By the time the films reached their climactic titan clashes, I had a suitable grasp on the basic plots, but I still didn’t understand who everyone was, what everyone was babbling about, and why certain characters behaved the way they did.Ī bit of research clued me in to the fact that the DBZ films suffer from an avalanche of contradictions with the television series, leaving me to wonder if my confusion would be shared by fans as well. Each entry seemed to require a certain familiarity with DBZ lore that I honestly did not possess. Unfortunately, ‘Dead Zone’ and ‘World’s Strongest’ mystified every neuron in my brain from beginning to end. The ‘Broly’ flicks were decent standalone titles that served as a fair introduction to the ‘Dragon Ball Z’ universe for relative rookies like myself.
When I reviewed the ‘Broly Double Feature’ last year, I was surprised to find that neither film overwhelmed me with its plot, characters, or conflicts. Rest assured, nearly every fan-favorite character from Piccolo to Muten Roshi makes an appearance, overcoming blasts of electricity, ice, and villainous power to protect everything righteous and good on the planet. Wheelo (now a disembodied brain housed within a war mech) whose search for a powerful host leads him to our DBZ mainstays. In short, ‘Dead Zone’ follows Goku’s attempts to rescue Gohan from an evil being obsessed with using dragon balls (stop snickering) to gain eternal life from Shen Long, and ‘World’s Strongest’ focuses on an evil scientist named Dr. As a longtime fan of comicbooks, I understand the lure of complex storylines and epic confrontations, but ‘Dragon Ball Z’s endless parade of colorful energy blasts and repetitive duels-to-the-death have never struck me as gripping or entertaining.įUNimation’s second high-def ‘Dragon Ball Z’ release (after November’s ‘ Broly Double Feature’) collects the series’ first two films - ‘Dead Zone’ and ‘World’s Strongest.’ I could outline the plot synopsis of each film at length, but I’ll try to keep things as simple as possible. Even so, the popularity of one of Japan’s most popular animated exports - the ‘Dragon Ball’ saga and its ensuing spin-off, ‘Dragon Ball Z’ - continues to baffle and elude me. While such excitement is derived from expanding my cinematic horizons, I’ve found that anime generally offers more extensive character development and intricate plotlines than the majority of kid-friendly animation produced on this side of the globe.
For the last fifteen years, I’ve approached new Japanese animation releases with the fervor of a hyperactive toddler on Christmas morning.
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