TV Review: Dragonball Z - Season Nine.

So the final season is finally coming in, and it starts off hardcore. It picks up where the last season left off: Hercule Satan has made friends with Buu and their new puppy, B. But a couple murderous a-holes shoot B and nearly kill him, though Buu brings him back from the brink of death. Then Mr. Satan gets fatally wounded (and, surprisingly, I was upset by this. I guess as annoying as he can be at times, you still care for the guy). This drives Buu over the edge, fighting his internal rage and sadness. After reviving Mr. Satan, Buu splits into two: Good Buu and Evil Buu. And, eventually, Evil Buu defeats Good Buu and becomes one ultimate Evil Buu.

And Evil Buu is one scary mofo. Seriously, out of all the villains of the show, none have ever creeped me out as much as Evil Buu (the ultimate pink one, not the weird brown one that is around for about half an episode). From how he stands or twists his neck, to how he talks or screams, it's just terrifyingly creepy. He eventually finds his way to the Watchtower and kills everybody on the planet (save Mr. Satan, Chaotzu, Tien, and all the guys on the tower), demanding to fight the super warrior Goku had promised him a while back (this being Gotenks). But Goten and Trunks aren't ready, and need to do a bit more training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, so Piccolo does some distracting, which is difficult with a highly impatient Evil Buu.

Of course, once the fight starts, Gotenks tries to show off as usual, wastes valuable time, and basically destroys all hope for Earth. But then he shows a new trick up his sleeve, which I won't spoil. But I do want to bring up one note that bugs me: The Hyperbolic Time Chamber. It's stated earlier in the series that only 2 people can be in the Chamber at a time. Yet, these rules are clearly broken when not only Goten and Trunks are in there, but Evil Buu and Piccolo join them later on. And even after Goten and Trunks fuse into Gotenks, that still leaves 3 people.

Things are also a bit predictable by this point. If I didn't already know a few things about how it ended, I still would have been able to figure it out. Every season does specific things: main characters die, at least one character reaches a stronger level of power, the bad guy goes through 3 stages and gets stronger each time (I count Radditz, Nappa, and Vegeta as the 3 stages of the first season), and one of the bad guys becomes a good guy (going back to the original Dragonball series and going through now, Piccolo, Tien/Chaotzu, Vegeta, and Android 18 were all bad guys turned good... and even Yamcha started out as a jerk thief, and Krillin was Goku's rival).

By this time, it's Gohan's turn to return and save the day. But he's too powerful to return this early in the season, so you know what that means! Yes, that's right, another transformation. Evil Buu absorbs Piccolo and Gotenks and becomes Super Buu, so that after being whooped by Gohan for a while, it's Gohan's turn to get beaten down. So we need another hero. Just in time for a couple plot twists and the return of two former heroes (well, three, but I don't really count one because he's one of the weaker fighters and lasts all of 10 seconds). Not to mention there's a new, easier (though more permanent) way for fusion introduced. And right when you think it won't be needed, as the Gotenks fusion wears off within Super Buu, the new and improved Gohan gets absorbed and a new and improved Super Buu returns.

It's kind of interesting that after all the talk of "the old heroes must stand back and make way for Earth's new heroes," the only hope is two old heroes using non-Earthling capabilities (in more ways than one). Yes, Goku and Vegeta come back to Earth (Goku given new life, and Vegeta just given a momentary reprieve). And they must fuse together if they have any chance of defeating Buu. Granted, it goes back to the previous theme later, but still...

And then, once Vegeto is born, Super Buu gets his butt handed to him. But right now, I want to discuss something else besides yet another fusion character. Instead, I want to bring up what has to be a few of the strangest episodes of DBZ ever (and that's probably saying a lot). So at one point, Super Buu comes up with a plan to destroy Vegeto once and for all by turning him into candy--a coffee-flavored jawbreaker, to be exact. But it doesn't end there. Once Vegeto is candy... he still maintains his powers and ability to speak. So for the next bit of the episode, we have Buu versus a piece of talking candy. And then, in the next episode, Buu absorbs Vegeto, which leads us into DBZ: The Educational Episode. Vegeta and Goku, for whatever reason, unfuse. And then they travel throughout Buu's body, mainly his digestive system. And during this time, we get such wonderful lines from Vegeta like "Great galaxies! If I know my anatomy, that hole leads to the southern exit!" and "Son of a Namek!" Seriously. Not to mention that, minutes later, the two are attacked by what a first looks like a giant turd, but is actually a carnivorous worm that (for some reason) lives in Buu's body.

I'm really not making any of this up.

The following episode doesn't get any less weird. The giant worm turns out to be a child worm with a brother, and the father worm comes in and yells at the two boys for being idiots and apologizes to Goku and Vegeta before pointing the way to where the others are located. Then, eventually, Buu goes inside himself to fight the two guys.

This eventually brings us to the big turning point of the season. After finding good/fat Buu hooked up in Buu's head with the others, and after Vegeta dislocates him from the pod thing he's in, Buu starts transforming. Around this time, we get a bunch of specific backstory and flashbacks of how Buu originated. Apparently, his fat form wasn't his original, but a transformed version from a fusion with a former Supreme Kai that was quite innocent and benevolent (which is why the fat Buu was so childlike and potentially good). But here's my question: if fat Buu separated from himself earlier in the season to become Good Buu and Evil Buu, why didn't this "original form" appear instead? I mean, the "Good Buu" was no longer a part of Buu's form, like what happened here, so why change into "Kid Buu," the original form, now? It almost feels like they're making it up as they go along.

Anyway, Kid Buu is like the ultimate chaos and evil, even more crazy evil than Evil Buu. In fact, within minutes of returning to this form, he actually destroys the Earth. I mean, of course, it's the final season and all bad guys have been wanting to do that. So why not actually let one of them? However, instead of saving the newly released Gohan, Goten, Trunks, and Piccolo from an exploding planet, Goku grabbed Dende and Hercule Satan (and by extension, B), and saves them instead. They go to the Planet of the Kais, where the eventual final battle for the universe will be held.

You know by Mr. Satan being the last human left and constantly being saved and brought back in and all that stuff that he's going to do something important. At the very least, it was worth doing it simply for this bit of dialogue when the others evacuate the Kai planet, accidentally leaving Hercule and B behind in the middle of the danger and fighting between Goku, Vegeta, and Kid Buu (paraphrasing here): "Oh no, we left that man and his dog behind!" "Poor dog."

But seriously, Mr. Satan does garner major importance in a couple different ways. At one point, Goku is trying to gather energy, Vegeta (after another one of his "redeeming moments" that he likes to have ever so often) attempts to stall Kid Buu for a minute to give him that time. Of course, Vegeta is too weak, and he knows it, and Kid Buu is about to finish him off. That's when Mr. Satan steps in to buy more time. That inevitably brings back out the Good Buu (the fat one) to fight Kid Buu and buy even more time. That's when Vegeta comes up with the ultimate plan to finish off Buu once and for all... and it's a classic. I won't spoil it, but let's just say Mr. Satan has a major part (which you see coming a mile away) in helping out.

Around this time, the show gains some incredibly obvious religious undertones. Granted, the show has always had religious undertones, but there's some hugely obvious ones here (voices talking from the sky, the people doubting it, others deciding to go out and spread 'the word' as truth, etc.). Though at the same time, I'm agreeing with Vegeta in that the human race is shown as so idiotic that I wondered if it deserved saving. But I digress.

I also wanted to quickly note that, during the Kid Buu battles, there are fun bits where they go down to "Hell" and show all the previous villains of the show watching the battle. It's fun to see/hear their reactions, especially Frieza, who at one point was supposed to be the strongest being in the universe that anyone had ever heard of (great way to think ahead, writers! (that was sarcasm, in case you didn't catch it). Oh, and before I get any flamers, I know it was a manga, I know only one person wrote it, and I know the series was originally planned to end after the Frieza Saga. It's just a joke. Calm down).

Anyway, the last 5 episodes are the "how everybody has moved on" episodes, mostly to wrap up the entire show, seeing this is the last season. The first few kinda drag, but then they jump ahead in time a bit, and it gets a bit more interesting. Gohan and Videl get married and have a daughter named Pan who, coincidentally, becomes a strong fighter. Bulma and Vegeta apparently have another kid, a girl, but her name is never spoken (though by other methods, I discovered it's "Bra."). Goten and Trunks become ladies' men, while Gohan is a professor and has given up fighting. Good Buu lives with Mr. Satan and helps him keep his champ title by beating everybody else and then purposefully losing to him in the championship match. As a side note, I have to say that while Hercule Satan was annoying at first, he really grows on you. In fact, towards the end, I wanted to see more scenes with him to see how he would fare.

But then the final episodes come. There's another martial arts tournament, and Goku joins up only to fight a powerful human he can sense. Turns out the human is a reincarnated Buu named, imaginatively, Uub. The final episode is so rushed it's ridiculous. Goku and Uub's fight is good, I suppose, but then they stop fighting and Goku's all like "So, Uub, I'm gonna go live with you in your village and train you to fight so you can take my place as Earth's protector." So then, without even any proper goodbyes (besides, you know, telling them "see ya later"), he just takes Uub and leaves all his friends and family behind, possibly for years, to go train this kid. They don't have a goodbye party. Outside of Pan, he doesn't even hug anyone goodbye. They don't even finish the match. They just leave... and after a couple more minutes, that's it. I mean, seriously. That's ridiculous. I know they wanted to leave on a "the world will get a new hero and Goku goes on another journey" note, but they didn't have to rush it at that extreme, especially when it makes Goku look like an ass.

Anyway, I was kinda sad to reach the end of the series. I've been going through this for a long time now, and I've finally finished it. This final season, while weird at times (and despite the horribly rushed ending), was good. Strangely, I guess I found the best seasons to be 3, 6, and 9... all multiples of 3. And all 3 of those seasons were ones where the "final battles" took place for each bad guy arch (with the exception of the first season with Vegeta, but I don't count that). So yeah, I really don't have any major words of wisdom to wrap this up. I suppose it was a good end to the series. I know there's a Dragonball GT that follows, which doesn't follow any of the manga and apparently has a pretty bad rep, but I dunno. I might watch it eventually, but if I come back to the DB universe, I'm gonna check out the original series first. So until then, this is it for the Dragonball Universe! Sad to see it go, but it's time to move on, right? Right.

TV Review: Dragonball Z - Season Eight.

This season picks up right where the last left off. Shin explains what's going on. Many a year ago, there had been a super powerful wizard named Bibidi. He'd had a creation, the ultimate unstoppable killing machine, Majin Buu. And Bibidi was the only one capable of bringing Buu out of stasis. But Shin defeated Bibidi, while Buu was kept in stasis, hidden on Earth. But now, Bibidi's son... you guessed it... Babidi has shown up to awaken Buu. I'm seriously not making these names up.

But all isn't as easy as it seems. Babidi has some helpers, including the King of the Demons, Dabura, who he has under his spell. Dabura has dangerous spit (again, not making this up) that turns anything it touches to stone. And the first two to fall prey to this attack are Krillin and Piccolo. And the only way to turn them back to normal? Defeat Dabura, of course. So Goku, Gohan, and Vegeta, against the better judgment given by Shin, go in after them and face a series of rather pathetic enemies until they get to Dabura. And if any of them get hurt (which doesn't happen up to this point), their energy gets absorbed into the space ship to help revive Buu.

But the season, at least at this point, doesn't purely focus on this. It also remembers that it has to finish up that little fighting tournament it had been showing before, you know, almost everybody left. All that's left are Mr. Satan, Android 18, a couple of random people named Killa and Jewel, and then Goten and Trunks dressed up as another contestant--Mighty Mask--to be able to fight in the adult tournament. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what happens here.

But back to the main plot, Gohan goes up against Dabura, though he shows how he's gotten a bit weaker over years without training. And during the scuffle, Vegeta loses his patience, which tips off Dabura to a dastardly idea. Babidi has the ability to take anybody with an impure heart and use that trace of evil to make them his slave. You see it coming a mile away, so I don't feel bad spoiling this, but he gives Vegeta a power boost and (somewhat) takes him over (Vegeta is a little too powerful, giving him the ability to ignore most of Babidi's commands).

But the point of all this? To give us the fight we've wanted to see since the end of season 1: the rematch of Goku versus Vegeta. And boy is it effing epic. I must say, their fight just goes on and on (multiple episodes), and not a second of it is boring. It's an amazing fight. Though I find it a little funny that the reasoning behind a decision of Vegeta's is essentially a mid-life crisis. Though I have to say, this season and the last seem to have a tendency to overuse the mushroom cloud to show a huge explosion. 

But that's not all. During all of this, not only are Gohan and Shin continuing after Dabura and Babidi, but Goten and Trunks find out what's going on from Videl (who started to go with Gohan initially at the end of last season, but ended up turning around) and head in their direction. But of course, the inevitable happens. While I would have thought it might have made a more poetic ending to have Goku/Vegeta be the final big fight, there's a lot more story to go, and they're not just going on and on about the most powerful being ever to exist for nothing. So of course Buu is going to be released.

It leads up to the "Final Atonement" of Vegeta. Now, throughout the series, Vegeta has had some good character building episodes. You think he'll turn better, though he usually reverts back to his arrogant, prideful self (with a smidge more humanity and caring than before). And that continued to build until the end of the Cell Saga, where he has a great ending to his character arch. But here, it continues. Of course, he reverts back to his prideful self, but this is the ultimate arch end (hence the title of the episode, "The Final Atonement"). And I have to say, while I didn't cry, I had the emotions going when he starts talking to Trunks, knowing what's about to happen. It's a touching moment.

Otherwise, the season is shaping up oddly. Buu himself is a good example of what the season is as a whole: darkness wrapped in childish stupidity. Buu really is an incredibly annoying villain, and is at times hard to take seriously. But while that's true, the action has been amped up tenfold; it hits harder and is much more hardcore than previous seasons. So there's this strange tonal mix of silly and awesome. But, for instance, Buu's biggest attack is that he points his single pink antennae (uh huh) at you and turns you into junk food--cookies, chocolate, candy, etc.--and eats you. While disturbing if you think about it, it's just plain silly looking.

Anyway, after the Vegeta bit, the story shifts completely. Everybody runs for their lives. The ones left behind at the tournament start hunting the dragonballs. Krillin and Piccolo take the kids to the lookout tower. Shin hunts for Gohan. And Goku finally rejoins the picture, coming in with his usual deus ex machina by telling everyone about a technique he learned in Otherworld called Fusion, where two people of equal size and power and fuse together into one for a short amount of time. And if they can learn this ("they" being Goten and Trunks), they might have a chance at defeated Buu. Meanwhile, Shin takes Gohan back to the world of the Kai's to release the "Z Sword" (which may or may not actually make the "Z" in "DBZ" make sense, as "Z Fighters" never did). So now we have different plots going on for different people who think they might be able to defeat Buu in different ways.

Of course, during this time, Buu is eating and destroying people, while Hercule Satan gets called on to help "save the world" again, seeing he took the credit for defeating Cell. So this keeps Hercule in the story (well, Videl's involvement would have done that anyway, most likely). Though that's not the only inclusion of comedy at the moment. The show has actually sunk as low as to use toilet humor. Yes, there are actually pee and fart jokes in the show now. For instance, Master Roshi--once an acclaimed and respected martial arts master--defeats a monster by farting in its face. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

There's a cool moment where Goku actually goes beyond Ascended Saiyan and becomes a Super Saiyan 3, though it drains a lot of his energy, bringing the time he has to train the boys to fusion to even less before he has to go back to Otherworld. Of course, this comes about from a total plot hole. Buu and Babidi are going after West City to destroy it, as they found out that's where Trunks lives, but that's also where the Dragon Radar is. So if the Dragon Radar is destroyed, they pretty much can't find the dragonballs to wish back everybody that died and whatever. So Goku sends Trunks after the radar, while he goes to distract Buu. Of course, to get to them, Goku uses instant transmission... which begs the question, why not use instant transmission to get to Capsule Corp in West City to get the radar to begin with, and not risk Trunks' life, as well as save some time?

Anywho, the story goes on, and the boys continue learning the fusion dance (which is one of those things where even the show recognizes how stupid it looks), while Gohan continues learning how to use the Z Sword on the World of the Kai's. Of course, neither turn out the way anyone expected. For instance, the newly formed Gotenks has an arrogance that could rival Vegeta's, and he won't listen to anybody. Meanwhile, the Z Sword breaks, releasing an elder Kai from within, who is just like a Kai version of Master Roshi. He decides to help Gohan release his inner power (didn't Guru back on Namek do this already?). Though it'll take about 25 hours and a lot of annoyances from this new, silly Kai.

Of course, this leaves Buu to do whatever he wants. Only a fifth of Earth is still alive, and they'd do anything for a hero. So, obviously, it's time for Hercule Satan to step back into the picture. Mr. Satan travel's to Buu's house and... I kid you not... actually forms a friendship with Buu and gets him to stop killing and destroying. Yes, Mr. Satan is actually responsible for stopping Buu... at least this version (because we know there are more to come). And that brings me to one of the biggest logistical issues of the season. How does he get Buu to stop? The same way Goku usually tries: tells him it's bad, tells him he has a choice, and asks him to please stop. But my problem is... Goku didn't even try that. Why? He's known for doing that with EVERY villain. That's his thing. His willingness to see good in everybody is both his biggest strength and biggest weakness. But instead, Goku asks very un-Goku like this season, and just attempts to attack Buu straight on, without question or provocation. And he, for whatever reason, decides to not even bother asking him to please stop the evilness. Maybe they just wanted Mr. Satan to be heroic for once, who knows?

Anyway, the season ends on a sad and awfully dark cliffhanger (seriously, the last episode of the season was crazy dark, even for this show). There's only one season left, though it might be a while before I can review it, as it's been on "Very Long Wait" on Netflix for months now, with no signs of letting up anytime soon. But as for this season, it was a decent one. It was a bit all over the place at times with its ideas. As you can see in this review, the ideas are kind of all over the place with what happens. It's not exactly as straight forward or simplistic as previous seasons. This one is a lot more mystical, I guess you could say. But it wasn't a bad one. It was entertaining, even if Buu is an incredibly annoying villain.

TV Review: Dragonball Z - Season Seven.

Season 7 picks up right where the last left off. Goku, King Kai, Bubbles, and Gregory head for Otherworld and the Grand Kai's planet. There, we also get an explanation of the deity system. There are four regular Kai's, one for each of the four quadrants of the galaxy. King Kai happens to be king of the north quadrant. Grand Kai is over all of them, and is basically like God... a God that looks like an old man stuck in an 80s cliche. And then there's the Supreme Kai, who is like the God of God and everything else, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Remember a few seasons ago when I mentioned that there were mini-sagas every now and then? Sagas that are just fill and really don't mean much of anything to the over-arching story? Well, that's how the season begins... a 5-episode mini-saga about the Otherworld Martial Arts Tournament, a tournament suggested by the four Kai's to see which quadrant has the strongest fighter. But the only two the mini-saga makes any real fuss about are Goku and a Piccolo-esque guy named Pikkon (pie-con). Pikkon is so strong that he's able to take out both Frieza and Cell, who are making trouble in Hell, single-handedly.

After that whole mini-saga, we pick up with... another mostly pointless saga. But the story picks up years later back on Earth. Gohan is now a teenager and, although he had been home schooling for years, decides to try out high school... though the closest one is some 500 miles away in the newly renamed Satan City (renamed after Hercule Satan, the man who got all the credit for defeating Cell). While there, Gohan has some issues fitting in with the crowd, and accidentally catches too much attention from a girl named Videl, who happens to be Mr. Satan's daughter.

And what does Gohan decide to do? Become a superhero, of course. He

 has to get out all his super energy somehow, right? So he dons a costume and becomes The Great Saiyaman (I'm not kidding), fighting thugs and stopping crime. It's so beyond lame and embarrassing, it actually makes the Ginyu Force bearable. Get this, besides the stupid positions he "shows off" in, he actually, at one point, does a rap. Seriously.

Other things that have happened over the years? Well, apparently Chi-Chi was pregnant before Goku died, and she had another son named Goten, who is friends/rivals with Bulma and Vegeta's son, Trunks (both of whom are already, at their young ages, Super Saiyans. Man, I remember back when Super Saiyans were rare and were hard to become, and Gohan was such a shocker due to being the youngest ever). Krillin actually, and bizarrely, grew out some hair and married Android 18, and they have a daughter named Maron (yes... Krillin named his daughter after his first girlfriend. I wonder how that conversation went with the wife).

In other words, Dragonball Z has become a sitcom. From the new slapstick opening credits to the overall tone of the season thus far, it's become nothing more than a family-friendly sitcom. Even the Otherworld Tournament was toned down considerably. Granted, it was a friendly competition, but still. Everything has gotten rather ridiculous... at least at the start.

Of course, the season does have somewhat of a point. Videl finds out Gohan's true identity as Saiyaman and blackmails him. Along with teaching her how to fly, she makes him enter the upcoming world martial arts tournament. Gohan tells all the others about this, as well, and they all decide to enter. And not only them. Goku gets a bit of present and is offered 1 full day on Earth to compete in the tournament, as well. And everybody is excited, including Vegeta, who now has yet another chance to fight him.

One of the better things about the mostly pathetic excuse for a season is Gohan's relationship with Goten. They're really the first siblings the show has had, and to show them interact is at least mildly entertaining. Also, the budding relationship between Gohan and Videl is nice, even though it's your classic case of falling for somebody like your mother (anger issues). Though once she gets a haircut, her personality seems to shift altogether. Seriously, it's like a whole different character.

After a few more episodes of nothing important, we get to the tournament... and continue to watch not much of importance. Though by this point we know that the newly formed "Juniors Division" will come down to Trunks or Goten, while the adult group will come down to either Goku, Vegeta, or Gohan (if the plot allows them to stay in that long). And then there's the mystery of who is actually gonna take down Hercule and show him for the lame fraud he is.

But finally, at the end of the final episode on the 4th of 6 discs for the

 season, we get some semblance of a purpose. Two mysterious and potentially dangerous strangers appear and talk to Goku (well, one of them talks, anyway), saying that they traveled a long way to have this chance to fight him. The smaller one, Shin (the one that talked), for some reason totally freaks out Piccolo, and Piccolo can't figure out why he's so freaked out by this guy. Of course, he figured it out... and I won't give it away, but let's just say I've already brought it up once in this post.

After a whole episode dedicated to drawing numbers to see who is going to fight who instead of just getting to the fighting, we get our opening fights, including Videl versus a very large, scary man with a Russian-esque name I can't be bothered to remember (he's also with another smaller, though still large and scary man who looks similar and with a name I also can't be bothered to remember). And something is up with this guy, as he won't stay down (no pun intended). There's also some kind of connection between this guy and Shin, but what could it be?

Turns out, the whole thing is basically a setup for the rest of the series. At the very end of the final episode, we find out what's really going on. I'll save the details for the next season review, but let's just say it basically involves an ultimate superpower/evil (shocker). Unfortunately, the season ends there. There's no overall story arch that's tied up. The tournament hasn't ended. Nothing is closed. It's just... in the middle of everything. Even the Ginyu Force saga had an ending (the Ginyu Force was defeated). But this... nothing.

Overall, the season is one of those that is necessary (I guess), but it feels almost entirely pointless. Though in a strange way, chunks of it were still entertaining and fun. Most of those bits were the growing relationship between Gohan and Videl, as I'm a sucker for romance in these kinds of stories. Mostly, though, the season was all over the place, tonally and otherwise. It really doesn't pick up until the tournament stuff (the Earth one, not the Otherworld one), but even then it takes a bit. Though I must admit, the big Videl fight is actually painful to watch, mostly due to a mix of sound effects and the voice actress' heartbreaking screams. And that has to be one of the only times in the full series where the violence actually got to me. It wasn't all cool and special effects and whatever. It was brutal and crushing. But I digress.

Would I recommend this saga? If you're going to continue watching after the Cell Saga, you don't have much of a choice. It introduces all the new stuff and characters necessary for the remainder of the series. Honestly, I ragged on this saga a lot, but it (at least the latter half) isn't really all that bad. The Great Saiyaman stuff is painful, yes, but the tournament stuff is better. But you still have to get through the former to understand the character relationships of the latter. Though as it stands, it's probably one of my least favorite seasons thus far.

TV Review: Dragonball Z - Season Six.

The new season starts out with a bang--literally. Upset at the newest turn of events, Trunks blasts off a bit of energy. Pissed that he gained so much power but was unable to use it to defeat Cell, his anger is quite justified. But now Cell has officially announced the Cell Games, the reinstallation of the World Martial Arts Tournament, to be held in 9 days (after the announcement to the world, anyway).

Vegeta, of course, believes he's better than everybody else, and will take as much time as he can in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber to get the strength needed to defeat Cell all on his own. But Goku, who has just left the chamber with Gohan, seems to know better. He shares that Cell is still much stronger than him, but he's not worried for some unexplained-at-this-point reason (though we all know what it is). Instead, he would prefer to just relax... because living with friends and family is the most important thing in these dark days.

Unfortunately, this opens the beginning of the season up to more filler. While there is a fun inclusion of an old Dragonball villain (like, from the original series), it's mostly a wasted cameo in a wasted episode (he does come back for one more, but again... not important on the whole). There are little bits here and there that clue in to what's to come, but mostly, the filler is... well... filler--out of place and unnecessary.

Luckily, the unimportant filler only lasts a few episodes before trading off for what I can only describe as "important filler." In other words, the occurrences in these episodes are important, but you still feel like they're wasting time in getting to the point. Dende returns to the series as the new guardian of Earth and creates new dragonballs, and then Goku goes off to hunt them down. While it's essential to know he found them all, the actual journey shown is mostly pointless. There's also an introduction of a new character, Mr. (Hercule) Satan. He's almost purely comic relief, being the martial arts champion of Earth, which really doesn't mean anything. He's cocky and ignorant, leaving those who actually understand what's going on to blink mutely and call him an idiot (which they do... over and over and over again). And it's honestly funny the first few times they do it. But then they keep doing it. And he just keeps talking. And you finally get to a point where you want to punch the guy so we can move on with the story. It does this even after the Cell Games have already started.

But once Goku steps into the ring--aside from the Hercule/Mr. Satan, well, asides--the action picks up considerably (in comparison, anyway). It's a bummer that the first 1/3 of the season is mainly a waste of time, but the last 2/3 really make up for it.

Goku's fight with Cell is beyond epic, and ends in such an awesome move, you'd think it'd be the end of it. But alas, I knew better. Goku's had a plan all along, and it never included him being the one to defeat Cell. Also, the actual "tournament" portion of the Cell Games only lasts a couple episodes once Goku's fight begins, which is sad, but I suppose understandable (what evil super-being is going to restrain itself to the rules of a martial arts tournament and fighting ring?).

But this season was never about Goku. His time to shine has passed. Now it's all down to Gohan, who has matured greatly over the seasons, and is no longer the scared little boy from the beginning. He's an incredibly powerful warrior... who just has to tap into his hidden power and unleash it on Cell.

And once he does... we begin the greatest episodes of the entire series. Gohan never says much

after this point, but he doesn't need to. He lets his actions and demeanor speak for him. Everything about him has changed, and you can tell from the look on his face and the way he holds his body. And how else do they show his power? By changing up the style of fighting. Through the seasons, if somebody gets more powerful, they'll show it in a punch or kick that doubles the target over. It's one strong, focused hit. But Gohan's power is different. It's very minute, but you can see it if you pay attention. Instead of these "stationary" hits, Gohan will hit/kick hard, but also fast. His moves don't stick, if that makes sense. It's hard to explain in words, but you'd know it if you saw it.

Even Hercule/Mr. Satan gets a bit of development around this point and does something useful, and the news crew also gets on him about basically being an idiot. On a similar note, Chi-Chi's father also finally yells at his daughter for her whining and complaining about how Gohan and Goku are just mindless brutes and how "saving the world" won't get Gohan into college, etc. Though it doesn't mean much, as Chi-Chi stays her annoyingly stubborn self. But at least he did it. Somebody needed to.

But anyway, everything gets thrown on the table now. No more holding back. Cell shows his full potential, even to the point of showing off his "acquired" special moves one after the other. And then Gohan gets his first Kamehameha of the series. I personally would have saved it until a little bit later where it would have meant more, but oh well.

But it all culminates in what has to be the single best episode of the entire series, "Save the World." Everybody helps out for once, and both Gohan and Vegeta have the final character developments both characters have been leading up to the entire series. And in one move, we have my favorite moment on the show, as it mixes a change in Vegeta, Gohan proving himself as the ultimate fighter, great animation, and some of the best music on the show... all rolled into about a minute or so.

There are only a few more episodes after this (strangely enough, they split up the episodes onto two discs, putting only 3 on each, which is a total waste). Personally, I feel this would have been the best place to end the series. Vegeta's had his redemption, every fighter has shown his worth, character development for everyone has reached its peak, and Gohan has taken Goku's spot as Earth's hero. It even gives an ending to Future Trunks' story and original purpose. Everything is perfectly smoothed out and given a peaceable ending. There couldn't possibly be anywhere else to take the show... right?

Wrong. With not one, not two, but three seasons left, Akira Toriyama apparently saw a lot of places to take the story (and with it, only about half its audience). By the time these final sagas aired, the majority of the show's original audience had grown up and out of it--another reason they should have just ended with Cell. And for whatever reason, maybe to try and find another core audience--who knows?--the show changes drastically in feel. This season ends with a tease about "Otherworld," but besides that, there's no real inclination of where the show would be going. I know a little bit, of course, but not everything. Let's just say that of the following sagas, I've seen very little. I know of only a few things and how they turn out (some big, some not so much), so the bulk of the following three seasons is going to be mostly a surprise to me.

So with that said, until next time...

TV Review: Dragonball Z - Season Five.

As usual at the start of any major battle on this show, Goku is out of it for some reason. This time, he's still under the effects of the fatal heart disease. But different than other seasons, this show starts off full-out and doesn't look back.
The season starts off brilliantly. The first few episodes play out like some horror movie mystery. Something has come back in time in Trunks' time capsule, even though he has the only time capsule in existence with him. And not long after that discovery, something is going on in a nearby town, where all the people have mysteriously disappeared, leaving only their clothes behind. It's all very intriguing and suspenseful (even though I know what's going on from seeing it already).

To counter this new threat, Piccolo finally merges back with Kami, being a Super Namek--apparently even more powerful than a Super Saiyan. And I must say, the animation around this point is pretty cool. And I'm thankful that his reaction to his new power wasn't as silly as it was when he merged with Nail a few seasons ago.

But even when everyone start sensing this strange creature, the questions continue. Why does it feel like Goku, Vegeta, and Piccolo, among others--including even Frieza and his father--are all together... fighting Piccolo (You heard me right)? Turns out, Dr. Gero wasn't all about creating Androids 17 and 18. 

He wanted to create the ultimate weapon, a being so powerful that it is actually made up of the cells of the greatest fighters Earth has ever witnessed. This creature's name? Appropriately, Cell. And Cell is on a mission, to absorb the powers of Androids 17 and 18, as doing so will make him complete--perfect. And he'll also absorb the powers of anybody who gets in his way. But this is not the Cell from their current time, rather the Cell from an alternate future, having come back in time to absorb the Androids, as Trunks had already found a way to defeat them in his own timeline.

So now the fighters must decide whether they must go after Cell, who is much more dangerous than the Androids, or go after the Androids and destroy them before Cell can absorb them and become nearly impossible to defeat. And the Androids themselves are no easy task. But meanwhile, the Androids--16, 17, and 18--are still on their search for Goku, who is still incapacitated from his heart virus, and destroy him as Dr. Gero programmed them (or at least Android 16) to do. But Vegeta, the next most powerful after Piccolo and Goku (as far as we know at this point, anyway), refuses to do anything until he can train enough to transcend the power of a Super Saiyan. And (Future) Trunks must find a way to talk Vegeta into letting him train along side him. Not to mention Gohan, who is stuck at Master Roshi's with everybody else (including his mother), has to train in private, as Chi-Chi refuses to let him do anything but study his academics. Still following?

And then comes the episode where Goku wakes up. It's not the greatest episode in the world (there's some horribly cheesy voice-overs and a really pointless flashback sequence from Trunks). And it takes a bit to get rolling again from that point. Goku realizes they'll all need more training if they want to beat Cell, so he gathers up Gohan, Vegeta, and Trunks to take them to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber at the lookout tower. The chamber allows for anybody inside to experience an entire year in only a day... so everyone can get in a year's worth of training in no time at all. Unfortunately, only two can go in at a time, and Vegeta (of course) demands first entrance with Trunks tagging along. So we have an excuse for Goku (and Gohan) to basically sit around doing nothing.

Meanwhile, Cell is still terrorizing the world, and there's not much anyone can do to stop him. There's trying, of course, including a cool fight sequence at an empty airport and on an airplane (as I've said before, it's always refreshing to see fighting in places other than large expanses of nothing).

Piccolo eventually fights with some Androids while Cell finally catches up to them. Piccolo is thus forced to fight alongside the Androids. I particularly like this bit because it's like a merging of two completely separate yet parallel storylines for the first time. Though the fighting does return to the 'large expanses of nothing' at this point. I can't comment much on this, as I watched it during some pretty rough personal-life issues that were going on, so my head wasn't fully in the show. However, I can say that if you've enjoyed the action of the show thus far, there's nothing to disappoint here.

Two things that never disappoints no matter what, though? First, any time the show likes to experiment with its animation style. Every now and then, the animation will do something totally different than it usually does (usually in action scenes), and it looks really awesome. I can't really explain it, but you'll recognize what I mean if you've watched the show. Second, any time Vegeta fights... his music is awesome. There's just something about any of Vegeta's music that I love. And once he starts fighting here, he gets some new music (along with the classic stuff) that's really fun to listen to.

One thing that's getting a bit on the annoying side, though, is scene changing from episode to episode. It's happened in the past from time to time, but now it's nearly every episode. What I mean is that an episode will end one way, but then the next episode begins with the ending of the previous episode... and it changes it almost completely. The dialogue is different, and even reactions to things are different. I complained about this once before at the end of Season 3 with Vegeta starting crap and then flying away at the end of one episode, but then being perfectly fine and with the others the next. One particularly jarring (and recent) case I can give an example for would be after Gohan and Goku enter the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. At the end of that episode, Gohan sees the expanse of nothingness and gets excited, and Goku plays along. But at the beginning of the next episode, everything is super serious and Goku tells Gohan to go check out the nothingness for the first time (which didn't happen before... Gohan called Goku over before). And this time when Gohan sees it, he freaks out. In other words, I wish it would just go one direction and stick with it, instead of continually doing things twice and with opposite actions.

But to counter that, you have incredibly awesome things like Ascended Trunks (well, at least he's awesome in looks). Though Trunks, while cool, comes with his annoyances. For instance, almost any time he talks, he has to reference what happened in the future. We get it. The Androids destroyed it. You're vengeful. You don't have to tell the story over and over and over again. But then there's the Hyperbolic Time Chamber training with Goku and Gohan, which is always fun.

On a more physical level (I suppose), the DVDs themselves do something... strange. About halfway into the season, the discs go from having about 6 episodes per disc to 3. And that's a total waste. The reason they did this is so they could give the Cell Games (probably the best thing in DBZ) it's own season... at least, that's what I'm assuming. We'll see when I watch Season 6, which starts with the Cell Games stuff.

Overall, despite its faults, I'd say this is the best season yet, probably only to be overtaken by next season, because the Cell Games (from what I remember) are awesome. Unfortunately, the Dragonball universe is like one super-long story, so you can't just pick up here and expect to understand everything. Basically every season requires that you have the knowledge of at least the season before it. And many things in DBZ recommend knowledge of the original series, Dragonball. Though at least with that, there are plenty of flashbacks and explanations so that if you don't have pre-existing knowledge of the original show, it fills in the blanks for you. So what I'm getting at is, although this is a really good season, you really can't start here and expect to understand the characters or what is going on (at least to the capacity that you should).

So I guess I'll leave it at that. Until the next season!

TV Review: Dragonball Z - Season Four.

I tried something a bit different this time. I wrote and added to the review as I finished each disc of the season, so that when it came time to write the review, I wouldn't forget stuff. This is especially helpful if, like has already happened, Netflix gets screwy and new DVDs for the show don't come for nearly two weeks. Anyway, I finished this last week but have either been lazy or putting it off in favor of other reviews. Let me know if you prefer this format of review.

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With Goku still MIA, the season picks up not too long after the last... and picks up with a bang. Though that's not necessarily a good thing. You see, DBZ, every now and then, has what are called "mini-sagas." These are tiny sagas of filler that mainly conflict with the rest of the series, as they weren't from the original source material. The Garlic Jr. Saga is basically the first, as it originally aired between the third and fourth seasons. But for this DVD collection, it is under the fourth season. And I didn't remember much of anything about this mini-saga, so I went in rather cold.

The Garlic Jr. Saga ties back to one of the many DBZ animated films, The Dead Zone, which occurs prior to the beginning of the series (so before Raditz shows up). And that's where my biggest issue spawned from. Up until the last episode of the first disc, Garlic Jr. and his crew are beating the crap out of everybody. But that means that they're all more powerful than the Ginyu Force, possibly closer to lower-to-mid-level Frieza. Then that means that Yamcha, Tien, and (heaven help up) Chaotzu are much stronger than Gohan, Piccolo, and Krillin. I find that hard to believe, especially with Gohan and Piccolo (Krillin I could understand). And herein lies another problem: Gohan defeated Garlic Jr. before Raditz even showed up, and he's become infinitely stronger since then. So why are he and Piccolo (who has also become infinitely stronger) having so much trouble? Like I said, up until the last episode of the first disc, we have no idea (it turns out that this star is making him super powerful).

So up until that point, I couldn't take any of it seriously. And that was a shame, because it had a great concept and was incredibly dark. Not to mention it had a heavy focus on Gohan (and Piccolo and Krillin). Although it's mostly Gohan getting the crap beat out of him, he does stand his own a couple times. In fact, toward the end of it, Gohan becomes a right little badass. There's also an interesting little fight between Gohan and Chi-Chi, finally giving Chi-Chi some fighting scenes.

Krillin also introduces us to his first ever girlfriend, Maron. She's a sexy little thing who all the guys are smitten after, but only up until she starts to reveal her incredibly ditzy and idiotic personality. Though she does bring out a lot of the pervert in Roshi, which is all quite funny (there's a moment between Roshi and Chi-Chi, as well).

But to add another non-sense bit to the mini-saga, though, Kami and Mr. Popo have to travel through the realm where all the previous guardians of Earth rest. But the guardians attack them and refuse to let them save the Earth. It makes no sense whatsoever. How could any guardian of Earth be such an ass, and then not care that the very planet they protected for so many years is being destroyed because they refuse to let Kami through? I personally feel it was done purely for tension and without really thinking it through.

To bring it a little closer to the main storyline, it interjects scenes of Vegeta traveling the universe searching for Goku, needing to know how he attained his Super Saiyan ability. Though these scenes aren't anything special except to show the greatness that is Vegeta (he really is one of the better written characters on the show).

Once the Garlic Jr. stuff is over, it picks back up with the main storyline, starting with the return of Frieza (who has been rebuilt as mostly robotic by his father). He travels to Earth to get his revenge and destroy the planet. And all seems to be going well... until a strange young man shows up and destroys them all with ease.

Enter Trunks (as pictured on the DVD box cover), a super saiyan from the future. They handle the time travel well, avoiding paradoxes by going with the 'alternate timeline' thing instead. Even better is when it's revealed who Trunks is--the son of a very unique couple that, well, hasn't really even become a couple yet. Though this season really starts up that relationship. But he has to keep his identity a secret from them out of fear that they'll not get together and have him.

So why is Trunks really there? It wasn't for Frieza, that's for sure. He's there to warn everybody that Dr. Gero, a man who used to work for the Red Ribbon Army (enemies from the original Dragonball series), has created two very powerful Androids that are going to destroy the planet. Normally, Goku would have handled them nicely, but he suffered from a fatal heart condition. So Trunks has traveled into the past to warn everybody and save Goku before it's too late. Unfortunately, things don't happen exactly as they had in Trunks' timeline...

But that's getting a bit ahead. What happens from here is some great stuff. We see (Future) Trunks as the badass he is. But then we're left back with the others. And then what happens next is what should have happened in the first season when preparing for Vegeta and Nappa: About one and a half episodes showing training before skipping ahead in time. And the training episode is great, especially the scenes between Piccolo, Goku, and Gohan, as well as more toward the eventual relationship between Vegeta and Bulma (though poor Yamcha being pushed aside). Though we're not without filler. The infamous 'driver's liscense' episode occurs here, before the three-year jump, showing Chi-Chi forcing Goku and Piccolo to get their driver's liscenses. It's overall a pointless episode, though it does have some funny moments (though why it takes both Goku and Piccolo to hold a bus is beyond me. You'd think Goku could do it with his pinky toe at ease). And I still haven't mentioned the unexplained introduction of Gohan's pet dragon Icarus (I believe he's introduced in one of the side-movies).

Anyway, the Androids show up, though I'd completely forgotten about Androids 19 and 20 (I always remembered 16, 17, and 18). I particularly love some of the music that comes along with them. Of note is that Vegeta gets some more screen time, and it's all particularly awesome. But we're also given one very annoying episode before that. Randomly, Maron decides to show back up at Master Roshi's searching for Krillin (and even after they tell her he's gone, she proceeds to do strange things... like look in the refrigerator and ask a potted plant where he is). So then Roshi has to tell her all about Goku's history with the Red Ribbon Army and what's up with the Androids... which ends in a bit of a mess, because Roshi ends in an explanation of information he can't possibly know, as even Goku just learned it himself minutes before, very far away from them. There's also a weird dubbing issue where Goku is fighting Android 19 and there's a close-up shot of Piccolo's face... but you hear Gohan say something like "All right, daddy!" The strangest thing is... Gohan's not even in the same vicinity yet.

Eventually we do get to Androids 16, 17, and 18, and it starts being a heck of a lot more interesting. I also particularly enjoyed a fight scene in the middle of traffic. For the majority of the show thus far, most fights have been in the middle of nowhere, away from people (unless cities were just being destroyed blandly). Sure, there are lots of broken rocks and crashing mountains, but that gets old after a while. So to see the fight in the middle of a busy highway was a great breath of fresh air, however short the sequence might have been.

I'm know there's more I haven't discussed (I don't wanna talk about everything here). But overall, besides random and utterly pointless intervals with Maron at Roshi's, the last 10 or so episodes of the season are pretty good. There's good action and fun music to go with it. It ends how any normal season finale would end, with a good hint at what's to come... though like the rest of the seasons, it happens at a weird time. It's as if it's ending mid-season. The plot of the season is still going on. Nothing's been resolved. In fact, this season is much like Season Two (The Ginyu Season). Outside of the Garlic Jr. stuff, it's just a setup for what's coming--Cell. Also, much like Season Two, it's a mostly useless season outside of the setup. All the Trunks stuff is really cool, and the Androids are cool once they're finally introduced toward the end. But everything else... not too necessary. This wasn't my favorite season by a long shot. But the next one is. I really love the Cell stuff, mostly because it's finally Gohan's time to shine. But I'm getting ahead of myself here.

If you're watching the show, this season is a necessary speed bump to get over. Just don't expect too much from it.

TV Review: Dragonball Z - Season Three.

This season took way too long to get through. Why? Because Netflix started messing with me for a while, and I didn't get a new disc for nearly two weeks. It literally kept skipping over a whole chunk of DVDs, even those that weren't on a 'short wait' or whatnot. But oh well. I've gotten through them now, so I can review them.

Season 3 is a bit unlike the previous two seasons: it doesn't have the setup that the other two had. This is mostly because all of Season 2 is basically the setup for Season 3. That's why I felt that they should be considered one uber-season (much like I know a couple parts of the "Cell" season got split up). But this isn't necessarily a bad thing, either. Instead of having to wait for episode upon episode for Goku to finish doing whatever it is he's doing and show up to the battle field, we pretty much have him from the start. And Frieza needs no introduction, as he was built up all throughout Season 2. So what we have here is an entire season of almost non-stop fighting and action.

Yet, even with a 6-disc action scene, the season still manages to do some crazy things... like put large amounts of focus on the unnecessary. Chi-Chi, for instance. Or King Kai's planet. Or Bulma. Though the Bulma scenes inevitably pay off with the (pointless) return of Captain Ginyu. And speaking of the Ginyu Force, was bringing them back into the show really necessary? King Kai eventually invites them to his little planet to face off against Tien, Chaotzu, and Yamcha to show the boys how strong they've become. Needless to say, they wipe the floor with them. But there were really just some unnecessary moments and flashes to other places.

This was especially true toward the end, and this was one of the big things I always disliked about the Frieza Saga. Frieza attacks the planet and gives it 5 minutes before it will explode, killing Goku while he escapes (he can live in space). Well, it apparently takes roughly 8-9 22-minute episodes for 5 minutes to pass. And it just gets ridiculous in one of the final episodes before Goku defeats Frieza. Frieza remembers everything he hates about Goku in a series of flashbacks. But it's not just a quick montage of flashbacks. No. It's about a half-episode long set of flashbacks wherein each scene takes about a minute to retell. It's like "We just finished watching the season... let me show the entire thing to you again... including scenes from this very episode." So you get to see a scene from that one episode about 3 times. Between that and King Kai repeatedly explaining "The planet is going to explode with Goku on it, so it doesn't matter if he defeats Frieza... he's still gonna die!" Seriously, Yamcha et al. must be idiots, because King Kai had to tell them that every single time they showed them (and they showed them often). I about laughed at one point when they ask "What's wrong?" It's like "he just finished telling you for the 50th time!"

I also have a couple other issues with the final episodes, including a couple major continuity problems. First of all (the smaller issue), there's a point where Vegeta and Gohan fight, Gohan gets the crap beat out of him, and Vegeta leaves. The very next episode shows Gohan perfectly fine and Vegeta just hanging out. Not only that, but Bulma then starts to hit on Vegeta (like, flirt with, not beat), after mainly being scared of and hateful toward him. Though I've always enjoyed the Bulma/Vegeta relationship, so I'm not too flustered. The bigger issue is with the Namekian dragonballs. They want to wish Goku and Krillin back (assuming Goku had died when the planet exploded) with those dragonballs, but discover that they could only be wished back to the place they died. But earlier on in the previous season, they used the same dragonballs to wish Piccolo back to life. He died on Earth, but he doesn't reappear where he died. He stays on King Kai's planet where he currently was, and they have to wish him to Namek. The continuity issue there is alarming.

There seems to be a lot of negativity here, but it's really a fun season. The action is great, though they really undermined Gohan's powers. He turns out to be one of the strongest fighters (if not the strongest) on the show, yet even with boosted ability, he's shown as mostly weak against Frieza and the Ginyu Force. But I guess that's hindsight for you. And the best thing about this season? The introduction of the Super Saiyan! That's right, Goku finally turns Super Saiyan, and it is epic. Once he does that, Frieza (mostly) gets his ass handed to him. It's great fun to watch. And I love how they use juxtapositions to show increased strength on this show (you see how strong Vegeta is, yet Frieza manhandles him... then Goku shows up and beats on Frieza, showing how much stronger Goku is than Vegeta).

Anyway, I don't have much else to say about the season. I already have disc 1 of season 4, so it won't be long before I get to my favorite stuff (the Cell saga(s)). There are a couple things to get through before that (Garlic Jr. and Androids, specifically). So, yeah.

TV Review: Dragonball Z - Season Two.

This probably won't be an incredibly long review. Last time, on Dragonball Z... well, read here.

So Goku is still healing up from the battle with Vegeta (even though he keeps sneaking out for extra practice). Gohan, Krillin, and Bulma are still headed for Planet Namek to use the Namekian Dragonballs to wish back everybody that died against Vegeta and Nappa. But once they finally get there (after being sidetracked once or twice), they discover they're not alone. Not only is Vegeta searching for the Namekian Dragonballs, but his old boss, the insanely powerful Frieza is looking for them, as well. Namek is being destroyed one village at a time, and Frieza already has five of the balls. But he can't be bothered with doing anything himself. Instead, he sends out all of his little henchmen to do all the hardwork for him.

And that's where this little 'season' suffers the most. In fact, I never really saw this as a season in and of itself. This season and the following season all deal with Namek and Frieza, so it's easier to lump them all together as one season. However, as they are separated, I guess I'm gonna review them as such.

Although this season starts out slow, similar to the previous, it still starts out much more exciting. They get to the action faster, and it never really slows down. It has its peaks and dips, but it's still relatively non-stop. Though if it weren't for the fact that important characters and information are set up within this season, I'd categorize it mostly as filler. It's just Frieza's henchmen sent off to do his dirty work. First his right-hand men that were there with him to begin with, but then, after they fail, he sends for the powerful Ginyu Force.

And there's the next dip in the season. You only have to worry for a couple episodes about anybody being in any real danger before Goku shows up, and then he proceeds to kick ass as usual. But on top of that, the Ginyu force is ridiculous. They're almost too silly and over-the-top for the show, and that's saying a lot. But I guess you could say, although Frieza is still the 'big bad' of the whole, the Ginyu Force is the 'big bad' of the season.

But, as I said, a lot of important stuff (and people) is set up in this season, so it's not exactly easy to get rid of. Though I think it could have been shrunk down considerably. If you cut out some scenes that just show everybody staring at each other not doing anything, cut down on the pointless Bulma scenes, along with entire episodes toward the beginning of the season (was the accidental landing on the alien planet really necessary?), you could probably cut this season down by at least a third.

Though good stuff does start coming from this. Vegeta begins his slow turn to the side of good by being forced to work with the heroes. Gohan also starts to become even more powerful still. Oh, and the voice acting and scripting has gotten better considerably from the first season. I'd say it still has a small bit to go, but I am aware that it does get better as it goes along anyway, so I'm not too worried about that.

Really, I don't have a hell of a lot to talk about with this season. It's not particularly stand-out by any means. It has good action, of course, but the Ginyu are too stupid to take seriously as villains. However, I know the next season is gonna be so much better. It's almost non-stop action (shouldn't be slow starting as we basically left off halfway through the story-arch), and Frieza is a real villain to worry about. Not to mention we'll finally have Super Saiyan Goku. So I'll leave it there for now. We'll see what I think about the next season, next time... on Dragonball Z!

(Okay, I know... cheesy).

TV Review: Dragonball Z - Season One.

Alrighty, so I finished re-watching the first season (The Saiyan and/or Vegeta Saga) of Dragonball Z. Season One has never been my favorite season, though I do have some things I do really like about it. You don’t necessarily need to have seen Dragonball to follow Dragonball Z, though it helps.

The series picks up 5 years after the end of Dragonball. Piccolo had been defeated, and Goku and Chi-Chi are married and have a four-year-old son named Gohan (after Goku’s grandfather). But when an alien named Raditz, who turns out to be Goku’s older brother, shows up wondering why Goku hadn’t destroyed the planet yet, Goku learns all about his mysterious past. Goku is a Saiyan, one of the most powerful races in the universe. They are planet dealers, leveling planets and selling them to the highest bidder. But the Saiyan’s home world was destroyed, leaving only four Saiyans alive—Goku being one of them. He had been sent to Earth as a baby to get it ready by killing everybody and getting it ready for sale, but hit is head and forgot everything. He thus becomes the world’s protector instead.

However, Raditz still wants the mission to go through as planned, but not if Goku and his friends have anything to say about it. Raditz kidnaps little Gohan and forces Goku to act. Piccolo, still alive and well, is forced to team up with his mortal enemy to kill this Raditz guy, because he’s way too powerful for either of them to take alone. And they barely do it, but not without Goku dying in the process, as well as Gohan showing some innate power. They also discover that two other Saiyans—Nappa and Vegeta (Prince of all Saiyans)—have heard everything due to a transmitting device and are on their way to Earth to find the Dragonballs and wish for immortality.

So now everybody has one year to train and get ready to face the two even more powerful Saiyans. Piccolo takes Gohan under his wing, because he feels the kid can come in handy. Krillin, Tien, Choazu, Yamcha, and the cowardly Yajirobi train on Korin Tower with Kami, while Goku must travel the seemingly endless Snake Way in Otherworld to train with King Kai before being wished back to life with the Dragonballs in one year’s time.

Okay, so the first 5 or 6 episodes are the only ones that deal with Raditz (and really only the end of the first episode… the rest is introductory). Then for about 15-20 episodes after that, it gets a bit repetitious. Piccolo leaves Gohan to live on his own for 6 months to get over his spoiled-ness and to toughen up. Goku travels through Snake Way; in fact, it’s really bad when he spends numerous episodes traveling Snake Way, then falls off and has to start back over from the beginning.

For me, that’s one of the biggest things I didn’t like about the first season: It’s way too slow. The first episode kinda drags introducing Gohan and getting lost in the woods, but then Raditz shows up and it picks up considerably. But that only lasts for a few episodes. Then nothing happens for the majority of it afterward. The bulk of the saga is spent prepping to train for Nappa and Vegeta. The main focus is on Gohan living on his own and his evolution as a person. And that part I really liked, even if, as I said, it got repetitious later on. The thing I didn’t like, though, was that once all of that was said and done, it basically skips the actual training. Goku gets to King Kai’s and there’s a few episodes of easy training, and Piccolo finally starts personally training Gohan, where there are a few introductory episodes. And the others get to Korin Tower—again, a few intro episodes. But after that, there’s a huge jump forward in time and training is over. So it’s like we spent all that time getting ready to train, and almost no time showing the actual training.

But I’m sure I understand why this was done. They were saving the fun action for when Nappa and Vegeta showed up. And this is where the season really picks up. While Nappa and Vegeta aren’t the most entertaining villains (again, another reason I’m not big on the first season), the fights are great to watch. Vegeta is better when he does like Piccolo does and joins the good guys later on in the series. The constant rivalry between Goku and Vegeta later on is more entertaining than he is in the first season.

But what I love about the first season is the relationship between Gohan and Piccolo. Gohan was always my favorite character (until the Cell Saga ends, and then he just gets lame. I never got big into the Buu Saga and all of those, though mostly because I think I started getting more of a social life around the time they were airing those episodes). Anyway, I loved Gohan’s evolution from a whiny little four-year-old kid into one of the most powerful fighters in the series. And then there’s Piccolo’s evolution from evil baddy to father figure. And all of that starts in this season.

As far as more of the technical things, the first season was never known as the best with voiceover or scripting. In fact, it’s incredibly cheesy at times, in both aspects. But from what I remember (and what I’ve read), it gets better as it goes on. And the animation is great. There are a couple issues here and there (Vegeta’s hair), but otherwise, it’s top notch. The action is bright and fast and amazing. And watching the uncut version, there is even some good blood and whatnot that I didn’t see originally growing up.

I know I said some negative things about the season, but it is really enjoyable. There are some laugh-out-loud moments, and other moments where you just have a huge grin on your face because something awesome is either happening or about to happen. And I think this series is where I got my inclination to end chapters in my books with massive cliffhangers, because almost every DBZ episode (especially those when there are epic battles going on) ends with something insane (“Will the world blow up? Will everybody die? Find out next time… on Dragonball Z!”). And the thing is, these are real cliffhangers, because those examples may sound like jokes, but those things can and do happen in this series. The show is known for characters dying (only to be resurrected to die again later) and for massive landscapes and/or entire planets being destroyed. I would get annoyed sometimes, because I’m re-watching these on DVD via Netflix, and I’d get through the last episode of a disc and get impatient when I realize I’ll have to a wait a few days before I get the next one.

The first season ends at a weird spot (nothing really conclusive… actually already having started up the next adventure), but I can’t wait to start the next season. The Frieza Saga is one of the longest sagas, and although it’s known for its episodes of nothing but powering up and things never seeming to come to an end, I’m excited. It’s the season that introduces the Super Saiyan, which is awesome. So once I’ve finished season two, expect more of my thoughts!

As for now… completely ignore the Dragonball Evolution “movie” and go out and rent Dragonball Z (or something like that).