I have the 2019 printing of DB Ch 1-16! What should I check?

[KBABZ]

So! As a ridiculously awesome birthday present, I was given the 2019 boxset of Dragon Ball volumes 1-16, the "OG anime" stuff that I adore so dearly. Considering this part of the manga is semi-notorious for censorship and other changes, I thought I'd open a call for anything I should check here that may be subject to censorship, changes or other such things, since I'm not the most knowledgeable person on the matter.

I've done a cursory run of Volume 1 and checked the following with my digital Kindle version (which is a scan of the 2006 edition):

• The copyright page at the start is reformatted to better display info like "this is entirely fictional" and "don't reproduce this content" through the use of line breaks. Gerard Jones is still credited for the English Adaptation, while the logos and rating box are updated to their modern versions.
• Side-note: according to the copyright info, the version of Volume 1 included in the 2019 printing is the 22nd printing of that volume! Pretty neat as 22 is my favourite number.
• None of the Chapter titles have been changed.
• It looks like several pages have been aligned lower compared to the 2006 scan. For example, on page 10 Goku's legs are cropped off in the panel where he mentions having had bear the other day, as the page edge is just below the bow of his belt. Conversely on page 9 I can see the top corner of the screen-right door of Gohan's hut, whereas in the 2006 scan it's cropped off at the top. Is this due to the page aspect ratio being different compared to the original Shonen Jump magazine pages?
• The text translation is 100% identical to the 2006 scan, right down to the formatting and the translated sound effects (except when it isn't, see below).
• Goku's stark naked when he kills the river fish and is being given his first bath, as Kami intended.
• On page 142 (Chapter 9), there's an important change regarding Oolong's "totally not appropriate for 2019" moment when he drugs Goku and Bulma. In the 2006 scan, he says "Now I can do whatever I want with that chick... I might even... hee hee... take a peek under her towel... hee hee...". In the 2019 print, he instead ends with "I might even... hee hee... feel her up... heh heh heh...!". A little more direct regarding his intentions now (and hee hee is changed to heh heh heh).
• Jumping ahead to Chapter 2 just to check this: Bulma still flips Pilaf off with her middle finger.

I also had a question maybe someone knows the answer to: why is it that the inkwork in the very first chapter is so sketchy and faint compared to the other 518 chapters, which all have much clearer inking?

[Gaffer Tape]

Looks like they walked back some censorship. I have a first printing, and Oolong had the "feel her up" line.

[armyandstuff]

are these in black and white? because none of the online stores I checked seems to mention wether it's in color or not.

[Soppa Saia People]

are these in black and white? because none of the online stores I checked seems to mention wether it's in color or not.

i think their just the tankobon's so yeah, most likely no colored chapters.

[armyandstuff]

are these in black and white? because none of the online stores I checked seems to mention wether it's in color or not.

i think their just the tankobon's so yeah, most likely no colored chapters.

Nice, I might pick them up then.
I don't know why, but Dragon Ball is one of those few mangas that I can only truly enjoy when it's in black and white.

[Soppa Saia People]

Nice, I might pick them up then.
I don't know why, but Dragon Ball is one of those few mangas that I can only truly enjoy when it's in black and white.

i really enjoy the colored chapters in the kanzenban and 3 and 1s in stuff, the inking looks really good a lot of the time and it's cool to see the sometimes extremely different colors. the full color manga though, yeah i'm not a fan of, as much as i love the paper quality and book size.

[Char Aznable]

So I’ve been holding off buying the manga for for over a decade because of the whole censorship issue. If I’m going to eventually get around to finally getting it, it sounds like this is the version to get?

[KBABZ]

So I’ve been holding off buying the manga for for over a decade because of the whole censorship issue. If I’m going to eventually get around to finally getting it, it sounds like this is the version to get?

Who knows! But so far it doesn't look that compromised, but we won't know for sure until I check all the problem areas people tell me to since I don't know that many of them.

Oh, one thing I should probably mention are some ads! At the back of some issues you get ads for other Toriyama works, including Jaco, Dr. Slump, Cowa and Sandman, as well as One Punch Man, Dr. Stone, RWBY and others. Many of the ads are a tad outdated (they all use the previous version of the Shonen Jump logo), but what's most interesting to me is that there's no direct ad for the Dragon Ball Z publication of the manga, outside of an ad for the "new" VIZBIGs. Instead what's far more common is to see ads for the Full Color editions instead.

Nice, I might pick them up then.
I don't know why, but Dragon Ball is one of those few mangas that I can only truly enjoy when it's in black and white.

I can confirm that these are basically Tankobons: they're small and they're entirely in black and white (which is ironic when you get to ads for the Full Colors!). Do note that that means any pages that were coloured get monochromed, and this can give a very weird effect where Goku's skin shade goes all GT-like and everything overall feels darker. I don't think there's ever been an edition that actually removes the paintwork and replaces it with the "black OR white" inking the manga is in 90% of the time.

[armyandstuff]

So I’ve been holding off buying the manga for for over a decade because of the whole censorship issue. If I’m going to eventually get around to finally getting it, it sounds like this is the version to get?

Who knows! But so far it doesn't look that compromised, but we won't know for sure until I check all the problem areas people tell me to since I don't know that many of them.

Oh, one thing I should probably mention are some ads! At the back of some issues you get ads for other Toriyama works, including Jaco, Dr. Slump, Cowa and Sandman, as well as One Punch Man, Dr. Stone, RWBY and others. Many of the ads are a tad outdated (they all use the previous version of the Shonen Jump logo), but what's most interesting to me is that there's no direct ad for the Dragon Ball Z publication of the manga, outside of an ad for the "new" VIZBIGs. Instead what's far more common is to see ads for the Full Color editions instead.

Nice, I might pick them up then.
I don't know why, but Dragon Ball is one of those few mangas that I can only truly enjoy when it's in black and white.

I can confirm that these are basically Tankobons: they're small and they're entirely in black and white (which is ironic when you get to ads for the Full Colors!). Do note that that means any pages that were coloured get monochromed, and this can give a very weird effect where Goku's skin shade goes all GT-like and everything overall feels darker. I don't think there's ever been an edition that actually removes the paintwork and replaces it with the "black OR white" inking the manga is in 90% of the time.

I see. In that case I'll likely buy them once I've saved up some money, assuming there's no strong censorship in them, mostly with Popo, though how they would censor him in a black and white manga is beyond me so he's likely unchanged.

[Soppa Saia People]

I see. In that case I'll likely buy them once I've saved up some money, assuming there's no strong censorship in them, mostly with Popo, though how they would censor him in a black and white manga is beyond me so he's likely unchanged.

viz does and i think always has censored popo's lips, but as far as i know they haven't changed the color of him in their 3 and 1 releases or full color manga.

[armyandstuff]

I see. In that case I'll likely buy them once I've saved up some money, assuming there's no strong censorship in them, mostly with Popo, though how they would censor him in a black and white manga is beyond me so he's likely unchanged.

viz does and i think always has censored popo's lips, but as far as i know they haven't changed the color of him in their 3 and 1 releases or full color manga.

Really? Weird, I seem to recall them making him blue in the color version, just like the toonzai version of Kai did.

[KBABZ]

I see. In that case I'll likely buy them once I've saved up some money, assuming there's no strong censorship in them, mostly with Popo, though how they would censor him in a black and white manga is beyond me so he's likely unchanged.

viz does and i think always has censored popo's lips, but as far as i know they haven't changed the color of him in their 3 and 1 releases or full color manga.

Really? Weird, I seem to recall them making him blue in the color version, just like the toonzai version of Kai did.

Thanks! This is exactly the kind of thing I need to be reminded of!

So in Volume 14 (the only DB volume for Mr. Popo to appear), Popo's thick lips have been painted out to leave a normal mouth like the other characters, which is consistent to ViZ's censorship of his design in the past. As well I can also confirm that Mr. Popo is still black in the Full Colors I have, and also sports the same lip adjustments as in the Tankobon-style printings.

[Soppa Saia People]

Really? Weird, I seem to recall them making him blue in the color version, just like the toonzai version of Kai did.

maybe in the 3 in 1's (i don't own any of those because the paper in most books gives me a allergic reaction, and they aren't on kindle) but in the full color one, he looks like this:



oh KBABZ beat me too it lol, oh well :p

[armyandstuff]

viz does and i think always has censored popo's lips, but as far as i know they haven't changed the color of him in their 3 and 1 releases or full color manga.

Really? Weird, I seem to recall them making him blue in the color version, just like the toonzai version of Kai did.

Thanks! This is exactly the kind of thing I need to be reminded of!

So in Volume 14 (the only DB volume for Mr. Popo to appear), Popo's thick lips have been painted out to leave a normal mouth like the other characters, which is consistent to ViZ's censorship of his design in the past. As well I can also confirm that Mr. Popo is still black in the Full Colors I have, and also sports the same lip adjustments as in the Tankobon-style printings.

I see, well that's not too bad I suppose, still not a fan of it since it's still technically censorship but this is probably the best we're ever going to get.

[KBABZ]

oh KBABZ beat me too it lol, oh well :p

Well you took a picture of it, which is more than what I did!

I also noticed that since it's a full-colour, if you wanted to go "all in" on the blackface look in Full Color, the palms of Mr. Popo should also be coloured a dark brown similar to his vest (but of course they're not).

I see, well that's not too bad I suppose, still not a fan of it since it's still technically censorship but this is probably the best we're ever going to get.

Yeah. While it is technically censorship, it's understandable why it was done because it falls into a category of "regional adjustments" (which now that I've said it sounds a lot like calling Loot Boxes "surprise mechanics"), similar to removing red sunbeams when games get released in Korea. It doesn't impact the story or the way its being told or his characterization, and what Mr. Popo actually is isn't important to the story so much is his role as caretaker and assistant to Kami (and in the case of Dende, mentor too).

[SSJGAffleck]

Alright, I'm gonna feel like the pervert for being the first to ask but are Bulma's breast censored in volumes 1 and 9? I ask because in the original viz red release Volume 1 was uncensored and 9 was censored and in the 3 in1s it's the opposite.

[KBABZ]

Alright, I'm gonna feel like the pervert for being the first to ask but are Bulma's breast censored in volumes 1 and 9? I ask because in the original viz red release Volume 1 was uncensored and 9 was censored and in the 3 in1s it's the opposite.

Uncensored in Vol. 1, censored with lingerie in Vol 9.