This will probably be the last Dragon Ball Month. It’s not like there’s not more DB/Z to cover, but I feel like I don’t need to dedicate an entire month to it anymore, I’ve made most of the points I wanted to make about the franchise. This is one of the reasons I chose Wrath of the Dragon to review last, because it was the last DBZ movie until 2013’s Battle of Gods (or maybe you want to count 2008’s Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!!, which we still don’t have over here, with an English dub).
DB
Otaku Evolution Episode 170 – Dragon Ball: Mystical Adventure
I thought I’d get back to the “storyline”, or bookend material, this month, because the videos are pretty short. I know you probably just skip to the review portion (I’m glad anyone even bothers with that much), but I like doing this sort of thing now and then, because it allows me to play with more sprites. I love playing with my (and Rob’s) sprites!
I have toyed with ideas I mentioned here about a JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure fanfic, but I feel like I’m getting a little too old to be writing anime fanfics. And yeah, I was going to do a separate video series, aside from Otaku Evolution, on the DC animated films that come out straight to DVD/Blu-Ray. I had a lot of things ready for it, too, like a rating system for each feature. I somehow just never got to it. Should I still do it? Eh.
Otaku Evolution Episode 117 – Dragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan
My final entry in this year’s Dragon Ball Month is the eighth Dragon Ball Z movie, that one with the mountain of muscles who dumb people seem to enjoy. Seriously, Broly is a complete waste, because he’s not even really a character. He’s such a two(at best)-dimensional villain, and yet they give him this back story to try to get us to sympathize, or at least understand. Sorry, but that only works for characters with personalities. With Broly, it’s just a lot of wasted potential. Granted, at least they tried, but maybe they should have shifted that effort into giving him something that defines his role, aside from a lot of screaming, and cry-induced insanity. Sure, most DBZ movie villains are shallow, even in the better movies, but this is a case of aiming high and falling low.
Dragon Ball Z: Battle Of Gods Theater Experience
"Great Flaming Dragon Balls! A Theatrical Experience!! Penguin Truth Enjoys A DBZ Dub!!!"
Last night, yours truly made a truly momentous decision. One that affected both his head and heart. Or really, my wallet, because my decision was to spend $10.50 to watch a movie I’d already seen, plus the bullshit price of impulse buy concessions, because like any American, I can’t even go an hour and a half without stuffing my face with butter and salt and washing it down with sugar water. The next time the person at the concession stand tells you that for fifty more cents you can get the large popcorn, you spit in their face and karate chop them in the throat, folks. An ocean of popcorn will just make you never want to see that snack ever again. There’s not enough napkins in the world to wipe that butter from your hands, it’s like digging into a fresh corpse and soaking yourself in a gaping bloody wound of…
Dragon Ball Kai – Episode 113 Review
Episode 113, "A Wicked Heart is Revived; Vegeta, the Prince of Destruction!"
*****SPOILERS*****
Synopsis: Gohan, now in the second full Super Saiyan stage, continues his fight with Dabura, but his struggling to finish it gets on Vegeta’s nerves. Dabura spits on Gohan’s glove, but the Saiyan discards it before his hand turns into stone. Dabura creates a sword and tries to cut Gohan, to no avail. Gohan destroys the blade. Vegeta becomes increasingly angry that the fight hasn’t ended, wanting to get to his fight with Goku. Dabura senses something within Vegeta and informs Babidi, who sends them back to the ship. Dabura leaves the arena and returns to Babidi. He tells him that Vegeta has a great wickedness in his heart which Babidi can exploit to revive Majin Buu. Babidi uses his magic to take control of Vegeta, transforming him into a more malevolent person by bringing out the evil in him, and at the same time, making him stronger. Babidi teleports the group to the Tenkaichi Budoukai, confusing the audience and Mr. Satan. A first it seems Vegeta is in Babidi’s thrall, but he only accepts the extra power so he can fight Goku. However, Babidi is satisfied that the release of power will probably revive Majin Buu.
Dragon Ball Kai – Episode 112 Review
Episode 112, "The Star Performer Takes the Stage! Take Down the Demon King!!"
*****SPOILERS*****
Synopsis: Dabura arrives on Stage 3 of Babidi’s ship, willing to take them all on. However, Gohan insists that he fight him alone, which insults the demon. Babidi uses his magic to send them to a new environment for the fight. Back at the tournament, 18 gets Mr. Satan in a headlock and offers him a deal: she’ll allow him to win if he gives her twice the amount of the prize money. Desperate to maintain his fame, Mr. Satan agrees to this arrangement. They fake an end to the fight that sees 18’s defeat and Mr. Satan remaining the champion. Bulma, Chi-Chi, and the others in the audience that know better are bewildered. In the air, Videl tells the little Saiyans about Babidi and his plans, and an excited Trunks and Goten speed in that very direction to see. The fight between Gohan and Dabura begins, both fighters doing well in the bout.
The Debate That Got Me Ejected From Kanzenshuu Forums: Is Gohan Out Of Character In The Cell Games?
"I don’t need this shit."
PART I: The Preamble
I’ve been a fan of the Dragon Ball franchise off and on since about the time Dragon Ball Z first broadcast in syndication in September of 1996. I didn’t immediately latch onto the show. It took a while. A friend of mine, Jon Oakes, who I used to play SNES with at his house (I had a Sega Genesis, and we alternated homes for playing), introduced me to the series, and I didn’t quite latch onto it until I started watching it on Cartoon Network’s Toonami block. When I started branching out into different types and titles of anime, I kept pushing the DB franchise back, exploring the more complex and compelling narratives of shows like Neon Genesis Evangelion, Serial Experiments Lain, and Cowboy Bebop. And after all, I would argue, the English version of Dragon Ball Z was so poorly done it was impossible to stomach the show except with subtitles, and I didn’t even have a DVD player until around 2001. By then, I looked at my DB fandom as an object of nostalgia at best and embarrassingly poor childhood taste at worst.
Top 10 Shunsuke Kikuchi DB/Z Tracks
Few people talk about Shunsuke Kikuchi. While not the quality of say, Yoko Kanno’s contributions, or the emotional power of Hiroshi Miyagawa’s work, Kikuchi has been in the business of incidental music (that is to say, background music) for decades. Cutting his teeth on tokusatsu programs, Kikuchi got work scoring the anime adaption of the popular Akira Toriyama manga Dr. Slump. He is best known, however, for scoring the anime adaptation of Toriyama’s most popular work, Dragon Ball. Taking cues from old films, Kikuchi is a little Wang Fu-ling and a little Bernard Hermann.
Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies Re-Release Cast
Funimation has announced the cast for the new English dub for the new DVD release of Dragon Ball Movie 1, "Curse of the Blood Rubies" (1986):
SON GOKU ….. Colleen Clinkenbeard
BULMA ….. Monica Rial
OOLONG ….. Bryan Massey
ROSHI ….. Mike McFarland
YAMUCHA ….. Chris Sabat
PU’AR ….. Brina Palencia
PANSY ….. Cherami Leigh
GURUMES ….. Jeremy Inman
PASTA ….. Kate Oxley
BONGO ….. Jonathan Brooks
SHENLONG ….. Chris Sabat
NARRATOR ….. John Swasey