A review by vimcenzo
Dragon Ball (3-In-1 Edition), Vol. 11, Volume 11: Includes Vols. 31, 32 & 33 by Akira Toriyama

adventurous dark funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

This series of volumes really expands on Trunks as a character. He never knew his father, and upon meeting him, concludes he's got nothing but evil in him (really it's more like cold ambition no matter who gets caught in the crossfire.)
And many are caught in the crossfire. What interested me the most was his desire to not show up his father to maintain his ego.
It's all strangely complex.

Cell is more elegant and articulate compared to Freeza. But it doesn't make him especially interesting. Freeza was a lot scarier due to his unpredicatability. Cell just seems a bit like Piccolo
(which makes sense)
in that he's more organized.
He manipulates Vegeta's Saiyan need to battle difficult opponents and not much else, though.
He has an eye for aesthetics but it almost implies he can be reasoned with given this series's track record for villains-turned-allies. It makes him dull and makes the stakes feel lower, in spite of whatever I'm told about Chi levels being higher than ever.

A weird but lovable plotline was Kuririn and the Androids.
When 18 kissed him, I almost took that as a condescending power move from her.
To see Kuririn turn that around
into keeping them alive
was an interesting twist. The obvious joke of him giving up the world for a
pretty girl
could be made, but honestly, Cell was established as a
bigger threat and the argument for why making allies rather than eliminating enemies makes perfect sense, so it's not just a gut or heart-based feeling like some dumb schmaltz.


And finally, we meet
Hercule/Mr. Satan
. Going into the series, this was the only guy I knew from jokes and impressions, and I was excited. And it absolutely paid off.
We're so used to having unrevealed badasses just come out of the woodwork that this was almost eye-rolling, like we expected an as-yet unknown oddball to come in and clean house, and instead he's hilariously outmatched. (Then again... he did take a direct hit from Cell and live...)