Hello, ladies, gentlemen, and everyone between and beyond, and welcome to week 97 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.
A very Goku-lite week (sort of; Vegetto is different from Goku on his own
). To my memory, the last one in the entire rewatch.Previous thread: Week 96 (DBZ 264-268)
Next thread: Week 98 (DBZ 274-278)
Anyway, without further ado...
Episode 422 - Magnificent Power!! Vegetto Surpasses the Ultimate (DBZ episode 269)
Dub title: Meet Vegito
Originally aired 5th of July 1995
Written by: Masashi Kubota
Episode director: Kazuhito Kikuchi
Animation supervisor: Masayuki Uchiyama
After merging through the power of the Potara, Goku and Vegeta become the mightiest warrior, Vegetto. When Vegetto eggs him on, Boo gets angry and fires off an energy blast powerful enough to destroy the Earth. But Vegetto easily knocks it back and completely overwhelms Boo. While Boo continues to talk tough, Vegetto transforms with a golden flash and Super Vegetto is born. Majin Boo’s days are numbered.
Anime-only/filler content: Vegetto fighting Boo in his base form, general extensions to that fight, the scene with Chichi, Bulma, Videl, and Dabra in heaven.
Episode 423 - A Fissure Between Dimensions!! Has Boo Snapped?! (DBZ episode 270)
Dub title: Rip in the Universe
Originally aired 12th of July 199
Written by: Masashi Kubota
Episode director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Animation supervisor: Yukio Ebisawa
Boo is blown to bits by Vegetto’s Big Bang Attack, and though he regenerates, the damage is great. When even his cloud of smoke doesn’t work, Boo panics and turns his body to liquid, then enters Vegetto’s body to threaten to destroy him from the inside. However, by manipulating his ki Vegetto manages to attack Boo inside his own body, turning the tables. Boo hastily retreats from out of Vegetto’s body. Boo is furious, and the space surrounding him begins to warp. Vegetto tells Boo to use that power to defeat him. Elder Kaiōshin feels uneasy about Vegetto’s arrogance.
Anime-only/filler content: Dende finding Mr. Satan, the scene with Kuririn and Yamucha on Grand Kaio's planet, general extensions to Vegetto and Boo's fight.
Episode 424 - The Ace Up Boo’s Sleeve!! You Become a Hard Candy (DBZ episode 271)
Dub title: Vegito... Downsized
Originally aired 19th of July 1995
Written by: Masashi Kubota
Episode director: Kazuhito Kikuchi
Animation supervisor: Shingo Ishikawa
Boo uses Gotenks’ technique, the Super Ghost Kamikaze Attack, to launch a Kamehameha and Makankōsappō combo attack. Vegetto teleports out of the way, and ridicules it as being a kid’s technique. With his attacks ineffective, Boo desperately plays his final card. He inches closer while taunting Vegetto. “Hey, do you like coffee candy?” Catching Vegetto off-guard, Boo magically transforms him into a coffee candy!!
Anime-only/filler content: Various scenes of people watching and/or commenting on the fight, more of the fight, more of the gang in heaven.
Episode 425 - A Hero is Lost?! Vegetto is Absorbed (DBZ episode 272)
Dub title: The Incredible Fighting Candy
Originally aired 26th of July 1995
Written by: Masashi Kubota
Episode director: Shigeyasu Yamauchi
Animation supervisor: Yūji Hakamada
Now that he’s been turned into a candy ball, Vegetto’s in big trouble… or so you’d think, but it turns out he’s still as strong as ever. Boo is beaten black and blue under the onslaught of the world’s strongest candy ball. He hastily turns Vegetto back to normal. Boo has already taken so much damage that his regeneration can’t keep up. Since Boo has no shot at victory, Vegetto tells him he’ll give him 10 seconds to say his prayers. As a last resort, Boo absorbs Vegetto with his severed tentacle, but this is all just part of Vegetto’s plan.
Anime-only/filler content: Kaio, Kuririn, and Yamucha talking, the flashback to Enma sending Vegeta back to earth.
Episode 426 - A Demonic Maze!! What is There Inside Boo’s Belly?! (DBZ episode 273)
Dub title: The Innards of Buu
Originally aired 2nd of August 1995
Written by: Masashi Kubota
Episode director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Animation supervisor: Masayuki Uchiyama
Boo absorbs Vegetto!! Satan is dumbfounded when Dende tells him it’s the end of the world. But Elder Kaiōshin has noticed something: Boo’s appearance hasn’t changed at all. It turns out that Vegetto put up a barrier right before being absorbed. Inside Boo’s body, Vegetto’s absorption breaks down, and Vegeta breaks his Potara. His pride won’t allow him to fuse with his arch-rival Goku again, even if it’s to fight Boo. As the two search for everyone who was absorbed, they are attacked by gastric fluid, slime, and giant worms.
Anime-only/filler content: Super Boo going on a celebratory rampage, Mr. Satan getting upset when Vegetto is eaten, Goku and Vegeta travelling through various obstacles in Boo's insides.
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Interesting trivia:
- At this point in time in the manga... just kidding, it was finished by this point!
- Missed Trivia: Boo has a very good memory, as he managed to remember how long half an hour is based on him waiting for Gotenks to appear by waiting at Piccolo's hourglass.
- Missed Trivia: On June 2nd 1995, the original voice actor for Kame Sen'nin, Kohei Miyauchi, died from abdominal varices. He was the first Japanese Dragon Ball voice actor who played a major character to pass away, and the only one to pass away while the anime was still in production. His last anime performance was in Dragon Ball Z Episode 260, where Boo escapes from the Room of Spirit and Time and turns the Dragon Ball Bystanders into candy in a filler scene. Despite this, his final Dragon Ball role is actually the PlayStation 1 game "Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22", which was released almost two months after his death. At the time of his passing, the anime was up to Goku going to Earth to fuse with Gohan, while the manga had already concluded a week or two beforehand.
- Kohei Miyauchi's other notable roles include Kami-Sama in Dr. Slump, Sir Topham Hatt in Thomas the Tank Engine, King Acorn in Sonic the Hedgehog, and Admiral Ozzel in The Empire Strikes back. He also had roles in Space Battleship Yamato III, First of the North Star, Seint Seiya, Sailor Moon and Ranma 1/2. He also played Victor Jurgen in Hideo Kojima's Policenauts, also released the July after his death.
- The name of Goku and Vegeta's Potara Fusion, Vegetto, is a combination of Vegeta and Kakarotto, Goku's Saiyan name in Japanese. In English, to preserve the fact that it's supposed to be a pun on the word "Carrot", Goku's Saiyan name is generally rendered as Kakarot, so for their translation ViZ opted to call this fusion Vegerot instead, which has proven some contentious in the fandom over the years.
- When introducing himself, Vegetto refers to himself as "us", suggesting that Goku and Vegeta are somewhat aware of themselves within Vegetto's consciousness. After this point however, refers to himself as "I".
- In the anime, Vegetto only goes Super Saiyan halfway through his fight with Boo. In the manga Vegetto uses the form almost immediately, giving him only a single panel for when he isn't using it.
- There's a small historical joke to this: Super Saiyan hair is yellow to avoid having to ink it in the manga. Due to Vegeta's upright hair, Vegetto's hair looks exactly like Goku's hair when Super Saiyan. Meaning that for one panel, the manga did ink Goku's Super Saiyan hair!
- Starting from Z episode 269, Maggie Blue O'Hara was replaced by France Perras in the role of Bulma in the Ocean dubs. Maggie Blue O'Hara had voiced Bulma in the 1994/1995 dub of DB movie 1 before being replaced by Lalainia Lindbjerg who voiced the character in Ocean's work until the Westwood dub of Z, where O'Hara resumed her old post. Only two of her castmates from the initial dub of DB movie 1 remained by this point in DBZ; Ted Cole as Yamucha, and Don Brown who originally voiced Pilaf but at this point in Z was voicing Kaio, Shen Long, and Kibito, among others.
- After punching him in the face, Goku notably points out that Boo gained a nose after he fused with Gotenks and Piccolo.
- As well, Boo's nose is quickly unbloodied two panels after the close-up showing it battered.
- After Boo's failed attempt to gain the upper hand by using a smokescreen, Vegetto critiques him for not realizing that he can feel the movement of his opponent when his vision is impaired. In the anime, this was the lesson Goku was taught during the Heavenly Training filler.
- As an indication of his skill and power, Vegetto is able to disintegrate Boo's tendril with a hand-based kiai alone.
- Amusingly, Boo feels the need to verbally call out the Super Ghost Kamikaze Attack for no reason, just like Gotenks did.
- Vegetto displays familiarity with the Super Ghosts. This shouldn't be the case because that move was only used inside the Room of Spirit and Time. Goku didn't use Old Kai's crystal ball until after Boo, Gotenks and Piccolo escaped it, and Vegeta shouldn't be aware of it because the Time Chamber is in another dimension. The only possibility is that those in Other World can observe events happening inside the chamber, but it still doesn't explain how Vegeta was able to see it.
- In the Funi dub of Kai, that Vegetto is turned into a coffee candy specifically isn't mentioned, and he's instead referred to as just "candy". Oddly, the original Funimation dub did specify the candy as being coffee-flavoured, while the Ocean dub refers to it as chocolate-flavoured. In fairness, coffee beans and cocoa beans are pretty similar.
- Oddly, Vegetto falls victim to Boo's candy beam despite being leagues stronger than Evil Boo, who was able to blow it back. As we'll soon discover, this was likely intentional.
- In the original Funimation dub, Candy Vegetto has a filter on his voice. As is the case for many other voice filters in the original dub, the Remastered dub fails to apply this one.
- To date, Vegetto is the only character to actually retain sentience and control of his form while turned into candy (let alone speak). It's unknown if this is exclusive to Vegetto, or if every character is aware that they're candy and is simply unable to do anything about it before Boo eats them. A grim prospect for sure.
- The end of this fight is the first time Boo has shown the ability to turn somebody from candy back to normal. It's unconfirmed if he can do this to actual candy too, but I don't think we'd want to see the creature spawned as a result of trying this.
- While Vegetto has a reputation for flamboyant arrogance, he was doing this intentionally alongside his unfathomable strength to push Boo into a corner and force him to try and absorb him. Ultimately he's a very long-term tactical fighter like Goku is, who was able to plan this all out in the middle of fighting Boo.
- Interestingly, Vegetto does not defuse back into Goku and Vegeta until after he drops the force field.
- Vegetto is present in the story for a grand total of two Chapters. This is one of the shortest appearances for any form, and is only beat out by the grey Evil Boo, who appeared for a single Chapter (one could make an argument for "South Kaioshin Boo" though, who appears for four panels across two pages).
- Speculation time: Toriyama originally planned to have Goku and Vegeta use the Fusion Dance to form Gogeta, only for Movie 12 to do that first, so Toriyama came up with the Potara Fusion to avoid repeating the same trick. The speculation of this entry is that this is why Goku and Vegeta crush both sets of Potara Earrings with dubious reasoning: if it were Gogeta, he probably would have defused purely through the Fusion Dance technique wearing off.
- Goku is horrified when Vegeta crushes his Potara Earring, saying that they can't combine again now. This is somewhat odd given that Kibitokai has another pair on him, and as proven by Old Kai, it's possible to use one set of Potara for multiple fusions.
- DBZ episode 273 is the lowest-rated episode of the series, with a mere 12.1% audience share. For reference, GT's average audience share was 14.6%.
- Z episode 273 is also the first episode to use music from Z movie 12.
