Come read the Dragon Ball (original flavor) manga with me! Or not, just watch me talk about it. So my husband very rudely got me into DBZ Kai and then promptly lost interest, but might want to watch it together again at some point, meaning I'm kinda stuck between a rock and a hard place. Being resourceful, I decided to read the manga, but couldn't find Z on my usual site They did have vanilla DB though, so why not, let's read the original. Background for when we get around to watching Kai again. There are a fuckton of chapters, let's see how many I get through!
Ch 1 That is a much smaller Goku than I'm familiar with. Speaking of... it's pretty weird coming in with very specific knowledge of things that are going to be happening later on. Makes me wonder if there's a transitional Goku stage or if it's just tiny -> large size. Hooboy these sound effects though! I imagine that's going to uhhhh be a common theme throughout. AND FULL ON NUDITY ALL RIGHT DICK AND BALLS ARE FINE AS LONG AS THEY'RE CARTOONY jfc ... also his clothes changed color --> gray with orange accents (stylish) orange with black (?) accents (nightmare) Fish caught, Bulma ran in to, fucking throws her car and she FUCKING SHOOTS HIM (these people have no regard for human life) come on (context: goku suspected she might not be human because she's weak and soft; joke's on you, buddy, you're the inhuman one here) Grandpa is a dragon ball! And apparently Bulma just had one lying around her basement. * sweats * Oh, so even Goku thinks her name is funny. (Although why's she so hesitant, is says fucking "BULMA" right on her dress!) Motorcycle, pee joke, talking pterosaur (?), more motorcycle, ahh, ending the chapter on another pee joke. Cool start, series, cool start!
Ch 2: check out this sweet hat-wearing owl Are they called "hoipoi" capsules because you have to shout "hoi" when you throw one? Capsule house looks nice and cozy, I'm partial to hemispheres. Goku continues to be shocked by technology (the classic "little dude in the box" bit about TVs)... seems like he should know what a tub is, though. OH GREAT AN OPPORTUNITY FOR MORE NUDITY... although I guess we needed an opportunity for Bulma to realize that it's a real tail. NO FUCKING WAY Jesus christ he ate a whole wolf. nothing left but bones. Hmmm, so it's summer vacation for Bulma... I guess that's why a 16 year old is allowed to go gallavanting around the country with absolutely no supervision. HOO BOY OKAY THEN WOW there's quite a bit of uuuuhhhhh sexual assault played for humor going on! Which certainly seems to be a common occurrence in older manga, but it's still pretty not fun to read, especially when it's treated so cavalierly. :/ There's an ominous shadow at the end of this chapter, but I'm not fooled, I'm pretty sure it's a turtle.
Ch 3 oh okay we're back to color again I bet Goku does need to run around outside and break rocks a lot... get all his wiggles out... training is good for that HaHA vindicated it was a turtle please don't break the turtle Goku. Am I wrong in thinking that's a sea turtle? those look awfully flipper-like and not terrestrial in function, despite the fact he's waaaay too rotund (vindicated AGAIN a few panels later) Obviously you have to help the turtle, Bulma, stop being stingy with time and just help. 120 km isn't even that far to go, you have possibly multiple vehicles, just do it. Aaaand she does, but only because Goku still has Grandpa-dragon-ball and there are yet more dinosaurs wandering around * FF battle music plays * An Enemy Has Appeared! and boy does he look like he'll be defeated in about two panels, man, this guy just screams hero-fodder Sizes are changing radically from frame to frame, lol, one minute Goku is as large as the dude's head and the next he's like half the size Well, he took slightly more than two panels, but yeah, no sweat. Make it to the ocean in no time, turtle wants to give a gift... classy, bulma HIS SHIRT PATTERN IS ESCAPING And that's the end? Kind of an oddly-paced chapter.
Ch 4 that shirt pattern just continues to go So it's Roshi (but we don't know that shhh), very grateful. Tries to give Goku immortal life (! a recurring theme) but the phoenix is dead from food poisoning. thank you bulma, my thoughts exactly (also did you dye your hair between last chapter and this one?) Kintoun (what an awkward name) origins! Did Roshi actually think. he could ride it. after saying that you need a pure heart to ride it. do you not know yourself, man. This doesn't have much to do with anything (besides that Goku can ride it) but it's a cute panel and I like the "TON" sound effect with the pseudo-plaid. presented without comment .... oh motherfucker. So sometime in the last couple of chapters Goku took off Bulma's underclothes while she slept and I don't think that ever replaced them and now fucking Roshi wants to see her panties and... yeppppp COOL alllllright she just super flashed him and was not wearing any and somehow hasn't even realized. I really don't like that aspect of this manga. (+_+) But now Goku can fly around even if not under his own power, which is nice. Bulma also has some cool outfits, very stylish. Chapter ends with an ominously deserted village.... This manga has such a weird juxtaposition of very Chinese art-influenced countryside, the obvious Saiyuuki bits, and modernity (esp. with the capsule stuff). Interesting to see the genesis of this stuff!
Time to read more because I am fucking burnt out on thinking about statistics! I may combine some chapters because sometimes they seem pretty short. But we'll see how it goes... Ch 5 seeing all these drawings of cars/bikes/planes/machines I kinda feel like Toriyama and my dad would get along at least in their like of motorized vehicles For someone who doesn't like her name Bulma has it emblazoned everywhere. If it's not on her shirt, it's on her hat, or on her coat, or somewhere. Is she supposed to be a big name in the world? Seems like more people should know of her. Well, it's early days, very possible Toriyama hadn't made decisions about some of this stuff. Sense people in a house -> no one answers -> door is locked -> punch door to open: the natural process of events. Of course, if you do that, you get an axe to the head, and it probably won't break on yours like it does on Goku's. Are domed houses just the norm here? Or does everyone live in a capsule house? Goku needs to get a FUCKING clue and stop sexually harassing people (even if it's unintentional because apparently he is dumber than the proverbial box of rocks). Maybe if Bulma sat down and explained it? The yelling-and-hitting approach doesn't seem to be working, although you'd think that it would be effective with Goku. Man, I don't get this aesthetic at all. Is this a pioneer town? Shit's all over the place. An old lady has another dragon ball, very convenient. Oolong is a shape-shifter... this plan is probably stupid... Well, Oolong figuring it out was probably a foregone conclusion. (And Bulma, you really need to get a grip.) Ch 6 We're gonna fight a bull! Or not, and OH HEY I NEVER LEARNED PIGDUDE'S NAME IN KAI BUT I GUESS THAT'S HIM! Man, you can really see the Saiyuuki roots in this super clearly. Monkey, pig.... Still needs a kappa (? I think? Maybe I'm thinking of something else.) Why did he transform into a Mega Man boss character? With soup, of all things? Or I guess it could be tea. Either way, burned himself on it. Turns out he's super weak. Who would have guessed, how surprising. An appropriate sound effect Maaaaaan there is some racist shit in this manga. I guess I'd feel worse if I was supporting the author, but I guess this is okay? It still fucking sucks, though. Oolong's prisoners are rescued (...?), hooray, time to get the heck outta here with the dragon ball and I guess a new friend. SEE THIS IS WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT. THE SCENERY JUST DOES NOT MATCH THE CHARACTERS SOMETIMES.
I'm tired but I persevere Ch 7 aka the sound effect for boat is 'boat' I don't quite get why Oolong is here? But oh well. How many panties jokes have there been? In only 7 chapters? Well, here's another one for the pile anyway. I don't trust Bulma giving people candy and (many pages later) apparently I was right to be mistrustful! What a horrible candy that gives people intestinal issues. She deserves to have lost her capsule case. Goku's pretty sweet, he could have ridden the cloud but chose not to. DESERT CAT CREATURE!! YOU ARE CUTE HERE TOO! I had no idea that he (?) was named Puerh like the tea; I guess I've never heard anyone pronounce it before, so I didn't connect the auditory experience with the word! I also appreciate that manga is NOT an aural medium, because hot damn Puerh's voice is annoying in the english dub. So far, naming conventions: - Shapeshifters: named after tea (Oolong, Puerh) - One undergarment name (Bulma) - One food name (Yamcha, introduced shortly after Puerh) - An assortment of others (obviously there are more but i'm gonna collect em as i come to them) So Yamcha started out as a villain. Can't say I'm surprised. What does his kanji say? I could absolutely look it up but I'm lazy. Ch 8 I'm consumed by curiosity so i am actually gonna look up that kanji aaaand it's "music/comfort"???? okay that's kinda a weird one Ooop the shapeshifters know each other! I wonder if their whole class was named after tea. FIGHT!! Lot more weapon use now than later. It's weird seeing Yamcha with a sword. Sheesh, everyone knows Goku's grandpa. MORE FIGHT!! The first technique, and it has a dumb name! pffft what a face Oh no, Goku is defeated! But not really, he's just hungry. Hunger seems to be more of a thing at this point, which I get, it's a super typical shounen manga protag trait, and it seems especially appropriate for younger characters. hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Things look bad, but Bulma saves the day! Yamcha squad: retreat. Ch 9 that's a dumb plan yamcha Oolong makes the worst fucking face in this chapter, i hate it, i'm not going to copy it here because it's terrible. I'm tired of the 'pervert dude' character archetyyyyyyype I've already experienced this with other shounen manga (Ranma 1/2, for example), but there's a lot of butts and breasts with semi-detailed nipples/areola in manga that's ostensibly for kids. Also why is there a huge window without ANY curtains or anything right into the shower part of the bathroom. Now Oolong has a reason to tag along and Yamcha will probably be following after as well well that's... kinda sweet, but aren't you like at most 18? YOU KNOW WHO'S NOT SWEET? THIS FUCKER OOLONG WHO JUST DRUGGED BULMA AND GOKU SO HE COULD PERFORM SOME SEXUAL ASSAULT. GOD. yeah yeah yeah hilarious. they're both dumb and can't tell that they're puerh and oolong transformed. I'm too upset about the drugging to enjoy the silly shenanigans. Ch 10 maybe we'll get out of the desert today Oh you're tired? well maybe you could have shared the watch if you hadn't DRUGGED YOUR COMPANIONS Bulma in a bunny suit. Sigh. I'm not surprised at all. (Also I feel like I had some prior knowledge of it?) Oh, Puerh and Yamcha have some fucking weaponry! And they used it! FIGHT!! Goku's in proper form today, after having a good meal last night! So Yamcha loses a tooth and retreats, then decides to do what I expected him to do from the beginning (let Goku and co do the collecting then steal the balls for himself later). Yamcha's car: -血-
Ch 11 do the numbers on capsules mean anything. is capsule 116 an air balloon capsule Let's see where we're off to now! Bulma Status: Still In Bunny Suit I arrive at frypan mountain Mountain: on fire i'm sorry i can't finish this meme. suffice it to say that the dragon ball (dragonball? i'm not sure if it should be one or two) is in a castle behind a fuckton of fire and Chichi's gonna get met at some point (i apologize for my foreknowledge) YAMCHA'S CAR CHANGED ITS FACE AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT KANJI TO USE TO REPRESENT IT ANYMORE!! (puerh is cute tho) Chichi! But holy shit that outfit though Good lord, she chopped a trex head clean off with her helmet boomerang! AND SHE HAS A BEAM ATTACK! Good lord, Chichi, I had no idea Fire's too hot for even Goku and all the shouting apparently attracted Gyumaou, who has STAR NIPPLES ON HIS BREASTPLATE and a super-dumb helmet with binoculars (?) built in Turns out he's a disciple of Roshi! What a stroke of luck! I wonder if we'll be able to get those flames to die down. Gyumaou might be willing to trade the dragon ball for some help on that front! Looks like we got a plan! On to 12! Ch 12 Gyumaou doesn't just know Roshi, he knows Son Gohan as well! The generations are kind of odd though, if both SGohan and Gyumaou were disciples. I guess they don't need to have trained at the same time to be #s 1 and 2, although it seems like Gyumaou is implying they did. Secondary macguffin target acquired! NO A Yamcha-Chichi diversion that did not need to happen but took up several pages.... although Yamcha's gaptoothed smile is kinda funny OH HEY TAIL WEAKNESS EXPOSED NO Chichi no that's not a good reason to get married It's lucky that dolphin knew the way to Roshi's place! why is he sweeping the beach Ch 13 Allllright a pun on Chichi (= can mean father in Japanese) always carry proper photo proof of identity .... roshi. don't make poor child goku do your fucking nasty bidding. if you want to touch breasts, hire a prostitute or something. A deal is made for macguffin junior but oh no roshi, like an idiot, threw it away (it was a super cool fan that could do some neat shit) so he has to come along and put the fire out himself HOLY SHIT YOU'RE CUTE?? BABY GAMERA!! Back off to Frypan mountain! There's so much long distance travel that happens in a short span of time in this series, guess that's the way of it when you can fly
Ch 14 it's all dinosaurs and vehicles with toriyama. there's hardly any dragons i have been severely mislead Bulma Status: Still In Bunny Suit Everyone's back and Gyumaou gets a dressing-down about killing people. Roshi continues to be a nasty person and Bulma rightly tells him to fuck off. You go girl, your bodily autonomy is important OH WOW I REALLY HATE MUSCULAR ROSHI I DON'T LIKE IT AT ALL First kamehameha which i literally can't read without goku's english va's voice playing in my head OKAY I ALSO REALLY HATE ROSHI'S "TEEHEE" POSE AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER AFTER DESTROYING EVERYTHING wow, this felt like a super short chapter without much to comment on. I didn't even get one screencap! Ch 15 Searching for dragon ball amidst the rubble.... Chichi is very positive about just having had her home destroyed. I suppose they couldn't really get to it for a long (but unspecific) time cute and destructive (and confirming that my doubt was correct) Yamcha is filled with boundless (and unwarranted) confidence Bulma.... you also need to respect other people's bodily autonomy.... ROSHI YOU FUCKING HAVE TO KNOW WHAT A PUFF-PUFF IS aaaaand boom. nipples. goku don't agree to things when you don't know what they are. You'll have a cute son but seriously. this relationship is built on nothing. do you really need a road when your car flies? Ch 16 A change of landscapes! Now we're in the mushroom biome of Terraria! A special npc might take up residence if you build a house for them... Do Puerh and Oolong have driver's licenses? are there certain restrictions for shapeshifters, like you can't drive transformed? please toriyama tell me how your world works. let me in on the intricacies of driving licensure in db universe. How do traffic lights work if various animal people can't see in color. Do the lights emit other signals that they can recognize. Are there different classes of license for how fly-y your car is. is it -- * is dragged out still shouting questions * PROOF THAT EVERYONE JUST LIVES IN CAPSULE HOMES?????? What does this mean for home ownership and property values Oh. bunny ears. no wonder everyone is afraid of Bulma. I'm so glad she got a change of clothes. These rabbit people are super Generic Unsavory Dudes and Goku will take care of them in short order Haha, it's the Yamcha and Puerh cheerleading squad! They're awfully proud of Goku for wanting to gank the DBs
Ch 17 Bulma Status: Bunny Suit Unequipped This gang is going to be taken care of quickly. I can sense it. There might be some silliness but it's not going to drag on. We have a final DB to get to. Oh, the bossman is a rabbit. with shades on. and a terrifying car. and apparently he can TURN PEOPLE INTO CARROTS BY TOUCHING THEM WHAT THE FUCK Bulma's a carrot and please god let there not be any vore Oop, Bulma's been de-carroted! That was quick. I was thinking maybe one more chapter. .... so, according to what i just read 1. Nyoibo can stretch to the moon 1a goku can climb to the moon carrying 3 adult-sized people in like. an afternoon. 2. the origin of the moon rabbit was this asshole 3. regular humans and a weird rabbit man can survive on the moon. 4. are they there when piccolo fucking explodes it later on? they're making some cute rabbit mochi Ch 18 So I've had this issue with the anime and it's this: the names of the episodes just give stuff away. Are you in suspense?? Is Goku gonna be able to go super saiyan???? WHAT WILL HAPP- oh it literally says he's going to. okay. And this particular chapter suffers from a similar thing because apparently it's called something to the effect of "the DBs are stolen!!" it would have been more of an impact had it just happened in the chapter buuuuut Oho, more names! Pilaf and Soba! two carbs. Presumably bad guys because they've blown up the car and stolen the DBs. you're not slick Yamcha I must know what your shirt says but man what an annoying set of kanji to look up. I recognize that "fire" radical, and the "small" one.... looks like the top part means "stir frying", no idea about the bottom because i'm fucking useless at finding radicals so you sneak into an opponent's base. You find arrows on the floor, leading one of a number of ways you could go. obviously the best thing to do is to follow them, right??? oh no of course it's not and everyone is trapped because they didn't even stagger themselves or split up or anything. sigh. Ch 19 This chapter again!! Tells us right off the bat that the dragon's gonna show up!! THANKS I WASN'T EVEN THINKING IT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN THIS CHAPTER BUT UUUUH I GUESS I'LL BE ON THE LOOKOUT NOW Some fourth wall breaking. I'm not really feeling it, toriyama. maybe because of the characters? I've seen them for all of like two chapters now, none of them scream "4th wall breakers!" at me. .... yeah it's probably hard to watch your boss blow kisses at a girl he's trapped and has caught up in a pincer device you'll annihilate them bulma stop saying these things Pilaf and co. use sleeping gas, which was probably the most effective strategy from the beginning. DBs obtained! but for some reason they don't make a wish right then and there which allows time for a) blowing a hole in the wall with a tiny kamehameha and b) escape by the shapeshifters in bat form (bat Puerh is my second favorite Puerh) The sound effect for a dragon showing up is "BASH!!"
Spoiler: i was curious so i looked it up according to the dragonball wiki, pilaf's kanji is 炒饭 (chǎofàn), fried rice. i have no idea if this is actually correct because i totally flunked out of japanese but THERE IT IS
Ch 20 yeaaah boi we made it to the 20s Sooooo I've made this complaint before but yeah, exposed genitalia is just peachy if it's cartoonish I guess! We get MUCH less naked Goku in DBZ anime. C'mon toriyama you coward, it was fine then why isn't it fine now show us the GOODS Soba........................... Oolong saves the day by wishing before Pilaf can! Alright, no more dragon and wishes for a year! Balls zoom off in all directions and Goku is sad because he lost the 4-star ball again. For the dragon to just respond to anyone in the area who makes a wish is a pretty big flaw. Plus, the first wish was uhhhhhhhh anticlimactic to say the least. The series of panels where a pair of panties falls down from heaven is pretty funny though Victory is short-lived because they're put in a new prison where the harsh desert sun will fry them in the morning! Ch 21 this will have no significance whatsoever :( poor Son Gohan sr. (and fuckin' Oolong wearing the panties goddamnit) Bulma and Yamcha put two and two together, Goku looks at the moon, we get our first oozaru! (the biologist in me hates that they're called great apes but have tails. it just rankles every time. hhhhrrrrng.) pilaf is possibly the cutest bad guy. they all sleep in the same room. pilaf has a canopy and a nightcap. Time for an oozaru rampage! Ch 22 Rampaging commences! Yamcha tells Goku he can stop being transformed now, but that's just not how this works apparently. (speaking of which: how do they learn to be in control of the transformed state? do their parents teach them? are the kept, like goku, away from sources of transformation until a certain age or do they start early? does a baby transform into a baby great ape?) While Saro muses, Goku indeed goes on a rampage, breaking the prison and destroying the castle. Pilaf & co try to escape in a plane, but Goku beans it with a tower and they crash. and this happens to Bulma. How is she alive. Yamcha and Puerh prove themselves to be invaluable by figuring out how to halt the rampage (solution: remove tail). the tail-removal panels always make me wince. Goku detransforms and is sleeping peacefully, everyone is safe, the bad guys are recovering from a plane crash, it's the perfect conclusion to our first round of wishing!
Ch 23 A well-deserved break in the excitement What a nice peaceful sunrise. * *cropped to avoid gratuitous genitalia oh no he's all discombobulated without his tail But it's fine! He doesn't care. In the time it takes for him to run off and find nyoi-bo, Bulma and Yamcha have realized they're the answers to each other's problems! Woohoo! Oolong doesn't seem pleased, but Puerh is happy. (and isn't that all that matters) DESTINATIONS: Bulma, Yamcha, Puerh, Oolong: "the city" Goku: Roshi's place for training Bulma gives Goku the radar because she no longer needs it because she's found a wonderful boyfriend. Yamcha pops a plane out of nothing, and everyone flies off; we get a nice splash panel of Goku soaring across the countryside on Kinto'un. The opening/ending scrolls are so like perfectly reminiscent of the narrator in the anime i kind of love them Ch 24 I'm glad Goku got to change out of those clothes; the suspenders+pants look was just not him. Roshi is being his usual self and pretty incredibly inattentive; i feel like he should have some inkling that maybe telling Goku to fend for himself foodwise might not be the greatest plan DON'T EAT RAW MEAT your poor digestive system Goku wants training. Roshi wants a "pichipichi gal". As per usual, naive, stupid Goku is sent off to do Roshi's nefarious work. I also can't really see this going well. pfft I can't believe Roshi put on a suit right away. I can't read them super well, but I think these are a bunch of aerobics videos. (possibly others as well, the quality isn't great and the text is small) As suspected, the pichipichi gal selected by Goku isn't exactly what Roshi wanted. I hope there's not a long bit about trying to get the right kind of woman and they're all wrong in various ways because that would be extremely tedious. Ch 25 Aaaaand it starts off just the way I hoped it wouldn't! Although there are mermaids in this world, so that's pretty cool. roshi gets what he deserves and there's a pun on panties (normally pantsu in japanese, but "panchi" might also work for "panties" and "punch") I think there's been some design evolution with Krillin/Kuririn (I'm not sure which I'll use. Kuririn preserves any potential associations/puns/etc.... hmm.) SPEAKING OF WHICH APPARENTLY "KURI" (while generally meaning chestnut) IS SLANG FOR CLITORIS (which would be something like "kuritorisu" so i guess that's where it comes from). I had to learn that so now i'm sharing my misery with everyone Kuririn's on top of shit: he brought an h-mag as tribute. Which would explain why he can't ride on Kinto'un, if we're equating purity with a lack of sexuality So at some point in DBZ, it says that Goku and Kuririn started out as enemies... but uhhhh that's not really apparent, at least from their first meeting. seemed pretty amicable. and not hostile. Ch 26 Things take off when we interrupt a police chase! I'm not sure I understand how her powered unicycle works (but it does look pretty cool) She sneezed and her hair changed color. I feel like I'm suddenly reading something by like Rumiko Takahashi instead goku beatin up the pigs. nice. (although i'm pretty sure ms. sneeze did actually rob a bank or something, so. Oh! She can ride on Kinto'un! Must be pure of heart (at least when her hair's black...)
Honestly early Chi-Chi is part of why I am so disappointed with how she ends up in Z. Like I don't mind that she ends up a doting housewife that wants her kids to have a good education. That's fine. I just wish we could somehow balance that more with the fact that she can in fact fight. Like fuck at least let her be Yamcha tier and occasionally stick up for her kids against villains.
Completely agreed, a balance would have been nice between the two (and boy howdy would I appreciate some lady fighters....)
Ch 27 It's Time for a T-t-t-training Sequence! Time to get beefy. Let's go, boys. IT'S NOT EVEN ROUND AND IT CAN STILL BE CAPSULE-IZED? In any case we've relocated to an island with a pop of about 300! Lunch seems to be pretty amenable to caretaking. I hope she doesn't feel taken advantage of. that's more like the Kuririn I'm familiar with Anyway, everyone has a little friendly running competition and it turns out the turtle shell is not just for looks! Roshi's fast without it. Ch 28 More training! Roshi throws a stone and the boys have to find it. Kuririn tries to cheat and is caught. His punishment probably shouldn't be a stone to the head though Goku uses his superhuman abilities to locate it but Kuririn fuckin' cheats again and poor Goku has no dinner. Which I think is a pretty terrible idea for someone you are trying to train physically, especially a young growing person! THEY NEED CALORIES. ATHLETES EAT CRAZY AMOUNTS OF CALORIES PER DAY IF THEY'RE TRAINING. YOU NEED FOOD TO PRODUCE ATP TO DO THINGS LIKE MOVE! /end rant anyway I don't think depriving someone of dinner is good anyway but it's especially dumb under these circumstances. The dinner looks really appealing too, it's a hotpot type nabe dish and I'm dying, I want to eat it too Ch 29 Was it a common thing to hang alarm clocks above your bed in Japan? That's at least twice now, maybe more, that I've seen it in this manga. how'd you get in there? Looks like they're going to be doing some milk runs. Also, is it a little weird that a bovine person is selling milk? Like.... I feel like the implication here is that they or a family member of theirs produced it. and that just sits weird with me. "Hey, how'd you like some nice fresh milk from my sister? She was just milked this morning!" Heeuuuugh. Goku is always so happy to hear about his grandpa, it makes me :') WHOOP PLOT DEVICE INTRODUCTION! Somehow I feel like we'll be spending quite a bit of time at the Tenkaichi Budoukai. This tiny island with 300 people on it certainly has a lot of biomes... desert, montaine, jungle... Oh man, Roshi really is tough. Delivering the milk (through hazardous terrain with no aides) is only the early morning training! There's still morning training, and probably early afternoon, afternoon, late afternoon, evening training.... I hope we montage it a little bit because honestly training arcs are pretty boring to me.
Ch 31 we're actually moving at a fairly good clip Uhhh so somehow my numbering got off and I either repeated a number or included two chapters in one or SOMETHING because what I had labeled "29" was actually 30. So. I don't know what happened but whatever! We're on 31 now. After milk deliveries is field-plowing! It's nice that their training is so community-service based. What's not nice is that it's hand-based tilling. Well, at least they both got to eat this time. DUDE!! DUDE. You can't follow up "You need to train your brain too!" with this. Naptime! Then construction time. Then swimming time! Roshi ties them to a tree and knocks a bee's/hornet's nest down on them. Roshi you can't just do that you don't know if they're allergic or not and I sincerely doubt you have an epipen After that it's the end of training for the day... but it's only gonna be harder from here on out, because they've gotta do everything with 20kg shells on. Ch 32 Training happens, and soon (several months, but only a few panels) they're able to move the rock that Roshi indicated in the last chapter (and that I didn't mention, whoops - Roshi tells them he won't train them in fighting until they can move a mini-mountain.) DRESSED UP FOR THE FLIGHT TO THE TOURNAMENT This guy must be a reference to something. I'm onto you, mystery man. Ch. 33 Arrived and registered for Tenkaichi Budoukai. This must be an incredible event.... probably great for local economy, even if it's also a huge strain, bringing in so many people all at once. Especially since it only happens once in a while, a lot of stuff must just be shut down in the "offseason". there we go! Hafta get through prelims first. There are 137 fighters and only 8 can go on to the finals! Goku's first opponent is a strongman looking fellow at least five times his size, wearing a very daring number that bares his right nipple and only has one strap. Goku pushes him off the stage with just one tap. Kuririn runs into some bullies from his old temple, gets freaked out, and ultimately demolishes one of them in his match because he doesn't hold back (he doesn't think he can win). Looks like our boys have a chance after all!
Ch 34 Some familiar faces! More qualifying rounds and casual racism. (his opponent thinks he has him beat) Heyyyy, first familiar face! Yamcha! (he wasn't around last chapter, right?) Got a cool haircut but still wearing his "music" outfit (still don't know why he has that kanji). Color me shocked. Aw heck this is a cute panel. I like that Yamcha knows exactly how to make Goku recognize him. Kuririn qualifies too! another cute panel geez this chapter was full of 'em everyone has apple juice! Ch 35 Excited reunions! Apparently Bulma tried to visit Goku and them, but she only found the empty island (after they packed up and went off to Training Island). She probably wasn't too worried about them, but still, I feel like that would be disconcerting. Although if you can just capsulize whatever you want, maybe it's more of an annoyance than a disconcertment. Top panel: better hurry you guys! Bottom panel: * henry zabrowski voice * suspicious OH HEY my husband told me about this guy! a super stinky fighter, Bacterian. Well, I'm a little spoiled for his fight then, but that's no big deal. Also I hate that he's giving bacteria a bad name... but they can be awfully smelly little bastards (my experiment proved that at least, holy shit those sediment samples stank) Everyone gets numbers to determine who they fight! Match ups: Bacterian v Kuririn Jackie Chun (!) v Yamcha Namu v Ran Fan Goku v Gilan So. The elephant in the room. Obviously Roshi has somehow managed to disguise himself as Jackie Chun and be a contender. That's some elaborate wig he's got going on. Ch 36 Match 1! I have been spoiled for it. Spoiler kuririn wins because he has no nose Bacterian is gross and the fight is just generally gross. So I'm not gonna dwell on it too much. it is pretty incredible though that kuririn canonically has no nose. obligate mouthbreather. WELL HE WINS OKAY LET'S JUST MOVE ON.
Ch 37 Three guesses who wins and the second two don't count HMMMMMM. Well anyway, it's time for the Yamcha v. "Jackie Chun" fight. I'm kinda into the announcer's style "Jackie Chun" is just too good. I always find it funny how characters seem to think everything will be solved if they resort to their "special attack" or whatever; it seems like they should be able to tell that even if they use some big fancy named attack, it's not going to do much good if their opponent is so much stronger than them! "Jackie Chun" knocks Yamcha out of the ring with a wave of his hand. Poor guy. Ch 38 Namu v. Ran Fan, two randos we don't care about! This is gonna be a great chapter. UNETHICAL DON'T READ PEOPLE'S MINDS LIKE THAT Ran Fan makes use of her feminine wiles to deter Namu and ends up stripping and suddenly once again I feel like I'm reading a Rumiko Takahashi manga (specifically Ranma 1/2) Namu just closes his eyes and defeats her in a single blow. Well, I am kind of glad that he didn't end up being defeated because he just Couldn't Bear To Hit A Poor Defenseless Girl Ch 39 Goku's turn to fight, finally, but fully 1/3 of the chapter is taken up with him not being there to fight. Ran Fan finally finds him napping against a wall somewhere. Gilan is a sort of pterodactyl-looking creature, although much too bulky to fly. He uses a dirty trick to get the first blow in. Goku prompty tosses him out of the ring but looks like I spoke too soon, Gilan totally does fly back into the ring. Uhoh, Gilan has a special status-inflicting attack! Goku is paralyzed and may not be able to move! The match moves on into a second chapter!
Ch 40 can't believe I got this far. heck I'm exhausted so now's the best time to read some good ol' dumb manga. Let's see what's going to happen with this chunky pterodactyl and everyone's favorite ̶a̶l̶i̶e̶n̶ completely normal human earth boy (I just heard Griffin's voice going "hello i'm real boy" as I typed that) It's a sticky situation! * is shot * Anyway, Goku's incapacitated and Gilan knocks him around a bit before tossing him out of the ring. Looks pretty bleak but Goku has the presence of mind to call Kinto'un and is whooshed back in. And he's not disqualified! Things are still looking pretty bad though, Goku's all tied up in... nastyslime OH HEY HIS TAIL GREW BACK! I completely forgot that he had one at all, it's been a while since Yamcha snipped it off with Puerh. 100% complete organic earth-grown human, no problem Goku destroys a statue for not much reason (?) and we don't even get a nice satisfying knock out because Gilan surrenders. The chapter ends with Bulma and them worrying about full moons. Ch 41 Goku wins, it's time to interview Kuririn and Goku because they're tiny and strong! Still digging announcer for some reason. We get the usual "Goku doesn't know shit" humor with the microphone FUCKING CALLED IT goddamnit I'm so done with the fucking nudity, come onnnn Oho! It's revealed that they were trained by Muten Roshi and Yamcha figures out that JC is Roshi! I'm... kind of surprised how perceptive Yamcha seems to be? I guess he just gets kind of overshadowed later on. JC/Roshi makes an idiot out of himself but Goku's having fun. Battle 5 is JC/Roshi v Kuririn, no prizes for guessing who's going to win. (Watch me be wrong next chapter and Kuririn totally knocks it out of the park.) Ch 42 Oh! It's the start of things moving too fast for people to see! Goku's very encouraging, it's nice. Kuririn gets knocked down, but he's up again at the last second! It's never gonna work again but I'm kind of a fan of this way of explaining what happened when stuff was going too fast for normal people to see. explain it to the dude who has to keep up a running commentary (fighting that fast is very much not fair to those people! there should be some limits) Understandable THEY HAVE A RPS MATCH IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS INCREDIBLY FAST EXCHANGE OF BLOWS!! i love announcer guy Everyone's excited that they did so much so fast! That was possibly one of the more fun explanations of a fight i've seen. But now it's time to get serious! END OF CHAPTER AND KURIRIN PULLS A DIRTY TRICK!! HE DISTRACTS JC/ROSHI WITH PANTIES AND KICKS HIM THE HECK OUT OF THE RING!!! It's looking pretty good for Kuririn, but somehow I think that there's gonna be something to turn the tables next time.
