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Dragon Ball #4
Dragon Ball, Vol. 4
R to L (Japanese Style)
A seminal series from a legendary creator. Dragon Ball, a wry update on the Chinese "Monkey King" myth, introduces us to Son Goku, a young monkey-tailed boy whose quiet life is turned upside-down when he meets Bulma, a girl determined to collect the seven "Dragon Balls." If she gathers them all, an incredibly powerful dragon will appear and grant her one wish. But the precious orbs are scattered all over the world, and to get them she needs the help of a certain super-strong boy...
Turtle vs. Crane The next Tenka'ichi BudMkai martial arts tournament is just around the corner, and an eager Son Goku can't wait to face even tougher fighters for the "Strongest Under the Heavens" title! Among the contestants are pipsqueak Chaozu and three-eyed Tenshinhan, deadly disciples of Tsuru-Sen'nin, the Crane Hermit! As it turns out, Tsuru-Sen'nin is an old rival of Goku's teacher Kame-Sen'nin (also known as the Turtle Hermit). What's worse, Tsuru-Sen'nin orders Chaozu and Tenshinhan to kill the Kame-Sen'nin disciples! Will crane-style kung fu beat out turtle style? As these two martial arts schools duke it out in the tournament ring, things just might turn fatal!
A seminal series from a legendary creator. Dragon Ball, a wry update on the Chinese "Monkey King" myth, introduces us to Son Goku, a young monkey-tailed boy whose quiet life is turned upside-down when he meets Bulma, a girl determined to collect the seven "Dragon Balls." If she gathers them all, an incredibly powerful dragon will appear and grant her one wish. But the precious orbs are scattered all over the world, and to get them she needs the help of a certain super-strong boy...
Turtle vs. Crane The next Tenka'ichi BudMkai martial arts tournament is just around the corner, and an eager Son Goku can't wait to face even tougher fighters for the "Strongest Under the Heavens" title! Among the contestants are pipsqueak Chaozu and three-eyed Tenshinhan, deadly disciples of Tsuru-Sen'nin, the Crane Hermit! As it turns out, Tsuru-Sen'nin is an old rival of Goku's teacher Kame-Sen'nin (also known as the Turtle Hermit). What's worse, Tsuru-Sen'nin orders Chaozu and Tenshinhan to kill the Kame-Sen'nin disciples! Will crane-style kung fu beat out turtle style? As these two martial arts schools duke it out in the tournament ring, things just might turn fatal!
568 pages, Paperback
First published May 19, 2009
9 people are currently reading
243 people want to read
About the author
Akira Toriyama
1,916 books1,726 followersAkira Toriyama (鳥山明) was a Japanese manga artist and character designer. He first achieved mainstream recognition for creating the popular manga series Dr. Slump, before going on to create Dragon Ball (his most famous work) and acting as a character designer for several popular video games such as the Dragon Quest series, Chrono Trigger, and Blue Dragon. Toriyama came to be regarded as one of the most important authors in the history of manga with his works highly influential and popular, particularly Dragon Ball, which many manga artists cite as a source of inspiration.
He earned the 1981 Shogakukan Manga Award for best shōnen/shōjo manga with Dr. Slump, and it went on to sell over 35 million copies in Japan. It was adapted into a successful anime series, with a second anime created in 1997, 13 years after the manga ended.
His next series, Dragon Ball, would become one of the most popular and successful manga in the world. Having sold 260 million copies worldwide, it is one of the best-selling manga series of all time and is considered a key work in increasing manga circulation to its peak in the mid-1980s and mid-1990s. Overseas, Dragon Ball's anime adaptations have been more successful than the manga and are credited with boosting anime's popularity in the Western world. In 2019, Toriyama was decorated a Chevalier of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for his contributions to the arts.
In October 2024, Toriyama was inducted into the Harvey Awards Hall of Fame.
He earned the 1981 Shogakukan Manga Award for best shōnen/shōjo manga with Dr. Slump, and it went on to sell over 35 million copies in Japan. It was adapted into a successful anime series, with a second anime created in 1997, 13 years after the manga ended.
His next series, Dragon Ball, would become one of the most popular and successful manga in the world. Having sold 260 million copies worldwide, it is one of the best-selling manga series of all time and is considered a key work in increasing manga circulation to its peak in the mid-1980s and mid-1990s. Overseas, Dragon Ball's anime adaptations have been more successful than the manga and are credited with boosting anime's popularity in the Western world. In 2019, Toriyama was decorated a Chevalier of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for his contributions to the arts.
In October 2024, Toriyama was inducted into the Harvey Awards Hall of Fame.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
February 28, 2023
This one always gets me - especially towards the end it goes from fun funny tales of Goku and his friends to a grown up version of them all. I still love it, but I forgot how sad watching them grow up is - the humour and chaos develops into something new.
January 3, 2024
Now that’s what I call shonen! Tournament arcs are super vanilla today but I imagine back when Toriyama originally wrote these, it was still a super fresh idea. Could be wrong but there’s something to be said about being one of the pillars of what would become shonen. While I want more the more light-hearted, comic relief moments from the first few 3-in-1s I still enjoyed the book to smash through it in one day.
January 1, 2021
thumbs up
February 7, 2018
I have a complicated relationship with Dragon Ball. I read the whole series front to back in around 2005/2006. Well, not really front to back. My city's library system, for whatever reason, did not have Dragon Ball vol. 2, though it did have the other fifteen volumes, as well as all twenty-six of Z (though of course they should have been published under the uniform title of Dragon Ball, released as forty-two volumes), and I believe I initially meant to skip much of the Z arc, satisfied with having experienced that story ad nauseam through the Legacy of Goku and Budokai video game series (but I did end up reading all of Z because it took like thirty seconds to read each volume, since it was mostly textless action panels). I dimly recall having seen some episodes of the original series on Toonami in the late '90's, but that may be incorrect - rather, I'm pretty sure I've seen Sailor Moon, Gundam Wing, and DBZ, and only imagined the original Dragon Ball probably aired within the era. I do know I saw a few episodes of DB circa 2003, as it aired just before DBZ, but I only remember having perhaps seen stray episodes of the Tenshinhan and Piccolo, Jr. arcs (seeing only the occasional episode from the Piccolo, Sr. arc), and even then I only caught a handful of episodes, probably spending more time playing Yu-Gi-Oh! with my friends at the playground, then returning home to watch Z, skipping the original DB for whatever reason (maybe because DBZ: Budokai paid so little attention to the series's roots, so I was probably less inclined to pay too much attention myself).
So whatever. Fastforward a few years, being a useless piece of shit in high school, steadily losing interest in my circle of friends and gaining more interest in the good ol' Pleb/Patrish dichotomy, dedicating myself to pursuing aesthetic interests in film and music, and thus not really anime. But for whatever reason, I started arbitrarily thinking of Dragon Ball, deciding ultimately that the manga lost steam HARD with the introduction of Saiyans and Namekians, taking a fat Super Saiyan shit on the legacy of the first sixteen volumes, moving beyond Toriyama's humor and his somewhat unique take on supernatural martial arts, falling instead into Super Saiyan bargain sales and beam spam (including Vegeta inventing new special moves every arc, only using them a single time before dropping them forever [kudos to Dragon Ball Super for reviving the Galick Gun, though]), stripping Tenshinhan and Yamcha of any sort of relevance as soon as Nappa arrives, and booting Krillin out of the limelight somewhere during the Androids/Cell arc (Ten has as much relevance here in his Kikoho spam versus Cell, but Krillin edges out just slightly by ending up fucking the only chick in the entire series who actually has decent fighting ability).
And, as it turns out, I can still write a lot against Z, even if I respect that portion of the franchise yet again. But the fact remains, Dragon Ball was an entirely different beast in its original, pre-aliens iteration. I started re-reading the series in 2016, purchasing the VIZBIG compilations because of page quality (including size, as well as some color pages), but it didn't seem to be too hot an idea. I certainly still love Toriyama's art, possibly more than ever before, enjoying the odd physiques he used to draw, where everyone was a little stocky-looking, and a lot more rounded, rather than the angular stickmen of the Androids arc and onward. More interestingly, I was able to appreciate his paneling and general composition, perhaps especially due to the large pages (so glad I didn't buy the newer 3-in-1s, which look kinda cheap, despite unifying the whole series under the z-less Dragon Ball title). But anyway, re-reading the series ultimately left me kinda cold. Mostly my issue was that the series just flew by too fast. Son Goku meets Bulma, they go search for more Dragon Balls, they encounter Oolong, Yamcha, Kame-Sen'nin, Krillin, Chi-chi, Pilaf, Goku's a gorilla-person, there's a tournament, the Red Ribbon Army is up to no good, so let's fight through White's tower, now Blue is after us, now Taopaipai is after us, Tao kills a little Native American boy's father, now Goku has a reason to gather the balls and make a wish, now Goku destroys all of the RR Army in a few pages, now we have to see Roshi's onee-san to find the next Dragon Ball, but we have to fight a gauntlet of Universal Monsters parodies first, but oh wait Pilaf had the last ball, but Goku's just so fucking strong it doesn't matter that Pilaf and his crew have a combining mecha.
Okay, so I kind of put stuff out of order, and that last clause is actually from this compilation volume, but the point is I was made to realize in my adulthood that Toriyama kinda just moves from story beat to story beat, giving his characters little time to breathe, and every volume was basically its own arc, showing little in the way of a long-lasting story, perhaps foreshadowing the messiness of the Androids arc (here's Gero and Android 19, no wait, here's 16, 17, and 18, but they're too human to be bigger monsters than Freeza, so here's Cell, but shit, my editor thinks he's too ugly, so he ate 17, but now he's still too ugly, so he ate 18, and now he's Perfect, but I want Gohan to kill him and become the new protagonist, but all of Japan loves Goku, so he's going to have all the spotlight in the Buu arc).
This has gone on too long. Basically, the volumes represented in this collection prove to me just how much I actually really do like Dragon Ball. Toriyama really fleshes out the action in this segment of the saga, being the 22nd Tenkaichi Budoukai, as well as the admittedly quite abrupt rise of King Piccolo. Firstly, I should mention that I was unironically moved to nearly choking up when Baba predicts Goku will one day save the world, knowing, of course, that he will do it many times over in the coming years (Vs. Piccolo, Sr., Vs. Piccolo, Jr., Vs. Raditz, Vs. Vegeta, Vs. Freeza [who didn't directly threaten Earth, but would have probably harmed humanity after getting Porunga to grant a wish for universal domination], Vs. Cell, Vs. Buu [and arguably Vs. Champa, Goku Black, Zeno's Tournament of Power's stakes, Baby, Super 17, and the Shadow Dragons]). The transition to the tournament was kinda shit (See you in three years, everybody! The audience isn't going to get a single glimpse of our training, but fuck it!) but the tournament itself was pretty great, taking up most of two whole volumes in the same setting (the tournament stage) with decent stakes (the Crane School threatening to kill their rivals the Turtle School, partly out of revenge for their fallen comrade Taopaipai) and a shitload of great action. It is perhaps questionable that Yamcha and Krillin both manage to pull out Kamehamehas, since it kinda foreshadows some of Z's issues as related above (basically, Goku's special move isn't so special now that his friends can do it, and he's going to teach it to his son, and Cell gets to use it because he has Goku's DNA, and I think Kid Buu can do it, but I might just be taking that from video game movesets).
But the most important part is how characters have adapted their fighting styles to fit the basic moves of the Turtle School into their own unique personalities. Krillin, surprised that Yamcha's been practicing Kamehameha, decides to try it out himself, but with a huge twist: he knows he hasn't practiced enough to shoot out a blast that can stand by its own power, but he's clever enough to shoot a decoy blast at Goku, tricking him into deflecting the attack in order to create a smokescreen to dash at Goku in a surprise attack. And Goku does some crazy combo shit against Krillin, with the "Reverse Kamehameha" to launch himself at Krillin at high speed, knock him through the air, and constantly chase him to hit him further. Or when Tenshinhan pins Goku against the wall of the battle stage with an elbow strike, then lets go and lets fly a super-fast barrage of punches before Goku has a chance to slide down the wall. Or when Goku sends Ten flying horizontally, only to launch himself parallel to Ten, along the ground, just under Ten's flying body, so that he (Goku) might thus launch Ten vertically. God damn. And it's hilarious to remember there was once a time when Yajirobe was on Goku's level, and that he could cut down one of Piccolo's demon minions, thus justifying his role in severing Ape Vegeta's tail at the end of the Saiyan arc. And Goku got pissed enough to fucking vaporize Tamborine with a Kamehameha.
Holy fuck, I love Dragon Ball.
So whatever. Fastforward a few years, being a useless piece of shit in high school, steadily losing interest in my circle of friends and gaining more interest in the good ol' Pleb/Patrish dichotomy, dedicating myself to pursuing aesthetic interests in film and music, and thus not really anime. But for whatever reason, I started arbitrarily thinking of Dragon Ball, deciding ultimately that the manga lost steam HARD with the introduction of Saiyans and Namekians, taking a fat Super Saiyan shit on the legacy of the first sixteen volumes, moving beyond Toriyama's humor and his somewhat unique take on supernatural martial arts, falling instead into Super Saiyan bargain sales and beam spam (including Vegeta inventing new special moves every arc, only using them a single time before dropping them forever [kudos to Dragon Ball Super for reviving the Galick Gun, though]), stripping Tenshinhan and Yamcha of any sort of relevance as soon as Nappa arrives, and booting Krillin out of the limelight somewhere during the Androids/Cell arc (Ten has as much relevance here in his Kikoho spam versus Cell, but Krillin edges out just slightly by ending up fucking the only chick in the entire series who actually has decent fighting ability).
And, as it turns out, I can still write a lot against Z, even if I respect that portion of the franchise yet again. But the fact remains, Dragon Ball was an entirely different beast in its original, pre-aliens iteration. I started re-reading the series in 2016, purchasing the VIZBIG compilations because of page quality (including size, as well as some color pages), but it didn't seem to be too hot an idea. I certainly still love Toriyama's art, possibly more than ever before, enjoying the odd physiques he used to draw, where everyone was a little stocky-looking, and a lot more rounded, rather than the angular stickmen of the Androids arc and onward. More interestingly, I was able to appreciate his paneling and general composition, perhaps especially due to the large pages (so glad I didn't buy the newer 3-in-1s, which look kinda cheap, despite unifying the whole series under the z-less Dragon Ball title). But anyway, re-reading the series ultimately left me kinda cold. Mostly my issue was that the series just flew by too fast. Son Goku meets Bulma, they go search for more Dragon Balls, they encounter Oolong, Yamcha, Kame-Sen'nin, Krillin, Chi-chi, Pilaf, Goku's a gorilla-person, there's a tournament, the Red Ribbon Army is up to no good, so let's fight through White's tower, now Blue is after us, now Taopaipai is after us, Tao kills a little Native American boy's father, now Goku has a reason to gather the balls and make a wish, now Goku destroys all of the RR Army in a few pages, now we have to see Roshi's onee-san to find the next Dragon Ball, but we have to fight a gauntlet of Universal Monsters parodies first, but oh wait Pilaf had the last ball, but Goku's just so fucking strong it doesn't matter that Pilaf and his crew have a combining mecha.
Okay, so I kind of put stuff out of order, and that last clause is actually from this compilation volume, but the point is I was made to realize in my adulthood that Toriyama kinda just moves from story beat to story beat, giving his characters little time to breathe, and every volume was basically its own arc, showing little in the way of a long-lasting story, perhaps foreshadowing the messiness of the Androids arc (here's Gero and Android 19, no wait, here's 16, 17, and 18, but they're too human to be bigger monsters than Freeza, so here's Cell, but shit, my editor thinks he's too ugly, so he ate 17, but now he's still too ugly, so he ate 18, and now he's Perfect, but I want Gohan to kill him and become the new protagonist, but all of Japan loves Goku, so he's going to have all the spotlight in the Buu arc).
This has gone on too long. Basically, the volumes represented in this collection prove to me just how much I actually really do like Dragon Ball. Toriyama really fleshes out the action in this segment of the saga, being the 22nd Tenkaichi Budoukai, as well as the admittedly quite abrupt rise of King Piccolo. Firstly, I should mention that I was unironically moved to nearly choking up when Baba predicts Goku will one day save the world, knowing, of course, that he will do it many times over in the coming years (Vs. Piccolo, Sr., Vs. Piccolo, Jr., Vs. Raditz, Vs. Vegeta, Vs. Freeza [who didn't directly threaten Earth, but would have probably harmed humanity after getting Porunga to grant a wish for universal domination], Vs. Cell, Vs. Buu [and arguably Vs. Champa, Goku Black, Zeno's Tournament of Power's stakes, Baby, Super 17, and the Shadow Dragons]). The transition to the tournament was kinda shit (See you in three years, everybody! The audience isn't going to get a single glimpse of our training, but fuck it!) but the tournament itself was pretty great, taking up most of two whole volumes in the same setting (the tournament stage) with decent stakes (the Crane School threatening to kill their rivals the Turtle School, partly out of revenge for their fallen comrade Taopaipai) and a shitload of great action. It is perhaps questionable that Yamcha and Krillin both manage to pull out Kamehamehas, since it kinda foreshadows some of Z's issues as related above (basically, Goku's special move isn't so special now that his friends can do it, and he's going to teach it to his son, and Cell gets to use it because he has Goku's DNA, and I think Kid Buu can do it, but I might just be taking that from video game movesets).
But the most important part is how characters have adapted their fighting styles to fit the basic moves of the Turtle School into their own unique personalities. Krillin, surprised that Yamcha's been practicing Kamehameha, decides to try it out himself, but with a huge twist: he knows he hasn't practiced enough to shoot out a blast that can stand by its own power, but he's clever enough to shoot a decoy blast at Goku, tricking him into deflecting the attack in order to create a smokescreen to dash at Goku in a surprise attack. And Goku does some crazy combo shit against Krillin, with the "Reverse Kamehameha" to launch himself at Krillin at high speed, knock him through the air, and constantly chase him to hit him further. Or when Tenshinhan pins Goku against the wall of the battle stage with an elbow strike, then lets go and lets fly a super-fast barrage of punches before Goku has a chance to slide down the wall. Or when Goku sends Ten flying horizontally, only to launch himself parallel to Ten, along the ground, just under Ten's flying body, so that he (Goku) might thus launch Ten vertically. God damn. And it's hilarious to remember there was once a time when Yajirobe was on Goku's level, and that he could cut down one of Piccolo's demon minions, thus justifying his role in severing Ape Vegeta's tail at the end of the Saiyan arc. And Goku got pissed enough to fucking vaporize Tamborine with a Kamehameha.
Holy fuck, I love Dragon Ball.
May 21, 2017
I miss the fun adventure tales ... before the whole "gotta keep getting more power"
I miss the martial arts and goofiness and innocence that this story was
I miss the martial arts and goofiness and innocence that this story was
January 25, 2025
This volume collects the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai and the beginning of the King Piccolo arc, and while it still isn’t quite as peak as the early days of the series, I consider it a step up from the Red Ribbon Army saga.
It’s so interesting how Toriyama is able to use these tournament arcs as an opportunity to develop all of the characters around Goku while still clearly keeping him the main focus. Tien is the spotlight character this time around instead of Roshi, and seeing him be a stone cold badass before he turns to the light shows why he’s always been a fan favorite supporting character. Krillin gets some shine too, it’s wholesome to see how far he and Goku have come as martial artists.
And I just love how this series deepens my love for Dragon Ball Z more and more as I go through it. I talked with my friend about this, and I mentioned how I love that this gives me so much more context for all of the best moments in that series. For example, Goku turning Super Saiyan for the first time on Namek is obviously an incredible moment on its own, but I just know it’s going to hit so much harder for me from a character perspective when I get to it knowing now that it makes complete sense that Freeza murdering Krillin would be the thing to push Goku over the edge, considering that his death here is really the only other time in the entire series that we see him get THAT angry. It’s just cool to see the leg work being done for a story that I already cherished a ton.
And then King Piccolo is cool, but that only takes up a few chapters at the end, so I’ll save my thoughts for the next volume.
Anyways, before I start rambling, while this volume wasn’t my favorite, it still obviously has a ton going for it and is of course worth reading. Toriyama-sensei still hasn’t missed yet!
It’s so interesting how Toriyama is able to use these tournament arcs as an opportunity to develop all of the characters around Goku while still clearly keeping him the main focus. Tien is the spotlight character this time around instead of Roshi, and seeing him be a stone cold badass before he turns to the light shows why he’s always been a fan favorite supporting character. Krillin gets some shine too, it’s wholesome to see how far he and Goku have come as martial artists.
And I just love how this series deepens my love for Dragon Ball Z more and more as I go through it. I talked with my friend about this, and I mentioned how I love that this gives me so much more context for all of the best moments in that series. For example, Goku turning Super Saiyan for the first time on Namek is obviously an incredible moment on its own, but I just know it’s going to hit so much harder for me from a character perspective when I get to it knowing now that it makes complete sense that Freeza murdering Krillin would be the thing to push Goku over the edge, considering that his death here is really the only other time in the entire series that we see him get THAT angry. It’s just cool to see the leg work being done for a story that I already cherished a ton.
And then King Piccolo is cool, but that only takes up a few chapters at the end, so I’ll save my thoughts for the next volume.
Anyways, before I start rambling, while this volume wasn’t my favorite, it still obviously has a ton going for it and is of course worth reading. Toriyama-sensei still hasn’t missed yet!
June 15, 2020
Another great entry in the Dragon Ball series. This book deals with the 2nd world's strongest tournament. It keeps the pace and energy up. The action and combat has improved, but unfortunately the sense of adventure, and the wacky comedy has diminished a bit. It's still a great combination of action, adventure, and comedy, but I can see that as it goes on it tilts more into the action battle manga tropes. I say tropes but judging it based on it's release time - Dragon Ball was inventing these tropes and so it really was original back then. However, reading it in 2020 feels a bit predictable and Goku's inevitable rise to ludicrous strength is less exciting.
As I have mentioned before what makes Dragon Ball tick is the side characters, the wackiness, the silliness, the inventive puzzle fights. This volume also lacks some of that, but we still get more Jackie Chun. His fight with the Man Wolf is a highlight, and the great gag with Krillin fighting Chazu was a lot of fun.
Really enjoyed Tien and Chazu's characterization in the Manga, and love the weirdness of their powers. The way Toriyama continue to add new powers and strange interesting new characters while still giving some love and limelight to the smaller characters makes it a delight to read this. Better than Vol 3 but still not topping volume 2 for me.
As I have mentioned before what makes Dragon Ball tick is the side characters, the wackiness, the silliness, the inventive puzzle fights. This volume also lacks some of that, but we still get more Jackie Chun. His fight with the Man Wolf is a highlight, and the great gag with Krillin fighting Chazu was a lot of fun.
Really enjoyed Tien and Chazu's characterization in the Manga, and love the weirdness of their powers. The way Toriyama continue to add new powers and strange interesting new characters while still giving some love and limelight to the smaller characters makes it a delight to read this. Better than Vol 3 but still not topping volume 2 for me.
August 7, 2019
Vol. 10: The 22nd Tenka'ichi Budokai: I love Dragon Ball!. Surprisingly this volume starts off by very quickly finishing off the quest for the 7th dragon ball and Goku's wish. Then it is three years later and everyone has separated and trained to meet up for the next Strongest Under the Heavens contest. So there are tons of fights and this was lots of fun. We end up in the quarter finals.
Vol. 11: The Eyes of Tenshinhan: The contest continues and this volume is 100% battle action! Goku and Kuririn end up facing off against each other and then the winner takes on the last contestant in the final round. And what a battle it proves to be. Battles usually aren't my favourite part of shounen but this action is just plain awesome. When the volume ends it seems to be a matter of life and death, who will be the winner?
Vol. 12: The Demon King Piccolo: Oh My Gawsh!! This is my favourite manga ever! The contest ends and the winner is a shock. Then ... then ... then someone is killed! {sob} And finally the demon king Piccolo arrives on the scene! And this is all only a few chapters into the volume. Things go really fast as our guys race (and fight) against the bad guys trying to collect the Dragon balls once again. Next volume come soon ...
Vol. 11: The Eyes of Tenshinhan: The contest continues and this volume is 100% battle action! Goku and Kuririn end up facing off against each other and then the winner takes on the last contestant in the final round. And what a battle it proves to be. Battles usually aren't my favourite part of shounen but this action is just plain awesome. When the volume ends it seems to be a matter of life and death, who will be the winner?
Vol. 12: The Demon King Piccolo: Oh My Gawsh!! This is my favourite manga ever! The contest ends and the winner is a shock. Then ... then ... then someone is killed! {sob} And finally the demon king Piccolo arrives on the scene! And this is all only a few chapters into the volume. Things go really fast as our guys race (and fight) against the bad guys trying to collect the Dragon balls once again. Next volume come soon ...
June 28, 2025
Yeah I literally finished this is one day, in one sitting, all 600 or so pages. To be fair it’s a comic book and a quicker read so it wasn’t bad, I just sat down for a few hours on a Saturday and read it all. It was great and the stakes were very high, especially with the tournament, the time skip to the tournament with the training and all that, the demon king piccolo, tien, etc. all of it was great and it rivals the first two in terms of my enjoyment, I think it just edges them out. I can’t wait for the 5th compilation book! I wonder how that one will do.
4.9/5
4.9/5
April 20, 2021
More great stuff. Toriyama returns to another tournament arc with much more confidence and better booking. Meanwhile, the King Piccolo arc that follows sows the seeds of DBZ - major character deaths, threatening henchmen getting smoked, and an otherworldly evil who seems impossible to defeat. I know the main beats that follow but I'm excited to see it wrap up moment-to-moment.
February 15, 2023
Yeah, this is the one. The characters, the storyline, the twists and turns, all were just perfection. The art style and the dialogue seem to take a step up, and the intensity and emotions are finally as I remember them. I couldn’t put this one down.
November 4, 2023
This series is just so much frikkin fun! I’m loving my time with it and it’s on its way to becoming a new favorite manga. Also, going back and watching the episodes after reading the volumes just adds so much! I’ve been doing that and I’m just in an entire Dragon Ball rabbit hole.
May 28, 2024
Okay I understand the hype for the 22nd Tenka'chi Budōkai. It's Dragon Balls equivalent to the Dark Tournament for sure (DT is way better, at least anime wise). But damn, these three issues are superb. Also King Piccolo!? What a threat
January 5, 2020
Another tournament happens followed by one heck of a villain. This is the best yet. I’m excited to finish off this series.
November 10, 2020
Honestly, these are great! Tenka'ichi Budokai tournament brackets, outrageous moves, hilarious moments, plot twists, this is just some solid fun.
February 10, 2024
This one takes a slight turn towards a more serious and darker tone. However I welcome it and can’t wait to continue to see how it all comes together!
Read
March 27, 2024Goku’s fight with Ten is such a sublimely crafted, laid out, and blocked piece of graphic art.
July 25, 2024
What a delight. The Dragon Ball manga will show you just how good a manga can be.
December 4, 2021
A very pale gray...
June 21, 2015
The beginning of Volume 10 has Goku retrieve the last Dragon Ball from Pilaf and his henchmen, and then go with Upa to wish his father back to life. Then the gang disperses, to meet again at the next Tenkaichi Budokai tournament 3 years later. Yamcha goes to train under Kame-Sen'nin.
Then most of Volume 10, all of Volume 11 and part of Volume 12 deal with the tournament. Goku shows up, the gang is reunited, they go through qualifying. They meet the Crane Master and his disciples, Tenshinhan and Chaozu, who are huge jerks at first. After the qualifying, Yamcha is defeated by Tenshinhan, who is on another level and breaks Yamcha's leg after knocking him out. Jackie Chun cures a Man-Wolf in a humorous match, and Kuririn manages to outsmart Chaozu. Goku fights Panpoot, so that Jackie Chun can give them a lesson about how far beyond human limits they have transcended. Panpoot is a formidable human opponent, but Goku and company are beyond that.
In the second round, Jackie Chun fights Tenshinhan, and tries to convert him to good, to bring him away from the evil Crane master. He eventually forfeits, knowing Tenshinhan is part of a new breed of warriors who can protect the world. Goku fights Kuririn, and has a fun match, but Goku simply outclasses Kuririn, although Kuririn tries his best. And then there's the major match, Goku vs. Tenshinhan, which pushes them both to the limit. The Crane Master tries to interfere with Chaozu, but Tenshinhan rejects him, and Master Roshi blows him away. Tenshinhan releases some formidable attacks, and ends up winning by a fluke.
The real drama begins, as Dragon Ball transitions to the darker comic it eventually becomes. After the tournament, a monster kills Kuririn while stealing Goku's Dragon Ball. Goku chases him down but is weakened. Meanwhile, the rest of our heroes get together and form a plan to face Piccolo, the Great Demon King once defeated by Master Roshi's master with the Mafu Ba. Goku runs into Yajirobe, and has a disagreement with him, before they dispatch Cymbal and Tambourine, two of Piccolo's monsters. Piccolo himself comes down to fight Goku, but Goku manages to survive, even if he was completely outclassed by his adversary.
This volume contains a tournament that drags out a bit too long, although watching the evolution of Tenshinhan's character is fun. The power increase continues unabated, as Goku meets Tenshinhan, who is more powerful than Master Roshi, and then Yajirobe, who is apparently more powerful still. And of course Piccolo is leagues above Goku, but they'll have to defeat him shortly as well. Still, the drama of Piccolo outclasses what has been in the book previously; it's a much more serious adversary than the Red Ribbon Army, only previously approached by Taopaipai perhaps, in terms of tone. The last volume tells a very compelling story.
Then most of Volume 10, all of Volume 11 and part of Volume 12 deal with the tournament. Goku shows up, the gang is reunited, they go through qualifying. They meet the Crane Master and his disciples, Tenshinhan and Chaozu, who are huge jerks at first. After the qualifying, Yamcha is defeated by Tenshinhan, who is on another level and breaks Yamcha's leg after knocking him out. Jackie Chun cures a Man-Wolf in a humorous match, and Kuririn manages to outsmart Chaozu. Goku fights Panpoot, so that Jackie Chun can give them a lesson about how far beyond human limits they have transcended. Panpoot is a formidable human opponent, but Goku and company are beyond that.
In the second round, Jackie Chun fights Tenshinhan, and tries to convert him to good, to bring him away from the evil Crane master. He eventually forfeits, knowing Tenshinhan is part of a new breed of warriors who can protect the world. Goku fights Kuririn, and has a fun match, but Goku simply outclasses Kuririn, although Kuririn tries his best. And then there's the major match, Goku vs. Tenshinhan, which pushes them both to the limit. The Crane Master tries to interfere with Chaozu, but Tenshinhan rejects him, and Master Roshi blows him away. Tenshinhan releases some formidable attacks, and ends up winning by a fluke.
The real drama begins, as Dragon Ball transitions to the darker comic it eventually becomes. After the tournament, a monster kills Kuririn while stealing Goku's Dragon Ball. Goku chases him down but is weakened. Meanwhile, the rest of our heroes get together and form a plan to face Piccolo, the Great Demon King once defeated by Master Roshi's master with the Mafu Ba. Goku runs into Yajirobe, and has a disagreement with him, before they dispatch Cymbal and Tambourine, two of Piccolo's monsters. Piccolo himself comes down to fight Goku, but Goku manages to survive, even if he was completely outclassed by his adversary.
This volume contains a tournament that drags out a bit too long, although watching the evolution of Tenshinhan's character is fun. The power increase continues unabated, as Goku meets Tenshinhan, who is more powerful than Master Roshi, and then Yajirobe, who is apparently more powerful still. And of course Piccolo is leagues above Goku, but they'll have to defeat him shortly as well. Still, the drama of Piccolo outclasses what has been in the book previously; it's a much more serious adversary than the Red Ribbon Army, only previously approached by Taopaipai perhaps, in terms of tone. The last volume tells a very compelling story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 29, 2011
Might be the best volume yet. the humour still stands out, and the story has taken a dark turn as the series is entering it's final story arc before becoming DRAGON BALL Z. Great stuff, through and through, it's still one of the few books I've read that makes me laugh out loud.
December 18, 2012
The main plot of the series opens and now is when things get serious. The main villain is introduced (I think) and starts killing off beloved characters.
October 25, 2014
This is when the series takes a dark turn and turns into the more mature series it is in DBZ.
July 31, 2022
I'M GOING TO CRY OH MY GOD.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews