Title:  Dragon Ball Z Series 1 UK Distributor: Manga Entertainment BBFC Certificate:  PG Suggested Retail Price (SRP): £34.99 Length:  905 minutes (approx.) Audio Options:  English 5.1, Japanese 5.1 Subtitles:  English Release Date:  2nd July 2012 Reviewer:  Tom (Webmaster)

Finally after years of waiting, Dragon Ball Z has been released on DVD in the UK. Not only is
it beloved by anime fans, but also by those who see it many years ago on Cartoon Network.  Many teens and students would watch the marathon showing and reminisce about it as they would as American cartoons of the era.  Now fans of Dragon Ball Z, anime or otherwise, can relive all 39 episodes of the first series courtesy of this very orange box set.
 

Dragon Ball Z is set five years after the original comedy series Dragon Ball, which ended with Goku defeating the demon king Piccolo at the World Martial Arts Tournament.  Since then Goku and his wife Chi-Chi have been living peacefully in the country with their son Gohan, as there have been no major battles for Goku to fight.  That all changes when an alien named Raditz pays them visit and reveals himself to be Goku's elder brother.  Raditz quickly brings Goku up to speed on the evil history of the race to which they both belong - the Saiyans -which involves exterminating entire planets for money.  Suffice to say our hero does not wish to join Raditz,

which leads to the older sibling kidnapping Gohan and fisticuffs between the two brothers.  Upon his defeat Raditz reveals that two even more powerful Saiyans (Vegeta & Nappa) are heading to Earth.  The series is then set for our hero and his friends to train for the arrival of the biggest threat to Earth since Goku fought Piccolo.

I relished the chance to watch Dragon Ball Z again for this review.  I remember being hooked on the mix of action, comedy and over-dramatic dialogue it delivers, as well as the excitement of the fighting scenes.  Watching it again all these years later doesn't change any of that and it still remains the best example of action anime that is in a league of its own.  I was worried that the 'alien revelation' in the first episode would lead to a Highlander 2 style disaster, but  

this seemingly rubbish plot point works to the advantage of the series.  Anything goes after this so any power-up, attack or ecologically impossible explosions sit fine with the viewer.  You will be egging the show to get even more daft in fact, just because that is what makes it so damn entertaining.

The fighting of the first series puts cartoon silliness aside for the most part though and is
more brutal then you probably remember, since some of the violence was cut for TV broadcast.
The inclusion of more blood doesn't add as much as you would expect as the action is so fast in places that you barely notice it. The

 main fight between Goku & Vegeta is the highlight of the series, which surprisingly does a great job of building up other characters such as Gohan and Krillin.

Dragon Ball Z still remains the king of Japanese action series and will no doubt introduce the
retro TV crowd to some old fashioned anime and hopefully some newcomers who will be intrigued  to watch it after playing the video games. Kids will love the comedy as well as the fighting and the anime fans will love the fact it has finally come out on DVD in the UK. Anyone who buys it will be able to kick back on a weekend and watch this hugely entertaining and addictive action series.

Extras

Surprisingly the box set does not contain one of the best features of the American release - the 'marathon feature'.   This enabled to watch every episode on a disc with the opening an ending sequences cut out so they could enjoy episodes without interruption.  It is disappointing for it to be excluded from the UK release.  A couple of dull interviews and the usual textless opening and ending sequences did make it to the UK release but, when the main discs contain over 15 hours of an anime classic, I can't be too disappointed. 

Ratings

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