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, 11 January 2004 ]
[ Past "Ask VegettoEX" Archives ]

Q. Why do DBZ music videos have such a bad reputation? I've seen some really cool ones by Duane Johnson, Scott Melzer, and Aluminum Studios, and they ROCK! Could you recommend some other great DBZ videos as well? - sUpErSAIYAJINJIN007

A. That's a great question, and such a convenient way for me to tie-in a new section! Woo hoo!

Yes, it's true... DBZ music videos are very much looked down upon in the community. It's a shame, because there are some very good videos out there. Why are they looked down upon? Well, for one thing... there's so damn many of them! Whenever a huge amount of ANYTHING floods a "market" (in this case, the viewing of AMVs) it starts to oversaturate and really get on the nerves of people. Because there are so many videos, the number of BAD videos has increased, as well. With so many videos available, it can be very hard to get past these bad videos and honestly watch the genuinely good ones.

So what can I do to help? Maybe recommend a few with the great new "Guide to DragonBall Music Videos" that's premiering right now! Like the front page of the section says... be aware that, by its very nature, it's an extremely biased list. I'm sure you're going to wish some of your favorite videos were on there. I probably know about them, but the way I have the section structured (not to mention because of my own personal opinions!), I can't include every single video ever. These are the ones I really think you should check out.

I hope you enjoy the "DBZ AMV Guide" !! - VegettoEX

Q. When Vegeta's tail was cut off, why didn't it grow back like Goku's and Gohan's? - Emma591

A. It's not exactly clear why this is, but it seems like the best response is that they lose this ability after a certain age, or reaching a certain amount of strength; this would account for Vegeta's (apparent) knowledge that his tail would not grow back, after Yajirobe cut it off early on in DBZ. Vegeta, being an adult of relatively great strength, would be unable to grow his tail back.

Goku had his tail removed "for good" by Kami-sama (who wanted his moon back!), while Gohan just seemed not to grow it back, once Vegeta cut it off during their final battle on Earth (for now, let's ignore DBZ movie 5 ^^). But, at any rate, this is a matter that never is fully resolved in either the series or fan debate about the series. The characters really don't need their tails by this point, anyway (they're strong enough without them!), but it still is interesting to speculate about what would happen if they got them back (which is exactly what happens in DBGT). - VegettoEX & Julian

Q. I've heard a lot of people say things like, "Akira Toriyama originally planned to end the Dragon Ball series after Son Goku and Freeza's fight on Namek". I've also heard other numerous points where the series was originally going to end, but didn't for the sake of the fans and the money that was to be made off of it. Is any of this true, or is it just a rumor? - Andrew

A. It's true... DBZ just became so popular, the series had to continue! If you really look at the events leading up to the end of the Freeza saga, it makes perfect sense. Toriyama has tried MULTIPLE times to throw Gohan into the seat as the protector of Earth, and his attempts on Namek would not be the last. If the series were to end after Freeza's "death" on Namek...

The "Legendary Super Saiyan" would have indeed been crushed, just as the legend had predicted (Goku wouldn't have escaped Namek, blowing up with the planet); Gohan would be the protector of Earth, taking over for his deceased father... it would have been a somewhat saddening ending, but one that make a lot of sense, considering the direction that Toriyama was taking the series for years, at that point.

The end of the Cell saga would also have been a relevant ending, with peace restored to the Earth and Gohan becoming its protector. But, the popularity of the series ensured that Toriyama would have to continue beyond this point (indeed, the anime reached its peak in popularity right around the beginning of the Buu arc). And, even though the ending of the series might have been more final had these intended endings taken place, what we did get, at least in our opinion, more than made up for it. - VegettoEX & Julian

Q. A friend of mine at school told me that at the end of Dragonball Z Goku is 48 years old. Do you know if he is right? - Billy Yates

A. Well... considering how many years take place between major events in the show, it's not hard to imagine that Goku's getting to be a pretty old man by the end! The new Japanese anime guide states that Goku is 47 years old at the end of DBZ. As expected, it's extremely hard to pinpoint EXACT ages for characters, due to time spent in the Room of Spirit and Time and activities with imprecise durations (like the first DB hunt, or the Red Ribbon arc), but the "official" source says 47. - VegettoEX & Julian

Q. Hello. There's a question I've had that's been bothering me for some time. I've read several lists for Chichi's Japanese VA's and they all seem to go like this:

"Mayumi Shô (1-88)
Naoko Watanabe (89-291)"

So... what exactly is the deal? Why'd she get replaced? I remember that in DB Movie 4 Kamesennin's VA had a horrible voice in the J. version because the original VA for him passed on at some point (I think he died of some natural causes before then, though I'm not really sure) but what happened to her? Did she die, quit, get fired or something else? I'm really curious about this and have been wondering for a long time but I haven't been able to find an answer anywhere. - Yusuke Urameshi

A. It's true. Julian and I have talked about this, ourselves, and we're really at a loss as to why Mayumi Shô left her voice as Chi-Chi. According to her IMDB profile (which doesn't necessarily have the most accurate information, and in fact, probably doesn't)... she hasn't really done much since leaving that voice behind, other than some bit parts here and there. So...well, we're really at as much of a loss as you are! - VegettoEX

Q. me and my brother have acknoledged the enlightenment of many webmasters about the *gasp* dare i say the fansubs! how could we get our hands upon these? me and my bro are fans of the dub, and the sub is supposed to be like WAY better right? PPLLEAASE???!!!! - Enjoy228

A. This is the last gramatically-asinine question I'm answering. Seriously. My eyes hurt ^^;;.

If you want to watch the show in Japanese... purchase the DVDs. The vast majority of them contain both the English dub and the original Japanese audio, as well. "Fansubs" (especially of an older TV show like DBZ) are pretty much nonexistent, these days, and you're better off just going with the legal, commercial release, anyway! Have fun, and enjoy! - VegettoEX

Q. Had Goku been able to during Movie #8, would he have had to turn SSJ2 or SSJ3 in order to convincingly kick Brolli's ass? - Dan Tam

A. Questions about "strength" are always tough to judge. Personally, I think the fight would have been dead-on even if Goku were to turn SSJ2. Goku's raw strength may not be up with Broli's, but the SSJ2 transformation would bring everything else up to par, with a few things (such as intelligence... heh) rising well above Broli. I don't know if he'd be able to defeat him, alone, like this... but it's possible. SSJ3 might be overkill, but it would certainly get the job done... :P - VegettoEX

Q. Would you say that some characters who were never seen again in the manga, but were seen in the anime afterwards, killed in only the manga? What I mean, for one example, is how Capt. Ginyu was never seen again in the manga after turning into a frog, but he was transported to Earth in the anime... could you assume he was killed when Namek blew up? Another example is how they never showed whether Pilaf and his gang survived getting thrown out of their ship by the Great Demon king Piccolo. Was Toriyama intending for them to be dead, or what? - Emma591

A. With Toriyama, never assume that someone's dead unless you SEE them die. He likes to leave things like your examples open-ended for a reason... he might need to bring them back! For all we knew, perhaps Froggie-Ginyu stole a spaceship and was planning on returning to Earth to breed a race of Super Ginyu Frogs to take ov... err... nevermind... - VegettoEX

Q. Because I'm cheap . . . er . . . frugal, I'm a little irked that the Frieza saga DVDs aren't available in a box set. So I'm just wondering . . . why is that? Did FUNi just kind of forget about those relics of the past and decide they weren't worth promoting any further? Are they just being bastards because that's a really popular era of the show and they want to extort as much money out of it as they can? Do they just have really imbecilic marketing managers? Or is there even an answer to this question? - Eric Faris

A. Honestly, I have no idea. It would make sense for them to offer a box-set, since everything else is getting one. In all honesty, if you want to get it cheap, just purchase all the volumes off of DeepDiscountDVD.com. They're $10.76 a pop (free shipping, too), and that's probably cheaper than they would be (or even with) if FUNimation released a box-set of the entire saga. Have fun ^^. - VegettoEX

Q. I have a question about those crazy little senzu beans. Now, I know that when Karin first explains how they work to Goku, he says that they replenish your energy and you won't need to eat for 10 days. Does this mean you can't eat for ten days? If it doesn't matter, than why doesn't Goku and the rest just pop in a bean when they need it during a big fight, instead of eating only one? - Blaksmoke93

A. Interesting question. To start off, we should probably separate "eating" and "energy." When Karin-sama says that they would not need to eat for 10 days, this is probably assuming that they're not waging an intergalactic war against a universal demonic threat... they're just going about their everyday lives. And it's not that you can't eat... look at Yajirobe. He kept eating handful after handful. It made him sick as Hell, but he could keep eating!

Also, once Goku comes around (and once Yajirobe ate the entire damn pot, which Karin-sama may have been saving up for decades, if not centuries), it seems that there isn't an endless supply of Senzu that would be so convenient, and they have to start conserving their resources. If they ate the things like popcorn, there just wouldn't be any left for when they really needed 'em. - VegettoEX

Q. Something I could never figure out, why does Bulma's hair color change from purple on the old DB manga covers, to light blue for the TV show? The fact that Trunks also has purple hair only makes it more complicated, not to mention the 'Path to Power' movie where Bulma's hair is once again purple. For the record, just which is it?! - Josh

A. Bulma's hair color seems to change just about as much as its style, I know! One possible explanation is the same reason given for the change to Vegeta's hair color (brown to black) and the color of the Saiyan/Freeza armor. Toriyama was only drawing in black-and-white for the manga, and specific shades and colors could not always be decided. Until he drew the character(s) for the cover image, color pages inside, etc... there was no official "color" for anything!

However, Bulma seems a little different. In the first chapter, she had blue hair, but after that, it was always some shade of purple (which is why Trunks also has purple hair). Why it changed, we'll never know, but it's why Toei used blue hair for her throughout the anime (except for the aforementioned movie). It's pretty funny, though! - VegettoEX

Q. In the manga, when Trunks tells Goku about the androids he refers to them as #19 and #20, but when he comes back to the past he says #17 and #18 are the ones who destroyed his world. Did Toriyama or Viz mess up, or was the Trunks who fought Cell with the Z-fighters originate from a different timeline than the Trunks who killed Freeza and warned them in the first place? - Wassup2

A. This is a Toriyama mistake, indeed! Even in the original Japanese tankôbon, Trunks refers to the two as #19 and #20, despite later calling them #17 and #18. Perhaps Toriyama didn't think ahead when he was naming them, and didn't realize he was going to have THREE more jinzôningen than he originally planned...? Perhaps we'll never know!

When Viz translated the dialogue in the manga, yes, they kept the original "mistake" in there. Not only this, but in the Japanese kanzenban re-release, the mistake is still there, too! (Despite changing things like "Well Come"...) You just have to accept it as a quirk of the manga, really. :P - VegettoEX

Q. If and when FUNimation finally redubs and releases seasons 1 and 2, they will have effectively added 15 episodes of material to those seasons. Do you think they realize that this will screw up ALL the episode numbers for seasons 3 and onward? - Jim Daffner

A. It's true. There's an entire 15 episodes worth of a difference in numbers (dub episode + 15 = Japanese number; for season three onwards, only). What will they do? I have no idea! They're very familiar with the Japanese numbering system, though. When they gave Faulconer episode numbers to go with episodes for the music composition, he was given the Japanese episode numbers. Furthermore, at least two discs in the Cell era have the original Japanese episode numbers on the back cover (as opposed to FUNimation's dub numbers).

To answer the question, though... what will they do? Who knows?! They're FUNimation ^^. We never know what silly things they'll do! - VegettoEX

We're gonna try to get back into a weekly schedule for the section... so... e-mail us your questions for next week's update! We love getting all these questions, each week, so the mroe you send us, the more we can (try to) answer for you!

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