Silver (manga)

This article is for the manga. For other uses, see Silver (disambiguation).

Silver  is an online OEL manga series by "Alex Guy". Silver  was noticeably inspired by the Japanese manga series  Dragon Ball  by Akira Toriyama, but mainly based off of Guy's older project, called " Project Silver ". The tone and story of the series early on was based off of four YouTube videos, but a change occurs after the fourth volume that turns it into a serious, action-packed fighting series.

The series follows the adventures of the titular protagonist, Silver, as he trains in martial arts, learns to concentrate and use his powers for good, and explores the world outside Leafshire. However, along the way, Silver makes several friends, rivals, and enemies, battling a wide range of villains, and makes a goal to become the strongest in the galaxy

Plot Summary
The series begins with the martial artist Silver, a human who possess extraordinary powers, plotting to take over his home, the kingdom Leafshire. But when the Beast kidnaps the prince, Silver is sent to rescue the prince and destroy the Beast. His journey leads him to the Z Force, who were sent by the Beast; a female wizard, who becomes a close friend of Silver; Gyro, a bandit who becomes an ally; Xander, who trains Silver; Cursor, a body swapping entity; and Z, the Beast's most powerful warrior who proves to be an even bigger threat. Gyro and the legendary Oshiri then start to search for pieces of a powerful prism.

The search is quickly menaced by the Others, a powerful cult that wants the prism to conquer the universe. After many fights, Silver recovers, and fights Syobon, the last surviving member of the Others. The fight finally ends when Silver defeats Syobon and Rover, who was part of the Others, but spares them. Two years later, an intergalactic human warrior, Nex, comes to Earth to look for the strongest warrior and finds Silver. Nex offers to make Silver his partner to take over the universe, but declines. After receiving a power boost, Silver battles Nex one-on-one, and the fight ultimately ends at a truce.

After agreeing to help Nex find the Azure Shard and Nex arrive on Nex's planet to search. After encounters with the brutal Frost's forces, Frost himself finally arrives. Silver returns and the fight with Frost ends when Silver unlocks his true potential with the Azure Shard given to him by Nex. Two years later, Silver and Nex participate in a fighting tournament but are interrupted by Zero and Omega from another dimension. Silver, Nex, Zero, Omega team up to stop X, who has terrorized their dimension, by using an Azure Shard, leading to several battles with Frost's forces, who had survived, and the Alpha Rangers, with X absorbing the six Azure Shards, Silver finally stopping him by fusing with the elderly Chosen Three.

Later, a group of Doppelgangers appear, led by Gold, and cause chaos in many dimensions. During the final battle, Nex to sacrifice himself to stop Gold. Shadow, a robot version of Silver, absorbs Silver and the Alpha Rangers, making them "The Ultimate", and with no way of stopping the fusion, Silver self-destructs from the inside of the fusion, killing them.

5 years later, the Grand Master senses the arrival of Akira and subsequently appoints his apprentice, the Wizard, to be the new Grand Master. Nex and Silver's friends are too late to stop Akira from unleashing Veltrex. Silver is revived to defeat Veltrex but the monster is killed by two fighters from the future. After many battles Silver finally destroys Nova by absorbing Sama's energy, using the godly power to form a  God Bomb. 6 years later, 33-year-old Silver is participating at another fighting tournament with all of his friends and family watching, with Silver and Nex facing each other in the finals.

Production
In November 2011, Alex Guy created a series titled " Project Ultra ", in which space fugitive Jenny befriends a police officer and battles villains from her past and meets new friends along the way. The story was changed in December of that year and was renamed " Project Silver ", though with similarities. This time, teenager Silver with extraordinary abilities is trying to find his father and cope with the corruption of his city, battling villains. The project was canceled, until Guy came up with a new idea for a series, this time a different version of " Project Silver ", with many changes and new characters, but still a slightly similar concepts, with many of the things removed being added in the sequel series  Silver NX. The series went on hold for almost a year, until continuing and ending in 2017.

Silver  was inspired by Akira Toriyama's  Dragon Ball  series when it came to the plot for each saga/story arc and main antagonist, though after the Frost Saga, the series takes its own course and only minor things were inspired from  Dragon Ball.

The tone and story of the series early on was based off of four comedic YouTube videos, but a change occurs after the fourth volume that turns it into a serious, action-packed fighting series. In the Veltrex Arc, the story added more comedy to signify that it was the end. The series was at its peak of popularity in the X arc, which was praised for its fights, story, and characters. After the one year hiatus, the series, albeit forcefully according to "Alex Guy", continued with the Shadow Saga and finally ended with the Veltrex arc.

Story Arcs

 * 1) Beast Arc
 * 2) The Others Arc
 * 3) Frost Arc
 * 4) X Arc
 * 5) Gold Arc
 * 6) Veltrex Arc

Similarities with Dragon Ball

 * Silver and Goku's unofficial roles as Earth's savior and calm nature.
 * The Z Force is a parody of the Ginyu Force.
 * The Wizard was like Bulma during the Beast arc.
 * Gyro is like Yamcha, as both are former bandits.
 * Xander is the equivalent to Piccolo, as both have a close relatonship with the main protagonist's sons (Gohan for Goku and Gray for Silver).
 * Power boosts that characters receive are like the Zenkai boosts in the Dragon Ball series.
 * Zero and Omega are like Future Trunks, as both warn of an unstoppable threat in their world.
 * The Alpha Rangers is another parody of the Ginyu Force.
 * The Emeralds, the Azure Shard, the Orb/Prism, and Dark Prism take the role as Silver 's version of the Dragon Balls.
 * Frost is very similar to Frieza (to the point where Silver states that Frost looks similar to a villain in a manga he read).
 * X is similar to Cell, as both hold tournaments to show off their power. Alex Guy has stated that X is based off of Cell. X is also like the Androids from Future Trunks' timeline.
 * Akira and Veltrex's roles based off of Badidi and Majin Buu.
 * The Grand Master's role and the fact that he has an apprentice, much like a Supreme Kai.
 * The tone of the series.
 * Nex is very similar to Vegeta, as he is Silver's eternal rival and former enemy. Unlike Vegeta, Nex considers Silver his friend.
 * Many godly characters, such as Sama and the Grand Master, have similar roles as Kami, and the Supreme Kai.
 * Nex's sacrifice to stop Gold is similar to Vegeta's in vain sacrifice to stop Majin Buu. However, Nex's sacrifice actually managed to destroy the villain.

Sequel and Spin-off
A sequel series titled  Silver NX  was created and it tells the story of Silver and friends' adventures after Nova, the first arc taking place before the ending of the original  Silver  ending, and the rest taking place after. The first saga, the Twins Saga, was inspired by the short film  Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!! .

A spin-off series, titled Silver Side Story, was created to make the series more interesting. The series was composed of individual manga, each manga with its own story and antagonist. Another sequel series, Silver Reborn, was created after Alex Guy decided to give Ash an interesting story.