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Wednesday 17 September 2014

Dragon Ball Z, Volume 10: Son Goku... Revived! Review (Akira Toriyama)


With the Ginyu Force out of the way, there are no more distractions left. Now it’s finally time for Freeza to step up and fight our heroes! But Freeza is unlike any villain seen in the series so far and even the recently reincarnated and heavily powered-up Piccolo struggles to keep him at bay. Then, just as it looks like Son Gohan has the upper hand against him, Freeza reveals his secret power of transformation – and with each of the four forms he takes, his powers increase still further.

Vegeta’s still convinced that he’s the legendary Super Saiyan and tries to level up using the Namekian Dende’s healing powers. Because Saiyans only get stronger if they survive near-death battles, if he lets Kuririn kills him and Dende brings him back, he’ll be even stronger and could be Freeza’s equal. But even Vegeta is unable to defeat the monster, leaving it to the one and only Son Goku to stop him.

Akira Toriyama finally brought Goku into the story just a couple books ago for some brief scenes before abruptly taking him out of the picture again, so this is Goku’s second major entrance in this storyline. This time around though it’s a more satisfying appearance with Freeza on the ropes for a change as Goku’s new powers surprise even him in their effectiveness.

Elsewhere, another major character dies but, given the regularity with which the characters die and come back to life, these scenes have lost their impact now. But I’m still as impressed as ever with Toriyama’s artwork. The way he can convey action and speed in such an astoundingly convincing way is extraordinary, especially as the fight between Goku and Freeza is basically that of gods battling.

The fluidity of the storytelling thanks to Toriyama’s streamlined writing and art makes it seem like you’re not reading at all but rather watching a movie unfold. Volume 10 keeps up the excitement and tension of this engaging storyline. Looking forward to the inevitable first appearance of Goku as the Super Saiyan!

Dragon Ball Z, Volume 10: Son Goku... Revived!

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