Westward

by Derek Padula, Javier Secano (Illustrator)

Goku goes west! His grand adventure begins anew as his martial arts master tells him to travel the world to increase his power. But what will happen when this naïve boy enters the real world and meets people who want to harm him? Will he be able to find his grandpa’s 4-Star dragon ball, or will the villainous Red Ribbon Army get to it first?!

In Dragon Ball Culture Volume 4, you’ll discover the origin of the Red Ribbon Army in Western cinema. You’ll see how author Akira Toriyama brings Western concepts into his Eastern world and fuses them together, creating the Dragon World that we know and love. And you’ll learn how monster movies, witches, and magical dragons mix together to tell a story about a young boy with a dream of becoming stronger.

Volume 4 explores Chapters 54 to 112 of the Dragon Ball manga. So let’s hop on our magic cloud and head west with Goku!

284 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 8, 2015

About the author

Derek Padula is the author of The Dao of Dragon Ball website and book series; the first to reveal the deep history, philosophy, and cultural roots of the world's #1 anime and manga.

Derek's journey begins when he sees the Dragon Ball anime in 1997. His love for the series inspires him to start martial arts training in Shàolín gōngfu, tàijí-quán, qìgōng, karate, and Fǎlún Dàfǎ meditation. He earns his B.A. in East Asian Studies and a minor in Chinese from Western Michigan University. Then he studies abroad in Běijīng, China where he trains with the Buddhist Shàolín monks and a Dàoist tàijí sword master. After returning home he begins his life's work.

He is now an authority on Dragon Ball and loves to share his understanding of this profound series that changes lives.

Reviews

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's a lot of stuff in the Red Ribbon portion of this book, which is most of it, that is a tinge more surface-layer than you may have become accustomed to reading the previous volumes, but that I think just reflects how much simpler the story was by design. With the Red Ribbon Army Toriyama began borrowing more heavily from Western (American) culture and since that's already a melting pot of many others, there's less need to peel back as many layers.

Where the book will really illuminate things is in the Fortune Teller Baba portion of the story, especially with regards to Grandpa Gohan. That portion alone is worth the book and then some. A moment that was always seen as important, impactful and powerful made so much moreso by the cultural underpinnings illuminated for the readers.

While at times I remain a bit at odds with some of Padula's stylistic choices and the formatting on the e-books isn't exactly the best, I can't recommend these books strongly enough if you want to essentially take a class on Dragon Ball.