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.

How Videogames can benefit Anime

So I was looking at my game collection the other day and realised I own quite a lot of Anime related video games especially for series I've always been a fan of like Dragonball, but there are a lot of titles I picked up on a whim or had originally played at a friends house that in turn got me super interested in a certain series like Naruto for example. The more I thought about it the more it occurred to me that it's down to video games that I am a huge fan of certain Anime and without me playing these games I may not have even given many series a chance.

With the Naruto example this was back in around 2006, I had always heard of the series being really popular before it was brought over to the West, with many saying it was 'the next DBZ' but Id never thought to actually sit down and watch an episode. However in high school a few of my friends had modified PS2's with a bunch of Japanese titles on them, this was the first time Id really thought that there were more modern (at the time) games that were not released worldwide and really opened my eyes to a lot of titles.

One of the games we would always play was what I believe became the Naruto Ultimate Ninja series in the West, which only had a basic amount of characters and only really went up to the first few arcs of the Anime. I remember thinking the attacks were pretty cool and the characters interesting enough, but I think what really sold it to me was seeing that Naruto had something similar to Dragonball with the nine tailed transformation. It was soon after discovering this that I began to look online and start watching the series.

I have a really big memory of being really sick that Summer holiday and just sitting in my room watching the series from start to finish but skipping out that god awful filler that would lead into Shippuden. This was around the time the Shippuden Anime had just began airing in Japan and quickly I decided to begin reading the Manga as I could not deal with the amount of filler being thrown out. I think over time a lot of people slowly got to the point where they were sick of the series to a degree but were so invested in it that they felt they had to see how it ended, I know I was. Overall it was an enjoyable Manga Series and while I probably would have go into it eventually, It was because of that PS2 game that I took the plunge.

I think video games have hugely benefited a lot of series, especially in the West where a lot of series would otherwise not be considered for dubbing even Manga releases, it's thanks to the release of certain titles that these series can gain a whole new group of fans and get an idea of how successful the series could potentially be in the West.

The biggest example of this for myself is the Dynasty Warriors Gundam series of games which is now on its fourth title. Before I played this game I had only watched Gundam Wing on UK TV and played one game on the PS2 set during the original series, which at the time I assumed was some kind of Wing side story. So for Christmas in around 2007 I asked for a Xbox 360 and the first game I got was DW Gundam as I had been hearing about it online and how it featured a large number of series.

Now in this game it pretty much mashed together all different series and timelines into one big what if story with some proper Anime related story modes along the way, I believe this was really beneficial as it introduced me to so many new characters and Mobile suits as well as a useful section of the game which informed you about everything to do with them albeit briefly. Seeing all these characters interacting and noticing some knew each other previously due to being set in the same universe gave me a huge incentive to research the franchise itself and find where I could watch some of these shows and when they were produced.

Unfortunately in the UK at the time there was no real way to obtain any of the other series legally so I had to resort to downloading them, I don't believe Sunrise have too much of a problem with this as the primary aim of the show was to sell Gunpla models and merchandise, in a sort of glorified toy commercial style and if we're only shown one series we may not even know these models existed. This has changed slightly now with more releases showing up in the UK but also on Gundams official Youtube page in which they will upload entire old series for a set time and also broadcast new episodes of shows weekly just after their airing much like Crunchyroll.

I think the first series I started with was G Gundam, a sort of mix between Dragonball and Gundam and the first alternate universe show in the franchise, which understandably was right up my street. Shortly after I watched Seed which was another alternate universe series but used a lot of plot elements and features from the original series almost as if being a modern adaptation (in 2002). I think it also helped that a series was just airing at the time titled Gundam 00 which I got in the habit of watching weekly, this really made me feel like a part of the fan base because I could discuss it each week with friends and online much like when I used to watch a show on Toonami.

It's fair to say this franchise is one of my all time favourites and if my Gunpla collection is anything to go by it will remain that way for some time, at the moment I've watched pretty much every single thing that's been released, even some terrible Canadian live-action movie, it's almost as if releasing the game in the UK was some kind of master plan from Bandai and Sunrise and in my case it really worked out.

There are of course a few more examples such as the Ghost in the Shell game on Playstation 1 which I played on a demo disc in the late 90s, In all honestly this game was not one I can remember a lot of other than the red mech you pilot during the demo and it is perhaps not the best representation of the Anime overall but I remember the huge amount of demo discs I would have as a kid from magazines and all these now hazy memories of obscure titles id endlessly play. While the Ghost in the Shell game was one of these, I remember playing this game a hell of a lot compared to the other titles on the disc and it was not until the around 2008 that a magazine company in the UK started to release certain Anime titles every few weeks on DVD with a new issue of their magazine.

The first of these was Ghost In the Shell and as soon as I saw this I instantly remembered the name from that demo disc I had enjoyed countless times, I didn't even realise the game was based on this Anime when I first played it but I quickly picked it up and watched it as soon as I got home. As much as I enjoyed the movie I've still yet to watch the sequel or series produced more recently, regardless it was due to a dumb demo disc that I even picked up this DVD in the first place, but I guess that's what the studio was hoping for with the creation of this game.

 

The most recent example of a video game enticing me to view a series is with Jojo's Bizarre Adventure All Star Battle on Playstation 3 which was a title I originally saw being discussed on forums every so often, but what really caught my eye with this title was it's amazing looking visuals which looked as though they were taken straight out of the Manga pages themselves. This game was developed by CyberConnect2 who are known for their amazing look Naruto titles and the Anime inspired Asura's Wrath, both of which I had previously played and was impressed with visually, so I knew this title would be worth a look.

However I did not want to import the title just because I thought it looked nice, so I looked online and researched the series as best I could and luckily saw the A new animated adaptation of the Manga was in the process of airing in Japan. I began watching the series right away and while I found the first half of the first arc to be slow I found the ending and the entirety of the second arc to be amazing, I've even begun to read the Manga way past this point and thoroughly enjoy it.

What is most interesting about this game is that a huge number of fans began importing it purely because they had enjoyed watching the Anime online, due to this the developers used this new found Western popularity to finally announce a physical Western release in certain stores and because of the nature of the game going all the way up to the 8th arc of the Manga it has opened up the entire series to a new audience which has allowed Viz Media to license a USA release.

After I played this title myself when it was released in the UK I was honestly blown away, not because it was a super amazing game but because of the quality and care taken by the developers to produce something that actually looked like it came right off the page, I think the developers really know how to handle Anime related titles and have proven this time and again, especially with the amount of fan service they add to these titles in the form of subtle references, the attention to detail and the use of perfectly choreography, even really little things like having a certain super move breaking another players super depending on who the character is that you're against (think Saibamen Vs Yamcha in a DBZ game), truly this is a great title to own if you're a fan of the series.

There are many other examples of games that have got me into certain Anime such as Koeis Fist of the North Star games, the Sengoku Basara series and even some Bleach games and I'm glad I played each one of them, because each title I've mentioned opened up an enjoyable series to me, while some my have lost steam along the way or may not have been as enjoyable as their video game counterparts they were all still worth the watch.

While video games can be great for getting someone in to a series they can also be used to breathe new life into a series that may have already ended. The biggest example of this can be the Dragonball series of video games before and after the release of the new movie. Now Dragonball is a good case because it's a series that is so immensely popular across the world and has had a huge amount of games produced but there are only so many times you can play through Raditz to Kid Buu without getting tired.

While this is counteracted by perhaps making the gameplay change depending on the series such as Budokai to Tenkaichi, generally the inclusion of what if scenarios was introduced. Now this was probably the best thing to happen to a lot of games as the series is such a wealth of possibilities both character wise and story wise. For example Budokai had the infamous Cell absorbing Krillin stage as well as the what if fusion prominent in the second game, whereas Tenkaichi focused more on the what if story aspects such as having Raditz join up with Goku and Piccolo or Zarbon plotting against Frieza.

To an extent this kept things fresh and was welcomed by many who were getting tired of playing over the same story over and over again, I think over the years developers of these titles have got the message and tried to incorporate as much new content like this as possible, while that is a lot easier now with new movies being produced the recent Xenoverse title has adapted this in full force by having the entire game revolve around the idea of the story we're all familiar with being changed to a certain degree.

While a lot of this was inherited from Dragonball Online the way that the developers expanded upon it and added a number of new scenarios as well as the ability to create your own character have only proved that this fresh air breathed into the series is welcome, especially if the numbers in which the game has been selling are anything to go by. It's pretty clear that if used well what if ideas can certainly keep the popularity of some series afloat long after they have aired and also continue to bring new fans along the way.

I always found it quite strange that these titles are generally well received as opposed to most movie licensed games, but perhaps the concepts within these shows are a lot easier to work with or perhaps it's because in a lot of cases it's fans of the series who are working on the games and actually put a lot of time and effort in to them rather than working towards a release window of a certain movie. Regardless it's clear to see that Anime and Videogames go hand in hand and can greatly benefit each other if used correctly.

But I'm curious are there any titles that got you into a certain Anime, let me know via Twitter or something!, thanks for checking this out as always.