DragonBall Z Abridged

[kemuri07]

I think it's easier to accept the direction DBZA has taken when you realized TFS were clearly inspired by Archer, a show that also started as being vulgar take on James Bond, that also became a lot more weighty in its character development as it went on.

[Noah]

Damn, that was a nice episode! I was missing hearing that Chala HEAD Chala montage once again

Cake = Keikaku was funny, the soundtrack placement was great, though I'm in the club that thinks Gohan was OOC in that arc, TFS did a good job on him.

I know Cell is voiced by Takahata101, but he do sounds a lot like Yami from YGOTAS at times.

Loved the Linkin Park reference and didn't like much the remixed cover Unmei no Hi (this version would suit better), but that's probably because leaving the original you guys would be issued by copyrights.

It's the same song that Mistare Fusion's using at the beginning of Dragon Ball Dissection. Great English cover.

What? Don't he always use original japanese songs/tracks?

Referencing the infamous keikaku fansub, many years after the fact, is just a lazy attempt at humor...

Huh? Wasn't "keikaku" a reference to Zamasu? "Ningen Zero Keikaku"?

[Dbzfan94]

On the other hand, I feel like it's worth noting what has become a trend ever since the mid-Freeza arc, and has only become more bothersome ever since, and that is the increasing over-reliance on meta humor and callbacks to previous episodes. Referencing the infamous keikaku fansub, many years after the fact, is just a lazy attempt at humor, much like referencing #17 and #18's real names back a few episodes wasn't used for anything more than getting fandom points. Likewise, the insistence on calling back to jokes made episodes ago doesn't really seem to serve much purpose especially considering how they feel out-of-place more often than not.

At some point you also have to consider whether or not it's even accurate to call this "Abridged." While Gohan's transformation was well acted and the cover for Spirit vs Spirit was well done, it was a 1:1 reproduction of the original version. I know it's a monumental scene that warrants respect, but this when combined with the slower pacing, larger length episodes and a visible effort to take the series more seriously, it starts feeling like an alternative to the dub rather than an abridged parody.

My thoughts exactly.

[jcogginsa]

Huh? Wasn't "keikaku" a reference to Zamasu? "Ningen Zero Keikaku"?

No, it's a reference to an old Death Note Fansub that has become a meme.

[Noah]

I can already picture on the Epilogue Episode, TFS doing references to everything being at peace on Trunks timeline until you know... Goku Black
Though I would prefer them to ignore Super existence, but there were small refereces before, so it's unlikely

No, it's a reference to an old Death Note Fansub that has become a meme.

Oh I wasn't aware of that.

[SupremeKai25]

I can already picture on the Epilogue Episode, TFS doing references to everything being at peace on Trunks timeline until you know... Goku Black
Though I would prefer them to ignore Super existence, but there were small refereces before, so it's unlikely

No, it's a reference to an old Death Note Fansub that has become a meme.

Oh I wasn't aware of that.

They also dubbed a few clips from Super such as Goku vs. Goku Black in the Present timeline, and the defeat of Fused Zamasu. I would love if they continued all the way to Super!

[Dragono]

I think it's easier to accept the direction DBZA has taken when you realized TFS were clearly inspired by Archer, a show that also started as being vulgar take on James Bond, that also became a lot more weighty in its character development as it went on.

DBZA is not an official show. Its just abridging something that has already been made. Which is not a bad thing, mind you.

But I'm with a lot of people when i say that this is becoming, or has become, a fanfic trying to fix dragon ball's problems. Hence why you have half the comment section saying this is better than the original.

[KaiserNeko]

We're not trying to fix problems with the series, but we are trying to do is keep consistency within the series itself, and while we parody most scenes, we like to pay homage and send up others. Balancing out the comedy with some form of seriousness helps the longevity, and keeps people invested.

It should also be noted that, while we do take a turn for the serious, we never let up on the snark, the witticisms, and the comedy. It's just become a little bit dryer, partially because of all the characters that have been thrust into the front. Due to the subject matter, and how we wrote the characters early on, it was difficult to get too goofy with the provided material without it seeming jarring or out of character for what we had written. But we're still trying to keep comedy in the DNA of every scene, even in the most serious moments.

One of the biggest changes is that we've made a lot of the humor character-based, as so we could avoid making too many of the same jokes over and over, and give us more avenues for dialogue and creative writing, instead of one off gags.

Not that we don't have plenty of those still.

Either way, we're not trying to fix anything. This is just the way the series evolved overtime, and while it's not working for everybody, I'm happy with the emotional highs we hit, as well as the belly laughs we get, and our audience support for this change has been overall positive.

[Zephyr]

I do believe pacifism in the face of immediate violence when you are the only one able to defend not only yourself, but others, is a failing. But if you disagree, you will of course take issue with Android 16's assessment.

My issue with 16's assessment is that it tries to paint pacifism as inherently passive. Being non-violent does not entail being non-active, as Gandhi and King went to excruciating lengths to demonstrate. Gohan's paralysis and inaction, rather than his pacifism, is the issue. Yet, 16 conflates the two, giving legitimacy to a woefully common misconception, and hugely deflating the intended poignancy of what he's saying.

Gohan conflating the two works, because he's still young and learning. Cell co-signing the conflation and subsequently calling Gohan a coward also works, because he's the bad guy trying to get a rise out of him. 16, however, is supposed to be the voice of reason, so his poor grasp on, and/or half-baked analysis of, the subject sticks out. The broad strokes still work, because 16's speech (and subsequent death) take Gohan from passivity to activity, but the conversation about pacifism itself is sloppily handled. Granted, that's assuming that it's done and over with; if there's more to be done with it over the course of the following two parts, and 16's isn't presented as the singularly most wise and informed take, then that could be really interesting. Could even leave the subject on the back burner until Mr. Satan confronts Buu (assuming Season 4 becomes a reality), since that's really the only time I can think of where the series proper bothers to even mildly deconstruct its martial arts story in that way.

[Dragono]

We're not trying to fix problems with the series, but we are trying to do is keep consistency within the series itself, and while we parody most scenes, we like to pay homage and send up others. Balancing out the comedy with some form of seriousness helps the longevity, and keeps people invested.

It should also be noted that, while we do take a turn for the serious, we never let up on the snark, the witticisms, and the comedy. It's just become a little bit dryer, partially because of all the characters that have been thrust into the front. Due to the subject matter, and how we wrote the characters early on, it was difficult to get too goofy with the provided material without it seeming jarring or out of character for what we had written. But we're still trying to keep comedy in the DNA of every scene, even in the most serious moments.

One of the biggest changes is that we've made a lot of the humor character-based, as so we could avoid making too many of the same jokes over and over, and give us more avenues for dialogue and creative writing, instead of one off gags.

Not that we don't have plenty of those still.

Either way, we're not trying to fix anything. This is just the way the series evolved overtime, and while it's not working for everybody, I'm happy with the emotional highs we hit, as well as the belly laughs we get, and our audience support for this change has been overall positive.

Wow, that makes perfect sense and thank you for the response. Not being sarcastic at all. You guys do spectacular work and I commend you for it. But you guys were walking a tight rope with the cell saga as it takes itself very seriously and you had to play a lot of it straight.

The Buu saga if you guys are going to do it, will be a playground for your kinda material.

[Dragono]

I do believe pacifism in the face of immediate violence when you are the only one able to defend not only yourself, but others, is a failing. But if you disagree, you will of course take issue with Android 16's assessment.

My issue with 16's assessment is that it tries to paint pacifism as inherently passive. Being non-violent does not entail being non-active, as Gandhi and King went to excruciating lengths to demonstrate. Gohan's paralysis and inaction, rather than his pacifism, is the issue. Yet, 16 conflates the two, giving legitimacy to a woefully common misconception, and hugely deflating the intended poignancy of what he's saying.

Gohan conflating the two works, because he's still young and learning. Cell co-signing the conflation and subsequently calling Gohan a coward also works, because he's the bad guy trying to get a rise out of him. 16, however, is supposed to be the voice of reason, so his poor grasp on, and/or half-baked analysis of, the subject sticks out. The broad strokes still work, because 16's speech (and subsequent death) take Gohan from passivity to activity, but the conversation about pacifism itself is sloppily handled. Granted, that's assuming that it's done and over with; if there's more to be done with it over the course of the following two parts, and 16's isn't presented as the singularly most wise and informed take, then that could be really interesting. Could even leave the subject on the back burner until Mr. Satan confronts Buu (assuming Season 4 becomes a reality), since that's really the only time I can think of where the series proper bothers to even mildly deconstruct its martial arts story in that way.

But his paralysis and inaction is a result of his pacifism.

[Gokuman1993]

Hey, KaiserNeko, I dunno if you'll read this because you gotta be busy, but....

I've been thinking about this after the episode and I'm kinda surprised that you didn't have everyone else call out Piccolo during his Call Out to Goku's terrible parenting, because Piccolo....sure wasn't the best dad replacement to Gohan either. I mean, he did kill his father (thus being partly responsible for Goku not being there for his son), then kidnapped him and told him (harshly and loudly) that his dad's dead to his face and tried to train him to be his weapon for world domination (well, until the Saiyans showed up....) and he did all this when Gohan was 4 years old! I mean don't you get me wrong (don't you get me wrong!) but, unless you're gonna bring up in the next part or after that, why didn't you write that in the episode? I mean, Goku's dumb but even he would call BS on Piccolo while also knowing full well Green Dad is right.

Otherwise, awesome episode and can't wait for the next parts <3 You guys are the best

[Scsigs]

It's the same song that Mistare Fusion's using at the beginning of Dragon Ball Dissection. Great English cover.

What? Don't he always use original japanese songs/tracks?

I said it was the same song. I never said he used an English version of it.

Also, I wonder who's gonna get to the end of the Buu Saga first, Mistare Fusion, or TFS.

[Ex-Dubbie369]

Good statement that eloquently explains my problem with 16's speech

Thank you! This is totally what I was feeling. And, I know we probably shouldn't be talking politics here, but the way 16 spoke truly sounded like he was making a real-world political statement to the audience, based on the absolutely not-actual-reflection-of-reality that is DBZ. I mean, I agree with Scott's point that when in the face of actual, pure evil, that sometimes violent action is necessary (hell, I'm down with anti-fascist tactics), but the sort of rhetoric of "you think you're better than everyone else because you claim to be a pacifist" is the same sort of rhetoric that is used when people try to protest going to war, which is almost never in the interest of anyone but the rich and powerful.

Ok, got that off my chest. Won't get political anymore.

[Polyphase Avatron]

I do believe pacifism in the face of immediate violence when you are the only one able to defend not only yourself, but others, is a failing. But if you disagree, you will of course take issue with Android 16's assessment.

My issue with 16's assessment is that it tries to paint pacifism as inherently passive. Being non-violent does not entail being non-active, as Gandhi and King went to excruciating lengths to demonstrate. Gohan's paralysis and inaction, rather than his pacifism, is the issue. Yet, 16 conflates the two, giving legitimacy to a woefully common misconception, and hugely deflating the intended poignancy of what he's saying.

Gohan conflating the two works, because he's still young and learning. Cell co-signing the conflation and subsequently calling Gohan a coward also works, because he's the bad guy trying to get a rise out of him. 16, however, is supposed to be the voice of reason, so his poor grasp on, and/or half-baked analysis of, the subject sticks out. The broad strokes still work, because 16's speech (and subsequent death) take Gohan from passivity to activity, but the conversation about pacifism itself is sloppily handled. Granted, that's assuming that it's done and over with; if there's more to be done with it over the course of the following two parts, and 16's isn't presented as the singularly most wise and informed take, then that could be really interesting. Could even leave the subject on the back burner until Mr. Satan confronts Buu (assuming Season 4 becomes a reality), since that's really the only time I can think of where the series proper bothers to even mildly deconstruct its martial arts story in that way.

Do you really think it's reasonable to try a peaceful protest against someone like Freeza or Cell?

[FoolsGil]

I do believe pacifism in the face of immediate violence when you are the only one able to defend not only yourself, but others, is a failing. But if you disagree, you will of course take issue with Android 16's assessment.

My issue with 16's assessment is that it tries to paint pacifism as inherently passive. Being non-violent does not entail being non-active, as Gandhi and King went to excruciating lengths to demonstrate. Gohan's paralysis and inaction, rather than his pacifism, is the issue. Yet, 16 conflates the two, giving legitimacy to a woefully common misconception, and hugely deflating the intended poignancy of what he's saying.

Gohan conflating the two works, because he's still young and learning. Cell co-signing the conflation and subsequently calling Gohan a coward also works, because he's the bad guy trying to get a rise out of him. 16, however, is supposed to be the voice of reason, so his poor grasp on, and/or half-baked analysis of, the subject sticks out. The broad strokes still work, because 16's speech (and subsequent death) take Gohan from passivity to activity, but the conversation about pacifism itself is sloppily handled. Granted, that's assuming that it's done and over with; if there's more to be done with it over the course of the following two parts, and 16's isn't presented as the singularly most wise and informed take, then that could be really interesting. Could even leave the subject on the back burner until Mr. Satan confronts Buu (assuming Season 4 becomes a reality), since that's really the only time I can think of where the series proper bothers to even mildly deconstruct its martial arts story in that way.

Do you really think it's reasonable to try a peaceful protest against someone like Freeza or Cell?

Not even missing the point, you just saw two names and threw every part of the argument out. The point is there is a clear difference between a pacifist and a coward. King and Ghandi were the former. Gohan was the latter, and the speech 16 gave can be construed to say pacifists and cowards are one in the same.

[NintendoBlaze53]

Maybe it's a cultural thing with the USA now. But for me what 16 told Gohan just seems like a message I've heard in other media. The most basic example probably being Spider-Man. For Civil War in the MCU they rewrote the old "Great Power, Great Responsibility" speech. "If you can do the things I do, but don't, and then the bad things happen. Then it's my fault". It seems a bit of a hyperbole to compare Gohan being the only person with the power to save all his friends and family from dying, but choosing to not because he's a pacifist, to war and political tensions in the world right now

[KaiserNeko]

There's no political message.

[Koitsukai]

Seriously, how hard could it be to piss off a 10 year-old? little Ned Flanders...

[sintzu]

There's no political message.

I didn't think there was anything political about it but I'm not surprised some think it is as we now live in a time where even funerals are politicized. Great job by the way.