Hogan Reviews

It’s been a long time coming but after covering the whole of the original series it’s time to finally start covering Z. This is definitely one of those things I put up thinking “doesn’t the internet really need someone reviewing such an iconic series in 2025? What’s left to say?” Well… nothing really, but after covering the criminally under-looked original series I wasn’t going to leave it there! So let’s take a look at the first 10 episodes, because the Saiyan Arc is so comparatively short but I still wanted a consistent four-ish parts. Thanks to pacing issues future arcs will have higher episode chunks, I have no doubt…

It’s always funny whenever I start a watch of the Saiyan arc nowadays as I obviously watch the uncut Japanese version, but I still find it weird whenever one of the many scenes cut for the super-censored Saban dub appears due to rewatching my taped VHSes so often back in the day. On that note, the first episode is mostly that as after the announcer tells us it’s been five years since the battle with Piccolo Jr. we’re introduced to Son Gohan, Goku’s four year old son, as he plays around in the woods and ends up getting caught up in a bunch mischief involving animals and nearly falling off of a waterfall to his death, that kind of fun innocent childhood stuff. The anime actually spoils one of the major plot points a bit with this filler as Gohan seemingly saves himself with his own latent power before Goku, still riding Kinto’un (or “Flying Nimbus”, if you will) could save him. Goku is heading off to Master Roshi’s house for a big reunion with his old friends, Goku not seeing any of his battling buddies for many years on end being a recurring theme in the original manga story. As all this is happening a mysterious pod travels through space and crashes in a field, and out steps a man with a massive widow’s peak and long hair in strange armour, and after killing a now-meme-famous Farmer with Shotgun he checks his Scouter and heads off to a large power level, claiming that it “must be Kakarot”.

It’s funny writing this down like the majority of people don’t know where this is going, but hey, at the time it was a big shock for anime only fans in Japan. For us here in English speaking markets this is how we were introduced to the series as a whole, with a big reunion of old friends we knew nothing about, followed by a “shocking revelation” that we didn’t really know wasn’t a thing already. Sounds odd now, but it somehow worked! Anyway, the alien arrives and exchanges verbal jabs with Piccolo before detecting a larger power level and assuming that this time it “must” be Kakarot and flies off, leaving the would-be King of the World trembling at his might. Goku meets with Roshi, Bulma and Krillin on Roshi’s island, Yamcha, Tenshinhan and Chiaotzu all being busy elsewhere, and as everyone is making a fuss of Gohan the alien arrives. After whipping Krillin through a wall with his tail he reveals that his name is Raditz, he’s Goku’s older brother, Goku’s real name is Kakarot and they’re both Saiyans, a race that frequently conquers planets, wiping out the living people on it ready for resale. Roshi reveals that his student Gohan, Goku’s “Grandpa”, admitted to finding his grandson in a pod and that he was a vicious little terror until he slipped… off of a MOUNTAIN, and hit his head on a rock at the bottom. After that he became docile.

“You expect me to believe that you’re my brother, with THAT hair line?”

Raditz is outraged that his little brother had forgotten his mission as a Saiyan and even worse that his tail has been taken away, the source of power for all Saiyans. He decided to still take Goku with him as he and the only other two survivors of their planet (which had been destroyed by a meteor impact… at this point, anyway) need a little extra backup, and to convince him he kidnaps Gohan and tells Goku to pile up the corpses of 100 Earthlings within the next day as proof of his loyalty before heading off, Goku powerless to stop him after a knee to his ribs. Goku being a Saiyan is obviously such a key part of his character now so it’s funny watching this after having watched the original series, really rams home how out of nowhere this all is. Hell, aliens haven’t been a thing at all up to this point, things had been kept very much in the realm of martial arts fantasy. Goku is going to go after him by himself but he instead gets an unexpected offer from Piccolo, who claims that he needs Raditz out of the way to conquer Earth himself but they only stand a chance teaming up. Goku agrees and the two rush to meet Radtiz in the field he arrived in, the Saiyan having stuffed his crying nephew into his Saiyan pod to shut him up. Goku and Piccolo try and double team him but it doesn’t work, they get completely outclassed including Piccolo losing an arm (and he lacks the immediate strength to regenerate it).

Goku does manage to grab Raditz’ tail, which he remembered used to make him paralyzed with pain, and it works! Piccolo then begins to charge a brand new deadly attack and everything looks good… until Raditz promises his brother that he will leave Earth peacefully and that he’s sorry, so Goku lets him go… and gets hit for his trouble. Even for Goku that’s shockingly naïve! Raditz starts torturing Goku and as he does his Scouter tells him of a sudden rush of power and just at that moment Gohan explodes out of the Pod and launches himself at his dear uncle Raditz, cracking his armour and doing some serious damage, enough damage that Goku is able to grab him in a full nelson and hold him in place for Piccolo’s attack, the Makankosappo, or “Special Beam Cannon”, which I’ll admit is still my mental default thanks to those initial years of only having the dub! The attack drills through both Raditz and Goku’s chest, killing them both, though Raditz lives long enough to hear Goku will be brought back with the Dragon Balls. This makes the evil Saiyan laugh because he’s been transmitting all this back to his two Saiyan buddies out in space, and not only are they going to head to Earth and arrive in a year, but they’re both way stronger than he is…

I can promise you that’s Gohan’s tail. Not that I’d blame him for being nervous with everything that’s happening…

That’s a lot of happenings for the first five episodes, which is funny because now for the rest of the arc… hell, for the rest of the series the pace will move onto a mostly snails pace, with lots of filler and long, silent stare-downs. It’s why really you should watch Dragon Ball Kai if you want a more manga-accurate pace, but I wanted a “warts and all” nostalgic look at DBZ itself, and boy am I ever getting that as now we enter filler-land for pretty much the rest of this review (which is in the “spoiler section”, though that’s a loose term here…) and the entirety of the next review too! The animation (so long as you watch the proper aspect ratio versions and not the stretched “orange box” remaster FUNimation did) and voice work (in Japanese, though I hear the FUNi dub for these re-dubbed Saban episodes are much better than some of the early FUNi stuff) are all great too, though very “of-the-time” if you’re used to more flashy 16:9 stuff. I’ll also say that I enjoyed the Blu-Ray version I watched for this review, it’s not the “Dragon Box” remaster but it’s still good, and in the correct aspect ratio at least!

Overall Thoughts:

Safe to say this scene looked rather different in the censored Saban dub…

Dragon Ball Z starts in a big way with its first five episodes, featuring lots of action and plot development after a tournament arc with technically a rematch with an old villain at its core and some filler had slowed any sense of forward momentum (remember this may have got a new title and a reset of its episode count but the first episode aired in the same slot the original series did right after it ended, and the manga just continued under the same name with no actual break or retitle!) That being said, the latter five episodes slow things down dramatically, and by the end we’re in full-on filler territory, and we won’t escape for some time…

Goku dies in the arms of the recently-arrived Krillin but his body mysteriously vanishes, Piccolo correctly guessing that Kami has special plans for him, and special indeed as in the afterlife Goku is tasked with crossing a long path dubbed “Snake Way” (in the dub… and forever in my head) in order to reach King Kai, or Kaio-sama (I’ll stick with King Kai in this instance) a legendary martial arts trainer. King Yemma, who oversees who goes to Heaven or Hell, tells him not to fall off as Hell itself is underneath the road, which doesn’t phase Goku as he begins by flying down the road but soon runs out of energy so starts to run instead. Meanwhile Piccolo decides to train Gohan and unlock some of that latent power he showed, claiming that anyone else would be too soft to do what was necessary. What training methods does Piccolo have in store for the FOUR YEAR OLD CHILD? First throwing him headfirst into a mountain (and watching as Gohan instinctively destroys the rockface in front of him) and then leaving him in the wild dinosaur-infested wilderness for six months with nothing but a sword and his wits. Given Gohan has been spoiled rotten by Chi Chi to say he is unprepared for the task is an understatement.

A proper throwback to the very first arc of Dragon Ball. Fitting! (for the anime, in the manga it was just a throwback in the middle of the ongoing story!)

To give Earth its best chance Kami decides to gather Krillin, Tenshinhan, Chiaotzu, Yamcha, and Yajirobe at his Lookout and give them the same training he and Popo gave Goku, continuing the trend of Goku’s friends doing his training just one step behind him. This was handy because Krillin kept chickening out of telling Chi Chi what happened to her husband and son, so this gave him a good excuse to leave it to the blunt words of Master Roshi. While in his first night alone in the wilds Gohan sees a full moon for the first time and, like his father before him, turns into an Oozaru, or Great Ape, and begins rampaging around until Piccolo “does a Master Roshi” and destroys the moon to stop the transformation. Gohan wakes with a new set of clothes Piccolo had magic-ed onto him and begins his journey, starring in an entire filler episode where he meets an old broken-down robot who only wishes to be left alone only to come to care for Gohan and eventually give up its robo-life to save him. It’s one of the filler episodes cut entirely from the old censored dub, and it’s not a major loss… Finally Episode 10 has Krillin find Yamcha, now a popular baseball player, and tells him the news, while Gohan befriends a wounded dinosaur and helps defend it against a predator… or tries to, Gohan is instead knocked out and when he wakes the dinosaur is dead. Ah well. Lesson learned: get strong quickly, I guess!