Dragon Ball Rewatch, Week 24 - DB episode 106-110

[Robo4900]

Hello, ladies, gentlemen, and everyone between and beyond, and welcome to week 24 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 little less overboard with the trivia this week.
I really love these episodes. The Piccolo arc overall is just excellent, in my opinion.

Previous thread: Week 23 (DB 101-105)
Next thread: Week 25 (DB 111-115)

Anyway, without further ado...

Episode 106 - The Demonic Beast – Tambourine Draws Near!!
Dub title: Terrible Tambourine / Tambourine Gets Busy
Originally aired 23rd of March 1988
Episode director: Kazuhisa Takenouchi
Animation supervisor: Yukio Ebisawa

Yajirobe cooks up the defeated Cymbal, and eats it like it was delicious. Meanwhile, having defeated martial artists one after the other, Tambourine appears before Yamucha and the others! With his wounds from the tournament still unhealed, Yamucha resolutely challenges Tambourine, but he’s in a pinch!! But at that moment, Tambourine receives orders from Piccolo Daimaō to find the one who defeated Cymbal, and he departs before Yamucha and co.’s eyes…

Anime-only/filler content: Giran fight expansion (the panda dad dies!), Roshi and Tenshinhan's discussion on confronting Daimao, Tambourine finding Kame House and fighting Yamucha.

Episode 107 - Son Goku – An Explosion of Anger!!
Dub title: Tien's Atonement / Goku Returns For Revenge
Originally aired 6th of April 1988
Episode director: Daisuke Nishio
Animation supervisor: Katsumi Aoshima

After obtaining their second Dragon Ball from a bandit, Kame-Sen’nin and the others set off for the next point indicated on the radar. However, that place turned out to be the house of a man who had been beaten by Tenshinhan and had his honor wounded! He bears a grudge against Tenshinhan and refuses to hand over the Dragon Ball. But his heart is touched when Tenshinhan kneels before him and begs him for the Dragon Ball, so at last he gives it to them. Meanwhile, Goku and Yajirobe are racing around their Dragon Ball. Tambourine appears before the pair, and attempts to steal the Dragon Ball!

Anime-only/filler content: Roshi, Ten, and the land pirates, Yajirobe and Goku stopping to cook some fish, Tambourine investigating their campfire, everything involving Tien, the western town, and the man with the broken leg.

Episode 108 - Demon King Piccolo Descends!!
Dub title: Goku's Revenge / Here Comes Piccolo!
Originally aired 13th of April 1988
Episode director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Animation supervisor: Tomekichi Takeuchi

Goku finally confronts Tambourine! Underestimating the opponent who he had defeated once before, Tambourine is overwhelmed by Goku. He tries to flee from Goku’s strength, but Goku blows him away with an angry Kamehameha, at last avenging Kuririn. Meanwhile, Piccolo Daimaō is furious when he realizes that even Tambourine has been killed! Attempting to identify the opponent who killed Tambourine, Daimaō’s floating base appears where Goku and Yajirobe are!!

Anime-only/filler content: Ten and Roshi recovering a Dragon Ball from the crow-filled ice cave.

Episode 109 - Son Goku vs Demon King Piccolo
Dub title: Goku vs. King Piccolo / Goku VS. Piccolo
Originally aired 20th of April 1988
Episode director: Kazuhisa Takenouchi
Animation supervisor: Masayuki Uchiyama

When Yajirobe learns that the legendary Piccolo Daimaō is in the floating base above them, he gives his Dragon Ball to Goku and runs away. Daimaō at last shows himself before Goku, burning with the desire to avenge his underlings! Relying on his anger, Goku challenges Daimaō to a battle, and seemingly overwhelms him. But Daimaō gets serious, and the situation reverses itself. Daimaō batters Goku with tremendous power! Even a Kamehameha with all Goku’s force behind it doesn’t have any effect on Daimaō.

Anime-only/filler content: Ten stressing over the Mafu-ba, Roshi getting the Three Star Ball from under a rock, Daimao using lighting on Goku.

Episode 110 - Hang in There! Son Goku!!
Dub title: Piccolo Closes In / Goku's Last Chance
Originally aired 4th of May 1988
Episode director: Daisuke Nishio
Animation supervisor: Mitsuo Shindo

Overwhelmed by Daimaō’s power, Goku is finally downed! Daimaō steals Goku’s Dragon Ball, and heads for Kame-Sen’nin, who has the remaining ones. After being saved by Yajirobe, Goku asks to be taken to Karin Tower, but… Meanwhile, Kame-Sen’nin and the others have obtained their fifth Dragon Ball. They sense that Daimaō is drawing near, so their plan to ambush him has failed! Saying that this is his battle, Kame-Sen’nin knocks out Tenshinhan with gas, and challenges Daimaō on his own…

Anime-only/filler content: No significant filler!

-

Interesting trivia:

• We should have mentioned this last week, but Daimao's throne in the Pilaf airship would re-appear as the throne used by the Grand Elder in the Namek arc, only without the creepy skulls.
• As mentioned last week, the anime's decision to move Kame House to an archipelago for safety and then also including a fight between Yamcha and Tambourine causes a contradiction regarding how Tambourine found Yamcha in the first place. It's never explained how he tracked him down.
• The Demon Clan is the first group of characters to have a series of associated name puns. Prior to this Toriyama used them for pairs of characters, such as Puar and Oolong or Tenshinhan and Chiaotzu, and the Red Ribbon Army used colour names, but the Demon Clan is the first to make the names an amusing highlight for a large group.
• While Funimation had always skirted around the more mystical elements of Dragon Ball, the Demon Clan is the first time they've completely ignored it, at least going by in-universe chronology. The Demon Clan is never referred to as such and are typically referred to as monsters instead. Blue Water, meanwhile, does its typical fixes wherever Funimation's scripts deviate in such ways.
  • The kid bear that Giran bullies in episode 106 at one point thinks Tambourine is God ("Kami-sama"), striking Giran down for his sins. Funimation changed this to the kid thinking Tambourine is a hero with a similar goal. Blue Water reverts this to a reference to God, however they adjust it slightly, specifically saying "Lord Kami, the guardian of the earth has finally come to help us!" A little early on that reference, there, Blue Water. Though in theory, if they're not allowed to later have Roshi say "Goku will be trained by... God!" a little later on, setting this up a little earlier may be a smart decision... Still a change, though, but arguably closer to the original meaning than Funi's.
  • After the above part, in Japanese, Tambourine drops the Daimao symbol, then tells the kid "So sorry I'm not Kami-sama, you brat!" Funimation completely changed this to "Giran was just a job; your father, I killed for fun.", which also implies the papa bear is dead, even though every version (including Funi's) had him clearly making sounds and moving at this point, showing Tambourine simply hurt him, and gave him a fright. Blue Water's dub, meanwhile, had Tambourine threateningly say "Sorry kid, but the end will come soon enough!"
  • In Japanese, Tambourine curses the fact that "any of us Mazoku warriors can ever lose to a human!", where "Mazoku" roughly means "Demon clan". Funimation adjusted this to Tambourine cursing the idea that "We, the warrior tribe, [could] be beaten by you!", once again changing a reference to the demon stuff to be something else, specifically a reference to Dragon Ball's own lore, which wouldn't come up until the Namek arc (and in theory, Tambourine shouldn't really know about it anyway? And I'm not even sure Tambourine is a real Namekian?). Blue Water had "I was spawned by the Demon King himself! How could I have been beaten by a mere human?"
  • When Piccolo realises Tambourine has been killed, in Japanese, Mai suggests that someone like Godzilla may be out there, if there's something strong enough to kill Tambourine. Neither dub kept this specific reference (and they didn't replace it with any references to any other media), though the general sense of the original line was preserved in both.
  • In Japanese, Yajirobe comes to the conclusion he should bury the seemingly-dead Goku in episode 110, saying "He doesn't look like he'd be very good to eat anyway..." Both dubs removed the reference to Yajirobe considering eating him.
  • One I forgot to mention last week is that in the Blue Water dub, Mutaito is pronounced as "Mutayshio", as if their scripts spelled it as "Mutatio".
• The globe in Pilaf's airship is the first time a map of the Earth had been shown in the manga (the anime showed it on the Red Ribbon Army's Dragon Radar in filler scenes). As one might expect, it's contradicted by later maps, including the one made for the Daizenshuu.
• Goku making a comment about Yajirobe sounding similar to Krillin is actually a joke that originates in the manga. This is likely the reason why Kuririn's actress, Mayumi Tanaka, was cast as Yajirobe, in order to complete the joke.
  • Funimation's dub moved this line, and made up some nonsense to fill in the blank; after the exchange is done, Funi crammed it into one line Goku abruptly blurts out as "You're like Krillin, but with a nose and hair." Blue Water kept the line in its original place from the Japanese script, but changed it a little to Goku saying Yajirobe's eyes remind him of Kuririn, rather than his voice; the scene in general plays out as it did in Japanese in Blue Water's, without any sign of the weird deviations/additions Funi put in.
• While the visual of the Kamehameha charging between the users palms is a famous visual from the anime, the manga never had this facet: it wasn't visible until it was fired. This is seen in the sequence where Goku kills Tambourine by launching off of Nyoi-bo, or in the 22nd TB when Goku "charges" it whilst dashing towards and jumping above Krillin.
• Episode 109 is where Roshi states that they should wish for Shenlong to destroy Daimao. The rule of Shenlong only being able to kill somebody if they are below his power hadn't yet been written, but if it had, it's debatable that Roshi's wish would have actually worked considering how easily Daimao kills Shenlong.
• By this point, there is now a THIRD Dragon Radar in existence:
  • The new Dragon Radar is a mystery: Roshi and Tien use it to track the rest of the Dragon Balls, but how they acquired it is unknown. Either they retrieved it from where Goku fell (see below), or Bulma built them a new one and Goku ran away with the old one, so she built this new one for them. Presumably this Radar is the one that will be used to track Raditz, go to Namek, and get retrieved by Kid Trunks.
  • The second Dragon Radar, the one Turbo built in Penguin Village, was the one Goku took from Bulma to track down Tambourine. This one disappears as soon as Goku falls to the ground.
  • The original Dragon Radar is presumed to be in the abandoned Red Ribbon Army HQ, after Blue stole it from Goku.
• Episode 109 is the earliest point where Piccolo (as either Daimao or Majunior) bleeds. In the original Dragon Ball anime and in the earliest parts of Z, his blood is red, whereas for the majority of Z, his blood is purple as by that time his alien origins had been revealed by Toriyama. (Kai would recolour Piccolo's blood in the early Z parts, and in all DB flashbacks, to be purple)

Episode summaries, airdates, and titles courtesy of Kanzenshuu's episode guide. Filler breakdowns and Dragon Ball logo provided, and trivia co-written, by KBABZ.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

The thing in the one episode where Tambourine swipes at the fisher bear after his son asks if he's God/Kami following the disposal of Giran is one of the more odd alterations in the dub, because as noted above the uncut dubbed version actually appears to be more severe in it's scripting of the scene than the Japanese version. This is so because it's pretty obvious that Tambourine merely rips the dad's shirt open, and there's no blood or claw marks to be seen anywhere on him and he's still clearly in one piece. It really comes off as the dub rewrite going for a more edgy feeling despite how watered down it is in the dialogue most times, and unless my memory is wrong the edited Toonami broadcast of the episode apparently had different lines which were closer to the original, rather than "Giran was just the start and i killed your daddy, haha" as the uncut version goes when that actually wasn't the case in the original.

That particular bit always stuck out to me, and on another note as Tambourine shares a voice with another villain character in the Japanese version given Ryuusei Nakao voices Freeza so does the dub for he is played by Daemon Clarke, basically using the exact same higher raspy voice as Imperfect Cell.

[Robo4900]

The thing in the one episode where Tambourine swipes at the fisher bear after his son asks if he's God/Kami following his disposal of Giran is one of the more odd alterations in the dub, because as noted above the uncut dubbed version actually appears to be more severe in it's scripting of the scene than the Japanese version. This is so because it's pretty obvious that Tambourine merely rips the dad's shirt open, and there's no blood or claw marks to be seen anywhere on him and he's still clearly in one piece. It really comes off as the dub rewrite going for a more edgy feeling despite how watered down it is in the dialogue most times, and unless my memory is wrong the edited Toonami broadcast of the episode apparently had different lines which were closer to the original, rather than "Giran was just the start and i killed your daddy, haha" as the uncut version goes when that actually wasn't the case in the original.

Yeah.

I think for the Piccolo and 23rd Tenkaichi arcs, Funimation wanted to try making it feel a little more like their dubbing of Z, so they amped up the edginess, they mention stuff about the "Warrior clan" to more overtly tie Piccolo to the then-known stuff about Namek, there's a line they added about Piccolo fighting across the universe (which makes zero sense, really), and they replaced the mysticism about Goku sensing people's ki with Goku saying "It's like I can sense his power level!", which Karin then agrees with...

Meanwhile, Blue Water in this period had settled into a solid routine of basing their scripts off Funi's, but making heavy corrections based on the Japanese, while making other general rewrites to make the dialogue sound more natural. And BW's cast was feeling more and more professional, and fitting in better with their roles in general, meanwhile Funi's direction in this era was still very stiff.
So arguably Blue Water's DB dub reached its apex here, and Funi's DB dub kinda reached its biggest slump in quality. Though granted, neither dub is anywhere near perfect. I still think BW's is the superior overall dub, but it still has all the TV censorship, AB Groupe's baked-in censorship, and the cast is never quite as good as Ocean, or modern Funi. Funi's dub suffers from general censorship and inaccuracy, and somewhat stiff direction.

I really wish Funi would go back and redub OG DB one of these days; their modern cast and modern standards of scripting, as well as the possibility of a renewed interest in the western fandom coming from a new dub, would do wonders for the show...

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

The thing in the one episode where Tambourine swipes at the fisher bear after his son asks if he's God/Kami following his disposal of Giran is one of the more odd alterations in the dub, because as noted above the uncut dubbed version actually appears to be more severe in it's scripting of the scene than the Japanese version. This is so because it's pretty obvious that Tambourine merely rips the dad's shirt open, and there's no blood or claw marks to be seen anywhere on him and he's still clearly in one piece. It really comes off as the dub rewrite going for a more edgy feeling despite how watered down it is in the dialogue most times, and unless my memory is wrong the edited Toonami broadcast of the episode apparently had different lines which were closer to the original, rather than "Giran was just the start and i killed your daddy, haha" as the uncut version goes when that actually wasn't the case in the original.

Yeah.

I think for the Piccolo and 23rd Tenkaichi arcs, Funimation wanted to try making it feel a little more like their dubbing of Z, so they amped up the edginess, they mention stuff about the "Warrior clan" to more overtly tie Piccolo to the then-known stuff about Namek, there's a line they added about Piccolo fighting across the universe (which makes zero sense, really), and they replaced the mysticism about Goku sensing people's ki with Goku saying "It's like I can sense his power level!", which Karin then agrees with...

Meanwhile, Blue Water in this period had settled into a solid routine of basing their scripts off Funi's, but making heavy corrections based on the Japanese, while making other general rewrites to make the dialogue sound more natural. And BW's cast was feeling more and more professional, and fitting in better with their roles in general, meanwhile Funi's direction in this era was still very stiff.
So arguably Blue Water's DB dub reached its apex here, and Funi's DB dub kinda reached its biggest slump in quality. Though granted, neither dub is anywhere near perfect.

I really wish Funi would go back and redub OG DB one of these days; their modern cast and modern standards of scripting, as well as the possibility of a renewed interest in the western fandom coming from a new dub, would all do wonders for the show...

Yes indeed, and it really doesn't make sense for that particular scene above however because the visuals give away what actually happens despite the accompanying dialogue of the dubbed version saying otherwise. I definitely agree that the 2001 dub has aged pretty poorly, much the same as most of FUNi's earlier pre-Kai dubbing work although sadly i'm not expecting them to go back and redo it faithfully because of just how little they regard the original series. Maybe that will eventually happen at some point, though not at this time although i do wish they change their minds and go through with a more faithful re dub because while it's not quite to the unlistenably bad levels as their initial in house stuff (DB movie 2, DBZ season 3.etc) it still leaves much to be desired.

[Robo4900]

• By this point, there is now a THIRD Dragon Radar in existence:
  • The new Dragon Radar is a mystery: Roshi and Tien use it to track the rest of the Dragon Balls, but how they acquired it is unknown. Either they retrieved it from where Goku fell (see below), or Bulma built them a new one. Presumably this Radar is the one that will be used to track Raditz, go to Namek, and get retrieved by Kid Trunks.
  • The second Dragon Radar, the one Turbo built in Penguin Village, was the one Goku took from Bulma to track down Tambourine. This one disappears as soon as Goku falls to the ground.
  • The original Dragon Radar is presumed to be in the abandoned Red Ribbon Army HQ, after Blue stole it from Goku.

Correction: Roshi asks Bulma to build a new radar in episode 104, so we know where the new radar came from. I don't know if this occurs in the manga. Goku also still has his radar at this point, and uses it to realise there's a Dragon Ball near him, which turns out to be around Yajirobe's neck.

Will edit the OP to reflect this.

FWIW, I think it's also worth noting that the characters in the story make a big fuss about using cryo-capsules to preserve the bodies of the dead, but the characters in the story wouldn't end up worrying about this again after the Piccolo arc. Though KBABZ tells me Porunga specifically says he'll regenerate the bodies of anyone who died.

Additional correction: Piccolo's blood does remain red for some of the earliest parts of Z.

[ABED]

FWIW, I think it's also worth noting that the characters in the story make a big fuss about using cryo-capsules to preserve the bodies of the dead, but the characters in the story wouldn't end up worrying about this again after the Piccolo arc. Though KBABZ tells me Porunga specifically says he'll regenerate the bodies of anyone who died.

They don't worry but after the battle against Vegeta, Bulma and the others pick up the dead bodies of their fallen friends and place them in cryo-capsules. I don't know if this an anime only scene, though.

[Robo4900]

FWIW, I think it's also worth noting that the characters in the story make a big fuss about using cryo-capsules to preserve the bodies of the dead, but the characters in the story wouldn't end up worrying about this again after the Piccolo arc. Though KBABZ tells me Porunga specifically says he'll regenerate the bodies of anyone who died.

They don't worry but after the battle against Vegeta, Bulma and the others pick up the dead bodies of their fallen friends and place them in cryo-capsules. I don't know if this an anime only scene, though.

Huh.

I would imagine it would be anime-only, since Chiaotzu, Tenshinhan, Yamucha, and Piccolo all keep their bodies and go to Kaio's planet.

[KBABZ]

FWIW, I think it's also worth noting that the characters in the story make a big fuss about using cryo-capsules to preserve the bodies of the dead, but the characters in the story wouldn't end up worrying about this again after the Piccolo arc. Though KBABZ tells me Porunga specifically says he'll regenerate the bodies of anyone who died.

They don't worry but after the battle against Vegeta, Bulma and the others pick up the dead bodies of their fallen friends and place them in cryo-capsules. I don't know if this an anime only scene, though.

Gone through my Full Colours and I can confirm that they appear... once. Korin and Roshi look over a pod and Korin says "I do wish we could bring them back to life. Their sacrifices have been so great". Followed by Roshi saying "I feel such rage at my helplessness" (lolwut?). We don't see them being put in the capsules as in the anime but they are there, albeit a different design from the Daimao arc.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

I also noticed that the pirate leader Ten, Chaozu and Roshi encounter and retrieve the Dragon Ball from is basically a recycled design of the bear bandit from back in episode 3 as he has a similar red fur color and mohawk. Clearly another case of reusing pre existing character models.

[ArmenianPepsi]

Episode 108 and 109 are a real treat here. Especially with the fight vs Tambourine, you feel the catharsis along with Goku when that slimy
smug demon is put in his place. The animation is also just so nice to look at, when you see them throw those heavy blows you can almost imagine how much it would hurt.

[ABED]

It amazes me how well DB can switch from one tone to the next and it not feel jarring, but if it does, it's supposed to. I love when stories change tone.

[KBABZ]

The fun shenanigans with Yajirobe are just what's needed after the intense drama of Krillin, Tambourine and the reveal of Daimao. Feels like a breath of fresh air!

[Robo4900]

So, a few thoughts as I watch episode 110...

First off, JK Rowling totally ripped off this entire ending sequence.
Spoilers, I guess, for the penultimate book and third-from-last film in one of the biggest things to ever grace our pop culture:

Spoiler:

Dragon Ball: Roshi makes a plan with Tenshinhan and Chaozu, then when things go wrong, he tells them to hide away, and he immobilises Ten. He tells him he'll be the only hope to defeat Piccolo when he's gone. He tells Chaozu the plan is off, and tells him to not make himself noticed whatever happens. He faces Piccolo and dies.
Harry Potter 6: Dumbledore makes a plan with Harry, then when things go wrong, he asks him to hide away, and he immobilises him, or in the film, tells him to stay under the tower and not make himself noticed whatever happens. He faces Voldemort's Death Eaters and dies.

Granted, it's slightly tenuous but it's a very similar feel, I think. Roshi has a very Dumbledore vibe to him here.

Second off, we have the reveal that the elixir of life is fake.
This is a callback to something from a very early chapter, adapted into the beginning of episode 8 of Dragon Ball, where Turtle jokes about Roshi having drunk an elixir of immortality. It's something of a retcon of that, which handwaves away the problem that Roshi shouldn't be able to be killed by Piccolo here.
This isn't a Funi-ism, or an anime addition, either; it was in the original manga too. Though KBABZ and I kinda agree it was a bit of an unnecessary diversion from the main plot; it's clearly more for the audience than for the story we're actually seeing unfold.
(This probably would've been trivia this week if I hadn't forgotten this happens in this episode; I thought it was next week )

Third...
Man, I love these episodes. The Piccolo arc is unrelenting, and it's great. Very Infinity War, very Half-Blood Prince/Deathly Hallows (but in a good way)... For the first time, everyone is screwed, everything is going wrong, people are dying, Goku is on the brink of death at multiple points, Goku's driven by anger in a way he never has before... And Piccolo is fucking terrifying, despite being an eccentric weirdo as well. This arc is really good.
Even though I've often said I think the 22nd Tenkaichi is really the start of Dragon Ball evolving into its second form, and ultimately every change Dragon Ball makes to itself is a gradual thing with precedents set across its course, Piccolo is when things go full-on, point-of-no-return, changing into a different style of show. This is the show that would have Raditz kill Goku, Vegeta slowly turn from a big bad into one of the most heroic characters in the show, Boo wipe out humanity, etc.
In fact, more specifically, this arc as a whole feels like a predecessor to the Namek arc, with the big bad unstoppable foe working against the protagonists to get ahold of the Dragon Balls.

[KBABZ]

Even though I've often said I think the 22nd Tenkaichi is really the start of Dragon Ball evolving into its second form, and ultimately every change Dragon Ball makes to itself is a gradual thing with precedents set across its course, Piccolo is when things go full-on, point-of-no-return, changing into a different style of show. This is the show that would have Raditz kill Goku, Vegeta slowly turn from a big bad into one of the most heroic characters in the show, Boo wipe out humanity, etc.
In fact, more specifically, this arc as a whole feels like a predecessor to the Namek arc, with the big bad unstoppable foe working against the protagonists to get ahold of the Dragon Balls.

Agreed! As I've stated before and elsewhere, Daimao is where the arc style changes from Dragon Ball Hunts with a villain in it, to Villain Arcs with Dragon Balls in it.

It also helps that Daimao is just such an EXCESSIVELY powerful foe, so it feels like we skipped a step or two from what Tien was capable of and straight into what one might expect in a Z fight. Goku being a kid at this point also emphasizes just how out of his depth he is here, it's like he's physically and emotionally under-leveled!

[ABED]

Takeshi Aono is amazing! He is clearly having a blast and can sell the megalomania and glee of being pure evil as well as the scariness. Getting the silent look from Piccolo seems comes off like the scariest thing in the world. This is Toriyama firing on all cylinders.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Even though I've often said I think the 22nd Tenkaichi is really the start of Dragon Ball evolving into its second form, and ultimately every change Dragon Ball makes to itself is a gradual thing with precedents set across its course, Piccolo is when things go full-on, point-of-no-return, changing into a different style of show. This is the show that would have Raditz kill Goku, Vegeta slowly turn from a big bad into one of the most heroic characters in the show, Boo wipe out humanity, etc.
In fact, more specifically, this arc as a whole feels like a predecessor to the Namek arc, with the big bad unstoppable foe working against the protagonists to get ahold of the Dragon Balls.

Agreed! As I've stated before and elsewhere, Daimao is where the arc style changes from Dragon Ball Hunts with a villain in it, to Villain Arcs with Dragon Balls in it.

It also helps that Daimao is just such an EXCESSIVELY powerful foe, so it feels like we skipped a step or two from what Tien was capable of and straight into what one might expect in a Z fight. Goku being a kid at this point also emphasizes just how out of his depth he is here, it's like he's physically and emotionally under-leveled!

Indeed, this arc is really where the turning point of the series happens tone wise into where it was already incrementally on course to becoming the norm for what we see in much of DBZ.

[Robo4900]

Takeshi Aono is amazing! He is clearly having a blast and can sell the megalomania and glee of being pure evil as well as the scariness. Getting the silent look from Piccolo seems comes off like the scariest thing in the world. This is Toriyama firing on all cylinders.

Hell yeah, man!

Indeed, this arc is really where the turning point of the series happens tone wise into where it was already incrementally on course to becoming the norm for what we see in much of DBZ.

Yeah.

As is the case whenever Dragon Ball overhauls itself, which it does quite regularly, the changes it makes will continue to be grooved on for pretty much the entire rest of the run.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

The fun shenanigans with Yajirobe are just what's needed after the intense drama of Krillin, Tambourine and the reveal of Daimao. Feels like a breath of fresh air!

Yeah, for me the funniest part about the Yajirobe stuff is him being even more obsessed with food than Goku. Although Goku did have Kuririn to avenge this time so it's understandable. Goku may not be a Superman, but things like this show he definitely has compassion, even if fighting and bettering himself is still the ultimate goal.

[KBABZ]

Yeah, for me the funniest part about the Yajirobe stuff is him being even more obsessed with food than Goku. Although Goku did have Kuririn to avenge this time so it's understandable. Goku may not be a Superman, but things like this show he definitely has compassion, even if fighting and bettering himself is still the ultimate goal.

For me that was actually cinched with Upa, where Goku goes out of his way to bring his father back to life because it's the right thing to do.

[ArmenianPepsi]

The fun shenanigans with Yajirobe are just what's needed after the intense drama of Krillin, Tambourine and the reveal of Daimao. Feels like a breath of fresh air!

Yeah, for me the funniest part about the Yajirobe stuff is him being even more obsessed with food than Goku. Although Goku did have Kuririn to avenge this time so it's understandable. Goku may not be a Superman, but things like this show he definitely has compassion, even if fighting and bettering himself is still the ultimate goal.

I just like Yajirobe's "Don't care" attitude in general. Goku is care free, but because he is so light-hearted and at times naive. But Yajirobe is just a fat jerk