Scsigs' Dragon Ball Retrospectives (Reading the Mangas & Rewatching the Animes)

[Scsigs]

Hello. So, don't know if anyone here knows, but I have a few YouTube channels. And for 1 of them, I plan to start doing arc retrospectives for the series in a similar vein to MistareFusion and Totally Not Mark alongside other series over the next year for the 40th anniversary of the OG Dragon Ball anime. This thread is intended to document my reading through the manga for the first time (never done it) and rewatching the animes, including the TV shows, films, and specials.

A warning for those who prefer to adhere to the Japanese. For the most part, I don't care to do that with the names of the older movies and specials, mainly because most of the Japanese names are either really stupid, barely have anything to do with the stories or plots of the movies, or are too long to remember because Toei came up with the names of them before writing them. I will, thus, refer to them by their English dub names for simplicity's sake when talking about them, but will have them listed here in parenthesis. Funnily enough, the Trunks special's English name actually unintentionally adheres to the manga chapter the special's based on, Trunks: The Story this way. I also don't care for any of the filler from the original version of Z, so I'll be skipping over that in my arc numbers, though I'll be watching the small filler arcs that the Super anime does. However, I'll do a big video talking about it. I also intend to rewatch them all with the dubs, as I wanna do something that no one who does these retrospctives really does and that's discuss how the English dubs of these things developed over time to go from awful to actually really great in the present day (in before Totally Not Mark steals the idea) to put my own spin on this.

Here's my history of the franchise.
1. I've only watched the original DB anime all the way through once.
2. I've never watched Z all the way through (the only full arc I've watched from Z is Buu with some other episodes from earlier here and there).
3. I've watched all of Kai multiple times (my preferred way to watch Z due to cutting the majority of the filler and the better English dub).
4. I haven't seen GT all the way through, but have seen everything after the first 15 episodes a few times from when it ran on Toonami and on the DVDs.
5. I've watched most of Super before the Tournament of Power.
6. I need to see more of Daima, which, thankfully, Crunchyroll's putting out a Blu-Ray next month.
7. I've seen all of the Z and Super movies & specials, most of which I've watched multiple times, but haven't watched any of the 4 OG Dragon Ball movies.
8. I've seen all of Dragon Ball Z Abridged multiple times.
9. I've read a few chapters of the Saiyan arc of the manga and the first few chapters of the Super manga, nothing else, though. Never read the Jaco manga.

So, I'll be tracking my progress with this project, with the intent of discussing with those here interested and doing my retrospective content. I hope you guys will come along with me on this.

Progress:
OG Manga Arcs:
1. Emperor Pilaf Arc (Chapters 1-23, episodes 1-13) (Reading)
2. 21st Tenkaichi Budokai/World Tournament Arc (Chapters 24-54, DB episodes 14-28)
3. Red Ribbon Army Arc (Chapters 55-112, DB episodes 29-83)
4. 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai/World Tournament Arc (Chapters 113-134, DB episodes 84-101)
5. Piccolo Daimao Arc (Chapters 135-161, DB episodes 102-122)
6. 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai/World Tournament/Piccolo Jr. Arc (Chapters 162-194, DB episodes 123-153)
7. Saiyan Arc (Chapters 195-241, Z episodes 1-35, Kai 1-17)
8. Freeza Arc (Chapters 242-329, Z episodes 36-107, Kai 18-54)
9. Android/Artificial Humans Arc (Chapters 330-420, Z episodes 118-194, Kai 55-98)
10. Boo/Buu Arc (Chapters 421-519, Z episodes 200-291, Kai 99-167)

Movies:
DB:
1. Curse of the Blood Rubies (Legend of Shenlong)
2. Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle
3. Mystical Adventure (A Mystical Great Adventure)
4. Path to Power

Z:
1. Dead Zone (Dragon Ball Z/Return my Gohan)
2. The World's Strongest (The World's Strongest Guy)
3. Tree of Might (A Super Battle For the Whole Earth)
4. Lord Slug (Super Saiyan Son Goku)
5. Cooler's Revenge (The Incredible Strongest vs Strongest)
6. Return of Cooler (Clash!! 10,000,000,000 Powerful Warriors)
7. Super Android 13 (Extreme Battle!! The Three Great Super Saiyans)
8. Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan (Burn Up!! Hot Fight • Violent Fight • Super Fierce Fight)
9. Bojack Unbound (The Galaxy at the Brink!! The Super Incredible Guy)
10. Broly: the Second Coming (The Dangerous Duo! Super Warriors Can't Rest)
11. Bio Broly (Super-Warrior Defeat!! I’m the One Who’ll Win)
12. Fusion Reborn (The Rebirth of Fusion!! Goku and Vegeta)
13. Wrath of the Dragon (Dragon Fist Explosion!! If Goku Won’t Do it, Who Will?)

Z TV Specials:
1. Bardock: The Father of Goku (A Final, Solitary Battle: The Father of a Z-Warrior Son Gokū, Who Challenged Freeza)
2. History of Trunks (Defiance in the Face of Despair!! The Remaining Super-Warriors—Gohan and Trunks)

GT Arcs:
1. Black Star Dragon Balls Arc (Ultimate Dragon Balls Arc) (Episodes 1-16)
2. Baby Arc (Super Baby Arc) (Episodes 17-40)
A Hero's Legacy TV Special (Goku’s Side Story! The Proof of his Courage is the Four-Star Ball)
3. Super 17 Arc (Super No. 17 Arc) (Episodes 41-47)
4. Shadow Dragons Arc (Evil Dragons Arc) (Episodes 48-64)

Dragonball Evolution

Super Arcs:
1. Battle of Gods Arc (Z Movie 14, chapters 1-4, episodes 1-14)
2. Resurrection F Arc (Z Movie 15, incomplete special manga given away at Japanese screenings of the movie, episodes 15-27)
3. Universe 6 Arc (Chapters 5-13, episodes 28-41)
4. Future Trunks Arc (Chapters 14-26, episodes 47-76)
5. Tournament of Power Arc (Chapters 27-42, episodes 77-131)
DBS Movie 1: Broly
6. Galactic Patrol Prisoner Arc (Chapters 42-67)
7. Granolah the Survivor Arc (Chaoters 68-87)
8. High School Arc (Chapters 88-90)
9. Super Hero Arc (DBS movie 2, Chapters 91-104)

Jaco The Galactic Patrolman (Chapters 1-12)

Daima (Episodes 1-20)

Don't know if I'll cover Heroes, but I kinda want to since no one's ever talked about the manga version of that ever as far as I can tell and it's been translated into English by fans. The most brainrot part of the franchise by a longshot, but I wanna explore it eventually. In before Totally Not Mark steals the idea or does it first.

Welcome to the thread.

[Scsigs]

Began scripting my Dragon Ball retrospective series & the intro has me going on for a few minutes on how much I don't like the OG Z dub. So, it's going well.

[The Dark Knight]

I'm really looking forward to this; I love these kinds of long-term retrospectives. I just got done watching both Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, so I'll share my thoughts as well as you go on.

[Scsigs]

I'm really looking forward to this; I love these kinds of long-term retrospectives. I just got done watching both Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, so I'll share my thoughts as well as you go on.

With Seed of Might finally releasing their magnum opus in the color corrected DBZ episodes, I definitely look forward to cracking into the first 3 arcs of the original Z anime. I also would like to do an in-depth comparison series on the differences between Z & Kai as well. It'll be an interesting journey. I'll also be watching & reading the DB shows & manga in proper production order, which I've never done before. And with full color corrected DBox masters & the Blu-Ray rips from Japan, this'll be a great experience.

[The Dark Knight]

With Seed of Might finally releasing their magnum opus in the color corrected DBZ episodes, I definitely look forward to cracking into the first 3 arcs of the original Z anime. I also would like to do an in-depth comparison series on the differences between Z & Kai as well. It'll be an interesting journey. I'll also be watching & reading the DB shows & manga in proper production order, which I've never done before. And with full color corrected DBox masters & the Blu-Ray rips from Japan, this'll be a great experience.

Someone on Youtube said that they'll be releasing the color corrected versions of the original 17 movies sometime next year, as what they put out last year (or was it this year ?) was a white balance edition. It's nice to finally have the classic series and movies properly remastered, especially after decades of failed "official" releases.

[Scsigs]

Someone on Youtube said that they'll be releasing the color corrected versions of the original 17 movies sometime next year, as what they put out last year (or was it this year ?) was a white balance edition. It's nice to finally have the classic series and movies properly remastered, especially after decades of failed "official" releases.

Well, that's good. I wonder how much of a difference a full color correction would make, though, considering the biggest problem with Toei's remasters of the original 17 movies & the last 2 Super movies is the white balance still being set for movie theaters & not adjusted for home TVs for no reason. Even previewing the white balanced versions of the movies, they look great since they're still remastered from the first gen film stock Toei put them on back in the 80s & 90s.

[Scsigs]

Adding this here as a resource. I completely forgot that Viz has weird or dumb translation choices for some things for no reason.
viewtopic.php?t=32240

[Scsigs]

So, sorry for not updating this thread for a few months. I'm starting to rewatch the Super anime & skim the manga to do videos on what they may be doing for the recut of Super: Beerus & speculate on what they could do for future arc recuts. Currently up to episode 4.

The line art in this episode is really inconsistent. It constantly switches between really thick & really thin with no rhyme or reason. Just...why?

Also, I really don't like 'Chozetsu Dynamic.' I have no idea why it was chosen as the theme song, but it's extremely mid. Not bad, just not what I'd pick for DB.

I also don't understand why Gregory's in the anime if it's supposed to be a continuation of the manga's version of events.

And, I also don't get why they changed Bulma's part from being at Capsule Corp to a cruise ship. Always seemed like a needless change to me.

Episode 5. Geez. Even with the shots they corrected for the home releases, this episode's still a mess when it comes to animation.

Episode 6. Why did they use the Earth from the real world in an establishing shot rather than the one from Dragon Ball? You can easily see North & South America on it.

[The Dark Knight]

I'm starting to rewatch the Super anime...

you have my condolences.

Currently up to episode 4. The line art in this episode is really inconsistent. It constantly switches between really thick & really thin with no rhyme or reason. Just...why?

The belief online is that the wanted it to have a more cartoonish feel to it due to Pilaf being the focus, but I have no idea if that's true or not.

I really don't like 'Chozetsu Dynamic.' I have no idea why it was chosen as the theme song, but it's extremely mid. Not bad, just not what I'd pick for DB.

The songs used in modern Dragon Ball as a whole are pretty average; nothing bad, but nothing that stands out and says "this is DB" like the classic eras.

I also don't understand why Gregory's in the anime if it's supposed to be a continuation of the manga's version of events.

They were never really consistent with this being a follow up to the manga or anime.

I also don't get why they changed Bulma's part from being at Capsule Corp to a cruise ship. Always seemed like a needless change to me.

The open seas were easier to animate, which is something they needed due to the time crunch they were on.

Episode 5. Geez. Even with the shots they corrected for the home releases, this episode's still a mess when it comes to animation.

I expect major parts of this to be reanimated from the ground up in the remake; there's just very little that can be salvaged.

[Scsigs]

you have my condolences.

It's not too bad. I actually like most of Super. And, it's weird, at least the earlier episodes have the character writing pretty fine with characters like Goku, though they're inconsistent on Vegeta. It's only with the next arc that they started to flanderize Goku's immaturity.

The belief online is that the wanted it to have a more cartoonish feel to it due to Pilaf being the focus, but I have no idea if that's true or not.

That doesn't really make much sense since it's only for the 1 scene with the Pilaf gang, then randomly a few shots later on that aren't with them. If that was the intent, they weren't consistent with it.

The songs used in modern Dragon Ball as a whole are pretty average; nothing bad, but nothing that stands out and says "this is DB" like the classic eras.

I disagree. I've loved 'Dragon Soul' & 'Limit Break x Survivor.' Even the first Heroes theme song, I really liked. And I'd say Daima's theme song was good for the show. Even the 2 Kai: The Final Chapters theme songs are pretty good. 'Cho Zetsu Dynamic' is just an outlier of blandness.

They were never really consistent with this being a follow up to the manga or anime.

I mean, maybe, but Battle of Gods didn't have Gregory in it, iirc, & neither does the manga's version of the arc, so they added him when they didn't need to.

The open seas were easier to animate, which is something they needed due to the time crunch they were on.

I mean, sure, but the manga also set it on the cruise ship. I wonder if they went to Toriyama for the idea. It'd explain why Toyotaro also used it.

I expect major parts of this to be reanimated from the ground up in the remake; there's just very little that can be salvaged.

From the shots they've shown in the trailer, they're going to be reusing more than you might be expecting. A lot's going to be just touched up & made to look better while some shots are going to be reanimated to either be closer to the movie, or maybe even smooth over where they made content cuts that weren't too smooth. As well as to add elements from the manga. Like, I expect them to add the cameos of Champa & Vados from the manga for instance.