Bulma's bad day episode

[samuraix123]

Hey guys! I'm going through the original series of Dragonball again and the episode Bulma's bad day is kinda messed up. While Goku is underwater looking for the Dragonball, Bulma is up top and ran into red Ribbon soldiers who say they want to have some fun with her. and Bulma's kinda scared while laughing and saying what kinda fun? and she starts talking about how she's underage and just 16 and they start chasing her! I just found it messed up when you think the reason why they are chasing her is to rape her. Anyone else think they may have been pushing it there?

[ShaneisMC]

Its all in the way things are presented to the audience honestly. On paper or reality yeah thats obviously quite horrible. But then again we are also dealing with a series that consistently showcases mass genocide and the like and its just kinda seen as "normal". Zen'o was slightly offended one time and wiped out 1/3rd of all of existence.

[JulieYBM]

Dragon Ball is not very appropriate for your casual mind.

[samuraix123]

Did this happen in the manga as well? I've never read the manga and it's just a curious thought.

Dragon Ball is not very appropriate for your casual mind.

Can't tell if you're insulting me or not...

[ThatGuyNamedChancey]

I can see why you may think that. I have two points I want to bring up here.

• Rape is obviously not funny, but a joke about rape can be funny if it is... well, funny. Based off what you're saying (I haven't watched the Dragon Ball anime in a while), the joke doesn't seem that funny.

• About Bulma being underage, the age of consent in Japan is 13. So, Toriyama probably thought it was okay to make that joke because of that (assuming that it wasn't the TV staff).

[KentalSSJ6]

Hey guys! I'm going through the original series of Dragonball again and the episode Bulma's bad day is kinda messed up. While Goku is underwater looking for the Dragonball, Bulma is up top and ran into red Ribbon soldiers who say they want to have some fun with her. and Bulma's kinda scared while laughing and saying what kinda fun? and she starts talking about how she's underage and just 16 and they start chasing her! I just found it messed up when you think the reason why they are chasing her is to rape her. Anyone else think they may have been pushing it there?

From a western standpoint I can see how youd feel about the scene and how it looks messed up, but Japan is a completely different country with views on subjects that can vary from small to large differences, especially when it came to sexual innuendo. If I remember correctly I read somewhere that child pornography was completely legal in Japan until some point in the 80's or 90's. Not to mention Bulma's breasts were shown twice in the manga before and after the scene you mentioned. Plus lets not forget this is the same girl who offered a kid to look at her panties and flashed a perverted old man for a Dragon Ball.

I'm not saying I condone the scene and was was happening/being implied but I understand that it comes from a different place with different views at the time it came out.

[samuraix123]

I just want to state also that it doesn't offend me just to clear that up. There's a lot of moments in the series that has funny parts and dirty humor. That moment just stood out to me was all.

[Marugoto]

Did this happen in the manga as well? I've never read the manga and it's just a curious thought.

Yeah, it did. What irks me is how it's presented. Both the chapter title and the volume it's reprinted in is called: "Bulma’s Big Blunder!!" Suggesting that it's somehow her fault. The TV adaptation gave it a similar title.

[dbgtFO]

Did this happen in the manga as well? I've never read the manga and it's just a curious thought.

Yeah, it did. What irks me is how it's presented. Both the chapter title and the volume it's reprinted in is called: "Bulma’s Big Blunder!!" Suggesting that it's somehow her fault. The TV adaptation gave it a similar title.

Her big blunder in that chapter was taking her father's capsule case with her, rather than her own, the title does not refer to her almost getting assaulted.

[Marugoto]

Oh...yeah, totally forgot about that

[TheGreatness25]

It is pretty disturbing if you really think about it. But it was presented in a relatively non-serious way. Plus we always knew that nothing would happen to Bulma. I understand that it was a different time, a different place, and with a different viewpoint on such topics, but I always felt like DB could have very simply done without that stuff. Even the comedic nudity and sexual innuendo, I could have done without. I don't find humor in nudity or dirty/creepy/perverted thing. Never once laughed at any of that stuff. Whenever the sexual "humor" started up, it was just more stuff I had to sit through like "Here it goes again..." That's not to say that I didn't find Dragon Ball humorous, I just never found humor in sexual things as an adult. Maybe if I saw the uncensored version as a kid, I'd get a kick out of it, but even in my teens, that stuff just wasn't funny. So I never really thought too much into it and never actually sat and realized how messed up a scene like this was; I think that's the key to all of this.

[ABED]

I think it's important to remember that the one's chasing Bulma are bad guys. If they are trying to rape her, that's probably too much for a kids' show, but evil characters should do evil things.

Greatness, you don't like dirty jokes in general or just in Dragon Ball?

[TheGreatness25]

I guess it's funny in some situations, but in DB I never found humor in the sexual things. "Hardy har har, she wants to show him her panties but Goku took her panties off already! Ah-ha-ha!" or "Har har! Roshi wanted to get small so he could watch Bulma peeing! Woo-hoo-hoo!" or "Kuririn decided to pull Bulma's top down to make Roshi squirt blood several feet to cover the invisible guy! Hilarious!!" Meh, never was my cup of tea.


I'd say that Roshi is much creepier than the Red Ribbon Army guys, just because of how persistent he is to try to get to see this underage girl naked. How can I find this guy appealing at all when he spends most of his time trying to sexually harass young girls? I think that's where the "don't look too far into things" kicks in.