It’s time to wrap up the first story arc in the Z portion of Dragon Ball, although unlike the other story arcs in the series this ends by going straight into the next one, with several plot-threads not resolved until that arc’s ending. Still, the fight between Goku and Vegeta is iconic within anime circles in general let alone Dragon Ball, so let’s have a good look why!
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After a long stay in filler land we return to the actual manga source material for more Dragon Ball Z Saiyan Arc… for the most part. This is DBZ after all, there are still some filler added, but at least we get a majority manga stuff section this time. The Saiyans Nappa and Vegeta arrive on Earth and waste no time tracking down the heroes of Earth, but what’s this? The side characters get the spotlight because Goku can’t make it to the battle? Shocker! Let’s take a look…
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It’s time for ten straight episodes of almost entirely filler as the Saiyan Arc grounds to a stop for “not catching up to the source material” reasons, something that actually stops for the most part after this, adopting the “making each episode agonisingly slow” method instead. Having said that I have strong and very happy memories of watching some of these episodes on TV when they first aired (two episodes a day, it has to be said, and some of these filler stories were cut entirely) so I don’t mind some of these stories purely with nostalgia goggles on. Let’s take a look!
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My review of the first 12 episodes can be found by clicking HERE.
Quick dive back into currently-airing anime but sticking with Dragon Ball, the latter half (ish) of Dragon Ball DAIMA has now aired and its time to look at how the series ended. It’s a very odd one honestly and it sets up something of a new continuity going forward rather than sliding in between Z and Super. It also has some extremely lazy writing and some very odd plot thread drops that makes me think that maybe Toriyama didn’t finish his draft for the finale before he passed… Well, either way, let’s take a deeper look.
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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…
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The adaptation of Bleach’s final story arc fully reaches the point in the manga where Tite Kubo clearly began to rush and the story suffered greatly as a result, a few long-awaited Bankai being the only real highlight, but is the anime any different? Well, yes! Kubo has had a direct hand in the creation of this “cour”, more so than the others, showing how he clearly knows how weak the original is and has sought to improve it, and improve it he has! Plus one of the long-awaited Bankai was still adapted (the other will land in Cour 4) and adapted really well, so bonus point all around! Let’s take a look…
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Dragon Ball DAIMA (is it all caps? Not sure, I’ll go with it…) was originally just a 40th Anniversary celebration mini-series, but sadly it’s now turned into Akira Toriyama’s swansong with the franchise after his passing last year. So does it work as both? Yes! DAIMA has Toriyama’s old sense of fun adventures with the odd childish gag here and there that he loved to write so much, but it also has added a lot of lore and continuity to the franchise to give it a little bit of a kick as it enters its 41st year. What will happen to the franchise after DAIMA is up in the air, so let’s just enjoy the start of this full stop at the end of the original creator’s run, shall we?
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I should have been thrilled when I heard a new Universal Century set Gundam series was being made but it soon became obvious it was a CG show, which rarely hits with me, and then as more and more trailers came out it seemed less and less like Gundam and more like generic “hoo-rar” American army stuff with UC era mobile suits in it, the often super realistic CG only serving to make things even less appealing as it crossed over to the uncanny valley. At six episodes it didn’t over-stay its welcome at least, but I’m glad the recently revealed new Gundam show “G-Quuuuux” or however you write that insane title shows this extremely Westernised take on Gundam isn’t a new direction… Let’s take a look!
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We’ve reached the final story arc in My Hero Academia, but due to its length we’re only getting the first half this year, which is fine. Beats the olds ways of filler, anyway! Due to this being a final battle though there isn’t going to be a lot of plot to talk about, instead a lot of action. There are two good dives into the heads of long-recurring villains though, so that’s always fun. Let’s take a look!
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Here I was waiting around for a good break to do the first batch of Egghead Arc reviews and One Piece only goes and stops entirely! … sort of. Yes, after Episode 1122 fresh One Piece anime episodes are on a break until April, a new re-edited version of the Fishman Island arc airing instead (given I just covered the original earlier in the year, I won’t be covering that on this site…) So what better way to find a break in the story than use the break in the story! Let’s take a look at the first chunk of episodes from the first arc of the “Final Saga”, shall we?
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Hogan Reviews 