Monday, June 11, 2007
Dragon Ball Z: Vol. 4 - Vegeta Saga I - Gohan's TrialsDragon Ball Z can be summed up into basically two types of shows. There are episodes with major events taking place over the course of several episodes and then there is lots of filler with no real plot development stuffed in-between. With Goku still on the Serpentine Road and the Saiya-jins still en route to Earth this disc is 100% filler which is not awful but it would've been nicer had Funimation released more episodes to a disc. The reason for this filler was a necessary in order to allow Akira Toriyama more time to write the manga so that the show would not get ahead of his pace.
While this disc is just filler, at least it is enjoyable filler. Included here was one of my favorite episodes growing up which is where Vegeta and Nappa stop at a planet inhabited by giant mantis-like creatures and overthrow a dictator only to blow up the planet anyway. Other than that, we get to see Yamucha, Puar, Tenshinhan, Chaozu and Lunch for the first time in Z as they all head to be trained by Kami.
Personally I really enjoy the first season of Dragon Ball Z the best. Perhaps it is because it was in that transition between the original and Z or because it seemed so fresh and new to me back in 1997 or so. Either way, these are the episodes I enjoy the most and wish that the series had continued to be more like this over all the "Super Sayia-jin" stuff that it would end up as.
Labels: Action, Anime, Dragon Ball Z
