Dragon Ball: Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle

Dragon Ball: Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle
Australian DVD Release
Directed by	Daisuke Nishio
Produced by	Keizō Shichijō
Screenplay by	Kenji Terui
Based on	Dragon Ball  by Akira Toriyama
Starring	See Cast
Music by	Shunsuke Kikuchi
Cinematography	Motoaki Ikegami
Edited by	Shinichi Fukumitsu
Production company	Toei Animation
Distributed by	Toei Company
Release dates	July 18, 1987
Running time	45 minutes
Country	Japan
Box office	¥850 million

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) is the second animated feature film based on the Dragon Ball manga by Akira Toriyama. It was originally released in Japan on July 18, 1987 at the "Toei Manga Matsuri" film festival as part of a quadruple feature along with the first Saint Seiya movie and the film versions of Hikari Sentai Maskman and Choujinki Metalder. An English dub by Funimation was released on home video in 1997, though an alternative English dub was also released in Europe from AB Groupe sometime in the early 2000s.

Plot summary

Twelve-year-old Goku seeks out Master Roshi to ask to be accepted as a student, while the little monk, Krillin, arrives for the same reason (and uses a porno magazine as a bribe). Roshi sends them on a quest far to the west, where "five mountains stand, called the 'Devil's Hand'." Inside a castle, there lies the legendary, and beautiful, "Sleeping Princess." Whoever brings back the Sleeping Princess will become Master Roshi'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. 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 they drop in on Bulma just before the Butler 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 evil, 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 moonlight also turns Goku into a Giant Ape, and everyone escapes (with enough time to cut off Goku's tail, reversing the transformation). They fight Lucifer, and Goku uses the Kamehameha blast to destroy Lucifer's Princess-powered laser cannon (the full-moonlight is to be used to destroy the sun, and begin the Reign of Darkness), and kills Lucifer. The heroes escape, and Krillin acts contrite, but doesn't actually apologize to Goku for his behavior. The two boys return to Kame House with Launch, and Roshi takes them both on as students.

New characters

Lucifer (ルシフェル, Rushiferu)

A vampire who lives in Devil's Castle.

Ghastel (ガステル, Gasuteru)

A giant red monster who dwells within Devil's Castle.

Cast

Music

• Opening Theme
  1. "Makafushigi Adventure!" (魔訶不思議アドベンチャー!, Makafushigi Adobenchā, "Mystical Adventure!")
     • Lyrics: Yuriko Mori, Music: Takeshi Ike, Arrangement: Kōhei Tanaka, Performed by: Hiroki Takahashi

• Ending Theme
  1. "Romantic Ageru yo" (ロマンティックあげるよ, Romantikku Ageru yo, "I'll Give You Romance")
     • Lyrics: Takemi Yoshida, Music: Takeshi Ike, Arrangement: Kōhei Tanaka, Performed by: Ushio Hashimoto

English Release

The English rights to Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle were granted to Harmony Gold USA originally in conjunction with their rights to the TV series in 1989. They edited the other two movies into a special, but never actually did anything with this film other than use bits of footage in their opening theme. FUNimation acquired the film in 1995, along with the Dragon Ball series, and the rest of the movies. The English dub of Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle produced by FUNimation was released to VHS in North America in 1998, a few years after FUNimation canceled their original short-lived dub of the series with BLT Productions. The movie was dubbed as a video special and was a testing ground to see how a release with an in-house voice production would do (a few of the voices, such as Goku, Bulma, and Launch's, would be replaced in future media). However, while the film was dubbed uncut, the opening and closing sequences were altered/replaced. However, unlike the previous dub of the series and first movie, the original musical score was used except for the aforementioned opening and closing. The VHS was released in two formats, "Edited" and "Unedited". In December 2005, the film was released on a bilingual Region 1 DVD individually and as part of Dragon Ball Movie Box Set with Mystical Adventure and The Path to Power. This set was re-released in a thinpack on February 12, 2008.^[1] The film was distributed to VHS and Region 4 DVD in Australia by Madman Entertainment. The film was re-released to Region 1 DVD again in a remastered 4-disc Movie pack release with the other Dragon Ball films on February 8, 2011^[2] containing Funimation's existing English dub,^[3] but restored the opening/ending.

An alternative English dub was produced in France by AB Groupe and released in English speaking markets in Europe. It featured an uncredited voice cast.

References

1. ↑ http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0010YSD3G
2. ↑ http://www.rightstuf.com/1-800-338-6827/catalogmgr/685ufTxbxhxcBf=JN2/browse/item/90030/4/0/0
3. ↑ http://www.daizex.com

External links

• Dragon Ball: Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle at the Internet Movie Database
• Dragon Ball: Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia