My opinion of Pre-Z Dragon Ball? Let us find out, now!!

[ABED]

We get it, you read about the rules of writing and you know writers need to hide their seems when it comes to exposition, but instead of telling us that you didn't like the exposition, how about you tell us what you are referring to. Not everyone remembers every single thing.

Hmm, you're right. I thought you'd remember. Well, it was when Oolong turned back into a big after trying to threaten Goku, tricked Goku by making him think he was just some cute piggy who saw the "real Oolong" run by, was all "phew, sure glad he thought I was a cute piggy!"...and then this ~32 second long thing started where the narrator was explaining to us what happened.

If you want to get technical, they didn't need the "Bad Buu" line.

Technical is overly pedantic though. Point is, they gave us everything we needed to know, with just one line, and without needing to break the 4th wall, which is a far better way of going about it. And this is from a dub that was usually infamous for adding dumb and unnecessary dialogue!

Toriyama doesn't do it because he needs to break the 4th wall. It's a show that lends itself to that sort of amusing device. It might be different in the anime, but in the manga, it's Oolong that tells people the rules of his transformation. It's worth a chuckle.

I'll take bad narration over Josh Martin's Buu any day.

[Valerius Dover]

I don't remember entirely, but I'm pretty sure the dub also had Oolong "narrating" the explanation instead. Honestly, I agree that this is one of the things that would potentially bother me about the original. About how much does this happen? I haven't seen it in Japanese yet, but definitely will soon.

[Gaffer Tape]

It might be different in the anime, but in the manga, it's Oolong that tells people the rules of his transformation.

Nope. The manga handles it in a narration box, so the anime handles it exactly the same way.

[ABED]

It might be different in the anime, but in the manga, it's Oolong that tells people the rules of his transformation.

Nope. The manga handles it in a narration box, so the anime handles it exactly the same way.

So is it the anime that has Oolong break the fourth wall?

[Fionordequester]

No, see, Oolong himself never breaks the fourth wall. In fact, that may have been a poor way to phrase it. Basically, you know how the narrator will usually come in at the episode recaps? Well, this episode, he also made an appearance in the middle of the episode to explain what the deal was with Oolong's transformations.

[ABED]

I don't know why I remembered it as Oolong breaking the fourth wall.

Point taken about the awkward exposition, but I think Cell stopping to tell Piccolo his life story was worse.

[Fionordequester]

So, guys, are you able to view this video right here? Apparently it's blocked in a few countries (hopefully that's not a euphemism for all of them, though I have a feeling it is)...

https://www.youtube.com/copynotice?video_id=d7xVkCi0c7M

[Storm]

Point taken about the awkward exposition, but I think Cell stopping to tell Piccolo his life story was worse.

To be fair, Piccolo more or less begged him.

[ABED]

Point taken about the awkward exposition, but I think Cell stopping to tell Piccolo his life story was worse.

To be fair, Piccolo more or less begged him.

But why did Cell acquiesce? I know Toriyama made it like a death row inmate's last request situation, but there's no good reason for Cell to go along with it.

[JackyBoi99]

Perhaps cell wanted to gloat about his 'amazing' design.

[rereboy]

But why did Cell acquiesce? I know Toriyama made it like a death row inmate's last request situation, but there's no good reason for Cell to go along with it.

Because he is an arrogant bastard. He is smart, but he is still arrogant. And the story made a good job of reflecting that in more than one occasion.

[ABED]

I get that he's arrogant, but "Before I kill you, let me tell you my life story, including where a young version of me is" comes off as Toriyama wanting to explain the character in a very expedient manner. I think the mystery surrounding him could've been stretched out a little more. Besides, what is Cell getting out of it? I just don't like it as a way of spouting exposition. At least with the Oolong thing, there's a certain amount of wink, wink.

[rereboy]

I get that he's arrogant, but "Before I kill you, let me tell you my life story, including where a young version of me is" comes off as Toriyama wanting to explain the character in a very expedient manner. I think the mystery surrounding him could've been stretched out a little more. Besides, what is Cell getting out of it? I just don't like it as a way of spouting exposition. At least with the Oolong thing, there's a certain amount of wink, wink.

He gets to talk about himself and how he is designed to be this perfect being. In fact, Piccolo is presumably the first being he has ever had the chance to actually talk and brag about himself.

[ABED]

I get that he's arrogant, but "Before I kill you, let me tell you my life story, including where a young version of me is" comes off as Toriyama wanting to explain the character in a very expedient manner. I think the mystery surrounding him could've been stretched out a little more. Besides, what is Cell getting out of it? I just don't like it as a way of spouting exposition. At least with the Oolong thing, there's a certain amount of wink, wink.

He gets to talk about himself and how he is designed to be this perfect being. In fact, Piccolo is presumably the first being he has ever had the chance to actually talk and brag about himself.

I find that to be a stretch, not that Piccolo's the first strong being he's had a chance to talk to, but that he cared enough to tell him his whole life story. Right before he's about to deliver what he thinks is the killing stroke, Piccolo gets him to divulge more. I find it awkward, and I'm not quite sure Cell was necessary to give that exposition at a moment where he's about kill someone. It stops the momentum in its tracks.

[Fionordequester]

Because he is an arrogant bastard. He is smart, but he is still arrogant. And the story made a good job of reflecting that in more than one occasion.

Plus, it was probably partially out of sadism or something. Kind of like telling someone exactly what you're gonna do to screw up the world and your friends, in a situation where they're completely unable to do anything about it. I remember a line from the FUNI dub, and, this may have just been some bit of nonsense, but, I remember that right before Super Perfect Cell shot his Kamehameha at Gohan, how he taunted him...

Cell: And now I shall dee-stroy the Earth! But before I do, I want you to remember something...



Cell: I will live FOREVER!!

A line that, after I had gotten over the amazing way Dameon delivered it, was one that kind of baffled me. It didn't really seem to have any lead up to it, and Cell never mentioned it again...but thinking about it now, it makes sense. It was his way of torturing Gohan even more before his death, letting him know in no uncertain terms that, not ONLY did he kill his father through his foolishness, but also doomed the entire universe. And all that pain Gohan could've prevented? It was now going to go on forever...and ever...and ever...and ever, because Cell was a monster that would NEVER go away. So, it was a good way of showing off Cell's sadism...

Which, may or may not be me just fantasizing and trying to explain away some awkward sequences. But at least it's SOMETHING that can kind of, sort of be justified in-universe.

In fact, actually, I kind of wish, if anything, that Oolong had actually HEARD the narrator speak! Like, there would actually be a sort of "George of the Jungle" sketch where the narrator would make some crack at Oolong's expense, and Oolong would get all mad and stuff. That actually would've done a lot to save that scene, now that I think about it.

[Gaffer Tape]

But why did Cell acquiesce? I know Toriyama made it like a death row inmate's last request situation, but there's no good reason for Cell to go along with it.

Because he is an arrogant bastard. He is smart, but he is still arrogant. And the story made a good job of reflecting that in more than one occasion.

Yes, it can be reasoned to make sense in character, but from a story-telling perspective, it's a very, very poor choice.

[Fionordequester]

Yes, it can be reasoned to make sense in character, but from a story-telling perspective, it's a very, very poor choice.

Mmm, yeah, I guess so. Can't argue there.

[Gaffer Tape]

That said, I'm actually fine with the Oolong narration. Several reasons make it different from Cell's infodump. First, as ABED said, there's the tone. The Oolong segment is silly and fun, and the text box (or narration) almost presents it as some kind of helpful tutorial. It was also at a part in the story (manga-wise) where the narrator popped up a lot. Usually not mid-story like that, but it still rather fit.

Another reason is that Oolong's message gave us information we'd largely processed on our own. We knew he could shapeshift. We had just seen him look at a clock in horror and run away. And once he'd gotten away, he turned into a pig. The narration was brief and only helped to clarify specifics of things the story had already shown us.

Besides the fact that Cell was being touted as a creepy mystery, and that him blurting out absolutely everything about himself immediately killed all of that, his explanation was just LOOOOOOONG! Oolong's explanation was one, tiny panel. Cell monologued over who created him, why he was created, what he was created to do, how he traveled back in time, what goals he's trying to accomplish, how his cells were harvested, where he was cultivated. It was like he was being interviewed for his freaking biography!

[Kid Buu]

Yeah I wish Toriyama kept Cell's mysteriousness for a little longer, he started off so great but got more boring as the arc went on.

You ever gonna update DB Dissection, Gaffer?

[Gaffer Tape]

It's only been a little over a month. Since when is that a long time for me?

At any rate, I will be soon. I'm just doing some... additional research.