Herms watches the show (update: DB 29)

[B]

Herms, you've gotta cover the movies. Just for reference, DB Movie 1 came out between episodes 43 and 44.

[Valerius Dover]

--The episode starts with a silent recap. Kinda neat.

I'm confused here.
I don't remember any of the recaps being silent. Do you mean lack of music or lack of talking? The dub has both music and talking here.

[B]

I'm pretty sure he means no talking, but there is lightly used music and sound effects, most notable probably being Goku's transformation into the Great Ape with the very loud "pulsating." It does not shock me in the slightest to learn FUNimation may have slipped some words into it.

[Valerius Dover]

Ok, that makes sense. The music (aside from insert songs) should be exactly the same in the dub.

[Gyt Kaliba]

Yeah, FUNi was particularly bad about shoving dialogue into some of the silent moments in Dragon Ball. Sometimes it didn't hurt too badly, but the one I remember being the worst was when they had to cover up where the 'Red Ribbon' insert theme was supposed to be playing. I understand that they had to do SOMETHING with it since they couldn't play the song, but...couldn't it have been something other than listening to the narrator say again and again how bad the RRA is?

[Valerius Dover]

Yeah, FUNi was particularly bad about shoving dialogue into some of the silent moments in Dragon Ball. Sometimes it didn't hurt too badly, but the one I remember being the worst was when they had to cover up where the 'Red Ribbon' insert theme was supposed to be playing. I understand that they had to do SOMETHING with it since they couldn't play the song, but...couldn't it have been something other than listening to the narrator say again and again how bad the RRA is?

Oh, yeah, that entire scene was awkward. It's the only spot where you can clearly tell something is missing without having seen the original. The other moments weren't so bad, since there's already a lot of silence, but that one was so obvious.

[MagicBox]

I'm a little confused. Are you guys talking about episode 65 when "With A Burning Heart ~Defeat The Red Ribbon Army~" was played? I'm almost positive that song was kept in the FUNi dub. I know that they had the narrator talk during the entire thing, but the song is still there. I remember making a list when the "season" sets came out.

Kept In The Dub:
- The "Mezase Tenkaichi" instrumental in episode 19
- "With A Burning Heart ~Defeat The Red Ribbon Army~" in episode 65.
- "The Dragon Ball Legend" in episode 76.
- "Blue Travelers" in episode 78.
- "Mezase Tenkaichi" in episode 86.

Removed From The Dub:
- "Mezase Tenkaichi" in episode 28.
- "A Mysterious Wonderland" in episode 29.
- "The Dragon Ball Legend" in episodes 30, 33, & 35.
- "The Son Gokū Song" in episode 43.
- "The Red Ribbon Army" in episode 48.
- "Wolf Hurricane" in episode 87.
- "Mezase Tenkaichi" in episode 95.
- "The Teachings Of Muten Rōshi" in episode 130.

Or are you guys talking about another scene? I know that "The Red Ribbon Army" was removed from episode 48, but I don't remember hearing anyone mention a lot of dub-only talking in that scene.

That's enough thread-hijacking from me. Anyway, I'm really digging your comments, Herms. Thanks for the insight; this thread is a fun read.

[Valerius Dover]

I

Removed From The Dub:
- "The Red Ribbon Army" in episode 48.


Or are you guys talking about another scene? I know that "The Red Ribbon Army" was removed from episode 48, but I don't remember hearing anyone mention a lot of dub-only talking in that scene.

It was this one were specifically talking about. There wasn't that much talking in it, though, and I don't remember the narrator involved in this one. I just remember this scene being awkwardly silent. The one in Episode 65 was kept, but like you said, you can hardly hear it over the (still awesome) narrator speaking.

[RandomGuy96]

--Yamcha goes after Goku’s tail with his stone sword. The stone sword breaks on the tail. Next, Puar turns into scissors (in the manga he just does this straight away, without the sword bit). Scissors!Puar successfully cuts off Goku’s tail. Puar > stone sword. Also, Puar > Yamcha.

Puar is obviously the most powerful character in this arc, given how easily he defeats Oozaru Goku (who, going by the D7 battle powers, should also be stronger than Roshi, Ox-King, and Tao Paipai at this time). He just held back for Yamcha's sake.

[Kid Buu]

He never loses a fight either, except to The Mummy in filler.

[Herms]

Well, I took a bit of a break after finishing the DB hunt story arc, though I didn't intend it to be this long. I'll try and do a general overview of the first story arc to give my thoughts on the anime version of it as a whole. At some point.

Episode 14
Goku’s Rival? Arrival!!

--The episode title’s almost the same as the title for chapter 25 (“A Rival? Arrival!!”). The title’s not really a pun in Japanese (Gokuu no raibaru? Sanjou!), but few people seem able to resist translating sanjou as “arrival” for the sake of a snappy English translation.

--I’m fairly positive that I’ve never seen this episode before. I watched the Funi dub on Toonami regularly up until the end of the 21st TB, so I must have been out bowling or something that week. As a result, a lot of the filler this episode took me by surprise.

--Such as Yamcha’s plane crashing! It’s hard to explain why this feels so wrong to me. I guess because the scene from the manga (and last episode) where the group parts ways is so iconic for me. Goku zooming off one way on Kinto-un, and everyone else crammed into that plane waving him off. The two groups heading their separate paths to begin a new chapter in their lives. You get the idea. So the fact that the anime has the damn plane crash the very next episode was a bit of a shock.

--The reason for the crash? Supposedly it was overweight. Which is a bit weird, because the only people in it are Yamcha, Bulma, Puer, and Oolong. The plane’s clearly got seats for two, and Puer just floats in the air anyway, so how much could Oolong possibly weigh?

--After the gang crash in some jungle, this leads to another surprising bit of filler (for me): they hear some weirdo causing a ruckus in the jungle, and it turns out to be Kuririn. He kicks some trees down. Later the group is crossing a desert, and he’s there too, running through at top speed on his way to Kame-sennin’s island. This is how Kuririn makes his debut in the anime. I honestly never knew that until now.

--Meanwhile of course, Goku heads over to Kame-sennin’s place to start training. This is a fairly big turning point in the series. I haven’t talked much about it, but as you doubtless know, DB started out as a very loose adaptation of Journey to the West. That’s what it was for those first 13 episodes. And now, in episode 14, it isn’t any more. Now it’s something different. There’ll be a few more one-off references to JttW here and there, but that’s about it. Even in the DB hunt storyline, the last thing to really tie strongly into JttW was the Mt. Frypan segment.

--So, what is the focus of the series now? Well, Toriyama says in his Daizenshuu 2 interview that the series hadn’t actually been all that popular at the start, so to try and bring in more readers he got rid of the current supporting cast, introduced Kuririn, and focused the story on Goku’s drive to become stronger. The Tenkaichi Budoukai is based off the various races, tournaments, and other competitions that popped up throughout Dr. Slump. They were popular there, so Toriyama figured they’d work for his new series too. And the rest is history.

--Actually though, one of the striking things is that there’s no mention of the tournament for quite a bit. Not until episode 17 here in the anime, in fact. For the time being, the plot is just Goku going to train…because he wants to train. He wants to get stronger simply for the sake of it, rather than to defeat a bad guy, win a tournament, or outdo a rival. We don’t really get this again in the series. We may know that Goku’s always training for the hell of it, but the story never focuses on that again.

--“A guy with no winkie and lots of spunk”—Goku on women

--In the manga, Kuririn first shows up at Kame House in a row boat. As mentioned above, the anime first shows him making his way to Kame House through a long and arduous route. The tail end of this filler subplot shows that Kuririn picks up that rowboat from a shipwreck on the seashore. Kind of neat.

--The mermaid Goku brings to Kame House wears a shirt with “Pie-Pie” written on it. This comes from pai-pai, a somewhat childish Japanese word for breasts, sort of equivalent to “boobs” or “boobies” (it derives from oppai, a more neutral term).

--Kuririn explains that martial artists shave their heads in order to help sturdy their minds, a common practice among the famous Shaolin monks and other real martial artists. Presumably Tenshinhan is the same way, but this is never explicitly spelled out. This of course is why Kuririn is able to grow his hair out by the time the Boo arc rolls around, even though many people (even Goku) had assumed he was naturally bald. Those dots on Kuririn’s forehead are supposed to be incense burns (as Toriyama notes in the tankoubon vol.6 Q&A), another common practice among martial artists monks.

--The dirty mag Kuririn gives to Kame-sennin has this written on its cover, in large friendly alphabet letters:

KONO HON WA
TOTUTEMO
IYARASHINDE
MITEWAIKEN

In other words, “This book is totally filthy, so eyes off!”

--In the anime as Kame-sennin rifles through all the other porn Kuririn brought, there’s one magazine titled “Homo”, with a man on the cover. Kame-sennin doesn’t like that one as much.

[Metalwario64]

--In the anime as Kame-sennin rifles through all the other porn Kuririn brought, there’s one magazine titled “Homo”, with a man on the cover. Kame-sennin doesn’t like that one as much.

I always thought that was hilarious. Why did Kuririn have that one?

[Gyt Kaliba]

--In the anime as Kame-sennin rifles through all the other porn Kuririn brought, there’s one magazine titled “Homo”, with a man on the cover. Kame-sennin doesn’t like that one as much.

I always thought that was hilarious. Why did Kuririn have that one?

Hey, he'd never met Roshi before. He wanted to cover all his bases.

[RandomGuy96]

--The reason for the crash? Supposedly it was overweight. Which is a bit weird, because the only people in it are Yamcha, Bulma, Puer, and Oolong. The plane’s clearly got seats for two, and Puer just floats in the air anyway, so how much could Oolong possibly weigh?

This is especially weird when you consider that, according to their official weights, both Bulma and Yamcha are quite skinny (the latter is 6'0, 150 pounds), and Oolong weighs barely 70 pounds. Who was this plane made for if this is too much weight...?

[Valerius Dover]

--The reason for the crash? Supposedly it was overweight. Which is a bit weird, because the only people in it are Yamcha, Bulma, Puer, and Oolong. The plane’s clearly got seats for two, and Puer just floats in the air anyway, so how much could Oolong possibly weigh?

Somebody's been hoarding too many porno magazines in the cargo section, it seems......

[Herms]

Episode 15
The Peculiar Girl, Lunch

--The Japanese title card uses “?” as a unique way of writing out the Japanese word fushigi/peculiar (you can tell what word they had in mind because of the furigana and the narrator).

--Meanwhile, the Funi title: “Look Out for Launch”. Which brings up the whole issue of this character’s name. “Lunch” and “Launch” are both valid ways of Romanizing the katakana spelling (ランチ/Ranchi), and Toriyama says in DB Forever that he can’t remember what her name’s supposed to be based on (“it was probably just something or other”). So it’s more or less just up to guessing or personal preference. DB’s full of so many food-based puns that “Lunch” certainly makes sense (and that is the spelling Toriyama used on the chapter 26 title page, though it’s almost impossible to see). On the flipside, in the anime she does use a rocket launcher in her big debut here.

--Speaking of her debut, like with Kuririn the anime adds on a whole new scene introducing before her “proper” first appearance. In the manga she’s first shown fleeing from the cops on her motorcycle after committing some unspecified robbery, while the anime has her first fight off some bounty hunters in a Wild West-style saloon, then rob a train. The big thing here is that in the magna we see blonde Lunch first, while the anime first introduces us to blue-haired passive Lunch instead.

--Before Lunch herself shows up though, the anime does show a “Wanted” poster of blonde Lunch hanging up on the wall of the saloon. It seems Lunch is worth $2,000,000 (interesting that it’s dollars here and not zeni). Her fellow criminals include “Sucker-Punch Mack” ($1 mil) and infamous ne’er-do-well Toriyama (worth a measly $100,000).

--The three bounty hunters who try and catch Lunch are voiced by Daisuke Gori, Banjo Ginga, and Shigeru Chiba. Not a bad line-up for three one-shot, one-scene losers. It’s a bit like hiring Billy West to play the big fish from episode 1. Or Megumi Hayashibara to play some random blind kid, now that I think about it.

--Great moments in filler: Kuririn peeing on a toad.

--As the police chase after Lunch, in the manga there’s a joke where one officer yells “stop or we’ll shoot!” and the other one points out “but we’re already shooting!” The anime leaves this out.

--Upon hearing Lunch’s scream, Goku’s immediate thought is to go help this stranger, while Kuririn’s much more hesitant (“God helps those who help themselves”). There’s been a lot of discussion over the years about just how much of a good guy Goku is, often focused around comparing the original manga version of his personality with how he’s portrayed in the anime and the Funi dub. While Goku definitely isn’t like Superman (or Suppaman), always on the patrol to right wrongs, he’s also not actually some sort of amoral kung-fu psycho who only cares about fighting and food.

--Lunch sneezes four times in this episode, and three of those times are because her long hair tickles her nose. Her life would probably be much easier if she had a pixie cut.

--The obvious joke is that Lunch is the very first Super Saiyan. In fact, Toriyama says in his Daizenshuu 6 interview that the reason behind the blond Super Saiyan hair is that it’s very simple but you can still instantly tell that Goku’s different. Lunch’s transformation simply follows the same principle; it’s no surprise Toriyama hit upon the same idea twice.

--It’s probably best not to think too hard about how or why Kame-sennin owns child-size “Turtle School uniforms”.

[Gyt Kaliba]

--Meanwhile, the Funi title: “Look Out for Launch”. Which brings up the whole issue of this character’s name. “Lunch” and “Launch” are both valid ways of Romanizing the katakana spelling (ランチ/Ranchi), and Toriyama says in DB Forever that he can’t remember what her name’s supposed to be based on (“it was probably just something or other”). So it’s more or less just up to guessing or personal preference. DB’s full of so many food-based puns that “Lunch” certainly makes sense (and that is the spelling Toriyama used on the chapter 26 title page, though it’s almost impossible to see). On the flipside, in the anime she does use a rocket launcher in her big debut here.

Huh, this was the first I'd heard that 'Launch' is actually an acceptable romanization of the name. All I'd ever heard were people dismissing it entirely as a FUNi decision. Hmm...this certainly makes my own personal opinion on what to call her need some thinking on, and soon, considering.

--The three bounty hunters who try and catch Lunch are voiced by Daisuke Gori, Banjo Ginga, and Shigeru Chiba. Not a bad line-up for three one-shot, one-scene losers. It’s a bit like hiring Billy West to play the big fish from episode 1. Or Megumi Hayashibara to play some random blind kid, now that I think about it.

Heh. You could easily play a drinking game that would put you in the hospital just with Gori's appearances alone. Although...hmm. Gori had already appeared a few times prior to this, and Chiba had with Pilaf...was this Ginga's first appearance in the show? For some reason I want to say he was the bear bandit...but I'm not sure.

--Lunch sneezes four times in this episode, and three of those times are because her long hair tickles her nose. Her life would probably be much easier if she had a pixie cut.

...And hello again plot bunnies. *wheels start turning in my head*

--It’s probably best not to think too hard about how or why Kame-sennin owns child-size “Turtle School uniforms”.

I...um...hmm. I've never caught that before...and now I can't not notice it...why, why would you break my brain like this, Herms. Why.

[TheGmGoken]

What episode you own now?

[medama_oyaji]

This thread is great! Thanks for taking us on your journey, Herms!

--Meanwhile, the Funi title: “Look Out for Launch”. Which brings up the whole issue of this character’s name. “Lunch” and “Launch” are both valid ways of Romanizing the katakana spelling (ランチ/Ranchi), and Toriyama says in DB Forever that he can’t remember what her name’s supposed to be based on (“it was probably just something or other”). So it’s more or less just up to guessing or personal preference. DB’s full of so many food-based puns that “Lunch” certainly makes sense (and that is the spelling Toriyama used on the chapter 26 title page, though it’s almost impossible to see). On the flipside, in the anime she does use a rocket launcher in her big debut here.

Huh, this was the first I'd heard that 'Launch' is actually an acceptable romanization of the name. All I'd ever heard were people dismissing it entirely as a FUNi decision. Hmm...this certainly makes my own personal opinion on what to call her need some thinking on, and soon, considering.

Of course, a third acceptable romanization (which also fits in with the food theme) is "Ranch" (as in dressing!)

[VegettoEX]

Yeah, but "Launch" is just as valid as "Tolanks" .

It's a movie, but it was early enough in the production cycle that I'd heavily value its input: in DB Movie 2 she announces...

いただランチ

That's "itadakiranchi" instead of "itadakimasu", the phrase that you say before you eat (which I always liked as "I humbly accept!"). I mean, she's saying a food pun that early on in the franchise... I'd say it's probably supposed to be "lunch" for a name.