Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

Note to readers: This is not a movie, but a set of tapes with episodes of the Dragon Ball Z show on them.

RUNTIME: 4 hours, 28 minutes

Ok, here’s some introductory info:

Background: Dragon Ball Z (DBZ) is a Japanese cartoon (anime) that was created by Akira Toriyama. DBZ is a show of super-powerful beings that fight evil – most of the conflict centered around magical items called dragonballs. Dragonballs can only be created by Nameks, powerful alien beings (of which the character Piccolo is one). What do they do? If someone manages to collect all seven dragonballs, a dragon will appear and grant 1-3 wishes (depending upon which set of dragonballs one is using – there are about 4 different sets throughout the entire DBZ existence). The main hero of the entire series is Goku. Goku is a Saiyan (Saiya-jin in Japanese) – an alien race that thrives on battle (Goku is the exception), which was destroyed many years ago. However, the newly arriving enemies have no interest in the dragonballs whatsoever and are simply bent on various stages of destruction (killing the Z fighters, destroying earth, conquering the universe, etc.).

By this time there have been 8 previous sagas; The Saiyan Saga, the Namek Saga, the Captain Ginyu Saga, the Frieza Saga, the Garlic Jr. Saga, the Trunks Saga, the Android Saga, and the Imperfect Cell Saga. That this particular junction I strongly recommend at least checking out at the very least the Imperfect Cell Saga before looking into this one – otherwise you’ll be watching this and wonder, “Who are these people?” There will ultimately be things you will not understand if you come in at that point and will have to either search the web for information or go look at the previous sagas to grasp what’s going on.

Moving right along…

Piccolo, having failed to take care of Cell when he had the chance, returns to the others and lets them know. Cell is now after the Androids again – however, he’s already kicked the bolts out of #16 and sucked up #17, so all he wants now is pretty #18! However, this time Tien steps in and takes matters into his own hands and keeps near perfect Cell at bay for quite some time – it’s great to see Tien put someone down for once. But he’s not strong enough and joins Piccolo on the ground, energy-less.

Meanwhile, Goku and Gohan go in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber after Trunks and Vegeta have been training for a year in it (they go in for 4 days on the outside, but time slows into a year on the inside) and have finally come out, ready to rock and roll. But they’d better hurry up because Cell is getting closer and closer to finding out where #18 is hiding with a severely injured #16. However, Trunks and Vegeta arrive and Vegeta takes his first shot at Cell – and pretty much grinds him into the ground. Vegeta and Trunks show that they are not just Super Saiyans, but Ultimate Super Saiyans (there are 4 total levels of SSJ (Super Saiya-jin) – this one is like SSJ 1.5). Cell’s scared now! But he’s not stupid and has a little Vegeta in him – so he knows how he thinks. He tells Vegeta to wait until he’s perfect – then Vegeta can have a real challenge!

As all this goes down, Krillin finds himself face to face with #18, a control to shut her down in his hands from Bulma. But can he do it? Is Krillin in love with #18? As he’s trying to figure out just what he wants to do, Vegeta has accepted Cell’s offer and allows him to continue looking for #18. Trunks knows what it’s like to live in a world of destruction so he takes over fighting Cell – but his father won’t have that!

So now Goku and Gohan and training in the Time Chamber, Trunks and Vegeta are going at each other’s throats, Krillin is in love with #18, Cell is searching for #18, and #18 is trying to hide with the malfunctioning #16. Mass hysteria! Who’s going to win out? What will happen if Cell becomes perfect? Can Gohan become a Super Saiyan? Will Trunks and Vegeta kill each other? You’re gonna have to watch to find out.

This saga was good times! Action galore, a father son conflict, love is in the air – how much more interesting can it get? Though I think Cell’s second form dubbed voice is kinda funky, I got used to it. I wasn’t really sure of his final voice though – it made me think of some proper English guy or something. In this particular saga though there is some time where you wish things would hurry up and go (such as when they cut back to what Goku and Gohan are doing in the middle of Vegeta and Cell’s fight), the majority of it is pretty smooth going. There’s just an element of the interesting in this saga and I must admit, I loved Tien jumping in the way he did.

Once again, these volume sets are generally $5 per tape, but if you shop around, you might be able to get it for less. You can scope things out if you don’t want VHS tapes and get DVDs instead though. As for preference; English and uncut is good, Japanese uncut and subtitled is better.

NT

Episode List:

#138 Sacrifice
#139 Saiyans Emerge
#140 Super Vegeta
#141 Bow to the Prince
#142 Hour of Temptation
#143 Krillin’s Decision
#144 The Last Defense
#145 Cell is Complete
#146 Vegeta Must Pay
#147 Trunks Ascends
#148 Saving Throw
#149 Ghosts From Tomorrow
#150 The Cell Games

Other DBZ reviews:

The Series:
Sagas before this one:
Dragon Ball Z - Saiyan Saga: 8-Volume Box Set
Dragon Ball Z - Namek Saga: 9-Volume Set
Dragon Ball Z - Captain Ginyu Saga: 2-Volume Box Set
Dragon Ball Z - Frieza Saga: 10-Volume Box Set
Dragon Ball Z - Garlic Jr. Saga: 3-Volume Box Set
Dragon Ball Z - Trunks Saga: 4-Volume Box Set
Dragon Ball Z - Androids Saga: 4-Volume Box Set
Dragon Ball Z - Imperfect Cell Saga: 4-Volume Box Set

Sagas after:
Dragon Ball Z - World Tournament Saga: 3-Volume Box Set
Dragon Ball Z - Babidi Saga: 4-Volume Box Set
Dragon Ball Z - Majin Buu Saga: 7-Volume Box Set

The Movies:
Dragon Ball Z: The Movie – Dead Zone
Dragon Ball Z: The Movie - The World's Strongest
Dragon Ball Z: The Movie - The Tree of Might
Dragon Ball Z: The Movie – Cooler’s Revenge
Dragon Ball Z: The Movie – The Return of Cooler
Dragon Ball Z: The Movie – Super Android 13
Dragon Ball Z: The Movie – Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan
Dragon Ball Z: The Movie – Bojack Unbound

Recommended: Yes

Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older