Dragon Ball

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Dragon Ball manga is the source material of the famous anime series Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z and has the key indigence that make these shows as good as they are. Usually when something doesn't make sense and stupid retcons are introduced in Dragon Ball Super, people are using this manga in means of defence and site it as the superior Dragon Ball experience.
But is it?

Story
Being a combination of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z in being in one manga, the source material of Dragon Ball has its own can of worms.

Dragon Ball started off as an adventure story with elements of Journey to ... the West. The goal being the gathering of the wish granting Dragon Balls which will backfire during the course of the story.
The character dynamic of the cast was great since everyone had their own interest in mind:
- Goku didn't want to give Bulma the 4-Star Dragon Ball but went alongside her to learn about the outside world
- Bulma is a selfish teenager using her sexuality to get what she wants. Also using power over others to her advantage. She uses Goku as her body guard and intends to steal his Dragon Ball at some point.
- Oolong is a selfish pig and just tries to survive. He is pretty much held captive by the other two.
- Yamcha is a bandit who acts as a friend in need but uses Bulma and the others to collect the Dragon Balls for him.
Sadly there are no amazing fights Dragon Ball is usually known for.

After this arc for a while it will keep repeating:
- Tournament arc
- Hunt for the Dragon Balls

That is until the Saiyans arrive and the story becomes to:
- Bad guy arrives
- someone gains a new power up usually a transformation
- bad guy tries to blow up the planet and fail
- bad guy gets defeated

It is then when you realize Dragon Ball can get really repetitive as by the time of the Frieza Saga the author panders with way to many chapters. Most of the fights weren't even worth seeing. And many times the author pulls out a power up out of his ass because of laziness. Eventually power creep happens by the Frieza Saga where characters can get stronger when they even lose, can awaken their potential or get a new transformation.
It came to the point that storytelling wise it became unreasonable that a character appears out of nowhere and can challenge the Z Fighters, but Toriyama still didn't shy pulling random overpowered villains out his ass.

But why is it such a big deal? Well, Goku does the following feats during his adventure:
- trains under Master Roshi the strongest known martial artist on earth (who will retire)
- trained under God of Martial Arts Korin learning to make the most out of his movements
- destroyed an entire army by himself
- drank the holy water which awakens his hidden powers
- defeats Demon King Piccolo surpassing his old Master
- Gets trained by God of Earth Kami
- Beats up the reincarnation of King Piccolo: Piccolo Jr who is stronger than Kami becoming the strongest being on planet earth
- fights alien race he apparently belongs too and where the weakest, his brother, beat the crap out of him and Piccolo Jr
- trains under God of the Worlds later only the North Galaxy: King Kai and surpassed him
- fought the strongest Saiyan and survived
- fought the strongest being in the Universe who can blow up a planet with a move of a finger by transforming into a legendary warrior: A Super Saiyan

This is not all. Goku gets stronger as he fights and when he is healed from fatal injuries. Gets multiple more transformation over the course of the series. He already started as an overpowered kid who can barely lose, but what does Toriyama answer with?
- some robots from an army Goku beat as a kid
- another never before mentioned demon king who is stronger than the patchwork of the strongest beings in the universe
- bubble gum monster who always existed and happened to be on planet earth.

Eventually things got so out of hand that Dragon Ball turned into a self parody with the off springs of the Goku and Vegeta in the Boo Saga who defy established logic for some cheap gags.

If Dragon Ball were split into different series from the start, this kind of shift may be excused, but many things established at the start don't carry over. Nobody remembers Master Roshi or the Kamehameha by the time of the Boo Saga that watch the Tournaments and think they are cheating. Except the announcer. Animal human disappeared. Animals no longer talk. No mention of the transformation school Oolong and Puar mentioned.

How about the characters?
Most of the characters get neglected to the background after the arc they were introduced. Examples as such are Tenshinhan, Chaotzu, Yamcha, Oolong, Puar, Lunch etc.
Roshi gets to do a few more things before he becomes obsolete by the power creep. Bulma is only a plot device. In the earlier arcs she felt more involved and moved the plot. But after the first arc she only exist to fix the Dragon Radar and use a space ship. Oh, and give birth to Trunks. Female characters in general are a waste in Dragon Ball. They are either violent, ugly or prices for men to give birth. That included Android 18 who's only memorable trait is that she is a strong female character for 1 fight before being demoted into a damsel in distress in the same arc.


Goku is the main character pretty much. In the first arc he is more a bystander but after that he becomes the most active. He learns the importance of training. Learns about the world and adapts. It is fun to see Goku react to woman. Or when he saw a TV the first time he thought a man was trapped inside so he broke it. But eventually he understands how the world works and even knows how to do basic maths by the time he became a teenager. Goku is also very oblivious to trickery which turns him into victim of pranks of Krillin. It never gets old seeing Goku react to something new or trying a new technique in battle. As an an adult, Goku is now a pretty serious guy. Finally a father of two children. He would be confronted with his sudden origin, having a brother opposite to him and having to accept what he is. That would eventually give him the means to obtain the power no normal Saiyan could archive: Super Saiyan.
After his character arc was over, he would just show to be a character that calls the shots. Do most decision making on how to handle threats. Put the things he learned from his masters to good use to train his son and Master Super Saiyan before obtaining levels far above.
While he does do stupid decisions, they were always with good intend... unlike...

Vegeta... It's the series where he gets introduced. Vegeta would go through several character arcs. He is shown to be confident and in control in the Saiyan Saga. The Frieza Saga he is the opposite where he lurks around looking for opportunity to get what he wants. While being confident, he has less control because the opponents are far stronger.
In the Cell Saga after obtaining the Super Saiyan form the power went over his head. His interactions with his son also gave him some interesting character development. While Vegeta was unbearable, that character arc indeed made him what people enjoy about Vegeta. Lastly while the Boo Saga was a train wreak, he was one of the highlights. He had an identity crisis.
At the end, Vegeta's character would go full circle until Toriyama ruined it with a special chapter and Dragon Ball Super.

Krillin or Kuririn is probably the only useless character that tries to do and move the plot somewhat. He has a good character starting as an insecure kid who tricks Goku several times so only he would receive Roshi's training. He would become Goku's best friend and a punching bag for the badguys to give Goku a power up. Despite all that people like him for having guts. He is scared and avoids fighting even when the elderly and children get killed. But when the time comes, he shows courage even against the likes of Frieza and Cell (not Boo which is sadly only anime exclusive). There is a good reason why he is a fan favorite.

Piccolo started off as the demon king before Toriyama chanced that. He was a goofy villain who did serious shit, is an enemy from Master Roshi's past and defeating him would make Goku finally surpass his master for real. He would reincarnate as a different Piccolo who tried to take over the world again and failed, wasting most his time training. Eventually he and Goku needed to team up against the Saiyans where he would bond with Gohan. It was a rushed development in the manga making his first death feel cheap.
What happens with Piccolo is that he would always appear to do something and never succeed. Finishing the final arc he could be relevant being outclassed by the Saiyans.

Gohan is pretty much a secondary main lead... at least intended to be. As Goku's son and being a half Saiyan, he was introduced as a character with very high potential and means to stop the Saiyans. He gets random rage boosts that allow him temporary to get an advantage over stronger opponents. But it is done in a way he doesn't feel like a gary stu since he lacks experience and the power up doesn't manage to shift the tiles in battle.
Eventually Goku would train him proper and he would be the first to get Super Saiyan 2 defeating Cell. That moment finally being able to use his full power properly and him growing up to become independent is what made many like Gohan.
Sadly by the time of the Boo Saga he would be nerved and get another plot induced power up that end up doing nothing. Toriyama must have given up on him being unable to write anything different that a character like Goku. A complete waste for those who got invested.

Frieza is one of the most beloved anime villains. Despite being one dimensional evil bad guy, the way he represents himself made him beloved. Just on his introduction without him doing anything he made everyone shit their pants. He could kill almost anyone with the move of his finger and even the last villain that survived a massive ass whooping didn't even consider challenging him head on.
Frieza managed to survive the strongest moves and defeated the mightiest fighters with ease. Even the gods were scared off him. And as the killer of the Saiyans, the viewers really wanted Goku to be the one defeating him.
Frieza was also a good villain to push Goku far above his own morals and force him to obtain Super Saiyan at the end. Sadly he would eventually be ruined in the next arc and other media, but in the Frieza Saga he is the villain many love to hate.

Besides Cell the Androids are awful antagonist. Overpowered for no good reason and they are pretty forgettable.
Android 16 only existed as a plot device for Gohan to get serious.

Cell started off as a mysterious antagonist who would then just infodumb everything. He was interesting as he is a patchwork of other fighters. Using the knowledge of others to his advantage and their moves... at least that should be what he does. Eventually he would absorb 17 and become one of the ugliest beings ever. And all we remember of that form is him getting his ass kicked by Vegeta to the point Vegeta had to suggest to absorb 18. After absorbing 18 Cell lost everything that made him special. There was no motivation left for him since he reached his life goal and all he could do is test his new power.
Sadly we need a villain that is worth killing, so Cell threatened to destroy earth if nobody fights him. He would eventually act like Vegeta and Frieza, about to destroy the planet when packed to a corner. All the great moves are also wasted on him since he uses the Kamehameha the most often, the most generic and probably weakest move in his moveset.

Mr Satan started off as a boring comic relief character with a one note joke. In the Boo Saga his character arc with Boo is what made him actually funny. And he would come in clutch defeating Boo at the end.

Fat Boo aka Majin Boo aka. Mr Boo started off as a mindless monster with a child's innocent. He liked killing and eating people. After meeting Mr Satan, he would start to respect others' lives and other good things. But since we need a bad guy to beat, his body would span an evil side who absorbs him and becomes the new villain.

Super Boo who is also just referred as Majin Boo is basically a parody of Cell. Like Cell and Fat Boo he can regenerate. He basically has all of Boo's abilities. Can also absorb others to gain their skills, knowledge etc.
He rather feels like a filler opponent since all fights against him lead to nowhere. Eventually after the fat Boo gets freed he turns into a small Majin Boo who is just a random psychopath and becomes stronger. Because absorbing Kaioshin makes him weaker.

Goten, Kid Trunks and Gotenks are basically filler character. They only parody the accomplishment of their dads and otherwise don't add anything to the plot. You can take them out of the plot and miss nothing of importance.

Art
I think Toriyama uses the panels really to his advantage and knows how to make good fights... but eventually he stopped paying attention to detail. Night times became rare. He forgot about the Saiyan Tail. Super Saiyan exist so Goku's hair doesn't need to get inked. Moon gets destroyed so we don't know the passage of time.
Also iconic moments don't feel as impactful as in the anime. Super Saiyan transformation only lasted for 3 panels and didn't leave much of an impression.

This sadly affects the enjoyment negatively too.
Fights became really repetitive since every opponents is so strong that strategy and technique no longer matter unless you are about even to your opponent. Master Roshi would have no chance to beat Puipui no matter how much he trains or how much experience he has. Many characters get random illogical power ups. Training is usually skipped and new stuff get introduced like I mentioned. Goku didn't even earn drinking the holy water in the manga during the King Piccolo Saga like in the anime. It was given to him directly by Korin.
Fights became essentially a tennis match of power where the other fighter would transform to shift the favour of the battle. Thus there are hardly any even fights by the time the Saiyan Saga begins.
Relationship with Gohan and Piccolo is rushed. Piccolo's fight against Frieza felt even more pointless than in the anime because it only lasted for 1 chapter and Frieza didn't even realize he was fighting Nail again.
The secondary cast is completely useless and the Boo Saga is dragging out the series for too long. The ending of Dragon Ball doesn't feel like it is giving closure to Goku's adventure but just a closure to the Boo Saga itself. Thus even as an open ending it is a failure.

Overall
Dragon Ball didn't age too well. And while filler of the anime is a pain, it still is a much better product than the manga since it fleshes out many characters instead of just putting them on a panel to reminds us: "I didn't forget they exist".
It is a fine manga, but not something to brag about.

The problem with dragonball is the main caracters is to classic and the story just keep repeating it self. They got some problems, then they find a new level so they can defeat the enimies. To bad the idea was great.

Dragon Ball is cute. Even if pretty misogynistic, it tells a fun, creative story that was engaging to binge-read. It didn't have any substantial themes or have any memorable character arcs, but that's not what it was trying to do; it was trying to be a fun martial arts manga about a pure-of-heart powerhouse child and it succeeded.
Whereas Dragon Ball had characters busting out unique martial arts techniques and creative uses of characters' abilities to win fights, Dragon Ball Z is all about which character is intrinsically more powerful. The story beats aren't about characters finding a way to overcome or outsmart a more powerful ... foe, but those characters becoming more powerful in order to accomplish that goal. Whether that means retreating to train for however many chapters or that out-of-place feature of saiyans that makes them more powerful after being beaten (only for the Freeza arc, though, for some reason), there needs to be an excuse for Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Piccolo, etc. to become stronger rather than finding an enemy's weakness. I understand that that's the point of DBZ, in contrast to later Shonen manga that do more of what DB did with their fights, but I think it's a weak story structure overall. I was more engaged with the trials faced in DB than any of the cosmic, existential threats of DBZ. This is a trend that unfortunately plagues many of the movies as well, which suffer more from it because characters can't grow or gain new abilities in side-stories.
That being said, there is a reason DBZ is so culturally influential, and that's because it's cool as shit. Despite having surface-level storytelling, the fights are engaging, narratively satisfying, and generally well-paced and well-choreographed. Its characters seldom experienced any development or personality shifts (aside from going from evil to good), but they didn't have to because that's not the point of Dragon Ball; they were fun, interesting, and provided more depth to the story than literally just guys fighting for 30 chapters.
Its art style is ugly as shit, but its unique and I love it for what it is, much like an unsightly child. Fights are most often easy to follow and the power of impacts and chi blasts is conveyed well.
Overall, I can't say in good faith that I was ever bored while reading any of DB or DBZ. It was a thoroughly entertaining experience, and that's all it was meant to be.

(just for the record, this is a mixing of my anime reviews about it)

The creator Akira Toriyama had just finished his Doctor Slump slapstick comedy and decided to make a more action-oriented show. Dragon Ball was the result and although it began as a slapstick comedy, it progressively dropped the comedy in favor of the battles. I guess he got affected too much by the trend of Saint Seiya and slowly went for that field.

The series began with a very magical atmosphere, reminiscent of ancient China. After a dozen chapters, the ancient China motif gives place to a more sci-fi world, were houses fit into ... portable capsules, huge monsters roam free in the wild and anthropomorphic animals coexist with humans. It is quite a wacky representation with little sense but with extreme originality and humor. Makes a fine JRPG world.

At first, it took me some time to get used to the characters’ chibi looks, as they looked extremely short and cartoonish. But their semi-funny, semi-battle frenzied attitudes make them bearable to watch. Later on, it is a bit annoying when it comes to character variety as most characters are just slight modifications of one another. A small change in the hair and in the cloths and they are presented as a different person. Especially the Super Saiyans, it gets hard to tell who is who after a while. The artwork is otherwise very good for its time, with dynamic and lively motions.

The dialogues tend not to be any smarter than the phrases “I’m going to beat you!” and “Are you looking at my panties?”. So, if you are looking for sophisticated talking, look elsewhere. Sure, there are some very classic shonen phrases in here that fit the genre just fine but then again prefer the smarter way Full Metal Alchemist uses, so I am torn between liking them for being stereotypically cheesy and just being plain silly. I guess the slapstick and the constant wordplays and teasing work fine for its kind but I’m not going to lose my mind over them.

The story began as a slapstick version of the most famous Chinese fairy tale, Journey to the West. Most elements and characters in the story are in fact, comical representations of those in the fairy tale. But the similarities become fewer and fewer as the story progresses and later on it reminds you of other famous stories, such as Superman or the Terminator (where again most elements and characters are comical representations of American superhero comic books). The scenario is about a strong boy, named Son Goku, looking for magical spheres that grant wishes, taking part in martial art tournaments and fighting evil people/demons/aliens that want to rule the world (and later on the galaxy).

Although the general story is quite simple, it is presented in a non-predictable way. There are various mysteries and some side stories that easily make you forget its predictability. And things get very complicated and atmospheric towards the end that really makes the general shallowness of the story a trivial thing. So yeah, I liked the story despite its simplicity. The world definitely isn’t detailed or realistic but it is still one of the most distinguished worlds, ever made into anime. Some silly explanations from time to time give a simple meaning to all the wackiness. Still, the general story:
-Undermines the gravity of pain and death to ridiculous levels. No matter how much someone is injured, he can easily be completely healed, without permanent damage or even scars. No matter how many die, they can easily be resurrected. And always only the good people return to life, while the bad remain dead.
-Undermines the idea of the after life and of the gods. Heaven and Hell are amusement parks and the gods are just strong creatures that even mortals can surpass in power.
-Has no realism in terms of empowerment. It makes no sense how someone can get a million times stronger in a few months, while others needed eons to do the same. Or it is quite stupid to always see someone getting stronger at the gravest moment and save the day in a Deus Ex Machina way.
-Pays no attention to the laws of physics. Energy beams that explode on air, cause dust even when they didn’t hit anything. A mountain or a moon or a planet that blows up has no effects on the surroundings (not much debris, gravity alteration or planet trajectory/axis mix up). Time travel does not cause time paradoxes. Faster than light speeds don’t increase the temperature of those running.
-Recycles the illusion of empowerment by continuously weakening the explosions. An energy beam that could destroy a planet on one arc, can blow a mountain at best on the next. The newest trick that could surpass any difficulty on one ark is completely useless and forgotten on the next.

Plus, the general story becomes more and more grand-scaled (and thus more interesting), as it progresses.
-The first villain, Emperor Pilaf, is a useless idiot who wants to rule the world. If he succeeds, the world will be at the mercy of a hapless asshole but nothing more.
-The second villain, General Black, is also an idiot but a heartless killer as well. If he succeeds, the world will be at the mercy of a hapless asshole in command of a merciless army of assassins. That’s much more serious.
-The third villain, Lord Piccolo, is a serious and very powerful demon. If he succeeds, the world will become a hellish place, at the mercy of demons that don’t care about life and justice. That’s even more serious!
-The fourth villain, prince Vejita, is the strongest Saiyan warrior in the universe who wants to become immortal and spend his eternity by fighting and killing every single person on every planet he goes to. If he succeeds, the universe will be at the mercy of an immortal battle-loving powerful warrior. There is also some drama on the parts of Goku who has to fight against his own kind, Gohan who has to fight against his will and Picollo who is forced to team up with the good guys and starts to like them.
-The fifth villain, emperor Frieza, is the strongest alien in the universe who wants to become immortal and spend his eternity ruling the universe in terror and destruction. If he succeeds, the universe will be at the mercy of an immortal heartless monster. There is also more drama on the parts of Vejita and Picollo who want to avenge the death of their races at the hands of Frieza.
-The sixth villain, Perfect Cell, is the strongest artificial creature of the future that wants to become perfect and spend his eternity destroying the universe. If he succeeds, the universe will be just destroyed. There is also more drama on the parts of Trunks who wants to change the grim future and the androids that want freedom and not be used only as weapons.
-The seventh villain, Majin Boo, is the strongest Jennie/God of Destruction. He is already the most powerful and if he is left alone, the universe will be destroyed in a few days. There is some drama on the parts of Vejita who has to decide if he will return to his evil self and Kaioshin who is afraid of the massacre Boo did to his people.

The upscale in interest works just fine, although the resolution to every arc is quite convenient. It may look cool at first but if you look closer you realize it has lots of plot armor in it, which eventually make it look bad in a way. There is conclusion but every time it is like that of a fairy tale, with the villains beaten and the good guys saved or resurrected. Because as Saint Seiya taught, you must never permanently kill your characters if you are to milk the kid audience for decades.

But the cast is definitely more interesting and colorful than that of Saint Seiya. Some men are funny, some are dramatic, and some are scary. But the thing they all have in common is that they all solve their problems with violence. Is something wrong in your life? Just kick the shit out of it and it’s solved! Expected in fighting shonen but this anime makes sure to even make fun with the premise. I mean Goku will challenge people to a fight even when there is no reason to it and the opponents are hardly strong. It’s not like the series doesn’t leave the option of diplomacy open… It simply never uses it.

Women are treated purely as fan service. You won’t find any good female fighters in it. Bulma, Lunch and Chichi are a bunch of brainless lolitas that exist just for to undress and make sexual jokes about boobs and marriage. Toriyama is a phalocratic bastard! It is yet another staple of shonen which holds true even today and it is fine for the target audience. I mean, who would cheer a girl or want to be like one if it’s a 100% male oriented show? But it’s true that a few token female warriors would be nice just to break the monotony.

In general, all the characters have a strong presence in the series (usually funny). Son Goku and Vejita are amongst the most distinctive fighting shounen characters, the Turtle hermit one of the most famous sleazy old men and Shen Long the most renowned Chinese dragon. All the character’s names are based either on the original fairy tale (Son Goku) or some cultural (Oolong) or fetish (Bulma) object. It is very funny to look for the meaning and origin of each one’s name. Their personalities are simply either comical or battle frenzied, making them quite repetitive so you almost feel like the series has only two characters that change cloths all the time. Still, they are two quite distinctive characters.

They all have their simple backdrop stories (just enough to excuse their existence in the story) and practically zero character development. No one really matures; just gets older and/or stronger. And always fights! No one tries to reason with his enemies; he just fights them. No one tries to trick his enemies with cunningness; he just gets stronger and fights them. This again sounds typical of shonen but it is true that Saint Seiya had given far more attention to backdrop stories and even the development of each major character would be triggered by an important event. There is no such thing in Dragonball as everybody is practically goofing around and just trains to get stronger.

I admit the Dragonball bunch has a lot more vividness and quirks to remember them more fondly. It is very cool to see them getting taller, breast-enlarged or stronger but it is also quite disappointing to see them acting the same way, no matter how many years pass and regardless of how many hardships they face. If some become a bit more mature, it is only after they lose to Son Goku. They were interesting antagonists up to the point they rival him; but after their defeat, they change to stunts and uninteresting underlings (such was the case with Yamcha, Krilin, Chaosu and Tien). Which feels poor to say the least. Vejita is an exception, as he can’t decide if he wants to be a good guy or a bad guy. He is by far the best character (although he is also quite shallow as a complete personality).

The series has a way of measurement, called Battle Power to determine someone’s strength. This made many to believe that characters mature and get stronger in a logical way and that they are different just because their strength is different. But in fact, the Battle Power is a stupid excuse to give just to know beforehand who is the strongest. And no matter how strong someone becomes, he is the same battle-frenzied idiot he was before. He doesn’t get wiser or smarter.

Anyway, it makes little sense as the characters raise their strength ridiculously fast. And since the strongest person in one episode mysteriously becomes weaker on the next, you can’t make a solid assumption of what can someone do with a given amount of power. For example, Frieza could easily destroy a planet with a Battle Power of 500.000. But even when he maxed out at 12 million, he could just blow a mountain at best. It’s a mockery of the reader’s intelligence. And it’s stupid to think that only power is the statistic that matters in battles. What about intelligence, wisdom, and cunningness?

It seems to be a rather bad legacy this show left to the following shonen, who in an attempt to mimic the glory would also opt for goofy characters and simplistic backdrops. Damn, looks like the subtle formula Hokuto no Ken began with faded even more and got replaced with a bunch of hapless idiots.

My enjoyment equals the percentage of the worthy arcs. I personally have the following remarks about the flow of the story.
-The first arc is pure slapstick/erotic comedy, with some cool explosions here and there. Not very funny or imposing but definitely bearable and worthy.
-The second was the same but also had a lot of martial art fighting that made it more interesting.
-The third was to the most part boring, as Goku feels like Rambo while protecting innocent people from the Red Ribbon Army of terrorists. Not much of story or battles. There was a cameo appearance of the Doctor Slump characters here, but who cares. It gets quite awesome only towards the end where Goku fights the extremely ruthless Tao Pai Pai (the first cool villain in the series who kills people in VERY cruel ways) and then storms the Red Ribbon Army base.
-The fourth was boring, as I didn’t found interesting the ghost tournament, or Tien Shin Han’s quest for revenge. And the battles were quite stale.
-The fifth was great all the way, as Piccolo appears, kills people by the HUNDREDS, mountains start blowing up, characters change and mysteries are solved. Very action-based, violent and cool.
Thus in overall I half-liked it.
-The sixth (Saiyan Saga) was small and solid. Very good as a whole. The chapters where everyone trains were generally boring. Gohan’s training was dramatic enough but it simply lasted too long.
-The seventh (Namek Saga) was solid but unnecessary long. Very atmospheric as a whole but with a lot of dead time. The chapters where the heroes go to Namek were boring. And the battle with Frieza could easily be done in half the pages.
-The eighth (Cell Saga) was unnecessary long. Very mysterious as a whole but with a lot of dead time. The battle with the androids could easily be done in half the pages.
-The ninth (Boo Saga) was unnecessary long. Very flashy as a whole but with a lot of silly ideas and dead time. The battle with Boo could easily be done in half the pages.

But hey, it’s the series that hooked millions of people to shonen. It has memorable characters and a distinctive world and it’s not afraid to fool around for dozens of chapters before the actual story kicks in. After all back then the competition was almost zero yet it is still better than most modern shonen since it never lost its passion; like let’s say Naruto or Bleach. Or at least it didn’t up until GT came to be (although it is not canon). I still consider One Piece the only superior descendant of the formula it left behind, which for a 25 year old shonen, that means a lot.

SUGGESTION LIST
Famous Shounen to choose from:
Saint Seiya
Bleach
Fist Of The North Star
Naruto
One Piece

If you like Akira Toriyama’s style of animation, look for the series Doctor Slump and Blue Dragon as well as games such as the Dragon Quest series and Chrono Trigger.

And let’s not forget Journey to the West, the fairy tale Dragon Ball was based upon.