Dragon Ball Z has been revered as one of the defining anime series of the 90s, particularly in the United States, where children were frequently seen imitating the actions and techniques of Goku and Vegeta. The quality of the movies, however, was inconsistent, with the latter installments becoming increasingly diluted by a desire to over-extend the brand. Nonetheless, some hidden gems exist in Dragon Ball Z's cinematic oeuvre, such as the movie under review, which I will now analyze to determine if it truly holds up to scrutiny or not.
Story:
The movie begins at the "Other
World" Martial Arts Tournament, with the four Kais watching
attentively. All of them are eagerly cheering for their chosen
fighter. This is when we are introduced to the character Pikon who
has only previously appeared in filler material. As Pikon and Goku
face off before the finals, their steely glances reflect their
determination to win. Neither utters a word beyond a simple "good
luck." Both fighters are aware that this will be a fierce and
intense battle.
In the midst of the tournament, the
story cuts to a scene in purgatory where one of the workers is
neglecting his duties to listen to music at an excessive volume.
Unaware of the danger, a tank of evil spirit energy explodes and
affects the worker, transforming him into the mischievous demon known
as Janemba. The Supreme Judge of Good and Evil is terrified by this
development, as Janemba freezes the entire judging station in ice,
thereby allowing the recently deceased to return to life and wreak
havoc. The revived dead, including samurai, ghosts, vampires, and
even Hitler himself, rise to engage in conflict. We get a final
mention of the earthly commotion as Videl and Gohan are dragged from
their home to assess the situation.
In the "Other World", the kai
who was responsible for organizing the tournament pauses the events
due to the volatile situation in purgatory. He sends Pikon and Goku
to investigate the matter, and they soon find themselves confronted
by Janemba, a bizarre, yellow creature with the body of an adult and
the head of an infant. The creature is fascinated by Goku's childlike
personality and pursues him around purgatory, gokkun deciding that he
and pikon should split up and do both parts of the mission. Under
purgatory is a weird dimensional merging, as purgatory is still
there. But surrounded by floating orbs filled with liquid. As Goku
and Janemba fight, Janemba summoning tiny copies of itself to attack
the warrior. Although these assaults resemble playful slaps, they
still possess a considerable degree of strength and could inflict
harm on the average individual
On Earth, Gohan and Videl are facing
legions of the undead, but Frieza unexpectedly makes an appearance.
He summons the entire Ginyu Force for assistance, but Gohan ignores
them and focuses on defeating Frieza. Following this event, multiple
plot lines unfold simultaneously. Mr. Satan engages in combat with
zombies, while Goten and Trunks seek out the dragon balls. Mr.
Satan's tale is temporarily overlooked for now, as the focus shifts
onto Bulma and Gohan after their victory over Frieza. They summon the
Eternal Dragon Shenron, hoping that he can return the undead to their
realm of origin. However, due to purgatory being frozen, and the
barriers between earth and the afterlife is broken the dead can just
come back meaning it's a fruitless wish and cannot be done.
As the narrative returns to Pikkon, his
efforts to break through the ice barrier appear futile at first. In
his desperation to succeed, he grows increasingly frustrated and
enraged, uttering several expletives as he continues his struggle.
Ultimately, he eventually manages to break the barrier and
accomplishes his goal. Meanwhile, Goku's fight with Janemba
progresses, and the latter's use of portals to deliver unrelenting
attacks proves overwhelming. Finally, Goku can no longer tolerate the
situation and transforms into his Super Saiyan 3 form. Janemba,
however, is far from deterred and utilizes his energy attacks in
conjunction with a range of slapstick moves.
Goku's power level increase and scream
from super sayajin 3 is enough to help destroy the barrier, and to
fight against Janemba. As he lands several powerful punches into him.
But the power goku exerts into the yellow monster is absorbed into
it, turning Janemba into his second form. A more threatening looking,
powerful monster. Janemba's second form is undoubtedly even more
menacing and terrifying than his original appearance. His body is a
dark, violet hue, with several demonic features added to the mix. He
possesses a pair of horns on his head, as well as sharp claws, and a
prehensile tail resembling that of a reptile. He also boasts a gaping
maw filled with razor-sharp teeth, enabling him to deliver
particularly ferocious bites. This form is without a doubt Janemba at
his most dangerous and feared. This causes some distress in Goku.
In a brief yet comical interlude back
on Earth, Goten and Trunks find themselves battling Hitler. In spite
of its brevity, it serves to illustrate the fact that everyone is
contributing to the attempt to cease the chaos. In purgatory, Goku is
struggling in his fight against Janemba. Janemba consistently manages
to dodge the Super Saiyan's strikes by phasing away, demonstrating
his prowess and posing a considerable threat to Goku. Janemba also
displays significant ingenuity, transforming the environment into
weaponry. He continually attacks Goku, turning rocks into swords and
slashing at the Saiyan. Goku opts to dive into one of the floating
orbs and finds himself trapped inside
When the identity of the ki blast's
source is finally revealed, it turns out to be Vegeta. He expresses
discontent that he is alive despite the grave sins he has committed,
and laments that someone else is now defeating Goku. He views this
encounter as having little consequence since he is already destined
for hell. With this mindset, he sets out to battle Janemba, hoping to
inflict as much damage as possible before succumbing. However, Vegeta
is easily subdued by Janemba, who then leaves him for dead.
Meanwhile, Goku attempts to persuade Vegeta to fuse with him, but the
latter staunchly refuses. While the two bicker Jinemba hears them,
and throws a deadly Ki blast attack from above, shooting several thin KI beams the size of knives down, causing a rain from above.
Thankfully goku teleports him and vegeta out of harms way.
Janemba once again mistakenly
assumes his opponents are dead as he gloats and powers up. Vegeta
laments as goku asks if hes ready to fuse. And agrees to fuse but isn't ok with the fact he has to throw his manly sayajin pride to the
side and do a dance. The scene is tense as goku shows vegeta how to
do the fusion dance, we get a quick cut from the tension as we see
how pikon is doing, then to see how trunks and goten are doing. But
we cut immediately back to the tension as the two fuse. The first
fusion is never the easiest or correct. and they're synchronization
is off. Turning them into a fat version of gogeta. A dumb call back
to when gotenks failed at fusing. The fight between fat gogeta and Janembais a slapstick mess as gogeta is treated more like bapo the
inflatable clown than a warrior. But the twos power and bravado is
still stronger as gogeta fights back, mostly using farts and running
away, landing mostly accidental actual punches into Janemba. However
fusion only lasts 30 minutes as get a quick montage of jinemba
hitting gogeta, gogeta has enough and just runs away and hides.
Janemba quickly avoids Pikon and goes to fight gogeta and he does. he quickly finds gogeta and
tries to strike him with a spear he created from a spike, but
thankfully the fusion runs off, letting both warriors a chance to
live. King kai informs the two that the fusion wasn't in synch and to
try again, they are intrupted by Janemba who tries to strike but is
saved once again. This time but a returning Pikon who's had enough
with the barrier. And buys the sayajins enough time to try properly.
Pikon has a theory. That jinemba while physically powerful. Can be
stopped by simply distrupting them by yelling at him. And it works.
Weaking Janemba enough to stop him enough to let gogeta fuse, and
gotenks fuse. Gogeta is a powerful being, recognizing what they have
to do to stop Janemba, Gogeta lands quick and precise hits into him,
hitting into what apepars to be pressure points. But thats not the
real plan.
The real plan is simple as he activates
what looks similar to a spirit ball. As its all the good souls into
him. Gogeta quickly puts the souls into his hand and touches jinemba,
expelling the bad energy from within and freeing the worker demon. We
get a pretty solumn moment between vegeta and goku, where they thank
eachother for the help, and get a chance to properly say good bye.
Every undead soul goes back to purgatory, and gotenks defeats hitler.
And everyone gets a good happily ever after. And they didn't even need
to use Shenron.
Does it Hold up:
But now we have to ask ourselves. Does it hold up?
From my professional and critical perspective, this particular Dragon Ball Z movie holds up exceptionally well. Visually stunning and stylistically intriguing, the story is self-contained and remains true to the characters' established traits, all while managing to fit neatly into the canon without creating any continuity issues. By reintroducing previously forgotten attributes of Vegeta's personality, the movie adds a level of nuance and depth that is lacking in many of the other installments in this beloved series. Therefore, in my expert opinion, it is indeed a hidden gem that still holds up to this day. Vegeta's motivation in the movie is more nuanced and multi-dimensional than his desire to simply be stronger than Goku. Instead, he is presented as a warrior who has learned to harness his pride and ego, ultimately joining forces with Goku to save the universe from Janemba. This portrayal offers a refreshing and sophisticated interpretation of Vegeta's character development and contributes to the movie's overall quality. And Goku's character continued to stay consistent, mixing.
This movie is a wonderful example of how to effectively blend action-packed fights, tense and high-stakes conflicts, and comedic elements. Each character is fully developed and on point, producing a seamless mix of serious and light-hearted moments. The pacing, which alternates from slow-burning scenes and fast-paced action, is well-executed, creating a truly entertaining experience. Furthermore, the audio and music score are nothing short of stunning, with a powerful 90s rock soundtrack complemented by superb sound design and mixing techniques. All in all, it has aged wonderfully and is a true gem in the Dragon Ball Z saga.
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