naomiaphotography-blog

[duhragonball]

Goku’s Fire Brigade

Folks, it’s the 2023 Dragon Apocrypha Liveblog, and it’s starting right here, right now!  

If you’re familiar with this blog, I liveblogged all of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z in 2019.  Naturally, a few people asked if I would be doing GT and/or Super next, but I had to tell ‘em no, because I just didn’t have the time or motivation to extend it out that far.  Later, I sat down and counted out all the specials and extra stuff and things like that, and as it turns out, when you add it all up, you get a pretty big chunk of material.   Not as big as DB(Z) but comparable to it. So I decided that it needed to be a separate liveblog for a whole other year, and that year has arrived!

I don’t want to give away everything I’ll be covering, but rest assured that Dragon Ball GT and Dragon Ball Super will be a part of it.   Beyond that, this is mainly a chance for me to sit down and check out a few things that I’ve never watched before.  And so I’m gonna start things off with Goku’s Fire Brigade, a public service video from 1988.  There’s another one about traffic safety, and as far as I can tell, they both aired on the same day, so I have no idea which one came first.   But this one has fire in it, so it seems like a better choice to kick things off.

Since it’s New Year’s Day, let’s set the mood with some cool music.

Okay, so this is a ten minute video that you can probably find on YouTube just as easily as I did, but here’s the story: Goku hates fire.  I don’t mean he’s afraid of it like Frankenstein, I mean Goku’s gonna kick fire’s ass.  This video opens with a couple of kids setting off fireworks on a playground, and one of them falls over where Goku is doing martial arts stuff.   He sees it and quickly stomps on it to put it out.  Then he notices...

OH SHIT.   Yeah, another firecracker fell into a wastebasket and ignited all the trash.  Luckily, Goku just pounces over a bush with a bucket of water, and dumps it all over the can to put it out. 

Then Goku lectures the two kids about fire safety.  I really thought this would be a boring little PSA, but I am blown away by Goku’s all-business approach to this role.  When we first see him, he’s just wearing his fighting clothes and doing his usual training stuff, so he’s the same character we know, but in this world, when it comes to fire, it’s on sight.  Goku’s not here to clown around, which is aces with me, because I love me some Serious Goku.

Let’s go over all of Goku’s advice, because some of you may need to know this stuff.  Hell, I bet some of you are on fire right now. Look, I’m flattered that you want to read this, but seriously, stop, drop and roll.  Those of you who are not currently on fire, consider the following fireworks advice:

Have an adult present.

Prepare a bucket of water.

Do it in a spacious area, not on a crowded playground where you’re liable to hit Goku with one of those damn things.

Don’t set off fireworks near flammable things, like that trash can from a minute ago.

The kids wonder how Goku is so knowledgeable about fire safety, and he explains that he’s with the town’s fire brigade.  Today’s his day off, but fire never takes a day off, as we learn when we hear sirens in the distance.  Turns out Goku’s buddies are responding to a blaze in another part of town. 

Turns out this fire was caused by the father of the household falling asleep in his chair while smoking.   The kids observe that cigarette butts can be scary, but Master Roshi points out that there are plenty of other things that can cause fires, like forgetting to shut off a stove burner or an iron, children’s mischief, or even being careless with fireworks.   The kids are still embarrassed about that one.

That night, they read the riot act to their parents, who smoke in bed and neglect to shut of the gas valve on the stove.  Goku’s no-nonsense attitude is rubbing off on them.

The next day, we check in on Bulma, who is rocking a hot pink shirt with neon green pants.  Wait, this isn’t Capsule Corp., what’s going on here?

She has a cat in this apartment, which she calls “Tama”, just like the black cat Dr. Brief has in the main show, but this one looks different.  It’s like they redesigned Puar to look more like a regular cat. 

I should pause here to discuss the continuity here.  This video aired on June 8, 1988, the same day as Episode 115 of the Dragon Ball anime.  That would be the one where Goku and Yajirobe set out to find the sacred water Goku would use to increase his strength to defeat King Piccolo.  So the characters in this video look a lot like they do in the King Piccolo saga, but obviously the details don’t line up.  This isn’t West City and it’s not clear that Bulma even knows the others.  It’s more like a dramatization with the DB cast performing their assigned roles. 

So Bulma’s in her apartment cooking breakfast, when she steps away to feed her cat.  That’s a bad move, but it gets worse because an earthquake suddenly hits, and she slips on the cat food and hits her head on the way down. 

And Bulma didn’t close the lid on the bottle of cooking oil she left on the counter, so the earthquake causes it to spill onto the stove, where it ignites. 

Fortunately for Bulma, those same two kids are passing by on their way to school, and they know to call 119.  I should point out that the translator’s note in this screenshot isn’t entirely accurate.  I looked it up, and while 119 is an emergency services number in Japan, it’s only for fire and ambulance services. For the police, you have to dial a different number, 110.

Here’s a cool shot of Krillin to the rescue, but it turns out the ladder on his fire truck isn’t long enough to reach Bulma’s apartment, so Goku steps in and uses the Nyoibo.

He joins Bulma on the balcony and tells her to climb on the pole while he saves her cat.   There’s a dirty joke in there somewhere but I can’t be bothered.

Speaking of dirty jokes, Master Roshi is very excited to catch Bulma on her way down.  Because she is a pretty lady, and catching a person is sort of like fondling them for like a second.  How does he even know she’s pretty?  He couldn’t have possibly seen her from all the way up there.

Anyway, Yamcha shoves him aside and makes the catch instead.  Kind of looks like Bulma might have broken her neck there, but this is a video about fire safety, not how to catch people.

As for Bulma’s cat, Goku finds it and just jumps out of the apartment and onto Krillin’s ladder, like a badass. 

Then he helps put out the fire.  I really like this shot of him with the hose. 

Once the day is saved, Bulma is told to be more careful, and the kids thank Goku for his help the other day, but the others weren’t there for that firecracker incident, so they have no idea what they’re talking about.  And the kids are too embarrassed about it to explain, so Goku just has a laugh to himself.

After that, we get an outro which is just “Mystical Adventure” with different vocals.  The lyrics have been modified to include fire safety tips, and there’s clips from this video interspersed with the usual OP animation. 

And that’s all.  Not a whole lot to this one, but it turned out to be a lot more fun than I expected.   Next, we’ll tackle the traffic safety one, but I gotta say, the bar has been set awfully high...

[emayuku]

Beautiful Immortals - Tamaki and Shinra

Beautiful Immortals, Tamaki and Shinra are both cursed individuals who are stuck in space and time with an incredible amount of power available to them. Tamaki controls the Alvarez Empire while Shinra built his own guild treehouse for the other Care Characters. Both forces, large or small now face each other, nothing but faith holds each other’s side in tact. As this image shows, they’re immortal lovers on the opposite side of the spectrum.

This fantastic artwork above of Tamaki and Shinra was done by Lmayuku. They have some magnificent artwork on their profile, if you like what they’re done here, I’m very sure that their work will impress you. Go ahead and share this page with others if you like it, be sure to comment on your opinion of this image.

@fire-dwelling 

@froggbones

@shinra-enthusiast

@notfireforce

@pardon-my-scifi

@emberfeathers

@kogha

@shinrakusakab3

@itachi-from-the-leaf

@laurenillustrated

@redphlox

@pfpanimes

@lonelytuatara 

@shomybeloved

@ktg08

@absolutelynotsanebaby

@smoonie

@muichirolover12

[scoots-canoe]

firefighter yams from the DB special "goku's fire brigade"!! This was really cute :') there were other characters too but yam was the cutest...link to the vid below!

[dorothydalmati1]

Dragon Ball Special 2: Goku's Fire Brigade

Written by Keiji Terui

Art directed by Takeshi Waki

Directed by Kazuhisa Takenouchi

Animation directed by Yukio Ebisawa

[videogametatts]

Goku has often been deemed a positive role model for children throughout Japan. In June 1988, Goku and other Dragon Ball characters were featured in two PSA shorts. The first short was entitled "The Goku Traffic Safety" where Goku is taught the importance of obeying traffic safety by others. The second was called "Goku's Fire Brigade" where he teaches two children the importance of fire safety; this short is notable for featuring Goku as a volunteer fire-fighter. - Amazing #Goku tattoo by @simonkbell Cheers Simon! =D

[amokslime]

I just watched Goku’s Fire Brigade

What it is: Goku’s Fire Brigade is a TV PSA short about fire safety. It’s just upwards of ten minutes long and stars a dragonball-era kid goku. I found it highly enjoyable and I wanted to share.

The PSA begins with two small children lighting fireworks on a playground. One firework flies dangerously close to... Son Goku, who is also at the playground, doing karate moves all by himself. He stomps the firework out, looking very affronted.

The children have finished their fireworks and turn to leave. Unbeknownst  to them, one of their fireworks falls, still in one piece, into a nearby trash can. The entire trash can erupts into blue flames. Good thing Goku happens to be nearby. He throws a bucket of water at the trash can, turns to the children, and proceeds to admonish them for their lack firework safety. He runs down the list of don’ts, which include bringing a bucket, making sure there’s enough space, and making sure there are adults nearby.

I just watched Son Goku deliver a lecture on the importance of parental supervision. We’re off to a great start.

The Children: You sure know a lot about fire safety... could you be?

Goku: That’s right. I’m a member of this town’s fire brigade!

Goku: ...Today’s my day off, though.

The group hears sirens, and runs to see what the commotion is. Unsurprisingly, a house is on fire. The fire brigade, which is composed of Master Roshi, Yamcha, and Krillin, quickly put out the fire. Master Roshi delivers a lecture on fire safety while Krillin smiles blankly at his own eyebrows.

...You okay over there, guy?

Some more fire safety things happen, until we pan to the top floor of a tall apartment building. Inside the building, Bulma Briefs is cooking eggs while wearing lime green harem pants and a hot pink shirt. 

💕💯💯💯👌👌💕💯👌💕💕💯💯💕💕👌

A-Anyway, Bulma turns away from the stove to feed her cat, that she has, when an earthquake hits. She trips, falls against a dresser, and passes out. The cooking oil tips over and falls onto the stove, causing it to burst into flames. I don’t think it’s ever been stated one way or the other whether or not Bulma can cook, but I like to think this is approximately the level of disaster every time she tries to use the kitchen. I just get the feeling, you know?

Things escalate into a large house fire, which the same children from the beginning of the short see from the street. They call the Japanese emergency hotline and summon the Dragonball fire brigade.

Our anime firemen roll up to the scene and start doing fireman stuff. They send Fireman Krillin up in a ladder to collect Bulma from her flaming balcony, but the building is too tall. The ladder cannot reach.

Good thing we have Fireman Goku.

Goku power-poles up to the balcony, dumps Bulma off the edge, and goes to save her cat. Bulma is caught by Fireman Yamcha, who hip-checked Fireman Master Roshi out of the way to do it. I think Yamcha is allowed to do more cool-guy stuff in this Fire Safety PSA than in the entirety of Dragonball Z. Oh, and Goku saves the cat, which I thought was pretty important.

bravo! good job!

The building is evacuated and the fire is put out. The Children from the beginning of the video, who called Japanese 911, appear again. Krillin thanks them for making the call. The children insist that it is no big deal, and the brother elaborates that Goku helped them out with their sudden blue-flame trash can inferno at the playground the day before. Everyone but Goku is confused by this. I guess nobody but Goku knows about the children’s previous lack of fire safety knowledge, which is apparently now a shameful facet of their former selves. 

The Children and Goku share a good laugh. The Children stop laughing. Goku continues to laugh, all by himself, in a shot that lasts about four seconds. Everyone stares at him, while he laughs and laughs. The credits roll.

.....If you read all the way to this point, congrats. It was a ten minute video, and I spent at least double that time typing this. 👌

[awkwardvegetaphotos]

There was a call for help! Goku’s Fire Brigade is on the way!

---------

My heroes! Did you bring the crackers?

[emayuku]

Shinra Kusakabe (Fan service-Contest)

An art work I made contribute for Shinra Kusakabe Special Fire Force Company 8

Champion contest topic: Fan service (by Lilo and Goku Friendship Is Magic FC)

Hope you enjoy!

@fire-dwelling 

@shinra-enthusiast

@notfireforce

@pardon-my-scifi

@emberfeathers

@kogha

@shinrakusakab3

@itachi-from-the-leaf

@laurenillustrated

@redphlox

@pfpanimes

@lonelytuatara 

@shomybeloved

@t-u-m-b-l-rnamesuggestorisb-blog

@emmaddsds

[duhragonball]

Goku’s Traffic Safety

On June 8, 1988, Toei released two public service videos for television.  I already covered Goku’s Fire Brigade, and this is the other one, which deals with traffic safety.  I’m not sure where or when these videos aired.  At first, I guessed that they appeared during Dragon Ball’s usual timeslot in Japan, but apparently Episode 115 was airing the same day, so maybe they ran these videos before or after that episode as like a bonus special.

I don’t think I want to do a musical lead-in for every liveblog, but since it’s still New Year’s Day, and I can’t get it out of my head, here’s Weird Al’s “She Drives Like Crazy”.

So this one opens with Goku out in the middle of nowhere.  He’s on his way to West City to visit Bulma, but as he crosses a log over a ravine, the way is blocked by this giant tiger dude.  He refuses to budge, and Goku thinks its unfair for him to backtrack, since he started crossing first. 

I guess this is a good time to bring it up, but I heard a story like this once, except it was about Abraham Lincoln.  I’ve never been able to find it on the internet, so I’m pretty sure it’s not just made-up, but it was never popular enough to become a genuine legend.  Anyway, he and the other guy are in carriages in this story, and it’s a narrow road with mud on either side.  When the other guy refuses to pull over into the mud, Abe gets out of his carriage, and the other guy realizes just how big and tall his is.  Knowing he would surely get his ass kicked, the guy decides to cave in and pull off into the mud and let Abe through.  Once he’s through, the guy asks Abe what we would have done if he’d stood his ground, and Abe replies that he would have simply allowed the other guy to pass. 

I’m probably getting the details wrong, but the point of the story was that he was such an imposing, yet gentle figure.  Anyway, in this story, the tiger decides to throw down, so Goku leaps over him to avoid a punch.  This startles the tiger man so much that he nearly falls off the log.

Goku asks him for directions, and then he leaves the tiger for dead.

Meanwhile, in West City, some kid runs out into a side road to fetch a toy, and he nearly gets run over by a speeding truck.  Nearby, Krillin and Master Roshi witness the whole thing, because they were also invited to Bulma’s place, and they’re lost.

Okay, so here’s where things get kind of weird.  This policewoman shows up and lectures the boy about looking both ways, and she also scolds the truck driver for going too fast.  The thing is, she looks and sounds exactly like Launch.  And maybe this is supposed to be Launch. The continuity of this special is wonky, so this might be Launch cast in the role of a traffic cop, just as the Kame School was cast as a fire brigade in the other special.

But they changed her hair.  This is clearly the Blue Launch model, but they gave her blond hair.  Also, she’s a bit more assertive than Blue Launch, which is kind of necessary for the position of authority she’s in.  And I think it’s the same voice actor, too.  So I don’t know what to make of this.  The simplest explanation is probably that someone decided to use Launch in this role, but the blue hair and the blue uniform was too much, so they changed her hair.  I guess they could have used Blonde Launch for this, but I think if you dressed her up in a police uniform it would spontaneously combust. 

The batshit fan explanation for this is that this is the Composite Launch, what she might have been like if she didn’t constantly transform with every sneeze.  She’s polite and gentle, but she’s packing heat, and she won’t put up with any bullshit about how you were driving at a proper speed.  Those tire marks on the road didn’t make themselves, sir. 

  Anyway, Roshi and Krillin ask her for directions to Bulma’s house, and there’s no indication that they know each other, so go figure.   At Bulma’s house, she’s forcing Oolong to cook a meal for her guests.  It’s her birthday, you see, and that’s why she invited everyone over.

Yamcha and Puar arrive, and Bulma immediately puts them to work.

Meanwhile, Goku is drawing closer to West City, but he still has no idea how to get there.  Why didn’t Bulma give him direction?  For that matter, how did she even contact him in the first place?  It’s not like he has a phone. I’d ask why Goku doesn’t use the Kinto’un to fly to Bulma’s place, but he stopped using it during his training journey before the 22nd World Tournament, and then Tambourine destroyed it in the King Piccolo Saga.  Goku eventually got a replacement Kinto’un, but when this special was being made, the whole concept seemed to have been written out of the franchise, so I guess it makes sense that they didn’t include it. 

Anyway, Goku spots Suno on the otherside of a freeway and tries to ask for directions, but she can’t hear him, so he just runs across the road, dodging cars like a real-life version of Frogger.  Suno berates him for being so reckless, and when Goku points out that he’s nimble enough to avoid getting hit, she tells him that doesn’t matter, because the drivers can still panic and get into a wreck as they swerve to avoid him.

Strangley, Suno is Suno in this story, but she and Goku talk to each other like they’ve never met before.   She’s heading to West City herself, so she offers to accompany Goku into town.

Meanwhile, Roshi and Krillin make it to Bulma’s place, and Yamcha tells them to get inside and help him with the cooking.

Back to Goku, he finally makes it to West City, but he still has no idea where Bulma’s house is.  Suno offers to introduce him to her relatives whom she came to visit, and Goku runs out into traffic again.  Suno scolds him, but this time Officer Launch is here to explain traffic lights and pedestrian crosswalks to Goku.  Goku tries to cross properly this time, but Launch warns him not to cross while the green light is flashing, because that means it’s about to turn red.  I don’t know that I buy into that.  I prefer the ones I’ve seen where there’s actually a timer that shows you how many seconds are left before it turns red.  That just makes more sense to me.

Back at Bulma’s place, the whole gang has completed their meal, but they seem to be waiting for Goku to arrive before they can eat.  Seriously, how does Bulma even have friends at this point?  She has a house full of servants, and a bank account big enough to get catering, but she makes all her guests do the cooking!  And she didn’t even tell them how to get here!  And now she won’t even let them eat, basically punishing them all for her own mistakes!  It’s wild. 

Goku doesn’t like waiting for the light to change, but Officer Launch explains to him that it’s important to obey the traffic rules, since even a moment’s selfishness can cause great harm to others.  Just then, Suno’s... cousin, I guess, he spots her across the road and tries to run out to meet her, but he darts out into the path of an oncoming car.

So Goku does the cool spot with the Nyoibo where he extends it and shoots through the kid’s shirt sleeve and out of the other sleeve.   Then he just hoists him out of danger.

Man, Launch is a cutie patootie in her uniform.  She looks more like a flight attendant than a police officer, but whatever.  Goku finally asks her for directions to Bulma’s place, which strikes her as odd since she just answered this same question a short while ago.

So at last Goku arrives for the party, and here’s the birthday girl, making the saltiest expression ever.  This is the main even of this special, as far as I’m concerned.

She’s mad, because--get this-- Goku finally shows up to her house and he eats the entire dinner.   Did they not see that coming?  You’d think they would have eaten their fill before he showed up, knowing that he would devour the rest.  Also, why did they just sit there watching him eat if they were so hungry? 

Goku explains that he was late because he was trying to observe local traffic rules, but Bulma doesn’t see what that has to do with anything.  I don’t think she actually said “hell” in a PSA meant for children, but then again, she had a topless scene in one episode, so what do I know?

So the whole gang dogpiles Goku to express their displeasure, and that seems like a dumb idea.  I mean, Goku likes that!  That’s like giving your dog a belly rub when he misbehaves.  They chase him outside, and Officer Launch salutes the REAL heroes: Everyone who watched this video.  Well, unless you’re watching this video while you’re driving.  That would be a terrible idea.

Like the Fire Brigade special, this one ends with a special version of “Mystical Adventure” with new vocals and new lyrics about not running out into traffic like a dumbass. 

And that’s it.  Kind of a letdown from the glory of the Fire Brigade special, but this one is still pretty cool for giving us Salty Bulma and Bootleg Launch.

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Apocrypha

I liveblogged Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z in 2019.  Near the end, a few people asked if I was going to do GT or Super and I said no, mainly because I wanted to finish in one year, but also because I don’t consider those series to be part of the true DBZ canon.  Also, I tend to think of the other stuff to be small and insignificant.

Except, there’s a lot more of it now than there used to be.   It occurred to me one day that if I did cover all the other stuff, it would probably take me as long as it did to cover DB & DBZ.    But I never sat down and added it all up, so tonight I think I’ll just do that now.

Let me be clear: I’m not planning to liveblog any of this stuff.   I may do it sometime in the future, but I don’t want anyone taking this post as some sort of promise.  I’m just making a list.

First, the stuff I actually covered in ‘19.

Dragon Ball Episode 1-153 + Four movies (Blood Rubies, Sleeping Princess, Mystical Adventure, Path to Power)

Dragon Ball Z Episodes 1-291 + 2 TV specials (Bardock and History of Trunks) + 15 movies (Dead Zone to Ressurrection F)

And the rest.   Stuff I have never seen before is in bold.

I. Major Spin Off Series

Dragon Ball GT Episodes 1-64 + 1 TV Special (A Hero’s Legacy) (1996-1997)

Dragon Ball Super Episodes 1-131 + 2 movies (Broly & Super Hero) (2015-2018)

Dragon Ball Super Heroes Episodes 1-38+ (2018-present)

I’ve seen Episodes 1-20

21-32 is the Universe Creation Saga.

33-onward is the “New Space-Time War” Saga.

Dragon Ball Super manga (2015-present)

Chapters 1-44 are retellings of the stories from the anime

Chapters 45-67 is the Moro Saga

Chapters 68-72+ is the Granolah Saga

II. OAV’s and specials.

Goku’s Traffic Safety (1988)

Goku’s Fire Brigade (1988)

DBZ Gaiden: Plan to Eradicate [Super] Saiyans (1993/2010)

Dragon Ball: Yo! The Return of Son Goku and Friends!! (2008)

Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock (2011)

Dream 9 Toriko & One Piece & Dragon Ball Z Super Collaboration Special!! (2013)

III. The Shitty Live Action Trilogy

Dragon Ball: The Magic Begins (the Chinese bootleg movie 1989)

Dragon Ball: Fight Son Goku, Win Son Goku (the Korean bootleg movie, 1990)

Dragon Ball: Evolution (the United Statesian movie, 2009)

And that’s all I know of right now.

Looking it over, I’d say enough time has passed that I could see me re-watching GT and Super and actually having something new to say about them someday.   I gotta say, though, there is not much here for me to look forward to, aside from checking boxes off a bucket list.   It’d be fun to see the smoking Korean Puar puppet, rewatching the Tournament of Power, uh, that scene where Goku holds Bee in his arms and gets his face licked.   Wow, I’m really reaching here... uh, Cell started showing up in Super DBH, so that’s probably neat?

But my original thought still stands.  You add all this up, and you have 305 episode/chapter thingies, and 12 movie/special thingies.  Not quite as big as Dragon Ball/DBZ but big enough to qualify as a franchise in itself.

Hypothetically speaking, if I actually went through all of this in a one-year span, I feel like a lot of it would just be me bitching and moaning about all the mistakes and missed opportunities in the material.    There’s some good stuff throughout, but it’s so diluted by the bad-to-meh stuff that I’m not sure it would be much fun to write or read.   The nice thing about 2019 was that anytime I complained about a bad episode I knew I had 20 or 30 awesome ones waiting for me later on.  There’s plenty of people on the internet complaining about Dragon Ball without me.   I’d need to find a way to keep it fresh.