Sand Land

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Did you finish Dragon Ball and think, "Holy crap Akira Toriyama is freakin' manga God I need more, something better!" Then this is it. Personally I think Akira Toriyama isn nothing special but this manga proved me wrong.

The story is great for a quick one shot volume, despite the premise of "The goverment tooks our waterz we nao rebel!" Like I just said that's the plot. The big flaw that I found is the fact that it was rushed. The volume ends at 12 chapters, and I feel that one more chapter could have gotten me up to the last chapter. The final fight ... doesn't take long and a taste of Dragon Ball fights could have been used.

The art is above average and the tank is well drawn, despite the cartoony look. The premise for Thief's design is pretty funny (A Santa Demon that steals?) I do have a complaint with the cover though. It's pretty ugly. The colors don't even look like colors and rather something my little sister could do on Photoshop.

The characters blend in well. The scene where Thief comments on a picture that is Rao's "good luck charm" made me think that the characters don't need -san or -kun added because it conveyed how close they are despite being human and devils. The General turns out to be not all that evil, but you'll find that out later. General Are's moves in the last few chapters made me happy and with a burst of energy. It made my heart warm and joyous.

I enjoyed this manga and I did run a mile after reading it. Overall it should be an 8, but this made up for 40+ volumes of Dragon Ball. This is a recommendation and it's only a volume long. How many shonen could you say that about.

Feel free to get at me if you want to know more about the manga or anything else. I always respond.

Sand Land is out now by Viz Media and is available at your local bookstore or anime/manga retailer.

Alright, this is my first review so excuse me if it sucks. Anyways, Sandland is a short manga written and drawn by Dragon Ball Z creator Akira Toryima. With that said you can clearly tell because his unique art style is obviously throughout the story. Some people don't like his style, some people do. I for one enjoy it. Though it's a quick read Toryima really fleshes out this whole post-apocalyptic world (which I love) that has character of it's own. Sure there's obviously cliche's but they blend so easily with the unique parts of the story that I hardly noticed ... them. All in all I enjoyed the story, it isn't his best work, but it's a quick fun read that has his good art and unique knack for storytelling.

A fun little one-shot, similar to Toriyama's previous series "Pink" which also has similar themes regarding a lack of water. While Pink feels like something out of Star Wars, like Tatooine, Sand Land adds much of the same demon flavored, wholesome charm that exists in another Toriyama manga, Cowa!. The way Toriyama envisions demons as not necessarily evil creatures is something he consistently plays with, even down to Majin Buu who is technically not at all evil. The strength of his ability to write these evil, yet charming characters is one element that helps establish Beelzebub. General Shiba is another great character filled with personality, ... who has a similar feel to Goku, making you want to root for him, hoping he achieves his goals.

The one limitation of this manga is the time, and real lack of a strong enemy and confrontational climax. The King never really gets his day, despite his monopoly on power ending. While this manga is cleanly wrapped up, it feels like the story in between could have added a lot more to the mix that would significantly beef up the content and memorability. Otherwise, this was a pretty decent manga and for it's size and expansion of an even shorter manga, this was quite enjoyable to read.

Sand Land is a story that moves very fast, touches on some stuff but never goes too deep, and is over almost as soon as it starts, but is ultimately a lot of fun and worth returning to on a rainy afternoon. And if you've heard the first three before, congratulations. You're more successful in life than 80% of the people on this website, including me.

The story is simple: two demons and a man travel across the desert to find water for a world that has become a desert while facing off against various challenges. With that simplicity comes a very clean artstyle that anyone ... would recognize as Akira Toriyama's. That clean style allows for easy-to-follow action and very distinct characters, especially the main protagonist Beelzebub.

While, as I said, there isn't to the story in terms of deep philosophical debates, there are some interesting character moments with the humans. Sheriff Rao in particular has a few secrets that he keeps to himself, making him my favorite of the main trio. But that isn't to say that Thief and Beelzebub are bad by any means. Each of them have moments of humor and heart that complement Rao's stoic nature. In addition, several side characters have moments that humanize them in one way or another--except for the main antagonists, whose motivations are extremely simple. That's not a complaint, though. Like I said, this single-volume adventure is a quick and easy trip that was a lot of fun.

If I were to nitpick or critique Sand Land, it would just be that Beelzebub doesn't do much in the fights besides punch and kick. His defining features came from his moments of character and his design, not any attacks. Again, just a nitpick. I wasn't expecting him to have anything as iconic as the Kamehameha.

As my first Toriyama story, I was greatly pleased with what I saw. If I wasn't already motivated to read Dragon Ball due to its influence on the Big Three, I certainly am now. Thank you for all you have provided to the world of imagination and entertainment.