Original Japanese Airdate: March 12, 1986
Major Cast: Son Goku (Masako Nozawa), Bulma (Hiromi Tsuru), Kame-sennin (Kohei Miyauchi), Pilaf (Shigeru Chiba), Shu (Tessho Genda), Mai (Eiko Yamada), Turtle (Daisuke Gouri), Narrator (Joji Yanami)
Synopsis: The party safely reaches the sea. In thanks, the turtle brings back an old man from the far side of the ocean who calls himself “Kame-sennin”! In gratitude for saving his turtle, Kame-sennin presents Goku with the Kinto-un, which can fly as one wills it. Only the owner of a pure heart can ride on Kinto-un, but the simple Goku manages to ride it! Meanwhile Bulma manages to obtain the Three-Star Ball that Kame-sennin had by promising to show him her panties!!
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Right away, getting to hear more of Daisuke Gouri's Kame, which at first I'm not so fond of. I love his Mr. Satan for later in Z, but this sounded like the exact same voice to me at first, and it was a bit off-putting. At least it was until Turtle started making these weird frightened noises when the bear bandit showed up. I love his little whine as he runs away to leave Goku to fight the bandit!
I completely forgot about the Tori-bot that appears clinging to a tree on the beach, and to top it off, I never knew he had a line! 'Penguin village...this is not.' I love breaking-the-fourth-wall moments like this. Does anyone with more sub knowledge than me know who voices that little line? They didn't go all-out and have Toriyama read it did they? I can't dismiss the possibility, when I know the Video Girl Ai anime had it's author Katsura sing a song for the BGM, and the Buso Renkin anime kept a similar author joke and even had it voiced by Watsuki himself.
There's a line where Goku is saying 'Take care now!' to Kame as he swims off, and I swear it sounds like 'Genki Dama', but it CAN'T be...again, anyone with more Japanese knowledge than me care to elaborate on what I just heard?
Bulma's worried about Kame bringing them 'Pandora's Box' as a gift? I wasn't aware that Greek mythology was commonplace enough in Japan to be used in a line like that. I could have sworn there was a similar Japanese folktale about a sailor getting a box he wasn't supposed to open, only to open it later though. Is this a changed reference even in the subs?
And yes, I know, I'm asking as many if not more questions than I'm actually making comments on. I'm new to half this, this is for my education as much as it is your enjoyment.
Yes, more Chiba's Pilaf at last! I'm seriously convinced that had he worked for FUNi back when this was dubbed, and they went for a sound-alike for Chiba, it would have been Greg Ayres. Still, I'm perfectly happy with the performance we got out of Huber as well mind you.
I'm trying to keep comments to mainly the performances and the scripts as I said, so as to not step on the toes of Champion's thread at all, but I can't help but wonder a few things I've never wondered before while watching. You know...I would love to have gotten a back-story on Pilaf. Seriously, where did this guy come from, and where does he keep getting the cash for all these failing machines? Does he order from freaking Acme or something?
...and for that matter, why is Bulma drawing a picture of poo in the sand with a stick. Another slight Slump reference?
And enter Kame'sennin! And Urashima, the song he's singing, now I remember I think! That Japanese folktale was about Urashima, who went under the sea somehow, and was given a box he was to never open, right? This is making me wonder further about that Pandora's Box mention earlier. Did the box in the folktale have a name anyway? It was called the 'Udon Box' in Yu Yu Hakusho.
The Engrish use of Roshi and Kame as they make their entrance is killing me too, in a good way.
Roshi telling Bulma not to sweat the details about a 'Turtle' Hermit having a cloud is great too, I'm seriously loving the fourth-wall destruction in this episode.
Kohei Miyauchi's voice for Kame'sennin at first was showing off the wise-old man side that I knew it would need later, but I was wondering what it would sound like when he had to fall into Roshi's perverted antics. I...was not disappointed. At all. I love McFarland's lecherous old coot voice, and sometimes he can even sound like a wise old man with it, but it still sounds somewhat artificial even when it's really good. I'm going to assume that Miyauchi was probably at least older than McFarland at the time he recorded this, so it definitely has more authenticity to it.
I usually find Kame's character to be rather dull, but his acting like an 'old housewife' in his scolding Roshi makes me wish he'd been around more actually.
I never knew that the closing narrator dialogue in some episodes was dub-only either, somehow I'm liking it better without it there.
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