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.
