(***review up to chapter 66--End of the Moro Arc***)
After 1.5 years since my original review of this manga, I still highly recommend it over the anime version of Dragon Ball Super. Before, I only thought of it as a quicker, higher quality alternative to the anime, but with the addition of the Moro arc it has much more to offer. The Moro arc is the longest so far in the manga, and was able to tell its epic story with appropriate pacing since there was no need to keep up with an anime version. On top of covering the events of the anime in a
...
more digestible format, Toyotarou's Dragon Ball Super manga now delivers what is easily my favorite story arc of the Super era.
While Toyotarou's pen game doesn't perfectly replicate Toriyama-sensei's art style, it's a close approximation. The way Toyotarou lays out his panels is very distinct from the original Dragon Ball. This is most notable in his action scenes where he uses large, jagged panels versus Toriyama-sensei's mostly rectangular panels. Toyotarou's sound effects also seem larger and more blocky, but I can't say for sure since I've only read the original manga with localized sound effects. Regardless, the characters are all consistently on model, the fight choreography is easy to follow, and every fight is imbued with a sense of speed that you just don't get in the anime version of Super.
The manga's story is largely the same as the anime (Up until the manga only Moro arc), with the differences mostly coming down to details while the overall plot stays the same. For detailed thoughts on some of these differences, see the spoiler paragraphs at the end of the review. The manga is also missing all of the anime filler. That means the bad filler like the weird goo monster that nearly beat Goku and Vegeta, as well as the filler I actually liked such as Gohan playing Saiyaman in a movie. So while we do lose some enjoyable character moments, the overall story doesn't suffer because of it.
Now that the conclusion of the Moro arc is upon us, I can safely say that this is my favorite arc of Dragon Ball Super to date. This is the only arc during which my score for the series rose consistently with every chapter, because each chapter was of overall higher quality than the arcs that came before. Because Toyotarou wasn't trying to play catch up to the anime and condense story events to move the plot along, he was able to plan out a really well paced and structured narrative.
In this arc, Toyotarou basically made his own ultimate remix of all the things he loves about Dragon Ball. He pulled plot elements and characters from all over the place and arranged them into a beautiful celebration of the entire series. Sure, that does keep some story beats from feeling totally fresh, but it all comes together to build an epic story with more believable tension than I've ever felt in Dragon Ball Super up until now. The ending is... Kinda out there, but it brings back a lot of plot threads from throughout the arc for a final payoff.
The characters of Dragon Ball are pretty much the same as always in the Super manga, especially up through the Tournament of Power where Toyotarou's hand were basically tied to the agreed upon story. In the Moro arc, he gave Vegeta some welcome character development. While it may not be a drastic change from where his character has been in Super, he gets a chance to recognize his past sins and atone for them, and learn from his history of reckless battle strategies. On the other hand, a case could be made that Toyotarou has regressed Goku's character given some of the events in the Moro arc, but I honestly don't feel like any of his actions were out of place.
So who should read Dragon Ball Super? I urge any and all Dragon Ball fans to read this manga. If you've already watch the TV anime of Super, you're probably fine without reading the same story again, but I highly recommend the Moro arc starting at chapter 42. For anyone who hasn't seen the anime, I can only suggest that you read the manga and watch the movies starting with Battle of Gods for what I consider the best possible Dragon Ball Super experience.
***SPOILER PARAGRAPHS***
Here are my thoughts on a few specific differences in the manga. In the fight against Hit, Goku sadly does not use Kaio Ken Blue, but I enjoy how he defeats Hit by predicting where he will be after a time skip and punching there. In the Goku Black arc, Goku demonstrates his old "monkey see, monkey do" talent by using Beerus's Hakai technique on Zamasu. In the finale, we're also spared from the weirdness of Zamasu fusing with the entire universe or whatever happened in the anime.
Finally, in the Tournament of Power, Goku unlocks Ultra Instinct after watching Master Roshi dodge attacks from Jiren. The anime version where Goku gets hit by his own Spirit Bomb simply has nothing to do with the mechanics of Ultra Instinct, while in the manga he learns to use it by coalescing lessons from all of his previous masters and watching Roshi perform a similar technique. It actually makes some kind of sense while the anime version makes no sense at all.
 Alternative TitlesSynonyms: Dragon Ball Chou, DBS Japanese: ドラゴンボール超〈スーパー〉 More titlesInformationType: Manga
Volumes: Unknown
Chapters: Unknown
Status: Publishing
Published: Jun 20, 2015 to ?
Demographic:
Shounen
Serialization:
V-Jump Statistics Ranked: #48102 2 based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded. Popularity: #223
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Apr 15, 2019
(***review up to chapter 66--End of the Moro Arc***)
After 1.5 years since my original review of this manga, I still highly recommend it over the anime version of Dragon Ball Super. Before, I only thought of it as a quicker, higher quality alternative to the anime, but with the addition of the Moro arc it has much more to offer. The Moro arc is the longest so far in the manga, and was able to tell its epic story with appropriate pacing since there was no need to keep up with an anime version. On top of covering the events of the anime in a ... 
May 27, 2020
I pretty much enjoyed it (way better than anime)
the story goes on and the characters grows more, yeah some are repeated but damn Akira still got it. I liked how there are smart ways to win not all about power, and I like the new characters and power scaling it made it all fun and exciting to read if you read it take it as a dragonball pace and see how existing and how much thought was put into it not much I can say without spoiling but it's a must read and hopefully they make an anime that straight out the manga next time 
Apr 7, 2020
There isn't much good I can say about this other than that it has okay fight scenes to be honest.
When you start Dragon Ball Super it feels like you've missed a whole load of story. Besides from the beginning, the rest of the story feels rushed and unfinished, it jumps from one arc immediately into the next, which isn't bad in its own right but it takes time to realize what's going on. It really could benefit from some filler in between so you can actually realize what just happened. Overall the story is unclear because it jumps from one thing immediately into the next leaving ... 
May 21, 2018
The Dragon Ball Super manga story is based on outlines done by Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball, much like the Super anime; Most of what the anime does, like introducing new transformations, hair colors, change in outfits are mostly done to sell merchandise and appease nostalgia seeking baboons, by coping exact scenes and retreading developments from earlier Dragon Ball series;
Toyotaro on the other hand doesn't seem to need to do this kind of thing, going more for the cool factor with break neck speed pacing, but that doesn't always seem to work. I want to start by saying that the Dragon Ball Super ... 
Jun 19, 2022 Not Recommended Funny  Preliminary
(85/? chp)
Dragon Ball Super perfectly shows why Dragon Ball should have ended with Z/KAI
Of course it being a manga review i can't speak about the awful anime art and animation that have hurt the series even more, but like i said this is a manga review so i won't talk about that. The series as a whole lacks good writting and creativity like Z had, it looks like Dragon Ball Heroes where they just want to spam transformations to sell merchandise, this series just can't stop doing that, it's hilarious and pathetic at the same time. Also, besides Ultra Instinct no form had any impact on Super, it's ... 
Aug 24, 2023
As of now I can say that dragon ball super is well worth the read. Please give it a chancel if you like the concept of ultra instinct and dont mind the forcefulness of Super Saiyan God (SSG) and Super Saiyan Blue (SSB). Something I should mention, do not buy the physical copies even if you nostalgic about DB and DBZ. The colored version on Colored Manga is the best way to read it and contains 90% of the chapters to date in full color.
The hype peaks in the Moro arc (which was perfectly executed) and even the following arc is it still very good ... 
Jun 19, 2022
Dragon Ball Super manga is a "continuation" of Dragon Ball in a sense that is just fills the time in the 10 years timeskip in-between Goku beating Boo and Goku meeting Oob to train him. You can consider it filler since you know nothing what happens in Super really matters and is no different than watching the Garlic Jr Saga. But then again the ending of Dragon Ball existed for 3 decades and not everyone was reading the Dragon Ball manga to know what is filler and what isn't in Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z.
If anything Dragon Ball Super is basically fanfiction. Drawn by ... 
Dec 3, 2018
The Dragon Ball Super Manga. No Comic has so many prayers and haters at the same time (probably).
VISUALS: There are people on the internet who only rate Animation, artwork or writing.. Especially for the DBS Anime. There are YouTubers like "Anime Ajay" who upload Episode Breakdowns for each Super Episode that has been aired. But he looks only at the animation, the compositing, direction, storyboard and in rare cases the writing. He can rate an episode completely with the visuals, like it would be formula. And that is totally fine. I also enjoy looking at cool animated shots, hearing epic music and seeing creativity on Manga ... 
Jan 26, 2021
If you like a series where the main character continually gets stronger and stronger with no possible reason other than the fact the story allows them to, this is a series for you!
Simply put, unlike the other Shonen staples, the Dragon Ball series does not know when to call it quits. The story of Dragon Ball has now gotten muddled into what is now, practically impossible to care about story arcs or contains increasingly worse and worse plot devices (such as power levels and uninteresting God-like characters) to drive its plot. One can infer that the reason behind this is Akita Toriyama taking a back ... 
Jun 6, 2022
Reading Dragon Ball Supers manga is like watching Dragon Ball Heroes. You can't really tell who stronger than who. It's like some of the logic of Z no longer apply.
You have times where Gohan is clearly weaker than Goku. But then it seems like off screen he surpassed him. Even Roshi performs better in his fight against Jiren than Goku did in Super Saiyan Blue. It's dumb as shit. What is going on here? I am completely confused. Even on some of the things stated and visual cues. There is an enemy that can absorb energy passively. But in a later fight he has to ... 
Sep 21, 2023
Dragon Ball Super is a part of dragon ball as the name indicates, it takes place before the end of z and 2 years after buu saga.
The plot is almost unexistant they are just looking for reasons to fight, the arcs are mostly decent exept RoF everything else isnt bad, plot wise its mediocare to decent and the fights are most of the time good The art is inferior to the original dragon ball manga but its still good The characters are.. Goku got butchered he is now an idiot (not as much as the super anime and movies but still an idiot) and frieza was brought ... 
Jan 27, 2021
Im writing this as someone who enjoyed dragonball super casually since the beginning. If you turn off your brain you might have a fun experience. However,lets be honest with ourselves Dragonball Super should be judged as what it is. It is not a serious manga that is made out of passion or love of the art or francise. It's a cashgrab rehashing a legendary manga series for profit alone. Giving them strange blue hair and a thousand transformations that become meaningless in the next arc, terrible antagonists that have overtly simplistic backstorys, weak plot threads, boring paneling.... But since the tournement of power arc
...
Sep 23, 2021
this the first dragon ball related series i've READ so if some things i say seem obvious to you if i had read Z or the original, sorry, i wouldn't know
story, 6: dragon ball super's story, while it never tries to go out of it's boundaries too much, it's entertaining for the most part, but it's probably not what you're reading dragon ball for, it's probably more for the world, or universe, building and the classic characters. the story spares nothing to the readers when it comes to movie content, it completely gets written out and just leaves a page that says something like "this ... 
Feb 21, 2022
Dragon Ball Super was very good until Tournament of power,Moro Saga was very good to good,but the 'Granolah the Survivor Saga'' goes from mediocre to bad and to worse.I speak for the story,Art is great for me,Characters some good and some bad,and because all of that,i'n don't Enjoy so much the Manga now.
Toyotaro must change dramatically the story from the next Saga. Granolah the Survivor Saga: Τhe news characters are boring,the bad guys are stupid&bad idea(for me),the backstory of goku's father is unnecessary and very bad choise to use it. Moro Saga: Ok it's and interesting bad guy,but in the end,i think they used him very bad,very nice the ... |
