An Anime Film – a.k.a. Dragon Ball Z Movie 01: Ora no Gohan wo Kaese!! (Bring Back my Gohan!!)

I can count the number of Dragon Ball Z films I’ve actually watched on one hand, largely because I used to listen to gate-keep-y fanboys that would tell me “this isn’t canon, and is terrible because of that”. I’ve grown to utterly despise this sort of mindset, and even though the few examples of older Dragon Ball Z films I have seen weren’t the best, I feel like avoiding them might do them a disservice. It is for that very reason that I’ve bookmarked a playlist of these on Crunchyroll, and plan to subject everyone else to a bit of a watch-along as I go through nearly three decades of this stuff. Thankfully, that doesn’t amount to too many films, but be prepared! Without further ado, let’s take a look at the first film under the Dragon Ball Z banner, Dead Zone.

Note: There are three films under the original Dragon Ball umbrella (well four if you count Path to Power) – I couldn’t find them to stream without purchasing them, but I own two on DVD from a LOOOOOONG time ago. I will likely go back and review these as well.

“Piccolo is training at a barren cliff when a handful of mysterious enemies attacks and defeats him. These same enemies then go to Mount Paozu to steal Gohan Son’s “Dragon Ball.” Upon arrival, not only do they defeat Goku Son’s spouse and father-in-law—Chi-Chi and Gyumao, respectively—but they also kidnap Gohan in the process. Feeling something isn’t right, Goku rushes home, only to find Chi-Chi lying on the ground as she explains the situation. He then goes to Kame House and borrows the Dragon Radar in order to locate the Dragon Balls and, with them, the enemies and Gohan.”

Released in 1989, Dead Zone not only serves as a standalone story that sits outside of the manga continuity (something that nearly all of these films do) but also seamlessly integrates within the broader narrative arc of the Dragon Ball Z saga in some interesting ways. For those that watched the TV anime, and aren’t manga purists (which was me growing up), many might have been confused by the references in the so-called “Garlic Jr. Saga”, a ten episode mini-arc that took place as a way to fill time in between the Frieza and Cell story arcs. It turns out that a lot of the references to the past from those episodes are looking back at this film, making this perhaps the only one of the films that would be almost necessary to see if one were just watching the animated series. There’s a Trunks TV special that I would consider mandatory as well, but we’ll eventually get to that.

Even though this film appears to have been released during the Saiyan Saga, one can tell that this is set in the aftermath of the original Dragon Ball series, existing as an alternate opening for the show or even a prequel. Goku and Piccolo still are at odds with each other, Goku has yet to introduce everyone to his son, Gohan, and he still fights with his extendable rod that was a prominent fixture of the end of the original run. There are some things that mess with continuity a bit, but I won’t dwell on any of that in this review. Just from the way it presents itself, one can tell this is more like classic Dragon Ball than what Z ended up like, and since I’m a big fan of the original 153 episodes, I loved this!

As mentioned before, Dead Zone introduces us to a new antagonist, Garlic Jr., whose pursuit of immortality is the main focus of the plot. At some point in the past, his father (unsurprisingly named Garlic) was vying for a place as The Guardian of Earth and was denied due to having an evil heart. He lashed out at the planet, eventually becoming sealed away and perishing by a triumphant Kami. It is for this very reason Garlic Jr. vows for revenge and plans to unleash hell on Earth in retribution.

Garlic Jr. has been gathering the Dragon Balls and appears to have some way to track them, which places him on Goku’s own doorstep. Considering that at this time Gohan wears one proudly on his hat, he unfortunately made for a perfect target. The film wastes no time plunging viewers into the action, as Garlic Jr. and his goons kidnap Gohan, in a bid to not only have the aforementioned Dragon Ball, but to harness Gohan’s latent power for his sinister purposes.

One of the most striking aspects of Dead Zone is its animation quality, which is a significant step up from the television series at the time. It is by no means a cinematic tour-de-force, but it goes to show how good visually Dragon Ball can be with even the most modest of budget increases. It isn’t a long movie, a fact that made me double check as to whether this was actually some kind of television special, but despite its relatively short runtime, Dead Zone manages to pack a considerable amount of content, offering a satisfying blend of pulse-pounding excitement, character development, and humor.

Hardcore “but can X beat Goku” guys, that only like big fight scenes, may not enjoy this as much as me as the tone is far more comedic than later episodes. However, if you like classic Dragon Ball, you’ll likely dig it. Then again, a lot of those guys like Dragon Ball GT, which (in my humble opinion) is not very good and painted the franchise into a corner until Dragon Ball Super came along. Big fights and yelling to turn into increasingly “cool-looking” transformations is not the best part of the franchise and I will die on this hill.

In conclusion, Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone serves as a fun alternative introduction to the world of Dragon Ball Z, and as such I am going to treat it as “the first episode” in my own head-canon. With its above average animation, hilarious storyline, and interesting characters, it goes to show that even the most hated parts of this franchise have merit, and unless you are trying to be a cynical jerk for the sake of it, this is a serviceable film. I’m actually excited to see where these go, so onwards to the next one!