Hello, ladies, gentlemen, and everyone between and beyond, and welcome to week 99 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.
Whoops, slightly late posting again. Forgot to post it earlier.
We're creeping up on Z movie 13, and the end of Z.
Previous thread: Week 98 (DBZ 274-278)
Next thread: Week 100 (DBZ 284-288)
Anyway, without further ado...
Episode 432 - Seize the Future!! A Decisive Battle With the Universe at Stake (DBZ episode 279)
Dub title: Battle for the Universe Begins
Originally aired 20th of September 1995
Written by: Hiroshi Toda
Episode director: Shigeyasu Yamauchi
Animation supervisor: Keisuke Masunaga
While Kaiōshin and co. flee, Goku and Vegeta play rock-paper-scissors to determine what order they’ll fight in. Elder Kaiōshin angrily wonders why they aren’t fighting together. Goku and Vegeta… their pride as members of the Saiyan warrior race won’t allow them to use the Potara to merge, or fight 2-against-1. Goku wins at rock-paper-scissors and faces off against Boo. Boo makes weird noises and taunts Goku, displaying overwhelming power. Boo may be goofy, but he’s outrageously strong. Goku transforms into Super Saiyan 3.
Anime-only/filler content: Extensions to the fighting, various reaction shots.
Episode 433 - Vegeta Takes Off His Hat!! Goku, You are No. 1 (DBZ episode 280)
Dub title: Vegeta's Respect
Originally aired 18th of October 1995
Written by: Hiroshi Toda
Episode director: Kazuhito Kikuchi
Animation supervisor: Naoki Miyahara
Even Super Saiyan 3’s power is no match for Boo. Vegeta swaps in for Goku after Goku’s knocked down, but it’s all he can manage just to guard against Boo’s heavy blows. Boo turns out to be a far more formidable opponent than Vegeta had imagined. With Vegeta in jeopardy, Goku gets up once again. For the sake of those he protects. For the sake of not losing. For the sake of challenging his limits. “Kakarrot… you are No. 1!” In the midst of this fierce battle, Vegeta admits Goku’s strength with rare honesty.
Anime-only/filler content: Various dead characters watching the fight, Vegeta fighting Boo for a while to give Goku time to recover from a particularly draining attack.
Episode 434 - Pull Through, Vegeta!! One Life-Threatening Minute (DBZ episode 281)
Dub title: Minute of Desperation
Originally aired 1st of November 1995
Written by: Masashi Kubota
Episode director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Animation supervisor: Kazuya Hisada
A volley of fierce energy blasts continues to rock the Kaiōshin Realm, but Goku can’t deliver a finishing blow. Boo regenerates from any injury. Goku needs to gather ki for one minute to wipe Boo out, and Vegeta is prepared to sacrifice himself for that minute. With his pride on the line, Vegeta skillfully taunts Boo to desperately stall for time, but something strange is happening to Goku. For some reason, his ki won’t gather!!
Anime-only/filler content: Significant extensions to the fight.
Episode 435 - Don’t You Pick on Satan!! The Original Boo is Revived (DBZ episode 282)
Dub title: Old Buu Emerges
Originally aired 8th of November 1995
Written by: Masashi Kubota
Episode director: Jun’ichi Fujise
Animation supervisor: Yukio Ebisawa
Vegeta’s in dire straits!! Satan steps in at this point. Satan is totally fearless, since he believes everything in the Kaiōshin Realm to be simply a dream. Seeing Satan, Boo is suddenly wracked with pain. Satan mistakenly thinks this is because Boo is overwhelmed by his spirit, but it turns out to be an adverse reaction from the good Boo that was absorbed. Boo spits out the meddlesome good Boo. The good Boo confronts the other Boo for picking on Satan. Meanwhile, not only is Goku’s ki not gathering, but it’s actually begun to decrease!
Anime-only/filler content: Kibitokai and Dende considering going to the Kaioshin planet, an extra scene of Mr. Satan checking on Good Boo.
Episode 436 - Vegeta’s Secret Plan!! Porunga and the Two Wishes (DBZ episode 283)
Dub title: Earth Reborn
Originally aired 15th of November 1995
Written by: Masashi Kubota
Episode director: Shigeyasu Yamauchi
Animation supervisor: Masayuki Uchiyama
Goku’s Super Saiyan 3 transformation is undone, and the battle is heading toward the worst possible scenario. Goku and Vegeta are nearly out of stamina. The good Boo is fighting hard, but even he doesn’t look like he can last much longer. Vegeta calls out to Kaiōshin to gather Planet Namek’s Dragon Balls. The dragon god Porunga appears. Earth is restored with the first wish, and with the second all the dead Earthlings are brought back to life. It turns out what Vegeta has in mind is the Genki-Dama, the same technique Goku once used against him.
No significant anime-only/filler content.
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Interesting trivia:
- Missed Trivia: Vegeta is shown as a Super Saiyan without an aura throughout most of the Boo Arc, suggesting that he mastered the form like Goku and Gohan did in the Cell Arc.
- One notable change Funimation made to Pure Boo was to make him speak basic sentences (KBABZ remembers one Cartoon Network ad quoting him with "Me Buu! Kill you!"), when in the source material he never says anything approaching full sentences. This would be reverted in their dub of The Final Chapters.
- Goku and Vegeta decide who will face Boo by playing Rock Paper Scissors, which is something the Ginyu Force is known to do.
- Old Kaioshin chastizes Goku and Vegeta for not considering working together. That he mentions it here towards the end of the manga's storyline is possibly why it's an occasional plot point in Super. They do technically work together though when Vegeta offers to stall Boo for a minute so that Goku can charge up Super Saiyan 3.
- Goku soon after mentions wanting to have the new generation take over, something Super has absolutely no interest in doing.
- Early in his fight with Pure Boo, Goku uses Instant Transmission to zip behind him. The only other time Goku uses Instant Transmission in combat was in his fight with Cell for the infamous "Warp Kamehameha".
- In the ViZ translation of the manga, Vegeta says that Goku is "the champion". Kanzenshuu translates it as "You're number one!!", which is much more direct.
- Robo personally really loves Brian Drummond's performance in Vegeta's big monologue. Watch part of it here: https://youtu.be/7Hm1R7CREp4
- During Goku and Boo's fight, both of them bite each other. This is the second time Goku's done this, the first being during his fight with Frieza. Oddly however, this occurs in the middle of Vegeta's emotionally-charged "You are number one" speech.
- In the anime, Boo is bitten three separate times, by Gotenks, Goku, and Mr. Satan in added filler. He's the only character to be bitten more than once, which is amusingbecause of his resemblance to chewing gum.
- Bizarrely, Kai leaves in the filler scenes of every past Z villain (and Appule) watching the climactic battle in Hell. They even leave in Goz and Mez recognizing Goku as "the one who fell off Snake Way a while back", which contradicts Kai 1.0 cutting the referenced filler episode. This highlights the difference in approach behind the two edits.
- As well, in this scene Babidi hopes that Boo loses. He seems to forget that this will mean Boo, who almost certainly still hates him, will wind up in Hell where he is! Fortunately for him, this doesn't happen, thanks to Goku and Enma.
- Also in the anime, Vegeta's monologue flashes back to several of their encounters. These scenes feature brand new animation, rather than re-using the original footage of those events. Interestingly, in Funimation's Kai dub of these moments, they re-use Sabat's recordings from the original Kai where appropriate.
- Unsurprisingly, the end of Vegeta's big speech has had many different takes over the years:
- Kanzenshuu: Give it your best, Kakarrot... you're number one!!
- ViZ translation: Good luck, Kakarrot... you are the champion!!
- Ocean Z dub: You are better than me, Kakarot. You are the one.
- Funimation Z dub: You're better than me, Kakarot. You're the best.
- Simmons Kai subtitles: Hang in there, Kakarrot. You are Number One!
- Funimation Kai dub: Hang in there, Kakarrot. You are Number One!
- Funimation DBZ Kakarot dub: Only you can do this. You are number one.
- The reason Vegeta has to stall Boo for a minute is so that Goku can charge up his ki while Super Saiyan 3, making him more powerful than he already was. This is broadly similar to Goku's fight with Freeza, where much is made regarding Freeza powering up to 100% power so that he can compete with Super Saiyan Goku.
- Stalling Boo while Goku powers up is also similar to Dragon Ball Super: Broly, where Freeza is Broly's punching bag for an entire hour while Goku and Vegeta practice the Fusion Dance.
- Despite also being inside Boo, Piccolo, Goten, Trunks and Gohan were not able to influence Boo's behaviour like Good Boo could, which is almost certainly because they aren't, well, Boo.
- Both Kaioshin dismiss Mr. Satan and say that losing him isn't a great loss. Considering Mr. Satan is the reason Boo is defeated, this goes to show how "wise" the two are.
- The matchup of Pure Boo and Mr. Satan is quite possibly the biggest power gap of any fight in the manga.
- From a certain point of view, Pure Boo vs Good Boo is a rematch of Evil Boo vs Good Boo.
- Dende notably talks back to Old Kaioshin, someone FAR higher up the cosmic heirarchy than him.
- Vegeta asks Goku how many times he's saved the Earth. The exact count is 5, them being the Red Ribbon Army, Piccolo Daimao, Majunior, Raditz and Vegeta/Nappa (with a possible sixth if you count him defeating Mecha Freeza in the original timeline). Oolong is responsible for foiling Pilaf, and Gohan is ultimately responsible for defeating Cell (with Goku training and motivating him). Freeza also doesn't count considering Namek blew up: Kaio's Dragon Ball gambit is ultimately the reason why the Namekians survived.
- If you were to count non-manga storylines (not including Super, since this rewatch is purely for the classic era), this count goes up to 20, thanks to DB movie 2, and Z movies 1, 3-8, 12-13, Plan to Eradicate the (Super) Saiyans, and the Black Star Balls/Baby, Super 17, and Evil Dragons arcs of GT. This highlights two things: that anime Goku has a better habit of personally saving the Earth than manga Goku, and that Toei's storylines are really formulaic!
- In the crowd of Namekians, one has a tall, elongated head, which is yet another Xenomorph reference.
- KBABZ remembers that in Funimation's dub of Z, Vegeta sarcastically says that for the third wish, he wants a pair of boots in size 9.
- For the gambit with Porunga, Vegeta is arguably just as clever and forward-thinking as Goku, having remembered that both Dabra and Babidi were personally killed by Boo. And as he points out, his wording of "Everyone who died since the day of the Tournament" allows for those he killed while under Babidi's spell to come back to life as well.
- Dende's wishes to Porunga at the end of the the Boo Arc are translated inside their own word bubble. The only other time this happens is the first time we heard it, when Majunior and God are talking to each other at the 23rd Tournament.
- That Old Kaioshin gets restored to life has some DRASTIC implications, since it suggests that Porunga retored the lives of EVERY GOOD PERSON IN THE UNIVERSE.
- As well, despite Vegeta also being restored back to life, in Super he is still considered a bad person due to his past actions. This suggests that Porunga, the "nice" dragon, has an opinion of Vegeta independent of anyone else in Other World (notable since Porunga would be familiar with Vegeta given the events on Namek).
- This is the second time Vegeta has asked Dende to give Porunga a specific wish to grant. This time, it works!
- It's also quite notable that Vegeta gets his life restored after his greatest act of selflessness, to use the Dragon Balls to restore the Earth and wish everyone back to life. This is in stark contrast to when we first met him, where he would have used the Dragon Balls only to wish himself to immortality (to say nothing of his opinion of lesser beings like humanity).
- It had been so long since the last time the Genki-Dama was used (198 Chapters, to be precise) that ViZ felt the need to include an editors note explaining where the move comes from, pointing to their DBZ Volume 4.