In Response to "The Uninformed Strike Back"
By StarChld14
This is in response to The Uninformed Strike Back. No, this isn't hate
mail. It's just an editorial to debate a few points and answer a few questions.
First of all, the reason dubbies are looked down on is they always pretend to know much
more than they actually do. They will tell you up front that they're absolutely certain
the Cell Jr. in the box of mini figured is Frieza and no amount of other proof will
convince them otherwise. I know. I've tried. Even showing them the name on the box doesn't
help. They've watched the CN episodes, they know a Frieza when they see him. It's this
boasting that makes well researched DBZ fans hate the dubbers.
Yes, subtitled tapes are often bad quality, yet if you actually try, you can find A++
quality tapes at dirt cheap prices. It just takes a little looking. And being able to spot
Goku's hair from a few blocks away on a store sign. I know this personally. And that about
not wanting to rent a movie that will be on TV in a few weeks is not true. More like not
wanting to rent a movie you know won't be out for at least a year or so. And then when it
is on TV, it's all cut up. You say they're censoring violence for American viewers, but
then why all the stupid censors? In a scene, Gohan cries big anime tears and they're cut
out. Is it considered dangerously violent to cry now? And what about the crucial part of
explaining Kami and Piccolo's relationship? That was essential to the plot and not a bit
violent, yet it was still cut.
Next you talk about how knowing what happens next ruins the watching experience. Well, it
doesn't. I sat down to watch Death of a Prince knowing full well Vegeta dies. Heck, it
even says he dies in the freaking title. I still cried at the touching speech Goku made
when he buried Vegeta and when Vegeta was talking while he was dying. And talking about a
dubbie having no clue about Goku turning Super Saiyan, that's like a guy not knowing that
Christmas is going to be saved in Ernist Saves Christmas. I mean the opening song has a
shot of Goku turning Super Saiyan! Goku's "The Good Guy" you know that Frieza
isn't going to win and destroy the universe and then the end. You know that somehow Goku's
going to win. Put that together with the covers of the tapes and the image in the opening
song and you're not going to come up with "Kaio-ken times 300" or "Goku
dies and Frieza wins" You're going to know he goes Super Saiyan and trashes Frieza.
Now for FUNimation. Yes, they have messed up DBZ, no doubt about it. Season 3 is the worst
voice wise. They basically have two people doing voices. One doing all the male, the other
doing all the female. That's just wrong. No matter how someone changes their voice, you
can tell it's the same person.
The names thing is a little too picky to me. If it's pronounced the same, what does it
matter how it's spelled?
The new opening theme song just sucks. I'm sorry, but it does. It has 8 words, that's it.
It's no fun to sing along with. It's no fun to try and memorize. Yes, Cha La Head Cha La
is too long to be a good American opening song, that's why you use the remix version. Much
shorter, a catchier beat. Yet still not obnoxious.
"1) If Radditz was ever brought back (why is that?) and he trained hard
enough, if he went SSJ, would he automatically go SSJ 3 because of his hair
length? Would his hair grow incredibly short? If not and he only went SSJ,
then if he went SSJ 2, would his hair grow even longer than Goku's at SSJ 3?
C'mon... " He would go SSJ first, not SSJ3 because the Super Saiyan levels are based
on power, not hair. Hair is only a physical sign of the power upgrade.
"2) Allright, what the hell is Vegeta saying? "I'll just use my (insert name
here) and blow the whole thing up!" Is it Gallet, Gallick, Galaxy,
Garlic...what the hell is the name of his Gun?!" Gahriko-Ho is the phonically written
version according to VIZ
"3) On a similar note, why can't anyone agree on a universal name for
somebody? Goku/Gokuu/Gokuh? Vegeta/Vegita/Bejeeta? Brolly/Broili/Buroli?
Freeza/Freiza/Freezer? Saiya-Jin/Saiyan? Radditz/Raditz? The only way I
know how to resolve this is by using the FUNimation names because they are
the only ones that remain consistent. That would mean Goku would stay Goku
(not Gokuh or Gokuu), Vegeta would be Vegeta (Not Vegita or Bejeeta), and
Freiza would remain Freiza (Not Freeza or Freezer). This all came about
because of fansubs, so its best to stay with the people who make the show
(FUNimation and Saban)." The reason there are so many versions of each name is that
Japanese has a totally different alphabet. So people spell the names like they sound.
However, a few names you have to be a "boastful dubbie" to mess up. Trunks is
pretty standard, Goten, Chi-Chi, and Bra are as well. What I wanna know is why the hell
people insist of calling Bulma Buruma. Akira Toriyama gave us her name in English and
spelled it Bulma. It's on her shirt for most of Dragonball. In both manga and cartoon.
It's like calling someone with a nametag the wrong name. It's just stupid.
"4) Why is it when everyone makes a list of Saiya-Jins that survived the
Planet Vegeta's destruction no one includes Turles (Taurus)? We always hear
Goku, Vegeta, Nappa, Radditz, Brolly and Paragus survive, but never Taurus?
Also, are Goku and Turles related? Tree Of Might does not give a very good
explanation. "We are both lower class soldiers." I'm also a college
student, but I don't look like the person that sits beside me in Physics.
The similarity has to be twins. Is it? Clone maybe? Just don't say
coincidence!" Heck if I know. Maybe they forget. And about the twins part, heck if I
know. Bardock could have been sowing some wild lettuce (minor joke, Bardock means lettuce)
back in the old days. I just think the animators thought an "evil twin" episode
would be pretty cool.
"5) Vegeta goes Super Saiya-Jin, but doesn't have a pure heart. He once
said, "Its pure...PURE EVIL!" Does that apply? Does the person have to be
pure good? Can they be pure evil and go SSJ? ARGH!" Who said you have to have a pure
heart? A boastful dubbie I bet. I sure haven't found a record of Toriyama saying that.
"6) Why doesn't Raditz get the accolades he deserves? He is a person in DBZ
that beat the living hell out of BOTH Piccolo and Goku, then ends up
(inadvertently) killing Goku! Freiza couldn't kill Goku. Cell kills Goku,
but only because Goku wants it that way (And I still believe he could have
teleported out of there in time) and Gohan has to save Goku's bacon...again!
I mean, can he get a little bit more respect? He is called a weakling and
a coward. Not so. He took on Piccolo and Goku head on and almost won if
Gohan hadn't saved them." He's an intro character. He's just there to show how evil
and nasty the saiyans are. He serves no other purpose other than to inform. Once he has
done so, there's no need of him.
"7) Why wasn't Raditz ever wished back to life? I'm sure if Vegeta could
reform than Raditz could too. Also, why does Raditz lie to Goku by saying
Planet Vegeta was hit by a comet, rather than say Freiza blew it up? He
knew about it- Vegeta told him and Nappa!" It was impossible to wish Raditz back to
life. He had one shot at life before the 1 year time limit ran out. The same time Goku was
wished back to life. But he couldn't then. The Z gang didn't need another evil saiyan
running around causing trouble when they had Vegeta and Nappa to deal with. After that the
time limit was up. And Raditz told Goku that the planet Vegeta was hit by a comet because
he thought that. Vegeta didn't learn the truth until Dadoria told him on Namek.
"8) Why couldn't Shen Lon destroy the Saiyans? Don't tell me he can't grant
a wish that exceeds Kami's power! If he can bring people back from the
dead, he should be able to bump somebody off." Kami is a Dragon/Healing type Namek.
Technically, bringing someone back to life is healing. So that's within his power. Killing
someone more powerful than you is a warrior type thing.
"9) Are people on DBZ as stupid as they really seem? Did NOBODY have the
idea to take Dende back to Freiza's ship to heal Goku so that the battle
might have went differently? He would have still gone SSJ (If he didn't
kill Freiza before Freiza hit Form 4) and Krillin got bumped off." Once they found
out about it they were kinda in the middle of a battle. Then Dende got killed.
"10) Okay, how in God's name (Or should I say Kami's name?) does Goku and
Vegeta keep their hair standing? Goku trains in 100 TIMES EARTH'S NORMAL
GRAVITY and his hair stays up. He stays submerged in water of nearly an
hour and it still stands up! Vegeta trains in 300 TIMES EARTH'S NORMAL
GRAVITY and his hair still stays straight! What the hell?!" Toriyama wants it that
way, his word is law. Though personally I actually know, Anime Magic. The same force that
keeps the Sailor Scouts looking Beauty Contest perfect, Pokemon from ever actually dying,
and the Ranma characters from changing when they sweat.
"11) Does it bother anybody that Vegeta and Bulma never get married? They
have a kid and Miari Trunks says, "They never got married...I don't think
mom liked that idea." Did they end up getting married?!" I've heard that they do
eventually. I don't know. Marriage is probably a human concept anyway.
"12) Does SSJ 4 even qualify as Super Saiya-Jin? The hair doesn't turn gold,
their get evil eyes, a tail pops out and they grow red fur! They also
become insanely powerful. So...is SSJ 1-3 really Super Saiya-Jin or is SSJ
4 not? Does SSJ 4 make you a legendary Super Saiya-Jin?" I can answer that in two
letters. G T. GT was not made by Toriyama, there are many many impossible things in GT.
Don't even try to make sense of it.
*13) What the hell is up with Ultra Super Saiya-Jin? This is supposedly a
form between SSJ and SSJ 2 that only Miari Trunks and Brolly achieve.
Wouldn't it stand to reason since it is a new form that it should be
classified as SSJ 2, bringing the count of SSJ forms to 5? And its a form
that increases your power but decreases your speed...whatever. I didn't see
Brolly's speed decrease when he was beating the hell out of every DBZ
character.* Mirai Trunks and Vegeta and maybe a couple other people go Ultra, Ultimate,
whatever. It's considered a half form because it's not really a complete transformation I
believe. Like when Frieza first "transforms" by growing taller and getting rid
of the armor. That's not counted as a transformation. Brolly is a movie character.
"14) You always hear of Gotenks going SSJ then SSJ 3. Does he hit SSJ 2?
Why does he get to skip it?!" If you can go right to three, why bother with two?
"15) Could we come up with a longer name for Cell? Ultra Perfect Cell
doesn't seem good enough." Could be "Mr. Satan's Super Ultra Megaton Punch"
Long names are funny, Get over it.
"16) Why doesn't Gohan turn SSJ when he is Super Saiyaman? It would be a lot
easier to conceal his identity with a new hair color and new eye color.
When he fights the giant demon creature he shoots at it, but not as SSJ!
WHY?!" He does, you saw movie 13, that's a movie. It doesn't count. Anyway Gohan got
a power upgrade so he can be more powerful than SSJ without transforming.
"17) Gohan is rumored to be the most powerful person in DBZ..that lasts until
he hits SSJ 2. Why? This is the kid that had a powerlevel that nearly
quadrupled his dad's power when he got mad! But he can't be bothered to go
SSJ 3? School ain't that important. Is Goten and Trunks as powerful as he
is? They hit SSJ at an early age." SSJ3 isn't all it's cracked up to be. In the manga
you can only power up in SSJ3 if your dead. Otherwise trying to power up just knocks you
back regular. Non-powered SSJ3 is only a little more powerful than SSJ2.
"18) Why does Gohan's tail keep growing back? Does it quit when he gets
older? Is it because he is human/Saiyan? Why doesn't Trunks have a tail?
Or Goten? How come?!" Gohan's like his daddy, his tail has a mind of it's own. It
grows back when and if it feels like it. Goten and Trunks either had their tails removed
at birth or had the human no-tail gene.
Hope you enjoyed my answers.