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Anime Review: Dragon Ball Z Kai Part 1 & 2 BD (Episodes 1 – 26)
It’s not exactly a secret that I like Dragon Ball Z. It’s one of the first anime series I watched, pretty much defining my childhood. I have all of the currently released Dragon Boxes, though I’ve yet to actually watch any of them, for a good reason. As much as I love DBZ, it’s way too long. I just don’t have the time or patience to commit to rewatching the entire thing. I buy the Dragon Boxes for the sake of collecting them, but it’s possible I’ll go my entire life without ever watching them. That’s what makes Dragon Ball Z Kai so appealing. I can enjoy the show I loved as a kid in a fraction of the time.
Dragon Ball Z Kai tells the story of a fighter named Son Goku and his friends. Several years of peaceful times for the group are quickly interrupted when a strange person arrives from space. The person claims to be Goku’s brother Radditz, revealing that Goku is actually part of an alien race known as the Saiyans. Radditz wants Goku to join him on a mission to conquer another planet, but when Goku refuses Radditz takes his son as a hostage. When Goku faces off against Radditz to save his son, he sets off a chain of events that puts the entire world in peril when two more Saiyans, Vegeta and Nappa, decide to head to Earth.
The story of Dragon Ball Z isn’t a very deep or complicated one. It’s a straightforward “Good vs. Evil” story where a man with the mental capacity of a 12 year old punches bad guys in the face, with some training arcs thrown in for good measure. Such is the case for many shounen fighting series though; there’s as much story as is necessary to get the characters from one fight to the next. So taking a series known for its often horrendously slow pacing and trimming it down to the bare necessities, like Kai does, is a pretty good idea. However, this does have some downsides to go along with the benefits.
2011 Spring Cleaning Anime Challenge Review: Dragon Ball Movie 1 Curse of the Blood Rubies
A retelling of Dragon Ball’s origins, this is a different version of the meeting of Goku, Bulma, Oolong, and Yamucha. They are all looking for the dragon balls for different reasons when they cross paths with an evil king named Gourmeth, who is also looking for the dragon balls.
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Plot:
So what is the first movie about might you ask? Well this is a retelling of the first thirteen episodes of Dragon Ball. Think something along the lines of the compilation movies from the Gundam franchise. While some aspects of the original thirteen episodes have been retained, a lot what happens during those episodes has either been reworked and streamlined or removed completely. The aspects that were removed did not progress the story and their inclusion in the movie would have been pointless. Not all of the aspects of the streamlining work correctly such as Oolong’s introduction, but considering that this is a fifty-minute movie (less if you do not count the OP and ED) this can be expected. Also considering that, this is a 50-minute movie the movie as a whole feels too short. It feels like another fifteen to twenty minutes should have been added to the movie to flesh things out better and give some character development.
What OtakuAnthony bought this week May 20th
Dragon Ball Movie Complete Collection
Not going to give the plot synopsis since there are four movies in this collection.
I am a fan of the Dragon Ball series (Z not so much), and I have not seen any of the movies so I decided to purchase the set for my collection.
Dragon Ball Movie Complete Collection can be purchased from RightStuf
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NANA Box Set 4
Plot Synopsis: “As if Blast’s debut wasn’t causing enough stress, Takumi and Nana K.’s announcement sends everyone reeling, but none more than Nana O. and Reira. While Reira turns to Shin for comfort, Nana O. is drawn to Yasu and his calm understanding, leaving her questioning her relationship with Ren. Nana K. meanwhile is happily nesting in her new home, but her continued estrangement from Nana O. weighs heavily on her heart.”
Ordered this the other week but it shipped yesterday, and I wanted to finish off my collection for this series.
NANA Box Set 4 can be purchased from RightStuf
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Galaxy Angel DVD 1
Plot Synopsis: “The teenage girls of the Angel Brigade have a tough assignment: find the mysterious Lost Technology of the old Galactic Network. Their chances seem to improve when Milfeulle (presumably a misspelling of the name of the pastry Millefeuille) joins Forte, Ranpha, Vanilla, and Mint on the job. Milfeulle has a natural luck that rivals Gladstone Gander’s in the old Carl Barks comics, and she needs it to compensate for her naive klutziness. No one in the Brigade knows what the Lost Technology is, nor are they in much of a hurry to find it.”
Now I have heard of this series before but I never really had an interest in it. Nobody had the first dvd to rent since I like to rent before I buy. Mike Ferreira the writer for animeherald.com (yes the same one who is running the Spring Cleaning Challenge that I am participating in) mentioned that I should give it a shot so I purchased the first DVD.
Stuff I Bought This Week – April 1st
Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise (DVD/Blu-Ray)
Plot Synopsis: “Acclaimed by anime fans all over the world, Royal pace Force – The Wings of Honneamise comes back to life 20 years after its original release. The stirring odyssey created by nascent anime masters at GAINAX is still unsurpassed for its meticulous artistry and heartfelt drama of a young man’s coming of age in a turbulent world!”
This one tends to get mentioned a lot as being one of the great classics, so I figured why the hell not? I’m going to watch and review this eventually. I do like the packaging, which is a chipboard box with two DVD cases inside, one for the Blu-Ray and one for the DVD. It’s how Funimation should have done their Sacred Blacksmith limited edition.
Purchase Wings of Honneamise at RightStuf
Shonen Jump 100th Issue
I bought this because it had the One Piece/Dragon Ball cross over, Cross Epoch, as I’m a fan of both series. Honestly, it probably wasn’t worth buying the whole issue for. The idea is neat and all, but they don’t really do anything interesting with it. It’s just One Piece characters derping around with Dragon Ball characters. It’s just not that impressive really. I did read the three One Piece chapters in the magazine. So that was neat.
Purchase Shonen Jump at RightStuf
Gantz Perfect Score Collection (DVD)
Plot Synopsis: “He thought he was dead. The last thing Kei remembers is the train running over his own body. But now he is in a room filled with strangers, all resurrected by a strange, featureless black sphere known only as the Gantz. Caught in a strange realm between life and death, Kei and the others must undertake brutal missions that the Gantz assigns. Otherwise, none of them will live long enough to leave the room. Is it a game? All Kei knows is that this reprieve from death may only be temporary. If they fall, they will die again.”
I ended up buying this because it was a Crunchyroll deal of the day a couple weeks back. Since I had a premium subscription it was only about $30, so I figured I might as well. I wanted to watch it anyway, and the packaging seemed neat. And the packaging is neat, though incredibly stupid. The discs are in a fold out cardboard thing contained inside a small metal Gantz ball. It sounds neat, but it just takes up more space than it needs too. I’ve watched the first two discs so far, and let’s just say the show is… “special.” Really, the only reason to watch it is if you really, REALLY like gore and boner jokes.
Otaku in Review Podcast – Dance in the Vampire ****
In the latest episode of the OIR podcast, Scott & I invited Greg (@Thedigitalbug) from Reisen Goes to School by Bus to come on and discuss with us the hottest topic as of late: FUNimation’s decision to edit “objectionable content” from Dance in the Vampire Bund. We also discuss Evangelion 1.0/1.11, our first impressions with Final Fantasy XIII, and we briefly touch the topic of Dragon Ball Z Kai being on Nicktoons.
I was a little hyper when we recorded this one, so I get passionate about some topics. If you can’t stand my crazy opinions that people love to hate, then I suggest you stay away!
EVANGELION SPOILER WARNING - If you have not seen the original Eva series or Eva 1.0/1.11, you may want to skip ahead to 13:50.
