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Dr. Slump (2005)
Published
If you know Toriyama for fights, start with the robot girl who makes an inventor regret his own success. Senbei's attempt to pass Arale off as a human gives Penguin Village a new source of chaos. Read the first volume for quick jokes and cartoon timing you can enjoy a chapter at a time.
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Cowa! (2008)
Published
Paifu is half vampire, half werekoala, and his best friend is a ghost. The two set out to get medicine when an illness strikes their town. This is an all-ages starting point if you'd rather share an adventure with a younger reader than hand them a long series to finish.
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Sand Land (2003)
Published
A sheriff teams up with the demon prince Beelzebub and his companion Thief to look for water. The desert journey gives Toriyama a chance to draw cramped machinery and make the people inside it bicker. Choose this if the vehicles in his work interest you as much as the fights.
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Jaco the Galactic Patrolman (2015)
Published
A self-proclaimed elite space patrolman crash-lands near a retired scientist named Omori. The fun comes from how often Jaco needs the help of this man whose quiet life he's interrupted. Read it as a little comedy about two people who suddenly have to share an island.
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Akira Toriyama’s Manga Theater (2021)
Published
One of the easiest ways to see how many sorts of jokes Toriyama could tell is to read this collection of his short work in English. Try the stories below as ways into the book, then browse farther once you've found a flavor of Toriyama you want to spend more time with.
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Akira Toriyama’s Manga Theater (2021)
Published
Wonder Island
Start at the first chapter of the anthology for an early sample of Toriyama's gag manga. It's worth reading beside Dr. Slump: the short form gives you a good feel for how quickly he can build an absurd situation and move on to the next joke.
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Akira Toriyama’s Manga Theater (2021)
Published
Dragon Boy
Look here for the kung fu side of Toriyama before Dragon Ball. His affection for martial arts movies comes through in the pace, and it's a quick way to see what he kept and what he changed when he took that energy into a much longer series.
More about Akira Toriyama’s Manga Theater8
Akira Toriyama’s Manga Theater (2021)
Published
Savings Soldier Cashman
An alien fights crime to raise money to repair his spaceship. Read this one for how fast Toriyama can turn an earnest superhero pose into a joke about who pays for the hero's equipment.
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Akira Toriyama’s Manga Theater (2021)
Published
Go! Go! Ackman
Pick this one when you want the anthology's meaner streak of humor. Putting a demon at the center of a gag series gives Toriyama a way to make the supposedly respectable side of a good-versus-evil story look ridiculous too.
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