Before everyone was pissed with Dragonball Evolution (what evolved anyway?), before Goku learned that he was an alien and learned the ability to turn himself blonde with blue eyes, before Vegeta broke his scouter and screamed its over 9000 (No! 8000! 8000!). And most especially, before Goku figured out how to create Goten and Gohan, he was a young boy who thinks that cars are monsters, that chicks have wieners (you know the one) and he is just some strong kid with a tail! Yep, this is yet another retro ONEShots review, and this time we have the very first episode of Dragon Ball!
If you read the original manga (volume 1, chapter 1), you will noticed a lot of extended scenes, such as extending Goku’s daily life and introducing Pilaf and his trope at the second half of the episode and made the introduction about the Dragon Balls more mystical which I like.
As for the first episode, they introduced as two things. First is Son Goku, a kid living outside civilization for a long time and ends up meeting a girl coming from civilization named Bulma. Second, she is looking for mystical orbs called Dragon Ball and she must collect all seven Dragon Balls to summon a mystical dragon named Shen Long (or Shenron, whichever) who can grant any wish, except he only grants a single wish!
Since Goku has nothing to do, he decides to tag along with Bulma. First impression on Goku, he is one simple kid and I liked it! His innocence runs the first episode, heck, because of this innocence that he doesn’t fear an attacking tiger or a pterodactyl abducting Bulma for his dinner! As for his fighting skills, even if he looks stupid, he is secretly smart. I mean, he used the speed of Bulma’s motorcycle and use it as momentum for him to chase the pterodactyl in midair and hit it with his nyoibo!
For Bulma, she is secretly a pervert. Gee, no wonder she got pregnant with Vegeta’s son, Trunks considering that Vegeta is not interested in Bulma! Anyways, back to pre-DBZ Bulma, she is in search for the Dragon Balls with the help of a special radar that she invented, which gives us an idea of her being smart and an inventor.
As for Pilaf and co. I find them not quite a threat. Look at Pilaf, he thought that after he get a single Dragon Ball and say the chant, the dragon will appear! I mean, if that is the case, then at least most of us will have their wishes granted in the DB Universe! Skip and let us wait for them to make a full appearance with them fooling Goku!
Overall, it is one fun episode. This series gives us a hint that this is Goku and Bulma’s adventure in looking for the other Dragon Balls. Watching in this episode, it made me realize how much it evolved throughout the years and that alone, you will see how much this show influenced the modern shonen anime/manga titles by having an idiot hero and a little ecchi on the side!