Dragon Ball Rewatch, Week 63 - DBZ 118-122

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Dragon Ball Rewatch, Week 63 - DBZ 118-122

Post by Robo4900 » Wed Mar 17, 2021 8:05 pm

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Hello, ladies, gentlemen, and everyone between and beyond, and welcome to week 63 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 was super busy today, so I'm posting this just after midnight on Thursday. Oh well. 62/63 posted on time isn't too bad.

In a way, we're on the home stretch. The penultimate Toriyama-written arc. Still a long ways to go, though; we've still got a full year to go till we're done!...

Previous thread: Week 62 (DBZ 113-117)
Next thread: Week 64 (DBZ 123-125, movie 6)

Anyway, without further ado...

Episode 271 - That’s Earth, Papa… Freeza and his Father Strike Back (DBZ episode 118)
Dub title: Frieza's Counterattack
Originally aired 27th of November 1991

Kai equivalent: Episode 55 - That’s Earth, Papa… Freeza and his Father Strike Back (First half)
Written by: Takao Koyama
Episode director: Shigeyasu Yamauchi
Animation supervisor: Masayuki Uchiyama


It has been a year since Goku defeated Freeza. Chi-Chi gets a private tutor for Gohan named Shuu Sai’aku. Sai’aku is a nasty man who throws out difficult questions, then whips Gohan if he doesn’t solve them. He attributes Gohan’s resistance to Goku, who won’t return. Chi-Chi is angry when she hears this, and chases Sai’aku out. Vegeta returns from space, but is displeased that Goku isn’t there. Bulma suggests that he stay at her house until Goku returns. As he’s studying, Gohan senses a violent ki. That ki’s identity is… Freeza?!

Anime-only/filler content: The first half of the episode (everything up until everyone senses Freeza) is filler.

Episode 272 - I Will Defeat Freeza… The Mysterious Boy Awaiting Goku (DBZ episode 119)
Dub title: The Mysterious Youth
Originally aired 4th of December 1991

Kai equivalent: Episode 55 - That’s Earth, Papa… Freeza and his Father Strike Back (Last half)
Written by: Aya Matsui
Episode director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Animation supervisor: Kazuya Hisada


Gohan rushes to where Freeza and the other ki are located. The other warriors have gathered, but Goku is nowhere to be seen. Freeza appears with his father King Cold. Freeza was left on the brink of death after his battle with Goku, and once King Cold’s spaceship saved him as he drifted through space, he was revived by becoming a cyborg. Freeza orders his underlings to kill all the Earthlings until Goku’s arrival. But a boy mysteriously appears and instantly cuts down Freeza’s underlings.

Anime-only/filler content: General padding. In particular, the Dragon Team slowly make their way over to Freeza's landing site.

Episode 273 - Freeza Halved By a Single Blow!! Another Super Saiyan (DBZ episode 120)
Dub title: Another Super Saiyan?
Originally aired 11th of December 1991

Kai equivalent: Episode 56 - I’ll Defeat Freeza! Another Super Saiyan (First half)
Written by: Takao Koyama
Episode director: Mitsuo Hashimoto
Animation supervisor: Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru


The boy tells Freeza that he “also knows that you came here to die”, and defeats Freeza’s underlings one after the other. Furthermore, the boy declares that Goku is not the only Super Saiyan, and becomes one himself. Seeing all this from the distance, Vegeta is angered at this boy’s existence. Seeing the form of a Super Saiyan, Freeza is reminded of his battle with Goku and becomes furious. He attacks with ten times the energy that wiped out Planet Namek, but the boy stops it and cuts Freeza in half in a single slice!

Anime-only/filler content: Freeza killing one of his soldiers who Trunks didn't kill, the gang laughing at Bulma's expense for a bit as their seemingly impending doom approaches, massive extensions to the fight between Freeza and Trunks.

Episode 274 - Heya!! It’s Been a While… Son Goku Returns (DBZ episode 121)
Dub title: Welcome Back Goku
Originally aired 18th of December 1991

Kai equivalent: Episode 56 - I’ll Defeat Freeza! Another Super Saiyan (Last half), Episode 57 - Welcome Back, Son Goku! The Confession of the Mysterious Boy, Trunks (First half)
Written by: Hiroshi Toda
Episode director: Mitsuo Hashimoto
Animation supervisor: Kazuhisa Takenōchi


The boy goes on to blast Freeza to pieces. Gohan and the others are astonished. King Cold steals the boy’s sword and swings it at him, but the boy stops him and shoots him through the chest. Finishing off King Cold as he begs for his life, the boy then destroys the spaceship. He invites Gohan and the others, who have been watching all this, to come meet Goku. Vegeta criticizes the boy, saying that he himself, Goku, and Gohan are the only three Saiyan, and that even though the boy is 17 he has no reputation. Goku’s capsule then lands, just as the boy said he would. Goku has returned!

Anime-only/filler content: King Cold begging for his life before Trunks kills him, general padding.

Episode 275 - My Dad is Vegeta… Confessions of the Mysterious Boy (DBZ episode 122)
Dub title: Mystery Revealed
Originally aired 8th of January 1992

Kai equivalent: Episode 57 - Welcome Back, Son Goku! The Confession of the Mysterious Boy, Trunks (Last half)
Written by: Takao Koyama
Episode director: Jun’ichi Fujise
Animation supervisor: Kazuhisa Takenōchi


Wanting to speak with Goku, the boy turns out to be Vegeta’s son, Trunks, who came from the future. He says that he came to warn them of two artificial humans who will appear in three years. After everyone died in that battle, Gohan survives and becomes Trunks’ master, but later he dies as well. Trunks came to give some special medicine to Goku, who dies of an illness before the battle. Goku is extremely surprised when he hears that the time machine Trunks rode was built by his mother Bulma. The boy then leaves, saying that he will come again in three years, and Piccolo tells everyone the warning, while still covering up the boy’s secret.

Anime-only/filler content: Primarily extensions to Trunks describing the Androids, describing them turning on their creator.

-

Interesting trivia:
  • At this point in time in the manga, the Androids fly off and begin drifting across the land but are challenged by Vegeta, he and 18 fight as the other fighters arrive, 18 breaks Vegeta's arm, and the other fighters engage and lose to 17, before the Androids depart and Piccolo leaves to fuse with God.
  • In the "final" revision of the Timeline, Cell arrives in Trunks' Time Machine in Age 763. Cell does this after murdering Trunks, who had defeated the Androids in his time (the Daizenshuu suggests this was by deactivating them, but there's no reason he couldn't have simply defeated them after getting strong with Goku and co. in his version of the familiar timeline). This means that Cell arrived the year before Freeza, King Cold and Goku arrived on Earth.
  • In Episode 118's first scene, we see Gohan's teacher attempt to whip him before insulting Goku in front of Chichi, who then chases him out. While filler, this is the first time Chichi has visibly cared about Goku since she learnt that he died to Raditz. (Though, admittedly it seems she only ends up really chasing him out after he insults Gohan's potential)
  • Episode 118 introduces the third version of the Cha-La Head Cha-La intro.
  • One of Ep 118's early scenes is Vegeta arriving back on Earth, a nessecary scene given the Garlic Jr. filler had him off in space looking for Goku (conveniently arriving the day Goku is forced to return). This introduces two interesting factors:
    • Vegeta conveniently arrives back on Earth the day both Goku AND Freeza show up.
    • He manages to do this without sensing Goku or Freeza's ki despite landing in the same rough location on Earth.
    • Vegeta now has a whole year's less time to get familiar with Bulma than he does in the manga, where he never left.
  • Amusingly, the manga depicts Vegeta sensing Freeza's ki in the middle of a BBQ. Yamucha is having a shish kebab, which is where KBABZ takes their name. As pointed out by Tenshinhan soon after, Vegeta and Yamucha are implied to be living together with Bulma at Capsule Corp.
  • King Cold's design is very similar to Freeza's "second" form, with a large muscular body and two enormous horns. Further, his cape is very similar to that of King Vegeta, who at this time was only an anime character.
  • Gohan is briefly seen grabbing the old Saiyan Armour from a box, implying Chichi let him keep it. It still fits him, but probably not as well as it used to given he's now almost two years older. Kuririn meanwhile doesn't use his, and neither does Vegeta (which is odd for the anime since he'd only just arrived!).
    • The Legacy of Goku II video game would add a wrinkle to Gohan retrieving the armour; Chichi didn't exactly approve, so he hid it in a box in a nearby cave.
    • On that note, the Legacy of Goku II also added a brief prologue portraying a few scenes from the Trunks special before it does Gohan's weird dream sequence.
  • In the manga, Gohan meets Kuririn and learns his perspective while flying to where Freeza will land. In the anime, this scene is done before Gohan even leaves by having Kuririn suddenly call Gohan.
  • The vehicle that Bulma arrives in is the same craft used by the Red Ribbon Army, only with two large wings on the sides.
  • Tenshinhan is rather surprised to learn that Vegeta is still on Earth and is indeed living with Yamucha at Capsule Corp. He has a grudge over Vegeta killing him, although this technically isn't true as both he and Chaozu died using suicidal attacks to try and defeat Nappa, before Vegeta even had to get involved.
  • In the anime, there's a small scene where Gohan and Kuririn reconvene with the rest of the Dragon Team before Freeza lands. In the manga, Freeza lands the moment Gohan and Kuririn touch down.
  • While it's initially unclear if Mecha Freeza is as powerful as he was at 100% Power on Namek, a small exchange between Gohan and Yamucha settles the matter: Gohan points out that he can get a lot stronger than this, meaning Mecha Freeza is more powerful than his Final Form but lower than 100% Power on Namek.
    • On that matter, it's unknown if Mecha Freeza can even go to 100% Power anymore: his expanding muscles would put a lot of strain on themselves and his cybernetics.
  • Fittingly, everything below Freeza's waist is now completely cybernetic, since he was vivisected there, as well as his left arm, the one which had its lower half sliced off. In an additional anime scene, only Freeza's top half is recovered, somehow surviving both Goku's final attack and the entire planet Namek blowing up.
  • Freeza's plan to eliminate all humans before Goku arrives is similar both to his primary business venture, and Raditz's demand for Goku to prove his worth.
  • Trunks' arrival onto the scene is the first point that the Timelines start diverging (though at this point, Cell's larvae has already arrived, creating an earlier divergence in this timeline). Technically speaking, Trunks' "Bad Future" Timeline is the original timeline, since its events transpired without any time travel intervention whatsoever. The timeline that we see play out in front of us on the page/screen was created by a combination of Cell's larvae arriving, and Future Trunks going back in time and changing things, and is called the Familiar Timeline by KBABZ/Robo for convenience.
  • As revealed later, Trunks only intervenes to fight Freeza because Goku hadn't appeared yet, except Goku had Instant Transmission and didn't warp down because Trunks showed up. This implies that neither Gohan nor Bulma ever learnt about the technique or they forgot to tell Trunks about it, which is odd given it would have been instrumental in his defeat of Freeza and King Cold in the Original Timeline.
  • Trunks' clothing alludes to his parentage, given his shoe design as well as the Capsule Corp. badge on his vest. Interestingly, the Full Colour manga colours the logo black and red rather than black and white in the anime.
  • The last Battle Power reading in the manga/anime timeline is 5, given by the aquatic Freeza Soldier when scanning Trunks. This is the same number that Raditz got when scanning the shotgun farmer, which was the very FIRST reading given!
    • The very first Battle Power reading was in chapter 195, the very last was in chapter 331. This means that Battle Powers were only ever relevant in 137 out of 519 chapters of Dragon Ball. Even if you only count the portion adapted by the "Z" anime (195-519) this is still less than half of that period.
  • Kuririn notes that a huge Battle Power (Trunks') suddenly spiked up, while none of the soldier's Scouters reacted. Presumably Trunks is using a similar technique to Goku when fighting the Ginyu Force, where it changes so fast that the Scouters don't detect a change at all.
  • Team Faulconer originally composed a very heroic-sounding theme for Freeza's defeat in the original Funimation dub, however they decided to replace it with a more mysterious theme after realising it would be best to keep his alignment ambiguous at first. Never let it be said Team Faulconer were lazy or didn't care about the show.
  • Trunks' defeat of Freeza inverse of Goku's: for Goku, he forces Freeza down to the ground where he's then cut horizontally. For Trunks, he forces Freeza up into the air before cutting him vertically.
  • In the anime, the scene of Trunks defeating Freeza marks both the beginning and the end of Kenji Yamamoto's career as a musical composer in Dragon Ball (although he did also work as an arranger on Cha-La Head Cha-La and We Gotta Power among other things).
    • In 1991, the scene is underscored by the song Battle Point Unlimited, which bears strong similarities to various pieces of Propaganda's "A Secret Wish" album, primarily The Murder of Love, p:Machinery and The Chase, though pieces of Jewel and Dr. Mabuse were also used. While Yamamoto had always had similarities in his music, Battle Point Unlimited stood out for being so unlike his previous works, and his penchant for close copies would continue into his work on DBZ video games.
    • In 2010, the scene would air as part of Dragon Ball Kai, with Yamamoto providing the full score. His score for the Android Arc is alleged to be plagiarised from the scores for Terminator: Salvation and Elizabeth: The Golden Age, but the song in the vivisection scene, The Ebb and the Flow, is generally considered a copy of the track "War" from James Cameron's Avatar. The tracks in Kai were so close to these other songs that Toei gave Kai a full replacement score using Kikuchi's Z score (when the episode aired in the US, the score was the same except for that one track, which was replaced with a different Yamamoto piece). As well, newer copies of Raging Blast 2 on PS3 had its score replaced with the Kikuchi covers from Budokai Tenkaichi 2; the Budokai HD collection on PS3 and 360 also featured fully replaced scores. This video breaks down a lot of the issue quite well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8DalpxPCX4
    • While the replacement score does use Kikuchi's music, it doesn't attempt to recreate the original placement from Z. Instead Toei replaced Yamamoto's tracks with similar-sounding ones from Kikuchi, and avoided any tracks using the Head Cha La theme, meaning the Freeza and Android Arcs still suffer the problem of repetitive music. They also restricted their selections to only tracks which were immediately available in stereo, shrinking the variety of tracks even further.
    • In classic Toei fashion, Episode 120 is titled "Freeza Halved By a Single Blow!! Another Super Saiyan", and while Trunks does go Super Saiyan early on, he doesn't slice Freeza until the very last shot of the episode.
      • Kai manages to fix this issue as the combined episode resumes from Episode 121's content, but introduces another issue: Episode 120 was animated by Katsuyoshi Makatsuru, one of the anime's best animators, while 121 was done by Yukio Ebisawa, aka "Triangle Guy". While this sort of thing happens a lot in Kai, this particular switch is one of the most obvious.
    • While Freeza had a penchant for losing his tail in battle, when King Cold dies his tail is the only thing that remains.
    • Vegeta appears to recognise that Trunks has become a Super Saiyan, despite never having seen the form before in the manga. He possibly deduced it purely on Trunks' huge ki increase, and in the manga he wouldn't see Goku do it until he demonstrates it for Trunks.
    • The earliest sign that Trunks is from the future is his minifridge: Bulma recognises it as a Capsule Corp. product, but didn't know that the company makes it. The fridge also implies that they can still make beverages in the future; Trunks likely brought it along to use while waiting for Freeza to show up.
    • In the manga, after Piccolo mentions that he still trains fiercly, Bulma leans to Kuririn and says that Vegeta disappears all day, probably to train. This line doesn't work in the anime since the first episode of the arc established that Vegeta didn't return to Earth until earlier that day.
    • Trunks notably takes interest in Bulma and Vegeta, his parents, but not Gohan, his mentor. This is because Gohan being his mentor wouldn't be established until Trunks: The Story (and its loose anime adaptation), which wouldn't be written for another year and a half.
    • Vegeta clarifying the three living Saiyans is the only time he says Goku's given name in the manga. In this case, it's to clarify that it's the same person as Kakarot.
    • The title page of Chapter 334 is Bulma driving a Fiat Abarth 850/1000TC. This is the same vehicle that she, Oolong and Goku were driving as they approached Mount Frypan way back in the Pilaf Arc.
    • This point is where Trunks reveals his name, while talking to Goku. While he won't reveal who his mother is until the next Chapter, the name is a MASSIVE hint to her identity, given that Bulma and Dr. Briefs started the name pun.
    • Goku's opinion that he was too soft on Freeza is starkly contrasted by his behaviour in Super, where he's considerably more lenient on him.
    • While the name Instant Transmission is well-known, the ViZ manga goes for the much more straight-forward name of Teleportation. Instant Transmission is actually a more literal translation, though the Westwood Media dub's version, Instant Translocation, is slightly closer; the original Japanese prase is Instantaneous Movement, which is how teleportation is translated in Japanese for science fiction works.
    • In the manga, when Goku raises his finger it gets a dedicated panel showing it gain an aura, meaning Goku is powering up only his finger to deflect Trunks' sword. This is the first time someone has powered up a specific part of their body.
    • The broad strokes of Trunks' backstory and goal is quite similar to the premise of the Terminator films: a heroic figure born in a dystopian future caused by rampaging mechanical beings travels back in time to prevent it from happening. Interestingly, Terminator 2: Judgement Day premiered less than a month before Chapter 335 revealed this backstory; while the connection has never been confirmed, it's possible that it and the first film inspired Toriyama to include similar concepts.
    • And now we come to the topic of terminology. In the original Japanese, the characters of 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 are called "jinzo-ningen", which Steve Simmons translates somewhat clunkily but entirely faithfully as "artificial human" (though the word "human" is a loose approximation. "Person" would also work, but would be even clunkier). Funimation rendered this as Android, while other places translate it to Cyborg. Neither term fully works: Androids are are 100% robotic and only encompass Eighter, 16 and 19, while Cyborgs are part robot and part human and only cover 17, 18 and 20. Neither term covers Cell, who is 100% biological but stil artificial, and the ViZ manga throws in the third "mechanical men" on top of the other two, which has issues all its own.
      • For our part, we'll keep referring to the numbered characters as Androids for simplicity's sake, and Cell as Cell since he's rarely referred to as an Android in the English fandom anyway.
    • The introduction of Dr. Gero is fine for the manga, but for the anime it creates a plot-hole: 4 1/2 years earlier the anime introduced Dr. Frappe as the creator of Android #8 in Episode 42. The Daizenshuu postulates that they collaborated for Eighter, but in typical fashion fails to provide a commited answer.
      • Dr. Gero also presents another problem: Pronunciation. As far as we're aware, no English version has ever correctly pronounced his name, with a hard G.
    • Even in the original manga, Goku has a certain familiarity with Dr. Gero, even though he never knew anyone in the Red Ribbon Army (aside from Silver, Blue, White and Black).
    • A critical plot hole made in the manga is that Trunks mentions the two Androids by name as 19 and 20. This will become a plot hole later when Trunks reveals that 19 and 20 weren't the Androids they were supposed to be fighting, and it was instead 17 and 18. The anime however was able to head this issue off early: Trunks' line vaguely mentions just a pair of Androids, and never mentions their name. This correction is carried over into Kai, but has never been corrected in either the Japanese or English versions of the manga, even the Kanzenban which went out of its way to correct such plot holes.
    • Considering the above, it's long been a point of discussion to postulate how exactly Gohan survived fighting the Androids whilst simultaneously not knowing they're not 19 and 20. KBABZ's theory is that the Dragon Team arrived after 17 and 18 killed 19 and 20, and thus Gohan never learnt the truth.
    • In the anime dub of Kai, Trunks says that Bulma got fed up of Yamucha "playing the field". The ViZ translation goes with "not always faithful", which paints him in a much poorer light as a cheater.
    • Trunks also emphasizes that Goku shouldn't mention his parentage at all, in case things get weird and he isn't born. Trunks is assuming time travel works like in Back to the Future, where there's only ever one timeline and changing things the past will have a ripple effect into the future. As it turns out, it operates on multiverse theory, where altering the past creates a branch timeline that operates independantly. There was no way for Trunks to know this of course, which means the fact that he bothered to warn Goku makes him a very responsible time traveller!
    • In the ViZ manga, Bulma finds the idea of a time machine ridiculous, while in the Kai dub, she expresses a bit of interest in one.
    Episode summaries, airdates, and titles courtesy of Kanzenshuu's episode guide. Filler breakdowns and Dragon Ball logo provided, and trivia primarily written, by KBABZ.
Last edited by Robo4900 on Wed Mar 24, 2021 2:20 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Dragon Ball Rewatch, Week 63 - DBZ 118-122 (CURRENT WEEK)

Post by MasenkoHA » Wed Mar 17, 2021 9:20 pm

Just want to point out Hachan/Eighter is likely a cyborg too since General White said they brought him back from the dead. Implying he was a human who died and was resurrected by the RRA vis cybernetics. I don’t know if this was in the manga or not so it might be only the anime that suggest he was once human.


So now that we’ve started the Artificial Human/Cell arc I will say while its not my favorite arc I do have a soft spot for this arc since its the only arc I saw from start to finish on Toonami when Dragon Ball Z first aired in the US.

Gotta love that classic Toriyama subversion here. Freeza’s back more powerful than before with a cybernetic upgrade and his dad is with him and his dad has to be at least as strong as him ...maybe even stronger. And Goku is still MIA what are our heroes gonna do? Oh this new stranger shows up and destroys them in 5 minutes.

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Re: Dragon Ball Rewatch, Week 63 - DBZ 118-122 (CURRENT WEEK)

Post by MyVisionity » Wed Mar 17, 2021 11:18 pm

A jinzouningen typically refers to a robot or android in Japanese, and doesn't normally include cyborgs from what I understand. My guess is that Toriyama didn't particularly care enough about the distinction, and also wanted to continue with the numbering system from the Red Ribbon arc without any trouble. Cell works because he fits the more literal "artificial human/person" definition of Jinzoningen, given that he was man-made from scratch, which I've seen used for similar creatures in other anime.

As for the Steve Simmons translation, while I'd like to think he was attempting to find a more inclusive term with "Artificial Human", it seems more likely to me that he was just doing his usual kind of excessive style of translating such as with "Instantaneous Movement"(shunkan'idou/Teleportation), "Demon Clan"(mazoku/Demons), etc.


I think that the filler scenes do a decent job of showing why Bulma and Vegeta are such a good match for each other. As for Yamcha, I don't buy that he was necessarily a "playboy" type, but I do believe that Bulma would create that story in her head and tell it to Trunks.

Trunks' identity isn't exactly shocking given everything we see and hear about him prior to the reveal. The hair color thing still annoys me though.

Episode 120 was one of the first episodes that I ever downloaded. "Battle Point Unlimited" was a great touch and makes it all the more memorable.

I still remember that weird techno track starting up randomly during the King Cold/Trunks face off, and find it amusing compared to the original Japanese.

I feel like we should have the technology to do the capsule mini-fridge by now, but I guess not...

I like the whole time travel plot and appreciate how creative it is, but I wonder if it all wasn't just the signs of Toriyama running out of ideas. I mean there's the whole Terminator ripping, the return to the Red Ribbon storyline, more Super Saiyans, a villain who is actually all the old villains combined, and so on.

Amusingly, the manga depicts Vegeta sensing Freeza's ki in the middle of a BBQ. Yamucha is having a shish kebab, which is where KBABZ takes their name.
Totally never got this... So that really is a thing "down under"? :think:
Last edited by MyVisionity on Wed Mar 17, 2021 11:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Dragon Ball Rewatch, Week 63 - DBZ 118-122 (CURRENT WEEK)

Post by SuperSaiyaManZ94 » Wed Mar 17, 2021 11:27 pm

Wow, that tutor man in ep 118 is an asshole because i get the feeling that he takes sadistic pleasure in pummeling kids he's overseeing in studies and takes things too far. Then this guy has the nerve to diss a father who isn't presently there right in front of his son, and even though Chi-Chi is a rather mishandled character at times it is particularly here as the jerk had it coming for badmouthing Goku where she could hear so we see the other side of her which isn't "annoying nag" and shows her devotion to her family. Love it when she grabs and throws him out the window with all the might of a pissed off mother and wife.

The scene where Gohan has the dream in which Goku seemingly returns (With those weird as hell colors, good lord!!!) and grabs onto him then makes that terrifying face before morphing into Freeza is total nightmare fuel to the max. God that part makes my skin crawl every time, same as with the scene in the Car Acrobat Team three parter in Speed Racer/Mach Go Go Go where Trixie has the bad dream in which she thinks she sees Speed in some barren place (Which i think was intended to be Hell, who knows) but instead it's a blue skinned Satanic looking creature with flames on his arms before she comes to.

Now we come to Trunks' arrival, and boy Battle Point Unlimited really makes the scene where he slices Freeza such a moment of epicness.
DB collection related goals as of now:

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Re: Dragon Ball Rewatch, Week 63 - DBZ 118-122 (CURRENT WEEK)

Post by KBABZ » Wed Mar 17, 2021 11:47 pm

MasenkoHA wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 9:20 pm Just want to point out Hachan/Eighter is likely a cyborg too since General White said they brought him back from the dead. Implying he was a human who died and was resurrected by the RRA vis cybernetics. I don’t know if this was in the manga or not so it might be only the anime that suggest he was once human.
That actually makes a lot of sense! He IS based on Frankenstein after all!
MasenkoHA wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 9:20 pm Gotta love that classic Toriyama subversion here. Freeza’s back more powerful than before with a cybernetic upgrade and his dad is with him and his dad has to be at least as strong as him ...maybe even stronger. And Goku is still MIA what are our heroes gonna do? Oh this new stranger shows up and destroys them in 5 minutes.
It's wonderfully used as well because Trunks soon after tells Goku that there's a threat that he can't beat, and Trunks gets rather angry and upset that there's nothing he can do about it. I love Goku's response in Kai too: "Well you defeated Frieza like it was nothing. If these Androids are as terrible as you say they are, then I'm sure they must be".

Overall I really enjoy Goku's conversation with Trunks, especially when he learns about the Androuds. While Trunks of course points out that the part that upsets him the most is that he doesn't get a chance to test his might, the fact that Goku's gut reaction to the Androids is one of worry and concern shows that he DOES care about somebody showing up and killing people.
Last edited by KBABZ on Thu Mar 18, 2021 12:06 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Dragon Ball Rewatch, Week 63 - DBZ 118-122 (CURRENT WEEK)

Post by MyVisionity » Wed Mar 17, 2021 11:50 pm

SuperSaiyaManZ94 wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 11:27 pm Wow, that tutor man in ep 118 is an asshole because i get the feeling that he takes sadistic pleasure in pummeling kids he's overseeing in studies and takes things too far. Then this guy has the nerve to diss a father who isn't presently there right in front of his son, and even though Chi-Chi is a rather mishandled character at times it is particularly here as the jerk had it coming for badmouthing Goku where she could hear so we see the other side of her which isn't "annoying nag" and shows her devotion to her family. Love it when she grabs and throws him out the window with all the might of a pissed off mother and wife.

The scene where Gohan has the dream in which Goku seemingly returns (With those weird as hell colors, good lord!!!) and grabs onto him then makes that terrifying face before morphing into Freeza is total nightmare fuel to the max.
Yeah I appreciate what an asshole that tutor was and how far he pushed Gohan. It makes the audience take notice of what could just as well be a forgettable character. The whip was a nice touch.

The dream sequence works well especially with the theme music playing in the background and then phasing out before the reveal.

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Re: Dragon Ball Rewatch, Week 63 - DBZ 118-122 (CURRENT WEEK)

Post by KBABZ » Thu Mar 18, 2021 12:58 am

I realized I missed a bunch of important Trivia! Here's what I got:
  • Episode 118 introduces the third version of the Cha-La Head Cha-La intro. This revision replaces the fiery Saiyans, Tenshinhan and Yamcha's attack shots with Dr. Gero's eyes and Super Saiyan Vegeta and Trunks attacking. The end card has also been updated with more characters such as Trunks, Vegeta and Piccolo who are now firmly a part of the cast. Despite this however the intro is still horribly out of date thanks to including many Kid Gohan shots, and the shot of Vegeta in Super Saiyan form spoils that Vegeta's able to do it for those who hadn't read the manga.
    • The final group shot is also famous for being the shot that ends Funimation's intros. This is spoilery as well because Goku notably turns Super Saiyan, Piccolo and Vegeta are in the cast, and there's a mysterious boy who looks towards Vegeta that doesn't appear for 118 episodes.
  • As Gohan and Krillin approach the landing site, Gohan notes that there's another ki just like Frieza's. In the anime this is changed to be a stronger ki, implying that King Cold is stronger than Mecha Frieza.
  • As detailed in Kanzenshuu's Video Game Rumor Guide, a new Full Armor Mecha Frieza was included for the PS2 home release for Super Dragon Ball Z in 2006, sporting a huge ki cannon, a blockier tail, and new details on his waist. It was long-believed that these additions were designed by Akira Toriyama, however Kanzenshuu's research found absolutely no evidence of this, even in print magazines where such a thing would have been heavily promoted.
  • Trunks' hair colour is an interesting insight into Dragon Ball designs because, despite being the son of Bulma, his hair is lavender, not mint green like his mother's. This is because in the anime, Bulma was still using the mint green colour that Toei gave her in the first episodes of Dragon Ball, while Toriyama never settled on a definite colour for her hair considering how rare his ink-coloured Chapters were, and how rare it was for Bulma to appear in one. Lavender tended to be the most common though, so when Trunks was introduced, that's the colour Toei gave him. In the Full Colour manga, Shueisha gave Bulma lavender hair.
    • And in case it wasn't confusing enough, for Dragon Ball Super Toei changed Bulma's hair colour to cyan, without changing the hair colour of Kid Trunks. Things got MORE baffling when Future Trunks re-appeared... with cyan hair.
  • In the manga, Mecha Frieza appears on 22 pages. By comparison his Third Form appears on 25 pages.
  • Trunks' defeat of Frieza is reflective of his more pragmatic approach, a stark contrast to Goku's fight with him on Namek, as well as Vegeta overall and later Super Saiyan 2 Gohan against Perfect Cell.
  • When Goku turns Super Saiyan for Trunks in Funi's Kai, he has a noticeably lower, more stern voice. This idea would be re-used for when Goku turns Super Saiyan 3, and reflects the idea that the forms affect one's mood.

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SuperSaiyaManZ94
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Re: Dragon Ball Rewatch, Week 63 - DBZ 118-122 (CURRENT WEEK)

Post by SuperSaiyaManZ94 » Thu Mar 18, 2021 8:59 am

More stuff about Gohan's dream in ep 118:


- Chi-Chi's hair style seems to be a cross between the cut she had in the original DB series and Pan's in GT.


- Haiya Dragon makes a brief reappearance (I think his last in the series) though here colored a white hue rather than the lavender/purple pinkish one he's had in previous episodes and movies.


- Freeza's appearance at the end is an obvious hint of what was coming just a short while later, though of course he appears in full power form likely so as not to spoil the cybernetic form in the canon material.
DB collection related goals as of now:

1.) Find decent priced copy of Dragon Box Z Vol. 4 (Done)

2.) Collect rest of manga

3.) Get rest of Daizenshuu (2-7)

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Re: Dragon Ball Rewatch, Week 63 - DBZ 118-122 (CURRENT WEEK)

Post by MasenkoHA » Thu Mar 18, 2021 9:28 am

KBABZ wrote: Thu Mar 18, 2021 12:58 am
  • The final group shot is also famous for being the shot that ends Funimation's intros. This is spoilery as well because Goku notably turns Super Saiyan, Piccolo and Vegeta are in the cast, and there's a mysterious boy who looks towards Vegeta that doesn't appear for 118 episodes.
Gotta love that it took 3 years from when Funimation started to get to Super Saiyan Goku and 4 years to see Vegeta as a Super Saiyan and Trunks existing and its all being shown from the first episode That could not have helped the series feeling like it was on eternal repeats for the first 53 episodes
[*]As Gohan and Krillin approach the landing site, Gohan notes that there's another ki just like Frieza's. In the anime this is changed to be a stronger ki, implying that King Cold is stronger than Mecha Frieza.
It makes sense to me that King Cold would be stronger so I don’t mind this change.
[*]In the manga, Mecha Frieza appears on 22 pages. By comparison his Third Form appears on 25 pages.
Amazing that Mecha Freeza appeared in less pages than his least popular form.

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Re: Dragon Ball Rewatch, Week 63 - DBZ 118-122 (CURRENT WEEK)

Post by SuperSaiyaManZ94 » Thu Mar 18, 2021 9:48 am

MasenkoHA wrote: Thu Mar 18, 2021 9:28 am
KBABZ wrote: Thu Mar 18, 2021 12:58 am
  • The final group shot is also famous for being the shot that ends Funimation's intros. This is spoilery as well because Goku notably turns Super Saiyan, Piccolo and Vegeta are in the cast, and there's a mysterious boy who looks towards Vegeta that doesn't appear for 118 episodes.
Gotta love that it took 3 years from when Funimation started to get to Super Saiyan Goku and 4 years to see Vegeta as a Super Saiyan and Trunks existing and its all being shown from the first episode That could not have helped the series feeling like it was on eternal repeats for the first 53 episodes
[*]As Gohan and Krillin approach the landing site, Gohan notes that there's another ki just like Frieza's. In the anime this is changed to be a stronger ki, implying that King Cold is stronger than Mecha Frieza.
It makes sense to me that King Cold would be stronger so I don’t mind this change.
[*]In the manga, Mecha Frieza appears on 22 pages. By comparison his Third Form appears on 25 pages.
Amazing that Mecha Freeza appeared in less pages than his least popular form.
The top part is the thing i find the most funny about Rock the Dragon, the fact that they used the closing shot of Head-Cha La v.3 way back in 1996 when it would really take a good three/four years for FUNi to reach the point in the series where said things happen. I'll bet there were more than a few confused dub viewers at the time thinking "Who's that guy with the sword there?" and "Why is Goku and Vegeta's hair turning yellow?" given most wouldn't have seen the Japanese version at the time or read the manga given it didn't start being released over here until early 1998.
DB collection related goals as of now:

1.) Find decent priced copy of Dragon Box Z Vol. 4 (Done)

2.) Collect rest of manga

3.) Get rest of Daizenshuu (2-7)

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KBABZ
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Re: Dragon Ball Rewatch, Week 63 - DBZ 118-122 (CURRENT WEEK)

Post by KBABZ » Thu Mar 18, 2021 1:22 pm

SuperSaiyaManZ94 wrote: Thu Mar 18, 2021 8:59 am - Haiya Dragon makes a brief reappearance (I think his last in the series) though here colored a white hue rather than the lavender/purple pinkish one he's had in previous episodes and movies.
Nope! He'll re-appear once more in the Driving Episode, and a Not Haiya Dragon apparently appears in one of the Saiyaman episodes.
MasenkoHA wrote: Thu Mar 18, 2021 9:28 am Gotta love that it took 3 years from when Funimation started to get to Super Saiyan Goku and 4 years to see Vegeta as a Super Saiyan and Trunks existing and its all being shown from the first episode That could not have helped the series feeling like it was on eternal repeats for the first 53 episodes
I understand picking it though, it's a much stronger shot than the original one where they're just sorta standing around in the sky or something?
MasenkoHA wrote: Thu Mar 18, 2021 9:28 am Amazing that Mecha Freeza appeared in less pages than his least popular form.
Yeah I was really curious so I decided to do a direct comparison!

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