Thank you! I was aware of the phenomenon, but never actually read any Dragon Ball. Here is a more direct link to the first three chapters (reached from your link):

https://mangaplus.shueisha.co.jp/titles/100011

You really have to read is as a piece of its time. I guess Bulmas casual exposition wouldn't result in a succesful youth book today.

I think the more sexual parts of the manga are just not really compatible with American prude christian culture, not yesterday, not today

Where could I read the original 42 Dragon Ball mangas online in English? It seems like Manga Plus is just available on the mobile apps, and I'd like to read it on my computer, but not finding anything that looks legitimate.

I was very captivated by it a long time ago (read all 42 books as they were being released where I live). I vividly remember how hard it was to wait for the next one, even though I had seen the anime already :) I never got hooked to other manga like to this one

Same here, for some reason. When I was a young boy, my newly retired grandma gave me the first three books, she used to work in a bookshop and I think she had read they were popular worldwide or something.

After acquiring and reading all 42 books relatively quickly, I tried other manga but also couldn't get into it like Dragon Ball. I still try from time to time to watch anime and read new mangas, but still nothing seems to captivate me the same as Dragon Ball. I still don't exactly know why, I might just be sentimental.

I guess this comment is a bit of a call to action for recommendations of manga/anime that might captivate me after all :)

Trigun scratches a similar itch for me, but that might just be my taste.

I would recommend Akira if you’re looking to read some classics that haven’t really been toped

> You can also read the first chapters for free here, I mean just look at this drawing, they don't draw mangas like this anymore:

What does this even mean? You want them to copy his style or something? Mangas haven't deteriorated.

There’s a rush to write mangas as fast as possible, especially if you’re publishing for a magazine, so quality of the drawing has gotten bad compared to older mangas like dragon ball and Akira.