Review: Dragonball Super Ep.1: The World Peace Prize; Who is getting the 100 Million Zeni?!

Is the first dubbed episode super?

Spoilers Below

For the way the plot is structured, much of the episode is spent showing a lot of the Buu Saga’s aftermath with Kid-Buu’s defeat at the hands of Goku, and pretty much serves as an “interquel” while pretending Dragonball GT didn’t happen and that’s mostly good given that GT wasn’t well received by many, nor was it directly made by DB creator Akira Toriyama himself.

Goku now has a job as a farmer which is pretty damn comical but he still never passes up a chance to train or excessively eat, It also still shows how much he hilariously sucks as a Dad when he entrusts Goten to drive his tractor despite the fact that he’s probably too young to be trusted with motorized farm equipment. Haha

Lord Beerus’s introduction in the new series (compared to the DBZ Animated film, “Battle of the Gods”) leaves a lasting impression as he has an encounter with some random aliens that try to appease him when they offer the culinary delights of their planet. But when he tries one out that turns out to be “too greasy” he then displays how extremely petty he is with his devastating power by instantly blowing up half their planet by simply tapping his index finger. (Damn!)

We then cut to everyone’s favorite likable fraud Mr. Satan (AKA “Hercule” in the Funimation Dub) and see what he’s up to. Personality-wise he hasn’t really changed much and is just the same as he was at the end of the Cell Saga.

While gleefully lying about his heroic endeavors, he claims all the fame of beating Majin Buu. At first, the press conference goes quite smoothly… until Good Buu shows up demanding to be fed and when the press asks about him, Hercule smooths things over by telling the press he’s training a new apprentice. (For those of you who don’t know, “Good Buu” is basically the good side of Kid-Buu that separated and turned good thanks to Hercule’s Influence yet sometimes behaves like a stubborn overgrown child.)

Afterwards, the scene switches over to the newlyweds Gohan and Videl, with Piccolo feeling the need to keep a close eye on them. Strangely, their wedding happened entirely off-camera and was never even shown at the end of DBZ.

A good chunk of the episode is spent on the random hijinks of Kid-Trunks and Goten as they seek out a gift for Videl. The closest we get to any action in the first episode was when Kid-Trunks & Goten randomly battle a giant snake without having to go Super Saiyan and nor did they fuse into “Gotenks” either. Kid-Trunks was able to rapidly punch that Kaiju-sized fucker with absolute ease. In the end, they cut their losses and settle on getting her some water from a river that supposedly has rejuvenating properties. This superstition is most likely bullshit but at least Kid-Trunks & Goten’s charming chemistry remains unchanged since the Buu Saga.

The episode cuts back to Goku & Goten as they’re visited by Hecule who fills Goku & Goten in regarding the news that he won the “World Peace Prize” for his supposed “Heroism” and was also awarded a suitcase containing “100 Million Zeni”. As his way of saying thanks for actually defeating Kid-Buu, Hercule gives this money to Goku since he’s already rich and figured he deserves it more.

At first, Goku turns it down and Hercule even says that Vegeta even turned it down since Bulma’s family is already rich anyway, Goku is then convinced by Goten that since it was Chi-Chi who forced him to get a job, to begin with, It only makes sense that if he gives her the money, he can freely Train again in King Kai’s world without any problems and so he gleefully takes it. 🙂

Chi-Chi is wowed beyond measure at the sight of this money and finally gives Goku permission to Train on the condition that he periodically visits his family and Just when Goku uses his “Instant Transmission” technique to disappear, Master Roshi Intrusively enters Goku’s house and somehow senses they got money and wants to use it to get more “Dirty DVD’s” but Chi-Chi hilariously throws his ass out. Hey, Roshi, you do know porn is sort-of free on the internet now right?

The episode ends when Kibito Kai and Elder Kai from the Buu Saga forebodingly sense a new threat that might be coming down to Earth soon. It’s easy to guess that It’s Beerus but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. 😉

Our Take

Despite this starting out as a filler episode, I do like the fact that it devoted more time on the supporting cast. Toriyama’s writing style often starts off really slow at the beginning before it actually gets to the meat of the story. It’s forgivable since the first episode is forebodingly building up toward’s the introduction of Lord Beerus who’s accompanied by his flamboyantly blue-skinned assistant, Whis. (Note: Beerus & Whis are named after types of alcohol so Whis is basically short for “Whiskey”.)

In July 2015 when I first saw the subbed version of this episode, It was a trip down memory lane as watching DBZ during my Teen years was heavily nostalgic to my teen/high school years and after hearing the dub, I can proudly say it still holds up in terms of presentation & quality.

The animation is miles above better than what DBZ Kai had to offer with Toriyama’s writing and signature art style at the forefront and Funimation’s Dub Cast strangely sounding the same. You’d think doing the same voice for 10+ years would change over time, but Sean Schemmel consistently nails it in his longtime performance as one of the greatest heroes in Anime & Manga history, Goku. 🙂

Anyway, that’s was all shown in this episode. It doesn’t set an actual plot in motion, but next week we get to see what Vegeta’s been up to.