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, 03 November 2003 ]
[ Past "Ask VegettoEX" Archives ]

Q. Hello, been a fan of your site for years. Anyway, I was just wondering but... how come you've only written one editorial since you re-opened so far? Don't get me wrong, your site still rocks, but back in the day you used to write editorials all the time that talked about DB and anime in America and other stuff and I kind of miss those. - Busta Rythm

A. There's actually a pretty easy answer to this... there's not much to talk about, anymore. DBZ is essentially done being recorded (with the exception of the first two seasons and five more movies), DBGT is more than halfway done (and mattering NOT to most of the fans), and DB's completely done (minus a possible redubbing of movie 1 and DVD releases of movies 1-2).

All in all, that's a good vast majority of the series that's DONE and has been released. There's not all that much more to rant about it all. I've been a fan of the series for about seven years now; I've said most of what I wanted to say :P. At this point, I'm really just enjoying creating all these nice data-banks of information that people can really put to use, along with Julian.

I actually did just write a really basic editorial called "The Dislike of DragonBall... Grounds or Not Grounds?" for my college's anime club's website. I'll probably put up a slightly longer version of that up in the near future, here on Daizenshuu EX.

Good question, though! Hope I made some sense of the answer, for you.

Q. What do the romanized words in "We Gotta Power" mean? - Stan Samuels

A. Umm... it's just really bad Engrish for "We have power" or "We have got the power" or "We own power" or something more along those lines that doesn't sound as stupid :P. - VegettoEX

Addendum: Actually, Mike, I don't think you understand what he's talking about. ^_^; You're obviously referring to the "NO-TEN P-KAN" and such from the lyrics, right? In that case, I can help you. They're all (at least as far as I can tell) little Japanese words that don't really mean anything in the context of the song; they're just there for effect.

In "NO-TEN P-KAN," "noten" means "open air" or "top of the head," while "P-KAN," as far as I can tell, isn't really a word. In "IPPAI OPPAI," "ippai" means "one cup" or "full of," and "oppai" means "breasts" (and please, no perverted jokes). Finally, in "RA-MEN ROPPAI," "ramen" is a kind of food (I'm sure you've heard of it), while "roppai" means "six cups." None of them really fit to make a phrase, which is why I didn't bother to translate them on the lyrics sheet.

So...I hope that answer was a little more informative than Mike's. :P - Julian

Q. Here's a good 'un (at least, in my opinion):

Involving the fight with Goku and Piccolo against Raditz, Goku eventually grabs Raditz' tail, rendering him powerless, right? As long as Goku holds his tail, Raditz can't seem to even lift a finger to stop him, right?Now, let's jump to the end of the fight, after Raditz tricks Goku to let him go, and just after Gohan intervenes. Raditz is about to kill Gohan, when Goku grabs Raditz in a Full-Nelson, and yells at Piccolo to unleash his attack. Piccolo then asks Goku why he doesn't simply grab Raditz' tail again, and Goku replies with "Cuz, if he knows it, he'll cut his tail off!", to which Raditz replies "You know?!".

My question is, what exactly did Goku mean by that? Raditz also seemed to fully understand the "secret" that Goku was talking about (as shown in his reply). I don't believe it's ever shown in the manga or anime, but did Goku mean it's possible for a Saiya-jin to simply "make" his tail detach when no other option is available? At first I thought he meant that the Saiya-jin would simply chop his tail off with his hand, but they can't seem to move in the slightest when their tail is being squeezed (which is why I brought up that part with Raditz at the start of this email). Goku might've forgotten about that when he first grabbed Raditz' tail, meaning that (since Raditz knows about it, too) Raditz would've waited for Piccolo to unleash his attack (if Goku wouldn't listen to his pleas), quickly make his tail detach (with no other option to save himself available), and be free to attack them. It seems that after Gohan's attack, the memory of the "detachment trick" could've come back to Goku, resulting in him not taking a chance with grabbing Raditz' tail again (a smart move indeed, since, like I've stated, Raditz' apparently knows the trick), and grabbing him in a Full-Nelson instead. If this Saiya-jin tail trick exists at all, it seems to be a last resort for the captive Saiya-jin.

Yeesh, sorry to go on and on, but this has been bugging me for the longest time, and I wanted to cover all information given in the manga. Any speculation on all this would be great. Maybe I've missed something, but this is the most sense that I can make out of the tiny bit of dialogue that Piccolo, Goku, and Raditz exchange regarding this subject in the manga. - Clay Reynolds

A. Argh, you just HAD to send a question that would make me THINK, didn't you?! Why couldn't it be a nice and easy one like about "We Gotta Power" ?! ;_;

You've got a good point, though... it makes no sense. I, too, would assume that it just meant that Raditz would cut his own tail off. But... you're right... wouldn't he be unable to move?

*scratches head* I can only assume that it's just a poorly-worded scene. Maybe he would have somehow mustered the strength to swipe at his tail and cut it off, but it's pretty unlikely, judging by the way he moves in the scene (which is, needless to say... he can't move very well).

So yeah. It doesn't make much sense, so it's probably just badly worded :P.

That's all we can manage for this week! We're out of left-over questions (and newly submitted ones), so... e-mail us your questions for next week's update! No matter which one of us ends up answering, you're sure to get your money's worth (and don't complain if you don't, 'cuz you didn't spend anything anyway)!

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