All Systems Goku 16

I mean, that's kinda what happens in the Tournament of Power in Super, but you still have fans bitching that the Power Levels™ don't make sense or whatever. I've always thought Dragon Ball Z was at its best when Goku isn't there to save the day alone, and allowing the supporting cast to shine.

I don't like where some of the music is placed in Kai but both scores in Kai completely shit all over Bruce Faulconers score. That replacement was a travesty and i complete insult to the original Japanese soundtrack. I actually went back and heard some tracks, just to confirm if it was truly that bad and they were all pretty much dreadful, every single track.

The OG Funimation dub and the Ocean dub were complete garbage on a pure acting and accuracy level but they had to just utterly destroy the show even further with crap music that nobody but those who have extremely thick nostalgia glasses for the Toonami days would like. Like it's kind of a miracle that DBZ became popular in the states with such awful mismanagement.

I can't tell if you are being serious? Those are like the best things about Kai. Gohan sounded like a chain smoker in the old Funimation dub and the acting was dreadful. The music is also about a 100 times better in Kai.

I was NOT expecting a Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend reference.

@kblosnack said:

I really like how you can clearly see that Trunks is Vegeta's son (hint: it's not the outfit)

Good looking out for that father/ son crotchel area

@dstopia: Plus, in some ways, it almost like a sensory deprivation chamber due to how little else is actually in there beyond the white space.

I remember loving the Piccolo/Android fight, so I'm glad it's still good.

Also, phrasing.

Also, if that hint at the end is Anime Expo.... you bastards, I was talked into it last year during an LA vacation. Don't make me go again!

S U C C

Maybe I missed it, but neither of them said 'that good succ' at any point, right?

I haven't watched a lot of Abridged, but this is a classic:

goatcell

I don't enjoy the early DBZA stuff, but I really enjoy their Android/Cell saga takes. They've definitely improved over the lifespan of their venture.

Android 16 and Tenshinhan are freaking heroes in this batch of episodes

@karatelips: I remember seeing that when I was 14 and lost my damn mind.

*one month later*

Jeff: Lookit what came in the mail! *holds up The Super Saiyan T-Shirt*

Yep, sounds about right haha! Thats about when I saw it too and boy, was I not prepared for that crazyness. The thing I remember most about it is one of the characters delivery of the line "No fucking way!"

It winds me up a bit when they try to get into the nitty-gritty of things making sense on this show, not because of the duders but because it's a constant reminder that Toriyama was, by-and-large, flying by the ABSOLUTE seat of his pants and very little of the story holds up to any scrutiny.

It's the main reason he stopped doing "power levels."

It's been 10 years, I'd HOPE they'd improve in that time. But yeah: their earlier stuff is HARD to go back to. Like "Oh wow...references, huh? What a tweest, indeed!"

He has, he just forgot. Goku eats like a pig in slop.

@briarpack: That is pretty much the only Abridged clip that is actually funny.

Kai keeps most of the original instrumental soundtrack (with a few exceptions), which is far better than any midi music from the dubs.

High School Gohan is my favorite Gohan, the Great Saiyaman arc is great.

I second on the History of Trunk recommendation. Don't know how's the American dub, but it's a good movie with a darker tone. Trunks' first transformation to Super Saiyan is just as dramatic (or even more dramatic) than Goku's first transformation.

Which is exactly what happens in Super. Which imo, was a great way to end it.

Katsuyori Shibata - The Super Saiyan

Question, do the Blu-rays for the DBZ movies come with the option of Japanese music but with English dub? 15 year old me was way into the heavy metal soundtracks, but 30 year old me, not so much.

(Though I must admit the English version of the Super Sayain transformation in Revenge of Cooler still gives me chills)

It's really refreshing to see so much hate for Faulconer's 5-Note-Loop-Midi score on here. Glad to see the consensus on this site to be the correct one ;-)

The running gags this podcast has developed are top notch. Also, agreed about the music. It might have been two weeks ago that I started noticing the limitation in music queues the show has.

Totally just IMO, but Z/Kai are super bad. Hope you guys eventually get to original Dragon Ball. It has more focus on characters instead of long fights, and a simple story. Also genuinely hilarious.

Jeff makes...a LOT of hentai references if you listen closely enough across the years.

He brought up Wordsworth in one of the Garfield videos, but it's ALWAYS off-handed, and he NEVER follows up...so only us pervs know what he's talking about.

Yeah some of it is probably nostalgia but some people's insistence on shitting on other people's preferences for older versions by saying it's purely driven by nostalgia and that Kai is objectively overwhelmingly better etc. due to things like accuracy compared to the ~originals~ or things like people's taste in music is genuinely abrasive.

I'm a sucker for good orchestral dramatic pieces, but thanks to the power of having personal tastes, I'm not blown away by the Japanese score in many places compared to the Faulconer tracks, and I'm actually pretty taken by Funimation's original presentation of some pretty key moments throughout the Buu saga as well (in particular the exchanges between Majin Vegeta and Goku as well as Piccolo)

If people aren't fans of 90s synth, yeah that's absolutely fine, but I honestly think that the idea that each direction doesn't have differing merits of their own is a bit dismissive

@seroth: https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--eP-iPKIt--/c_scale,f_auto,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/qlmlqittvil8bkjxbnfc.jpg

I hope they get to see some authentic creators of the big 3 like one piece creator who works in his house 18 hours a day like this. SMH.

Dude, my truck!

oh my god, anime expo would be so hype

I giggled every time they talked about someone being 'sucked-off' by cell.

Sucked off being used quite liberally here!

@lesca4: Eh, the actual original Japanese soundtrack might be better than what is on Kai, as Kai has different music due to the plagiarism stuff.

98 episodes? Does Kai cover the Buu saga?

I thought Jeff was up in arms when Gamespot was doing Game of Thrones podcast. Hipocricy?

@dweep: I think that was more about how he does not like that so many video game sites have become sites that talk about all manner of entertainment media now rather than just video games.

@rawrz: Kai went up to the end of the Cell Saga and then a decent chunk of time passed before the Buu Saga was covered. As a result, the Buu Saga is covered in a few Blu-Rays that are called "The Final Chapters" (for the English release, at least) of Kai.

Only if you like garbage music that completely changes the tone of the show into generic american saturday morning trash. For crying out loud, hey earth to Funi dub fans! DBZ is not some edgy over the top toxic waste and it never will be. The Japanese soundtrack fits perfectly with what DB &DBZ were and to suggest that some decade after the fact made synth genesis 16 bit, edgy sounding music fits better, is honestly just as laughable as you calling people "weaboos" for not liking a trash dub, that is so obviously a complete bastardization.

@undeadpool: The Android arc was originally not going to be happening as Freeza was considered to be the end, but the show became so popular and the director pretty much forced Toriyama hand to do something more and put him in a position to do the Cell and in the end it's one of the better parts of the whole series.

This is incorrect. There is no credible source claiming that Freeza arc was intended to be the end. It's mostly just baseless fan speculation, nothing more. I also disagree with you on the Cell/Android being one of the better parts of the series but that's just me.

@bludgeonparagon: I think this is the only reasonable comment I've seen here in regards to the different DBZ dubs/scores. Thanks for taking the time to post it, I agree wholeheartedly.

I find it kind of ironic how you call something "toxic" in such a hateful, abrasive comment (not that the other guy is much better calling people weeaboos). Dude, maybe dial it back a few notches. It's okay if someone likes a different thing and doesn't like the thing you like. Why can't you just appreciate that you're both fans of DBZ as a whole? I've never understood all this pointless infighting and name calling in the Dragon Ball fanbase. It's so tiring and pointless because neither side will ever convince the other of their view because it's all subjective.

Personally I grew up with the Ocean and FUNimation dubs (because the UK is one of the places where the dub chopped and changed between the two at several different points) and throughout the years I've checked out the redubs, the original Japanese version and Kai both in Japanese and English. Miraculously I appreciate each version in different ways and I've always found it fascinating to dig into what makes each of them different and why they are the way they are. Each dub contributed to getting the franchise where it is today and I don't believe for a second it would be the same if all we'd ever had was the original Japanese score and nothing else.

16 episodes of All Systems Goku, and 16 times someone brings up some apocrypha about when the series was or wasn't supposed to end (and like 100 arguments comparing some aspect of the quality of Kai vs Funimation vs OG Japanese). It's like clockwork.

So where did that guy get that shirt? Super Saiyajins (Heck, saiyajins in general) aren't public knowledge or anything.

Also I always wondered why Tien's cell hole was square and not triangular.

@rawrz: I might have this wrong but as I understand it: I believe everything through cell was done in 2009 to 2011. Then some combination of the 2011 Earthquake and Kai doing less well than expected meant the remaining stuff got shifted in priority. It eventually came out in 2014 mostly intact as less editing was done on it.

Like wrestling and anime? :p

I suspect that he dislikes it when they are chasing the money and diluting their core focus, rather than it just being something _extra_ they do.

Ah finally, the episode where all those Tien muscles pay off. It's pretty funny that as soon as Tien gets into battle, Chaotzu is like oh god, he's dying! Maybe Tien should've done a bit more cardio & ki management instead of lifting weights :)

About how Cell doesn't feel like this super powerful enemy compared to Piccolo & the Androids, I feel like that's all quite deliberate. Note that when we met Cell he had to sneak away from the fight because he was a weakling. We're not really supposed to feel like Cell is this unstoppable force in his imperfect form. Once he starts gobbling up the androids, that's when he really shoots up in power. That also explains why he doesn't bother with sucking up Piccolo in my opinion. He might be of a similar powerlevel as the androids, but Cell clearly gets a way bigger powerboost from sucking up an android. Like it wouldn't surprise me that by consuming android 17, he gains 100 or 1000x the powerlevel of that android. Sucking up Piccolo for a 101x or 1001x boost barely moves the needle at that point. That also explains why he keeps the civilian in the office building alive when he senses Android 17.

I rate this episode 4 out of 7 dragonballs.

I'm inclined to agree Cell is one of the better sagas (top 2, below maybe Freeza) but the Android arc suffers from being VERY slapdash and directionless. I've heard originally Gero and #20 were supposed to be the androids, but Toriyama's editor didn't like the designs, hence 17 and 18 (and Trunks' confusion), but THEN they needed a bigger bad, so they introduced Cell, who had a whole OTHER host of weird editorial problems.

That being said: I love the weird horror elements we get with Cell. From the deserted towns to the hideous body-horror stuff.