Dragon Ball Z, Vol. 1 (VIZBIG Edition) Information + Vol 2.

[bkev]

I really hope they didn't mess up as much as it sounds...

[SSJ Helldog]

I'm torn here. I've never read the complete manga, and this seems like the simplest way. The censorship annoys me because I respect the creator and his original vision, but at the same time... how much artistic value are in three panels of boobs? The "big-lipped" Popo amuses me, because I understand where the stereotype comes from, and how the Japanese don't see it as taboo.

So I'm curious: what are the biggest things Viz cut? Are they all minor alterations? I could snatch up the original releases, but the inclusion of color and the better paper quality make me think the censorship is minor. Regardless, I can't wait to read the entire series cover to cover.

Also, and sorry if I missed this on a previous post, but is the spine image intact in the VizBig release?

[Kendamu]

The biggest change is calling Mr. Satan by his dub name. Even then, they make sure that the reader knows that his original name is Mr. Satan. Other than that, it's all really minor stuff like covering boobs. All the really important stuff is still there and, for the most part, it's very accurately translated.

If you're looking for the manga in it's purest form with no censorship whatsoever, just study Japanese for about four years before you read the manga. Otherwise, VIZ's manga is actually pretty nice for the most part.

[SSJ Helldog]

Thanks Kendamu, that seems like a fair judgement. Boobs don't seem to play such a major role later in the series anyway. I already did the "learn a foreign language" thing in high school when I had the time, so learning a non-romance language isn't high on my priorities list right now. So other than Bulma's boobs, it's pretty much Android 17 with a gun and Majin Buu's name (what did they call him?) that was changed? I can live with that.

[Kaboom]

So I'm curious: what are the biggest things Viz cut? Are they all minor alterations? I could snatch up the original releases, but the inclusion of color and the better paper quality make me think the censorship is minor. Regardless, I can't wait to read the entire series cover to cover.

I haven't read all of Viz's stuff, but most of it is minor alterations. Things like breasts being covered up, flipping the bird changed to fists, etc... all little things that are just adjustments for the target demographic (i.e. kids).

Aside from that, there's not much that I know of. In terms of violence edits, just about all of it is left intact. I'm pretty sure there's instances where one or two guns were made to appear a bit less realistic (not 4Kids' One Piece-level edits, or anything. Minor. They're still obviously guns) The only "big" one I can remember in that regard is a scene from Trunks' return to the future. Right before Mr. Fangirl-Magnet shows up, there's a scene where 17 whips out a handgun and shoots a victim in the face at point blank range. Viz removed the gun from his fist, and altered the sound effects, to make it appear as if 17 was punching him instead (Though from him, it certainly wouldn't be any less fatal). That's the only "major" edit that sticks out in my mind.

Then there's some goofy name changes. A couple weird takes on other names, and then there's "Hercule" and of course, our main man "Vegerot." Hopefully that last one will be corrected in the later VizBig volumes. But like others have said, when it comes to actual translations and story integrity, Viz is top-notch.

So all in all, the edits aren't going to be any worse than what the regular volumes already have. So if that's the case, and you don't own any of the manga, then shoot, of course go for the VizBig ones. They've got color pages, better paper, bigger format... what's NOT an improvement?

I'd suggest saving the receipts, though, just in case. You never know what these hardcover editions this fall will have in store.

[Brad Redfield]

Huh. Borders seems to have DB Volume 1 in but not DBZ Volume 1. Half of the stores near me have DB but none of them have DBZ.

Odd.

[Kaboom]

Huh. Borders seems to have DB Volume 1 in but not DBZ Volume 1. Half of the stores near me have DB but none of them have DBZ.

Odd.

Works for me, for the time being. I can only afford one of them at the moment, so I'll check B&N while I'm out today.

[Chibi Mystic Gohan]

and Majin Buu's name (what did they call him?) that was changed?

They call him Boo (which is more accurate than "Buu," actually...), and he's a "djinn," which is the word that "genie" came from. It's no so much of a "name change" as it is an adaptatation of his Japanese name.

[Herms]

OK, so I went to my local Boarders to check out DB VIZBIG vol.1 (DBZ isn't in yet, it seems). I looked through it quite a bit, but there are a lot of things that I forgot to look into or wish I had checked out closer, so I might go back and some point. But anyway, without further ado, here is:

Herms' Long and Somewhat Disorganized DragonBall VIZBIG Vol.1 Review

There are only two chapters in color. The first one is, as expected, chapter 1, which is 30 pages long (twice the normal page number). The second one is chapter 19 (Pilaf summons Shenlong), which is 15 pages long.

That leaves the following color pages still in gray scale:
The first page of chapter 2.
All of chapters 3 and 4.
The first 3 pages of chapter 5.
All of chapter 33.
edit: Oh, and all of chapter 25. Forgot that one.

That's a total of 64 color pages that are still in gray scale. So there are actually more color pages still in gray scale than there are ones in actual color. Still, the gray scale pages aren't horrible-looking by any means, and sometimes it's even hard to tell that they are even in gray scale. But they still look much better in color, in my opinion, so it's a bit of a shame.

So if there are only 45 manga pages in color, where is the promised “over 50 color pages”? There are actually a few more page in color: in the title page gallery, chapter 33's cover is printed in color, which is odd because the chapter itself was printed in gray scale. That was the only image in the title page gallery that I noticed was in color, so it looks like the other color title pages were printed in gray scale. Rats. Around where the title page gallery is, there is a color reprint of the cover of tankoubon 1/Viz DB GN vol.1. It doesn't look like the covers for GN 2 or 3 were likewise put in, though.

So that's only 47 color pages that I could find. I might go back and have a closer look, although I feel kind of bad going in and out of Boarders without buying anything. Oh well.

What about editing? As has been said, Bulma's breasts are indeed covered by suds for her shower scene. Another edit is that the puff-puff scene with Oolong disguised as Bulma has been edited. In the original, when Bulma-Oolong (Bulong?) peels back the top of her/his bunny outfit and exposes her/his breasts to Kame-sennin, her naked breast is visible, albeit from the back, and you can even kind of see her/his nipple. In the VIZBIG volume, it's been changed so that while Bulma-Oolong is still clearly about to expose herself, you don't see the actual moment it happens like in the original. They edited it so that it's like a moment before the original panel, before she actually pulls her top down. It's kind of hard to explain; a scan would be helpful, but I don't have a scanner or the actual book right now.

But aside from that, I couldn't find any other edits. The puff-puff scene looks otherwise unedited, Oolong's earlier fantasy about puff-puff and him asking Bulma her bust size are likewise the same. Bulma still flashes her underwear to Goku in chapter 1, and exposes herself to Kame-sennin (though that's kind of self-censored in the original anyway). I didn't look through all that thoroughly though, so I might have missed some things. I didn't notice any changes to the dialog, but again I didn't read too much.

Some positive things: I was surprised at how good the book design looked. The cover looks much better in the flesh (er, plastic), though it's still not amazing. But I thought the spine and back cover looked pretty good. The spine has two black and white images of Goku, and looks cool. The back also has that sort of black and white motif. Overall it's much more stylish than I was expecting, though I personally prefer both the designs of the original tankoubon/Viz's DB GN and the kanzenban.

A really good thing is that the title page gallery has all of the title pages. Quite a few were left out in the original tankoubon release for whatever reason, and Viz's DB/Z graphic novels followed suit. But the kanzenban release had all of them, and so does VIZBIG. So that's one way that they're like the kanzenban. Since the title page gallery has all the title pages for the first three GN volumes, it's pretty lengthy. Unfortunately like I said earlier, some of the color title pages are still in gray scale.

Another thing about the VIZBIG title page gallery that makes it like kanzenban ones is that the title pages don't have the snippits of text that they originally did in both the tankoubon and Viz GN releases. If you own either of those old releases, you might have noticed that the title pages sometimes had little sentences on them, like “I'll show you my power!!” or “I will protect No.17!!”. I'm not sure exactly what the story was behind these, but apparently they weren't actually written by Toriyama, and they were removed for the kanzenban release. VIZBIG follows suit. This is good because these leaves the title pages cleaner.

At the back of the VIZBIG volume, Toriyama's introductions to the first three original volumes are reprinted, as well as the “Ask Me Anything” corner segments. These things weren't reprinted in the kanzenban release, so that's one thing VIZBIG has over them.

It's hard for me to say how the print quality compares to either the original VIZ GN volumes or the kanzenban, since I didn't have either with me to directly compare. I didn't notice any real difference between them and my old large Viz GN volumes, which were about the same size. The images didn't seem quite as sharp as they are in the kanzenban, but there's nothing wrong with them by any means.

My final thoughts: If you liked Viz's DragonBall graphic novels, these certainly won't disappoint. They're not as new and improved as they could have been, but they have enough new features, like some (but not all) of the color pages in actual color and the rest of the title pages, to make them worthwhile. Overall I'd say they're inferior to the kanzenban due to lots of color pages still being in gray scale, small amounts of censorship and/or altered dialog, inferior (but not awful by any means) print quality, somewhat unoriginal book design (still better than I was expecting, though), and some other things I'm probably forgetting.

But they have the obvious advantage for those who don't know Japanese in that they are in English, with generally accurate translations. They are also substantially larger than the kanzenban volumes, which may be a advantage or disadvantage depending on your own preference (personally I think they're a little too big for my liking). They also have the advantage over the kanzenban of having Toriyama's original volume introductions, the “Ask Me Anything” features, and reprints of some (but not all) of the original volume covers.

Overall, I would say that DragonBall VIZBIG vol.1 is an imperfect but still decent release.

[Deep Thought]

Not to bring about a semi-old discussion, but I think that Viz censoring Bulma's breasts is retarded.

Why? Because this is allowed for public display for anybody of all ages to see: http://www.econ.ohio-state.edu/jhm/arch ... angelo.jpg

But this isn't: http://i26.tinypic.com/e99e1h.jpg

That doesn't make any fucking logical sense. Admittedly, I don't hate David and it shouldn't be compared to Dragon Ball, but still, in art showing a woman's vagina is slightly worst (more controversial) than showing a man's penis, which is far worse than showing a woman's breasts.

Also keep in mind that Bulma's "breasts" are two bumps with dots, while "David's" penis is almost as detailed as a real man's.

Once again, comparing "David" to "Bulma" might be ridiculous, but what I'm trying to say is that it doesn't make sense to show one form of art but not to show another that's almost the same thing.

[Kendamu]

But we also know that Bulma is a minor in that shower scene and in the later scene where Krillin pulls down her top. There's some legal issues there. It's not just an "art" thing.

[Lobster_Rage155]

There's some legal issues there.

As far as I know, any drawings are exempt from "child pornography" laws.

[Deep Thought]

But we also know that Bulma is a minor in that shower scene and in the later scene where Krillin pulls down her top. There's some legal issues there. It's not just an "art" thing.

Because Bulma is a real person. Am I right?

[Artificial Human #887]

What everyone is waiting for (maybe!)

Color Pages!





And by the way, CHECK your copies if you're going to buy this book. I work in a comic shop, so we had a ton, but the first one I picked up. pages 95-115 (or so) were upside-down. Bound into the book the wrong way. They weren't all like that, but a couple were, so be sure to flip through the book and make sure yours isn't like that!

I'm willing to deal with the edits because I have the kanzenban and know what the changes are... all in all, I like these VIZBig releases.

[KillerCory]

They edited it so that it's like a moment before the original panel, before she actually pulls her top down. It's kind of hard to explain; a scan would be helpful, but I don't have a scanner or the actual book right now.

Interesting...here is the first release in the 2000 Viz volume.

[Onikage725]

There's some legal issues there.

As far as I know, any drawings are exempt from "child pornography" laws.

Yeah, pretty sure that's true.

But we in America have no fucking clue when it comes to this sort of thing. Generally speaking, violence and even sex is ok. Nudity is an instant no-go. We all have bodies, people. It isn't taboo. Its just odd to me that adult situations get a pass, but basic anatomy is treated like hardcore pr0n.

[Catterix2006]

The only "big" one I can remember in that regard is a scene from Trunks' return to the future. Right before Mr. Fangirl-Magnet shows up, there's a scene where 17 whips out a handgun and shoots a victim in the face at point blank range. Viz removed the gun from his fist, and altered the sound effects, to make it appear as if 17 was punching him instead (Though from him, it certainly wouldn't be any less fatal). That's the only "major" edit that sticks out in my mind.

And even that edit is justified. Given just how harsh it is, I mean the anime took it out, so it's understandable the edited manga did as well. It was almost a bit gratuitous anyway.

Really, I'm not too fussed about the edits, there's a massive difference between a piece of art sculpted 100s of years ago and a booby shot done for comedy. And the joke is still there. You don't actually need to see drawn nipples to get the laugh. It's only if these edits in anyway affect the story itself, such as altered/misleading dialogue or violence being edited that takes away the essence of the scene (Like if they somehow edit Krillin being stabbed by Frieza) that I think it's something to kick a fanboyish tantrum about.

[Kendamu]

But we also know that Bulma is a minor in that shower scene and in the later scene where Krillin pulls down her top. There's some legal issues there. It's not just an "art" thing.

Because Bulma is a real person. Am I right?

ever said it made sense.

If you really wanna see Bulma's boobs that badly, maybe I'll upload her boob-showing panels from the Japanese version someday.

[SSJ Helldog]

Interesting...here is the first release in the 2000 Viz volume.

I dug through my old comics and found the large format Viz Comics edition of Dragonball #08. I don't see a year of publication in the thing (which is odd), but I think I bought it around '99. The panel KillerCory uploaded looks similar to the panel in my version, except the POING sound effect isn't covering her boob. There's a nipple and even motion lines to indicate that Ooolong's shakin' 'em. Also, Roshi's doing his Gratutious Nose-Bleed technique. There's no indication of "adult material" anywhere in the comic, so I'm guessing this was the release that got parents' panties in a ruffle.
Except American parents don't wear panties. Because they don't have genetals. No one does. End of discussion.

[Rory]

Huh. Borders seems to have DB Volume 1 in but not DBZ Volume 1. Half of the stores near me have DB but none of them have DBZ.

Odd.

Same, just picked up the DB volume one.
The colour chapters are nice, shame about the editing, but I can get over that.
I only picked up about half of the manga last time, if they don't pull a Funi on us and release them all in these Vizbig editions, I'd be more than happy to own the series like this.