Reading Through Dragon Ball Super

With Toei Animation remaking the first arc of ‘Dragon Ball Super’ in October and a continuation of the anime coming in 2027, I decided to do what no other fan has done in the series: read ‘Dragon Ball’, specifically the ‘Dragon Ball Super’ manga. Fans have endlessly praised the ‘Galactic Patrol Prisoner Saga’ and the ‘Granolah the Survivor Saga’ respectively, but hardly anyone talks about what came before them.

It’s most likely because these chapters were released while the anime was pumping out new episodes, so no one felt like they needed to read the manga until the ‘Galactic Patrol Prisoner Saga’ since it was the same story in book form. After reading every chapter, it’s surprising to say otherwise. The ‘Dragon Ball Super’ manga takes some creative liberties and changes up the narrative for better or for worse.

Akira Toriyama returned to write the story, and Toyotarou joined as the lead artist, so these changes were from Toriyama himself rather than editor intervention. The manga only covers four of the five arcs seen in the anime, skipping over the ‘Golden Frieza Saga’ and passing by the ‘Dragon Ball Super: Broly’ storyline, leaving us with four arcs to discuss. I’ll also skip over the ‘Super Hero Saga’ that adapts the ‘Dragon Ball Super: Superhero’ movie, as not much is changed compared to the original product aside from some small additional scenes and…