Dragon Ball: Mystical Adventure

Dragon Ball: Mystical Adventure (ドラゴンボール　魔訶不思議大冒険, Doragon Bōru: Makafushigi Dai-Bōken, lit. "Dragon Ball: Great Mystical Adventure"), is a 1988 Japanese anime fantasy martial arts adventure film and the third alternate continuity Dragon Ball feature film, originally released in Japan on July 9 at the "Toei Manga Matsuri" film festival as part of a quadruple feature along with Bikkuriman 2: The Secret of Muen Zone, Tatakae!! Ramenman, and Kamen Rider Black: Terrifying! The Phantom House of Devil Pass.

Dragon Ball: Mystical Adventure
Japanese	ドラゴンボール　魔訶不思議大冒険
Hepburn	Doragon Bōru Makafushigi dai-bōken
Directed by	Kazuhisa Takenouchi
Produced by	Keizō Shichijō
Screenplay by	Yoshifumi Yuki
Based on	Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump by Akira Toriyama
Starring	see below
Music by	Shunsuke Kikuchi
Cinematography	Motoaki Ikegami
Edited by	Shinichi Fukumitsu
Production company	Toei Animation
Distributed by	Toei Company
Release date	July 9, 1988 (1988-07-09) (Japan)
Running time	46 minutes
Country	Japan
Box office	$21.7 million (est.)

Unlike the previous two Dragon Ball films, Mystical Adventure does not introduce any original characters, but instead adapts characters from the Red Ribbon and 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai story arcs from the manga into the film's original storyline.

Plot

Another retelling of the Dragon Ball story. This time, young Goku and young Krillin are training with Master Roshi for a World Martial Arts Tournament to be held in the country of Mifan. The Emperor of Mifan, Chiaotzu, is trying to find his lost "Ran Ran." "Minister" Master Shen has Emperor Pilaf work on a Dragon Radar, takes it from him, and is using it to locate the Dragon Balls. Shen and Tao claim that they'll use the wish from Shenron to locate Ran Ran, but are actually planning, with Tien's help, to kill Chiaotzu and take over the country. General Blue announces that Ran Ran is being held in Shen's room, and is killed by Tao for it. Bora and Upa have located the final Dragon Ball and they take it to Mifan to use it to demand that Mifan's soldiers be forced to leave the land near Korin Tower.

Bora is tricked into entering the Tournament (the winner of the Tournament will be granted one wish by Chiaotzu), and is then killed by Tao. Bulma, Oolong, Launch and Puar are looking for the other six Dragon Balls, so Bulma can wish for a boyfriend. However, when the Dragon Balls are located, they are accidentally dropped to the bottom of the moat surrounding Chiaotzu castle. Tien realizes that he likes Chiaotzu too much, and doesn't kill his friend; instead, he blows away Shen. Then he gives Chiaotzu back Ran Ran (actually a porcelain doll, not a real girl) telling him he had hidden her because of Shen and Taopaipai. The story of Blue and Goku entering Penguin village is included, but this time it is Tao and Goku that meet Arale and Goku kills Tao with Arale's help. Goku throws the final ball into the moat, and summons Shenron, whom Upa asks to resurrect Bora.

Cast

Two more English versions – one released exclusively in Europe by AB Groupe, and another produced and released exclusively in Malaysia[1] – feature unknown casts.

Character (Alternate dub names)	Japanese voice actor	English voice actor (Harmony Gold, 1989)	English voice actor (Funimation, 2000)
Goku Zero (Harmony Gold dub)	Masako Nozawa	Betty Gustafson	Ceyli Delgadillo
Arale	Mami Koyama	Arlene Banas	Linda Chambers-Young
Yamcha Zedaki (Harmony Gold dub)	Tōru Furuya	Ryan O'Flannigan	Christopher R. Sabat
Bulma Lena (Harmony Gold dub)	Hiromi Tsuru	Wendee Swan	Tiffany Vollmer
Kame-sen'nin (Turtle Hermit) Master Roshi (Harmony Gold and Funimation dubs)	Kōhei Miyauchi	Clif Wells	Mike McFarland
Kuririn Bongo (Harmony Gold dub) Krillin (Funimation dub)	Mayumi Tanaka	Wanda Nowicki	Laurie Steele
Lunch Marilyn (Harmony Gold dub) Launch (Funimation dub)	Mami Koyama	Penny Sweet	Meredith McCoy
Oolong Mao Mao (Harmony Gold dub)	Naoki Tatsuta	Colin Philips	Bradford Jackson
Puar Squeaker (Harmony Gold dub)	Naoko Watanabe	Carole Wilder	Monika Antonelli
Tenshinhan Shinto (Harmony Gold dub) Tien Shinhan (Funimation dub)	Hirotaka Suzuoki	Christy Mathewson	John Burgmeier
Emperor Chaozu Chiaotzu (Funimation dub)	Hiroko Emori	Reba West	Monika Antonelli
Umigame (Turtle)	Daisuke Gōri	Dan Woren	Christopher R. Sabat
Tsuru-sen'nin (Crane Hermit) Lord Wu Zu (Harmony Gold dub) Master Shen (Funimation dub)	Ichirō Nagai	Myron Mensah	Chuck Huber
Taopaipai General Tao Pei (Harmony Gold dub) Mercenary Tao (Funimation dub)	Chikao Ōtsuka	Jeffrey Platt	Kent Williams
Shenlong Dragon God (Harmony Gold dub) Shenron (Funimation dub)	Kenji Utsumi	Steve Kramer	Christopher R. Sabat
Announcer	Kenji Utsumi	Dan Woren	Justin Cook
General Blue	Toshio Furukawa	Colin Philips	Sonny Strait
Sergeant Metallic Major Fist (Harmony Gold dub) Major Metallitron (Funimation dub)	Shin Aomori	A. Gregory	Chris Rager
Upa Littlefoot (Harmony Gold dub)	Mitsuko Horie	Arlene Banas	Kara Edwards
Bora Haymaker (Harmony Gold dub)	Banjō Ginga	Bob Papenbrook	Dameon Clarke
Karin Whiskers the Wonder Cat (Harmony Gold dub) Korin (Funimation dub)	Ichirō Nagai	Ted Lehmann	Mark Britten
Pilaf	Shigeru Chiba	Colin Philips	Mike McFarland
Shu	Tesshō Genda	Colin Philips	Unknown
Mai	Eiko Yamada	Melodee Spevack	Cynthia Cranz
Gatchans	Seiko Nakano	Unknown	Unknown
Dr. Slump	Kenji Utsumi	Unknown	Unknown
Narrator	Jōji Yanami	Jeffrey Platt	Christopher R. Sabat

Music

• OP (Opening Theme):
  • "Makafushigi Adventure!"
    • Lyrics by Yuriko Mori
    • Music by Takeshi Ike
    • Arranged by Kōhei Tanaka
    • Performed by Hiroki Takahashi
• ED (Ending Theme):
  • Doragon Bōru Densetsu (ドラゴンボール伝説, "Dragon Ball Legend")
    • Lyrics by Onikado Izumi
    • Music by Takeshi Ike
    • Arranged by Seiichi Kyōda
    • Performed by Hiroki Takahashi

Releases

Box office

At the Japanese box office, the film sold 1.9 million tickets and earned a net distribution rental income of ¥650 million,[2][3] equivalent to estimated gross receipts of approximately ¥1.6 billion[4] ($12 million).[5]

In China, where the film released in July 2016, it grossed $9,714,846 in thirteen days,[6] bringing the film's total gross revenue to an estimated $21,714,846 in East Asia.

Home media

Harmony Gold USA broadcast their dub of this film and Curse of the Blood Rubies as a double feature on WPSG Philly 57 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and on other channels and cable systems in a select few test markets. It was also likely to have been released on home video in the early 90s. It was not widely noticed and went under the radar. Their dub changed the names of some of the characters and had parts of it censored, and the opening and ending sequence changed with; instead of the first Japanese sequence they used the second Japanese sequence, with the Japanese katakana removed from the Dragon Balls, the Japanese credits removed and replaced with the Harmony Gold credits, and they changed some of the dialog from the Japanese intro. The ending was changed from the Japanese ending to show a still picture of Goku flying away from Shenron (known as Dragon God in the Harmony Gold dub) taken from the intro, and using the intro theme song instead of the Japanese ending theme with the Harmony Gold credits. The script was more faithful to the Japanese script and all the background music was kept the same, unlike the Funimation and The Ocean Group dubs.

There was also another English dub released exclusively to Video CD in Malaysia by Speedy Video. This version is very obscure, although recently a clip from this dub has turned up on YouTube.[7]

Funimation acquired the rights to the film in 2000 and released it with a new dub to VHS and bilingual DVD that year.

Madman Entertainment released the film on DVD in Australia and New Zealand on March 17, 2004 with the 2000 English dub and optional Japanese audio. However, the introduction which began the narration of the Dragon Balls, a cameo sequence of Pilaf and his gang presenting a global dragon radar to Master Shen, and a different opening sequence to the movie featuring Goku and Krillin in training were cut. Instead, the opening sequence and scenes aforementioned were replaced with the TV opening sequence. Another sequence cut was the closing credits featuring a summoned Shenron who fulfilled Upa's wish to bring Bora back to life. The scene was replaced with the TV closing sequence.

Subsequent versions of the FUNimation dub had restored its introduction and its opening/ending sequence. Unlike the Japanese version however, the opening sequence had many scenes in freeze-frame, as a way to block out the original Japanese credits that were in the sequence. The closing credits was restored with English credits censoring half the screen, also as a way to block out the original Japanese credits scrolling from the right.

The movie was later available on DVD along with Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle and Path to Power as part of FUNimation's Dragon Ball Movie Box set released on December 6, 2005.[8] The box set was re-released as a thinpack on February 12, 2008.[9] This set has since been discontinued.

An alternative English dub produced with an unknown cast by AB Groupe in France was released in English speaking markets in Europe in the early 2000s.

The film was re-released to DVD in America on February 8, 2011 as a part of a Dragon Ball Movie 4-Pack remastered thinpack release from FUNimation along with the other Dragon Ball related movies.[10] This release restored all of the previously edited video footage of the film, however features no apparent English credits.

References

1. https://nyaa.si/view/1073029
2. "予約特典・ドラゴンボール最強への道・劇場版ご近所物語A5サイズ前売特典冊子". Dragon Ball: The Path to Power brochure (in Japanese). Toei Animation. 1996.
3. "Movie Guide: Dragon Ball Movie 03". Kanzenshuu. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
4. "Statistics of Film Industry in Japan". Eiren. Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan. 1988. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
5. "Official exchange rate (LCU per US$, period average) - Japan". World Bank. 1988. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
6. "Dragon Ball: Mystical Adventure – China". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
7. "YouTube". www.youtube.com.
8. "Dragon Ball Movie 2, 3, 4". 6 December 2005 – via Amazon.
9. "Dragon Ball Movie 3-pack". 12 February 2008 – via Amazon.

External links

• Dragon Ball: Mystical Adventure on IMDb
• ＤＲＡＧＯＮ ＢＡＬＬ 魔訶不思議大冒険 at the Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese)