We all frequent message boards and online forums (such as alt.fan.dragonball), and we all contribute as much as we can. Unfortunately, we don't KNOW of all the places people post questions, so it's impossible for us to reach everyone. However, if you're reading this, you at least know where WE are, so it's possible for you to ask us directly.

What we're going for here is sort of an "Answerman" or "Ask John" (from Anime News Network and Anime Nation, respectively). We'd like you to e-mail in whatever questions you may have, so long as it somehow relates to the world of "DragonBall"; be it the manga, the anime, merchandise... whatever. We've been around for a few years, now, and we know the ropes... we like to think we know our stuff.

And we want to help. E-mail your questions to VegettoEX@aol.com with the subject "Ask VegettoEX." We'll try to update this section every Saturday, with at least one question straight from the fans. Thanks!

[ Last Updated: Sunday, 21 September 2003 ]
(Guest-Starring Julian! Again!)
[ Past "Ask VegettoEX" Archives ]

Q. In the Red Ribbon saga of Dragon Ball, Silver blows up Kinto-Un. Later in Jingle Village an old man tells him that it can't be destroyed. However, when Tambourine blows it up, how come it has to be resurrected? This is a very overlooked problem, so I thought there'd be an explanation. Also, in the Viz manga, all kanji characters are translated, or in the symbols' case, explained. Did the text on all shirts stay the same? For example, Kamesennin has a Pennzoil Lube shirt? was that added in? Is there a way to tell between altered text and original? Thanks for your time, I would be truly grateful if you can answer at least one question. - Jaleel Kahn

A. Good question. Nobody really knows for sure, although it's likely that Tambourine's demonic nature has something to do with it. Just as the souls of those killed by demons wander the earth for eternity, perhaps things that are otherwise invincible can bite the dust at their hands. Of course, that's purely speculation...it could just be that Akira Toriyama forgot about what he wrote previously (as he so often does).

As for the other question, as far as I know, Viz hasn't changed the writing on anyone's clothing in the manga (although they did fix up every single "Red Ribbon" logo so it was spelled correctly). Toriyama frequently used undoctored company names/logos in his manga, although they (obviously) had to be changed for the TV show (the one exception that got by, that I know of, was the Chevy truck that the farmer killed by Raditz drove). In the TV show, it's fairly easy to spot when text has been doctored (jumping around and looking pixellated, as was the case with all the "Satan" signs changed to "Hercule" at the Budôkai), but in the manga, it's often very hard to tell without a Japanese copy to check it against.

But in any case...I hope that sorts things out better for you.

Q. This may be a stupid question, but I would like to call upon you to settle a debate I'm having with a friend of mine. As we all know, after Goku died at the end of the Cell Saga, Gohan became the main character, or something like it, for a short time. Even so, before the Buu saga is over, focus has shifted back to Goku, and he ends up being the hero once again. Now, my friend will swear up and down that Toriyama originally intended for Gohan to take over the spotlight, but put it back on Goku when the fans complained. Is there any basis for this claim, or is this big Gohan fan just blowing smoke out of the holes in his head? - Zinkmeister

A. It's no secret that in DragonBall, a lot of the story's focus (especially into the later DBZ parts) was influenced by the comic's fans, as well as Akira Toriyama's editors at Shônen Jump. For example, at the end of both the Freeza and Cell sagas (where Toriyama-sensei intended to end the series), pressure from fans and editors forced him to continue writing the story. So, it's not too unlikely that complaints caused by Akira Toriyama's sudden shift of main characters caused him to bring back Goku and start the Boo saga (to be fair, though, the Great Saiyaman arc lasted a lot longer in the anime than in the manga). You may notice that the title of DB volume 36 is "Nyû Hîrô Tanjô" (Birth of a New Hero), which makes it pretty clear that Gohan was supposed to become more prominent, anyway. Toriyama-sensei may have even said this himself, at one time, although I personally don't know where (perhaps in one of his interviews for the Daizenshuu books).

Q. I'm just going to point out a mistake you made about the Bardock special It actually is in the manga but shown only briefly. In the seventh tale in the 26th volume, Bardock is shown in two panels and even mentioned by name. - José Gonzalez

A. Actually, that's right...Mike made a mistake in last week's column. Bardock does appear (albeit very briefly) after Freeza realizes that Goku is a Saiyan, and recalls the nameless fighter that tried to stop him from destroying Planet Vegeta. However, the Bardock story didn't originate in the manga. The Bardock special aired on 17 October 1990...but the manga chapter in which he appears wasn't published until sometime in February of 1991. So, this is actually a case of Akira Toriyama borrowing from the anime! Daizenshuu 6 points this out specifically, noting how the first TV special started out as anime, while the second one was originally a special manga chapter. Fate works in mysterious ways, I suppose.

Of course, now Mike's theory about Saiyans in space doesn't work....although I suppose you could argue that they were actually just reeeeaaaally high up in the planet's atmosphere. Or something. Then again, it was still created by Toei, so it doesn't have to make complete sense...

Q. I may be mistaken, but I remember hearing something awhile back (like in 1999) about an "unofficial," Toei-released manga based on DragonBall GT. Did this actually exist, or am I mistaken? - Alex Johnson

A. I know that something exists, because I've seen scans of it...however, I'm not exactly sure where it came from. Amazon Japan only lists 3 DBGT books: the TV Special tankôbon and the two Perfect Files. So, it's possible that these comics actually came from outside of Japan. The scans that I saw were in French, and were of the series itself (so they weren't dôjinshi or anything more apocryphal than GT itself is), but I don't really know if they were French to begin with, either. So...I guess I'm not being much help with this one. In any case, though, it was just a comic made up of screencaps from the anime, so I wouldn't worry too much about what I was missing if I were you.

Q. Here is something that has been bothering me for quite sometime. In the begining of DBZ, when Goku was on Kaiô-sama's planet, he told Goku the story of the Saiya and the Tsfuru and how they once shared a planet, until the Saiya wiped out the Tsfuru. But on my GT DVD, they were saying that the Saiya landed on the Tsfurian planet and took over. My question is, do you know which story is true? - Tasukibabe17

A. Well...actually, neither one of them has to be right...both potential scenarios were created by Toei Animation, and not Akira Toriyama, so neither one has any bearing on the "real" history of Planet Vegeta. Both of them have their flaws, such as how in the first one, Planet Vegeta's own Kami punished the Saiya by destroying the planet with meteors, or how in the second one... well, it's part of GT, so it doesn't really have to make much sense at all.

Either way, Akira Toriyama never really explained the distant past of the Saiya or their planet, other than that they were employed by Freeza and were largely exterminated (along with their planet) by him as well. Since the Tsfuru were never even so much as mentioned in the manga, it could even be argued that Toriyama-sensei never intended them to exist, and that the Saiya had always been the dominant power on the planet. The bottom line here is, don't fret -- the two different stories of the Tsfuru don't have to agree with each other, or the plot of the series in general. They're filler.

That's it for this week! E-mail us your questions for next week's update! I might get stuck doing this again next week...but never fear, for I, Julian, will be happy to answer your burning DB-related questions, until EX gets his lazy ass back on top of things. But anyways, let's keep those questions a-comin'!

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