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: Mystical Great Adventure") is the third Dragon Ball movie.
Originally premiering on July 9 at the 1988 Toei Cartoon Festival (along with movies from the Tatakae!! Ramenman, Bikkuriman, and Kamen Rider Black series).
Summary
Goku and Krillin having finished their training with Master Roshi are told about a World Martial Arts Tournament that is to be held in the country of Mifan and they are enthusiastic to enter. Meanwhile the Emperor of Mifan, Chiaotzu, is trying to find his lost "Ran Ran". The minister, Master Shen, has Pilaf and his gang work on a Global Dragon Radar in order to locate the Dragon Balls and forcibly takes it from him when he tries to renegotiate their payment. Minister Shen and General Tao claim that they will use the wish from Shenron to locate Ran Ran, but are actually planning, with Tien Shinhan's help, to kill Chiaotzu and take over the country though Tien is not aware of their plan to kill Chiaotzu. Lieutenant Blue announces that Ran Ran is being held in Master Shen's room but he is killed by General Tao for such an accusation.
In their homeland Bora and Upa have located the final Dragon Ball and hide it from the Soldiers destroying their land in their attempt to find it. They decide to take it to Mifan to use it to demand that Mifan's soldiers be forced to leave the Sacred Land of Korin.
Goku attacks Tao after Bora's death
Bora is tricked into entering the tournament (the winner of the tournament will be granted one wish by Chiaotzu). During the tournament Yamcha, who has also decided to enter to test his strength, becomes the champion briefly before Bora steps in to face him. After Master Roshi distracts Yamcha, Bora is able to land a hit on him to knock him out of bounds to become Champion himself. He is then challenged by General Tao who easily overpowers him and kills him by throwing him into a a statues spear. Out of anger Goku attacks Tao but his Kamehameha proves to have no effect on him. Tao then uses his Dodon Ray to blast Goku flying all the way into Korin Tower and thinks he died in the attack, however the Dragon Ball in his shirt protected him.
Goku then meets Korin who tells him that he lost because he lost his cool and that he must remain calm if he wants to win. Shen is informed that the final Dragon Ball he needs was on Goku's person and General Tao heads out to recover the ball. While on the fast track to Goku and over the slies of Penguin Village, Arale Norimaki see's down and grounds him by throwing a large boulder at him. At this time Goku shows up on the Nimbus and and Goku defeats and kills General Tao with Arale's help.
Bulma, Oolong, Launch and Puar are looking for the other six Dragon Balls, so Bulma can make a wish. However, when they try to grab the Dragon Ball's that are located in the palace, they are ambushed by Shen and his guards. Bulma barely makes it out with Yamcha's help and they jump into the moat surrounding Chiaotzu's castle, but accidentally drop their Dragon Balls into a deep fissure.
The Gang is victorious
Shen having round up the others along with Chiaotzu orders Tien Shinhan to kill the emperor however he realizes that he likes Chiaotzu too much, and does not kill his friend. Angry Shen goes to kill Chiaotzu instead but Tien blows away Master Shen with a Tri-Beam. Goku throws the final ball into the moat where he then asks Shenron to resurrect Bora who is reunited with his son.
Timeline placement
The movie takes place during Goku and Krillin's training under Master Roshi. The events of the movie take place in an alternate world according to Daizenshuu 6.
Releases
2000 DVD cover
In 2006, Toei Animation released Mystical Adventure as part of the final Dragon Box DVD set, which included all four Dragon Ball films and thirteen Dragon Ball Z films. These were presented in a new widescreen transfer from the original negatives with a 16:9 aspect ratio that was matted from the original 4:3 aspect ratio.
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.
In 2000, FUNimation released the movie with a new dub to VHS and bilingual DVD. However, the opening and ending sequences were replaced with the TV series opening and ending. Funimation quietly reissued a new version of the movie with the original Japanese opening and ending, but this time some of the frames froze where Japanese text was originally displayed. On December 6, 2005, the movie was re-released on DVD both individually and in a box set with Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle and The Path to Power.[1] This 3-disc box set was re-released in a thinpak variety on February 12, 2008.[2] On February 8, 2011, FUNimation re-released all four Dragon Ball movies in a new thinpak DVD collection with the opening and ending sequences restored to the original Japanese footage, but this version featured no apparent English credits.[3]
2011 thinpak set
In the summer of 2005, Toonami UK aired another dub of the movie done by AB Groupe in France. It retained the title Mystical Adventure since it was still the literal translation. Some European releases of the movie include this English dub as an alternate audio track, although it is nearly impossible to tell without any known copies in circulation. As with other dubs released by AB Groupe, the entire voice cast is unknown.
There was also another English dub released exclusively to Video CD in Malaysia by Speedy Video Distributors Sdn. Bhd.. This version is very obscure, although recently a clip from this dub has turned up on YouTube.[4]
Madman Entertainment released the film on DVD in Australia and New Zealand on March 17, 2004 with Funimation's 2000 English dub and optional Japanese dub audio.
Cast
Unlike the first two retellings, it features most of the FUNimation voice cast of the anime with the exception of Stephanie Nadolny (Goku).
Two more English versions, one released in Europe by AB Groupe and one released in Malaysia by Speedy Video, feature an unknown voice cast.
Music
- OP (Opening Theme): "Makafushigi Adventure!"
- ED (Ending Theme): "Dragon Ball Densetsu"
Trivia
- While the movie seems to be a retelling of events from the series, FUNimation refers to Chiaotzu as an emperor (episode "Goku's Alive!!") and Tao as a general (episode "Double Trouble for Goku"), positions they apparently hold only in this movie.
- The 8th Shunsuke Kikuchi music package for the franchise starts here. The cues were designated "M6XX" codes, and this package would make its series debut in Changes.
- In the Harmony Gold dub the ending scene is alterated and voices are added (just like in the FUNimation version of Dragon Ball GT episode 64 in which "the end of DB" is treated as a "flashback") also Dragon Ball Densetsu is played in instrumental https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV5iz-jZr3k
Gallery
 Mystical Adventure poster  Mystical Adventure poster Dragon Ball: The Movies Volume 17 .png "PilafGang(MysticalAdventure).png (458 KB)") Mai, Pilaf, Shu  The Mifan Army in the Land of Korin .jpg "Bulma's red hair ribbon (left).jpg (153 KB)") Oolong and the others in a plane  Chiaotzu's palace  Emperor Chiaotzu  Emperor Chiaotzu with Tien Shinhan  Minister Shen  Lieutenant Blue and General Tao  Tao eliminates Blue  General Tao  Metallitron makes his appearance  Major Metallitron attacks  Major Metallitron punches Krillin  Launch attacks Major Metallitron  Goku  General Tao arrives  Tao vs. Bora in a bar  The Dragon Balls kept by Master Shen  Yamcha is up against a literal giant named Gregor  Yamcha dodges the blow  Yamcha delivers a crushing blow  Gregor goes down  Yamcha is victorious  Bulma tells Puar to transform into Emperor Chiaotzu  Oolong makes a bad attempt at turning into Master Shen  Yamcha vs. Bora  Bora attacks  Bora punches Yamcha  Yamcha loses the match  The disguises work and the gang enter the palace  Bad Launch can not help taking the jewels of the nobles  Launch's friends worry about her behavior  Tao vs. Bora  Tao vs. Bora in the tournament  Bora is killed by Tao in the tournament  Tao, right after mercilessly killing Bora  Upa, Krillin and Goku around the dead Bora  Roshi comes near Bora  Upa with the Four-Star Dragon Ball  Tao goes after Goku to get his Dragon Ball  The Four-Star Dragon Ball near Korin  Korin gets the Dragon Ball  Arale throws a rock at General Tao  Arale finds Tao  Tao meets Arale and the Gatchans  Tao, Arale and the Gatchans .png "TaoVsGoku(MA).png (546 KB)") Tao vs. Goku .png "Tao3s(MA).png (557 KB)") Tao  Goku  Chiaotzu talks to Tien about a nightmare  Chiaotzu with his bodyguard  Goku defeats Metallitron  Dragon Ball keeping statue activated by Bulma  Tien saves Emperor Chiaotzu from Master Shen  Chiaotzu with Tien and a doll  Chiaotzu with Tien and a doll  Most of the cast together  Bora is resurrected by the Dragon Balls |
