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Dragon Ball Omnibus #10
Dragon Ball 3-in-1 Edition, Vol. 10: Includes vols. 28, 29 & 30
Akira Toriyama's groundbreaking, iconic, best-selling series now in an omnibus edition!
Dragon Ball introduces a young monkey-tailed boy named Goku (a wry update of the classic Chinese "Monkey King" legend), whose quiet life changes when he meets a girl named Bulma who is on a quest to collect 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 Bulma could use the help of a certain super-strong boy...
Trunks, a mysterious warrior from the future, has arrived to warn Son Goku of a horrendous menace that could destroy the universe. Dr. Gero, the diaboical genius of the Red Ribbon Army, has constructed androids designed to defeat Goku and take over the world. Goku must locate an destroy these androids before they’re activated, or face certain doom!
Dragon Ball introduces a young monkey-tailed boy named Goku (a wry update of the classic Chinese "Monkey King" legend), whose quiet life changes when he meets a girl named Bulma who is on a quest to collect 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 Bulma could use the help of a certain super-strong boy...
Trunks, a mysterious warrior from the future, has arrived to warn Son Goku of a horrendous menace that could destroy the universe. Dr. Gero, the diaboical genius of the Red Ribbon Army, has constructed androids designed to defeat Goku and take over the world. Goku must locate an destroy these androids before they’re activated, or face certain doom!
568 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2015
4 people are currently reading
119 people want to read
About the author
Akira Toriyama
1,907 books1,725 followersAkira Toriyama (鳥山明) was a Japanese manga artist and character designer. He first achieved mainstream recognition for creating the popular manga series Dr. Slump, before going on to create Dragon Ball (his most famous work) and acting as a character designer for several popular video games such as the Dragon Quest series, Chrono Trigger, and Blue Dragon. Toriyama came to be regarded as one of the most important authors in the history of manga with his works highly influential and popular, particularly Dragon Ball, which many manga artists cite as a source of inspiration.
He earned the 1981 Shogakukan Manga Award for best shōnen/shōjo manga with Dr. Slump, and it went on to sell over 35 million copies in Japan. It was adapted into a successful anime series, with a second anime created in 1997, 13 years after the manga ended.
His next series, Dragon Ball, would become one of the most popular and successful manga in the world. Having sold 260 million copies worldwide, it is one of the best-selling manga series of all time and is considered a key work in increasing manga circulation to its peak in the mid-1980s and mid-1990s. Overseas, Dragon Ball's anime adaptations have been more successful than the manga and are credited with boosting anime's popularity in the Western world. In 2019, Toriyama was decorated a Chevalier of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for his contributions to the arts.
In October 2024, Toriyama was inducted into the Harvey Awards Hall of Fame.
He earned the 1981 Shogakukan Manga Award for best shōnen/shōjo manga with Dr. Slump, and it went on to sell over 35 million copies in Japan. It was adapted into a successful anime series, with a second anime created in 1997, 13 years after the manga ended.
His next series, Dragon Ball, would become one of the most popular and successful manga in the world. Having sold 260 million copies worldwide, it is one of the best-selling manga series of all time and is considered a key work in increasing manga circulation to its peak in the mid-1980s and mid-1990s. Overseas, Dragon Ball's anime adaptations have been more successful than the manga and are credited with boosting anime's popularity in the Western world. In 2019, Toriyama was decorated a Chevalier of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for his contributions to the arts.
In October 2024, Toriyama was inducted into the Harvey Awards Hall of Fame.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
October 15, 2018
A good collection of comics. This comic did feel very rushed. The Freeza Saga was ending, then Trunks and the Android saga starts, and we meet Cell. It was a rush to get all it was a rush to get all these things covered, also this cut down on the action. I understood the saga a little better, I think the comic gave the androids more time to establish their personalities. The only down side for me was a slow setup the a rush to cover everything leaving some bits out.
November 15, 2019
Trunks enters the scene, and things change forever.
Before this, Goku had become the Legendary Super Saiyan. The power that can kill Freeza. This volume ends the climatic battle on Nemek when Freeza and Goku come to final blows before one ends up winning. After that a year passes by and Freeza returns before Goku to destroy earth. Not only does he come but also his father.
Enter Trunks. The boy from the future who changes everything.
Trunks warns Goku and friends that the Androids are coming. Unstoppable machines who, in Trunks future, kill EVERYONE except Trunks and Gohan (Who eventually is killed too). So with that Goku and crew begin their training but are the Androids the greatest threat or is there something worse on the horizon?
This is more Sci-Fi then ever. With the arrival of Trunks from the future, Androids, and even Cell makes his grand appearance, things get weird as shit but just as exciting. I've watched this arc many times growing up but they do a great job here re-reading it and love all the fights and the uncertainty that our heroes can win. Vegeta also somewhat being good is a nice change. I thought Goku getting sick is a bit convenient to let everyone else shine tho.
Overall, some great stuff. I forgot how good the Android arc is, and of course Freeza vs Goku ending is legendary. A 4.5 out of 5.
Before this, Goku had become the Legendary Super Saiyan. The power that can kill Freeza. This volume ends the climatic battle on Nemek when Freeza and Goku come to final blows before one ends up winning. After that a year passes by and Freeza returns before Goku to destroy earth. Not only does he come but also his father.
Enter Trunks. The boy from the future who changes everything.
Trunks warns Goku and friends that the Androids are coming. Unstoppable machines who, in Trunks future, kill EVERYONE except Trunks and Gohan (Who eventually is killed too). So with that Goku and crew begin their training but are the Androids the greatest threat or is there something worse on the horizon?
This is more Sci-Fi then ever. With the arrival of Trunks from the future, Androids, and even Cell makes his grand appearance, things get weird as shit but just as exciting. I've watched this arc many times growing up but they do a great job here re-reading it and love all the fights and the uncertainty that our heroes can win. Vegeta also somewhat being good is a nice change. I thought Goku getting sick is a bit convenient to let everyone else shine tho.
Overall, some great stuff. I forgot how good the Android arc is, and of course Freeza vs Goku ending is legendary. A 4.5 out of 5.
August 25, 2023
The first thing that this volume does is wrap up the Freeza Saga as Super Saiyan Goku was willing to spare his enemy and let him escape before Planet Namek explodes. Instead, being the dick with a superiority complex, Freeza strikes one last energy blast against Goku before being vaporised. However, with no chance of escaping due to Freeza’s spaceship wrecked, Goku is left stranded as the world is no more. Don’t worry, Goku is our hero and Akira Toriyama is not going to let him die as revealed when the other heroes have in their possession of the Namekian Dragon Balls, Goku is alive somewhere in space, so they decide to wish back the rest of the dead Z fighters.
Whilst the fighters on Earth await for the return of Goku, including Vegeta who is hoping to challenge his fellow Saiyan, it turns out that Freeza is still alive as his father King Cold rebuilds him with cybernetic prosthetics, increasing his strength significantly. What is essentially a villainous father-son day to get revenge on Goku and destroy the Earth, this threat ends up being not that great with the arrival of fan-favourite Trunks, who is another Super Saiyan that easily takes out Freeza and King Cold. Despite his cool demise, it ultimately sums up why Freeza somewhat became unsubstantial after his saga, though that won’t stop Toriyama (and other media creators) to bring back the character years later, proving that Freeza is just not interesting anymore.
Although Trunks remains a mystery towards all the character, but once Goku returns, Trunks reveals all just to him, from being the future son of Vegeta and Bulma, to warning him of a dark future where two evil androids have decimated everyone. As the androids will be created by Dr Gero, formerly of the Red Ribbon Army, this is a nice call-back to the early Dragon Ball adventures, even if the Android Saga is a completely different beast. With the awareness of the androids’ path of destruction in three years, the Z fighters are preparing to train as hard as they can, in preparation for this impending battle.
There is one scene where Bulma suggested to the fighters about stopping Dr Gero before he creates the androids and even use the Dragon Balls to track him, but they all refuse, because they are born and bred to be fighters, so they don’t know what life is beyond the art of fighting. This may sound like male ego, but because of the kind of story that Toriyama is telling here, one of Dragon Ball’s main themes is to push yourself to be greater. Even as Goku admits his own fear when he will confront the androids, he is willing to stand his ground. As great a character Goku is, Toriyama makes a false step as during an argument with his wife Chi-Chi who would rather worry about Gohan’s lack of education than the fate of the world, Goku slaps her out of their house, resulting in her arm getting broken. The punchline may be that Goku doesn’t know his own strength, but the way Toriyama frames the scene, it’s rather in bad taste, which ultimately knocks a star out of my rating.
Cut to three years, our heroes are ready to face Androids 19 and 20, both of which target Goku, who can turn Super Saiyan at will and tries his best against them, but he begins to suffer from a heart disease and is dispatched away by Yamcha to get his medicine at home. As most of the heroes are pretty much nothing without their star player, Vegeta shows up and now he can go Super Saiyan, but perhaps more importantly, has a son with Bulma. With battle manga, characterisation is done through action and Vegeta is a great example of this, as after gaining this new power, his arrogance is at an all-time high and uses his position as the Saiyan Prince as an excuse for superiority above everyone else. When Future Trunks returns to help in the fight, he witnesses the evil nature of his own father that he got to knew growing up and how these keep feuding with each other.
Despite the chance of victory, Future Trunks finds out that the androids that our heroes are fighting are not the ones from his future. As it turns out, Android 20 is revealed to be Dr Gero himself and after the demise of his companion at the hands of Vegeta, the doctor unleashes Androids 17 and 18, the ones that Trunks warned about. I’ve always loved Toriyama’s character designs as he gives everyone their own distinction, especially his villains as Androids 19 and 20 have their own fashion compared to the casualness of the twin siblings 17 and 18. As these two new androids have an infinite energy supply and embark on a quest to find and kill Goku out of pure entertainment, they are so passive that they won’t attack anyone, unless they will be attacked. Of course, Vegeta goes over his head, makes the first move and is defeated by 18. Left with nothing but humiliation after being beaten by a girl, Vegeta is determined to get stronger like he always does.
As 17 and 18 are off on their quest along with the large fully mechanical Android 16 – who feels like an extension of Android 8 from the Red Ribbon Army Saga – the heroes wrestle with what to do next, which leads to a lengthy discussion about time travel as Future Trunks’ presence has changed the course of history. Although there is an ongoing Terminator influence throughout, which I really like as it gives us a different perspective compared to previous storylines, certainly villain-wise, but when you try to dissect time travel, it’s like magic where you can set up your own rules without at all being logical. Because of the repercussions of time travel, another threat that is even worse than the androids and as Piccolo merges with Kami so that the former can have a greater power level, he confronts this new being who at this point is referred to as: “Cell”.
I am so pumped for the next volume!
Whilst the fighters on Earth await for the return of Goku, including Vegeta who is hoping to challenge his fellow Saiyan, it turns out that Freeza is still alive as his father King Cold rebuilds him with cybernetic prosthetics, increasing his strength significantly. What is essentially a villainous father-son day to get revenge on Goku and destroy the Earth, this threat ends up being not that great with the arrival of fan-favourite Trunks, who is another Super Saiyan that easily takes out Freeza and King Cold. Despite his cool demise, it ultimately sums up why Freeza somewhat became unsubstantial after his saga, though that won’t stop Toriyama (and other media creators) to bring back the character years later, proving that Freeza is just not interesting anymore.
Although Trunks remains a mystery towards all the character, but once Goku returns, Trunks reveals all just to him, from being the future son of Vegeta and Bulma, to warning him of a dark future where two evil androids have decimated everyone. As the androids will be created by Dr Gero, formerly of the Red Ribbon Army, this is a nice call-back to the early Dragon Ball adventures, even if the Android Saga is a completely different beast. With the awareness of the androids’ path of destruction in three years, the Z fighters are preparing to train as hard as they can, in preparation for this impending battle.
There is one scene where Bulma suggested to the fighters about stopping Dr Gero before he creates the androids and even use the Dragon Balls to track him, but they all refuse, because they are born and bred to be fighters, so they don’t know what life is beyond the art of fighting. This may sound like male ego, but because of the kind of story that Toriyama is telling here, one of Dragon Ball’s main themes is to push yourself to be greater. Even as Goku admits his own fear when he will confront the androids, he is willing to stand his ground. As great a character Goku is, Toriyama makes a false step as during an argument with his wife Chi-Chi who would rather worry about Gohan’s lack of education than the fate of the world, Goku slaps her out of their house, resulting in her arm getting broken. The punchline may be that Goku doesn’t know his own strength, but the way Toriyama frames the scene, it’s rather in bad taste, which ultimately knocks a star out of my rating.
Cut to three years, our heroes are ready to face Androids 19 and 20, both of which target Goku, who can turn Super Saiyan at will and tries his best against them, but he begins to suffer from a heart disease and is dispatched away by Yamcha to get his medicine at home. As most of the heroes are pretty much nothing without their star player, Vegeta shows up and now he can go Super Saiyan, but perhaps more importantly, has a son with Bulma. With battle manga, characterisation is done through action and Vegeta is a great example of this, as after gaining this new power, his arrogance is at an all-time high and uses his position as the Saiyan Prince as an excuse for superiority above everyone else. When Future Trunks returns to help in the fight, he witnesses the evil nature of his own father that he got to knew growing up and how these keep feuding with each other.
Despite the chance of victory, Future Trunks finds out that the androids that our heroes are fighting are not the ones from his future. As it turns out, Android 20 is revealed to be Dr Gero himself and after the demise of his companion at the hands of Vegeta, the doctor unleashes Androids 17 and 18, the ones that Trunks warned about. I’ve always loved Toriyama’s character designs as he gives everyone their own distinction, especially his villains as Androids 19 and 20 have their own fashion compared to the casualness of the twin siblings 17 and 18. As these two new androids have an infinite energy supply and embark on a quest to find and kill Goku out of pure entertainment, they are so passive that they won’t attack anyone, unless they will be attacked. Of course, Vegeta goes over his head, makes the first move and is defeated by 18. Left with nothing but humiliation after being beaten by a girl, Vegeta is determined to get stronger like he always does.
As 17 and 18 are off on their quest along with the large fully mechanical Android 16 – who feels like an extension of Android 8 from the Red Ribbon Army Saga – the heroes wrestle with what to do next, which leads to a lengthy discussion about time travel as Future Trunks’ presence has changed the course of history. Although there is an ongoing Terminator influence throughout, which I really like as it gives us a different perspective compared to previous storylines, certainly villain-wise, but when you try to dissect time travel, it’s like magic where you can set up your own rules without at all being logical. Because of the repercussions of time travel, another threat that is even worse than the androids and as Piccolo merges with Kami so that the former can have a greater power level, he confronts this new being who at this point is referred to as: “Cell”.
I am so pumped for the next volume!
January 3, 2025
This! This one is even better than the Freeza-arc IMO. I absolutely love this part, I remember I adored Trunks way back then, I even wanted to style my hair just like him. It was absurd, I know.
Anyway, this is Toriyama at his best: merging fantasy with sci-fi, giving us way more Alien vibes then before (I wanted to say Freeza's second or third form was a genius show of respect to the Alien movie, but seeing Cell here, it just confirms it), the story becomes much more tense and exciting (I mean, there are two enemies now at the same time), and anyway, this whole arc is just awesome.
Anyway, this is Toriyama at his best: merging fantasy with sci-fi, giving us way more Alien vibes then before (I wanted to say Freeza's second or third form was a genius show of respect to the Alien movie, but seeing Cell here, it just confirms it), the story becomes much more tense and exciting (I mean, there are two enemies now at the same time), and anyway, this whole arc is just awesome.
July 13, 2024
I wouldn't have recognized Trunks if I wasn't googling Dragon Ball spoilers every now and then, but what an introduction!
Goku's battle with Freeza just shows the kind of man/saiyan that he is. Lodi!!
Dude, ganda talaga nitong series. Bat ngayon ko lang nadiscover, haha! Though I'm not sure if I'm invested enough to watch the anime. Siguro kung may 2x speed. Hahaha!
Survive... and maybe you'll learn the value of life!
- Son Goku to Freeza
Goku's battle with Freeza just shows the kind of man/saiyan that he is. Lodi!!
Dude, ganda talaga nitong series. Bat ngayon ko lang nadiscover, haha! Though I'm not sure if I'm invested enough to watch the anime. Siguro kung may 2x speed. Hahaha!
Survive... and maybe you'll learn the value of life!
- Son Goku to Freeza
July 6, 2023
A great wrap-up to the Namek saga with no time wastes starting the Android arc. I think that my personal favorite scene was the last chapter. I am extremely familiar with the entire Dragon Ball franchise but there were still some manga exclusive details that made the read worth every second.4.5 stars.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 14, 2017
With the end of a major story arc, this set of volumes goes about setting up the next big battle, and things get a bit complex, as the story now involves time travel. Specifically, this kid named Trunks shows up from the future warning of some androids that are going to kill everyone and take over the world in a few years, which means that all the characters need to train like crazy to get ready for them. But then once they do show up and begin destroying members of the supporting cast, another time traveler appears and morphs into an even greater threat, which means that there will be more awesome battles and increasingly high stakes to come. Sounds like fun, but hopefully it won't take too long to actually happen.
August 22, 2025
The Cell Saga begins. It's no Namek, but it's still pretty good.
The "heart virus" is an interesting plot point. I like that ultimately the thing that brought Goku down was something he couldn't physically fight, a virus.
Trunks is cool. I appreciate that his name follows the pun of his mother's name (Bulma). Him just decimating Freeza gives us that "whoa he's strong" feeling. It's also kind of lame how the power scaling between arcs is so exponential. I like a gradual shift. But whatever. There's always someone stronger.
Toriyama never really explains how the Bulma/Vegeta relationship happened, it's all off screen, and it's kinda hard to buy. But whatever, the outcome is interesting.
Goku learns "instant transmission" on some random planet named "Yardrats." The idea of the technique is creative - he can't just teleport anywhere, he has to identify a person's ki and focus on that. So generally he can only teleport around very strong individuals. He never even attempts to teach this technique to anyone else, which is odd considering how useful it is.
I really like how the time travel changes the course of this story, butterfly effect. We (and trunks) don't understand why his visit changed so much, but it did. So now we get the fake out with the first set of androids, then the real set shows up, and then we get faked out again and discover a new threat entirely in cell. The misdirection leading to the main villain of this story is really good.
I liked it.
The "heart virus" is an interesting plot point. I like that ultimately the thing that brought Goku down was something he couldn't physically fight, a virus.
Trunks is cool. I appreciate that his name follows the pun of his mother's name (Bulma). Him just decimating Freeza gives us that "whoa he's strong" feeling. It's also kind of lame how the power scaling between arcs is so exponential. I like a gradual shift. But whatever. There's always someone stronger.
Toriyama never really explains how the Bulma/Vegeta relationship happened, it's all off screen, and it's kinda hard to buy. But whatever, the outcome is interesting.
Goku learns "instant transmission" on some random planet named "Yardrats." The idea of the technique is creative - he can't just teleport anywhere, he has to identify a person's ki and focus on that. So generally he can only teleport around very strong individuals. He never even attempts to teach this technique to anyone else, which is odd considering how useful it is.
I really like how the time travel changes the course of this story, butterfly effect. We (and trunks) don't understand why his visit changed so much, but it did. So now we get the fake out with the first set of androids, then the real set shows up, and then we get faked out again and discover a new threat entirely in cell. The misdirection leading to the main villain of this story is really good.
I liked it.
May 16, 2020
I think this is the point where people lose the story a bit... this is beyond the natural end of dragon ball and while I did still really like it, it feels a bit more rushed and both the power levels and imbalances are just absolutely ridiculous at this point, but it’s just as fun to read as ever! This series has gone every which way over the volumes, and I love how sci-fi it is now. I really enjoyed the start of the Android arc, and I’m excited to see how it plays out.
October 17, 2024
My all time favorite manga and anime! I love the characters, the story, everything about it!!! In this volume Trunks comes to warn the Z fighters about a new threat. However, when the androids show up they aren't the ones they were warned about. A true classic among manga and anime and one I will always recommend to others!
January 8, 2018
another fine addition to the Dragon Ball story, leading into one of the most iconic story arcs from the series.
May 12, 2021
** 3.5 stars **
September 3, 2021
We've come full circle to the Red Ribbon Army! Bring on the androids! And what the hell came out of this egg? I have a bad feeling about this.....
February 12, 2023
Getting close to the end now!
Volume 10 , containing books 28. 29 & 30, chapters 326 - 361.
Everyone's now back on Earth, but trouble isn't over. Mysterious androids appear.
Volume 10 , containing books 28. 29 & 30, chapters 326 - 361.
Everyone's now back on Earth, but trouble isn't over. Mysterious androids appear.
July 24, 2023
dragon ball never fails to have such a good story ! Also can they not take a break lol
November 21, 2024
I had completely forgotten about Cell, tbh. Though I remember the Androids. Weird.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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