Bulma Briefs

Well everyone. 

I am so happy to have reached 1000 watchers on DA. Amazing. 

I am currently working on commissions, but I did get some time off to work on something that I wanted to share with you. It comes with a little information about me so bear with me. 

When I was around the eleven/twelve years old I was exposed to the manga Dragon Ball. I didn’t see the anime until i was way older and it sadly didn’t really impress me as much as the manga did. 

But I loved the Manga. To this day, I still like reading several chapters just for the laughs. I know I share this love of Dragon Ball with a lot of people, but I dare say without it, I might not be sitting here right now in my bed writing this to you. 

The Manga was awesome for a lot of reasons, and it’s status as legendary is completely deserved. Mistakes has been made. Surely. That movie-attempt was something I spared myself from. I am not gonna argue it’s value (or lack of) and any attempt on my part would be futile. 

The thing about Dragon Ball for me, was it’s significance on my style and my artistic temperament. That is what I call it. Defining it would take a whole lot of time, unless you know what I mean. 

When I grew up, I honestly thought Donald Duck was the only cartoon character. I was so unknowing. Batman was a comic book character to me. He was a cartoon (my fav back then) the same with Superman. 

When Dragon Ball was introduced to me, I was sitting in a train going to a camp with my school class. The trip was about 8 hours or so, and for and for an eleven year old, that is quite a long time. I was used to such long travels though. I had been on a airplane for at least an eight hour flight going to USA. So for me it was not so bad. 

When a kiosk wagon came by it sold everything you need, food, drinks and candy, but it also had comics for sale. 

One of the boys at my table bought the latest book of Dragon Ball. The 2. Volume. He had brought the 1 one, and we who sat around him shared in. I was baffled, by the lack of colors. I had never seen that. I had never seen Manga before, and I had never ever known it was a thing. I asked around what it was, and they told me it was a Japanese comic. I was given the entire rundown of it, and I was given the first book to read by my friend. At first, I thought it was weird, reading it in the other direction and also... the characters looked so... funny. So human. 

 - Remember, at this time, I thought Donald Duck was the only comic book in the world. 

I was completely hooked. Not only by the style, the comedy and the lack of colors. My entire world changed from one single frame to the next. And one scene in particular stood out. 

Bulma Briefs in the shower in the Auto-camper. We get a real good look at the girl when Yamcha seeks up next to scout the situation. His reaction was what both baffled me and surprised me. Remember I was eleven going twelve. That state, where girls are still to be evaded at all costs. I had girls friends sure, but all that girly girly stuff - nah... not for me. Though I had to admit the girls in my class where a ton of fun. 

I know, some would might think a child reading about a girl in a shower in a comic was somewhat... wrong and the teachers should have acted, but please try to understand. I live in Denmark a country that has a very relaxed culture when it comes to nudity. We have all nude beaches, and most beaches in my country don’t have a requirement of swimsuit tops for girls. 

I was used to see nakedness as a kid and reading about it - that was nothing. 

You could almost say it was natural. Which it was, which it is. 

To be fair, that scene was more funny to me because of Yamcha’s reaction than Bulma being naked. I didn’t get it back then. And I guess it is the innocence of a child. 

It was only a few years and several volumes of Dragon Ball later, I realized some newly found interest in Bulma and her nude shots in the series. They did grow ever so rare in the comic, but it was not all bad and not at all forgotten. 

In my optic, Bulma had become the first naked woman I ever saw in print. And my interest in manga was ignited. My mom and dad was and is very understanding and back then they showered me with Manga material. Books that explained how to draw manga. Artistic materials to draw it. I still have a lot of the stuff. 

And as I expanded my horizon with the knowledge of the materials imported from Japan, I knew something inside of me had found an unlimited supply of inspiration. 

This post is in honor of the first Manga Girl I ever crushed on. And who I still enjoy watching fan art of today. 

In my eyes, Bulma was so sweet, sassy, bossy and sexy. 

I hope you guys understand my thoughts on the matter and try not to judge me too much.

And thank you all again.  

Yours truly

HHAVH