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A review by cyanide_latte
Dragon Ball, Vol. 14 by Akira Toriyama
5.0
*Read as part of the 25 Days of Manga challenge for December 2020.*
(Quick notation here that somehow when I bought the entire Dragon Ball collector's edition boxset from Amazon, somehow my copy of volume 14 arrived damaged to high heaven. I don't know why and I can't fathom how one single volume in an otherwise pristine boxset could have been so badly damaged, but here we are.)
Volume 14 wraps up (mostly) my favorite arc of the original series, and I absolutely love and adore having revisited the Demon King Piccolo arc and the level of tension it brings. I also adore the aftermath where we get more of the theological aspect of the worldbuilding with the introduction of Mr. Popo and Kami, because I feel like that was set up as a huge deal in the original series. And naturally, I'm sure it surprises nobody that I equally love the way the volume leads out with building up and setting the stage (haha) for the next Tenka'ichi Budôkai and how memorably epic it is.
I'm sure it surprises nobody that I have nothing but good things to say at this point, and I will admit upfront that that's easily due to my nostalgic love as I've revisited this series. So please just let me take a moment to reiterate again, to anyone who has grown up around pop culture enough to recognize the ridiculousness of the American DBZ fans (let's be honest with ourselves y'all, we can be ridiculous as hell at the very least,) and might have shied away from the franchise due to the obsessive overhype for decades: please at least consider just trying this original manga series if you get the chance. I won't judge anyone for not getting into it, seriously. The hardcore fans can be obnoxious. But the original series is very fun and entertaining, and I think it's worth a read at least once if you're a lover of shonen manga and you want to get another classic series under your "Read" belt.
(Quick notation here that somehow when I bought the entire Dragon Ball collector's edition boxset from Amazon, somehow my copy of volume 14 arrived damaged to high heaven. I don't know why and I can't fathom how one single volume in an otherwise pristine boxset could have been so badly damaged, but here we are.)
Volume 14 wraps up (mostly) my favorite arc of the original series, and I absolutely love and adore having revisited the Demon King Piccolo arc and the level of tension it brings. I also adore the aftermath where we get more of the theological aspect of the worldbuilding with the introduction of Mr. Popo and Kami, because I feel like that was set up as a huge deal in the original series. And naturally, I'm sure it surprises nobody that I equally love the way the volume leads out with building up and setting the stage (haha) for the next Tenka'ichi Budôkai and how memorably epic it is.
I'm sure it surprises nobody that I have nothing but good things to say at this point, and I will admit upfront that that's easily due to my nostalgic love as I've revisited this series. So please just let me take a moment to reiterate again, to anyone who has grown up around pop culture enough to recognize the ridiculousness of the American DBZ fans (let's be honest with ourselves y'all, we can be ridiculous as hell at the very least,) and might have shied away from the franchise due to the obsessive overhype for decades: please at least consider just trying this original manga series if you get the chance. I won't judge anyone for not getting into it, seriously. The hardcore fans can be obnoxious. But the original series is very fun and entertaining, and I think it's worth a read at least once if you're a lover of shonen manga and you want to get another classic series under your "Read" belt.