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?
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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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