Ah Dragonball Z. I don’t think I know of an anime that has polarized anime fans quite like this one has. If you trail the internet for a while and ask a few different types of people what they think of this show then you’ll probably find two camps: Ignorant and stupid fan boyZ/girlZ (you see what I did there?) and closed minded, overly opinionated Otaku. I’ve sat in both camps before albeit the less extreme ends of both but I’ll try and keep this review level headed.

Synopsis:
Dragonball Z is a continuation of the Dragonball anime series and runs for 291 episodes. It centres on a young man named Son Goku (or just Goku in the English dub). He’s a very impressive man who at the beginning of the show is already a skilled fighter who has won tournaments and saved the world once already, now he’s just trying to live life with his friends, wife and son. But as it happens this isn’t meant to be, aliens turn up and seem determined to destroy things. Goku must fight them to protect the world, and then fight others to protect the universe and then fight some more…and then a bit more.

OK before I really get into this I have a few things to state. Firstly I have only watched to English dub of this series and even then only up to episode 220 or so. Secondly I have to say that DBZ was probably the first anime I ever watched, I used to rush home from school to watch it and without it I wouldn’t have got into anime and I wouldn’t have seen some other really great shows, also it has inspired (or at least the original Dragonball series did) the creators of other shows that are now very popular, Naruto and One Piece being two of them.

All that being said Dragonball Z is not a great anime series. It’s not even a good anime series and this is a shame because as far as anime series go, it had a gargantuan amount of potential. It’s pretty old now but the character designs, artwork and animation where all pretty good for there time. The story line of a man embracing his destiny and heritage, finding a power within himself so that he can protect all that he loved is really cliché now but back then wasn’t quite as over done in anime as it is today.

Goku fights with blistering speed and strength, he can shot energy out of his hands, he can fly and of course his great at marshal arts: cross Bruce Lee with Superman and you’ve got him. He also has friends who can fight and together they battle the bad guys so as to defend the earth.

The 7 Glowing Balls of Boring Plot lines

But the good things that Dragonball Z had are completely offset by the mountain of bad. The Titular Dragonballs were 7 orange globes that, when gathered together granted the finders one wish. That’s all good, the only problem is people can get wished back to life. This is a very big problem because it sends out the message that it really doesn’t matter if anyone dies, “hey, don’t worry guys, we can just wish piccolo back with the dragonballs”. This issue sets really damages the plot and the introduction of a second set of dragonballs that can be used to wish people back to life a second time really destroys any sense of fear or worry for your favourite character.

On the subject of Characters if you happen to want to pick a favourite character near the beginning of the series then be aware that as episodes drag on, lots of the original cast will become obsolete. With the introduction of the “Super Saiyajin” ability, anyone who isn’t the same race as Goku gets completely pushed out of the picture, as they just aren’t strong enough to cope any more.

The ever increasing enemies also becomes less and less plausible. Bad guys turn up get beaten, good guys then beat the Big Boss of the original bad guys who is ruling the universe and thusly save said universe, so far so good. But then it gets stupid. Androids are made that are stronger than the big boss of the whole universe, they are beaten but then another one is found that is even stronger. That gets beaten and then a demon who has been asleep for thousands of years wakes up and he’s the strongest yet. This all leads to us not really believing that the series is ever going to end as the writers conjure up more and more antagonists and plop them down into a universe that doesn’t fit them.

the Z fighters

So with little to no love for the characters and the few that were diverse and interesting getting replaced by others who are all very similar, all that seems to be left is the fight scenes. This tends to be pretty much hit or miss. While there are a few very cool and interesting abilities and fights a lot of it ends up being re-used cells which leaves you feeling like you are watching the same 10 second sequence for about 5 minutes.

But the thing that really irritates me and most people about Dragonball Z is the use of what I call “Power up Filler”. These are random episodes, and yes I do mean entire episodes, where nothing will happen except have one of the characters grunt and strain while they build up their power so that they can do some impressive energy blast. This is just so unbelievably lazy I almost don’t understand how they got away with it.

The Final Word:
Ok guys I’m sorry, I started off trying to keep this review level headed and I think I’ve probably failed with that. The show just isn’t great, but it could have been. If they had chopped down the episode count, had some cool fight choreography, stopped people being wished back the dragonballs and introduced some character development it would have been a different show. Then finally stop the series with Goku embracing his heritage, becoming a Super Saiyajin and defeating Frieza.

Who knows maybe one day someone will remake this series and do it well. On the plus side this anime is infinitely better than the live action Hollywood film Dragonball Evolution which is so bad I wouldn’t even inflict it on people I don’t like.

If you agree or disagree, leave a comment let me know what you think.

Zatoichi (AKA The Blind Swordsman: Zatôichi), is one of the even fewer films that I can comfortably say, I’ve had the pleasure of watching more than once.  I watched it for the first time in about 2006/07, when I was just getting into Asian Cinema and absolutely loved it. Every moment of the film was exciting and suspenseful as the story unfolds and elements of various mini-story lines begin to weave and intersect resulting in a crescendo of sword fight/blood bath as the mystery and intrigue continues to unravel before you.

The Poster

What amazed me about the film itself was the extend to which the Director, Takeshi Kitano gets involved. Not only did he direct and write the screenplay for Zatoichi, but he also stars in it. If you are fortunate enough to own the DVD, the extras will show you how he also helped to choreograph much of the sword fight scenes and in particular the unique fighting style that Zatoichi himself adopts in the film.

The pace throughout the movie is swift, from start to finish. At no point are you bored because events quite fluidly move from one to another. The intricacy of the plots, at times can be confusing as you see various snippets at first with context and deeper explanations are only revealed of the course of the story as the various groups come into contact with one another.

A particular element of the movie that does take some getting used to, is the use of CGI for the blood and much of the dismembering which does date the film somewhat. This however, is a very minor issue and is quite easily overlooked as a more a charming characteristic of the film instead of a glaring faux pas. The sword fights are exciting to watch. The viewer only really catches glimpses of the traveling vagrants prowess with a sword but he talent and brutality is not fully displayed till much nearer the end of the film but we are constantly left in no doubt that he is willing and ready to kill should the circumstances for such force as is the case in the gambling den when the house is caught cheating. At the same time we see elements of restraint, in particular the sequence between Zatoichi and Hattori Genosuke in the local bar, upon their first encounter comes to mind.

Kitano Directing a Fight Scene

One of the most interesting elements of the movie (trust me, there are plenty!) is the sword fighting technique Zatoichi employs, which even for a non-sword fighting expert like myself is easy to appreciate. As Zatoichi conceals his sword in his walking cane, the way he draws his sword puts him in immediately an offensive and defensive position as he draws his sword from it’s sheath directly upward in front of him, blade toward attacker. The samurai on the other hand draw their swords from the waist diagonally across their bodies which takes longer and requires larger motions and subsequently more space. Again, the best demonstration of this was in the local bar when the main characters encounter each other for the first time and Zatoichi quite clearly demonstrates a superior skill to that of Hattori Genosuke.

Concluding Remarks
This wouldn’t be much of a review if nothing was said about the plot and the storyline. I’ve watched this film twice and on both occasions, while I expected and predicted the outcome, the execution of the storyline and the deliver of the lines and the slow unraveling of the mystery is done so expertly that it continually exciting every time. Kitano indeed tells a story very well. Towards the end we get to see veil after veil removed as we begin to see the real workings of the puppeteer behind it all. It would be an even greater injustice if I were to spoil this here. My advice to you is to go out and find this movie straight away. Better yet, get the DVD.Kitano Directing a Fight Scene

Let me know what you think in the comments below. Where does this one rank in your Top 10, because it definitely should be somewhere in everyone’s Top 10.