"Dragon Ball Super (Manga)" Official Discussion Thread

[funrush]

When they created Black Frieza, do you think they had Vegeta's warnings about Frieza getting stronger in the Broly movie in mind? Or do folks think it's just a coincidence & an asspull?

I think it's been an obvious concern since the Tournament of Power. If Freeza could catch up to 15 years of Goku's training in 4 months then it's obvious that letting him live is super dangerous.

[The gr]

i'm always going back to FT Trunks arc (my favourite DBS arc) and man, SSB Goku vs Merged Zamasu is still amazing.
As much as I don't like the idea of Goku just easily copy the most OP attack of the franchise, I have to admit seeing a mortal using Hakai against a God, is one of the most memorable moments in the manga and the coolest thing SSB Goku ever did.

Would love a DBS remake with good production, taking the best things of the two mediums and making it the definite product.

Yeah I agree as underwhelming the manga arc was, Goku vs merged zamasu is the highlight while story wise it was meh but action wise it was really good, Good paneling and hakai is the most memorable thing in this whole manga, imo this is peak toyo art.

My only complaint of the fight are the references

[MisteryOne]

Btw, I started the Granolah arc. Granlolah seems like an interesting character so far.

Indeed, the premises were all good, but prepare to be disappointed and/or bored.

I still stand by the Granolah arc having a fantastic set-up and probably the best one in the entire franchise excluding Trunks showing up to kill Frieza. And I do like Ultra Ego. But anything else?

While I do think it's way better on a reread than when it was originally being released, that doesn't solve the core problems of the arc. Including the ending imho, everyone was hyped about Black Frieza but, while it is a memorable scene, I was more concerned about how badly things wrapped up, specially for poor Granolah. Such a waste of character!

The most blaffing part for me is knowing that Toriyama specifically created the Heeters just to handle them that way -I'm looking at you, Elec.

[Draconic]

I caught up with the last two chapters and I must say I enjoy it so far. The small differences from the movie are fun to catch. There's something off about how Toyotaro draws the Gammas though. Cell Max looks incredible, though.

[theherodjl]

Why exactly was ROF & Broly skipped but Superhero gets a manga arc??? Did Toyotaro simply not want to continue the monotony of depicting yet another Goku & Vegeta fight, giving himself a chance to draw something new such as the other characters being older and having their moment in the limelight? I'll admit, it can get kinda old just retreading an existing anime film battle in manga form, but isn't that what the fights with the Gammas and Cell Max are? Perhaps Toriyama & Toyotaro aren't sure if where to take the story as of now so they just decided "let's draw out the latest film as a manga arc until we figure it out"?
I'm personally hoping that Toriyama will give his blessing for Toyotaro to truly continue DB past the original manga ending and we, as the fans, will finally see new adventures that aren't held back by a specific focal point that leaves us questioning if they will or will not. Toyotaro already has created his own sequel to the events of DBZ/GT when he was still a doujin artist, I say it's time we let him continue the official manga now that he's had years of experience working under Toriyama's guidance.

[Koitsukai]

It's odd because it's not just getting a manga adaptation, it also got a prequel arc. One that was fun and all, but one the story could definitely live without.

Seems like everything is there just to fill in for some time. It's not even a brief retelling, the 1st round of Gamma vs Piccolo was stretched just for the sake of spectacle. If this was an anime show, it'd definitely be considered filler episodes.
The thing is that if they are stalling, then I don't see how, because Toyo is busy doing this retelling instead of working on the new material... unless Tori is coming back for the final arc, baby... but of course he is not coming back.

[Omori]

I think it's totally reasonable to adapt Super Hero at this stage.

The manga was at a different position at the beginning in 2015 as it started out as promotion for the anime.
With one chapter for month and 4 anime episodes in the same timeframe, they had no choice but to keep BoG short and skip RoF.
Even with the page increase to 45, the DBS manga was mostly behind the anime and also developed into its own thing throughout U6, Goku Black and ToP. They seemingly wanted the manga to be ahead, hence that's probably why Broly was skipped as well.

Now the manga has two original arcs and a bit of a gap to the anime which ended (paused?) 5 years ago.
There is no rush and no big need to skip the Super Hero movie right now. This even gives a chance to properly introduce Broly into the manga continuity as well. I know there were some extra pages to acknowledge the movie, but now is probably the best time to do so with showing him on Beerus' planet. Maybe even using the occasion to add some flashbacks?

The prequel part was also a cool idea to give the manga some more original content (which might ends up in the anime later on as well).

Of course, people would be bothered less if there was already an anime on the air (which is what the majority of fans care about).
That's maybe something that could have been timed better. But nevertheless, I think it's overall a good call to adapt it.

It's already a shame that the DBS manga is an incomplete product due to missing out RoF and Broly, but maybe it can be a complete product from now on. I know people are hungry for new things, but it's not like it will take forever. I would guess a new arc comes at latest with chapter 100 in December (which is same time as JUMP Festa).

[LightBing]

I don't mind the adaptation and was disappointed when RoF and Broly were skipped in the manga.

However, the timing makes it all disconnected and as a reader I feel like there's no direction at all. Which gives me no confidence and little interest in the current arc which seems far too safe, more worried about buffering the story than giving substance.

Remember we ended on Freeza turning the tables with very little clue on what actually happened and might happen(which turned that whole arc basically unnecessary).
Then we had a break, followed by a prequel to a movie that ignores the main narrative of the manga until that point.

So my question is: are we actually going anywhere with this story? Seems like the lost decade is a black hole where we'll be stuck with little progress.
Feels like only BoG opened up the horizon while giving some character progress; the rest has been redundant just an excuse to bring characters back from the dead while sporting the latest stylish hair color.

[LoganForkHands73]

I don't mind the adaptation and was disappointed when RoF and Broly were skipped in the manga.

However, the timing makes it all disconnected and as a reader I feel like there's no direction at all. Which gives me no confidence and little interest in the current arc which seems far too safe, more worried about buffering the story than giving substance.

Remember we ended on Freeza turning the tables with very little clue on what actually happened and might happen(which turned that whole arc basically unnecessary).
Then we had a break, followed by a prequel to a movie that ignores the main narrative of the manga until that point.

So my question is: are we actually going anywhere with this story? Seems like the lost decade is a black hole where we'll be stuck with little progress.
Feels like only BoG opened up the horizon while giving some character progress; the rest has been redundant just an excuse to bring characters back from the dead while sporting the latest stylish hair color.

The only thing that makes sense is that the status quo after Super Hero will be different enough that Toyotaro felt it was necessary to recap the story in order to give manga readers some context. Other than that, these are my thoughts exactly. It feels like there hasn't been a clear direction in quite some time. After a several month hiatus, we suddenly smash cut to a screwball comedy about Trunks and Mai setting up Dr. Hedo's android shenanigans, which was an entertaining palate cleanser but doesn't really add anything significant to the story to either Super Hero or the ongoing story of Goku, Vegeta and Black Freeza we'd been following until that point. The shift in focus wasn't exactly a smooth transition, but we forgave it at the time because it was desperately needed after the heavy-going melodrama of the Granolah arc.



Here's an alternative that I think would've pleased more people: instead of the main serialised manga adapting the movies, why can't Toyotaro take a few months off to produce a larger graphic novel recapping the story in comic form? That ought to fix the complaints about the full story not being told in one medium. Maybe briefly cover ROF and Broly while we're at it? Release them alongside the volumes and there you have it. While I get that the hiatus was mainly to give Toyotaro a needed rest, we were also told that he was planning the future of the manga with Victory and presumably the rest of the Dragon Room. All we currently have to show for that planning is a high school drama mini arc followed by an almost point-by-point adaptation of the movie itself told over several months. Not exactly filling me with confidence.

[LightBing]

The only thing that makes sense is that the status quo after Super Hero will be different enough that Toyotaro felt it was necessary to recap the story in order to give manga readers some context.

I don't trust them.
Everything feels like a whim, wouldn't be surprised if Gohan misses the next big fight because he has a work conference or something. Piccolo will probably be left behind after Goku and Vegeta get a week of push ups.
Trunks, Goten and Pan will be relegated to the background again. Maybe instead Goku's Grandpa or third degree cousin will be relevant since dead characters get more development than alive ones.

Here's an alternative that I think would've pleased more people: instead of the main serialised manga adapting the movies, why can't Toyotaro take a few months off to produce a larger graphic novel recapping the story in comic form? That ought to fix the complaints about the full story not being told in one medium. Maybe briefly cover ROF and Broly while we're at it? Release them alongside the volumes and there you have it. While I get that the hiatus was mainly to give Toyotaro a needed rest, we were also told that he was planning the future of the manga with Victory and presumably the rest of the Dragon Room. All we currently have to show for that planning is a high school drama mini arc followed by an almost point-by-point adaptation of the movie itself told over several months. Not exactly filling me with confidence.

I think we got small adaptations for the movies before, might be wrong.
Per your suggestion, for Toyotarõ I feel like the load would be too large and personally if it were to happen I want another person to get a shot.

The bigger problem isn't the adaptations missed, that ship has sailed since the start with the short BoG adaptation.
It's like you said how the Dragon Room is supposedly planning the future and this is what we get... It's been what 8/9 months since the last arc ended, add the probably long winded Super Hero arc and we'll likely be over a year without anything new.

It really doesn't give much confidence.

[GreatSaiyaman123]

It's like you said how the Dragon Room is supposedly planning the future and this is what we get... It's been what 8/9 months since the last arc ended, add the probably long winded Super Hero arc and we'll likely be over a year without anything new.

Now that you said it...

[Miracles]

Maybe someone said it before but I think Super Hero is being adapted to introduce Broly and the developments of Piccolo and Gohan and the Gamma's and Hedo who possibly will be used in the future franchise. So I can understand why it's happening. However, why not do a short recap instead of the whole shebang?

[Noah]

Yeah... I could be here again beating a dead horse like I usually do, but this is one of the few times I believe Toyotaro is doing right.

Super Hero was not a good movie, mainly because it could be just okay without random transformations and knowing how Toyotaro likes to over explain stuff, I hope he does a good job when he get there (not expecting much, but still).

I recently started with the Moro arc (I already watched the anime) and man, I'm really enjoying it.

Moro is a pretty cool villain and it's nice to see Majin Buu in action again. I'm excited to see what happens next.

Oh this sure brings me back some memories lol

[Rouge the Bat]

Is there a topic somewhere to recap the differences between the manga and the movie versions of "Super Hero"?!...

[Skar]

DBS manga made it to the top 50 again! It's still doing pretty good and I think highest ranked sequel or spin-off on the list. Comparison with previous years:

2017: 1,302,000 volumes (#29)
2018: 1,470,328 volumes (#22)
2019: 1,312,679 volumes (#22)
2020: 1,019,655 volumes (#38)
2021: 1,022,505 volumes (#46)

[ClutchBangstrip]

Personally bored by the manga (due to me seeing the film), BUT I can see why they're doing it from a corparate view. Dragon Ball's split up into fandoms of different lucrative mediums. They make millions off the games, off the anime, off the toys, licencing, and etc. So it's obvious they would retell the film in manga because there appears to be an audience for it. They want to make sure they touch base with every sector they can for maximum profit.

On top of that, I think DB is wasting time cuz they have something significant coming soon, that's not just Budokai 4. I honestly think the SH film was a time buying measure, too.

[Yuji]

DBS manga made it to the top 50 again! It's still doing pretty good and I think highest ranked sequel or spin-off on the list. Comparison with previous years:

2017: 1,302,000 volumes (#29)
2018: 1,470,328 volumes (#22)
2019: 1,312,679 volumes (#22)
2020: 1,019,655 volumes (#38)
2021: 1,022,505 volumes (#46)

Do we have all time sales? From these numbers, it has sold over 7 million volumes since 2017, but what about since 2015? I doubt it has reached 10 million yet since there likely would have been an announcement of some sort.

[Skar]

Do we have all time sales? From these numbers, it has sold over 7 million volumes since 2017, but what about since 2015? I doubt it has reached 10 million yet since there likely would have been an announcement of some sort.

Although the manga started in 2015, Volume 01 was released April 2016. I think overall that year had less than 1 million sold since it would only include sales of volume 01 from April to November. Volume 02 was released in December but these Oricon lists seem to end in November so that volume would've mostly counted towards 2017's total.

[Cipher]

Those are pretty phenomenal numbers for being a sequel or spin-off, and for not having a current anime on the air. (Even with the movie boost.)

You’ll get people trying to spin it as unremarkable for whatever reason, but only in the world of comparisons to the original run or other major Jump series having their moment as cultural phenoms is consistently being in the top 50 across each year not exceptionally good and basically the pinnacle of commercial success. I’m pretty sure it and maybe Boruto at some point are also the only V-Jump titles to ever do that, and only Super has continued to, so its role in supporting its publication probably shouldn’t be overlooked either.

Those are numbers that would certainly be getting it an anime had it not already had one too.

[MCDaveG]

I have a feeling, that they've skipped the Broly movie because it is really old by now and as the Super Hero is recent, maybe to boost the Xenoverse DLC release a bit.
But yeah, this is the main medium for Dragon Ball right now by the sales numbers. No show, maybe some movie in production to come out in future, so they are filling the void in with the manga at least.
I tend to be overly critical at times, but it is nice to have at least something new for the series coming out regularly even if it's just an adapatation – extended to be fair.

I would collect the manga on a whim to sit on my shelf next to the classic run, but those two missing arcs are keeping me from it