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～Dragon Ball Investigation: File #001～ How Many “!” Are There in Tale 1?!

Did you know that in Japan the Dragon Ball manga is famous for its exorbitant employment of exclamation marks?! Just like in English, Japanese exclamation marks are a useful symbol for conveying tone in writing, such as for strong emotion, emphasis, and surprise. But can there be too much of a good thing? Let’s take a look at Tale 1 of Dragon Ball as it appeared in the Japanese version and count just how many "!" were used!

●"!" Count Rules

・Target: Japanese "Dragon Ball" Tale 1.
・Marks appearing in effect text and handwritten text etc. will also be included.
・Consecutive marks such as "!!" and "!!!!!" will be counted as 2 and 5, respectively.
・Marks appearing outside of panels will also be included.
・Marks on the title page will not be counted.

Before we start, let's make things interesting!
How many "!" do you think appear in the first-ever tale of Dragon Ball, "Bloomers and the Monkey King"?

A) 59　B) 174　C) 266　D) 388

No changing your answer now! Let's start counting!

●START!
・Page 1···········2
・Page 2···········0
・Page 3···········14
・Page 4···········4


・Page 5···········0
Turns out there were some pages with none at all!
It really makes those scenes feel peaceful by comparison, doesn't it?

・Page 6···········1
・Page 7···········3
・Page 8···········7
・Page 9···········8
・Page 10···········9
・Page 11···········25


・Page 12···········33
The fateful first meeting of Goku and Bulma!
You can tell they were both quite surprised by the way their "!" use jumped up so suddenly!

・Page 13···········18
・Page 14···········11
・Page 15···········7
・Page 16···········31
・Page 17···········6
・Page 18···········10
・Page 19···········31
・Page 20···········13
・Page 21···········17
・Page 22···········14
・Page 23···········16


・Page 24···········9
There it is! The elusive quintuple exclamation mark combo—our record thus far!
Bulma sure was screaming when they got some unexpected hangtime off that hill!

・Page 25···········14
・Page 26···········7
・Page 27···········19
・Page 28···········19
・Page 29···········15
・Page 30···········15


・Page 31···········10
Hey, you two! Don't think you can hide from us down there in the preview text! Counted!

●Results!
That's the end of the tale! Ready to hear the answer?
Drum roll, please!

The grand total of exclamation marks in Tale 1 is...388!!!!!

That makes the average marks per page a stunning 13!
More than you'd think, right?

And as we saw above, the longest string of consecutive marks was a "!!!!!" 5-hit combo!
It also turns out there were far fewer in effect text than we expected!

The exclamation mark is a symbol of emphasis.
By using this mark liberally throughout, the exciting world of Dragon Ball and its characters with their boundless, buoyant energy is communicated all the more effectively to readers, sweeping them aboard the adventure. While it is true that Dragon Ball's striking and dynamic illustrations draw the eye, evocative words and symbols are also what help the story to really hit the mark!

So there you have it! We hope you join us for the next Dragon Ball Investigation!

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