Dragon Ball Rewatch, Week 29 - DB movie 3

[Robo4900]

Hello, ladies, gentlemen, and everyone between and beyond, and welcome to week 29 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.

The third movie!
A fan favourite in some circles.

Previous thread: Week 28 (DB 126-130)
Next thread: Week 30 (DB 131-135)

Anyway, without further ado...

Dragon Ball
"A Mystical Great Adventure"
Dub title: Mystical Adventure
Originally released 9th of July 1988
Director: Kazuhisa Takenouchi
Animation supervisor: Minoru Maeda
Written by: Keiji Terui

Goku and Kuririn complete their training under Kame-Sen'nin and decide to enter the Miphan Empire martial arts tournament. However, the empire is causing trouble thanks to the villainous actions of Tsuru-Sen'nin and his brother Tao Pai-Pai; they use brutal methods to gather the Dragon Balls under the pretense of helping their emperor, however their true intentions are far more sinister!

The boys enter the tournament, reunite with old friends, and make some new friends, however with Tsuru-Sen'nin's forces aligned against them, the Dragon Ball ganga are in for a lot more than they bargained for!

Interesting trivia:

• Mystical Great Adventure premiered as part of the Summer 1988 "Toei Cartoon Festival", alongside movies for Tatakae!! Ramenman, Bikkuriman, and Kamen Rider Black.
• Mystical Great Adventure, more than the previous two Dragon Ball movies, take elements from many parts of Goku's boyhood adventures. The movie features no original characters, and almost no original events, instead re-using established characters and moments from the manga/anime:
  • The Pilaf Gang are, of course, from the Pilaf Arc.
  • The 21st Budokai is where Goku and Kuririn's training sequence comes from.
  • The Red Ribbon arc is where Sgt. Mettalic, the people being kept as slave labour, Blue, Bora and Upa, Tao, Karin, and Arale are from.
  • The Red Ribbon Army is also in this movie, but they are redesigned as the Emperor's personal guard.
  • The 22nd Budokai is where Tenshinhan, Chaozu, Shen, and the Andre the Giant fighter are from.
  • The Miphan Police uniforms are taken from the king's guard in the Daimao Arc. This arc is also where the Pilaf Gang getting punished for their loyalty comes from.
• Tao actually has incorrectly-coloured clothing on the movie poster, being white instead of dark purple. This error was fixed in Yamamuro's redraw of the poster artwork for the Dragon Box Movie Single DVDs.
• Funimation's English dub of this movie was produced alongside their dub of the second movie. It has all the same quirks and production errors as that one had, all detailed in the trivia from when we watched that, back in April.
• This is the last of the material that has a Harmony Gold dub. Theirs was a double feature produced alongside the first movie; unlike their work on the first, which has the most faithful script of all the dubs of that movie, their work on this movie suffers greatly from their various attempts to cover up for the fact they're missing the second movie (so, where did Kuririn and Lunch come from, for instance?).
• The art of Goku, Arale, and the Gatchan's is taken from the title page for Chapter 82 of the manga. In the movie, only Goku rides the Nimbus.
• As with the last film, Kikuchi composed a suite of new music for this film. However, some went unused; one cue from among M603-M611, likely meant to go in the early scene with Roshi talking to his pupils, there's a cue somewhere between M611 and M615, there may be some extra cues somewhere among M617 and M633 though this is uncertain, and there are between 3 and 5 unused cues between M633 and M655. This trivia entry courtesy of Kenisu.
• As you might guess, the map of the world on Pilaf's Dragon Radar doesn't match any other map in the franchise. It doesn't even match the map shown in the throne room scene!
• The Miphan Empire's name is a pun based on the Mandarin reading of "rice" in kanji, which links to the Chinese food pun names Tenshinhan, Chaozu and Tao Pai-pai.
• The Miphan Tournament work differently from the Tenkaichi Budokai, being more like a King of the Hill rather than knockout brackets.
• Minoru Maeda was inspired by The Last Emperor when desigining Emperor Chaozu's costume, as was the Chinese palace. He found it a pain to draw all the details of the costume in animation.
• Crane's explaination of how the Miphan Radar works matches Bulma's explaination of her Dragon Radar from the manga, by looking for the radiowaves emenated by them. Appropriately it's just as accurate as Bulma's Radar, compared to the much vaguer points of the Red Ribbon Army's in the manga/anime.
• Sgt. Mettalic's costume has had his clothing colours changed to match the armed Miphan Police. Minoru Maeda explained that his costume didn't change because he's a robot, which... only slightly makes sense?
• This movie is the first time Goku and Kuririn have worn the Turtle School gi in any of the films. They've also inherited the red palette from the anime, despite Toriyama using orange in his full colour artwork by the time the film was in production.
• Yamucha's first opponent in the tournament is based on the Andre the Giant-like character Kuririn faced in the 22nd Tenkaichi preliminaries. In both instances, he's defeated with a single move.
• This movie is only the third time the Roga Fufu-Ken has actually worked on Yamucha's opponent, the second being against the wolf character in the 21st TB. Since both of those were Toei additions, that means in the manga Yamucha's signature move has only worked against Goku in the Diablo Desert, and that's only because Goku was hungry!
• It's never explained how Tao gets new clothes before he sets off for Goku.
• In the manga and anime, Goku cannot climb Karin Tower with the Nimbus since it's too high. Here however he can summon the cloud with no issue.
• This movie is the last time Dragon Ball Legend/Dragon Ball Densetsu was used in the anime. It previously appeared in episodes 30, 33, 35, and 76 as an insert song, before its final use here as the ending song to the movie.

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

[KBABZ]

So one of the pieces of Trivia I wanted to include was ultimately cut because neither of us could verify it:

- When Goku eats the Senzu Bean, he gains the effect of both filling his belly and having his wounds healed. While Senzu Beans are known to have these effects, this is the only time both are depicted at the same time.

---

So, here are my live notes while watching the movie, followed by my post-film thoughts:

- Wait Tao kills the Pilaf gang?! And then this happy chipper music comes along?!
- Goddamn Krillin sounds amazing in the Japanese audio!
- Why is it that there's all these ladies with an-an as their names??
- The stuff with General Blue plays far too quickly: we barely get an idea of how his freezing technique works, and then Tao kills him!
- So why do the Gang need to use the Radar to search for Goku? They know where he is, he's training with Roshi!
- Dangit, another Dragon Ball movie that moves way too fast!
- Wow, LOVE the geography of the Mifan Empire! It's so cool!
- Wow this is EASILY the fastest-moving Dragon Ball movie yet, it's ridiculous.
- Okay this movie is VERY convoluted if you know where all these characters are SUPPOSED to come from!
- Aw, I liked Yellow Launch standing up for Krillin.
- "Bring it on" sounds very un-Bora-like.
- As bizarre as it is, I like Chiaotzu being an Emperor here because it adds more interest to his character compared to the manga/anime.
- Ohhh, a ROUND arena, just like the Sky Dragon episode!
- "I get the feeling you're just trying to take advantage of me" - Oolong, unknowingly relating to every woman in Dragon Ball.
- WHY WOULD ROSHI ASK YAMCHA FOR A PAFU-PAFU?!?
- Bora's death makes no sense here.
- Wait did Goku just blow a hole through the crowd?!
- WHAT?! KORIN'S TOWER?! NOW?!
- I find it kinda contrived that they STILL introduced the task of Goku climbing Korin Tower considering it has no bearing on the plot at all, and Korin has to make an excuse for it.
- Loved Goku coming back in the nick of time!
- The credits playing over the final wish is of course meant to be artistic, but I can't escape the feeling that it was more done because they were going a bit long on the runtime.

Overall, I liked this movie the least of the three. It's SUCH a hodge-podge of various events that there's really no connecting through-line with the story for me. The Mifan Empire is a really cool location, but a lot of it is wasted by distracting re-uses of manga/anime material. If this film had been done more in the style of the DBZ movies which are focused on original stories, it might have been a more compelling and well-structured work. That said, the best part of the story is the relationship between Tien and Chaiotzu, and it shows a side to them that we really don't get to see in the more "canon-er" material.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

This movie is ok as far as the three OG Dragon Ball (I don't count Path to Power) ones go, though i don't feel it works quite as much as Sleeping Princess did in terms of taking canon material from the manga/anime's storyline and placing them within an original story going in it's own direction. Though that said the things they did with presenting Tenshinhan and Chiaoutzu's relationship in a different form were pretty interesting plus incorporating the bits from the RRA/22nd Budokai even if not all of them worked at times.

- The beginning scene with Pilaf, Mai and Shu meeting with Tao and Crane Hermit doesn't make much sense, especially considering that they appear in just this one bit. Speaking of which, this is the only time the threesome even appear within the OG films due to being replaced with Gurumes and co in Blood Rubies and not showing up at all in Sleeping Princess then once again supplanted in Path to Power by the Red Ribbon Army. Also, since this movie is outside the events of the anime if they in fact were even killed there by Tao Pai Pai then it can just be written off as a movie exclusive thing and thus non canon.

- The playing of Dragon Ball Densetsu at the end is one of my favorite uses of said song, also note in the Harmony Gold double feature they used an instrumental version which i don't believe i've heard anywhere else.

[KBABZ]

- The beginning scene with Pilaf, Mai and Shu meeting with Tao and Crane Hermit doesn't make much sense, especially considering that they appear in just this one bit. Speaking of which, this is the only time the threesome even appear within the OG films due to being replaced with Gurumes and co in Blood Rubies and not showing up at all in Sleeping Princess then once again supplanted in Path to Power by the Red Ribbon Army. Also, since this movie is outside the events of the anime if they in fact were even killed there by Tao Pai Pai then it can just be written off as a movie exclusive thing and thus non canon.

At this point in the trio I don't think anyone is debating whether or not DB-M3 replaces the RRA and 22nd TB arcs since they ARE an alternate continuity. I just find it fascinating that the Pilaf Gang appear in this ONE movie and are then killed off!

[Dbzfan94]

love this movie. By far my favorite of the original 3, four counting Path to Power.

Also fun fact, this movie was the basis for Funimation mistakingly using 'General Tao' and the narrator calling Chiaotzu an emperor in the Z dub.

[MyVisionity]

So I enjoyed rewatching this movie. It might be my favorite of the three, but I'm not sure yet how it ranks against Movie One. It's most memorable to me for its frenetic energy and pacing. Like Movie Two, it's also weird and experimental, but in a totally different way. I like this. I like how the Red Ribbon Army and the Crane School are part of an alternate reality in this film.

I enjoyed the opening sequence recapping Goku and Kuririn's training with Roshi.

All of the action scenes are well done and the artwork/animation are great. My favorites are the restaurant fight with Sgt. Metallic and the fight with everyone versus the Miphan soldiers at the tournament. I was also pleased to see another Bulma air-fight after Movie 1.

Tenshinhan and Chiao Tzu's relationship in this movie is both touching and funny at the same time.

The ending sequence with "Dragon Ball Densetsu" playing is a classic. I like how there was a local legend of a dragon living at the bottom of the sea. That was a nice touch.

Over on the FUNi dub side of things...



...Wow. Not even Ceyli Delgadillo could save this one for me. "Morbid curiosity", indeed.

I also have to wonder why FUNi made Ran-Ran into Chiao Tzu's wife instead of his favorite doll. Harmony Gold? Either way that's a bit disturbing.

- Goddamn Krillin sounds amazing in the Japanese audio!

Kuririn's voice must have really left an impression on you. You mentioned it in the last movie thread as well!

[KBABZ]

- Goddamn Krillin sounds amazing in the Japanese audio!

Kuririn's voice must have really left an impression on you. You mentioned it in the last movie thread as well!

Because of the incredibly scattershot quality of the dubs, I've decided to watch all of the movies in Japanese only, so this is the first time I've heard many of these VOs!

[Xeogran]

Bulma was very expressive in this movie!

[MasenkoHA]

The movie kind of just loses me when Goku gets Dodopa to Karin tower. Definitely agree with the sentiment that things were just a hodgepodge. The most interesting thing is trying to do something with Chaozu he’s such a proxy character in the main timeline.


As far as the dub goes I believe it was recorded around season 3 or 4 of Z this it sounds better than movie 2 but slightly worse than the tv series dub of Dragon Ball and much as I detest Vollmer as Bulma her casting isn’t “Do these people know what a teen girl sounds like?!?” as Leslie Alexander.

Ceyli Delgadillo is still voicing Goku here, even though this was certainly after Nadolny had been cast as Gohan for Z so I guess making the connection of having the kid versions of Goku and Gohan share an actress hadn’t come to Funimation yet? Regardless of how I feel about Stephanie, Ceyli was just a plain miscast .


And yes even if you normally prefer the dub I would argue to still just watch at least movie 2 and 3 in Japanese unless subtitles really really bother you.

Also Dragon Ball Densetsu replacing Romantic Ageru as the ending theme might have been cooler if we hadn’t heard Dragon Ball Densetsu play like 4 times in the show already.

[MyVisionity]

Ceyli Delgadillo is still voicing Goku here, even though this was certainly after Nadolny had been cast as Gohan for Z so I guess making the connection of having the kid versions of Goku and Gohan share an actress hadn’t come to Funimation yet? Regardless of how I feel about Stephanie, Ceyli was just a plain miscast .

Ceyli Delgadillo continued voicing Goku in flashback material through the end of the Cell Saga before she left the show. I suppose they began casting the Dragon Ball tv series not long after that, if not earlier.

Ceyli Delgadillo may have been miscast, but I still like her Goku. I think I would have preferred her over Nadolny.

[ArmenianPepsi]

I just happen to watch the DB movies last night, what a coincidence

I do like how they approached DB movies, with taking parts and pieces of some arcs and reconstruct them around a different story. Making a sort of "What If?" scenario, like an alternate timeline. re-imagining the plot and characters. This one combines parts of the 21st + 22nd TB, and has a hint of RRA too. Though in the end I felt that everything was too rushed, and kind of cobbled together story-wise. A step down from Movie 1 and 2.

The whole beginning with General Blue was nearly pointless, as he's killed off by Tao after having a handful of lines, and is never mentioned again. They could've cut him out entirely, started the movie with the training montage of Goku and Krillin, and things wouldn't be much different.

We also never really get any pay off for the "Ran Ran is missing" point. That could've made for a more interesting ending than having the Upa subplot tacked onto the movie. In addition they decide to keep the Arale cameo, which I don't mind, at least she contributed by knocking Tao off his pillar. Interesting choice.

On the contrary, whatever gripes I have with the story don't hurt the visuals. Mifan and it's ancient Chinese aesthetic looks very nice, the background artists really nailed it on the head.The intricacy and detail in some of them is great. A real feast for the eyes.

[ABED]

I feel different. I feel like it's a step up from movies 1 and 2. 1 felt rushed as well. It was a retelling of the first arc but with a Miyazaki like message about nature thrown in which feels very unlike DB. Then there's movie 2 with the horror movie elements which also felt un Dragon Ball. This film had the elements of DB but rearranged. My only gripe is I wish it was a little longer to allow things to breathe more but overall I'm very happy with it.

[ArmenianPepsi]

I feel different. I feel like it's a step up from movies 1 and 2. 1 felt rushed as well. It was a retelling of the first arc but with a Miyazaki like message about nature thrown in which feels very unlike DB. Then there's movie 2 with the horror movie elements which also felt un Dragon Ball. This film had the elements of DB but rearranged. My only gripe is I wish it was a little longer to allow things to breathe more but overall I'm very happy with it.

I can respect that. M3 indeed had the most "Dragon Ball" experience despite feeling rushed. 1 and 2 were like inserting the DB characters into a different series.

[MasenkoHA]

I feel different. I feel like it's a step up from movies 1 and 2. 1 felt rushed as well. It was a retelling of the first arc but with a Miyazaki like message about nature thrown in which feels very unlike DB. Then there's movie 2 with the horror movie elements which also felt un Dragon Ball. This film had the elements of DB but rearranged. My only gripe is I wish it was a little longer to allow things to breathe more but overall I'm very happy with it.

Movie 2 also came out concurrent to the Baba tournament which did have old school horror movie elements to it so I felt it complemented where the tv series was currently at. Even divorced from those episodes it’s a nice little foray into something Dragon Ball doesn’t normally do.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Watched some of the dub again, and as mentioned above it isn't quite as unwatchable and laughably bad as Sleeping Princess had been (That was literally the very first thing FUNi did after moving dub production in house following the end of Z's run in syndication) but even still it's not very good. This and the former are both cases where i exclusively watch the films in Japanese. Seriously, Mystical Adventure's is at about Season 3/4 levels if not just somewhat better.

[ABED]

I feel different. I feel like it's a step up from movies 1 and 2. 1 felt rushed as well. It was a retelling of the first arc but with a Miyazaki like message about nature thrown in which feels very unlike DB. Then there's movie 2 with the horror movie elements which also felt un Dragon Ball. This film had the elements of DB but rearranged. My only gripe is I wish it was a little longer to allow things to breathe more but overall I'm very happy with it.

Movie 2 also came out concurrent to the Baba tournament which did have old school horror movie elements to it so I felt it complemented where the tv series was currently at. Even divorced from those episodes it’s a nice little foray into something Dragon Ball doesn’t normally do.

They had the characters from classic monster movies but it stopped there. It never felt like a horror movie, whereas DB Movie 2 felt like a horror movie with DB characters. I found the movie mostly boring and Lucifer is not an interesting villain in the slightest.

[ArmenianPepsi]

Watched some of the dub again, and as mentioned above it isn't quite as unwatchable and laughably bad as Sleeping Princess had been (That was literally the very first thing FUNi did after moving dub production in house following the end of Z's run in syndication) but even still it's not very good. This and the former are both cases where i exclusively watch the films in Japanese. Seriously, Mystical Adventure's is at about Season 3/4 levels if not just somewhat better.

I'm with you there all the way. I swear if Funi ever re-dubs any classic DB material again, redubs of the movies would be high on my wish list

[MyVisionity]

Yeah I think that the movies are opportunities to do things that the main series doesn't. So horror and nature makes sense. Dragon Ball has always contained horror elements so to explore that realm is fitting. And of course the Z-movies will get even further into the theme of nature, so perhaps that's more of a TOEI thing. Although being that the series revolves around the martial arts, so much of which is linked to nature, and the fact that the main characters live alongside nature in the country gives some reason to exploring those themes as well.

As for the FUNi dub of this movie, the worst thing about it has got to be the dialogue. Just terrible. Nevermind how much the script deviates from the original.

[ABED]

Doing stuff the series doesn't usually do makes SOME sense but when it loses the feel of DB then it becomes far less interesting since it ceases to be what it is.

[WittyUsername]

I don’t see what’s wrong with having something resembling the horror genre in Dragon Ball. Dragon Ball is more flexible that people give it credit for. There’s an entire story arc that’s basically a homage to the Terminator franchise.