Synopsis: As Piccolo trains by himself in a barren wasteland, he vows that the next time he fights Son Goku, he'll be the winner. Piccolo's training is suddenly interrupted however by a group of three mysterious figures who successfully catch him off guard and force him into a corner and seemingly 'kill' him, as a fourth warrior watches. The fourth warrior laughs, thinking to himself that this has taken Kami out of the equation as well, and sure enough, up at Kami's sanctuary, Kami is gripping his chest and wondering if Goku has fought and killed Piccolo this time after all. In the wilderness surrounding their home, Son Gohan studies about cicada until his mother Chi Chi calls him back for lunch. Gyumao soon arrives carrying presents (mostly books) for Gohan, but suddenly reacts in pain, dropping all of the presents to the ground. He collapses, nearly crushing Gohan in the process, and when the boy runs back to his mother's side, they see the assailant – Ginger (a brown-skinned demon-looking figure) – standing behind Gyumao's body. Chi Chi asks him what they've come here for, and Ginger says they only want the Dragon Ball on Gohan's hat. Chi Chi tells Gohan to go back inside, but as Chi Chi prepares to fight, two more demon like figures named Sansho (a large grey demon-like figure) and Nikki (a green demon-like figure) coming from their house. Chi Chi tries to fight but is easily overwhelmed, being knocked almost unconscious by a simple kiai from Ginger. Gohan rushes to his mother's side but is ultimately kidnapped by the trio, as Goku – who was fishing in a nearby pond – senses something amiss and rushes home to find his wife and father-in-law on the ground. Chi Chi manages to tell Goku about Gohan being kidnapped just before falling unconscious. Gohan is taken to a bizarre and demonic looking castle, where the leader of the three warriors, Garlic Jr. (an extremely small green demon-like figure), is pleased to see that they now have five of the seven Dragon Balls. Soon enough, he'll be able to wish for eternal life, something that not even Kami had, making this the first step in Garlic Jr.'s 'revenge'. After which, he plans to plunge the earth into darkness and despair. Gohan interrupts Garlic Jr.'s plotting by saying that he wants to go home, and warns them all that if they don't take him home, then his father will be coming to save him, bragging that his father is Son Goku, the strongest man in the world. Garlic Jr. has heard of Goku and knows him as the man who defeated Piccolo at the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai, but Garlic Jr.'s minions aren't worried as they too defeated Piccolo. Garlic Jr. watches the boy carefully however, and senses an immense power within the boy as he begins to get upset. He thinks that if the boy is raised properly, he could be of great use to him, so he says that he'll be training and raising Gohan to be one of his attendants like the other three. At Kame House, Goku explains the situation to Bulma, Roshi, and Kuririn, and locates Gohan using Bulma's dragon radar. He quickly rushes off, though Roshi warns him that if these guys are strong enough to defeat Gyumao and Chi Chi that they might be tougher foes than they think. Kuririn watches with concern as his friend rushes off into likely danger. Nikki is left to babysit Gohan, who promptly runs around the temple and frustrating the warrior immensely. Gohan eventually grows hungry and grabs an apple like the one he'd seen Nikki eating earlier and chomps down on it before Nikki can stop him. Gohan immediately becomes inebriated, as the apples are alcoholic, and hallucinates all sorts of creatures while singing a song and running all over the castle, further frustrating Nikki, before eventually passing out in Garlic Jr.'s throne as the villain watches him, commenting that he seems to be no ordinary child after all. Ginger and Sansho soon return with the final two Dragon Balls, and Garlic Jr. immediately summons Shenlong and wishes for immortality as Goku quickly flies towards the castle. As the newly immortal Garlic Jr. spouts more plans to unleash demons across the world and plunge it into eternal darkness upon which he will rule in his father's place and finish their revenge against Kami, his minions cheer for him until Goku arrives and demands that they return Gohan immediately. The minions correctly guess his identity and Goku asks if they're the ones that hurt Gyumao and Chi Chi. They prepare to fight Goku as well, but the fight is interrupted by the sudden arrival of Kami, surprising Garlic Jr. and his minions as they thought for sure he was dead due to them killing Piccolo. Goku tells Kami to stay out of this, but Kami recognizes Garlic Jr. and says he's come back after 300 years to try and do the same thing as his father. Kami reveals that the senior Garlic and he both competed for the throne of Kami, and when the Kami we know was ultimately chosen, Garlic tried to lead a demon uprising against them both. The previous Kami ultimately defeated Garlic, and sealed him away forever, but not before Garlic vowed to someday have his revenge. Kami can't believe Garlic would be so crass as to use his own son for his vengeance, but Garlic Jr. says that Kami has no one to blame for this but himself for taking the throne. Goku doesn't care about any of this and demands once again that they give Gohan back, and Garlic Jr.'s henchmen tell Goku that he's in the throne room. Goku rushes past Garlic Jr. to reach his son, and is pursued by the minions, leaving Kami and Garlic Jr. alone. Goku tries looking for Gohan but is interrupted by Ginger, Nikki, and Sansho, who all fight to keep him from getting any further into the castle. The three warriors all say the name of a spice before transforming, becoming much more muscular and bulky versions of their previous builds, and with that become able to overcome Goku temporarily. Goku is impressed that they've gotten both bigger and faster, and leads them back outside to continue the fight. Kami asks Garlic Jr. if he thinks it'll really be that easy to defeat a God, but Garlic Jr. reveals that he's been given immortality by Shenlong, meaning he can't be defeated either. Kami calls Garlic Jr. arrogant, as Goku and the minions fight continues. Goku is eventually able to knock all three fighters to the ground, and again demands Gohan's return. Nikki and Sansho try to catch Goku off guard with energy blasts, but their attacks are soon knocked aside by a blast from a late arriving Kuririn, who says he's here to help Goku. Piccolo is revealed to have arrived as well, much to Kuririn's dismay, as well as the surprise of Garlic Jr.'s minions. Goku asks Piccolo why he's here, and Piccolo says he's not here to help – he just has unfinished business with these three. As Kuririn looks on in fear, a sudden stream of liquid starts pouring on his head, and he glances up to find Gohan at last, peeing on him from up above. Kami and Garlic Jr.'s fight wrecks the upper level of the castle, with Garlic Jr. quickly overwhelming Kami. As Goku tries to get to Gohan, he's cut off by Nikki and Ginger, resulting in him asking Kuririn to get to his son. Kuririn rushes past Piccolo to do so, and is almost caught by Sansho, but Piccolo brings the large warrior back down to him to fight instead, allowing Kuririn to get to the young boy. Piccolo beats down Sansho, accusing him of only being able to win when there's three of them and they catch him by surprise, and Sansho angrily fights Piccolo with all he has. It quickly proves to not be enough however, and Piccolo punches Sansho through multiple pillars before finishing him off with a blast, saying that none of the minions are anything special on their own. Garlic Jr. defeats Kami and tells him to sit back and enjoy the show as he takes over the world, but Kami fights back by unleashing more of his Godly power. Meanwhile, Nikki and Ginger pop swords out of their own bodies with which to fight Goku, forcing Goku to utilize the nyoibo. Goku is barely able to move fast enough to dodge all of their fast sword strikes, but eventually uses the nyoibo's stretching abilities to knock Nikki away into a nearby building top while disarming Ginger. Ginger tries again to fight Goku hand to hand, but Goku is ultimately able to kick him and send him flying towards Nikki. As Ginger tries to blast Goku, Goku fires a Kamehameha that ends up enveloping both Ginger and Nikki, killing them both. Garlic Jr. is shown to have once again overwhelmed Kami, and this time it looks like Kami doesn't have any strength left. Kami says that he is still the God of Earth however, and it's his duty to protect humanity from people like Garlic Jr., even if it costs him his life. Kami grabs hold of Garlic Jr. seemingly in attempt to blow himself up and take them both out, but Garlic Jr. reminds him again that he's wished for immortality and thus that it won't work. Piccolo arrives and tells Garlic Jr. that although he may be immortal, if he's not strong enough to defeat other stronger warriors, it won't stop him from being sent to a living hell. Goku arrives as well, and tells Kuririn to get Gohan out of here as he and Piccolo deal with Garlic Jr. Garlic Jr. tells Goku and Piccolo that it's a shame that two warriors like them would come to the aid of someone as worthless as Kami, before transforming into a large, buff form that Piccolo recognizes as the 'fourth warrior' from before. Garlic Jr. rushes Goku and Piccolo, instantly proving to be far more formidable than any of his minions. Goku gets Kami out of the way and re-joins the fight, but nothing either he or Piccolo tries seems to put even a dent in Garlic Jr., as the fight begins bringing the castle down around them, forcing a retreating Kuririn to dodge falling debris. Ultimately, Kuririn is hit with a pillar and knocked unconscious, causing him to drop Gohan to the ground as the young boy is also covered with debris. As Garlic Jr. overwhelms them both, Goku and Piccolo both take off their weighted training clothing so that they can go all out. Piccolo warns Goku that once they take care of Garlic Jr., he's going after him next, and the fight renews, with Goku and Piccolo managing to overwhelm Garlic Jr. this time, blasting him away into a nearby building and seemingly defeating him. As Kami arrives to say something to Piccolo, Piccolo tells him to stay out of this as Goku and he prepare to have their rematch at last. As Goku and Piccolo begin to fight however, Garlic Jr. springs back up from the rubble, saying again that he can never die. Garlic Jr. raises his power higher, causing the ground to shake and a large rip to appear in the sky that starts sucking up debris into it, almost sucking Goku and Piccolo into it as well as an awakening Kuririn who wonders where Gohan has ended up. Piccolo tries to blast Garlic Jr., but the attack has no effect, as Garlic Jr. says that his 'Dead Zone' will suck in everything on Earth until he closes it, leaving them absolutely no chance of defeating him now. As Goku, Piccolo, Kuririn, and Kami all hold on to remaining pillars from the castle, Gohan's cries begin to echo out from beneath the pile of debris he's covered by. The debris is thrown off of him, and an angry Gohan stands his ground against Garlic Jr. and the Dead Zone vortex behind him. Garlic Jr. senses that Gohan's power has risen higher than his own, and tries to blast Gohan so that he'll lose his footing and get sucked into the Dead Zone, but Gohan unleashes more of his power in a rage, instead knocking into Garlic Jr. and sending him flying into his own Dead Zone, causing it to close and trap him inside of it before anyone else is sucked in. Garlic Jr. laughs as he enters the vortex, once again saying that due to his immortality, he will never die. As the castle crumbles and the closing Dead Zone shatters like glass in the sky, Gohan falls unconscious again. Kuririn asks Kami what happened to Garlic Jr., and Kami says he may soon regret becoming immortal, as now he must go on living in the hellish void of the Dead Zone for eternity. Gohan soon awakens in his father's arms and assumes that his dad saved him, and Goku decides to keep what really happened a secret for the time being. Goku tells Gohan it's time to go back home to Chi Chi, and as the father and son leave alongside Kami and Kuririn, Piccolo watches from above and vows to settle things with Goku some other time. As Goku and Gohan fly over the ocean, shards of the Dead Zone are seen in the Ocean, with an emaciated Garlic Jr. seen pounding against the wall of one of them. Review: I'm not going to lie, after covering the first three Dragon Ball movies, I've been kind of excited to finally get to the 'Z' films, because in my book, they're far more interesting fare. Don't get me wrong – there's definitely more than a good handful of stinkers on the horizon (there's one in particular that I absolutely dread reviewing), but by and large, the DBZ films try to do a lot more in their limited runtime than the original Dragon Ball films ever did. For starters, whereas the three Dragon Ball films prior basically serve as an alternate universe re-telling of events you already know from reading the manga or watching the anime, with only a few changes here and there to condense things or allow for the insertion of an original character or two, the DBZ films endeavor to tell stories that are a little more unrelated to the ongoing narrative...sort of. There's definitely still quite a bit pulled from the source material, particularly with this first movie, and the movies will continue to do just that basically for the entire run. At the same time though, they still end up feeling far more unique and able to stand on their own two feet. My favorite of the three Dragon Ball movies was definitely movie 2, and going forward, that's going to be closer to the format we'll be getting. As said however, this movie still owes quite a bit to the manga's story and takes some things for it's own setup. Much like the opening chapter with Raditz, this movie's story opens with Piccolo off on his own before getting attacked by an unknown, powerful assailant. Unlike with Raditz however, these assailants were definitely looking for him, with Goku actually being the one that's an afterthought. It definitely makes more sense in the series to have the villain coming after Goku since it's his background that's getting fleshed out, but it's still a neat twist to see their focus be on Piccolo instead here, especially once you get to why they were focused on him...even if it does end up making for a bit of poor logic on their part. The Raditz portion of the Saiyan arc really does form the backbone of this film's story, which is why I chose to review it here when I did. From the first encounter and moving forward, you have Gohan being kidnapped, Goku going to his friends for aid, and ultimately him teaming up with Piccolo to combat a bigger threat than either of them can handle alone. Oh, and of course it ultimately comes down to Gohan revealing some of his hidden powers, though in this version of events, Gohan actually saves the day rather than just providing a momentary distraction and weakening of the villain. And yeah, at least in the vein of being immortal, defeating Garlic Jr. is a little more impressive than defeating Raditz (though as Piccolo points out, immortality isn't all it's cracked up to be if you can still be overpowered). Despite the basic setup for everything being lifted wholesale from the manga, this take on things does have a good bit of originality going for it too. Rather than there being just one new foe to face, the villain comes with some toadies to be fought first (a trope that almost every single film to follow would also utilize, sometimes to unfortunate degrees). There's also another use of the Dragon Balls (something else that many of the films would follow suit with), this time resulting in the main villain's immortality. I'd imagine this choice was inspired by the other two Saiyans on their way to Earth wanting the same thing, or it may have just come up as an idea on it's own. Either way, it makes for an interesting conundrum – the other villains in this film all get killed off, but the biggest threat can't be dealt with as simply as all that, leaving the audience wondering exactly how Goku is going to save the day this time. The biggest difference between this film and the chapters that inspired it though is Garlic Jr.'s backstory. As mentioned before, his henchmen go after Piccolo at the start on purpose rather than by mistake as Raditz did, but their real goal all along was to take Kami out of the picture. It's only later when Kami makes his grand appearance in the film that we get Garlic Jr.'s backstory and the reason he's doing everything that he's doing. I suppose you could say it's similar to Raditz's motivation in that there's a familial connection at play, but the similarities end there and are threadbare to begin with. And as much as I've harped on Kami in the past, this might actually come as a surprise – I really like this idea for a villain. Having a character connected to Kami's backstory makes perfect sense as a way to build out the world of Dragon Ball, and it's particularly effective in showing that hey, Kami actually WILL go and fight for himself when it doesn't potentially involve his own mistakes, so you know – THAT'S nice. It's also pretty telling and a little funny that the original Garlic was apparently too evil to receive the throne of Kami, but the Kami we know was ordained worthy after budding off his evil side. See, that's all you had to do Garlic! I joke, but there's actually a few lines that almost make it sound like that or something else similar is Garlic Jr.'s origin as well. There's a line from Kami that refers to Garlic as the 'original', not 'father', of Garlic Jr. Given that this entire backstory is tied at the hip to Kami's past, I wouldn't be surprised if Garlic Jr. WAS some sort of budding off of the original Garlic, though it might be more in the vein of King Piccolo birthing his own clone in the form of Piccolo. So basically, this whole movie is made from a mixture of Piccolo arc and early Saiyan arc themes and story beats – geez, no wonder it's so good. The villains in this film are rather bland unfortunately (something else that's going to be a stumbling block for future films as well). Nikki gets some fun moments stuffing his face and having to deal with Gohan, and Sansho gets at least to show some cowardly personality when facing off with Piccolo again, but Ginger is about as run of the mill as it gets. And yes, you might have noticed me using their names almost from the start rather than waiting for them to get mentioned as I usually do with the anime or manga – that's because these movies have a pretty bad habit of the minions not getting outright named in the films proper at all, with names only coming from secondary sources. So in these particular cases, I'll be cutting to the chase usually. Nikki and Ginger do both get the neat ability to sprout swords from their bodies (we can only assume Sansho could also do it), and they do all share the same buffing up ability that their boss has, but ultimately they're all pretty forgettable. Oh, but fitting with that 'Garlic Jr. is a different take on Piccolo Jr.' idea though, these guys could totally be demons born from him in the same manner as Tambourine and Cymbal and such. Speaking of Gohan, this movie does see fit to give him a bit more of a role than he had in the chapters so far (likely stemming from the fact that both the manga and anime were further along at the time of the film's release). He doesn't really get to fight per say yet, but he does get a song number. That's...something, right? The song is a pretty fun and cute moment, with just that little hint of typical Toriyama darker edge with him being drunk at the time, so it's really not as bad as it might sound if you haven't seen it for yourself. And as for the big bad himself, Garlic Jr.? As stated before, I really love his backstory, which helps quite a bit in making him more engaging than he might otherwise be able to be in such a short runtime. There's also the fact that he's a little gremlin guy who basically turns into the Incredible Hulk, and the fact that that nature is somewhat teased by his deeper than expected voice courtesy of Akira Kamiya himself. Basically, he's everything you might want in a movie villain, especially given that he's not quite as specifically taken from any particular series villain in terms of how he looks and acts (my theory on him being a take on Piccolo aside). Him being made immortal makes him stand out among a list of villains who also wanted the same thing but never quite achieved their goals, and the Dead Zone technique (which is basically an evil Mafuba, now that I think about it...hmm) is tonally creepy as well, working well with the rather gothic backgrounds seen in this film (they're absolutely gorgeous by the way). Overall, he's definitely got more going for him than you might think on the surface. Gee, it'd be a shame if this was the last we saw of him. ...Did anyone else hear the finger of a monkey's paw slowly curling? Before I wrap things up, the last thing I wanted to talk about is this movie's “place” in the series proper. As stated before, I chose to review this movie at the point in the series that I did due to the themes it took from the series having been covered now (namely the Goku/Piccolo team up and Gohan's hidden powers). That's not where the film would actually take place if you were to try to shoehorn it in of course though, given that Goku is now dead in the manga. While the DBZ movies make some effort to be more proper narratives rather than retellings, very few of them actually fit anywhere perfectly due to at least one narrative issue or another, and this one's no different. My own personal placement for this film, for example, has always been that if it happened, it must happen prior to Raditz's arrival, basically making it take place between 'Dragon Ball' and 'Dragon Ball Z'. I normally tout this choice based around the idea that Goku's still alive at this point so it can't happen during the Saiyan arc, and without heading too far into spoiler territories, some similar issues prevent it from taking place after it. It's the safest, easiest bet, but it still doesn't really work perfectly either. So what holds back that placement from working entirely? Well, one issue is that the Dragon Balls are used. There could be a year between this film and the arrival of Raditz perhaps, but that seems a little unlikely, so that means that the Balls would be unavailable to be used again as we know is coming in the manga right now. A bigger narrative issue comes in the form of Gohan though. As we've just covered in the manga, none of Goku's friends knew he existed before he showed up at Kame House with a kid in tow, and that doesn't work very well when Goku shows up there this time to borrow the Dragon Ball radar because he's been kidnapped. Kuririn even meets Gohan in this version of events, so there's no getting around that this just couldn't happen before Raditz shows up any better than it really could after. Gee, it sure would be a shame if this story being unable to have actually happened were to be an issue for any future filler material some day. ...That monkey's paw is glaring at me now. Where the hell did it even get eyes? In the end, this first DBZ film very much sets the standard that all future DBZ films, at least for the original run, are going to follow to varying degrees. With that in mind, I'd say it was a pretty successful first outing. It's not my favorite DBZ movie, but it's definitely one I'm fond of, as I know a lot of people are too. If you can find a copy that's not currently sitting in VegettoEX of Kanzenshuu's basement, you should really check it out if you haven't seen it before. Until next time! Favorite Scene: I love absolutely every fight in this film due to how well choreographed it all is, but if I had to pick one truly stand-out scene, it's obvious which one – Gohan's drunken antics absolutely steal this film. Next Time: New Plans and New Places
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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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