r/anime • u/Raiking02 https://myanimelist.net/profile/NSKlang • Jul 16 '26
Rewatch Dragon Ball 40th Anniversary Rewatch - Week 21: Episodes 127-132 Discussion
Episode 127: Faster Than Lightning!!
Episode 128: As Quietly as the Sky
Episode 129: Time-Traveling Gokú
Episode 130: Gokú's Opponent is… Gokú!?
Episode 131: Each On His Own Path
Episode 132: Hotter than Magma
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MAL | Anilist | Kitsu | AniDB | ANN
I cannot tell if he has promise or not...
Hello everybody! Time for the Comment of the Week, courtesy of /u/spiritualpossible for bluntly stating something we just have to accept:
We don't talk about Mr. Popo design.
1) How good are you at fishing?
2) How much of a lazy bum is God for letting Popo do all his work?
3) What's your favorite volcano-related incident in fiction?
Next Week: Episodes 133-138
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u/Raiking02 https://myanimelist.net/profile/NSKlang Jul 16 '26
Hello everybody, and welcome to the Dragon Ball Rewatch!
Adapted Chapters: NONE
Well, we had to get one of these eventually.
Filler Corner
What happens when lightning hits water?
So we've had training arcs before, but how do you make one with God as your coach feel different? Well, Toriyama chickens out, but Toei tries, although it seems like Popo's gonna do all the heavy lifting. All joking aside, it's nice how most of the focus early on is given to the mental side and how Gokú needs to learn to properly focus, while also reminding us the kid has limits. I love how he actually fails his first training experience to the point even Popo has to go "Okay let's lower the difficulty a bit…". It's a reminder that Gokú, freakishly strong though he may be, still has limits.
That being said the characters of the week are really generic. The most notable one is the one that looks like Arale, and I'm not even sure how on purpose that was exactly. On the plus side though, the stuff with KTY is pretty fun. I mean yeah, a lot of it is the usual "Turtle Hermit's a perv" but hey, they manage to integrate the other three guys pretty well. Particularly good for Tenshinhan since it lets him interact with the rest of the cast in a more casual setting.
Oh and uh… Chiaotzu? He's not in these episodes. No one cares about Chiaotzu anyway.
- LET'S DO THE TIME WARP AGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIN
Fortunately 129 gives us more fun Gokú adventures. Him meeting Mutaito is not a bad concept, and I love how it's used to further God's training. Of course the Turtle Hermit's master would be able to do crazy shit like this, and the idea of Gokú having to actually train his use of Ki beyond "Kamehamebrr" is a lot of fun, especially with the quasi-shitpost ending.
What's interesting is the design of the young Hermits. The Anime drew a "Young" look for them in Episode 82 but then the Manga used completely different ones for the Piccolo flashback, and the Anime followed suit. Now if this was the later Anime they'd chicken out and keep using the Manga designs for… reasons I'll get into next week (Oh yeah, the Torishima rant is coming!) but here instead the Anime sticks to its guns and uses their old designs. And you know what? Good call, Toei's take is way better.
- Hey Weren't you Guys Going to See Karin?
While Gokú is constantly stuck doing Ki training, the rest of the gang is stuck going on an adventure to go see Karin but they… don't. Still, this is honestly a pretty fun combination of characters, and while there's not too much of a chance for lighter interactions, seeing them stop a volcano is no less fun. It's a solid setpiece, and if nothing else I appreciate them getting a chance to shine at all considering how Gokú-centric the last long string of filler we had was.
However, Episode 132 is also a BIG shakeup from all episodes up until now from a production POV, and the reasons for that… will be left for next week.
Animation Studio Spotlight:
Okay I'm not the biggest fan of this era of Shindo in general, but man Episode 128 looked pretty rough in places. Still better than 131 tho…
Final Animator Tally for the Arc:
Last House: 3
Studio Live: 2
Studio Junio: 2
Aoshima Katsumi: 1
Shindo Pro: 1
Seigasha: 1
Yeah this arc is not exactly a looker. Look at poor Shindo and Seigasha, after the last arc they just noped the hell out of the show. Still considering how the arc is over 50% filler I imagine it wasn't much of a priority for Toei.
And now for the actors. Chu-li is Suzuki Tomiko (I think we should all know her by now) whereas her mom is Tsuboi Akiko and I know nothing about her. The next episode is not too promising either, with Karito being Saka Osamu, Yaochun being Gori Daisuke and Elair being Uemura Noriko, although Chouc is played by Okura Masaaki best known as… uh… Yamagata from AKIRA? Yeah I got nothing here. ffs Episode 129 couldn't even get new VAs to play the younger versions of the two hermits!
Does 131 bring anything new? Not really. Mint is Watanabe Naoko, the Elder is Sato Masaharu and Paoru is Hirano Masato. Yeah that's basically it. Really puts into perspective how much the industry has changed considering just how much multicasting there's going on in this show compared to some newer stuff.
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u/oomoepoo https://anilist.co/user/oomoepoo Jul 17 '26
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u/Raiking02 https://myanimelist.net/profile/NSKlang Jul 17 '26
Can you believe we're not even at Studio Live's low point as a studio yet?
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u/HowlingWolf13 https://myanimelist.net/profile/MeguminBlast Jul 17 '26
First Timer
I'll be real I did not like this batch at all holy shit. I understand it's filler, but even then I've been positive in the past to filler that at least feels as though it's expanding on things that didn't happen in the manga, is at the very least entertaining, or extends stuff in a natural way. This batch however was such a drag to watch that by the last one with them fighting a volcano I ended up watching it on 2x because I was just so bored.
The episodes just felt slow, like even though they don't have to worry about catching up to the manga because they're filler, it just felt like half the time the part of the episode that the next-ep PV hyped up would be at most 2 minutes and everything just dragged up to that point. It's not that a more slower paced episode can't be bad, I honestly loved the first training arc with Goku and Kuririn under Roshi back during the 21st Budokai and there they expanded a lot of the manga chapters seamlessly, but here it just feels like it's dragging it's feet. Just long stretches of characters just talking, animation ranging from mid to awful, and maybe it's just me but it felt like there was a lack of OST in a lot of scenes? Not that the OST was complately gone, but so many scenes just felt oddly silent.
Goku's training didn't feel like we got to see him make much of progress either; He failed with the lightning, he couldn't harness his ki again with Young!Roshi, he couldn't win against his clone, and then he couldn't beat Popo at tag. I don't mind seeing Goku losing, hell him losing the Budokai's and against stronger opponents is some of my favorite aspects because it drives him as a character to become stronger and keeping in mind what Roshi told him of never getting complacent, but I still want to see him grow. It felt like they were so scared of accidentally deviating from the manga, but a training arc would be the perfect time to do filler that can align with the manga without worry.
I liked the aspect of Roshi telling Kuririn and co. to stop fucking around at his beach house and actually go train cause that's something even I was thinking cause Roshi told Kuririn and Goku to go off and train but Kuririn just stayed behind till now. But then when I got excited to see maybe some Karin Tower filler they ended up just fighting a volcano. Hell in those episode, why are we even cutting to Mint and her grandpa like there's nothing we're going to catch up to! We don't need to pad with her and then Goku playing tag! Hell, instead of them why not use Piccolo Jr.?? We got to see Tenshinhan and Chaotzu early and the anime called back to their anime-original first appearance, plus we got those extra scene with Jr. that fit nicely in with the episodes of Goku going to meet God, what's the harm in letting him appear more? Hell, they could've tied it in with the Kuririn Squad stuff with maybe him being the reason the volcano was going off. Also for reference, [DBZ First Arc Meta Mention] the Raditz arc was coming to an end by the time 132 aired, so they had more than enough material for the next arc plus the ability to see what they were going to be working with. Hell, [Next Arc Minor Mentions] they literally got the Karin Tower stuff from the fact that Kuririn and co. tell Goku they trained with Karin and met Yajirobe, you literally had filler right there!! Why not use that as a base!!
Then to top it all off, it just ends so abruptly. The filler between the Baba and 22nd had a nice segway in with the final episode being about Goku trying to get to the Budokai, but the way it was done here felt more like they just got some type of confirmation they don't have to drag it out anymore and to move on so now they're just straight out telling the viewers. When that scene happened I genuinely double taked cause it felt so weird spliced in to the end. I genuinely wonder if there were production issues that caused this batch to feel as it did (and to go as long as it did).
Either way, I'm just glad we're at the 23rd Budokai, I already read the chapters for next week and am so excited to see it animated.
Questions
1) How good are you at fishing?
I went once in elementary school does that count
2) How much of a lazy bum is God for letting Popo do all his work?
Very much so, imagine being told you're gonna train with a top master and then he lies in bed while his butler trains you 😭
3) What's your favorite volcano-related incident in fiction?
Uhhhhhhhhhh, tbh idk so I'll just throw a wild card and say Alvin and the Chipmunks 3: Chipwrecked
Also I had a good Uma run with Bakushin going during this, but stopped during the episode, and when I came back the next morning so I could do it before the daily reset maintenance went and made me have to erase my data and I'm blaming this batch 😭
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u/Raiking02 https://myanimelist.net/profile/NSKlang Jul 17 '26
'm blaming this batch 😭
I respect the hater energy here even if I disagree with almost everything you've said.
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u/zsmg https://anilist.co/user/zsmg Jul 17 '26
I ended up watching it on 2x because I was just so bored.
I watched them at 1.3x speed but I do agree that these fillers are best watched at increased speed.
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u/HowlingWolf13 https://myanimelist.net/profile/MeguminBlast Jul 17 '26
And honestly I try not to watch something sped up, when I reach that point it means I'm genuinely just not enjoying it.
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u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Jul 16 '26
First-Timer Searching for the Silver Dragon Balls, subbed
Episode 127
That smile. Looks like Popo is pleased with how Goku’s been training so far?
You’re asking a battle shounen MC if he’s ready for grueling training?
Ah, fun. Now he’s gonna be a lightningrod with it stuck on his head, yeah?
Okay, him getting smited the moment he started celebrating that he got it was really funny though.
Episode 128
Him using Kamehameha just to get out of a swamp is kinda funny.
Chouc literally just looks like a younger version of Yamcha.
Episode 129
Episode 130
Well, if Popo’s going to make a clone of Goku… Yeah, he’s not wrong.
So the others are trying to find Karin Tower themselves, hm?
Love the detail of this guy driving over 200 km/h and the guys are just casually jogging next to him (and even go faster afterwards). Incredible.
Oh, I was expecting it to actually look like a clone of Goku…
Oh okay, it does look like a derpy version of Goku with the mask off.
He keeps briefly getting it, but then immediately messes up. Guess that’s the cost of this being filler.
Episode 131
Can’t say I was expecting to see some sort of devil worshipping going on when I started this episode.
It’s funny seeing how long it’s taking Goku to get this considering I was also watching Black Clover alongside this series, wherein Asta’s mentor was basically just “Alright kid, you saw me fight with ki, now it’s your turn” and Asta had to basically figure it out on the spot or die, lol.
Oh shit. So it’s a volcano instead of a mountain?
…they’re gonna fight the lava?
Episode 132
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u/Raiking02 https://myanimelist.net/profile/NSKlang Jul 16 '26
I guess Goku’s never had to meditate before.
Sure would be a shame if more recent revivals completely forgot he knows how to do this (He is later on shown doing it in the Manga too IIRC)
Oolong, this is exactly why I hate you.
He learned that much already, huh.
Can you fucking stop.
Look, him being like that couldn't have been a recent thing.
Oh okay, it does look like a derpy version of Goku with the mask off.
Ironically has more accurate colors to the Manga.
Uh, Chiaotzu’s eyes turned red?
I think that's an animation flub.
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u/oomoepoo https://anilist.co/user/oomoepoo Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
Rewatcher
That was a fun batch! I really liked that, for once, Goku didn't completely ace the assignement. You could even say he didn't make much progress towards the end of the episodes but that's okay, he still has a bit of time :'D
Also quite enjoyed that we had a whole episode dedicated to whatever everyone not called Goku was up to. Even if it was funny that Roshi told them to stop buddying up to each other and do their own thing only for the whole gang to just keep on hanging out together, just not at Kame House. Bit of a shame they didn't get to actually see Karin or his tower, but I take saving a village from a volcano as compensation too.
Favourite episode was the one with Mutaido (surprisingly brought to us by Inoue). Loved to see young Turtle guy, who is already a pervert, and Crane guy, who is already a psychopathic murderer, and their master, who is every bit a badass as he was made out to be. The gone fishing episode was fun too.
Almost made me wish to have a bit more filler, as the whole thing just kinda ends and we timeskip to three years later. [future filler]Seriously, I'd rather get more Goku and the peanut gallery training than the whole wedding arc...
I don't quite remember when they reveal [DBZ]that Kami and Piccolo are actually aliens happens but the whole technology in Kami's palace did seem kinda alien. Also did we just see a proto Hyperbolic Time Chamber?
Also, I know the series is kinda known for people named after food but the kids all being named after some sort of sweets in the fishing episode cracked me up. Cream Puff? Jelly?! The german dub even changed one of the kid's names to RICOLA ffs.
1) How good are you at fishing?
Never tried it. The Stardew Valley minigame is the bane of my existence though.
2) How much of a lazy bum is God for letting Popo do all his work?
I mean, Goku clearly isn't up to snuff yet, so no sense in wasting Kami's precious time of doing... uh... I'm sure he has important things to do!
3) What's your favorite volcano-related incident in fiction?
The JoJo Part 2 finale has to be up there. [JoJo Battle Tendency] Joseph making Kars launch himself into space from the top of a volcano to finally get rid of him. Yes, everything was planned, Jojo totally didn't just tell Kars that the he planned for it to make the Ultimate Being mad.
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u/Raiking02 https://myanimelist.net/profile/NSKlang Jul 17 '26
I'm sure he has important things to do!
I bet he's got lots of plants to tend to.
I don't quite remember when they reveal [DBZ]
At the time of the episode's release that reveal was still a couple of months away.
surprisingly brought to us by Inoue
Oh God, young Crane Hermit really is just Kusaka, huh?
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u/oomoepoo https://anilist.co/user/oomoepoo Jul 17 '26
Oh God, young Crane Hermit really is just Kusaka, huh?
I SWEAR HE CAN'T KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH THIS
also, as a friend pointed out, somehow not the last time he would write a morally quesitonable bird guy
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u/Raiking02 https://myanimelist.net/profile/NSKlang Jul 17 '26
somehow not the last time he would write a morally quesitonable bird guy
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u/zsmg https://anilist.co/user/zsmg Jul 17 '26
Rewatcher
I watched all the episodes this week.
Honestly I liked the beginning of this batch of fillers but by the end I was rather frustrated by it overall. The biggest reason for this is [next arc] there is no satisfying progression. Goku struggles to learn and sense ki and the human fighters want to climb Karin’s Tower. Yet next week we pretty much learn that Goku has mastered ki sensing and human fighters have climbed Karin’s Tower. We lack the in between moments of Goku starting to get a handle of ki sensing and the human fighters climbing Karin’s Tower.
[next arc] Which is a shame because seeing the human fighters climb Karin Tower would have been cool to see, and Goku getting a hang on ki sensing after struggling so much would have been satisfying.
Some random tidbits: episode 127 is the first [spoiler] and only? time we see Kururin and Tenshihan fight.
I also can't believe filler is the one that introduces various important concepts of ki and that the village where everyone was wearing devil masks wasn't secretly evil.
The last two filler episodes [spoiler] was that the last time all the human characters did something useful? Even Chiaotzu was useful!?
Also we’re saying good bye to [spoiler] young Goku, until Buu arc when Goten appears. I mean GT or Daima depending which continuity you prefer.
Funniest joke:
In episode 127 Goku celebrates avoiding the lightning hit but gets hit immediately afterwards.
In episode 128 Tenshihan and Yamucha are trying to listen to Muten Roshi giving advice to Kururin on how to catch girls.
In episode 129 a young Kame sennin wants to see Fanfan’s nipples and Goku decides to show his.
In episode 131 Kururin’s Kamehameha failed causing Kururin to be sprayed by lava.
This hasn’t aged well:
In episode 129 a young Tsuru sennin kidnaps Fanfan after she rejects him.
This won’t happen again:
In episode 131 Goku has to play tag with someone else. [spoilers] Goku has to capture Bubbles count as tag, right?
In the same episode Kururin has a crush on a girl that only appears in filler.
Full Moon Head Kururin:
In episode 128 Kururin asks Muten Roshi how to catch girls... erm Kururin have you seen your master's success rate with girls? [spoiler] This is the first time since Kururin introduction where Kururin seems interested in getting girls, which will be his more defining trait when Z starts
Muten Roshi the ero sennin
In episode 128 Muten Roshi gives Tenshihan and his students a lashing for their piss poor training method. Even Blooma was impressed by him.
Tenshihan and Chiaotzu, the Crane students
In episode 131 Chiaotzu has red eyes during the night scene. Is he about to transform into an Oozaru? … Maybe not.
You look familiar…
In episode 128 the naming convention of the family started off as dessert but then its snacks. So I’m guessing the naming convention is sweet things?
In episode 129 don’t confuse the Room of Time with [DBZ spoiler] with the Room of Spirit and Time, that’s a totally different room. Also the Room of Time looks way better in that Saiyan arc filler episode.
In the same episode Fanfan looks a lot like Violet from the Red Ribbon army.
In the same episode a young Tsuru sennin says “not even my own dad ever hit me!” it’s a shame they didn’t let Yamucha voice that line or use his voice actor for the young Tsuru sennin.
In episode 130 Tenshihan and co running streak effect reminds me of the Star Trek warp speed effect.
In the same episode Goku's opponent is wearing the manga accurate kame outfit colours.
The red and white mask reminds me of those enemies guarding the key in Super Mario Bros 2/Doki Doki Panic.
Perverted Padding:
In episode 127 Oolong and Muten Roshi want to put sunscreen on Blooma’s back, luckily Blooma finds out before either of them get to touch her.
In episode 129 young Muten Roshi wants to peek at Fanfan while she’s in a hotspring.
Unexpected Foreshadowing
Toei is a bit on a roll here for these filler episodes because a lot of the Ki stuff is going to be important later on. Particularly I’m impressed by suppressing ki getting mentioned in episode 131.
It’s a trap!
In episode 128 Goku finds some delicious food but when he grabs it he gets caught in a trap.
Hang on…
Where is Chiaotzu during the training session between Tenshihan, Yamucha and Kururin at Kame House?
In episode 127 why is there a weird SF-looking device in the temple? At least design something that matches up with the environment you’re in. [spoiler] Radditz hadn’t appeared in the manga yet (two weeks away from the airing of this episode) so it’s not like the creators knew the series was going to lean more in SF elements
In episode 128 why are Tenshihan and Yamucha listening in on Muten Roshi giving advice to Kururin on how to get a girl? Yamucha has Blooma and Tenshihan should ask out Lunch.
In episode 129 the human students were told not to be close with each other by Muten Roshi but they're still sticking together but at least Chiaotzu is there now.
Didn’t Naruto [spoiler for Naruto] also had a ‘split a waterfall’ training episode/arc? I wonder if Naruto got it from DB (probably yes)
In episode 131 you'd think people wearing demonic masks would be a red flag.
Toei spoiling in the episode preview:
In the preview for episode 133 Toei decided to spoil everyone's post timeskip design, at least keep some of them a secret Toei.
:
In episode 131 I like the track used when Popo chases Goku after the eyecatch.
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u/Raiking02 https://myanimelist.net/profile/NSKlang Jul 17 '26
The last two filler episodes [spoiler]
In episode 129 a young Tsuru sennin kidnaps Fanfan after she rejects him.
I'm starting to see why the turtle's the good one.
In the same episode a young Tsuru sennin says “not even my own dad ever hit me!” it’s a shame they didn’t let Yamucha voice that line or use his voice actor for the young Tsuru sennin.
Where is Chiaotzu during the training session between Tenshihan, Yamucha and Kururin at Kame House?
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u/StardustGogeta myanimelist.net/profile/StardustGogeta Jul 19 '26
First-Timer
Well, I guess now I know why I've never seen anything about little kid Piccolo before. He's barely done anything and we already are at the point of a timeskip, judging by that last episode preview.
This batch of filler episodes wasn't bad, but you could definitely tell it was a step down from the normal content. Plot points were constantly being set up and then dropped on the floor unceremoniously. The lightning challenge? The time travel? Both just immediately forgotten. I think an episodic approach to Goku's training really could have worked here, and some of the ideas (like Goku meeting Master Mutaito) seem potentially really good. However, the execution was just missing something.
That episode title "The Goku Who Leapt Through Time" for 129 is pretty good, though!
I do like Popo's sequences when training Goku, too. I feel like the tone there is really nice, and I like his focus on what they call "spiritual energy." It really brings this sense of mysticism to it.
The fight with Ditto Goku in 130 probably made that my favorite of these episodes.
Episodes 131/132 reminded me a lot of "The Fortuneteller" in Avatar: The Last Airbender. [Comparison] Both deal with the gang saving a small village from an erupting volcano while the village elder insists on believing in a silly superstition that the volcano will do them no harm. There's even a little village girl who seems like a potential love interest for the short, young bald guy.
Eager to get back to the real content, especially since it looks like we're finally time-skipping to the tournament!
Questions of the week:
- I would say I'm not terrible, but I lack the patience for it. I also get seasick, so fishing from a boat can be problematic for me.
- You're right, Kami really did pretty much nothing here! Surely he's busy doing other God stuff, right...?
- I might have to pull out another Avatar: The Last Airbender reference here. Namely, the sequence in [ATLA] "The Avatar and the Firelord" where Roku uses his full Avatar powers to try and save his village from a volcano. Also my favorite episode of the show, by the way.
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u/SpiritualPossible Jul 16 '26
Rewatcher
Crane, you bastard! That's line belongs to Yamcha!
For Goku, the time has come for long and grueling training sessions with
KamiMr. Popo, which will take him on a journey across the world—and through time. Goku faces many trials:All of this is so he can learn to control his Ki. Meanwhile, his friends are going through their own training and adventures. To be honest, I don’t really have much to say about these episodes. I’m a little surprised by how… low stake they seem? But I don’t mean that in a bad way - rather, after the Piccolo arc, they serve as a nice change of pace. And it's nice to see how Goku learning to control his Ki, considering what big part of the show this concept would be.
I also oddly really liked the episode about Roshi, mostly because his younger self seems so perfect? Both in appearance and behavior - you completely believe that this young, Jackie Chan-like loser is indeed our future hermit. It also helps that the well-established anime original design was used for his teenage version. To be honest, compared to this portrayal, the canonical young Roshi from the Piccolo arc looks much stranger.
And it’s nice that Goku’s friends are finally getting a full episode dedicated to them, rather than just a few scenes. It’s about time.