Anime Series Reviews - DBZ Movie 4

An Otaku's Guide to Anime & Manga

Anime Series Review:
DBZ: Super Saiya-jin Son Goku

Titles

English: Lord Slug
Japanese: Super Saiya-jin Son Goku

Rating

Total Number of Episodes

1 Movie

Episodes Seen

1 Movie

Version

Japanese subtitled and English dubbed

Voice Acting

The Japanese voice cast is talented and they fit their roles nicely. The English cast is rather mediocre.

Music

The music in this movie is largely up to the usual standards for DBZ. Decent BGM, and upbeat ending theme.

Animation

The animation is up to standard for the series. It is in Toriyama-sensei's traditional style, which people seem to either love or hate. It is a bit simplistic compared to other anime styles, but I like it just fine. Not too dated, but not overly new-looking, either.

Plot Summary
(May contain spoilers. You've been warned!)

The movie opens with a scene of Piccolo meditating near a waterfall. He is interrupted by Gohan, who then proceeds to whistle a long tune, to which he and Haiya Dragon dance. He stops when Piccolo screams at him.

Later, Dr. Briefs discovers a planet heading toward Earth. He says that it is on a collision course, and will hit that afternoon. When Oolong suggests destroying it, Dr. Briefs informs him that the planet is inhabited.

Later, we see Son Goku and Kuririn using their ki to redirect the planet's orbit, so that it will not hit Earth. However, their blast has no effect, and they are swept away as the planet enters the atmosphere. However, the planet doesn't make contact; it explodes before it hit.

As Bulma and the rest of the group realize what has happened, they notice a large structure a short distance from where they are standing. Upon rushing over to investigate, they discover that the inhabitants of the structure are hostile. Several men come outside and inform the Earthlings that their planet has been taken over by Slug-sama. Gohan, who is in the crowd, attacks the men. He fights until ChiChi jumps into the fray; he then has to go save her. As he carries her from the line of fire, his hat (and the DragonBall on it) flies from his head. Before he can retrieve it, Slug appears and picks it up. Pulling the DragonBall from the top, he asks the child about the DragonBalls. At this point, Bulma confronts his men. They then inform her of their plan to convert Earth into Slug-sama's newest Planet Cruiser. Slug then turns his attention to Bulma, asking her where the other Balls are. When she refuses to answer, he forcefully reads her mind, and then takes her Dragon Radar. He gives it to his men, telling them that they have one hour to retrieve the other six Balls.

When they return, Slug summons Shenlon and wishes for eternal youth. His wish is granted. He then orders the men to finish what they came for. A small satellite-like object is seen in space above Earth. It releases a thick, dark cloud, which covers the entire planet.

We now learn that Slug's men, who are members of the Demon Clan, cannot survive an hour in direct sunlight. They also require a lower temperature. They comment on the fact that they will not have to kill the Earthlings; the freezing cold will do it for them.

Later, we see Son Goku and Kuririn awakening, after being fed Senzu by Yajirobe. They are horrified by the frozen state of the Earth.

Meanwhile, ChiChi discovers that Gohan has left the house, where the group is resting. Bulma then realizes that Oolong is gone as well. We then see Gohan and Oolong watching Slug's men. When they're spotted, they try to run, but Gohan has to engage them. As they begin to outnumber him, Piccolo arrives and comes to his aid.

They are approached by Slug's strongest men. Gohan takes on a small green creature named Medamacha, while Piccolo fights a strange winged beast.

Piccolo toys with his opponent for a moment, then quickly disposes of him. Gohan, on the other hand, isn't doing so well. After avoiding a barrage of ki blasts, he has to deal with tiny green creatures that were produced by his opponent. They quickly latch onto him and begin draining his ki.

As Piccolo rushes to Gohan's aid, he is stopped by the third henchman, a blond-haired pretty boy. When he sees Medamacha fire a large ki blast at Gohan, he frees himself and rushes toward Gohan. He throws himself between Gohan and the blast. Piccolo's opponent then joins the green creature in bombarding the two with ki blasts.

When the smoke clears, the three go to finish off Gohan, who was shielded by Piccolo. Before they can do anything, they are assaulted from the air.

Goku and Kuririn land and prepare to face them. Goku asks them to leave in peace. When they refuse, he quickly defeats the two. Seeing this, the other soldiers run away. Moments later, Slug appears. Kuririn attacks him, but is hit hard and sent flying.

Goku then engages Slug, who proceeds to beat him up for a while. Goku prepares to use a Genki Dama, but learns that there isn't enough spare ki on Earth. Then, as Slug launches the killing blow, he blocks it. His ki rages golden around him, though his hair remains black. Goku then proceeds to bombard Slug with ki When the two stand face-to-face once more, we learn that Slug is a Namek-sei-jin. He then proceeds to enlarge his body to an incredible size. Through Kaio-sama, Goku then learns that Slug wasn't a normal Namek-sei-jin; due to a mutation, only evil grew in his heart...due to this, he was a Super Namek-sei-jin.

Slug and Goku, who is now back to normal, resume their fight. Slug quickly manages to get his hands on Goku, and begins to crush him. Suddenly, Piccolo comes to his aid, latching onto Slug's antennae. Dropping Goku, Slug turns his attention to Piccolo, grabbing him in the same manner he had Goku. Smirking, Piccolo pulls both his ears off and yells at Gohan, telling him to whistle. He eventually does so, causing Slug to fall to the ground in pain. Piccolo gives Goku his ki, then collapses.

Goku then rises to face Slug, who also rises. Using the Kaio-ken technique, Goku is able to fly through Slug's chest. As Goku turns his attention to the clouds covering the planet, Slug attacks him again. Once Goku gets away from him, he quickly gathers energy from the sun to form a small Genki Dama. The attack hits both Slug and his satellite, killing him and removing the cloud cover. After things calm down, Yajirobe arrives with Senzu beans for everyone. Meanwhile, Kamesennin wakes up, having slept through the entire ordeal...

Objectionable Material

Violence - Typical DBZ level violence
Nudity - None
Sexual Situations - None
Profanity - Typical DBZ level....very little
Mature Ideas/Issues - None

Kat's Rating

*Shrugs* I've seen better, and I've seen worse.

Dub vs. Sub

See my review.

Manga vs. Anime

As far as I know, there is no manga equivalent to this movie.