Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor 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: 7 hours, 21 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. Simple enough. For about the first four sagas 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). And for whoever 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), but 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 12 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, the Imperfect Cell Saga, the Perfect Cell Saga, the Cell Games Saga, the Great Saiyaman Saga, the World Tournament Saga, and the Babidi Saga. If you were to begin watching the show from this point in time you’d be pretty confused. You’d see guys all beat to hell, some weird pink thing bouncing around, and well, you just wouldn’t get it. If anything, starting with the World Tournament Saga would be the best. You’d still be missing a few ideas, obviously coming from previous sagas, but you’d be able to grasp the big picture. If you need more information you can always search the web (there are plenty of sites out there!) or go look at the previous sagas to see what’s going on.

So…what the heck, right?

Well we have Vegeta and Goku beating each other to a complete pulp, Gohan still trying to take out Dabura, and Babidi is waiting for Buu to “hatch” out of his little ball. Interesting.

In the previous saga, Vegeta was slightly possessed by Babidi’s wizard powers. I say slightly only because he was able to ignore whatever commands Babidi gave him, but took all the rest of the power into himself. Babidi’s spell gave Vegeta back his evil self, as well as power to go with it. That was his goal – let Babidi take him over and then prove to Goku once and for all that he, the Saiyan Prince, is the best. Bad timing Vegeta – cool, but bad timing.

Because of their fighting, Buu is able to free himself from his imprisonment – looking pretty strange upon emerging. Definitely not the part of ultimate destructor. But ok, Babidi decides he might as well go with what he’s got. The Supreme Kai is freaking out, so Buu can’t be that weak now can he? The arrival of Buu turns into an all out fight for survival for Gohan, the Supreme Kai, and even Dabura! Vegeta and Goku – what are you guys doing? Get back there!

Finally Vegeta at least returns to the battlefield and takes on Buu himself. Episodes #221 and #222 are great. Why are they great? Just trust me, they are. They have Vegeta’s finest moments captured in them and I love them. In here you see his noble decision (even if it is in a way to beat Goku) as well as his love for his son. If you can’t get anything else, at least get these two because they’re awesome. But then, I’m biased towards Vegeta so… Hehe.

I won’t tell you how that all went down, but I do have to tell you that Buu’s rampage continued, Babidi at the helm. Finally the dragonballs come into play once more!! Boy has it been a while since they’ve been needed. All kinds of things begin to happen at once. Once Goku returns to the others, he realizes his time on the Earth is almost over. He introduces a new and special technique that Trunks and Goten, who are now the hope of the Earth, can use. Babidi and Buu and blowing everything up, and Bulma and the others are using the dragonballs to revive anyone they can. While the others do their stuff, Goku attempts to stop Buu his way – but what way is that, and will it have the desired effect on Buu?

Majin Buu eventually doesn’t like taking orders anymore, Goku’s time on earth is suddenly up, Gohan is off training with the Supreme Kai, Goten and Trunks are now under the tutelage of Piccolo and still attempting to get their new technique off the ground – but then something very strange and unexpected happens. Who will win? Who will lose? What new powers will rise to the occasion? And what sharp twists will we be taken on this time?

The whole Vegeta thing? Gotta love that. Supreme Kai, well, I was kind of waiting for him to die actually. He got on my nerves and the way he acted half the time, he pretty much deserved to die. But he had a few tricks up his sleeves, and that was cool in it’s own way. I don’t want to give all the goodies away (because there are some good nuggets of joy in this saga), but there’s a lot of cool stuff going on in this saga. There is, as usual, some waiting periods as the saga moves into the late 220’s, early 230’s, but it’s kind of on and off. Something you just have to get used to after a while. Near the end I began to think things like, “What is this?” but once things moved into the next saga and some explaining occurred, it made more sense (primarily, Buu’s sudden change at the end). You have to watch to understand, let’s just put it that way.

These volume sets are generally $5 per tape, but if you shop around, it’s possible 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, but Japanese uncut and subtitled is always better.

NT

Episode List:
#217 Buu is Hatched
#218 The Losses Begin
#219 The Terror of Mr. Buu
#220 Meal Time
#221 The Warrior’s Decision
#222 Final Atonement
#223 Evil Lives On
#224 Find the Dragonballs
#225 Revival
#226 Global Announcement
#227 Learn to Fuse!
#228 The Z Sword
#229 Race to Capsule Corp.
#230 Super Saiyan 3?!
#231 Buu’s Mutiny
#232 The Fusion Dance
#233 Goku’s Time is Up
#234 Return to Other World
#235 Out from the Broken Sword
#236 Gotenks is Born
#237 Unlikely Friendship
#238 I Kill No More

Other DBZ reviews:

The Series:
Previous Sagas:
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
Dragon Ball Z - Perfect Cell Saga: 4-Volume Box Set
Dragon Ball Z - World Tournament Saga: 3-Volume Box Set
Dragon Ball Z - Babidi Saga: 4-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