Tuesday, September 15, 2015

"Dragon Ball, Vol. 10: Return to the Tournament" by Akira Toriyama


 Rating: 

Previously on Dragon Ball, Goku had to fight several fighters including his grandfather in order to retrieve the location of the last dragon ball. The psychic crone told him the location which is currently on the move with Pilaf who believes he can finally retrieve all seven. Goku does not know it is Pilaf and with his Kintoun, he sets off to the location to finally gather all seven of the magical dragon balls. When Goku finally arrives to the moving car, Pilaf and his team are shocked of his arrival and starts a fight with Goku using mechanical robots.

They believe they can beat Goku because they learned about his weakness when you pull on his tail but they didn't bother to see that his Goku's grandfather removed his tail during battle so now the leverage has gone out of the door. Goku is pretty much unstoppable and through comic relief we get to see Pilaf dreams destroyed as Goku takes the final dragon ball. Goku flies to Karin Sanctuary asap and when he arrives he summons the dragon and bring resurrects Bora a.k.a. Upa's father. The dragon, Shelong, finds it pitiful that Goku asked for such a selfish wish but nonetheless Bora is alive and eternally grateful for Goku. He was surprised how much Goku sacrificed in order to do a selfless act of reuniting Bora with his son and believes it will not be the last time they will meet each other (I am excited to see if Upa shows up as a man in Dragon Ball Z).

Now that the pursuit of the dragon balls is over and Goku has his grandpa's dragon ball, now he is going into training for the next Tenkaichi Budokai tournament in three years. Master Roshi told Goku to start training his tail, and himself without the use of Kintoun and only his entire body, knowing Goku persistent humble spirit he sticks to that regime and has become stronger than ever. After that final scene, we the readers are quickly shifted into 3 years of the future and the tournament has begun.

Everyone from Goku, Kuririn, Yamcha, and Jackie Chun (aka Master Roshi) has signed up to compete and they discover new enemies such as Tenshinhan and Chaozu who are pupils of the Crane Hermit who is Master Roshi's bitter rival. From the gang to the enemies make it the final eight and we get a glimpse of how powerful Goku, Tenshinhan, and Chaozu are and what heated competition this will be until the next volume. I noticed tons of people are upset that they are bringing back similar plot lines like this tournament but I absolutely love it. The whole point of Dragon Ball and Goku is the martial arts. Yea everyone is seeking the dragon balls but honestly it is not that important to me like Goku. Goku never grew up in the city, doesn't know the value of money, and what he treasures most is his friendship and his combat.

For Goku, he worships this competition because he loves to fight individuals who either meet his level of marital arts skill or someone better than him because then it only makes him strive to be a better version of himself and that is what I love about this series. I can relate to a lot to Goku and I love that they brought back the Tenkaichi Budokai tournament because I am excited to see whether Goku will finally win this tournament. Until next time on Dragon Ball...

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