MistareFusion's Dragon Ball Dissection! (Updated 2/16/26!)

[Gaffer Tape]

Episode #14 introduces our sixth animation supervisor for the series, freelancer Aoshima Katsumi.

To tell you the truth, that's very relevant to this video. I actually covered three animation supervisors in this script, and Aoshima Katsumi was the third. I filmed that audio, edited it, and then went to find appropriate clips for it... only to remember that he didn't start until episode 14, so I scrapped that section at the last minute to be revived in a later video.

--I'm surprised you didn't cover the brief Gyumao battle, since I recall you talking about him getting too much build-up and not enough payoff. At least the fight gives him some payoff, but not really enough.

Well, I made sure to include a cap of it. It does help that problem a little bit, but I just didn't think it was important enough to mention.

--You're not going to cover voice acting and the score? Granted, I didn't think you were going to in the first place, but since you are covering animation...

I never said I wasn't going to. But I have at least nine more videos of the TV series to space production elements out through.

[Kid Buu]

Also, since you are viewing the TV Series now, shouldn't the movie reviews be grouped in with the TV Series reviews now?

[JulieYBM]

I neglected to mention this before, but I was hoping you would film a live action segment as you do for your other series. I suppose that's consistency for you...

EDIT: Oh, yes, Aoshima. Funny how things turn out.

I would also suggest covering Nishio Daisuke, given he also has an interesting storyboarding style for the action. His episodes with Last House tend to be the best in the 1986 series.

[Gaffer Tape]

Also, since you are viewing the TV Series now, shouldn't the movie reviews be grouped in with the TV Series reviews now?

Ehhhhhhhh... Well, first off, I assume you're referring to the list I have at the beginning of this thread? If so, well, no, I definitely intend people to watch the videos in the order they've been released. And while I have considered what you said in regards internal consistency, one of my main points of interest with the movies was the fun of releasing the videos on them where they correspond in the manga's release. And the TV series and movies are only really connected by methods and companies of production. Storywise, they're not related in any way. So they're definitely staying where they are, and that kind of release schedule will consistently stay the same. Once I've caught up on the TV versions, my intention is to immediately follow up each original arc with its filler supplement. Since that's not able to be the case here, I've decided to group them separately in my listing. And, as is probably obvious, non-"core" entries in the series as designated by being in parentheses.

I neglected to mention this before, but I was hoping you would film a live action segment as you do for your other series. I suppose that's consistency for you...

You mean an on-camera segment? Yeah, I've never been on-camera for DBD. I usually keep that for more comedic reviews and/or vlogs. It just feels like it would be out of place here if I suddenly popped up...? I dunno. Just out of curiosity, what did you have in mind?

[JulieYBM]

I had sort of expected an opening segment with the generic "covet packaged, insert discs in player and start watching", although I suppose that is rather lame on paper. Ultimately it's of no concern, given the review is still perfectly enjoyable.

I do say, though, I was expecting the exact chapter number of the most recently published chapter when Episode #1 aired, though!

[Kid Buu]

You can go on-camera and burn one of the Blu-Rays.

[Gaffer Tape]

That would require me actually spending money on one of the Blu-rays...

[matt0044]

Did you talk about the music?

[Kid Buu]

That would require me actually spending money on one of the Blu-rays...

Fine, I'll mail you my copy of DBZ Movie 7 then.

[Gaffer Tape]

But I already own DBZ Movie 7...

Oh, that's right. You want me to destroy it.

[Kid Buu]

My copy is dub-only anyway, so it still wouldn't worth to me even if I cared for it.

Maybe I'll send it alongside Jack Daniels so you can receive your SUUPAA SHONEN POWER-UP, but I'm not sure if I am allowed to send him through the mail.

[Gaffer Tape]

Please don't bother trying to find out. I don't drink.

Did you talk about the music?

I don't have time to cover every production-related aspect in every video, so, no, the music was not covered this time.

[Kid Buu]

Wait a minute, in the Piccolo Daimao Part 7 Video you said you are doing the first three arcs. So are you saying the 22nd Budokai Anime review will be done after you review the 23rd Budokai Manga?

Oh, and by the way, you can mail it with special bubble wrap.

[Gaffer Tape]

Yep, that's what I'm saying. The first three TV arcs will be covered now. After the 23rd Budoukai, the 22nd, Piccolo, and 23rd TV arcs will be covered. After the Saiyan Arc, the TV Saiyan Arc will be covered, etc.

[Gaffer Tape]

Speaking of which, here comes the second arc now!

DBD TV: The 21st Tenkaichi Budoukai Arc

Thank you, Jacob. I didn't realize that Aoshima Katsumi had done key animation for Maeda Minoru until your comment, so I did incorporate that into my transplanted-from-the-previous-script spiel I did for him.

[coola]

Wow, two videos at such fast time it's been very long time since i fully watched anime of original Dragon Ball, one of most contradicting fillers, was origins of Dragon Balls, i don't remember what was told excatly, but it surely was different from "true" origins, as Kami wasn't introduced yet.

[JulieYBM]

OH MY GOD! I never noticed that about Kuririn's eyes! O.o

Yeah, Aoshima did key animation under Maeda once. The key animators for Episode #8 are all a mix of animators from different studios, too, so I assume the episode was rushed into production, given Maeda was then the animation supervisor for Episode #9 using his regular pool of talent at the time. Kohara Tai'ichirou (I have no idea how to Romanize this guy's name anymore) would also work as a key animator for other animation supervisors throughout the series, despite being a member of Last House. Although maybe he was just a freelance friend of Uchiyama Masayuki's in reality? After Dragon Ball Z Episode #30 Aoshima's last credit for the franchise was the fifth movie, by the way.

It's a shame you didn't do a "How Many Characters Does Gouri Daisuke Voice" counter.

I should mention, lone person key animation episodes are a pretty common thing in the Japanese animation industry. Aoshima did a few for Dragon Ball and other older cartoons used to do so, too. It also wasn't uncommon to see an episode have only two key animators, as we would soon see with Last House episodes of Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball GT. Dragon Ball Z Episode #102 had a key animator named Yokoyama Kenji who would go on to do several solo episodes of One Piece. Yokoyama was also the animation supervisor of One Piece Episode #590, the second half of the first crossover between Toriko, One Piece and Dragon Ball Z. Iwane Masa'aki of Studio Cockpit has turned solo key animation into a career, now providing all of the key animation for episodes of Pocket Monster on-and-off since Pocket Monster Episode #59. In 2014 alone eight episodes have aired which are entirely key animated by Iwane. You might, of course, recognize Iwane from the Studio Cockpit episodes of Dragon Ball Z. Although he wasn't too shabby during Dragon Ball Z he has since improved, likely thanks to working non-stop with Asada Yuuji for Pocket Monster. Iwane did Mister Satan versus Number 18 and several other bits of fights throughout Dragon Ball Z.

[Gaffer Tape]

OH MY GOD! I never noticed that about Kuririn's eyes! O.o

Yeah, I don't think I noticed that until this year's viewing either. Guess I can blame that on my poor quality tapes for not noticing.

After Dragon Ball Z Episode #30 Aoshima's last credit for the franchise was the fifth movie, by the way.

What? He worked on movie 5? I had no idea he came back after episode 30. I'm coming up on viewing movie 5. I'll have to keep an eye out for that.

I should mention, lone person key animation episodes are a pretty common thing in the Japanese animation industry. Aoshima did a few for Dragon Ball and other older cartoons used to do so, too. It also wasn't uncommon to see an episode have only two key animators, as we would soon see with Last House episodes of Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball GT.

I admit I assumed it was uncommon given just how severely Last House tanked when they were forced to do it.

[JulieYBM]

It usually depends a lot on the skill of the animator and schedule. Last House were simultaneously working on other titles during Dragon Ball, not to mention they did episodes more often than other animators I've seen. Dragon Ball Z Episode #141 (27 May 1992) is the last episode where Shida Naotoshi was a member of Last House. Episode #141 covered up through Chapter #361 Pages #1-2 (18 February 1992). That means the episode was in production for about three months, from script to broadcast. Three key animators for the typical three hundred cuts (shots) in the typical one-month allotted for all animation production is quite a bit of drawing, especially when one considers the average key animator can only pump out two cuts per day and the average in-betweener fifteen sheets. Episode #141 had four in-between animators. Dragon Ball Z is said to have had an average of 3,500 drawings per episode. That's about 875 in-between drawings per animator, which means each in-between animator was pumping out about fifty-eight sheets per day. Dragon Ball Z Episode #145 (24 June) began the trend of only Uchiyama and Obara Tai'ichirou acting as key animators and adapted Chapter #365 (17 March 1992). That's the same time-span, but with fifty additional cuts per key animator. In contrast, a series like Pocket Monster has key animation finished at least five months before that episode airs. This in part explains how someone like Iwane Masa'aki can be both the series' ace action animator and pump out a whole episode every five-to-six weeks.


But, yeah. Aoishima did key animation for DB: 1, 2, 3; DBZ: 3, 4, 5, so he stuck with the films for a little while even after leaving the animated series.

[Kid Buu]

--I guess I'm one of the people that played up on the "you forgortism," my bad!

--I prefer Lunchs anime debut, to be honest. Indifferent to Kuririn's.

--No mention of the big guy being voiced by Daisuke Gōri, a gag that Toei just loves to repeat?

--Blooma, Pu'erh, and Oolong get sidelined in this arc. Also, we see Blooma abusing Oolong all the way to see the 25th Budokai anime.

--Considering all the spoilers in the Episode titles, I do agree that Toei probably doesn't care for surprises.

--I regret buying the full color manga.

--Well, Purple Hair Blooma at least explains why Trunks has Purple Hair, but that causes confusion why Bra has Blue Hair.

--Oh shit dude, sorry about your colour blindness.

--Huh, I never noticed that about Kuririn's eyes, or about his position in the tournament.

--Ironically, around this same time Furuya played Pegasus Seiya in Saint Seiya, who has a technique very similar to the Roguafuufuuken.

--No mention of Mayumi Tanaka as Kuririn? Apparently that was one of the roles that Toriyama hand-picked himself, so I figured that was noteworthy.

--Nice point about Blooma doing the next episode voice over. In Kai, Yamcha does the next episode preview to when the audience believes Goku had died on Namek.

Here are some notable roles for characters they did before DB if you need to reference in future cases:

Masako Nozawa: Tetsuro Hoshino (Galaxy Express 999)
Hiromi Tsuru: Madoka Ayukawa (Kimagure Orange Road)
Toru Furuya: Amuro Ray (Mobile Suit Gundam)
Mami Koyama: Arale (Dr. Slump)
Toshio Furukawa: Ataru Moroboshi (Urusei Yatsura)
Mayumi Tanaka: Toriyama picked her after watching Night on the Galaxy Railroad
Hirotaka Suzuoki: Starred alongside Furuya in Gundam (Bright Noa) and Saint Seiya (Dragon Shiryū).
Ryō Horikawa: I can't recall many lead roles, but he did play Andromeda Shun in Saint Seiya and Nozomu Nikaido in Masion Ikkoku.