Japanese editions of the Dragon Ball manga

[DonCanjas]

With the recent release of the Dragon Ball Double Cover Box, that makes it a total of 6 different compiled editions of the manga in Japan:

- Tankoubon (1985)
- Kanzenban (2002)
- Tankoubon "Refreshed" Edition (2009)
- Full Color (2013)
- Soushuuhen (2016)
- Double Cover Box (2026)

Which do you consider your favorite or worse and why?



My favorite is the kanzenban and the only one I don't like at all is the Full Color. Honestly, if money wasn't a problem, I'd get both tankoubon versions, kanzenban and soushuuhen editions. I really like those editions in some way or another, but I don't think there's a single version that stands out nor that could be considered definitive. I'll explain why.

In my opinion a perfect Dragon Ball manga release would contain:

1. Chapter covers in their original placement (point to soushuuhen)
2. Colored pages by Akira Toriyama (point to kanzenban and soushuuhen, negative point to full color)
3. "Oversized" book format (point to soushuuhen)
4. Commentary, Q&A, facts, etc (point to all, although kanzenban has its extra content in separate books and tankoubon scarces in extra content)
5. Have the original ending in color (point to none)

I would accept as well if they did an ending like in the shoushuuhen, which doesn't have that couple of panels of Vegeta blocking the author's message. Or better, if soushuuhen didn't actually have any alterations from the jump serialization. As far as I'm aware, the ending is a hybrid of the og ending and the kanzenban's. The death of Majin Boo is also altered just like in the kanzenban.


Note: image isn't mine, but from a youtube video. If you care to see, this dude made hour-long videos about all the boxes from the spanish soushuuhen edition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bipcfiV7G6c

I could also point out flaws in all editions:

- Tankoubon: no colored pages; chapter covers pushed to the end of the book, regular size

- Kanzenban: chapter covers pushed to the end of the book; slightly bigger than regular book size, but not big enough

- Full Color: not even colored by Toriyama, why would I care?

- Soushuuhen: not as faithful as it could/should be to the jump serialization; because it's a jump reproduction it should be viewed more as a complementary edition rather than a definitive edition; (I've heard reports of art quality being bad in some pages, probably due to bad archives of the artwork, but cannot confirm since I don't own it)

In conclusion, I really hope in the future they make a more deluxe style edition. The 50th anniversary isn't too far away, so, maybe then...
Sorry if I typed too much, but it's Dragon Ball, I can't help myself

[The Dark Knight]

The Kanzenban has always been a favorite of mine, as it's by far the highest quality release the manga has gotten up to this point.

[Luso Saiyan]

Kanzenban is my favorite. After many years, I finally decided to pull the plug and buy the whole series a couple of months ago.

I don't know why this version isn't avaliable digitally though.

[DonCanjas]

Kanzenban is my favorite. After many years, I finally decided to pull the plug and buy the whole series a couple of months ago.

I don't know why this version isn't avaliable digitally though.

I've been wondering for years if I should get the kanzenban in japanese. Since they're finally releasing Dragon Ball properly in Portugal, I might just wait a few years to see if they get it here. Hopefully with the slip cover, I hate when the west half asses things and doesn't include slip covers

[Chuquita]

I have the kanzenban edition and really like it. The paper quality held up.

[coola]

For me, near perfect release would be mix of Tankoubon (Chapter covers with commentary, uncensored chapter covers like Blooma with smoke, original ending) and Kanzenban (All chapter covers, colored pages by Akira Toriyama).

[tinlunlau]

As I've originally read the manga through the Hong Kong Chinese editions (and sometimes the Taiwanese editions if HK editions were unavailable), I kinda wanna buy the old Hong Kong tankoubon. What I have at home is only most of the Buu saga.

I'd be hard pressed to find second hand copies of the Hong Kong editions of the tankoubon. Recent reprints are not cheap at yesasia.

[Luso Saiyan]

I've been wondering for years if I should get the kanzenban in japanese. Since they're finally releasing Dragon Ball properly in Portugal, I might just wait a few years to see if they get it here.

To be honest, it was the the new portuguese release that finally convinced me to get the japanese Kanzenban. Since unfortunately it's not the version we're getting in Portugal, I don't think we'll get it in the foreseeable future either. So I'm collecting the portuguese release for reading purposes, and got the japanese Kanzenban for collecting purposes (it was quite expensive since I had to import it from Japan).

By the way, you should visit this thread for the portuguese edition from Devir.

[PowerPhantom245]

Didn't know there were that many editions.

[DonCanjas]

I've been wondering for years if I should get the kanzenban in japanese. Since they're finally releasing Dragon Ball properly in Portugal, I might just wait a few years to see if they get it here.

To be honest, it was the the new portuguese release that finally convinced me to get the japanese Kanzenban. Since unfortunately it's not the version we're getting in Portugal, I don't think we'll get it in the foreseeable future either. So I'm collecting the portuguese release for reading purposes, and got the japanese Kanzenban for collecting purposes (it was quite expensive since I had to import it from Japan).

By the way, you should visit this thread for the portuguese edition from Devir.

Yeah, I checked it already. I know for a fact that Shueisha didn't allow devir to publish the kanzenbans without releasing the tankobons first. Ana Lopes said so herself in a livestream with otakupt and also said that they actually wanted to publish the kanzenban first.
I'm not exactly sure why, but at least we'll definitely get the og ending.
Death Note sold so much they did a 2nd edition (not sure if they re-edited it or if it's just a reprint) and released the black edition, so I don't think Dragon Ball wouldn't be able to get a kanzenban as well.

Now, a release I could see myself buying in japanese is the soushuuhen, since I highly doubt they'll ever release it here. And it's more fun looking at a jump reproduction that's in japanese. Unfortunately it's OOP, so the only way is to get it secondhand