Cheap Dragon Ball - Secret of Dragon Ball (Vol. 1)(Episodes 1 & 2) (Video) (Daisuke Nishio) Price

Related Products

Customer Reviews of Dragon Ball - Secret of Dragon Ball (Vol. 1)(Episodes 1 & 2)

Heavily censored, but okay...
This is the very first "Dragon Ball" tape ever released in the United States, way back in 1995. Dragon Ball, a comic-book series started in 1984 by Akira Toriyama, and brought to TV by Toei Animation in 1986, details the story of Son Goku (a play on the name of the "Monkey King" Sun Wukong in the Chinese legend "Journey to the West"), a monkey-tailed boy with an expanding staff called the Nyoi-Bo (or Power Pole in the dub). This series was quite popular in Japan during the 1980s (and in the early 1990s in its "Z" incarnation). There is much perverted humor early on in the series, but most of that has been censored out altogether in the 1995 English version of the series. Only 13 episodes were put into English six years ago, and they flopped. Like a fish out of water. So, Funimation decided to continue on to DBZ.

Let me first tell you (if you're reading this sometime after late July or August) that these ARE NOT THE SAME VERSION as you saw on Cartoon Network the other day. The 1995 version features much heavier-handed censorship, a somewhat less-than-decent replacement score (the new version has the original music), and different voices. I imagine it could be quite disorienting. The new version of the dub can be found on the Dragon Ball Tournament tapes, and those will go up to episode 28 (just before the start of the Red Ribbon saga).

Just to give you an idea of the censorship, let's see... you know when Goku is wearing those underpants when he dives in the water? Painted on. He's actually naked as the day he was born. Think Bulma just up and surrenders after Goku throws her car? Think again. She shoots at him (multiple times!) before realizing he's not seriously hurt, and surrenders. And, my favorite joke out of early DB, the "No Balls!" joke, was taken out completely... that was even the name of the second episode in the original. After the point where the English version of the episode ends, Goku wakes up to find Bulma still asleep, and decides to sleep on his back between her legs, using her as a pillow. He quickly discovers, though, that she's not quite like his adoptive Grandpa, so he decides to take a closer look... and realizes she is missing some rather important pieces of the (male) anatomy. Hilarious... but completely missing from this version.

So... if you're a die-hard fan, only buy this video if you want to see an example of how the dub was done back then. I rented it, and plan to do so again, to compare it to the new version of the episodes, and see if there's any less censorship in the new version. It's great for kids, though, as this is very harmless compared to the sophomoric humor found in the Japanese (and hopefully the new English) version.

The Next Reveiw.....
If you are farmiliar with the DragonBall Z series, you know that the main character is Goku. This is the story of his childhood. In the mountains you have limited resources. Goku does his best, and his best is more than enough! Never being out of the mountains, Goku comes face to face with a horrible metal monster! Then he meets Bulma, who is on a search for the DragonBalls. The two become partners, and both serch for the magical objects, which will grant one wish. Hopefully they can find them before the evil Emperor does.

I gave this video five stars for humor and originallity. Funny this movie is! And has some good points. If you don't have it, go and get it!