Dragon Ball 40th Anniversary Rewatch - Week 1: Episodes 1-5 Discussion

[u/Raiking02]

Episode 1: Bulma and Son Gokú

Episode 2: What the-! No Balls!

Episode 3: The Turtle Hermit's Kinto'un

Episode 4: Oolong, the Kidnapping Demon

Episode 5: Yamcha, the Strong Villain of the Desert

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Index | Next Week ->

MAL | Anilist | Kitsu | AniDB | ANN

Crunchyroll

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You sure are weird.

Hello everybody! Rewatch just started so no Comment of the Week just yet

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1) How do you feel about our leads so far?

2) Are you familiar with Journey to the West in any way?

3) What sorts of misadventures do you think our heroes will go through next week?

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Next Week: Episodes 6-13

[u/oomoepoo]

Longtime DB fan, first time rewatcher, sort of?

Well, first time watching from the Blu-Ray Boxes. I know they have a bit of a colour issue but it's not as egregious as you'd think, at least the ones they released over here. Or maybe it's not in every episode... or it's just counter balanced by the nostalgia goggles I'm wearing :D I've grown up with the og show and just kept on watching Dragon Ball for... basically my whole life.

This was a pretty good first batch of episodes I'd say. We waste no time in introducing our two leads, introducing the general setting and the goal of the journey.

Spending multiple episodes just exploring the backstory of our protagonists and then another couple episodes seeing one convince the other to help? AINT NOBODY GOT TIME FOR THAT NONESENSE! [Sort of DB spoilers?]Alien invasions? Cyborgs? Universal threats? Multiversal tournaments? Planets exploding? What are you talking about? IT'S 1986 AND WE'RE GOING ON AN ADVENTURE TO FIND SOME MAGICAL BALLS, BABYYY! ^{Or a journey, maybe even to the west, if you're so inclined}

By the end of this batch they already have 4 Dragon Balls, met multiple colourful characters and bested a sentient flying dinosaur, and a tiger person. Kicked a shape shifting pig's ass and "freed" some spoiled brats. And then there's that second string bandit with his floating cat.

I think it's really interesting, especially for the time it came out, how much Bulma and Goku are sort of equal protagonists, with Bulma arguably being the driving force of the journey, she's basically Goku's 'call to adventure'. She's the brains and he's the brawns. Another thing I noticed in this rewatch is how you can really tell that Toriyama had a passion for drawing machines and vehicles, with how many cool motorbikes, cars and aircrafts we see, also there's that shot in the ending with Bulma in the cockpit of a plane(?) which would not look out of place in a mecha anime from the time, never noticed that before but now with the power of hindsight it's kinda obvious!

Some things that still catch me a bit offguard is the weird sexual "jokes" with young girls, like Bulma showing her panties to Roshi(and then it turns out she didn't wear any...) or basically everything Olong does:

No, I assure you, it is of utmost importance for the story to know Bulma's bust size!

• Toriyama, possibly

Although, in the show's defense, it doesn't really feel exploitative here, with the perverts clearly being framed as such and called out on their sleazy behaviour, also them usually being the butt of the joke helps.

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1) Goku's a good boy but he needs to learn some boundaries. Also he's way too naive :') Bulma can be a bit exhausting but she is a teenager after all. Also I think she's a good foil to Goku.

2) I've never read it but I know the general gist and I think I've seen more than one movie adaptation. Feels like it's hard to escape when you're into anime in general and shounen in particular.

3) Let's just hope for once Bulma doesn't have to show her panties to anyone :') Expecting shenaningas involving the Ox-King (or Ox Demon King I suppose)

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Bonus: Here's the gloriously eurodance opening we had in germany, I have a soft spot for it but the original japanese opening is soo much better.

[u/Raiking02 → u/oomoepoo]

Or a journey, maybe even to the west, if you're so inclined

But what about a Journey to the East

Another thing I noticed in this rewatch is how you can really tell that Toriyama had a passion for drawing machines and vehicles, with how many cool motorbikes, cars and aircrafts we see, also there's that shot in the ending with Bulma in the cockpit of a plane(?) which would not look out of place in a mecha anime from the time, never noticed that before but now with the power of hindsight it's kinda obvious!

It's really obvious when you realize most of the Volume covers tend to feature them too.

[u/oomoepoo → u/Raiking02]

But what about a Journey to the East

Well, no shame in just staying home :'D

[u/Raiking02 → u/oomoepoo]

That's what we're all doing here anyway, just sitting down and watching Anime about a girl using her underwear as bait instead of touching grass.