Dragon Ball Rewatch, Week 15 - DB episodes 66-70

[Robo4900]

Hello, ladies, gentlemen, and everyone between and beyond, and welcome to week 15 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.
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.

And here we are, the end of the Red Ribbon arc!
... At least, according to some. Far as I'm concerned, Baba's just yet another adjunct of the Red Ribbon arc, so we've still got a couple of weeks left. :wink:

Previous thread: Week 14 (DB 61-65)
Next thread: Week 16 (DB 71-75)

Anyway, without further ado...

Episode 66 - The Red Ribbon Army’s Desperate Offensive-Defensive
Dub title: A Real Bind / Showdown With The Red Ribbon Army
Originally aired 17th of June 1987
Episode director: Kazuhisa Takenōchi
Animation supervisor: Katsumi Aoshima

Goku’s friends pick up Kuririn, who was out shopping, and head on after Goku. They are all prepared to die. Meanwhile, the Red Ribbon Army realizes that the approaching signal isn’t Tao Pai-Pai, and begins a general offensive against Goku! Knocking around missiles and fighter planes, Goku charges into the base, and in the blink of an eye defeats nearly half the soldiers! Commander Red is horrified at Goku’s power, which far surpasses his imagination!!

Anime-only/filler content: Goku flying through the security system, the Dragon Ball Gang picking up Krillin from the water, the DBG evading the security system, Colonel Violet's appearance, various smaller encounters Goku has inside RRA HQ.

Episode 67 - Commander Red Dies!!
Dub title: The End of Commander Red / Commander Red's Final Blow
Originally aired 24th of June 1987
Episode director: Daisuke Nishio
Animation supervisor: Mitsuo Shindō

The Red Ribbon Army is on the brink of annihilation because of Goku. Captain Violet steals the money in the vault and flees! The cornered Commander Red attempts to kill Goku as well as Black. It turns out that Red’s objective was merely to use the Dragon Balls to make himself taller. Having survived, Black kills Red and confronts Goku in the Battle Jacket! Goku is KO’d by the Jacket’s formidable power, and cannot move! A sure-to-kill beam aims for Goku!!

Anime-only/filler content: Colonel Violet stealing the treasure and flying past the Dragon Ball Gang.

Episode 68 - The Last Dragon Ball
Dub title: The Last Dragon Ball
Originally aired 1st of July 1987
Episode director: Tomekichi Takeuchi
Animation supervisor: Yoshihiro Ueda

After Goku dodges the beam, Black attempts to use a missile to blow Goku up together with the entire base, but Goku repels this missile! As Black realizes he has no chance to win and tries to run away, Goku settles things with a single blow, and the Battle Jacket explodes! Goku reunites with his friends, who were hiding in the forest preparing their strategy, and even they are amazed at his strength. Only one Dragon Ball remains. However, for some reason the Dragon Radar isn’t picking up its signal.

Anime-only/filler content: The Dragon Ball Gang filler at the start of the episode, the remaining living RRA soldiers during the Goku/Black fight, the DBG getting caught in Commander Black's nuke and approaching the HQ, the DBG pitching various attack plans, any appearance of Blue Lunch, the three flashbacks Goku and Roshi have.

Episode 69 - Cute, Huh?! Uranai Baba
Dub title: Who is Fortuneteller Baba?
Originally aired 8th of July 1987
Episode director: Kazuhisa Takenōchi
Animation supervisor: Masayuki Uchiyama

Goku has wiped out the Red Ribbon Army, but he can’t figure out the location of the seventh Dragon Ball! From there, he ends up requesting a divination from the fortune-teller Uranai Baba, who Kame-Sen’nin told him about. On the way, Goku and the others stop by Karin Tower and take Upa with them to Uranai Baba’s palace! However, in order to receive a divination from Uranai Baba, one must either pay 10 million zeni, or win in a battle against her five competitors! Goku and the others reluctantly agree to fight, but…

Anime-only/filler content: The sandstorm sequence on the way to Baba's Palace.

Episode 70 - Assault! We Are the Five Warriors
Dub title: We Are the Five Warriors / The Five Warriors
Originally aired 15th of July 1987
Episode director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Animation supervisor: Yukio Ebisawa

Dracula Man, the first opponent, challenges Kuririn! Kuririn is filled with confidence, but he gets bitten in the head by Dracula Man and has his blood sucked! Having lost a large amount of blood, Kuririn is ultimately defeated by Dracula Man. Goku and the others then work on a strategy, and Upa and Pu'er participate together. They blow Dracula Man away with the things a vampire hates, garlic and the crucifix! Moving on, they pass the baton to Yamucha, but the next opponent is Mr. Invisible, an invisible man of all things!!

Anime-only/filler content: Dracula Man dancing to music the second and third time, Roshi ominously talking about Baba, the Dragon Ball Gang thinking Mr. Invisible is actually a cockroach.

-

Interesting trivia:

• At this point, Dragon Ball has exceeded the number of episodes Dragon Ball GT will have.
• We did it everyone. We're at Episode 69.
  (Note: You can blame KBABZ for this one. Though I have to admit I was most likely going to put something to this effect here if he hadn't :lol:)
• The manga chapter adapted in the first half of Episode 65, Chapter 93, has a title page with Goku on the Nimbus and Bulma on a WWII airbike. This is the art on the banner of Kanzenshuu's main site, which has has replaced the art of Kid Goku since Hiromi Tsuru's death in 2017.
• The Red Ribbon Army's base is in a germanic mountain range, likely as a nod to their parallels with Nazis. This wasn't always the case: The manga wouldn't show their base until Blue returned from Penguin Village, so in the early Colonel Silver episodes it was in a more elevated, temperate location.
• The shot of the RRA tanks exiting the base is re-used from when Colonel Silver departed during his filler mini-saga (back when the base was in a more elevated position).
• When Goku encounters Staff Officer Black, it's one of the few times he points out that somebody is pointing a gun at him. In most other cases he doesn't even seem to care.
• Turns out, Toriyama had already done Goku vs Black 30 years before Super did! :wink:
• In the filler-extended approach to the RRA HQ, the Dragon Ball Gang have to detach a booster segment to their plane. This never happens in the manga, so in the anime the plane had to be adjusted to not have this rocket all the way until they land at Baba's Palace.
• In the manga, Commander Red admits his true motivations behind wanting the Dragon Balls having forgotten Black is in the room, whereas in the anime, he monologues about it when he briefly thinks Black is dead.
• In the original Japanese, Commander Red wishes to be taller for various reasons -- a leader should be tall, and he wants to attract girls, and he doesn't want to be made fun of anymore. In the Funimation dub, he primarily wishes to be taller as he sees it as being the quality of a true leader that he needs before he takes over the world. In the Blue Water dub, he doesn't particularly speak to either motivation as his #1 reason (and he doesn't mention attracting girls at all), but his monologue as a whole is about his wish being entirely a selfish vanity thing.
  • Speaking of dub changes, Funimation also added a reference to Black having a sister, which neither the original Japanese, nor the Blue Water dub, had any mention of.
  • The Blue Water dub applied a few subtle paint edits in shots where you would normally see the bullet wound in Commander Red's head. It's unknown if Funimation did the same for their TV edit.
  • Both dubs made some cuts for their TV edit to remove the sections containing "JESUS CHRIST!" and "OH MY GOD!" in English flying across the screen
• Commander Red's cool batcat thing is a pure invention of the anime; it wasn't in the original manga.
• In the anime, Yellow Lunch switches to Blue Lunch after the Dragon Ball Gang land near the RRA HQ. This never happens in the manga, and moments later she's switched back to Yellow Lunch again.
• This is the third instance in this arc where Goku thinks the Radar is broken (although this time it actually wasn't). The Radar's functionality will now remain consistently reliable for the rest of the franchise.
• The only Dragon Ball character who is aware of the existance of two Dragon Radars is Goku; Bulma will have no idea that the one she keeps from now on is Turbo's diplicate Radar, while her original is in the remains of RRA HQ. Turbo's Radar will be remodeled for the trip to Namek, and much later Trunks has to search Capsule Corp for it while Goku stalls Buu with Super Saiyan 3. MUCH much later, Gill would absorb it on Imegga.
• In total the series has depicted six Dragon Radars: Bulma's Radar, Pilaf's Radar, the Red Ribbon Army's Radar, Turbo's Radar, Bulma's Air Drone (in the anime), and Daimao's Radar (built by the Pilaf Gang). The RRA's radar is the only one that can't pinpoint the exact location of a Dragon Ball, implying that the Pilaf Gang are smarter than the RRA's scientists (it's likely that Dr. Gero wasn't involved with making theirs, given this).
• Commander Blue and Colonel Violet are the only antagonists to ever be shown holding a Dragon Radar in the series. If we count the movies, Lord Slugg once did as well.
• Roshi's anime flashback to 300 years prior when he acquired Karin's Sacred Water is the first time we see a younger version of him. This design would be used a year later for the flashback to Mutaito defeating Piccolo Daimao, and a few months after that when Goku time travels to Mutaito's time. Young Roshi is never depicted in the manga.
• This is the last time Japan would see or hear of the Red Ribbon Army for quite a while: it'll be in four years that Trunks tells Goku about Dr. Gero in the manga. If they consumed either the manga or anime exclusively, it'd have been four-and-a-half years!

Episode summaries, airdates, and titles courtesy of Kanzenshuu's episode guide. Filler breakdowns and Dragon Ball logo provided, and trivia co-written, by KBABZ.

[MasenkoHA]

Son Goku’s storming the base and taking the Red Ribbon army down single handed was one of the most exciting moments in Dragon Ball (though Path to Power’s is even better with the much nicer animation)




I liked what the anime did with Colonel Violet. Obviously she’s still superfluous and her extended scenes only exist for padding, but still they took a nothing character in the manga and gave her quite a bit of personality. Unlike the rest of the Red Ribbon Army who seemed to genuinely believe in (what they thought) was Red’s vision for a new world order she just wanted money and gladly robbed Red blind when the opportunity presented itself. She’s also apparently an animal lover. She’s actually probably my favorite Red Ribbon army leader (Tao Pai Pai and Murasaki were probably my favorite associates of the Red Ribbon Army overall) Colonel Silver and General White were just there and General Blue overstayed his welcome.


Even though a reasonable argument can be made that the Red Ribbon army conflict and Baba are part of one larger arc Goku’s been dealing with the army for so long the Baba portion still feels like a new chapter in the story y’know.

The Baba arc is fun because its Dragon Ball dabbling into horror. A mummy, a vampire, an invisible man, and a devil. It’s also an excuse for another tournament. Sleeping Princess in Devil’s Castle which was released between episode 70 and 71 complements the arc rather well.

[Robo4900]

I saw episode 66 a few days ago. Watching 67 now.

One funny thing I noticed: After Black tells Red to not run after Violet, Red runs across the room, and jumps onto the table, sort of doing a grunt of sorts that's unsubtitled. Hard to tell if it was just the poor audio that Mandelin was subbing off, or if he decided it wasn't worth subbing, but the noise he's making seems to be saying "kuso" rapidly and repeatedly.
I'm hardly an expert, but I believe this is the equivalent of repeatedly saying "Dammit-dammit-dammit-dammit-DAMMIT-DAMMIT-DAMMIT!!"

Also, yes, Violet is awesome. It's such a shame she was in it so little, but her brief presence is very welcome.
I like the read -- I forget who put it in my head -- that she's basically like a female Indiana Jones. Though with her scoundrel-esque tendencies, perhaps she's a bit more like Han Solo.

I love that Black says "You'll be fighting me", and Goku says "I don't think you should, mister! You'll get hurt!"
We all know that fighting is Goku's passion, but he doesn't exactly like to hurt people unnecessarily, I guess. He's not exactly Superman, but he's a good man.
Meanwhile...

Black shooting Red is such a cold, brutal scene. I dig it. Somewhat cathartic, if you ask me, that Red is finally gone, and he kind of brought it all on himself, and it all crashes down suddenly, amidst all his plans critically failing. It's great.

"I just became commander of the Red Ribbon Army!"
"You just became porridge?"
"Not porridge! Commander!"
... I imagine this joke works better in Japanese.

And onto 68...

"I did raid it. I beat everyone up and now I have six Dragon Balls"
[everyone stares at him, stunned]
Never change, Goku.

... Isn't it weird that the base is just kinda left standing, abandoned?... I don't recall this ever really being addressed.

I hate the needless flashbacks like the one to Goku climbing Karin tower.
Yes, we get it, he climbed Karin tower. We don't need to see all the stock footage again. -_-
On the plus side, really neat to see the flashback to Roshi climbing the tower!!
... But now we see the needless flashback of Tao Pai-Pai... -_-

Roshi suggests that Goku is even stronger than he is.
I like to think, with moments like this, and various other indications, that Roshi planned on fighting Goku as Jackie Chun in the 22nd Tenkaichi, and once he inevitably lost against him, revealing that he was Roshi all along. The fighting bug had long since bitten him, and Roshi/Jackie was no longer any kind of worthy rival for Goku.
'Course, then Tenshinhan showed up, and Roshi changed his plans.

I really like these episodes, but stuff like the needless flashbacks are showing some of the filler problems beginning to get a little out of hand, already at this stage.

[KBABZ]

I really like these episodes, but stuff like the needless flashbacks are showing some of the filler problems beginning to get a little out of hand, already at this stage.

Just wait until you get to the 22nd TB again, it has three instances of flashing back to the same scene of Tao's defeat!

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Son Goku’s storming the base and taking the Red Ribbon army down single handed was one of the most exciting moments in Dragon Ball

I loved that too, it was really thrilling. You raise a good point about Colonel Violet and how the anime built on the character we got in the manga, never thought about that.

One thing I also loved was more moments with Goku and Oopa. Their bond was really sweet, especially how they built it on Goku's promise to revive Bora.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Episode 66 - The Red Ribbon Army’s Desperate Offensive-Defensive

Great opening episode to Goku's assault on Red Ribbon Army headquarters. There is an appropriate shift in Commander Red's presence between the beginning and the end of the episode. In the beginning as Red watches Goku from afar he comes across as a looming threat, but by the end of the episode he seems threatened by Goku, which emphasizes how formidable a threat our young hero has become to this once feared empire. There were some funny moments with Kuririn being brought out of the ocean onto Yamcha's ship and shaking at Bulma while drying up. Likewise the old married couple type banter with Bulma and Yamcha was very endearing. Additionally, despite Goku's aforementioned prowess there was some obstacles for him with dodging the missiles fired at him while flying on the Kinto Un. Once Goku storms the Red Ribbon headquarters we see him knocking the officers around like they were nothing with a combination of the Nyoibo and fist combat. Overall a thrill of an episode and leaves a lot of excitement for the next.

Episode 67 - Commander Red Dies!!

Initially we see Goku continue to wreck havoc in the Red Ribbon Army headquarters. Our heroes attack is so ferocious that many squad leaders start to evacuate until Commander Red orders them to return out of humilation for them running away from a child. Unsurprisingly Red's high esteem for the Red Ribbon Army surpasses any loyalty or lack thereof he seems to have for Officer Black as he is willing to double cross him merely for him showing fear for Goku. The gag about Commander Red wanting the Dragon Balls to grow taller was very engaging, especially as it drives Black to shoot him down. We also get the cliche of a villain beginning for forgiveness with Black asking Goku for another chance amd hand over the Dragon Balls, but Goku determined to revive Oopa's father is smart enough just at this moment to not fall for it. Suffice to say once Black suits up in his mechanical suit our hero is faced with a formidable threat once more. Having Goku down for the count as Black prepares to shoot at the end was a nice twist and appropriate twist leading to the end of the Red Ribbon Army arc.

Episode 68 - The Last Dragon Ball

For the first half of this episode we see the climax of Goku's fight with Officer Black, and the latter covers the happy reunion with his friends, which felt like a breath of fresh air after the seriousness we've had throughout the entire arc. As the battle resumes Goku manages to make a comeback and humiliate Black by dodging the punches he made from the mechanical suit, making him punch himself. Additionally Goku manages to kick a missile fired at him, although this hurts his foot and misses Black hitting a mountain. From the perspective of Goku's friends we see the loyalty they have grown for him as they approach with concern for his wellbeing, and worrying when the missile hit the mountain he may have been hurt. Fortunately for Goku when he punches through the mechanical suit he manages to defeat Black as he didn't have a parachute. So while the Red Ribbon Army are out of Goku's sight there are still bumps in the road on the way to any celebrations. Not only does Bora's death keep the stakes high, but Goku's excitement at having six Dragon Balls is interrupted by the Dragon radar no longer working, although the aforementioned happy reunion with Goku's friends elevates this slightly. The shock Goku's friends show over him being able to defeat the whole Red Ribbon Army, which Puar was able to confirm shows how far he has come in his training. Moreover Muten Roshi's surprise at Goku being able to climb Karin tower, and his backstory about what an accomplishemnt it was for him shows Goku is now not just a strong warrior but a trained and well rounded student of the Turtle School.

Episode 69 - Cute, Huh?! Uranai Baba

With this episode we get the beginning of another entertaining mini-arc with some unique foes and matches for our opponents. There is some nice downtime at Kame House with Goku trying to figure out what was wrong with the Dragon Radar. Roshi's suggestion for Goku and heroes go to Baba and telling them she always knows where to find something like a last Dragon Ball pushes the plot along. The moment where Goku slept on Kinto Un was a funny moment, and rather fitting considering how exhausted he must be after his assault on the Red Ribbon headquarters. Goku's friendship with Oopa is very endearing, especially the moment where he promises that they are close to being able to resurrect his father and informs him everything will be okay when Oopa gets concerned over never being so far away from home. Once the two of them join Yamcha, Kuririn and Puar they are set off on another adventure through dark clouds and natural disasters in the form of shots of lightning. Baba's palace is in an oasis of islands, which is anice juxtaposition for the horror feel of the fights to come. Nonetheless its more fights and Goku is once more excited for more action.

Episode 70 - Assault! We Are the Five Warriors

Kuririn and Yamcha both get some good screentime throughout this episode. The former gets set with confidence for his first match, although frustration creeps in over Dracula Man's dance tactics. It was an interesting fight once Dracula Man becomes a bat and Kuririn struggles to keep up. We get a similar feeling from Yamcha's fight later on. Oopa gets a bit of screentime himself when Goku and Yamcha formulate a plan for him to take Kuririn's place and he uses his own unique techniques to defeat Dracula Man. There is some goofy back and fort action of Dracula Man after being revulted by Oopa's bad breath to launch an assault against Goku and his friends, and Puar uses his shape shifting techniques to his advantage. Yamcha's fight with the invisible man was another unique fight. He got kicked around from behind and on the side until with some out of the box thinking himself realizes he can rely on his sense of hearing to take on this foe. Interestingly this episode ends with Yamcha on a meditative state and
Goku off to go back to Muten Roshi and Bulma.