As a hardcore SJ manga fan, I love me a good tournament. It’s a great way to showcase the characters’ power, fighting strength and strategy. A good tournament should have lots of intense action, a colorful cast of fighters and some surprises. And nobody does it quite like Toriyama Sensei. He’s got all of the above, plus a good dose of humor.

Before I get into the meat of this very meaty 3-in-1, I just want to call attention to this amazing cover! The geriatric-looking Demon King Piccolo on the cover is a rare piece of DB color art and a real eye-grabber. And the Yajirobe-mobile in the background helps balance the weight of the Demon King in front. Good design work!

This is the second major tournament of the series, and it starts off with some of the funnier matches—particularly when Master Roshi, once again disguised as Jackie Chun, faces a Man-Wolf with an angry grudge. Turns out, when Jackie Chun destroyed the moon in the last tournament, he made it so the Man-Wolf couldn’t turn back into a human again. Luckily, Master Roshi’s got a solution that involves a character with a “moon-like” head. Can you guess who?

The Kuririn versus Chaozu match is also really funny. And cute! They are both super-short, bald, and humorous-looking. A lot of Toriyama Sensei’s comedy is built on naïve characters doing ridiculous things, and this fight has a good deal of that on Chaozu’s side. Kuririn is getting beaten thanks to Chaozu’s psychic powers, so he tricks him by asking basic math problems! Chaozu being incredibly naïve and childlike, has to count on his fingers to do them, thus lowering his guard. I won’t give away the ending, but if you ever enter a fighting tournament, make sure you know your numbers!

Of course, where there’s Chaozu, there’s Tenshinhan! But in this part of the story, he’s a bad guy under the evil tutelage of the Crane Master. His fight with Master Roshi is interesting, but the big match is against young Goku. This is one of the best matches in all of the tournaments and features some of the most intense and well-drawn action ever put to page. One thing about Toriyama Sensei, you really feel the impact of the blows characters dish out and receive, especially in the faces of the characters getting hit.

After the surprise ending, things move rather quickly into the next story arc, which is the Demon King Piccolo arc. And I do mean quickly. This may be the shortest between-story-arcs segment in recorded manga history! It’s one page! Demon King Piccolo is the father (sort of) of regular Piccolo, who as you probably know, goes on to be one of Goku’s greatest allies. But for now, he’s all evil and ridiculously strong, even compared to Goku!

Yajirobe makes his first appearance here and is hilarious right from the get go. And a lot stonger, than I remember him, too. And he seems a little less cowardly. Still as gluttonous, though.

What else can I say, reading these DB 3-in-1’s have been a blast. It’s a treat going back and re-reading some of the earlier story arcs again. Some of it, I definitely remember, but other parts felt new again. And it’s also a treat to read a manga by one of the unparalleled masters in the prime of his career. It doesn't get much better than that.

The 3-in-1’s come with a big Title Page Gallery, an Akira Toriyama’s “Ask Me Anything” Corner!, and Author Notes.

You can pick up this volume right here!

by Urian Brown