Review Book

A Little Pain

Author: PhoebeP46/@PhoebeP46

Blurb: Bulma invited a close friend to her garden party shrouded in mystery to the main characters. Her name is Nana, a young college student major in psychology, and she meets a married man, Goku. What could happen when an unknown mystery woman enters a weakened state of love between Goku and Chi-Chi? Would she be someone to aid the marriage or steal Goku all for herself and proving she is a far superior candidate for Goku's love? Follow Nana's journey to find out!

Status: On-going/ author on hiatus

Category: Adultery, Dragon Ball Z fanfiction, Romance, Action, and Adventure

Theme: Proving one's love in the time of adultery affairs without a care of consequences.

Hook: "The dark-haired bun woman glared at me then to Goku. 'Goku, may I have a word with you?' A knot formed in my stomach based on the tone of her voice. I looked up at him and saw that ever-so-permanent smile fade into a scowl-like expression.

He began to walk away but turned to face me. 'Bye Nana, it was nice meeting you!' He flashed me with a smile, let it fall and continued walking towards the woman. She dragged him to a deserted part of the Garden and I could faintly hear yells as everyone began to party and celebrate mine and Bulma's birthdays." - Chapter 1, Bump, "A Little Pain"

Characters:

Nana: As a child trained martial artist but gave up years later, in the face of danger and a fateful encounter with Goku. She has awoken an old passion for a martial artist, and she is highly adaptable. She goes on the journey of DBZ sagas with Goku and his friends.

Goku: He is an aloof husband with a kind heart but lacks morality. He slowly falls in love with Nana and partakes in adultery affairs to escape home life's problems.

Writer's Style: Narrative and persuasive

Review: The antagonist is Nana, and no matter what, the author, PhoebeP46, writes that Chi-Chi is a monstrous wife and an adulteress. In the end, Chi-Chi is the victim. She wrote Chi-Chi as a verbal abuse wife with little to no heart towards Goku, which causes Goku to seek a young woman to escape into a love affair. The big problem is series of why questions that go unanswered by the author.

Why would Chi-Chi commit a marital affair when she got the world's greatest and strongest alien man ever? Why don't any of the characters raise moral questions of Nana's action and all to accept her course of activities to seduce Goku? Why does the author promote adultery? Why not go further to explore the broken marriage and divorce effect on children and ex-spouses?

The author justifies adultery in marriage if the two people fall out of love and there is no repair. Then why not add a new person into the relationship, Nana as a "desirable wife and girlfriend," but that has a moral dilemma to Goku's heroism value which goes untouched by the author. I would like her to explore further and not scratch the surface value of marital affairs and detail damages of a new woman stepping into the role as "mother" out of the blue to a child. There was so much more out of the story that I wanted to explored and understand the author's mind, but I got a "gut feeling" (a low-key pun from the story) that I would not find and be a waste of my time.

I dropped the series after the Saiyan arc because there is no redeemable moral value after reading. The author continues to write a story centered on Nana being an "ideal role model girlfriend and wife" of Goku, which gave her over-powering abilities but makes Nana a weak character in the face of great villains. Romanticize the marital affair between Goku and Nana without any form of consequence if any adversary is Chi-Chi. Chi is supposed to be a driven pivot force splitting up Goku and Nana. She becomes an abuser who hates Goku, verbally abuses him, and commits a marital affair. At times, she is a drunken wife, a two-faced mother in front of Gohan, and emotionally manipulates Goku to stay in their marriage. In contrast, Nana is the opposite of Chi-Chi's behavior.

A kindhearted woman with skilled martial art abilities, compassionated with low moral value and sometimes have small character reflection on her actions though does not believe she is in the wrong choices. The author is skillful at making an emotional connection between the readers and the romance in the story. For me, nothing is redeemable on a moral compass, but this story does have entertainment value. Some chapters cater to adulterer Goku and Nana, at times new character scene interaction, but Nana doesn't help propel the storyline nor add any value.

The author has a bad habit of adding important details at the end of each chapter, so a reader would most often need to backtrack the entire chapter. However, I did like the subtle romance of Vegeta and Nana but didn't go anywhere. I liked the author stuck to the main storyline of DBZ.

Conclusion: In the end, I would recommend young adult readers between the ages of 17-22. It would be easier for them to relate to Nana. You don't think of adultery acts at that age when you're in love with a married person or pursuing someone in a committed relationship. You would not believe your actions are wrong. Anyhow, the fan fiction is story-driven in the best interest of Nana, with character relationships built up to promote Nana's goodness and a lack of morals and value challenge. Purely entertainment. By the way, this fanfiction won a 2016 Wattypad award, so don't let my review stop you from checking it out. 

Rating: 5/10