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The Saiya-jin Saga

 episodes
The episode comparisons are set up in terms of the Japanese episode numbers, click on them to proceed. FUNimation equivalents are approximate.
Japanese English
 
Season 1
1 "Little Goku is Mr. Charming! I am Gohan"
2 "History's Strongest Warrior is Goku's Brother!"
1 "The Arrival of Raditz"
3 "Let's do it! This is the Strongest Team on Earth!" 2 "The World's Strongest Team"
4 "Piccolo's Trump Card! Gohan is a Crybaby" 3 "Gohan's Hidden Powers"
5 "Goku Dies! There's Only One Last Chance!"
6 "Enma-sama is Also Surprised -- The Fight Continues in the Next World"
4 "Goku's Unusual Journey"
7 "Dinosaur Survival! Gohan's Difficult Training"
8 "Great Transformation on a Moonlit Night! The Secret of Gohan's Power"
5 "Gohan's Metamorphosis"
9 "Sorry, Mr. Robot -- The Desert of Vanishing Tears"
10 "Don't Cry Gohan! His First Fight"
6 "Gohan Makes a Friend"
11 "The Saiya-jin, Strongest Warriors in the Universe, Awaken" 7 "Trouble on Arlia"
12 "Nodding off on Snake Way -- Goku Takes a Dive"
13 "Hands Off! Enma-sama's Secret Fruit"
8 "Home For Infinite Losers"
14 "Such Sweet Temptation! Princess Snake's Hospitality" 9 "Princess Snake's Hospitality"
15 "Escape From Piccolo! Gohan Summons a Storm"
16 "Run Gohan! Nostalgia For Mt. Paozu, Where Chichi is Waiting"
10 "Escape From Piccolo"
17 "City of No Tomorrow! The Long Road to Victory" 11 "Showdown in the Past"
18 "Last Stop on Snake Way! Are you Kaiou-sama?" 12 "The End of Snake Way"
19 "A Fight Against Gravity! Catch Bubbles" 13 "A Fight Against Gravity... Catch Bubbles!"
20 "The Return of the Saiya-jin Legend! Goku's Roots" 14 "The Legend of the Saiyans"
21 "Come Forth Sheng Long! The Saiya-jin Finally Arrive on Earth" 15 "A Black Day For Planet Earth"
22 "Im...Impossible! The Saibaimen, Born From the Earth" 16 "The Battle Begins... Where Are You Goku?"
23 "Yamucha Dies! The Horror of the Saibaimen" 17 "The Saibamen Strike"
24 "Goodbye, Ten-san! Chaozu's Life-Risking Defense!" 18 "Nappa...The Invincible?"
25 "Tenshinhan Screams!! This Is My Last Kikoho!" 19 "Tien Goes All Out!"
26 "Waiting in Earnest for Three Hours! The Kintoun Bullet Train"
27 "Leave it to Me! Gohan's Great Explosion of Anger"
20 "Time's Up!"
28 "Ferocity of the Saiya-jin! Kami-sama and Piccolo Both Die!" 21 "The Return of Goku"
29 "Father is Amazing! Kaiouken, the Deadly Finishing Technique" 22 "Goku Strikes Back"
30 "A Hot, Unbordered Duel! Goku vs. Vegeta"
31 "Now, Goku! Everything is Riding On This Final Technique"
23 "Goku vs. Vegeta: A Saiyan Duel!"
32 "Battle Power Times Ten! Vegeta's Great Transformation" 24 "Vegeta: Saiyan Style!"
33 "Don't Die, Father! This is the Dep0th of Gohan's Power"
34 "Shoot, Kuririn! The Hopeful Genkidama"
25 "Stop Vegeta Now!"
35 "A Miracle Has Happened! Son Gohan, the Super Saiya-jin" 26 "The Battle Ends"

 The First Season In Review
I still remember how excited I felt that morning, having only found out the day before that one of the greatest anime ever was premiering on North American TV. And I remember watching the show, and once it was over, feeling pretty... satisfied, actually. The theme song was crap, but everything else was tolerable, and I remember the exhilaration of knowing that hundreds of thousands of people had just been exposed to DBZ for the first time. The rest, as they say, is history...

Overall, FUNimation did a fairly good job of whittling 35 episodes down to 26 (the number of episodes in a season of the typical American show.) Not knowing whether or not DBZ would be renewed for next year, it had to reach a decisive conclusion, so there had to be some footage sacrificed in order to get up to episode 35, where everything is pretty much tied up. "Whittling" is a good term, since so much of the editing was unnoticeable snippets here and there that eventually added up to entire episodes worth of footage. There were, however, some unfortunate losses. A lot of fans have complained about how much was cut, but given the circumstances, there really wasn't any alternative.

The series began comparatively liberal as far as censoring and dialogue were concerned, there was more blood, the words "die" "death" and "kill" were used several times, and there were more risks taken overall. Things began to take a turn for the worse, however, around episode 7, which saw the debut of the dreaded "another dimension," the unforgettable line which has since come to represent everything bad about the censoring and editing this show has undergone, and would continue to undergo. As the series continued, Vegeta and Nappa landed, the battle began, and FUNimation's "digital paint" bucket was working overtime. The censoring became steadily worse, and culminated in the coup de grace: Hits to the head and face were now being covered by bright-colored "stars." Fans mourned as their favorite show was being butchered and reduced to the point of unrecognizability, and by the time the season ended, it almost seemed like it wasn't Goku and the others who had won, but the ridiculous ideas of this violence-hypersensitive and paranoid society.