Category: Anime review

The greatest foe the Z fighters have face to this day is revealed at the end of Dragonball Z: Buu Saga (Tournament) and the Supreme Kai and his assistant have enlisted the help of Goku and his friends to save the universe before it’s too late. A dark wizard created a magical being called Buu that was sealed away and is being revived by the creator’s son Babidi. Babidi’s magic and possessed fighters aren’t much of a threat for Goku, Gohan, and Vegeta until Babidi uses Vegeta’s inner evil to take him over. Goku and Vegeta face off again at Super Saiyan 2 level while Supreme Kai and Gohan fail to stop Babidi and Buu is revived. While bulbous, jolly, and child like, Buu shows his true menace leading to the death of Vegeta, and Kai and Gohan beaten within an inch of there lives. Gohan is revived and offered to try for the mythical Z Sword, one of the cosmos greatest weapons. Meanwhile, Goku has no choice but to teach Goten and Trunks the fusion technique,  while unleashing the full might of Super Saiyan 3 on Buu, which wipes out his remaining time on earth, leaving the only hopes in Gohan, Goten and Trunks. Can they beat the odds?

The 8th season of DBZ is a improvement from the 7th but the biggest complaint is it is bloated as hell. While the fights are awesome, the cuts to Hercule’s story as well some of the kids stuff feels like buffer. Vegeta has some great moments and the rematch between him and Goku was truly badass. I do love Super Saiyan 3 Goku and Gotenks ( the fusion of Goten and Trunks) are also awesome. Majin Buu is a mixed bag of a villain; when he’s pissed, he’s pretty cool but he becomes annoying when he starts goofing off and acting like a toddler. In the end, the season is a mixed bag but pretty decent all in all. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

After the finale of Dragonball Z: Android Saga (Cell Games) there would be a time of peace for Gohan and the Z Fighters. In the Afterlife, Goku finds himself with a golden opportunity to train with Grand Kai by competing in a tournament against the champions of the other Kais, including King Kai’s nemesis West Kai. Goku faces off against a mysterious warrior named Pikkon in the finals, a fighter that’s more than a match for the Super Saiyan…Seven Years have passed and Gohan has become a scholar like his mother always wanted, living with his mom and little brother Goten in a quiet life. For fun Gohan became a super hero while going to high school and became friends with the girl he’d eventually marry, Videl, Hercule’s daughter  and small time hero in her own right. It isn’t long before Gohan and Vegeta, whose also living the quiet life, discover the power of Goten and young Trunks when they go Super Saiyan at ages 7 and 8. Goku earns the right to come back to Earth for one whole day so his friends get together and enter the World Martial Arts Tournament for old times sake but something devious maybe going on behind the scenes. Is this time of peace coming to an end?

For season 7 I have a lot to say. First, I think it’s the weakest season of the series and there is a shit ton of filler. My favorite part was the fight between Goku and Pikkon during the Other World Tournament. Goten and Trunks are have moments when they become annoying, and I can’t help but agree with Vegeta, something as awesome as the power of a Super Saiyan is now a child’s plaything. In fact, from here on out, if you ain’t Saiyan, you ain’t shit in this series. Characters like Piccolo and Krillin are pretty much rendered useless. While I understand why Gohan dedicated himself to his studies, I can’t buy that a mart kid like him would stop training altogether and would’ve kept preparing for the possibility bad times would come. Gohan’s superhero alter ego makes me cringe. In the end, if you can watch a recap somewhere, I’d recommend skipping this season and moving onto season 8. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Last we saw, things weren’t looking good for the Z fighters. Despite the medicine, Goku is struggling against the heart virus while his family is trying to keep away from the androids who easily beat Vegeta at Super Saiyan. Piccolo, seeing no other option goes to merge with Kami, making him stronger than a Super Saiyan but leaving Earth without Dragonballs. It’s a discovery that raises a whole new series of questions when another time machine is found, same model as Trunks’s but in the brush they find a broken exoskeleton. Entire towns are seeming to vanish, leaving clothes behind. Piccolo mistakes what he feels are the powers of his friends only to discover the monstrosity at work: enter Cell. Dr Gero’s ultimate creation, an living machine made from the cells of all the Z fighters and Frieza, Cell has come from the future to absorb Android 17 and 18 to become perfect. The only real hope they have is finding a level beyond Super Saiyan, but can Goku, Vegeta, Gohan and Trunks find this power before Cell becomes unstoppable?

The Android Saga continues to get better with who I’d say is the best villain of the series. Cell in his earlier forms is creepy as hell but always intimidating; I love seeing the other characters abilities and attacks biting them in ass. What’s great is this is one of the last times the other characters besides the Saiyans are relevant; Krillin and Tien have great moments but I love Piccolo’s fight against 17 which is one of my favorites of all DBZ. Vegeta vs Cell was pretty badass too but Cell’s turnaround makes you fear for the Z fighters. This is DBZ at it’s best and I highly recommend it. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

So we come to what many consider to be the best saga Dragonball Z has to offer: the Android Saga. It all begins with the conclusion to Dragonball Z:The Frieza Saga with the reveal that despite being cut in half and the destruction of a planet, Frieza is not dead. His remains were found in the vastness of space by his father, King Cold; Frieza is restored with a host of mechanical pieces and is pissed, taking Cold and his soldiers to Earth for revenge. The Z fighters sense him coming, but without Goku there chances of survival as well as Earth’s are slim. Frieza and Cold land, to be greeted by a young man they’d never seen. Easily he slays the soldiers and faces Frieza and his father, demonstrating his true power- he’s a Super Saiyan. He destroys Frieza and Cold once and for all and continues to wait for Goku to return. The young man is Trunks, Vegeta and Bulma’s  son from the future. In the future, Goku dies of a yet undiscovered heart virus. Years later, 2 androids emerge created by Dr Gero of the fallen Red Ribbon Army and systematically kill the Z fighters one by one. Trunks brings Goku the medicine he’ll need to survive the virus and delivers the date the androids will arrive, years from then. Three years later, they arrive as Trunks predicted but when Trunks arrives to help, he finds the terrible fact that the androids he warned about aren’t the same. History has changed but can the Z fighters survive?

This is where I truly began to love DBZ. Trunks’s debut is one of DBZ’s most epic moments and he is one of my favorite characters. Also, I love that Vegeta becomes a Super Saiyan. Android 19 and 20 were cool but 17, 18, and 16 are a great, likable trio as well as badasses; watching 18 fight Vegeta was brutal. The season ends with an awesome cliffhanger of the horrors to come. There are some filler episodes but I don’t mind them, especially when Goku and Piccolo compete learning how to drive. Definitely worth a watch and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

So Dragonball Z:The Frieza Saga left us with a cliff hanger, what became of Goku after Namek finally exploded? Well, you ain’t finding that answer here. Months after getting back from Namek, the gang goes on with there normal lives. Gohan is studying, Goku’s friends are partying and Krillin has a new girlfriend. Life goes on, until the Black Water Mist is unleashed, turning nearly everyone evil. Garlic Jr ( from Dragonball Z: The Dead Zone ) has found himself freed from the Dead Zone, and has come back with a new scheme. It’s up to Gohan, Krillin and Piccolo to stop him before its too late..

If this review seems unenthusiastic, it’s because this tiny saga is strictly filler. There is no real weight to the rest of the series, except to add something else to a point made later in the series. Garlic Jr is a pretty weak villain compared to Vegeta, the Ginyu Force, or Frieza. If you decide to watch this arc, it is short but if you chose to skip feel free and skip to Trunks. May the gaming gods bring you glory.