We watched five episodes a week, and we watched every single episode of Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT. All 508 episodes. Plus the TV specials and the movies.
I encouraged you all to watch in Japanese with subtitles, especially if you had never done so before. Did you? No shame if you didn't, the point of this was to enjoy it after all.
Well, it was fun while it lasted. Thanks for taking part, everyone!
Previous thread: Week 114 (GT 59-63)
Anyway, without further ado...
Episode 508 - Goodbye, Goku… Until the Day We Meet Again (GT episode 64)
Ocean dub title: Farewell, Goku. Until We Meet Again.
Funimation dub title: Until We Meet Again
Originally aired 19th of November 1997
Scenario by: Atsushi Maekawa
Episode director: Hidehiko Kadota
Animation supervisor: Naoki Miyahara
The End...?
Trivia:
Spoiler:
- MISSED TRIVIA: In ViZ's translation of Dragon Ball, upon first seeing Shen Long Goku says "Wow... it's huuuge!! A real dragon... boy!!", making a possibly accidental reference to Dragon Boy, the first published prototype of Dragon Ball.
- Famously, in Funimation's original dub of Dragon Ball Z, Vegeta also notes the size of the dragon (Porunga, in his case), saying "That's one whopper of a lizard!"
- MISSED TRIVIA: In what's possibly the earliest plot hole in the series, Bulma claims that the Dragon Balls "somehow got scattered in the centuries since" they were last used. However not two pages later, she thinks to herself that it's a good thing Goku doesn't know that they'll be scattered to the ends of the Earth after they're wished on. Of course, she could have lied to him, which isn't out of character for her at this time.
- MISSED TRIVIA: Dragon Ball GT starts in Age 789, 40 years after Goku met Bulma at the very start of the story.
- Various characters say that there's been 30 years of wishes on the Dragon Balls. It's actually been 40 years. Why this mistake was made is unknown, but KBABZ speculates that it's because the writers forgot about the 10 year skip after the Boo Arc to End of Z.
- MISSED TRIVIA: The Funimation name for the Room of Spirit and Time is the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, so-named because it exaggerates the passage of time (a year in a day, get it?). The name is broadly similar to the hyperbaric chamber used for divers, named after the barometer that measures pressure (like deep under the sea. In that sense it's appropriate considering the pressure and heat of Dragon Ball's chamber.
- MISSED TRIVIA: In Shen Long's early appearances, he consistently opens with "Reflect upon your desires. For I shall grant any wish... but only one...". This stops starting with the Cell Arc, which is conveniently when his last bit no longer applies, since he can now grant three wishes.
- The final episode of Dragon Ball's classic anime run, GT Episode 64, aired on the 31st of January 1996. This is just under a month shy of the anime's 10th anniversary, which debuted on the 26th of February 1986.
- This also means that someone reading Dragon Ball Chapter 1 at the bottom of its age demographic (12 years old) would be 26 by the time GT wrapped up!
- Dragon Ball GT would end on Episode 64. This is ironic because despite the fact Dragon Ball would sustain itself almost entirely on video games until Dragon Ball Kai and Battle of Gods, there was never a Dragon Ball game on the Nintendo 64.
- The number 64 is associated with video games in general thanks to the N64, which got its name from its 64-bit MIPS CPU, which they leaned on pretty hard in marketing to one-up Sega on their heavy marketing of the Mega Drive/Genesis's 16-bit architecture from a few years beforehand. Many games jumped on the 64 branding such as Mario 64, Star Fox 64, and ClayFighter 63⅓.
- At 64 episodes, Dragon Ball GT is the second-shortest series of Dragon Ball. The only series that's shorter is Super Dragon Ball Heroes, which as of this Trivia is at 40 episodes, but as it's still ongoing it's possible that it will eclipse GT's count eventually.
- It retains this record even among Toriyama-based anime, as the 90s Dr. Slump series that started after it lasted 74 episodes (which arguably makes it more successful), and the 80s Dr. Slump series went for 243 episodes. In fact the 80s Dr. Slump series is the second-LONGEST Toriyama-based anime, being only 48 episodes shorter than Dragon Ball Z.
- For those interested, here's how the various Toriyama anime rank in episode count:
- Dragon Ball Z: 291 episodes
- 80s Dr. Slump: 243 episodes
- Dragon Ball Kai + Boo: 159 (168 internationally)
- Dragon Ball: 153 episodes
- Dragon Ball Super: 131 episodes
- 90s Dr. Slump: 74 episodes
- Dragon Ball GT: 64 episodes
- Super Dragon Ball Heroes: 40 Episodes (as of March 2022)
- According to producer Kozo Morishita in an interview in the Dragon Box GT booklet, Goku's dead/not dead status and the mystery around it in the final episode was considered right from the beginning. It's because of this that they were able to make him appear the way he does in the Goku Jr. Special.
- Additionally, Atsushi Maekawa noted in a Q&A in the Dragon Box GT booklet that he wanted the audience to feel like Goku has died and give them a sadness similar to how death is in reality, since normally Goku can just be wished back to life. Considering this, Goku departing on Shen Long with the Dragon Balls may be to ensure that Goku is "deader than dead".
- The Narrator ends his recap of the previous episode's battle by saying that Goku is Number One, which is exactly how Vegeta described him while he was fighting Pure Boo.
- The shot of Shen Long is low to the ground among the Dragon Team close to Bulma, which mirrors the shot of the Evil Dragons' reveal of being low to the ground among the Dragon Team close to Chichi.
- We don't need to tell you that this episode is the last time these music tracks appear in Dragon Ball GT. But I guess we did anyway.
- Much like the end of Z Movie 10, the final episode of Dragon Ball GT is deliberately ambiguous about Goku and whether he's really there / alive or not, presenting evidence both for and against (something the characters point out during the episode). As such, there's intentionally no true answer on the topic.
- Shen Long displays a much greater deal of agency in this episode than normal, taking personal action regarding the overuse of the Dragon Balls. This may explain why he appears wihout having been directly summoned and causing the sky to go dark with clouds.
- The final episode title is "Farewell, Goku... Until the Day We Meet Again". From the audience's perspective, that day was arguably in 10 years, 10 months and 3 days: that would be September 21st 2008, which is the premiere date of "Heya! Son Goku and Friends Return!!", a fitting title to pair with GT's final episode title (even though chronologically it takes place before it).
- It seems Toei really, really likes this title, as they would reuse it for the final episode of Super; "A Miraculous Conclusion! Farewell Goku! Until the Day We Meet Again!!"
- Shen Long appears able to use his wishing powers without being directed to by somebody else, as shown by him causing Goku to awaken and be healed.
- The above throws in a second time the audience could believe Goku has died; while he could feasably have passed out, it's not unreasonable to think that Shen Long has brought him back to life and restored his body. Of course, Goku never has a halo at any point, something highly associated with someone dying and going to Other World.
- Shen Long deciding to take the Dragon Balls and Goku away can easily be seen as a metaphor for Dragon Ball itself departing the lives of the audience with this anime coming to an end. A similar comparison can be made to Goku's departure in End of Z.
- While Goku wishes for everyone on Earth to be brought back to life, he doesn't wish for the Earth itself to be restored. This arguably leaves Earth in a similar position to Future Trunks' timeline after he eliminated 17, 18 and Cell. This gives some justification for the distant End of GT scenes being included in the episode, as it shows the Earth fully repaired again.
- Gill is among those brought back to life by Shen Long. This suggests that not only can Shen Long revive robots, but also that he considers them living beings, as he wasn't specifically told by Goku to restore him. This has very positive implications for Android 16, who is infamous among the fandom for not being shown alive again after everyone in the Cell Arc is wished back to life (17 would be shown in the Boo Arc, of course).
- Bulma has retained the same outfit for all four of GTs arcs, the first time she's had a consistent appearance in the franchise. Super would keep up this trend.
- Goku appears to have planned his restoration with Shen Long at an unspecified point in time, again suggesting that something mysterious is happening. If Goku really did die, then it's possible that he met with Shen Long in Other World (or some similar realm) to sort this out, assuming that Shen Long is different from Black Smoke Shen Long and the Evil Dragons.
- While Goku does leave all of a sudden like he always does, GT's ending places spends much more time on saying goodbye and the Dragon Team processing his departure compared to End of Z. This is in contrast to the manga's ending which concludes just as suddenly as Goku's departure, which is one of the most controversial things about it.
- Goku tells everyone that he'll be back "in a little while". This turns out to be 100 years, which is VERY Goku.
- Of course, it is possible he visited Earth at various points in that 100-year span and we just didn't see them.
- The first person Goku says goodbye to in this episode is Vegeta.
- Vegeta immediately asks if Goku is going away to train again, referring back to the end of the manga storyline where he left with Oob.
- Goku slyly tells Vegeta to keep quiet when he tries to guess what Goku is up to. While Krillin and Piccolo also ask if something has happened to Goku, Vegeta is the only person who Goku acknowledges this to, by shushing him with a smile.
- Chichi is once again upset that Goku is leaving at the end of the story without warning or saying where he's going. This is the second time he's shut her out, contrasing the end of the original Dragon Ball anime where he takes her with him as he leaves.
- The first shot of Bulma's flashback to her meeting Goku is much closer to its depiction in The Path to Power than any other version of the scene, being in a clearing rather than in the forest. Interestingly Bulma herself is accurate to the Dragon Ball anime, having cyan hair and a pink dress; in Path to Power she has lavendar hair and a mustard dress.
- For comparison:
- Bulma yelling at Goku: Path to Power, GT 64.
- Goku yelling at Bulma: Path to Power, GT 64.
- Conversely, the shot of Bulma laying her Dragon Balls out on the table is from the manga/anime version of their meeting; in The Path to Power, this scene took place outside Gohan's Hut.
- The depiction of Gohan's Hut in this flashback doesn't match Dragon Ball Episode 1, as nearly everything about it is different, even where Goku is standing. This isn't a "mistake" as such because GT Episode 64's shot is based on an earlier manga panel where Bulma sets down her Dragon Balls (this was a close-up in DB-1). The shot in Dragon Ball meanwhile uses a very similar panel on the same page, where Goku has moved to the other side of the table. This also explains many other differences, as GT-64's depiction of the room is much closer to the manga than Dragon Ball's was. Here's a comparison.
- Bulma reflecting on her meeting Goku is reminiscent of the end of the 23rd Tournament where Roshi highlights it as a reason the world has been saved time and again, as well as the first page of the manga's final chapter showing Goku and Bulma first meeting each other in the woods. Pan telling Goku Jr. about this event is also what incites the story of his Special.
- Much like Dragon Ball's final episode, this one has the Dragon Team in a flattened wasteland where Chichi is carried off by a member of the Son family, this time by Goten.
- It also homages the manga's ending with Goku leaving his friends and family all of a sudden, with an emphasis on Pan.
- GT Episode 64 is the final time the river fish is depicted in classic Dragon Ball anime material, by way of Bulma's flashback to meeting Goku. This makes it the only "character" to have appeared in both the first and last episodes of the anime, alongside Goku and Bulma.
- In terms of voice actors, Masako Nozawa, Hiromi Tsuru and Joji Yanami also appeared in both Dragon Ball Episode 1 and Dragon Ball GT Episode 64.
- Joji Yanami, the voice of the narrator, is the only voice actor and character heard in all 508 episodes, as well as a few of the specials and movies where the Narrator was used. If you add Kai International and his 11 Super episodes, he's heard in 686 consecutive episodes.
- Bulma wonders aloud how long it's been since she first met Goku. It's been 41 years since that happened, in Age 749.
- The focus of Goku's farewells are towards his biggest rivals, that being Vegeta, Kuririn and Piccolo. Yamucha and Tenshinhan also make brief cameos, being his other two. That he chooses to say goodbye to them specifically reflects Goku's fighting spirit, as he appreciates good opponents above all else.
- Yamucha and Pu-erh are shown working on a car in a desert. The implication is that it's the same desert where they met Goku, Bulma and Oolong, however the rock structures are beige rather than the correct white.
- The shot of Shen Long bursting through the clouds (as well as his presence on Earth in general) is very reminiscent of the Cha-La Head Cha-La OP.
- While Roshi doesn't do so directly, the magazine he's reading is called "Puff Puff". It costs 600 Zeni.
- Roshi also calls Kuririn out for having brought him the magazine in the first place. This alludes to Kuririn doing this exact thing in his debut to convince Roshi to train him. It's possible the magazine here is in fact from that same collection 40 years prior!
- Roshi is wearing a black version of his classic sunglasses, rather than the pointy ones he wore in End of Z and previous GT episodes. It's possible they were changed since they appear more respectful.
- Turtle goes straight for the jugular and reminds Kuririn that he's died a good number of times by now. Kuririn retorts that he's surprised the old turtle is still alive. Oddly he doesn't throw this remark at Roshi, but later he does point out that Goku and Roshi haven't changed at all.
- For the record, Kuririn has died four times: once in Dragon Ball by Tambourine's hand, twice in Z by the hands of Freeza and then Super Boo, and once in GT by Super 17's hand.
- Turtle comments that turtles are said to live for 10,000 years. In Z's Garlic Jr. Arc he celebrated his 1,000th birthday, making him easily the longest-lived mortal being in the franchise, and thus probably the only member of the Dragon Team still alive in End of GT.
- That said, in reality most turtles only live about 10-80 years, though some can live 150 years or more. 10,000 is a bit ridiculous, and is just an old saying. And yet, Turtle has lived 1,000 years (in the anime at least) and this is Dragon World, so he's probably right.
- Once again a character obliquely asks if Goku is dead, and Goku dodges the question by not even acknowledging that the question was asked of him.
- Kuririn directly refers to the beginning of the 21st Tournament Arc when talking to Goku. Both their first and final scenes are at Kame House in Roshi's presence at the same side of the house, only this time Turtle is there too (having gone on holiday the first time).
- When Goku challenges Kuririn to a sparring match, he assumes his classic pre-fight pose for the final time in the classic anime.
- There's an easy explanation for how Kuririn is able to stand up to fighting Goku, which is Goku intentionally reducing his defenses and strength. Reducing defenses was done by Vegeta on Namek so that Kuririn could one-shot him and exploit the "Zenkai" boost, while reducing strength was done by Kuririn and Gohan, impacting how fast they could fly undetected.
- Shen Long is notably absent for the scene with Kuririn and Roshi, yet Roshi seems to understand what's happening.
- Notably, while Kuririn had his eyes closed and Piccolo was looking away, Roshi was looking straight at Goku when he disappeared from the scene they shared. Unless he happened to blink, he's the only one of the characters to see Goku disappear.
- Goku's physical presence is confirmed by the footprints in the sand. Them being washed away by the sand may be a metaphor for this episode's themes of Goku departing.
- The monster that Piccolo is keeping in check in Hell is GT's final reference to Toriyama's contributions to the show: one of his art pieces from 1996 shows Goku, Pan and Trunks fighting a group of them, although none of them were breathing fire.
- When Goku and Piccolo give a handshake, there's a spark of lightning. Sparks were shown on Piccolo's fingers when he charged the Makankosappo, a move he designed to kill Goku. Appropriately, this scene is in Other World.
- Goku ironically disappears from Hell the moment after he says that he'll never forget Piccolo for "as long as he lives".
- GT 64 is the first time we see the tail of Shen Long (or any Dragon God), being rather leafy in appearance. It hasn't been seen until now because normally he snakes out from where the Dragon Balls have been gathered.
- Bulma says that she'll be making "Paozu-Newt-on-a-stick". While this of course is a reference to Mount Paozu, Goku's childhood home, it conincidentally refers to the second food Goku had in the anime: the lizard he caught for Bulma in Episode 2.
- Discounting Vegeta, the final three characters in the wasteland scene are Gill, Trunks and Pan, the reverse of the GT Trio's introduction order at the start of the show.
- Pan's confusion around finding Goku's shirt is the primary piece of evidence that Goku did in fact die. KBABZ's reasoning is that we're dealing with a Dragon God, so weird things aren't too surprising.
- Vegeta telling Pan to hold Goku's shirt dear is one of the few instances of sentimentality within the Dragon Team. The only other major instance is Goku with the Four Star Ball.
- Speaking of which, the final Dragon Ball absorbed into Goku is the Four Star Ball.
- The new Tournament Grounds are even more ridiculously grandiose than the Boo-era one, playing into the commentary that as it gets older, the showmanship continues to get ramped up.
- The End of GT Tournament announcer has a patch on his shirt with the same symbol used for the Tournament itself.
- Amusingly, the statue of Mr. Satan is of his significantly balding GT appearance, instead of his Cell/Boo appearance where he had more hair.
- The statues at the Tournament stadium happen to be of the two Saviours of the Earth: Goku and Mr. Satan.
- Both Goku and Vegeta Jr. wear outfits that are 90% similar to their forebears, but with a few notable differences.
- As Goku Jr. notes, he's wearing the gi of his ancestor, explaining why it's beat up (not a good idea given how many Dragon Ball fights rip up shirts!). Interestingly he's also wearing Goku's pants, which Pan didn't explicitly find in the final "present day" scene.
- In addition, Goku Jr.'s headband can be seen as a nod to Bardock.
- While Pan doesn't appear to know who Bulma's descendant is, there's at least a partial explaination in the significant age gap between the two. How exactly the two families drifted apart has befuddled fans for years.
- Neither Goku or Vegeta Jr. seem to know the name for the Super Saiyan form, with Vegeta Jr. only using "going blonde".
- In the first shot of Goku walking about the Tournament grounds, there's a man with horns on his helmet, giving the appearance of Gyuumao.
- Both the manga and GT end with similar settings: a quick jump to the far future as the next generation of fighters show their stuff at a Tenkaichi Budokai, with a focus on the two youngest.
- Pan and Goku are the only characters present in both End of Z and End of GT.
- GT Episode 64's ending montage originally had credits scrolling across the bottom, crediting each actor who'd played a major role in Dragon Ball alongside the character they're most famous for. This credit scroll was only added to the videotape master sent out to TV stations and foreign distributors, so when Toei transferred their film masters of GT to make the Dragon Boxes (which formed the basis of Funimation's releases of GT), there was no credits scroll, and no one thought to recreate it.
- The clips shown in the ending montage are as follows:
- Grandpa Gohan raising Goku into the air from the end of the Bardock Special
- Bulma headshotting Goku
- Goku accidentally lifting Turtle
- Roshi waving hello on Turtle's back
- Oolong changing into the soup-holding robot
- Yamucha and Pu-erh on the hoverbike
- Gyuumao talking to Bulma and Oolong outside his burning castle
- Goku talking to Chichi on the Nimbus
- Pilaf summoning Shen Long
- Goku looking at the full moon, followed by him standing within Pilaf's castle
- Kuririn leaping head-first to Kame House
- Goku and Kuririn leaping to Lunch's aid
- Goku meeting Karin
- Baba's reveal
- Yajirobe chastising Goku for eating his fish
- Goku meeting God with Mr. Popo
- The reveal shot of 17 and 18
- Android 16 looking up at the sky
- The reveal of Old Kaioshin behind Kaioshin and Kibito
- Goku defeating Piccolo Daimao with the Oozaru punch
- Freeza blowing up Kuririn and Goku turning Super Saiyan for the first time
- Gohan defeating Cell with the Father-Son Kamehameha
- Goku defeating Pure Boo with the Genki Dama
- Goku defeating Baby with a Kamehameha
- Goku reuniting with the Dragon Team and meeting Goten at the Boo Arc Tournament
- Goku spending time with Pan at the End of Z Tournament
- The exact logic behind the montage's clips and their order seems a bit confusing since they're not chronological. The order appears to be:
- Summary of the Pilaf Arc
- Character debuts across the story
- Defining Villain Arc moments
- Goku with his family
- Both of the above means that Toei added blatantly digital creations on their aging anime, something Dragon Ball Kai is rather infamous for doing.
- The clips shown in GT's ending montage put an early focus on the start of the story. This may have something to do with The Path to Power being the most recently-released movie, and thus the opening story arc being fresher in the minds of the audience.
- While the montage highlights Goku's primary victories, notable ommissions include anything at the Tournaments, Commander Black, Vegeta, and the direct defeat of Freeza.
- This montage is the third appearance of Oolong in GT, after he was shown boarding one of the ships to Planet Tsufru and the flashback when Liu Xing Long reveals the wish that created her. Of these, only one has him physically present, while the rest are recollections of past appearances.
- The final shot of Dragon Ball's story content is Goku departing on Kinto'Un with Nyoi-Bo in hand. In addition to being from his very first appearance, these are also the hallmarks of Sun Wukong, the protagonist of Journey to the West and Toriyama's inspiration for Goku.
- This episode is the first time Goku has been seen with both Nyoi-bo and Kinto'un since he flew from Karin's Tower with a new Kinto'un to confront Piccolo Daimao (although he also used both in DBZ Movie 1). He would leave Nyoi-bo connecting Karin's Tower to God's Lookout when he first visited the latter, and he stopped using Kinto'un after confronting Nappa and Vegeta.
- GT ends a year after it began, which is also 40 years after the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai and the Red Ribbon Army Arc.
- GT was not the end, of course! Right after it ended, the second Dr. Slump anime, "Doctor Slump" started airing in its same timeslot, and would finish its run on September 22nd 1999. This bookends a truly massive run of Toriyama-based anime, as "Dr. Slump & Arale-chan" started it all on April 8th 1981. In total, 825 episodes of either Dr. Slump or Dragon Ball aired at 7:00PM on Fuji TV practically every week for 18 straight years.
- For those keeping track, this Toriyama block started the year after The Empire Strikes Back came out and ended four months after The Phantom Menace released.
- The final GT ED is very appropriate for the final episode, being much more reminiscent of Goku's past than they usually are. This in mind, it's possible that Toei knew this when they made it.
- The final shot of the classic Dragon Ball anime is Goku in front of his friends and family as he turns to the audience and salutes.
Dragon Ball Movie - The Path to Ultimate Strength
Funimation dub title: Path to Power
Originally released 4th of March 1996
Written by: Aya Matsui
Episode director: Shigeyasu Yamauchi
Animation supervisor: Tadayoshi Yamamuro
The Beginning...?
Trivia:
Spoiler:
- Like the previous movie, the Japanese audio of this film was mixed in Dolby Stereo, meaning not only is it in stereo, but it's designed to be unfolded into a surround sound mix.
- A pterodactyl smashes into the camera in the opening woodblock-style shots of Mount Paozu. This is possibly because one is seeing flying into the sky as one of the anime's very first shots, and one being Goku's opponent at the end of the episode (he doesn't fight one in this movie).
- While the special skips a lot of content from the Pilaf Arc (and the Muscle Tower and RRA HQ mini-arcs), the first thing it skips is the opening pages of the manga, where Goku rolls down the hill on the log, kicks it into firewood, sets off for some food, and Bulma checking on her radar. Instead it goes from the opening straight to Goku tail fishing and then meeting Bulma.
- Because of the above (and many other storytelling choices later), the movie appears to have an expectation that the audience is familiar with the stories it's drawing from, not unlike the Harry Potter movies.
- The Path to Power is notable for being the first Dragon Ball production to have digital effects in it. The first instance of this is the transition from the monochrome mountains to the coloured ones in the opening.
- As with Kikuchi's scores for the Z movies before it, Tokunaga's score for this movie would be repurposed for use in GT after the film was finished, as well as the Goku Jr. Special.
- Path to Power's tail fishing scene is the only time the river fish has been given a voice in a Funimation dub (he's consistently voiced in Toei's audio).
- The river fish is green-and-yellow in this movie, rather than the original blue. This change was likely done so that it stands out better against Goku's blue gi.
- The underwater ripple in the shot of Goku's tail sticking through the water is another digital effect.
- The first two shots of Goku in the movie are of his butt and of him fully nude.
- When the river fish leaps out of the water, the first few notes are very similar to John Williams' Jaws theme.
- The Dragon Radar once again has a new UI tweak, with the screen flashing like an opening eye to the beat of the radar blips.
- Notably this movie depicts Bulma oddly: her dress is accurately mustard like in Chapter 1, while her hair is lavender, which Toriyama didn't give her until Chapter 4. The anime kept the mint hair from Chapter 4 onwards, but made her dress pink, as did DB Movie 1, meaning no animated version of her meeting Goku uses the correct colours!
- This change is also why Future Trunks and "Kid" Trunks were depicted with purple hair. For Dragon Ball Super, Bulma and Future Trunks' hair was changed to cyan; not only is this not accurate to the manga either, but they kept Kid Trunks' hair lavender! o_O
- Aside from her starting dress, all of Bulma's outfits in Path to Power are original Toei designs. They wouldn't keep this up for Super, sadly.
- Bulma ponders if the Dragon Ball is a little more West. A Journey to the West reference, maybe? In any case, in the anime she stated that the first Dragon Ball she and Goku were to go after was to the West, so the geography of Path to Power's Dragon World is different from the anime's!
- Like the manga, Bulma doesn't actually hit Goku with her Renault; that was only in the original anime.
- In the shot where Bulma's Renault slides across the ground, the indicator light and headlight briefly swap colors.
- Path to Power adds an amusing beat where Bulma realizes she just headshotted a twelve year-old.
- In the shot where Goku gets up, the Nyoi-bo has an extra line on the end closest to the camera, almost like an end cap. Most depictions of this weapon in relation to Sun Wokong have these, while Dragon Ball's version has none at all.
- Goku describes his body as being tempered like stainless steel. Westerners commonly compare Funimation's depiction of him with Superman, the Man of Steel.
- The movie slightly advances the "boys have tails" subplot by having Goku confirm that it's real from the jump, leading to Bulma thinking about how she's never seen a boy's naked rear before. In the manga / anime, this doesn't happen until their first night together (both the tail revalation and the naked boy rear).
- The logo for the movie is the Shen Long Shuffle logo, commonly associated with the early period of the manga. Notably the letters are in 3D, which is possibly a reference to the movie having the first 3D effects shot in the franchise.
- The interior of Gohan's hut is closer to its appearance in the anime than in the manga, with a stone floor and a purple pillow for the Four Star Ball.
- In the scene of Goku and Bulma inside Gohan's hut, Goku's arm-bands are mis-coloured pink in all but the first two shots, which he wouldn't be wearing for a few more minutes into the movie when he changes outfits.
- Path to Power is the only time Goku is actually seen eating the fish he caught.
- In the outdoor scene, Bulma is sitting on the blue pot from inside the hut (an object that has consistently been seen under a window next to a broom, even in this movie). The anime added two seats for the hut's table, which weren't present in the manga version.
- The Path to Power is the only time where Funimation correctly attributes Bulma's knowledge of the Dragon Balls to finding a book.
- Bulma says that the Dragon Ball's glow is one of their distinctive features. Not only does this ignore that they only did so when they got close to another one, this facet was phased out over time, likely because of the faster pacing, that the manga was never able to show it in the first place, and it's quite redundant in the face of the Dragon Radar. Indeed, The Path to Power never actually shows this glow when Goku fetches his!
- The soundtrack CD of this film suggests that, when Goku ran off to grab his four-star Dragon Ball to show it to Bulma, the music was supposed to take a light, bouncy diversion before returning to the more serious, ominous theme as Bulma resumes telling her story, but this lighthearted break in the cue was removed from the film.
- Bulma immediately shoots down Goku's suggestion that the Dragon Balls are used for a magic spell, even though this is exactly what Shen Long does!
- The shot of the four stars rotating is Dragon Ball's first ever 3D effects shot. Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, the first Dragon Ball movie to use 3D CG for the characters, is due out later in 2022 as of this writing, 27 years later.
- Bulma also highlights that you have to chant sacred words to get Shen Long to emerge. This has never actually been the case: all you have to do is make a general request for Shen Long to appear.
- The Shen Long that emerges from the book is coloured entirely red, giving him an appearance very similar to Ultimate Shen Long from the start of GT. In-universe, this can be explained by the book's illustrator not knowing the correct colour, although this is redundant because it's in black-and-white anyway.
- After Bulma's exposition, in the shot of Goku holding the Dragon Ball you can see his palm and fingers behind it. As far as KBABZ can recall, this is the first time this sort of transparency has been done for the Dragon Balls!
- When Goku asks Bulma what her wish will be, she says she initially found it hard to pass up prestige and power. In the manga (and Funimation's dub of this movie) her initial wish was for unlimited strawberries.
- Among many other sequences, when Bulma is walking through the frame after Goku asks what her wish will be, the shot is animated on threes (as in, there's a new drawing every third frame). This movie had a huge budget and timescale, so it's unlikely to be a budget/time saver, which may be a little mysterious to some; but many top animators actually stood (and stand) by the technique as a legitimate animation tool. The great Art Babbitt once said "It looks better on twos because it gives you a crackly, crispy look. While ones are weak and soften everything."
- Some animators disagreed with Babbitt's view; I actually got this quote from Richard Williams talking about his own preference for always animating on ones. Personally, Robo thinks animating on twos or threes does give this sort of crispy look, and it can have a certain chaotic feel compared to the very fluid, smooth look of animating on ones. KBABZ agrees, from our conversations. So, basically we theorise that this shot being animated on threes may well have been an artistic choice rather than a budgetary one, especially given just how much money and time was clearly spent on this film.
- This preference some animators have for animating on twos or threes is yet another reason why AI interpolation of animation to make "60fps" video is terrible on animation; this particular look that lower-framerate animation gives is totally lost if you interpolate it, even if the quality of interpolation wasn't utterly dogshit in various other ways.
- The sharpness of the film varies a bit between shots in this film. This is likely caused by things like compositing, which would potentially add a film generation or two, making the shot softer and grainier. This is particularly noticeable in many shots with digital effects in them, which is unsurprising considering Toei was relatively new at compositing them into their footage.
- In the Funimation dub, Goku immediately asks Bulma what she intends to do with a boyfriend. Given that she's a teenage girl, we'll leave it up to you to draw your own conclusion.
- In the shot of Goku walking away after Bulma lifts up her skirt, he disappears early, before he gets off-screen. It's possible this is because he'd left the overscan region of the shot's frame (that is, he wouldn't have been visible by that point when watching the movie on an older CRT television).
- In the Japanese script, Bulma claims that Goku needs to train in the wide world specifically because he's a boy.
- Rather infamously, Goku changes into his GT outfit when preparing to leave with Bulma. Up until this point he was in his original one with the blue gi, red armbands and white bow belt.
- Goku's outfit change is mirrored in the Goku Jr. Special, where his great-great-grandson also changes before setting out on his adventure (which is towards Mount Paozu rather than away from it).
- The Path to Power addresses a very slight plot niggle by having Goku ask for Bulma's name. In the manga and anime it's Bulma who asks first; considering the embarassment over her name it's odd that she would ask, considering Goku would then naturally want to know what her name is.
- As with the initial cast of GT, the slightly redesigned Red Ribbon officers were
done by Akira Toriyama for this movie. He drew designs for Black, Blue, Android 8, Metallic, Red, Violet, White, and the giant robot.- Android 8's design was slightly altered for the film, being more angular in the movie.
- A design of the giant robot closer to Toriyama's drawing appears in the trailers for the movie. This original design was somewhat redone and the animation slightly redrawn after the scene as seen there was finished.
- Another change made to the movie after this trailers was these tanks having the Red Ribbon logo added to the front.
- In addition, Android 8's colours were slightly different in the trailer compared to the movie. In fact, that whole sequence appears to have been touched up from the trailer to the movie, sporting much moodier colours that make the background stand out a lot less.
- Another trailer featured this shot which wasn't in the movie at all.
- Robo theorises this movie had a slightly troubled production, causing its slightly funky pacing, and leaving these weird artefacts of animation that was redone later. It's possible the script originally overran.
- Toriyama's designs for Path to Power would be his final contributions to the classic anime run.
- The scene at the Red Ribbon Army HQ is the first instance where The Path to Power actively deviates from the original rather than adjusting it. Foreshadowing Commander Red is something the anime did as well in the Red Ribbon Arc.
- The scene in Diablo Desert combines both the Oolong and Yamcha meetings for brevity. Despite being over an hour long, the movie doesn't bother to explain what Oolong was doing there to begin with. This isn't the first time it's happened, as DB movie 1 has the Oolong encounter lead straight into the Yamcha fight in the quarry.
- The desert Yamcha and Puar reside in has never been named in the Japanese scripts. Its English name, Diablo Desert, was invented for the Harmony Gold dub, which was then inherited by Funimation alongside Flying Nimbus and Power Pole.
- Goku putting away Nyoi-Bo has him pat it a few times to get it all the way into the sheath, where normally he slides it in easy-peasy.
- Goku picking up a heavy object to smash it to pieces in mid-air is moved to the Diablo Desert scene. Here it's a rock with his finger, while in the manga it was a log with his foot.
- When Oolong tries to escape he says "Later days!". This is the catch phrase of Disney's The Weekenders, although this is almost certainly unintentional as that show didn't exist yet at the time.
- It takes Oolong just over three minutes to be unable to use transformations, as opposed to his stated 5 minutes.
- Bulma says she would have run Oolong over if she'd known he was just a pig. This is very in-keeping for Bulma's "headshot a 12 year-old" approach, and Oolong's absence arguably would have improved the movie overall.
- Once again Pu-erh calls Oolong out for stealing a teacher's panties. While this is accurate to the manga, what's different is that in Path to Power Pu-erh specifically says that they were at a transformation KINDERGARTEN at the time!
- Pu-erh's feet are incorrectly coloured as beige rather than blue in this movie.
- Path to Power uses the exact same whistle sound effect for Yamucha blushing as DB Movie 1 did. It also uses the same fog horn sound for Oolong's transformations!
- It isn't immediately apparent that the field of flowers where the Dragon Team finds their first Dragon Ball is an oasis in Diablo Desert. You have to pay attention to the background in the 4:3 version of the movie to see this!
- Bulma once again exploits her sexual attraction to keep a male member on the team. Unlike with Goku, it works on Oolong.
- The first Dragon Ball found is the One-Star Ball. This is the same as in the anime, where Pilaf finds it in the abandoned castle (although due to his hands covering it we don't know it's the One-Star Ball until the end of the arc). In the manga the Pilaf filler didn't happen, so in that case the Three-Star Ball was found first on Master Roshi.
- The falling snow is yet another digital effect in the movie.
- Much like at Jingle Village, Goku asks what snow is.
- As an amusing nod to the manga, the original brick Muscle Tower is visible next to the larger redesigned one in many exterior shots, complete with the hole Goku blew in it to defeat Buyon with the freezing cold!
- Goku flies right into a tree, once again thanks to a vehicle occupied by Bulma.
- The walkers used by the Red Ribbon Army are very similar to the AT-STs from Star Wars, particularly the shape of the feet. The crew of Industrial Light and Magic referred to AT-STs as "chicken walkers".
- The scene where Bulma and Oolong realize they're up against the Red Ribbon Army is similar to a scene in the manga/anime where Bulma and Kuririn have the same revalation after Goku tells them that's who he pissed off.
- In the shot of Goku building a snowball, his armbands are incorrectly coloured red in several animation frames.
- Bulma incorrectly calls the walkers "robots", when they are closer to mechs or vehicles.
- After the above shot, one of the chicken walkers has the outlines of upper RRA logos for a single frame.
- In the snow walker fight scene, the Nyoi-bo is shown to be strong enough to cut through metal, meaning it's not made of ordinary wood at the very least!
- The Muscle Tower hangar that Goku first enters in has several vehicles similar to the one used by the Dragon Team in the manga / anime to chase after Goku to RRA HQ. This vehicle appeared recently in the second GT ED overgrown with plants, as well as the police craft at the end of the Goku Jr. Special.
- Metallic and Staff Officer Black are the only named black characters in the movie.
- Goku entering White's floor of Muscle Tower is the one and only depiction of Nyoi-bo bending without being swung.
- The laser wall Goku gets zapped by is another digital effect.
- One of the buttons on the keypad White uses to summon Hatchan has a Pacman-like icon on it.
- The robots in the room Goku encounters Hatchan in imply that Muscle Tower is capable of robot production, thus making it more logical for Hatchan and Metallic to be Goku's opponents compared to the original version.
- While it's been claimed that Toei redesigned Hatchan for GT (and indeed did have to make a character sheet for him based on Toriyama's designs), in truth his design is simply reflecting how Toriyama drew him from his Boo Arc cameo.
- Unlike in the manga and the TV anime, Android 8 starts off willingly fighting Goku, before suddenly becoming conscious of what he's doing and deciding to become a pacifist.
- Hatchan is the first opponent in the movie to give Goku any trouble, landing the first strike and being able to immobolize him.
- The remote used by White to try and blow up Hatchan is broadly in the shape of Luke and Obi-Wan's light sabers from Star Wars.
- When White is about to detonate Android 8, Simmons makes a subtitling mistake; Goku says "Yamero!", loosely meaning "Stop it!", but the subtitles read "Nyoibo!"
- Since we missed it last time, Hatchan's name is a pun (of course): Hatchi refers to 8, and since Goku refers to him as a friend, he makes a pun with the "chan" honorific and calls him "Ha-chan". This means that his formal name is technically "Ha". Funimation meanwhile calls him Eighter, also a playful take on the number 8.
- With both Bulma and Hatchan, Goku playfully repeats their name soon after giving his own.
- It's unexplained how the double-decker camper was flipped right-side up, however it's possible Goku did it shortly before the scene started, leaving Bulma and Oolong to clean up the inside of the vehicle.
- The wide shot of the sky with the purple mushroom rocks is also a digital effects shot, in this case to show the movement of the rocks.
- Turtle is coloured much more white in this movie compared to his anime depiction.
- Here Turtle refers to "the others", implying he was with other sea turtles. He was also out to pick mushrooms.
- The Dragon West pinball machine doesn't appear to be based on any existing pinball machine, instead being the Wild West plus Dragons.
- Unlike the manga / anime, Red directly calls out why he doesn't want Black to stand next to him: it highlights his size. The movie overall makes this plot point much more obvious, possibly due to the shorter runtime.
- The shot pulling through the trees on the beach is yet another digital effect shot.
- Goku says that Turtle lives in a very big place. Ironically his real home, Kame House, is notable for how small it is.
- When Turtle swims away, Oolong and Bulma reference the same Japanese fairy tale as the Six-Star Dragon's "Princess Oto" name comes from, as explained in GT Episode 51's trivia in Week 112. The subtitles alter this reference so the underwater city is Atlantis and the box is Pandora's Box.
- Unlike every other depiction of this moment, the Path to Power version of the infamous "no balls" scene actually has her pelvic area appear on-screen, in this case just barely obscured by her leg. KBABZ is kinda shocked the shot made it into the movie at all.
- Unlike the manga, Path to Power takes the opportunity to have Roshi recognise Nyoi-bo on Goku's back, realizing that he was raised by Grandpa Gohan. This moment didn't happen in the manga / anime because that connection wasn't written until the end of the Daimao Arc when Goku had to ascend to God's Lookout.
- Bulma spends the entire beach scene walking around, even jumping and being knocked over when the Kinto'Un shows up, while wearing a shirt that isn't even fully buttoned up, and not only does she not notice she's not wearing underwear, but neither does Oolong, whose eyeline is below Bulma's beltline. And despite only wearing a shirt (and as far as she's aware, underwear), she doesn't put on trousers to go outside. In the manga / anime, she wears an oversized shirt.
- Robo: To be clear, I'm not suggesting Bulma deserved what happened in this scene, I'm saying Toei's writers really, REALLY wanted this scene to play out the way it did.
- While the movie was perfectly happy with showing Bulma's exposed panties in the Yamucha meeting scene, in the scene with Roshi and Kinto'un it abstains, because of course she isn't wearing them.
- In Path to Power, Bulma uses her sexual attraction to convince Goku and Oolong to do what she wants. This makes it more obvious why she can't ride on Kinto'un, which is important because she's signficiantly better-tempered in this movie compared to the original telling.
- In the manga / anime, Roshi doesn't learn that the Dragon Balls can grant wishes until AFTER he trades it to Bulma, leading to him wishing he knew that beforehand.
- This is the only telling of the early Dragon Ball story that doesn't feature Kame House.
- Unlike the manga / anime, the "no panties" subplot is conveyed more effectively due to it occurring in the span of 10 minutes. In the manga / anime it occurs over two chapters / episodes, obscuring the events somewhat.
- Thanks to the Red Ribbon Army, Bulma never finds out who removed her underwear, meaning Goku never gets a comeuppance for his actions like in the anime / manga.
- The text on Bulma's hat after she gets dressed in the camper occasionally varies between shots; it usually says Capsule Corporation, but in one shot it's Capsule Coaporation, in another where you only see part of the hat, you see Capsu[...] Corpra[...]
- The shot of the Dragon Radar landing in the sand was likely to tell the audience that it survived the explosion of the camper.
- It's not initially revealed WHO exactly blew up the camper. The audience is led to believe it's Yamucha since he was shown doing that earlier, but here he isn't to blame (likely lending to his confusion in this scene).
- Like in DB Movie 1, Roshi defeats a naval vessel with a climactic Kamehameha. Back then it was a single submarine, while here it's an entire fleet of battleships. In KBABZ's opinion, the first one is better.
- General Blue makes an early cameo on the vessel being shot at by Roshi's Kamehameha. Strangely, he's a Colonel in the movie.
- Unlike the manga / anime, Goku's Kamehameha is more on the level of a Dragon Ball Z attack than one at the start of Dragon Ball.
- Despite capturing the entire Dragon Team, the Red Ribbon Army leaves Goku alone on the beach.
- Goku remains knocked out on the beach for 24 hours, given the Roshi scene and the scene where he wakes up take place in the early morning.
- Like his original appearance, Red has a habit of possessively hugging his collection of Dragon Balls.
- Much like in the anime, Blue makes the mistake of not bringing back all of the Dragon Balls to Red, leading to his execution. Both are justifiable (well, aside from the murder as punishment part): in the anime he didn't bring any and instead brought Bulma's Radar, while in the movie it's because he overlooked one that was right where he was. The former is slightly forgiveable however considering how much more accurate Bulma's Radar was over the RRA's.
- Blue is dragged out of the room by several soldiers and shot off-screen, which is exactly how he ordered one of his men to be killed in his introductory scene in the manga / anime. In both cases the execution is complimented for how pleasant it sounds.
- Violet makes her own cameo as the pilot of the orange jet fighter who attacks Goku on his approach to the Red Ribbon Army HQ. This is interesting because Violet was an anime-only character introduced to explain where the RRA got their other Dragon Ball from.
- Bulma and Colonel Violet are the only named women in the movie... Except Violet isn't actually named in the movie unless you can read the credits.
- The jet fighters Goku faces off on the Nimbus are almost identical in design to those used by Pasta and Vongo in Curse of the Blood Rubies, which themselves were based on the craft used by Goku and the robot to get to Jingle Village. This is rather appropriate as Violet is the closest analogue to Pasta in the anime.
- Amusingly, Roshi was captured without being given a change of clothes.
- Oddly, Pu-erh doesn't make an attempt at transforming into a key. It's possible that in Path to Power Pu-erh doesn't know how to do this despite attending transformation kindergarten with Oolong.
- The shots of Goku being chased through the trees by the RRA aircars is another digital effect shot. This is slightly obscured in some of Goku's shots because he appears blurrier and tinted blue.
- The vehicles that chase Goku into the cave have the same design as the submarines that chased him, Kuririn and Bulma into the pirate cave.
- Oolong just to happens to have transformed into the right key to open the door, having no idea what the inside of the lock was like.
- The shot of Bulma reacting to opening the door opening has a fish eye effect, like the camera is from the perspective of a peeper hole, despite the door not actually having one.
- The scale of RRA HQ in this movie (as well as Muscle Tower) is much larger than it was in the manga / anime, befitting the true scale of the army's power.
- The entirity of Goku's fight against the RRA's forces at their base, up until he catches Nyoi-bo, is inside a single shot.
- By the time the Dragon Team has gotten out of their prison, Yamucha is missing a tooth. In the manga / anime this was because Goku punched it out in their Diablo Desert fight.
- Somehow Bulma is able to see that Red is holding her bag of Dragon Balls despite spotting him from literally the other side of the base.
- Unlike the manga and anime, Path to Power simplifies Commander Red's wish to becoming taller for its own sake. In the former two examples, it's because he didn't believe he could effectively command the respect of his men by being short.
- Commander Red's death scene has a visual reference to The Empire Strikes Back: both this scene and the famous "No, I am your father" scene take place on a precarious catwalk with thin hand rails inside a giant tube with clusters of lights on it. Both Luke and Red fall down the shaft.
- It's also similar to the death of the Emperor in Return of the Jedi, where the Big Bad falls down a tube-shape shaft to their deaths.
- It's also worth noting that Goku's battle with the Red Ribbon forces in the woods is reminiscent of the speeder battle in Return of the Jedi, and of course there are the chicken walkers; perhaps Toei's staff did a marathon viewing of Star Wars before starting production on this movie.
- Bulma distresses that Black has escaped with her Dragon Balls, not realizing that they all fell down the shaft with Commander Red.
- The shot pulling back from Black's end of the base to Goku is, you guessed it, a digital effect shot!
- Black's mech is MANY times larger than the one in the manga / anime.
- Black renames his organization the Black Ribbon Army, which is the only time the name of the organization has been explicitly linked to the one ruling it. In the manga / anime, it's never actually confirmed that it's called the RED Ribbon Army because Commander Red is the one leading it.
- The shot of the Dragon Team running from Black ransacking his own base is similar to a shot from the anime's OP of them running from Oozaru Goku destroying Pilaf's castle.
- Kinto'un catches Goku like a baseball catcher's mitt all on its own, a rare display of autonomy from the yellow cloud!
- In the wide shot of Black firing a barrage of missiles at Goku, the missiles are a digital effect.
- Towards the end of his fight with Black, Goku leans on Nyoi-Bo like a cane, much like towards the end of his fight with Piccolo Daimao.
- Path to Power is the first time Hatchan has been depicted flying like R2D2.
- It's unexplained how Hatchan was able to tell Goku was fighting. It's possible he saw it happening via Muscle Tower's surveillance.
- For being based on two existing storylines, Path to Power was able to show an entirely unique scenario: a true fight against a giant robot. The scale isn't new however: both DBZ Movies 4 and 13, and the 23rd Tournament, feature kaiju-sized final fights.
- The aura that appears around Goku after Hatchan's death is a digital effect, as are the clouds in the sky immediately afterwards.
- Goku getting emotionally broken by a friend's death and the villain rubbing it in is very reminiscent of Goku's fight with Freeza, and both cause Goku's power to spike drastically.
- In the shot of Goku powering up to fire a Kamehameha, when the camera spins behind him his hair looks almost identical to when he goes Super Saiyan, only with black hair. The lighting is also very similar to when he uses the form.
- At the end of this same shot, Goku's mouth moves as if to speak, despite him not saying anything.
- Goku defeats the villain by punching a hole right through them, just like his defeat of Daimao.
- While Dragon Ball is famous for its use of "chunky updraft", the end of this movie's fight with Black is easily the biggest the series has ever depicted.
- The movie skips over the Dragon Team recovering the Dragon Balls from the shaft Commander Red fell down.
- While the majority of this film was animated in a way that looks good/great in both the 4:3 full frame of the film and the 1.85:1 general release widescreen matted version, there's one shot of Shen Long where his body and the background are very noticeably cut off. This could have been fixed in Funimation's 4:3 transfer by zooming into this shot to the top-centre a little.
- Both GT and Path to Power end with Shen Long restoring a robot back to life, proving that he can in fact do it!
- Several of the paintings used for the end credits are digitally altered in some fashion, such as adding a background. Other uses include the cloud generation tool, a rough paper texture and even a lens flare!
- One of the end credits backgrounds has Goku holding a giant leaf umbrella with the purple pterodactyl sitting on his tail. This is based on artwork Toriyama made for a fold-out poster in Shonen Jump's 31st issue of 1985, although in that case he was holding an umbrella with yellow gumboots while a bird was on his tail. This image was likely exposed to Toei thanks to Daizenshuu #1, which collected all of Toriyama's Dragon Ball art.
- The following shot recreates the title page of Bulma with the rifle from Capter 70's title page The thin crop of the background is a nod to this title page.
- Another art piece is a redraw of Goku assuming a martial arts stance in Chapter 44's title page, but gives him a much angrier expression. Notably Goku is in his starting gi here but has the "ankle bands" of Toriyama's more modern depictions of Kid Goku, but still gives him pink armbands.
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Trivia written by KBABZ and Robo. Episode summaries, airdates, and titles courtesy of Kanzenshuu's episode guide. Except Robo did it because the summaries for GT still haven't been added for some reason.