Visual Basic

It took us exactly two months and two weeks to finally get this but BOY was it worth it!

Dragon Ball: A Visual History by Viz Media.

As recommended by Benj Bartolome.
As transferred, reserved and picked up at Fully Booked (BGC).
And now, it's here!

And look at Goku's left leg.

Now, look at his right leg.

Pretty neat, huh?

Similar to what we did with the He-man artbook, here is a very brief unboxing of the book.

And there you go!

Then the book slides right out of its slipcase revealing YET another cover.
The slipcase also has a few tiny illustrations just itching to say hello.

The current cover is simply a dust jacket and removing THAT would give you this cover.

So many layers, kinda like an onion!

But unlike an onion, this wasn't designed to make you cry or is it?

Right off the bat, you are immediately greeted by a pull-out poster.
At the back of which showcases the various times Dragon Ball had graced the cover
of Weekly Shonen Jump. And believe us, there are a lot of them.

Now we couldn't show you the contents of the entire book (because that
would probably constitute as piracy and that is probably illegal) but here
a few of our favorite things from the book.

Each chapters are broken down in terms of years.
1984 - 1986 was the Kid Goku chapters.

Which was probably one of our favorite chapter since this would essentially introduce us (and probably everyone else) to the wonderful world of Dragon Ball.

For a generation that didn't know any show other than Voltes V, Dragon Ball was indeed a breath of fresh air.

A show filled with colorful characters, intense fighting and cheeky perviness.

And also, this image

was definitely altered since the original cover did contain a very noticeable typo.

Both on the word "Ribbon" and on "Goku"'s name.

1987 was marked by the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai and the arrival of Piccolo Daimao.

We are then introduced to another batch of Z fighters. Namely in the form of Tien Shinhan and Chiaotzu.

Chapter arcs in Dragon ball are usually opened or closed with a Tournament. So, I dunno. That makes it easier to remember, I guess?

1988 - 1989 would mark the arrival of the Saiyans and introduce us to one of our all-time favorite
character,

No, not him!

There you go!

1990 - 1992, would be the arrival of the Z Fighters on Planet Namek to duel with the then unbeatable Lord Freeza.

But in the Philippines, it was a totally different scenario. RPN 9 would finally be able to air episodes of  Dragon Ball on their network. But this was at a weird timeslot. Weekends, I believe. With the translated theme song as sung by Mr. Gino Padilla.

This was such a big deal at the time.
It was neither Saiyan or Freeza arc but instead, we are still stuck with Kid Goku.

Which is fine and all. Better than nothing, I guess?

But our enthusiasm for the series got kicked in the curve right after the episodes
started repeating and we never really knew what happened to Gohan after he got kidnapped by Raditz.
This was the latest (and probably the only) arc we got. This would later change from late 90's to the early
2000's when GMA 7 picked up the rights and started airing the Z episodes till the Majin Buu saga.
Not entirely sure if they aired the filler episodes but kudos to them if they ever did.

Back then, you could only watch any anime show once a week. There were no Youtube
or any streaming service that could cater to your anime cravings. It's either you watch it
religiously or you're fucked in the ass.
This was to my understanding, was to give the TV networks time to both acquire the newer episodes
and have it dubbed locally.

This period would also be identifiable by the more angular features that Toriyama decided to go with.

Everyone had muscles and everyone had some crazy transformation and hair to boot.

And hey, isn't that the Frog dude from Chrono Trigger?

Toriyama's probably got his character designs all mixed-up again.

1993-1996, while Japan was already enjoying both the Cell Games

(I've always liked the three Z fighters flipping Cell off but I haven't noticed that Tien's in for the action as well. Now I must admit, that's pretty darn cool!)
or the Future Gohan / Majin Buu arc.

We are still left here at DBZ limbo. Although the series is at the height of its popularity. Other titles like Yuyu Hakusho, Sailormoon, Slam Dunk are charming the loyal DBZ fans away. The only other way to really catch up with the updated otakus from the rest of the world is to buy the untranslated tankobons.

Which we absolutely did. From issues 34

onwards. There were also talks at the time (from gaming magazines) that the series
would finally be coming to an end.

Hence collecting the last few volumes were a definite must.

1999-2009, was the digital period for Toriyama.

His style would then be a hybrid of the soft and rounded features
of the Kid Goku chapters but with the anatomical proportions from the Saiyan saga.
I ABSOLUTELY hated these portions of the book. Gone were the Copic/ Watercolor style colorings of before and in were these soft airbrushed bullshit style he then tends to use from this period up until today.

Hear me out here. And this pent up anger isn't just aimless or for show. It's properly backed up
by facts and examples.
Look at this Tao Pai Pai artwork.

Notice how he just colored all over the eyes.
LAZY!
Look at the color scheme of this artwork.

ABSOLUTELY PUTRID!
Now look at the anatomy of these Z-Fighters,

then immediately compare that to THIS!

See the differences?
It's as clear as night and day!

It's a good thing that the book didn't linger way too long on this.
When it's good- it's good

but when it's bad-it's terrible!

 And the DBS chapters were pretty HO-HUM!
Since I haven't even seen a single episode of that and my assumptions/hesitations are based solely on the 3 overly hyped movies.

The book closes up nicely with a gallery of all the manga covers(both original and rereleases) and their respective spine art.

That I can really dig!

It also showcases the various editorial portraits that Toriyama used on the tankobons.

It also features a translated interview with Toriyama himself.

This is probably the very first time any of Toriyama's interview had been transcribed like this.

But we're glad that it's in there.

The book also has a very extensive bibliography on all the other smaller artworks you might have missed.

Priced at P1,680.

You have various (and at times, rare) colored illustrations, trivias, strips, interviews, and manga covers. This book has something for both the nostalgic and current-gen fans. Making this an absolute must-have for all DBZ fans.

And that's a wrap on all things BALLZ related.
See you again on the next blog entry.