As you may or may not know, the powers that be have taken issue with my using Dragon Ball music in the opening. I suppose that's certainly their right. As a result, I have made the difficult choice to replace the opening music in most of The Boo Arc videos with a new, RUclips-friendly piece. I hope you like it. As a compromise, I have retained the original music in a few select Boo Arc videos scattered across the arc. For those who miss the original, follow this link to the opening as I uploaded it in 2020. Thanks so much for your support! ruclips.net/video/JNZdVZG_lbM/видео.html
One of the things I like about this dissection, is that MF approaches the animated adaptation in a neutral way. Plenty of DB fans are completely "Toei bad". However, MF criticizes Toei when he feels the anime screwed up, but he's also willing to praise Toei when he feels the anime did it right.
Some of the DBZ filler is so good that it actually improves the story and makes the better. Edit: I actually like a lot of DB filler that I've seen, it's handled way better than most other anime that I've watched
@@pokezeldamaster39 Biggest irony is that most of them never read the manga, and some of their favorite sequels (Goku fighting Boo in SSJ2) or characters (freaking BROLY) came from Toei.
@@Jose-se9pu I haven't seen most of the original anime and I've only read half of the Manga, was introduced to DB through the video games and DBGT. So I've only seen all of Kai, the movies except the new one, some of the Dragona Ball anime, up to the Cell Arc in Z, all of DGBGT, up to the Saiyan Arc in the Manga, and some of DB Super (not very satisfied with that). From my experience, I actually preferred the original Z anime take on the Saiyan over Z and Kai.
I'll go so far as to say that the Buu arc, as shoddy as the storytelling is, and as much as it doesn't fit with the rest of the arcs, is probably the most entertaining of the DBZ arcs. It definitely has its merits, to be sure.
I think it's less that Angela looks like Lady Red, and more that both Toriyama and Toei just have a tendency to reuse the same character designs over and over again.
This just made me think about how much Super 17, Android 13, and Sharpner have a hilarious amount of physical similarities. I think a younger me would've mistaken Sharpner for Android 13 if I watched the show and movie in the right/wrong order.
Toriyama doesn't reference his one shots at all and most of his primary characters have a "same face" problem... Toei however isn't bound by the same well Toriyama is when they design characters, since...it's a studio that has "character designers" interpreting someone else's work. If they actually didn't use an existing Toriyama character who fails at being a Super Hero to blackmail Gohan...who fails at being a Super Hero, this would be a really extreme coincidence.
@@PrimeroJinJusuke Putting the same character with a different name in your other manga checks all the boxes on "reusing characters" and not enough of "Easter egg"
I gotta say: I think the anime adaptation of Gohan and Videl's relationship is the main reason why so many people feel like Videl's character in Super was butchered. It sounds like the Manga version of Videl wasn't given enough time to show off a character, but the Anime version got to be snarky and push Gohan's buttons constantly for a time. The blackmail comes off like a genuine part of her real character instead of just a random thing that was thrown in the story so that it could justify why all the characters would gather together again. I can believe anime Videl would blackmail Gohan into fighting in the tournament because she's been a pain in his butt (in a bratty sort of way) the entire time they've interacted. Manga Videl is kinda like, "Hi, I'm here. Blackmailing you now because my dad won some tournament stuff and you're strong. Oh boy, thank you for the Ki training. Ouch, I got my teeth knocked out. I'll get eaten by pink taffy man now. The end."
She still got off better than Super giving Bulma that ugly outfit she had for 80% of the show. Her whole thing throughout the whole series has been her constantly changing hairstyle and clothing but in super they picked the most unremarkable look they could and it was ugly af
No. I cant see how her character wasnt butchered from the very beginning. The blackmail thing is just so meanspirited eitherway. And after she cuts her hair she has a kinda different personality. I get her purpose is mostly to contrast the absurdity of the story. But yeah shes nothing more. In both Anime and Manga.
The slow realization of what Angela is supposed to be based off of left me flabbergasted I never expected to see Lady Red make an appearance on this channel LOL
I want to brush off Toriyamas shitty depictions in his art but i cant. From the horrid way he draws black people, the fact that sexual assault is literally played for laughs from Lunch, Bulma, etc. But i think we are progressing. Most people hate Mineta and mainly due to his rapey nature
@@sungod1384 At least the comic doesn't expect us to like Mineta (he's often the butt of the joke and his nonsense gets him in trouble and he's not a major character in any arc). But we're supposed to like Master Roshi and even Oolong to some degree. But seriously, except for Goku and his asexual butt, (and Gohan and the villains turned good that aren't Oolong oddly enough) the men in DB are painted as lusty bastards who can't control themselves when one of the three women currently in rotation shows up on screen. This is why I find DB most tolerable when it escapes the early comedy sections and tries to focus on the pantser plot and even the fighting. Toriyama's humor in the gender/sex department hasn't aged well to put it cheaply and mild.
@@sungod1384 I can brush it off because this was like the 80s and late 90s, and he's def improved since then lol. But Mineta is nowhere near as bad as that. He isn't rapey at all, he's just a little weirdo and perveted. It's not like the series paints him positively either, he's always a butt of a joke and gets his comeuppance. Anyway yeah we are progressing in the sense that people are getting sick of the "pervert character" trope, and we are seeing less and less of it.
I would say the Anime does a lot to improve the Buu Arc over the Manga. It feels less like the story of all over the place and actually tries to expand on the concepts from the Manga. The section of Gohan's time in high school and as Great Saiyanman is one of my favorite parts of the arc.
Yeah, it comes off as what Toriyama would've done if he stuck to the superhero idea. Be more loose with an episodic structure before deciding if Goku really should return (as a supporting character).
It would’ve been better if Gohan's classmates had been obliterated by Vegeta when he allows himself to succumb to Babidi. That would’ve been some decent emotional resonance and made the betrayal sting all the more hard and make us want Gohan to triumph all the more.
@@TheAzulmagia + it would just sour what vegetas doing and make him overall appear even worse than he already was. I mean he already almost/intentionally hit Bulma 💀
These episodes get me excited for an alternate history where Gohan/Great Saiyaman remained the main character. I always really liked that main cast line-up with Gohan, Vegeta, Piccolo, Kuririn, No. 18, Videl, Goten, and Trunks. I never realised how the Buu saga opening captured that concept so perfectly.
I think that the Goku and Chi-Chi "first date" flashback is actually a clever callback to one of the early Red Ribbon Arc fillers, from Episode 31, where Pilaf's gang, Colonel Silver and Goku all go to Mount Fry-Pan. Shuu is disguised as Goku to get Pilaf's gang into the castle to get a Dragon Ball, and later Silver storms in and captures Gyumao, meanwhile the real Goku stays with Chi-Chi below a tree that is beside a huge lake, if you look closely it's the same place that is in the flashback, and Goku and Chi-Chi are off-screen for a while in that episode while the focus is on Pilaf, Silver and Gyumao, so the flashback seen here could happen in that time. Of course none of that is actually canon to the manga, but it did happen in the anime, and while some stuff from fillers gets contradicted (Dr.Frappe), many times the DB animes do call back on filler episodes, like the driving license callback from the late Cell Arc, so there is precedent for it to be a reference to that early filler material (even though they got Goku's outfit wrong lol).
I really like how We Gotta Power starts, at first with the more 'traditional' brass intro you see in 70s and 80s anime, then the synth--and the 90s--kicks in. Really gets you hooked.
I liked hearing you rant about how out of place Erasa and Sharpner being in the “We gotta Power” opening was. That was always weird. They are there instead of characters like Yamcha and Master Roshi. I also never noticed you never mentioned “Tobikiri Zenkai Power” until now. I always felt it was an ending theme that stayed way too long since Gohan got older and wasn’t a 5 year old as he appears in the Saiyan arc anymore. I’m so excited to hear you talk about the Boo saga more. This arc is so packed with changes from the manga!
With how many people's jobs depended on plot points of Toriyama's weekly serialization and the whims of his editors, I see why most big Jump series now have an army of assistants.
4:00 “Ippai” means “full” and “oppai” means “breasts.” It's not in a particularly grammatical construction in Japanese, but I'll let you do with that information as you will.
Its interesting that, in Dragon Ball Kai, the Buu arc isnt as trimmed down when it came to filler as the rest of the series. A lot of the filler in the Buu arc is more built into the arc as opposed to being added into the arc.
I mean if one wanted to be cynical about it can more written down when as when they went back to do the boo arc toei being too lazy to put the same amount of time and money into abiding by kai's mission statement.
Then for the Japanese cut of Kai, they edited 7 episodes' worth of content out of the first 15 episodes of the international version, which means that version starts out very fast but then suddenly slows way down at an arbitrary point. All because the network needed them to finish in 61 episodes rather than 69?
It would've been interesting to see how Gohan as a protagonist and as a superhero story would've resulted, it's basically what if superman's son was peter parker.
I think the funniest (and most Dragon Ball) variation on the secret identity joke would be if everybody close to Gohan immediately sees through it and chooses not to mention it because they're sympathetic to keeping his secret, while *Gohan* obliviously thinks he's getting away with it.
11:39 Even the GBA game “Buus Fury” (aka “Legacy of Goku 3”…) kept this story element in for the sake of making the situation feel more “natural” for its story retelling…
You had me at MIDI We Were Angels. God that takes me back. Big props to the deep dive on Lady Red. I didn't know she wasn't just a recolor of Zangya. Actually, a re-tooled Lady Red would work fine in this universe. Great Saiyaman, Great SaiyaWOMAN and their new friend, Lady Red, who this time IS competent but just there to hit on (successfully or not) the muscular criminals Gohan and Videl bring to justice COULD be a fun dynamic. Gohan's there to help people, Videl's there to help people and support Gohan, Angela's there because she's horny. Edited to add: The dynamic should be Lady Red knows Gohan's secret, but doesn't know who Saiyawoman is. Videl is scared this girl who likes sex and money will find out her dad is Mr. Satan, who is single and loaded and that will lead to CERTAIN RESULTS. There's the drama. You could get months out of that.
The joke about Lady Red was that she enjoyed being raped, and saw the oportunity to make money, not that she was horny. Even by 1993, that "joke" was aged poorly.
@@Jose-se9pu Hence my use of the word "Re-tooled". Playing up the horniess or even make HER the aggressor and you can easily salvage that character for gags. Think Lunch if she was more into sex than stealing stuff.
@@Essu_ Not my point at all really. Hell repeat the General Blue/ Bulma joke and have all the bad guys be gay? By the same token, Roshi has been a Dragonball Perv for years what if there was a female one who was also a superhero? She's there cause she's horny but it doesn't lead to sex because the perp is the wrong zodiac sign or insulted her outfit or Gohan knocked them out cold or they can still fight HER and she's not immune to bullets and has to run away. The same comedy ideas are there. The more absurd the reason she doesn't get it, the better.
So two major things I wanted to talk about: 1) I want to use all of the DBD TV videos as evidence whenever someone talks about the Dragon Ball Manga being the “superior” version. I can agree that it’s certainly the original version, but I believe now that for every single one of the original 10 Arcs/Sagas covered on this channel, the anime adaption has improved the material to at least a significant extent. I’m not dogging on people who enjoy the Manga, but I don’t think it’s fair to shun the Anime either just because it’s not Toriyama’s “original” work. 2) Head Cha-La is certainly a great opening theme - I would also argue that it may not remain a great opening theme for a lot of people after 200 episodes. For this reason I think We Gotta Power is fond in many peoples heads, just because it’s that new spice of life. I think a scenario where Head Cha-La is the opening theme for the Saiyan/Freeza Arc is fitting, then maybe one of the many lyrical songs for the Cell Arc opening, would have freshened things up (not even going over the ending songs too). Just wanted to give my two cents.
Yeah, really the only Arc where the TV version was a downgrade was the Freeza arc, due to all the time constraints. All the others improved the source material.
The thing is, I feel like for every improvement the anime makes over the anime, there's also another downgrade or otherwise unnecessary fluff scene added.* That's why I generally stick to the manga whenever I wish to view the series again, its pacing and paneling is just very clean and good for repeat viewings, and it goes through all the necessary plot beats without feeling too rushed in _most_ cases. Of course, part of that has to do with the medium in of itself-- comics / books in general can practically be read at whichever pace the reader dictates. But it's also a testament to Toriyama's talent as a mangaka, I feel; There are plenty of popular and well regarded action manga that I find generally lacking in their execution as visual novels, in ways that Dragon Ball succeeds. * The exception, I'd say, is the Saiyan Arc. I feel like everything the anime version adds to that arc is 100% an improvement. To the point that I wish Kai left more of the filler in for that section of the story when it was still making other, somewhat questionable exceptions in what it chose to cut.
Really, I think the reason people associate "manga is better" because when they think of anime changes, they think of the stuff going on in the Namek Saga and the Cell Saga--that is to say, slowing the pacing down to a crashing halt, the animation quality regularly dropping off, scenes of Chi-Chi being annoying, and that whole business with Garlic Junior. Because when the anime did do its job well, it wove its additions directly into the plot or expanded stuff that was already there, and that stuff just isn't as obvious.
Yeah honestly the only arc i would say is worse in the anime is the Hunt for the Dragon Balls, i hate the Pilaf gang being shoehorned in there way before they should appear, and some of the Red Ribbon army arc filler is way too long, but overall the filler in Dragon Ball has served to enhance the story, especially in the Piccolo, 22nd Tournament, Cell and Saiyan arcs.
The changes that the anime made are so delightful. While they aren't that meaningful in the grander story, theres something charming about thinking about Toei's thought process. They probably made the new opening after a chapter of dragon ball released, and when they realized that none of the characters they put in the opening weren't showing up ever again, I can just imagine the staff team scrambling to squeeze out as many filler episodes to make the opening feel relevant.
We Were Angels was very much my gateway into Hironobu’s music for Dragon Ball. (Outside of the video games at least, Ore Wa Tokoton Tomeranai is the GOAT). Adrian Barba does a lot of great Spanish covers of his tracks too. Also, I’d never heard of Lady Red before. Wow. I wonder how intentional the callback was…
Adrián Barba and Ricardo Silva (R.I.P) are the two singers who dubbed the openings for DBZ in Latin America, and that makes them (at least for the Latin American fandom) the best representatives for DBZ music in Spanish. They've done fandubs of pretty much every song ever featured in the Dragon Ball franchise (including the songs in the videogames and other media)
The combination of your delivery, the actual nature of it, and the relation to Dragon Ball made Lady Red way goddamn funnier to me than I'm sure it actually would have been to read. So thanks for that.
Hahaha loved watching those puns at the end completely break down XD But dang! I had no idea these filler characters were from other manga's! I thought the big guy that Videl and Gohan fight was just Nappa with a weird hat o.o
These Saiyaman episodes are great! Though I’m honestly a bit surprised that the latest Dragon Ball movie Dragon Ball Super Super Hero. has Gohan back into the main role but not once is the Great Saiyaman ever seen or mentioned. Which is kind of a missed opportunity since the word Super Hero is used the title. So you would think that he would appear in the movie but it didn’t happen. Still I am excited for the movie to be dubbed over and hear more of your thoughts of the TV series.
Great Saiyaman really would have been more in the spirit and tone of the movie... but they were obviously more concerned with pandering to nostalgia by instead putting Gohan back in Piccolo's gi and cape, while likewise nearly shot for shot recreating his original SS2 transformation. Don't get me wrong, I think there are a lot of great thing in the new movie. It's just a shame that in a story ostensibly about Gohan finally making a long overdue return to reliance still has him copying the fashion of other characters.
This is one arc that I always wished had a chance to ride a little longer. Never knew it was actually already expanded much upon compared to the Manga.
Yep, the OP shows the only appearance of the two crooks from the manga version of “Videl meets and outs Great Saiyaman” They appear in SUPER and relate said version as if it was animated. I like the version of Videl making Chi. I see this as the moment the two clicked. Gohan sees Videl’s vulnerability and Videl sees Gohan as a kind and understanding person. I also liked the scene where Goten bugs Gohan’s training leading to him chewing his little brother out. And then a few minutes later, Gohan sees his brother sitting there sadly, and feels guilty. Again, everything from Gohan going to school to the reunion with Goku is my most rewatchable string of episodes. I did wish they followed through with Sharpner being a rival to Gohan. SUPER’s Great Saiyaman Miniarc seemed to be a fulfillment of that potential with Barry Khan taking the role.
I remember watching Kai, and loving the experience of revisiting Dragon Ball in its entirety, which I never got the chance to do because I missed so many episodes. I then remember being saddened it didn’t cover the Boo arc, and decided to go out and watch that in the original Z run. Then later on, I revisted it with Kai’s version of the Boo arc, and it was kind of baffling to me how little Videl and Gohan interacted. I really thought their relationship was one of the beat parts in Z.
I’m glad that my theory that kai fans in the early 2010’s had the same line of thinking that i did when they wrapped up the cell arc. Honestly? Believing that Kai was never going back and growing tired of waiting to the point where i watched the OG Buu arc was one of the greatest choices i took with this franchise. I genuinely wonder if i’d have felt the same about it if i just read the manga right away or waited for kai
The international dbz kai the final chapters version keeps a surprising amount of the great saiyaman filler in it almost like they knew how much people liked it
@@shenanigans8353 I think it mainly just skipped Angela's story except for the whole action scene with the burning building... Funnily enough, I just read that Toonami skipped the Angela episode the first time around _because_ of the burning building too close to 9/11. (Did they keep in the scene of Buu ramming into a tower because it was the following season?)
One big elephant in the room you missed is that Toonami skipped over the Gohan's date episode because all TV people freaked out and were not showing anything with planes crashing, buildings on fire, or terrorist actions. Who remembers all of the annoying random skipping over Cowboy Bebop episodes on Adult Swim? They showed the next episode preview but then jumped to the next episode and didn't even show the recap, they just cut directly to the title card when the episode began, and this was really annoying because I was recording it off of TV at the time, and since video tape was a linear format with no random access, it made it hard to watch the episodes in order. There's probably a huge chunk of your audience who can't even conceptualize the idea of linear video formats or how old broadcast TV works. I must say, with the slice-of-life episodes, Funimation's edgy recap theme with the heavy rock crescendo on the episode title card feels very out of place.
There's something pretty funny about seeing Red and Black (doppelgangers?) filming a super hero movie of Gohan at the moment we got Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero tying back again at Red Ribbon related stuff.
Modern isekai title for the start of the buu saga. "The son of the worlds greatest martial artist goes to high school" Honestly could watch a solid 24eps of that
5:49 To also be fair, the Hunt for the Dragon Balls arc was already fully finished in the manga by the time the Pilaf arc equivalent in the anime started. They had the complete basis for what the arc was supposed to be about right off the bat, unlike the Boo arc.
I wonder if they had ideas like Erasa trying to get with Gohan and Videl being "totally not jealous" about it before producers asked them to hurry to the tournament like the Manga was.
Funny how filler that involves Gohan in a large compactly vastly improves the manga storyline. Which also highlights how much his stories are rushed in the manga. Great Sayiaman is great in this expansion to his role.
I’m glad there’s people who appreciate the Great Saiyaman Saga rather than just using it to rag on Gohan. I loved his high school adventures, it was a slice of life arc that didn’t need some new thing for the villains to punch.
If Toriyama didn’t forget about Launch then she would have shacked up with Vegeta and Yamcha wouldn’t have been character assassinated. Toriyama is his and Dragon Ball’s own greatest enemy-_-‘
hello fellow struggler. In this dark and unfair world, i just thought i'd let you know that God loves you and to never stop loving yourself and pursuing happiness.
The thing i find funny about We Gotta Power/We Were Angels is pretty much what Mistare says, the fact that the animation is HEAVILY focused on the Great Saiyaman aka "Gohan in high school" material which was pretty much over once it came to the 25th Tournament that was the catalyst for the Majin Buu arc. Unlike Head Cha-La, which bothered to update the animation three times in order to be relevant to the arcs it was representing (OP 1- Saiyan, Op 2- Freeza, Op 3- Androids/Cell) the fourth didn't so it kept all the high school/slice of life stuff that was outdated very quickly. Especially once Toriyama had given up on attempting to make Gohan the main protagonist and after Goku was brought back to life for good later on in the Buu arc.
The beginning of the Buu arc was my first time truly experiencing Dragon Ball (outside Budokai 3). I saw dubbed YT clips of Great Saiyaman when I was a young kid and watched the first 10 or so episodes from Kai The Final Chapters when they premiered on Toonami. This small sliver of the series is what I have the most nostalgia for and I'm glad you gave it so much attention.
@@slifer875 The manga or the anime? Either way, the ending doesn't undermine the rest of the great stuff the series has done. The anime alone gave us Sora, Layra, and Dennis, which is enough to not be able to call it a waste. Just because you didn't like something doesn't mean it's bad, art can't be bad anyway.
@@genyakozlov1316 eh not really, i only liked the girls and sora, everyone else i found boring and after the second arc it went downhill, also action cards ruined the duels. I dont have much to say about the manga other than the hilaryous reaction the fan base had about yuzu.
Its amusing to see the contrast between the bigger fandoms I'm in. In the sonic fandom, we use the term "Seedrians" almost constantly to refer to the species of the Sonic X alien character, Cosmo. It is a fan term and even those fully aware of it still tend to use it. And situations where the Japanese fandom is okay with leaving things unnamed (such as the official names for sonics world and species) the American fandom sticks by the idea that "no, that sounds awkward in English, give it a name". Contrast to that article where apparently Zenkai being a fandom created term makes it completely invalid for use, and the power saiyans have not needing an exact name being defended by the fact that the Japanese fandom doesn't seem to mind. I assume the difference in mindset is probably more because the latter group isn't the mainline fandom but a news and translation group within the fandom, so their standards are much more strict. But its interesting to see none the less. Personally I say one should probably not base their terminology preference on what works for a different language if they aren't communicating IN that language, but Zenkai being so widespread with no real official point of origin is probably not like Sonic fandoms "Seedrian", its probably more like "Mr. Needlemouse" which was a mistranslated term that ovewrote the accuratley translated "Mr.Hedgehog", simply because people thought it sounded more unique.
If I'm understanding you correctly, this is exactly the same as the Sonic idea you're presenting. Japanese fandom does not use the term zenkai. That's solely an English-speaking thing as far as I know, or at least English-created if it has since spread. English fans took a random Japanese word and applied it to something.
It'll be a good bit of time before I get to the animated Buu arc, but I'm glad I have something to look forward to rather than dread. Good work as always!
You know...all the problems dragon ball has now...the solutions toryiyama is trying to do with goku and vegeta training off world with whis and broly instead of always taking the spotlight, pointless transformations. Trying to make gohan and others relavent again. Could of all been easily solved if here, where its made clear this is gohans adventure, goku is gone in heaven and training in his own adventures. Wonder where dragon ball could of been with out fatigue of the goku and vegeta show.
I always felt the same way about the Great Saiyaman episodes. Having watched them in Latin American Spanish, we got the dubbed openings, and so I associate We Gotta Power with a lot of my favorite DBZ moments. I love both the opening and ending.
A couple months ago I watched a bunch of the animated OVA's for some of those one shots like Cashman, Kennosuke-sama and Pink Mizu Dorobō Ame Dorobō which I would say show a pretty broad range of Toriyama's writing styles. I never expected to hear Toriyama write a joke that goes quite as far as the Angela one goes. Gonna have to give Toriyama a yikes for that.
That nappa look alike makes me realize why team 4 star set up that movie producer joke but also makes me aggravated they never went and did anything with it
It doesn't matter how well you know someone, it's never a guarantee you'll recognize a person's voice if you're not seeing the person as you usually do.
To this day I'm still baffled that the second Z opening was never updated, not even a single Majin Boo nod. It getting stuck in the Great Saiyaman portion made it outdated instantly and awkwardly fast. Btw, as a kid I often referred to this arc as "Dragon Ball Z 2" because seeing the opening change without a full series relaunch was unprecedented to me at the time
That ending bit with you on camera was funny and wholesome lol I always got a chuckle out of Gohan screaming to keep that girl from telling Videl what he thought was his secret identity. When in doubt, scream it out.
Goku still introduces the next episode previews though, even in Great Saiyaman episodes where he doesn't appear. I have to wonder if Toei would have kept that for the whole series if Gohan really did become the main protagonist.
@@slifer875 No, Toriyama did say he meant to make Gohan the main character after Cell, but "it didn't work out". See the Dragon Ball Dissection for this part of the manga.
Or at least let it last longer. Videl can still figure out Gohan's identity, still blackmail him into training her, but skip the tournament angle and just continue with them as a crime fighting duo. Then maybe after a few more episodes of that, complete with Videl learning not just how to fly, but also how to fire off ki blasts and other skills that could make her relevant, then maybe have Babidi's minions show up in Satan city looking for energy and proceed with some variation of Majin Buu. Goku, could maybe even still have a role to play, only instead of stealing the spotlight, when Supreme Kai takes Gohan to the afterlife for training it would be his dad that teaches Gohan what he needs to save the day, instead of an old pervert in a sword. Meanwhile, Piccolo could still buy time teaching Goten and Trunks to fuse, but as a technique he actually developed himself during the seven years of peace and based on his own experience powering up through Namekian assimilation.
@@andrebryant5081: Dragon Ball was never cancelled, not during the "Z" run at least. The author simply finished his manga, entirely out of his own desire to move onto other projects. If anything got cancelled it was the GT spin-off series, and it didn't get cancelled during its comedic slice of life front half, but rather during its much more Z-like action filled second half. Comedy and low stakes didn't "kill" Dragon Ball. If anything, it just failed to adapt or evolve, becoming tired, stale, and formulaic. It then simply aged out relevance as audiences moved onto fresh new franchises.
@@EmeralBookwise The action save Buu arc from not being cancelled everyone knows it. That's why it went from a highschool drama for Gohan to Goku saving the universe against Buu. With them going as far as making Goku's prodigies fail against Buu even though both are stronger than Goku in the Buu arc.
OMG I was never able to make the connection between Angela and Lady Red myself. But the moment you mention there were some cameos from other Toriyama works in this arc, and immediately after the picture cuts to Angela everything just clicked and well, I think my neighbours heard my scream of horror 😅😅😅😅😅
to be fair Lady Red is all one big joke based of of the phrase 正義の使者 which translates to messenger of justice, but at the end she bills herself as 性技の使者 which translates to messenger of sexual techniques. 正義 and 性技 are both pronounced seigi, i promise its funnier in Japanese.
Wow, I though Marron was based on Bulma from Dragon Ball. Maybe you have heard of Dragon Ball. It is another small franchise from Toriyama. In it there is a girl named Bulma who looks a lot like Marron.
I read at one point they were supposed to keep Goku dead and focus on Gohan. I really wish they would have went in that direction. I feel like they went in a very predictable direction, including Gohan going soft in times of peace and being an utter let down the entire arc. I also feel like the Majin Buu arc could have been half as long. If anything I wish they would have focused more writing on the time before the Majin Buu arc.
I’m glad I finally found someone who loves the Saiyaman episodes! I’ve spent most of life being told by the larger db community that I’m wrong for loving these episodes and that Great Saiyaman (and Highschool Gohan in general) are bad because “he’s not as cool as he was during the cell arc” I always caught DBZ re-runs in Mexico when I was a kid, and they would often air these episodes during the summer, so I do have a bit of a bias towards highschool Gohan and Great Saiyaman. It’s also why I had a huge crush on videl as a kid lmao
I do feel like the Saiyaman filler could’ve been stretched out through a theoretical school year before the tournament occurs in the summer time. I also think we could’ve gotten school shenanigans intertwined with Videl’s training.
The anime definitely improved on many flaws of the Boo Arc. Particularly goku vs Majin Vegeta. felt like a near-afterthought in the manga, but is a straight up epic and brutal brawl in the anime with some of the best animation in the whole show. the main problem i have with it is the contradictory and silly fight scenes like popo vs the boys and goku vs super boo. in any case, still enjoyed it.
i find the anime version inferior to the manga, the fight was never important its about majin buu awakening, also goku was always superior to vegeta even in ssj2, but the anime changed so they are actually equals, making the whole SSJ3 even more baffling, why wouldnt goku use it and end the fight if he is having problems with vegeta? In the manga not only goku is in control but its more about goku talking vegeta out of this mess than the fight, the filler fight works against the narrative. It is pretty to look at, but makes a pointless fight even more pointless...
@@slifer875 That is probably because toriyama didnt really think of ssj3 at that point and Goku and vegeta were really fighting with their best. Goku really said he is giving all at that moment and given how ssj3 feel inconsequential later in the saga(unlike the other two) it feel phase 3 just was and idea toriyama throw out
At least stuff like Mystic Gohan is used in the video games. Stuff like Zenkai boosts which is COMPLETELY made up by fanon and has no basis in any version of the story will always utterly baffle me.
Hey, I bet you didn't know that in the dub after Gohan tells Bulma that Videl is blackmailing him there's no mention of Videl recognizing his voice, instead Bulma quips about what bad luck it is that this happened to him twice in the same week, "Again? Good grief, Gohan! You get more blackmailed more than a politician. What is it with you and all these girls?"
20:32 Nowadays I wish I had this superpower, so I could explode the smartphones of everyone who makes my day at work harder by being on their phone instead of moving along!
15:22 by any chance have you archived those broadcast episodes? as I am curious to enjoy such episodes as it aired in Japan ( at least a compilation of those commercials )
DBZ Kai did well in streamlining the Great Saiyaman filler where we at least got the Anime original first outing followed by a few adventures out on the town. Though I wish they had originally given the arc something of a big adventure to go out on. Not a big bad villain to go all Super Saiyan on so much as more high stakes threat to Satan City that had Videl and Gohan work as equal in their respective fields.
They played up the love triangle thing with Ereza a bit more with a little nuance in Videl's asking of the question, they could have justified the haircut gag.
As you may or may not know, the powers that be have taken issue with my using Dragon Ball music in the opening. I suppose that's certainly their right. As a result, I have made the difficult choice to replace the opening music in most of The Boo Arc videos with a new, RUclips-friendly piece. I hope you like it. As a compromise, I have retained the original music in a few select Boo Arc videos scattered across the arc. For those who miss the original, follow this link to the opening as I uploaded it in 2020. Thanks so much for your support!
ruclips.net/video/JNZdVZG_lbM/видео.html
One of the things I like about this dissection, is that MF approaches the animated adaptation in a neutral way. Plenty of DB fans are completely "Toei bad". However, MF criticizes Toei when he feels the anime screwed up, but he's also willing to praise Toei when he feels the anime did it right.
Some of the DBZ filler is so good that it actually improves the story and makes the better.
Edit: I actually like a lot of DB filler that I've seen, it's handled way better than most other anime that I've watched
@@pokezeldamaster39 Biggest irony is that most of them never read the manga, and some of their favorite sequels (Goku fighting Boo in SSJ2) or characters (freaking BROLY) came from Toei.
To be frank
Dragon ball fans are flat out weird in alot of things
@@Jose-se9pu I haven't seen most of the original anime and I've only read half of the Manga, was introduced to DB through the video games and DBGT. So I've only seen all of Kai, the movies except the new one, some of the Dragona Ball anime, up to the Cell Arc in Z, all of DGBGT, up to the Saiyan Arc in the Manga, and some of DB Super (not very satisfied with that). From my experience, I actually preferred the original Z anime take on the Saiyan over Z and Kai.
I'll go so far as to say that the Buu arc, as shoddy as the storytelling is, and as much as it doesn't fit with the rest of the arcs, is probably the most entertaining of the DBZ arcs. It definitely has its merits, to be sure.
I think it's less that Angela looks like Lady Red, and more that both Toriyama and Toei just have a tendency to reuse the same character designs over and over again.
Or they are Easter Eggs.
This just made me think about how much Super 17, Android 13, and Sharpner have a hilarious amount of physical similarities.
I think a younger me would've mistaken Sharpner for Android 13 if I watched the show and movie in the right/wrong order.
Toriyama doesn't reference his one shots at all and most of his primary characters have a "same face" problem...
Toei however isn't bound by the same well Toriyama is when they design characters, since...it's a studio that has "character designers" interpreting someone else's work. If they actually didn't use an existing Toriyama character who fails at being a Super Hero to blackmail Gohan...who fails at being a Super Hero, this would be a really extreme coincidence.
@@PrimeroJinJusuke Putting the same character with a different name in your other manga checks all the boxes on "reusing characters" and not enough of "Easter egg"
This. Check out random Dragon Quest characters (and monsters) and you'll see "Dragon Ball" characters everywhere.
I gotta say: I think the anime adaptation of Gohan and Videl's relationship is the main reason why so many people feel like Videl's character in Super was butchered.
It sounds like the Manga version of Videl wasn't given enough time to show off a character, but the Anime version got to be snarky and push Gohan's buttons constantly for a time. The blackmail comes off like a genuine part of her real character instead of just a random thing that was thrown in the story so that it could justify why all the characters would gather together again.
I can believe anime Videl would blackmail Gohan into fighting in the tournament because she's been a pain in his butt (in a bratty sort of way) the entire time they've interacted.
Manga Videl is kinda like, "Hi, I'm here. Blackmailing you now because my dad won some tournament stuff and you're strong. Oh boy, thank you for the Ki training. Ouch, I got my teeth knocked out. I'll get eaten by pink taffy man now. The end."
She still got off better than Super giving Bulma that ugly outfit she had for 80% of the show. Her whole thing throughout the whole series has been her constantly changing hairstyle and clothing but in super they picked the most unremarkable look they could and it was ugly af
No. I cant see how her character wasnt butchered from the very beginning. The blackmail thing is just so meanspirited eitherway. And after she cuts her hair she has a kinda different personality. I get her purpose is mostly to contrast the absurdity of the story. But yeah shes nothing more. In both Anime and Manga.
The slow realization of what Angela is supposed to be based off of left me flabbergasted
I never expected to see Lady Red make an appearance on this channel LOL
I want to brush off Toriyamas shitty depictions in his art but i cant. From the horrid way he draws black people, the fact that sexual assault is literally played for laughs from Lunch, Bulma, etc. But i think we are progressing. Most people hate Mineta and mainly due to his rapey nature
@@sungod1384 At least the comic doesn't expect us to like Mineta (he's often the butt of the joke and his nonsense gets him in trouble and he's not a major character in any arc). But we're supposed to like Master Roshi and even Oolong to some degree.
But seriously, except for Goku and his asexual butt, (and Gohan and the villains turned good that aren't Oolong oddly enough) the men in DB are painted as lusty bastards who can't control themselves when one of the three women currently in rotation shows up on screen.
This is why I find DB most tolerable when it escapes the early comedy sections and tries to focus on the pantser plot and even the fighting. Toriyama's humor in the gender/sex department hasn't aged well to put it cheaply and mild.
@@sungod1384 bruh, if mineta was a girl, people would scream 'WAIFU MATERIAL' and be more liked XD
@@sungod1384 I can brush it off because this was like the 80s and late 90s, and he's def improved since then lol.
But Mineta is nowhere near as bad as that. He isn't rapey at all, he's just a little weirdo and perveted. It's not like the series paints him positively either, he's always a butt of a joke and gets his comeuppance.
Anyway yeah we are progressing in the sense that people are getting sick of the "pervert character" trope, and we are seeing less and less of it.
@@ThePatriarca01 Well yeah there is a double standard of women being pervs and rapey and men.
I would say the Anime does a lot to improve the Buu Arc over the Manga. It feels less like the story of all over the place and actually tries to expand on the concepts from the Manga. The section of Gohan's time in high school and as Great Saiyanman is one of my favorite parts of the arc.
Yeah, but the pacing was still abysmal later on.
Great Saiyaman is one of my fave parts of DragonBall as a whole and the anime is a huge part of that
Yeah, it comes off as what Toriyama would've done if he stuck to the superhero idea. Be more loose with an episodic structure before deciding if Goku really should return (as a supporting character).
It would’ve been better if Gohan's classmates had been obliterated by Vegeta when he allows himself to succumb to Babidi. That would’ve been some decent emotional resonance and made the betrayal sting all the more hard and make us want Gohan to triumph all the more.
Yeah, but that really wouldn't have gone anywhere since Gohan doesn't confront Vegeta or defeat Buu.
@@TheAzulmagia + it would just sour what vegetas doing and make him overall appear even worse than he already was.
I mean he already almost/intentionally hit Bulma 💀
These episodes get me excited for an alternate history where Gohan/Great Saiyaman remained the main character. I always really liked that main cast line-up with Gohan, Vegeta, Piccolo, Kuririn, No. 18, Videl, Goten, and Trunks. I never realised how the Buu saga opening captured that concept so perfectly.
I think that the Goku and Chi-Chi "first date" flashback is actually a clever callback to one of the early Red Ribbon Arc fillers, from Episode 31, where Pilaf's gang, Colonel Silver and Goku all go to Mount Fry-Pan.
Shuu is disguised as Goku to get Pilaf's gang into the castle to get a Dragon Ball, and later Silver storms in and captures Gyumao, meanwhile the real Goku stays with Chi-Chi below a tree that is beside a huge lake, if you look closely it's the same place that is in the flashback, and Goku and Chi-Chi are off-screen for a while in that episode while the focus is on Pilaf, Silver and Gyumao, so the flashback seen here could happen in that time.
Of course none of that is actually canon to the manga, but it did happen in the anime, and while some stuff from fillers gets contradicted (Dr.Frappe), many times the DB animes do call back on filler episodes, like the driving license callback from the late Cell Arc, so there is precedent for it to be a reference to that early filler material (even though they got Goku's outfit wrong lol).
I really like how We Gotta Power starts, at first with the more 'traditional' brass intro you see in 70s and 80s anime, then the synth--and the 90s--kicks in. Really gets you hooked.
Was that a real orchestra? The synthy-sounding orchestral opening made me think more of a 90s American kids show!
@@BagOfMagicFoodYea, it was fake brass.
I liked hearing you rant about how out of place Erasa and Sharpner being in the “We gotta Power” opening was. That was always weird. They are there instead of characters like Yamcha and Master Roshi. I also never noticed you never mentioned “Tobikiri Zenkai Power” until now. I always felt it was an ending theme that stayed way too long since Gohan got older and wasn’t a 5 year old as he appears in the Saiyan arc anymore. I’m so excited to hear you talk about the Boo saga more. This arc is so packed with changes from the manga!
Was there ever any background music based on Tobikiri Zenkai Power like the other five songs?
With how many people's jobs depended on plot points of Toriyama's weekly serialization and the whims of his editors, I see why most big Jump series now have an army of assistants.
4:00 “Ippai” means “full” and “oppai” means “breasts.” It's not in a particularly grammatical construction in Japanese, but I'll let you do with that information as you will.
Its interesting that, in Dragon Ball Kai, the Buu arc isnt as trimmed down when it came to filler as the rest of the series. A lot of the filler in the Buu arc is more built into the arc as opposed to being added into the arc.
I mean if one wanted to be cynical about it can more written down when as when they went back to do the boo arc toei being too lazy to put the same amount of time and money into abiding by kai's mission statement.
Then for the Japanese cut of Kai, they edited 7 episodes' worth of content out of the first 15 episodes of the international version, which means that version starts out very fast but then suddenly slows way down at an arbitrary point. All because the network needed them to finish in 61 episodes rather than 69?
Still kept the hell filler though.
"helluva filler tho"
It would've been interesting to see how Gohan as a protagonist and as a superhero story would've resulted, it's basically what if superman's son was peter parker.
I think the funniest (and most Dragon Ball) variation on the secret identity joke would be if everybody close to Gohan immediately sees through it and chooses not to mention it because they're sympathetic to keeping his secret, while *Gohan* obliviously thinks he's getting away with it.
11:39
Even the GBA game “Buus Fury” (aka “Legacy of Goku 3”…) kept this story element in for the sake of making the situation feel more “natural” for its story retelling…
I honestly never had “Lady Red” on my DBD bingo card. Does talking about that still get you the ol’ banhammer at Kanzenshuu?
That place is full of awwtists who gobble up $uper.
I mean -- there's nothing wrong with enjoying Super...
@@jivjov True, enjoying it and saying is good.. are two different things.
Us Lady Red fans get no love. No sequels, no remakes, not even a western adaptation...
@@omgitshim I'm pretty sure there's a reason for that!
You had me at MIDI We Were Angels. God that takes me back.
Big props to the deep dive on Lady Red. I didn't know she wasn't just a recolor of Zangya. Actually, a re-tooled Lady Red would work fine in this universe. Great Saiyaman, Great SaiyaWOMAN and their new friend, Lady Red, who this time IS competent but just there to hit on (successfully or not) the muscular criminals Gohan and Videl bring to justice COULD be a fun dynamic. Gohan's there to help people, Videl's there to help people and support Gohan, Angela's there because she's horny.
Edited to add: The dynamic should be Lady Red knows Gohan's secret, but doesn't know who Saiyawoman is. Videl is scared this girl who likes sex and money will find out her dad is Mr. Satan, who is single and loaded and that will lead to CERTAIN RESULTS. There's the drama. You could get months out of that.
The joke about Lady Red was that she enjoyed being raped, and saw the oportunity to make money, not that she was horny.
Even by 1993, that "joke" was aged poorly.
@@Jose-se9pu Hence my use of the word "Re-tooled". Playing up the horniess or even make HER the aggressor and you can easily salvage that character for gags. Think Lunch if she was more into sex than stealing stuff.
@@SuperSaiyanGuyver Sexual assault is funny when it's a giiiiirlllllll /s
@@Essu_ Not my point at all really. Hell repeat the General Blue/ Bulma joke and have all the bad guys be gay? By the same token, Roshi has been a Dragonball Perv for years what if there was a female one who was also a superhero? She's there cause she's horny but it doesn't lead to sex because the perp is the wrong zodiac sign or insulted her outfit or Gohan knocked them out cold or they can still fight HER and she's not immune to bullets and has to run away. The same comedy ideas are there. The more absurd the reason she doesn't get it, the better.
Don't disrespect the title of God.
We Gotta Power is my favorite DB opening simply BECAUSE it promises a better potential arc than we ended up getting.
So two major things I wanted to talk about:
1) I want to use all of the DBD TV videos as evidence whenever someone talks about the Dragon Ball Manga being the “superior” version. I can agree that it’s certainly the original version, but I believe now that for every single one of the original 10 Arcs/Sagas covered on this channel, the anime adaption has improved the material to at least a significant extent. I’m not dogging on people who enjoy the Manga, but I don’t think it’s fair to shun the Anime either just because it’s not Toriyama’s “original” work.
2) Head Cha-La is certainly a great opening theme - I would also argue that it may not remain a great opening theme for a lot of people after 200 episodes. For this reason I think We Gotta Power is fond in many peoples heads, just because it’s that new spice of life. I think a scenario where Head Cha-La is the opening theme for the Saiyan/Freeza Arc is fitting, then maybe one of the many lyrical songs for the Cell Arc opening, would have freshened things up (not even going over the ending songs too). Just wanted to give my two cents.
Yeah, really the only Arc where the TV version was a downgrade was the Freeza arc, due to all the time constraints. All the others improved the source material.
The thing is, I feel like for every improvement the anime makes over the anime, there's also another downgrade or otherwise unnecessary fluff scene added.* That's why I generally stick to the manga whenever I wish to view the series again, its pacing and paneling is just very clean and good for repeat viewings, and it goes through all the necessary plot beats without feeling too rushed in _most_ cases. Of course, part of that has to do with the medium in of itself-- comics / books in general can practically be read at whichever pace the reader dictates. But it's also a testament to Toriyama's talent as a mangaka, I feel; There are plenty of popular and well regarded action manga that I find generally lacking in their execution as visual novels, in ways that Dragon Ball succeeds.
* The exception, I'd say, is the Saiyan Arc. I feel like everything the anime version adds to that arc is 100% an improvement. To the point that I wish Kai left more of the filler in for that section of the story when it was still making other, somewhat questionable exceptions in what it chose to cut.
Really, I think the reason people associate "manga is better" because when they think of anime changes, they think of the stuff going on in the Namek Saga and the Cell Saga--that is to say, slowing the pacing down to a crashing halt, the animation quality regularly dropping off, scenes of Chi-Chi being annoying, and that whole business with Garlic Junior. Because when the anime did do its job well, it wove its additions directly into the plot or expanded stuff that was already there, and that stuff just isn't as obvious.
Yeah honestly the only arc i would say is worse in the anime is the Hunt for the Dragon Balls, i hate the Pilaf gang being shoehorned in there way before they should appear, and some of the Red Ribbon army arc filler is way too long, but overall the filler in Dragon Ball has served to enhance the story, especially in the Piccolo, 22nd Tournament, Cell and Saiyan arcs.
The changes that the anime made are so delightful. While they aren't that meaningful in the grander story, theres something charming about thinking about Toei's thought process. They probably made the new opening after a chapter of dragon ball released, and when they realized that none of the characters they put in the opening weren't showing up ever again, I can just imagine the staff team scrambling to squeeze out as many filler episodes to make the opening feel relevant.
Wish they adjust the opening as they got to Bobidi’s ship at least.
We Were Angels was very much my gateway into Hironobu’s music for Dragon Ball. (Outside of the video games at least, Ore Wa Tokoton Tomeranai is the GOAT). Adrian Barba does a lot of great Spanish covers of his tracks too.
Also, I’d never heard of Lady Red before. Wow. I wonder how intentional the callback was…
Adrián Barba and Ricardo Silva (R.I.P) are the two singers who dubbed the openings for DBZ in Latin America, and that makes them (at least for the Latin American fandom) the best representatives for DBZ music in Spanish. They've done fandubs of pretty much every song ever featured in the Dragon Ball franchise (including the songs in the videogames and other media)
The combination of your delivery, the actual nature of it, and the relation to Dragon Ball made Lady Red way goddamn funnier to me than I'm sure it actually would have been to read. So thanks for that.
Hahaha loved watching those puns at the end completely break down XD But dang! I had no idea these filler characters were from other manga's! I thought the big guy that Videl and Gohan fight was just Nappa with a weird hat o.o
These Saiyaman episodes are great!
Though I’m honestly a bit surprised that the latest Dragon Ball movie Dragon Ball Super Super Hero. has Gohan back into the main role but not once is the Great Saiyaman ever seen or mentioned. Which is kind of a missed opportunity since the word Super Hero is used the title. So you would think that he would appear in the movie but it didn’t happen.
Still I am excited for the movie to be dubbed over and hear more of your thoughts of the TV series.
Great Saiyaman really would have been more in the spirit and tone of the movie... but they were obviously more concerned with pandering to nostalgia by instead putting Gohan back in Piccolo's gi and cape, while likewise nearly shot for shot recreating his original SS2 transformation.
Don't get me wrong, I think there are a lot of great thing in the new movie. It's just a shame that in a story ostensibly about Gohan finally making a long overdue return to reliance still has him copying the fashion of other characters.
@@EmeralBookwise Super rehashes everything. something was up as soon as RR were involved.
19:42 ANNOUNCER-SAN, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
This is one arc that I always wished had a chance to ride a little longer. Never knew it was actually already expanded much upon compared to the Manga.
Yep, the OP shows the only appearance of the two crooks from the manga version of “Videl meets and outs Great Saiyaman” They appear in SUPER and relate said version as if it was animated.
I like the version of Videl making Chi. I see this as the moment the two clicked. Gohan sees Videl’s vulnerability and Videl sees Gohan as a kind and understanding person.
I also liked the scene where Goten bugs Gohan’s training leading to him chewing his little brother out. And then a few minutes later, Gohan sees his brother sitting there sadly, and feels guilty.
Again, everything from Gohan going to school to the reunion with Goku is my most rewatchable string of episodes. I did wish they followed through with Sharpner being a rival to Gohan. SUPER’s Great Saiyaman Miniarc seemed to be a fulfillment of that potential with Barry Khan taking the role.
Remember this is a retrospective of Dragonball as it was at that time, that info is not really relevant
I remember watching Kai, and loving the experience of revisiting Dragon Ball in its entirety, which I never got the chance to do because I missed so many episodes. I then remember being saddened it didn’t cover the Boo arc, and decided to go out and watch that in the original Z run. Then later on, I revisted it with Kai’s version of the Boo arc, and it was kind of baffling to me how little Videl and Gohan interacted. I really thought their relationship was one of the beat parts in Z.
I’m glad that my theory that kai fans in the early 2010’s had the same line of thinking that i did when they wrapped up the cell arc.
Honestly? Believing that Kai was never going back and growing tired of waiting to the point where i watched the OG Buu arc was one of the greatest choices i took with this franchise.
I genuinely wonder if i’d have felt the same about it if i just read the manga right away or waited for kai
The international dbz kai the final chapters version keeps a surprising amount of the great saiyaman filler in it almost like they knew how much people liked it
@@shenanigans8353 I think it mainly just skipped Angela's story except for the whole action scene with the burning building... Funnily enough, I just read that Toonami skipped the Angela episode the first time around _because_ of the burning building too close to 9/11. (Did they keep in the scene of Buu ramming into a tower because it was the following season?)
One big elephant in the room you missed is that Toonami skipped over the Gohan's date episode because all TV people freaked out and were not showing anything with planes crashing, buildings on fire, or terrorist actions. Who remembers all of the annoying random skipping over Cowboy Bebop episodes on Adult Swim? They showed the next episode preview but then jumped to the next episode and didn't even show the recap, they just cut directly to the title card when the episode began, and this was really annoying because I was recording it off of TV at the time, and since video tape was a linear format with no random access, it made it hard to watch the episodes in order. There's probably a huge chunk of your audience who can't even conceptualize the idea of linear video formats or how old broadcast TV works. I must say, with the slice-of-life episodes, Funimation's edgy recap theme with the heavy rock crescendo on the episode title card feels very out of place.
There's something pretty funny about seeing Red and Black (doppelgangers?) filming a super hero movie of Gohan at the moment we got Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero tying back again at Red Ribbon related stuff.
I was waiting for you to get to this part.
Modern isekai title for the start of the buu saga.
"The son of the worlds greatest martial artist goes to high school"
Honestly could watch a solid 24eps of that
5:49 To also be fair, the Hunt for the Dragon Balls arc was already fully finished in the manga by the time the Pilaf arc equivalent in the anime started. They had the complete basis for what the arc was supposed to be about right off the bat, unlike the Boo arc.
Erasa has gotten pretty popular in doujins for some reason.
20:47 "Can we got much Higher"
I wonder if they had ideas like Erasa trying to get with Gohan and Videl being "totally not jealous" about it before producers asked them to hurry to the tournament like the Manga was.
Funny how filler that involves Gohan in a large compactly vastly improves the manga storyline. Which also highlights how much his stories are rushed in the manga. Great Sayiaman is great in this expansion to his role.
Gohan's story doesn't feel quite right without this and the Saiyan Arc filler.
@@Hydrogue Anime Gohan >>> manga Gohan.
@@spartanq7781I agree, even in Super his anime counterpart was much more agency until a few missteps in the movie
Never in my life did I expect Lady Red of all things to make an appearance in DBD.
Ah, as a Manga Kid, if any Arc was the prime example of how the Anime was more preferable for me, it was The Majin Boo Arc
I’m glad there’s people who appreciate the Great Saiyaman Saga rather than just using it to rag on Gohan. I loved his high school adventures, it was a slice of life arc that didn’t need some new thing for the villains to punch.
If Toriyama didn’t forget about Launch then she would have shacked up with Vegeta and Yamcha wouldn’t have been character assassinated. Toriyama is his and Dragon Ball’s own greatest enemy-_-‘
hello fellow struggler. In this dark and unfair world, i just thought i'd let you know that God loves you and to never stop loving yourself and pursuing happiness.
The thing i find funny about We Gotta Power/We Were Angels is pretty much what Mistare says, the fact that the animation is HEAVILY focused on the Great Saiyaman aka "Gohan in high school" material which was pretty much over once it came to the 25th Tournament that was the catalyst for the Majin Buu arc.
Unlike Head Cha-La, which bothered to update the animation three times in order to be relevant to the arcs it was representing (OP 1- Saiyan, Op 2- Freeza, Op 3- Androids/Cell) the fourth didn't so it kept all the high school/slice of life stuff that was outdated very quickly. Especially once Toriyama had given up on attempting to make Gohan the main protagonist and after Goku was brought back to life for good later on in the Buu arc.
This video is officially certified by the Recommending Ones & Zeros.
The beginning of the Buu arc was my first time truly experiencing Dragon Ball (outside Budokai 3). I saw dubbed YT clips of Great Saiyaman when I was a young kid and watched the first 10 or so episodes from Kai The Final Chapters when they premiered on Toonami. This small sliver of the series is what I have the most nostalgia for and I'm glad you gave it so much attention.
I saw Lady Red and never did the comparison with Angela, Now I can't Unsee it... Thanks Fusion :(
Still ,Nice job!!!
You think Angela ever tried to become a hero after that whole mess with Gohan
@@larrychilders6599
"If gohan can, So can I!!"
*Becomes a prostitute at the end*
My new Headcannon...
Your profle pic on the other hand reminded me of serena from arc v and what an absolute waste of ink and time that series was.
Thanks Masquerade.
@@slifer875 The manga or the anime? Either way, the ending doesn't undermine the rest of the great stuff the series has done.
The anime alone gave us Sora, Layra, and Dennis, which is enough to not be able to call it a waste.
Just because you didn't like something doesn't mean it's bad, art can't be bad anyway.
@@genyakozlov1316 eh not really, i only liked the girls and sora, everyone else i found boring and after the second arc it went downhill, also action cards ruined the duels.
I dont have much to say about the manga other than the hilaryous reaction the fan base had about yuzu.
Its amusing to see the contrast between the bigger fandoms I'm in. In the sonic fandom, we use the term "Seedrians" almost constantly to refer to the species of the Sonic X alien character, Cosmo. It is a fan term and even those fully aware of it still tend to use it. And situations where the Japanese fandom is okay with leaving things unnamed (such as the official names for sonics world and species) the American fandom sticks by the idea that "no, that sounds awkward in English, give it a name".
Contrast to that article where apparently Zenkai being a fandom created term makes it completely invalid for use, and the power saiyans have not needing an exact name being defended by the fact that the Japanese fandom doesn't seem to mind.
I assume the difference in mindset is probably more because the latter group isn't the mainline fandom but a news and translation group within the fandom, so their standards are much more strict. But its interesting to see none the less.
Personally I say one should probably not base their terminology preference on what works for a different language if they aren't communicating IN that language, but Zenkai being so widespread with no real official point of origin is probably not like Sonic fandoms "Seedrian", its probably more like "Mr. Needlemouse" which was a mistranslated term that ovewrote the accuratley translated "Mr.Hedgehog", simply because people thought it sounded more unique.
If I'm understanding you correctly, this is exactly the same as the Sonic idea you're presenting. Japanese fandom does not use the term zenkai. That's solely an English-speaking thing as far as I know, or at least English-created if it has since spread. English fans took a random Japanese word and applied it to something.
The only thing that uses Zenkai in official media is a mobile game called Dragon Ball Legends
It'll be a good bit of time before I get to the animated Buu arc, but I'm glad I have something to look forward to rather than dread. Good work as always!
You know...all the problems dragon ball has now...the solutions toryiyama is trying to do with goku and vegeta training off world with whis and broly instead of always taking the spotlight, pointless transformations. Trying to make gohan and others relavent again.
Could of all been easily solved if here, where its made clear this is gohans adventure, goku is gone in heaven and training in his own adventures. Wonder where dragon ball could of been with out fatigue of the goku and vegeta show.
The Lady Red connection is legit one of the most disturbing things I've learned on this channel.
I always felt the same way about the Great Saiyaman episodes. Having watched them in Latin American Spanish, we got the dubbed openings, and so I associate We Gotta Power with a lot of my favorite DBZ moments. I love both the opening and ending.
I think is also because Cha-la while good often sound...meanless, while We Gotta Power you can hear and actually get the laters.
Oh no, I had almost managed to repress my memories of Lady Red. I can't believe you've done this.
The Great Saiyaman episodes are definitely some of my favorites in the series and really emphasize how great a full series like it could be.
A couple months ago I watched a bunch of the animated OVA's for some of those one shots like Cashman, Kennosuke-sama and Pink Mizu Dorobō Ame Dorobō which I would say show a pretty broad range of Toriyama's writing styles. I never expected to hear Toriyama write a joke that goes quite as far as the Angela one goes. Gonna have to give Toriyama a yikes for that.
You might regret learning what the Galactic Patrolman before Jaco did!
14:45
The past tense form is actually "gas lit," not "gas lighted."
That nappa look alike makes me realize why team 4 star set up that movie producer joke but also makes me aggravated they never went and did anything with it
Was that a Ghost Sweeper Mikami video-game commercial? That is so cool
It doesn't matter how well you know someone, it's never a guarantee you'll recognize a person's voice if you're not seeing the person as you usually do.
And now, there is probably going to be Great Saiyaman x Lady Red fanart...
To this day I'm still baffled that the second Z opening was never updated, not even a single Majin Boo nod. It getting stuck in the Great Saiyaman portion made it outdated instantly and awkwardly fast. Btw, as a kid I often referred to this arc as "Dragon Ball Z 2" because seeing the opening change without a full series relaunch was unprecedented to me at the time
Back before they felt obliged to change the song every 12 episodes!
@BagOfMagicFood I prefer 90s style like Yu Yu Hakusho. Keep the same intro, and do different outros through the run of the show
That ending bit with you on camera was funny and wholesome lol
I always got a chuckle out of Gohan screaming to keep that girl from telling Videl what he thought was his secret identity. When in doubt, scream it out.
Goku still introduces the next episode previews though, even in Great Saiyaman episodes where he doesn't appear. I have to wonder if Toei would have kept that for the whole series if Gohan really did become the main protagonist.
Literally Gohan at end of cell saga was going to be a main character of dbz
@@fuckingking6796 no, this has been debunked many times by now.
@@slifer875 No, Toriyama did say he meant to make Gohan the main character after Cell, but "it didn't work out". See the Dragon Ball Dissection for this part of the manga.
@@rjd1922 Granted, nobody know exactly when the "didnt work out" part start, many said is probably after the whole Z sword thing.
You are a brilliant human being. Thanks for the great content!
i wish the buu arc was just gohan and videl being superheros with trunks and goten doing stuff occasionally.
Or at least let it last longer. Videl can still figure out Gohan's identity, still blackmail him into training her, but skip the tournament angle and just continue with them as a crime fighting duo. Then maybe after a few more episodes of that, complete with Videl learning not just how to fly, but also how to fire off ki blasts and other skills that could make her relevant, then maybe have Babidi's minions show up in Satan city looking for energy and proceed with some variation of Majin Buu.
Goku, could maybe even still have a role to play, only instead of stealing the spotlight, when Supreme Kai takes Gohan to the afterlife for training it would be his dad that teaches Gohan what he needs to save the day, instead of an old pervert in a sword.
Meanwhile, Piccolo could still buy time teaching Goten and Trunks to fuse, but as a technique he actually developed himself during the seven years of peace and based on his own experience powering up through Namekian assimilation.
So you wanted Dragon Ball to cancel faster. Keep it real this wasn't and still isn't popular among the fans.
@@andrebryant5081: Dragon Ball was never cancelled, not during the "Z" run at least. The author simply finished his manga, entirely out of his own desire to move onto other projects.
If anything got cancelled it was the GT spin-off series, and it didn't get cancelled during its comedic slice of life front half, but rather during its much more Z-like action filled second half.
Comedy and low stakes didn't "kill" Dragon Ball. If anything, it just failed to adapt or evolve, becoming tired, stale, and formulaic. It then simply aged out relevance as audiences moved onto fresh new franchises.
@@EmeralBookwise Nah it was on way to being cancelled till he brings back Goku even then that didn't save the Buu arc. Then GT got cancelled to.
@@EmeralBookwise The action save Buu arc from not being cancelled everyone knows it. That's why it went from a highschool drama for Gohan to Goku saving the universe against Buu. With them going as far as making Goku's prodigies fail against Buu even though both are stronger than Goku in the Buu arc.
OMG I was never able to make the connection between Angela and Lady Red myself. But the moment you mention there were some cameos from other Toriyama works in this arc, and immediately after the picture cuts to Angela everything just clicked and well, I think my neighbours heard my scream of horror 😅😅😅😅😅
to be fair Lady Red is all one big joke based of of the phrase 正義の使者 which translates to messenger of justice, but at the end she bills herself as 性技の使者 which translates to messenger of sexual techniques. 正義 and 性技 are both pronounced seigi, i promise its funnier in Japanese.
good thing that in South America we grew hearing the translated versions of those openings and endings, a word by word translation
Wow, I though Marron was based on Bulma from Dragon Ball. Maybe you have heard of Dragon Ball. It is another small franchise from Toriyama. In it there is a girl named Bulma who looks a lot like Marron.
Damn it dude. Was about to go outside and get some sun then I saw you uploaded a video. Guess it will have to wait.
Please, go outside! The video will still be here when you get back.
I read at one point they were supposed to keep Goku dead and focus on Gohan. I really wish they would have went in that direction. I feel like they went in a very predictable direction, including Gohan going soft in times of peace and being an utter let down the entire arc. I also feel like the Majin Buu arc could have been half as long. If anything I wish they would have focused more writing on the time before the Majin Buu arc.
Saiyaman actually gets to be something proper for a while
I’m glad I finally found someone who loves the Saiyaman episodes!
I’ve spent most of life being told by the larger db community that I’m wrong for loving these episodes and that Great Saiyaman (and Highschool Gohan in general) are bad because “he’s not as cool as he was during the cell arc”
I always caught DBZ re-runs in Mexico when I was a kid, and they would often air these episodes during the summer, so I do have a bit of a bias towards highschool Gohan and Great Saiyaman. It’s also why I had a huge crush on videl as a kid lmao
I always hated the ‘he’s not as cool as he was in the Android Saga!’ people. Like, when was Gohan cool in the Android Saga? The last episode?
I do feel like the Saiyaman filler could’ve been stretched out through a theoretical school year before the tournament occurs in the summer time. I also think we could’ve gotten school shenanigans intertwined with Videl’s training.
Ngl, Lady Red's punchline is really funny.
The anime definitely improved on many flaws of the Boo Arc. Particularly goku vs Majin Vegeta. felt like a near-afterthought in the manga, but is a straight up epic and brutal brawl in the anime with some of the best animation in the whole show. the main problem i have with it is the contradictory and silly fight scenes like popo vs the boys and goku vs super boo. in any case, still enjoyed it.
i find the anime version inferior to the manga, the fight was never important its about majin buu awakening, also goku was always superior to vegeta even in ssj2, but the anime changed so they are actually equals, making the whole SSJ3 even more baffling, why wouldnt goku use it and end the fight if he is having problems with vegeta?
In the manga not only goku is in control but its more about goku talking vegeta out of this mess than the fight, the filler fight works against the narrative.
It is pretty to look at, but makes a pointless fight even more pointless...
@@slifer875 That is probably because toriyama didnt really think of ssj3 at that point and Goku and vegeta were really fighting with their best. Goku really said he is giving all at that moment and given how ssj3 feel inconsequential later in the saga(unlike the other two) it feel phase 3 just was and idea toriyama throw out
I love love love this filler arc and also the og dragonball filler! Wierd that the editor didn't like that
At least stuff like Mystic Gohan is used in the video games. Stuff like Zenkai boosts which is COMPLETELY made up by fanon and has no basis in any version of the story will always utterly baffle me.
The Buu arc might be the messiest, but it has both the best opening and closing themes in the entire series.
Hey, I bet you didn't know that in the dub after Gohan tells Bulma that Videl is blackmailing him there's no mention of Videl recognizing his voice, instead Bulma quips about what bad luck it is that this happened to him twice in the same week, "Again? Good grief, Gohan! You get more blackmailed more than a politician. What is it with you and all these girls?"
I wonder if Red and Balck being alive is meant to mean that they were reincarnated?
20:32 Nowadays I wish I had this superpower, so I could explode the smartphones of everyone who makes my day at work harder by being on their phone instead of moving along!
"An evil circus entrepreneur steals a baby dinosaur from Gohan's neck of the woods:
Only in Dragon Ball
Not gonna lie, I did laugh at the Lady Red description. Then again, I have a rather crude and morbid sense of humor.
Great episode, just finished Saiyaman and you're totally correct.
17:31 i tought this guy was just a reference to Nappa
Toriyama's humor has clearly grown...
15:22
by any chance have you archived those broadcast episodes?
as I am curious to enjoy such episodes as it aired in Japan ( at least a compilation of those commercials )
DBZ Kai did well in streamlining the Great Saiyaman filler where we at least got the Anime original first outing followed by a few adventures out on the town. Though I wish they had originally given the arc something of a big adventure to go out on. Not a big bad villain to go all Super Saiyan on so much as more high stakes threat to Satan City that had Videl and Gohan work as equal in their respective fields.
OMG you have to dump these VHS tapes of 93 on RUclips!! Such a time capsule. Share the fuuuun! :D
I like how Sharpner looks like Andy Bogard
Oh my god, that ending credits where something else.
But what can I say? I've always been a sucker for bad puns.
great video! also, love your top. :)
They played up the love triangle thing with Ereza a bit more with a little nuance in Videl's asking of the question, they could have justified the haircut gag.
17:58 it’s like he wants to go super sayain but super sayain won’t help him here.
“We Gotta Power” honestly arguably Dragon Ball best Intro.
And “We Were Angels” oh my god, goat’d
I love the manga but going from anime to manga disappointed me so much at this point.
Where's my light hearted super hero stuff?
Zenkai may be a fan-ism but it's better to give it a term than just leave it as "Saiyan Power".
Zarbon left out Freiza's transformation because they wanted to scare the living christ out of little kids. Obvious.