories of the series so it'd suck to have it ruined like that.

 

[NinjaCoachZ]

I always really liked the Buu saga of the manga. It was just the whimsical feeling that I liked from it. It was like the comedy of Dragon Ball with the action from the late parts of the series, the perfect marriage really. Funny thing is I've never actually read the manga all the way through, now that I think of it... most of it though.

It's a totally different series but if anyone's a fan of Toriyama's work I recommend checking out his first manga, Dr. Slump. It's totally goofy, pure '80s-style Japanese comedy. Haven't read it in forever but when I was younger I thought it was hilarious. Also it helps put a certain part of the Red Ribbon saga of DB in context.

 

[Sibersk Esto]

DB is an incredible manga. I've never read any comic or manga that is as easy to pick up and read.

 

[MMBosstones86]

It's been so long since I read Dragon Ball, I'm itching to do that again. Now that I'm older the Bulma pandering in the first series is more creepy than funny though, so I hope I can look past that. I have a lot of fond memories of the series so it'd suck to have it ruined like that.

It is pretty creepy. I wasn't expecting Roshi to play 'creepy old man' for the entire series.

DB is an incredible manga. I've never read any comic or manga that is as easy to pick up and read.

I was actually surprised how well it held up today. During some of the major fights I was reading a volume a night. Pretty hard to put down.

 

[MissDeviling]

I love how fluid and easy it is to look at Toriyama's action scenes. Some manga artists have a hard time depicting movement and impact, but Toriyama does this perfectly.