Dragon Ball GT (1996-1997.)
INTRODUCTION:
The Dragon Ball Z anime had ended. Finally, Akira Toriyama's entire Dragon Ball manga had been translated to anime form. He had lost interest in the series and went on to pursue other projects. But Toei Animation had other plans. The company who had translated the manga to anime form wanted to cash in on the franchise one last time, and thus created an entirely new, non-canonical Dragon Ball series, GT. Read on to see how the series fares.
OVERVIEW (DVD):
FUNimation began releasing Dragon Ball GT DVDs in America in 2003. The series is broken into twenty DVDs (the five "lost episodes" DVDs that start the series, and volumes one through fifteen that follow.) Each DVD is uncut, with a dub and sub track, and some modest bonus features.
OVERIVEW (SERIES):
GT picks up a couple of years after Z leaves off. Goku has been training Oob, the young man he went away with at the end of the tournament that concluded the Z series. But things go terribly wrong. Emperor Pilaf gets a hold of a second set of Dragon Balls that was created back before Piccolo and Kami split - and accidentally turns Goku into a child again! And that's not the worst of it. The Dragon Balls have scattered across the universe! If the balls aren't reunited in a year, the Earth will be destroyed. The universe is full of villains who will stop at nothing to have them for themselves. As the series progresses, other new villains rise, including Baby, a creation of a race the Saiyans once wiped out, Super 17, a fusion of Android 17 and a duplicate created in hell by an old foe, and evil dragons who rise from the old, overused Dragon Balls. But Goku and company aren't going to give up that easily, as Goku discovers a level of Super Saiyan beyond level three that will help him to compete with these new villains.
REVIEW (SERIES):
GT is a hit and miss series. When it sucks, it sucks. When it's good, it's good. You can tell Akira Toriyama wasn't the creative force behind the series, and it shows in many places. The characters seem to have gotten a lot weaker and stupider, and the battle sequences pale in comparison to those of Z (though some of the later ones come close.) One of my biggest disappointments is Pan, Goku's grand daughter. They make her one of the main characters in this series, and she's basically annoying and weak, and spoiled. Essentially she's a retread of Chi Chi, which isn't something the series needed. Vegeta's role is also significantly lessened up until the end of the series, which is a huge letdown for fans of the Saiyan prince. There are plot holes galore, as well. It's clear Toei wanted to make a series that was a combination of the original Dragon Ball's adventure/comedy feel, and Dragon Ball Z's pure action feel. But as a whole, it's a compromise at best. Do yourself a favor and don't come into the series with high expectations - it does not surpass any previous chapter in the Dragon Ball story. Remember - Toriyama didn't create it himself, so it's essentially professionally-made fan fiction. It's not as bad as everyone says, though.
REVIEW (DVD):
If you've seen FUNimation's uncut DVDs for the other Dragon Ball series, you'll know what to expect here. Two language tracks, with the Japanese featuring translations by Steven J. Simmons, as well as modest bonus material (profiles, previews, etc. nothing special.) The dub is not great, though it's not FUNimation's worst work either. I have some complaints with the Japanese subtitled version that need to be voiced though. Kakarotto is translated as Kakarrot. Saiya-Jin is translated as Saiyan. Tsfuru-Jin is Tsfuruian. Oozaru is Great Ape. If they keep in all the name titles (kun, sama, etc.), why can't they keep this stuff straight? Also, old episodes refer to the Dragon Balls as the numbered ball they are, whereas later episodes change it to the weird Mandarin Chinese names. I wish they'd gone one route or the other from the beginning and stayed consistent, not switched halfway through. Still, these are little faults in the long run.
OVERALL:
Overall, GT is a good series but not a great one. It's better than most people say, but still falls short of the original series and Z. If nothing else, it's good for a weekend rental - but you will have to endure some boring, tedious episodes before you get to the good stuff - BE WARNED! Final verdict? If nothing else, GT is at least good for a rental.
EDITION NOTES:
I'm not sure if these DVDs are still in print or not. But just the same, Amazon's independent sellers have all of them in stock, and you can get them for very low prices now - hell, that may be even cheaper than my previous suggestion of renting them!
|
| Okay, first of all, it's not FUNimation who made the prices high, it's Amazon. If you want DB GT DVDs at a lower price, you might want to go to bestbuy.com. They have them for $17.00 This DVD is a pretty good one, it's the second volume to the Shadow Dragons saga, the 12th of the entire GT.
This DVD has 3 episodes they are:
-The Seven-Star Dragon
-Saying Goodbye
-The Four-Star Dragon I recomend you see the first for episodes of this saga before you buy/watch this one. The one before this is called Evolution and it's the begining and introduction to the Shadow Dragons. |
| Mother of Mercy, these DVD's are INCREDIBLY expensive! Despite DBGT being a mediocre series to begin with, the Funimation gouging continues; these DVD's only have 3 or 4 episodes for this incredibly expensive price. It's unbelievably unjust that they are charging this much for only 3-4 episodes. I'm defintely happy the episodes contain Japanese audio and subtitles, but even that should't be reason for such a price hike. Sailor Moon DVD's are half the price of Dragonball DVD's and contain twice as many episodes, so there's absolutely no reason for this insane price except GREEDY FUNIMATION EXECUTIVES SHAME ON YOU FUNIMATION |
Expedited Available
"Dragon Ball GT - A mixed bag"
"To the other kid who reviewed this (and my own review)"
"Cash in your 401k for DBGT DVDs, Thanks Funimation!"