Hello, ladies, gentlemen, and everyone between and beyond, and welcome to week 1 of the first Dragon Ball rewatch of the decade.
We're doing five episodes a week, and we'll be watching every single episode of Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT. All 508 episodes. Plus the TV specials and the movies (more on that later, when we actually get there).
I encourage you all to watch in Japanese with subtitles, especially if you have never done so before, but watch along in whichever way brings you the most joy.
Previous thread: Introduction
Next thread: Week 2 (DB 6-10)
So, let's get underway...
Episode 1 - Bulma and Son Goku
Dub title: The Secret Of The Dragon Balls
Originally aired 26th of February 1986
In West City, Bulma learns from a book in her home of the existence of the Dragon Balls, said to grant any single wish if all seven are gathered. She builds a Dragon Radar that picks up the electric waves emitted by the Dragon Balls, and sets out on a journey to find them. Midway through her journey, she meets the peculiar tailed boy Son Goku! Bulma recognizes that Goku’s keepsake from his adoptive grandfather is the Four-Star Ball, one of the Dragon Balls. She invites him on her journey to collect the Dragon Balls, and the two set out for an adventure!!
Anime-only/filler content: Goku eats an apple and engages in some Looney Tunes shenanigans with a sabre tooth cat; the Pilaf crew find their first Dragon Ball and Mai explains the Dragon Balls.
Episode 2 - Ararara–! No Balls!
Dub title: The Emperor's Quest
Originally aired 5th of March 1986
Goku and Bulma continue their search, looking for the fourth Dragon Ball. Bulma brings a house out from a Hoi Poi capsule, and they spend the night in there. But Goku, who has always lived in the mountains, mistakes Bulma for a sorceress. As Goku is surprised at the interior lighting and television, Bulma remarks that he’s a hick! The next morning, a lost sea turtle appears before the pair!! At the turtle’s request, the two set out to carry him to the sea, but…?!
Anime-only/filler content: Shu and Mai are dispatched to a Dragon Ball sighting, where they meet Goku, and he fights a bunch of wolves.
Episode 3 - Kame-Sen’nin’s Kinto-Un
Dub title: The Nimbus Cloud Of Roshi / Roshi's Nimbus Cloud
Originally aired 12th of March 1986
The party safely reaches the sea. In thanks, the turtle brings back an old man from the far side of the ocean who calls himself “Kame-Sen’nin”! In gratitude for saving his turtle, Kame-Sen’nin presents Goku with the Kinto-Un, which can fly as one wills it. Only the owner of a pure heart can ride on Kinto-Un, but the simple Goku manages to ride it! Meanwhile Bulma manages to obtain the Three-Star Ball that Kame-Sen’nin had by promising to show him her panties!!
Anime-only/filler content: Shu and Mai return from the woods, and the Pilaf Gang go to Kame House to try to get Kame-Sen'nin's Dragon Ball.
Episode 4 - The Kidnapping Demon, Oolong
Dub title: Oolong The Terrible
Originally aired 19th of March 1986
Goku and Bulma arrive at a certain village, where the fifth Dragon Ball is located. Goku is mistaken for the freely shape-shifting monster Oolong, who raids the village, and is hit by a sudden attack from one of the villagers! Bulma makes a promise with the villagers that “We’ll take care of Oolong in exchange for the Six-Star Ball that’s in this village”. Goku disguises himself as one of the village girls, and the captured monster’s true identity turns out to be a piglet, of all things!! Bulma and Goku obtain the Six-Star Ball. Taking in Oolong as their ally, they continue their adventure to find the remaining Dragon Balls!!
No significant anime-only/filler content.
Episode 5 - The Strong Villain of the Desert, Yamcha
Dub title: Yamcha The Desert Bandit
Originally aired 26th of March 1986
Goku and the others aim for Mt. Frypan. Because Bulma dropped her capsules into a river, they end up having to cross a desert on foot! Completely exhausted, Bulma rests there. At this point, the desert bandit Yamcha appears, and tries to seize Oolong’s capsules. Goku battles Yamcha, but he has no power on account of his empty stomach. At the critical moment, Bulma wakes up and Yamcha, who can’t bear to be around women, runs away with a few sharp parting remarks.
No significant anime-only/filler content.
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Interesting trivia:
- Large portions of this initial plot were worked out far in advance of even the manga's debut in November 1984; June 1983's Dragon Boy, along with its second half in September, serves for some very interesting background reading, as it is a clear prototype for the early portions of Dragon Ball, though the female lead was arguably a lot meaner to the male lead than Bulma would end up being to Goku. In November the same year, there was the second prototype, The Adventures Of Tongpoo, which essentially reads like a bizarro melding of the first Dragon Ball storyline and parts of the Namek arc, except that the male lead is a robot. Both of these prototypes were published before the end of Dr. Slump.
- Episode 1 of Dragon Ball aired precisely one week after the final episode of Dr. Slump. The two further instalments of Dragon Ball would follow a similar pattern, Dragon Ball Z's first episode airing precisely one week after Dragon Ball's final, and Dragon Ball GT's first airing one week after Dragon Ball Z's final, and then GT's final episode would be followed by the first episode of the second Doctor Slump series.
- At this point, the anime was two years behind the manga, so technically it may not be correct to refer to anime-only material at this time as filler; they weren't necessarily seeking to pad out runtimes, and one could argue certain anime-only scenes like Pilaf's explanation of the Dragon Balls made the story tie up in a slightly more cohesive way, introducing the villains of the first arc at the beginning.
- Pilaf's henchman Shu would go by the name Soba for most of the manga run, because after the initial appearance, Toriyama seems to have forgotten his name, which the anime staff did not. By a similar note, Bulma's hair is blue in the anime, as it is in the first couple of chapters of the manga, however Toriyama either forgot or changed his mind by the next colour chapter, and her hair would be purple for the rest of the manga's run. (This is also why Trunks's hair is inexplicably purple while Bulma's is blue. This is also why Trunks's hair was changed to match Bulma's in the Super anime)
- These first few episodes of the Dragon Ball anime use a different jingle for the next episode preview than the rest of the series would. It seems that the preview jingle the majority of the run would use wasn't recorded yet, so the first ~7 episodes just use a shortened, instrumental mix of the opening song, Makafushigi Adventure. By a similar note, in the first episode, the two jingles used for the eyecatch are swapped around, compared to how they would be in every other episode.
- In the manga, Bulma's car hit Goku's fish. In the anime, she hit him. This change would persist into the 1986 movie retelling, though it would be corrected for the 10th anniversary movie in 1997.
- Toriyama made a mistake drawing the first chapter, which the anime staff never fixed, in which "Bloomer" was rendered as "Bulma" on the female lead's shirt. The English translations, from the manga, to the subtitles, to the dubs, have followed the "Bulma" rendering of her name, likely due to this mistake.
- This material has been dubbed into English a lot of times. An LA cast dubbed it for the 1989 "Harmony Gold dub", the Vancouver cast dubbed it for the 1995 "BLT dub", the Texas cast dubbed it for the 2001 Funimation dub, and the Calgary cast dubbed it for the 2003 "Blue Water dub".
Not all differences between the anime and manga are noted in the anime-only/filler content listings, only the significant changes. The anime in general tended to expand on basically every beat and moment from the manga storyline.