Dr. Slump (Vol. 15) – by Akira Toriyama
Volume: #15 of #18 | 188 pages | Viz
Rating: ***** (So much fun, such a cute manga. It’s too bad there are only three volumes left!)
Summary: Midori and Senbei’s bouncing baby boy has finally been born… only to get run over eleven pages later by an alien spaceship. These aliens, however, are nice enough to save Turbomaru’s life by performing surgery and then giving him an O.B. shock. This brings Turbo back to life alright… with some side effects. He can now talk, fly, make things float, and is super intelligent. But, he still has difficulty pronouncing words, like a baby–and he either crawls or floats to get around, but doesn’t yet walk.
Anyway, it takes the whole next chapter for the family to realize what’s going on (except for the talking bit). And since Midori’s got a bonus from work, they all get dressed up and go to a restaurant to celebrate, where they have such a good time that the restaurant doesn’t want them to ever come again.
Later, Senbei tries to help out the ghost of a young woman with a little help from Turbo, and finally, the rest of the book is a long, long –but hilarious– baseball game. It’s Penguin Village High against Metropolis Island’s District American High (and some of the names of the members of the latter team are a riot, like the manager Tish U. Paper and the centerfield, Fry D’Chicken).
On Penguin High’s team are Arale, Obotchaman, Tsun Tsuru-Rin, Tsun Tsuku-Tsun and the Gatchans. Guess who wins?
Favorite chapter: “Terrifying Tag”, in which Arale, Obotchaman and the Gatchans experience Turbo’s superpowers firsthand in –you guessed it– a crazy game of tag.
Favorite panel: Panel #24 on page #35. It’s really just frustrated Midori’s hand, and the cup she is trying to make float in the air with her “powers” (unaware yet that it’s Turbo doing these things.) The cup going “nuh-uh” and it’s incredibly cute stubborn expression had me squealing silently. Dr. Slump’s gotta be one of the cutest manga in existence! 
Ah, but Turbo smashed the little cup against the ceiling when his mama couldn’t do it. Poor little cup.
Favorite quote: “This does warrant a ho-yo-yo indeed!” Obotchaman, after he hears Turbo suddenly speak.
What I liked best: Turbomaru, and the cameo of Toriyama’s own Turbo (his dog) on panels #1 and #2 of page #24. Such short legs!! So cute~~!
What I didn’t like: Heck, it’s Dr. Slump, I loved it all from cover to cover!
Verdict: Excellent, solid artwork, deliriously funny as always. If you haven’t read Dr. Slump yet, you are seriously missing out, so read it! And if you have, you don’t need me to tell you to get this book.
See this book on LibraryThing.
-Marina
