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, 22 February 2004 ]
[ Past "Ask VegettoEX" Archives ]

Q. How does fusion / absorbing others increase one's power? In Cell's and Boo's cases, are their ki levels multiplied by the level of the victim they absorbed? I mean, I figure that must be the case, if first-stage Cell became many degrees stronger then Piccolo after absorbing a few cities worth of humans. And Goku and Vegeta fusing, same thing? - actionmike84

A. Common to many anime, it seems that draining someone's life-force brings a great deal of power to the villain (look at Sailor Moon, for example; that's all the villains do!). It's quite hard to pinpoint exactly how much the absorption of a single person brings to the character, but it obviously has something to do with the strength / power / purity of said character. For example, Buu absorbing Gotenks would do much more than Buu absorbing, say, Yajirobe. It seems like Cell was just making up for lost time, really, by absorbing cities worth of people. We can assume he got several thousand; it was clearly more than enough to pump him up some, enough to start being a real threat, again. - VegettoEX

Q. Did the Japanese manga mention Vegeta and Bulma's daughter by name? On the last DVD that introduced her, I noticed that neither the dub nor the Japanese version referred to her by name. The box does (changed dub name), but the episodes themselves don't. I had to ask another person for her name. - Wassup2

A. Bra's name, along with an explanation of her relationship to Vegeta, Bulma, and Trunks, appears on the title page to chapter 518 of the manga (that is, the next-to-last chapter). But you're right... I don't believe the manga mentions her by name in the story proper. Kind of weird on Toriyama's part, but I suppose that's his prerogative. - Julian

Q. So this is kind of an observation leading to a question. In the "Rumor Guide" you feature the rumor "Goku's mother is Selypa, the female member of Bardock's team." And you mention that if she were Goku's mother she likely would have stopped by to see him. But wasn't he born while Bardock's team (including Selypa) was on planet Kanassa? Last time I checked babies weren't born separately from their mothers. - Eric Faris

A. It seems as if Goku wasn't quite born THAT day.. the daizenshuu lists Goku's birthday as the year 737, which is also the same year, obviously, that Planet Vegeta was destroyed. A specific date is cited for neither incident. Even if Selypa was Goku's mother, the Saiyans don't seem to be the bunch that would hang out cuddling their new-born babies... they'd probably wanna get right back to the battle-field! - VegettoEX

Q. In Dragonball / Z, Bulma frequently calls Son Goku "Son-kun." Trunks calls him "Son-san," which I'm assuming translates to "Mr. Son," but I was wondering what the English translation of "Son-kun" would be. - Julia C.

A. This requires a bit of explanation on the part of Japanese honorifics. You see, each honorific suffix for a name has a specific significance with regards to the relative place in society, as well as emotional distance, between the speakers. It's also important to note that you're not supposed to use it when referring to yourself (although certain, stuck-up villains in DB will do this, for obvious reasons). For example, to use the "-sama" suffix is to show a degree of emotional distance, as well as deep reverence, for the person it refers to.

"-Kun," on the other hand, shows a good amount of familiarity with the person being referred to (who's usually male), as well as a similar (or slightly higher) age and social standing on the part of the speaker. Bulma's known Goku for a long time, but since she calls him "Son-kun" by the fourth chapter of the manga, it's probably his good nature that makes her feel comfortable with that. Trunks, on the other hand, had only heard stories prior to meeting Goku, and even after that, he showed a deep respect for him. So it's no surprise that he called the father of his fallen teacher "Goku-san."

Goku himself is kind of an exception to all of this; he rarely, if ever, uses honorifics, unless someone demands it (like Kami-sama or Kaiô-sama). His speech would even be considered inappopriate in most contexts, between his heavy use of colloquialisms, direct form of address, and referring to himself as "ora" (a variant of "ore," which is a boastful and agressive way to say "I"). But that's just Goku, and his friendliness more than makes up for his backwoodsy lack of formality.

So... I hope that gives you a basic idea of things. There are a lot more honorifics out there, but to explain them all, I'd need a lot more space than just this column! - Julian

THIS WEEK'S MESSAGE BOARD DISCUSSION:

Here we are in the fourth week of this new feature! I think it's a really neat thing to add to the section, and I'm glad to see people are getting involved. Please feel free to contribute to the discussion, and even start up your own!

Q. I was wondering if anyone knew when Gohan learned how to use the Kamehameha. I seem to remember him using it against Vegita during the battle on earth, which doesn't make sense to me because where he have learned it from? Did I just imagine him using it (I don't have my eps at school w/ me so I can't check) or is this one of those instances where you're just supposed to assume that he learned how do it somehow or another OR was the part where he used it early on against Vegita simply Toei filler (I own like 1 manga of DB)? - SonGohan-san

A. Read over the discussion, here! Lots of great input from quite a few people.

We're trying to stay with our 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 more you send us, the more we can (try to) answer for you!

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