Piccolo’s Dumbest English Dub Quote From DBZ: The Return of Cooler Is Still Funny

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Akira Toriyama became incredibly popular through his manga and anime, which led to the creation of over a dozen movies. One of the most well-regarded Dragon Ball Z films is the sixth movie, The Return of Cooler. This film continues the story of Cooler’s Revenge, marking the first time a Dragon Ball Z movie had a direct sequel. It successfully expands on the original story and takes it to the next level.

Many fans enjoy Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Cooler because of its extended scenes on New Namek, the interesting villain, and the fact that it’s the first movie to feature Vegeta. However, a particular line in the English dub is known for being a bit silly – it makes Piccolo, a usually serious character, reveal his battle plan in a way that still makes people laugh.

Piccolo’s Battle Breakthrough Is an Extremely Evident Approach

Most of the exciting action in Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Cooler focuses on Super Saiyan Goku and Vegeta battling an endless wave of Meta-Cooler’s robots. But the other Z-Fighters – Piccolo, Gohan, and Krillin – also get a chance to shine by protecting the people of New Namek from the powerful Cyclopian Guards, helping to turn the tide.

The Cyclopian Guards are standard robots, but their tough armor is what really causes trouble for the heroes. Piccolo, Gohan, and Krillin struggle to break through it until Piccolo comes up with a clever plan. After studying the Guards’ armor, Piccolo instructs everyone to, “Focus all your energy on a single point of attack. That should do the trick!” And it works – the Cyclopian Guards start to fall one by one.

Everyone hangs on Piccolo’s every word, but his advice is really just stating the obvious fundamentals of martial arts. Suggesting that focusing your energy into a punch makes it stronger is something Gohan and Krillin should already know. It’s a surprisingly simple and ineffective tactic coming from a character usually known for his wisdom.

The English translation isn’t drastically different from Piccolo’s original Japanese line, which essentially tells someone to focus all their energy into their attack. However, using the word “energy” feels less precise than the original “ki” because “energy” has so many different interpretations. While the translation isn’t terrible, it could be improved with a bit of refinement to make it flow better.

Piccolo’s suggestion to focus energy into each hit, though helpful, ultimately feels unnecessary. He eventually defeats the Cyclopian Guards by unleashing a massive energy wave, which he easily could have done at the beginning of the fight instead of wasting time with physical attacks. In fact, the heroes should have skipped the punching and kicking altogether. Using powerful energy blasts like Kamehamehas, Special Beam Cannons, and Destructo Discs would have been a much more effective strategy against these robots.

Dragon Ball Has a History of Defeating Robots In Unconventional Ways

The Dragon Ball series often features robots and androids as challenging enemies, leading to unique and clever fight tactics. These battles usually demand more than just raw power. That’s why it’s both surprising and amusing that Piccolo’s strategy for defeating the Cyclopian Guards is simply to punch with greater force. Even disabling them by destroying an internal component would have been a more satisfying solution.

Many Androids in Dragon Ball have specific weaknesses. For example, some run out of power and shut down, while others, like Bio-Broly, become immobile when exposed to salt water. Anilaza can only be beaten by destroying its core, and self-destruct mechanisms are often key to defeating these artificial beings.

As a huge Dragon Ball Z fan, I’ve seen some wild battle tactics, and the fourth movie is no exception! Remember when they tried whistling Lord Slug to death? It was… unexpected, to say the least. Honestly, though, I was a little let down by Piccolo’s plan – it felt super thin, especially considering how cleverly Dragon Ball has used robots in the past. But hey, the animation and fight scenes are so incredible, it almost makes you forget about that silly whistling bit and Piccolo’s awkward line!

Piccolo’s Return of Cooler Quote Is One of Dragon Ball’s Worst Dub Lines

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Piccolo’s lines about the Cyclopian Guards are pretty funny, but they’re just one example of the movie’s silliness. For instance, when Piccolo first meets Meta-Cooler, he calls him a “demented freak.” These strange and quirky dubbing choices happen a lot in The Return of Cooler, especially with Master Roshi and Yajirobe’s dialogue, though you can find similar moments in other Dragon Ball films too.

The English dub of Dragon Ball Z sometimes makes significant changes to the original Japanese dialogue, occasionally for humorous effect. These alterations are particularly noticeable with characters like Piccolo, who is usually stoic and speaks very formally. Some of these dub changes, like his line about “burnt toast” when fighting Android 19, have become infamous. Another well-known example is when Piccolo tells Cell, “At least you’re not as stupid as I am,” which was originally meant to be, “You’re not as dumb as you look.”

The voice acting for Piccolo in this movie isn’t always smooth, but it doesn’t drastically change the story. Some other dub lines are much more off-base, like when Vegeta claims his father Bardock was a brilliant scientist or Tien says his arm will grow back. Even with these quirks, Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Cooler remains a fun watch almost 35 years later – Piccolo’s unusual plan is just one of its many enjoyable parts. The dubbing really captures the feel of anime from the early 2000s.

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2026-01-13 00:09