Reviews and Summaries of ALL of the Dragonball/Z/GT Movies



Introduction

Below is a list of the Dragon Ball movies. Most of the information for the spelling of names, etc. came from the Jump Anime Comics, although the theatrical release dates came from the Animedia "Anime Data Diary." And, Hitoshi Doi assisted on the title translations. After each movie description is a brief list of the one-shot characters that appeared in each movie, and a note concerning what happened to each of them.

The movies have little to do with the continuity of the manga or the TV series. As such, they are ok mind-candy, but can not be assumed to add to the real Dragon Ball universe. The exceptions are the made-for-TV specials, which are a part of the canon.

You may notice that there has been a DBZ movie released every March and every July since 1990. There were also three movies based on the earlier Dragon Ball characters, released before DBZ started.

If anyone can add to this file, feel free to contact me via e-mail.

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Dragon Ball:
Movie 1 		Shenron no Densetsu
The Legend of Shenlon 		(12/20/86)

This is a retelling of how Gokuu began his adventures; from the first encounters with Buruma, Oolong, Puuaru, and Yamcha, up to his learning Kamehama-ha just by watching Kamesennin using the technique. This time, Gokuu's origins are tied in with the evil Emperor Gurumesu, who wants the Dragon Balls to wish for delicious food, and the Emperor's minions, Pasta and Bongo (these two are using the quest for the Dragon Balls to cover the fact that they are greedily raping the countryside to gather up valuable Richi Stones.) Buruma still wants to wish for a nice boyfriend (Yamcha wants the Dragon Balls to wish for a woman he can marry), and ends up summoning Shenlon before Gurumesu can, but the daughter of the local mayor, Pansy, shouts out her wish first -- for the countryside to be restored to its original state prior to the discovery of Richi Stones. Shenlon does this, and causes the stones to disappear. Gurumesu becomes a normal deformed human that likes to eat apples, and Gokuu zips off to find the #4 Ball again.


One-Shot Characters
Gurumesu A gluttonous monster that NEEDS to eat delicious new food. Becomes a normal person eventually.
Pansy A young girl that searches for Kamesennin to ask him to help her village. Disappears from sight after this movie.
Pasta A greedy blond woman that co-heads Gurumesu's army.
Bongo A huge, mean man that works closely with Pasta. Both Bongo and Pasta disappear from sight after this movie.
Richi Stone "Rich Stone". The most valuable gem on Earth.

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Dragon Ball:
Movie #2 		Majinjou no Nemuri Hime
The Sleeping Princess of Demon Castle 		(07/18/87)

Young Gokuu seeks out Kamesennin to ask to be accepted as a student, while the little runt priest, Kuririn, arrives for the same reason (and uses a sukebe magazine as a bribe.) Kamesennin sends them on a quest far to the east, where "five mountains stand, called the 'Devil's Hand'." In a castle there, is the legendary, and pretty, "Sleeping Princess." Whoever brings back the Sleeping Princess will become the old pervert's student. The two boys set out, and Kuririn uses all the standard tricks to trip up Gokuu.

A little later, Buruma, Oolong, Yamcha, and Puuaru -- who are on summer vacation -- arrive at Kame House to find Gokuu. Kamesennin says that the two boys have gone far to the east for training, so the friends fly in Buruma's Capsule jet to the Devil's Hand. When they near the castle, the jet is attacked by demons, and Buruma is taken to the Castle. The owner of the castle, Lucifer, pretends to treat her as a guest, until it becomes time to awake the Sleeping Princess. In the meantime, Gokuu and Kuririn are fighting monsters, and they drop in on Buruma just before Shitsuji can drain Buruma of her blood through a giant syringe (Buruma's blood is to be used to toast the awakening of the Sleeping Princess.) Then, Ranchi arrives to steal the Sleeping Princess -- which is really a giant jewel. Everyone is captured and encased in a wall of rock.

It is the night of a full moon, and the moonlight is used to power the jewel. The moonlight also turns Gokuu into a were-ape, and everyone escapes. They fight Lucifer, and Gokuu uses Kamehame-ha to destroy Lucifer's Princess-powered laser cannon (the full-moon-light is to be used to destroy the sun, and begin the Reign of Darkness), and kills Lucifer. The heroes escape, and Kuririn acts contrite, but doesn't actually apologize to Gokuu for his behavior. The two boys return to Kame House with Kushami, and Kamesennin takes them both on as students. Then, Kushami sneezes, turns into Ranchi, and shoots Kamesennin full of holes.


One-Shot Characters
Lucifer A typical handsome demon who likes drinking blood, and killing people. Killed by Gokuu.
Shitsuji Lucifer's Igor-style henchman. Short, buckteeth, and one eye bigger than the other. Carries a syringe around a lot. Probably killed by Gokuu.
Sleeping Princess A huge, priceless gem that is "awakened" by the light of the Full Moon, and can be used as a power source for a laser cannon.

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Dragon Ball:
Movie #3 		Maka Fushigi Daiboken
The Sinister Mysterious Adventure 		(07/09/88)

Another retelling of the Dragon Ball story. This time, young Gokuu and young Kuririn are training for a Budoukai to be held in the country of Miifan. The Emperor of Miifan, Chau-zu, is trying to find his lost "Ran Ran." "Duke" Tsuru-sennin stole a Dragon Radar from Pilaf, and is using it to locate the Dragon Balls. Duke Tsuru-sennin and Tao Pie Pie claim that they'll use the wish from Shenlon to locate Ran Ran, but are actually planning, with Tenshinhan's help, to kill Chau-zu and take over the country. Blue Commander announced that Ran Ran was being held in Tsuru-sennin's room, and was killed by Tao Pie Pie for it. Bora and Upa have located the final Dragon Ball and they take it to Miifan to use it to demand that Miifan's soldiers be forced to leave the land near Karin Tower.

Bora is tricked into entering the Budoukai (the winner of the Budoukai will be granted one wish by Chau-zu), and is then killed by Tao Pie Pie. Buruma, Oolong, and Ranchi are looking for the other 6 Balls, so Buruma can wish for a boyfriend. But, when the Balls are located, they're accidently dropped to the bottom of the moat surrounding Chau-zu's castle. Tenshinhan realizes that he likes Chau-zu too much, and doesn't kill his friend; instead, Ten-chan blows away Tsuru-sennin. (The story of Blue and Gokuu entering Penguin village is included, but this time it is Tao Pie Pie and Gokuu that meet Arale-chan, and Gokuu kills Tao Pie Pie with Arale's help.)

Gokuu throws the final Ball into the moat, and asks Shenlon to resurrect Bora.


One-Shot Characters
No new characters. Nearly everybody from the first series shows up here. Ran Ran is the name of Chau-zu's favorite doll.

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Dragon Ball Z:
Movie #1 		Doragon Booru zeto
Dragon Ball Z 		(07/15/89)

An evil little Namek-jin, Garlic Jr., is gathering all of the Dragon Balls together to wish for immortality. Since young Gohan has the #4 Ball sewn to his cap, Gohan is kidnapped by Garlic's minions. This causes Gokuu to seek out Garlic (whose mansion is located on a black island to the south of Kame House). Garlic also wants to get rid of Kami-sama, so his minions attempt to kill Piccolo (if Piccolo dies, Kami-sama also dies, and vice versa.) So Kami-sama and Piccolo join in the battle, as does Kuririn. The minions are wasted, but Garlic, Jr. already made his wish, so he is unkillable. Garlic and Kami-sama fight it out, and Garlic wins (he wants to get rid of Kami-sama to make way for his own "reign of blood", but he doesn't kill Kami-sama right away.)

Garlic, Jr. gets beaten up a bit by Gokuu and Piccolo, so he decides to create a "Dead Zone" (a black hole) which threatens to suck everyone in and kill them. But Gohan (who had eaten a hallucinagenic apple, and is still feeling a bit of a buzz) gets angry, and blasts Garlic into the Dead Zone. The Dead Zone closes, sticking Garlic into a form of eternal hell.


One-Shot Characters
Garlic, Jr. Evil little immortal Namek, lost and forgotten.
Ginger Garlic's green-skinned, red-eyed demon minion. Killed by Gokuu.
Nikki Garlic's blue-skinned, apple-eating minion. Killed by Gokuu.
Sansho Garlic's big, purple-skinned demon minion. Killed by Piccolo.

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Dragon Ball Z:
Movie #2 		Kono yo de Ichiban Tsuyoi Yatsu
This World's Strongest Guy 		(03/10/90)

Oolong steals Buruma's Dragon Radar, and discovers that someone is gathering up the Dragon Balls. He and Gohan go into the northern glaciers in time to see Dr. Kouchin summoning Shenlon and wishing for Dr. Wheel's lab to be released from the ice. Piccolo arrives to save Gohan from Kouchin's bio-men, but the demon is overcome by Wheel's 3 androids (Gohan and Oolong escape). Later, Kouchin goes to Kame House, and kidnaps Buruma in order to force Kamesennin to go with him to the lab. Kamesennin is told to fight the three androids, and does well for a while, before being defeated by rubbery Minkattsun. Buruma learns that Kouchin and Wheel plan on turning the Earth into a desert and peopling it with androids. Dr. Wheel's brain is encased inside a robot, and he wants the body of the world's strongest man to house his brain. But, while Kamesennin was the winner of the Tenkai-ichi Budoukai 50 years ago, (when Wheel's lab was iced over) the strongest man is now Gokuu.

Gokuu learns what happened to Kamesennin, and goes to the lab, where he destroys all three androids. Gohan and Kuririn also arrive, and end up battling the brain-controlled Piccolo until Gohan's shout of frustration causes the mind-control bands to shatter. Dr. Wheel decides to fight Gokuu, and as he pulls his robot body free of the wall, the resulting destruction hurls Kouchin down an energy shaft, and Kouchin's outer coating melts before his own robot body is destroyed. Wheel fights the heroes, and looks like he'll win, when Gokuu creates a Genki Dama and throws it at Wheel. Wheel flies up into space to get a breather, and he is destroyed up there.

Afterwards, Kamesennin says that Wheel got one thing right -- Kamesennin is the world's #1 strong guy. Buruma corrects that to "the world's #1 dirty old man."


One-Shot Characters
Dr. Kouchin The Christopher Lee of bio-tech scientists. A robot, he is accidently destroyed by Dr. Wheel.
Dr. Wheel A large brain housed in a robot. Was a deranged scientist until his lab was entombed in ice. Killed by Gokuu.
Kishiime Electrical android iguanaman. Destroyed by Gokuu.
Ebifuraiya "Fried shrimp." Hulking android with weather-control abilities. Destroyed by Gokuu.
Minkattsun Blobby, yellow rubberman android. Punctured by Gokuu.
Bio-man Mindless blue attack robot; like Vejiita's old cybermen.

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Dragon Ball Z:
Movie #3 		Chikuu Marugoto Chou-kessen
Earth's Ultimate Deciding Battle 		(07/07/90)

Oolong, Kuririn, Buruma, and young Gohan are on a camping trip, when a spy satellite crashes into the forest and starts a raging fire. Kuririn and Gohan battle to put out the blaze, then gather the Dragon Balls to wish for the forest to be restored. One of the animals they save is a Haiyaa Dragon (Higher Dragon) that follows Gohan home to become his pet. The two of them (and Gokuu) play together and have a lot of fun, but Chi Chi wants the dragon sent back to its mountain so it'll stop disrupting Gohan's studies.

Meanwhile, a Saiya-jin fighter, Taurus, and his minions are scouting Earth to locate Kakarot. Taurus wants Kakarot and/or Gohan to join him to go trash planets. The minions plant a seed for an energy-eating tree near the restored forest -- Taurus plans on eating the fruit of the tree to get a "power up." The tree grows quickly and threatens to destroy Earth. Kaiou-sama alerts Gokuu to the danger, and everyone (Chi Chi prevents Gohan from joining in, but Haiyaa Dragon kidnaps the boy to take him to the battle) goes to fight Taurus. Piccolo joins in to save Gohan, but the demon still plans on killing Gokuu later on. Gokuu denies his Saiya-jin heritage, claiming that he's happy to have been hit on the head as a child, rather than growing up to be like Taurus. There's a major battle, and Gokuu uses a Genki Dama to kill Taurus and destroy the tree. Afterwards, the Genki Dama breaks up, and the lifeforce energy repairs the damage from the tree.


One-Shot Characters
Shinseiju The energy-eating tree.
Taurus A Saiya-jin Warlord that looks like Gokuu. Killed by Gokuu.
Amond Taurus's big Indian minion. Killed by Gokuu.
Daiizu Taurus's muscular punk minion. Killed by Gokuu.
Kakao Taurus's ugly, silent lava-man minion. Killed by Gokuu.
Rezun & Rakasei Taurus's arrogant twin runt minions. Killed by Gokuu.
Haiyaa Dragon Gohan's cute little pet. Fiercely loyal; like Piccolo is.

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Dragon Ball Z:
TV Special 		Tatta Hitori no Saishuu Kessen
Lonely Final Battle 		(10/17/90)

Story of Bardock, Gokuu's father. When Gokuu was still a baby, on the Saiya planet, Freeza was using the Saiya-jin as mercenaries to wipe out all intelligent life on other planets. Bardock gets cursed with seeing the future, and confronts Freeza as Freeza is about to destroy the Saiya planet. The planet is wiped out, and the only surviving Saiya-jin are young Prince Vejiita, Nappa, and Kakarot (baby Gokuu.) Gokuu was sent Earth to destroy it, but is found and raised by Son Gohan.


One-Shot Characters
Bardock Gokuu's father. Killed by Freeza.
Tooma Bardock's big, lean henchman. Killed by Dodoria.
Toteppo Bardock's grey-skinned, chrome-dome henchman. Killed by Dodoria's peons.
Pan Buukin Bardock's fat henchman. Killed by Dodoria's peons.
Seripa Bardock's female henchman. Killed by Dodoria's peons.
Tooro The fishman that gave Bardock the ability to see the future. Killed by Bardock.

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Dragon Ball Z:
Movie #4 		Suupaa Saiya-jin da Son Gokuu
This is the Super Saiya-jin, Son Gokuu 		(03/19/91)

Young Gohan and the Haiyaa Dragon visit Piccolo to show the demon the new dance that Gohan taught the dragon. But, Piccolo, in pain, yells for Gohan to stop.

A planetoid headed towards Earth causes a panic, and Kuririn and Gokuu go out to try to deflect the thing with their energy blasts. It still crashes into Earth, but it turns out to be a spaceship that needs to land for refueling. The ship is commanded by the imperious Emperor of the Universe -- Slag, who demands that they leave in 3 days. A weather satellite is launched to cause a cloud to cover the planet, and freeze it over. Earth is now more hospitable for the soldiers living in the ship, and they step outside to terrorize the Earthlings. Slag recognizes the Dragon Ball that is sewn into Gohan's cap, and reads Buruma's mind to learn about the Dragon Radar. The Dragon Balls are rounded up, and Slag wishes for his youth back.

Gokuu and Kuririn receive Senzu seeds from Yajirobee, and they go to fight Slag. Piccolo shows up to save Gohan. Slag reveals himself to be a Super Namek-jin. Gokuu wastes Slag's minions, and even turns into a Super Saiya-jin for a while, but is trashed by Slag when the Super Namek-jin turns into a giant. Piccolo tears off his own ears, then yells for Gohan to whistle again; we now learn that Namek-jin hurt really bad when Earthlings whistle. Slag drops to his knees, and Piccolo imparts his energy to Gokuu. The Gokuu/Piccolo fusion beats up Slag, then Gokuu flies above the black cloud to get enough energy to create a Genki Dama that kills Slag. (Slag accidently trashed his own spaceship, so there's no bad guys left now.) The cloud dissipates, and Yajirobee reappears to give Senzu seeds to the heroes. Piccolo's ears grow back. Finally, Kamesennin, who'd been sleeping through all this, wakes up from his dreams of naked women, and exercises while saying that the weather is very nice today.


One-Shot Characters
Slag A big, square-headed evil tyrrant Super Namek. Killed by Gokuu.
Kakuuja A Jawa that runs Slag's ship. Accidently killed by Slag.
Zeeun A Bull of a man who oversteps his authority and is killed by Slag.
Gyooshu A Jawa killed by Slag for saying that it would take 10 days to refuel the ship.
Angira The blond god that can burrow underground to trap people's feet. Killed by Gokuu.
Dorodabo The fat yellow winged demon. Killed by Piccolo.
Medametcha A big horned frog that can create energy-sucking copies of itself. Killed by Gokuu.
Slag's Soldiers Most were killed by Slag for running away from Gokuu and Kuririn.

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Dragon Ball Z:
Movie #5 		Tobikkiri no Saikyou tai Saikyou
Fantastic Ultimate Strength vs Ultimate Strength 		(07/20/91)

Back when Freeza destroyed Planet Vejiita, and killed Bardock, Freeza's older brother, Cooler had been watching from his own spaceship. Cooler had seen Kakarot's space capsule zipping off, but didn't interfere with it. 20 years later, Cooler receives a report stating that Freeza has been killed.

Gokuu, Gohan, and Kuririn go on a camping trip, and are attacked by Cooler's henchmen. Cooler wants to fight Gokuu, and discover the true strength of the legendary "Super Saiya-jin." At the end, Cooler has been blown into the sun by a massive energy ball, and apparently dies.


One-Shot Characters
Haiyaa Dragon Gohan's cute pet dragon. Reappears for this movie.
Cooler Freeza's older brother. Very arrogant and selfish. Not dead yet.
Sauzaa Cooler's blond, blue-faced pretty boy minion. Killed by Piccolo.
Neizu Cooler's lizard minion. Killed by Piccolo.
Doore Cooler's green-skinned ugly minion. Killed by Piccolo.

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Dragon Ball Z:
Movie #6 		Gekitotsu!! 100 Oku Pawaa no Senshi-Tachi
Crash!! The 10 Billion-Power Fighters 		(03/07/92)

A giant metal planet lands on the new Namek planet, and begins eating it. The Namek elders call to Dende for help, and Dende relays the call. This is why Gokuu, Gohan, Kuririn, Kamesennin, Oolong, Yajirobee and Piccolo get into a spaceship and fly off. (Vejiita is in his own space capsule, and he arrives to ensure that Gokuu lives long enough for Vejiita to kill him himself.)

Turns out that Cooler has pulled a V'ger trick, and has become part of the ship that is eating the Namek planet. Cooler's robots are sent out to round up all of the Namek-jin. Gokuu's ship arrives in time for the Z Fighters to also be picked up to be used to power the Cooler's ship. Gokuu and Vejiita fight Cooler, and get trashed. They are wired into the ship to provide power for Big Geta Star. Gokuu and Vejiita push the limits of their Super Saiya-jin power, and cause Big Geta Star to overheat. Finally, Gokuu blows the real Cooler away, and Big Geta Star explodes. (First time that Vejiita shows up in the movies.)


One-Shot Characters
Cooler Old Cooler merged with some space junk to become the core of a giant spaceship. Destroyed by Gokuu.
Big Geta Star The name of the planet-eating spaceship.
Metal Cooler Cooler-shaped robots, with self-repairing bodies. All were destroyed when Big Geta Star exploded.
Muuri One of the Namek-jin elders. Lost and forgotten.

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Dragon Ball Z:
Movie #7 		Kyokugen Batoru!! Sandai Suupaa Saiya-jin
Battle Limit!! The Three Super Saiya-Jin 		(07/11/92)

Right after Dr. Gero gets destroyed by his androids, #17 and #18, Gero's computer triggers his earlier creations -- #13, #14, and #15. The androids have orders to seek out and kill Gokuu (while Gokuu and company are on a shopping trip). The resulting combat involves Gokuu, Kuririn, Piccolo, young Gohan, Vejiita, and future Trunks. After #14 and #15 are destroyed, #13 uses parts of them to undergo a power up. The only way #13 can be destroyed is for Gokuu to create a large Genki Tama, and then use the energy from it as he switches to Super Saiya-jin. Afterwards, Gero's lab computer shuts down.


One-Shot Characters
#13 Lean, white-haired android. Destroyed by Gokuu.
#14 Big, blue skinned barbarian android. Destroyed by Trunks.
#15 Little, funky black android. Destroyed by Vejiita.

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Dragon Ball Z:
TV Special 		Zebbo he no Hankou!! Nokosareta Chou-Senshi . Gohan to Torunkusu
Resist Dispair!! The Ultimate Surviving Fighters: Gohan and Trunks 		(02-24-93)

A TV version of "Trunk's Story", from volume 33. #17 and #18 are tearing up the future Earth, and finally the Z fighters that we know and love are all dead. Only a one-armed Gohan, and a teenaged Trunks are left (Gyuu Maou and Chi Chi are still living out in the countryside, but with Gokuu's death, Chi Chi has been slowly wasting away.) Gohan trains Trunks to become a fighter, but the boy can't get angry enough to go to Super Saiya-jin level. Gohan faces the androids on his own and is killed. This pushes Trunks over the edge, but even in SSJ mode, when Trunks fights the androids, he gets trashed. Finally, Buruma completes work on the time machine that Trunks uses to visit the past to give Gokuu his heart medicine, and to warn the Z Fighters of the impending peril (also succeeding in creating the alternate timeline that allows Cell to travel to the past and start the Cell Game.)


One-Shot Characters
None.

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Dragon Ball Z:
Movie #8 		Moetsukiro!! Nessen . Ressen . Chou-gekisen
Burn Your Spirits to the Max!! A Close Battle, Violent Battle, Super Bloody Battle 		(03/06/93)

Gokuu and Chi Chi go to interview for a school that Chi Chi wants Gohan to attend, while everyone else is busy partying at a cherry blossom-viewing drinkfest. The party is disrupted when a ship lands. Paragasu steps out to invite Vejiita to travel with him to the planet New Vejiita, to fight the Legendary Super Saiya-jin. A drunk Kamesennin, Kuririn, Trunks, and Gohan fly off as well. Meanwhile, Kaiou-sama telepaths to Gokuu to alert the hero of the danger. Gokuu teleports out of the interview, leaving Chi Chi in the lurch. Paragasu introduces Vejiita to Paragasu's wimpy son, Burolii, and waffles over actually disclosing where the Legendary Super Saiya-jin is. Gokuu teleports in, and Burolii goes berzerk. After a lot of screwing around, we find out that Burolii and Gokuu had been born on the same day. King Vejiita had ordered Burolii (baby Burolii had already been determined to be a threat to the Saiya-jin) and Paragasu to be killed and dumped in the trash. But, baby Burolii's power saved them. Burolii grew up to be a maniacal killer, and had poked out one of Paragasu's eyes. Right after that, Paragasu had a headband created that effectively lobotomized Burolii.

Burolii overcomes Paragasu's control and turns into a Super Saiya-jin; he trashes everyone. Vejiita loses his nerve at seeing the Legendary Super Saiya-jin, and can't fight anymore. Paragasu knows that the planet New Vejiita will explode soon, so he wants to fly away, killing two birds with one stone: revenge on the Vejiita family, and disposing of his troublesome child. But, Burolii crushes the space capsule, killing his father. Then, Gokuu summons the energy from his friends, including Vejiita, to become a Super Saiya-jin himself, and killing Burolii. Before the planet explodes, Gokuu teleports everyone to Piccolo's ship and they return to Earth.


One-Shot Characters
Paragasu A one-eyed Saiya-jin killer with a hate against Vejiita's family. Killed by Burolii.
Burolii A mad Saiya-jin, barely controlled by his father. Born on the same day as Gokuu, and hence has an affinity for our hero. Apparently killed by Gokuu.
Shamo-saijin Ugly little creatures that have been carried off their planet of Shamo to do Paragasu's bidding. Saved by Gokuu.

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Dragon Ball Z:
Movie #9 		Ginga Girigiri!! Butchi-giri no Sugoi Yatsu
The Strongest Guy in the Universe!! 		(07/10/93)

The Money Family is hosting a Tenkai-ichi Budoukai as a birthday present for 10-year old Dollar Money. Dollar is hoping for aliens to come from space and join in the tournament, so four of Mr. Satan's pro-wrestling students are in costume as the "aliens" in the final rounds of the competition. Kaiou-sama and Gokuu are on Kaiou planet (Kaiou is watching the game on TV, Gokuu is playing Go Fish against Bubbles the ape -- the deck has Uranai Baba and Pilaf's crew on the face cards. )

The elimination rounds are basically 8 batches of free-for-alls; the last person standing in each free-for-all goes on to a one-on-one round. The Final Four each get shot into one of four "Battle Stages" to face Satan's "aliens." The first person to emerge from the Battle Stage wins the 100,000,000 zenni prize money, a trip to a hot spa, and a chance to fight Satan. Kuririn, Future Trunks, teenaged Gohan, and Dosukoi make it to the Battle Zones, where they are attacked by real aliens (Satan's students have already been killed.)

Kaiou-sama realizes that the aliens are Boujack's team. A LONG time ago, the four Kaiou's had battled Boujack, and imprisoned him far, far away. Boujack has escaped, and come to Earth to destroy it and kill Gohan as revenge on Kaiou-sama, knowing that Gokuu is Kaiou's student, Gohan is Gokuu's kid, and Earth is Gokuu's planet.

There is a lot of fighting as all of the Z Fighters show up to attack Boujack's 5-man team. Eventually, the heroes are trashed, and Boujack is about to crush Gohan's throat. Gokuu can't take it any more, and the dead hero teleports in from heaven just long enough to kick Boujack in the face and save Gohan. With renewed anger, Gohan goes to Super Saiya-jin 2 (SSJ-2), and kills Boujack's remaining minions before killing Boujack.

Satan had been trying to escape since seeing that the Z Fighters had entered the tournament, but was pushed into a sled and sent to the Battle Zone, where he succeeded in destroying the camera televising the fight with Boujack. At the end of the movie, Satan is again declared savior of Earth, and no one wins the prize money (Gohan, Trunks and Kuririn are recovering in a hospital for some reason, while Piccolo and Vejiita are already fully healed. This movie has lots of continuity flaws and plot holes. Definitely doesn't fit in with the manga or TV series. The best part of the movie is the shot of the Pilaf card deck.)


One-Shot Characters
Gyousan Money Richest man on Earth. Short, fat, and balding. About 50.
Okkanee Money "Money Money". Gyousan's prim, tall wife.
Dollar Money Spoiled 10-year-old brat in short-leg bib overalls.
Producer The handsome "suit" producing the Budoukai for Gyousan is never referred to by name.
Udou Huge, fat American cowboy wrestler defeated by Gohan.
Kanfuun (A play on "kungfu".) Some martial artist defeated in the one-on-one by Dosukoi.
Dosukoi Huge sumo wrestler in the Final Four. Killed by Bidou.
Boujack Big Blue baddy dressed in a pirate's outfit. Is considered more evil than Demon King Piccolo ever was. Killed by Gohan.
Gokua Blue-skinned punk with a sword. Quickly killed by Trunks.
Bidou Kind of a Viking-Pirate mix. Is the most interesting of Boujack's team. Evilly handsome; killed by Gohan.
Puujin Small arrogant Blue-skinned baddy. Killed by Gohan.
Sangya Pretty, evil Blue woman with LONG golden hair. A good fighter; killed by Boujack. Boujack intentionally fired an energy blast at Gohan, through Sangya's back.

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Dragon Ball Z:
Movie #10 		Kikenna Futari! Suupaa Senshi wa Nemurenai
The Dangerous Pair! The Super Fighter Can Not Sleep 		(03/12/94)

Goten, Trunks and Beederu are out gathering up the Dragon Balls (just for the heck of it. When asked, Trunks decides that he wants to ride cool things to have adventures (pirate ship, train), while Goten wants to eat delicious cake whenever he wants) and succeed in grabbing the 5th one. When they zip off to find the sixth one, they come upon a village terrorized by a monster dragon. The last girl in the village is about to be sacrificed to appease the monster, when Beederu volunteers to take her place. Goten, Trunks, and Beederu hide next to the supper set out for the monster, surprise it, and kill it (after much screwing around.) In return, Trunks receives the Dragon Ball attached to the village Shaman's necklace.

Meanwhile, a Saiya-jin space capsule crashes to Earth nearby, and the sleeping Saiya-jin inside is aroused by vibrations caused by Goten when the boy wanted to eat the banquet set out for the monster. The Saiya-jin turns out to be Burolii. When Burolii stretches his muscles the next day, Beederu senses it, and goes to investigate. As do Goten and Trunks. Burolii thinks that Goten is Kakarot, and there is much fighting. The final Dragon Ball is located during the battle, but Goten doesn't know how to summon Shenlon, so Trunks gets trashed while trying to distract Burolii (Trunks also has to take a piss after hiding next to a bunch of waterfalls, and relieves himself on top of Burolii's head). Gohan senses Burolii's ki, and arrives to join in the battle. Gohan's blast causes lava to boil up, and Burolii is trapped in the magma. Gohan passes out as the magma inches near him. (Kuririn is dressed up like Piccolo as a joke when he saves Gohan.)

But Burolii is a Super Saiya-jin, and the magma doesn't phase him. Gohan and Goten use Kamahame-ha on Burolii. (And, probably because of the Dragon Balls nearby, Gokuu is allowed to show up to perform Kamehame-ha as part of the trio.) Trunks manages to throw an energy ball that distracts Burolii, and the triple Kamehama-ha blows Burolii into space, and into the sun. Beederu recovers, and thinks that Gohan was masquerading as Burolii, and attacks him. Goten and Trunks go back to the village to get food, and Kuririn wonders why everyone has forgotten about him. (The Dragon Balls disperse as if Shenlon has fulfilled a wish.)


One-Shot Characters
Koko Little Dutch girl, about to be sacrificed to the monster.
Chourou Leader of the forest village terrorize by the monster.
Kyouryuu The dragon terrorizing the village. Turned into cutlets by Trunks and Goten. Eaten by the village members.
Kitou-shi "Shaman." The village magician that wants to sacrifice Koko.
Burolii The legendary Super Saiya-jin apparently wasn't quite completely killed by Gokuu, and he found a space capsule that took him to Earth. Killed by Gokuu, Gohan and Goten.

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Dragon Ball Z:
Movie #11 		Suupaa Senshi Gekiha!! Katsu no Ore da
Super Fighter Shootout!! I'm the One Who Will Win 		(07/01/94)

#18 has gone to Mr. Satan's house to collect on the 20 million zenni prize money from the Tenkai-ichi Budoukai that she let Satan win. Satan claims that the money hasn't been turned over to him yet. Then, a minion of a guy who was a classmate of Satan's, arrives to blackmail Satan into going with him to fight some bio-tech warriors. The minion, Menmen, threatens to tell the papers that Satan was a bed wetter in 6th Grade. Satan caves in, and #18 goes along to keep Satan from running away. Goten and Trunks hide in the back of the car to try to fight these "bio-tech thingies", and Kuririn is forced to take his daughter back to Kame House.

Baron Jagaa Badda has created some pro-wrestler-strength warriors, and he wants them to fight Satan, just to put Satan back in his place. Satan pretends that #18 and the two boys are his students, and they easily destroy the bio-tech baddies. However, Goten recognizes the guy standing beside Jagaa as being the Shaman from the forest village in the last movie. Turns out that the Shaman collected some of Burolii's blood at the battle site, and sold it to Jagaa. Jagaa had his scientists use the blood to create the "Ultimate Bio-tech Warrior." Trunks and Goten try to use Kamehame-ha on Burolii's container before Burolii can awaken, but it is too late. However, the process isn't complete, and Burolii is badly misformed. There is much fighting, the chemicals used in the bio-tech process get loose and eat up all living things, and Burolii trashes Goten, Trunks, and #18. Kuririn arrives to protect his wife, and also gets trashed.

Finally, the heroes rescue the scientists, and all of the people living on Jagaa's island escape onto ocean liners. The bio-tech chemicals try to eat Burolii, and are instead turned into an energy source for him. Ultimately, Goten discovers that the chemicals lose potency in sea water, so Kuririn, Goten, and Trunks use Kamehame-ha to create a tidal wave that cleanses the island. Burolii keeps trying to kill Goten, but is now vulnerable to Goten's and Trunk's energy blast. Burolii dies, and Mr. Satan tries to swim back home, rather than accepting #18's offer of saving him for a total of 1 Billion zenni.


One-Shot Characters
Baron Jagaa Badda Short, fat, prissy former classmate of Mr. Satan's. Has lots of money, and is making bio-tech fighters because he can. Doesn't die, but his island does receive much costly damage.
Menmen Jagaa's tall, blond-haired minion. Is actually very inept, but pretends to arrogance.
Kitou-shi The Shaman is back, trying to make lots of money by selling Burolii's blood to Jagaa. Dies when the bio-tech chemicals eat him as he is trying to steal cash from Jagaa's office.
Dr. Korii The grey-haired scientist creating Jagaa's bio-tech fighters.
Nine Korii's chief assistant. A cute, but vacant-eyed woman.
Hei Jagaa's bio-tech wolf-dog. Eaten by the bio-tech chemicals.
Burolii A mis-formed bio-tech nightmare. Maybe stronger than the original. Remembers when Trunks had taunted him in the last movie. Destroyed by seawater, Goten and Trunks.

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Dragon Ball Z:
Movie #12 		Fukkatsu no Fushion! Gokuu to Vejiita
The Fusion of Revival! Gokuu and Vejiita 		(03/??/95)

We are back in heaven, during the Budoukai held by Dai-Kaiou to determine who the greatest dead heroic fighter is. The four Kaiou's quarrel over who has the best student, and the final round is about to start, between West Kaiou's Son Gokuu, and South Kaiou's Paikuu-han. Both fighters want to win cleanly, and they begin sparring. Meanwhile, Enma Daioh (Heaven's Gatekeeper) is being harsher than normal, sending many, many souls to hell for one reason or another (the ones going to heaven get to ride Ten Airlines, while the ones going to Hell get to pass through a "Spritz Cleaner" machine that removes all the evil from them. Once cleansed, the evil souls have their memories removed, and are reincarnated to try again.) Psych Oni, the demon tending the Spritz Cleaner, is too busy dancing to his walkman tape to notice that the Cleaner is running in the red. The Cleaner regulator explodes, and all of the concentrated evil escapes. Psych Oni tries to contain the mess before tearfully reporting to Enma Daioh. At this point, the concentrated evil covering Psych takes effect, turning the boy into a giant yellow squeeze toy named Janenba. Janenba immediately encases Enma's Gate House in a magic crystal, and it then amuses itself by twisting the fabric of space for a while.

With Enma trapped, the dead residing in Hell can escape and roam around on Earth. Gohan and Beederu set out to combat the dead, while Goten and Trunks search for the Dragon Balls to set everything right again. Gohan gets to confront Freeza again, and very quickly destroys the monster. All of the other supporting villians from the previous DBZ movies also surface, only to be dispatched by the Great Saiya-man team. Shenlon is summoned, but the Dragon God has to admit that it has no jurisdiction over the dead, and it can't fix the problem involving Enma. So, Goten and Trunks spend the movie fighting the endless masses of Hitler's zombie armies. (Satan is also dispatching zombies easily, but he's upset that there's no TV crew around to broadcast his exploits; he plans on calling in a report to the TV station later.)

Dai Kaiou suspends the Budoukai to let Paikuu-han and Gokuu run off to Enma's Gate House to resolve the problem. At first, they try to play with Janenba, until Gokuu starts getting mad. Unfortunately, Janenba can do transdimensional tricks, and it punches one way, only to have his fist appear elsewhere to blindside Gokuu. Paikuu-han is told by Dai-Kaiou to try to free Enma (eventually, Paikuu realizes that by swearing and insulting people, he can make the magic crystal crack and flake off.) Janenba can also make copies of itself, as well as warping Gokuu so that the hero will appear in front of his own Kamehame-ha. Gokuu switches up to SSJ-3 and pummels Janenba. The creature melts, only to turn into the next-stage version -- Changed Janenba. Janenba now uses a series of warp tricks ala "Total Recall", and trashes the SSJ-3 Gokuu.

Gokuu escapes deeper into Hell, first hiding in the Pool of Blood; then he gets rescued by the dead Vejiita. (Vejiita reminds Gokuu that only Vejiita has the right to destroy Gokuu.) Vejiita attacks Janenba, and also gets trashed. Vejiita's body flies towards the Mountain of Needles, and is caught by Gokuu. Gokuu tries to get Vejiita to do Fusion with him, but the Saiya-jin Prince would rather die first (Gokuu points out that Vejiita IS dead.) Vejiita's pride is tearing him up, and Janenba attacks the mountain, causing Gokuu to grab Vejiita's shoulder and teleporting them both to a safe zone. Vejiita relents, and Gokuu shows him the Fusion pose. Vejiita is appalled at the idea of having to do something so stupid. But, there is no time left, so the two of them perform Fusion.

Vejiita forgets to extend his right forefinger, and the resulting Fat Gojiita attracts Janenba's attention. The ensuing battle is plain slapstick (Gojiita's only successful attack is a series of foul-smelling farts.) At the last moment, just as Janenba is going to destroy Gojiita, the Fusion wears off (it took 30 minutes) and the two Saiya-jin run away again. Kaiou (West Kaiou was receiving a lot of abuse from his siblings for having such a useless student) telepaths out that Vejiita botched the pose. So, they try again. And are interrupted by Janenba. Paikuu-han succeeds in breaking the magic crystal, and he runs to confront Janenba to give Gokuu and Vejiita more time. Janenba apparently kills the dead Paikuu-han just as the Fusion takes hold.

True Gojiita looks a lot like Super Saiya-jin Gokuu, with a Persian-style vest and baggy pants. On Earth, Goten and Trunks sense the energy levels of their fathers, and the two boys also do Fusion to become Gotenks (Gotenks uses Kamikaze Ghost Attack to create 100 exploding ghosts to destroy Hitler's armies.) Gojiita punches Janenba up a bit before hitting the monster with a special energy ball. The ball blows up in the monster's chest, and all of the evil within it dissipates. Psych returns to normal, takes one look at Gojiita, and runs away screaming.

Enma is back in charge, and the dead all return to Hell (including Vejiita. Vejiita says that he never wants to Fuse again.) Goten and Trunks promise each other to not tell Goten and Beederu who it was that saved them all; Gohan and Beederu chase the boys to get answers from them. In the last panel, Shenlon asks if this means that no one is going to ask him for a wish.


One-Shot Characters
Paikuu-han A "Frog". A good-guy fighter created for the TV series to kill time. Ignorable.
Saiku Oni Probably means "Psychedelic", or "work". A teenaged red-skinned demon boy who tends the Spritz Cleaner. Wears a skull jacket, striped pants, and a walkman.
Janenba Probably means "a place of evil." At first, this is a big yellow goofball that hurts stuff for fun. After its transformation, it becomes a human-sized Lucifer-type Master of Hell. Uses magic, and a magical sword. Created when Psych was dowsed with concentrated evil. After Gojiita defeats it, Psych recovers, and runs away to disappear from sight forever.

This is probably one of the more lame DBZ movies, where the set-up takes 55 minutes, and the final climax takes only 30 seconds. Note that the "Other World" Budoukai never happened in the manga, and was only created by some TV scriptwriter to let the manga story get a few months ahead of the TV series.

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Dragon Ball Z:
Movie 13 		Ryuuken bakuhatsu!! Gokuu ga Yaraneba Dare ga Yaru
Dragon-Fist Explosion!! If Gokuu Can't Do it, Who Can? 		(07/15/95)

A long time ago, a group of evil magicians brought a huge, skull-faced demon -- Hirudegarn -- to life to terrorize their planet. The demon could only be controlled by two gourd whistles and a legendary sword. Tapeon and his little brother, Minosha, had used the gourd whistles to play a song that calmed Hirudegarn long enough for the demon to be cut in two, and trapped within the bodies of the two brothers. Tapeon was sealed in a music box and shot out into space....

It's a busy day in Satan City for the crimefighting team Great Saiya-man (Gohan is Saiya-man 1, and Beederu is Saiya-man 2) when they get a call that a crazy old man is trying to commit suicide by jumping from a tower. The old man, Hoi, is rescued, and he shows Gohan a box that can't be opened. The boy tries to turn the crank, but can't. The box is given to Beederu, but her science toys can't see inside it. So, the Z Fighters round up the Dragon Balls and ask Shenlon to make the box open. This happens, and Tapeon steps out.

Minosha, who used to look just like young Trunks, was killed long ago, and his half of the demon starts stalking Satan city and trashes it. Tapeon escapes to a deserted factory plant, and is followed by Trunks (Trunks keeps bringing food to Tapeon, but Tapeon keeps chasing him away.) When Tapeon falls asleep, his half of the demon tries to escape from his body, but is then recaptured when Tapeon wakes up again. Eventually, Tapeon is befriended, and he explains everything to Buruma. Buruma tries to make a demon-capturing bedroom, but Hoi is using his own magic to awaken Hirudedarn. Tapeon's half of the demon escapes Buruma's trap and becomes whole again.

The Z Fighters help trash the city in their attempt to defeat the demon, and Goten and Trunks use Fusion to become Gotenks (but, Gotenks' energy attacks cause the demon to go into a cocoon phase before emerging as a giant WINGED demon.) The Z Fighters get mulched, Tapeon tries to use his whistle, but it shatters. Trunks tries to use Tapeon's sword on the demon, but Gokuu switches to Super Saiya-jin 3, and announces that Hirudegarn is HIS to defeat. Gokuu pulls out a Super Punch (Ryuuken) and destroys the demon.

Afterwards, Buruma makes a time machine to return Tapeon to the time when the boy had been shot into space, and Tapeon gives the sword to Trunks (thereby explaining how future Trunks came by the sword that had been used to carve up Freeza and Freeza's Father in the manga.)


One-Shot Characters
Tapeon A teenaged elf with a bright red mohawk and a gold band connected to the back of his head. Carries a sword and a gourd whistle. Has one half of a demon trapped within his own body.
Minosha A smaller elf with an orange mohawk. He looked like Trunks. Carried a sword and a gourd whistle. Killed in a flashback at the beginning of the movie.
Hoi An evil little magic user that wants the energy gained from the demon when it destroys stuff. Pointed ears, red skin, long bushy white hair, and catfish stickers on his cheeks. Stepped on by Hirudegarn.
Hirudegarn 1000 year old, VERY tall, fire-breathing skull-faced demon. Blown into dust by Gokuu's Dragon Punch.

There's some VERY GOOD special effects here, and lots of death and destruction as the demon wastes Earth. Good mind candy. Recommended for small children. ;)

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Dragon Ball:
Movie #4: 		Saikyou e no michi
The Road to Greatest Strength 		(03/??/96)

This movie marks the return to the Dragonball storyline, and is yet another retelling of the very first quest for the seven Dragon Balls, and the first appearance of Shenlon.

This time, while Bulma's and Gokuu's meeting is much like that in the manga, the meetings for Oolong, Yamcha, Puaru, and Kamesennin are slightly reworked and greatly streamlined. Pilaf, Shuu and Mai don't appear at all. Instead, the story goes directly into the Red Ribbon arc (ignoring Gyuumaoh, and Chi Chi.)

Gokuu and company gather up the first few Dragon Balls easily enough, but they eventually discover Muscle Tower. Gokuu defeats the Muscle Tower minions, and White Shogun, while also befriending Android #8 -- Hatchan. This attracts the attention of Red Leader, and he sends his armies out to capture the Balls. In the ensuing battle, Kamesennin uses Kamehame-ha to destroy the battleships. Blue Shogun surfaces with his submarines, and Gokuu experiments with his first Kamehame-ha on them. But, it's the aircraft that does in the heroes. Because Blue missed finding the Ball that Gokuu keeps -- his grandfather's -- Red orders Blue killed. When Red's assistant, Black, discovers that the midget Red just wants to use the Balls to become taller, Black kills him. Crazed with his new position of power, Black decides to create "Black Ribbon."

Black gets into a super mecha, and beats up Gokuu. Hatchan arrives on the island. (Hatchan can not fight for a bad cause, but defending Gokuu from Black is obviously a good cause.) Hatchan fights valiantly, but is outmatched by the Mecha. Hatchan dies at Gokuu's feet. Gokuu's rage is almost great enough to turn him into a Super Saiya-jin, but this doesn't actually happen. Instead, he concentrates all of his energy into his Kamehame-ha, and destroys Black.

Bulma now has all of the Dragon Balls, and she summons Shenlon. She considers wishing for a sexy boyfriend, and Yamcha thinks about wishing to become unfazed by women. Then, Gokuu drags up the body of Hatchan, and begs to have the android repaired. Shenlon grants Gokuu's wish.


One-Shot Characters
There are no notible one-shot characters this time. We already know all of the good guys, and most of the villians are the same as well. Except for White and Blue. White has been completely reworked, looking a little like the ninja Murasaki, and is a complete coward. Blue is no longer the sexy he-man gay that he was in the manga; now he is just an ill-fated commander in Red's army.
Note: Usually I spell Bulma's name as "Buruma". Except, she goes through most of this film with her name spelled out on her clothing as "Bulma". I guess I have no choice but to follow suit.

This movie has some of the best artwork, animation, and character designs of ALL of the DB/DBZ movies. Obviously, it is an attempt to get money out of young Japanese DB fans that are unfamiliar with the older manga. But, "Saikyou e no Michi" is a good enough movie in its own right to justify watching it as many times as you like.

It is still not "canon", but since we can now see Bulma's butt when she thinks that she's showing her panties to Kamesennin, I can easily recommend this film to ALL DB fans. ;)

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The Jump Anime Comics

If you are tempted to buy the Jump Anime Comics, be aware that not all of the Jump Anime Comics are book versions of a movie or TV special. In some cases, the word "Famicom" can be found on the cover in katakana. The Famicom JAC books are half-entertainment for children, and half-promotions for some Nintendo Dragon Ball game cartridge. These books are pricey for their content (450 yen/100 pages of reprints, misc. stuff, etc.), and are to be avoided except by collectors and completists.

The true JACs are comicbook versions of the movies, and usually cost about 650 yen. There is a small fold-out poster at the front, and a run-down on the characters that appear in the movie. At the end is a list of movie credits. Starting with the second DBZ movie, or so, the JAC's also include a lot of background data from the manga and the TV series (this is padding, to bring the page count up over 160 pages.)

The movie books, or Mooks, are coffee table-sized collections of illustrations from the movie, and supporting data from the TV series. The Mooks are maybe 100 pages, and don't contain much dialog from the film. It's a nice bit of paraphenalia, if you like the movie, but otherwise is not worth the 1000 yen per Mook.

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Notes Based on the JAC Books
Marron The daughter of #18 and Kuririn is not identified by name until the very final manga installments, when a lot of time has passed and she has gotten much older. She shows up in the later movies, but still doesn't have a name in them. Probably named in reference to Kuririn's old girlfriend, Maron.
Gregory The insect friend of Bubbles, on Kaiou-sama's planet. Gregory shows up in the TV series and movies, but not in the manga.
Kuririn The priest is used largely for comic material in the movies. He is the FIRST one to get beaten up by the baddies whenever there is a chance for it. (True, he is also used the same way in the manga, but he does still have his moments in the manga.)
Yardrat-jin The creatures that teach Gokuu how to teleport are never shown in the manga. They show up in the TV series, and they get their picture in one of the JACs. Yardrats have huge heads, round eyes that don't open far, and tiny mouths with no nose visible. Big, elf-like ears.
Future Trunks While strong, he's easily embarrassed by many things. In the manga and TV series, he returns to the future right after alerting the Z Fighters to the danger of #17 and #18; and then again right after Cell was defeated. But, in the movies, he hangs around with the others and is largely just another fighter.
Chi Chi Always talks with an Osaka dialect in the movies.


More Notes

"Gekitotsu!! 100 Oku Pawaa no Senshi-Tachi" includes a character encyclopedia at the end of the book. In it, Buruma's father is listed as Dr. Briefs. Buruma's mother still doesn't have a name, and is listed simply as "Buruma's Mother." A cute girl -- Maron -- is also listed, as Kuririn's girlfriend of the time. Note that Maron never shows up in the movies or the manga.

The Complete Illustration books are now also on the shelves. These 7 coffee table-sized hard cover volumes contain nearly all the information about the movies, manga, TV series, and games that you could ever possibly want to know. (In Japanese, with a little English, of course.)

The character information in the JAC books is confirmed in the Complete Illustration books.

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Revision History


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You can contact me at: riemann96@yahoo.com


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