Hello, ladies, gentlemen, and everyone between and beyond, and welcome to week 89 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.
Sorry about the late posting today. Trivia wasn't ready until last night, and I've been busy.
Previous thread: Week 88 (DBZ 228-230, movie 11)
Next thread: Week 90 (DBZ 236-240)
Anyway, without further ado...
Episode 384 - The Seal is Broken! Out Comes the Vicious Majin Boo!! (DBZ episode 231)
Dub title: Magic Ball of Buu
Originally aired 29th of June 1994
International Kai equivalent: Episode 122 - The Countdown to Revival — Crush Bobbidi’s Ambitions! and Episode 123 - The Seal is Broken?! Gohan’s Kamehameha of Resistance
Japanese Kai equivalent: Episode 115 - The Countdown to Revival — Crush Bobbidi’s Ambitions! and Episode 116 - The Seal is Broken?! Gohan’s Kamehameha of Resistance
Written by: Hiroshi Toda
Episode director: Osamu Kasai
Animation supervisor: Kazuya Hisada
Gohan and Kaiōshin square off with Dabra and Babidi in front of the egg that Boo is sealed inside. The moment they are about to fight, Boo’s egg suddenly changes! Boo’s revival energy has filled from Goku and Vegeta’s battle. Meanwhile, Goku and Vegeta continue their fight. Goten and Trunks sense gigantic ki all throughout the world; with an uneasy feeling, they head for the biggest ki of all… Smoke then gushes from Boo’s egg with amazing force…
Anime-only/filler content: Mr. Satan giving an interview after his "defeat" of 18 in which he accidentally drops his towel, general extensions to Goku and Vegeta's fight, Trunks and Goten having an extra conversation while in flight.
Episode 385 - I Won’t Allow the Revival!! A Kamehameha of Resistance (DBZ episode 232)
Dub title: Buu is Hatched (Funimation) / Majin Buu Appears (Westwood)
Originally aired 6th of July 1994
International Kai equivalent: Episode 123 - The Seal is Broken?! Gohan’s Kamehameha of Resistance and Episode 124 - A Straight Line to Despair?! The Terror of Majin Boo
Japanese Kai equivalent: Episode 116 - The Seal is Broken?! Gohan’s Kamehameha of Resistance and Episode 117 - A Straight Line to Despair?! The Terror of Majin Boo
Written by: Hiroshi Toda
Episode director: Shigeyasu Yamauchi
Animation supervisor: Tadayoshi Yamamuro
As Boo is on the verge of reviving, Gohan fires a Kamehameha at his egg. As he continues to fire, Boo’s egg finally splits in half, but it turns out to be empty. While Kaiōshin is happy, Gohan senses an enormous ki. The smoke that came pouring out from the egg then gathers, and Boo is finally revived! While Boo doesn’t seem very strong, according to Kaiōshin, who saw Boo long ago, this is in fact the genuine article. In the midst of their battle, Goku and Vegeta also sense a large ki.
Anime-only/filler content: More padding of Goten and Trunks is mid flight, Mr. Satan trying to calm down a crowd after Goku's Kamehameha causes an earthquake, Gohan firing a few extra blasts at Boo's ball, all scenes of Goku and Vegeta fighting (they were still fighting at this point, but all the scenes of the fight in this episode are unique to the anime).
Episode 386 - A Straight Line to Despair?! The Grief of Kaiōshin (DBZ episode 233)
Dub title: The Losses Begin
Originally aired 13th of July 1994
International Kai equivalent: Episode 124 - A Straight Line to Despair?! The Terror of Majin Boo
Japanese Kai equivalent: Episode 117 - A Straight Line to Despair?! The Terror of Majin Boo
Written by: Shinobu Ōito
Episode director: Mitsuo Hashimoto
Animation supervisor: Masayuki Uchiyama
Babidi tells Boo that he is Boo’s master, but Boo won’t listen to him. However, angered when Dabra calls him an idiot, Boo defeats him. At that time, Goku senses Gohan, Kaiōshin, and Boo’s ki, and managing to persuade Vegeta, they head toward Boo. But Vegeta catches Goku off guard and knocks him unconscious, then heads there alone. Meanwhile, Gohan and Kaiōshin try to escape from Boo, but Boo catches up with them and knocks Gohan down…
Anime-only/filler content: Mr. Satan thinking back to the Cell Games before his interview, more of Goku and Vegeta fighting, Goku reverting to his base form when knocked out by Vegeta.
Episode 387 - The Terrifying Majin!! Gohan’s Approaching Fear of Death (DBZ episode 234)
Dub title: The Terror of Majin Buu (Westwood, Toonami US, and DVD singles) / The Terror of Mr. Buu (Remastered)
Originally aired 27th of July 1994
International Kai equivalent: Episode 124 - A Straight Line to Despair?! The Terror of Majin Boo and Episode 125 - Turn Into Candy! The Hungry Majin’s Eerie Power
Japanese Kai equivalent: Episode 117 - A Straight Line to Despair?! The Terror of Majin Boo and Episode 118 - Turn Into Candy! The Hungry Majin’s Eerie Power
Written by: Masashi Kubota
Episode director: Kazuhito Kikuchi
Animation supervisor: Keisuke Masunaga
Boo beats Kaiōshin up, unaffected by his counterattack, and blows Gohan away when he comes to Kaiōshin’s rescue. Babidi orders Boo to kill Kaiōshin, but at that moment Dabra pierces Boo with a spear! Meanwhile, Goten and Trunks arrive at Babidi’s spaceship, and Trunks accidentally breaks the stone Piccolo. Dabra tells Babidi that Boo would one day betray him, so he preemptively killed him. However, Boo isn’t dead…
Anime-only/filler content: Mr. Satan trying to fly.
Episode 388 - Gonna Eat’cha!! A Hungry Majin’s Supernatural Power (DBZ episode 235)
Dub title: Meal Time
Originally aired 3rd of August 1994
International Kai equivalent: Episode 125 - Turn Into Candy! The Hungry Majin’s Eerie Power and Episode 126 - Turn Into Candy! The Hungry Majin’s Eerie Power
Japanese Kai equivalent: Episode 118 - Turn Into Candy! The Hungry Majin’s Eerie Power and Episode 119 - Turn Into Candy! The Hungry Majin’s Eerie Power
Written by: Masashi Kubota
Episode director: Jun’ichi Fujise
Animation supervisor: Yūji Hakamada
With even Dabura’s attacks not damaging him, Boo turns Dabra into a cookie and eats him. Due to Dabra being destroyed, Kuririn returns to normal. Even Piccolo, who was broken by Trunks, safely regenerates since his head was left intact. Meanwhile, as Boo and Babidi are about to finish off Kaiōshin, Babidi’s spaceship explodes. Vegeta has reached Babidi and Boo.
Anime-only/filler content: Dabra battling Boo before being turned into a cookie, Vegeta taking a while to power up before fighting Boo.
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Interesting trivia:
- At this point in time in the manga, Goten and Trunks successfully fuse for the first time, Satan tries to assassinate Buu but accidentally befriends him instead, Boo befriends and loses Bee, and Buu starts to literally vent out his evil.
- Babidi says to Kaioshin that he can't kill him like he did his "daddy". As we noted last week, Toriyama later said that Babidi is a copy of Bibidi, however in Dragon Ball the relationship between copies and how they're referred to is muddled at best, as shown with Piccolo Daimao.
- The cover for Tankobodon #39 has Boo and Mr. Satan driving in a Mini Cooper, with Boo having forced himself through the roof. It's worth noting that by the time the Tankobon was published, Mr. Satan had befriended Boo, something that doesn't happen in the Tankobon itself.
- The next-episode previews at the end of Japanese Kai episodes 115-118 were abbreviated to make time for 15-second promotions inviting fans to submit a postcard, with ten random winners getting, depending on the promo, one of various different prizes. The full 30-second next-episode previews are included on the home video releases and later reairings.
- While we've not had the opportunity to verify this, Robo is fairly sure Z episod 232 is the first episode of the Westwood dub to have a title that differs from its counterpart in the Funimation dub.
- Majin Boo has several traits that link him to genies, including his pants and vest, his magic-based abilities, granting wishes (he cures a child's blindness), his name (Majin is typically used to refer to djinns, which are essentially genies, thus ViZ calling him Djinn-Boo), and that he emerges from a confined space as smoke before forming his body. The inside of his body is also much bigger on the inside, like the interior of a genie's lamp (unless you're Robin Williams). Appropriately, Goten and Trunks also assume Boo is a genie, which isn't too far off the mark.
- Upon Boo's reveal, Gohan says he expected him to be bigger, which is the same statement Kuririn made upon the reveal of Freeza's final form. Interestingly, the only villains in classic Dragon Ball material who could be considered larger than human-sized are King Cold, Broly, Hatchiyack, Janemba and Hildegarn.
- As expanded on much much much later on, Fat Boo was formed by Pure Boo absorbing South Kaioshin and then Grand Kaioshin, which is why he can be jolly and childlike before flipping to murderous intent.
- Notably, the climactic reveal of Boo is frequently intercut with more of Goku and Vegeta continuing to pointlessly fight each other. This is one moment that hammers home, moreso than many other Dragon Ball fights, the Goku VS Vegeta rematch is about Vegeta's personal character development rather than just being a fight for fighting's sake. Of course, if you do just look at it as fighting for fighting's sake, it may come off as quite disappointing, which is probably why so many see it as a big letdown after how epic Goku and Vegeta's first fight was.
- After punching Dabra across the field, Boo lands on one foot and says "Oob", his name backwards. We don't have to tell you the co-incidence here!
- Much like Goku demonstrated on Namek, Boo has the ability to suppress his ki and then skyrocket it exactly when he needs to, giving the illusion that he's weaker than he appears.
- It is WELL worth stating that Vegeta actually wins his fight against Goku, and it only happens thanks to his compassion that lets Goku lower his guard. Of course, neither consider it a proper conclusion to the battle, having agreed to put it off for later.
- One of the major reasons why Boo is so hard to defeat is his malleable body, which doesn't appear to have a normal body structure with bones. Instead it behaves more like bubblegum and can easily fill back grievous injuries, which is very appropriate given his love for turning other people into food.
- Similar to Reacoom on Namek, Gohan is defeated with little effort from his opponent and his ki reduced to an undetectable level, causing many characters to assume he's dead.
- Goten and Trunks have to come out of Super Saiyan before they can suppress their ki and hide. This suggests they find it difficult to do so in the Super Saiyan form, which makes sense considering it multiplies their base ki by a significant amount. Presumably Goku and Gohan find this easier as they mastered the form back in the Cell Arc.
- Z episode 234 is the first to use music from the second Broly movie.
- Episode 234 originally aired on Toonami US as "The Terror of Majin Buu", but starting from the Orange Brick DVDs, its title became "The Terror of Mr. Buu", which was likely an early work-in-progress title that was mistakenly reinstated for the Orange Bricks, since the website featured this title a little while before the episode aired. Like most issues introduced with the "Remastered" dub, Funimation has yet to correct this issue, even on the latest Blu-ray releases of the series.
- Vegeta apologizes to Goku after not sensing Gohan's ki and assuming he's dead. The last time Vegeta apologized was also in the context of Gohan, that time for failing to be of any help against Super Perfect Cell.
- Kai episode 119, in which Vegeta begins fighting Boo, is the first Kai episode to fall out of the top 10 animated series ratings in Japan, with a ratings share less than 4.2%.
- In the manga, when Vegeta knocks Goku out, he still remains in Super Saiyan form. In the anime Goku drops back down to his base form, which is a nice and logical detail. This may have been born out of a continuity issue introduced in the manga: when Goku wakes up, he's in his base form again.
- Piccolo appears to have regenerated himself in the space of seconds. However what actually happened is that Piccolo regenerated his body from his head, which leaves his old body parts lying on the rocks. Back in the 23rd Tournament, Piccolo's spare arm flat-out disappears after he tears it off.
- Piccolo's task of regenerating his entire body isn't actually as big a deal as it appears to be: when his statue falls over, only his arms, legs and cape appear to shatter. Regardless Trunks checking on his body intentionally obscures the sight of Piccolo's shattered body like a discretion shot, implying his entire body was in pieces.
- Piccolo explains to Trunks that he can regenerate as long as his head is intact. We already knew he could heal himself and that this was passed onto Cell, but this finally provides an explanation for why Cell's regeneration works the specific way it does.
