Jaco the Galactic Patrolman

I love this manga. It's fun and simple. It embodies what makes Dragon Ball fun and exciting. The story and characters are nothing spectacular, but it makes me smile so much reading it. Toriyama has still got it. I would recommend this to any old school fan of the series... Now... enough with the positives. Dragon Ball Minus is a broken piece of garbage and it needs to be deleted from history. Toriyama tries his hand at rewriting the backstory to a beloved character from a spectacular story that sits at the top of Dragon Ball's anime content. This was a massive mistake. Toriyama sucks everything good outof Bardock and replaces him with an empty shell of his former self. He sits and makes pointless connections to later points of the franchise and uses little to develop his own story. He messes up Goku's age and completely ruins the irony of Goku's good heart. He attempts to make Goku's parents special essentially detracting from what makes Goku special. Gine is only there for people to have a name for their Goku fanfics and serves little to no purpose. Its sad to see how far Dragon Ball has fallen, and this truly goes to show Toriyama has no idea what he's doing. The two things that Toryiama has contributed to modern Dragon Ball when it comes to full stories is this... and Resurrection "F". Not exactly an amazing batting average there. I hope this never comes up again...

After having spent the last few months reading all of Akira Toriyama's manga, at least those available in english, it is clear that Jaco is an incredible refinement of over 30 years of Toriyama's career. Filled with nearly every previous trope that coats the pages of Manga Theater, and Toriyama's One-shots, Jaco manages to hit all the significant story beats from previous Toriyama works. Whether it is the "alien who needs money to refill his ship, and must partake in justice to earn the money" ala Cashman, the reparative mechanics of cars/ships from many works, the Ultraman style superhero designs, crotchety old men on islands,or even Toriyama's 30+ year fear of failing to pick up women, Jaco seems to nail every significant previous event that came from Toriyama's smaller works. In a good way, usurping those past things and forming a much more succinct narrative, that firmly establishes Toriyama's style. It is not just the outline of this work that is phenomenal, but the character's both design and personality. In a similar way to Goku, unable to grasp the peculiarities of civilized earth life, Jaco really has little understanding of human-earth culture. This serves to insert comedy into the story at various points, without needing to rely on some built up gag, that previous Toriyama "gag mangas" have suffered. Inserting that charm throughout the story, while building towards a more serious and ever increasingly precarious story, are masterfully woven together to keep the reading on the edge, wanting to turn the page. That feeling is quintessential to manga, and it is throughout that you feel the desire to learn more about Jaco, disconnected from the draw of the Dragonball universe. This is something previous Toriyama works have failed to escape. By clearly placing Jaco in the Galactic Patrol, and deciding to write the backstory to Goku with this manga, Toriyama in many ways frees Jaco from the annoyance of a Dragonball story. This is on display with the reaction of the Dragonball fandom, and their misplaced understanding of the canonicity of Bardock. This may be a tangent, but often times fans will take authors approval of a piece of content as being the same thing for "fitting inside the author's universe"; something Dragonball fans have struggled with for decades. The problem here is that ultimately Toryiama, while deeply enjoyed Bardock: Father of Goku, says in his own quote that "he would never write it" thus striking down the technical canonicity of the work. This seems to have upset Dragonball fans, as their head-canon doesn't include this variation of events. However, as the anime has continued with Super, which has also included many moments of Jaco, the entire concept of a "multiverse" has broken what Dragonball fans can accept, so Jaco will historically slot right back into the fandom, as it should. If this initial lack of acceptance has killed Toriyama's willingness to revisit Jaco we will never know, but Super has certainly ran with that legacy. Jaco is also the canonical introduction of another fanfavorite character, Bulma (as well as the Briefs family). The titular female character in this manga, Tights, is actually Bulma's older sister, which is something I absolutely LOVE. For me, the hallmark of the seriously great manga showing it's legacy is the intergenerational canon that tends to appear over decades of writing a truly fantastic universe. While there are those who may find this simple addition nothing but cheap fan-bait, the tie in to the introduction of Dragonball, and even one page of seeing Goku's grandfather again, is something that Toriyama really did not need to give us. Not only does Toriyama include Bulma, but actually serves to write more to her character backstory, presenting her as the main character genius she is rarely recognized as in Dragonball. It in no way takes away from anything Dragonball, and merely builds onto of a universe out of this manga genius's mind. In fact, I seriously enjoy the "intellectual power level" establishment of Bulma as an even greater genius than Omori himself, something often overlooked about the importance of Bulma's character. For one is merely one volume, Jaco is a seriously excellent work that deserves a read for anyone who enjoys not just Dragonball, but great manga. The entire time you read Jaco, you are left not wanting to put it down, and craving to turn the next page. By truly capturing "Akira Toriyama" in a manga, Jaco has, in many ways, wrapped up Toriyama's legacy in the best way possible.

I found Jaco: the Galactic Patrolman a great manga, not for his wonderful story or wonderful characters but for the feel of being thrown once again in the awesome (and for someones meaningful) world of Dragon Ball. The story is simple and enjoyable as the characters are. You should read this with the right attitude to enjoy it, i mean don't expect endless battles or any epic power up, nope. You should read it as the last creation of one of the best manga ever existed, Akira Toriyama. What i felt is the nostalgia of one of his stories, full of funny characters and bizarresituations. I suggest it to the fans of Dragon ball and to those who like short stories, plenty of funny gags.

Jaco the Galactic Patrolman is a good manga, and it's a good prequel for Dragon Ball. It avoids most of the prequel pitfalls, and the original characters are lots of fun. However, Dragon Ball Minus, which was needlessly tacked onto this manga is complete rubbish and should've never been included. It's hard to believe that Jaco the Galactic Patrolman and Dragon Ball Minus are both written by Akira Toriyama because they feel so vastly different from each other. Jaco feels deliberate, and carefully thought out as to not trample over the established story of Dragon Ball, and it's impressively consistent for a guy as forgetful asToriyama (even if he did somehow forget that the currency in Dragon Ball's Earth is Zeni and not Yen). Dragon Ball Minus is also a pitiful excuse for a manga because it tramples all over a really GOOD pre-existing story for no reason at all. Bardock: The Father of Goku is easily my favorite piece of Dragon Ball media outside of the main story. Even Toriyama himself said it's one of his favorites, so I ask, why the hell would he bother re-telling Bardock's story? Toriyama's tribute to Bardock in the main series, simply appearing for a moment in Frieza's thoughts, was very tasteful and properly shows his admiration for the story, however, if you didn't know that, you would probably think Toriyama hates Bardock the way he tries to paint over him as a character in this story. Toriyama takes a tragic story about a violent warrior who faces the annihilation of his race and tries to stop the destruction, only to die a nobody in his efforts. Toriyama acknowledges that this is very much a story he could never see himself writing, and this is what makes the Bardock Special such a stand-out moment in Dragon Ball. The Bardock Special takes a man who is 'gifted' the power of foresight and turns this into a tragedy. Dragon Ball Minus writes a story about a man with a random premonition and takes a risk sending his son off to another planet just because he's got an iffy feeling. Not a very compelling story. The Bardock Special showcases a complex character, not a "good guy" who loves his wife, loves his sons and loves his friends. This guy KILLS FOR PROFIT! I'm disappointed that Toriyama took someone else's idea and tried to turn it into something of his own as if he had ANY unique or clever additions to the story. Frankly, the abysmal Dragon Ball Minus is something that stands on its own. I think it's incredibly unfair to attach this to Jaco's name, but here we are. Saying this, my score reflects my thoughts on Jaco and Jaco alone. I recommend Jaco to any Dragon Ball fan, and I HIGHLY recommend Bardock: The Father of Goku, however, I think everybody should stay as far away from Dragon Ball Minus as they can, it's really not worth your time, even if it is a short read.