Dragon Ball Rewatch, Week 95 - DBZ 259-263

[Robo4900]

Hello, ladies, gentlemen, and everyone between and beyond, and welcome to week 95 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 caught a cold, and KBABZ was busy, so slightly late posting and I suggested it would be easier on us both if KBABZ posted the trivia without my usual corrections, name reconforming, and other tweaks. I also have elected to simplify the vital statistics this week to make my job as easy as possible.

Rest assured I expect we'll return to our usual format next week.

Previous thread: Week 94 (DBZ 254-258)
Next thread: Week 96 (DBZ 264-268)

Anyway, without further ado...

Episode 412 - I’ve Done It!! Boo Successfully Eliminated With Ghosts?! (DBZ episode 259)
Originally aired 8th of March 1995

Episode 413 - Escape From Another Dimension!! Super Gotenks 3 (DBZ episode 260)
Originally aired 15th of March 1995

Episode 414 - Going Too Far?! Boo-Boo Volleyball (DBZ episode 261)
Originally aired 22nd of March 1995

Episode 415 - Truly Great!! A Reborn Gohan Returns to Earth (DBZ episode 262)
Originally aired 26th of April 1995

Episode 416 - Boo is Overwhelmed!! Gohan’s Miracle Power (DBZ episode 263)
Originally aired 3rd of May 1995

-

Interesting trivia is in the below post by KBABZ this week.

Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to try to sleep off this cold.

Episode titles and airdates courtesy of Kanzenshuu's episode guide.

[KBABZ]

Ha-ha, now you get my raw, uncut Trivia notes!! Frieza > Freeza 4 LYFE!!!

• At this point in time in the manga, Boo warps to the Land of the Kais and Goku and Vegeta refuse to re-fuse, Goku begins the final big fight of Dragon Ball as Vegeta admits that Goku is Number One, Vegeta tags in to give Goku time to gather his strength, Pure Boo ejects Good Boo and the two fight some more, the Namekians reveal that they have their Dragon Balls and wish for the Earth to be restored and to revive those killed by Boo, Vegeta tries to convince the Earthlings to give their strength to the Genki-Dama, Mr. Satan is able to convince them, Goku is able to destroy Boo with it, and they return to the Lookout and reunite with their friends.
• Missed Trivia: The Boo Arc is the first arc since the Red Ribbon Army where the villain has no personal or historical connection to the existing cast (Roshi had the Mutaito connection to Daimao).
• Missed Trivia: The debut of Gotenks in the manga co-incided with Funimation's original thirteen episode run of Dragon Ball in 1995, with both events happening in the same week.
• As you can tell by our first entry, this week's series of episodes covers a whopping seven Chapters, thanks to two one-week hiatuses. This period is enough for the entire final fight with Boo to transpire in the manga, ending the same week the manga finishes up the Boo Arc before it moves to "End of Z".
• Considering the manga was going to end soon, it may come as no surprise that the anime started taking a lot of weeks off starting from now, with no less than seven weeks either filled with mostly filler or having no episode shown at all. This time was likely spent finishing up Movie 13 before starting up production on Dragon Ball GT.
• When the Ghost-tenks huddle around and pretend to look at something to lure Boo in, one of them speculates that it could be poop, a reference to Dr. Slump's brand of humor (and that Arale would often bend over and poke piles of poop).
• Old Kai finally gives us a name to the dimension the Room of Spirit and Time goes to: the Dimension of Time.
• After Piccolo blows up the door to the Time Chamber, Boo desperately asks if they have any food. In the Funi dub of The Final Chapters, this is revised slightly to candy, possibly to work around the fact that the Time Chamber typically is stocked with enough food to last a whole year.
• A grammatical error exists in the ViZ translation, where Piccolo says "He blow a hole through the dimensional barrier".
• The fact that Boo can open up a wormhole to another dimension by shouting means that he is the first villain who is a threat to multiple universes, with interesting implications for the other six Universes introduced in modern Dragon Ball media.
• The crystal ball that Old Kai makes is similar to the one used by Urunai Baba, which makes sense considering they both have strong connections to Other World.
• The sequence of Boo killing all the humans at the Lookout is not depicted in the manga, making it anime-only. It plays out like a slasher movie, with Boo turning even baby Marron into chocolate and eating her. It's also important because it means that Dende's survival thanks to Mr. Popo also occurs entirely off-screen, and isn't told to the reader until Gohan enters the fray.
• Gotenks noting that he looks like Piccolo while Super Saiyan 3 is apt, since the form gives Saiyans pronounced brows like Piccolo has always been depicted with.
• One tiny panel in the manga is the first and only time we get a cross-section of the Lookout. Counting the main platform, it appears to have six floors (seven if you count the upper sections of the buildings, like where Goten and Trunks were sleeping when Super Boo showed up). In GT, the interior of the Lookout appears much vaster when Goku and Oob are sparring there.
• Gotenk's improvised volleyball move is very similar to Tien's "Volleyball Play" technique, but has fewer strikes and literally encases the opponent into a ball, rather than treating the opponent as a volleyball as with Tien's move.
• As can be expected, Gotenk's volleyball move is one of his special attacks in Dragon Ball FighterZ. If Piccolo is in the player's party, he also participates in the move, and questions if he was really necessary immediately afterwards just like in the manga.
• The wide shots of the crater after Gotenk's volleyball attack is the final time the main shaft of Korin's Tower is depicted in the manga.
• This initial scene is also the first time the Land of Korin has been shown in the manga since Yajirobe took Goku there during the Daimao Arc, and is the third time a fight has been depicted there since the Tao Pai-Pai rematch.
• Piccolo chastizes Gotenks for firing at the Earth, saying that he could destroy it and the Dragon Balls. Considering Piccolo has Kami's knowledge, this pretty much confirms that the Dragon Balls can in fact be destroyed, although the threshold of power needed for this is unknown (this scene suggests that you need to do something comparable to blowing up a planet to be able to do this).
• In the scene where Piccolo explains why Boo is infuriated, Gotenk's nose becomes pointy as he says he's the strongest being in the universe. Like when Goku complimented Boo, this is a reference to Tengu, who are known for having extremely long noses and being extremely prideful. In several video games, including Dragon Ball Z Legends, this shot is used as Gotenk's victory pose.
• As Boo continues to fight Gotenks, he punches him into a city. Considering how isolated the Land of Korin is, the fight has already traveled a considerable distance!
• Old Kai and Gotenks share the same sense of humor, considering they intentionally delay saving the day because it'd be more dramatic that way. Gotenks delays showing Super Saiyan 3, while Old Kai doesn't tell anyone his powering up of Gohan is finished for five minutes.
• As shown in the manga, "Mystical Gohan" is something that Gohan has to intentionally activate, just like with Super Saiyan. Old Kai explains that Super Saiyan and other physical transformations are ultimately "just showbiz", meaning that core Battle Power is ultimately more meaningful than increasingly stressful transformations.
• For all the "Goku is a terrible father" people, Goku gives Gohan a hug before he leaves for Earth.
• When Gohan asks Kibito to give him his father's gi, Kibito notes that it was the same colour as Porporian Frog Dung, to which Gohan states it was just "Golden Yellow". This is the second time Gohan has described Goku's gi as this colour over the more familiar orange, after he did so to Videl back at the Tournament preliminaries.
• It's also notable that Gohan chooses to take on his father's gi. This means that for both of his big fights against an Arc Villain, Gohan has fought in the clothes of both of his father figures (although Piccolo arguably wins out beause Gohan wore his clothing in both the Saiyan and Namek Arcs, where he also fought their big villains).
• In the manga, Gotenk's defusing back into Goten and Trunks happens off-screen.
• When Piccolo first senses Gohan, he speculates that it may be another villain. This isn't entirely unprecedented considering how Cell muscled his way in during the Android Arc.
• In the manga, Piccolo notes that Gohan's features are slightly different. This is ironic considering most fans feel that Gohan's fight with Boo is when Toriyama's artwork hit its zenith.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Loved the Mystic Gohan stuff. It was neat to see Gohan have his own unique form that was consistent with his character arc, as he was always the one with the "mysterious powers".

Gotenks vs Super Boo was also good for the gags It was at this point you felt Toriyama getting back to his roots.

Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to try to sleep off this cold.

Hope you feel better soon man. Definitely best to take it easy with the winter coming, especially for us at the more northern side of Europe.

[MasenkoHA]

[*]Missed Trivia: The debut of Gotenks in the manga co-incided with Funimation's original thirteen episode run of Dragon Ball in 1995, with both events happening in the same week.

Am I missing something?

Gotenks debuted in the manga on July 26 1994

https://www.kanzenshuu.com/manga/chp-480/

Secret of the Dragon Ball and Curse of the Blood Rubies premiered Sept 9, 1995

https://dragonball.fandom.com/wiki/The_ ... agon_Balls

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0142251/rele ... tt_dt_rdat

[KBABZ]

[*]Missed Trivia: The debut of Gotenks in the manga co-incided with Funimation's original thirteen episode run of Dragon Ball in 1995, with both events happening in the same week.

Am I missing something?

Gotenks debuted in the manga on July 26 1994

https://www.kanzenshuu.com/manga/chp-480/

Secret of the Dragon Ball and Curse of the Blood Rubies premiered Sept 9, 1995

https://dragonball.fandom.com/wiki/The_ ... agon_Balls

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0142251/rele ... tt_dt_rdat

Their dub of the first thirteen episodes, I said!

[Demon Prince Piccolo]

Goku giving Gohan a hug and Gohan choosing Goku's gi are two things the "Goku is a terrible father" crowd conveniently never brings up. Regardless of how the fight ends up, Mystic Gohan's entrance into the fray (and the reaction from Piccolo especially, who remembers how timid Gohan used to be) is one of the seminal Dragon Ball moments of my childhood. I've watched the original Funi scene, Funi w/Japanese score, and English Kai, but never the original subbed scene. I'm early in my re-watch/first time sub watch, so I'll get there eventually.

[Koitsukai]

I can never get enough of KBABZ's trivia.

Gotenks is so fun to watch, and also nobody had put Buu through so much trouble before.

About Goku's fathering skills, was it only in the anime that he hugged Goten when he came back to Earth? or was it just when GT's ending went over that scene?

[Demon Prince Piccolo]

I can never get enough of KBABZ's trivia.

Gotenks is so fun to watch, and also nobody had put Buu through so much trouble before.

About Goku's fathering skills, was it only in the anime that he hugged Goten when he came back to Earth? or was it just when GT's ending went over that scene?

Yes, I'm pretty sure Goku meeting Goten/hugging him was just in the anime.

[KBABZ]

I can never get enough of KBABZ's trivia.

Thanks!

About Goku's fathering skills, was it only in the anime that he hugged Goten when he came back to Earth? or was it just when GT's ending went over that scene?

It was anime-only. As I've noted a couple of times now, there are many moments in the Buu Arc that feel like they SHOULD have been in the manga, but actually weren't. Things like Videl's ki training, Goku meeting Goten, Trunks searching for the Dragon Radar, Boo killing everyone at the Lookout, Gotenks defusing during their fight with Super Boo, and so-on. It's kinda bizarre and it gives the impression that Toriyama was getting kinda impatient and wanted to move on to the good stuff.

[ZeroIsOurHero]

It was anime-only. As I've noted a couple of times now, there are many moments in the Buu Arc that feel like they SHOULD have been in the manga, but actually weren't. Things like Videl's ki training, Goku meeting Goten, Trunks searching for the Dragon Radar, Boo killing everyone at the Lookout, Gotenks defusing during their fight with Super Boo, and so-on. It's kinda bizarre and it gives the impression that Toriyama was getting kinda impatient and wanted to move on to the good stuff.

Yeah, the Buu saga has some of the most well-integrated filler scenes in the series, many of which even improve the story. I understand why Toei kept a lot more filler in for Kai's take on that arc.

[KBABZ]

It was anime-only. As I've noted a couple of times now, there are many moments in the Buu Arc that feel like they SHOULD have been in the manga, but actually weren't. Things like Videl's ki training, Goku meeting Goten, Trunks searching for the Dragon Radar, Boo killing everyone at the Lookout, Gotenks defusing during their fight with Super Boo, and so-on. It's kinda bizarre and it gives the impression that Toriyama was getting kinda impatient and wanted to move on to the good stuff.

Yeah, the Buu saga has some of the most well-integrated filler scenes in the series, many of which even improve the story. I understand why Toei kept a lot more filler in for Kai's take on that arc.

To a certain extent. I haven't watched them back-to-back or anything but from what I understand they kept a majority of the filler to get to a designated episode count, meaning things like "Happy Ghost Dabura in Heaven with Videl and Chi-Chi looking for Gohan" and "Goku's always late" still made it in.

If I do ever get around to doing my own Kai pass on the Boo Arc, I'd certainly keep a lot of the scenes that feel strangely missing because they feel like basic storytelling beats that shouldn't be skipped over, regardless of if the manga actually included them or not.

[Demon Prince Piccolo]

Even the SSJ2 Goku vs Majin Vegeta fight is mostly filler in the anime, as in the manga it was a quick scuffle. I even think Vegeta's flashback sequences (which Kai cut) served a good purpose in Z.

[Koitsukai]

Happy Ghost Dabura is something I'd have liked it to be in the manga.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Even the SSJ2 Goku vs Majin Vegeta fight is mostly filler in the anime, as in the manga it was a quick scuffle. I even think Vegeta's flashback sequences (which Kai cut) served a good purpose in Z.

It's amazing to think what the anime cut that we've been accustomed to as fans who grew up with the anime. Everyone jokes about the whole "5 minutes on Namek" in Goku and Freeza's fight, but in the manga reading it in that length of time is doable as it's over pretty fast once Goku turns Super Saiyan. But yeah, Vegeta's flashbacks were good, and added a lot of meaning to his fight with Goku, which had been a long time coming by that point.

[ZeroIsOurHero]

To a certain extent. I haven't watched them back-to-back or anything but from what I understand they kept a majority of the filler to get to a designated episode count, meaning things like "Happy Ghost Dabura in Heaven with Videl and Chi-Chi looking for Gohan" and "Goku's always late" still made it in.

If I do ever get around to doing my own Kai pass on the Boo Arc, I'd certainly keep a lot of the scenes that feel strangely missing because they feel like basic storytelling beats that shouldn't be skipped over, regardless of if the manga actually included them or not.

I don't think that was the main reason. They were making it for international audiences, not to be broadcast on TV. When it did eventually get broadcast on Japanese TV to replace Toriko, they actually had to trim it down to 61 episodes to avoid postponing the show that was supposed to replace it. And cutting those filler scenes out would be incredibly easy, so I think they just wanted to keep them for whatever reason.

But I agree, if I was in charge of the recut I would go for more of a happy medium: keeping in filler that enhances the show, without keeping in as much as Toei did for Kai.

[MasenkoHA]

To a certain extent. I haven't watched them back-to-back or anything but from what I understand they kept a majority of the filler to get to a designated episode count, meaning things like "Happy Ghost Dabura in Heaven with Videl and Chi-Chi looking for Gohan" and "Goku's always late" still made it in.

If I do ever get around to doing my own Kai pass on the Boo Arc, I'd certainly keep a lot of the scenes that feel strangely missing because they feel like basic storytelling beats that shouldn't be skipped over, regardless of if the manga actually included them or not.

I don't think that was the main reason. They were making it for international audiences, not to be broadcast on TV. When it did eventually get broadcast on Japanese TV to replace Toriko, they actually had to trim it down to 61 episodes to avoid postponing the show that was supposed to replace it. And cutting those filler scenes out would be incredibly easy, so I think they just wanted to keep them for whatever reason.

But I agree, if I was in charge of the recut I would go for more of a happy medium: keeping in filler that enhances the show, without keeping in as much as Toei did for Kai.

I do wonder if there was some sort of agreement with their international licensees that they would provide them with over a years worth of “new episodes.” because yeah the 69 episodes wasn’t for Toei/Fuji Tv’s own scheduling they ended up having to remove 8 episodes worth of content to fit it in their broadcast schedule.

[Robo4900]

To a certain extent. I haven't watched them back-to-back or anything but from what I understand they kept a majority of the filler to get to a designated episode count, meaning things like "Happy Ghost Dabura in Heaven with Videl and Chi-Chi looking for Gohan" and "Goku's always late" still made it in.

If I do ever get around to doing my own Kai pass on the Boo Arc, I'd certainly keep a lot of the scenes that feel strangely missing because they feel like basic storytelling beats that shouldn't be skipped over, regardless of if the manga actually included them or not.

I don't think that was the main reason. They were making it for international audiences, not to be broadcast on TV. When it did eventually get broadcast on Japanese TV to replace Toriko, they actually had to trim it down to 61 episodes to avoid postponing the show that was supposed to replace it. And cutting those filler scenes out would be incredibly easy, so I think they just wanted to keep them for whatever reason.

But I agree, if I was in charge of the recut I would go for more of a happy medium: keeping in filler that enhances the show, without keeping in as much as Toei did for Kai.

I do wonder if there was some sort of agreement with their international licensees that they would provide them with over a years worth of “new episodes.” because yeah the 69 episodes wasn’t for Toei/Fuji Tv’s own scheduling they ended up having to remove 8 episodes worth of content to fit it in their broadcast schedule.

I suspect it was a balance they struck between cutting enough material for it to be worthwhile, while not putting so much work into the cutting that it would be prohibitively expensive to produce.

Then of course, when it came time to put it on Japanese TV, they got a bit more creative with the editing in the early run to accomodate the one-year run that was originally planned, then they stopped when that was ditched.

[KBABZ]

I know that for many shows, hitting 52 episodes is a big deal because that means networks can air one episode of your show a week for an entire year. So they DO work their way around schedules and milestones like that.