Dragon Ball Super Manga Chapter 91 Review: Piccolo Takes On Pan, But Adaptation Offers Little New

Chapter 91 of the Dragon Ball Super manga moves into Toyotaro's adaptation of the Super Hero movie now that the prequel material connecting the film to the Granolah arc is finished. The question going in was how many changes Toyotaro would make compared to the film, and how much he would put his own stamp on Akira Toriyama's original script. It is worth remembering that Dragon Ball Super continuity is messy right now, with movies, manga, and anime all telling slightly different versions of events. That makes this chapter feel almost like an alternate retelling of what happened in the film rather than a direct copy.

The Red Ribbon Army Reveal Moves From Red Pharmaceuticals To A West City Police Station

In the movie, the opening conversation between Carmine and Magenta about Dr. Hedo takes place inside Red Pharmaceuticals. In the manga chapter, that same purpose, introducing Dr. Hedo and setting up his role in the Red Ribbon Revival and the creation of Gamma 1, Gamma 2, and Cell Max, is shifted to a scene at the police station of West City. The dialogue is essentially the same conversation, just relocated. I do not see this as a major change worth overly criticizing, but it is interesting that the police force is already aware of Red Pharmaceuticals acting as a front for the Red Ribbon Army.

The bigger revelation in this chapter is that Commander Red finally has a last name, something most Dragon Ball characters do not have. That surname is essentially a variation on the Red Ribbon Army's own name, which I found a bit eye rolling. It is a weird choice, and I am not sure why they went with it, but it is not going to change the overall story.

Pan Gets New Scenes With Piccolo Tied To Her Interest In Becoming A Superhero

Toyotaro adds a few extra scenes of Piccolo and Pan discussing Pan's interest in becoming a superhero after seeing what the superheroes from the previous three chapters did. This is Toyotaro tying the movie adaptation back into material he wrote himself, and I understand why he did it. It gives Pan a clearer motivation to become a fighter, since in the movie she is already training with Piccolo by the time we meet her. Here we get to see the early stages of that relationship forming instead.

The chapter is titled The Red Ribbon Army Resurrected, which fits the story well enough. One notable addition not in the film is a scene where Pan falls off a cliff, since she does not yet know how to fly on purpose. This felt like a tribute to Dragon Ball Z episode one, where Gohan falls off a cliff, and similar to Dragon Ball Super episode one with Goten. Little kids falling off cliffs seems to be a recurring gag in Dragon Ball, and the scene sets up that Pan still needs to learn to fly. There is also a frog in this scene that some fans apparently believe is Captain Ginyu, but that is not the case, since Ginyu was inside a Namekian frog and the Mecha frogs have antennas, which this one does not have.

Police Briefing And Krillin Get Expanded Roles In The Manga Version

The police briefing scene introduces a captain whose name is a pun tying back to the nut based wordplay tradition Toriyama established, since Krillin's Japanese name Kuririn is a pun on chestnut, and Maron is also a nut. It is a fun detail rather than a major story point. Because the police already know about the Red Ribbon Army, Krillin, who was involved in arresting Dr. Hedo, gets sent to chase down the vehicle carrying Magenta and Dr. Hedo. That suggests his appearance later in the movie helping fight Cell Max alongside Bulma, Goten, and Trunks was no accident, though I am not certain whether that connection will hold as the story continues.

The dialogue for Magenta recruiting Dr. Hedo is largely unchanged from the film, so there is not much to dig into there since most readers have already seen the movie. I did wonder whether Toyotaro is making these changes for readers in Japan who have not seen the film, though I suspect that is a small group given the movie has been out on 4K and Blu-ray in Japan for a few months already. It seems like he wants to preserve the integrity of the story with only a handful of changes.

Krillin's Chase Scene Adds A Recording Detail That Could Matter Later

Krillin ends up sneaking around and hiding behind the car carrying Dr. Hedo and Magenta, but he has to deal with Hachimaru, who is there to protect them. What stood out to me is that Hachimaru is recording everything, which means Dr. Hedo would at some point learn that the police are already after him. That could change how he behaves going forward, or affect his character, though I am not certain how that will play out in the coming months. Krillin ultimately gets knocked away by Hachimaru and loses track of both Dr. Hedo and Magenta.

The scene is meant to be comedic, and one moment where Krillin pulls out a handgun actually made me laugh, since these are characters who can fire Ki blasts yet he is still carrying a gun. One thing conspicuously missing from this version is the scene where Magenta shows Dr. Hedo cell phone footage of Trunks killing Frieza, which only appears in the film.

Piccolo Training Pan Mirrors The Film Almost Shot For Shot, With One New Touch

The Piccolo and Pan training material largely mirrors the movie, with some action sequences taken almost shot for shot. The scene of Piccolo talking to Videl on the phone about the stuffed animals, and Piccolo meeting up with Gohan to scold him for not training, are both retained without much difference. The one change I liked was Piccolo uppercutting Gohan after Gohan's initial block, a small addition that was not in the film but felt like a nice touch.

The chapter closes with the first confrontation between Piccolo and Gamma 2, where Piccolo notices the Red Ribbon logo on his arm, just as in the movie, leading toward Piccolo sneaking into the base to learn about their secret plans.

Why I Found This Chapter A Letdown For Anyone Who Has Already Seen The Movie

Overall, there is no Broly, no Goku, no Vegeta, and nothing involving Goten and Trunks. This chapter covers roughly the first twenty minutes of the movie with two extra Krillin scenes added in, and that is essentially it. Because of that, I found the chapter disappointing for anyone who has already seen the film, since you are getting very little that is new, and what is new is not especially compelling. I am hoping they move through this material quickly or introduce more interesting changes going forward, since the vast majority of Dragon Ball fans have already seen the movie. Maybe the small percentage who have not seen it will get something out of this chapter, but for everyone else, I would say do not bother reading it if you have other things to do.

Will Toyotaro introduce more meaningful changes as the manga adaptation of Super Hero continues in the coming months?