Manga Or The Dub?

DBZ was broadcasted over here in England, and over in America fairly recently, and the manga is also relatively new, even more so than the dub. Both are of an extremely high quality and entertain fantastically.

There’s the action packed, well-presented episodes, and the humorous, fast-paced manga, both in tough competition with each other to attain the number 1 spot. Whilst they both have many merits, unfortunately they both have a few niggling downsides to them too.

The dub is what got almost everyone interested in DBZ, with its frantic fights, its fantastic storyline, and its exhilarating action. One must argue that whilst the fights can drag on for a while, they are done almost perfectly; the action is suspenseful as you cheer on the hero. The attacks are also executed brilliantly too, which makes for even more interesting watching. Whilst it is all done very well, and those who are inexperienced with the wonders of manga would easily be satisfied with it, there are a few things that are done drastically wrong.

The way in which certain events can take seemingly forever to be completed is insanely annoying, along with the awful filler episodes and sub-plots. The fights may be portrayed well, but sometimes they can over exaggerate certain points, taking somewhat ages just to complete 5 minutes, such as when Namek was about to explode. That took about 4 episodes to go through with the final 5 minutes, which is in my opinion, completely stupid. The final glitch is that sometimes bad voice acting can ruin an episode. It is annoying and can make people want to change the channel. The manga has no such aggravations.

The manga is the original plot, making it more enjoyable, and of course the original is always the best. It is also very fast paced, with the fights lasting comparatively short amounts of time, but completely action packed and thrilling all the way through. The dialogue is restricted only to important lines, making it all the more interesting. Another note is that the manga is completely uncut, and shows everything in its real glory, just as it was intended to be shown.

Whilst it is brilliant, the manga isn’t without its faults either. The fights cannot be represented as well as on TV due to limited still drawing techniques. This can’t be helped, although it does make the fights seem far less dramatic. Another thing is that the manga is very short lived, and is over comparatively quickly. Whilst all good things must come to an end, it’d be better if the manga could have gone on for another saga. With that said, it still lasts a decent amount of time, and just about enough to get its brilliance across.

You have probably already guessed which one I am partially towards, but in case you haven’t then I’ll have to say that the manga is my personal favourite. It is because of the pretty cool fights, the great story, and the lack of stupid fillers. Some of the fights in the manga were even better on TV, such as Racoome vs. Vegeta, Gohan, and Krillen.

If the episodes managed to rid themselves of the filler episodes and sub-plots, occasional bad voice acting, and habit to make things drag on, then I would seriously consider re-evaluating this, but until then I’ll stick by the manga, and I recommend that everyone who hasn’t already read it at least checks it out.