As he endures his life of survival, Gohan has become so strong that he turns the tables on the carnivorous dinosaur and uses it as food. Meanwhile, Krillin, Yamcha, Tenshinhan, Chaozu, and Yajirobe gather at Kami-sama's temple, and begin their special training! Now that Gohan has endured the half year trial, Piccolo begins their special training on the island. At that same time, Goku runs to the end of the Snake Road, discovers Kaio's planet, meets the pun-loving Kaio. After making Kaio laugh with a pun he thought up with his utmost effort, he gets permission to be trained. Kaio orders Goku to catch his pet Bubbles, on his planet with 10x Earth's gravity.
Next Time:
"Battle with 10-Fold Gravity! Goku, Your Training is a Footrace"
I really liked the editing in this episode, as we are finally getting to see what they're capable of when given a fair amount of material to deal with, in this case taking almost 5 entire episodes down to one. It was frustrating at first because it seemed as though they were just cutting material for the sake of cutting it, but now it at least makes a little more sense. I also really enjoyed how they spliced scenes with Piccolo/Gohan as well as scenes with the crew at Kami's between segments at Kaio's planet. It made the episode feel much more like a training montage, and although I can understand people not liking that idea, for some reason it just tickles me in all the right places. Bear in mind, originally these scenes with Piccolo and at Kami's took place between segments of filler, so to have them interlaced with actual canon material is much preferred, and makes the story flow in a more interesting way. I'll be the first to admit, I get tired of hearing Kaio's jokes and watching Goku chase a monkey for 20 minutes straight. The random exposition of the other characters certainly helps a lot to that affect.
Don't get me wrong, I still don't like the cutting of manga material while leaving in random filler, not to mention those damn sound effects, but at least the concept of DragonBall Kai that I always had in my mind is coming to fruition.
Herms
I thought the numerous cuts to the other characters training that were used to break up the scenes with Goku and Kaio were kind of awkward. And apart from the disruptiveness of suddenly switching to these scenes, I also didn't like just how many of them there were. I think there's still too much stuff from the manga being left out to justify having so much filler left in. Apart from that, I liked this episode, and really enjoyed Goku and Kaio's interactions. Kaio's voice was generally as good as ever, but there were a few points were he sounded a bit too subdued.
Hujio
Finally we get the chance to see what some real cutting will do for DragonBall Kai. Simply based on the fact that so much of what I'd call "needless" filler was cut, I'd say this works to Kai's benefit. Besides, I'm pretty sure this is why people liked the idea of Kai in the first place. Unfortunately, the transition between scenes seems very hasty and somewhat abrupt at times, but I almost would expect that since there originally were no scene transitions at those points. However, it really feels like we're jumping around a lot in this episode. I also still have this bad feeling that too much canon material is being left out for the sake of leaving in some filler material.
The voice acting of the main cast has really come together nicely, which unfortunately makes some of the new comers really stand out to me. Most notably, that includes Yajirobe, Mr. Popo, and Tenshinhan. Yajirobe isn't really that big of an issue for me, since I'm giving Tanaka Mayumi a bit of a pass for voicing two main characters in two very large series at the same time. That's got to be stressful. So I think it's somewhat tolerable that she's not spot-on with Yajirobe, but since his voice has always somewhat annoyed me, I'm glad he won't make too many more appearances in the series. Now, for some reason, my biggest issue is with Mr. Popo. I just can't get over the difference in tone and voice between Nishio Toku and Popo's new seiyuu, Kawadzu Yasuhiko. But like Yajirobe, he won't be making too many more appearances in the series, and like many characters, will gradually disappear. As for Tenshinhan, I'm going to give Midorikawa Hikaru a little more time to provide us with some other dialogue before I make my final judgment.
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Manga Comparison
This episode covered chapters 209, 210, and 211, but it only goes over the tail end of 209 and the very beginning of 211, so it really only has about 2 chapters worth of material, if that much.
Chapter 209 – "Everyone's Year"
The episode begins with the end of chapter 209, as Gohan is shown having gotten used to his life in the wilderness after 6 months. This part is expanded upon quite a bit, with a lengthy bit showing Gohan waking up and going to gather berries to eat. The part where the dinosaur chases him has also been stretched out. At the end, when Piccolo comments on Gohan's progress, his last line ("Now I'll really put you to work") has been moved and included with material from chapter 210.
Chapter 210 – "The Father and Son's Harsh Training"
A brief filler scene has been included showing Tenshinhan and the others beginning their training with Kami-sama and Mr. Popo.
As Piccolo starts to train Gohan, in DragonBall Kai he repeats the exact same line he says at the end of chapter 209 ("Seems you've become a little serious"), but now the last part has been included ("Now I'll really put you to work").
The end of Piccolo and Gohan's training scene from the manga has been removed (specifically, everything after Piccolo zaps Gohan with his eye beam). This includes Piccolo telling Gohan that he can think and act if he has the time to complain so much, reminding him that there are only 6 months left, and that from now on Gohan will do nothing but eat, sleep, and fight with him.
There's a brief filler scene with Goku running on the Snake Road. This is followed by another short filler scene with Tenshinhan and the others training at Kami's palace.
Right before Goku reaches the end of the Snake Road, the manga narration saying Goku has continued on the Snake Road for 6 months is gone, as is Goku's line where he says that the entire year might just pass before he reaches Kaio.
When Goku arrives on Kaio's planet, there's a short bit of filler where Goku tries to get some apples out of a tree. It's after this that he meets Bubbles.
Once Goku tells Kaio that he came to receive training, Kaio surprisingly asks "Training?". The scene then cuts to Gohan and Piccolo fighting. The lines Piccolo says in this scene are from the manga ("You call that a defense?", "I want to kill you!", etc), but the fighting choreography itself is unique to the anime.
When the scene returns to Goku and Kaio, there's a bit from the manga missing where Kaio tells Goku to go home, saying that he won't train someone with no taste for puns, which makes Goku break out into feigned laughter so that Kaio will accept him as a pupil. Though this part is gone, there's a very similar bit of filler left in later, which may be why they removed this part.
In the anime, Goku uses several puns to make Kaio laugh, while in the manga he says only one: futon ga futtonda, or literally "The futon blew away". The joke is base on the fact that the subject and verb sound the same (like all of Kaio and Goku's puns here, this is an intentionally lame joke). Toriyama used this same joke in Dr. Slump, where he credits his friend and fellow manga artist Masakazu Katsura. One of the extra puns Goku uses in the anime is neko ga nekoronda, "The cat lied around".
Chapter 211 – "Do Your Best with Kaio-sama, Dead Son Goku!"
After Kaio thinks to himself about how promising a pupil Goku is (which is where chapter 210 ends), there's a filler scene with Tenshinhan and the rest training at Kami's temple.
The narration at the beginning of this chapter is not included in DragonBall Kai.
After using his antenna to check out how long it will be before Vegeta and Nappa reach Earth, Kaio makes another anime-only pun: konna benri na antena mo ante na, which loosely translates to "Who'd have thought there'd be such convenient antenna?". When Goku fails to laugh at this, Kaio threatens to not train him, so Goku feigns laughter until Kaio relents. As mentioned before, this is very similar to the part from the manga that was removed earlier.
Original Broadcast Comparison
After a brief recap, the episode begins at the same point as DragonBall Z episode 011, where Gohan collects some fruit and eventually cooks a dinosaur's tail. You may notice that DragonBall Z episodes 009 and 010 have been completely skipped, as DragonBall Kai episode 005 coincided with the end of DragonBall Z episode 008. However, this is only the beginning. In total, six full episodes (9, 10, 12, 13, 15, & 16) and the majority of three others (11, 14, & 17) have been left in the dust, all of which were filler. DragonBall Z episode 019 is really the only episode that was covered thoroughly, with almost the entire first part of the episode being covered.
Not only were episodes skipped, but all of the scenes used were interwoven together in what appears to be a completely random order. We've seen some small examples of this in the series already, but this is really the first time that we've seen it done to this extent. Just about every scene in this episode appears before or after a scene not originally near it in DragonBall Z. I really don't even know how to explain it all in words, so I'm going with my old standby... a table. In case you're watching the episode and the time codes on the table aren't matching up, I've added a scene description to make it easier to follow along. The source of the material really tells the story, I mean just look at it. Because of the erratic nature of this episode, I won't be covering any of the cut material like I typically would, since the table pretty well sums up what material was covered.
DragonBall Kai (Time code - Scene)
Source
00:00 to 00:10 -
Title Card
Original Material
00:10 to 02:50 -
Gohan stealing dinner from a dinosaur's tail
DragonBall Z Episode 011
02:50 to 03:00 -
Goku running down Snake Road
DragonBall Z Episode 011
03:00 to 03:27 -
The Z Senshi arrive at Kami's Palace
DragonBall Z Episode 014
03:27 to 04:20 -
Gohan training with Piccolo and getting shot with eye beams... Ouch!
DragonBall Z Episode 017
04:20 to 04:30 -
Goku running down Snake Road
DragonBall Z Episode 017
04:30 to 04:50 -
The Z Senshi sparing while Kami-sama watches
DragonBall Z Episode 014
04:50 to 04:57 -
Goku climbing along Snake Road
DragonBall Z Episode 018
04:57 to 09:09 -
Goku reaches the end of Snake Road; crashes into Kaio's planetoid; follows Bubbles around
DragonBall Z Episode 018
09:09 to 09:19 -
Eyecatch
Original Material
09:19 to 11:08 -
Kaio appears and hilarious jokes ensue
DragonBall Z Episode 019
11:08 to 11:37 -
Gohan and Piccolo training into the evening as the sun sets in the background
DragonBall Z Episode 017
11:37 to 14:26 -
Goku makes Kaio laugh; Goku jumps up, but gravity brings him back
DragonBall Z Episode 019
14:26 to 15:10 -
The Z Senshi continue training while Yajirobe sits around eating more food
DragonBall Z Episode 017
15:10 to 19:30 -
Kaio tracks the Saiyan through space; Goku starts chasing Bubbles
DragonBall Z Episode 019
I will note that almost every scene of the Z Senshi training at Kami's palace is filler. Also, the scene of Goku climbing along Snake Road and then popping his head up to see the end of the road are two separate scenes in DragonBall Z. There are actually a couple of scenes placed in-between the two, most notably Gohan fighting Piccolo after being awoken by Goku's old space pod, which Piccolo promptly destroys. Obviously this scene was cut as it was filler, but it more importantly gets rid of the plot flaw when Goku later uses this space pod to travel to Planet Namek. It's a good thing Piccolo didn't destroy it this time around.
Unlike the majority of the episodes so far, this episode doesn't end on a high point of a DragonBall Z episode. The episode ends just as it appears Goku is about to catch Bubbles, when the animation suddenly stops and the screen changes color. It's nice to see things getting changed up a little here, but something more than a color overlay to change the screen color would have been nice. I don't know, maybe some new artwork or a newly animated scene.
Since this is the first episode to cut so much material, let's take a look at exactly how much material was cut. At the end of DragonBall Kai episode 005, a total of 8 episodes of DragonBall Z had been covered with approximately 40% of the original being cut. Whereas, by the end of this episode, a total of 19 episodes of DragonBall Z have been covered and a staggering 71% of the original material has been cut.
So by doing some math and assuming an average episode of DragonBall Z has a running time of 20 minutes, we can safely estimate that approximately 13 of the 19 episodes of DragonBall Z covered so far have been cut. Though, if you think about it logically, that makes perfect sense. If DragonBall Kai is only six episodes long at this point, then it can technically only have covered six equivalent episodes of DragonBall Z. However, the majority of all the material cut so far comes from this single episode. Of the 11 episodes of DragonBall Z this episode covered, roughly 91% of their original material has been cut!
Original Material Length: 3 hours, 22 minutes, 46 seconds Material Cut: 3 hours, 3 minutes, 37 seconds (~91%)Total Material Cut So Far: 4 hours, 6 minutes, 3 seconds (~69%)
Altered Material
Part of the scene where the Z Senshi first arrive at Kami's palace to receive special training has been re-animated, more specifically, Tenshinhan and Krillin were re-animated.
Kaio's reaction to Goku's third and final pun (enpitsu ga miepizu, "The pencil can't be seen") has been re-animated.
The brief close-up shots of Goku and Kaio talking about Goku getting trained before the Saiyan heading towards Earth arrive and Kaio commenting that he has been targeted by some really bad guys has been re-animated.
Music/Voice Performance Comparison
In this section I'll be talking about the new audio track recorded for the series. However, this will be much more reliant on opinion, so I'll try to keep it as fair and balanced as possible. Of course, it's ultimately up to the individual viewer whether or not you enjoy the new material, so I'll provide audio samples for areas that are debatable, and from that you can draw your own conclusions. You can either listen to the audio clips with the flash player provided, or download them by clicking the "mp3" button on the right.
Part A (DragonBall Z Episodes 011, 014, 017 and 018)
So this episode begins at the same point as DragonBall Z episode 011, in which we have a brief scene with Gohan first collecting some berries from a tree, and afterwards being chased by the T-rex and eating a slice of his tail. The initial music used in DragonBall Kai while Gohan is collecting the berries is one we've heard several times before so I don't see the need to get into it, however, the music used while being chased by the dinosaur is some rather interesting stuff. The music used is very electronic sounding, and is definitely a departure from the traditional score for the series. It sounds very similar to something you might hear in a video game, which makes perfect sense when taking the composer into account. All in all, it's actually quite good, and at the very least brings some more variety into the background music. DragonBall Z, on the other hand, uses the exact same piece of music for both the berry collecting scene as well as the dinosaur scene. Although it's a nice piece of music, a little more variety definitely would have been appreciated here.
DragonBall Z
DragonBall Kai
Yamcha (Furuya Tooru) and Tenshinhan (Midorikawa Hikaru)
I'm not going to talk too much about these actors at the moment since they barely have any dialogue at this point in time, but I will point them out for you guys to have a listen to. From these very early glimpses at the characters it seems that Furuya's Yamcha has hardly changed at all, and Midorikawa's Tenshinhan is also extremely similar to the original. Just for reference, Suzuoki Hirotaka who originally performed the voice for Tenshinhan passed away in 2006. However, the new actor portraying the character is no rookie to the world of DragonBall, having previously performed the voices for Paikuhan and most notably No. 16. Overall, it seems to be a very solid casting for the role.
The music used for this scene is extremely good, but more notably it spans two scenes which were originally several episodes away from each other. Since the music used in the second portion of the scene (with Gohan and Piccolo training) is stuff heard many times before in DragonBall Z, I'm going to go ahead and skip it, just providing you with the DragonBall Z material at Kami's. However, I will let the DragonBall Kai version play over both scenes so that you can get the full effect of the song. I must say that the DragonBall Kai version is much more epic, while the DragonBall Z version of the Kami scene sounds a bit more thoughtful. Considering how these scenes are both structured and presented in the context of each series, it actually does make sense, so overall they seem to be the right choice for both.
DragonBall Z
DragonBall Kai
Goku reaches the end of Snake Road and starts sliding along it in gleeful celebration. DragonBall Kai re-uses a piece of music here that I really liked and had previously said sounded like something out of Lupin the 3rd. Although I really do like this particular piece of music, the DragonBall Z version uses an extremely playful instrumental of "CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA" for this scene, and I must say, the DragonBall Z version is just so much better. I know it's an unfair bias and everything, but I don't think I'll ever be able to shake it. DragonBall just naturally inspires thoughts of "CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA", and when confronted with a choice of two pieces of music, even if the latter is better, the "CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA" version automatically seems like a better fit to me. Have a listen for yourselves and see which one works better for you.
DragonBall Z
DragonBall Kai
Goku leaps into the air towards Kaio's planet and briefly looks around before being pulled down by the intense gravity. In the previous paragraph I had just finished saying that my bias always makes me lean towards "CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA" whenever it's played in the series, but now I'm presented with a real conundrum. Once again in DragonBall Z they use an instrumental of "CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA" which is absolutely perfect for the scene, yet in DragonBall Kai they use an instrumental of "Dragon Soul", a song that I feel is just as good. On top of which, as I've said in previous episodes, "Dragon Soul" sounds an awful lot like "DAN DAN Kokoro Hikareteku", another fantastic DragonBall song. Much like "CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA", the tune is already thoroughly planted in my mind as being related to the series. Honestly, it's a coin toss for me over which version of this scene is better, so I'll just present you with some audio clips and let you draw your own conclusions on this one.
DragonBall Z
DragonBall Kai
Up next in DragonBall Kai we have a very modern piece of music that plays as Goku struggles to first walk on Kaio's planet. The music itself is ok, but what I really appreciate is the continued variety that we are now starting to hear. For a little while there I was getting afraid that we'd be stuck hearing the same songs over and over again, but this at least confirms to me that there is new and interesting stuff on the way. Since this scene is completely silent in DragonBall Z there is no comparison to make, but I'll give you the DragonBall Kai audio anyway so that you can have a listen for yourselves.
DragonBall Kai
Goku finally meets up with the great monkey Kaio-sama and begins his intense training of dancing around with his arms in the air. The music used in DragonBall Kai for this scene is something we've heard before, but I feel works very well here. It sounds kind of serious, yet silly at the same time, which seems to match the scene very well since Goku thinks this is serious training, yet we all know that it's just a joke. The DragonBall Z version, on the other hand, uses some very typical "Kaio music" which although is very fitting for the scene, is perhaps a little dated by today's standards.
You may also notice that while the two versions of this scene start in the same place, the DragonBall Z version goes off track, including a scene where Bubbles throws an apple out of the tree to Goku. This material is cut in DragonBall Kai, and so the clips don't really sync up perfectly. And speaking of Bubbles, the noises he makes are now provided by Fujimoto Takahiro, while it was originally provided by Tatsuta Naoki (best known for playing Oolong) in DragonBall Z. Interestingly, Fujimoto also provided the noises for Umigame in previous episodes, so it seems like they've brought in an actor to specifically do animal noises and such.
DragonBall Z
DragonBall Kai
Part B (DragonBall Z Episodes 017 and 019)
Yanami Jouji (Kaio)
Here we have Yanami Jouji returning to provide the voice for everybody's favorite joker, Kaio-sama. Of course, if you know your DragonBall, then you would have realized that he's been here since the very beginning reprising his role as the narrator of the series. However, since the narration is more or less inconsequential, I never really felt the need to bring him up before. However, Kaio is anything but, so let's take a quick peek at his performance here.
I must say, it's certainly not the same as it was in DragonBall Z, but since his voice is so distinct, it still manages to get across as sounding like Kaio. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it sounds like he's either mixing up his Kaio and narration voices a bit, or maybe he's trying to differentiate them too much and it's just coming out as sounding a little off. Either way, he's still seems to be in good form here, and hopefully, as with the other actors, as the series progresses he will be able to find his character again. Here's a brief audio sample with Kaio introducing himself to Goku.
DragonBall Z
DragonBall Kai
Piccolo and Gohan are coming towards the end of a long day of training as the sun sets in the background. Once again we have a very modern piece of music playing in DragonBall Kai, while we have complete silence in the DragonBall Z version of the scene. Honestly, the music used here is alright, but I think it might be pushing just a little too hard to make things seem extreme and exciting. Although the DragonBall Z version of the scene itself is silent, there is a cut right beforehand where originally there was a pan of the landscape bathed in the sunset, with a very soft piece of bridge music playing in the background. It's interesting how both versions set up completely different scenarios of the exact same thing. Below I'll provide you with the landscape scene leading into the fighting from DragonBall Z, and the fighting itself from DragonBall Kai. Listen to how wildly these two pieces contrast each other, and what kind of a tone they set for the scene.
DragonBall Z
DragonBall Kai
Goku has to come up with some gags to make Kaio laugh, and does a pretty good job of it too. Here we have a relatively silly scene with appropriately silly music in both versions. I'd say both songs used are equally good here, although I like the DragonBall Z song a little bit more for personal reasons (it's used in a favorite scene of mine from later in the series, involving a conversation about a certain spaceship thief). Regardless, putting my personal taste aside, the DragonBall Kai version works just as well.
DragonBall Z
DragonBall Kai
Tenshinhan, Yamcha, Krillin, Chaozu and Yajirobe are all training at Kami's in their own special way. The DragonBall Kai version of this scene actually splices with some footage from episode 019 at the beginning and end, while the DragonBall Z version contains slightly more material with Tenshinhan at the end. Regardless, the bulk of the scene is identical in both versions. I'll start with the DragonBall Z version here, which is certainly a nice piece of music, but nothing to write home about. It's a rather rare piece to hear in DragonBall Z, having been primarily used in DragonBall scenes with Goku climbing Karin Tower (if memory serves me right), but despite this it's still just moderate at best. The DragonBall Kai version, however, is simply incredible. It incorporates everything I want to hear in the background music; the perfect instruments and sound for the series, a truly powerful and potentially emotional piece of music if used correctly, absolutely perfect for an epic series such as DragonBall. More of this stuff, please! On a side note, this is the second scene involving Emori Hiroko returning to her role of Chaozu for the series. Unfortunately, she hasn't actually said anything yet, just made fighting noises.
DragonBall Z
DragonBall Kai
A brief piece of music plays as Kaio pin-points the location of the Saiyan with his intergalactic radar antennae. DragonBall Kai seems to go for a more brooding tone here, whereas DragonBall Z uses a more mysterious sounding piece of music. Both versions work quite well, as the scene can easily be played and interpreted either way. Have a listen and see which version works better for you.
DragonBall Z
DragonBall Kai
Goku begins to pursue Bubbles as part of his training and ends up removing some of his weighted clothing to help speed up. The song used for DragonBall Kai here is one that has been previously used in scenes involving Chi Chi. It is a somewhat light-hearted song, and although it fits the scene relatively well, overall it just feels a little bland at this point. The song used in DragonBall Z, although also previously used, works so well here because of how they use it. Here we have a scene with Goku being held down by the intense gravity, struggling to just walk, and the DragonBall Z music sounds as though it's suffering from the same dilemma. They might have even slowed the tempo of the song slightly; it's kind of hard to tell, but regardless, this song is the absolute best match for this scene. It conveys what Goku is going through perfectly, and really makes it a fun scene to watch.
DragonBall Z
DragonBall Kai
Goku continues to pursue Bubbles, now much lighter than before, as the narration leads us out of the episode. I really like the piece of music used at the end of the episode here, I think it not only fits the mood of the ending well, but it just serves as some nice wrap-up music. I also like how it mixes some of the more traditional DragonBall instruments with some of the more modern stuff we've been hearing throughout the episode to give a nice blend of music for the episode's finale. The matching scene in DragonBall Z is close to a commercial break, but actually continues for a bit longer beyond where DragonBall Kai leaves us off. The music used is a nice little piece that we certainly don't hear too often throughout DragonBall Z, and although it may be a little too epic sounding for the scene in question, it still works quite well. Overall, I really like both versions here, so have a listen and see what you think.
