Your opinion of the manga? Versus the anime?

[Amiable-Akuma]

(Note: did a search and read through 29 pages but this question was never specifically asked/answered - lot of other interesting, semi-related stuff out there though!)

I'm talking assuming that we are talking about the US-released English-translated versions of both DB & DBZ that are currently the easiest versions to buy/read for US fans...

Anyway...

For those of you who own or have read the manga: What is your opinion of it? Do you think it's worth buying? Even if you own all the anime? What made you buy the manga in the first place?

How does it compare to the anime specifically in your mind? Are there any changes between the two? Is either better in some respects than the other? If so, how so?

On the US releases: is there anything about the currently available US manga sets that I should know before buying? Anything horribly translated or censored? Were you satisfied with or able to overlook any negative/neutral changes to the US manga that do occur?

Also, for people who own the entire anime series and watch it or plan to watch it regularly - but then also own the manga - how do you balance or negotiate reading/viewing both?

And to those who do NOT yet own the manga or have never read it: why have you not yet done so?

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Please, answer as much of the above as you like. And, um, so obviously my personal situation is that I'm a long time anime fan and US comic book fan but I have never read any manga at all. I've owned every DB/Z/GT episode movie on both fansubbed tapes and DVD now for years and years but have never messed with or heard much about the manga.

Never thought I'd be interested in the manga both because I always though the anime was made so well/definitive (I like the filler too) and because I was scared of having to get used to black & white art (instead of the all-color stuff I've been indoctrinated with in US comics). However, over the last week, on a whim, my wife and I started reading Love Hina, and thereby - our first manga stuff ever. Of course, lo and behold - I find out that manga is all very cool and good after all. Hence, my current curiosity about the DB manga. I'm in a position where I could easily buy/order every single DB/Z manga immediately - but don't want to jump the gun without hearing from you guys...

Let me know your thoughts...thanks...

[GI_Judd2287]

I have all 42 volumes of the manga. After reading it, it's really hard to go back to the anime. 85% of a typical episode is all filler, and to be blunt, it sucks buffalo dick. I like the movies a lot though. And I even like most of filler episodes (where they make up a new story), I think they're quirky and good to watch.

As for how I feel about GT, see my sig. So I like the anime when it goes and tries something new, but not when it adds stuff to fill up a timeslot.

[chibi_goten]

WOW,

I knew this topic was coming and was going to create it myself, but maybe when the forum died down a little. Anyways, I prefer the Manga. It's how it first came across, cuts out all the filler and the dragged out fight scenes.

It's how the story was originally wrote and supposed to come across, I know the anime covers the story of course, but I think the manga does it better.

[Amiable-Akuma]

About the filler though - I have to say that even those of you who gripe at it must also admit that there are numerous times when the filler actually adds a lot or is cool.

Specifically, I'm thinking about how in the original Dragon Ball series - during the first several episodes of the show - the anime also has funny/cool new sequences that show what Pilaf and the gang are doing, going through while we also see Goku/Bulma/Oolong meeting and on their first adventures. The anime inter-cuts these sequences flawlessly and makes you interested in the Pilaf gang from the very first episode. None of this is in the manga - but rather Pilaf and crew just show up somewhere like in the 7th/8th chapter out of nowhere to steal the balls. Seems sort of strange and awkward to me. With the anime, it builds up the meeting between Pilaf and the DB gang the way it handles it and makes Pilaf seem like a much more important threat/character then he initially comes off as in the manga. By the time the two meet - in the anime - it really seems like an event and you been through quite a bit with both groups (Pilaf, Mai, Shu and Goku, etc).

The above, to me, actually indicates why I think the anime may really be superior to the manga in many ways. But then again, this is just one example and then only one I can personally name since I only just watched the first DB eps again then flipped through their respective manga chapters in the bookstore...

[MajinVejitaXV]

I don't own any VIZ volumes, as I bought the Kanzenban around the same time as the DragonBall DragonBox, but I can give my opinions of manga vs. anime in general.

First, I definitely recommend reading the manga, even if you have the entire series on DVD. Like any written medium going to television/motion picture, DragonBall lost a bit in the translation.

The manga does have advantages to the anime in a couple of cases. The consistency of the art is better of course, since Toriyama drew it all whereas Toei used different teams to animate the anime. Also, the story is more streamlined and there are less continuity errors. You do miss out on some good filler (Burdock, non-SSJ Vegetto, driving episode, etc.), but you also miss out on all the bad (Fake Namek, Bulma on Namek, Garlic Jr. ;p).

The anime has its main advantage in the genius acting of the original cast and the musical score (I'm talking about the Japanese version here, to be clear ;p). DragonBall used many great seiyuu with long resumes and had them apply their voice acting talents to our favorite characters. Also, while most filler was horrible, some filler was so great as to impress Toriyama himself (Burdock was Toei's baby, and a well done special, while other episodes proved to flesh out the story without stretching the material so thin as to annoy).

As for negotiating the two...well, it's like reading a book and then watching the movie adaptation. You can't go too crazy with it, or you'll hate both. The anime came after the manga, so if you want to do it like the original audience did you could read the manga then watch the anime...but as long as you enjoy it, I think any numbers of methods could apply.

If you like the DragonBall anime, it's a safe bet that you'll love the manga too. Both are in my collection, and both will be there for a long time to come (I was actually watching the Majin Vejita episodes on the DragonBox the other night, and was telling my girlfriend what was going on...she hates me now because she learns more about DragonBall, Phantasy Star or any of my other dork interests on a daily basis ;p).

Personally, I need to pick up Love Hina, Fruits Basket and Trigun in manga form. All differ from their animes a fair amount (something DragonBall didn't do too badly until GT), and I'm very interested in reading them.

-Corey

[Mr.Piccolo]

I like the pace and art of the manga and I also like the sound and actual motion of the anime. Reading the manga leaves for less moments of confusion and the anime gives you triangle guy. If you look at it anyway, its still Dragonball so I'll like it (or love it). But for the sake of accessibility and personal value(maybe even sentimental), its the manga ftw, imo.

I bought the manga because its DragonBall and there was a buy two, get one free sale at a store that no longer exists. From there it was history. Even if you have the dragonboxes or FUNi releases, buy the manga. Viz did a pretty good job with the manga, imo. If you still have some extra money, give it to me. If you have anymore, buy the kanzenban (give that to me too).
-Rick

[Adey]

With DBZ's action scenes in the manga, it's not too hard to really figure out what's going on, but with some other mangas there are far too many things happening to get it, so that's why anime usually helps you understand what happened at the time and when, (Maybe I don't pay enough attention and try to figure out who's doing what), but for me the anime takes it if only for the fact that I saw it first.

I also know when something's filler or not, so it's not really a problem to me, it's just a problem when people start using filler in arguments and all that jazz.

[mAcChaos]

DBZ is different in respects to its manga than other anime. Usually the manga is a bit different, like Trigun, and stretches out to a different story, and ultimately is a different experience completely. But reading the DBZ manga and then watching the anime is like the same exact thing. The art styles are spot on and they basically animated it panel for panel, except where other anime used their extra time to diverge from the story or do their own things, DBZ just stretches it out for the most part, and I like it better that way because it's still the same thing in the end.

You'll definitely like the manga; get it. Both are good. I like being able to crack open DBZ in book form wherever I go though. I've heard that the manga is the best in the beginning and the anime is the best at the end, but I don't know.

The pacing is definitely much faster. What takes a panel in the manga can take a while in the anime. Which means there's much less staring and watching tumbleweeds go by and whatnot, but on the other hand the whole SSJ transformation occured in just one panel too.

[Kendamu]

For those of you who own or have read the manga: What is your opinion of it? Do you think it's worth buying? Even if you own all the anime? What made you buy the manga in the first place?

The manga is great! There's some stuff that Viz does to the English version that a lot of people don't like. However, until my Japanese vocab is good enough to start buying Japanese volumes, the English manga is treated a lot better than the anime is.

What got me to first buy it was when Viz was selling it as individual normal-sized comic issues. I was at some random mall and I came across them and loved them. They took place between Goku's training with Kaio Sama and the fight against Vegeta and Nappa. This was the summer before Season 4 aired on Cartoon Network.

The thing that really got me, though, was that they weren't censored all to Hell and back. Sure, the current release of the manga doesn't have all the cursing and such, but at the same time they don't try to talk around issues like death and dismemerment with "other dimensions" and "you just wait 'til it grows back" bullshit.

The censorship thing isn't really an issue anymore if you're buying the DVDs but at the time this is what got me hooked.

Later on, when it started coming out in America in it's graphic novel form, I started buying because they were cheap (especially comapred to the DVDs), there was lots to read, I could read at my own pace, there wasn't filler, and I could take them with me when I went somewhere.

How does it compare to the anime specifically in your mind? Are there any changes between the two? Is either better in some respects than the other? If so, how so?

When I compare it to the anime, I compare it to both FUNi's dub and the Japanese version. When I compare it to the Japanese version I like the Japanese because of the music and obviously you don't get that in the manga. When I compare it to the English I compare the voices I give the characters in my mind while reading to the voices the dub gives me. So, audio-wise, as the manga obviously lacks audio, it has it's good and bad aspects. It just depends on how important audio is to you.

Now, in terms of filler, I wish the manga had "the driving episode". Other than that, I prefer the manga so much more simply due to not having filler to sift through. Filler arcs and episodes are one thing, but the "stand around and stare at eachother" thing is what gets to me sometimes. In the Japanese version it's not so bad to me because the Japanese music makes that kind of filler seem... suspenseful. But "DUN DUN JAN JAN JAN JANJAN JANA I AM PICCOLO JAN JANA DUN DUN" stuff just makes it annoying.

Like I said, mang and anime have their good and bad aspects. I plan on having both the manga and the anime eventually.

On the US releases: is there anything about the currently available US manga sets that I should know before buying? Anything horribly translated or censored? Were you satisfied with or able to overlook any negative/neutral changes to the US manga that do occur?

Mr. Satan is referred to by his dub name in the Viz manga, but they do kind of do this "also known as" sort of deal. So, it's not necessarily censorship to call him that as it just avoids confusion between the dub and the manga.

Majin is translated as "d'jinn". It totally makes that big "M" on Vegeta's forehead later on a bit useless and redundant to put it that way. This is usually the biggest gripe people have about the Viz manga.

Other than that, no real censorship unless you consider a lack-of-cursing as "censorship" even if it wasn't present in the Japanese version.

On a personal note, I love the manga. Even Viz's version where I have a few gripes, I still love it. I would hope that they re-release a few volumes with better translations (to get away from that "d'jinn" stuff) but eventually I'll be able to read it in Japanese, anyway. Plus, there's a lot less for me to gripe about in the Viz manga version than there is for me in the FUNi anime version.

[SS2 Vegeto]

To be as blunt as possible, I hate the anime, and think the manga is alright. Entertaining, and fun to read, but not amazing to me.

The anime I have always found to be a very poor imitation.

[Amiable-Akuma]

To be as blunt as possible, I hate the anime, and think the manga is alright. Entertaining, and fun to read, but not amazing to me.

The anime I have always found to be a very poor imitation.

See this kind of thought process I don't understand - because the anime is such a mirror of the manga (as far as I can tell, and especially for everything up to the end of the Freeza saga) that it often captures Toriyama's work down to the exact replica pose and art style. It's just that the anime is in motion, has sound, is "more".

I can understand this "negativity" for the anime - with a series like Love Hina - where the director of the anime has changed the entire plot, camera angles/poses/and staging of certain situations, or introduced a different art style -- but DB seems so accurate to the manga, in general, that it's unbelieveable in my mind.

Even the detail in the shadowing and complexity of the character designs, environments for the DB anime is spot on. Remember, if this were a US series adaption from a comic books such as Batman - there would actually be NO heavy "battle damage", shadowing, or scenes where every individual piece of rock was drawn for an explosion. Hell, in US shows they change/simplify characters' entire outfits for the sake of making it easier to animate.

Not so with DB. I've always been very impressed with the lengths Toei went to capture the original style and provide a high level of detail in the anime.

(EDIT: Note to mAcChaos - I hadn't seen your post before I posted the above. Hah, interesting though that we had the same thoughts in response to the question. Great minds think alike, right?!)

[SS2 Vegeto]

Half of every episode is filler, it was filled with plot holes thanks to not replicating the manga that well, and it managed to nearly reverse parts of the power tier during the Buu saga.

That and I liked the manga artwork better.

For me, Toei did a sub-par job on Dragonball.

[DaemonCorps]

Geez, I thought most of you guys usually posted, like 3-5 lines in your posts! Anyways, the guys before me pretty much hit the nail on the head, with stuff like scripts, music (or a lack of one), voices, etc. I still haven't seen all of the anime, but I do have all of the manga from 1 to 42. And I've gotta say that after reading the manga, I tend to notice more and more filler in the series. Ans as previously mentioned, filler is alright in small subtle doses, but not when it's to the point that there's nearly 100+ episodes of filler (like Naruto). Thankfully, filler and canon in the DB series balance each other out pretty well.

There's also the issue with animators. It usually doesn't bother casual fans, since they don't really notice it as much. But well... let's just say that a thread on the different animation styles was made. EDIT: This is a pretty nice factor, since I like some of the better animators for episodes. Then again, you've also got to withstand the horrible-ness that is a bad animation day for episodes. But really, that's just something expected to come from anime in general.

As for edits that Viz has made... a thread's been made on that, too. But really, the edits are mailny for stuff like Mr. Satan's "alias" and the changing of sound effects to english. I couldn't really care less about that kind of stuff.

And when comparing it to the anime, I don't really see anything aside from script changes and voice changes. It's all just a matter of preference. One big thing I should bring up is that if you started with the manga, then you've probably already thought up your own voices for characters, thus you preferring the manga better. This is one big reason why I can't really stand the Bleach anime or the Death Note one for that reason (but I'm an editor for DN, so I kinda have to watch 'em).

And as for stuff that you should know before getting the manga: again, there's a better script when compared to the anime, sound effects and the sizes of some speech bubbles have been changed, etc. The big thing for me when it comes to stuff to look out for with Viz is its little boxes that they try selling to you. The box for the last set doesn't fit every volume that it's supposed to, so that's kinda stupid. Then again, it's got some hot Toriyama colored art on it, so I dunno. Sadly (or would it be goodly?) the boxes were a limited thing. And of course, there's the name changes (like Vegerot, and the H-word)...

And of course there's the whole thing about the cost. If that's a major thing, then go with the manga.

[SonGokuGT]

As much as I like the anime, the manga is leaps and bounds better in my opinion. The artwork is amazing, hence yo don't have to put up with the anime's little quirks. You also get the main story the way it was meant to be told by the author, completely devoid of filler material.

I'd recommend to manga to everyone... The anime on the other hand, not so much...

[Payne222]

Other than that, no real censorship unless you consider a lack-of-cursing as "censorship" even if it wasn't present in the Japanese version.

Actually, in the Japanese version of the manga, they did swear. They used words such as:
ちくしょう (Chikushou) = Damn/Damnit
and
くそ (Kuso) = Shit

[shannarafan]

I have all the (Japanese) manga, and I freaking love it. It's generally much better drawn and paced than the anime, but I usually find the characters more awesome in the show (e.g., Freeza). Plus, they just aren't the same to me without their Japanese voices.

Overall, I couldn't have one without the other but I think I like the manga a tiny bit more. It doesn't really trounce the anime for me though, even with all the filler and stuff.

[Amiable-Akuma]

Now, in terms of filler, I wish the manga had "the driving episode". Other than that, I prefer the manga so much more simply due to not having filler to sift through. Filler arcs and episodes are one thing, but the "stand around and stare at eachother" thing is what gets to me sometimes. In the Japanese version it's not so bad to me because the Japanese music makes that kind of filler seem... suspenseful. But "DUN DUN JAN JAN JAN JANJAN JANA I AM PICCOLO JAN JANA DUN DUN" stuff just makes it annoying.

Like I said, manga and anime have their good and bad aspects. I plan on having both the manga and the anime eventually.

Kendamu, great post. I was thinking about some of the things you and others said just now. And though, I suppose I probably will pick up the manga before long - I still wonder if it's something that I will ultimately really get a lot from compared to the anime.

Reasons being, the following:

1) I absolutely like the filler.

To me, often the filler is either a great extension or interesting side-story that I think is 100% great - an improvement even. But even at it's worst - I never get bored or annoyed by it. Even, at its most blatant - I am still mildly entertained by it. I'm not like this with other series' - but I think I just intrinsically like the DB characters so much that I don't care what they are doing. Beyond that, there are so many episodes in the DB series - by the time I get through everything I've forgotten what's filler, if said filler is bad, how long it lasts, etc. Not knowing this also, of course, comes from me never having any real familiarity of the manga or "study" of the show in general. I always try to avoid reading or discussing anything that explains the events or details of the show/episodes.

Even when I do "recognize" filler or notice a scene as lasting long - even then I do, as you suggested, try to spin it in a good light in my head. Like "oooh, they're building suspense" instead of "why don't they hurry the f' up and do something!" ~Besides it's not like an episode will go by without at least one or two interesting things happening.

2) I know I'll always want to watch the anime first.

Since, I've always watched the anime - generally prefered it - generally prefer the advantages of the animated format - and will want to take advantage of my lush home theater rig...I can't imagine the above changing. Because of all the things I just mentioned and the fact that I'll want to avoid spoilers - I'll probably only either read the manga right after I've seen the eps/a saga or when I'm forced to when traveling - the latter of which will be rare.

So I have to wonder if this will limit the appeal for the manga for me as well. Not sure I will get a lot out of reading about events I have just recently seen...

3) Every time I watch the show it's like I'm seeing it for the first time.

I touched on this in my #1 - but its absolutely true. I'm extremely forgetful and don't really watch the show anyway until a time-frame where my memory is especially hazy on the details. Keeps things fresh for me and ensures maximum enjoyment.

So I wonder if this will take away a lot of the enjoyment I get from the anime in its suspense/surprises - when I'm trying to read the manga afterwards...

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All that having been said - the following is also true: I love comic books and I love to read in general. So if I trust you guys who are saying the manga is gold - I'm also trusting that. That there's sort of something intangible that you get from the joy of reading it that really makes it "great".

So I'm still leaning towards getting the manga...but I'm really only depending on "that" to make it worth the money and time...

Looking forward to reading all else you guys have to say...

[Mystic Jack]

I own most of the manga and I prefer it to the anime for one simple reason, it can't be debated. If Veggeto punch's Buu in the face in the manga, no-one will hear the dreaded statement "duhhh, that's filler!" This is what the original creator made up in his universe of DragonBall and no-one contest that. (Not like anyone would want to right? Right?!)

[Jodaku]

Well needless to say I love the manga, all the advantages it has over the anime have all pretty much been mentioned, so I'm not gonna bother to repeat them. It's become an annual thing for me to read the manga from start to whatever volume I have up to at the time (as it is with my other geeky interests: watching all six episodes of Star Wars over a few days, playing though all canonical Metal Gear games in chronological order, by the time MGS4 is finally released that'll be 7 games...!) and it's a joy to read everytime. It was great this year especially; as I was finally able to read all 42 volumes from start to finish with no interruption. And even outside those marathon sessions, I still just whenever I feel like it randomly read the odd story arc or a particular event or fight.

As for the anime, well it was what got me into the series, and obviously there was a point where I loved it, but the more I got into the manga, the more the anime fell in my estimation to the point where I hated it. While I've always loved the Bardock Special, and been really fond of a few of the movies and the Trunks Special in particularly, the regular anime became a bore and an irritant.

My feelings for the regualr anime have softened though, and I have come to realise that despite some of the crap, there are times where it genuinely enhances the story, and for better or worst, adds to the overall DB mythology to the point where it rivals something like Star Wars (excluding EU of course). Also just the fact the despite loving the manga I've also come to realise that it's not the anime fault that the last two sagas overall IMO are comparatively weak to the rest of the series (although by the same token, it was the manga that made me realise just how strong the Saiyan and Freeza arcs are, the Freeza saga particularly really suffered from the anime and became a bore).

[Super Sonic]

I have most of the manga, but I've read it all, in English. (Can't read Japanese). Many things I like better there. With the anime, I like the transformations better, because they're more dramatic there. I also, must say that DB/DBZ is one of the most faithful anime translations of a manga I've seen, as well as being near most similar to the original artist's art.