Dragon Ball: Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle (ドラゴンボール 魔神城のねむり姫, Doragon Bōru: Majin-Jō No Nemuri Hime), also known as Dragon Ball: Sleeping Beauty in Devil Castle,[2] is the second Dragon Ball movie. Originally premiering on July 18 at the 1987 Toei Cartoon Festival (along with movies from the Saint Seiya, Hikari Sentai Maskman, and Chōjinki Metalder series).
As with its predecessor, it features mostly new animation, but reuses pieces from various episodes of the Dragon Ball television series.
Summary
Eleven year old Goku seeks out Master Roshi to ask to be accepted as a student just before Krillin, a monk from a far off city, arrives for the same reason (and uses a Dirty Magazine as a bribe). Master Roshi sends them on a quest far to the west, where "five mountains stand, called the 'Devil's Hand'." In a castle there, there lies the legendary, and beautiful, "Sleeping Princess." Whoever brings back the Sleeping Princess will become the old pervert's student. The two boys set out, and Krillin uses all the standard tricks to trip Goku up.
A little later, Bulma, Oolong, Yamcha, and Puar, who are on summer vacation, arrive at Kame House to find Goku. Master Roshi says that the two boys have gone far to the west for training, so the friends fly in Bulma's Capsule jet to the Devil's Hand. When they near the castle, the jet is attacked by demons, and Bulma is taken to the castle. The owner of the castle, Lucifer, pretends to treat her as a guest, until it becomes time to awaken the Sleeping Princess. In the meantime, Goku and Krillin fight monsters, and Yamcha drops in on Bulma just before the butler Igor can drain Bulma of her blood through a giant syringe (Bulma's blood is to be used to toast the awakening of the Sleeping Princess). Then, Launch (in her bad, blonde state) arrives to steal the Sleeping Princess, which is really a giant jewel. Everyone is captured and encased in a wall of rock.
It is the night of a full moon, and the moonlight is used to power the jewel (the full-moonlight is to be used to destroy the Sun and begin the Reign of Darkness). The moonlight also turns Goku into a Great Ape, who then goes berserk and grabs Good Launch. Great Ape Goku's tail is cut by Yamcha and Puar, which reverts him to his base form, and everyone then escapes. They find and fight Lucifer, and Goku uses a Kamehameha to move the Devil Castle Cannon towards Lucifer, and it kills Lucifer. The heroes escape, and Krillin acts contrite, but does not actually apologize to Goku for his behavior.
The two boys return to Kame House with good Launch; and Master Roshi, mistaking Launch for the princess, takes them both on as students. Roshi tries to take advantage of Good Launch only for her to sneeze and attack him with her gun before sneezing again.
Timeline placement
The movie takes place at the start of Goku and Krillin's training under Master Roshi.[3]
Releases
This film premiered at the "Toei Manga Matsuri" film festival, where it was shown as part of a quadruple feature alongside Saint Seiya: The Movie and the film versions of Hikari Sentai Maskman and Choujinki Metalder. In 2006, Toei Animation released Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle 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.
2005 DVD cover
While Harmony Gold USA had the rights to Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle, they only ever used footage from it in their opening for Dragon Ball.
In 1995, FUNimation acquired the movie, along with the two other Dragon Ball movies and the series itself. It wasn't until 1998, however, that the Sleeping Princess would see a release on home video. FUNimation produced an in-house dub for the movie, unprecedented for any of their Dragon Ball properties at the time, although many voice actors were replaced they dubbed the series. Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle was released on VHS in both edited and unedited formats, although both versions contained altered opening and ending sequences. In 2005, the movie was re-released on DVD both individually and in a box set with Mystical Adventure and The Path to Power. This 3-disc box set was reissued in a thinpak variety in 2008. In 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.
2011 thinpak set
In the summer of 2005, Toonami UK aired another dub of the movie entitled Sleeping Beauty in Devil Castle done by AB Group in France. 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.
Edits
Dialogue changes
In the English version, Yamcha and Puar are already aware of Goku's Great Ape transformation and know to attack the tail. In the Japanese version, everyone is surprised by the transformation and Krillin figures out the tail weakness from when they were sparring previously.
Cast
| Character name | Japanese voice actor | English voice actor (Funimation, 1998) |
English voice actor (AB Groupe, c. 2005)[4] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goku | Masako Nozawa | Ceyli Delgadillo | Jodie Forrest |
| Bulma | Hiromi Tsuru | Leslie Alexander | Jodie Forrest |
| Krillin | Mayumi Tanaka | Laurie Steele | Sharon Mann |
| Yamcha | Tōru Furuya | Christopher Sabat | Sharon Mann |
| Launch | Mami Koyama | Christine Marten (Bad) Monika Antonelli (Good) |
Jodie Forrest |
| Master Roshi | Kōhei Miyauchi | Mike McFarland | Ed Marcus |
| Oolong | Naoki Tatsuta | Brad Jackson | David Gasman |
| Puar | Naoko Watanabe | Monika Antonelli | Jodie Forrest |
| Igor | Shozo Iizuka | Mike McFarland | |
| Lucifer | Nachi Nozawa | Mike McFarland | Paul Bandey |
| Ghastel | Daisuke Gōri | Mike McFarland | Paul Bandey |
| Turtle | Daisuke Gōri | Christopher Sabat | |
| Narrator | Joji Yanami | Christopher Sabat | |
| Goblins | Kazuo Oka Ikuya Sawaki Masato Hirano Kazumi Tanaka |
This movie marks the very first appearance of FUNimation Entertainment's new cast of voice actors even before the Ginyu Saga had been broadcast on TV or released to VHS.
According to Mike McFarland, roughly 150 actors around the Dallas–Fort Worth area auditioned for parts in this movie, but ultimately only eight were chosen. Stephanie Nadolny, Tiffany Vollmer, Meredith McCoy, Brice Armstrong, and many of the other voice actors were not yet hired, and different actors were used. Only four of the eight are still active in the voice acting business.
Music
- OP (Opening Theme): "Makafushigi Adventure!"
- ED (Ending Theme): "Romantic Ageru Yo"
Trivia
- This is the only one of the original Dragon Ball movies in which the Dragon Balls are not a part of the plot.
- The scene where Goku turns Great Ape and holds Launch with his hand was a homage to King Kong. The same situation also happened previously during the Pilaf Saga with Bulma.
- This movie is referred to as Sleeping Beauty.
- The plot summary on the DVD case identifies Goku as a Saiyan, a fact which would not be revealed until the appearance of Raditz much later, in Dragon Ball Z.
- The 6th Shunsuke Kikuchi music package for the franchise starts here. The cues were designated "M4XX", and this package would makes its series debut in Goku Goes to Demon Land.
Gallery
 Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle poster  Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle poster            Bulma is woken after the crash by Igor   Lucifer introduces himself      Krillin fights off the demons   Goku finds the Sleeping Princess    Bulma believes its a costume party    Oolong's transformation runs out      Launch on her bike       The Dragon Ball Gang  The gang takes a picture to celebrate their victory |
References
- ↑ http://www.kanzenshuu.com/movie/db-02/
- ↑ http://www.toei-animation-usa.com/dragon-ball.html
- ↑ Daizenshuu 6, 1995
- ↑ Dragon Ball Z: Big Green Dub Cast - Behind The Voice Actors.
- ↑ For the initial release of Funimation's English dub, Jim Conrad's narration is heard along with the English dub theme of Dragon Ball.
External links
- Anime News Network - Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle
- Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle at the Internet Movie Database