"Jaco the Galactic Patrolman" (Viz, English, Digital/Print) Available Today (Jan. 6)

I know folks have been putting up pictures and such, but I figured I'd start up a larger discussion. Linking to Viz's page for it, as lacking as it is, for an overall lack of official-documentation-sources, and at least it links out to partner sites to purchase it and such.

Jaco the Galactic Patrolman is a 12-chapter manga from Akira Toriyama. There are ten normal chapters, an eleventh equally-normal-"plus"-chapter that originally wrapped it up, and then a twelfth bonus chapter that debuted in its Japanese collected edition release last year called "Dragon Ball Minus".

Oh. Whoops. Yeah. Jaco the Galactic Patrolman has to do with Dragon Ball. A lot to do with it. Then again, Shueisha spoiled the surprise before they even launched the darn thing, so eh.

Viz actually published their English translation of the chapters week-by-week right alongside the original Japanese serialization in 2013 (in Weekly Shōnen Jump issues 2013 #33-44); they got it in print, we got it digitally. Unfortunately, it's just been sitting there waiting for this collected release, even though Japan got theirs nearly a year ago (April 2014).

In the interest of saving a little time and repeating myself as little as possible, here's the conclusion to the review I wrote last year (little bit spoilery):

Jaco has a little bit of everything: action, comedy, and drama. Despite the underlying story being about the fate of the world, it ends up being a pretty endearing personal tale with a fun trio of characters.

It cannot be overstated that Akira Toriyama wrote a Dragon Ball prequel. Taken on its own, Jaco is one thing, but understanding how it fits into the larger Dragon World has its own implications. Fans may take issue with aspects that appear to contradict "common knowledge" about how, for example, certain characters should look or appear for their age, but it is equally important to note that pretty much nothing shown in Jaco—including "Dragon Ball Minus"—directly contradicts anything that Toriyama himself personally wrote or drew in the Dragon Ball comic. If you want Jaco to fit in, it sure can, and does a pretty gosh darn great job at it.

Those looking for a Toriyama story—and know what to expect from one—are in for a treat. As our own Julian noted back on our podcast review of the series, Jaco's greatest accomplishment is also his greatest failure: by missing his opportunity to complete his mission, he inadvertently saves the world. This almost-anticlimactic bit of resolution and humor is Toriyama to a tee.

Jaco is not a story that ever needed to be told, but it adds enough to the world and is cute the whole way through. You can feel the author having fun in every single chapter, and you will have a smile on your face right there with him. In my book, that is a "win."

You might just want to conveniently happen to skip over most of "Dragon Ball Minus"...

Now that the print release is out, Jaco is about to hit a much wider audience. I'd love to hear what people thought of it. There's so much to go into: the story as a stand-alone product, its ties to Dragon Ball, what "Dragon Ball Minus" means for continuity in the series and as an add-on to Jaco itself, and so on and so forth.

Personally, I think Battle of Gods and Revival of "F" are important, but this is the author doing what he actually does, what he does best, and he just wrote new Dragon Ball. That's insane.

Your turn. Go.

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Is it wortg buying?

I've always been so curious about this manga. Can I buy it digitally somewhere? It would appear to be so based on the OP.

Is it only 2 chapters? Everywhere online I look seems to only have 2 chapters?