Dragon Ball Movie Explanations

Before we get to the Movie Explanations lets talk a little Dragon Ball. Dragon Ball Z, one of the most captivating anime series of my teens. This show was addictive! I remember watching the series on Cartoon Network’s ‘Toonami’ every day after school and being so pissed off when it would revert back to the beginning again before actually progressing. You would watch and watch and for like 2 years you would get juuuust past the point where Goku arrives on to stop the Ginyu Force and then the next day… BOOM we’re back with Raditz again. This show had a TON of filler episodes, and they could drag out a single fight scene for like two weeks while they keep averting your attention to other less important side stories, and it was really irritating. Although I haven’t seen it yet, I hear that Dragon Ball Kai remastered the series and took out a lot of that filler crap. If that is the case I wouldn’t mind re-watching the series to bring me back to those days.

For those of you that haven’t seen Dragon Ball or it’s later series’ like Dragon Ball Z or Dragon Ball GT, its basically centered around a guy named Goku. Goku isn’t human, although he looks just like us he was born with a tail that was removed in his adolescence. Goku is actually a powerful alien known as a Saiyan and they are all born with tails. If a saiyan looks at a full moon while his/her tail is attached they will turn into a super big ware-monkey and rage out. After one such incident, Goku’s tail was removed so it can never happen again. Goku’s alien race also has the distinct power to get really strong after they get their asses kicked or train really hard. As the series goes on Vegeta, the Prince of the Saiyans and Goku are enemies but become allies. The Saiyan race is wiped out by an evil Tyrant named Frieza leaving only Vegeta and Goku remaining (although more saiyans show up in later films). When a Saiyen becomes really powerful they can reach up to 4 power increases called Super Saiyan, Eg. Super Saiyan (SS), SS2, SS3, and SS4 however only pure blooded Saiyans can reach levels 3 and 4 on their own. Two Half-blooded SS2′s can temporarily fuse together and become a SS3 for a short time. It all may sound confusing but basically DBZ goes on a ludicrous power level system. For example when Goku was born he had a power level of 2, and when the DBZ series began, Raditz used his power level meter (a scouter) to see that a farmer holding a shotgun had a power level of under 10. At the end of DBGT, there are characters with power levels of over 50 trillion.

Basically, that means that Goku can be shot in the face with a tank while he is sleeping and it will literally do nothing to him. Goku and Vegeta make superman look like a dumb-ass in tights. Enough with the reminiscing lets get to the movies shall we?

Dragon Ball Movie Explanations (animated)

Curse of the Blood Rubies (1986): A small boy with a tail named Goku stops a tyrannical ruler from hurting his people.

Sleeping Princess in Devil’s Castle (1987): Goku and a human named Krillin save a damsel in distress so an old man will train them.

Mystical Adventure (1988): People fight in a crazy martial arts tournament and people collect 7 balls so they can make a wish to a dragon.

Dead Zone (1989): The now adult Goku locks an immortal being in oblivion to save his son with help from his friends.

The World’s Strongest (1990): Goku makes a spirit bomb and kills a mad scientist.

The Tree of Might (1990): Goku makes a spirit bomb and kills an alien that looks like him named Turles.

Lord Slug (1991): Goku makes a spirit bomb and kills a green alien that planned to end all life on Earth.

Cooler’s Revenge (1991): A badguy comes to avenge his brother’s death but Goku blasts him into the sun like a boss.

Return of Cooler (1992): Goku and Vegeta use their power to short circuit the android army of a dead bad guy.

Super Android 13 (1992): Goku makes a spirit bomb and destroys some androids.

Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan (1993): Goku kills a legendary alien killing machine by punching a hole in his stomach.

Bojack Unbound (1993): Goku’s son Gohan rages out on an alien invader and kills him by punches a hole in his chest.

Broly – Second Coming (1994): Some Saiyan kids blow the legendary Broly into the sun with an engery ball.

Bio-Broly (1994): The same Saiyan kids blow away Broly again… this time he was a statue and he actually dies for good.

Fusion Reborn (1995): Goku and Vegeta fuse together while dancing and kill an alien.

Wrath of the Dragon (1995): Goku does a crazy dragon puch technique to kill large monster named the Hildegarn.

The Path to Power (1996): Child Goku kills a guy with an energy blast and wishes for a Robot to be brought back to life.

Bardock – The Father of Goku (1990): Goku’s dad has visions of the destruction of his people which comes true and he dies.

The History of Trunks (1993): Trunks goes back in time to the past to give Goku heart medicine in hopes of changing his future.

A Hero’s Legacy (1997): Goku’s great great grandson Goku jr has low self esteem but gains courage from a pep talk from Goku.

–The Lost Movie– Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans (1993): The Z-fighters combine their energy to stop a ghost warrior powered by hate.

Dragon Ball Movie Explanations (live action)

Dragon Ball: The Magic Begins (1991): Some people stop a man from collecting 7 dragon pearls and making a wish to rule the world.

Dragonball Evolution (2009): A warrior named Goku sets out on a quest to gather 7 dragon balls and gain unlimited power.

Fun Facts

• Names of any characters are based in food: vegetables, fruits, etc. – Kakarotto: Carrot – Raditz: Radish – Vegeta: Vegetable – Garlic Jr: Garlic – The Spice boys – Gohan: Japanese for boiled rice – Bardock: Derived from burdock
• The character named Bulma changes her hairstyle, 16 times from DB to the end of DBZ
• There were 187 fights from Dragon Ball to the end of Dragon Ball Z
• In U.S. version, the character Mr. Satan was named “Hercule”, and each visual reference to his original name was erased from the show.
• In the show, the evil, often comically fat monster Majin Buu was created by a sorcerer named Bibidi and brought out of hibernation by the actions of Bibidi’s son, the sorcerer Babidi. This is an homage to Cinderella (1950) in which Cinderella’s fairy godmother turns a pumpkin into a coach with the magical spell “Bibbity Bobbity Boo!”
• In the Japanese version of this series, Frieza and his minions are sent to Hell, where several demons wear t-shirts that have the word “HELL” written on them. In the American version, the demons wear “HFIL” t-shirts, and the underworld is referred to as the “Home For Infinite Losers.”
• To keep pace with the release of the original manga, Toei Animation had to create several “filler” sagas that didn’t exist in the original manga. These include the fake planet Namek, the Garlic Jr. Saga, and the afterlife tournament.
• Whereas Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z were both inspired by mangas by Akira Toriyama, Dragon Ball GT was not. It was created directly by Toei Animation.
• The movies/TV specials/OVAs/etc. are all anime only. They did not take place in Toriyama’s original manga.
• The only movie/TV special/OVA/etc. for which a manga exists is the Trunks Special. However it came out after the movie and is considered unofficial to the official manga universe.
• Broly has the record for being the villain in the most movies (at 3.) Cooler comes in second place (at 2.)
• The first three movies all aired on Cartoon Network, albeit severely edited for violence and nudity. All cursing was removed as well. Tree Of Might also aired on the early syndicated networks that showed the series, but it was severely butchered and broken into three episodes, rather than one continuous movie. It also replaced the music with the generic dub music of the day.
• Vegeta is older than Goku. This is identifiable by the fact that Vegeta was a fairly well-developed young warrior around age 5-6, and Goku was just born at this very time.
• At the beginning of Dragon Ball Z, Piccolo is eight years old (Namekians mature considerably faster than humans.)
• When Cartoon Network aired the first three movies, they had special “trailers” made up to promote the airings. These trailers used the voice talents of Don LaFontaine, whose voice is used on nearly every actual theatrical movie trailer in America until his death.

Dragon Ball is the show that got me into Anime, and I hope you like it as much as I did.