9.1/107 votes#1 - Piccolo's Plan
Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 5/17/1989
Piccolo may have a way to stop Raditz - the Makankosappo! There’s only one problem. He needs time to gather energy for the blast, which means Goku must fight Raditz alone!
Director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Writer: Toshiki Inoue
9.0/105 votes#2 - Lesson Number One
Season 1 Episode 29 - Aired 12/6/1989
Locked in battle with the Saiyans, Goku gives Nappa a brutal demonstration of the training he received from King Kai. Broken and defeated, Nappa must now face the ferocious wrath of Vegeta!
Director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Writer: Katsuyuki Sumisawa
9.0/102 votes#3 - Five Namis? Nami Strikes Back With Mirages
Season 9 Episode 295 - Aired 1/28/2007
Zoro uses Usopp as a decoy in his battle with the beasts, and Nami discovers the secret that could be the key to survival in her brawl with the bathing beauty!
Director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Writer: Yoshiyuki Suga
9.0/102 votes#4 - Spandam Frightened! The Hero on the Tower of Law!
Season 9 Episode 301 - Aired 3/18/2007
Spandam cruely drags Robin ever closer to the gates of justice, but the battle takes a turn for the better when the Sniper King makes a surprise appearance!
Director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Writer: Yoshiyuki Suga
9.0/102 votes#5 - From the Sea, a Friend Arrives! The Straw Hats Share the Strongest Bond!
Season 9 Episode 310 - Aired 5/20/2007
With their leader crippled by exhaustion and their escape ship destroyed, the Straw Hats find themselves with only one treacherous option: throwing themselves into the sea!
Director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Writer: Yoshiyuki Suga
8.8/106 votes#6 - Gohan Goes Bananas!
Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 6/21/1989
Korin wants Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, and Chiaotzu to report for special training! Meanwhile, Gohan’s grueling training causes him to undergo a shocking transformation!
Director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Writer: Takao Koyama
8.8/105 votes#7 - Spirit Bomb Away!
Season 1 Episode 32 - Aired 1/17/1990
Goku feels the brunt of Vegeta’s fully-realized Saiyan power! Earth’s greatest hero is left with no choice except to use the Spirit Bomb. If his attack fails, he may find himself completely doomed!
Director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Writer: Katsuyuki Sumisawa
8.8/105 votes#8 - Let the Battle Begin
Season 2 Episode 26 - Aired 10/31/1990
With Krillin and Vegeta both out of commission, only Gohan remains to carry on the fight against Recoome! The young Saiyan must summon every ounce of his strength and courage in order to face this powerful foe.
Director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Writer: N/A
8.8/105 votes#9 - Frieza's Boast
Season 3 Episode 15 - Aired 5/8/1991
Frieza vows to beat Goku without using his hands, but the mighty Saiyan soon makes the mosnter eat his words! Elsewhere, Captain Ginyu uses his Body Switch Technique on Bulma, leaving her trapped in the body of a frog!
Director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Writer: Aya Matsui
8.8/105 votes#10 - A Final Attack
Season 3 Episode 24 - Aired 7/10/1991
With only minutes to go before the planet explodes, Frieza reaches his maximum power! Meanwhile, Gohan and Bulma race back to Goku’s spaceship. Can Goku defeat Frieza in time to rejoin his son and fly to safety?
Director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Writer: Katsuyuki Sumisawa
8.8/105 votes#11 - Pathos of Frieza
Season 3 Episode 29 - Aired 8/14/1991
Time grows short for Goku as each passing second brings Namek closer to ultimate destruction. As the Super Saiyan’s strength increases with every blow, it appears his epic battle with Frieza has at last reached its conclusion!
Director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Writer: Hiroshi Toda
8.8/105 votes#12 - Goku's Ordeal
Season 4 Episode 18 - Aired 2/5/1992
ChiChi wants a car! Goku and Piccolo take a day off from training to enroll in driving school. These two mighty warriors may be the Earth’s only chance for survival, but what are the chances they’ll learn how to parallel park?
Director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Writer: N/A
8.8/105 votes#13 - The Monster is Coming
Season 5 Episode 9 - Aired 7/15/1992
Behind the closed doors of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, Vegeta and Trunks struggle to push past the level of Super Saiyan! Down on Earth, Piccolo challenges Android 17 to a battle!
Director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Writer: Katsuyuki Sumisawa
8.8/105 votes#14 - Say Goodbye, 17
Season 5 Episode 13 - Aired 8/12/1992
It’s android against android as 16 clashes with Cell. Android 16 is the stronger fighter, but Cell is far too driven to be stopped now! With an underhanded attack, Cell moves one step closer to his gruesome transformation!
Director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Writer: Aya Matsui
8.8/105 votes#15 - Junior No More
Season 1 Episode 145 - Aired 2/15/1989
Ma Junior reveals a startling secret that shocks the tournament. Goku finds himself facing a huge dilemma, as he fights for the championship becomes the fight for survival!
Director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Writer: Keiji Terui
8.8/103 votes#16 - The Fire-Eater
Season 1 Episode 150 - Aired 3/22/1989
Goku and Chichi's search for the Basho-sen leads them into the heart of a fiery volcano. Once inside, they must face a mighty creature that consumes flames: the Fire-Eater!
Director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Writer: Keiji Terui
8.7/106 votes#17 - The Grand Finals
Season 1 Episode 26 - Aired 8/20/1986
The finals for the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai have been decided! Goku is knocked out of bounds by Jackie. But he spins his tail like a propeller and comes back! Goku and Jackie at last put forth their best. The two fire a Kamehameha at the same time!! Goku’s Kamehameha evenly matches Jackie’s, and knocks it back!! Demonstrating a back-and-forth display of such attacks as the Zanzouken, the Suiken, and the Saruken, their red-hot battle continues!
Director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Writer: Keiji Terui
8.7/103 votes#18 - Goodbye My Dear Underlings! Franky Departs!
Season 9 Episode 322 - Aired 9/2/2007
A series of flashbacks to his younger days - and some painful persuasion by Robin - help Franky make the difficult decision to leave his friends and go to sea with the Straw Hats!
Director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Writer: Yoshiyuki Suga
8.7/103 votes#19 - His Name is Moria! The Great Shadow-Seizing Pirate's Trap!
Season 10 Episode 343 - Aired 2/17/2008
After beating the zombies, the Straw Hats learn that one of the Shichibukai, Gecko Moria, has been stealing people's shadows and using them to revive zombies. After they leave, Absalom rallies the zombies together for the Night Attack, while the ghosts from before return to their master, a Gothic Lolita-style Ghost Princess Perona. Gecko Moria himself, a massive, giant-like man, is awoken. The Straw Hats come to the realization that Thriller Bark is not an island, but rather, a massive ship!
Director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Writer: Naoki Koga
8.4/108 votes#20 - A Wish to the Eternal Dragon
Season 1 Episode 12 - Aired 5/14/1986
Shen Long finally appears! Pilaf tries to say his wish, in order to rule the world!! Because Oolong said his wish of “Give me a girl’s panties” a moment sooner, his wish ended up being granted! With the wish granted, Shen Long returns again to the Dragon Balls, and they scatter to the four winds. Enraged, Pilaf imprisons Goku and the others in a room covered in fortified glass and iron plates, intending to kill them with the sun’s hot rays, but…?!
Director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Writer: Akira Toriyama
8.3/103 votes#21 - Power of the Devil Fruit! Kaku and Jabura Transform
Season 9 Episode 286 - Aired 11/19/2006
While Usopp and Zoro go head-to-head with a couple of animal assassins, Sanji teaches the most beautiful member of CP9 the secrets of making good tea!
Director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Writer: Hirohiko Uesaka
8.3/103 votes#22 - Uncontrollable! Chopper's Forbidden Rumble!
Season 9 Episode 290 - Aired 12/17/2006
Determined not to be defeated by the heinous hair of a devious lion, Chopper risks life and limb by summoning the power of his Rumble Ball for a third time!
Director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Writer: Naoki Koga
8.2/1011 votes#23 - The Kamehameha Wave
Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 4/16/1986
Having thrown away the Basho Fan, Muten Roshi heads to Mt. Frypan to extinguish its flames himself!! Muten Roshi’s grand attack, the Kamehameha, puts out the blazing flames! Goku and the others safely obtain the Dragon Ball, and are about to head off in search of the final one. But Bulma is detained by Muten Roshi, since she promised to let him fondle her breasts if he put out the flames. Bulma gets out of this pinch by asking Oolong to transform into her.
Director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Writer: Keiji Terui
7.4/106 votes#24 - Fighting Power: One Million??
Season 3 Episode 4 - Aired 2/20/1991
Frieza reveals a dark secret from Vegeta’s past, but the villain has an even more shocking secret in store for the Z-fighters! As the monster’s power level rises to terrifying new heights, all hope for the universe seems lost!
Director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Writer: Katsuyuki Sumisawa
6.8/105 votes#25 - Penguin Village
Season 1 Episode 55 - Aired 3/18/1987
Blue uses his psychic powers to manipulate ropes to attack Goku and the others, who are relaxing after having returned from the sea-bottom cave! Everyone is tied up, and Goku has his tail grabbed and cannot put out his full power!! Blue steals the Dragon Balls and plants a bomb, then flees. Goku is saved by Lunch, who returns after reverting to her original personality, and he chases after Blue’s rocket!! After an intense chase, the two of them at last arrive in Penguin Village, home to Arale Norimaki!!
Director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Writer: Michiru Shimada
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The Best Episodes Directed By Yoshihiro Ueda
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Yoshihiro Ueda Ratings Summary
"Piccolo's Plan" is the best rated episode directed by Yoshihiro Ueda. It scored 9.1/10 based on 7 votes. It was written by Toshiki Inoue. It aired on 5/17/1989 and is rated 0.1 points higher than their second-best episode, "Lesson Number One".