Herms watches the show (update: DB 29)

[Herms]

Alright, so I mentioned recently that I’ve never actually watched the entire anime, despite having read through the entire manga several times over in three and a half different languages. There’ve been a few of these “follow me as I go through the series”-type threads, so I figured I could do one too, as an excuse to finally see all this “filler” I’ve heard so much about. Might be a nice way to pass the time for the next year or so. And hey, it’s King Kamehameha Day, so what better way to celebrate than to kick something like this off?

Starting off with the first two episodes of DB for now. I hope nobody expects this to be too insightful.

Edit: Now that I've got a bunch of these stacked up, here's some links for easy access:

Dragon Ball Hunt: episodes 1-13
Episodes 1 & 2: see below
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episodes 5 & 6
Episodes 7 & 8
Episode 9
Episode 10
Episode 11
Episode 12
Episode 13

21st Tenkaichi Budoukai: episodes 14-28
Episode 14
Episode 15
Episode 16
Episode 17
Episode 18
Episode 19
Episode 20
Episode 21
Episode 22
Episode 23
Episodes 24 & 25
Episode 26
Episode 27
Episode 28

Red Ribbon Army: episodes 29-68
Episode 29

Episode 1
Bulma and Son Goku

--This episode’s got the same title as the first manga chapter; the famous super-long Japanese episode titles haven’t really started yet.

--Proof that nobody gave a monkey’s ass about spoilers: we see Oozaru Goku smashing up Pilaf’s castle right in the opening.

--The opening narration describes this story as taking place in a “mystical era never seen or heard of before”. While this line isn’t in the manga, it is how Toriyama described DB’s setting in his comic for the DBZ Anime Special, the same one which features his hypothetical “geezer Goku” drawing. So possibly this description was something he provided the anime staff.

--I’m pretty sure I’ve previously only ever seen the Funi dub of this episode, once, back whenever it first aired on Toonami. So it’s all pretty new to me. Or it would be, if it wasn’t about 95% the same as the manga. But the 5% that isn’t really sticks out.

--On that note, I remember the Funi dub of the opening narration talking a lot about Grandpa Gohan and how he raised Goku and trained him in martial arts and whatnot (though I don’t think he’s named), but in the Japanese version we don't hear about him until Goku mentions him to Bulma.

--Before chopping wood (or kicking wood, anyway), Goku does a brief workout routine that begins with him going “Ka!” and thrusting his hands around. It’s almost impossible not to think he’s about to fire a Kamehameha.

--Goku swings on some vines, Tarzan-style. Does he ever do this in the manga? I don’t think so, but I’m not sure. It’s such an obvious thing to have him do; at this point Goku is a lot more Tarzan than Monkey King.

--Does the infamous sabertooth tiger count as the first filler character?

--Shit, Bulma’s car actually hits Goku here (in the manga she stops in the nick of time). I guess I’d heard about that, but actually seeing it was somehow pretty surprising.

--Obviously the big manga/anime difference here is that we get to see Pilaf and co. right from the start, rather than having to wait until almost the end of the story arc. I have mixed feelings about this. It does make Pilaf a proper running villain, rather than just some guy who turns up at the end, but on the other hand it places the entire “Dragon Ball Hunt” story arc into a standard Big Bad structure. At this point the series isn’t really about huge struggles against major villains, so the anime’s handling of Pilaf somewhat diminishes what makes this era unique compared to what comes later. Sometimes you even see this story arc labelled as the “Pilaf arc” (or “Pilaf saga”), just as we get the “Freeza arc” or “Cell arc” in DBZ. It halfway makes sense for the anime version, but the idea of anyone labeling the manga version of this storyline the “Pilaf arc” is ridiculous.

--Oh yeah, so Mai does get to explain all about the dragon balls. That certainly makes her feel like a more important character than in the manga, where her main distinguishing feature (aside from being a she) is a tendency to make really bad puns.

--The Pilaf Gang finds their dragon ball in some kind of temple, surrounded by suits of armor. One of the suits falls over, and we see that there’s a skull inside (and bats; and a snake). Do all the suits of armor have skeletons inside? Are we supposed to believe that these guys all died standing up, guarding the dragon ball?

--The pteranodon that attacks Bulma just so happens to be carrying a piece of rope to tie Goku up with. Somehow I never quite realized just how silly that is.

---
Episode 2
Alalala--! No Balls!

--Still no crazy long Japanese titles yet; this one’s almost the same as a manga chapter. There’s also no last episode recap yet.

--I’m watching these episodes on the Funi “Season One” blue brick, which means there are no alternate angles for the Japanese episode titles. So I get to see the Funi English episode titles while hearing the narrator read off the Japanese episode titles, which can get weird. In particular, this episode’s Funi title is “The Emperor’s Quest”, and the contrast between that and “Alalala--! No Balls!” was pretty amusing.

--This is another episode I only ever watched back whenever the Funi dub of it first ran on Toonami. I think the only part I even got to see was the Pilaf filler stuff; it's certainly the only portion that rings a bell.

--I’ve never been too big a stickler for picture quality (one of the main reason I never got around to getting any Dragon Boxes), but the poor sound quality on the Japanese audio track is starting to bug me.

--This episode has a really weird structure, with the slow-paced “Goku is amazed at commonplace things/Goku and Bulma get to know each other” stuff, then more action-packed stuff with the Pilaf filler and Goku fighting wolves, then ending with Goku and Bulma meeting Sea Turtle. In particular, all the Sea Turtle stuff probably belongs at the beginning of an episode rather than the end; it’s not the most exciting way to lead into the next episode. But I guess that’s all a side effect of them adapting this from the manga and having to squeeze two fairly standalone manga chapters together into one episode.

--The bug-eyed facial expression of that guy playing guitar on Bulma’s TV never fails to amuse me. And hey! The anime adds a Godzilla parody to the mix of TV programs.

--There’s what seems like a poster of Arale wearing a police uniform in Bulma’s house.

--Chiba’s performance as Pilaf feels really different in this episode compared to later on. Or maybe it’s just me. Oh, and I made the “that button's very poorly located” joke a second before Pilaf does.

--The place where Shu and Mai go to check for dragon balls is called Ryuu-ga Dani, which means “Valley of the Dragon”, but it doesn’t look like the Funi subtitles ever provide a translation. Why did they think there’d be a dragon ball there, anyway? Just because of the name? Aren’t they supposed to have a radar?

--I never noticed before, but Sea Turtle describes himself as having gotten separated from “everyone” while out mushroom-hunting. Who’s “everyone”? His sea turtle friends? We never really see him hang out with anyone besides Kame-sennin.

[Kid Buu]

Proof that nobody gave a monkey’s ass about spoilers: we see Oozaru Goku smashing up Pilaf’s castle right in the opening.

Yeah I'm pretty sure that opening stays there until DBZ, but I could be wrong.

The Emperor Pilaf Arc is my favourite Arc, can't wait to hear your thoughts on it.

Since you are interested in the "filler" I would recommend you watch the 1989 Dragon Ball Z instead of the 2009 Version. You have to endure the pacing we all endured back in the day.

[Bullza]

It's your favourite arc? Really?

I thought it was the worst by far, terrible villains like Pilaf and Boss Rabbit, annoyances like Oolong, crappy filler etc.

The first few episodes were good though.

[Metalwario64]

Proof that nobody gave a monkey’s ass about spoilers: we see Oozaru Goku smashing up Pilaf’s castle right in the opening.

Yeah I'm pretty sure that opening stays there until DBZ, but I could be wrong.

Actually, the opening changes around the Daimao arc, but FUNimation never used it (there doesn't seem to be a textless version).

[Darknat]

Nice to see you doing this finally Herms. I hope you enjoy it.

[Gaffer Tape]

--This episode’s got the same title as the first manga chapter; the famous super-long Japanese episode titles haven’t really started yet.

Yeah, while the super-long, two-part titles exist in DB (especially near the end), they really don't become a consistent thing until DBZ.

--Proof that nobody gave a monkey’s ass about spoilers: we see Oozaru Goku smashing up Pilaf’s castle right in the opening.

Maybe, maybe not. After all, it doesn't show that Goku is that giant monster monkey.

--On that note, I remember the Funi dub of the opening narration talking a lot about Grandpa Gohan and how he raised Goku and trained him in martial arts and whatnot (though I don’t think he’s named), but in the Japanese version we don't hear about him until Goku mentions him to Bulma.

It's been a long time since I watched it, but I seem to remember in the original 1995 dub, it actually WAS the voice of Gohan imparting words of wisdom to Goku.

--Still no crazy long Japanese titles yet; this one’s almost the same as a manga chapter. There’s also no last episode recap yet.

Nope, not yet. The first episode to have a recap at all is 11, and, even then, it's not really a consistent thing until around the start of the Budoukai. I guess at that point Toei realized they could easily pad out the episode by showing stuff they'd already animated.

[dbgtFO]

Episode 2
Alalala--! No Balls!

--I never noticed before, but Sea Turtle describes himself as having gotten separated from “everyone” while out mushroom-hunting. Who’s “everyone”? His sea turtle friends? We never really see him hang out with anyone besides Kame-sennin.

He says that in the manga too right?
I always assumed he had some sea turtle friends, whom he'd go on trips with. Presumably he went on another trip with them, when Goku and Krillin requested training from Kame-sennin.

[B]

Really looking forward to following this, Herms!

[GarrettCRW]

The first episode to have a recap at all is 11, and, even then, it's not really a consistent thing until around the start of the Budoukai. I guess at that point Toei realized they could easily pad out the episode by showing stuff they'd already animated.

Of course, we know that Toei would frequently reanimate and/or reshoot recap and preview footage, even on outsourced stuff like G.I. Joe and The Transformers, so it's not like they always took the opportunity to pad things out.

--Chiba’s performance as Pilaf feels really different in this episode compared to later on. Or maybe it’s just me. Oh, and I made the “that button's very poorly located” joke a second before Pilaf does.

The big thing I noticed while going through the series recently is that Pilaf gets more and more over the top as the series progresses.

--The place where Shu and Mai go to check for dragon balls is called Ryuu-ga Dani, which means “Valley of the Dragon”, but it doesn’t look like the Funi subtitles ever provide a translation. Why did they think there’d be a dragon ball there, anyway? Just because of the name? Aren’t they supposed to have a radar?

If the subtitles are the same ones in the singles, I noticed a number of inconsistencies in the subtitles, myself (which is astonishing given my limited knowledge of Japanese)-lots of pafu pafu references left unaddressed even though the first one is fully explained (and despite the Z subtitles diligently keeping the references explicit at all times), and a direct mention of the Famicom waved off by a generic "video games" even though the reference came right around the time Shenron no Nazo was released for the Famicom.

[Gyt Kaliba]

I have to admit, this is going to be an interesting thread to follow. It almost seems weird to imagine that one of the site-runners hasn't actually seen the show all the way through before...but to get to join in on that ride, spiced up with the other insider knowledge you already have, is gonna be a fun thing I think.

Gah, it's making me want to get to my re-watch too...but so many other things to watch first...

[Lumos]

I have to admit, this is going to be an interesting thread to follow. It almost seems weird to imagine that one of the site-runners hasn't actually seen the show all the way through before...but to get to join in on that ride, spiced up with the other insider knowledge you already have, is gonna be a fun thing I think.

Gah, it's making me want to get to my re-watch too...but so many other things to watch first...

I imagine being based on Jupiter doesn't help in the slightest

But seriously though, I know Herms said not to expect this to be too insightful but since I'm nowhere near as well versed in the behind the scenes stuff as some of you guys I feel like I'm learning a lot already. As plenty of other people have said in the thread, I really look forward to seeing this continue

[Herms]

Episode 3
Kame-sennin’s Kinto-un

--The Funi dub title for this episode (“The Nimbus Cloud of Roshi”) is essentially the same as the Japanese one, dub terminology aside.

--The bear bandit is a character who’s probably known more from his use as an enemy in various video games than from his brief appearance in the series proper. Or at least he is for me, anyway. He’s a cool boss in Advance Adventures, and Legacy of Goku II is chock full of his clones.

--Speaking of which, his size seems ridiculously variable, going from “really tall person” to “mountain-size” and back again. It’s noticeable in the manga, but the anime seems take it up a notch. He seems absolutely gigantic when he falls over after getting KO’d by Goku.

--This episode has the first appearance of the Tori-bot. Actually, his Boo arc appearance didn’t make it to the anime, so is this his only anime appearance? Anyway, Tori-bot is pretty much a regular cast member in Dr. Slump, but in DB his appearances are rarer. Here of course he climbs a coconut tree and does a Dr. Slump shout-out: “It’s Penguin Village…not!”. In Dr. Slump, pigs, the sun, and all manner of weird things frequently announce the current state of affairs in Penguin Village (“It’s morning in Penguin Village!”), so this is a joke on that.

--There’s also an Arale poster in Bulma’s house; it’s a different design than the one seen last episode. It seems strange now, but at the time Toriyama was still seen mainly as the Dr. Slump guy, with DB living in its shadow.

--Goku apparently runs 120 km carrying that turtle, in just a day. And Bulma’s ridden along all that way on a motorcycle, without changing out of her pajamas.

--It is, of course, completely ridiculous that Bulma doesn’t realize she hasn’t got any panties on. Especially while riding a motorcycle.

--As all good little boys and girls know, the entire Sea Turtle subplot is a riff on the old Japanese fairy tale of Urashima Taro, a story that seems to turn up in more manga and anime than you can possibly imagine. The Dr. Slump version stars Suppa Man and Gamera, of course. Long story short, a young guy called Urashima Taro helps out a turtle, who in gratitude takes him to the underwater Dragon Palace to live in bliss. There’s even a nice princess there for him. Eventually he misses his family and wants to go back to land. The princess reluctantly agrees, and gives him a mysterious box (the infamous Tamate-Bako) which she tells him never to open. Back on land, Urashima Taro realizes that he’s actually been gone for 300 years, and that everybody he ever knew is long dead. With nowhere to go on land, and no way to go back to the Dragon Palace, Urashima Taro is out of ideas and decides to open the box. Poof! He instantly becomes an old, old man, because the box contained his true age.

--OK, I guess that wasn’t that short.

--Moral of the story? Don’t help turtles. Or, if you do, be prepared to abandon your friends and family for all time. Or at least don’t open the damn box. Although God knows what else you’re supposed to do with it. Why couldn’t the princess just keep it herself?

--ANYWAY, you can see the connection to this episode. Bulma even mentions the Tamate-Bako when Sea Turtle says he’ll go get them a reward. The Funi subtitles translate this as “Pandora’s Box”. That, of course, being the item from Greek mythology which unleased all the evils of the world when it was opened. I guess it’s a good Western culture substitute for the Tamate-Bako; they’re both mythical boxes that shouldn’t be opened, but inevitably are. Of course, anyone who’s familiar with Pandora’s box but unfamiliar with the Urashima Taro story still isn’t going to have a clue why Bulma mentions Pandora’s box in connection with turtles bearing gifts, so maybe they should have just stuck with Tamate-Bako? Or at least have a brief note of explanation?

--The other big Japanese folklore reference this episode: the concept of a “sennin”, a kind of immortal wizard who typically lives alone in the mountains. They’re found in Chinese folklore as well, where they’re called xian (same written character as the “sen” in “sennin”). They’re strongly associated with Daoism, which somewhere along the line started being more about alchemy and the quest for immortality than about chilling out and being in tune with nature. The Eight Immortals are probably the most famous examples of sennin/xian.

--Depending on context and personal choice, sennin/xian can be translated as “immortal”, “wizard”, “god”, even “fairy”. For DB, “hermit” has been standard; it’s used in the Funi dub, the Funi subtitles, and the Viz translation (though Viz leaves it untranslated a good deal of the time too). Partially this is based on how all these mystical immortal guys usually live by themselves up in the mountains. In fact, “hermit” is a very appropriate translation of sennin all-around…when taken in its original meaning. See, originally “hermits” were Christian saints who lived in isolation in order to be closer to God. There’s St. Anthony, for instance, who sat on top of a big poll out in the middle of the desert, putting him just a whisker away from being Karin. Being saints and all, these hermits were often attributed mystical powers, and even extra-long life. Of course these days when people hear “hermit” they just think of some loser who lives by himself, so this neat bit of cultural convergence is lost to most.

--On that note, the whole joke with Kame-sennin is that sennin are supposed to be saintly, mystical figures above all earthly concerns, but he turns out to be a big pervert instead. But all the cultural and translation issues obscure this a bit. I guess if they called him the “Turtle Saint” it would get the point across pretty well. Of course, the bigger problem is that these days 99.9% of anyone coming to this episode is already familiar with DBZ and so already expects Kame-sennin to be a pervert. In fact, the whole “sennins are perverts” thing has become something of a manga/anime cliché.

--It’s impossible for me to watch this episode without thinking of the edits Funi made to the TV broadcast to dance around the whole “Bulma flashes Kame-sennin” bit. In that version, Kame-sennin is just a big fan of girls’ belly-buttons.

--For this episode’s Pilaf filler, Shu and Mai return and tell the boss how “that information” (about Dragon Valley last episode) was unreliable. So apparently they’re relying on “information” rather than a dragon radar, even though they’re later shown to have a radar. In fact, Pilaf immediately receives a phone call from somebody informing him that Kame-sennin has a dragon ball. Who the heck is calling him?! Did he put out an ad on Craig’s List or something?

--Pilaf seems to be using a lizard as a phone, more than ten years before One Piece (but several decades after The Flinstones).

--Thanks to the Pilaf filler, we get to see Kame House quite a ways sooner than its manga debut (in the manga it’s first shown when Goku and Chi-Chi track Kame-sennin down). Pilaf and co. say it’s 250 km south-southwest of “the city”. What city? I suppose, looking at what we later learn of DB Earth’s setup, that they must mean South City. The directions actually fit pretty well if you look at Daizenshuu 4’s DB Earth map.

--Kame-sennin breaks a hole in the side of Pilaf’s plane/boat thing with his wooden staff. In the anime this is the first indication we get that he’s super-strong. On that note, Pilaf et al don’t have a clue who Kame-sennin is, despite all the later talk about him being a world-famous “god of the martial arts”. But I guess he’s mostly famous under his “Muten Roshi” title?

[Gaffer Tape]

--ANYWAY, you can see the connection to this episode. Bulma even mentions the Tamate-Bako when Sea Turtle says he’ll go get them a reward. The Funi subtitles translate this as “Pandora’s Box”. That, of course, being the item from Greek mythology which unleased all the evils of the world when it was opened. I guess it’s a good Western culture substitute for the Tamate-Bako; they’re both mythical boxes that shouldn’t be opened, but inevitably are. Of course, anyone who’s familiar with Pandora’s box but unfamiliar with the Urashima Taro story still isn’t going to have a clue why Bulma mentions Pandora’s box in connection with turtles bearing gifts, so maybe they should have just stuck with Tamate-Bako? Or at least have a brief note of explanation?

Sigh. I remember finding out about the Taro story from you and Mike when I asked about the baby turtle in a filler episode I was watching a few months ago, but now I really wish I had known anything about it when I did this arc in Dragon Ball Dissection. I have a question, though. It wasn't really clear to me whether or not Blooma's reference to the Tamate-Bako was in the manga, or if it was just something you noticed in the anime.

--For this episode’s Pilaf filler, Shu and Mai return and tell the boss how “that information” (about Dragon Valley last episode) was unreliable. So apparently they’re relying on “information” rather than a dragon radar, even though they’re later shown to have a radar. In fact, Pilaf immediately receives a phone call from somebody informing him that Kame-sennin has a dragon ball. Who the heck is calling him?! Did he put out an ad on Craig’s List or something?

I always got the idea they were implying Pilaf had many more operatives and was a much bigger organization than the three we always saw. But anyway, there is a later episode, closer to when they actually show up in the manga, that shows them working on a Dragon Radar.

[RandomGuy96]

--Speaking of which, his size seems ridiculously variable, going from “really tall person” to “mountain-size” and back again. It’s noticeable in the manga, but the anime seems take it up a notch. He seems absolutely gigantic when he falls over after getting KO’d by Goku.

What

Spoiler:

are

Spoiler:

you

Spoiler:

talking

Spoiler:

about?

Spoiler:

It always struck me as odd that Goku could defeat this guy so easily. Even if those later shots are just exaggerated and he's just supposed to be the size of a regular bear, then... well, he's still the size of a goddamn bear! Goku around this time can still be hurt by bullets, can only run about as fast as an Olympic athlete, and has trouble with relatively pitiful amounts of weight. I dunno, it just seems weird that a bear is nothing to him, especially if he really is supposed to be the size of a mountain.

I really enjoyed these first few "reviews", or "let's watches", or whatever you call them. I'm looking forward to more, assuming you don't lose interest after literally hundreds of episodes.

[Akumaito Beam]

*Bear size comparison shots*

Geeze, sometimes I wonder what the hell is wrong with my perception? How didn't I see that before?

[kenisu3000]

I have a question, though. It wasn't really clear to me whether or not Blooma's reference to the Tamate-Bako was in the manga, or if it was just something you noticed in the anime.

If Herms doesn't mind, I'll answer this for him: It's in both.



BTW Herms, this thread is a great, fun read!! I look forward to upcoming episodes!

[Herms]

Thanks for the positive feedback everyone! I'll make a post later responding to stuff, but for now here's DB episode 4:

Episode 4
The Kidnapping Demon, Oolong

--The concept of ki-sensing is still years away, but at the start of the episode (and corresponding chapter) Goku says he can sense “presences” in the seemingly-abandoned village. This isn’t really explained, but later in the Red Ribbon arc Goku likewise can sense the “presence” of the guard robot in the pirate cave, and can even tell in advance that it’s not human. Yamcha likewise is able to partially track the Invisible Man, saying that even an invisible man can completely erase his “presence”. This topic could really fill its own thread, but long story short all this stuff probably has more to do with heightened use of normal senses than the ki-sensing we get later on. The Invisible Man thing in particular seems to be based on sound more than anything, since Uranai Baba’s singing is said to erase his “presence”.

--The dude whose daughter Oolong is after has “Sherman Priest” written on his front door, in large friendly alphabet letters. The Funi dub therefore rather logically assumes this is his name, and has him referred to as such. The odd thing is that in the Japanese version he’s never, ever called “Sherman Priest”, never listed as that in the episode credits, and in guidebooks gets labelled stuff like “axe-wielding old man”. I guess they just all missed the sign on his door? Unless he’s hanging out in somebody else’s house. Viz meanwhile changes the sign on his door to read “Sherman the Shaman”, which is rather remarkable considering the sign was already in English, meaning they went totally out of their way for the sake of a pun. Toriyama would be proud.

--In the anime, during Sherman Priest’s explanation about Oolong, we see monster!Oolong squash a house as he walks past, and later smash through the sign over the village entrance. Neither of these things should really be possible given what we’re later shown and told about Oolong, ie that no matter what form he takes, he’s still no stronger than a little pig. Still, even in the manga Oolong seems able to fly pretty fast when he turns into a rocket.

--Speaking of that sign by the village entrance, in the manga we can see that it says “Village” in English, but we never get a good view of the rest of it. In the anime though, we get a clear view and it says “Aru Village”. This is actually a joke, because in Japanese “aru X” means “some X” or “a certain X”, so the sign is basically labeling the place “A Random Village”. Toriyama did a bunch of jokes like this in Dr. Slump, where every time there was a map or something, areas on it would get labelled “A Mountain” or “The Sticks”, in a mix of Japanese and English but all written out in alphabet letters.

--The burning question then, is whether treating “Aru Village” as if it were the place’s actual name counts as missing the joke completely, or just taking the joke and running with it. It’s probably ultimately subjective, but for the record none of the Japanese sources I’ve ever seen call the place “Aru Village”, and instead usually resort to stuff like “the village which Oolong terrorized” (reminiscent of the whole “axe-wielding old man” boondoggle). However, the first Super Goku-Den game for the SNES names it “Yan-Yan Village”.

--In the manga there’s a whole panel devoted to explaining the rules behind Oolong’s shape-shifting abilities (5 minutes on, 1 minute off, etc), so in the anime we get a brief scene with the narrator explaining what’s what. It’s not the sort of thing we get in DB very often, and it feels a bit weird. Compare this to Yu Yu Hakusho, where this sort of thing happens all the time. Whenever a new item, technique, or concept is introduced, more often than not the story will pause while the narrator explains the details. Toriyama's on record as saying that he finds explanations tedious, so even if he has ideas about how stuff works he'll just leave out an in-depth explanation if it's too much of a bother. Still, Dr. Slump has quite a few explanations for Senbei's various inventions; maybe Toriyama just burned out on them?

--Oolong should really invest in a wristwatch or something. Imagine what would have happened if that rather conveniently placed clock hadn’t been there.

--After Oolong gets captured, Sherman Priest (if that is his real name) is drawn with white hair for one shot.

--Based on how long it takes them to walk there in the anime, Oolong’s gigantic palace is located about 20 yards from the village.

[Kid Buu]

Suggestion: You add a hyperlink for every post that reviews an episode to the first post, otherwise it'll eventually become hard to find your reviews on certain episodes.

@Bullza: I enjoy seeing a strong cast of characters with strong personalities and unique skill sets. It's the funnest arc to me.

[rereboy]

It always struck me as odd that Goku could defeat this guy so easily. Even if those later shots are just exaggerated and he's just supposed to be the size of a regular bear, then... well, he's still the size of a goddamn bear! Goku around this time can still be hurt by bullets, can only run about as fast as an Olympic athlete, and has trouble with relatively pitiful amounts of weight. I dunno, it just seems weird that a bear is nothing to him, especially if he really is supposed to be the size of a mountain.

Goku lifted cars and rocks that realistically would have weighted around 1 ton in these first chapters/episodes, and he even broke a boulder around that weight just by compressing it with his arms.

[RandomGuy96]

It always struck me as odd that Goku could defeat this guy so easily. Even if those later shots are just exaggerated and he's just supposed to be the size of a regular bear, then... well, he's still the size of a goddamn bear! Goku around this time can still be hurt by bullets, can only run about as fast as an Olympic athlete, and has trouble with relatively pitiful amounts of weight. I dunno, it just seems weird that a bear is nothing to him, especially if he really is supposed to be the size of a mountain.

Goku lifted cars and rocks that realistically would have weighted around 1 ton in these first chapters/episodes, and he even broke a boulder around that weight just by compressing it with his arms.

I doubt a 40 foot tall bear would have any trouble lifting a ton.