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The next edition of the English translated Dragon Ball Super manga (Volume 2) is almost here! In order to get reacquainted with the manga, you can read the review of Volume 1 here. Volume 2 continues where Volume 1 left off, with Frost having just turned into his final form. The manga continues throughout the end of the Universe 6 Tournament (midway through Episode 33-41 of the TV series).
The book is divided into six sections, just like Volume 1, with each section roughly correlating to the TV series episodes. The first four sections of the manga wrap up the Universe 6 Tournament and the final two sections start the Future Trunks saga, which is another saga I greatly enjoyed on the TV series as well. The best part? They skip over the seemingly useless episodes between the two arcs and jump right into the action covering episodes 47-49 of the TV series.
The thing that I love the most about this manga is how beautiful it is. The artist Toyotarou KNOWS these characters. He is awesome. Yes, some of the smaller, quicker panels are not as greatly drawn but overall the characters are spot on. The artwork is intricately drawn and shaded and I love every inch of it. I’m just as excited to read the manga as I am to watch the show and I get the same blood pumping exhilaration while reading it. The action is pumped up and kinetic in all the right ways.
My only issue with Dragon Ball Super Vol. 2 was that the fight between Goku and Frost was a bit difficult to follow. The action was not as clearly delineated as the later fights in the series and I feel the TV series better explains various parts of the storyline that get skipped over or ignored in the manga.
This is actually an issue that comes and goes with several of the fights. They proceed to start the fight and then it is difficult to keep track of all of the progress. Also, having Super Saiyan Blue, just be a blue Super Saiyan makes it extremely difficult to identify Goku’s power state since the comic is in black and white. However, they’ll often call it out in the script so that the reader will, at least eventually, figure what state Goku is in.
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Another minor quibble is the same as the last volume. Some of the character’s names are changed, which wouldn’t be an issue except they are the God’s names, who are often not even on screen at all, and so it is confusing which god they are referring to in the text. However, I do love the added scenes that aren’t in the TV series. It’s like little special episodes that viewers never got during the series.
So overall, if you loved Volume 1 of the manga, you’ll continue to love Volume 2. And really if you are a fan of Dragon Ball Super at all, this manga gets right to the meat of the stories, cutting out the “filler” and provides a fast paced, beautifully drawn, Dragon Ball experience.
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