It is easy to underestimate how a cultural impact “Dragon Ball” has had. The 40 -year -old franchise is recognized as a familiar name by several generations of anime fans. “Dragon Ball” and “Dragon Ball Z” are fundamental works of fiction, inspiring almost all the anime and manga that have come out since then. Around the world, Goku is not only a popular anime character, he is the animal character. If you think the reputation of the show is exaggerated, think again.
It is wild to think that the author Akira Toriyama has never really planned to do what would eventually become “Dragon Ball”. In addition, the manga has constantly evolved and changed, with Toriyama swivel towards what the readers were the most interested, by changing the story of a fun fantastic adventure inspired by “Journey to the West”, to a story of martial arts inspired by Jackie Chan, to a science fiction epic influenced by the origin of Superman. This means that there is something in “Dragon Ball” for each type of anime fan. However, while “Dragon Ball Z” is undoubtedly the most emblematic and popular part of the franchise (it is the series that built Toonami and created a generation of fans in the United States, Latin America and abroad), fans should not ignore the original “Dragon Ball”.
There is something pure in the first show with his son Goku, who found him as a little orphan boy with a tail and a talent for combat cars and dinosaurs. Before the franchise became power-ups and extraterrestrials, the first “Dragon Ball” is a wild, imaginative and deliciously silly adventure. But due to the nature of the weekly animated versions, which tend to quickly catch their source equipment, “Dragon Ball” has several filling episodes.
If you want to know which episodes of the original “Dragon Ball” are not based on specific chapters of the manga of the same name, this list is for you. (Note: this list will only cover the original anime and not “Dragon Ball Z.”)
Each filling episode in the original dragon ball
Here is each “Dragon Ball” fill episode, although the list only understands complete filling episodes (more on this subject later).
Episodes 30-33
“Pilaf and mystery strength”
“Wedding plans?”
“The flying fortress – has disappeared!”
“The legend of a dragon”
Episode 45
“Danger in the air”
Episodes 79-83
“Terror and the plague”
“Goku vs Sky Dragon”
“Goku goes to Demon Land”
“The unleashing of Inoshikacho”
“What path to the island of Papaya?”
Episodes 127-132
“Faster than lightning”
“Wood secret”
“The time room”
“Goku’s Doll”
“Walk their own ways”
“Warmer than lava”
Episodes 149-153
“Dress in flames”
“The Fire-Eater”
“Scandalous octagon”
“Mystery of the dark world”
“The end, the beginning”
Why shouldn’t you ignore the filling episodes
Although Filler can be a little dirty for some anime fans, many considering this term as referring to an atrocity to jump at all costs, jumping would be to miss excellent television episodes. “Fullmetal Alchemist”, for example, has once transformed a filling chapter into one of its best episodes.
This is particularly true for the original “Dragon Ball”, where it is a little difficult to talk about filling that you should or can jump – at least compared to “Dragon Ball Z.” Indeed, most of the “filling” content is woven with the most crucial episodes, widening scenes or by prohibiting animated-original scenes with canon moments.
But even the fully filled episodes should not really be ignored. The original “Dragon Ball” took the opportunity to make episodes of filling, and rather than summarizing the episodes, they extended the construction of the world of the source of Toriyama and have expanded the many parallel characters that Toriyama ignored or forgotten. How Pilaf discovered Piccolo, or how Nam is in his village – these are small questions that do not really have an impact on the main story, but being able to tell these stories makes anime a different and precious experience. In addition, the anime constantly refers and connects to the filling episodes, which makes them essential to look at the anime. After all, only in the anime that you can really see Goku and Chi-Chi get married because the final of “Dragon Ball” is reserved for anime and offers a beautiful closure to this story before “Dragon Ball Z” continues the saga.
