Dragon Ball: Mystical Adventure
Theatrical release poster
‹ ThetemplateInfobox Chinese/Japanese is beingconsidered for deletion. ›
Japanese name
Kana	ドラゴンボール　魔訶不思議大冒険
Transcriptions Revised Hepburn Doragon Bōru Makafushigi Dai-Bōken
Directed by	Kazuhisa Takenouchi
Screenplay by	Yoshifumi Yuki [ja]
Based on	Dragon Ball andDr. Slump byAkira Toriyama
Starring	seebelow
Cinematography	Motoaki Ikegami
Edited by	Shinichi Fukumitsu
Music by	Shunsuke Kikuchi
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	¥1.10 billion (est.)

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; lit. "Dragon Ball: Mysterious Adventure") is a 1988 Japaneseanimefantasymartial artsadventure film and the third alternate continuityDragon Ball feature film. It was released in on July 9, 1988, at the "Toei Manga Matsuri" film festival as part of a quadruple feature along withBikkuriman 2: The Secret of Muen Zone,Tatakae!! Ramenman, andKamen Rider Black: Terrifying! The Phantom House of Devil Pass.

Unlike the previous twoDragon Ball films,Mystical Adventure does not introduce any original characters, but instead adapts characters from the Red Ribbon Army and 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament story arcs from the manga into the film's original storyline. It was preceded byDragon Ball: Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle and followed byDragon Ball Z: Dead Zone, the first film entry in theDragon Ball Z follow-up to the originalDragon Ball series. Another entry in theDragon Ball film series,Dragon Ball: The Path to Power, released in 1996.

Mystical Adventure is another retelling of the Dragon Ball story. This time, youngGoku and youngKrillin are training withMaster 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 hasEmperor Pilaf work on a Dragon Radar, takes it from him, and is using it to locate the Dragon Balls. Shen andMercenary Tao claim that they will use the wish fromShenron to locate Ran Ran, but are actually planning, withTien'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 andPuar 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 does not 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 Tao. The story of Blue and Goku entering Penguin village is included, but this time it is Tao and Goku that meetArale 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.

• OP (Opening Theme):
  • "Makafushigi Adventure!"
    • Lyrics byYuriko Mori ^[ja]
    • Music byTakeshi Ike ^[ja]
    • Arranged byKōhei Tanaka
    • Performed byHiroki Takahashi ^[ja]
• ED (Ending Theme):
  • Doragon Bōru Densetsu (ドラゴンボール伝説, "Dragon Ball Legend")
    • Lyrics by Onikado Izumi
    • Music byTakeshi Ike ^[ja]
    • Arranged bySeiichi Kyōda ^[ja]
    • Performed byHiroki Takahashi ^[ja]

At the Japanese box office, the film sold1.9 million tickets and earned a netdistribution rental income of¥650 million.^[2][3]

Harmony Gold USA broadcast their dub of this film andCurse of the Blood Rubies as a double feature onWPSG Philly 57 inPhiladelphia,Pennsylvania and on other channels and cable systems in a select few test markets. It was also likely to have been released onhome 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 theHarmony 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 theFunimation andAB Groupe dubs.

There was also another English dub released exclusively toVideo CD by Speedy Video. This English version, produced and released exclusively inMalaysia,^[4] features an unknown cast and original music.

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 film 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 infreeze-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 film was later available on DVD along withSleeping Princess in Devil's Castle andPath to Power as part of FUNimation's Dragon Ball Movie Box set released on December 6, 2005.^[5] The box set was re-released as a thinpack on February 12, 2008.^[6] This set has since been discontinued.

The film was re-released to DVD in America on February 8, 2011, as a part of aDragon Ball Movie 4-Pack remastered thinpack release from FUNimation along with the other Dragon Ball related films.^[7] This release restored all of the previously edited video footage of the film, but no apparent English credits are shown.

An alternative English dub produced with an uncredited cast by AB Groupe in France was released in English speaking markets in Europe in the early 2000s. It aired onToonami in the UK in 2005.

The film was edited and combined withthe second film, into a compilation film titledDragon Ball, released in the Philippines byRegal Home Video in the mid/late 1990s.^[8][9] The cast is believed to have also dubbed the originalDragon Ball series and the first 26 episodes ofDragon Ball Z exclusively for airing in the Philippines. It was also released in Philippine theaters asDragon Ball: Hearts on Fire in 1999 byRegal Entertainment, along with theFilipino dub ofYu Yu Hakusho: The Golden Seal titledGhost Fighter: The Next Mission.

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

• 1988 films
• Dragon Ball animated films
• 1988 anime films
• Funimation
• Animated films based on animated series
• Martial arts tournament films
• Toei Animation films
• Films scored by Shunsuke Kikuchi
• Japanese animated fantasy films
• Japanese fantasy adventure films

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