Episode Information

Premiered: June 21, 2009 (9:00 – 9:30AM, Sunday, Fuji TV) Ratings Share: 10.5% Opening Animation:  "Dragon Soul" (First Animation) Eyecatch: 3rd Eyecatch Ending Animation: "Yeah! Break! Care! Break!" Corresponding: Manga (Weekly Jump) – Chapter 223, "Piccolo and Gohan" – Chapter 224, "Son Goku's Quiet Anger" – Chapter 225, "Nappa, Completely Helpless!!" – Chapter 226, "The Mystery of the Kaio-ken" (Pages 1-8) DragonBall Z (Fuji TV) – Episode 028, "Ferocity of the Saiyan! Kami-sama and Piccolo Both Die!" – Episode 029, "Father is Awesome! The Ultimate Finishing Technique..." Availability:  DragonBall Kai DVD Volume #04 (December 18, 2009) DragonBall Kai Blu-ray Box #01 (October 23, 2009)

Episode Synopsis

Piccolo passes away, saying that it is good to die protecting Gohan! At the same time up in the temple, Kami-sama vanishes away as well. Even after powering up by going into a frenzy, Gohan uses up all of his power. Nappa aims for Gohan, but Goku arrives in the nick of time! After learning of Piccolo and the others' deaths, Goku removes the joyful Krillin and Gohan from the battle, and faces off against Nappa alone! Nappa doubts Goku's overwhelming power, but Goku easily dodges his wild attacks! Nappa goes mad with rage at Goku, against whom all his attacks are ineffective! However, he is yelled at by Vegeta and faces Goku calmly, but even then he is dumbfounded when his greatest attack doesn't work against Goku. Frustrated, Vegeta orders to switch with Nappa so he can take on Goku.

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Our Thoughts

DBW Coming soon... Herms I thought this was a pretty good episode. It seems like they handled Piccolo's death more as a moment of rising tension than as a sad and somber event, like they've done with all the deaths up until now. I think that it worked surprisingly well, though I can see why people would prefer the original version. All in all, there was no significant filler left in at all in this episode, and no substantial things left out from the manga, so all in all it was rather boring to do the manga comparison for this one. But I kind of hope there are more episodes like this one from here on out. Hujio What more could you ask for in an episode? It has death, action, and an ass-whoopin'! I've always like Goku's arrival and I though DragonBall Kai did a good job with it. However, it seemed like Piccolo's death was played down a lot, possibly because of Goku's eminent arrival. Though, that didn't really bother me too much. My biggest problem with this episode is the blending technique that Toei is still using which results a lot of ghosting of frames. I know it makes scenes look smoother, but it's getting a little annoying to see week after week.

Manga Comparison

This episode covered about three and a half chapters of the manga; chapters 223-225 and the first eight pages of chapter 226. Chapter 223 – "Piccolo and Gohan"   The episode includes a bit of the last chapter, showing more of the lead-up to Piccolo protecting Gohan.   As Piccolo gives his death speech to Gohan, there are some flashbacks to his relationship with Gohan from previous episodes.   As Piccolo dies, Gohan calls out "Ojisan!", a term for one's uncle or an older person. It's rather odd for him to call Piccolo this, since in the manga and usually in the anime he always calls him "Piccolo-san".   As Gohan becomes enraged and begins to fire the Masenko, Krillin says that his ki is amazing. In the manga, he actually refers to Gohan as simply "Goku's son", showing that he's still not too familiar with Gohan. This part isn't present in the episode.   In the episode, Vegeta reads off Gohan's rising battle power as it approaches 2,800; "700... 1,500... 2,400... 2,800". In the manga we only see him say that Gohan's battle power has risen to 2,800.   Chapter 223 ends about 9 minutes into the episode. Chapter 224 – "Son Goku's Quiet Anger"   I can't say that anything of any particular interest was added to or removed from this chapter. This chapter ends about 17 minutes into the episode. Chapter 225 – "Nappa, Completely Helpless!!"   Nappa flailing wildly at Goku has been expanded on somewhat in the anime. Nappa also throws a rock at Goku after Goku knocks him into a boulder.   This chapter ends about 19 minutes into the episode (wow, only two minutes). Chapter 226 – "The Mystery of the Kaio-ken"   The episode ends about 9 pages into this chapter, as Vegeta tells Nappa that he'll just finish Goku off himself. Other Notes   The next episode preview shows Goku using the Kaio-ken and Vegeta's "warming up" routine, indicating that the next episode will cover the rest of chapter 226 to at least chapter 229.

Original Broadcast Comparison

After a brief recap, the episode begins at the same point as DragonBall Z episode 028, which makes up about two-thirds of the episode, ending right after Goku punches Nappa in the gut, saying "That was for Chaozu". The last third of the episode is comprised of the first half of DragonBall Z episode 029. So overall, we covered one and a half episodes of DragonBall Z. A lot of the major filler scenes from these episodes have been removed. The most notable scenes removed include: Uranai Baba arriving at Kame House, a flashback of Chaozu self-destructing, and both scenes with everyone at Kame House using Uranai Baba's crystal ball to watch the battle. As always, most scenes have been cut down with minor shots being removed, such as scenes with redundant dialogue, unneeded starring, landscape shots, or anything that can be considered padding. I haven't really mentioned much about the technical aspects of the series so far, but after watching this episode, I think it's something that needs to be addressed. Now, I will say that some of this may seem a tad nitpicky, but it's there and you don't have to be an expert to notice it, so it should be noted. You yourself may not have an issue with it, but I think it should be mentioned none the less. Throughout all of the episodes so far, Toei has used a blending effect to basically blur two frames together to make the older animation seem smoother during quick paced scenes. The only problem with this is that you lose detail and it can create a ghosting effect. One particular scene stood out to me in this episode, where Piccolo jumps in front of Gohan to save him from Nappa's massive ki blast. As the attack hits Piccolo, the screen flashes between being dark and bright, as well as Gohan's hair flapping. Because of the blending effect used in DragonBall Kai, the flashing is completely lost and Gohan's hair doesn't appear to flap at all. Be sure to hover your mouse over the images to really get the full effect. DragonBall Z DragonBall Kai You'll notice that the flashing in the DragonBall Kai screen shot really has vanished due to the blending of frames and that moving your mouse over the image really doesn't have much effect. It almost looks like nothing has happened, especially in comparison to the DragonBall Z screen shot, which is pretty much how that entire scene looks animated. What a shame... Meanwhile, the ghosting effect I mentioned earlier can get pretty bad at times. Here's a quick example of Nappa trying to hit Goku. In the DragonBall Z footage, you can clearly see each frame, but in DragonBall Kai, everything seems be completely blended together and the ghost of the previous frame is still visible. It just looks like a big mess. DragonBall Z DragonBall Kai Finally, this is something I'd knew we'd have to talk about sooner or later, but the differences in animation styles was very obvious in this episode. As most fans know, the animation style changes throughout the series. So it should be no surprise that when you combine these different styles together in one episode, it becomes rather obvious. These differences are attributed to each episode having different animation supervisors, who have different artistic styles and abilities. Maeda Minoru was the animation supervisor for DragonBall Z episode 028, while Uchiyama Masayuki handled episode 029. Here are two screen shots of Goku from each episode that really show the different animation styles. Ironically, these shots are almost back-to-back in DragonBall Kai, making the difference even more noticeable. DragonBall Z Episode 028 Maeda Minoru DragonBall Z Episode 029 Uchiyama Masayuki In the end, Maeda Minoru will always get my vote as one of the best animators in the series! Not to say that Uchiyama Masayuki is bad, but come on. I mean, there's a reason why Maeda Minoru was the chief animator for both DragonBall and DragonBall Z. Needless to say, I'm sure we'll have many more issues like this as the series progresses. Original Material Length: 27 minutes, 54 seconds Material Cut: 8 minutes, 34 seconds (~31%) Total Material Cut So Far: 5 hours, 19 minute, 0 seconds (~58%) Altered Material   After protecting Gohan from Nappa's massive ki attack, he tells him to run, which has been re-animated.   Piccolo's flashback of his time spent training with Gohan has been re-colored to signify it as a flashback. In addition, the scenes used were different than those originally used in DragonBall Z.   After Piccolo falls to the ground, the screen pans across Nappa, who says that he accidentally killed him out of order. Nappa has been re-animated in this scene.   As Goku approaches on Kinto-Un, he notices someone's energy is fading fast. All of the close-up shots of Goku's face have been re-animated. In the shot shown below, you'll notice that the dramatic horizontal focus lines have been removed.   As Piccolo dies, Kami-sama begins to fade away. An overhead shot of Mister Popo and Kami-sama has been re-animated.   As Nappa raises his foot to crush Gohan, we see a re-animated scene of Krillin closing his eyes and gritting his teeth in despair.   The quick shot of Goku walking by Vegeta to check if Piccolo is still alive has been re-animated. It appears that the shot was only re-animated to remove Vegeta's brown hair.   Nappa gloating to Goku about how the "little runt" blew himself up, to no effect, has been re-animated, along with Goku shaking his fist in rage at Nappa's declaration.   The shot of Goku's feet as he walks toward Nappa has been re-animated to correct Goku's boots, which were missing stripes down the toe. You'll notice that a tie has been added to the string around the boot, which is a nice touch as that is how it appears later in the series. However, all other close-up shots of Goku's boots in this episode don't have this tie, making them an unneeded addition to this correction.   Again, Vegeta has been re-animated to remove his brown hair as he watches Goku walk away from Nappa with Gohan on Kinto-Un.   After Goku finishes powering up, the pan shot from him to Vegeta and Nappa has been re-animated.   Most of the initial scene with Nappa trying to kick Goku has been re-animated. Some extra effects have also been added and many of the original frames that don't quite match up with the new ones.   The over head shot of Nappa bending over in extreme pain after Goku punches him in the stomach has been re-animated.   After Nappa takes Vegeta's advice and calms down, the panning shot from Goku to Nappa has been re-animated.   The shots of Goku and Nappa starring each other down as the wind blows by have been re-animated.

Music/Voice Performance Comparison

Coming soon...

Cast Credits

Japanese Translated 孫悟空 \ 野沢雅子 Son Goku \ Nozawa Masako 孫悟飯 / Son Gohan / クリリン ： 田中真弓 Krillin ： Tanaka Mayumi   ピッコロ ： 古川登志夫 Piccolo : Furukawa Toshio ミスター・ポポ ： 川津泰彦 Mister Popo : Kawadu Yasuhiko ベジータ ： 堀川りょう Vegeta : Horikawa Ryou ナッパ ： 稲田　徹 Nappa : Inada Tetsu   神様 ： 青野　武 Kami-sama : Aono Takeshi ナレーション ： 八奈見乗児 Narration : Yanami Jouji

Opening Credits

Japanese Translated 企画 ： 松崎容子 Planning : Matsuzaki Youko 森下孝三 Morishita Kouzou   原作 ： 鳥山　明 Original Author : Toriyama Akira 「Dragonball」集英社刊 "DragonBall" Published by Shueisha   プロデュサー ： 情野誠人 Producer : Jouno Makoto 木村京太郎 Kimura Kyotaro 小原康平 Obara Kouhei   音楽 ： 山本健司 Music : Yamamoto Kenji   オープニングテーマ Opening Theme 「Dragon Soul （ドラゴン・ソウル）」 "Dragon Soul" 作詞 ： 吉元由美 Lyrics : Yoshimoto Yumi 作曲 ： 岩崎貴文 Composition : Iwasaki Takafumi 編曲 ： 京田誠一 Arrangement : Kyouda Seiichi 唄 ： 谷本貴義 Vocals : Tanimoto Takayoshi （コロムビアミュージックエンタテインメント） (Columbia Music Entertainment)   エンディングテーマ Ending Theme 「Yeah! Break! Care! Break! （ヤ・ブレ・カ・ブレ）」 "Yeah! Break! Care! Break!" 作詞 ： 森　由里子 Lyrics : Mori Yuriko 作曲 ： 岩崎貴文 Composition : Iwasaki Takafumi 編曲 ： 京田誠一 Arrangement : Kyouda Seiichi 唄 ： 谷本貴義 Vocals : Tanimoto Takayoshi （コロムビアミュージックエンタテインメント） (Columbia Music Entertainment)   製作担当 ： 風間厚徳 Production Supervisor : Kazama Atsunori   制作協力 ： 東映 Production Coordination : Toei   制作 ： フジテレビ Production : Fuji TV 東映アニメーション Toei Animation

Ending Credits

Japanese Translated 脚本 ： 戸田博史 Scenario : Toda Hiroshi 隅沢克之 Sumisawa Katsuyuki   シリーズ構成協力 ： 佐渡和隆 Series Organization : Sato Kazutaka キャラメル・ママ Caramel Mama   声の出演 ： ～～～～ Voice Performances : [ See Above ]   協力 ： 青二プロ In Cooperation With : Aoni Productions   「ドラゴンボールZ」演出 ： 岡崎　稔 "DragonBall Z" Director : Okazaki Minoru 上田芳裕 Ueda Yoshihiro   オープニング・エンディング ： 山室直儀 Opening/Ending : Yamamuro Naoyoshi 長峯達也 Nagamine Tatsuya 志田直俊 Shida Naotoshi 後藤康徳 Gotou Yasunori   編集 ： 片瀬健太 Editing : Katase Kenta 編集協力 ： 古庄賢太郎 （パセリプロモーション） Editing Assistance : Furushou Kentarou (Parsley Promotion)   音響監督 ： 長崎行男 Sound Supervisor : Nagasaki Yukio   録音 ： 伊東光晴 Recording : Itou Mitsuharu 録音助手 ： 新垣未希 Recording Assistant : Arakaki Miki   オリジナルサウンド ： エフェクトデザイン ： 新井秀徳 （フィズサウンド） Original Sound : Effect Design : Arai Hidenori (Fizz Sound)   録音スタジオ ： タバック Recording Studio : TAVAC   音楽協力 ： 八木　仁 Music Assistance : Yagi Hitoshi 川口真太郎 Kawaguchi Shintarou 小西岳夫 Konishi Takeo 宮下令文 Miyashita Reibun   HD演出協力 ： 門田英彦 HD Production : Coordination : Kadota Hidehiko   演出助手 ： 小山保徳 Assistant Director : Koyama Yasunori   広報 ： 鈴木麻衣子　（フジテレビ） Public Relations : Suzuki Maiko (Fuji TV) 堀毛敦子 Horike Atsuko   デジタルマスタリング ： キュー・テック Digital Mastering : Q-TEC   HD編集 ： 塚田徹郎 HD Editing : Tsukada Tetsurou 本田裕樹 Honda Yuuki   デジタルマスタリング協力 ： 小林宣弘 Digital Mastering : Assistance : Kobayashi Nobuhiro   演出 ： 野渡康弘 Director : Nowata Yasuhiro

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