Dragon Ball Z Kai Part 3

The third volume of Dragon Ball Z Kai pits Krillin and Gohan against the massively overpowered Ginyu Force on planet Namek, with Vegeta sullenly showing the first signs of a change of heart when he helps them out, a newly powered-up Goku racing to their rescue … and Frieza finally getting his hands on all seven Dragon Balls, with disastrous consequences.

Despite this being a cut-down version of the original DBZ saga, you’ll still need to come in at the beginning to follow everything. But the condensation speeds things along, the remastering job is spectacular, and the new English dub is great fun as well.

Don’t even think about trying to watch Dragon Ball Z by jumping in at some point in the middle. This goes for most any anime of sizeable length, but doubly so for the show that essentially coined the whole “epic anime series” approach. The original DBZ clocked in at almost 300 episodes, but for its 20th anniversary Toei Animation created a trimmed-down, 100-episode edition, Dragon Ball Z Kai (“revised”). It’s still on the long side for casual viewers, but far more manageable all the same—and while they’ve trimmed the fat they haven’t tossed out the quirks that make the show fun.

At the start of the third set in the series, Krillin and Gohan are doing what they can to keep either Frieza or Vegeta from collecting all seven Dragon Balls—which isn’t much, given that they have relatively little power compared to either of those adversaries. The odds are stacked even more fiercely against them when Frieza summons his gang of five oddball goons, the Ginyu Force. At first they seem to be mere comic relief—their side banter is hilarious, one of the best things in this whole set—but then they start throwing punches, and real trouble begins.

Then Goku arrives, having spent several episodes in a spaceship submitting himself to high-intensity training. I’m grateful that wasn’t one of the things that ended up getting sliced out to speed up the runtime, as it’s also great fun to watch. By the time he makes planetfall, he’s gained a ridiculous amount of power—cue the obligatory “OVER NINE THOUSAND!” jokes—and uses it to make short work of the Ginyu Force. But even Super Saiyan Goku is going to have problems when he comes up against Frieza having undergone a power-up of his own … at least until they get an unexpected hand from beyond the grave.

So far, Vegeta has been nobody’s idea of a good guy, obsessed with the Dragon Balls and gaining immortality from them. But throughout this portion of the story there are hints of a better person under the monomaniac he normally is, even if it surfaces in the form of him chastising Krillin and Gohan for trying to help him (since the latter two are clearly far out of their league). He eventually agrees to help them out, but only on his terms—by itself a step away from him being the main adversary, even if only a little one.

The restoration work done to the series is reason enough for any fan to pick it up. While the original film elements have some issues—some wobble in the picture during the first couple of episodes, mainly—the fact that it’s been remastered from film in true 1080p and not simply upscaled from a lower-resolution original is a huge plus. The new English dub is also solid; on this set, the members of the Ginyu Force in particular are a riot to listen to.

Like most midseason episode sets, this one is transitional—it won’t by itself attract fans, but it’s a solid brick in the DBZ Kai wall, and is an automatic must for those already buying the show.