"Goku ga Daisekkin! Freeza no Houimou o Buchiyabure"
(Goku on Final Approach! Break Through Freeza's Net)
90-9-19
"Elite Fighters of the Universe...The Ginyu Force" 98-2-14

Vegeta demands to be made immortal immediately, and tells Gohan and Kuririn that it is their only hope for fighting the Ginyu. The three of them fly off towards Vegeta's stash of Dragon Balls, and arrive soon after. Kuririn is reluctant to hand his Ball over to a former arch enemy, but his decision is muted by the sudden arrival of the Ginyu Squad. They easily outmatch Kuririn, Gohan, and Vegeta, and take the Dragon Balls away without any difficulty. Ginyu heads off towards Freeza's ship with the Balls, and leaves the rest of his squadron to do as they will with the three warriors.

A perfectly untouched episode, not a second cut, not a pixel of digital paint. Ah. That's always nice. Also, we get our first real chance to hear the Ginyu Squad talking in this one, and all of the voices are really quite good, if you ask me. As a matter of fact, Ginyu's voice (Doc Harris, who is also the narrator) is better than Yukinori Hori, the Japanese original. OK, maybe that's sacrilege, but I love Doc's voice, and I think they need to use him more. He would be perfect for Cell, but I'm afraid FUNimation won't use him, for it would violate FUNimation Rule #1 for voice casting; all major characters (like Cell) have to be given stupid sounding voices. He'll end up sounding like Mr. T, I'm sure.

One gripe I have however, is that Vegeta continues to refer to Kuririn by his name in the English version, something he never does in the original, where he simply says "hey you." I like that so much better, it's more realistic somehow. By not using his name, he is being demeaning in a very subtle way. Besides, how would Vegeta know what Kuririn's name is, anyway?


Begin English episode 49

End English episode 49

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