Dragon Ball Z: The Saiyan Conflict 1.1-1.8

Let me begin with a confession. Before receiving this Saiyan Conflict boxed set to review for DVDnet, I’d never actually seen a single one of the 300-odd episodes comprising the monolithic anime series Dragonball Z. As far as I knew, Dragonball Z was just another source of those annoying little foil thingies you turf out of your chip packets. Not unreasonably, given the level of saturation mass marketing it enjoyed during its weekday morning run on Australian television, I quickly dismissed the series as yet another in the long line of Pokemon-type clones. Thankfully, with all the hype now starting to wind-down (only to be replaced by yet another up-and-coming), I can take a more objective look at the series. In so doing it seems that I might have been just a tad hasty in my judgement. For, aimed squarely at the 8-12 year demographic, even if this English incarnation has been cut mercilessly by the PG thought-police, Dragonball Z is an infinitely more mature, and infinitely more action-packed series than the likes of Pokemon and its ilk.

Organised into sagas of between 20 and 50 episodes, the so-called Saiyan Saga represents the first 26 episodes of the Dragonball Z series. An adaptation for the small screen of Akira Toriyama’s highly popular Manga, like Dragonball before it, Dragonball Z was a massive success in its native Japan. Brought to America by FUNimation, the series was mercilessly cut to achieve a PG rating and dubbed into kiddie-friendly (read totally inane) English. Reportedly this process involved the blending of quite a few episodes, the painting out of blood, and the removal of many of the series’ more mature elements. In particular the death of significant characters - the portrayal of which is a much-lauded aspect of the original Japanese version - has been almost totally removed by FUNimation; sugar coating the extermination of characters by extending the existing concept of an ‘alternate dimension’.

In terms of plot, Dragonball Z takes up where the original series Dragonball left off; continuing the adventures of Goku, a powerful and skillful martial arts exponent, and his friends - training partner Krillin, sensei Master Roshi, and a host of other acquaintances, allies and enemies too numerous to mention. The series starts with the arrival on Earth of Goku’s previously unknown brother Raditz. Bouncing to Earth is a fiery tennis ball, Raditz seeks Goku out; wondering why the hell Goku, whom he refers to as ‘Kakarrot’, hasn’t wiped every inhabitant from the face of the planet. For you see Goku (Kakarrot), like Raditz, is a Saiyan – an alien warrior-race who make their money from selling inhabitable worlds to the highest bidder. That is, after they have exterminated the planet's previous inhabitants! This all comes as a bit of a shock to poor Goku. He always knew he was different (he got rid of his tail when he was much younger) but an alien killing machine? Boy that bump on his head when he was a kid really screwed up his memory! Anyway, now settled down with his beautiful wife Chichi and cute little son Gohan, he wants nothing to do with the family business. Genocide was like, so yesterday!

But Raditz is insistent. He’s here to finish what Kakarrot should have started, and if that means rubbing his brother out in the process, then so be it. So, as a little incentive for his sibling to cooperate, Raditz kidnaps Gohan; ordering Goku to kill 100 humans by sunset or his son will die. Having none of it, Goku forms an unlikely alliance with a former enemy Piccolo and sets out to rescue his son and kill Raditz. In the ensuing battle, both Goku and Raditz are sent to the netherworld (yes Goku dies – well, sort of) and Gohan is revealed as one of the most powerful Saiyans ever. However, transported to the realm of the powerful King Kai, Goku is given another chance to attain the power he needs to defeat the Saiyans that will inevitably follow Raditz to Earth. Meanwhile, kidnapping Gohan Picollo spirits the child away and starts a rigorous training regime, teaching him to harness his power against the same inevitable day…

From here on in it’s a roller-coaster ride of battles, victories, defeats and deaths (sort of); ferocious encounters that last for episode after episode and involve all manner of yelling and growling as the combatants ‘power-up’. The Saiyan race - mean motor scooters who crave battle, grow stronger after every victory, turn into rampaging apes by the light of the full moon, and who are all named after vegetables (yes it’s true!) make for great copy. These guys aren’t your normal cartoon villain push-overs, and there is a real question episode by episode as to whether good really will triumph over evil. At the very least the who and why of character demise cannot be predicted from the outset.

Maybe it’s just me, but I’m not a fan of where kids anime is going these days. Partially influenced by martial arts ‘lore’ and other more commercial factors, many anime productions aimed at a younger audience, especially those involving conflict, are just too ‘gamey’ in their approach these days. Fights aren't as fluid or energetic as they should be. Instead, they're kind of turn-based, with character A employing attack B, which is then countered by character C utilising attack D, and all played out in an easy-to-follow, stop-start style. And Dragonball Z is full of this stuff; little wonder that the series’ significant battles occur over multiple episodes, some lasting almost an hour of viewing time. Sometimes it just feels like so much filler, especially when an attack takes a good five minutes of yelling and grunting and powering-up to prepare; so much so, the series has often been coined Drag-On Ball Z. That this effect is magnified ten-fold by the painful cuts that FUNimation have made to the final result – attacks take minutes to prepare and often we don’t even see the hit – all makes, at least in my case, for one pretty frustrated anime fan.

In terms of the quality of its animation, these Saiyan Conflict episodes sit a little below average for anime produced for television. Looking decidedly Saturday morning, the typical animation cost-cutting techniques such as panning stills and static zooms are very much in evidence. Backgrounds too look very cheaply produced; totally bereft of anything resembling detail. Character animation, meanwhile, is quite a mixed bag, with both style and quality varying greatly across the cast. With bulging muscles, angular features and huge spikey black coiffures, Goku, Gohan and the other Saiyans present reasonably detailed, satisfyingly-distinct visual characterisations. The supporting cast meanwhile, despite lacking in detail, sporting rudimentary features and often tending towards ubiquitous, super-deformed expressions, present no less distinct characterisations. Indeed, taken directly from the pages of Akira Toriyama’s hugely popular Manga, all characters benefit greatly from the years of thought and development that have been poured into the Dragonball universe. For the most part, character animation is simple and quite lacking in detail; that is until the fighting starts. Indeed, when the grunting and the yelling starts the combatants explode to life, displaying a fluidity of movement otherwise missing from the production.

In terms of the digital transfer presented across the eight volumes, Madman again provides no cause for complaint. The full-frame (obviously non-anamorphic) transfer that they provide is very close to perfect, presenting only minor compression-related glitches in addition to some obvious deficiencies in the source material. Indeed, the first thing you notice about the transfers, and continue to notice for most of the series, is the amount of low-level grain that is displayed by the source material. In addition, a small number of film artefacts can also be seen from time to time, including a few black specks and on at least one occasion a black line. Thankfully colours are reproduced beautifully without a hint of colour bleed, and the image is sharp without introducing undue aliasing. As fot the aforementioned compression artefacts, they appear only as a slight amount of chroma noise very infrequently in the background of the odd scene.

For an animated series that has been through the wringer so completely as Dragonball Z, FUNimation have certainly put some time into soundtrack, if not the laughably naff English script. Although the voice actors they have found are a reasonable bunch and deliver the dialogue fairly well, the script is another thing entirely. Although there is no Japanese version with which to compare, (impossible given the cuts) FUNimation seem to have been very lazy with their writing, creating dialogue that fits mouth movements first-and-foremost, but which fits a six-year old world and seems at times to come straight out of left field. Often lines don’t progress the story or character arcs, and appear only to be filling in time before the next scene. Even given the target demographic it’s sloppy work indeed.

Presented in Dolby Digital surround, the soundtrack itself is another story; making generous use of the surround channel to provide an at-times immersive viewing experience. While the dialogue is clear and distinct throughout (rats!), the first thing you really notice about the soundtrack is the hard rocking theme that begins each episode and the other rock tracks that accompany the seemingly endless fight sequences. Combined with other, more dramatic music elements, it’s this score that forms the real basis for the soundtrack. While ambient sound is basically non-existent, the surround channels are also used to carry a portion of the many echoes, swooshes and rumblings that comprise the characters many energy attacks, flying vehicles, and slick martial-arts moves. The subwoofer also has some work to do, providing a sense of ominous foreboding to the more dramatic moments, and adding low-end to the score. Interestingly, full advantage of the subwoofer is not utilised in conveying the countless explosions that litter each episode. This is certainly a huge opportunity missed. However, despite this one small criticism, given its Saturday-morning pedigree Dragonball Z is reasonably impressive in the sound department. But then again, maybe all action-based cartoons sound great these days – it’s been a while since I got up early enough to compare!

Repeated ad-nauseum across all eight discs are previews of other Dragonball Z releases on both VHS and DVD. In total 15 releases from the television series' further sagas are previewed along with three Dragonball Z movies: Dead Zone, The World's Strongest and The Tree of Might. These are joined by an ad for the Playstation 2 game Dragonball Z: Budokai, which looks like bloody good head-cracking fun, and an ad for IF Labs' range of Dragonball Z action figures.

While Dragonball Z is infinitely more entertaining than Pokemon and the like, this version served up to Western audiences by FUNimation has been frustratingly watered down. Filled with annoying cuts and poor scripting, despite a glimmer of evidence why the series is so popular in Japan, I found the overall production to be fairly unimpressive. Certain to appeal to existing fans of the series’ television run, this boxed set from Madman is a great way to purchase this first group of episodes. But if you are new to all things Dragonball, then I would suggest renting a few volumes before forking out your hard-earned.