"Yomigaeru Saiya-jin Densetsu! Goku no Roots"
(The Return of the Saiya-jin Legend! Goku's Roots)
89-9-20
"The Legend of the Saiyans" 97-1-17

Kaiou gives Goku his next task: to catch his grasshopper-like companion Gregory. He must accomplish this by hitting Gregory on the head with a gigantic (and very heavy) mallet, a challenge Goku is having some difficulty completing. He and Kaiou take a lunch break, and Kaiou tells Goku more about the Saiya-jin, as well as the ultimate fate of their doomed homeworld. With a renewed sense of urgency about his responsibility to Earth, Goku then catches Gregory easily. Kaiou sees a great deal of potential in his new student.

This episode didn't have the typical obvious cuts and censors, these were a little more obscure and the reasons behind them can only be guessed at. Some really odd stuff here, actually.


Begin episode 14

In the scene where Gohan is training in the desert with Piccolo (moved back, to English episode 13) his eye is actually swollen shut, with a very big and painful looking bump. FUNimation simply paints an eye where the bump is.

GIVE ME A BREAK! What the hell is wrong with a wound like this??? (Sigh) oh well. Damned puritanical wierdos.

(15 sec.) The desert sparring scene is snipped a little bit here and there so that FUNimation doesn't have to paint Gohan's eye onto the wound. Also, It appears that Piccolo blasts Gohan, then he falls over the cliff. What actually happens is that Gohan hangs onto the side, and Piccolo walks over and steps on his hand, forcing the boy to fall. Pretty brutal, but that's just the way Piccolo trains.

During that one shot of Gohan on his knees, with the camera focusing on the ground between his hands, we can see a few drops of sweat falling from his hair onto the dirt. But apparently it's not just blood Saban has a problem with, but all bodily fluids, so the sweat is painted away. Friggin' wierdos.

(4 sec.) When Kuririn falls to the ground after missing Yajirobe, Yajirobe turns, opens his mouth wide, and bites Kuririn's ass HARD. This is a hilarious sight gag, but anything funny must be cut, of course. I honestly don't see what's wrong with this. Maybe because it suggests that Kuririn does indeed have a butt, and Saban has a problem with butts because they're controversial?

Think so? Maybe?

Well then, do you have a better idea??

"Tsufuru-jin" comes out translated as "Tuffles." OK, as with so much of the true richness of this show, the pun names are lost in the translation, but "Tuffles" just sounds stupid.

If you're wondering what the pun is, by the way, it goes a little something like this:

The word "Saiya" is a play on the Japanese word "Yasai" (vegetable). In contrast to that, "Tsufuru" is a play on the English word "Fruit." Get it? Fruits versus Vegetables.

Goku is wearing some (really crappy looking and half-assed) digital underwear in the flashback when Kaiou is talking about sending off baby Saiya-jin.

English episode 14 continues...

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