English Dub Review: Dragon Ball Super “Off to See Master Zuno! Find Out Where the Super Dragon Balls Are!”

This goose just got chased.

Spoilers Below

Bulma’s going to hunt down the Super Dragon Balls of Universe Seven, but the Dragon Radar she built for the task won’t really get its optimal range from the outer arm of our backwater galaxy. She’s contacted Jaco about getting a ride to the center of the universe. She caught him on his day off, and he isn’t very happy about it. He blows off some steam by blasting an asteroid… and accidentally destroys a priceless monument. He blames it on a criminal that recently got an APB from the Galaxy Patrol, then zips off to Bulma. She explains her plan, but it’s impossible. Even the Galactic Patrol only operates in the Milky Way. Nobody can get her to the center of the universe. He comes up with another plan, however. He’s going to take her to Master Zuno, the information broker. Problem is, getting an appointment to see him is tough. Next opening is in seven years.

Just as the two of them are about to leave Zuno’s compound, the criminal from before arrives. Jaco confronts him, and the criminal takes one of Zuno’s attendants hostage. The space policeman shows surprising skill, taking the criminal down and saving the hostage. The attendants thank Jaco and Bulma by giving them the criminal’s appointment. Yay! Zuno doles out questions to them. One to Jaco, because he’s a dude. Bulma gets three because she’s a woman. Jaco uses his question to prove Zuno knows all: Asking what Bulma’s bra size is. When he quotes correctly, she’s convinced, but accidentally wastes two of her questions. She does manage to ask him for everything he knows about the Super Dragon Balls. While there is a bounty of information, none of it is about where they are. They do learn two important things. There is a very specific incantation to summon the divine dragon, and it must be in the divine tongue. Even more important, the Super Dragon Balls aren’t replicated between the two universes but shared. That means that she wouldn’t be able to gather her own set to cancel out any wishes from the Destroyers. It also means that Champa has been sneaking around Universe Seven for a while now, collecting ours. Beerus likely won’t be happy about that. Jaco leaves for GPHQ, his criminal in tow. Now, if only he could figure out what to tell his superiors about that monument he blew up.

This was a funny episode and one that continues with the pattern of asides that delve deeper into the characters. While marveling at how strong-willed and forceful Bulma is, Goku notes that he likes Chichi for the same reason. Vegeta explains that it’s wired into Saiyan men. They love strong women. Piccolo’s reaction is amazing. It’s also interesting to watch Vegeta in these non-combat scenarios around Bulma. He’s a jealous lover, and barks loudly at any male that spends time alone with her. As Vegeta is as close as we get to a “baseline” Saiyan, this may be revealing of their culture as a whole. Males use their strength and fighting prowess to attract females that show equal tenacity. However, while these couplings are assumed to be long term, it isn’t unheard of for the woman to leave him if she finds another, stronger male. Thus, Saiyan men must fight off other men constantly to keep the woman they want. Bulma may not understand this about them, but she certainly enjoys this side of Vegeta. It’s the closest she gets to him being romantic. It may also explain his aversion to PDA. Showing affection in public displays a softer, more innocent side. This undermines his ability to beat back the other men with his bravado. See? Two tiny scenes and we get a ton to theorize and talk about, anthropologically. What do you think? Comment below.

So, I have taken to watching the episode twice as of late: once earlier in the day in Japanese and once later in English. This gives me a bit more perspective on the alterations to the script made by the ADR crew. There were many subtle improvements and places where they smoothed out the rough edges here. Tweaks to what the character said that actually brought out more personality. Todd Haberkorn as Jaco was the star of the episode, and I think he did an okay job in pulling out this slapstick cop’s thought process. This character didn’t originate in the Dragon Ball manga, but in a separate one that acts as a prequel. They hint at the plot of that manga in this episode and use that to talk about the past that he and Bulma have with each other. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I felt that connection in the conversations between the two, even though Monica Rial seemed to have a fine time bringing out Bulma’s chemistry with other characters. The animation wasn’t horrible, but it didn’t have much going on either. I would say this episode is worth seven questions to Master Zuno out of ten.