Hello, ladies, gentlemen, and everyone between and beyond, and welcome to week 41 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.
DBZ movie 2 is upon us in two weeks.
But first, the conclusion of the Saiyan arc! Episode 35 next week (equivalent to Saban dub episode 26, and Kai episode 16) marks the end of that arc. But first, this week, the fight between Goku and Vegeta begins!
Previous thread: Week 40 (DBZ 23-27)
Next thread: Week 42 (DBZ 33-37)
Anyway, without further ado...
Episode 181 - Ferocity of the Saiyan! God and Piccolo Both Die (DBZ episode 28)
Dub title: Goku's Arrival (Funimation)
Originally aired 29th of November 1989
Kai equivalent: Episode 12 - The Tears Piccolo Shed… Son Goku’s Furious Counterattack!
Edited dub equivalent: Episode 21 - The Return of Goku
Episode director: Minoru Okazaki
Animation supervisor: Minoru Maeda
Piccolo passes away, saying that it is good to die protecting Gohan! At the same time up in the temple, God vanishes away as well. Even after powering up by going into a frenzy, Gohan uses up all of his power. Nappa aims for Gohan, but Goku arrives in the nick of time! After learning of Piccolo and the others’ deaths, Goku removes the joyful Kuririn and Gohan from the battle, and faces off against Nappa alone! Nappa doubts Goku’s overwhelming power, but Goku easily dodges his wild attacks!
Anime-only/filler content: Baba and the gang watching the fight through her crystal ball.
Episode 182 - Father is Awesome! The Ultimate Finishing Technique: Kaiō-Ken (DBZ episode 29)
Dub title: Lesson Number One (Funimation)
Originally aired 6th of December 1989
Kai equivalent: Episode 12 - The Tears Piccolo Shed… Son Goku’s Furious Counterattack! and Episode 13 - This is the Kaiō-Ken!! A Battle to the Limit: Goku vs Vegeta
Edited dub equivalent: Episode 22 - Goku Strikes Back (Some footage also incorporated into episode 21)
Episode director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Animation supervisor: Masayuki Uchiyama
Nappa goes mad with rage at Goku, against whom all his attacks are ineffective! However, he is yelled at by Vegeta and faces Goku calmly, but even then he is dumbfounded when his greatest attack doesn’t work against Goku. Frustrated, Vegeta orders to switch with Nappa, but after Nappa goes after Gohan and Kuririn instead, Goku defeats him with an unexpected Kaiō-Ken!! Vegeta is surprised, but heartlessly annihilates Nappa as he begs for help! Goku flies off with Vegeta to a new battleground.
Anime-only/filler content: More scenes of the Kame House gang watching the fight, and a flashback to Kaio teaching the Kaioken to Goku.
Episode 183 - A Hot, Unbounded Battle! Goku vs Vegeta (DBZ episode 30)
Dub title: Goku vs. Vegeta (Funimation)
Originally aired 13th of December 1989
Kai equivalent: Episode 13 - This is the Kaiō-Ken!! A Battle to the Limit: Goku vs Vegeta
Edited dub equivalent: Episode 23 - Goku vs. Vegeta: A Saiyan Duel (First half. Some footage also incorporated into episode 22)
Episode director: Tatsuya Orime
Animation supervisor: Katsumi Aoshima
Goku tells Gohan and Kuririn to return to Kame House, and flies with Vegeta to some craggy mountains. Their duel begins, and Goku finally uses the Kaiō-Ken against Vegeta, who displays power exceeding Goku’s! With not even that defeating Vegeta, Goku is shocked when Vegeta displays his full power by shaking the earth and atmosphere! As Vegeta recommences his attacks, Goku is pushed back even after using Kaiō-Ken x2, and having surpassed his body’s limit, he reluctantly resolves to use Kaiō-Ken x3!!
Anime-only/filler content: Baba's crystal ball failing, the scene with Lunch at a bar.
Episode 184 - Now, Goku! A Final Technique with Everything on the Line (DBZ episode 31)
Dub title: Saiyan Sized Secret (Funimation)
Originally aired 20th of December 1989
Kai equivalent: Episode 14 - Kamehameha Clash! Vegeta’s Tenacious Grand Transformation
Edited dub equivalent: Episode 23 - Goku vs Vegeta: A Saiyan Duel (Second half)
Episode director: Daisuke Nishio
Animation supervisor: Tomekichi Takeuchi
Risking his own life to use the Kaiō-Ken x3, Goku wildly attacks Vegeta! Hit with these attacks, Vegeta is astonished and confused, but even Goku’s body is strained by the Kaiō-Ken x3. Mad with rage, Vegeta fires his Galic Cannon in order to obliterate Goku and the Earth with him, but Goku resists with a Kaiō-Ken x4 Kamehameha! Vegeta is blown away! But after returning covered in wounds, Vegeta creates an artificial moon to take the place of the destroyed one, and transforms into an Ōzaru!!
Anime-only/filler content: Bulma tracking the fight using the repaired Scouter (and related Kame House scenes), general fighting padding.
Episode 185 - Battle Power Times Ten!! Vegeta’s Great Transformation (DBZ episode 32)
Dub title: Spirit Bomb Away! (Funimation)
Originally aired 17th of January 1990
Kai equivalent: Episode 14 - Kamehameha Clash! Vegeta’s Tenacious Grand Transformation (Some footage also incorporated into episode 15)
Edited dub equivalent: Episode 24 - Vegeta: Saiyan Style!
Episode director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Animation supervisor: Masayuki Uchiyama
After seeing the artificial moon on his way back to Kame House, Gohan is concerned for Goku and once again returns to the battleground. Kuririn follows behind. As Goku is being chased by Vegeta, whose power has increased tenfold by transforming into an Ōzaru, he realizes that the monster who killed his adoptive grandfather was actually his own transformed form! Firming his resolve, Goku tries to make a Genki-Dama. But he is hit by an attack the instant he finishes gathering ki, and though he manages to wound the Ōzaru’s right eye in his battered state, he has both of his arms crushed, and ends up with Vegeta trying to crush him.
Anime-only/filler content: More Kame House scenes.
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Interesting trivia:
- At this point in time in the manga, Kuririn and Gohan observe Freeza at the Namekian village, save Dende and escape Dodoria, Dodoria tells Vegeta the true reason behind his homeworld's destruction before he gets killed, and Kuririn, Gohan and Dende evade Vegeta on their way back to Bulma.
- This collection of episodes also marks the point in time in which the Harmony Gold dub of Dragon Ball aired in America, the very first English dub of Dragon Ball to air in the West. A double feature of the first and third Dragon Ball movies aired on WGPR 62 in Detroit on Tuesday the 26th of December 1989 at 1pm, while the first five episodes of the anime aired daily on the 1st-5th of January (Monday to Friday) in 1990 at 3pm, with reruns on the 8th-12th of January 1990 at 3pm, and on the 5th-9th of February at 3:30pm (which were the final known broadcasts of Harmony Gold dubbed DB on any US station). The movie double feature also aired on WGBS 57 in Philadelphia on the evening of the 28th of December (roughly sometime between 8pm and 10pm). The Harmony Gold dub had a surprising influence on Funimation's work: they nearly used the Harmony Gold names for all the characters when they dubbed the first Dragon Ball movie (with some changes like Mao-Mao > Chester, and Squeaker > Prudence), and names like Master Roshi, The Flying Nimbus, and the Power Pole are Harmony Gold names that Funimation still use today. Furthermore, the scripts for the available episodes of the Harmony Gold dub suggest that the 1995 dub of Dragon Ball was at least partially based on Harmony Gold's scripts, and most of the episode titles were taken straight from Harmony Gold's dub.
- It may not have been the first English dub however: There is evidence to suggest there was an English dub of the first Dragon Ball movie that was distributed exclusively on JAL flights for people arriving in Japan. No physical evidence exists of this dub, however, and no one has yet to come forward with an account of having seen it.
- One interesting artefact of the Power Pole name is that it was quite literal: Zedaki (Yamcha) states in Episode 5 that it's the source of Zero's (Goku's) strength, and thus why he's so uncommonly strong. The Harmony Gold dub never went past Episode 5 however, so it never had to contend with a lot of the logistical issues of this change, such as Goku having to put it aside for the Tournaments or discarding it entirely after defeating Piccolo Daimao.
- Additionally, while many accept "Master Roshi" as a fine name for that character, since his Japanese name is "Muten Roshi", it's in fact a complete misnomer; Roshi is a title (which could be rendered as "Master"), and Muten is a name, so a correct adaptation of his name would be "Master Muten".
- As an example of the later scripts being based on Harmony Gold's, there's a section of narration Harmony Gold added as Bulma is introduced to the audience which wasn't in the Japanese version. In two of the three subsequent dubs, it was basically kept as-is with some minor rewording, though even the third kept an unnecessary, added narration in this section. I've italicised minor changes and bolded major changes in this comparison:
- 1989 Harmony Gold dub: Unbeknownst to the hungry little warrior, a newcomer had entered the territory and was heading his way. Zero hadn't a clue that his life was about to begin a radical new phase -- totally radical!
- 1995 Funimation/BLT dub: Unbeknownst to the hungry little warrior, a stranger was heading his way. Goku hadn't a clue that his life was soon to begin a radical new phase -- totally radical!
- 2001 Funimation in-house dub: Little did Goku know, a visitor was approaching his remote, mountainside home. The young boy's life was about to begin a radical new phase -- totally radical!
- 2003 Westwood Media/Ocean Productions dub: But as fate would have it, Goku would soon realise that his grandfather's gift was more than just an heirloom.
- Additionally, here's a comparison of episode titles in the English versions, with the Kanzenshuu-translated Japanese titles too:
- 1986 original (Kanzenshuu translation): "Bulma and Son Goku", "Alalala–! No Balls!", "Kame-Sen’nin’s Kinto-Un", "The Kidnapping Demon, Oolong", and "The Strong Villain of the Desert, Yamcha"
- 1989 Harmony Gold dub: "Secret of the Dragonball", "The Emperor's Quest", "The Nimbus Cloud of Roshi", "Mao-Mao the Terrible", and "Zedaki the Warrior"
- 1995 Funimation/BLT dub - provisional titles: "Bulma and Goku", "The Emperor's Quest", "The Nimbus Clouds of Roshi", "Oolong the Terrible", "Yamcha the Warrior"
- 1995 Funimation/BLT dub - finalised titles: "Secret of the Dragon Ball", "The Emperor's Quest", "The Nimbus Cloud of Roshi", "Oolong the Terrible", "Yamcha the Desert Bandit"
- 2001 Funimation in-house dub: "The Secret of the Dragon Balls", "The Emperor's Quest", "The Nimbus Cloud of Roshi", "Oolong the Terrible", "Yamcha the Desert Bandit"
- 2003 Westwood Media/Ocean Productions dub: "Secret of the Dragon Balls", "The Emperor's Quest", "Roshi's Nimbus Cloud", "Oolong the Terrible", "Yamcha the Desert Bandit"
- Interestingly, Z episode 31 aired in Japan on the 20th of December 1989, six days before the Harmony Gold dub aired. After that the anime took a holiday break and wouldn't return until the 17th of January 1990. What this means is that the entire Harmony Gold dub aired between Goku and Vegeta's beam struggle and Vegeta turning into an Oozaru!
- The recent discovery of the five Harmony Gold episodes takes that dub off the list, but several English dubs remain elusive: The alleged JAL dub of DB movie 1, the 1996 pitch/pilot dub of DBZ movie 1, the ~2006 Animax Asia dub of the entire Dragon Ball series, and the 2010-2013 Ocean Productions dub of Dragon Ball Kai.
- Of the remaining "lost dubs", I would say the JAL has no real chance of turning up (assuming it existed), the Animax dub likely would have been found by now if any of it still existed in public hands and is unlikely to be commercially exploited again (though I could be wrong, and I hope I am), the '96 DBZ movie 1 dub is likely still out there, in the hands of some people who don't realise its value, so it'll probably turn up eventually, and the Ocean dub of Kai is still being shopped around by Ocean (as per a source at Ocean, who also confirmed it has not been commercially exploited before, well and truly debunking the stupid rumour of some episodes airing once in South Korea), so I'm still optimistic that we'll see it one day, we just don't know when.
- This should have been mentioned last week, but when Toriyama depicts Karin's Tower and God's Lookout, he forgets to add Nyoi-Bo, as it should still be there.
- The final panel of Chapter 222 and the first of Chapter 223, Piccolo taking Nappa's blast, are the same drawing.
- Notably, Goku is unable to tell the various ki he senses apart outside of their power. This is in contrast to Kuririn, who felt that Vegeta and Nappa's ki were "demonic" before the fight begins.
- Episode 28 is the first time Gohan uses the Masenko. It's possible he named the move himself, with Ma being a reference to Piccolo, as Ma of course means demon or devil. ViZ's translation claims that it's Piccolo's signature move despite him never being shown using it.
- This is also the first time Gohan is riding Kinto'Un on his own. He wouldn't ride it again until the start of the Boo Arc where he uses it to travel to school, at least until he concocts The Great Saiyaman and hands it off to Goten.
- When Goku walks off to face Nappa, Kuririn notes that he's never seen Goku so angry. This makes sense: the one time Goku was angrier (confronting Tambourine), Kuririn was dead!
- Before Goku powers up, he says that there'll be no mercy for the Saiyans, but he'll end up sparing Vegeta later. Goku will repeat this on Namek, fighting to the death against Frieza for killing Kuririn before deciding to abandon the fight much later.
- The infamous "Over 9000" meme would of course be birthed in the original English dub of this episode, although in more accurate translations such as the ViZ manga, the subtitles, and Funimation's Kai dub, it's actually Over 8000. A possible explanation for this change is that beforehand Vegeta tracked Goku's battle power to 7 and 8,000, so 9,000 makes it feel like it kept climbing after he said 8,000.
- For comparison:
Original Japanese version
Original edited dub
2005 Funimation redub (2008 Kikuchi mix)
2011 Funimation Kai dub (uncut "Over 8000, ugh" version)
2011 Funimation Kai dub (TV "Over 9000!" version) - While the Funimation VA Chris Sabat (understandably, given it's not a meme he originated) is quite obviously a little tired of getting asked to say "Over 9000!" at conventions, the OG himself Brian Drummond seems to love the fan attention that comes from it. At one con, Brian's daughter got in on it, and he did the line on Twitter to celebrate his 9001st follower. He usually doesn't do it when asked outside of panels so as to not tire his voice out over a con weekend, but he does love the "Over 9000!" meme, among others.
- Brian Drummond said at a con once that he recorded both "Over 8000!" and "Over 9000!" for Ocean's still-unreleased dub of Kai.
- Ryo Horikawa has also been known to have fun with this meme.
- Also, because there's no such thing as a bad excuse to share this, here's the three Vegetas united in an attack scream from Kameha Con.
- For comparison:
- Edits in the original dub:
- A lot of Piccolo's blood is painted out.
- As is typical of these episodes, mentions of Piccolo dying are changed to "I'm phasing into another dimension", "One of the big powers is fading... Someone must be passing into another dimension!", "Soon, we will both be in another dimension", etc.
- Piccolo's body fades away when he dies, rather than him simply dying normally.
- Baba's bullet holes from being shot by Chichi are painted out.
- Goku checking the bodies of Piccolo, Yamucha, and Tenshinhan was cut.
- Many other shots where Piccolo's body appears are either shortened or painted over to remove him.
- Note: Nappa's death is not censored at all, aside from his dialogue arguably being softened.
- Parts of the needless flashback to Kaio teaching Goku the Kaioken were cut.
- Starting from edited episode 22 (uncut episode 30), Funimation began painting in large stars over hits to the face and such. Chris Psaros counted "five or six" in that particular episode. A few hits, such as one particular scene where Goku really hits Vegeta hard head-on, have full-screen white flashes instead of stars.
- Blood on Goku and Vegeta's faces was painted off.
- The scene with Lunch at the bar was cut.
- Japanese episode 31 was made into most of edited episode 23, with loads of cuts, most of which were likely not for content, but for time, to fit the original 35 episodes into a 26-episode American TV season.
- More cuts for time were made to Japanese episode 32 (which formed most of edited episode 24).
- The realisation that Goku, as an Oozaru, killed Grandpa Gohan was changed to Goku thinking Vegeta did it. Some think this is a mistranslation stemming from Funimation not having dubbed the original Dragon Ball anime... But, this is unlikely, as it disregards the 1995 dub.
- Misc. blood painting, though generally dried blood (drawn as brown/black, usually not red) was kept, as were small cuts and bruises. Sometimes this was inconsistent, though; one shot, Goku would be cleaned of all his wounds, the next he would be just as wounded as he was in uncut.
- Funimation would reuse the title of edited episode 21, "The Return of Goku", for episode 63 of Dragon Ball. The same is true of episode 22, "Goku Strikes Back", which was reused for Dragon Ball episode 120,
- There's a weird dialogue error in the original dub when God dies. For some reason, Mr Popo shouts out "KAMI-SAN!!" Perhaps there was some misunderstanding to do with names, perhaps Funimation were toying with "Kami San" being God's full name or something... Whatever the case, much like "The Kame-Sen'nin style of martial arts", it was never repeated.
- Goku uses a technique called a Kiai to dispel one of Nappa's attacks. This is the same technique used by Tenshinhan to dispel Cyborg Tao's Super Dodon-pa.
- In the original English dub, Kaio-Ken was mis-pronounced as "Kayo-Ken". This was a pronunciation likely thought-up and enforced by Barry Watson, who seemed to have ensured the move was prononuced that way in all productions he was associated with (the original edited dub and the in-house Funimation dubs prior to 2009), while all those he was not associated with (the Pioneer dubs of the first three Z movies, the Westwood Media dub of Z, the in-house Funimation dubs from 2009 onwards) use the correct pronunciation.
- In general, the Canadian dubs that were produced without Funimation's oversight (the Westwood Media dubs and the Pioneer dubs, presumably as well as Ocean's Kai dub) would get a lot of small things like this right which Funimation would either not get right for a long time, or would never get right, such as Ocean's Trunks (as well as a few other characters) correctly pronouncing Goku's name, with the emphasis on the second syllable, or indeed Goku introducing himself as "Son Goku" in episode 1 of the Blue Water dub of DB. Similarly, the Westwood Media dub generally changed "Instant transmission" from Funimation's scripts to "Instant translocation" for their own scripts, which gets the point of the original name across a little more clearly, though both of these as well as Steve Simmons' own rendering from the subtitles (instantaneous movement) are rather clunky and overcomplicated.
- A small detail that isn't too obvious in the anime is that as Nappa flies down to attack Kuririn and Gohan, he prepares to fire another mouth beam, his ultimate attack.
- There are 17 redraws in Kai episode 12, 18 in episode 13, and 23 in episode 14.
- Kuririn asks Goku to move the battle elsewhere lest the bodies of their friends be mangled when they're wished back to life. While Porunga would render this irrelevant, this facet would be depicted in Resurrection of 'F' when Shen Long resurrects Freeza in sliced up Trunks chunks.
- This dialogue was changed to Kuririn telling Goku to not try grabbing Vegeta's tail, for the Funimation-produced dubs of Z.
- Gohan departing Goku and Vegeta is the first time we see him flying. It's a bit of a plot hole as this likely would have been a useful skill whilst fighting Nappa. Notably, Goku doesn't even question that Gohan can fly before letting him go a hundred feet in the air.
- Before Goku drops down to confront Vegeta, he promises Gohan to take him fishing once it's all over. While the manga never depicts this, the anime will make good on it in a filler scene during the wait for the Cell Games.
- Here's a video comparing a scene just after the one in the trivia entry above this one across the many different dubs; the original edited dub, the 2005 "Ultimate Uncut" redub, a flashback from the 2000 in-house Funi dub, and that same flashback from the 2008 partial redub. The dialogue in the original edited dub basically covers the intent of the scene from the Japanese version, and this same dialogue was repeated in most of the subsequent versions, but the 2007/2008 dub changed this dialogue to be a lot closer to the original Japanese lines... However, the rather clumsy approach taken with the redubbing resulted in a few lines in the surrounding scene making no sense.
- Goku and Vegeta's second fight begins exactly 200 episodes after their first, in episode 230.
- At the start of Chapter 228, the ViZ translation mis-spells "pitiful babies with low battle numbers" as "pitiful babes". This error has yet to be corrected as of the Full Colors.
- The mathematics of the Kaio-Ken multipliers is rather unclear. A normal Kaio-Ken doubles the user's ki, while a Kaio-Ken x2 is double that (effectively x4). But in the Namek arc, the multiplier refers to the user's base ki. This is of course never clarified, which I'm sure the power level nuts enjoyed considerably.
- Goku powering up with Kaio-Ken x3 overloads Raditz' Scouter, making it not only the first Scouter to appear in the series, but also the first to blow up!
- When Goku kicks Vegeta with Kaio-Ken x3, he makes Vegeta the first person in the series to be "punched through a mountain".
- Vegeta's signature attack, the Galick Gun, is of course a pun on Garlic. Incidentally, the manga chapter this move appears in released a week and a half before the DBZ movie where Garlic Jr. first appears.
- Vegeta notes that he chose to arrive on Earth on a day with a full moon in case he needed to use the Saiyan transformation. While this does explain why he and Nappa arrived a little early, how exactly he knew this isn't explained.
- Lunch's cameo in Z episode 30 is the last time she will appear until Z episode 285.
- The ViZ translation of the manga uses Green Spectrum Radiation rather than Bruits Waves like the anime. Bruits Waves themselves will not be mentioned again until GT when Baby and Bulma force Vegeta into the Golden Oozaru form.
- Recurring death tallies:
- Piccolo: 2
- Chaozu: 2
- The moon: 2
- Yamucha: 1
- Tenshinhan: 1
- Son Goku: 1
- Roshi: 1
- Kuririn: 1
- Edited episode 23 (uncut episode 31) is the source of the "brilliant scientist" line, where Vegeta claims that Goku's father invented the artificial moon technique. Presumably Funimation had no idea the Burdock special existed to contradict this claim. That aside it also doesn't make sense considering ki is spiritual and not scientific.
- This is also the first time Gohan's "ape warning" has been brought up since Chapter 21 was released four years prior. While the flashback to Grandpa Gohan has been seen before, this is the first time we've seen the moment where Kami justifies having to remove Goku's tail.
- Before Goku uses the Taiyoken, he notes that he's borrowing one of Tenshinhan's moves. Kuririn will say the same when using it on Namek to escape Dodoria.
