Dragon Ball

Ah, so this is how the whole epic journey of Goku and friends begins – it isn't what I was expecting! I've heard before that there are a bunch of nods to and references of the original Sun Wukong legends, and whilst I can't really talk to that, there are some clear hints of Eastern folklore and myth. Not least of all, how many of the enemies are animals of the Zodiac, from King Ox to Oolong the Pig! Relatedly, I've heard the characters joking in future series about how so many of Goku's friends began as his enemies, but except for Bulma and Roshi, so far that's been the case for everyone. I was not expecting villain Oolong, that's for sure!

Nor was I expecting child Chi-chi – and certainly not with battle armour that shoots laser and creates a boomerang-like battleaxe 😬 It's kinda cute though that her and Goku have an instant connection, especially as it isn't either one-sided or just instant love or anything (and that Goku is clueless from the start).

The show is also a lot goofier and far more R-rated than you would expect from a kids programme. I was struck with DB: Super how freely they swore and referenced alcohol and porn, but that has clearly been made for adult fans. Dragon Ball seems to have been aimed squarely at kids, yet it contains plenty of nudity, explicit magazines, and a huge amount of misogyny. I personally don't mind the first two – it's refreshing in some ways to see them tackle an "innocent" character as bluntly as this – but I could definitely do without quite so much perviness 😅

Still, it sets up the world fairly well, provides a much tighter and more condensed plot than I was expecting, and deals a strangely emotional punch in the finale when Goku's Saiyan "ape form" is first introduced and reveals that he killed his own "grandfather", Gohan (not that Goku is aware). I also really enjoyed Bulma's arc, and it was fun seeing how people, even this early, basically get won over by Goku's simple, amenable world views. Not so sure about the whole Yamcha x Bulma pairing though, but it is nice to see Pu'ar and Yamcha play more central roles 😁

Now this is Dragon Ball! Training montages, martial arts tournaments, plenty of unexpected twists, power ups, and explosions! I had a great time 😁 

Krillin's introduction is a little goofy (not necessarily in a bad way, but I find it funny that such a virtuous character in later seasons starts off this murky), and Launch is a fascinating character who seems to have dropped away at some point, which is odd. Still, not sure the constant survival of point-blank machine-gun fire makes much sense, especially when they literally show bullet holes in Roshi and Krillin – you'd think they'd just make Roshi bulletproof and chalk it up to his prowess, as they do in later seasons.

And then there's the tournament. I know power-creep is practically synonymous with the Dragon Ball universe, but it is funny how the Kamehameha wave is seen as this absolute pinnacle of fighting at this stage. No one else has energy attacks and reading an opponent's energy level is only very briefly mentioned. Still, I really enjoyed the build-up, the various fighters (actually having them be a little more grounded was fun), and Roshi's subterfuge. I think there's a solid line of logic here that Goku should not win immediately, which leaves you in at odd position of rooting against him for the final battle, but the story works out. Ditto having Yamcha defeated early; as much as Yamcha vs Goku might have been fun, unfortunately Yamcha is already leagues behind the 12-year-old Saiyan. Less sure about the whole "tail regeneration" and moon destruction, but it's certainly a power play 😅

I see that "officially" people seem to regard this as multiple seasons, including an initial Red Ribbon Saga; a General Blue Saga; Commander Red Saga; and then the Fortuneteller Baba Saga. I can see why it's divided like that (especially with Baba, which does feel tonally very different), but as far as I'm concerned this is a single story arc, including Baba's mini-tournament, as only with that resolved do we get the conclusion to the Dragon Balls and the resurrection of Bora.

I guess the question here was: what do you do now that Goku has five years before the next big martial arts tournament? (Even if they ultimately retcon that time gap forward a couple of years 😉) And why not do another Dragon Ball hunt, but this time with some genuinely villainous enemies, and more of a solo-quest. It's a good setup, and it works well, but it does have some pacing issues, and the Red Ribbon Army themselves don't ever go much beyond the whole "shady military organisation with a vague James Bond vibe", which is a bit of a shame. I think it drags the most during the Muscle Tower sequence, which feels like a pretty banal video game at times. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed it, but I could have done with slightly less of the useless ninja and about a third of the episodes dedicated to his slow progress up a tower ‒ it doesn't make for that much interest, even once they had introduced Android 8 (who is great, to be fair).

I'm also surprised at how much they felt comfortable ripping from Western media. The Alien reference is at least a remix (hard to argue the hard sci-fi movies overlap much with Treasure Island 😂), but the Terminator Android even sounds like Arnie 🤷‍♀️ In fact, the whole arc is surprisingly derivative, with even relatively unique characters like Eighter being clear riffs on Frankenstein, as well as most of Baba's fighters being horror movie classics, albeit with a ridiculous twist or two.

Still, the result is plenty fun and specifically helps build Goku up in a consistent and meaningful way. I wasn't expecting the whole Korin sidequest, but it was a nice way to sneak in a training montage, and I thought both General Blue and Merecenary Tao were fun villains. The other RRA commanders were less interesting ‒ and the big boss was downright boring, albeit with an accent that kept you on your toes (Irish? Australian? Scottish, I think?) 😂 ‒ though I liked that Black ultimately chose to take action (even if it was short-lived) and will be intrigued to see if Violet pops up again, as that otherwise felt like a slightly odd side story.

But, as with Korin, the show is at its best when it's generating lore, rather than being a sequence of moments that Goku beats up bad people. Not least of all because guns and missiles just aren't as interesting as watching actual fights, but also because the show is a lot more inventive with its enemies that way. As a result, Baba's mini-arc is hands down the best part of this storyline (if I were to split this up into the OG Sagas, I think I'd give the initial RR Saga and Commander Red Saga 2.5* each, the Blue Saga 3.5* ‒ mainly for the pirates ‒ and the Baba Saga 4*). I was particularly fond of having Gohan be the final fighter, and the Mummy fight was some of the best problem solving we've had since the World Tournament. It helped that it brought in some of the wider characters as well, many of whom seem to have been sidelined far more than I would have expected (though I like that Launch is becoming more useful in both forms). I'll be interested to see how quickly we get back into the Tournaments though; hopefully we get a bit more solo adventuring first.

We're back to the World Martial Arts Tournament, and this time Goku is far from the only one with some surprises up his sleeve. I am amazed at just how evil Tien and Chiaotzu are made out to be (though Chiaotzu is more childlike-innocence-gone-wrong; I wonder if we'll ever learn what or who he actually is 😅), but that they use this to lead into a redemption arc for both characters is both very Dragon Ball and very fun. I also didn't know that the Solar Flare technique was Tien's first, nor that Yamcha manners to utilise the Kamehameha wave before Krillin! He really is a lot stronger in these early seasons, makes the whole "they left me behind" plot in DB: Super a little more heartfelt to be honest.

Though my own criticism of the storyline here is that we get a bunch of one-shot episodes to fill in for a training sequence, where Goku goes off and explores the world. Some of these are clear fillers, but many are pretty interesting, and I really love the weird færie realm that they introduce at one point. However, even though Goku clearly learns several specific fighting techniques during these mini plots, none of them come out and get used in the tournament. That feels like a missed trick in terms of helping Roshi piece together where he's been, and also really diminishes the purpose of those episodes in general.

Plot aside, this was a solid little Saga. The tournaments continue to be the best parts, though I will say that this one suffered from too many flashbacks at times. Still, focusing on one specific rivalry allowed the plot to rise above a simple "new fighter of the week" format, and I thought that, despite its flaws, this was the strongest outing yet. I'll be interested to see how much of a recurring role the Crane School favourites end up taking on moving forward, but with the cliffhanger of Krillin's death ‒ another Dragon Ball tradition, it seems 😂 ‒ my guess is that they'll stick around to fight whoever this new enemy is, at the very least. I think things are about to get kinda interesting!

(Also, a mild aside, but I've been really intrigued by how Goku's design is slowly looking more like the Goku I know. And I don't think this is a case of the animators slowly getting better at drawing him, I think they're purposefully showing him grow up, and that whoever then designed adult Goku used that progression really well. Just kinda neat to watch.)

I've always known that Piccolo's backstory was quite dark, but not demon-king-that-wants-to-commit-genocide dark 😅 This Saga definitely feels like a tonal shift away from the more whimsical and magical first season or so of Dragon Ball towards the more high-stakes, morality-based action of the sequel shows like Dragon Ball: Z, and that's not just because it starts with Krillin's murder (a DB:Z staple). There's something just so completely monstrous about the way they build Piccolo up as a character, and a realism to the way they play the fights, that makes it all feel a lot more serious and less goofy ‒ even with Goku still cracking-wise fairly regularly. I'm also intrigued with how revenge-focused they make Goku's arc, and how simply he is portrayed as both judge and executioner in a way that does not question his "pure heart" mythology that has been built up. He certainly jumps to "this person must die for what they've done" very quickly.

Outside of the core fight, though, I was not expecting Roshi's death (and wonder if they're ever going to explain how he manages to use the Evil Entrapment technique multiple times in DB: Super without dying again); I have really enjoyed Tien's whole atonement arc (and would like Goku to stop forgetting that Chiaotzu has also given his life to try and save the world 😅); I wish that Goku would take some damn Sensu beans with him from time-to-time!; and hot damn, add Yashirobi to the list of characters whose power levels seem ridiculously diminished by the later seasons! I mean, this is a guy who, with little-to-no real training, is able to match Goku for endurance and physicality almost immediately; who climbs Korin's tower multiple times (and first with Goku on his back); and who kills one of Piccolo's creations in a single blow, whilst Tien gets completely destroyed even after specifically training to fight them. I don't know if we really get much of that power used for beneficial purposes at all 🤔

Overall, then, this is a solid Saga. It feels like a shift has occurred, the show has matured, and with it comes a little more focus on the aspects that I enjoy (and a lot less time spent on creepy perving side quests 😂).

As per usual, there's a bit of a middle ground "training montage" sequence of episodes that are unclear where they fit, except this time we're doing a time jump, rather than actually concluding any of the plot threads that were set up. We never get to see the other fighters training with Korin, or learn how Goku overcomes any of the challenges that Mister Popo puts forward, or what happens to his tail; we don't get answers to how Yamcha gets his scars, or how Krillin or Tien learn any of their new techniques. On the one hand, this is a shame, as I was looking forward to filling in some of the missing pieces, but at the same time I do like the way they handle the skip forward and ageing of the respective characters. Goku is now about 18 (if my count is correct) so it makes sense that he looks more like an adult than a child, and it allows them to keep the tournament surprising.

Speaking of, I guess with this being the final proper Saga we might as well have both a World Tournament and a "new" villain, and I enjoyed how they weaved those two threads together. I thought they did well to even out the tournament roster a little as well, and whilst I wasn't expecting cyborg Tao, his inclusion (and defeat of Chiaotzu) makes for a much more interesting set of battles. Ditto the addition of Chi-Chi, which was both adorable and kind of funny, given how much she ends up scolding Goku about his constant martial arts ‒ hey, you're also a world championship finalist, y'know 😅 Other solid ideas: Yashirobi competing as a masked man was fun, and Hero turning out to be Kame in disguise was a great twist. The matches, then, were solid all 'round, and had some really fun moments!

But ultimately, that was all overshadowed by Piccolo, and here I'm not sure how I feel about the way things are left. I do like that Goku picks apart the obvious flaws in Kame's plans and does manage to "beat" Piccolo; I also like that he then uses a Sensu bean on both himself and the villain. I disliked that Piccolo just then leaves. Why doesn't Kame reabsorb him? He seems happy enough to die, so even if that would preclude him from continuing to be the Guardian of Earth, it also feels like it would be more beneficial than simply dying. Plus, this new Piccolo shows multiple moments of what could be construed as empathy. He saves the child from the falling clock tower; he doesn't kill anyone in the tournament; and, ultimately, rather than simply finding Goku and destroying him, he sticks to tournament rules and tries to beat him in a more "honourable" way. All of that seems to show, to me at least, a character who is no longer pure evil, but rather a more nuanced, rounded version of his previous self.

Still, the fight is pretty fun, and I do love that they acknowledge how ridiculous (and dangerous) this tournament has become ‒ though, again, I'd have liked them to have some plans to resurrect the entire city of people that get levelled in the final match 😂 It doesn't quite manage to inch above the previous Saga in terms of stakes or lore, but it's a solid addition and a nice conclusion to the overarching themes of the show.

Yes, yes, this isn't formally regarded as its own "Saga", but it's so tonally different and perfectly encapsulated that to include it as part of the Piccolo Saga just seems bizarre to me. Instead, we get a neat little ribbon on the series that wraps up a few loose ends and gives Goku and Chi-Chi a happy ending. I do think it's a little odd that none of the other characters appear to be invited to the wedding, but it's a fun little adventure and it helps build out Chi-Chi's character more than simply "smitten girl" and "surprisingly competent fighter", whilst giving Goku a chance to be a little more, well, emotional and invested in their relationship. In fact, it's exactly the kind of adventure that I would have loved more of throughout the show's run. Exploring the world; expanding the lore; it's all great fun! And we never did get back to the Fae Realm (unless that's just another part of Other World, which is possible). I also really like that Goku is shown to be a smart problem solver, even if he resorts to fighting as the first option, and a relatively competent person all around. This is something that DB: Super seems to forget, making him even more childlike and idiotic, rather than embracing him as more rounded adult. In other words: I really like this ending!