Dragon Ball Manga Beyond "Dragon Ball"

[RLZIII]

I (like many others here I'd assume) watched Dragon Ball Z on Cartoon Network many years ago when it was airing on the Toonami block. I had seen most of the series up until the end of the Cell Games, and then pretty much stopped watching for one reason or the other. I loved buying the figures (both domestic and import, as I'm sure most people had that mall kiosk that sold import Dragon Ball stuff back in the day like I had at my local mall) and reading about the series online before it aired. Over the last ten or so years I've lightly played a Dragon Ball game here or there, but I never really payed much attention to the franchise.

Fast forward 'til today (after my memory of the show's story and details have faded), and I have found a new appreciation for the franchise. I started watching Dragon Ball Kai recently, and then picked up with Dragon Ball Z where it left off. I am making my way through the early parts of the Buu Saga now, and I plan to watch through the movies/specials/OVAs (in production order), followed by Dragon Ball GT and its special, and then rewind to Dragon Ball and its few specials (I know the order's a bit funky, but you gotta work with me).

So, what's this have to do with the title Dragon Ball Manga Beyond "Dragon Ball", you ask? Well, like I've always been with anime (and other mediums really), if I like a story that's based on another work, I like to also enjoy the work at its roots. So I have been seeking out the Dragon Ball manga as well. Now, I'm not going to bore you all with "what version should I get" and "what parts are edited." I did some searching around here and I've made those decisions already (even though there's no perfect answer, unfortunately; I'm sure VIZ at some point will release the Ultra Super Mega Dragon Ball Uncut Uncensored Original The-Way-It-Was-Meant-To-Be-Read Extra Color Pages Full Size Four-Volumes-In-One Perfect Collector's Edition at some point). I am actually interested in the more expanded Dragon Universe. And with that, of course, I have questions.

1) In the last few years, a manga artist named Ooishi Naho has popped up in the Dragon Ball world. I have read Dragon Ball SD and Episode of Bardock, and I thought both manga were enjoyable (albeit short). I keep seeing her manga referred to as "official" side stories. What makes them more official than Dragon Ball side stories in the past? What is Toei's stance (if any) on these short manga?

2) Before Ooishi Naho stepped into the spotlight, what kind of Dragon Ball side stories were available? Do any of them have any sort of quasi-official status as well? Are there any fan favorites (with the Japanese- or English-speaking crowd) that are well known within the community? Has Akira Toriyama been involved with any non-Naho manga?

3) And the more opinion-centered question: What's the chances of Ooishi Naho releasing a manga that's more than a couple of chapters long? It seems like she's been a roll in the last couple of years with her three different manga. How does the community generally see her work? Does she have Akira's style and spirit or has she been send straight from Hell to bastardize the franchise? Also, what if Ooishi Naho continued the franchise (with or without Toriyama's supervision/assistance)? How would you personally feel about that, and how likely do you think Toei would take interest?

[VegettoEX]

1) In the last few years, a manga artist named Ooishi Naho has popped up in the Dragon Ball world. I have read Dragon Ball SD and Episode of Bardock, and I thought both manga were enjoyable (albeit short). I keep seeing her manga referred to as "official" side stories. What makes them more official than Dragon Ball side stories in the past? What is Toei's stance (if any) on these short manga?

They're official in that they're actually published by Shueisha, the print company responsible for the franchise. DragonBall SD is published in their quarterly kids magazine Saikyou Jump, while Episode of Bardock was published in their monthly video game magazine V-Jump. They're also "official" in the sense that Akira Toriyama is credited for his "supervisor" role, though that could mean just about anything (or nothing).

Are they "more official" than the previous three "side-stories" that were published during the series' original run? Not really. Same kind of situation -- published in an "official" capacity by Shueisha, and created/drawn/whatever by people actively involved with the production of the franchise in some way (mostly anime staff for those three).

Of course, "official" and "canonical" don't inherently mean the same thing, and that's an entirely separate conversation... one that I care almost nothing about ^_~.

For Ooishi's stuff in particular, Toei didn't really have anything to do with them at all -- they're strictly anime, whereas Shueisha handles the print stuff (and also the Jump Super Anime Tour Special, which Ooishi also did a two-part manga adaptation of, which itself was also printed in V-Jump).

If you want to ask what Shueisha's "stance" on them is... well... I dunno. They had them made. I guess they probably hope that it convinces people to buy magazines...?

2) Before Ooishi Naho stepped into the spotlight, what kind of Dragon Ball side stories were available? Do any of them have any sort of quasi-official status as well? Are there any fan favorites (with the Japanese- or English-speaking crowd) that are well known within the community? Has Akira Toriyama been involved with any non-Naho manga?

The aforementioned three "side stories". Our buddy desirecampbell has images of all three up on his site, and we've got the third one (which is mostly text) up here on our own site.

As for DB-related "extra" manga by Toriyama, there's always Neko Majin.

3) And the more opinion-centered question: What's the chances of Ooishi Naho releasing a manga that's more than a couple of chapters long? It seems like she's been a roll in the last couple of years with her three different manga. How does the community generally see her work? Does she have Akira's style and spirit or has she been send straight from Hell to bastardize the franchise? Also, what if Ooishi Naho continued the franchise (with or without Toriyama's supervision/assistance)? How would you personally feel about that, and how likely do you think Toei would take interest?

As near as I can tell, the response to her stuff has been a pretty collective shrug. Some of it has promise, it's generally well-drawn, and seems to SOMEWHAT harken back to what we all loved about the franchise... but there's either something missing, it doesn't get a chance to flesh itself out, some plot point just crumbles the whole thing down, etc. It's all just kinda "there".

[RLZIII]

Thank you for your response and comment about the three Dragon Ball Z side stories (featuring Piccolo, Vegeta, and Trunks respectively). While I had come across them before, I didn't know they were anything special, nor did I know they were involved with Shueisha at all. I will be giving those a read in the near future for sure.

I agree that Ooishi Naho's works don't quite have the same feel as the original manga. However I think the reason is that they don't have the chance to really tell a whole story. Dragon Ball - Heya! Son Goku and Friends Return!! is just an adaptation of an animated work (with some minor changes, but from what I can tell, nothing major) and Dragon Ball SD is a short satire that doesn't tell any new stories. Episode of Bardock gave Ooishi the chance to tell a new-ish story, but it's held back by being only three chapters long and implied constraints around the story (I'm actually quite surprised that she was given permission to show Bardock Super Saiyan, though I'm sure that's for promotional reasons more than anything). It just doesn't give Ooishi the greatest chance to show the world what she can accomplish within the Dragon Universe. However, everything is done in steps. Maybe she's just been given the chance to ease her way into the Dragon Ball community's hearts, and will eventually be allowed to possibly continue the story of Dragon Ball. Or maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part. Only time will tell for sure.

[Fox666]

The term "official" mostly means just that it's being sold. You shouldn't go much deep on it.

The Bardock Episode is only a supplemental material for Dragon Ball Heroes. In terms of how this influence the whole story, it's comparable with "The Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans" OVA since it also serves as backstory for a videogame.

A problem I have with Ooshi is that she doesn't appear to draw everything as her own, in both SD and Bardock Special a lot of panels are just redraw of the original manga, giving a weird Deja Vú feeling.

[Adamant]

Episode of Bardock gave Ooishi the chance to tell a new-ish story, but it's held back by being only three chapters long and implied constraints around the story (I'm actually quite surprised that she was given permission to show Bardock Super Saiyan, though I'm sure that's for promotional reasons more than anything).

Yeah, she presumably had the story mostly laid out before her, with some minor blanks to fill in. It was a promotional work-for-hire to tell the backstories of the SSJ Bardock and Chilled characters, and presumably the entire "Bardock is sent back in time after fighting Freeza, then end up fighting his predecessor Chilled and goes SSJ during the battle, beating him" thing was established as their stories before she was brought in.