Benjamin T. Collier's Blog

At this point the show stops making any sense whatsoever. I think the writers took this final season as a victory lap, throwing logic to the wind and just enjoying the ride. There is still a lot of fun to be had in the final season. The many character developments of Buu make for a progressively more interesting villain as his various forms are revealed. Each of the Saiyan heroes reach new levels of power. Even Piccolo is given some spotlight as a strategist, if not a combatant.

Overall it is still an enjoyable season, I just kinda tune out after Episode 272 – after that the various explanations of Buu’s powers, how they work and why certain forms are stronger than others completely falls apart with self-contradictions. For one thing, after everything we’ve come to learn about Buu they expect us to believe that he has a complex, human-like system of organs like a digestive tract complete with intestinal worms. I don’t buy it.

Before I go much further I just wanna let you know that the puppy is okay. See? He’s right here. He’s fine.

Gotenks is a fun character. He fights just like two kids in one body. The Super Ghost Kamikaze Attack is never explained, so when you see it and say “What the crap is that!?” don’t hold your breath.

I have to say Piccolo is back in his prime as a teacher. He brings a wisdom and practicality to the role that no other DBZ characters can offer. I mean, who else in all of Dragon Ball has ever looked at a mushroom cloud where an enemy once stood and said “Don’t celebrate just yet. Let’s wait until the smoke clears.”? Nobody – that’s who.

As a bizarre fighter that can do practically anything, Buu’s attacks get increasingly disgusting. Although the evolution of Buu is interesting, I like his second (or technically third) form the most. All his other forms lack a certain elemental creepiness that reaches its peak in that form.

As a send off for the series, the last few episodes do a good job of touring the homeland, letting you know how all the characters are doing and where they might go from here. A number of characters we haven’t seen in ages make cameos as well. Audiences will likely be annoyed by some of the choices the characters make. These guys are not family-oriented at all.

Violence: apart from the usual, somebody gets shot. There is some strong violence against Buu, but it’s like savagely beating up a wad of bubblegum – not very disturbing. There is also an egg that gets stepped on – it doesn’t sound like much but you’ll know the potential for emotional scarring when you see it.

Nudity: This is the longest nudity list yet. All male though. Goku’s, Goten’s, Trunks’ and Gotenks’ butts, a Super Saiyan butt, and Baby Goku’s butt & junk.

General inappropriateness: Gotenks gives Buu the finger. Buu gives the finger to no one in particular. Roshi rubs Bulma’s can… again. Also that one guy at the end who’s remeniscent of South Park’s Mr. Slave.

Quote of the Season

“Okay, on to Plan B… whatever that is.”

–          Goku

Fusion Reborn

This is one of my personal favourites of the DBZ movies. The story concept and villain are both interesting, plus it introduces a new hero not seen anywhere else in the Z series, though his appearance is brief.

Basically the story line involves a malfunction with an Otherworld device resulting in some kind of super-demon and a breakdown of the barriers between the universes, resulting in the dead coming back to life. Why bad souls being sent to hell would need to go through a purifier machine first is beyond me, but who cares. Crazy zombie fight time.

A number of long dead villains make a reappearence in this movie. Gohan fights Frieza, Hercule fights random zombies, and Trunks and Goten fight Hitler. The action is fast and inventive. There are some moves in this movie that I haven’t seen anywhere else in DBZ.

Timing this movie was a bit tricky, but I figured the best place is exactly halfway through Episode 254. During the commercial break even. That might seem odd since we haven’t seen that much of Gotenks yet. The locations of the various characters are not perfectly lined up, and the story seems to have been written after the first occurrence of the Super Ghost Kamikaze Attack, but this is the best time to watch this movie without interrupting the flow of the season.

Language: Hell mentioned as a location. An occurrence of the finger.

Nudity: A fat guy’s butt.

Wrath of the Dragon

This is an odd one, though it’s still fun to watch. And I believe it’s a fan favourite due to it’s significance for Trunks. The story line feels very RPG for a Dragon Ball narrative, with mystery characters who play enchanting music and hold terrible secrets and long lost families and great powers that have been divided up and sealed away. Because of these mystery elements I don’t want to give to much of the plot away. It’s a different flavour for a Dragon Ball movie, but a welcome change.

Shenron only grants one wish. What’s up with that?

The old villain does some kind of alien-ninja-chanting. Apart from that I didn’t notice anything that might concern Christian viewers.

I’d place this movie between Episodes 287 and 288. I think that’s all the characters nicely settled into where they’re supposed to be when the movie starts.

In Conclusion

I don’t have much to say as a wrap up. This is a seriously inspiring show. It has impacted me as a writer/storyteller and as a fiction fan in general. It would take an in-depth look at each season to adequately go over all of the different things the show has meant to me over the years. Speaking of which…

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Season 4

Season 5

Season 6

Season 7

Season 8

Of course if I had to pick a particular season that has impacted me the most, or on the most personal level, it would have to be Season 6. I had written a whole blog post about a major plot point from that season before I’d even started this season-by-season review. You wouldn’t expect major spiritual revelations to be found in a show like this, but they’re in there.

Thank you for reading. 🙂