Synopsis: Gohan and Kuririn struggle to free themselves from the grasp of the squids holding them, and Lychee and Zarkuro laugh at them, telling them to just wait until evening if they want to be freed without a fight. Bulma wakes up and asks if this really isn't Planet Namek after all, and Zarkuro explains that this planet doesn't have anything resembling a race living on it – even the pair of 'fake Namekians' are only on it due to their ship crash landing on it years prior. The two aliens decided to steal their ship and use it to escape the desolate planet, but were soon forced to wait as they realized the cosmic storm that forced our heroes to crash land was still active in the atmosphere above them. They took this opportunity to read Bulma's mind and found out everything about the Earth, the Dragon Balls, and our heroes' search for Planet Namek. Using this information, they crafted deception after deception to keep them on the planet long enough for the storm to wane, and themselves to be able to leave the planet. Bulma calls them horrible for tricking them, but Lychee says that they let them all have a nice dream instead of killing them. The aliens explain that the fog surrounding them all is an indicator that a rare opening in the cosmic storm has appeared, meaning it's time for them to take the ship and escape. Lychee steals the Dragon Ball radar from Bulma first however, stating their intentions to go gather the Dragon Balls on the real Planet Namek themselves now that they know they exist, and they flee the scene. Kuririn shouts for Bulma to follow and stop them, but she doesn't she how she'd be able to do something like that. Arriving back at the ship, Zarkuro asks Lychee if he knows how to fly it, and Lychee says it's simple since it's operated by voice command. Unfortunately for the aliens however, it appears they didn't find out about the word 'Piccolo' being needed to open the door. Gohan and Kuririn struggle to free themselves from the tentacles of the giant squids, and both find themselves pulled underwater. When some of the tentacles let go of one of his arms, Gohan takes the opportunity to fire a ki beam at the squids holding him, and once both arms are freed, he causes them to crash into the squids holding Kuririn. While both are still held down, both sets of hands are freed, and the pair succeed in knocking away the squids by firing repeated ki beams. Back at the ship, Lychee and Zarkuro are frustrated to discover that they really can't get into the ship. Lychee says all they have to do is take the girl with them however, and the pair leap back up out of the ship's crater to discover that Bulma has followed them after all. They try to force her to open the ship's door before the storm starts up in space again, and when she tries to convince them to just come with them, they say it would take fifty years to reach their home planet, a notion that Bulma blanches at. Bulma opens the ship, and the two aliens try to leave Bulma and the others behind, but as the door starts to close, a now freed Gohan shouts out the door's password again to bring it back down. Gohan and Kuririn quickly take down the aliens, who point out they never claimed to be fighters like them, and Bulma hurries Gohan and Kuririn into the ship so they can leave. Bulma thanks the aliens for telling them about how to escape, but they ultimately leave the aliens behind on the planet as Bulma carefully threads the needle to get them out of the planet's atmosphere and back into space. Now with lost time to make up for, our heroes fly off into space, leaving Lychee and Zarkuro to wonder when another ship will land and if they'll ever get to escape the desolate planet themselves. Back on Earth, Goku has been taken back to his hospital room, and it's revealed that a month has passed already as Chi Chi wonders how Gohan is doing. Goku attempts to escape his room again to continue training, but the doctor and nurse catch him in the act this time. Out in space, Gohan, Bulma, and Kuririn's ship finally reaches the real Planet Namek. Review: Alright, so right up front, a full disclosure – this episode review purposefully only covers roughly the first half of the episode before the eye-catch sequence, and a few minutes beyond it. The reason? Much of the latter half of this episode adapts material that I'm going to be getting to as we shift back to the manga once again, and not just minor material either. Major, story relevant material, that I'd rather cover with the manga itself than the anime. So rather than walk quickly through said material as I've done for a few reviews in the past that had a similar issue, or cover the anime version of those events, I've instead elected to just...not cover it. It'll get covered in the next manga review chapter, where those story beats originated from anyway. So with that out of the way, let's dive into the Fake Namek material for the very last time, and you have no idea how good it feels to say that. I don't think it's much of a secret that I'm not a fan of this material, and most of that comes down to the fact that it just takes way too long, and is very much just spinning wheels in an attempt to take even longer. Further evidence of that fact I think comes from the fact that this, the very last (half) episode covering it, is easily the best part of the entire storyline, and not just because it's over. The idea of our heroes crash-landing somewhere that's not actually Namek, and a pair of aliens deceiving them into thinking it is and that they're making really good time in gathering the Dragon Balls is, in of itself, a pretty novel idea. It's something we haven't seen before, and it's a much more cerebral threat than it is a physical one (at least, up until the end). It's a welcome addition to the series as a whole, especially at the point that things are almost exclusively being handled by fighting nowadays – but it's only welcome if it can be done in an entertaining, engaging way, and these episodes just did not do that, at all. Lychee and Zarkuro are boring antagonists, even once their true forms are revealed, and their gambit is just too obvious once the pieces fall together. About the only thing that's surprising is their stated intention to go to the real Namek and take the real Dragon Balls for themselves now, and that's mostly because all of that was a surprise to them as well – they had no idea wish granting orbs were even a thing prior to meeting our heroes. And in the end, the two fake Namekians are completely taken down by their own plot's incompetence. In what is a fittingly Toriyama twist, the pair somehow read Bulma's mind about how to operate the ship...but somehow missed the fact that they still need a particular Namekian word to raise and lower the door. Now THAT'S funny. It might almost seem a little cold of our heroes to leave them behind, but after everything that they've done to them, it's really not that surprising, especially not coming from Bulma. I think the tidbit about it taking fifty years to reach their planet was definitely added to the script to make it more acceptable though – keep in mind, these are aliens who are no doubt used to alien technology, so when they mean it might take fifty years to get to their home planet, they probably mean it would even with an alien spaceship rather than like how long it would've taken to reach Namek with an Earthling-made ship. Gohan, Bulma, and Kuririn simply just don't have that kind of time to waste, so it's goodbye to Lychee and Zarkuro. And I for one am fine with that. With everyone reaching Namek, the REAL Namek, at last, and Vegeta hightailing it there in short order as well, it looks like this story arc is finally back on track to be exciting again. Unfortunately for our Earthling trio though, they're probably going to miss when it looked like they could get two Dragon Balls an episode, because...well... Until next time! Favorite Scene: Lychee and Zarkuro's stupidity. How in the heck did they manage to read Bulma's mind deeply enough to know the ship is voice operated but NOT know about the password to open the damn thing? Next Time: FREEZA, FREEZA, FREEZA, FREE-ZA!
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Synopsis: On Planet Namek, Gohan and Kuririn work on freeing a Dragon Ball from a block of ice it's been frozen inside by slowly heating it with their ki, much to Bulma's chagrin as she shivers behind them. Bulma complains that this cold can't be good for her skin and turns to Zarkuro to try to get him to hurry them up as well, but is surprised when he's not there. The trio celebrates finding their sixth Dragon Ball, but the ice cave's sudden collapse forces them to quickly escape the cavern. A monitor is shown where two shadowy figures watch and laugh at the trio's plight, as they land on a piece of ice and use it to sled down an escape both the collapsing cave and a massive snowball. Meanwhile, on Planet Freeza No. 79, Vegeta is given new Saiyan armor to change into and leaves behind his unneeded scouter, while on Earth, Goku continues his training by using his ki to lift a pyramid, throwing it back at himself to break through. Goku ends up wrecking his body again however, and falls to the ground in pain. Back on Namek, Bulma, Gohan, and Kuririn finally escape the ice cave after almost going over the side of a cliff on their ice sled. With only one Dragon Ball left to find, the trio starts heading back to the Namekians' home, though Kuririn can't help but notice how strangely easy this has all been. Elsewhere, the two shadowy figures continue watching and think that it's almost time... The trio soon approaches the final Dragon Ball, and Kuririn notices footprints on the ground that seem to be from the dinosaur they saw before, except now they're smaller and instead of a swamp, they soon find a sparkling lake before them. Bulma says the Dragon Ball must be inside a fountain in the middle of the lake, and Gohan thinks it'd be even easier if Lychee and Zarkuro were with them. Bulma thinks this should be easy enough for just the three of them to do on their own, but as Gohan tries to walk to the fountain, he suddenly finds himself paralyzed and lifted into the air by some invisible force. Kuririn tries to rush to help Gohan, but Bulma is soon captured by a reappearing Lychee and Zarkuro. On Earth, Chi Chi and Roshi finally locate Goku collapsed in the wilderness, and Roshi curses his student's reckless nature for trying to train in his condition. On Freeza Planet No. 79, Vegeta considers his next options and is stopped by Cui, ultimately finding out that Freeza has already set out for Planet Namek as well. Fearing falling behind Freeza, Vegeta hops into a space pod (grabbing his scouter along the way) and heads for Namek. On “Namek”, Lychee and Zarkuro reveal their true natures, transforming into the bizarre creatures seen on the temple from before. Kuririn says they aren't Namekians at all, and the pair laugh at our heroes for only just now figuring it out. As the ground begins to shake, various structures around them all begin to transform and reveal their true natures as well, as Kuririn realizes that everything they've done, including gathering the Dragon Balls, has been faked this entire time – rather than landing on Planet Namek as they had thought, they have landed on a desolate asteroid. The invisible force holding on to Gohan is revealed to be a giant squid ready to eat him, and Kuririn is forced to choose between trying to help him or protecting Bulma. Kuririn tries to rush to Gohan's aid, but ends up being caught by one of the squids. All seems lost for our heroes, as Goku is rushed back to the hospital on Earth and Vegeta rushes to the real Namek ahead of them, to say nothing of the mysterious 'Freeza'. Review: So if I haven't made myself clear enough already, by Kami am I ready for this filler arc to end. It's just a dull, dull set of episodes no matter how I slice it, with the most interesting material in it generally coming from stuff that I've already covered from the last manga chapter, or material building off of that rather than the adventures of Gohan and crew. Considering the whole purpose of this filler is giving Gohan and crew said adventures, that's...not good. That's not good at all. Finally however, this episode does start to have some movement in the plot at long last, and it confirms what “eagle-eyed” fans (AKA those still awake at this point) have probably already long since guessed – Gohan, Bulma, and Kuririn haven't landed on Namek at all. They've landed on some place far more desolate, and those friendly old fart Namekians that have been “helping” them, aren't Namekians at all, nor have they been really helping them. I'd say there was at least some interesting reveals as to their nature here, but alas – Toei either needed to let the manga get that much further ahead again, or they were bizarrely really committed to this particular filler arc, as there's still another episode to go before the reveal of what Lychee and Zarkuro are actually up to, as well as before this entire side story is wrapped up. And that's...that's really all there is to comment on. With any luck, I'll have more to say in the next review as this story arc FINALLY comes to an end, but if nothing else, I'll just be glad to see the light at the other side of this tunnel. Until next time! Favorite Scene: I legitimately don't know that I have one. Do the closing credits count, because I was pretty excited to see those at last. ...*sigh* Okay, um...I guess in a similar fashion to the plant birds, the giant squids are kinda neat. But nowhere near as much as the plant birds from last episode. Next Time: The secret is out, so can interesting things FINALLY start happening now, please? Synopsis: On Planet Freeza No. 79, Vegeta continues dreaming about his loss on Earth. Back on the Earth itself, night has fallen and Goku sneaks out of his hospital room – leaving behind a sleeping Chi Chi – to get out of the hospital. On Planet Namek, Bulma leads the way with Gohan, Kuririn, and Zarkuro behind her to find the next Dragon Ball. Kuririn asks Zarkuro why Lychee didn't come with them again today, and Zarkuro says he stayed behind because there was work he needed to do. Bulma notices that the next Dragon Ball appears to be heading towards them, and the group soon spots a twister coming right at them. Bulma thinks the Dragon Ball must be inside of it and urges Kuririn to go get it, but he wants to wait until it disperses – a good idea in theory, but according to Zarkuro, Namekian tornadoes wander the desert endlessly. With no other choice, Bulma and Zarkuro take shelter while Kuririn and Gohan prepare to throw energy at the twister. Bulma stops them, saying they'll destroy the Dragon Ball, and she and Zarkuro are forced to run as the twister keeps heading in their direction. With no other option, Gohan leaps inside of the tornado and retrieves the Dragon Ball before destroying the twister with a Masenko. Back on Earth, Goku has flown himself to where he fought Vegeta and takes off his bandages to change back into his gi, intending to start training again, but as he flies, pain shoots through his body and he begins to fall. On Namek, Bulma's radar has picked up the location of the next Dragon Ball, and it leads them into a dark, overgrown forest. Loud animal noises ring out all around them, and the group soon finds themselves on the back of a large, plant-like bird, one of many that flock upwards to a nearby mountain top. On top of the mountain, they see a large castle, but as the birds notice them at last, the one they're on tries to shake them off while the others peck at them. With no other choice, the group leaps off of the bird and to the ground below. Meanwhile, Goku tries to renew his training again after falling to the ground, but finds that his body really is too shredded to train with yet. Now on the ground, Bulma, Gohan, Kuririn, and Zarkuro approach the large castle, only to find a giant sleeping inside in a bed with his pet snake. The other three leave Bulma to watch as a lookout as they search the giant's room for the Dragon Ball, but no matter where they look, they can't seem to find it. When the giant turns it's head in it's sleep, Bulma spots the Dragon Ball stuck on it's earring. The other three try to pull the Dragon Ball free from the earring and succeed, but wake up the giant in the process. Back on Earth, Roshi, Gyu-mao, and Chi Chi have discovered Goku's empty bed and wonder where he's gotten off to. Bulma and the others hop into a toy plane the giant had and Bulma tries to fly it away, but the giant catches up to them while she's figuring it out and Gohan and Kuririn are forced to try to fight the giant off, without much success. Bulma finally gets the plane to fly just as Gohan and Kuiririn succeed in damaging the giant, only to find that the damage to his body doesn't affect him, and his 'wounds' appear more like parts of a broken statue. They all manage to escape with the plane and with the Dragon Ball in tow, they're one step closer to reviving everyone. As Kuririn glances back at the mountain however, he briefly sees no castle there at all – when he looks again however, it reappears. Kuririn is confused, and Zarkuro seems to notice this. Back on the mountaintop, the giant snake is shown crawling over a broken statue that resembles the giant they just dealt with... Meanwhile, on Earth, Goku has continued trying to train, while on Planet Freeza No. 79, Vegeta is healed at last. Review: Star Date, 08-2022. While in the manga, our heroes have landed on Namek and the story is about to proceed forward for real, I and a facsimile of our heroes are still trapped on 'Namek(?)' and, while at first things seem to be moving very quickly in regards to gathering the Dragon Balls, there is almost nothing of interest happening and it's all just so, so dull. Please send help. I'm being extremely snarky of course, but you'll have to bear with me on that front, because this stretch of episodes really is the worst as far as being engaging goes. I don't know what it is about the pacing of them, but somehow Toei has managed to take situations that should be interesting and relatively thrilling and make them as borderline sleep inducing as they possibly can. A superpowered five year old diving into the heart of a tornado, and our heroes having to fight a seemingly indestructible giant, should not be this boring! EVER! And yet, somehow, I just can't find myself getting that invested in what's on the screen. Maybe part of it is my long-held knowledge of where this all goes, but I'm having a hard time imagining many first time fans falling for what this filler is selling them, even if they didn't know it was filler at all – I'd be sincerely curious to know if any young Japanese fans fell for any of this even if they didn't read the manga, because I'm willing to put money down that they didn't. There are a few hints here and there that finally start to tease the obvious even more for our heroes though, chiefly that their Namekian “friends” have swapped out for no discernible reason, but the most telling is the fact that the castle they were just in seems to disappear for a moment when Kuririn looks back at it and then reappears when he looks again. A rather knowing look from Zarkuro coupled with the downed statue back on top of the mountain clues in any audience member who may have been sleeping – and really, who can blame them? - as to the fact that there's something sinister going on here. Other than that, there's a couple of scenes with Vegeta basically taken from the last manga chapter reviewed, and there's some continued coverage of Goku's ill-advised training attempts, but beyond that, this episode is about like watching paint dry. Until next time! Favorite Scene: The gigantic plant bird things are really fun as a concept, shame they weren't featured in something less coma inducing. Next Time: *snores* ...Huh? Oh, we're...we're still here, aren't we... Synopsis: With their ship landing on Namek at last, Bulma, Gohan, and Kuririn wonder what sort of planet Namek is, though Kuririn still wonders if this really is Namek at all since they reached it so much quicker than expected. Gohan suggests they check the Dragon Ball radar to be sure, but before Bulma can do so, the ship falls off the edge of a cliff with them still inside of it. A short time later, the three Earthlings have been apparently found and taken inside a building with a familiar looking aesthetic. As Bulma opens her eyes, she is greeted by the sight of two elderly Namekians who introduce themselves as Lychee and Zarkuro and claim to have been by each others sides for over 300 years. After an unusual greeting involving grabbing the other's nose, Lychee tells Bulma that they're lucky they found them when they did, as all three of them probably would have died soon without aid. Bulma wakes the other two up, and they all exchange the greeting. The pair makes food for the group, and Lychee says he hopes they can find the Dragon Balls easily, surprising the trio. Zarkuro explains that they know everything about them. Bulma asks where their ship is, and the two Namekians take them to where they've stored the greatly damaged spaceship. Bulma is sure it's still flight-worthy though, and the trio once again thank the pair for helping them out so much already. Bulma pulls out the Dragon Ball radar and immediately gets readings for multiple Dragon Balls, including three in a group nearby. Bulma brings out a capsule car for them to go get the balls, but Lychee warns them that they'll be a quick meal for the monsters in that area in such a thing. Lychee offers to let them use their 'Goku', which turns out to be a noisy ship the Namekians themselves have. The group approaches one of the three Dragon Balls in short order, but as they work to retrieve it, Zarkuro is shown back at the house, commenting that with a ship such as their visitors... Gohan, Kuririn, and Lychee all dive underwater to search for the Dragon Ball. To the trio's surprise, Lychee disappears, but soon emerges out of the water holding the Dragon Ball. On the Freeza outpost that Vegeta has landed on, the injured Saiyan is watched over by a group of other soldiers as he heals, with one of them noting that he's regaining consciousness. In Vegeta's mind, the outcome of his fight with everyone on Earth replays in his mind, with him wondering how he ever lost to Kakarot when his power is much higher. On Earth, Goku scares Chi Chi when he suddenly punches the air above him out of boredom, causing his wife to lambast him for interrupting her sewing a sweater for Gohan. Lychee takes Bulma, Gohan, and Kuririn to an ancient temple next, where they deduce that the Dragon Ball they need must be deep inside of it. As they walk down, Gohan notes some carvings on the wall that he takes to be ancient Namekians, with Kuririn noticing that they look nothing like the Namekians they know. The radar indicates a Dragon Ball must be inside a coffin in the room above, and as Bulma opens the coffin, she is horrified to discover it's inside the mouth of a skeleton. With a second Dragon Ball collected however, Lychee thinks they can get a third before the day is out. Gohan thinks the Namekians are being really helpful, but Bulma almost doesn't trust them as a result, and warns Gohan to watch out in case the two Namekians try to steal the wish from them once they've gathered the seven balls. The third Dragon Ball is located, and as Lychee lands his ship, the Dragon Ball that was stuck in a tree is knocked loose and picked up by a large clawed hand. The group follows the radar, eventually leading them to a large dinosaur which promptly eats the Dragon Ball before leaving them behind. Bulma chases after the dinosaur and the rest chase after her, but Lychee soon stops them, saying that if they go any further, their lives will be in danger. Bulma accuses the Namekian of being up to something since he's being far too nice, but they all soon hear the pained screams of the dinosaur. Lychee takes them back to the ship and they fly over, soon finding a large poisonous green swamp that bubbles as the dinosaur's massive skeleton floats in it. Lychee warns them that even the fumes of the swamp are deadly, and Bulma apologizes for her accusations. The group wonders how they're going to get the Dragon Ball, and Lychee says that he has a suit that could withstand the swamp but probably only for ten seconds. Gohan offers to give it a try, and Lychee suggests they tie a rope around him so they can pull him back out before ten seconds pass as well. Now clad in the protective suit, Gohan dives in after his friends say they'll pull him back out after seven seconds pass. When Lychee pulls the rope however, they find that the swamp's acidic water has already eaten through the rope. In the water, Gohan gets the Dragon Ball just in time to discover the broken rope, and desperately swims for the surface. With time running out, he fires a Masenko backwards and propels himself back out of the swamp. After arriving on Namek, it seems our heroes are already doing well, with three Dragon Balls collected thus far. Review: Anyone unfamiliar with the franchise might be wondering why I'm still covering the anime here. After all, I'm only covering filler and not generally talking much about the anime version of events that happen in the manga, and since Namek is where they want to be, this surely must all be further events in the manga, right? Well...not really. Unfortunately, we're still stuck in a bit of a detour from the source material, and it's a detour that I don't think many fans look back upon too fondly nowadays. You might already be able to tell why too. This episode, and from what I can remember the following ones, are honestly pretty dull. It's sort of like watching paint dry, especially when you know that what you're watching doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. There's some effort made to make things interesting by stringing along a few hints here and there that things aren't quite what they seem – such as the 'ancient Namekians' depicted on a temple wall that look nothing like the Namekians we're used to, or more importantly, the fact that Bulma's radar initially picks up way more than seven balls (something that not even she notices) – but in the end, it's not really enough to make any of this interesting. Lychee and Zarkuro's kindly old man schtick doesn't really give us much to work with either. After a cute bit where they hold everyone's noses in greeting – something that's particularly hilarious to see them do to the seemingly nose less Kuririn – it just gets old really quickly. Somehow even the dangerous situation our heroes find themselves in by the end somehow just feels really tepid rather than thrilling, and that's quite a feat to pull off when the story has essentially put a five year old in danger of dying. It should be impossible to make something like that dull, but by Kami, they found a way. The one bit of the episode that actually is kind of interesting is the very brief glimpse we get inside Vegeta's mind, where he's still thinking about the fight that he lost on Earth. Already you can see him focusing on his loss towards Goku in particular, even as it's Gohan beating him as an Oozaru that he's remembering. This is going to be a continually weird thing with his character moving forward – he seemingly looks down on Goku specifically for defeating him, when by all counts, Vegeta BEAT Goku. Vegeta only lost due to a long, varied set of circumstances, and it took the combined efforts of Goku, Gohan, Kuririn, Yajirobe of all people, and even Vegeta's own earlier strategy of making a fake moon, to take him down for the count. If anything he should still be considering himself way out of their league, but his obsessive personality just can't cope with his loss. Why the focus on Goku though? Honestly, if I had to venture a guess, it's down to Vegeta's outlook on life in general. He can't really get away with not acknowledging his loss here, much as he'd like to, but what he can do is try to fit it into his narrow worldview such as we know it. Kakarot might be a low-class Saiyan, but he is a pure-blooded one, and easily the strongest person on the Earth. If Vegeta has to deal with the fact that he lost, he'd rather rationalize it being at the hands of another Saiyan – no matter how “unworthy” they are – rather than admit that it came at the hands of a halfling and a lesser species, all of which should be like bugs to him. Basically, it's his ego's only way of moving on at this point...but as we'll see soon enough, moving on is not exactly something Vegeta's good at either. Until next time! Favorite Scene: The gag with the Namekian greeting of holding noses is cute. There, I praised something. Can I go now? Next Time: I'm gonna take a nap. *yawn* Wake me up when they get to the giant. Synopsis: Surrounded by children with guns, Gohan, Kuririn, and a captured Bulma are unsure what to do. A young man soon approaches Gohan and Kuririn while holding a gun on them. Gohan tries to explain that they mean them no harm and tell them where they're from, but the boy fires his gun at Gohan's feet to silence him, telling them that they don't care what invaders like them have to say. Kuririn likewise tries to explain that they're not invaders, and as the kids don't seem to want to listen, he tells Gohan they have no choice but to fight. As Kuririn and Gohan channel raise their power, the kids back off, except for one little girl who walks up and kicks Kuririn in the shin. The seeming leader of the group tells Kuririn he will shoot to kill next time, and his name is revealed to be Zeshin as another young man urges him to go ahead and kill the intruders as they have to be some of 'Freeza's men'. Zeshin struggles to bring himself to kill them however, and the situation is soon interrupted as alarms go off overhead and another child runs in to tell Zeshin that they've entered a meteor swarm. The ship continues to rock as meteors slam into it, and Bulma yells for Kuririn and Gohan to use this opportunity to set her free. Back on Earth, Goku freaks out as the doctor and nurses come back to give him a shot as he hates needles, and Chi Chi chastises him for getting upset over something so small, especially after all that he caused their son to go through. Bulma, Gohan, and Kuririn try to use the chaos to escape the ship, but Kuririn and Gohan can't leave the kids behind, despite Bulma's protesting that everyone on the ship is doomed and they need to leave before they die too. As a large piece of metal falls from the ceiling and almost crushes some of the kids, Gohan and Kuririn rush in and catch it and toss it aside, saving the kids. Seeing this, Zeshin and the other older boy wonder who they really are, especially as the pair rushes in to help as something explodes in another part of the ship. As Gohan and Kuririn try to help put out fires, Bulma rushes to the front of the ship to take over piloting the ship to try to save them all. Bulma successfully navigates the ship through many of the remaining meteors, but once they're back to safety, the kids once again turn their guns on Bulma and say that they can never trust the people who destroyed their planet. Bulma objects to this treatment, and one of the children once again accuses them of being in league with 'Freeza'. As Gohan and Kuririn rush back to help, the guns are turned on them as well, as one of the children says they know they have to be Freeza's men due to how strong they are. Zeshin speaks up however and tells everyone to lower their guns, saying that if these were some of Freeza's men, they would have already started trying to kill them. A little girl that Gohan saved speaks up as well, reminding the others of how the people in league with Freeza for real had acted, how they turned up without warning and killed all of their parents immediately. As the children are reminded of what they've lost, the other young man specifically remembers narrowly escaping an alien (Cui) who killed his own parents when he sees a look of concern in Gohan's eyes that convince him the 'intruders' aren't like that at all. Bulma thanks the children for believing them, and Kuririn asks them if the people that attacked their homes had tails. When they deny this, Kuririn thinks that they must not have been Saiyans after all, and wonders who else out there in space could possibly be so brutal. Gohan asks them what happened to their planet, and Zeshin explains that it was perfectly peaceful until the day the invaders arrived. Multiple aliens landed and attacked without warning, killing everyone they could find and saying those who survive should be grateful that their planet would be given to 'Lord Freeza'. As the adults realized what was happening, they rushed all of the children into spaceships and helped them escape, but all of the other spaceships were shot down, leaving only this mirror-clad ship to escape into space. Kuririn asks Zeshin if the kids have any plans now that they're alone in space, and Zeshin explains that they're headed for a planet that their fathers used to travel to for business in the hopes that they'll be taken in there. Bulma asks them if it's far, and Zeshin assures them that they'll get there no matter how many years it takes. The kids see Bulma, Kuririn, and Gohan back to their ship, and Bulma urges the latter two to hurry up so they don't lose more time getting to Namek. Hearing that name, the children tell them that they passed Planet Namek about two weeks prior and give the trio a shortcut to get there and save themselves some time. Bulma is surprised by this information and thanks them before dragging Gohan and Kuririn on board, and they leave before Zeshin can tell them something else about the shortcut. Once again in space, Bulma resets their coordinates while Kuririn worries about those other bad guys the children told them about. Kuririn wonders if they might be allies of the Saiyans, but Bulma says it's nothing for them to worry about either way, and she goes off to sleep. Elsewhere in space however, Kuririn's worries are proven correct, as Vegeta's pod lands on an alien planet at last, and the various Saiyan armor clad aliens there receive him and take him to a healing chamber when they discover his rough state inside of his pod. As Vegeta receives treatment, our heroes ship begins to quake as they pass through a storm in space. Bulma misunderstands the situation and accuses Kuririn of trying something perverted with her when she wakes up on his lap, but the tense situation is soon forgotten – they've arrived at Planet Namek ahead of schedule thanks to the shortcut the children told them about...or have they? A bizarre warning begins to flash on the ship's main console as they go in for a landing. Review: As said last time, the story presented in this episode really probably could've been contained in the last one with some cuts and less cutting away to other things, and I still stand by that sentiment. While there's plenty to like in this episode, it doesn't really do enough to stand out on it's own I feel, and in the end it's just used as a prelude for the next batch of filler coming up – a batch of filler I always remember not liking that much – so...yeah. Kinda ends up leaving a bad taste in my mouth either way. There really is some stuff to like here too though. Seeing our heroes try to figure out what's going on and ultimately deciding to help their would-be captors is a nice enough diversion, as well as setting up some early knowledge of the coming threat for our heroes. I particularly like that Cui is one of the aliens shown to have attacked the kids' home planet, as it really ups his despicable factor far more than 'Vegeta doesn't like him' ever could, let's be honest. I'm not really sure our heroes really need to know what's coming in the long run though – the discussion of what Vegeta could be up to and the idea that there's other bad people out there in space already sets everything up nicely enough without this added information, so I can't really say any of this is of great help in the grand scheme of things narratively. And again, it all only really exists to set up the NEXT filler storyline, so even the main plot of these two episodes is essentially filler for the filler, and that's never a great sign. If there's one thing this episode adds to the characters though that I absolutely love, it's surprisingly with the bedridden Goku. The idea that someone strong enough to fight off people trying to blow up a planet would be scared of a simple shot is hilarious to me (and completely understandable – I HATE needles, and I don't know that I want to meet someone who LIKES them, honestly). It's a great bit of levity – not that this episode is particularly dark though – and a great addition to his character, and I'm glad to say that it sticks around for future moments of filler (though I don't know how many, if any at all, will end up getting covered here). Until next time! Favorite Scene: Goku being scared of needles is absolutely hilarious and considering I empathize with him 100% on that front, how can I not love that scene? Next Time: It says right in the title that they're 'kind-hearted', so I'm sure there's absolutely no deception going on here whatsoever. Synopsis: As Bulma, Gohan, and Kuririn all travel to Namek on Kami's ship, Bulma lazes around the ship and interrupts Gohan and Kuririn's mental training to tell them to clean up the ship. Kuririn points out that it's her mess, but she claims to be too busy to clean. Back on Earth, a nurse catches Goku out of bed and trying to train despite still being in a body cast, and Roshi uses the opportunity to harass the nurse. Goku's doctor catches Goku out of bed as well and tells him that if he keeps this up he's never going to get any better, and the doctor puts Roshi to work helping the nurse get Goku back into bed. When the doctor asks where Chi Chi is, Roshi tells him she's up on the roof, as Chi Chi stares at the sky and wonders how Gohan is doing. Back in space, Bulma and Kuririn talk about where Vegeta may be after leaving Earth, as elsewhere in space, Vegeta's ship is shown flying through the stars. Suddenly, all three of them notice something flash in front of the ship. Gohan wonders if they've reached Namek already, but Bulma says it's far too soon for that to be the case. Using the ship's computer, she's able to see that something is quickly approaching them, although Gohan and Kuririn don't see anything outside the window at first. A fleet of smaller ships soon appear however and open fire on their ship, forcing Bulma to open fire in return. As the ships fly around them however, another ship that looks just like theirs appears in front of them, and although they do their best to avoid collision, the ship turns at the same time as them. As all appears lost however, rather than crashing into an identical ship, their ship is taken inside a larger camouflaged balloon-like ship. Finding themselves and their ship inside of another ship now, the trio steps out of their ship to investigate, with Bulma realizing that she forgot to put on pants first. As they explore, they go down a hallway where multiple guns poke out of the wall, which all start firing at them. Gohan, Kuririn, and Bulma (with Gohan's help) all manage to survive the attack, with Kuririn telling them both to be careful as they have no idea what other kinds of booby traps might be waiting for them. Shortly afterwards, a wall slides closed behind them, trapping them in a room. Kuririn tries at first to blast the wall away, but acid soon begins pouring into the room, forcing Gohan to grab hold of Bulma to save her from being dissolved. Kuririn blasts the wall away and the trio escape by flying over to the other side. Gohan asks if this could be a Saiyan spaceship, and Bulma admits that she has no idea. They wonder if Vegeta could suddenly appear around the corner and attack them or if he's still recovering somewhere else, as the Saiyan is shown to be doing exactly that as his pod continues to fly through space. After walking further, Kuririn starts to notice that it feels like they're going in a circle, and they haven't seen another door in ages. What appears to be a door appears on the ceiling, but as Kuririn tries to pull it open, another door slides open on a nearby wall. The trio walks through it, but a pit on the floor suddenly opens up and tries to drop them out into space. Kuririn and Gohan rescue Bulma again, and fire ki blasts to push them all back up onto the ship. Gohan and Kuririn are starting to get hungry now, and they all soon smell food in another nearby room. They rush over to indulge their appetites, but Bulma warns them that this could all be a trap. As she carefully tries grabbing a fork and a knife, another knife hurtles past her and sticks into the wall. At first Bulma gloats about not falling for such an obvious trap, but the knife in the wall has pushed in a panel that soon causes the whole ship to shake as pillars are pulled away, trapping Bulma underneath a large dome alone after Kuririn and Gohan were quick enough to dodge out of the way. As Gohan and Kuririn prepare to free Bulma, the dome disappears and a robotic arm grabs Bulma and hands her up from the ceiling. Before any of them can react, guns surround Bulma and soldiers come out of compartments that raise out of the floor to surround Gohan and Kuririn as well. The group seems to be captured, but Gohan notices something strange about their attackers – they're all children. Kuririn asks if there's any adults they can talk to, and Bulma shouts for them to forget about her and 'give those kids a spanking', but as the kids around Gohan and Kuririn react in fear when Kuririn starts to move, the kids surrounding Bulma point even more guns, prompting Bulma to change her tune. Review: A new arc means new chances for filler to expand upon things that didn't exist in the original manga, and what period does Dragon Ball Z choose to expand upon first? The trip to Namek itself! That's...actually not a bad idea in-of-itself if I'm being honest. While the last manga chapter we had blazed through the trip in the span of a chapter, it did so by also giving us all of the intel on what's going on in space that our characters are about to run into once they land on the planet. Here however, Toei has chosen to severely chop up the Vegeta plot dump, and string it out through original material following our heroes during their trip into space. It's really the only realistic way to do this, because if we'd gotten the Vegeta plot dump all at once as we had in the manga, everything would feel far more like it was stalling for time (which, it is), rather than standing any chance of feeling like a naturally occurring story. That's not to say the filler itself isn't also making use of filler of it's own to pad the runtime however. The story of this episode probably could have been resolved in one episode rather than two with some severe cuts to it's own ancillary material as well as material to come in the next episode. To get it to take two episodes however, the entirety of our heroes' material from the previous chapter is adapted into this episode, as are a few cutaways to what Vegeta's doing (spoilers: trying not to die in his space pod). There's also a cutaway to Goku's antics on the Earth and a worried Chi Chi that don't really add a lot either, but admittedly I'm a bit fonder of this bit. Goku just laying in a hospital bed really does feel unlike him, so the idea that he's sneaking out of bed to try to train makes sense. It also makes sense that Roshi would come visit him, both out of love for his student and also to sexually harass some nurses, because of course he'd do both of those things. At least this time he gets some comeuppance though, and unlike the usual payback, it's not due to him getting smacked or shot – it's the doctor and the nurse making it clear they have no time to deal with his shit. As for our heroes, they quickly run into issues of their own as they fly through space, and their trip is put on the back burner for a bit as they end up captured by a ship that camouflages and reflects everything out in space. While I'm not a huge fan of this episode overall, there are some really neat set pieces that I really enjoy with this ship, from it being essentially invisible and reflecting their own ship back at them, to all of it's various traps like the acid room and the drop pit back into space. The gun wall's pretty neat too I guess. By the time you get to the final trap however, it's extremely obvious that they shouldn't trust anything that they see around them, so you just know something is coming when they find food. I think the writers knew how obvious this all was by this point though, as they highlight it themselves with Bulma, and make her fall for the trap out of sheer arrogance rather than anything else. With all of these assaults upon them though, you really are lead to wonder just what exactly is going on on this ship, but seeing our characters get surrounded by people with guns at this point in the story really doesn't feel like much of a threat...usually. This is where they throw us a curveball though – it's less that this is a threat, and more that our characters don't know how to handle the situation they've found themselves in, because they're completely surrounded by kids wearing body armor and pointing guns at them. There's seemingly no adults around, so right away this is the most violent mob of orphans I've ever seen, that's for sure. That said, once we know it's kids piloting this ship, an uh...interesting quandary comes up. See, earlier in the episode before our heroes' ship gets captures, Bulma opens fire on some little ships that probably came from this bigger ship they're now on. She successfully guns down a good handful of them too. So that leaves the question of...were...those ships running on auto-pilot, or did Bulma just...o-ohh... … Until next time! Favorite Scene: All of the traps the ship employs against our heroes are pretty neat, but if I had to pick a personal favorite, it'd definitely be the acid room. Next Time: So, are there no like...space orphanages, or... Synopsis: In space, a small probe is shown hurtling towards the Earth. In a forest, Bulma, Oolong, and Kuririn are all making preparations to camp, when Gohan arrives with a big backpack full of supplies (mostly things his mother packed that he doesn't really need). As night falls, the probe from space crash lands in the forest, causing a fire to break out and soon engulf the entire area. As the forest burns, animals flee as our heroes try to deal with it themselves, with Gohan and Kuririn trying to blow the fire out with the force of their ki. When Gohan spots a small dragon stuck beneath a fallen tree, he frees it before returning to help Kuririn, and their efforts prevent the forest fire from reaching their camp site...but the forest itself is entirely destroyed by the blaze. Feeling sorry for the displaced wildlife, Kuririn suggests they gather and use the Dragon Balls to fix this problem, leading to an opening credits montage of the Dragon Balls being gathered. The group summons Shen Long, and though Gohan has to hold back the baby dragon (whom they have named Haiya Dragon) from trying to attack him, they successfully wish for the forest to be restored. The next day, the probe that landed in the forest sprouts mechanical spider-legs and walks around observing the condition of the planet, relaying this information to a ship flying through space. An alien (Amond) tells his leader Tullece that there are signs of life on Earth, which confuses the unseen leader as this was the planet a young Kakarot was sent to – there shouldn't BE any life left by now. Noticing how pristine the planet appears however, Tullece believes it when Amond tells him that the Earth's soil appears suitable for growing the Shinseiju (Divine Essence) tree. Back on Earth, Chi Chi heats up a barrel of water for Goku and Gohan to bathe together in, and as the father and son try to see who can hold their breath the longest, Chi Chi interrupts out of fear when Haiya Dragon suddenly appears. Gohan is happy to see his friend, but Chi Chi is terrified and chastises Gohan, saying that he's falling under the bad influence of Goku's friends more and more. Gohan tries to convince her to let him keep Haiya Dragon if he studies harder, but Chi Chi insists that he send it back where it came from. Feeling bad for his son, Goku shows Gohan a nearby cave that he can keep Haiya Dragon in, complete with food and hay for a bed. Elsewhere, Yamcha is driving a small plane that he bought on a fifteen-year loan, looking to surprise everyone when he arrives in it. Suddenly however, he can feel a strange ki somewhere, something that Piccolo can feel as well. Amond is shown on Earth, standing before the crater that the probe made, as he causes an explosion that makes that puts a deep ridge in the ground, the impact of the explosion also causing Yamcha's plane to explode. Another of the alien crew (Daiz) flicks a seed down into the ground, and the rest of the alien group (Cacao, Rasin, and Lakasei) all urge the seed to grow quickly. Gohan enjoys playing with Haiya Dragon even if he has to keep it a secret from his mother, and as he heads back home when Goku calls out to him for dinner, Haiya Dragon seems to pick up on the feeling that something is very wrong. As the seed in the ground grows at an incredible rate, it's roots spreading and eventually pushing a small bud out of the dirt, Kaio-sama senses something amiss all the way from his planet. Tullece still can't believe that the Earth was the perfect place to grow the Shinseiju, and thanks Kakarot for failing in his mission. As the tree's roots continue to spread, they cause rampant destruction around the planet, once again driving animals from their forests and even destroying cities, all while a massive tree begins to grow and tower above everything. At Goku's house, a reunion of sorts is held for dinner, with Goku's family hosting Bulma, Yamcha, Oolong, Puar, Kuririn, Roshi, Tenshinhan, and Chaozu. Yamcha tells them all about his fifteen-year loan bought plane being destroyed, causing Bulma to chew him out and accuse him of trying to show off to other girls. Roshi tries to break up the fight by thanking Chi Chi for letting them all visit, and Chi Chi says it's fine as long as they don't interfere with Gohan's studies – Yamcha offers to help Gohan study, prompting Chi Chi to retort that's exactly what she's worried about, and everyone laughs. Haiya Dragon suddenly appears and taps at the window, angering Chi Chi when she discovers that the dragon is still around, and Goku tries to convince Chi Chi again that it's fine. Gohan struggles to send Haiya Dragon away, and as Goku wonders why it seemed agitated, Kaio-sama contacts Goku telepathically. Kaio-sama tells Goku that the Shinseiju tree has taken root on the Earth, explaining that it's a tree that produces fruit that normally only the Gods are allowed to eat. The tree grows this fruit by taking every bit of sustenance from the planet it's growing on, depleting it to a dried husk that nothing can live on for several centuries afterward. Kaio-sama warns Goku that since the tree has already taken root, it's too late to do anything about it either. As the alien group watches the fruit grow, they think it won't be long until it matures, and once they eat it, the Crusher Tullece Corps will be the strongest force in the universe, even beating the likes of 'Freeza' to allow Tullece to become the new Emperor of the universe. They say it's thanks to the tree, but as Tullece wraps his furry tail around his waist, he says it's all thanks to Kakarot. Goku relays everything Kaio-sama told him to his friends, and says that if they all put their powers together, maybe they can destroy the tree altogether and prevent the Earth's destruction. Kuririn, Yamcha, Tenshinhan, and Chaozu all agree to this plan, and when Gohan tries to join in, Chi Chi forbids him from going. Goku and his friends soon arrive at the Shinseiju tree, and they all fire Kamehameha's and Dodonpa's at the tree, only to find they can't even put a scratch in it. Yamcha thinks they won't be able to destroy it without destroying the Earth itself, but Goku senses energy higher up on the roots. The group flies upwards to meet the Crusher Tullece Corps, who laugh and tell them that nobody can destroy the tree. Tenshinhan can feel a strong power coming from the group, and when Goku asks if they're the ones that planted the tree, they tell them that anyone that gets in their way will be killed. Yamcha realizes they must be the ones that caused the explosion that destroyed his plane, and though Kuririn can tell these guys aren't Saiyans, he's still getting a bad feeling from them. Back at Goku's home, Gohan takes Haiya Dragon to discreetly fly towards the battlefield. A fight breaks out between Goku and friends and the invading Crusher Tullece Corps, with Tenshinhan and Chaozu taking on the diminutive Rasin and Lakasei, Kuririn fighting the large Amond, Yamcha facing off against the android-like Cacao, and Goku fighting against Daiz. Although Goku's friends put forth their best efforts with techniques like Taiyo-ken, Kienzan, and the Sokidan all coming back into play, none of them seem to be able to defeat their opponents, with Goku having to help Yamcha against Cacao. Lakasei corners Chaozu, only for Chaozu to be saved by a late arriving Gohan. As Gohan fires an energy blast, his power skyrockets, catching the attention of a watching Tullece who deduces that Gohan must be a Saiyan. Tullece is then revealed to be wearing a Saiyan scouter...and to look exactly like Goku. Lakasei tries to fight back against Gohan, who more than holds his own against the alien, even seeming to defeat him for a moment. Pleased by what he's seeing, Tullece approaches Gohan who mistakes him momentarily for his father. Tullece figures out that Gohan must be Kakarot's son then, and says it's not surprising that he and Kakarot look similar, as lower-class Saiyans 'only come in a few types'. Tullece's scouter reads Gohan's power level as 10,000, and says he shouldn't be surprised given Gohan has inherited Saiyan blood from his father. Tullece introduces himself as another surviving Saiyan and asks Gohan if he'd like to join him conquering the universe, and when Gohan refuses, Tullece tells him the Earth is already doomed so he should really take Tullece up on his offer. Tullece's scouter suddenly picks up another power level of 18,000 approaching, and Piccolo arrives to demand Tullece unhand Gohan. Tullece tosses Gohan to Piccolo before appearing behind him and blasting them both to the ground before continuing his conversation with Gohan. As Gohan's tail grows back suddenly, Tullece offers to show Gohan what being a Saiyan is truly about, as he makes a power ball and throws it into the sky. Tullece then holds Gohan's eyes open and makes him look at the fake moon, and as the boy transforms into an Oozaru, Tullece destroys the fake moon to prevent his own transformation. Seeing this, Goku tries to hurry over to his son but has to fight off attacks from the Crusher Tullece Corp, and the fighting eventually gets the attention of the Oozaru Gohan. Goku tries to dodge his son's attacks, and even has to use Kaio-ken to try and escape him, much to Tullece's delight who promises Kakarot to take care of his son when he's gone. Piccolo flies in to help and tells Goku to cut off Gohan's tail, and Tullece blasts him away again, with both Goku and the Oozaru Gohan getting caught in the attack as well and sent falling into a cave filled with water. The Oozaru Gohan manages to grab his father in hand and begins to crush him, but Haiya Dragon shows up and surprisingly mollifies the beast, who begins to watch and play with the smaller creature. Tullece is disgusted by this display and asks Gohan where his Saiyan pride is, causing Goku to retort that he and his son are both Earthlings, not Saiyans. Tullece decides to test this theory and viciously blasts Haiya Dragon away, sending Gohan into a rage again, but the Oozaru soon spots Tullece and attacks him instead. Tullece says he was mistaken to think there would be any worth to Kakarot's son after all, and fires a blast meant to kill the Oozaru. Acting quickly, Goku throws a ki disc that cuts off Gohan's tail, allowing the boy to narrowly avoid being killed by Tullece's attack. Goku catches his son and promises to protect him and turns with an angry scowl towards Tullece. As the planet continues to decline rapidly from the Shinseiju's growth, Tullece tells Kakarot that he's a disgrace to the Saiyan race, causing Goku to retort that his name is Goku. The Crusher Corp shows up once again and asks Tullece to leave Goku to them, and it's shown that all of Goku's friends were defeated by the group. Goku takes on all five of them at once as Tullece watches, and Piccolo takes this opportunity to try to attack Tullece again, but not even a point blank Mankankosappo is enough to hurt Tullece. An angry Goku uses the Kaio-ken to finally defeat all five members of Tullece's group just as Piccolo falls to Tullece, and Tullece gives Goku one last chance to join him. Goku refuses, and Tullece asks him if he really thinks he has enough power to beat him – after all, Tullece has already eaten the fruit from the Shinseiju many times before to grow as strong as he now is. Goku tells Tullece that he's glad to have hit his head so that he didn't end up like Tullece, and as the two begin to fight, Tullece is surprised to see Goku's power at 30,000 and growing quickly. Left with no choice, Tullece grabs one of the fruit off of the Shinseiju declares himself the victor before taking a bite of it. Tullece's power grows instantly and he quickly overwhelms Goku, whom he promises to build a fine grave for. Goku uses a Kaio-ken x10 to try to even the odds, but not even that is enough to defeat Tullece, who takes down Goku once again, leaving him for dead. As Tullece flies towards the top of the Shinseiju tree, Goku's friends telepathically speak to him and tell him to hit Tullece with a Genki Dama. Goku says he's out of energy to do so, but hearing that they're all still alive and willing to fight, Goku decides to give it a try. As Piccolo, Kuririn, Yamcha, Tenshinhan, and Chaozu try to hold Tullece off, Goku starts gathering energy for the Genki Dama. As Goku gathers energy and throws the Genki Dama, Tullece spots Goku and counters the attack with a blast of his own, causing an explosion that knocks Goku back to the ground. Kuririn says that the Shinseiju tree must have taken too much of Earth's life energy for an effective Genki Dama to be made, and all seems lost as Tullece looks at how many more Shinseiju fruit there are left for him to eat. With the Earth drained and seemingly barren, all seems lost, but Goku can feel a warm energy reaching out to him. A breeze begins to blow, and Goku's friends feel Goku gathering energy from the fruit still on the tree. As Tullece eats another fruit, he also feels this, and turns around to find Goku standing before him once again. The two Saiyans stare each other down, and as Tullece tries to fire a final blast to kill Goku, Goku throws another Genki Dama that hits Tullece this time, dragging him through the Shinseiju tree and killing both him and the tree at once and releasing the stolen life energy back to the planet. Haiya Dragon wakes up a sleeping Gohan who is happy to see him, and Kaio-sama says that with the Shinseiju tree destroyed, the Earth might well recover from this after all, while also commenting on the irony that it was the tree itself that gave Goku the energy to destroy it. Goku and his friends go camping again as a larger group this time, and Bulma and Roshi say it really is a good thing Goku hit his head or else he might have actually joined up with Tullece to ravage the universe. Oolong compliments Haiya Dragon for helping out as well and tries to pet him, causing the dragon to bite at him, and Oolong to comment that the creature is just like Piccolo and only lets it's guard down around Gohan. Everyone laughs, while Piccolo meditates near a waterfall somewhere and scoffs. Review: From the very start of this movie, you might have noticed something that it has in common with the last two movies. The first DBZ movie had Garlic Jr. using the Dragon Balls to wish for immortality; the second one had Dr. Cochin wishing to free Dr. Uiro from the ice; and this one has our heroes wishing with the Dragon Balls to fix a forest destroyed by a massive fire. Compare that to the amount of times the Dragon Balls were used in the three Dragon Ball movies prior to the Z title – movie 1 had a wish made to save Pansy's village by ridding them of the Rich Stones, and movie 3 had a wish made to resurrect Bora, a wish that's already directly pulling from the source material rather than being unique to itself. It's clear that a pattern is starting to form within these films, and we're only three movies in out of thirteen total. While some patterns will come and go as different formulas develop, it's indicative of an overall trend with these movies that will become more apparent as I cover further ones...and it's also at least part of why this movie doesn't work quite as well for me. The idea of a forest fire being what the Dragon Balls are used to fix rather than anything bigger or getting used by the villains again is a little bit refreshing, though even then it's really only used to introduce the character of Haiya Dragon (who I'll be touching on more later) rather than doing anything for the film itself's plot. As a result, the Dragon Ball wish feels like it's only here because they think they have to use the Dragon Balls in each film rather than it feeling more organic to the film's plot in the way the last two films used them. Likewise, the movie makes at least a passing use of Goku's extended friend group rather than only using the core group of Goku, Gohan, Piccolo, and Kuririn. In fact (spoiler alert), this movie is the last one we're going to see Yamcha, Tenshinhan, and Chaozu in for some time. This unfortunately makes their use in this film all the more frustrating though. Sure, they all get to appear, and there's a fun moment where we get to see them all using some of their best techniques to try to take down their Crusher Tullece Corps opponents (more on them in a bit as well), but it all amounts to nothing in the end. They all get defeated – off-screen, no less – just so their opponents can go on to get similarly curb-stomped by Goku. This problem is particularly highlighted by the fact that two of them, the twins Rasin and Lakasei, are already shown up by Gohan earlier in the film. Despite that, they still have to be able to get back up and be just fine...for Goku to take them down. The film wants to give us all of the other characters, but it doesn't want to let anyone but Goku get any victories here, and that is a major, major flaw. Before I move on to talk more about the villains and their plans, which are once again the main focus of the film, I want to talk about the one other element the hero's side of the story brings to the table this time, and that's Haiya Dragon. The idea of giving Gohan a pet is something the anime staff must have really felt strongly about, because despite Haiya Dragon being introduced in this film, it's far from his only appearance. In fact, we'll be seeing him in the next couple of films, as well as him putting in a few appearances in the TV anime as well. This puts him in a category with very few other movie original characters making appearances outside of the films, and even with that, he's the only one to appear in multiple story arcs when we don't count another character that only achieves that by being a rebooted version of their original selves. Needless to say, someone at Toei really thought highly of Haiya Dragon as an addition to the character roster. How do I feel about him myself? ...He's alright. There's not really anything about Haiya Dragon that I think requires him to be part of the series overall, but at the same time he doesn't really take away from anything either. Heck, if anything it gives Gohan a character that's directly related to his presence rather than to his father's, so in a way that's a definite win no matter how inconsequential his presence is overall. And speaking of inconsequential, let's switch to talking about the villains and start things off by talking about the Tullece Crusher Corps themselves. This is the biggest group of villains we've yet had in any of these movies, and maybe that's part of the reason they don't really have much personality outside of their designs – and even then, it's really only Cacao who really stands out greatly on that front. The bio-warriors in the last movie were practically non-verbal, and yet they all managed to get unique abilities and showcases for those abilities to help them feel fleshed out and interesting. Here however, the Crusher Corps don't really have anything more going for them than “hey, they sure are strong”. Except, here's the thing – they're only shown to be strong against those pesky “lesser heroes”. They dominate Kuririn, Yamcha, Tenshinhan, and Chaozu, but get shown up immediately every single time they pop back up to try and fight Goku. It's a complete and utter waste. It doesn't deserve all of the blame as it's clearly emulating what it's learned from the series proper – after all, let's be honest: what did the human cast outside of Kuririn really accomplish in the Saiyan arc at the end of the day? - but shouldn't a film try to fill in a gap in what the original series offers us? Instead of giving us nothing but token appearances for the other heroes, I think I would have liked it better if at least some of the Tullece Crusher Corps actually got to show what made them unique, and still lost to at least some of our heroes in an interesting fashion instead of all of them ultimately being used as props to go “oh wow, Goku is strong!”. So with the backup villains of this film being less than inspired, the onus to be interesting in some way falls on it's main villain. Enter Tullece, who...well, he tries. Sorta. The idea of Tullece, as highlighted directly in the film's closing comments, is that he's more or less what Goku would probably have been like if he'd never hit his head and had kept his Saiyan nature all the way into adulthood. On the surface, this is an interesting idea, but in execution it, if I'm being honest? I don't think it really shows us anything new. We've already seen what the Saiyans are like and how that contrasts with Goku's character and personality, so Tullece doesn't give us any food for thought that we didn't already get from Raditz, Nappa, and Vegeta. It doesn't help that Tullece isn't really any more like Goku than any of the other Saiyans are either. He's described as a low-class warrior who has achieved power far beyond what is expected of that class, and he looks almost exactly like Goku, right down to sporting the same iconic hair-do. There's a toss-away line about how low-class Saiyans only coming in a handful of types, but 1) that's just...stupid, and 2) the real reason is that it uses their similar appearances as a crutch with which to go “look, look, this is totally what an evil Goku would be like!”. Except, it's not. Tullece doesn't act anything like Goku. He doesn't act exactly like any of the original series Saiyans (which is in of itself a good thing actually, allowing his personality to be his own), but he doesn't say or do anything that really makes you think of Goku outside of his appearance. The only non-superficial similarity between the two is that they both pursue greater power than what they currently have, but that's basically a given for every hero and villain in the franchise rather than something unique to Goku's outlook on life. It's the specific way and reasoning that Goku brings to his pursuit of power that sets him apart from everyone else, and that's not replicated in Tullece at all. As much as they want Tullece to be “what if Goku was evil?”, he's actually his own character in Goku clothing, but since his supposed similarity to Goku is where most of the focus is, it leaves him feeling lacking. As much as I've been dumping on the film and it's new characters, it's not all bad, as there's one element to the film that is entirely unique to it, and it's honestly quite a good one. The real villain of this film, the real threat that actually holds my interest and I would guess the interest of lots of other fans, is the Shinseiju tree itself. The idea of a tree that sucks all life out of a planet to produce fruit only meant for the Gods to eat is one hell of an interesting idea, and it's unlike anything else we've had in the series before now. Not only does it serve as a way to actually power up the villain in real time during the film rather than just having them transform (and trust me, we've got plenty of that on the horizon), it actually affects the entire planet rather than just the battlefield our heroes find themselves on. It also really raises some dark questions to think about that I'm not sure was the staff's intention or not. The Shinseiju tree's function is never called into question, only the ideas of it being used on Earth and the idea of someone other than the God's using it and profiting off of it. Kaio-sama never suggests that the tree does anything different when the God's use it, so that means...the tree's ability to drain all life from a planet all to produce some food for the Gods to eat isn't a glitch, it's an expected feature. What the hell, Kaio-sama, that's messed up! It really makes you wonder what exactly the fruit tree in Hell that only Enma is supposed to eat from is using as fertilizer, doesn't it? All things told, the Shinseiju tree is far too good for the rest of the film around it honestly. If nothing else ever makes a comeback from this film, that'd be understandable, but if we ever saw the likes of the Shinseiju tree reinterpreted again for a modern story, I'd be pretty excited to see what they'd do with it. This makes the fact that the tree (and Tullece) are both taken down by another Genki Dama a bit disappointing to boot. For a technique that failed to put down the villain it was first used against in the main series, we've seen it save the day twice now in the movies, and it won't be the last time that happens yet. For what it's worth though, I'd say this time is probably the most tonally and thematically fitting. The tree takes the energy from the Earth by force rather than asking as Goku does, and it's only through Goku taking some of that energy back from the tree itself that he pulls off the technique properly – if it wasn't for the fact that it's already been used to end one film and it'll be used again for another, then this ending would be perfect conceptually. And now, we come once again to the point in time where I talk about where the film would fit if it could fit, and why it doesn't. And once again, I've discovered a bit of a problem in regards to that that I never remember when I think back about the film. In theory, this movie seems to take place after the Saiyan arc just like it's predecessor – Goku has the Kaio-ken and the Genki Dama, so it can't really take place any time before that. Just like it's predecessor however, the use of the Dragon Balls themselves presents a potential problem, with a bigger issue coming in the form of Piccolo, Yamcha, Tenshinhan, and Chaozu all still being alive. The movie as it is can't take place in the series at all at this point without making a major change – in this case, it'd require everyone to have survived the fight with the Saiyans, likely stemming from Goku arriving in time to defeat Nappa before any of them die, and things end up playing out in a deathless fashion past that point as well. Problem solved! ...Except not fully. See, there's a few elements that happen in this film that I completely forgot about when choosing to review it at this point. There's a handful of power levels mentioned that probably seemed a little bit too inflated for where I left off in the main storyline, namely Gohan's power level being anywhere near 10,000. That's probably a little too close to his father and Vegeta's power levels from before given that we don't see any sort of angry outburst in this movie. There's also Gohan's general appearance not looking like he did in the previous arc, with a much shorter hairstyle, one that we're going to be seeing very soon in the next arc. Goku uses a Kaio-ken x10 when the highest we ever saw him use against Vegeta was a x4 and that was enough to absolutely wreck his body. And there's also a curious mention of a guy named 'Freeza', that going off of the Saiyan arc, we have no idea who that is. Without going too far into the minutia, these are all elements that would more firmly place this movie's placement in or after the next arc rather than the Saiyan one. Similar problems lie in that placement as well though, namely that the powers aren't nearly inflated enough and the lack of certain tell-tale elements coming from the end of the next arc. Okay, so maybe this storyline could take place in the middle of the next arc? Except that's even more impossible given that the next arc is going to take most of these characters well off of the Earth, and also a good chunk of them are also still dead. So there's really only one way that this film could ever happen – it'd have to exist in a turn of events where our Goku, Gohan, and Kuririn all survived the Saiyan arc as they did in the main series, they venture out into some form of the following arc without ever running into some of the major issues from it (but still run into enough of them to grow stronger), their friends are revived, and everyone comes back to Earth fine and dandy. It's...a lot, frankly, and shows that there's really no perfect time to cover or talk about this movie from a story point of view. I'm beginning to think that MistareFusion's method for covering the franchise over on Youtube, where he covered the movies roughly where they came out in the series proper, makes a heck of a lot more sense than how I've been doing it. At the end of the day, this movie is far from perfect. It's about as cookie cutter as it can be in a lot of ways, something that's amusingly fitting given that it's Japanese title could be used for practically any other part of the series without problem. It tries to do a few new and interesting things, but by and large it doesn't take advantage of those concepts at all, choosing instead to just go through the motions until it's over. It's far from the worst movie we're going to be talking about before we're done, and it's definitely far less shamelessly a retread than some other ones as well (looking at you, 'Mystical Adventure'), but for the first three DBZ movies, it's definitely my least favorite thus far. Oh yeah – but what about that Freeza guy? Until next time! Favorite Scene: The scene of everyone relaxing at Goku's house before the shit hits the fan is really fun, even if it does dump on Yamcha some more. Next Time: Turns out everyone's dead after all, so...what next? Synopsis: In the icy Tsurumai-tsuburi Mountains, Piccolo trains alone by trying to blow up a mountain, but is unable to put so much as a scratch in it. Elsewhere in the mountains, Oolong and Gohan are watching the Dragon Balls be gathered via Bulma's radar that Oolong has “borrowed”, and Oolong tries to get Gohan to hurry so he can make a wish instead. Oolong makes sure Gohan has kept his promise about not telling anyone what they're doing though, and while Gohan assures him he hasn't, the young boy can't help but wonder what Oolong wants to wish for as the pig daydreams about his last wish for panties. Much to Oolong's surprise, the Dragon Balls have already been completely gathered by an unfamiliar old man named Dr. Cochin, who summons Shen Long and wishes for the revival of Dr. Uiro, who he says is sealed in ice beneath the Tsurumai-tsuburi Mountains. Shen Long grants this wish and melts away the ice, and as a brain in a jar is briefly shown, Dr. Cochin swears his and Dr. Uiro's vengeance upon the world. As the ice melts away, Oolong and Gohan discover a large facility and Gohan says he can sense a large power inside of it, followed by another glimpse of the brain. While Gohan wants to investigate, Oolong tries to run away, but both are stopped by the arrival of bizarre creatures, the bio-men. The bio-men quickly overwhelm Gohan, but one is stopped from killing him by the arrival of Piccolo, who is easily able to defeat them all. As Gohan faints while seeing Piccolo, three mysterious foes are shown watching Piccolo as a beam of light envelopes him just as Gohan and Oolong fall into a collapsing snow cave. When Gohan wakes up, he wonders what happened to Piccolo, and Oolong reminds him of his promise not to tell anyone what they were doing as the two escape the mountains. Once back home, Gohan studies while overhearing his parents argue about his absence. Chi Chi worries what he may have been doing and how it'll affect his studies, whereas Goku thinks that as long as he's fine and growing up strong, he can study some other time. Gohan tries to focus on his studies but can't stop his mind from wondering back to Piccolo, and worrying about what happened to him. Gohan also can't make up his mind of whether or not he wants to be a scholar or a fighter. As he dozes up and dreams about Piccolo, Chi Chi walks in and wakes him up for dinner, causing her to worry all the more about her son's studies. At Kame House, Oolong is punished by Bulma for taking the radar without permission by being forced to cook them all dinner. As Oolong's cooking starts to burn, the doorbell suddenly rings and the turtle answers it to find more of the bio-men. The bio-men ask to see Roshi, and as Roshi steps out to talk with them, they say that Dr. Uiro is asking to meet him. Roshi declines saying that he doesn't know a Dr. Uiro, and as Bulma and Oolong step outside as well, Oolong is scared when he recognizes the monsters from the mountains. Roshi tells Bulma not to worry and to step back inside, and as the bio-men attack him, he defeats them all easily. This pleases a suddenly appearing Dr. Cochin, who says he should have expected as much from the legendary Kame-sennin, and once again asks for Roshi to come with him. Roshi declines again, but when he turns around to find the bio-men have captured Bulma, he agrees at last. Dr. Cochin says it makes sense that the 'strongest man in the world' would also be smart enough to see reason, and as a strange ship pops out of the water to take them back to the lab, a scared Oolong hides in the kitchen. Oolong goes to Goku's house to explain what's happened, and while Goku isn't concerned at first since Roshi should be able to take care of himself, Oolong eventually confesses everything that he and Gohan witnessed three days before. This is enough to make Goku think he should check things out after all, and he calls down kinto'un to fly out to the mountains to investigate. Gohan tries to go with him, but Chi Chi puts a stop to that while also yelling at him for associating with Piccolo again. Back at Uiro's lab, Roshi demands that they release Bulma and tell him what this is all about. Dr. Uiro instructs Dr. Cochin to test Roshi immediately, and Dr. Cochin presses a button that takes Bulma away while releasing the three figures that were watching Piccolo before – even stronger bio-warriors named Misokatsun, Kishime, and Ebifrya. Dr. Cochin tells Roshi to show them what the 'strongest man in the world' can do, and Roshi does his best to fight them off but is ultimately defeated, surprising and disappointing a watching Cochin. Bulma calls Dr. Cochin an idiot and says that while Roshi may have been the strongest fifty years ago, he's long since been surpassed. Dr. Uiro is curious about this, and when Bulma tries to find who's talking to her, Dr. Cochin introduces her to Dr. Uiro – the brain in a jar seen earlier. Hearing Uiro and Cochin's names together jogs Bulma's memory as she realizes who they are – renowned scientists in the field of bio-technology who both took their experiments too far, and when a sudden weather shift in the Tsurumai-tsuburi Mountains caused their lab to be frozen over in ice, it was presumed to have been divine punishment that also killed the two men. Dr. Cochin reveals that while it's true they were trapped in the ice, neither of them truly “died”, and he chastises humanity's foolishness for disregarding their brilliance as “evil”. Dr. Uiro asks Bulma who the strongest person in the world is now if it's not Roshi, and she tells them both about Goku. Dr. Uiro is pleased, thinking that Goku's body might just make the perfect vessel for him, an idea that horrifies Bulma. Dr. Cochin further horrifies her by revealing that they were behind a recent area turning into a desert overnight, asking her to imagine what more they'd be capable of once Dr. Uiro is the strongest as well as the smartest. Realizing how depraved they are, Bulma refuses to tell them where Goku is, but just then Dr. Uiro picks up a strong energy coming towards them, and determines that it must be Goku himself. Meanwhile, back at Goku's house, Chi Chi finds that Gohan has changed into his Piccolo clothing once again and has left to join his father after all. With Goku outside of the lab, Dr. Cochin confirms his identity. Goku asks where they're keeping Roshi and Bulma, and Dr. Cochin tells him he can come inside and get them...if he can. As Goku lands and notices how cold it is here, Dr. Cochin instructs his bio-warriors to try and kill Goku. The first to attack is the large, portly Misokatsun, who bursts out of the ice beneath Goku's feet. Goku fights back but realizes his punches aren't affecting the fat creature, and is forced to run into the building as he realizes it's too cold to channel his ki properly. Once inside, Goku finds a room filled with floating metal spheres that soon pop out spikes and try to impale him, but Goku is able to deal with them with energy blasts. Having followed him into the room, Misokatsun resumes it's attack as well, and while Goku is at first still unable to harm it, he ultimately wins by using Kaio-ken and flying through Misokatsun's stomach further than it's stretchy body can handle. Goku flies through the ceiling and up to the next floor, leaving behind a beaten and deflated Misokatsun. Dr. Uiro and Cochin are impressed, as Goku finds himself face-to-face with Kishime and Ebifriya next. The fight goes back and forth as Goku has to overcome Kishime's speed, but the bio-warriors ultimately get the drop on Goku when Kishime hits him with an electric energy whip that distracts him long enough for Ebifriya to hit him with a freezing ki blast. As the ice envelopes Goku's body, Dr. Cochin laughs, but help arrives in the form of Gohan and Kuririn. Dr. Cochin tells Ebifriya to kill them both, and the pair are ultimately unable to defeat either bio-warrior. Unable to watch his friend and son be hurt, Goku uses the Kaio-ken again to break free of the ice and take down Kishime and Ebifriya for good this time. A pleased Dr. Uiro praises Goku for being better than he imagined, as Goku, Gohan, and Kuririn run deeper into the lab. They eventually find Bulma chained on a pedestal, and as Goku tries to run forward to free her, he's thrown back when it turns out to be electrified. Dr. Cochin introduces himself, and when Goku demands to know where Roshi is, the mad scientist says he's sleeping upstairs waiting for his turn to be turned into a bio-warrior. When Gohan spots Dr. Uiro's brain behind them, Bulma explains everything as Dr. Uiro tells Goku that he'll be taking his body for his own. Goku refuses, but soon finds his arms and legs wrapped up in wires as the same light that enveloped Piccolo before now envelopes him. Gohan tries to save his father, but Dr. Uiro tells Cochin to unleash their “final fighter”, and Gohan and Kuririn are soon faced with a red-eyed Piccolo. Goku breaks free from his bonds just as Roshi is shown stumbling back down the stairs, and while Gohan tries to greet Piccolo, Piccolo ruthlessly smacks him away and turns his attention towards Goku. As his turban comes off, a vein-like crown is shown on Piccolo's head, as Dr. Cochin reveals that their technology even allows them to control someone as strong as Piccolo. As Goku and Piccolo fight, Gohan demands the release of his master while Kuririn tries in vain to free Bulma. When Gohan is unable to stop Piccolo from fighting, his rage unleashes towards the two mad scientists, with his power threatening to break everything around them. Dr. Cochin foolishly mocks Gohan against Dr. Uiro's advice, and as Cochin tries to attack Gohan with an energy blast from his staff, Gohan's power erupts and damages everything around them, including putting a crack in the crown on Piccolo's head. Dr. Cochin tries to attack again, but Kuririn knocks his staff away and tells him to free Bulma. Dr. Cochin turns his arm into a machine gun and fires at Kuririn, and as Kuririn flees, the gunfire damages the power source to Bulma's pedestal before Roshi ultimately drops in and breaks the machine gun arm off. The damaged crown on Piccolo's head falls off as well, finally freeing Piccolo from the villains' control. Dr. Uiro laughs and praises the warriors for all being better than he'd expected, and says he'll take things into his own hands now. The entire building shakes as a gigantic robot with Dr. Uiro's brain in the cockpit breaks free from the wall, causing Dr. Cochin to fall down a chasm and be electrified and blown up as his true robotic nature is revealed. Now freed, Dr. Uiro says he'll have no use for this robotic shell once he has Goku's body, but the heroes all stand ready to fight him. As Goku notes how strong Uiro seems to be, Piccolo tries and fails to take the robot down, and the Turtle students fire a combined Kamehameha, but none of it manages to do anything substantial to the mecha before them. Goku isn't sure if even a Kaio-ken will do much, and as Gohan, Kuririn, and Roshi are all taken out of the fight, it comes down to him and Piccolo working together once again. Not even their combined might is enough to stop Uiro however, and Piccolo is ultimately crushed against the ceiling, leaving only Goku to face off with the mad scientist. Left with no other choice, Goku uses Kaio-ken x3 and manages to break off one of the robotic Dr. Uiro's arms, before firing a Kamehameha that the scientist matches with a large energy attack of his own. The beams struggle against one another but Goku ultimately manages to overcome it by tapping into a Kaio-ken x4, blowing up much of the surrounding building and sending Uiro flying high into the sky. Kuririn congratulates Goku on his victory, but Goku says it's not over yet as he can still sense Dr. Uiro's energy. In the atmosphere above Earth, Dr. Uiro praises Goku's power but says that if he can't have it as his own, he'll just blow the Earth itself away. As the Earth begins to shake, Goku tells his friends to run as he starts to gather energy for a Genki Dama. Dr. Uiro can sense that Goku's up to something and opens fire just as Goku finishes the attack, preventing him from throwing it. Gohan, Kuririn, and Piccolo fly up to prevent Dr. Uiro from coming back down to the Earth, and while Gohan and Piccolo are able to hurt Uiro, Kuririn gets slapped away. The trio manages to distract Uiro long enough for Goku to stand back up however, and as Dr. Uiro fires a blast intended to destroy the Earth, Goku throws the Genki Dama. The Genki Dama manages to push back and finally break through Uiro's attack, and as Gohan and Kuririn feel the energies of everyone on Earth inside of the attack, it hits Dr. Uiro and evaporates the brain and robot both, finishing him off for good. As the lab crumbles to the ground, Goku finds himself laying on the ground, injured but alive and surrounded by his friends. Goku spots Piccolo walking away and thanks him for his help, but Piccolo says that it was Gohan that rose to the occasion this time. The Earth is saved, though the narrator notes that as long as humanity craves more and more power, someone else like Dr. Uiro could appear one day. The narrator thinks that if they do however, Goku and his friends will surely be there to stop them. As the movie ends, Roshi says that he did think Uiro had one good quality in that the scientist thought he was the strongest person in the world, prompting Bulma to say that he's really just the world's greatest pervert, and everyone laughs. Review: I may as well get my gushing out of the way at the start: I absolutely ADORE this movie. For me, this is the absolute best of the original run of Dragon Ball films that came out alongside the original manga's release, which means it's only downhill from here (though that's not to say all of the films left are bad, just less good than this one...and also some are bad). Maybe it's the sci-fi horror setting, maybe it's the unique story focus, whatever it is there's just something about this movie that's resonated with me ever since first seeing it back in the days when the only version available to me was the original Ocean dubbed version – and it's still one of my favorites regardless of which version I watch (though usually it's with the Japanese version nowadays). Let's get the obvious stuff out of the way as well though: this movie does blatantly rip off a lot of scenes and imagery from the latter part of the Saiyan arc. The basic foot soldier bio-men that Dr. Cochin sends out to protect the lab and to bring Roshi to him are blatant Saibamen re-designs, and it is beyond lazily handled – I can't think of a single other non-Dragon Ball Heroes addition to Dragon Ball's vast cast of characters that are this blatantly ripping off the design of an entirely separate character. This also leads to a similar moment where Piccolo grabs the wrist of one of the Not-Saibamens to stop it from attacking Gohan prior to destroying it, same as he did with the actual Saibamen. There's also the movie's use of Goku's Kaio-ken. At one point, he seemingly breaks the back of one of the two final bio-warriors in the same fashion he did to Nappa, and then there's his Kaio-ken x3 beam struggle against Dr. Uiro that ultimately forces the mad scientist high into the sky – both of these are lifted straight from his fight with Vegeta. The same thing goes for his ultimate use of the Genki Dama, and how the Genki Dama itself almost doesn't get to be used at all. Here however, the Genki Dama is what ultimately saves the day as opposed to being a red herring of an ending – and fair warning, you might want to get used to that idea for a bit, because it's not going anywhere for a while in these movies. Much of the rest of the movie's plot is thankfully pretty original however, and similar to the previous film, it decides to put some of it's focus on another character's back history. Well, sort of. Whereas the first DBZ movie tied itself to Kami, with Goku only getting drawn into the conflict due to Garlic Jr. and his cronies kidnapping his son, this time the film's story ties itself to Roshi. And it's honestly a really well thought out idea for a film's villain if you ask me – Roshi was thought of as the strongest person in the world for a long time in-universe, so the idea that some villains out there don't realize that he's long since been surpassed makes a certain amount of sense. Roshi never competed in any of the three tournaments we got to see under his own name, so they'd have no way of knowing that he'd retired from fighting as the next generation came into their own. Even beyond that however, there's the bit about them having been stuck in the the ice and snow of the Tsurumai-tsuburi Mountains for like fifty years – the last time they were actively out in the world, Roshi WAS the strongest guy around, and I doubt Cochin really did much checking into things on that front once he got out and started gathering the Dragon Balls. Speaking of, there are a few oddities here and there, and one of them is just how absurdly quick Cochin is able to gather those things. Oolong literally watches the Dragon Balls increase in number over a matter of seconds on the radar. How in the hell did Cochin travel that fast, much less track them down in the first place? There's never any indication that he has a radar of any kind, but surely he must have. Weird. There's also little things like Uiro being able to sense ki and give out a tremendous amount of ki himself (sensing I guess we could chalk up to the technology giving him something similar to a scouter's capability, but why is he so strong if he was just a scientist before all of this?), as well as Oolong and Gohan acting like they're old friends when I'm honestly pretty sure they've never met in any version, anime or manga, by roughly this point in the series - I'll touch more on THAT conundrum shortly. The ultimate oddity though is the status of Uiro and Cochin in the first place. Cochin's wish seems to have brought Uiro back to life, but the way they talk about him later implies he was never dead at all. For that matter, Cochin is ultimately revealed to be a robot seemingly rather than a living being at all, so...was there ever a real Dr. Cochin, or was he always a robot? Also, if Uiro really can detect ki, how could he not tell that the already captured Piccolo was way stronger than Roshi? There's also the part where Cochin reveals to Bulma that they caused an area to turn into a desert. It's...neat, I guess, and it's certainly horrifying, but nothing about it ever comes up later and it also comes out of nowhere in the first place, so it's really, really weird. Oh yeah, and while I don't think it quite counts as an oddity, it's worth mentioning that this is the only other DBZ movie to really feature a Gohan song moment as Dead Zone did. The song here is really catchy and has some fun and cute visuals, but it sort of just happens out of nowhere as opposed to the drunken Gohan moment in the last film, so...I can't really say I'm quite as fond of this one. I think it's less than stellar implementation might be a reason we don't keep getting these moments moving further into the films either. Overall though, this film does so much different and interesting that it's hard to be too upset with it for the things that don't make sense or feel too familiar. The idea of evil mad scientists is a well that Dragon Ball, including from Toriyama himself, is going to go back to repeatedly in it's future, but this is the first time it comes up, so it manages to feel completely fresh and new. After we've had evil armies, a revived demon king, and invading aliens, mad scientists coming out of nowhere make for a new threat unlike anything Goku has gone up against before. They also make for a different threat to the world at large in a way too: they're not looking to “destroy” it, though they can certainly achieve that through either power or science; they're looking to “transform” it. Uiro and Cochin want to force the world to acknowledge their insane science as the brilliance they believe it to be, and to make humans more than they are currently, and if they have to do that by force then well, humanity will still benefit from it once they finally understand it's for their own good. It's a very dark and honestly horrifying type of threat on it's own, and the film makes good use of it's background scenery and how shots are shown to get the most out of it too. They know exactly what sort of Dragon Ball movie they're making this time around and it shows. Any of these old Dragon Ball Z movies are made or broken by how memorable or not their villains are, and thankfully this one comes out swinging on that front as well. The ripoff Saibamen are lame, but the other bio-warriors manage to be memorable enough between their designs and powers, and that's saying something given that they don't really have much in the way of actual personalities or lines this time around. Misokatsun's fight with Goku in particular is a fun one, though I'm probably biased towards that part in general because not only does it have a great musical cue – Makafushigi Adventure is ten times the theme that Head-Cha-La is and I will fight you on this – it has threats beyond just how strong it is. I love the spiked ball room as it's something working against Goku that isn't another fighter of some kind, and we haven't had that sort of thing in a long time now. Even once he's managed to get through that though, there's still how cold the area is and how that seems to make it harder to channel ki properly. To top it all off, Misokatsun also seems capable of absorbing any damage Goku throws his way (but in a different way than we usually see damage being absorbed), and Goku has to get creative to find a way to beat him. After Misokatsun, the fights with Kishime and Ebifriya are fun as well, and they both have a unique way of attacking – Kishime with his lightning whips that can paralyze, and Ebifriya with his freezing ice attacks – but those both boil down more to outright hitting an opponent, and thus feel a little less novel in comparison. It's also a little disappointing that there's two of them, Gohan and Kuririn both show up and seem like they're going to get to save the day by equally matching them, and...they fail immediately only for Goku to have to win the fight after all. Lame. If you're going to bring in the other heroes at a moment like that, when they evenly match the number of enemies no less, give them SOME kind of win, c'mon. The real stars of the villain side are of course the two mad doctors themselves, Uiro and Cochin. So much of their personalities are tied to their plans themselves, but they do manage to get some fun action scenes as well. Cochin doesn't seem like much, and he probably isn't all that strong all things told – despite Uiro taking a few cues from Vegeta in terms of the fight, Cochin is definitely not a Nappa stand-in – but he makes up for it with just how despicable he is, as well as having a weird blaster staff and a hidden machine gun arm. And Dr. Uiro's “true form” of a brain in a jar is both disturbing and unique among anything else in the franchise, with his cold metal shell not even having a face to speak of. Even once the giant robot he's in is revealed, it still looks bizarre and alien in design, making the idea of seeing this thing fight feel really unnerving. I would imagine it's massive size is something taken from Vegeta's Oozaru state though if I'm being honest. It's really his desire to take the body of the strongest person in the world, coupled with that brain-in-a-jar design, that really makes him such an eerie villain. It's a unique desire within the franchise (again, at least at this point in time), though as far as the design goes, I'd imagine Uiro's gimmick HAS to be an homage to the villainous Mamo in the first Lupin III anime film. It just has to be. I said that these movies depend on how interesting the villains are, and that's no lie because the heroes don't really get much in the way of interesting things to say or do in this movie either. They basically show up as needed, find out what's going on, and fight until the film's conclusion – soak, lather, rinse, repeat. This one doesn't even give anything interesting to it's non-fighting crew either, as outside of Bulma being there to help with exposition, Oolong's really only there to help set up the plot at the beginning (though it is nice to see him again). There's a bit with Chi Chi being worried about her son's future, and it's arguably handled way more nicely here than it will be in future installments of either the manga or anime, but it doesn't really get any time to breathe either. It's just the nature of these shorter films, and for what they are it works well enough even if it's not always the most interesting from the point of view of following them. That said, Piccolo does get a unique factor in this movie in that he gets mind controlled briefly, but sadly that amounts to a whole lot of nothing in the end – he appears early on to save Gohan (get used to THAT in these movies too), disappears for much of the rest of the movie, and then reappears when it's time to fight. His fight with Goku is neat and all but doesn't really do anything to service the plot as a whole, and it's over almost as soon as it started, so... Honestly, I can't help but wonder if there's a cut story idea here or if it's just me thinking of it way after the fact, but it would have been interesting if Uiro's focus had switched to wanting to take Gohan's body after his power was unleashed briefly. That would definitely have lit an even bigger fire under Goku to put an end to this whole mess, while also making the idea of body stealing all the more repulsive. If there's one other critique I'd have to level at the film, it's that I do think it's closing scene is a little bit heavy handed. No, I don't mean Piccolo saying Gohan did a good job to deflect his helping Goku again, that's fine – it's the bit with the narrator, who was absent for the entire rest of the film, saying that humanity will always be power hungry and produce people like Uiro, but it'll be fine because our heroes will be there to save us. It's a nice bookend about how humanity can and probably will be it's own doom somehow, someday, but that...feels a little out of place, at least with how it's awkwardly brought up only at the end here. There will be a similar sentiment expressed in the story WAY further down the line, but there it's the story itself expressing it rather than a narrator saying as much to us, and I can't help but think that it handles this idea way better than what we got here. It also doesn't help that the movie's final closing moments are basically a one-liner followed by everyone laughing. It feels...fake, somehow, honestly. And that about covers everything the movie itself does right or wrong, so before I close this review out, let's talk about something that I did not expect to be such an ordeal when I got to this movie to review – where it would seemingly take place, and why it can or can't take place there. So, right up front – I wasn't originally planning to review this movie AFTER the Saiyan arc. I'd originally planned to review it a few other places, but thankfully before I got committed to doing so, I realized there were a few problems with my placing it there to review. The first place I'd originally placed it was right at the arrival of the Saiyans. That seemed like a perfect middle breaking point between acts – but then I remembered that the movie makes it a point of showing Piccolo's sacrifice to save Gohan from Nappa when Gohan thinks about how much Piccolo means to him. Oops. So I moved the review's placement, with my aim now being to review it as soon either right after Piccolo's sacrifice, or right as Goku landed on the battle field, so as to break up those two parts of the story as well...and then I remembered that the movie made use of the Kaio-ken and the Genki Dama, and while the Genki Dama at least been somewhat shown and explained on Kaio-sama's planet, the Kaio-ken wouldn't get it's showcase until Goku fought Nappa. Oops again. It was at that point that I re-evaluated the movie's placement from the ground up, and I realized that even while the Genki Dama was previously shown on Kaio-sama's planet, we didn't really see what it's use was really like until Goku used it against Vegeta, so in the end I moved the film to where I've now reviewed it. Good thing too, because I'd completely forgotten that the movie also uses the higher levels of Kaio-ken. OOPS. All of this moving around of where to review the film is hilariously fitting too, because this might be one of the most impossible movies to try and place where it would take place in the actual canon of the story. It really just CAN'T take place anywhere. For this movie's events to happen, Piccolo has to have sacrificed himself to save Gohan...but he also has to still be alive, something that we know doesn't happen in the manga. That alone breaks the continuity in a way that really can't be ignored, so while my normal head-canon roughly shoves this movie somewhere after the Saiyan arc (as my review placement ultimately ended up putting it, how's that for irony?), it can't take place there at all. The only way this movie can exist is in an alternate turn of events, one where not only did Piccolo survive Nappa's attack, but one where Goku either comes out of the fight nowhere near as injured or at least has had time to heal up since. The fates of other characters are a little harder to determine in this version, as Yamcha, Tenshinhan, and Chaozu are completely absent nor are they mentioned, so it's hard to say if they also survived, or if they just got wished back later on since Piccolo and Kami's survival means the Dragon Balls are still active (hence they're use at the start of the movie too, come to think of it). That doesn't really work for Chaozu though and I have a hard time imagining Tenshinhan coming back to life without him, so...this movie's bizarre placement or lack of ability to be places really raises more questions than it does answers frankly. All things told though, this really does stand up as my favorite of these older DBZ films, and it's always an absolute delight every time I rewatch it. If you've somehow never seen this one before and you're a longtime Dragon Ball fan, I can't recommend it highly enough. Until next time! Favorite Scene: It is EXTREMELY hard to pick just one scene, but I think I have to give it to Goku's fight with Misokatsun. Both parts of the fight happen in unique locals with different factors, we get to see a creative use of a foe's abilities used against them, AND the score brings back Makafushigi Adventure from the original anime? How can I NOT love it? Next Time: How evil can an evil Goku really be if he doesn't even have a mustache? Synopsis: After successfully catching Bubbles the monkey, Goku asks Kaio-sama what he should do for his training next. After Kaio-sama makes a few jokes that go over Goku's head, Goku questions if the god is really that strong at all, prompting a voice to come out of nowhere and chastise him for saying such a thing. An orb of light flies up and knocks Goku over before revealing itself to be a small cricket like being, which introduces itself as Gregory and continues to chastise Goku for speaking ill of the highest god in the universe. As Gregory tries to make his point, Kaio-sama continues to laugh at a pun he just made, and decides that Gregory will give Goku his next training session. Goku is disappointed as he really wanted to train with Kaio-sama directly next, but Gregory is looking forward to putting Goku in his place. Kaio-sama summons a large mallet out of thin air and tosses it to Goku who is surprised to find out how much it weighs. Kaio-sama tasks Goku with chasing Gregory and hitting him with the hammer, saying that once he's achieved that, then Goku will get the direct training he wants. Gregory thinks Goku will never be able to catch him and flies up into the air before flying back and forth towards Goku, faster than Goku can react, knocking him down with small blasts of energy each time. Seeing that this is going to take some time, Kaio-sama decides to take a break with Bubbles. Goku continues chasing Gregory down, knocking many holes in the ground of Kaio-sama's planet and wrecking Kaio-sama's car with the hammer, but just can't seem to catch the cricket. Back on Earth, Gohan continues his training with Piccolo, proving able to dodge some of Piccolo's blows now but still getting caught off guard when Piccolo chastises him for getting cocky. Piccolo knocks Gohan down from a large cliff face, and though Gohan survives the fall, he can't get back up the mountain on his own. To irritate Piccolo into at least talking to him, Gohan begins a word game where he calls out the names of various animals, asking Piccolo for the next one, but Piccolo ignores him. At Kami's sanctuary, Yamcha and Tenshinhan and Kuririn and Yajirobe all spar while Chaozu watches from the sidelines with Kami and Popo. Back on Kaio-sama's planet, Goku still can't catch Gregory, and Kaio-sama finally calls for a time out for dinner. As he eats, Goku says he can't believe how fast Gregory is, and Kaio-sama tells him that while he may have gotten used to the gravity here now, he still needs to get much faster to stand a chance against the Saiyans. Goku asks Kaio-sama if he knows anything about the Saiyans, and Kaio-sama then remembers that Goku said he himself was a Saiyan. Goku admits that despite that, he doesn't really know much about the race as he came to Earth as a baby. Kaio-sama decides to give Goku a quick rundown of Saiyan history as he knows it. On Planet Vegeta, there existed two races – the Saiyans and the Tsufruians. The Tsufruians were much smaller than the Saiyans, only being about half the height of them or humans, but they possessed a high level of civilization and technology. The Saiyans in comparison where a much smaller race, but their bodies were bigger, and they were both stronger and more aggressive, with their tails being one of their most noteworthy features. One night, the Saiyans attacked the Tsufruians, and although the Tsufruians fought back with their weapons, they were eventually stomped out by the much stronger Saiyans, especially once they utilized the full moon to transform into even more powerful and monstrous Oozarus. Once they had conquered the planet, the Saiyans took Tsufruian technology for their own and set off into space looking for more fights, eventually joining forces with richer races that paid them with money and more technology to go conquer other planets for their own, thus allowing the Saiyan race to prosper as well as to find more of the fighting they so craved. Eventually, this led to the process of sending out babies, like Goku, to weaker planets to conquer and return home one day. Planet Vegeta it seemed had it's own Kami, much like Earth, however, and he too was disgusted with the Saiyans' behavior, eventually using his powers to summon a mass of asteroids to collide with Planet Vegeta, causing it to explode and putting an end to most of the Saiyan race. Goku is outraged by the behavior of the Saiyan race and says he isn't anything like them, and Kaio-sama calms him down, reminding him that with the death of his brother, only two more Saiyans remain other than Goku himself. Goku is more determined than ever to protect the Earth and defeat those Saiyans, and eagerly asks Gregory to get back to training with him. Kaio-sama works on fixing the damage done to his car as Goku finally figures out a way to hit Gregory – he tosses the mallet as hard as he can in one direction and runs to grab it, catching the cricket off guard and managing to lightly bop him on the head. Gregory praises Goku for figuring out how to get him but claims to be unharmed (a claim rebuked by the large bump on his head), and Kaio-sama gets excited, thinking that Goku might finally be the one to master the Kaio-ken technique that he created. As Goku's real training begins at last, all of his friends on Earth's training continues, as the Saiyans grow ever closer. Review: As the Saiyan arc prepares to reach the beginning of it's final act, there was one more bit of filler that seemed worth covering, for a couple of different reasons. It also once again sets us a bit back again as far as progression goes in some cases (the episode shows the conclusion of the Earthling heroes at Kami's, as well as Goku beginning his training under Kaio-sama properly), but in this case that's definitely a small price to say. With most of the previous filler, they're stories that are easily forgettable as they're never referenced again, and they generally are pretty easy to tell that they're filler, even if you don't already know that those episodes are. With one major exception – the Hell episode – they also don't change anything for the anime moving forward either. This episode however features two elements that change the future incarnation of the anime for some time, and the first, smaller part of it is often forgotten to be filler, even by me. And that first element is the character of Gregory the cricket. Yeah, for anyone out there who's only familiar with the anime version of the Dragon Ball franchise, it might come as a surprise that Gregory doesn't appear in the manga at all – Kaio-sama's only friend (or attendant...are they supposed to be kind of like Popo, actually?) in the manga is Bubbles, and likewise, that's the only test Goku has to take before actually training with Kaio-sama. Gregory goes on from this initial appearance to show up in most appearances of Kaio-sama moving forward however, basically making him feel like a natural part of the cast. This lead to his presence being kept in the re-cute Dragon Ball Z Kai years later, and I believe he's even spotted once or twice in Dragon Ball Super as well – he may as well BE canon at this point, truth be told. This is something I'm fine with too, honestly. I like the lil' guy, and he's certainly more of a character than Bubbles is, so I'm fine with his continued inclusion, but maybe that's just me. That said, I also honestly forgot that this was the episode that Gregory made his first appearance in. The real reason I wanted to cover this episode was because of Goku's Saiyan history lesson courtesy of Kaio-sama. A lot of this material has been somewhat replaced or become less important over time, but for a big part of the original run of the anime side of Dragon Ball, this explanation became the basis of what we knew about Saiyan history. Hell, the Tsufruian part of the backstory becomes the main story idea for not one but TWO future installments in the franchise – you could even say it inspired the now current Granolah the Survivor arc in Dragon Ball Super's manga. That said, some of this material is going to get amended or thrown out very quickly as well. While Kaio-sama's story gives the Saiyans the starring role in their own villainy, the very next story arc in this series is going to be taking some of that away – while still leaving the Saiyans as evil bastards, mind you – and giving it to a different character, a character who will also be replacing the 'Kami of Planet Vegeta' as well. Real world wise, the answer for these discrepancies is easy – Toriyama hadn't made up his own take on the story yet and told it in the pages of the manga, and Toei came up with something of their own to fill the span of an episode. In universe wise though, it does raise the question of why Kaio-sama told a partially false story to Goku. Did he lie to him to keep him away from part of the truth? Given what we get with him later in the next arc, that's definitely possible. It's also possible however that he was just mistaken and isn't 100% aware of certain elements of the story he's telling either, given that another storyline as well will also reveal that he's not always paying the most attention to planet's in his...jurisdiction, we'll say (though a bunch of that's also jumping forward quite a bit, and I'm not entirely sure Planet Vegeta was in his jurisdiction to begin with). It could be a little bit of both as well. When Goku hears this story, this also gives us another look at an important element for Goku's character moving forward, and that's his displeasure with what he's hearing about his own ancestry and people. The Saiyans seem to represent the absolute worst kinds of people that Goku has come up against in his life, only taken to an 11 out of 10, and he definitely wants no part of anything to do with them. Unfortunately however, fate's not leaving it up to him, and he's going to have to confront the remaining Saiyans very soon, as well as his own feelings on being a Saiyan in the future as well. Until next time! Favorite Scene: I'm tempted to choose the Saiyan history lesson, but honestly? I laughed at Yajirobe biting Kuririn's ass during training. Next Time: I feel for Roshi here. All my important phone calls seem to come in when I'm in the bathroom too. Synopsis: Fourteen year old Shizuku Tsukishima lives in a small apartment with her sister and parents, all of whom are focused on their jobs and studies. Shizuku however spends most of her time reading, and she starts noticing the same name before hers on all of the library checkout cards – Seiji Amasawa. Shizuku begins to grow curious about Seiji, wondering who he is and if they're anything alike. The next day, Shizuku walks to school and immediately goes to the library, finding a book that hasn't been checked out before – but it's been donated by a 'Doctor Amasawa'. She asks the librarian if she knows who that is, but she says she doesn't and suggests that she asks an older teacher. Yuko, Shizuku's friend, finds her and drags her outside, where the two talk about the rewritten lyrics Shizuku has written for 'Country Roads', which they intend to sing at the upcoming graduation ceremony. Yuko also reveals to Shizuku that she's received a love letter and doesn't know what to do about it as she already has a crush, a crush Shizuku quickly deduces is on a boy that she's friends with named Sugimura. The two girls talk about Sugimura as they walk home, but Shizuku realizes she's forgotten her book on the bench and rushes back to school to get it. There, she finds a boy she's never seen before reading the book, and as he returns it to her, he teases her about the lyrics, putting her in a foul mood for the rest of the day, a mood that only gets fouler as her sister Shiho pesters her about school. The next day, Shizuku sets out on the train to take her father's lunch to him at his library job, and is surprised when a large, fat cat sits next to her on the train. When the cat gets off at the same stop as her, she follows it and is eventually lead to an antique shop that she's never seen before. Heading inside, she spots a statue of an anthropomorphic cat and meets the old man that owns the store. The old man tells her a little bit about the statue, telling her it's name is the Baron, and Shizuku is enchanted by the statue. Realizing that she's running late now however, she quickly rushes off to her father's library. Once there, the boy that made fun of her lyrics rides up on a bike and hands the lunch box that she'd forgotten at the antique store to her. She asks him if the old man is his grandfather, but the boy rides off, this time teasing her about the size of the lunchbox. Shizuku gives her father the lunch and decides to check out another book, once again finding that it's been previously checked out by Seiji Amasawa. As she wonders about this mysterious boy, her mind wanders to the boy that's teased her twice, outraging her – there's no way it'd be someone like him! The following day, it's pouring down rain as Shizuku leaves the house and meets up with Yuko. Yuko tells her she's decided not to reply to the love letter due to how she feels about Sugimura, and when Sugimura comes up in class to brag to Shizuku about his good grades, Shizuku tries suggesting that he study with Yuko sometime. Yuko gets flustered and drags Shizuku away, and the two girls head to the teacher's lounge to ask about the book donated by Doctor Amasawa. A teacher there remembers the doctor's full name as well as the fact that he has a son attending the school, Seiji Amasawa. As they leave, Shizuku sees the boy that teased her again, and starts to freak out wondering if it really could be him after all. After her friends tease her about her fixation on Seiji Amasawa, Shizuku goes to the antique store again, unaware that Sugimura has stopped Yuko to talk to her. Shizuku is sad to find that the antique store is closed at the moment, but upon seeing the owner's name (Shiro Nishi) on a plaque outside, is relieved that the boy must not be Seiji Amasawa after all. As she leaves, she sees through the window that the Baron statue appears to be missing. Later that night, Yuko calls her and reveals that it was one of Sugimura's friends that wrote her the letter and Sugimura tried to push her into going out with the friend, hurting Yuko and outraging Shizuku. After school the next day, Shizuku talks with Sugimura, revealing to him that Yuko has a crush on him. This causes Sugimura to likewise reveal that he has feelings for Shizuku, but Shizuku turns him down as she doesn't want to hurt her friend. Running home, Shizuku breaks down and cries before ultimately changing out of her uniform and heading to the antique store again. It's once again closed, but she sits and talks with the cat from before, venting about how much things are changing now that she's getting older. Eventually, the boy that teased her shows up, revealing that the cat is a stray that goes by many names (Moon and Muta most often), and inviting her inside. Once inside, she sees that the Baron statue is still there just in a different location, and the boy tells her that his grandfather plans to never sell the statue at all. Shizuku witnesses the boy carving wood into pieces for a violin, and he reveals his dream is to be a professional violin sculptor. She compliments his work but he insists that he's not that good yet, and when she asks him to play one, he agrees to only if she sings. Shizuku reluctantly agrees, and as he begins playing 'Country Roads', she sings along, soon being joined by Nishi and his friends as they return home. As Shizuku is properly introduced to the grandfather, Nishi reveals that the boy's name is Seiji Amasawa, confusing a blushing Shizuku who frets about him not matching her mental image of the boy who read the same books as her at all. As the pair bickers, the old men laugh. As night falls, Seiji walks Shizuku home and invites her to come visit again soon, also revealing that he wants to go study violins in Cremona, Italy after graduation. Shizuku is impressed that he already knows what he wants to do, but Seiji confesses that it's still not that easy, as his parents are opposed to the idea. As Shizuku heads into her house, Seiji reveals to her that he actually liked the lyrics she wrote and encourages her to continue writing. Shizuku heads to bed, stopping only to ask her sister when she knew what she wanted to do with her life, with her sister's only answer being to get into a good school and figure it out after that. At school the next day, Sugimura apologizes to Yuko for trying to force her to go out with his friend, and Shizuku finds that there are already rumors spreading about her being out at night with a boy. These rumors only get stronger when Seiji comes to the classroom to talk to her, and as everyone teases her, she drags him along to the school's roof to talk. Seiji reveals that his parents have decided to let him go to Cremona after all, to study for two months under a friend of his grandfather's, and if after two months the friend doesn't think he has what it takes, he'll give up on his dream and go to a normal high school. Shizuku is impressed and encourages him, admitting to being a little jealous as she still doesn't know what she wants and just wastes all her time reading. Seiji confesses that he noticed her reading all the time and wanted to get her attention, which was why he started checking out and reading all of the books he thought she might read before she could so that she'd hopefully start noticing his name in them. Now that he's gotten her attention and it's time for him to leave, he's sad that he waited this long to talk to her. Shizuku's friends interrupt the two's bonding moment, and as she chases them away, she begins to cry. Shizuku visits Yuko later that night to talk about everything with Seiji, and as they talk, Shizuku realizes that her and Seiji are more alike than she realized, and decides that she needs to put herself to a similar test to the one he's undertaking. She decides to try and write a story that's been coming to her mind lately and finish it within the two months he's away, so she can catch up to him. She immediately begins work on a story she calls 'Whisper of the Heart', even going as far as to ask Nishi for permission to base it on the Baron cat statue. Nishi agrees to this, with one stipulation – he wants to be the first person to read the story when she's done. Shizuku agrees even though she's worried it won't be very good, and Nishi compares writing to a geode he shows her, explaining that nothing is a diamond until it's polished and refined. Shizuku's writes her story about the Cat Baron searching for his lost love in a fantasy world alongside a character seemingly based on herself, and researches various subjects related to her story at the library as often as she can. On one of those research trips, Seiji comes to tell her that he's leaving the next day as well as to wish her luck, and the two sit together in silence, her writing and him reading, before eventually parting ways after holding hands briefly. As Shizuku begins focusing more and more on her writing, her school work and chore upkeep both begin to suffer, worrying her teachers and her mother both after she gets called to a meeting at the school. When Shizuku's mother reveals to Shiho about her grades, Shiho begins harassing her about needing to focus and study already, culminating in an argument that their father breaks up upon coming home. He calls a family meeting, and while Shizuku won't reveal to them what it is she's doing, he can see that whatever it is is incredibly important to her. He convinces his wife that they should support Shizuku for now, but warns her that she'll have nobody to blame but herself if things go poorly. Later that night, Shiho tells her sister that she's moving out soon, so Shizuku will have the room to herself after that, telling her that she really should study more seriously as well as whatever it is she's doing. After finishing her story, Shizuku quickly takes it to Nishi for him to read, asking if she can wait downstairs as he does so. Time passes, and after he reads her story, Nishi tells her that he really liked it. Shizuku objects, saying that she knows it's a mess, but Nishi tells her that it's just like that geode and needs polishing to truly shine. Shizuku breaks down and cries from all the stress she's been under, and Nishi sits her down and tells her two stories. First, he explains that Seiji once got even more distraught when he didn't think the first violin he made was good enough. Then, he tells her a longer story – the true story of the Baron. Nishi explains how he found the statue at a cafe in Germany, when he was in love with a woman named Louise. The two begged the cafe owner to sell the statue to him, and the man finally relented under the condition that Louise buy the statue's mate, a female cat Baroness, so that the statues could be reunited one day. Shortly after, World War II began, and Nishi had to leave the country. After the war ended, he went back to Germany but was never able to find either his lost love or the statue. Shizuku apologizes for making him talk about such a painful past, but Nishi thanks her for giving his feelings new life in her story, encouraging her to keep writing. Nishi drives Shizuku home, and realizing that she needs to learn more about writing, she promises her mother to study harder and get into a good high school. The next morning, Shizuku wakes up early and sees Seiji outside her window, rushing outside to meet him. Seiji has her hop on his bike, and the two ride and talk together, with Seiji revealing that his master thinks he has a lot to learn but could become a truly good violin maker one day, so Seiji plans to go back there and continue studying after graduating. As they struggle up a hill together, they eventually reach Seiji's 'secret spot', where he often comes when he needs inspiration. As the sun rises, Seiji reveals that his grandfather told him everything and he apologizes for not being here to help her, but Shizuku says he did plenty by inspiring her to try. Overcome by the moment, Seiji blurts out a proposal to Shizuku, saying that they should get married someday when he's a violin craftsman and she's a writer, and Shizuku agrees, prompting Seiji to confess his love outright. As the credits roll, 'Country Roads' plays and Shizuku and Seiji ride the bike together again, as Yuko and Sugimura meet up after school to walk home together, suggesting that there may be romance in their future as well. Review: When it came time to choose something to review to mark the occasion of the blog's one year anniversary, I knew that I wanted to cover something very different from what I was currently reviewing. I also knew that I wanted it to be something stand-alone – something that I would review once and be done with, so that I wouldn't necessarily have to revisit it out of necessity a year later to prepare for reviewing the next installment of it. As such, I turned my eyes towards anime films that are unrelated to any particular series that I planned to review one day. I initially had chosen something out of the works of Mamoru Hosoda, as he's one of my favorite directors when I think of stand-alone animated films. But then, at the last minute, I remembered this movie and how much it means to me. And after re-watching it, I'm all the more certain that this was the right decision, because there's just no over-stating how much this film touches me. Hell, my now default avatar wherever I go, that represents both myself and this blog as a whole, is a Picrew recreated drawing of myself in Shizuku's 'Lofi Girl' meme form. It only feel right to make my first anniversary review be about the film that inspired that branding choice, so without further ado – let's talk about Studio Ghibli and Yoshifumi Kondo's Whisper of the Heart. Oh, but as one last quick footnote – I did write this review based entirely upon the English dub of the film, so if there are any errors present based on that, then I take full responsibility for that. The story of Whisper of the Heart is a simple one, especially compared to many of the other films in Ghibli's catalog. There's no magic, no fantasy, no talking animals – well, okay, there's one talking animal, but only in the lead character's imagination. Despite the Baron's popularity however, he's not the main character. His creator however, Shizuku Tsukishima, is, and she's one of the most compelling leads in any of the studio's films. Shizuku is a girl trying to live out her life to it's fullest by doing the things that she enjoys, but she's at an age just at the precipice of adulthood, at least in the vein of our world's expectations of young people. She's just about to enter high school, which means she's at the point that society – and her family – are all expecting her to start figuring out what she wants to do with her life. Unfortunately, Shizuku doesn't have any natural inclinations towards school or normal career paths, or at the very least, she hasn't put much thought into such things yet. The one thing that Shizuku does know is that she loves to read, particularly fairy tales, and she's even begun to dabble in writing. It's her love of reading that first brings Seiji Amasawa to her attention as she begins noticing his name on the checkout cards of all the books she's reading at the library. The two meet, and while at first chafe in each other's presence – or at least she does with him – they quickly form a bond built upon their shared interests. And it's through that bond that Shizuku first begins to realize what it is she wants out of life. The character of Shizuku is an excellent stand-in for anyone who's ever felt drawn to express their creative side, and her journey through-out this film is so perfectly parallel to what most of us seem to experience that it's almost uncanny. At first, Shizuku isn't reading or writing because it's what she wants to do for a career, it's just something she does for fun. She does these things because she likes to do them, but that's as far as it goes – she doesn't even really consider herself that good at it, scoffing away compliments towards her writing as not being great, and explaining away her reading as just reading fairy tales. This is something that most creative types seem to go through at least a few times, especially earlier on in their lives. Meeting Seiji changes all of that however. It's through her interactions with him, and seeing how he already has his life figured out that she starts to realize that it's possible to make your interests your dream in life as well. She comes to realize that if what she truly enjoys is reading and writing, then why shouldn't she give writing a more earnest try than she ever has before? Shizuku makes the brave decision to give it her best shot, but rather than making thing's easier...this actually starts to make things harder. Despite how glitzy and glamorous the allure of fame may look to people sometimes, the world actually is built against supporting the dreamers and the creatives of the world. For every person that makes it, there's another substantially larger group of people that never do. Seiji knows this, as he's already a little further down the path of creativity than Shizuku is. He's already started to try and make his dream a reality, and as such, he's already started to become plagued by both personal and social issues that try to prevent him from carrying on. His parents don't want him to chase his dream, and would much rather he follow a normal path and just go to a good high school and get a normal job. As soon as Shizuku starts to focus on her writing, her own family (in particular her sister, who has already started down the 'normal' path) start to stress her out over the same thing. Seiji also deals with an even worse barrier, self-doubt. He doesn't think that he's nearly as good at making violins as people tell him he is, just as Shizuku constantly downplays her own writing ability. The difference between the two with this struggle however is that Seiji's already been through what Shizuku is just now really starting to fight against. He knows his own brain is telling him he's not good enough, and he's learned to ignore it, at least in part. As Shizuku writes her first story, she struggles with that concept, and it's that exact struggle that makes her so identifiable. While I've gathered that it's a fairly common problem among writers, I'm going to be speaking for myself now, and my own experiences in life. Growing up in a small town in Arkansas, the town where I still live even now, I well know the frustrations of how the world seems to be stacked against dreamers. Whether it was writing or acting, something else that I used to have an interest in, there are constantly forces out there telling you that you can't do it. That you're not good enough. That you need to be realistic. Sometimes those words come from a good place, from someone who is sincerely trying to help and warn you what the world is like, but more often than not, they come from people trying to keep you down. And even when they come from people who care and that you care about, those words are a poison that only serves to feed and bolster that self-doubt that lingers inside. The voice of your own brain trying to tell you that you're not good enough, and that you should just quit, and go down the same path as everyone else, even if it hurts your very being to do so. That's where the character of Seiji's grandfather, Shiro Nishi, comes in. Nishi is the supportive voice that every creative type needs to find if they can, whether that comes in the form of another person, or a side of themselves that they need to try to listen to more often. Nishi doesn't sugar coat how hard things can be at times, as he's been no stranger to hard times himself. What he does do is tell Shizuku the truth, that she does have talent, and that she's made an incredible first step just by focusing and finishing a first draft for a story. He tells her that nobody's first efforts are perfect, far from it in fact, and that the real work only begins once you've made that attempt and can then begin to polish and shine your work afterwards. This is something that I'm admittedly still struggling with myself, proof that I need to listen more to the Nishis in my life and my own internal Nishi. I've talked a lot about what this film's story and themes are and not much about it's animation – that's because it's Studio Ghibli, and even with this being one of their lesser talked about features, that means it's pretty much guaranteed there's multiple reviews all over the internet gushing about how pretty it is, and rightly so. I also haven't talked much about it's plot overall however. The film's plot is pretty simple and on the nose – a girl discovers that growing up is making things change for her, both on a personal and social level, and she starts down the path to discovering what she wants out of life. Whisper of the Heart's simplicity is part of it's beauty. As stated before, there's no magic here, no fantasy that's not contained entirely within Shizuku's imagination – it's simply the story of a young creative receiving that first dose of inspiration to create and running with it. When I first saw this movie, I was in a relatively similar place, though I was a good bit older than Shizuku already. I knew that I wanted to be a creator of some kind, but I wasn't sure that I had it in me. I wasn't sure that I could ever do it. It's something that I'm still struggling to do even now. But seeing a character discover that part of themselves for the first time, to see them struggle with the same issues and challenges that I'd been dealing with for much of my entire life was very much like looking in a mirror. Whisper of the Heart is a masterpiece beyond even the expected standards coming from being a film attached to the Ghibli name, and it's easily my absolute favorite film out of any that the studio has ever produced. It also bears the significance of being one of only two films ever directed by someone who would only ever direct this film for the studio, with the other film being a sequel (of sorts) to this film to boot. Yoshifumi Kondo was a master of his craft, and it's clear from looking at all the heart that he put into this movie that he had already been through everything Shizuku was experiencing himself. Sadly, Kondo died only a few years after this film's release. It's an absolute shame, because if this was his first work, then there's just no telling exactly how far he would have gone with further films had he been granted the opportunity. He was already gone by the time I discovered this film, but I still miss him greatly every time I think about this movie. This movie is one of a select few films that are my absolute favorites of all time, animated or otherwise, and it means the world to me. Shizuku's discovery was like looking back at how far I had already come; Seiji's journey was realizing just how far there still was (and is) to go; and Nishi's encouragement and wise words remind me to take things slow, to be prepared, but to also never, ever give up on my dreams. That's a lesson that grows more important with each passing day and each new trial. It's a lesson I think more of us need to take to heart. Until next year! Favorite Scene: The scene where Shizuku sings Country Roads while Seiji plays his violin is absolutely touching, and encapsulates a lot of what the movie itself is telling us. Shizuku doesn't think she's good and is eventually convinced to try; Seiji doesn't think he's good either, but he's already willing to give it his best shot; Nishi wants to do his best to support them, at all costs. Simply beautiful. |
About the AuthorAspiring author and big anime/manga fan, just trying to do my best in the world. For more details, go to About Me. Archives
September 2022
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