Dragonball Z: The Tree of Might

This week I thought I'd rewatch one of my favourite Dragonball Movies titled The Tree of Might, this was the third movie released during the run of Z in Japan and focused on the arrival of a Saiyan space Pirate who resembles Goku and his group of mercenaries as they want to use the Earth to plant the tree of might in order to produce its fruit which gives a considerable boost in power to the user, thus making them the most feared Pirates in the galaxy, or so they'd hope.

Of course Goku and the rest of the gang would soon put a stop to that and it goes pretty much how you would expect, the gang put up a decent fight, get stomped on, Goku powers up and takes care of the big bad and then they go home, with all being well until the next movie. The plots of these movies remain fairly linear and simple throughout the run of the original thirteen films but I wouldn't say that writes them off as not worth your time.

There certainly those I would suggest staying well away from like the Bio Broly movie, but the likes of the Bojack, Metal Cooler and Janemba movies not only offer interesting villains but also offer up a decent twist on an existing story or something entirely new, Bojack especially rides on the popularity of Gohan defeating Cell and while recycling that story somewhat it does add enough spins on it to keep it fresh.

I would say this film falls in to that sort of bracket where it obviously takes many queues from the First Saga of the show but adds enough to make it well worth a watch, but why would I say this is one of my favourite films in the franchise compared to others?

Now to me this movie was nearing the end of that original series feel presented up until the Saiyan saga, just before characters like Tien, Yamcha and Chiotzu became almost totally irrelevant and I feel like this is one of my favourite of the movies because of these elements. What I mean by this is there was not a focus on powering up to a new form and the enemies seemed like a threat while still remaining just a bit above the protagonists in terms of power, unlike someone like Freiza who was leagues above the protagonists.

It was not so much the Saiyans show featuring other guys as it slowly turned in to as the show went on, there was this focus on other characters more and their efforts to help in the fight against the threats coming to Earth, I've gone on about how I feel about this period a lot but I think it's because I never really appreciated it as much until I saw the original series on UK TV when Z had finished airing.

Turles as a character used to confuse the hell out of me when I was younger and only heard about the movies online, It didn't help that I had this sticker book when I was a kid that gave you a little bit of info on certain characters, I remember there was a family page for Goku and it referenced his two brothers and father. I was so excited at the prospect of another brother who rivalled him at one point but it never happened.

I don't think I was the only one who was confused about this, If I remember correctly a lot of the subs online did refer to Turles as his brother, I'm sure some dubs at the time corroborate this too. It is a little odd that he would look that much like Goku and not be some relation but I guess the answer is a lot of low class warriors from Vegeta look alike. I'd rather that wasn't the explanation however I do like that it supports the idea of Turles being the 'what-if' version of Goku who didn't hit his head as a child.

I felt his group of rag-tag space pirates was pretty neat, although I wasn't sure if the humanoid people were meant to be Saiyans originally or not until a few years after my initial viewing, regardless they were pretty decent being that they gave the rest of the group trouble rather than being easily beaten by everyone they came across. I felt the android looking dude Cacao was fucking bizarre though, but I really liked his design because it's a nice mix between the classic Saiyan battle armour style we're used to but mixed with an organic and chrome looking android. He almost looks more like he belongs in a Saturday morning cartoon as the villain of the week.

So much like most enemies in the show and movies Turles is defeated with the Spirit bomb, which at the time I'm more or less fine with as it was a relativley new technique and this movie takes a lot from the Saiyan saga, but as the movies go on Goku always seems to win with a spirit bomb related move... This can get really tiresome but at least they have moved on from that technique as of late I suppose, there are elements surrounding the use of this move that I did enjoy however.

I liked that everyone didn't just hang back when Goku was gathering energy but they launched an all out assault on Turles even though they knew it was a futile effort. The whole point of the spirit bomb is that it could take a while to gather a huge amount of energy so leaves a huge opening for an attack against the user, most of the time villains won't just hang back and let this happen but something that always annoyed me was that Freiza just stood there for a number of episodes and let this happen. Turles on the other hand goes to attack Goku right away.

Having Goku fail with the spirit bomb first of all was actually interesting and shows he can't rely on it all the time in order to win, but having him then think to use the energy from the tree itself was a good touch, at least it explains how he could get so much energy so quickly right away but then again you could say if he is taking energy from the planet then why wouldn't he have already taken energy from the tree as it was already a part of the planet at that point? I know this is just a movie and the plot is not super important but it I always get a little irked by these sort of things, gotta take Anime seriously right?
The fight scenes in the film were overall some of the best in the movies, rivalled only by the likes of the first Broly movie. While they remain short the way the enemies fight is so much more brutal than anything we had seen at that point, it relied more on actual hand to hand rather than the beam spamming the series is known for. Turles is particularly brutal in the way he smacks people in to the ground and blasts that at such a close range, he also manhandles Gohan pretty fucking regularly throughout the movie, to me Turles is the antithesis of Goku in that he absolutely does not let up and perfectly encapsulates what I think of when I imagine the ruthless Saiyan race.

I think of the early four movies released for Z this is my favourite, the first movie feels like an extension of Dragonball, the second is pretty forgettable and the fourth is almost a total retread of the Demon King Piccolo story but with added movie only power ups like the 'false' Super Saiyan. Perhaps it's because this film focuses more on the early Saiyan saga kind of story line and features a similar group of characters and motives.

I absolutely love the Saiyan saga all round, more so now I have seen the original series because it's that bridge from the original to what Z is more known for, the crazy power levels and constant transformations. The Saiyan saga was the first time in the series that things felt kind of hopeless for the gang, the majority of the team had been killed by Nappa and they still had Vegeta to face after, Goku was no where to be seen and only three fighters remained.

While nobody dies in this film the same group who get killed by Nappa are brutally defeated early in the fight. Goku is around the entire time so it doesn't really convey that same form of hopelessness for the group but I can see that they were attempting to retread that same kind of plot line.

I'm a little unsure if I like the actual plot of the movie, specifically the Tree itself, like I understand why Turles would want to use the fruit to become stronger, because he comes across as someone who has removed himself from the Saiyans and therefore doesn't really care about the pride aspect of his people like perhaps Vegeta would, he is absolutely fine with using artificial means to gain immense strength rather than earning that power outright.

I guess he is even more a mirror of Goku because he is a lower class warrior, he states in the film he has continuously been eating the fruit from the tree after he plants it on multiple planets, so that suggests his gains are only due to that rather than him being strong on his own merit, perhaps he really was as weak as Goku and Raditz were at the start of the show, I think that's pretty interesting.

But I just found the idea of a giant ass tree as kind of dumb, I mean it creates a nice dystopian feel to the Earth visually in the film but it just looked goofy as hell sticking out of the planet like that, I suppose you could go all turbo religion and link it to the forbidden fruit in Eden and how Turles represents the evil surrounding that biblical story but I felt it could have been handled better.

One thing I can't stand about the movies and some of the filler during the latter of the Freiza Saga was Gohans pet fucking dragon, this dumb as fuck puff the magic dragon ass fuck comes swooping in all the time causing a ruckus and getting Gohan into trouble constantly.

I'm glad he gets shot up in one of the later movies, It doesn't help he's included in dumb little dance numbers with Gohan in the Lord Slug movie. Unfortunately he is in the film quite a bit and I feel he offers nothing to it other than something to detract from plot. The one good thing I will say about this Dragon is that I guess it does kind of go back to the way Gohan was with that dinosaur during his training with Piccolo as Gohan is this kind spirit much like his father and will befriend almost anyone or anything, I always thought these training episodes were pretty good.

I thought it was pretty cool that as a bi-product of Turles' ship landing at the beginning near a large wooded area, that it actually set the whole thing a light. It's pretty unusual to have something happen just because an enemy has arrived like this, but I enjoyed Gohan and Krillin using their ki as a means to fight against the flames and put them out, sort of like how Roshi put out the Ox Kings castle fire in the original series.

Don't worry about the forest and all the animals though, they just realise they can use the dragon balls to bring it back to the way it was, which is fine but you'd think if these guys are fighting people all the time they'd wanna save their wish to bring back a whole population or a friend or something right? This wish was totally wasted anyway as the Tree of Might just grew right after and fucked the planet up on a much wider scale than a forest fire ever could.

I can see why GT used the Shadow Dragons as a bi-product of the gang using the balls way too often. While they did use the balls I did like that the opening title screen of the movie showed a montage of them being collected rather than use too much time in that actual film focusing on their collection, so in that respect the pacing of the film was pretty good. The search can be interesting but I think at this point we've seen the journey to collect the balls way too much.

A great point used in the plot this time around was that Goku not destroying most of the planet when he was a child actually benefits the enemy as the seed of the tree needs a suitable host planet with plenty of wooded areas. I feel like that sort of element is usually absent from a lot of things where a positive actually creates a much larger negative for the protagonists, however you could argue the points about the Shadow Dragons creation is pretty much this in GT as I had already mentioned, I'm all for this sort of thing though.

I don't know if it's just me but I always like when a villain asks the enemy to join him/her, it kind of makes me imagine a scenario where the good guy does join them and they fuck up the galaxy together, I guess a lot of the time it's just a desperation tactic where you'll probably end up killed but in the case of Vegeta and Turles when they offer it to Gohan it almost seems genuine as they want to keep the Saiyan race together and keep it strong.

Although the only reason Gohan as a great ape was stopped was because of that dumb dragon, which is somehow an easier way to stop him than his own dad screaming at him, I liked that Goku states the reason he and his son care about the dragon and therefore every living being on Earth is because they're earthlings and not Saiyans, you can tell already that while Goku is still coming to terms with being a Saiyan that he will always identify as an Earthling deep down.

You know as I've gone on I feel like I've listed a lot of negatives about a film I claim is one of my favourites in the franchise, and I still do love this movie and that has not changed but having rewatched it for this review I can see a lot more issues with it than I remember.

That is not to say it is in any way a bad movie and not worth a watch but perhaps like with most of the films you need to know what you're in for while watching it. I think if you're going to rewatch something like the Saiyan Saga then perhaps this film is a nice way to end it all off on as it just feels like a retelling of sorts of that saga anyway, but on it's own merits it is still quite enjoyable.

The fight scenes alone are amazing and way better than some we see much later on in the series, the brutality of it all is exactly what I expect from a warrior race and perfectly encapsulates what I want in a villain, none of this honour bullshit these guys just don't care and will be as ruthless as they need to be to get the job done.

But the main reason I like it I think is because it feels like the last point in Z where the show feels like the original series, I feel like it is a great end point to that era in the show and also nicely sets up the bigger threats to comes like the battle on Namek, Goku remains a man who has discovered his heritage as a member of a warrior race but also remains true to his ethos of being a protector of Earth these are both huge points in the Namek saga that was soon to come.

Dragonball Super (2015) : Episode One, How's it looking so far?

This week It was kind of a given that I'd take a look at the first episode of the new Anime Dragonball Super and how it's looking so far as well as what I hope to see as the series progresses. Now I don't plan to review every episode but maybe some key points every now and then, for now though I want to discuss what this show is, what I think of the planned storyline and how I feel this episode stands as a new beginning but also as a sort of continued epilogue to Z.

The series was first announced on the 28th of April 2015, just over a month before the airing of the first episode and was the first animated TV series in 18 years. The series characters and general plot were developed by Akira Toriyama much like Battle of Gods and Revival of F. What's interesting about this series is the setting itself, described by Toriyama as following “…the aftermath of Goku’s fierce battle with Majin Buu, as he attempts to maintain earth’s fragile peace” the series will actually continue on after this going up to BoG, in-between the two movies and after Revival of F where it is said to explore one of the alternate universes described by Beerus in the former movie.

While I'm happy with this I'm most excited about this other universe storyline as it's something totally new where we really have no idea what awaits other than the two new characters revealed who I assume act as the Beerus and Whis of that universe, Champa and his as of yet unnamed attendant. With this new universe we have a great opportunity to see some new character designs and world building but also some amazing fight scenes if the two films are anything to go by.

What's great about this is the way Japan planned Super to air directly after the last episode of Dragonball Kai so it literally feels like a continuation to those watching weekly in Japan even if it does go back in time slightly from the last episode of Z.

I feel like the creation of this series is the culmination of the Dragonball 'renaissance' that began back in 2008 with the Shonen Jump Special and just intensified with everything that came since, the OVAS, the Jaco Manga, the games like Xenoverse and Heroes and of course arguably the most popular and important factors, the last two movies. It really feels like Dragonball never really went away due to its world wide popularity with multiple generations.

When the first episode came out I was understandably super (ha!) excited but I wondered how they would deal with having to focus on the small amount of time after Buu but before Beerus, I did not think there was much they could actually do between those points that would involve the typical Z style fights or training. What we got was more akin to something only seen in the filler episodes of Z we got a look at how the characters are dealing with this time of peace and honestly that was great to see.

In Z it always seemed like there was no real 'down time' for the characters outside of the odd filler episode like when they were waiting for the Cell Games to begin. But here we see that Goku is now a radish farmer in order to support his family but yearns to train, Gohan is finally becoming a scholar and is engaged to Videl and from the looks of the next episode Vegeta is more of a family man albeit a grumpy one.

The plot of this episode was nothing major, it revolved mostly around Trunks and Goten looking for a wedding present for Videl while having sub-plots around the worlds reaction to Mr Satans defeat of Buu and showing Beerus during an undisclosed time as he destroys planets. The episode was definitely more comedy orientated akin to early Dragonball or BoG and felt more like the infamous driving school episode in that respect.

As a starting point to the series I thought this worked really well, it did not really make itself accessible for new viewers in my opinion but I think if you're watching this show you've got to be familiar with at least Z.  The first scenes we're shown are actually taken from the battle with Kid Buu in Kai, I'm not going to lie I'm actually disappointed that they decided not to reanimate this flashback but I can totally see why they did this as they already had it animated, I guess in some respects for many this would actually fuel their nostalgia.

I like that Goku is wise enough to know that although they are in a time of peace he has too keep up with his training and continue to get stronger, he is well aware at this point that he is the saviour of Earth and it is usually down to him to defeat the threat, although he seems fine with this because of his love to fight It shows how other cast members who used to have such potential like Gohan have understood this and in some respects given up on being a saviour, they still fight but they focus more on their own lives.

This actually points some of the characters, specifically Gohan in the direction he heads in GT, becoming a scholar and father first rather than stay like his Buu Saga self. Oddly Gohan even looks like he does in GT at this point, yet a few years later he will look and dress like a younger version of himself. Although I feel like Gohan is becoming more and more of a background character as time goes on I can't help but enjoy any scene with him and Videl in, I just like those two being together and wonder if they'll include their wedding in the show itself like at the end of the Dragonball Anime with Goku and Chichi.

Honestly It's nice to see Goku act more like a Father to Goten, of course he was never there for the first few years of his life due to being dead but now that they are in this time of peace it's great to see them hang out together, It was a nice touch to have Goku say he was proud of Goten. The next episode may even have Vegeta and Trunks moments like this which would also be a nice touch, especially after Vegeta finally understood how important his family is to him.

If the Opening and Ending of the show is anything to go by then hopefully we will be seeing more of characters like Yamcha and Tien like in Revival of F, Id love for this to happen it would just be nice to see them included again even if it's just brief scenes of them taking out weaker enemies.

I think capitalising on Beerus' popularity really helped this episode, I don't think it would have been as good as it was if not for his scenes, it was fantastic just to get a brief glimpse of what his job actually is and how he may carry out the destruction of worlds and funnily enough it's a lot like the film, Beerus just wants to have a great meal and barters with the planet that if it's good enough he won't destroy it. Hilariously he decides the meal was worth saving exactly half the planet for and he splits the planet exactly in half.


Finally I think Roshi's brief scene at the end of the episode absolutely stole the show, it encapsulated everything I love about Toriyamas comedic style. Just to have Roshi seemingly appear out of nowhere somehow knowing that Goku has come into a lot of money and screaming that they should buy some Porn with it was extremely early Dragonball and really solidifies Toriyamas involvement with the series.

Outside of the plot of the episode I'm really happy with both the Opening and Ending, I feel like both songs are quite catchy, while I don't feel they are on the level of the Z openings I feel like they still fit quite well. I love that Jaco is included in the opening itself as I loved reading his Manga and it shows how Toriyama really wants him to be a bigger part of the series itself, I'm excited so see him show up at some point within the show.

I really enjoyed the imagery in the ending more than anything as it shows a silhouette of Goku as a child as he walks through a background image of key locations from both DB and Z. This is quite similar to the 2008 Specials ending which I was also a really big fan off, it just shows how much not only Goku has been through and how far he has come but also the how far the series has come too. It shows that this series was not forgotten and will not be for a long time.

In terms of the shows animation quality it seems to be exactly what I would expect from any new Anime, which is pretty good while obviously having certain scenes where maybe a character is not as detailed as they were before. I think it's easy to forget that this isnt the big budget piece the last two movies are and there will be these examples of 'quality' every now and then. Generally though this does'nt bother me and I feel like the animation is great.

It seems like the animation team are already putting in Toriyamas 'Toribot' imagery in certain places like on the bills of money which is great to see early on as it's a sort of trademark Toriyama likes to do within his work. To see this happening so early on suggests to me that this really is a Toriyama backed series and like the two new movies, is going to be something special. They also seem to be using a few minor familiar characters again like Mr Satans students from the filler of the Cell Games Saga showing up while he is being interviewed for saving the world.

Generally I prefer to watch Dragonball in English although I don't mind the Japanese version, but I prefer the Japanese music more, at least for the original show over Z. So far with Super however I've  got to say I didn't find the music anything special yet, but that could change over time. There is so much room for things to either improve or change over time so it's difficult to comment on certain
areas right now.

Overall I feel like this episode was a great starting point to the series. I'm really excited to see where this series goes, especially with the exploration of Universe 6 as it kind of reminds me of the fan Manga Dragonball Multiverse (which isn't that bad) in some ways, although I hope it steers clear of the evil version of characters shit as well as AF like character designs. I hope we see many more comedic segments like in this episode too and if the teaser for the next episode is anything to go by then we're in for a hilarious ride!

Let me know what you thought of the first episode and where you think the series is heading!

Dragonball GT: A Hero's Legacy (TV Special : 1997) + The Positives Of Dragonball GT

This week I take a look at the original chronological end point to the entire animated Dragonball universe with the GT TV special A Hero's legacy, which originally aired in March 1997 in Japan. Interestingly this is the only special, OVA or movie to come out of the GT era and featured a more or less entirely new cast of characters. This was created as a way to show how the world after the original Z fighters has turned out and if there were still heroes around who could potentially take up their mantle if need be.

While it does not really divulge in to that area as much as the epilogue of the series did with the battle between both Goku Jr and Vegeta Jr it does show us the origins of a potential successor to Goku's legacy as the English title suggests. But how does this TV Special hold up today, and while it is not as good as the Z specials featuring Bardock and Trunks is it worth a watch after all this time?

The basic plot of the special is something a lot simpler and light hearted than what you may be used to as it follows Goku Jr, a descendant of Goku 100 years after the defeat of Baby. We see now that Pan is an aged woman and the only Z fighter left, along with her Grandson Jr who is more of a crybaby like Gohan used to be and afraid of fighting. As we progress we see that Jr is bullied at school and refuses to stand up for himself, which Pan disagrees with.

But as she reminds him to stand up for himself she suddenly falls ill and it taken to hospital, it's actually pretty touching as Jr doesn't have anyone else and promises he'll do better to become strong, but Pan realises she's been too hard on him and even references her Fathers training with Piccolo. As Jr returns home he remembers Pan telling him about the dragonballs and believes if he finds the 4 star ball he can wish for her health to recover.

Of course he fails to listen to his Grandmother and believes he only needs one ball rather than all seven. Jr makes his way to Mt Paozu where Goku grew up in search for the ball and along the way meets a number of people, some who steal from him and some unlikely allies like his former bully Puck. As they reach Paozu they are tricked by a number of enemies similar to those Goku and Bulma first encountered on their journey.

After being tricked in to entering a creepy looking house both Jr and Puck are almost turned into dinner for the demons that reside there, however Jr escapes by using some of his Saiyan strength, alluding to his ability to turn Super Saiyan and shortly after Puck falls from a ravine after a bridge breaks making Jr feel extremely guilty and believing his friends death was his own fault, however he uses this loss to push himself as a person and conquer his cowardice.

We see examples of this throughout with his battle against Shusha and his protection of defenceless creatures like the Bear he encounters. After reaching Goku's old house we again encounter the demons who are now joined by their leader Lord Yao. After Yao begins to harm the Bears Jr encountered earlier we see Jr tap in to the Saiyan potential he always had and obtain the power of a Super Saiyan, with Yao defeated Jr finally finds the four star ball and attempts to make a wish to save both Pan and Puck.

But of course nothing happens, which leads Jr to become frustrated and the be visited by a familiar face, Goku. Goku explains that all seven are needed and that Jr has become braver than he thinks, shortly after a helicopter flies overhead with both Pan and Puck inside, showing that the balls weren't needed at all, and with that Goku disappears. This suggests that Goku really did become one with the balls during the end of GT and that he will always be with Jr as long as he holds on to it.

Now while this was a pretty short 40 minute or so special there was not a lot of room to work with, which seems to be an issue with a lot of the features surrounding the franchise but I quite enjoyed what the studio did with their time and thought they used it as well as they could as it was more of a prologue to the end of the franchise.

Interestingly I always believed this special was created after the end of GT in Japan and therefore at the time acted as the end all for the entire animated side of the franchise, but what this really is is actually more of a prelude to the last episode of GT. I say this because this actually aired in Japan between episodes 41 and 42 which were the first and second episodes of the Super 17 Saga, so there were still a number of episodes to go until we reached the epilogue of the series which featured Goku Jr again.

Now this special never aired in the UK so I personally did not have a chance to see it until a while after the series was over on UK television and because of that I thought it fit better as something that aired after the series did, so I'm curious as to how the Japanese reacted to this showing up before the last Saga of GT and if in retrospect they feel it spoiled what happened to Goku at the end of the series.

I quite enjoyed this special for what it was and felt as though its biggest strength was that it was pretty much an early episode of the original series with the focus on an adventure between a small group of characters in environments we're familiar with and plot points that feel as though they could be right out of the original series, particularly the first few episodes with Lord Yao pretty much being the Bear thief who tried to stop Goku and Bulma all those years ago, and the three demons acting kind of like a more serious Pilaf and co, minus their need for the dragonballs.

A dynamic I quite enjoyed with this is that Jr doesn't seem to have parents around much like Goku and is raised by a Grandparent much like Grandpa Gohan raised Goku. The first scene we see Pan and Jr in shows that Pan has taken her role as a Grandparent to similar levels as  Grandpa Gohan as she teachers Jr manners and also trains him in ways much akin to that of Roshi. She also still idolises her Grandfather and constantly reminds Jr that he is much like him and that he should aspire to become as great as he was.

I think the character of Jr is refreshing in the sense that he is the protagonist now and was raised to be a fighter to a certain degree, much like his predecessor. I like that he seems to be this amalgamation of Goku as a child, Kid Gohan with his power and original fear and also Goten with his excitable nature. It seems as though he has inherited traits from the majority of his family and made them mix enough to be an entirely new character.

It's a shame we won't really get an expansion on his character as he has never really appeared in any media outside of this special and the final TV episode, perhaps one day we'll get his inclusion in a game and a few what-if stories from that. It's also a shame we never got a brief run down of how the rest of the Z fighters lives turned out after Omega Shenron was defeated but to be honest this special is pretty self contained and I believe it could be viewed with no prior knowledge to the series and still enjoyed.

I honestly felt like the use of Super Saiyan in this special was unnecessary, it kind of took it away from that original Dragonball feel that it was going for and threw you back in to that idea of 'oh yeah we're in a world where we can just be super strong and throw ki all day'. However while it was not something they focused on a whole lot in the special it does connect to the idea that Jr may be the next saviour of Earth someday along with Vegeta Jr who can also go SSJ and they may one day have to face an uber strong enemy just like their predecessors.

I think the general hate I've seen online for this special stems from GT itself, after Z finished in the West at least many may have assumed this new series would be more of the same, with huge epic battles and the like, but when we saw these more 'goofy' aspects like Goku becoming a child again or these until then unheard of Black star balls which spell the end for Earth. I know for me that's how I originally felt about the series when it first aired in the UK.

In the UK the broadcast order we had was Z, GT and the back to the original series, because of this I was sort of in the dark about the past of Goku and co, so I never experienced this great adventure for the dragonballs and the tournaments before I saw GT. But now that I have seen the entire series multiple times I appreciate its beginnings a lot more and because of that I can see a lot more of the positive in the GT side of things.

Don't get me wrong GT has its problems and I won't deny that there are aspects that I really do not enjoy but I can see a lot more positives now and I've spoken to others who agree with me and even made me see some positives where I had not before. For example the biggest positive for me was actually the start of the show, it was not about power levels it was about a small bunch of people going back to searching for the dragonballs but this time on a much larger scale.

This introduced to us new environments, new races and new albeit smaller threats with aspects of Z thrown in slightly such as Goku going Super Saiyan against Ledgic and having a short but sweet battle. I really enjoyed that, but soon after the series reverted to a new powerful enemy showing up and constant battles happening. This is not to say I did not like the Baby saga, I actually enjoyed the focus on the Tuffle race and a little look at the history of planet Vegeta which was only briefly touched upon in Z and again in Plan to eradicate the Super Saiyans. I did find the use of Vegeta being possessed again to be a bit tiresome and Baby to be slightly annoying as a villain but overall the story and motive of the character was interesting to me.

With this saga also came the Super Saiyan 4 form, which people seem to have mixed feelings about, personally I prefer it to the God form because if its use of mixing the style of a Super Saiyan and the ascetics of the original Great Ape form it felt like the legend of the Super Saiyan had come full-circle. I do think it looked best on Goku rather than Vegeta or Gogeta however, even if the idea that his power was so great that it made him jump back in to an adult form and then back again was a little dumb to me.

I quite enjoyed the remainder of the show with the Super 17 Saga being a nice short break between the two bigger Sagas and the Shadow Dragons being the end all of Villains. Originally I thought the Dragons themselves were an underwhelming enemy but always thought their origins as a creation of all the over use of the balls to be an interesting idea, as well as their relation to certain wishes. After discussing them with a friend Id been convinced that actually these enemies were a great way to end the series with the main plot device of the series overall now being turned on it's head and giving the heroes the biggest threat they've ever faced.

Overall I think GT is not as bad as a lot of people seem to think, I think a lot of people were like myself and were so connected to Z and not DB that we thought this 'new' direction was just an oddity, maybe a lot of people decided it was the start of the beating of a dead horse or maybe they just did not like that it was ultimately not the story Toriyama had intended. Regardless it's always going to be a part of the franchise and whether you see that as a stain or just a bit of glass that's not as polished as the ones next to it is up to you, but I think this special took a lot of the great aspects of GT and used them as a great way to chronologically end a popular series as best they could.

I really like how in this Special even in English Goku Jr is voiced by Stephanie Nadolny who voiced Kid Goku in the original series, along with Kid Gohan and Goku as a child in GT, this really does keep with the Japanese tradition of having Masako Nozawa voice the characters and his descendants and while the English dubs strayed away from this for the most part this use of having Nadolny back for Jr really seemed to fit with the nostalgic feeling the special was going for with it playing out much like an original Dragonball episode, I thought it was such a nice touch of the English team to do this and really served as a good note to end on until new features would be made over a decade later.

There are a few more interesting notes on the voice acting in both the English and Japanese versions, one of the more interesting is that the character of Susha the frog like enemy who attacks Jr is voiced by Peter Mayhew who played Chewbacca in the original Starwars movies. Now I can't seem to find any reason as to why this is, as he does not really have any other voice acting roles that I know of but nonetheless it is pretty cool. I honestly wanted to ask him if he remembered doing the voice work when I saw him at London Comic Con one year but never did, maybe next time.

Now on the Japanese side we have Jr's companion Puck who sticks with him throughout the early part of his adventure for the dragonball. Puck is actually voiced by Toru Furuya who voiced Yamcha throughout the entire series, now this again just brings us back to that feeling of the original series where it's just a bunch of friends having a wacky adventure while the search for some Magic balls. While you could say it would have been better to have a female protagonist join in and be voiced by Bulma I think ultimately this was decided against as Pan filled in that female role to a degree.

I think the choices on both sides really work and benefit the special, it seems as though the staff really wanted this to be a nice little book end to the franchise and make you feel nostalgia but at the same time content with the way things have turned out for this world, sure you could argue it leaves a lot to be answered but I think that's best, you're never going to have everything answered but you do have the opportunity to decide some things for yourself or keep a discussion going with other fans about what you think could have happened to certain characters before these events.

While you could say with the new movies GT is essentially retconned, I personally like to think it takes places in a separate continuity because to me that doesn't just erase all the neat things that came out of that series. I mean who knows the movies could soon connect everything back together in some way even if it does mean tweaking certain aspects and facts but until that happens I am perfectly alright with the separate universe idea and love that it is slightly touched upon in some games such as Xenoverse with Beerus and co wondering when Goku turned into a child again and asking how he obtained this unheard of Super Saiyan 4 form.

I think a lot of the fan base do whine too much about the 'canon' of the franchise and like I have said before to me these little things don't really matter to me, like the little changes Toriyama made in Dragonball Minus to Bardock and stuff, why does that effect your enjoyment of the franchise so much? If it helps just think of it as another universe. Or why not just take aspects of it all and make your own conclusion to what happened? You can argue the franchise is being milked to a degree but then hasn't it always?

Look at the amount of games and re-releases of the show on home media etc, it's not going to go away any time soon and if you're familiar with the Dragonball Heroes game in Japan you'll know there are what-if scenarios and characters all over the place, but the 12 year old in me loves seeing even GT Trunks going SSJ3 but that doesn't mean im mad because he didn't do it in the show, I just enjoy the ride and the breathe of fresh air these ideas bring to the series as a whole.

I think this special overall is worth a watch if you're going through GT again but personally id wait until the last few episodes to watch it, I think GT has gotten this negative stigma attached to it but I can see why but honestly as a bookend to a viewing of the series this special still does it's job really well by giving you a glimpse at the future of the world we've seen for so many years while making you feel a huge sense of nostalgia for the original series.

But I'm really curious to what you guys think about GT and if you think you would ever give it a rewatch, let me know on Twitter @Scatmanbegins or on facebook if you've got me on there, as always thanks for taking the time to read this.

Jaco the Galactic Patrolman by Akira Toriyama (Manga, 2013)

This week I take a look at a relatively new 'one shot' Manga series by Dragonball creator Akira Toriyama titled Jaco the Galactic Patrolman, which follows the story of Jaco and Alien who works for the Galactic Patrolmen and his mission to earth to stop a recently launched Saiyan pod from landing and destroying the human race. Along the way Jaco crash lands and befriends the earthlings while he works to fix his damaged ship and ultimately complete his mission.

Yes that's right, Jaco is set in the same universe as Dragonball and briefly has some cameos with characters from that series, however it if very much it's own story. The best way I could describe it is as Prometheus is to the Alien franchise, in that it is set in the same world, may have the same themes at times and call backs to certain characters and such as the original but is very much a smaller story that may or may not lead in to the events of its predecessor.

The very brief outline of the story after Jaco lands is that he befriends a scientist, Omori who he asks to help him repair his ship, as they slowly begin to bond they decide to go to the local city to pick up some supplies, it is here where they find a young girl, Tights in danger after being cornered by some theives and soon rescue her. After returning to Omori's Island the gang begin to find ways in which they can repair the ship. We soon learn that Tights is going to be sent in to space and unfortunately that her rocket malfunctions leaving Jaco to save her. Because of this heroic feat Tights decides to get her family and the Capsule corporation to help Jaco. After the ship is repaired and Jaco considers his mission complete we are shown a brief overview of the next few years and see Bulma visit the gang before she heads off on her very own adventure to find the 7 dragon balls.

This Manga was originally published weekly in 2013 issues of Weekly Shounen Jump and was written and drawn by Toriyama personally, in mid 2014 it was then released as a collected volume in Japan and finally in the US and UK in January 2015. Described as 'a slightly foolish, fun story... of friendship, and poison.' by Toriyama this was originally supposed to be released around the same time as Battle of Gods but as Toriyama is known for his perfectionism he got quite far behind as he was doing 'most of the work' alone.

In a comment on the Manga left by Toriyama he admittedly states 'There aren’t many action-scenes, and no cool characters appear. It won’t make you emotional, there are no thrills or suspense, and of course, it’s not the sort of wholesome work that will remain in your heart.' He seems to have just wanted the freedom to do a small project of his own much like that of Sandland and even took to using only a computer to produce the work as he wanted a 'picture-book' feel to it. He states he feels as though is it cool that it was being released worldwide but did worry that a lot of Dragonball fans would not enjoy it due to its lack of action and Japanese themes.

It is clear that Toriyama was doing something 'different' with this Manga and whether or not that would be received well was still unclear to him at the time, hopefully with this review I will be able to explain what exactly is different with this series and where its strengths and weaknesses are, but first lets look at the main characters.

We'll start with the titular character Jaco, who is a member of the Galactic patrolmen which is a role that he finds great honour in as he is a 'super elite'. Jaco seems to be modelled on your typical Grey alien with hints of Ultraman about him not only in looks but in his roll as a protector. Jaco Is an interesting character in that he fights for the good of the universe and all of justice, but if he's outmatched or he begins to get annoyed at those who he is protecting he wont hesitate to leave or let the planet be doomed, perhaps this is why he took the job to destory Goku as he knows he is only a child and not a fully grown Saiyan.

This character is the funniest of the three main characters in that he gets rather annoyed at the little things like people being unable to draw his likeness correctly, but also because he is alien and therefore does not get earth customs, one particular part where he shows Tights that he pees from his head by urinating on her and thus missing Goku's ship land on Earth meaning his mission was a waste is probably the funniest part to me.

While he has these moments he is also shown to be a good friend overall and always willing to help out if needed, while he is goofy and does tend to get a lot of things wrong his character is quite refreshing to see and really does carry the cast of this Manga overall, it is easy to see why Toriyama described him as one of his favourite characters he's ever come up with.

Next we move on to Omori who to me was just an okay character I did not really have a problem with him but I really felt like Jaco stole the show. Omori is your typical older guy who has become a loner due to certain circumstances and does not want to be bothered by anyone, this is something we see time and again in films,television and comics so I was pretty happy that Toriyama moved away from that almost instantly with only a few calls backs with Omori saying 'I hate humans' every now and then.

I feel like Toriyama originally wanted to portray Omori as a character similar to that of Mr Fredericksen from UP as we're introduced to him as a widower but this time by his own fault due to creating a time machine and the testing going awry. And although he this does explain his overall grumpiness at the start it is quickly forgotten about, but perhaps this is because Toriyama just wanted to focus on the comedy rather than anything depressing, which would make a lot of sense.

Finally we have Tights who if you had not already guessed with a name like that is Bulmas unheard of older sister and a double for a pop idol who is due to fly in to space to sing because the government thinks it would be a great idea.  We soon learn that she wants to be a sci-fi novelist and has a great interest in anything sci-fi related. We can see examples of this when she finds out that Jaco is not just a kid in a mask but a real alien as she soon forces her way in  to both Jaco and Omori's busines. In this respect she is much like her younger sister who we've seen time and again want to be involved with what the 'a-team' are doing such as going to Namek or wanting to see Freeza when he arrives on Earth.

Tights is quite a likeable character in the same way as Bulma is in that she can actually be useful rather than decoration as we see when she begins to search for and eventually produce the material needed to power Jacos ship. I feel as though her use in the story was needed and she became the balance between Omori's seriousness and Jacos child like nature although I can see why many would feel she is shoehorned in as a link to Dragonball, in a way it is quite simular to the use of Tarble in that they've pretty much thought up an existing characters relation to advance a plot.

But as I've mentioned in other reviews this new expansion of that universe does not particularly bother me and I do welcome it, even if it does slightly change some pre-existing characters or introduce entirely new ones.

There was quite a lot I enjoyed about this Manga, and admittedly I have never really read anything
from Toriyama other than Dragonball and one chapter of Dr Slump but I really did find this refreshing to read, It does retain some original DB charm but at the same time moves in to a comedic tone of it's own with the huge focus on Jaco being an exaggerated Ultraman type hero, you could argue that Tight is a recycled Bulma to some degree but I feel like she bounces off the other characters rather well and in general the cast is pretty good in that regard.

I enjoyed this in its 1 volume format and really don't believe it would work as well as an ongoing series, I have recently picked up some other One-shots from Toriyama and hope they also work well in this format but in Jacos case it really works as a small story that never really had a huge effect on much within the universe it is set in yet that does not mean that it is not a great addition to that world.

I quite enjoyed that this did not particularly focus on any real action save for maybe one or two scenes, from a man famous for his over the top hulking super being battles again this was refreshing, even if it was not in the style of DB in that it focused more on hand to hand battles this Manga worked because it moved away from that area.

The illustrations as always were pretty spot on for a perfectionist like Toriyama and the focus on simple character designs really fit with the tone of this Manga. In all you can tell this is a Manga that Toriyama had a lot of fun with.

As this was only a short story there was not too much that I had a dislike for, other than Omori to some degree. I did find that there was not really too much time to focus on other characters like the government agents who felt like they were meant to be more important than they actually were, some expansion on the Galactic Patrolmen may also have been nice.

People may think that Toriyama is tampering with a series too much at this point and mixing up established facts within that series such as Gokus age as seen in the Dragonball Minus chapter when he lands on Earth and Bulmas sister. However as he wrote it it's something they have to consider as the facts, and while some little things like that do make me think if they were necessary, a lot of the fan community does seem to really dislike it, but I think Toriyama knew this when writing it.

Overall this Manga was quite good, it was nothing amazing in terms of story telling but it felt like something Toriyama would write due to it feeling like the original Dr Slump and Dragonball Mangas as there was some action but overall it is a comedy based story. I think it is pretty cool that Toriyama is expanding on his universes like this as he has done in that past with SandLand also being set in the DB universe, in fact I'm pretty sure the majority of his Mangas do share that universe.

This was definitely refreshing to read for myself as I haven't really read a proper physical Manga in at least 5 years and to have one be purely comedic rather than the like of Berserk and other Mangas I usually read was great, I've certainly thought about ordering some other comedic titles because of it and hope to find something with a similar style.

I would recommend this Manga to anyone who is just looking for a short read, primarily a DB fan of course as it does have a lot of references etc, but I think those who have no knowledge of DB could find some enjoyment out of this for sure. It's just great that we actually got this released in the West and for such a cheap price (in the UK at least) I think you'd be missing out if you did not pick this up at some point.

But we're not done... There was a small extra story included with this Manga, one a lot of fans of DB were probably a lot more interested in.

With the official Mangas release came a  very short (around 6 or so pages) bonus chapter titled Dragonball Minus Which is set around the same time as the Father of Goku TV special and just prior to Jaco. It follows the now slightly changed story of when Goku was sent away from planet Vegeta and also introduces his mother Gine, some examples of Saiyans who are not warriors and the Saiyans knowledge of the Super Saiyan God legend.

The story beings with Bardock returning home after a mission  after Freeza demands that all Saiyans return back to planet Vegeta, Bardock believes there to be something more to this especially when he is told that Freeza has been asking about the legend of the Super Saiyan and the Super Saiyan God. Soon after this Freeza decides in a months time he will destroy the planet as he does not want a potential uprising.

We then see Bardock in a way we've not really seen any pure blooded Saiyans act on their own planet and that is as a proper sort of Husband role in that he returns to his 'wife' and child while the narrator explains as a warmongering race it is quite difficult for them to reproduce. Bardock rather suddenly decides he wants his son to be sent off of planet Vegeta immediately for his own safety as he believes Freeza is up to something.

We find out that it was actually Bardock who programmed Gokus pod for Earth and that Gine was the one to inform Raditz of his whereabouts. As Goku leaves we see his parents look up at the sky and warn him of the Galactic Patrolmen and as this is happening we see Jaco take off for Earth to stop Goku.

Overall I did not mind this chapter but I did find it a bit odd that it did not try to work its way in to the popular Bardock TV special as I felt that almost perfectly set up a good run down to the destruction of planet Vegeta. I feel as though Toriyama could have used a little more time on this chapter rather than just showing Bardock suddenly decide to send Goku away in the span of one panel, he could have easily set this during the TV special and had Bardocks visions be the leading factor in to these decisions and that would not have taken away the introduction of Gine or anything else from this chapter.

I think what is most interesting about this chapter is that slightly changes some parts of Gokus origin such as his age actually being around three years old as he has been in incubation, Bardock being the one to personally send him along with Gine and perhaps Gine being a 'good natured Saiyan' which suggests that perhaps Goku actually got the way he acts from his mothers side as it was apparently not as uncommon as we were lead to believe that a Saiyan could be good natured. But of course this does not change that fact that Goku bumped his head as a child.

While you could argue that of course the special was not specifically made by Toriyama and he only did character designs and some pointers on the plot, it is clear by his decision to add a brief cameo of Bardock in the Freeza saga of the Manga that he did the special or at least the story it presented. Of course as he produced this chapter we sort of have to take this as exactly what happened, but I'm such a huge fan of the TV special I just like to think of this as an accomplice to that even if there are certain contrasts.

I believe that because the TV special is so popular amongst fan that it is no surprise a lot of fans had slight issues with this chapter and found it to be Toriyama meddling with things just to better connect them to the new movie or to boost the sales of a new manga, but then again they released a OVA recently where Bardock was somehow sent to the past and went super Saiyan against freezas descendent, thus starting the fear in that family towards them and this was something that was not written by Toriyama, so I believe this is quite tame when put against something like that.

Overall I did not mind this chapter and felt it was a nice little expansion to the franchise and the Jaco storyline, It was nice to get an idea of who Gokus mother actually was and have a slight expansion on the Father of Goku storyline but I think I enjoyed it more because it was a chance for Toriyama to actually have a little go at using a character from a special that he did not really create, he was always been a fan of this character so it was enjoyable to see his spin on events, maybe it did not work out as well as the fans has hoped but it has its charm in its own little way.