chaos
The Boss
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/2012-10-0951NpUQHfgRL._SL750_AA450_.jpg">
<b>Review of Dragon Ball Z #4 by chaos</b>
If you're still reading the reviews of Dragon Ball and got yourself the first three volumes, I'm sad to inform you that you are hooked specially, as it only gets better from this season on.<br>
<br>
This box set offers the same as the previous ones, English 5.1 surround audio, English broadcast stereo audio and Japanese mono. The menu option to have surround audio with the Japanese songs, still doesn't work on these discs, having the English opening song instead. The extras this time around are quite lacklustre comparing to the previous sets, having only the clean opening and closing Japanese songs. Conversion to widescreen cutting the bottom and top of the video is still there and it won't go away, so I won't talk about this anymore. A marathon option is available, which plays the opening, then all the episodes and then the ending, considering the number of episodes, doing so can potentially save an hour in total.<br>
<br>
So, what is the Fourth Season of Dragon Ball Z like? (Spoilers from the third season below)<br/>
<br>
Dragon Ball Z was originally aired very closely to the actual manga publication, so as it usually happens in such cases, filler episodes are added in order to allow the manga to accumulate enough material to be animated. In general, fans tend to dislike fillers, but in the case of Dragon Ball, the fillers work pretty well. For instance, animating things that are only implied in the manga, such as the wish granting scene to resurrect Chiaotzu, Yamcha and Tenshinhan, or the Bulma, Gohan and Kuririn's space travel. <br>
<br>
The one bit of filler that does not work so well with fans is when new material is created and it's not referenced in any way on the original works. Such example is also present in Dragon Ball Z, specially evident in this volume as a complete new story arc is added, the Garlic Jr arc. This arc is a tie in with a DBZ OVA called The Dead Zone, where Garlic Jr manages to collect all the Dragon Balls and wish for immortality. With his newly gained powers, he managed to send Piccolo and Goku to the ropes and Gohan, after seeing his Dad and friends in danger, releases all his hidden powers, forcing Garlic Jr into the Dead Zone, which was a parallel dimension that Garlic Jr opened to try and trap the Z warriors.<br>
<br>
The fourth season starts with Goku still missing and with Garlic Jr returns, where after defeating Kami and imprisoning him in a bottle. Garlic Jr then claims to have taken Kami's place as Earth's overseer and starts to brainwash everyone turning peaceful humans into evil fiends. Gohan, Kuririn and Piccolo are the only Z warriors left who can fight him and return everyone to normal. The fights in this saga are nothing outstanding, but it's great to actually see filler material being well planned and not hurt the canonical chronology, as it's done with other shounen series.<br>
<br>
After the conclusion of the Garlic Jr filler arc, the following saga is Trunks and the Androids saga, the warm up saga before the Cell Sagas, which, in my humble opinion, is the best part of all Dragon Ball Z. Many unexpected revelations are reserved for the very first couple episodes where Trunks appears and Goku returns to Earth, where they resume their training until the day the Androids appear.<br>
<br>
On the predicted day by Trunks, the androids show up and start wrecking havoc in the city, killing and destroying indiscriminately until the Z Warriors finally find them and the battle begins. At first the battle seems to be in the Z warriors favour, until Android #17 and #18 appears and turn the tables on our heroes.<br>
<br>
Comparatively speaking, this is the weakest of the Dragon Ball seasons in the series, but even the weakest episode of Dragon Ball can be quite rewarding. The lower rating than the previous seasons is due to the amount of fillers in this volume, but once Trunks grace us with his presence, the action only becomes more and more intense by the episode.
<b>Final score: 6 out of 10</b>
<b>Additional screencaps</b>
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2012-10-09dbz4_villains.jpg">
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2012-10-09trunks.jpg">
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2012-10-09vlcsnap-2012-10-09-16h29m18s203 copy.jpg">
<b>Review of Dragon Ball Z #4 by chaos</b>
If you're still reading the reviews of Dragon Ball and got yourself the first three volumes, I'm sad to inform you that you are hooked specially, as it only gets better from this season on.<br>
<br>
This box set offers the same as the previous ones, English 5.1 surround audio, English broadcast stereo audio and Japanese mono. The menu option to have surround audio with the Japanese songs, still doesn't work on these discs, having the English opening song instead. The extras this time around are quite lacklustre comparing to the previous sets, having only the clean opening and closing Japanese songs. Conversion to widescreen cutting the bottom and top of the video is still there and it won't go away, so I won't talk about this anymore. A marathon option is available, which plays the opening, then all the episodes and then the ending, considering the number of episodes, doing so can potentially save an hour in total.<br>
<br>
So, what is the Fourth Season of Dragon Ball Z like? (Spoilers from the third season below)<br/>
<br>
Dragon Ball Z was originally aired very closely to the actual manga publication, so as it usually happens in such cases, filler episodes are added in order to allow the manga to accumulate enough material to be animated. In general, fans tend to dislike fillers, but in the case of Dragon Ball, the fillers work pretty well. For instance, animating things that are only implied in the manga, such as the wish granting scene to resurrect Chiaotzu, Yamcha and Tenshinhan, or the Bulma, Gohan and Kuririn's space travel. <br>
<br>
The one bit of filler that does not work so well with fans is when new material is created and it's not referenced in any way on the original works. Such example is also present in Dragon Ball Z, specially evident in this volume as a complete new story arc is added, the Garlic Jr arc. This arc is a tie in with a DBZ OVA called The Dead Zone, where Garlic Jr manages to collect all the Dragon Balls and wish for immortality. With his newly gained powers, he managed to send Piccolo and Goku to the ropes and Gohan, after seeing his Dad and friends in danger, releases all his hidden powers, forcing Garlic Jr into the Dead Zone, which was a parallel dimension that Garlic Jr opened to try and trap the Z warriors.<br>
<br>
The fourth season starts with Goku still missing and with Garlic Jr returns, where after defeating Kami and imprisoning him in a bottle. Garlic Jr then claims to have taken Kami's place as Earth's overseer and starts to brainwash everyone turning peaceful humans into evil fiends. Gohan, Kuririn and Piccolo are the only Z warriors left who can fight him and return everyone to normal. The fights in this saga are nothing outstanding, but it's great to actually see filler material being well planned and not hurt the canonical chronology, as it's done with other shounen series.<br>
<br>
After the conclusion of the Garlic Jr filler arc, the following saga is Trunks and the Androids saga, the warm up saga before the Cell Sagas, which, in my humble opinion, is the best part of all Dragon Ball Z. Many unexpected revelations are reserved for the very first couple episodes where Trunks appears and Goku returns to Earth, where they resume their training until the day the Androids appear.<br>
<br>
On the predicted day by Trunks, the androids show up and start wrecking havoc in the city, killing and destroying indiscriminately until the Z Warriors finally find them and the battle begins. At first the battle seems to be in the Z warriors favour, until Android #17 and #18 appears and turn the tables on our heroes.<br>
<br>
Comparatively speaking, this is the weakest of the Dragon Ball seasons in the series, but even the weakest episode of Dragon Ball can be quite rewarding. The lower rating than the previous seasons is due to the amount of fillers in this volume, but once Trunks grace us with his presence, the action only becomes more and more intense by the episode.
<b>Final score: 6 out of 10</b>
<b>Additional screencaps</b>
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2012-10-09dbz4_villains.jpg">
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2012-10-09trunks.jpg">
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2012-10-09vlcsnap-2012-10-09-16h29m18s203 copy.jpg">