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: Saturday, 20 December 2003 ]
[ Past "Ask VegettoEX" Archives ]

Q. I know that Akira Toriyama originally wnated to end the manga at the end of the Freeza saga, but he was pressured into making more, but not before taking a break for a while. What I want to know is what chapter of the manga was the last one he finished before he took this break? - moonmagi _

A. Umm... as far as I know, he didn't get a break. Aside from double-issues of Jump that covered two weeks, he wrote DragonBall on a more-or-less weekly basis from late 1984 to May 1995. He may have been able to get one or two weeks, but it doesn't seem likely that he would have gotten much time off from drawing a popular series (keep in mind that he drew the better part of Goku's climactic showdown with the young Demon King Piccolo while he had the flu!). The first real "break" Toriyama would have gotten was when he ended the series in 1995. Sorry. - Julian

Q. What in the world is Piccolo saying in the song "Kuchibue no Kimochi (Piccolo)" ? - Katie C.

A. At first, he's complaining for Gohan to stop the awful racket because it really hurts, getting more and more pained and insistent as the song goes on... then it changes, and he starts laughing and talking about the little baby chickens, and how they go "peep-peep," etc. Yep, he goes crazy... - Julian

Q. What has Akira Toriyama been up to lately? - Mike

A. Well... since a year ago, he's been drawing new covers for the re-released kanzenban edition of the DragonBall manga; he wrote a children's picture book entitled Toccio the Angel, which was released in January; and he wrote a sequel to his one-shot DragonBall parody Neko Majin Z (aptly titled Neko Majin Z 2), which appeared in Monthly Jump this past September. Aside from that, he's also been giving interviews to magazines like the domestic Shonen Jump and German Banzai! magazines (as well as for new DragonBall-related books), and even made a public appearance in the US to promote the American release of Shonen Jump.

In his free time, he's also been putting together WWII military model kits, and reading the manga One Piece (which his children introduced him to); because of the latter, he now has something of a friendship (or at least a "mutual fan" relationship) with its creator, Eiichirô Oda. All in all, 2003 has actually been a pretty busy year for him, considering the usual, laid-back attitude that he's had since he finished DragonBall.

Here's a breakdown of his manga since the end of DragonBall in 1995:

• Cowa! (1997)
• Kajika (1998)
• Sandland (2000)
• Toccio the Angel (picture book; 2003)
• Neko Majin (sporadic one-shots; 2001-present)

- VegettoEX & Julian

Q. I have a musical question. When I was downloading dbz mp3's off a certain site, I came across EverAnime's bootleg CD DragonBall GT (with all the live performances). I have 115 Anime mp3's on my computer (And a large amount of which are DB/Z/GT), and one is Forever~ from the Never Ending Story CD set, by Kageyama Hironobu. On the live bootleg was Forever~ LIVE Version, so I decided to check it out. It is certainly not the same song, though is also more slow-paced and by Hironobu-san. I thought maybe the site labeled it wrong, but after checking your "Music Database" I noticed it was listed as the same. I am curious... why does this song have the same title, from same anime, and by same artist... but is a totally different song? I would appreciate it much if you could give an answer to this. Thank you very much. I also really enjoy your site. Keep up the good work!! - Suupaa Gohan 2

A. I hate to have to state the obvious, but if you purchase the actual CDs, you're not going to run into this kind of problem. That's kinda common sense ^^;;. I constantly see the Never Ending Story CDs at conventions, despite it being such an old set.

At the same time, I don't have a simple answer to your question. I own all of the CDs in question, so I can pretty much guarantee you that the ACTUAL "For Ever~" (Disc 2, Track 12, Never Ending Story) is, in fact, the exact same song on the live performance disc (EverAnime's DragonBall GT, track 11; Dragon '98 Special LIVE, track 7).

Something that may also be of interest is a song that was going around for quite a long time under the title of "Forever." For the longest time, for some reason, one of the ending themes to the PlayStation game Final Bout was going around with the title "Forever" (not the upbeat "Thank You"; the other, slower one sung by Hironobu). The song is ACTUALLY called "Kimi o Wasurenai" ("I Won't Forget You").

So what did you end up? Sounds like mis-labelled MP3s, yeah. Just because someone rips a song doesn't mean they know what it's supposed to be called ^^;;. They probably ripped some songs, forgot which tracks they were, don't actually know what they're talking about, and gave the wrong titles to tracks. - VegettoEX

Q. I'm sorry if i may be offending you but, I am only sending this to you to point out some errors I perceived while reading your synopsis. The only reason i'm and doing this is because Broly (Burori) is my favorite Dragon Ball Z character and I did not want simple error to make this movie look bad. First of all you hsould stick with one name not have it say Broly clearly at the top and in your synopsis have it typed Broli. Also you stated "Goku is summoned out of his meeting by Kaiô-sama, who tells him that a galaxy has already been taken over, with his coming next!" Before you would write the english name in parenthesies, however, in your second paragraph you simply wrote "Kaiô-sama". You should let your readers who arn't potentially intelligent enough to understand thats King Kai know that it is by following your patter and stating it like this Kaiô-sama (King Kai). - Daniel B.

A. In everything we write on the site, we try to use the "correct" spellings (or very close adaptations of those spellings), regardless of what FUNimation uses.

The official title for FUNimation's release of movie eight contains the name "Broly," which is why it is written out as such when referring to FUNimation's release. We, however, spell the name "Broli," due to the name being a pun on the vegetable "broccoli." The spelling of "Broly" does not accurately portray this pun, thus our spelling of "Broli."

As for "Kaiô-sama"... well... that's his name. While "King Kai" is actually one of FUNimation's better translations, we prefer to NOT translate honorifics (especially in the case of Kaiô-sama, where the "ô" can mean "king," and "sama" can mean along the lines of "lord"... it would be very redundant and silly sounding).

I'm sorry if you are displeased with our spellings, but rest assured, we've been fans of the show for many years, and we would not spell names certain ways without taking everything into consideration. You'll also notice that we only use FUNimation spellings (when they differ from our own) when specifically quoting one of their titles.

Julian is actually currently working on an extremely in-depth name / spelling / pronunciation / pun guide, which will hopefully (in the future) allow you to even more fully understand where we're coming from when we spell names the way we do.

It really boils down to FUNimation making changes to the names, and since we base everything off the original Japanese version, we have no reason to base our information off of what they provide fans with. If this confuses fans, so be it... we're the ones providing the most accurate information, not FUNimation.

Like I said, though, hopefully our "names" guide will (in the future) showcase just how extensive and seriously we take things like spellings. Daizenshuu EX is geared towards the older fans who already know a great deal about the series, and are looking to increase their knowledge in areas that most sites just don't have the experience and knowledge to cover. At the same time, I do believe we provide enough information for even the "newbie" fans to find useful and accurate information.

Again, thanks for writing, and I hope that clears things up. - VegettoEX

Q. Ive been watching both english, subtitle and fansubtitles of DBZ movie 8 Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan. as ive been watching Funi seems to be following the fansubbed version of the movie since most of it was correct with a few changes. now when i watched the official subbed version most of it was right from the fansubbed until i got to Broly's famous quote "Monster no im the devil". from here on out the offical subbed was nothing like the fansubbed version. im kinda wondering which subtitled version is correctly done. im presuming the offical sub is but im just so used to the fansubbed version and Funi's english translation is so much like the fansubbed version i had of that movie. i kinda want to know what is up with the script of this movie. - FusionHA2071

A. Please, please, please... when you write to us, USE CORRECT GRAMMAR. At first, I tried correcting the grammar and ending up almost re-writing the entire question; I figured it would be funnier if I just left it as-is. PLEASE be respectful and take your questions seriously... type properly. I just don't understand... don't you people realize how un-readable your questions are when they're written like this?!

Anyway...

Yeah, "Monster? No, I'm the devil," is a pretty infamous fansub quote passed down through the ages of DragonBall fandom. Here's what Broli actually says in Japanese:

(Burorî) Mata ippiki mushikera ga shini ni kita ka?
(Pikkoro) Fun! Bakemono me...suki ni shiro!
(Burorî) Ore ga bakemono? Chigau. Ore wa akuma da!

Here's how Steve "Daimao" Simmons translated it for the subtitle script:

(Broli) So another worm has come here to die?
(Piccolo) Hmph, do as you like, you freak!
(Broli) I am a freak? Not so. I am a devil!

Here's how FUNimation re-wrote it for the dub:

(Broly) A little green bug has come to get squashed.
(Piccolo) You usually pick on the children first?
(Broly) I do what needs to be done. What do you expect from a true freak?

Here's how we would translate it:

(Broli) Has another insect come to die?
(Piccolo) Hmph! You damned monster, do as you please!
(Broli) I'm a monster? No... I'm a devil!

Basically, the dubbed script is pretty far off (yet not too bad for a FUNi-written script, at the same time), but the actual translation for the subtitle script is pretty accurate. As always, make sure you've got the correct subtitle track on when you're watching it in Japanese! Hopefully that clears things up! - Julian & VegettoEX

Q. I've been to your "DVD Guide" (which is excellent and informative, by the way) and was wondering: you mention on the Ginyu discs that the sub becomes "completely uncut" after those two discs. Now, my question is, the dub becomes uncut too, correct? I mean, I know that both the sub and dub are both "visually" uncut, but dialogue-wise, is the dub uncut as well, along with the sub? Also, does this hold true for DBGT and DB? Thanks for any help you can give me. - Greg Weidel

A. It's rare to get this question... we pretty much just assume, these days, that people know what's up with the dub. The version you've seen on TV is essentially the exact same thing that's the "Uncut" English dub on the VHS / DVD releases. There may be some word changes here and there, but it's really the same thing. Changed dialogue, changed music, watered-down, etc. Now, the dub greatly improved over the years, and tried to stay much closer to the original story and script, but there's no denying that it's a totally different viewing experience from the original Japanese version.

To answer your question very simply... no. There is no such thing as a completely uncut English dub that remains true to the original Japanese script (save for, possibly, the first three DBZ movies when dubbed by FUNimation and distributed by Pioneer). The DragonBall dub comes close (due to its using the original Japanese musical score), but even that has a great deal of dialogue changing (although it's MUCH less than DBZ). DragonBall GT? Uhh... yeah, it's very far off ^^;; - VegettoEX

Q. Why does Goku suddenly have a tan in DBGT, DB 10th, and all post-DBZ drawings of him? - FDLink

A. I'm sure it's just a case of Toei having a new budget, new animation style, and experimenting with different ways of drawing and coloring. With more colors, they could shade more varied flesh tones, and although Akira Toriyama was wildly inconsistent with skin color, he usually gave characters (including Goku) a bit of a tan. So, it seems that they were just seeing what they could do in getting closer to the spirit of Toriyama's own artwork, with their better animation capabilities. - VegettoEX

Q. So I want to hear about Eric Vale calling your mom ^^. - Eric Faris

A. Hehe... this is a toss-back to our question from last week, in which I answered and explained all the different people related to the dub that I've met, mentioning in passing that Eric (Johnson) Vale had talked to my mother on the phone before. It's really not all that funny of a story, but it's kinda cute.

Eric was coming down to Philly to do a signing in conjunction with FUNimation and the DBZ CCG, and wanted to organize some kind of meeting / hanging-out with Meri and I. He passed along his cell number, and told us to give him a call before-hand so we could plan a meeting. Meri gave him a call one night (from my home phone), but didn't get an answer, and left a message. Whatever, we'd try him later.

The next day, my mom calls me to tell me there was a strange call to the house the previous night. This guy, who wasn't me, had called the house (MY home, mind you) looking for Meri. My mom was very suspicious since... well... Meri doesn't live at my house, and there was a strange man calling for her son's girlfriend! She told the man that no, Meri doesn't live there, but she was her son's boyfriend.

I asked my mom if the guy's name was Eric. "Yes!" she said. "That was it." Great, mom. You just talked to Trunks.

ANYWAY, the number showed up on Eric's cell phone when he missed the call, and he just assumed that Meri had been calling from her own phone. When he called that number back, he got my mom... and so the story pretty much ends :P. Like I said, it's not really funny, but it's kinda cute. - VegettoEX

Q. Why weren't most of the DBZ movies written into the TV series/Manga continuity? - Stan Samuels

A. Probably just because they were made for fun, and that just seems to be the standard for movies based on pre-existing anime TV series. Look at Escaflowne; the movie had nothing to do with the TV series. Look at One Piece; it follows the DBZ style of movies, and just plops them whenever they're convenient. Remember that the DBZ movies were made for animation festivals, and not everyone attending the festival was going to be a DBZ fan; I'm sure they wanted to create stand-alone movies that anyone could just sit and watch without needing to know not only who all the characters were, but also where in some sort of other continuity it was taking place! - VegettoEX

Q. During his fight with Freeza, Goku receives some "pep talk" from the ghosts of Vegeta, Vegeta's father, and Bardock. I always found it strange that Raditz didn't appear during that scene. Sure, Raditz kidnapped Gohan and tried to kill him, but one would think that Goku would feel more of a connection to Raditz than to the father he never even met. On a related note, do you think that Goku ever forgave Raditz? For the most part, Goku always forgave his opponents, or at least came to understand them. Did he do the same for his brother? - Matt Herrera

A. Raditz ended up being a pretty forgotten character, ne? That's really all I can come up with... they forgot about him. Like you note, Goku's always extremely good about forgiving and understanding his enemies (at least, he was up to that point). I think it's safe to say that he forgave Raditz... but Toriyama & Toei kinda forgot about him :P - VegettoEX

Q. While reading through your whole "Monika Antonelli" editorial-response thing and the Dallas Observer article I got to thinking... that whole "anime snob" comment thing has become pretty infamous since then, kind of like "HFIL" and "next dimension". To your knowledge, has Chris Sabat ever had anything to say in response to reactions to his comment or why he made it? - Tom Delaschle

A. To the best of my knowledge, no. I think it's just a case of someone letting a somewhat derogatory generalization slip out, which happens to everyone. It's years later, and while I agree that it sounded pretty mean-spirited, we can move past it. While I haven't met Sabat, I know that he's always been nice to fans in-person, and has seemed relatively thankful for everyone enjoying the show. - VegettoEX

Q. Hey, I was wondering.... is FUNimation ever going to put the right opening and endings in the Dragon Ball DVD's like they did with Z? Why is it so hard for that company to get Toei to hand over next episode previews and all the correct openings + endings. Its not fair that Japan gets the perfect sets, you know, they get everything else.... - Luis

A. What everyone fails to mention is that it's NOT JUST FUNIMATION that gets "screwed over" by Toei, when it comes to these things. The Sailor Moon DVDs have always been missing the exact same items, whether it be ADV or Pioneer in charge of them. It's not fair, but Toei can do whatever they want with their own properties. FUNimation wasn't given the TV masters for DB, which is why they don't have the correct animations. They were given the TV masters for DBGT, however, which is why they have the correct animations / theme songs / credits. I guess we'll just have to deal... or purchase all the Dragon Boxes. :-/ - VegettoEX

Q. In your rumor guide, you said that the most likely explanation for Gohan not going Super-Saiya-jin after his powerup was because he didn't need to. However, after Buu absorbed Gotenks and Piccolo, he was clearly stronger than Gohan. If he could, wouldn't he have gone Super Saiya-jin then? I was wondering, might it be because:

• The powerup made him unable to transform
• Mystic is his maximum level (meaning that he could still transform, but
  wouldn't be as powerful as mystic)?
• It would make no difference to his power

I was just wondering, since it is never explained in the series - Makaar Dulorn

A. I think you're confusing "didn't need to" with "didn't need to because he was stronger and there was no reason for him to use more strength."

Like your third suggestion notes, it seems that Gohan is just *at the peak of his power* and transformations would make no difference to his power. It seems as if a SSJ transformation would just be wasting needless power, not increasing the amount of available power, and so... well.. he just didn't bother going SSJ. Why waste power when it's already available to you?

You pretty much answered your own question ^^.. and I said the word "power" way too much for one single question x_X;;. - VegettoEX

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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