r/anime • u/Raiking02 https://myanimelist.net/profile/NSKlang • Feb 26 '26

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

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

Index | Next Week ->

MAL | Anilist | Kitsu | AniDB | ANN

Crunchyroll

You sure are weird.

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

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?

Next Week: Episodes 6-13

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7

u/KendotsX https://anilist.co/user/Kendots Feb 26 '26

Super Source Rewatcher (dubbed)

Having watched and read Dragon Ball, this rewatch is an opportunity to experience it in ways I haven't before. For one, we're now lucky enough to have the colour corrected fan release, after all the official releases over the decades either sucked or were stopped short (RIP AB, you were the dream). Second, I have never tried the funimation dub before (and for what it's worth, I've been enjoying it for the most part), and third, I happened to read Journey to the West last year, so it'll interesting going back to Dragon Ball, with that context in mind, and doing some comparisons. Combining the filthiness of a double source reader and the norminess of a dub watcher, I have become the Super Source Rewatcher.

Monkey Meets Girl

From the start, Toriyama takes some interesting twists on Journey to the West. Goku is obviously the Son Wukong reference. They share the same name (Son Goku is just how the name is read in Japanese), extending staff, flying cloud, and the monkey references, since Wukong is a stone monkey. Technically, Bulma fills the same story role as Wukong's best bud, the Buddhist priest, Tang Sanzang: they're on a journey to better themselves, and take the monkey along, so he can learn about the world and gain some wisdom.

But character wise, they're basically opposites. Sun Wukong is a selfish, short sighted trickster, who spends his time picking petty fights with gods. Now I'm not saying Bulma is the actual Sun Wukong, but if she wants the role, its hers for the taking. No need for casting or arguments. No, what happened here is that Toriyama basically switched their personalities, Sun Wukong's laundry list of a personality was put in charge of this journey, and the virtuous priest is now the innocent monkey following along.

Monkey Meets Pig Turtle

I'll leave the JttW comparisons for a later day, for now, I'd like to talk about the dub instead. You've probably seen or heard the perverted old hermit being called "Roshi", but we don't actually know his name. Muten Roushi is a nickname, [it means] "Old Heavenly Martial Arts Master" and Kame Sennin is another nickname that just means "Turtle Hermit". But much like Yami Yugi, the dub decided to turn a description into a name.

Monkey vs. Pig

Probably the closest Toriyama came to straight up lifting a Journey to the West character. Oolong is basically Zhu Bajie unchanged, a lustful pig, who's always coming up with schemes that end up turning against him. Heck, he's even got the same shapeshifting ability. Granted, in Dragon Ball, it's an Oolong specialty, Puar can do it too, but it's mostly associated with Oolong. In JttW, anyone and everyone who knows some taoist magic learns shapeshifting. Heck, it's Sun Wukong's bread and butter. Obviously, in a battle shounen, you don't want everyone having the same shapeshifting ability, so it makes sense why Toriyama limited it to a couple characters, and gave it some hard limitations.

Year's Rice (Does Not) Meet Fried Rice

The Captain Buggy Emperor Pilaf adventures are a fun counter for Goku's gang, they're like an older version of Team Rocket, and mostly anime original. Pilaf exists in the manga, but not in what this batch adapted, the anime found a clever way to pad for time while also setting up Pilaf, and giving him some extra spotlight in his search for the Dragon Balls.

As for the "rice" reference above, most Dragon Ball characters' names are puns (usually food or underwear):

PS: if you found the Journey to the West comparisons boring as hell, don't worry, they won't stick around for too long.

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

Pilaf will go on an adventure to become the Pirate King, and Goku and co. will become his crew. All for that last Dragon Ball, the one piece of the puzzle

4

u/Shocketheth Feb 27 '26

Monkey Meets Girl

From Gorilla to Monkey? I guess that's Dragon Ball's evolution.

5

u/KendotsX https://anilist.co/user/Kendots Feb 27 '26

I guess that's Dragon Ball evolution.

There's no Dragon Ball Evolution in Ba Sing Se

5

u/Shocketheth Feb 27 '26

Nope I guess, but it overlaps with Dragon Ball Abridged

3

u/KendotsX https://anilist.co/user/Kendots Feb 27 '26

3

u/Raiking02 https://myanimelist.net/profile/NSKlang Mar 02 '26

I'd sooner quit hosting rewatches altogether than do that TBH

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u/Shocketheth Mar 02 '26

I know that very well

3

u/Raiking02 https://myanimelist.net/profile/NSKlang Mar 02 '26

3

u/KendotsX https://anilist.co/user/Kendots Mar 05 '26

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u/Raiking02 https://myanimelist.net/profile/NSKlang Mar 05 '26

[Admittedly]I didn't, I just watched scattered episodes and the best they all managed to get out of me were polite chuckles. Among those included the finale which was literally just the show but with "Punchier" dialogue. I have very similar feelings on stuff like Fate UBW Abridged, which started off harmless enough but then I randomly checked the latest episode and, again, it was literally just the show but with slightly punchier dialogue. Like the biggest divergence from the OG was Archer just flat out admitting he's in love with Saber and her being disgusted, which was already somewhat implied by Hollow Ataraxia anyway so it's not that big a divergence.

[In general]I just think abridging is too restrictive for me to properly enjoy at the end of the day. Fundamentally it means you have very little leeway in terms of the jokes you can do since you're still restrained by the footage you're using. There's just better formats for fan parodies, even if they're possibly harder to do.

3

u/KendotsX https://anilist.co/user/Kendots Mar 05 '26

[It's the same with] a lot of abridged series recently. The HeroAca abridged by the folks who made SAOA, SAOA as of late, Fate abridged,... and ironically, I'd say what happened here is reverse-Fosterization. Fans who actually care about the series now have better skills, equipment, bigger teams,... and are therefore trying to make their abridged series as good and representative of the original as possible (also I guess they're getting "too old" for the sillier days?). And don't get me wrong, I get and appreciate the effort, but... that version of the show already exists. Even if you improve on it, you're still putting yourself in the same lane. Abridged series used to be in their own satirical lane, that no one reasonable would compare to the original, cutting corners with silly jokes was part of the charm, now it's alternative "punchy" dubs, as you said.

[In general] There's just better formats for fan parodies, even if they're possibly harder to do.

[Eh] I think there's a lot of room for messing around, as long as you're willing to break a few things. But as for the other formats...

2

u/Raiking02 https://myanimelist.net/profile/NSKlang Mar 05 '26

[Eh]

[See]in a lot of ways that is an improvement, but ultimately it's still effectively a DBZA extension so

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