Dragon Ball Z, Vol. 12 by Akira Toriyama

Sci-Fi martial arts action! After years of training and adventure, Goku has become Earth's ultimate warrior. And his son, Gohan, shows even greater promise. But the stakes are increasing as even deadlier enemies threaten the planet. DRAGON BALL Z is the ultimate science fiction-martial arts manga. As the battle on Namek turns the entire planet into a fireball, Goku and Freeza fight it out to the end--and Goku makes a fateful decision. Awaiting Goku's return from outer space, Earth's heroes are shocked to find another, faster spaceship heading towards them--Freeza is back, stronger than ever, swearing to destroy the Earth before Goku can get there to defend it! But as the heroes prepare to make one last stand, another mysterious warrior appears out of nowhere. His name is Trunks, and he has come to warn the heroes about an enemy who makes Freeza look like a walk in the park...

Dragon Ball evokes mixed emotions in me. There are anime and manga classics like Dragon Ball. The story paved the way for many others that followed. One of the most inspiring mangas ever. It receives praise and notoriety, which I respect.

Eventually, I realized this wasn't right for me. This manga inspired several favorite series along with many others, so I read it. Despite this, I was extremely disappointed.

I am going to start with my praises of the series. Despite its age, the choreography and paneling still hold up fantastically for shonen fans. The comedy usually hits, although I smirk most of the time. While self-discovery themes are relatively well-done, I usually am not captivated by them.

Now for the negatives. To me, a story needs SOMETHING to captivate me and make me care about the characters. I can't find it in this series. Typically, the arcs revolve around Goku and crew looking for dragon balls and having adventures along the way, with no stakes. Toriyama's efforts to make repetitive scenarios unique and creative are minimal.

A lot of sexualization of women & weird perv jokes. Master Roshi did not appeal to me in the anime and I do not care for him here either! Overall, this is a good volume. There are still plenty of jokes in Dragon Ball and the story moves along rapidly, but it is finally picking up the stuff we know and love.

It contains many inappropriate references, which makes me caution readers under the age of 18. As of right now, I'm not sure if I'll continue.

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