Growing up, the first manga (nay, comic even) I ever read was Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama. There's not really any need to introduce this one given how famous it is, both for good and for ill? Who can forget all the jokes and ridicule thrown at it, after all? Still, I do think the manga itself hold up way better today than it's critics say it does however this isn't as important as the key lessons in creating a world and, yes, a story (I know the 's-word' is taboo on those kind of blogs!). The thing to keep in mind here is that Akira Toriyama is a very unpretentious and simple man and Dragon Ball reflect this: it combine high action, comedy and a lot of weird things which when even loosely analyzed reveal a world and story that both know it is completely silly but also, at the very same time, does not treat itself as a complete joke. The things inside that universe, be it the coexistence of magic and science fiction elements or even talking shape shifting pigs are treated as completely normal and in no way unusual. There is very little of this hipstery 'self aware' mindset of stopping and pointing out "Isn't this silly? Look at how ridiculous this is!".
Son Goku goes from being a super strong monkey boy who does martial arts collecting mystical artifacts to fighting an army to a demon lord (who is revealed later to be an alien slug-man) to the alien emperor of the known universe to a biomechanical monster partially made from his DNA and that of his former foes/rivals to a pink man child blob monster. That's gonzo as all hell but it (mostly) accept it. The disturbing thing, in all this, is that at no point do any of these elements really feel tacked on...but neither do they really seem all that explained by complex and serious world building.
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| Our heroes. Well, initially anyway. |
However, as crazy as Dragon Ball could get at times it remained (and still is) a very predictable and stable manga. It has certain patterns you learn to expect. Even the author, at times, felt almost like a slave to the serie's own pattern and popularity of the main character. On the opposite end of the spectrum yet very similar Jojo's Bizarre Adventure by Hirohiko Araki. Up until the popularity boom via the 2012 anime, it was one of those highly influential works which had never really managed to catch on outside of Japan for the most part and had remained stuck as a cult classic in spite of being one of the most unique manga out there.
Both Dragon Ball and Jojo are very similar but also complete opposites in many regards. These two works are primarily known for a certain focus on over the top action, both are in the same manga demographic (shonen), both are highly influential and important to the overall history of the medium and both are really freaking weird to the point where even trying to explain or recap Jojo as a whole would make it sound like I've just had a really bad fever dream. So instead, Jojo will only get expanded upon when needed.
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| JJBA: One of the greatest manga of all time. Also known as 'internet cancer' nowadays. |
Lesson One: Let Yourself Be Inspired By Passions
Both these series would hardly be as unique as they are (or were, anyway) without their respective authors allowing themselves to be shaped by their own passions and personal tastes often in complete and utter defiance of trends. What's important here is that these men both allowed their personal tastes and passions color their works and paint a rich tapestry of crazy ideas with a near-endless font of inspiration, especially for Araki. His love of American movies, classic rock, greek art and travel. Akira Toriyama's dislike of land sharks (and maybe his then-current editor) combined with all his childhood fears manifested and coalesced into Freeza, the most enduring and famous villain of Dragon Ball.
Lesson Two: Keep Shaking Things Up
Dragon Ball can be pretty repetitive (more on that in a bit) but each chunk of the story is defined by it's villain (hence why we tend to call arcs after the villain of said arc) and each villain bring a new personality to the table to some extent, not to mention in setting. King Piccolo is a monster out of the myths of the Dragon Ball Earth and also, in retrospect, bring with him the end of Goku's childhood in more ways than one as he sets up the reveal of the existence of aliens, we just don't know it yet. The Saiyans and Freeza expand the setting and world while the Androids and Cell return the action to Earth while also bringing in science fiction concepts like cyborgs and time travel. Buu (and later Beerus) return the serie to a mixture of humour and mysticism. No villain and his arc is ever quite the same, either building on a previous arc or radically shifting things.
When Araki killed his protagonist, Johnathan Joestar, people were apparently shocked. Shonen heroes aren't supposed to die. However, in killing his protagonist and moving the story further in time, switching the focus to the now-dead protagonist's grandson he created one of the key elements of the Jojo serie and what makes it so unique. Every new 'part' has it's own main character, it's own cast (with some returning characters, sometimes) and it's own style. In doing so Araki keep trying out new styles, new ideas, new genres all the while refining what works in his style while learning what does not.
Lesson Three: Power Escalation Is Bad
Dragon Ball and Jojo are radically different, however, in how they handle power and scaling the scope of the story. With Dragon Ball, things are ALWAYS bigger: the villain is always stronger, always a bigger threat and the heroes simply need to power up more than him, either through training or plot contrivance. In a way it is no different than a bad game of D&D where everyone munchkin and min max to no end and the DM always has to compensate by bloating the numbers even more. There isn't much variety, only bigger numbers.
On the other hand, Jojo's strongest villain appears in Part 2. Out of a staggering EIGHT PARTS! Early on, Araki realized that he had already peaked (and peak way too early!) when it come to the physical power of his villain, not to mention how much the villain was a threat. The final villain of Part 2, the big final boss at the end, is simply put the most powerful one of the entire aerie barring maybe some situations or exceptions and this is where the genius of Araki come in and how he designed the power set which would dominate from Part 3 onward: Stands. While I'm not going to go too much into the form and function of Stands the important thing here is that each Stand has a certain level of strength/speed/durability/range as well as a single and unique power. Thus, it become less about who can power-grind to get a stronger Stand and rather about the creativity in using one's Stand and the interactions between their powers. In doing so, raw power remain dangerous but its hardly the be all end all of action sequences. Yes, obviously in an RPG you'd want players to become stronger (and that is fun) but raw overall power should not be the pure benchmark of utility compared to creativity and the ability to use the tools at one's disposal.
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