Future Trunks' debut: is Dragon Ball Z better in Japanese?

Future Trunks' first appearance in Dragon Ball Z is awesome, and it's even more of a showstopper than you remember. If you go back to it, I'd pull up episodes 119, 120 and 121 in Japanese, because the original writing and music make this squash match against Mecha Frieza hit harder than the dub does.

I sometimes wonder if Trunks broke 25 mirrors or walked under 15 ladders, because he had a rough life. He had major daddy issues, all his parents' friends died, then his mom died, his girlfriend is strangely way older than him, and his entire future disappeared. If you think you've had it rough, try living his life. Before all of that, though, there was the moment he arrived.

Dragon Ball Z episode 119: Trunks tells Frieza 'I came to kill you all'

In episode 119, every Z Fighter except Goku, who is off in space somewhere, is on Earth and terrified. Frieza is alive. He has a new mechanized body, and he's coming to Earth with his father to destroy it and get revenge on the Super Saiyan. The whole episode builds up how they have no chance. Nobody is strong enough to take him on, and without Goku they are doomed.

The episode ends with Frieza landing, gloating about making Goku suffer and sending his troops out. Then they all die in an instant flash, and we meet a character we've never seen. If you saw it in order and hadn't read the manga, you knew nothing about him. The first thing he says is "I came to kill you all."

This is another reason the Japanese version and its writing are far superior to the dub. In the dub he says "So you must be Frieza," and I think they did that to soften things up because they had to censor it. It's one of those dub changes I can't stand, because it takes the edge off the character. I even asked Eric Vale, the voice of Trunks, about this, and even he agreed that "I came to kill you all" sounds much cooler. Trunks is telling Frieza straight up that there will be no talking. He's there to cut him into pieces.

Episode 120 and Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru's animation show a Trunks with no mercy

Episode 120 is the good one. It was supervised by Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru, who did a lot of the animation. He's one of the gods of animation, the man who invented and designed Super Saiyan 4.

The first half is Trunks and Frieza trading insults. Frieza is overconfident, with no idea who this kid is, gloating that Emperor Frieza's name is known even on this side of the universe. Trunks is self-assured, smiling at him. Frieza sends more troops, and Trunks slices them up with his sword, no mercy at all. I think that's why Trunks is so popular. Unlike Goku and some other characters, even Gohan, he has no mercy. He knows Frieza is unhinged, evil and sociopathic, and that there's no talking to him. Frieza had half his body ripped off, almost died, floated in space, and still came to Earth for more revenge.

Don't forget the anime scene with an older soldier who looks like Nappa. His armor gets chopped up, then Frieza stabs him through the gut, and his blood drips down. What happened to Dragon Ball Z and all the blood it used to have? I miss those days. Super was fun, but the blood in DBZ made everything more impactful and powerful. We were all teenagers back then, so seeing this was the most hyped thing.

The tin suit line and the reveal of a second Super Saiyan

Mecha Frieza and King Cold still aren't taking the boy seriously. Then Trunks tells them it must have taken a lot of nerve to come all the way to Earth in that tin suit just to be killed. To me, that's the fire line of the episode. He follows it by saying the two of them will be killed by him instantaneously.

I love it because I love the confidence in the young man. Of course, when you're from the future you should be confident: you know what's going to happen and how strong you are compared to Goku. But it's still confidence, and we still like it.

Then comes the big shocker. Trunks tells Frieza that Son Goku is not the only Super Saiyan, and there's another one right in front of him. Frieza can't believe it. Remember, this is the first Super Saiyan we've seen since Goku, and there isn't supposed to be any other. Who is this kid? Where is he from? Is he an alien? We all know now, but if you saw it blind when it first aired, you had no idea.

Trunks powers up to Kenji Yamamoto's Battle Point Unlimited

Then we get one of the best scenes in the entire series. Frieza and King Cold are giggling. Then rocks start moving slowly, Trunks screams and raises his power level little by little, and Frieza starts asking what this is.

In the Japanese version, this plays over an incredible insert song by Kenji Yamamoto, Battle Point Unlimited. That song isn't in the dub, and the reason isn't that they wanted something else in its place. Toei never gave them the song to use in the dub, so that's not Funimation's fault.

Trunks finishes his power up and Frieza panics, recognizing the eyes. Right as he says it, we get a flashback to Goku on Namek while the song hits its high point. Fully powered, Trunks asks what Frieza thinks now. Frieza fires a blast to get the jump on him, and Trunks deflects all of that energy back behind him, unharmed.

Trunks holds up Frieza's planet-destroying attack with one hand

Frieza has had enough. He was scared, even if he didn't want to admit it, and he wanted to finish Trunks off for good, Earth included. When King Cold warns him he'll destroy the planet, Frieza says he doesn't care about revenge on Goku and they can fight him in space if they have to. He wants this guy dead now.

He creates a giant ball of energy meant to destroy the entire planet in an instant. This isn't the one he shot into the core of Namek. He throws it, and Trunks holds it up with one hand. Frieza can't believe what he's seeing, and neither could we as an audience.

Frieza fires more blasts to make the ball implode above Trunks and thinks he's got him. He miscalculated again. Trunks dodges, gets behind him and fires the move known as the Burning Attack, a name it got in the games rather than the series. Frieza moves out of the way, but it was a distraction. As Frieza turns in the air, Trunks comes down with the sword and slices him in half. I love how it's done: a first person shot from Frieza, the splitting of his eyes, his face, then he cracks in half as Battle Point Unlimited closes out the episode.

Episode 121: Frieza is incinerated and King Cold begs for his life

In episode 121, Trunks chops Frieza into little pieces like a hibachi chef and then incinerates him with a blast. I certainly hope Frieza likes his meat well done, because that's the end of him, at least until he comes back about five more times. I've lost count.

Episode 121 unfortunately wasn't animated by Nakatsuru. This is the infamous bad chins episode, and the animator who gets much of the criticism for it is Yukio Ebisawa. Still, there's an awesome scene between Trunks and King Cold. King Cold claims Trunks only won because of his strong sword and asks to see it. Trunks hands it over, knowing deep down Cold will try to cut him with it.

Cold swings, and Trunks catches the blade in his hand, powers up and quips that the power is mightier than the sword. Cold pushes down with all his strength but can't move it, because Trunks is out of his league. Trunks fires a blast through his chest, and the mighty King Cold, ruler of an empire, starts begging for his life, coughing up blood and offering Trunks a planet. So much for that. Trunks says bye, blows him up and destroys the ship. We thought that was the end of Frieza's empire, until Resurrection F came along.

Why Trunks versus Frieza is worth revisiting

Trunks then meets up with the Z Fighters, and they all celebrate when Goku shows up. Trunks versus Frieza is an awesome squash match and the first time we saw another Super Saiyan. These are a fantastic couple of episodes, especially episode 120.

It might not be the best fight in the series. It's not on the level of Goku versus Vegeta, Goku versus Frieza or Goku versus Piccolo, and no one is saying it is. But with Yamamoto's insert song and Nakatsuru's great animation in the Japanese version, it's unbelievably awesome. Go see it again and thank me later.