"Ide yo Sheng Long! Saiya-jin Tsui ni Chikyuu Touchaku"
(Come Forth Sheng Long! The Saiya-jin Finally Arrive on Earth)		 89-9-27
"The Legend of the Saiyans" and
"A Black Day For Planet Earth"		 97-1-17
97-1-24

Goku is now on his last day of training with Kaiou, and polishing off all of the techniques he has learned. He contacts Kame Sennin telepathically, and tells him that he is ready to be wished back to life. Kame, Buruma, and Oolong summon Sheng Long, and the wish is granted. Goku bids a fond farewell to his mentor, and shoots down Snake Way at top speed. Just before noon the next morning, two spacecraft appear in the sky and land in the middle of a city. Vegeta and Nappa emerge.

This episode marks a turning point not only in the story, but in the English version censoring. With the landing of Vegeta and Nappa, the butchering really gets in to full gear, everything that came before pales in comparison to the slew of alterations that begin here and continue until the end of the season.

English episode 14 continued, English episode 15 begins about 4 minutes in.

Just below the "TOILET" sign on the bathroom door, there is another sign that has been painted over. It says "occupied" in Japanese.

OK, now.... uh.... what the hell? What is WRONG with that???? First of all, American kids can't read the kanji, and second, WHO CARES IF IT SAYS "OCCUPIED?" We know Kame Sennin is in there, he bursts out of the room a few seconds later. Why in god's name did they take the time to paint over the sign?? Is Japanese writing a problem or something? I... oh, whatever. This has got to be the number two oddest and most unexplainable censor, Gohan's tears in episode 2 being number one.

When Kame Sennin bursts out of the bathroom, his left knee is uncovered in the Japanese version, it is covered in the English one. This is almost as weird as the last one. Do they think kids are going to go insane and kill each other IF THEY SEE AN OLD MAN'S KNEE?? He is more than adequately covered up in the area that matters, there is absolutely no reason why this censor needs to exist.

When Goku's halo disappears Kaiou says: "Oh, great! Your ring's gone, you've been wished back!" Why the hell doesn't he just say halo? Is that terminology too "religious?" Do they think people watching the show are going to call it something else? (And by the way: originally I thought he said "wig" here, but many of you wrote in to correct my mistake. Thanks a lot guys! So does that excuse this little sidestepping bit of dialogue? No. "Ring" is a whole lot better than "wig," but my point remains the same.)

When the camera pans from right to left showing the destruction the landing of the spacecraft caused, there is an overturned car with a huge puddle of blood coming out the driver's side. (Eww!) The car is still there in the English version, but the puddle is gone.

Vegeta: "Too bad it's Sunday, those buildings would have been full tomorrow."

This was the first line used to lure the audience into believing that the city Nappa is about to destroy is utterly and totally abandoned. Of course, no sane person would believe this, but FUNimation doesn't expect people to be sane.

English episode 15 continues...

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