We all frequent message boards and online forums (such as alt.fan.dragonball), and we all contribute as much as we can. Unfortunately, we don't KNOW of all the places people post questions, so it's impossible for us to reach everyone. However, if you're reading this, you at least know where WE are, so it's possible for you to ask us directly.

What we're going for here is sort of an "Answerman" or "Ask John" (from Anime News Network and Anime Nation, respectively). We'd like you to e-mail in whatever questions you may have, so long as it somehow relates to the world of DragonBall; be it the manga, the anime, merchandise.. whatever. We've been around for a few years, now, and we know the ropes... we like to think we know our stuff.

And we want to help. E-mail your questions to VegettoEX@aol.com with the subject "Ask VegettoEX." We'll try to update this section every Saturday, with at least one question straight from the fans. Thanks!

[ Last Updated: Sunday, 18 January 2004 ]
[ Past "Ask VegettoEX" Archives ]

Q. Do you know what some of the people from the old Dragon Ball sites are doing these days? I know Castor Troy has a Spirit Detective site or something like that, Chris Psaros has an almost empty personal page, and we all know what Steve Simmons is up to. What about some of the others? Did the guys from Planet Namek disappear? How about your old partner Jon Allen? Thanks for your time and I'm glad to see this site is still (or back) up, running, and interesting. - VainOleBain

A. Quite honestly, I have no idea what anyone's up to. I've pretty much lost contact with everyone and anyone (other than... well.. Julian!).

I know that Ryan (Castor Troy), the former webmaster of Ginga GIRI GIRI, is helping to coordinate this year's "Retro Video Game" Anime Music Video project, which is the sequel to last year's fantastic NES (Nintendo Entertainment System, of course) AMV project. I'll be on board for this year's RVG Project (as well as this year's DDR project!) doing a Street Fighter II track. Huzzah!

Unfortunately, I think a lot of people (myself partially included) let a lot of petty, nonsensical bullshit get in the way of the online friendships. The only person I've really gotten back in contact and friendship with is Chris (Ramza) from Dragon Ball Blast, which I'm sure not many of you will remember. You'll find him occasionally lurking our message board.

Julian has told me that Reid (Kaio) from Planet Namek is busy spending his sophomore year of college in Japan (he's a Japanese major). However, Julian hasn't kept up with anyone else who used to work for that site, so what the others are up to nowadays is a mystery.

Update: since this writing, Julian has been informed that James (Mr.E), formerly of Planet Namek, is currently attending UC Irvine, where he is a physics major in his junior year.

Jon, who worked on this site before moonlighting at Planet Namek and Ginga GIRI GIRI, is currently in his sophomore year of college in San Diego. He is involved heavily in acting and voiceover work, as well as some freelance writing for anime magazines. He also contributes on occasion to Ryan (Castor Troy)'s current website, The Spirit Detecive.

Like you've noted, Steve (Daimao) is up to his old tricks, still doing the translations for FUNimation. You can find him on alt.fan.dragonball, as well as our own message board ^^.

Other than what little information I've been able to provide about these three people, I really have no idea. I still have all the old screen names on my buddy list from way back in the day, but no-one ever pops up; I can only assume I've been taken off buddy lists and/or people have new screen names (I haven't changed mine :P). I certainly wouldn't mind keeping up with everyone, but from what I gather, a lot of people still haven't been able to move past what happened years ago, as much as I'd like us all to. It's a shame!

To my own (dis)credit, I really have been enjoying kinda living in my own little world, since the site went back up. I really don't visit any other sites, I don't browse many other message boards, and I haven't outwardly sought contact with anyone. At the same time, I'm really enjoying it, since I've fallen back in love with DragonBall so much! - VegettoEX (with help from Julian)

Q. I have been wondering for a long time... is it Freeza or Freezer? The subtitled DVDs all call him Freeza, and the discs are supposed to be translated very well... but I am unsure about this name. When I was studying Japanese every Katakana word that ended in "a" was almost always the equivalent to out "er", such as the Japanese words for "Player", "Puureyaa", Tamer "Teima", and Saber "Seiba". Now wouldn't Freeza be Freezer since it ends in "a"? - Luis

A. Unlike another certain Answerman that will remain nameless, we'll do our best to answer your simple question without being a total jerk about it. Sheesh, people have gotten so jaded, lately!

Let's forget about Freeza for a second, and take a look at Vegeta's name. The romanization from the katakana would look like this, for Vegeta's name: be - ji - i - ta. Since there's no true "V" sound in Japanese, the "B" has to take its place. So let's change it into "Vejiita." It's obviously leaning towards the English word "vegetable," since all Saiyans have vegetable name puns (Vegeta being their leader taking the word, itself).

Now... Vegeta's name is not "vegetable"... it's "Vegeta." While his name is a pun on something, his name is not that exact something... it's related to that something.

So let's go back to Freeza. His name would be romanized as: fu - ri - i - za. Obviously going for the English word "freezer." So here's where you kind of make a judgment call. For many years, I spelled it "Freezer." Why did I change my mind? For the most part, Toriyama's names do not actually name an item; they're a pun on an item. "ka - ka - ro - t - to" isn't "carrot," while "gu - ru - do" is not "yogurt," etc (of course, this is thrown off with examples like "Trunks" and "Bra," but those are the minority).

Not only that, but in the wacky world of Japanese romanization, generally only words which are spelled with a double "a" are intended to represent an "er" ending. The word pawaa (power) is probably the most obvious example of this. While this is not always the case (especially with made-up names, as with DB and many other manga and anime), the rule generally holds. So, words that only end in a single "a" (like oora, "aura") are left alone.

As such, I decided to spell his name as "Freeza."

Then we get into FUNimation's funky spellings. If their convention is ending "Freeza" with an "a" instead of an "er," why did they go with "Cooler" ? Why not "Coola," like Steve chose for the subtitles?

*fanboy moment* Furthermore, where did the "i" in "Frieza" come from? I'm surprised they didn't try to stick an "i" in "Cooler" !

Yes, Master Coiler! Let's kill Carrot! - VegettoEX

Q. In the Buu Saga, there is a lot of controversy around whether Vegeta was able to become SSJ2 after being brought back to life. In the anime, in his consequent fights with Super Buu and Kid Buu, there are some points when electricity is briefly seen around him, but otherwise for the rest of the fight it seems like he's in SSJ. This then raises the question of why bother fighting at this point if he couldn't beat Fat Buu as MAJIN SSJ2, much less regular SSJ against the other (more powerful) forms (and also, why did he bother taking on Kid Buu in his normal state....)? - Kris Mendes

A. This is a pretty interesting question, and something I've wondered about, myself, since watching it. It became apparent, quite quickly, that Vegeta took the "Majin" power-up because he simply did not have the strength required to fight Goku; becoming a "Majin" allowed him to reach SSJ2 and fight Goku at equal strength (or so he thought! hehe...).

My only thought is that once he lost the "Majin" power-up after dying, he had some kind of "taste" of what SSJ2 was like, and closed in on it during his battles. Remember that at this point, Vegeta's a completely changed person; he fully admits to loving his family, and has also admitted to Goku being the "number one" fighter. Perhaps the combination of this new persona combined with his actual fighting for something (rather than against something) gave him some new-found strength.

Remember that Vegeta really hasn't fought for anything. Against Cell, it was simply to prove his own strength. Against Goku, it was somewhat the same thing (with a little bit of revenge thrown in). This is the first time he's approached an almost non-selfish reason for fighting... it probably, indeed, gave him some new strength to battle with! - VegettoEX

Q. Also, in Dragon Ball, when Goku drank the Ultra Divine Water, he claimed that he could "sense" King Piccolo's energy from Karin's Tower. Yet after the fight, he couldn't beat Mr. Popo because Popo said he needed to learn to sense his movements. What is the difference between those two scenarios, or with this a mistake on Toriyama's part? - Kris Mendes

A. Although it's not exactly clear, since Goku's ki-sensing abilities are almost brand-new to him at this point, we can only assume that Mr. Popo was suppressing his energy -- perhaps even only a little bit -- and that was enough to throw off Goku's ability to tell here where he was. The exercises he's given at first seem primarily concerned with controlling his senses and concentration enough to be able to feel an individual's ki, no matter what they're doing to hide it (hence the stillness, clearing the mind, etc.). At the very least, this explanation plays very well into the stories presented later on in the series, where this ability becomes vital. - Julian

THIS WEEK'S MESSAGE BOARD DISCUSSION:

We're starting up a new section of "Ask VegettoEX" this week. Every week we'll pull a question from the "DragonBall Questions" section of our message board, and link you to the full discussion thus-far. Feel free to read over the questions and answers, and perhaps even get into the conversation!

Q. The Japanese naming format puts the surname before the given name, correct? "Son Goku", and so forth.

So, in the original manga and anime, is Bulma's full name actually "Briefs Bulma"? Or is it written in a "western format"? I just wonder since, as a character, she seems to be quite "western". She comes from the City To The West, she has her name written in Romanji all over her, and, er, more.

And, as a follow up, is Trunks ever called "Trunks Briefs" in the original Japanese? If so, wouldn't that also support the whole "Bulma and Vegeta got married" theory? - PsyLiam

A. Read over the discussion, here! Lots of great input from quite a few people.

We're trying to stay with our weekly schedule for the section... so... e-mail us your questions for next week's update! We love getting all these questions, each week, so the more you send us, the more we can (try to) answer for you!

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