MistareFusion's Dragon Ball Dissection! (Updated 4/13/26!)

[Gaffer Tape]

How come you haven't commented on the absurdity of Kame Sennin showing up to fight, but Yamcha not.
Kame Sennin hasn't trained jack-shit since Karin, but Yamcha has trained with Kami-sama, Kaio-sama, trained for Cell, and yet... Poor dolt.

I feel like I spoke on that to a degree, that he seems an odd choice if they're self-selecting. It's true I didn't compare him directly to Yamcha, although that bothers me quite a bit more in the lead-up to the ToP.

Yes & you also responded on my 22nd birthday.

That's awesome! Happy birthday!

[Scsigs]

Just copy/pasting these from the comments I left on the video itself.

So, when you're working with digital animation, you can either get characters drawn at full scale, then shrunk down to the size they need to be in the shots they're in, or you can get the characters drawn at that smaller scale. It literally depends on the animator & how much time they have to animate it. Sometimes you'll also get both in 1 shot depending on the characters. Considering that Super's early production had only a MONTH to animate any given episode because of how poorly Toei actually planned out Super's production before it aired, I don't begrudge the animators drawing the characters at a larger scale, then shrinking them down.

So, Kai censoring a lot of the blood comes from a few different things. Yes, it aired on Sunday mornings & the standards in Japan changed between the 90s & 2009, but also apparently Toei was pre-censoring or toning down certain things for the international broadcasts. Not only toning down the blood, but the nudity with Gohan, changing the strobing effects, & some other things. Some people think this censoring is bad, but I don't mind it. The blood isn't fully eliminated in Kai & the holes on Goku & Raditz being filled is the only time it gets to that level.

[Kid Buu]

How come you haven't commented on the absurdity of Kame Sennin showing up to fight, but Yamcha not.
Kame Sennin hasn't trained jack-shit since Karin, but Yamcha has trained with Kami-sama, Kaio-sama, trained for Cell, and yet... Poor dolt.

I feel like I spoke on that to a degree, that he seems an odd choice if they're self-selecting. It's true I didn't compare him directly to Yamcha, although that bothers me quite a bit more in the lead-up to the ToP.

Yeah, Yamcha felt really out of character in those episodes leading up to ToP. The Buu arc established he had retired from fighting and he didn't even want to participate in the 25th Budokai, but somehow wants to be in the ToP?

[The Dark Knight]

The Buu arc established he had retired from fighting and he didn't even want to participate in the 25th Budokai, but somehow wants to be in the ToP?

There's a lot of character development from the original manga that Super just ignores. Roshi is another example of this, where he retires as a result of the rise of the next generation, only to now fight on the front lines with characters that should be far beyond his capabilities. On the flip side, we have Goten and Trunks who were built up as the next best thing, only to be completely side lined every chance possible. Don't even get me started on all the character regression (looking at you Goku and Vegeta) that's been going on for so long now.

[Kid Buu]

The Buu arc established he had retired from fighting and he didn't even want to participate in the 25th Budokai, but somehow wants to be in the ToP?

There's a lot of character development from the original manga that Super just ignores. Roshi is another example of this, where he retires as a result of the rise of the next generation, only to now fight on the front lines with characters that should be far beyond his capabilities. On the flip side, we have Goten and Trunks who were built up as the next best thing, only to be completely side lined every chance possible. Don't even get me started on all the character regression (looking at you Goku and Vegeta) that's been going on for so long now.

It feels as though Super leans heavily on the characterisation fans remember most. Yamcha here comes across much closer to his Saiyan Saga self than his Buu Saga version. It doesn’t help that Super even brings back his classic Saiyan Saga death pose.

[DanielSSJ]

It feels as though Super leans heavily on the characterisation fans remember most. Yamcha here comes across much closer to his Saiyan Saga self than his Buu Saga version. It doesn’t help that Super even brings back his classic Saiyan Saga death pose.

Nail on the head.

[The Dark Knight]

It feels as though Super leans heavily on the characterization fans remember most.

That's exactly what it does; it basically writes the characters as their most popular version, regardless of whether or not that's actually who they were at the end of the Buu arc. I'm surprised they didn't find a way to age Gohan down to his Cell-arc self.

[DanielSSJ]

That's exactly what it does; it basically writes the characters as their most popular version, regardless of whether or not that's actually who they were at the end of the Buu arc. I'm surprised they didn't find a way to age Gohan down to his Cell-arc self.

I mean... *gestures to all of Super Hero*

[Vegetto95]

That's exactly what it does; it basically writes the characters as their most popular version, regardless of whether or not that's actually who they were at the end of the Buu arc. I'm surprised they didn't find a way to age Gohan down to his Cell-arc self.

I mean... *gestures to all of Super Hero*

God, the fact that Super Hero is supposed to take place just ONE year before the 28th Tenkaichi Budōkai epilogue, and we're somehow supposed to believe that Blooma goes from looking like this:


to this:

in only a single year???

Not even to mention the fact that it completely ruins the joke in the epilogue where Blooma, out of jealousy after hearing Vegeta's explanation that Saiyans age slower to stay in their combat prime longer, quips "Maybe next time I'll ask Shenlong to make me young again". Why would she say that then if, per Super, she had already been doing EXACTLY THAT for several years straight? Oh yeah, cuz Super's writers are incompetent buffoons, duh. Almost forgot that for a second there...

Seriously, for all the myriad issues GT had, one thing I truly LOVED about it was that the characters continued to age. By GT, 40 entire years had passed since Blooma first ran into Gokū with her car on Mt. Paozu... the main cast are ALL WELL into their 50s and they LOOK it. I positively ADORE how Mr. Satan is visibly balding in the 28th TB epilogue, and by GT the entire top of his head is fully bald. Ditto how Kuririn has clearly graying hair and rather prominent laugh lines in the TB epilogue, and by GT it's just straight up gray and he's got a big, beefy mustache to go along with it.

It really gives the series a truly epic feel in terms of scope, that it's this HUGE, DECADES long journey, one where these characters grow up alongside you just as much as you grow up alongside them. I LOVE that the main character starts out as a little twelve year old kid, and by the end of it he's in his 50s and has a ten year old granddaughter! And I love that, unlike many other things like Naruto or Harry Potter or Digimon Adventure where 99% of the story we get to see is just the main characters as adolescents and then we get maybe 5 minutes at the VERY end where it shows them and their kids 20-odds years later, we instead actually get to gradually experience the lives of Gokū and co. by getting dropped in every few years to witness a few months of their lives before skipping another small handful of years ahead again. Not only is that something I've always really loved about Dragon Ball, but the older I get, it only appeals to me that much more.

Buuuuuuuuuuuuuut... then Super of course just had to go and take a GIANT shit ALL over ALL of that and revert EVERY SINGLE LAST character back to how they were when they were at their most popular (usually circa Artificial Humans arc) because of uber-safe and sterile corporate marketing bullshit. And just like with Sheriff Bart and quicksand...I HATE IT. (PLEASE tell me SOMEONE gets that Blazing Saddles reference )

At the end of the day, I am VERY much a "Dragon Ball ended for good in November of 1997, and damn near EVERYTHING made after that has been completely pointless fluff of questionable-at-best quality." kinda guy.

*sigh* Oh, the days when that were still true...

[DanielSSJ]

God, the fact that Super Hero is supposed to take place just ONE year before the 28th Tenkaichi Budōkai epilogue, and we're somehow supposed to believe that Blooma goes from looking like this:


to this:

in only a single year???

Not even to mention the fact that it completely ruins the joke in the epilogue where Blooma, out of jealousy after hearing Vegeta's explanation that Saiyans age slower to stay in their combat prime longer, quips "Maybe next time I'll ask Shenlong to make me young again". Why would she say that then if, per Super, she had already been doing EXACTLY THAT for several years straight? Oh yeah, cuz Super's writers are incompetent buffoons, duh. Almost forgot that for a second there...

Back before we knew Daima was set even further into the past and not directly after Super, I half jokingly predicted that when child wish got reversed, it'd reset Bluma to her ACTUAL age, just in time for the 28th Budokai.

[Scsigs]

Imagine if Shenron monkey's paw'd her & she's gonna snap back to her natural age look right before the tournament.