Dragon Ball

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

It depends. The 3-in-1's are cheaper ($15/omnibus vs. $20/omnibus), but the VizBig editions are of higher quality in terms of the paper and ink (the art looks noticeably sharper), and the color chapters are presented in their original format.

If you don't mind somewhat cheap material and a smaller print booklet, then go for the 3-in-1's and save some money. If higher quality print does matter to you, then you'll want the VizBig editions. Personally, I'm fine with the 3-in-1's, myself.

[LumRanmaYasha]

I own the VizBigs, and I think they are definitely the way to go. They are also three-in-ones, but are printed on much larger, very high-quality paper, and it is the only english release where most of the original color pages are reproduced. Some censorship aside, it is pretty much the best release of the DB manga on the market. The price difference is worth it, imo, especially since you can get them for only around $13.50 off of Rightstuf.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I think the higher quality pages might sway my choice. Not that I'm rough with them, but I just can't stand cheaper paper. I can't help getting paranoid about tearing them.

Thanks, guys!

[Spark Of Spirit]

So as of my last post, I got the first VizBig edition as a present for Christmas. I gotta say, I'm a fan. I like the spine art, the color pages, the extra pages at the end, the page quality, and the size. It's certainly an improvement from the old comics I used to collect. I'll definitely be getting the other four as soon as I can. It also has me on the lookout for other similar editions like for Rurouni Kenshin.

I wasn't aware these were based on the kanzenban editions of the manga, but I also just noticed that the Ushio & Tora manga was just re-released in kanzenban format this year in the usual 3 in 1 format and everything. I'm really hoping if Viz does license the manga due to the anime that they use this version as well.

Also, here's a random online comment I think everyone can appreciate:

Dragonball is pretty old and only appeals to old people its not relevant or good enough to be read over Naruto to people of this gen. Kishimoto reinvinted the genre and did more than Toriyama has done so its clear why people wouldnt be into Dragonball manga in 2015.

Hilarious stuff.

[gunswordfist]

I needed that Christmas laugh!!

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Yeah, the whole "it's not good because it's old" argument starts to lose steam once one matures past the age of 12, so I don't take these kinds of comments seriously. They do in fact provide a good laugh, though.

[LumRanmaYasha]

I've mentioned Dragon Ball Dissection and Dragon Ball Culture before on Manga Mavericks (plug), but I wanted to make another post here.

Dragon Ball Dissection and Dragon Ball Culture are two of the most impressive and intelligent discussion pieces on Dragon Ball that I've encountered. Dragon Ball Dissection is a retrospective series created by youtuber MistareFusion that's been breaking down each arc in the series from beginning to end. While I've seen many attempts by other youtubers to do the same thing, MistareFusion's is easily the best, not only because he uses the manga as the basis for his retrospective and not the anime, but because instead of simply making jokes and recapping the story, he actually spends time breaking down how Dragon Ball's narrative functions structurally, how Toriyama's art flows and evolves during the course of the series, the cultural and historical background influencing the series, and various minutia about the strange oddities and incongruities in the series and how they might be contextualized and explained. His preferences when it comes to the arcs mirrors those held by members here, but he breaks down both the strengths and weaknesses of each part of the story in a thorough and fair manner, highlighting problems in the arcs he likes best and the strengths of those he likes least. I find his videos very thoughtful, often informative, and incredibly entertaining. He's recently started dissecting the Freeza arc, and considering how many videos and how in depth he analyzed the Saiyan arc, it'll probably take him until the end of the year to complete it going on a monthly schedule and his annual DBcember schedule, but it's a wait well worth it for videos of this quality.

MistareFusion's videos also introduced me to Dragon Ball Culture, a book series written by Derek Padula, who prides himself on being the only "Dragon Ball Scholar" in the western world. Padula's books explore the history and cultural background of the series in incredible detail that MistareFusion's videos simply couldn't thoroughly breaking down the series' inspirations, themes, and legacy. I've been reading his first book, which pieces together various interviews and statements made by Toriyama and people who've known him to provide a telling and fascinating history of the man, and his career before, during, and after Dragon Ball. For a longtime Toriyama fan like myself, reading this book was a revelation, and I'm eager to read the remaining books in the series. In addition to the main Dragon Ball Culture books, Padula's also written a book explaining the "Over 9000" meme and phenomenon, as well as "Dragon Soul," a book that compiles reflections from Dragon Ball fans from all over the world about how much the series means to them, and is a emotionally charged and fascinating read, especially in regards to thoughts from Christopher Sabat, Sean Schemel, and others who've been involved in the dubbing and production of the franchise.

Ultimately, both Dragon Ball Dissection and Dragon Ball Culture are just really cool explorations of what makes the series so great, and even though I've been a fan of Dragon Ball and Toriyama for over a decade, I've really learned a lot by watching/reading them. I think most people on this board would get a kick out of them and I highly recommend them to any DB fan who really wants to dig in deeper into just what makes the series so endearing and enduring after all these years.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I've also been following Dragon Ball Dissection, which I found out about a few months ago, and I've heard of Dragon Ball Culture before, so maybe I'll check that out eventually, once I finish some other books on my backlog.

Anyways, I really love DBD. In-depth retrospectives done by passionate fans are really interesting to me (for instance, the Digimon retrospective is easily the most appealing thing that JO ever did, IMO), so I especially enjoy a retrospective of one of my favorite manga of all time. The guy who does DBD does a good job of really nailing down how Toriyama's writing process works, and how it can both help and hinder his stories. I also like that he's not afraid of criticizing the series for its faults, because after all, if you're truly a fan of something then that means you accept it for what it does wrong as well as what it does right (something that most Hunter X Hunter fans could really stand to learn from).

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

And thus Dragonball enters the realm of Franchise-mania: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2016-10-13/shueisha-establishes-new-department-focused-on-dragon-ball/.107591

Now, on the one hand I'm hesitant at the idea of pushing out tons of new content at the risk of most of it being sub-par cash-ins. On the other hand, this is Shueisha, not Toei, and that gives me at least some hope that there will be a more consistent level of quality-control since this mostly looks like new manga content. And I can't lie, even without Toriyama's direct involvement, I can't help but get a bit excited at the prospect of new Dragonball content. At its best, this could be sort of like the Star Wars Expaned Universe of DB.

One good sign is that they only announced that they are in the planning stages right now. Contrast this with Toei who basically just announced Super a mere two months before it aired and only rushed it out the door because RF's ticket-sales were high and they realized that they could profit off of a new toy-line. Super has since been improving, and the ratings are apparently still really strong, but the fact of the matter is that Toei screwed up royally in pushing this out so fast. If Shueisha's approach is to be more thoughtful about the new content that they generate, and similar to Star Wars, hire writers that are actually passionate about the project rather than just doing this for a paycheck, then this could turn out rather well for DB fans such as myself.

Like it or not, we live in an age where anything popular is franchised out like crazy, and the recent movies, manga, anime, and toy sales have proven DB to be just as popular and profitable as ever, so we're going to get more of it regardless. My only hope in that case is that the content that we get is at least good, like the movies or the current arc of Super.

But yeah, this is pretty big news, though probably not that surprising.

[Spark Of Spirit]

The manga market has a lot of competition these days. Getting a new seller on the level of One Piece, Dragon Ball, or Naruto, is almost certainly not going to happen any time soon. Shueisha has been smart in how they've been pushing their legacy series recently with Boruto and their JoJo, Kochikame, and One Piece merchandising, and the series they own with the biggest worldwide appeal is without a doubt Dragon Ball. If they didn't do this they would be crazy.

On the other hand I do wish they would also push more legacy franchises. Fist of the North Star, City Hunter, and Ring ni Kakero, would benefit highly from new anime series, ones closer to the original manga series, to raise their profile up to where they were at their peak. It can be done.

But speaking only of Dragon Ball? It's a good idea. There's a lot to mine in the universe and a whole lot of ways to take it. I'm really interested to see what they can do.

A lot of people complaining about milking, but I mean the series is decades old. If it hasn't happened by now it's not going to. They're still creating new series and pushing new authors on top of it so I don't see any downside here.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

What I find silly is the people complaining about how the story will continue when the characters are already ridiculously powerful. Firstly, power in and of itself has ceased to be as immediately relevant as it once was with characters like like Hit and Black not being able to be taken down by normal means. Furthermore, though, people seem to miss the point that expanding the franchise means that, most likely, just like with Naruto, they will generate a lot of spin-off material rather than just focusing on Son Goku's story. Characters like Jaco or even some of the DB supporting cast could get more focus this way, or they could flat-out tell brand new stories with characters from any of the other twelve Universes. There's literally limitless potential for future DB content thanks to the massive world-building setup by Battle of Gods.

[Markness]

I'd love to see a spin-off centered around Piccolo and have him get some new victories for a change. I feel that he hasn't received the best treatment lately by getting killed by Frieza and losing to Frost. I haven't watched anything past the Universe 6 arc of DBS, though.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

He just got the shafts in the most recent episode as well when....

Spoiler

Goku blows off his offer to teach him the Mafuba and goes to learn it from Master Roshi himself.

[close]

Considering that Piccolo is easily one of my favorite DB characters, I'd also like to see him back on the spotlight again at some point in time.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I would dig an arc that focuses entirely on non-Saiyan characters who have to deal with a problem on their own. Of course it'll never happen, but it would be nice.

[Spark Of Spirit]

This is a pretty clever idea.