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Reviews and Summaries of ALL of the Dragonball/Z/GT Movies |
Below is a list of the Dragon Ball movies. Most of the
information for the spelling of names, etc. came from the Jump
Anime Comics, although the theatrical release dates came from the Animedia "Anime
Data Diary." And, Hitoshi Doi assisted on the title translations. After each movie
description is a brief list of the one-shot characters that appeared in each movie, and a
note concerning what happened to each of them.
The movies have little to do with the continuity of the manga or the TV
series. As such, they are ok mind-candy, but can not be assumed to add to the real Dragon
Ball universe. The exceptions are the made-for-TV specials, which are a part of the canon.
You may notice that there has been a DBZ movie released every March and every
July since 1990. There were also three movies based on the earlier Dragon Ball characters,
released before DBZ started.
If anyone can add to this file, feel free to contact me via e-mail. |
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 This is a retelling of how Gokuu began his adventures;
from the first encounters with Buruma, Oolong, Puuaru, and Yamcha, up to his learning
Kamehama-ha just by watching Kamesennin using the technique. This time, Gokuu's origins
are tied in with the evil Emperor Gurumesu, who wants the Dragon Balls to wish for
delicious food, and the Emperor's minions, Pasta and Bongo (these two are using the quest
for the Dragon Balls to cover the fact that they are greedily raping the countryside to
gather up valuable Richi Stones.) Buruma still wants to wish for a nice boyfriend (Yamcha
wants the Dragon Balls to wish for a woman he can marry), and ends up summoning Shenlon
before Gurumesu can, but the daughter of the local mayor, Pansy, shouts out her wish first
-- for the countryside to be restored to its original state prior to the discovery of
Richi Stones. Shenlon does this, and causes the stones to disappear. Gurumesu becomes a
normal deformed human that likes to eat apples, and Gokuu zips off to find the #4 Ball
again.
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 Young Gokuu seeks out Kamesennin to ask to be
accepted as a student, while the little runt priest, Kuririn, arrives for the same reason
(and uses a sukebe magazine as a bribe.) Kamesennin sends them on a quest far to the east,
where "five mountains stand, called the 'Devil's Hand'." In a castle there, is
the legendary, and pretty, "Sleeping Princess." Whoever brings back the Sleeping
Princess will become the old pervert's student. The two boys set out, and Kuririn uses all
the standard tricks to trip up Gokuu.
A little later, Buruma, Oolong, Yamcha, and Puuaru -- who are on summer
vacation -- arrive at Kame House to find Gokuu. Kamesennin says that the two boys have
gone far to the east for training, so the friends fly in Buruma's Capsule jet to the
Devil's Hand. When they near the castle, the jet is attacked by demons, and Buruma is
taken to the Castle. The owner of the castle, Lucifer, pretends to treat her as a guest,
until it becomes time to awake the Sleeping Princess. In the meantime, Gokuu and Kuririn
are fighting monsters, and they drop in on Buruma just before Shitsuji can drain Buruma of
her blood through a giant syringe (Buruma's blood is to be used to toast the awakening of
the Sleeping Princess.) Then, Ranchi 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 Gokuu into a were-ape, and everyone escapes. They fight Lucifer,
and Gokuu uses Kamehame-ha to destroy Lucifer's Princess-powered laser cannon (the
full-moon-light is to be used to destroy the sun, and begin the Reign of Darkness), and
kills Lucifer. The heroes escape, and Kuririn acts contrite, but doesn't actually
apologize to Gokuu for his behavior. The two boys return to Kame House with Kushami, and
Kamesennin takes them both on as students. Then, Kushami sneezes, turns into Ranchi, and
shoots Kamesennin full of holes.
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Another retelling of the Dragon Ball story. This time, young Gokuu and young Kuririn are
training for a Budoukai to be held in the country of Miifan. The Emperor of Miifan,
Chau-zu, is trying to find his lost "Ran Ran." "Duke" Tsuru-sennin
stole a Dragon Radar from Pilaf, and is using it to locate the Dragon Balls. Duke
Tsuru-sennin and Tao Pie Pie claim that they'll use the wish from Shenlon to locate Ran
Ran, but are actually planning, with Tenshinhan's help, to kill Chau-zu and take over the
country. Blue Commander announced that Ran Ran was being held in Tsuru-sennin's room, and
was killed by Tao Pie Pie for it. Bora and Upa have located the final Dragon Ball and they
take it to Miifan to use it to demand that Miifan's soldiers be forced to leave the land
near Karin Tower.
Bora is tricked into entering the Budoukai (the winner of the Budoukai will
be granted one wish by Chau-zu), and is then killed by Tao Pie Pie. Buruma, Oolong, and
Ranchi are looking for the other 6 Balls, so Buruma can wish for a boyfriend. But, when
the Balls are located, they're accidently dropped to the bottom of the moat surrounding
Chau-zu's castle. Tenshinhan realizes that he likes Chau-zu too much, and doesn't kill his
friend; instead, Ten-chan blows away Tsuru-sennin. (The story of Blue and Gokuu entering
Penguin village is included, but this time it is Tao Pie Pie and Gokuu that meet
Arale-chan, and Gokuu kills Tao Pie Pie with Arale's help.)
Gokuu throws the final Ball into the moat, and asks Shenlon to resurrect
Bora.
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 An evil
little Namek-jin, Garlic Jr., is gathering all of the Dragon Balls together to wish for
immortality. Since young Gohan has the #4 Ball sewn to his cap, Gohan is kidnapped by
Garlic's minions. This causes Gokuu to seek out Garlic (whose mansion is located on a
black island to the south of Kame House). Garlic also wants to get rid of Kami-sama, so
his minions attempt to kill Piccolo (if Piccolo dies, Kami-sama also dies, and vice
versa.) So Kami-sama and Piccolo join in the battle, as does Kuririn. The minions are
wasted, but Garlic, Jr. already made his wish, so he is unkillable. Garlic and Kami-sama
fight it out, and Garlic wins (he wants to get rid of Kami-sama to make way for his own
"reign of blood", but he doesn't kill Kami-sama right away.)
Garlic, Jr. gets beaten up a bit by Gokuu and Piccolo, so he decides to create a
"Dead Zone" (a black hole) which threatens to suck everyone in and kill them.
But Gohan (who had eaten a hallucinagenic apple, and is still feeling a bit of a buzz)
gets angry, and blasts Garlic into the Dead Zone. The Dead Zone closes, sticking Garlic
into a form of eternal hell.
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 Oolong
steals Buruma's Dragon Radar, and discovers that someone is gathering up the Dragon Balls.
He and Gohan go into the northern glaciers in time to see Dr. Kouchin summoning Shenlon
and wishing for Dr. Wheel's lab to be released from the ice. Piccolo arrives to save Gohan
from Kouchin's bio-men, but the demon is overcome by Wheel's 3 androids (Gohan and Oolong
escape). Later, Kouchin goes to Kame House, and kidnaps Buruma in order to force
Kamesennin to go with him to the lab. Kamesennin is told to fight the three androids, and
does well for a while, before being defeated by rubbery Minkattsun. Buruma learns that
Kouchin and Wheel plan on turning the Earth into a desert and peopling it with androids.
Dr. Wheel's brain is encased inside a robot, and he wants the body of the world's
strongest man to house his brain. But, while Kamesennin was the winner of the Tenkai-ichi
Budoukai 50 years ago, (when Wheel's lab was iced over) the strongest man is now Gokuu.
Gokuu learns what happened to Kamesennin, and goes to the lab, where he
destroys all three androids. Gohan and Kuririn also arrive, and end up battling the
brain-controlled Piccolo until Gohan's shout of frustration causes the mind-control bands
to shatter. Dr. Wheel decides to fight Gokuu, and as he pulls his robot body free of the
wall, the resulting destruction hurls Kouchin down an energy shaft, and Kouchin's outer
coating melts before his own robot body is destroyed. Wheel fights the heroes, and looks
like he'll win, when Gokuu creates a Genki Dama and throws it at Wheel. Wheel flies up
into space to get a breather, and he is destroyed up there.
Afterwards, Kamesennin says that Wheel got one thing right -- Kamesennin is
the world's #1 strong guy. Buruma corrects that to "the world's #1 dirty old
man."
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 Oolong, Kuririn, Buruma,
and young Gohan are on a camping trip, when a spy satellite crashes into the forest and
starts a raging fire. Kuririn and Gohan battle to put out the blaze, then gather the
Dragon Balls to wish for the forest to be restored. One of the animals they save is a
Haiyaa Dragon (Higher Dragon) that follows Gohan home to become his pet. The two of them
(and Gokuu) play together and have a lot of fun, but Chi Chi wants the dragon sent back to
its mountain so it'll stop disrupting Gohan's studies.
Meanwhile, a Saiya-jin fighter, Taurus, and his minions are scouting Earth to
locate Kakarot. Taurus wants Kakarot and/or Gohan to join him to go trash planets. The
minions plant a seed for an energy-eating tree near the restored forest -- Taurus plans on
eating the fruit of the tree to get a "power up." The tree grows quickly and
threatens to destroy Earth. Kaiou-sama alerts Gokuu to the danger, and everyone (Chi Chi
prevents Gohan from joining in, but Haiyaa Dragon kidnaps the boy to take him to the
battle) goes to fight Taurus. Piccolo joins in to save Gohan, but the demon still plans on
killing Gokuu later on. Gokuu denies his Saiya-jin heritage, claiming that he's happy to
have been hit on the head as a child, rather than growing up to be like Taurus. There's a
major battle, and Gokuu uses a Genki Dama to kill Taurus and destroy the tree. Afterwards,
the Genki Dama breaks up, and the lifeforce energy repairs the damage from the tree.
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Story of Bardock, Gokuu's father. When Gokuu was still a baby, on
the Saiya planet, Freeza was using the Saiya-jin as mercenaries to wipe out all
intelligent life on other planets. Bardock gets cursed with seeing the future, and
confronts Freeza as Freeza is about to destroy the Saiya planet. The planet is wiped out,
and the only surviving Saiya-jin are young Prince Vejiita, Nappa, and Kakarot (baby
Gokuu.) Gokuu was sent Earth to destroy it, but is found and raised by Son Gohan.
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Young Gohan and the Haiyaa Dragon visit Piccolo to show the demon the new dance that Gohan
taught the dragon. But, Piccolo, in pain, yells for Gohan to stop.
A planetoid headed towards Earth causes a panic, and Kuririn and Gokuu go out
to try to deflect the thing with their energy blasts. It still crashes into Earth, but it
turns out to be a spaceship that needs to land for refueling. The ship is commanded by the
imperious Emperor of the Universe -- Slag, who demands that they leave in 3 days. A
weather satellite is launched to cause a cloud to cover the planet, and freeze it over.
Earth is now more hospitable for the soldiers living in the ship, and they step outside to
terrorize the Earthlings. Slag recognizes the Dragon Ball that is sewn into Gohan's cap,
and reads Buruma's mind to learn about the Dragon Radar. The Dragon Balls are rounded up,
and Slag wishes for his youth back.
Gokuu and Kuririn receive Senzu seeds from Yajirobee, and they go to fight
Slag. Piccolo shows up to save Gohan. Slag reveals himself to be a Super Namek-jin. Gokuu
wastes Slag's minions, and even turns into a Super Saiya-jin for a while, but is trashed
by Slag when the Super Namek-jin turns into a giant. Piccolo tears off his own ears, then
yells for Gohan to whistle again; we now learn that Namek-jin hurt really bad when
Earthlings whistle. Slag drops to his knees, and Piccolo imparts his energy to Gokuu. The
Gokuu/Piccolo fusion beats up Slag, then Gokuu flies above the black cloud to get enough
energy to create a Genki Dama that kills Slag. (Slag accidently trashed his own spaceship,
so there's no bad guys left now.) The cloud dissipates, and Yajirobee reappears to give
Senzu seeds to the heroes. Piccolo's ears grow back. Finally, Kamesennin, who'd been
sleeping through all this, wakes up from his dreams of naked women, and exercises while
saying that the weather is very nice today.
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 Back
when Freeza destroyed Planet Vejiita, and killed Bardock, Freeza's older brother, Cooler
had been watching from his own spaceship. Cooler had seen Kakarot's space capsule zipping
off, but didn't interfere with it. 20 years later, Cooler receives a report stating that
Freeza has been killed.
Gokuu, Gohan, and Kuririn go on a camping trip, and are attacked by Cooler's henchmen.
Cooler wants to fight Gokuu, and discover the true strength of the legendary "Super
Saiya-jin." At the end, Cooler has been blown into the sun by a massive energy ball,
and apparently dies.
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 A giant
metal planet lands on the new Namek planet, and begins eating it. The Namek elders call to
Dende for help, and Dende relays the call. This is why Gokuu, Gohan, Kuririn, Kamesennin,
Oolong, Yajirobee and Piccolo get into a spaceship and fly off. (Vejiita is in his own
space capsule, and he arrives to ensure that Gokuu lives long enough for Vejiita to kill
him himself.)
Turns out that Cooler has pulled a V'ger trick, and has become part of the
ship that is eating the Namek planet. Cooler's robots are sent out to round up all of the
Namek-jin. Gokuu's ship arrives in time for the Z Fighters to also be picked up to be used
to power the Cooler's ship. Gokuu and Vejiita fight Cooler, and get trashed. They are
wired into the ship to provide power for Big Geta Star. Gokuu and Vejiita push the limits
of their Super Saiya-jin power, and cause Big Geta Star to overheat. Finally, Gokuu blows
the real Cooler away, and Big Geta Star explodes. (First time that Vejiita shows up in the
movies.)
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 Right after Dr. Gero gets destroyed by his androids, #17 and #18,
Gero's computer triggers his earlier creations -- #13, #14, and #15. The androids have
orders to seek out and kill Gokuu (while Gokuu and company are on a shopping trip). The
resulting combat involves Gokuu, Kuririn, Piccolo, young Gohan, Vejiita, and future
Trunks. After #14 and #15 are destroyed, #13 uses parts of them to undergo a power up. The
only way #13 can be destroyed is for Gokuu to create a large Genki Tama, and then use the
energy from it as he switches to Super Saiya-jin. Afterwards, Gero's lab computer shuts
down.
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 A TV version of "Trunk's Story", from volume 33. #17 and #18
are tearing up the future Earth, and finally the Z fighters that we know and love are all
dead. Only a one-armed Gohan, and a teenaged Trunks are left (Gyuu Maou and Chi Chi are
still living out in the countryside, but with Gokuu's death, Chi Chi has been slowly
wasting away.) Gohan trains Trunks to become a fighter, but the boy can't get angry enough
to go to Super Saiya-jin level. Gohan faces the androids on his own and is killed. This
pushes Trunks over the edge, but even in SSJ mode, when Trunks fights the androids, he
gets trashed. Finally, Buruma completes work on the time machine that Trunks uses to visit
the past to give Gokuu his heart medicine, and to warn the Z Fighters of the impending
peril (also succeeding in creating the alternate timeline that allows Cell to travel to
the past and start the Cell Game.)
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Gokuu and Chi Chi go to interview for a school that Chi Chi wants Gohan to attend, while
everyone else is busy partying at a cherry blossom-viewing drinkfest. The party is
disrupted when a ship lands. Paragasu steps out to invite Vejiita to travel with him to
the planet New Vejiita, to fight the Legendary Super Saiya-jin. A drunk Kamesennin,
Kuririn, Trunks, and Gohan fly off as well. Meanwhile, Kaiou-sama telepaths to Gokuu to
alert the hero of the danger. Gokuu teleports out of the interview, leaving Chi Chi in the
lurch. Paragasu introduces Vejiita to Paragasu's wimpy son, Burolii, and waffles over
actually disclosing where the Legendary Super Saiya-jin is. Gokuu teleports in, and
Burolii goes berzerk. After a lot of screwing around, we find out that Burolii and Gokuu
had been born on the same day. King Vejiita had ordered Burolii (baby Burolii had already
been determined to be a threat to the Saiya-jin) and Paragasu to be killed and dumped in
the trash. But, baby Burolii's power saved them. Burolii grew up to be a maniacal killer,
and had poked out one of Paragasu's eyes. Right after that, Paragasu had a headband
created that effectively lobotomized Burolii.
Burolii overcomes Paragasu's control and turns into a Super Saiya-jin; he
trashes everyone. Vejiita loses his nerve at seeing the Legendary Super Saiya-jin, and
can't fight anymore. Paragasu knows that the planet New Vejiita will explode soon, so he
wants to fly away, killing two birds with one stone: revenge on the Vejiita family, and
disposing of his troublesome child. But, Burolii crushes the space capsule, killing his
father. Then, Gokuu summons the energy from his friends, including Vejiita, to become a
Super Saiya-jin himself, and killing Burolii. Before the planet explodes, Gokuu teleports
everyone to Piccolo's ship and they return to Earth.
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 The Money Family is hosting a Tenkai-ichi Budoukai as a birthday
present for 10-year old Dollar Money. Dollar is hoping for aliens to come from space and
join in the tournament, so four of Mr. Satan's pro-wrestling students are in costume as
the "aliens" in the final rounds of the competition. Kaiou-sama and Gokuu are on
Kaiou planet (Kaiou is watching the game on TV, Gokuu is playing Go Fish against Bubbles
the ape -- the deck has Uranai Baba and Pilaf's crew on the face cards. )
The elimination rounds are basically 8 batches of free-for-alls; the last
person standing in each free-for-all goes on to a one-on-one round. The Final Four each
get shot into one of four "Battle Stages" to face Satan's "aliens."
The first person to emerge from the Battle Stage wins the 100,000,000 zenni prize money, a
trip to a hot spa, and a chance to fight Satan. Kuririn, Future Trunks, teenaged Gohan,
and Dosukoi make it to the Battle Zones, where they are attacked by real aliens (Satan's
students have already been killed.)
Kaiou-sama realizes that the aliens are Boujack's team. A LONG time ago, the
four Kaiou's had battled Boujack, and imprisoned him far, far away. Boujack has escaped,
and come to Earth to destroy it and kill Gohan as revenge on Kaiou-sama, knowing that
Gokuu is Kaiou's student, Gohan is Gokuu's kid, and Earth is Gokuu's planet.
There is a lot of fighting as all of the Z Fighters show up to attack
Boujack's 5-man team. Eventually, the heroes are trashed, and Boujack is about to crush
Gohan's throat. Gokuu can't take it any more, and the dead hero teleports in from heaven
just long enough to kick Boujack in the face and save Gohan. With renewed anger, Gohan
goes to Super Saiya-jin 2 (SSJ-2), and kills Boujack's remaining minions before killing
Boujack.
Satan had been trying to escape since seeing that the Z Fighters had entered
the tournament, but was pushed into a sled and sent to the Battle Zone, where he succeeded
in destroying the camera televising the fight with Boujack. At the end of the movie, Satan
is again declared savior of Earth, and no one wins the prize money (Gohan, Trunks and
Kuririn are recovering in a hospital for some reason, while Piccolo and Vejiita are
already fully healed. This movie has lots of continuity flaws and plot holes. Definitely
doesn't fit in with the manga or TV series. The best part of the movie is the shot of the
Pilaf card deck.)
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 Goten, Trunks and
Beederu are out gathering up the Dragon Balls (just for the heck of it. When asked, Trunks
decides that he wants to ride cool things to have adventures (pirate ship, train), while
Goten wants to eat delicious cake whenever he wants) and succeed in grabbing the 5th one.
When they zip off to find the sixth one, they come upon a village terrorized by a monster
dragon. The last girl in the village is about to be sacrificed to appease the monster,
when Beederu volunteers to take her place. Goten, Trunks, and Beederu hide next to the
supper set out for the monster, surprise it, and kill it (after much screwing around.) In
return, Trunks receives the Dragon Ball attached to the village Shaman's necklace.
Meanwhile, a Saiya-jin space capsule crashes to Earth nearby, and the
sleeping Saiya-jin inside is aroused by vibrations caused by Goten when the boy wanted to
eat the banquet set out for the monster. The Saiya-jin turns out to be Burolii. When
Burolii stretches his muscles the next day, Beederu senses it, and goes to investigate. As
do Goten and Trunks. Burolii thinks that Goten is Kakarot, and there is much fighting. The
final Dragon Ball is located during the battle, but Goten doesn't know how to summon
Shenlon, so Trunks gets trashed while trying to distract Burolii (Trunks also has to take
a piss after hiding next to a bunch of waterfalls, and relieves himself on top of
Burolii's head). Gohan senses Burolii's ki, and arrives to join in the battle. Gohan's
blast causes lava to boil up, and Burolii is trapped in the magma. Gohan passes out as the
magma inches near him. (Kuririn is dressed up like Piccolo as a joke when he saves Gohan.)
But Burolii is a Super Saiya-jin, and the magma doesn't phase him. Gohan and
Goten use Kamahame-ha on Burolii. (And, probably because of the Dragon Balls nearby, Gokuu
is allowed to show up to perform Kamehame-ha as part of the trio.) Trunks manages to throw
an energy ball that distracts Burolii, and the triple Kamehama-ha blows Burolii into
space, and into the sun. Beederu recovers, and thinks that Gohan was masquerading as
Burolii, and attacks him. Goten and Trunks go back to the village to get food, and Kuririn
wonders why everyone has forgotten about him. (The Dragon Balls disperse as if Shenlon has
fulfilled a wish.)
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 #18 has
gone to Mr. Satan's house to collect on the 20 million zenni prize money from the
Tenkai-ichi Budoukai that she let Satan win. Satan claims that the money hasn't been
turned over to him yet. Then, a minion of a guy who was a classmate of Satan's, arrives to
blackmail Satan into going with him to fight some bio-tech warriors. The minion, Menmen,
threatens to tell the papers that Satan was a bed wetter in 6th Grade. Satan caves in, and
#18 goes along to keep Satan from running away. Goten and Trunks hide in the back of the
car to try to fight these "bio-tech thingies", and Kuririn is forced to take his
daughter back to Kame House.
Baron Jagaa Badda has created some pro-wrestler-strength warriors, and he
wants them to fight Satan, just to put Satan back in his place. Satan pretends that #18
and the two boys are his students, and they easily destroy the bio-tech baddies. However,
Goten recognizes the guy standing beside Jagaa as being the Shaman from the forest village
in the last movie. Turns out that the Shaman collected some of Burolii's blood at the
battle site, and sold it to Jagaa. Jagaa had his scientists use the blood to create the
"Ultimate Bio-tech Warrior." Trunks and Goten try to use Kamehame-ha on
Burolii's container before Burolii can awaken, but it is too late. However, the process
isn't complete, and Burolii is badly misformed. There is much fighting, the chemicals used
in the bio-tech process get loose and eat up all living things, and Burolii trashes Goten,
Trunks, and #18. Kuririn arrives to protect his wife, and also gets trashed.
Finally, the heroes rescue the scientists, and all of the people living on
Jagaa's island escape onto ocean liners. The bio-tech chemicals try to eat Burolii, and
are instead turned into an energy source for him. Ultimately, Goten discovers that the
chemicals lose potency in sea water, so Kuririn, Goten, and Trunks use Kamehame-ha to
create a tidal wave that cleanses the island. Burolii keeps trying to kill Goten, but is
now vulnerable to Goten's and Trunk's energy blast. Burolii dies, and Mr. Satan tries to
swim back home, rather than accepting #18's offer of saving him for a total of 1 Billion
zenni.
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We are back in heaven, during the Budoukai held by Dai-Kaiou to determine who the greatest
dead heroic fighter is. The four Kaiou's quarrel over who has the best student, and the
final round is about to start, between West Kaiou's Son Gokuu, and South Kaiou's
Paikuu-han. Both fighters want to win cleanly, and they begin sparring. Meanwhile, Enma
Daioh (Heaven's Gatekeeper) is being harsher than normal, sending many, many souls to hell
for one reason or another (the ones going to heaven get to ride Ten Airlines, while the
ones going to Hell get to pass through a "Spritz Cleaner" machine that removes
all the evil from them. Once cleansed, the evil souls have their memories removed, and are
reincarnated to try again.) Psych Oni, the demon tending the Spritz Cleaner, is too busy
dancing to his walkman tape to notice that the Cleaner is running in the red. The Cleaner
regulator explodes, and all of the concentrated evil escapes. Psych Oni tries to contain
the mess before tearfully reporting to Enma Daioh. At this point, the concentrated evil
covering Psych takes effect, turning the boy into a giant yellow squeeze toy named
Janenba. Janenba immediately encases Enma's Gate House in a magic crystal, and it then
amuses itself by twisting the fabric of space for a while.
With Enma trapped, the dead residing in Hell can escape and roam around on
Earth. Gohan and Beederu set out to combat the dead, while Goten and Trunks search for the
Dragon Balls to set everything right again. Gohan gets to confront Freeza again, and very
quickly destroys the monster. All of the other supporting villians from the previous DBZ
movies also surface, only to be dispatched by the Great Saiya-man team. Shenlon is
summoned, but the Dragon God has to admit that it has no jurisdiction over the dead, and
it can't fix the problem involving Enma. So, Goten and Trunks spend the movie fighting the
endless masses of Hitler's zombie armies. (Satan is also dispatching zombies easily, but
he's upset that there's no TV crew around to broadcast his exploits; he plans on calling
in a report to the TV station later.)
Dai Kaiou suspends the Budoukai to let Paikuu-han and Gokuu run off to Enma's
Gate House to resolve the problem. At first, they try to play with Janenba, until Gokuu
starts getting mad. Unfortunately, Janenba can do transdimensional tricks, and it punches
one way, only to have his fist appear elsewhere to blindside Gokuu. Paikuu-han is told by
Dai-Kaiou to try to free Enma (eventually, Paikuu realizes that by swearing and insulting
people, he can make the magic crystal crack and flake off.) Janenba can also make copies
of itself, as well as warping Gokuu so that the hero will appear in front of his own
Kamehame-ha. Gokuu switches up to SSJ-3 and pummels Janenba. The creature melts, only to
turn into the next-stage version -- Changed Janenba. Janenba now uses a series of warp
tricks ala "Total Recall", and trashes the SSJ-3 Gokuu.
Gokuu escapes deeper into Hell, first hiding in the Pool of Blood; then he
gets rescued by the dead Vejiita. (Vejiita reminds Gokuu that only Vejiita has the right
to destroy Gokuu.) Vejiita attacks Janenba, and also gets trashed. Vejiita's body flies
towards the Mountain of Needles, and is caught by Gokuu. Gokuu tries to get Vejiita to do
Fusion with him, but the Saiya-jin Prince would rather die first (Gokuu points out that
Vejiita IS dead.) Vejiita's pride is tearing him up, and Janenba attacks the mountain,
causing Gokuu to grab Vejiita's shoulder and teleporting them both to a safe zone. Vejiita
relents, and Gokuu shows him the Fusion pose. Vejiita is appalled at the idea of having to
do something so stupid. But, there is no time left, so the two of them perform Fusion.
Vejiita forgets to extend his right forefinger, and the resulting Fat Gojiita
attracts Janenba's attention. The ensuing battle is plain slapstick (Gojiita's only
successful attack is a series of foul-smelling farts.) At the last moment, just as Janenba
is going to destroy Gojiita, the Fusion wears off (it took 30 minutes) and the two
Saiya-jin run away again. Kaiou (West Kaiou was receiving a lot of abuse from his siblings
for having such a useless student) telepaths out that Vejiita botched the pose. So, they
try again. And are interrupted by Janenba. Paikuu-han succeeds in breaking the magic
crystal, and he runs to confront Janenba to give Gokuu and Vejiita more time. Janenba
apparently kills the dead Paikuu-han just as the Fusion takes hold.
True Gojiita looks a lot like Super Saiya-jin Gokuu, with a Persian-style
vest and baggy pants. On Earth, Goten and Trunks sense the energy levels of their fathers,
and the two boys also do Fusion to become Gotenks (Gotenks uses Kamikaze Ghost Attack to
create 100 exploding ghosts to destroy Hitler's armies.) Gojiita punches Janenba up a bit
before hitting the monster with a special energy ball. The ball blows up in the monster's
chest, and all of the evil within it dissipates. Psych returns to normal, takes one look
at Gojiita, and runs away screaming.
Enma is back in charge, and the dead all return to Hell (including Vejiita.
Vejiita says that he never wants to Fuse again.) Goten and Trunks promise each other to
not tell Goten and Beederu who it was that saved them all; Gohan and Beederu chase the
boys to get answers from them. In the last panel, Shenlon asks if this means that no one
is going to ask him for a wish.
This is probably one of the more lame DBZ movies, where the set-up takes 55 minutes, and
the final climax takes only 30 seconds. Note that the "Other World" Budoukai
never happened in the manga, and was only created by some TV scriptwriter to let the manga
story get a few months ahead of the TV series.
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A long time ago, a group of evil magicians brought a huge, skull-faced demon -- Hirudegarn
-- to life to terrorize their planet. The demon could only be controlled by two gourd
whistles and a legendary sword. Tapeon and his little brother, Minosha, had used the gourd
whistles to play a song that calmed Hirudegarn long enough for the demon to be cut in two,
and trapped within the bodies of the two brothers. Tapeon was sealed in a music box and
shot out into space....
It's a busy day in Satan City for the crimefighting team Great Saiya-man
(Gohan is Saiya-man 1, and Beederu is Saiya-man 2) when they get a call that a crazy old
man is trying to commit suicide by jumping from a tower. The old man, Hoi, is rescued, and
he shows Gohan a box that can't be opened. The boy tries to turn the crank, but can't. The
box is given to Beederu, but her science toys can't see inside it. So, the Z Fighters
round up the Dragon Balls and ask Shenlon to make the box open. This happens, and Tapeon
steps out.
Minosha, who used to look just like young Trunks, was killed long ago, and
his half of the demon starts stalking Satan city and trashes it. Tapeon escapes to a
deserted factory plant, and is followed by Trunks (Trunks keeps bringing food to Tapeon,
but Tapeon keeps chasing him away.) When Tapeon falls asleep, his half of the demon tries
to escape from his body, but is then recaptured when Tapeon wakes up again. Eventually,
Tapeon is befriended, and he explains everything to Buruma. Buruma tries to make a
demon-capturing bedroom, but Hoi is using his own magic to awaken Hirudedarn. Tapeon's
half of the demon escapes Buruma's trap and becomes whole again.
The Z Fighters help trash the city in their attempt to defeat the demon, and
Goten and Trunks use Fusion to become Gotenks (but, Gotenks' energy attacks cause the
demon to go into a cocoon phase before emerging as a giant WINGED demon.) The Z Fighters
get mulched, Tapeon tries to use his whistle, but it shatters. Trunks tries to use
Tapeon's sword on the demon, but Gokuu switches to Super Saiya-jin 3, and announces that
Hirudegarn is HIS to defeat. Gokuu pulls out a Super Punch (Ryuuken) and destroys the
demon.
Afterwards, Buruma makes a time machine to return Tapeon to the time when the
boy had been shot into space, and Tapeon gives the sword to Trunks (thereby explaining how
future Trunks came by the sword that had been used to carve up Freeza and Freeza's Father
in the manga.)
There's some VERY GOOD special effects here, and lots of death and
destruction as the demon wastes Earth. Good mind candy. Recommended for small children. ;)
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This
movie marks the return to the Dragonball storyline, and is yet another retelling of the
very first quest for the seven Dragon Balls, and the first appearance of Shenlon.
This time, while Bulma's and Gokuu's meeting is much like that in the manga,
the meetings for Oolong, Yamcha, Puaru, and Kamesennin are slightly reworked and greatly
streamlined. Pilaf, Shuu and Mai don't appear at all. Instead, the story goes directly
into the Red Ribbon arc (ignoring Gyuumaoh, and Chi Chi.)
Gokuu and company gather up the first few Dragon Balls easily enough, but
they eventually discover Muscle Tower. Gokuu defeats the Muscle Tower minions, and White
Shogun, while also befriending Android #8 -- Hatchan. This attracts the attention of Red
Leader, and he sends his armies out to capture the Balls. In the ensuing battle,
Kamesennin uses Kamehame-ha to destroy the battleships. Blue Shogun surfaces with his
submarines, and Gokuu experiments with his first Kamehame-ha on them. But, it's the
aircraft that does in the heroes. Because Blue missed finding the Ball that Gokuu keeps --
his grandfather's -- Red orders Blue killed. When Red's assistant, Black, discovers that
the midget Red just wants to use the Balls to become taller, Black kills him. Crazed with
his new position of power, Black decides to create "Black Ribbon."
Black gets into a super mecha, and beats up Gokuu. Hatchan arrives on the
island. (Hatchan can not fight for a bad cause, but defending Gokuu from Black is
obviously a good cause.) Hatchan fights valiantly, but is outmatched by the Mecha. Hatchan
dies at Gokuu's feet. Gokuu's rage is almost great enough to turn him into a Super
Saiya-jin, but this doesn't actually happen. Instead, he concentrates all of his energy
into his Kamehame-ha, and destroys Black.
Bulma now has all of the Dragon Balls, and she summons Shenlon. She considers
wishing for a sexy boyfriend, and Yamcha thinks about wishing to become unfazed by women.
Then, Gokuu drags up the body of Hatchan, and begs to have the android repaired. Shenlon
grants Gokuu's wish.
This movie has some of the best artwork, animation, and
character designs of ALL of the DB/DBZ movies. Obviously, it is an attempt to get money
out of young Japanese DB fans that are unfamiliar with the older manga. But, "Saikyou
e no Michi" is a good enough movie in its own right to justify watching it as many
times as you like.
It is still not "canon", but since we can now see Bulma's butt when
she thinks that she's showing her panties to Kamesennin, I can easily recommend this film
to ALL DB fans. ;)
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If you are tempted
to buy the Jump Anime Comics, be aware that not all of the Jump Anime Comics are book
versions of a movie or TV special. In some cases, the word "Famicom" can be
found on the cover in katakana. The Famicom JAC books are half-entertainment for children,
and half-promotions for some Nintendo Dragon Ball game cartridge. These books are pricey
for their content (450 yen/100 pages of reprints, misc. stuff, etc.), and are to be
avoided except by collectors and completists.
The true JACs are comicbook versions of the movies, and usually cost about 650 yen. There
is a small fold-out poster at the front, and a run-down on the characters that appear in
the movie. At the end is a list of movie credits. Starting with the second DBZ movie, or
so, the JAC's also include a lot of background data from the manga and the TV series (this
is padding, to bring the page count up over 160 pages.)
The movie books, or Mooks, are coffee table-sized collections of illustrations from the
movie, and supporting data from the TV series. The Mooks are maybe 100 pages, and don't
contain much dialog from the film. It's a nice bit of paraphenalia, if you like the movie,
but otherwise is not worth the 1000 yen per Mook.
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| Notes Based on the JAC Books |
| Marron
|
The
daughter of #18 and Kuririn is not identified by name until the very final manga
installments, when a lot of time has passed and she has gotten much older. She shows up in
the later movies, but still doesn't have a name in them. Probably named in reference to
Kuririn's old girlfriend, Maron. |
| Gregory
|
The
insect friend of Bubbles, on Kaiou-sama's planet. Gregory shows up in the TV series and
movies, but not in the manga. |
| Kuririn
|
The
priest is used largely for comic material in the movies. He is the FIRST one to get beaten
up by the baddies whenever there is a chance for it. (True, he is also used the same way
in the manga, but he does still have his moments in the manga.) |
| Yardrat-jin
|
The
creatures that teach Gokuu how to teleport are never shown in the manga. They show up in
the TV series, and they get their picture in one of the JACs. Yardrats have huge heads,
round eyes that don't open far, and tiny mouths with no nose visible. Big, elf-like ears. |
| Future
Trunks |
While
strong, he's easily embarrassed by many things. In the manga and TV series, he returns to
the future right after alerting the Z Fighters to the danger of #17 and #18; and then
again right after Cell was defeated. But, in the movies, he hangs around with the others
and is largely just another fighter. |
| Chi
Chi |
Always
talks with an Osaka dialect in the movies. |
"Gekitotsu!!
100 Oku Pawaa no Senshi-Tachi" includes a character encyclopedia at the end of the
book. In it, Buruma's father is listed as Dr. Briefs. Buruma's mother still doesn't have a
name, and is listed simply as "Buruma's Mother." A cute girl -- Maron -- is also
listed, as Kuririn's girlfriend of the time. Note that Maron never shows up in the movies
or the manga.
The Complete Illustration books are now also on the shelves. These 7 coffee
table-sized hard cover volumes contain nearly all the information about the movies, manga,
TV series, and games that you could ever possibly want to know. (In Japanese, with a
little English, of course.)
The character information in the JAC books is confirmed in the Complete
Illustration books.
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|