VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia
STORY: Akira Toriyama
ART: Toyotarou
TRANSLATION: Toshikazu Aizawa, Christine Dashiell, and Caleb Cook
LETTERS: Paolo Gattone and Chiara Antonelli
EDITOR: Marlene First
ISBN: 978-1-9747-0458-3; paperback (May 2019); Rated “T” for “Teen”
192pp, B&W, $9.99 US, $12.99 CAN, £6.99 UK
Dragon Ball was a long-running Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. It was originally serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1984 to 1995 and was comprised of 519 individual chapters. The hero of Dragon Ball was Son Goku, and the series began with the story of his childhood.
Dragon Ball Super is written by Toriyama and drawn by Toyotarou, a writer-artist who has produced Dragon Ball spin-off manga. Dragon Ball Super has been published in the Japanese manga magazine, V Jump, since June 2015. VIZ Media has been publishing an English-language edition of the manga as a paperback graphic novel series since May 2017, under its “Shonen Jump” imprint.
Dragon Ball Super is a sequel to the Dragon Ball manga and to the “Dragon Ball Z” anime series. This sequel is set several months after Goku's victory that brought peace back to Earth. Goku and his friends must defend Earth, this time from fighters from other universes and timelines.
As Dragon Ball Super, Vol. 5 (Chapters 25 to 28; entitled “The Decisive Battle! Farewell, Trunks!”) opens, Goku, Vegeta, and Future Trunks continue their battle on the “Future Parallel World” of Universe 7. Their adversaries are “Goku Black” and Zamas, who have now fused into “God Zamas,” a being even harder to beat than its formidable progenitors. And just when Goku and Vegeta think that they have beaten God Zamas, their problems multiple...
Next, Goku has been itching for an “interuniverse tournament” that would pit the greatest fighters of 12 universes against one another. It turns out that two “Lords of Everything” want the same thing. Thus, begins the “Tournament of Power,” in a way most unexpected by many beings, including Goku!
[This manga includes a bonus story that was originally published in the Jump Victory Carnival Official 2017 Guidebook.]
THE LOWDOWN: I began as an occasional reader of the Dragon Ball manga, and I do enjoy the franchise. The Dragon Ball Super manga, which is a nice fresh start for new readers, has made me a semi-regular Dragon Ball reader.
Dragon Ball Super Graphic Novel Volume 5 follows Vols. 2 to 4, which moved the series beyond its original premise – the fight between Universes 6 and 7, and introduced the villains Zamas and Goku Black, as well as a future parallel world. I will play spoiler and say that by the middle of Vol. 5, that Zamas-Goku Black story arc is resolved... with finality. I'm glad, as I was tired of this story line.
This “Tournament of Power” feels like a return to classic Dragon Ball battle manga. In between the end of the previous story line and the beginning of the next, Toyotarou draws a fantastic, fifteen-page battle between Vegeta and Beerus, which makes this one of the better recent volumes. He also draws a large group of new characters, which makes this volume sound like a must-have for Dragon Ball manga fans.
I READS YOU RECOMMENDS: Readers looking for more Dragon Ball will want to try the “Shonen Jump” title, Dragon Ball Super.
A
8 out of 10
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.
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