Dragon Ball 13
December 28, 2006
This volume was more exposition exposition. Well, I shouldn’t say that. There was quite a bit of plot, too, and we lost two more characters, both of which I did not see coming. Such moments, though pretty brief and rather… I don’t know, understated and underwhelming, are quite touching in this series. You KNOW what it means for these people to die, and the fact that not much time is spent with it makes it more sombre somehow. You know the other characters feel the impact, though they discuss it very little. A way to resurrect everyone also comes up frequently. The characters matter when they die, and the fact that such drastic measures are taken with the best-loved characters is kind of notable, and an endearing quality.
Unfortunately, this volume is also very serious. Piccolo is running amok and causing all sorts of chaos. Goku is trying to get more powerful and is taking Yajirobe with him to help. I like that Yajirobe is this sort of bitter, unwitting accomplice that Goku loves so much. The seriousness of everything is not what I like about this series… I like the whimsy, the humor… the funny! Where’s the funny?! I knew this would happen eventually, but I was hoping it wasn’t until Z. I don’t think the fight with Piccolo is going to take another three volumes, so it’ll be fun to see what happens with the rest of Dragon Ball before Z starts.
