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You remember how last week I defended Dragonball Z: Abridged use of sexism and sexist jokes as a method by which to deconstruct characters that otherwise would be perfect? Well I really wish that I could say the same thing about the way in which Operation: Dodoria Drop handles the titular character, Dodoria, and Team Four Star’s revelation that she is in fact a she, despite her very masculine appearance and deep guttural voice.

This revelation comes about in the middle of a fight between her and Vegeta, as Vegeta insults her for “crying like a woman,” after which she screams out “I AM A WOMAN!” Then we cut away, and once we return, she has finished explaining that the way her alien species looks means that she, a large masculine looking woman, is among the most beautiful and “fertile” women on her planet. And on its own, I would be all for this: it’s a clever subversion of the expectations of femininity that people assign to women, as well as a clever dig at the fluctuating (and often unreasonable) standards of beauty we hold women to. I don’t even have a problem with her dying not long after she “comes out” to Vegeta, because she was working for a villain in an adaptation of Dragonball Z; her demise was inevitable.

The issue comes with the comments Vegeta makes to her after finding out her gender. He responds as if she’s a disgusting creature, and proceeds to guarantee that he will repress the memory of her gender (probably implying a refusal to acknowledge her gender in the future). And on the one hand, it’s completely in character, both with who Vegeta is, and who Team Four Star has slightly altered him to be. But it feels far too much like hurtful “punching down” humor for me to see it in any other light. Trans women and butch women are frequently harassed in real life for their appearance, and trans women are also subject to hateful jokes that deride them for not being “real” women for many reasons, and I can’t help but see Vegeta’s remarks as anything but an extension of that hateful behavior.

But on the other hand, I don’t think that Team Four Star meant any harm at all in this. In fact, I think that their intentions went no further than to include a little representation for butch women, trans women, and/or gender nonconforming folks. The inclusion of the (again, completely in character) transphobic humor ended up muddying what could’ve been great, clever, and funny representation, but their heart seemed to be in the right place, and they deserve credit for that.

Rating: 3/5

Stray Observations

“Where did you get that muffin?” “Muffin button.” “But I never installed a muffin button.” “Then where did I get this muffin?”

*crushes scouter* “It’s broken.”

‘I’m having such a good time! Holding this ball!!!“ I saw this at LBCC and…. I had to buy it!!!! If you are a fan of Dragon Ball Z Abridged, you’ll get the reference. @rampaigehalsey and her friend where awesome! We just kept singing and quoting the DBZ Abridged. I really did have a good time

But first, a little about this project. I love DragonBall Z: Abridged, and I also love film criticism, so naturally, I would want to use my skills as a film critic on this wondeful series in order to take a deeper look at it and analyze just what makes it so great. And that’s exactly what this project is; I’m going to watch, consider, and write a full review for each and every episode of Dragonball Z: Abridged (DBZA), and I’m going to be doing this at a pace of one episode every day for the next eleven days, after which each review will come out once a week (and yes, I’ll be doing the films too).  So, without further adieu, let’s begin!

The most noteworthy thing about the first episode of DBZA is that it’s really not that noteworthy. Like any pilot episode, it’s main purpose is to establish, but it’s weighed down by the years of backstory it very clearly is leaving out. We meet Goku at Kame House and see that he already has a very firmly established relationship with Krillin, Bulma, and Master Roshi, but we don’t get to see the relationship established firmly. Instead we’re dropped right into the middle of this group with only hints and passing references at who they are.

This is best illustrated by one of the best potential jokes of the episode falling completely flat. When we meet Krillin, the first thing we learn about him is that he’s sexually and romantically desperate, since his first line is to call Bulma “boobs” rather than her name (which is sexist and unfunny, but thankfully Team Four Star has the sense to not make jokes like this a trend). So naturally we’re meant to believe that he’s a little bit of a loser, but we still only have this idea as an implication, and so when Goku says that he feels a power level bigger than Kirllin’s losing streak, the joke falls flat because we don’t yet have any knowledge of what Krillin’s losing streak might possibly be (which also has the side effect of making the exposition useless).

The opening scene is overall stronger than the introduction to our protafonists (though the humor misses about as often). Starting the show off by interrupting Grieg’s “Peer Gent - Morning Mood” with a loud crash and the concerned exclamations of a marijauna farmer sets the tone and establishes Team Four Star’s sense of humor nicely (that the farmer “corrects” himself when no one else is around costs the joke some of its humor, but it’s still solid). Then Raditz shows up, and introduces himself nicely, killing off the farmer and establishing the relative weakness of most ordinary humans before flying away to look for “Kakarot.”

He stumbles onto Piccolo instead, however, who is established very clearly as a loner with no real friends in a clever (but extremely dated) MySpace joke. Naturally, Raditz and Piccolo don’t get along very well, and they both get ready to fight each other. Then, in a fairly inspired gag, two of the voice actors stop the footage, arguing over who will get to voice Raditz after the initial voice actor tries to call his attack by it’s actual name (a very foolish move). The new voice actor steps in, and renames the attack the “Keep Your Eye On The Bird” attack before getting distracted by someone more powerful than Piccolo (Piccolo continually being underestimated by everyone becomes a bit of a running gag, and then is later developed into a major theme of his character arc, but we’ll get to that later).

The episode closes with Piccolo joining forces with Goku to save Gohan (Goku’s son) from Raditz, who has kidnapped him, nabbing one of the Dragonballs in the process. The weaknesses of this episode begin to come through again here, as we’re given hints as to Goku and Piccolo’s previous rivalry, but not enough information on that rivalry to justify their joining forces or their dislike for one another. This is unfortunate, because both Goku and Piccolo have the strongest voice actors in this episode (and with the exception of Vegeta, arguably the series), and they’re really good at playing off of each other. With just a little more exposition, their relationship could’ve been made perfectly clear.

Rating: 2.5/5

Stray Observations

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed these, because there are many, many more to come.

And yes, each of my reviews from here on out will be approaching Dragonball Z: Abridged as its own unique show, separate from the original series. (Which means that any comments you may have about the show already establishing things that they joked about are null and void). The reasons for this will become inc

In case you’re wondering, I’ve seen twenty some odd episodes of Dragonball Z Kai, but I watched them after having watched DBZA four times, mostly out of curiosity.

If anyone would be interested in writing reviews of DBZA from the perspective of someone who has seen the entirety of the original show already, I’d love to have that as a companion piece to these.

“Yay beer!”

“Oh my god, he’s a parent.” And a damn shitty one at that (but we’ll get to that).

“You know, you guys are the reason I go to therapy.”

And thus marks the first tally in the “Krillin Owned” count.

Moustache Moustache Moustache Moustache

Fan art of Vegeta of Dragonball Z/Super and TeamFourStar

Artist: Michael Volkwijn

Medium: Graphic Design, Typography, Calligraphy

2015

Prepare.

It’s canon, at least in the game.