Dragon Ball franchise.
We end our look at the Demon King Piccolo arc with what is nearly entirely filler, beyond a few scenes at Kami’s Lookout. Still, with the exception of the four Dragon Ball films (which I will cover at some point before I do the final DB arc) this is the last chunk of episodes with kid Goku and the general younger version of the cast. So let’s take a look!
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The Demon King Piccolo arc comes to a close (though there is a lengthy bit of part-canon, part-filler still to come after it…) with the big rematch between Goku and the titular Demon King and once again it contains a lot of tropes that would become the norm once a Z gets added onto the anime’s title, but the first few episodes are filler-rific, so… it’s not all good (though that also rings a bell in terms of DBZ…). Let’s take a look then!
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After the shocking cliffhanger (well, shocking at the time, Krillin being dead isn’t a big surprise as a show goes on…) we move on to the Demon King Piccolo arc, a story arc that has quite a few firsts that will become extremely commonplace as the show moves forward… plus the debut of Yajirobe! Who doesn’t like Yajirobe?! … Anyway, let’s take a look at the first ten episodes, shall we?
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The second half of the 22nd Tenkaichi Tournament is full of great action and the central focus on Tenshinhan’s struggle with his morality is great, so while it still has moments of filler this is a far better experience. Plus that infamous cliffhanger ending! Let’s take a look…
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Time to kick off a run of five chunks of original Dragon Ball that take us through to the end of Goku’s screentime as a child (not including the four Dragon Ball films I’ll tackle later, anyway… or Dragon Ball GT for that matter!) The 22nd Tenkaichi Tournament is where the series really starts focusing on action over comedy and thanks to massive blasts of energy still being rare there is a greater focus on hand-to-hand combat, too… at least in the later fights, sadly this arc is also mired with lots of filler that kills a lot of a pacing, especially in this first half. How badly does that effect things? Let’s find out!
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Now the Dragon Ball Super anime has stopped airing it has been through the Manga that we have followed the further Toriyama-penned (though not drawn) antics of Goku and co. The latest arc has come to a close, focusing on a powerful magic-user from 10 million years ago returning named Moro, so I thought I’d have a look at it! I would review manga volumes, but this arc awkwardly starts halfway through Volume 10 and I’m NOT reviewing the Universe Survival arc for a third time any time soon, so I thought it would be easier to just count the Chapters instead, especially as I’m following the monthly chapters anyway… So let’s take a look!
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Okay, last Dragon Ball review for a while, but again after sitting down to watch this I knew if I didn’t review it now I’d never get round to it. The second, far longer “story arc” in this Promotional Anime feels much like one of the old Dragon Ball Z films, just longer and somehow with even less plot. Do I expect plot out of a series that exists to promote a card-based Arcade game? No, not really, but I thought I’d mention it. Let’s take a look!
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I’ll get round to Gundam Wing in a few weeks, having just watched this on a whim I wanted to get the review written because frankly I’m unlikely to watch it again… So, what is Super Dragon Ball Heroes? Why, it’s a “Promotional Anime”, written right under the logo in the top left of the free online uploads of the episodes. What does that mean? It means it’s nonsense… utter, utter nonsense. It exists to give some slight visual context to some made up cards people can use in the popular (in Japan) Arcade game of the same name. Is it still fun to watch though? Well given it’s been a couple of years and I’m only now just getting round to it, I didn’t think so going in, but…
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Time to wrap up this section of the Dragon Ball story, from Fortune Teller Baba to Grandpa Gohan all the way to the last episode of filler before the three year time skip, there is a lot to cover. In amongst invisible men getting nosebled on and devils fighting in a room adorned with a giant toilet, there is one of the best choreographed fights in the series. Intrigued? Read onwards as we wave a goodbye to the “classic Toriyama gag manga era” of the Dragon Ball series.
Although there is plenty of humour to be had in the next arc (that’s sort of the final part of this overall story…) this part of the Red Ribbon Army arc always feels like the beginning of the turning point towards more action-heavy story telling. Tao Pai Pai is a deadly and serious (until the end) foe, and for the first time Goku decides to use the Dragon Balls to return someone from death. Interested? Let’s have a look then, as the Red Ribbon Army arc draws to a close, but we’re not quite done yet…
Hogan Reviews 