Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies

Dragon Ball: The Legend of Shenlong
Japanese box art
Directed by	Daisuke Nishio
Written by	Toshiki Inoue (screenplay) Akira Toriyama (story)
Starring	Masako Nozawa Shūichirō Moriyama Tomiko Suzuki Hiromi Tsuru Naoki Tatsuta Kohei Myauchi Toru Furuya Naoko Watanabe Daisuke Ghori Mami Koyama Kenji Utsumi Joji Yanami
Music by	Shunsuke Kikuchi
Release date(s)	Japan: December 20, 1986 (1986-12-20) United States: September 24, 1996
Running time	50 min.
Language	Japanese, English
Followed by	Dragon Ball: Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle

Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies, known in Japan as Dragon Ball during its initial theatrical release and later retitled Dragon Ball: Shenron no Densetsu (ドラゴンボール　神龍の伝説, Doragon Bōru Shenron no Densetsu^?, lit. "Dragon Ball: The Legend of Shenlong") for its home video release, is a Japanese animated feature film based on the Dragon Ball manga originally released in Japan on December 20, 1986.

Plot

Curse of the Blood Rubies is a modified adaptation of the gathering of the initial story arc in the Dragon Ball manga, with the original character King Gourmeth substituting Emperor Pilaf's role as the main antagonist. Like in the manga, Curse of the Blood Rubies depicts how Goku meets up with Bulma, Yamcha, Oolong, and Puar during his first search for the Dragon Balls.

Cast

Music

• OP (Opening Theme)
• # "Makafushigi Adobenchā!"; 魔訶不思議アドベンチャー! (Mystical Adventure!)
• #* Lyrics: Yuriko Mori, Music: Takeshi Ike, Arrangement: Kōhei Tanaka, Performance: Hiroki Takahashi
• #** Song Lyrics

• ED (Ending Theme)
• # "Romantikku Ageru Yo"; ロマンティックあげるよ (I’ll Give You Romance)
• #* Lyrics: Takemi Yoshida, Music: Takeshi Ike, Arrangement: Kōhei Tanaka, Performance: Ushio Hashimoto
• #** Song Lyrics

Trivia

• This film was used as the basis for Dragon Ball: The Magic Begins, a live action Chinese film.
• This movie remains to be the only Dragon Ball property to have yet to be released uncut in North America, as well as the only property to have not yet been dubbed by Funimation's in-house voice cast.
• In the English dub, Bulma was played by two voice actresses. This film was dubbed prior to dubbing the 13 episodes of BLT Productions' dub of the series, and Maggie Blue O'Hara was Funimation's first choice to play Bulma, but was let go after the movie was completed, and the character was recast with Lalainia Lindbjerg for the series, and since adding in footage from episode 2 was an afterthought, Lindbjerg played Bulma in those scenes. However, O'Hara returned to play Bulma in Ocean Studios' international dub of Dragon Ball Z.

Releases

The English dub version of Curse of the Blood Rubies produced by Funimation was originally released on VHS in North America by Trimark on September 24, 1996. The dub version is edited for content and uses a scene from the second episode of the TV series to fill in lost time. This dub was released on Region 1 DVD on October 24, 2000 as part of the Saga of Goku set from Trimark along with BLT Production's dub of the first thirteen episodes of the TV series. It is the only Dragon Ball movie that has yet to be released by Funimation in an uncut bilingual format due to licensing issues with Lions Gate Entertainment (who bought Trimark in 2002). This English dub was also released on DVD in Australia by Madman Entertainment as part of the Saga of Goku set released to Region 4 DVD, despite using Funimation's in-house dub of the first thirteen episodes. On July 17, 2009, Funimation announced that Curse of the Blood Rubies will be released uncut and will possibly be featured with one of the season sets.

External links

• Anime News Network - Curse of the Blood Rubies
• Curse of the Blood Rubies at the Internet Movie Database