Hello, ladies, gentlemen, and everyone between and beyond, and welcome to week 42 of the first Dragon Ball rewatch of the decade.
We're doing five episodes a week, and we'll be watching every single episode of Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT. All 508 episodes. Plus the TV specials and the movies.
I encourage you all to watch in Japanese with subtitles, especially if you have never done so before, but watch along in whichever way brings you the most joy.
The Saiyan arc ends, Namek begins, and the second Z movie is next week! Quite an exciting time.
Previous thread: Week 41 (DBZ 28-32)
Next thread: Week 43 (DBZ movie 2)
Anyway, without further ado...
Episode 186 - Don’t Die, Father!! This is Gohan’s Hidden Strength (DBZ episode 33)
Dub title: Hero in the Shadows (Funimation)
Originally aired 24th of January 1990
Kai equivalent: Episode 15 - Goku in Absolute Peril! Entrust Your Wishes to the Genki-Dama (Second half)
Edited dub equivalent: Episode 25 - Stop Vegeta Now!
Episode director: Mitsuo Hashimoto
Animation supervisor: Yukio Ebisawa
Finding Goku in a pinch, Gohan and Kuririn watch Goku and Vegeta’s fight in hiding the whole time, and meet up with Yajirobe. Gohan and Kuririn try to cut off the Ōzaru’s tail but fail, however, Yajirobe seizes an opening and severs it! After returning to his original form, Vegeta angrily beats Gohan around. But after being encouraged by Goku, who is lying stretched out on the ground, Gohan musters his power and faces off against Vegeta. As this is going on, Goku entrusts Kuririn with the remaining energy from the Genki-Dama!
Anime-only/filler content: Yajirobe briefly running away before deciding to return to the battlefield, some scenes at Kame House.
Episode 187 - Shoot, Kuririn! The Genki-Dama, Packed with Hope (DBZ episode 34)
Dub title: Krillin's Offensive (Funimation)
Originally aired 31st of January 1990
Kai equivalent: Episode 16 - The Invincible Vegeta Defeated! Son Gohan Summons a Miracle
Edited dub equivalent: Episode 25 - Stop Vegeta Now! (Some footage also incorporated into episode 26)
Episode director: Minoru Okazaki
Animation supervisor: Minoru Maeda
After forming a Genki-Dama according to Goku’s instructions, Kuririn aims for Vegeta as Vegeta battles with Gohan! Sensing Vegeta’s evil ki, Kuririn fires the Genki-Dama! But Vegeta notices this due to Yajirobe’s mistake, and is able to dodge the Genki-Dama, but Gohan bounces it back and it hits Vegeta head on! With his battered body, Vegeta uses his remaining power to attack Gohan and the others, but the passed out Gohan’s tail has re-grown!
Anime-only/filler content: More scenes at Kame House, and in the plane.
Episode 188 - Cause a Miracle! The Super Saiyan, Son Gohan (DBZ episode 35)
Dub title: Mercy (Funimation)
Originally aired 7th of February 1990
Kai equivalent: Episode 16 - The Invincible Vegeta Defeated! Son Gohan Summons a Miracle and Episode 17 - Dawn of the Fierce Battle… The Planet of Hope is Piccolo’s Homeland (First half)
Edited dub equivalent: Episode 26 - The Battle Ends
Episode director: Daisuke Nishio
Animation supervisor: Masayuki Uchiyama
Vegeta notices Gohan’s tail, but while he’s beating up Yajirobe after he came at him with a katana, Gohan looks at the artificial moon and transforms into an Ōzaru! At Goku’s urgings, the rampaging Ōzaru pursues Vegeta. Vegeta is squashed by the Ōzaru the instant he finally cuts off its tail! With his breathing faint, Vegeta calls his spaceship and climbs inside. Goku stops Kuririn as he’s about to finish Vegeta off, and Vegeta departs from Earth, swearing vengeance.
Anime-only/filler content: The Gohan vs Vegeta bout was significantly extended.
Episode 189 - We’re Off Into Space! The Planet of Hope is Piccolo’s Homeland (DBZ episode 36)
Dub title: Picking Up The Pieces (Funimation)
Originally aired 14th of February 1990
Kai equivalent: Episode 17 - Dawn of the Fierce Battle… The Planet of Hope is Piccolo’s Homeland (Second half)
Edited dub equivalent: Episode 27 - A New Goal... Namek!
Episode director: Tatsuya Orime
Animation supervisor: Tomekichi Takeuchi
Goku has finally chased off Vegeta! Bulma and Kame-Sen’nin rescue Goku and the others, and recover the bodies of Yamcha and the rest. Piccolo has been killed, and God and the dragonballs have both vanished! But Kuririn heard Vegeta say that there are also Dragon Balls on Planet Namek. Planet Namek is far away, but they should be able to go there if they use the Saiyan spaceship! Kuririn and the others spirits return as this possibility of restoring everyone to life emerges!
Anime-only/filler content: The Kame House gang arriving was changed, as they already know who died in the anime, whereas in the manga, they didn't watch the fight on TV or on the crystal ball.
Episode 190 - The Mysterious Yunzabit! The Search for God’s Spaceship (DBZ episode 37)
Dub title: Plans for Departure (Funimation)
Originally aired 21st of February 1990
Kai equivalent: Episode 18 - The Spaceship that Sleeps in Yunzabit! Blast Off For Planet Namek (First half)
Edited dub equivalent: Episode 27 - A New Goal... Namek!
Episode director: Jōhei Matsūra
Animation supervisor: Mitsuo Shindō
Goku and the others are hospitalized, having been seriously injured, and Bulma comes to their hospital. She knows how to use the remote control that manipulates the Saiyan spaceship! Bulma goes right ahead and uses it, but for some reason the spaceship explodes… As Bulma and the others are disappointed, Mister Popo appears before them, telling them to come, as there is another spaceship. Bulma goes with Mister Popo to the Yunzabit highland! Over there is the spaceship that God, who was Namekian, rode on as a child!!
Anime-only/filler content: Goku objecting to being in hospital.
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Interesting trivia:
- At this point in time in the manga, Vegeta kills the Namekian village to hide their Four-Star Ball, Dende takes Kuririn to the Grand Elder, Yamcha and co. arrive at Kaio's world, Vegeta gets his ass kicked by Zarbon and is left for dead.
- This is the third climactic battle in a row where Goku sustains grievous injuries by way of the villain breaking his bones. Daimao breaks his legs and wrist, Majunior breaks all four of his limbs, and Oozaru Vegeta steps on his legs before crushing his body. Yikes.
- Goku has no major contribution to the fight this week outside of donating the Genki-Dama to Kuririn. This is the first time Goku is taken completely out of an arc's final battle: the next and final time is against Perfect Cell where he sacrifices himself.
- In the title page of Chapter 237 (and the full colour pages within), Gohan is depicted with green clothing and Yajirobe with a muted blue. This is yet another instance of Toriyama not being too concerned with what colour things should be. The Full Color manga changed this to their usual colouring.
- Goku gifting Kuririn the Genki-Dama shows that the energy gathered is not considered part of the user's own ki, even when contained inside the body. This is the big advantage of the move: you can gather an amount of ki that far exceeds your own, as Kuririn demonstrates.
- At one point in episode 34, Gohan says "Kamehameha" but fires a yellow beam that looks like a Masenko. The original edited dub retains him saying Kamehameha, but the in-house Funimation redub changed his line to "Masenko-Ha!"
- Vegeta fighting Gohan is the first time he uses his iconic "rapidly fire a bunch of ki beams at once" attack.
- As it turns out, Kuririn is the first character to successfully throw the Genkia-Dama in an actual fight, with a contributive rebound from Gohan.
- Since you need to be pure of heart to use the Genki-Dama, this likely means Kuririn is also now able to ride Kinto'un if he wished. Similarly, Goku knew Gohan could rebound the move since he can ride the cloud as well.
- The title for Episode 35 is "Cause a Miracle! The Super Saiyan, Son Gohan". This of course doesn't literally mean the Super Saiyan as we know it now, but rather than Gohan is a really talented guy.
- With the exception of contributing his energy to Goku's Genki-Dama at the very end of the story, Yajirobe slashing Vegeta's back with his sword is the second and final time he makes a notable contribution to a major fight. He also caught Goku from his fall after he killed Piccolo Daimao, however by then the fight was already over.
- The scene where Vegeta struggles to clamber into his pod is the only time we get a good look at the inside of the pod, because outside of this instance we never see anyone get into a pod!
- Kaio mentioning that killing Vegeta won't destroy the roots of evil is likely the first time Freeza has been alluded to in the story.
- Edits in the original dub:
- Various snips of attacks making impact, including another one of Vegeta hitting Gohan in the stomach.
- Some of the more brutal shots of Vegeta kicking Goku while he and Gohan are on the ground were cut.
- A lot of blood was painted out.
- A shot of Kuririn coughing up blood was cut.
- General cutting of extraneous material was quite extensive in these last few episodes, to fit the Saiyan saga to the 26-episode season order.
- Some shots of Vegeta beating up Yajirobe were cut.
- Gohan's naked butt was edited to be covered by a scrap of Vegeta's clothing.
- The scene where Goku convinces Kuririn to not kill Vegeta was shortened quite significantly (about 3 minutes was cut). More details on this below.
- Chichi arriving on the battlefield and cradling Gohan, and Bulma breaking down and arguing with Yajirobe were cut.
- The gang gathering the dead bodies was cut.
- Yajirobe picking his nose was edited to make it look like he was just scratching his nose.
- A large bump on Bubbles after Kaio hits him with a hammer was painted out.
- Roshi reaching for Bulma's butt, to give her a shove onto Mr Popo's carpet, was cut.
- There was no next episode preview at the end of edited episode 26. The next season finale, episode 53, would end with a preview, likely because Funimation didn't expect the impending cancellation, and it was mid-storyline.
- Oddly enough, despite edited episode 26 being the end of the first season, and the Saiyan saga, the original US DVD release ended its "Saiyan saga" DVDs with episode 25, instead putting episode 26 on the first of the "Namek saga" DVDs.
- The panels of Vegeta getting to his pod show the back of his destroyed armour. This shows that on the pauldron armour, they overlap with the back after reaching around over the shoulders.
- Goku's reason for sparing Vegeta was often screwed up in translations. A full comparison of various versions is below. To put it in brief: The Simmons subs, the ViZ manga, and Funimation's Kai dub correctly render that Goku wants Vegeta spared so he can fight him again, and considers Vegeta's life ending to be "A waste". The original edited dub changed this to Goku trying to show Vegeta a better way by showing him mercy, which the Funimation in-house dub inherited and expanded on. Funimation's GT dub (in the flashback to this scene) went with an explanation very similar to this, but changed/added ideas relating to the fact that Goku was a bit monstrous when he came to earth. The Ocean/Blue Water dub of GT, uncharacteristically for its usual very-accurate scripting, seemed inspired by the original dialogue, but centred it around an ill-explained idea of "Saiyan honour".
Spoiler:
- This is the second time Goku has spared the major arc villain, after Piccolo in the previous arc. He'll attempt this a third time with Freeza, but of course that doesn't work.
- Episode 36 is the first time Karin has been shown outside of his tower.
- Kai Episode 17 is when Over the Star plays, the first insert song in the re-edited anime. If running Z and Kai in parallel, it's the second insert song in Z, after Battle-Colored Warriors appeared in Z Episode 20 for Kaio's Saiyan backstory.
- There are 17 redraws in Kai episode 15, 30 in episode 16, and 3 in episode 17.
- In the aftermath, Kuririn explains that he thinks Vegeta and and Nappa came to use the Dragon Balls, and it's treated as a reveal. However, Raditz actually said as much to Piccolo (while Goku was in earshot) as he died, saying his comrades would resurrect him with them. Vegeta and Nappa subsequently discussed this amongst themselves, and later talked about it in front of Piccolo, Kuririn, and Gohan at the start of the battle.
- When Kaio reads out Namek's co-ordinates, Bulma immediately knows what they are, implying that they have the same co-ordinates system. This conversation of detail for the sake of plot is similar to how everyone, including King Yenma, Kaio, the Grand Elder, Freeza, and so-on, speak the same language (though the Namekians have a language of their own as well).
- As Bulma does her calculations, she says "I have a bad feeling about this..." in ViZ's translation. This is a recurring phrase in the Star Wars films.
- In the ViZ translation of the manga, Yajirobe has a habit of mis-pronouncing words, like "catechism" and "strajatem". The Funimation dub of Dragon Ball would do something similar where he said "breaktice" a lot, however this required altering existing dialogue.
- When Kaio discovers the modern state of Namek, he says "Oh, dear, I-I mean, dear ME!!". He may have wanted to say "Dear God" before realizing that he effectively is one.
- In the ViZ manga, Kaio explains that the Great Demon Piccolo was evil because he was corrupted by the malicious humans he met along the way. This is explained better in the Simmons subtitles of the anime, where he says "Piccolo Daimao was probably someone who was born of the evil influence of earthlings that he encountered before becoming God.", which attributes Piccolo's name to the son of Katatz. Interestingly, there's a parallel with Ma-Junior in the anime, who had bad run-ins with humans as he grew up.
- At the end of Episode 36, there's a shot of Kuririn, Bulma and Roshi pointing towards the sky as they know where they must go next. This is taken from the cover of Chapter 243 (which this episode adapts). The original had Gohan and Goku join in, although in reality they can't do that on account of their injuries.
- The hospital the gang go to is called the Wekong Hospital in the manga (though the sign is partially obscured), then in the anime it's signed as the "W•kong Hospital". This is likely a nod to Goku's namesake and partial inspiration, Sun Wukong.
- In the manga, both panels of the hospital exterior use the same sketch, outside of the clouds and aircraft. Even the passing tube traffic is identical!
- Goku briefly makes the interesting suggestion that Kinto'Un would not get them to Namek fast enough. This suggests that A) He's under the impression that the cloud can travel through space, and B) It can travel fast enough to compete with spacecraft!
- In the ViZ manga, Goku mentions that there have been at least three Gods before the most recent one. The Simmons subtitles of this moment only say that Popo has served since long before the current God was there, so this is likely a Viz-ism.
- The password to the Namekian spaceship, "Piccolo", is likely where the man himself got his name. As Mr. Popo explains, it means "different world" in Namekian.
- The pilot's seat in the Namekian spaceship has a design homage: it has the same design as Piccolo Daimao's throne aboard the Pilaf Airship, albeit without the skulls. This throne was last seen a year and a half prior where Daimao used it inside the presidential building announcing Piccolo Day, and would be used again as the Grand Elder's throne.
- While Dragon Ball has included the odd real-world geography reference, Bulma and Popo heading to Jupiter suggests the Dragon World version of Earth has a similar solar system as well (which makes sense given it has the same Moon as well).
- If it took Bulma and Popo five seconds to travel to Jupiter, they flew at a speed of 547 billion kilometers per hour. Thus, if it takes one month for them to travel to Namek at that speed, that means that Namek is approximately 42.2 light years away from Earth. For comparison, that's the same distance to the Capella star system that makes up the Auriga constellation in the Milky Way. Since Namek is outside Kaio's jurisdiction, this suggests that galaxies in the Dragon World are much smaller than in ours, or at least far closer together.
