Hello, ladies, gentlemen, and everyone between and beyond, and welcome to week 62 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.
I can't think of anything to say this week, so let's all just pretend I said something very insightful and wise here, and move on.
Previous thread: Week 61 (DBZ 108-112)
Next thread: Week 63 (DBZ 118-122)
Anyway, without further ado...
Episode 266 - It Can’t Wait Until Morning!! God Decides on a Suicidal Course of Action (DBZ episode 113)
Dub title: Suicidal Course
Originally aired 23rd of October 1991
Written by: Katsuyuki Sumisawa
Episode director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Animation supervisor: Masayuki Uchiyama
As God tries to steal the Super Holy Water, Garlic Jr. tells him that the mist’s effect will become permanent once dawn comes. Mister Popo suggests that they quickly spread the Super Holy Water from the hole at the bottom of the Heavenly Realm. But that spot is an extraordinarily dangerous place called the God Sage Realm, where the graves of the previous Gods are located. Piccolo quickly sends God and Popo to the God Sage Realm, but Planet Makyō reaches its maximum proximity to Earth. With his Demon Clan power becoming tens of times greater, Garlic Jr. becomes a giant, and even the defeated Gashew is revived. Meanwhile in the God Sage Realm, somebody appears before God and Popo?
Anime-only/filler content: All filler!
Episode 267 - A Battle of Extreme Measures!! God Breaks the Covenant (DBZ episode 114)
Dub title: Extreme Measures
Originally aired 30th of October 1991
Written by: Katsuyuki Sumisawa
Episode director: Shigeyasu Yamauchi
Animation supervisor: Kazuya Hisada
God and Mister Popo are hit by the attacks of the past Gods. Meanwhile, Gohan and Kuririn have a tough fight against the now gigantic Gashew and Vinegar. Piccolo becomes a giant and faces Garlic Jr. God tries to break past the border of the God Sage Realm, but his hand begins to disappear, a sign that his spirit is being pulled away. Piccolo also is put into a pinch, since his body and soul are one with God. However, God breaks through the boundary with all his might. Gohan blocks Garlic Jr.’s fist as he’s about to finish off Piccolo. Having arrived at the bottom of the Heavenly Realm, the past Gods block God’s way.
Anime-only/filler content: All filler!
Episode 268 - The Ultra Holy Water Worked!! The World Awakens From its Nightmare (DBZ episode 115)
Dub title: The World Awakens
Originally aired 6th of November 1991
Written by: Katsuyuki Sumisawa
Episode director: Mitsuo Hashimoto
Animation supervisor: Yukio Ebisawa
Gohan smashes through Garlic Jr.’s stomach, but this doesn’t defeat him, since Garlic Jr. had previously obtained eternal life through the Dragon Balls. Piccolo and Kuririn pin Garlic Jr. down, allowing Gohan to attack. Meanwhile, God says that he is the past Gods’ target, and entrusts Mister Popo to pour the Super Holy Water. Gohan’s Masenkō somehow fails to hit Garlic Jr. Garlic Jr. is furious that his plan to turn people into Demon Clansmen has been smashed! He creates a Dead Zone and tries to suck in the Heavenly Realm.
Anime-only/filler content: All filler!
Episode 269 - Gohan’s Brief Chance for Victory!! Destroy Planet Makyō… (DBZ episode 116)
Dub title: Brief Chance for Victory
Originally aired 13th of November 1991
Written by: Katsuyuki Sumisawa
Episode director: Kazuhito Kikuchi
Animation supervisor: Mitsuo Shindō
Piccolo tells Gohan to drop his shield and strike Planet Makyō, but Gohan can’t due to his concern for everyone. For some reason the past Gods stop their attack, and God and Mister Popo head to the surface. Garlic Jr. raises the Dead Zone’s power and tries to suck in God?! Piccolo puts up a shield and brings God and Popo back, distracting Garlic Jr. At that instant, Gohan hits Planet Makyō, causing it to explode. Garlic Jr. loses his power and is sucked into the Dead Zone, which then disappears. Peace has returned.
Anime-only/filler content: All filler!
Episode 270 - You’re My Guy… Kuririn — The 101st Proposal (DBZ episode 117)
Dub title: Krillin's Proposal
Originally aired 20th of November 1991
Written by: Aya Matsui
Episode director: Daisuke Nishio
Animation supervisor: Minoru Maeda
Kuririn considers marrying Maron. Hearing from Umigame of a giant pearl that will make her happy if he gives it to her as a present, Kuririn and Gohan go to the bottom of the sea. But they give up when they hear that the pearl is the fishes’ treasure. Not confident that he can make her happy, Kuririn goes to break up with Maron. Kuririn leaves without noticing Maron say she wouldn’t mind to be his bride, but by the time he does realize, Maron has already left with another man. Kuririn is brought to tears as he says “rejected”.
Anime-only/filler content: All filler!
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Interesting trivia:
- At this point in time in the manga, Trunks returns from the future and realizes the heroes have been fighting the wrong Androids, Dr. Gero retreats to his lab as the heroes realize he was Android 20 (and Vegeta realizes Trunks is his son), and Gero activates 17 and 18 who quickly destroy the shutdown controller and kill Gero.
- Missed trivia: (See below)
- The Turtle School's rival being the Crane School is a reference to a Japanese expression: "A crane lives a thousand years, a turtle ten thousand years", referring to the longevity of both animals. The expression is shown in the school's fighting styles: the Crane School focuses on dominating their opponents with special moves, while the Turtle School focuses on building fundamentals over long periods of time.
- The Funimation dub also has Tsuru sen'nin say during the Tenshinhan Finals "The turtle retreats into its shell while the crane flies high!", accidentally referencing the original expression.
- The Turtle School's rival being the Crane School is a reference to a Japanese expression: "A crane lives a thousand years, a turtle ten thousand years", referring to the longevity of both animals. The expression is shown in the school's fighting styles: the Crane School focuses on dominating their opponents with special moves, while the Turtle School focuses on building fundamentals over long periods of time.
- To take up time, Episode 113 starts with the same sequence that ended Episode 112 where Piccolo and Kuririn reveal that they were faking it.
- The idea that Piccolo loses power when God is in captivity is only mentioned here and is never brought up again.
- In the scene of West City, the green-shirted man with an axe appears to be wearing a hockey mask as a reference to Jason. Strangely, the mask is skin-coloured.
- The blue-vested man says that the fog was black, when it was in fact purple.
- The end of the West City sequence is the first time we see the Makyo Star outside of a flashback.
- The fact that the planet of Appules still swear allegiance to Freeza may be an (unintentional) allusion to the fact that he's still alive, with King Cold still running things.
- Vinegar catching Kuririn's Kienzan is the first instance of a character not being affected by the move. The anime would repeat this feat later where Kuririn attempts to use one on Pefect Cell, which breaks apart upon hitting his neck.
- Robo and KBABZ both hate how the Kienzan was nerfed in this way.
- Gohan defeats Gasshu the same way Tao defeated Bora in the Mystical Adventure movie: by being impaled on a sharp stone object.
- Episode 114 is the only time we get a somewhat-clear depiction of the God(s) before God beyond a general figure, although these smoke figures are still rather vague.
- Episode 114 also marks the series debut of the music from Z movie 5.
- In the shot of Gohan rising up with Kuririn around his shoulders, he appears to hover in place before spiking upwards. It's possible that he was meant to be hidden under the floor of the Lookout, and him being visible in an animation error.
- The shot of Garlic Jr. flying through the rubble is the same shot earlier in the episode of Gohan flying through the rubble, just flipped horizontally.
- Piccolo points out that Garlic Jr.'s larger form gives him more power at the expense of speed. This is the exact same drawback pointed out by Goku and Cell when the "Ascended" Super Saiyan is introduced.
- The shot of God holding his transparent hand in front of his face is almost exactly the same as a similar shot in Back to the Future while Marty is performing at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance.
- In the shot of Gohan catching Garlic Jr's punch at Piccolo, Gohan is missing his red armbands.
- The man who gets a dedicated close-up in the West City opening is almost identical to Shen, the man God possessed in the 23rd Tournament.
- The opening shots of Gohan while fighting Garlic Jr. appear to have his Namekian bowl cut. It's possible that this was drawn at first and the mistake realized later, with the wilder hair strands added later. Gohan returns to his longer hair for Episode 116.
- Gohan manages to plough himself clean through Garlic Jr, the same method Goku used to defeat Piccolo Daimao. Unfortunately, it doesn't work for Gohan. Garlic Jr. also crushes the head of a bald man like Daimao also did.
- Episode 115 is the first time Kuririn has used a Kamehameha in the anime since the 22nd Tournament. He did use it with Goku and Roshi in DBZ movie 2, however.
- The tap that Popo puts the Ultra Holy Water into has the same design as the top of Karin's Tower, which is appropriate as it comes out the bottom of the Lookout. It's unknown if this would have worked if Nyoi-bo was still connecting the two, as it'd be plugging the hole.
- It's unknown how exactly Gohan is projecting the safety barrier, as it's an ability he's never demonstrated before.
- The Shen Long music cue used when God realizes that Garlic is summoning the Dead Zone again is the same one used in the original Dead Zone movie when Garlic Jr. summons Shen Long.
- During the farm healing sequence, two men are seen gnawing on a radish and some lettuce. These are of course the vegetables from which Raditz and Tullece derive their name puns, the first Saiyan villains in the anime and movies.
- Also during the farm healing sequence, the man who grasps his neck while in front of the camera is wearing a cap that reads "Inaka no Hito". This translates to "Country Bumpkin, Hick".
- Gohan manages to allow his shield to make a rock pinnacle inside a crater, which is the same thing Vegeta noted Goku doing in an earlier episode as proof that he's a Super Saiyan. It's unknown if this is meant to allude to Gohan approaching Super Saiyan capabilities.
- Gohan hesitating to perform a drastic action that will defeat the villain, while his friends distract said villain, is the exact same thing that will happen later with Super Perfect Cell.
- The exact size and distance of Planet Makyo changes between shots: in the shot of the Lookout it's smaller than even the Moon, while in the orbital shot, it's about the size of the Earth.
- Somehow, Roshi, Chichi, and the others have all managed to get off Kame Island and onto the mainland and even a cruise ship in their ravenous state.
- In the ending montage, Kuririn is yet again driving the Caterham 7 in green-and-yellow The Prisoner paint. This is the same car that Roshi overtook Kuririn in at the end of DBZ movie 4.
- The blonde man in the red sports car at the start of Episode 117 appears to be using a very similar design to the Tournament Announcer, who by this point has been absent from the series for several years.
- Yamucha is once again back to playing baseball as he did in the Saiyan Arc training filler.
- In the photograph of Kuririn and Maron (and later at Kame House), Maron is wearing a green version of the jacket that Trunks wears. This actually makes some sense as Trunks is from the future, and in four years the Androids would show up to put a halt to future fashion developments.
- In the original dub, Kuririn called Turtle "Tortoise". This was changed in the "Remastered dub".
- The harp music cue on the close-up of the dress is extremely similar to Prelude, the main theme of every mainline Final Fantasy game. It's a series of notes that ascend and descend linearly, and has been a recurring music theme since the very first game, and typically plays at the title screen.
- Next to the dress in the shop window is a hannukah menorah, the famous set of candles in Judaism. While this one correctly has the central candle higher than the others, it's lacking four candles, having 5 instead of 9.
- In Kuririn's imagine sequence, various attendees of his wedding include Chaozu, Tenshinhan, Gyuumao, Chichi, Gohan, Vegeta (?!), Turtle, Yajirobe, Pu-erh, Piccolo, and most bizarrely, Senbei Norimaki from Dr. Slump and one of the Orin Temple bullies! Goku, Yamucha, and Roshi also appear, as well as Bulma looking a lot like her Future version.
- Yet again Kuririn is in the presence of a Cateham 7 (two in fact!), this one being all-yellow.
- The little Kuririn-like boy is using the same pose Kuririn used to use in his youth. He's also missing the armband on his right wrist.
- The dome on top of Not-Kuririn's house also bears a resemblance to him, thanks to the dots on its "forehead".
- Turtle's 1,000th birthday is actually extremely generous, as sea turtles typically live for 30-50 years, though some species can live as long as 80-100 years. Maybe he drank from the Fountain of Youth?
- Giant tortoises have been known to creep up on 200 years old, but in reality Toei's writers were likely referencing a Japanese saying, "Tsuru wa sennen, kame wa mannen", which translates as "A crane lives a thousand years, a turtle ten thousand years." It refers to certain spiritual ideas such as the spirit turtle, rather than being based on anything in reality.
- This was news to KBABZ and myself, resulting in the missed trivia entry at the top.
- Bulma's pose after punching Roshi through the wall is the same one she had when punching him in Episode 1 of Z.
- As noted by Bulma and Chichi, Bulma is technically older than Chichi, but Chichi is the one who looks older (probably through sheer stress). The Dragon Ball Super: Broly movie addresses this when Bulma claims she uses the Dragon Balls to make her look younger every few years.
- While being attacked by the giant Moray Eel, Kuririn wipes his brow, which is totally unnecessary given that he's underwater.
- The shades Maron wears in the final beach sequence are identical to the ones Master Roshi wears.
- The small scene of Vegeta in the Capsule Corp. pod shows him sitting down in one seat in a group of about four. This means that the ship he stole in the final Namek episode is not an exact copy of the one Dr. Briefs built for Goku.
