Free Dragon Ball (3-in-1 Edition), Vol. 1: Includes Vols. 1, 2 & 3 Ebooks Online
Akira Toriyama's groundbreaking, iconic, bestselling series now in an omnibus edition!A seminal series from a legendary creator. Dragon Ball, a wry update on the Chinese "Monkey King" myth, introduces us to Son Goku, a young monkey-tailed boy whose quiet life is turned upside-down when he meets Bulma, a girl determined to collect the seven "Dragon Balls." If she gathers them all, an incredibly powerful dragon will appear and grant her one wish. But the precious orbs are scattered all over the world, and to get them she needs the help of a certain super-strong boy...Legend has it that if all seven of the precious orbs called “Dragon Balls” are gathered together, an incredibly powerful dragon god will appear to grant one wish. Unfortunately, the orbs are scattered across the world, making them extremely difficult to collect. Enter 16-year-old Bulma, a scientific genius who has constructed a radar to detect the exact locations of the Dragon Balls. She’s on a mission to find all seven orbs, but first she must convince young Son Goku to join her on her quest. With a monkey tail, superhuman strength and a magic staff for a weapon, Son Goku is ready to set out on the adventure of a lifetime… Reads R to L (Japanese Style) for teen audiences.
Series: Dragon Ball (3-in-1 Edition) (Book 1)
Paperback: 576 pages
Publisher: VIZ Media LLC; 3rd ed. edition (June 4, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1421555646
ISBN-13: 978-1421555645
Product Dimensions: 5 x 1.2 x 7.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #25,423 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #51 in Books > Comics & Graphic Novels > Action & Adventure Manga #87 in Books > Comics & Graphic Novels > Manga > Media Tie-In #131 in Books > Comics & Graphic Novels > Manga > Fantasy
Edit: I picked up a copy and it is completely unedited, meaning that they fixed the issues from the first release. I bumped up my rating to 4 stars now - there is still a higher quality release out there, but this one is nice for being smaller, cheaper, and uncensored. My original review is below.Let me just start this off by saying this is Dragon Ball in manga form...it will be enjoyable no matter the smaller details, which is what I will get into in this review. If all you are looking for is the ability to read the manga, then this will do you just fine. There is an older version of the manga called the Vizbig edition, which also combines 3 volumes to one book, and is higher quality (higher quality paper, slightly larger artwork, some color pages, sturdier binding) but if the quality isn't a big issue, either version will do you justice. Now, onto the actual review.This release of the Dragonball manga was advertised as being uncensored, however, the book is still censored. Viz issued a statement saying that the book was actually intended to be uncensored, but was printed incorrectly on accident. I'm not sure if that is true or not, since the last time I was at a book store, the copy I saw was censored. Once this issue is resolved, i'll edit my review accordingly. Until then, i'll discuss everything else.I mentioned a vizbig edition earlier. That release was printed on high quality paper, was slightly bigger, and included some full-color pages. Everything about it felt like quality. This version has thinner paper, is smaller, has no color pages, but is cheaper and has less censorship (though, like I mentioned earlier, some parts of the book are still censored.
Most everyone who enjoys manga or anime (or had a television and watched Cartoon network in the late 90's, and early 00's) is familiar with this story at least marginally. As such, I'm going to be looking exclusively into the quality of this edition of the series rather than the story, which is perfect manga storytelling and my one of my favorites. However, looking at this from the perspective of a collector, this book doesn't really do much for a collector.The quality of this book is severely downgraded when compared to the original publication, or even other Shonen Jump manga books for that matter. The cover is thinner than others, and the interior pages feel just about as thin and flimsy as newspaper, which compared to the paper of a single volume of manga is, frankly, p**s poor. The ink on the pages also smears WAY easier than other volumes of manga, meaning you have to be careful not to tear the pages AND not to smear the images when you're reading it. I'd like to be able to read a story without worrying about ruining my book in the process, thank you very much.In the plus column, though, this book is dirt cheap when you think about how much content you're getting. The average price for a single volume of this manga is anywhere between $10 and $13, and you get three for $15 in this edition. That's basically 50% off in the best case scenarios. However, as of the writing of this review, you can get all three individual volumes included in this edition on this very web site for only $8 more than this edition (not counting tax and shipping), and even cheaper than that digitally. I only picked this up because it was at Hastings for 60% off, plus an extra 20% off at the register.
Vol. 1: The Monkey King (1985) - I know absolutely nothing about Dragonball going into this. Since I read so much manga now I thought it would be good to introduce myself to some old school popular series and decided to give this a shot. I found this first volume absolutely hilarious and such a fun, compelling story with so much happening. Goku is so cute and naive that I loved him right away and the shots of him without his pants on are a riot because he looks like a toddler, even though he is 14 but soo unworldly. The interaction between him and Bulma is also a riot as he learns the difference between boys and girls. Lots of sexual innuendo but of the pre-adolescent variety that is was all just silly fun. The plot was also fun with all 5 main characters being introduced in this volume and them finding 5 (I think) of the 7 dragonballs. I had no idea what the plot was going to be going into this and was quite amused to get almost a whole quest just from this first volume. I have to say I did not expect to enjoy this as much as I did and am eager to read Vol. 2! (5/5)Vol. 2: Wish Upon a Dragon (1986) - Just what I had hoped for, more of the same. Lots of action, plenty of plot and characters. A few new ones are added who seem to be the type we'll see again in the future. The final dragonballs are found ending our first quest. However that doesn't mean all goes quite as planned leaving only one person pleased when all is said and done. Now they must wait a year for the dragonballs to be ready again so they can search them out and everyone has their own ideas and plans for what they will do. As for Goku, he is off to find The Invincible Old Master to finally start his promised training but he has to bring a treat for the old "pervert".
Dragon Ball (3-in-1 Edition), Vol. 1: Includes vols. 1, 2 & 3 Dragon Ball (3-in-1 Edition), Vol. 3: Includes vols. 7, 8 & 9 Dragon Ball (3-in-1 Edition), Vol. 2: Includes vols. 4, 5 & 6 Dragon Soul: 30 Years of Dragon Ball Fandom Upanishads in 2 Vols: The Sacred Books of the East Vols: 1 & 15 Naruto (3-in-1 Edition), Vol. 3: Includes vols. 7, 8 & 9 One Piece (Omnibus Edition), Vol. 17: Thriller Bark, Includes vols. 49, 50 & 51 Bleach (3-in-1 Edition), Vol. 1: Includes vols. 1, 2 & 3 One Piece (Omnibus Edition), Vol. 14: Includes vols. 40, 41 & 42 Naruto (3-in-1 Edition), Vol. 2: Includes vols. 4, 5 & 6 Yu-Gi-Oh! (3-in-1 Edition), Vol. 6: Includes Vols. 16, 17 & 18 Yu-Gi-Oh! (3-in-1 Edition), Vol. 4: Includes Vols. 10, 11 & 12 One Piece (Omnibus Edition), Vol. 16: Thriller Bark, Includes vols. 46, 47 & 48 Ranma 1/2 (2-in-1 Edition), Vol. 16: Includes vols. 31 & 32 Don't Be Cruel: 2-in-1 Edition, Vol. 2: Includes vols. 3 & 4 Don't Be Cruel: 2-in-1 Edition, Vol. 1: Includes vols. 1 & 2 Kuroko's Basketball (2-in-1 Edition), Vol. 1: Includes vols. 1 & 2 Kuroko's Basketball (2-in-1 Edition), Vol. 2: Includes Vols. 3 & 4 Three Tales of My Father's Dragon: My Father's Dragon; Elmer and the Dragon; The Dragons of Blueland Kuroko's Basketball, Vol. 2: Includes Vols. 3 & 4: 3-4 (Kuroko's Basketball)
