DragonBall Z Kai - Cable TV Version (NickToons)

[penguintruth]

I wonder why the crab eating was cut out. That was one of my favorite bits. It's just so casual, that he's killing this guy and oooh, a crab to eat!

[Coola Yagami]

Sure sounds like they're leaving a lot of filler in these 2 episodes...

[TheBlackPaladin]

I wonder why the crab eating was cut out. That was one of my favorite bits. It's just so casual, that he's killing this guy and oooh, a crab to eat!

I was confused, too. I figured Nicktoons would leave that in--they did show Vegeta eating an alien leg, after all.

[Gaffer Tape]

I'm pretty sure Toonami cut that out too.

[sailorspazz]

Yeah, the crab eating has been edited out of both the old version and this newer one. I still don't know why. Maybe because he's eating a living creature? Silly Freeza, you have to kill that thing before you eat it; eating it alive is just too cruel! When Vegeta was eating alien creatures, he at least had the decency to kill them first

[PuppetDoctor]

Yeah, the crab eating has been edited out of both the old version and this newer one. I still don't know why. Maybe because he's eating a living creature? Silly Freeza, you have to kill that thing before you eat it; eating it alive is just too cruel! When Vegeta was eating alien creatures, he at least had the decency to kill them first

I thought Freeza eating the crab was edited out. That sucks because I love that part when he eats it.

[sailorspazz]

I thought Freeza eating the crab was edited out. That sucks because I love that part when he eats it.

I always thought it was kind of weird and came out of nowhere, but that's probably what makes it so shocking, and thus a pretty interesting little scene.

A strange conversation came out of a discussion about this scene. I was mentioning to my husband about how the scene was edited and asking why he thought they did it. He agreed with me that it was probably because it showed a creature being eaten alive, but then went off on a tangent about how he was concerned about how eating a whole crab, shell and all, would be awfully painful passing through Freeza's digestive system. I replied that, well, Freeza's going to be sliced in half eventually, so he luckily won't have to go through the pain of passing that crab

[dan2026]

-All evidence of Freeza holding Vegeta by the neck with his tail and punching his back has been removed. All shots in the recap and such are removed, always showing Vegeta on the ground in pain.

Wow seriously?
Exactly how censored is this broadcast?

-Hopefully this is censorship: "A Saiyan must be the one to stop him." This will likely be: "He must die by a Saiyan's hand." or something.

No in the original, Vegeta asks Goku to 'defeat/beat' Freeza, not to kill him.

[Ashy-kun]

I'm assuming that Kai doesn't change the dialogue in Japanese from Z to Kai, so I'm going by my Dragon Box. But to give the line exactly...

"T-Tanomu...! Freeza wo... Freeza wo taoshite kure! Tanomu...! Saiya-jin no... Te... de..."

There's the Japanese. One should note that Vegeta uses no word for "kill", like "korosu". Now, this translation here is only my own. I'll give that of Mr. Simmons as well, though, for those who don't want to trust mine and would rather see what an official has to say.

"I-I beg of you...! Freeza... Please, defeat Freeza for me! I beg of you...! With the hand... Of a... Saiyan..."

And for those who would prefer Mr. Simmon's translation:

"I-I beg you...! Freeza... Defeat Freeza! Please... By your Saiyan hand..."

So, yeah, you can say "Freeza must die at the hand of a Saiyan", but it's slightly over-dramatising what Vegeta actually says. If anything, I interpret the line as Vegeta just wanting Freeza defeated, as a sake of hurting his pride to the same extent that Vegeta's pride had been broken, and that the pride of the Saiyan race as a whole had been broken. Which is what Gokuu does, in the end. If Freeza dies in this, then so much the better.

There's also the fact that it does lead credence to Gokuu's vow to do as Vegeta asked, that he then uses the same verb "Taosu", not "Korosu" ("Korosu" would be "kill", and "Taosu" is to defeat.) Again, here's Gokuu's little speech.

"Wakatte'ru ze... Saiya-jin no nakama ga korosareta no ga kuyashii ja nee n'da. Aitsu ni iiyou(?) ni sarechimatta no ga kuyashikute shou ga nee n'da yo na?! Omee wa daikiree datta kedo... Saiya-jin no hokori wa omotte'ta. Ora mo sukoshi wakete morau zo. Sono hokori wo! Ora wa Chikyuu sodachi no Saiya-jin da! ... Omee ni korosareta Saiya-jin no tame ni mo... Soshite... Koko no Nameck-seijin no tame ni mo...! Omee wa... Buttaosu!!"

Again, here's my translation:

"I'm gettin' it now... It wasn't that your fellow Saiyans/Saiyan buddies were killed that was regrettable to ya. It was that ya'd just had to do what he said for ya to do, and that it couldn't be helped, that was so regrettable to ya, huh?! Though I really hated ya... I was feelin' your Saiyan pride... An' now I too will take just a lil' share of it... Of that pride of yers! I am an Earth-grown Saiyan! ... For both the sake of the Saiyans killed by ya... And then... For the sake of the Nameckians here too...! I will... Defeat ya!!"

And once again, here is Mr. Simmon's translation, for those who don't want to go by mine:

"I understand. It wasn't that your fellow Saiyans had been killed that was rough on you-- Having to do as he told you must have been worse than anything you could stand. I hated you so much... But you had your Saiyan pride. And now I too will share in some of that pride of yours. I am a Saiyan raised on Earth! For all the Saiyans that were killed by you... As well as for all the Namekians here... I am going to beat you!"

So, as you can see, there isn't really any mention of killing Freeza. As I said, it's just my opinion, but I feel the matter was always a case of "Freeza must have his pride destroyed by a Saiyan, just as he destroyed the Saiyan pride". Killing never came into it. If it did, then great, no more Freeza, but pride and honour went far beyond mortality for Vegeta, in this case.

Over-analysing much, on my part? But, of course... I hope I didn't bore everyone.

[spaceace998]

You can say "Freeza must die at the hand of a Saiyan", but it's slightly over-dramatising what Vegeta actually says. If anything, I interpret the line as Vegeta just wanting Freeza defeated, as a sake of hurting his pride to the same extent that Vegeta's pride had been broken, and that the pride of the Saiyan race as a whole had been broken. Which is what Gokuu does, in the end. If Freeza dies in this, then so much the better.

There's also the fact that it does lead credence to Gokuu's vow to do as Vegeta asked, that he then uses the same verb "Taosu", not "Korosu" ("Korosu" would be "kill", and "Taosu" is to defeat.)

Oh, okay. Well, I'm still hoping the line gets changed for the home release just to mention that "Freeza must be defeated by a Saiyan's hand". There was no mention of a Saiyan's hand in the broadcast.

Over-analysing much, on my part? But, of course... I hope I didn't bore everyone.

Didn't bore me. You taught me something new. I always thought that Vegeta wanted Goku to kill Freeza. I don't speak Japanese, and seldom use the subtitles. Yep, I'm weird like that.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

Over-analysing much, on my part? But, of course... I hope I didn't bore everyone.

Nah. You're on Daizex, after all.

[Metalwario64]

Oh, okay. Well, I'm still hoping the line gets changed for the home release just to mention that "Freeza must be defeated by a Saiyan's hand". There was no mention of a Saiyan's hand in the broadcast.

I'm beginning to wonder if the "by a Saiyan's hand" was considered "too violent" for the kiddies or something, as it implies Goku physically harming someone. I'm hoping that's the case, because the "by a Saiyan's hand" line is important to the shot with Vegeta's hand reaching out to Goku.

If that's not the case, there's also the fact that we had Dende's "brothers and sisters" line, which is a valid translation I believe, but is inaccurate because the writer would had to have known ahead (directly ahead even) that Namekians are gender neutral, so it was just carelessness. Maybe FUNimation's script writers didn't understand the meaning of that shot with Vegeta's hand and thought their wording was accurate enough, or they didn't even see the shot that the line was written for when translating?

[Ashy-kun]

Perhaps. But do remember that some phrases in English involve saying "by/at the hand of someone" and that doesn't imply physical touching. Stuff like "I sense so-and-so's hand in this". I think if anything the idea of the "hand" is just because a hand most represents action [ramblings about the red right hand, and the right hand meaning one's future and their actions to cause, etc. handily snipped out, so as not to bore everyone further].

[Metalwario64]

Perhaps. But do remember that some phrases in English involve saying "by/at the hand of someone" and that doesn't imply physical touching.

Yep, I know. I'm just thinking that, maybe whoever was in charge of the NickToons edits could possibly have taken it to mean that "physical harm", or worried that it could have been.

Of course, I also believe that it's very likely that the exact line from the TV version will remain on the DVD as well, and FUNimation didn't pick up the meaning of the shot with Vegeta's hand while he is referencing a Saiyan's hand.

[penguintruth]

Well, defeat by a Saiyan usually means you're going to die.

I would really like to hear "by your Saiyan hand", but what they used isn't bad.

[NeoKING]

It'd be ironic and hypocritical if they censored the "By a Saiyan's hand" line when one of the Nicktoon promos for the Piccolo vs. Freeza fight said - and in a REAL Dragon Ball-esque way - "IT"S DO-OR-DIE!!"

Ashy-kun, I like your style.

[Ashy-kun]

You like my style? How do you mean?

[NeoKING]

You like my style? How do you mean?

I was referring to your translation. Kinda went overboard on the Tohoku parts in that Goku example IMO, but you're pretty good.

On-topic: So has anyone figured out why Avatar can get away with everything but DBZKAI gets a little censored?

[xzero]

Exactly how censored is this broadcast?

It's a little more censored than the Toonami airing was for Freeza through GT, less than the edited, dub-only seasons 1 & 2, and substantially less censored than the 4Kids version, which is a joke. Basically, it's watchable and certainly enjoyable, and for the most part, the censoring isn't obtrusive. For those who think otherwise, a $30 investment every couple of months will get 13 completely uncut episodes with a script featuring a fair amount of swearing, so there's a viable alternative within a few weeks or months after the initial airing.

On almost all broadcast versions, the script is censored as well. Interestingly, I recall there being no (or minimal) censorship when Cartoon Network aired the redub of Seasons 1 & 2. Of course, that was at 10:00 and 10:30 at night, so I guess the "bastards," "hells," and "dammits" were permissible under their standards for that time of night, notwithstanding the fact that it was DBZ (my personal favorite was Jeice's reaction to Vegeta's killing Guldo: "That bastard just killed Guldo!"). Plus, many of us will remember the slip during the first 3 airings of the Freeza Saga in September of 1999, November of 1999, and either January or March of 2000: Dende: "Don't piss off the god of love!" I know there were other instances of mild profanity scattered throughout the initial DBZ run, but they were few and far between (all of them can be heard on the Orange Bricks and Dragon Box sets).

All of that aside, I was surprised by how much material was cut out of some of the recent episodes of Nicktoons' Kai broadcast. I expected stuff to be removed from the Krillin goring sequence, and some of the Vegeta death material was bound to go, but to cut out nearly 2 minutes of the latter was actually surprising. Toonami had the scenes with Freeza holding Vegeta's neck with his tail while beating him in the back; the only censoring there was that some of the blood was missing.

[Ashy-kun]

I was referring to your translation. Kinda went overboard on the Tohoku parts in that Goku example IMO, but you're pretty good.

Why, thank-you. I imagine it does look a little overboard with how I translated Gokuu's way of speaking, but think of it this way. Thank goodness I didn't spell out how I feel Gokuu says "I" phonetically, with his relaxed accent. People would go around thinking he's a Texan stereotype, if I started writing "Ah'm gonna beat ya". Also some of the... Oh, what's the word... Have to think back on my language courses... "Elisions", I believe, such as with "Was feelin'" for "Omotte'ta", are actually me showing the elision of "Omotteita" to "Omotte'ta", so "Was feeling" becomes "Was feelin'".

On almost all broadcast versions, the script is censored as well. Interestingly, I recall there being no (or minimal) censorship when Cartoon Network aired the redub of Seasons 1 & 2. Of course, that was at 10:00 and 10:30 at night, so I guess the "bastards," "hells," and "dammits" were permissible under their standards for that time of night, notwithstanding the fact that it was DBZ (my personal favorite was Jeice's reaction to Vegeta's killing Guldo: "That bastard just killed Guldo!"). Plus, many of us will remember the slip during the first 3 airings of the Freeza Saga in September of 1999, November of 1999, and either January or March of 2000: Dende: "Don't piss off the god of love!" I know there were other instances of mild profanity scattered throughout the initial DBZ run, but they were few and far between (all of them can be heard on the Orange Bricks and Dragon Box sets).

First off, why do I feel you liked that line from Jhees, because it conjures up images of "Oh my God, they killed Ghurd! You bastards!"

Secondly, I can't help but Jhees swearing in the edited dub, as well. "Ah, bugger! Blasted thing...", when he's reading Gokuu's Battle Strength on his Scouter, and then "No bloody Saiyan's that strong!"

Which brings me onto an interesting point. I've noticed that for some reason, even on edited broadcasts, characters given inexplicable Australian accents seem to get away with saying all sorts. Certainly "Bloody" crops up a lot. I mean, it even appears in a 4Kids show. Yuugi Ou, when Bakura is duelling against Ghost Kotsuzuka, the Bandit Keith lackey with red hair and shades (and an Australian accent) goes "Bonz, whatever you do, don't you bloody lose!"

So seriously, what is it? Do Americans think that "bloody" isn't a swear word (no matter how light) in the Australian language/accent/dialect, and so if they give a character an Australian accent on an edited show, they not only can say it, but are even obliged to?

(Please note I'm not being serious. I'm just pointing out the silliness of it all.)