Summary
The original Dragon Ball series has mature subjects and offensive humor, but still manages to hold up despite feeling dated. Dragon Ball’s early days were heavily influenced by the folktale Journey to the West, which is evident in its characters and quest for the Dragon Balls. The Emperor Pilaf Saga captures the light-hearted and comedic tone of the early Dragon Ball, with fast-paced storytelling and a focus on martial arts, but some of the crude humor may not resonate with modern readers.
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The original Dragon Ball series contains mature subjects and crude humor some readers may find offensive.
The Dragon Ball franchise has been going strong since the 1980s. Since then, Dragon Ball has become one of the most popular manga and anime franchises of all time. Although the original Dragon Ball has largely been overshadowed in popularity by Dragon Ball Z, for the most part the original Dragon Ball series still holds up, though some of the humor feels rather dated.
The new series Dragon Ball DAIMA was announced to celebrate the milestone 40th anniversary of the franchise. It’s the perfect opportunity to revisit the early days of the franchise. Nostalgic fans will be interested to see how the franchise has changed over the years and how the character themselves have changed. The anime’s first arc, known as the Emperor Pilaf Saga after its primary villain, captures the tone of the early days of the Dragon Ball franchise, including the aspects that haven’t really aged well.
Early Dragon Ball Feels Very Different From Later Parts of the Franchise
Dragon Ball is originally created by Akira Toriyama
Akira Toriyama was originally inspired by the popular Chinese folktale known as Journey to the West, and this influence is most obvious in the early days of the original Dragon Ball. The hero of Journey to the West is Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, and Son Goku is the Japanese form of the name. In terms of design, the influence of Sun Wukong is why Goku has a monkey-like tail and a magically extending staff. Broadly, the influence of Journey to the West also inspired Goku and his friends’ quest to find the Dragon Balls. Later on in the original Dragon Ball, this angle would fall to the wayside, but it’s a major component of the Emperor Pilar Saga.
Given how popular beloved Dragon Ball characters like Piccolo and Vegeta are, it can be easy to forget that they’re both comparatively late additions to the franchise. Piccolo was originally the villain of the last arc of the original Dragon Ball and Vegeta wasn’t introduced until partway through the first arc of Dragon Ball Z and didn’t start turning towards being a good guy until more than 100 episodes in. Even Krillian doesn’t appear until after the Pilaf Saga. Similarly, given Yamcha’s reputation as a loser, it can be hard to forget that he was initially the second most important male character after Goku. There’s no mention of the Saiyans, no suggestion that Goku is one of them, and Goku doesn’t learn the Kamehaha, which has gone to become his signature technique until towards the end of the Pilaf Saga.
All in all, the Emperor Pilaf Saga has a very idiosyncratic tone compared to the later series. Going back to the original Dragon Ball for the first time in years can be jarring, given how different it feels from the later franchise. Still, it offers fascinating insight into how Akira Toriyama’s storytelling style has changed. The Pilaf Saga of the original Dragon Ball still holds up, and there are some aspects of it that are arguably better than later arcs in the franchise.
The Emperor Pilaf Saga Is an Entertaining Light-Hearted Adventure
Dragon Ball cemented itself as a shonen staple very early on.
As the Dragon Ball franchise continued, although it never completely abandoned its comedic underpinnings, it did slowly shift towards higher stakes and darker stories. Very little of this is present in the Emperor Pilaf Saga. Early Dragon Ball is very gag-driven. Despite Pilaf’s stated goal of taking over the world, like most of the villains early in the series, Pilaf is never really presented as a genuine threat, like later villains in the vein of Frieza or Cell. If anything, he feels like a parody of the stereotypical supervillain, complete with a lair filled with ridiculous traps and gadgets straight out a classic Looney Tunes short.
Similarly, Dragon Ball was originally presented as a Martial Arts series, an angle which eventually lost prominence as the series took on a wider cosmic and even multiversal scope. While the second arc is naturally more focused on this theme, due to being about the World Martial Arts Tournament, Goku’s status as an aspiring Martial Artist is still clearly established and given prominence in the Pilaf Saga. Characters like Goku and Yamcha actually take the time to explain their Martial Arts techniques and there are a lot of references and homages to classic movies.
The plot arc itself is surprisingly fast-paced. This can be especially surprising given Dragon Ball Z’s later reputation for Goku spending multiple episodes powering up and then talking to his enemies instead of actually fighting them. The arc itself is only 13 episodes long. For comparison, in Dragon Ball Z, Goku’s confrontation with Frieza by itself lasts about 20 episodes. Goku and his friends average about a new Dragon Ball every episode, have the Dragon Balls stolen by Pilaf and his gang, then spend the last few episodes getting the Dragon Balls back before Pilaf can wish for world domination. Although the first appearance of the dragon Shenron is suitably climactic and impressive, the gravitas is promptly ruined by Oolong saving the day by preempting Pilaf’s wish for world domination with his own wish for a pair of really comfortable underwear. That moment at the end of the act is the perfect example of how early Dragon Ball was largely driven by comedy.
The Adventure Holds Up, But Some of the Humor Doesn’t
Certain gags within the original Dragon Ball don’t land with readers today.
While later entries in the franchise are markedly more violent than the original Dragon Ball, the original is the only series in the franchise to have been rated 14+ on Funimation before their library was moved over to Crunchyroll after Sony merged the two services. Crunchyroll does not utilize the same sort of rating system. This higher age rating is largely because of the crude, raunchy humor present throughout the original Dragon Ball series. Unfortunately, much of this humor has not aged particularly well.
Related: The 10 Biggest Changes Funimation Made To The Franchise In North AmericaThe biggest source of Dragon Ball’s mature humor comes from either Master Roshi or Oolong who are both portrayed as unrepentant womanizers and constantly harassing female characters, mainly Bulma. Additionally, Bulma is placed in various humiliating situations for the sake of humor or fan service. It’s pretty gross, though it does gradually fade away as the series and franchise progress. The abandonment of this kind of crude, sexist humor is probably the biggest benefit of Akira Toriyama’s writing style changing and maturing over time, and when Dragon Ball is overly reliant on this kind of crude, distasteful humor, there are some genuinely hilarious moments that don’t involve crude or demeaning jokes.
With the new series, DAIMA, set for release in 2024, it’s the perfect time to revisit the early days of the franchise. The Emperor Pilaf Saga is a great view into the early days of the franchise. These earliest episodes are a nostalgic trip for fans, and it’s amazing to see how much the Dragon Ball franchise has changed, for the better in some ways, over the past 4 decades.
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