May 12th, Age 750: on his third day atop Karin Tower, Goku finally manages to nab the magic water, learns that the real magic was the skills he built along the way, and heads back down to face Tao again. Things go better this time. #HistoryofEver
Meanwhile, sideways in time, things go even worse for Tao. No matter which universe, the conclusion is clear: Tao will never trouble Goku or his friends or family again!
With Tao now totally and completely dead, Goku charges Red Ribbon HQ. His army in ruins, Red spills the beans about his true motives for going after the dragon balls, which Black fails to appreciate. Elsewhere, Gero does...something, presumably.
With Red now totally and completely dead, Black takes on Goku, loses, and that’s that. The Red Ribbon Army will never trouble Goku again! The world is forever safe from their threat!
But Goku is still short one dragon ball, which is a shame since he now wants to revive Bora. When even the Dragon Radar fails to picks up the final ball, Goku goes to Roshi’s psychic sister for help.
Long story short, Goku wins and has a touching reunion with his ghost grandpa. Baba figures out the final ball’s location, which turns out to be in the hands of Pilaf and co.
As if beating Tao, the RR, and three of Baba’s five fighters all in one day weren’t enough, now Goku has to fight Pilaf’s stupid robots. He wins and that’s that. Pilaf will never trouble Goku again! The world is forever safe from his...threat? Something like that.
With all the balls, Goku summons Shenlong (his second appearance) and resurrects Bora (the first person in the series to get revived like this). He make sure to grab the 4-Star Ball so that he won’t have to bother with this whole song and dance again next year.
While Goku’s off wishing, Baba makes a startling prediction: one day that goofy kid will save the world! Clearly Baba foresees Goku’s key role in halting Moro’s attempt to devour Earth.
Meanwhile Roshi decides to take Yamcha under his wing as a new pupil, and once Goku returns the group closes out this long day by promising to meet again at the next tournament...which will thankfully be only three years later rather than five, thanks to its rising popularity.
So yeah: the entire final portion of the RR arc and the entire Baba mini-arc occur over the course of a single rather jam-packed day. This puts the total timespan of the arc (in the manga anyway) at five days, from May 8th to May 12th in the daizenshuu dates.
Tomorrow: world tour!
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It’s already November 20th in Japan, which means Dragon Ball has officially reached its 40th anniversary. In case you weren’t paying attention and/or born at the time, here are some highlights from the first 40 years of DB history… #DragonBall40th
1984: gag manga superstar Akira Toriyama concludes megahit Dr. Slump, and in November debuts its follow-up in Weekly Jump. This Journey to the West-inspired kung-fu adventure kicks off as inventor girl Bulma recruits monkey boy Goku to track down the titular dragon balls.
1985: after last year’s tail-end teaser, things begin in earnest. The initial “quest for the dragon balls” arc wraps up in May, and Toriyama shifts gears to a tournament arc (always a fan favorite in his Dr. Slump days) with the lecherous Roshi and Goku’s new cueball-esque BFF.
According to Bunshun Online, Dragon Room head honcho Akio Iyoku has stepped down from Shueisha and established his own company, Capsule Corporation Tokyo. Supposedly he wants Shueisha to keep DB’s manga publishing rights but for CC Tokyo to handle DB games/anime/etc.
As you might imagine, Shueisha is reluctant to part with DB to any extent, and negotiations are still ongoing. According to this article, anyway. Shueisha has apparently confirmed that Iyoku is stepping down, but not confirmed any of the particulars so far.
Bunshun Online reached out to Toriyama and asked if he would be working with Iyoku in future, but Toriyama said he couldn’t comment publicly, only through Shueisha. He also said the company name “Capsule Corporation Tokyo” was Iyoku’s idea, not his own.
Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai ep.41: Pissed Myst’s great and the logistics of Dai’s sword are interesting, while the castle’s just there to be knocked down. But it knocks down well. 4/5 #DragonQuest#ep41
Rewatching the DBS panel, there’s a few things I want to note about the subtitles. They’re fine overall but there’s a few things I think are oversimplified or left out. Going through roughly in order of importance…
When discussing the artwork for New Character 1 and 2, in Japanese Hayashida says how it’s Toriyama’s original artwork, unlike the Piccolo/Pan/etc images that have been developed into full-fledged anime designs. The subtitles instead say it was made before movie production began
Now, it might indeed be true that Toriyama would’ve made the initial artwork before movie production began, but that’s not really what Hayashida is talking about. He’s contrasting this image with the earlier ones shown of Piccolo and co, which weren’t Toriyama’s original artwork
May 15th, Age 767: after three days of rest, Goku recovers from his heart disease (a week earlier than Trunks expected). The situation may be dire, but Goku knows the perfect place where Vegeta and Trunks can finally spend some quality father/son time together... #HistoryofEver
Speaking of quality time, Goku and Chi Chi get a nice moment together in the anime, sharing a kiss far too hot to actually show on screen. Or include in the canon, for that matter.
Alright, so…in the original manga, Goku and Chi Chi are never shown kissing. In DBZ ep.147 they share an offscreen kiss (they later made a figurine based on this). In the DBS anime and manga, Goku claims never to have kissed his wife. Draw your own conclusions.
May 12th, Age 767 (Bad Future Edition): at 10 AM on an island 9km southwest of South City, 17 and 18 begin their assault. Vegeta and co are mowed down, leaving Gohan sole survivor. Even the dragon balls are no use, since Pilaf and co wasted them on a dumb wish. #HistoryofEver
May 12th, Age 767 (Better Future Edition): 19 and 20 appear on schedule, but Our Heroes are ready. Well, Goku gets a bit sick, but Vegeta covers for him. While 19 and 20 don’t last long, 17 and 18 make short work of the gang. And that’s just the beginning of their problems…
Yes, it’s another busy day. May 12th has the honor of being one of the few specific dates mentioned in the series, although the year 767 comes from the Daizenshuu 7 timeline. If there’s any number pun significance to this date, I haven’t been able to find it.