Wrath of the Dragon
From Dragon Ball
| Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon | |
|---|---|
 Japanese box art | |
| Directed by | Mitsuo Hashimoto |
| Written by | Takao Koyama (screenplay) Akira Toriyama (character design) |
| Starring | Masako Nozawa (Son Gokū / Son Goten / Son Gohan) Shin Aomori (Hirudegarn) Takeshi Kusao (Trunks) Yūko Minaguchi (Videl) Ryo Horikawa (Vegeta) Hiromi Tsuru (Bulma) Mayumi Tanaka (Kuririn) Masaharu Satou (Kame-sen'nin / Shenlong) Naoki Tatsuta (Oolong) Hiro Yuuki (Tapion) Joji Yanami]] (Narration) |
| Music by | Shunsuke Kikuchi |
| Release date(s) | July 15, 1995, Japan September 12, 2006, North America |
| Running time | 51 minutes |
| Language | Japanese and English |
Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon, known in Japan as Dragon Ball Z: Ryū-Ken Bakuhatsu!! Gokū ga Yaraneba Dare ga Yaru (ドラゴンボールZ 龍拳爆発!!悟空がやらねば誰がやる, Doragon Bōru Zetto Ryū-Ken Bakuhatsu!! Gokū ga Yaraneba Dare ga Yaru; lit. "Dragon Ball Z: Dragon Fist Explosion!! If Gokū Can't Do It, Who Will"), is the 13th and final movie in the Dragon Ball Z series. It was originally released in Japan on July 15 1995 between episodes 270 and 271. It was translated by FUNimation and was released in the United States on September 12, 2006.
Contents |
[edit] Plot details
The movie begins with a young boy on a distant planet frantically searching his current area, sword at the ready. Suddenly a loud noise alerts him that the thing he was searching for is behind him. However, it is too late to react as the young boy is smashed under the foot of a giant creature. Off in the distance, a villainous laugh can be heard.
The movie then cuts to Earth as a bank robbery is taking place. The bank robbers are getting away when Great Saiyaman, Gohan’s superhero alter ego, stops the car with his foot and smashes the front end flinging the felons out the car to confront Great Saiyaman II (Funimation dub Great Saiyawoman), Videl’s superhero alias. They apprehend the felons and turn them into the police, all the while being spied on by some strange old man in the shadows. A short while later, they are summoned again from their school to rescue an old man who wants to commit suicide. When Gohan and Videl arrive on the scene, they discover that he is the same man who had been spying on them. After rescuing him, the old man introduces himself as Hoi and tells the two about the legendary warrior Tapion and that he needs their help in releasing him from the music box he is being held in, as the Earth would be endangered if he were not released. Gohan tries to open the box with his massive strength but to no avail. The old man tells them he knows of the Dragon Balls, and advises the couple to use them to open the box. They agree to bring the box to Bulma’s home first to see if there was another way to open the mysterious box, not knowing that Hoi had other plans on his mind.
They arrive at Bulma’s house with Goku, Goten, and Krillin. After analyzing the box, Goku tries his hand at opening the box but he cannot open it either. So it was decided to gather the Dragon Balls and summon Shenron to see if he can open it. After summoning Shenron, Tapion is released and the music box shatters into pieces. Angry at the fact that he was released, Tapion demands that he be resealed in the box, impossible due to the damage done by his emergence. A furious Tapion storms off, determined to stay alone in order to hide the fact he was holding the upper half of the creature called the Hirudegarn in his body. He isolates himself in a dilapidated building. The warrior is visited regularly by Trunks, who has taken a liking to him and brings him food, but Tapion refuses to eat and rebuffs Trunks' attempts to bond with him. Trunks only becomes more determined to crack the loner's icy exterior, as he sees in Tapion what Goten has in Gohan, something he never had: an older brother.
Shortly after Tapion is released, Hirudegarn's lower half starts to wreck West City. Gohan and Videl arrive at the scene to investigate, but shortly after they arrive, they are almost swept away by the monster's tail. They execute their Great Saiyaman poses, however Hirudegarn's legs are not impressed; he throws the two heroes to opposite sides of the street, causing Videl to lose her helmet, and Gohan losing his turban and sunglasses. Gohan, with Videl's support, immediately counter-attacks. After the short battle, Videl thinks Gohan has won, but Gohan says it isn't over yet. Tapion comes to aid Gohan and Videl by playing a magical tune on his ocarina, weakening Hirudegarn's bottom half, causing it to vanish. Leaving the battlefield, Tapion comes to believe that Hoi has already killed Minotia, Tapion’s younger brother.
Later on, while Trunks is again visiting Tapion, Hoy attempts to steal the ocarina from Tapion. Hoi is confronted by Trunks. The devious Hoi tells Trunks that Tapion is the true monster. The young Saiyan doesn't believe him, and instead gives the instrument back to Tapion. Tapion then befriends Trunks, and asks him to dine with him. Tapion is invited by Trunks to stay at Capsule Corporation. While there, Tapion explains the whole story to Bulma.
Tapion starts his story beginning thousands of years ago. On Konack, a planet in the southern galaxy of the universe, a group of black magicians, the Kash-phar, use a spell on a statue to bring the monster it depicted to life. The monster, Hirudegarn, goes on a rampage and kills everyone who tries to get in his way, devastating the planet. Two young heroes, Tapion and his brother Minosha, manage to freeze the monster in his tracks by each playing their divine ocarina, giving a priest the opportunity to cut the monster in half with a divine sword. Since Hirudegarn can't be killed at the time, his upper-half is sealed in Tapion and the other half in Minotia. However, fearing that the monster might reappear someday, the brothers are separated, each sealed in a music box, and shot into opposite ends of the galaxy. The music box holding Tapion lands on Earth. Soon after, Hoy, one of the Kash-phar, becomes determined to resurrect the monster to rule the universe. He releases Hirudegarn's lower half on a distant planet and easily disposes of Minotia, with the monster crushed the young warrior underfoot. Now on Earth Hoy plans to unite the Hirudegarn’s body and release the creature on Earth.
After hearing Tapion’s story, Bulma decides to create a room based on the broken music box design and the music the ocarina produces so that Tapion can finally rest.
Tapion tries sleeping inside the new chamber, but he has a terrible nightmare that causes him to destroy the chamber. At the same time, Hirudegarn's lower half is once again wreaking havoc, as he draws many men and women into his tail to devour their life energy. The next morning Goku, his sons, and Videl arrive at Bulma’s house to inspect the destroyed chamber. Tapion appears suddenly, warning everyone the lower half of the creature is on the loose. To stop the creature from uniting its body he ask the group to kill him, in turn killing the creature’s upper half. Then however Hoy and the lower half of the Hirudegarn appear to stop anyone from killing Tapion. When Tapion is about to play the tone from the ocarina, the power of the lower half being so close to Tapion causes the upper half in Tapion’s body to react and release itself. Hoy succeeds in his plans, and with the monster back together, he believes nothing can stop him. A battle begins. Goku transforms into his Super Saiyan 1 or 2 form, Goten transforms into his Super Saiyan form and Gohan powers up his maximum potential, thanks to Elder Kai's ritual, to do battle. They launch their counterattack, but are quickly beaten since the monster can easily dodge by teleporting and countering their attacks. Gohan is grabbed and just before he is about to be squezzed into a pulp by Hirudegarn, Vegeta saves him by firing a ki blast at Hirudegarn's arm and proceeds to fight. He transforms into a Super Saiyan 2. After a brief fight Vegeta is thrown into a nearby building but is knocked out after he saves the people in the building from Hirudegarn's flame attack by using all his powers to create a barrier strong enough to withstand the attack. Goku comes in to help but still is unable to beat the monster and is knocked out. Goten and Trunks become Gotenks with the Fusion Dance. Gotenks, now a Super Saiyan 3, seems to be enough to fight the monster and fires his Die Die Missile Barrage attack at the monster. Hirudegarn is believed to be dead or at least neutralized but the attack only causes him to evolve into his second, more powerful form. Now in his new insect-like form, Hirudegarn mows Gotenks down to the ground and splits Gotenks back into Goten and Trunks. Gohan and Videl are then thrown into a building and Goku into some rubble. However, Goku isn't out and keeps on fighting with all his might.
Just then, Tapion plays the ocarina again and manages to seal Hirudegarn inside himself. He then asks Trunks to kill him with his own sword, which will destroy the trapped monster. Trunks hesitates at first, but is about to do as requested when Hirudegarn breaks free. His ocarina is destroyed in the process. Hoy (who's been watching the whole fight) mocks Tapion for being so foolish, but is killed as Hirudegarn steps on and crushes him. Just then Goku reappears in his powerful Super Saiyan 3 form and a battle begins between Goku and the Hirudegarn. Nevertheless, Trunks tries to fight Hirudegarn too with Tapion's sword and manages to cut off the monster's tail, but Goku stops Trunks. Gohan yells at Goku about the weakness of the Hirudegarn which Goku already seen and uses his Ryu Ken to pierce through Hirudegarn, obliterating the monster.
With the monster gone for good, Tapion uses Bulma's time machine to go back to his own planet, after giving his sword to Trunks.
[edit] Cast list
| Character Name | Voice Actor (Japanese) | Voice Actor (English) |
|---|---|---|
| Goku | Masako Nozawa | Sean Schemmel |
| Gohan | Masako Nozawa | Kyle Hebert |
| Goten | Masako Nozawa | Kara Edwards |
| Vegeta | Ryo Horikawa | Christopher Sabat |
| Trunks | Takeshi Kusao | Laura Bailey |
| Bulma | Hiromi Tsuru | Tiffany Vollmer |
| Krillin | Mayumi Tanaka | Sonny Strait |
| Videl | Yuko Minaguchi | Kara Edwards |
| Master Roshi | Masaharu Satou | Mike McFarland |
| Oolong | Naoki Tatsuta | Bradford Jackson |
| Shenron | Masaharu Satou | Christopher Sabat |
| Gotenks | Masako Nozawa Takeshi Kusao | Kara Edwards Laura Bailey |
| Hoy | Shigeharu Matsuda | Troy Baker |
| Tapion | Hiro Yuuki | Jason Liebrecht |
| Hirudegarn | Shin Aomori | Robert McCollum |
| Narration | Joji Yanami | Kyle Hebert |
[edit] Trivia
- This film is based on the events after the demise of Kid Buu. However, there are questions as to whether the events of this movie can be placed in the anime continuity. There is controversy over how the sword in this movie could be the same one that Future Trunks used, as nobody in the Android timeline was strong enough to fight Hirudegarn. The closing credits of the film support the idea of Future Trunks' ownership of Tapion's sword, as during these credits plays a montage of scenes from the Dragon Ball Z anime in which Future Trunks wields the sword, most notably the scene where he vertically bisects Mecha Frieza. One possible theory about how this could tie in with the Android timeline is that Hoi could have arrived and released Tapion and Hirudegarn, but in the scene where Tapion begged for Trunks to "Kill me and seal the monster away for good," Trunks did, thus gaining the sword without anyone having to be strong enough to fight Hirudegarn.
- This movie features one of Vegeta's most selfless acts, heroically saving the lives of complete strangers (the office workers). This act in itself shows how much Vegeta has changed since their battles with Buu.
- This movie marks the last time Gohan fights at his maximum potential (Ultimate Gohan) in the anime. In the movie, it is treated as something of a transformation similar to that of a Super Saiyan transformation, as he is shown "powering up" into the state.
- Despite Hirudegarn's likeness of a dragon, the title of the movie, "Wrath of the Dragon", refers to the ferocity of Goku's Super Dragon Fist and not Hirudegarn himself.
- Many fans of Dragon Ball who have heard of this movie often mistaken its running time to be 70 minutes in Japan, but 50 minutes in its North American release. This is not the case. While there might be a 70 minute version of the film in Japan somewhere, the running time of the final cut of the film is the same in Japan and North America of 50 minutes.
[edit] References
[edit] See also
| Dragon Ball films | |||||||
| Dragon Ball adaptions | |||||||
| Theatrical films | Curse of the Blood Rubies • Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle • Mystical Adventure • The Path to Power | ||||||
| Dragon Ball Z adaptions | |||||||
| Theatrical films | Dead Zone • The World's Strongest • The Tree of Might • Lord Slug • Cooler's Revenge • The Return of Cooler • Super Android 13! • Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan • Bojack Unbound • Broly: Second Coming • Bio-Broly • Fusion Reborn • Wrath of the Dragon • Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!! | ||||||
| Television specials | Bardock: The Father of Goku • The History of Trunks | ||||||
| Dragon Ball GT adaptions | |||||||
| Television specials | A Hero's Legacy | ||||||
