All Systems Goku 01

dan seriously needs to watch jojos bizarre adventure

I accidentally watched the first three episodes of regular DBZ before listening to this, and only when I noticed some inconsistencies did I realize I wasn't watching Kai.

I watched the first three of Kai, and hooooly shit the editing makes this a lot more sporadic and confusing. I'm thinking Jeff and Dan made a mistake as for which version to watch, atleast so far.

As a long time fan of dragon ball, its really fun to listen to you guys figure all this stuff out, please do more !

PS: the ssj thing, the way I understand it is "ssj" its in reference to how Super Saiyan is spelled in Japanese

Lately I've been listening to podcasts by people going through Naruto and One Piece for the first time, and I'm so happy I get to add this podcast to that list.

@jdacorns: I decided to watch the first episode, and jeez, unexpectedly pervy is right. Most of the comedy feel really flat for me too. Also, a talking dinosaur?! It was neat seeing child Goku and teen Bulma though.

Loved it so much, it was like a trip down memory lane. Made me watch Kai for the first time as well and I’m really impressed. The soundtrack is amazing, love the og feel. The pacing re-edit was well done, it made me feel tension and suspense for a series I’ve rewatched countless times in the past. Looking forward to more impressions!

Can you post or pm me links to these podcasts? Thanks.

I can't even properly describe how much I enjoyed this, there's been features like VRodeo and Game Tapes that I love, but this is genuinely my favorite thing on Giant Bomb ever since Metal Gear Scanlon. That's an huge deal.

I always felt like @danryckert would kinda enjoy Dragon Ball, but I never expected that he would actually get really into it and @jeff joining for the ride is like icing on the cake. It's cool to see how they're just three episodes in but already understanding how this became such an influential thing and how it must have felt back when it came out. I also love the notes that Dan posts on twitter after watching the episodes.

Also, I was going to answer to some of the major questions, but it was already done and I think it sums it all up nicely:

I just want to add that I think people used to consider King Piccolo as more of a demon than an alien, like he was the personification of satan. That's why in some countries (like mine) Piccolo Jr is dumbly called "Satan's Little Hearth".

I can just about deal with the uber masculinity, but I'm not sure I can deal with creepy sexism. Does it continue? Or has a Kai served as a mechanism for them to remove some of that dubious stuff that isn't okay by today's societal standards (even though it was never okay)?

I don't want to go through all of this knowing I'm going to end up getting pissed off.

I ask because I looked up some stuff and... Master Roshi seems to grab another character's tits. However I'm not sure if it's original series or Kai.

I mean, these first 3 episodes were alright to watch - and its influence is obviously undeniable - but it's not THAT good to me that I'd be willing to put up with the likes of consistent 'coping a feel' jokes on poor Bulma's part(s).

And certainly not literal rapey fondling.

@ahifi: Seems like DB or most Anime isn't for you. While some of that humor disappears later on, it never truly goes away. It is part of the series that is essentially based off a gag Manga. You just kinda have to take it or leave it, especially for something like DB which is a product of it's time.

Oh my god YES.

Lot of memories from the original run of Dbz. Had a lot of commitments with my high school basketball team at the time, so I got my mom to tape the episodes when I couldn't catch them. So cool to hear Jeff and Dan talk about the series.

That's a bit of a stretch.

It's used as small throwaway jokes to show how dumb some characters are and every time they actually try something that might be considered sexist, they suffer consequences. Specially Master Roshi, who is always beaten up every time he even considers doing something, let alone actually doing it. There's not one situation on the show where they made it seem that it's ok. Also, this is from a different culture with different views, from a different era. You can't expect a Japanese show from the 80s to follow the standards of the western culture in 2018.

And "poor Bulma" is not "poor". She just so happens to be one of the most capable and well developed characters on the show, she's incredibly smart and witty and even the most powerful characters fear her. As soon as someone tries to touch her or even get on her bad side, she will punch or shoot everyone.

Anyway, most of those situations that bother you so much are on Dragon Ball and not on Dragon Ball Z or on Kai.

Oh my god JC, a Spirit Bomb!

So many great things about this! First, the Rickert/Gertsmann two punch combo that I missed so much. Second, hearing them talk about things they kinda think they know but not really is AMAZING. Third, seeing DBZ though an adult's eyes, since most people watched as children and can only see it through that lens, is fascinating.

Also "Know What I'm Sayan" would've also been a great title.

Yep, too bad they didn't know how to pronounce Saiyan. I was thinking something along the lines of "Saiyan Stuff"

Really enjoyed listening to this. Need more.

Well thank god for that..... ?

@shaanyboi: Goku spends 10 more episodes on the snake road in original dbz (13 to 3). And that's 10 episodes of useless shit. Kai is superior in every way except maybe a bit of censorship unless they removed that from the bluray releases.

@cybexx:I think it's like half the episodes in the first 28 or something like that.

@jacksukeru: you win. We have no chance for survive.

kame ha haaaa

@johnymyko: Roshi sexually assaults a nurse in an episode by grabbing her ass and nothing happens to him. He basically gets a "tsk tsk" by the head doctor.

@danryckert the reason they're not concerned about gohan turning into a giant ape at fullmoon is because piccolo literally blew up the moon in the original show

This is so great! I REALLY hope you guys keep the interest up and run through the whole thing. So much fun hearing two former Dragonball skeptics and currently Dragonball newbs go through all this. XD

This is the only series I disagree with this statement. Goku's voice is hideous and breaks windows.

This was a good listen, and for the record yeah Goku's REALLY fucking stupid / naive.

All Systems Goku is quite possibly the best name of any podcast I've ever seen.

Never really understood what the appeal of Dragon Ball was, perhaps listening to this will help.

@chaser324:said this somewhere else but heres my two cents. wiki Ganguro-"rebellious youth who contradicted the traditional Japanese concept of beauty; pale skin, dark hair and neutral makeup tones." Could be a cultural misunderstanding. I think it is far simpler than people give it credit about the Po Po skin thing. I dont think its cause the autor is insensitive to the ideas of racism or the US history etc. People in America kinda associate darkening your skin in a different way than other cultures. Hell Hikimayu is a older japanese thing where the trend was to pluck your eyebrows. Americans atleast from what i gage from movie actors, like thicker eyebrows. Point is Maybe its a culture thing that Americans dont understand. Maybe stuff we like seems peculiar but is simple and normal to us. I cant speak personally on any of this and it would be inappropriate to try speculate further but i just try ignore some of the off putting stuff like po po as long as it doesnt distracting me from the story their trying to tell. I dont fault anyone for getting put off by it and stopping thou.

@chmanitand1988: I still really don't get the Mr Popo racism thing because prior to and after his appearance, there are black characters in the show that look fine. He's like a magical elf with pointy ears and his skin just happens to be black.

it's so weird hearing these guys dig in and weeb out over stuff from my childhood but i'm all ears

@rcoll: he's literally bad sambo art. Akira's representation of native americans wasn't that kind either. I'm not saying that he's a miserable racist but the japanese are not known for their cultural sensitivity towards people that live outside of their island. so i wouldn't go as far as to say it's racist but it sure as hell is culturally insensitive.

When this was mentioned on the podcast I thought they were making a joke. This can only be good.

Somebody is going to be super fucking powerful and everybody's going to be surprised.

Literally the perfect summation of all of Shonen anime.

"I could watch 200 episodes of this overweight, smoking farmer."

~200 episodes later: Mr. Satan would essentially grant this wish.

@king3pj: just so you know...

Dragon Ball is the name of the series. The original manga is just "Dragon Ball," and it runs from Goku being a child until the end of the Buu saga.

Just "Dragon Ball."

"Z" was added probably for the same reason as angry Kirby eyebrows for western consumers.

Either way, EVERYTHING past the Buu saga is bullshit made by committees, because Dragon Ball was one of the world's biggest cash cows. Akira Toriyama made NONE of the other Dragon Ball shit. Though he was a consultant on all of it and apparently wrote a bunch of stuff for Super, NOTHING after Buu is worth watching at all, and Super is literally just like garbage Fanfic given life, because fans can't let things go.

Back in the late 90s, you saw it. There were bad edits of existing screenshots and trading cards, labeled "Super Saiya-jin 8," like Goku in SSJ3 form with brown hair and a white skunk stripe down the middle.

Mexico and much of Central/South America just couldn't m wean themselves off the teat for decades, so we got the pointless drivel that is "Super Dragon Ball."

Well, after 3 years I have finally finished Dragon Ball and am now ready to dive into the podcast! I'm watching the original cut of DBZ but I didn't realize that Kai would be showing things out of order. Hopefully it's not too bad or too spoilery, but already I'm like "who tf is Freeza?" Looking forward to the rest. Cheers!