Hogan Reviews

Before we get to the final chunk of original Dragon Ball episodes I thought I’d better cover the four Dragon Ball movies first, as they all feature Goku as a kid, rather than the taller late teen we see in the final story arc, and they generally adapt the stories we’ve already covered via the main series, just with new antagonists and such. “Curse of the Blood Rubies” (known simply as “The Legend of Shenlong” in Japan) adapts the very first story arc of the series but takes out Pilaf and his gang and inserts a new threat in King Gurumes and his men. How much does this change the story? Not as much as it only being 40 minutes does… Still, let’s take a look at the first of many, many Dragon Ball-related 40-odd minute films and specials!

The film opens up with a new scene at a farmland where a man is being beaten up by King Gurumes’ right and left hand people Pasta and Bongo, who are in the area to both look for both the local region’s infamous Blood Rubies as well as the Dragon Balls. This is because Gurumes has abused the Blood Rubies he already has and been cursed for it, given a monstrous appearance and eternal hunger to boot, so wants to use the Dragon Balls to wish away the curse. This leads to the classic opening of Goku attacking a big fish and taking it home only to run into Bulma, who after he destroys her car due to thinking it was an evil creature, gets told of the Dragon Balls by her. Goku says about having his “Grandpa’s soul” in such a ball at his home but as the two arrive Pasta and Bongo have already taken it. Goku and Bulma give chase in the sky but are unsuccessful and crash down to the forest below.

Pasta and Bongo are somehow not the worst named characters in the series’ long history, but they might crack the top 10…

We now get a quick mishmash of the original Dragon Ball story as Goku and Bulma meet Oolong, who is terrorising Pansy, the young daughter of the man who was abused at the start of the film and who is looking for someone strong to save her village. Goku beats Oolong and turns him back into a pig but during their battle they end up in the desert known as the territory of Yamcha the desert bandit. So we get a quick redo of Yamcha fighting Goku, Puar meeting Oolong and recognising him from “shape-shifting school” (I wonder where that school is and why we never saw any other graduates…) and Yamcha running off at the sight of Bulma due to his fear of girls. Pansy tells everyone about the legendary Master Roshi, who she hopes to find and recruit to help her people, so Goku, Bulma and Oolong head to Roshi’s island with her, with Yamcha and Puar in toe as they overhead everything, including Bulma’s explanation of the Dragon Balls, so Yamcha now plans to use them to wish away his fear of girls.

Once again this leads to another quick “greatest hits” version of some of the show as Yamcha arrives at Roshi’s first and tells him Goku is a thief, but Roshi doesn’t fall for it and uses the Kinto’un (or Flying Nimbus, if you will) to prove who is pure of heart, a mission Goku passes (and Roshi himself fails, naturally). Roshi also says he’ll give Bulma his Dragon Ball in exchange for the opportunity to play around with her tits, so Oolong transforms into Bulma’s likeness and allows him to go for it… *sigh*, that’s always weird, no matter the different setting… Anyway, the new stuff suddenly kicks in when Pasta and Bongo arrive in a submarine and destroy Roshi’s house and steal his Dragon Ball, causing Roshi to enter his super buff state and fire a Kamehameha wave at them. They escape by jet, Goku copies the move to everyone’s shock and soon Goku, Bulma, Oolong and Pansy head off to the latter’s home to confront Gurumes and recover the Balls.

Yamcha makes a dramatic entrance! … those were the days, eh Yamcha?

It leads to a fun, action-packed finale, but most of the film isn’t’ anything new if you’re already familiar with the original story arc. The animation is fine and of-it’s-time and both dubs are at the same level of the original series. Basically, unlike the Z films which at least offer a different setting, story and villain (even if they’re equally non-canon and therefore missable), if you skip this one you’re not missing out on anything too original.

Overall Thoughts:

Bulma, Goku and Pansy look on in shock. At what? I’ll let your imagination decide! …. Oh God, not that!

“Curse of the Blood Rubies” is a fun 40 minutes with a pleasing blend of the familiar and the new, but unlike the Z movies that eventually follow there isn’t really anything to check out here as the movie-exclusive villain is pretty generic and ends up not doing much. Still, the final 15 minutes were filled with some fun action scenes and comedy, given its runtime I feel it overachieves, far more than my hazy memory of watching this many years ago led me to believe. If you want a quick burst of early humour-based Dragon Ball this is a good way to do that.

As they arrive at Gurumes’ castle they immediately get caught in a dogfight, Bulma and Oolong in a plane and Goku on Kinto’un, with the latter soon pairing off with Bongo on a flying platform having a weird air-duel, which Goku eventually wins thanks to the Nyoibo (or power pole) which I forgot he had, honestly. Yamcha and Puar arrive and infiltrate the castle as well and meet Bulma and co as they all take out Pasta together, Yamcha over-coming his fear to save Bulma. They soon all meet up in front of Gurumes, who grows to immense size but Bulma figures out the Dragon Balls are in his stomach so throws the last Dragon Ball down his throat and summons Shenron, destroying the castle and tearing up Gurumes’ body as well.

It’s funny to see Toriyama going back to the idea of the central villain storing the Dragon Balls by eating them many years later with Demon King Piccolo. Gurumes was a trend setter!

Pansy wishes for her land to be peaceful and restored to its former glory and Shenron does just that, removing all the Blood Rubies in the process. The land is free, Gurumes is now a tiny bald man (for some reason), Yamcha and Bulma agree to go on a date and Goku heads off to Master Roshi to receive more training. Again, very similar to the original story, just with a few extra bits… I could’ve sworn Goku turns into an Oozaru in this, I guess that must be the next film…?