Burn Your Spirits to the Max!!!; The Legendary Super Saiya-Jin Strikes...

This Review was created for DBZ fans and it helps to have at least SOME common knowledge of the anime or manga series before reading. However, I will try my best to bare with the newer fans. Of course, I am basing this off of watching the subtitled version, THEN the english dubbed version.



Background (It's A LONG STORY)

Dragon Ball began as a manga (japanese comic book) created by Akira Toriyama and were avaliable in a weekly japanese comic series entitled Weekly Shonen Jump. The story was about a young child with a tail named Son Gokou who fights villains in an effort to collect the 7 magic Dragon Balls and have a wish granted. As the series progressed, it moved from being a slapstick humorous show to a more serious, heroic adventure. Then it was chanted to Dragon Ball Z, and the story gained a lot of popularity. The stories now revolved around enemies hell bent on destruction or conquering the universe, and the characters had to get super-powered in order to stop them.

Note: The following Contains Spoilers for Dragon Ball Z Television Show and Manga. It is here to better understand the plot of some of the main characters:


In Dragon Ball Z, Gokou discovered that he was, in fact, an alien (which explains his super strength). He was from a planet called Vegeta, and he was a member of the Saiya-Jin Warrior Race. Dragon Ball Z started out with Son Gokou's brother Radditz (of whom he had no clue existed) arrived on Earth to try to recruit Gokou into becoming a Space Pirate, like him. We soon find out that Planet Vegeta was destroyed by a meteor. Gokou refused to join Radditz and instead teamed up with his former arch rival Demon King Piccolo to fight him. After a gruesome battle that took both Gokou and Radditz's lives, with his dying breath, Radditz reveals that in a year's time, two more powerful Saiya-Jin warriors would be coming to Earth to conquer it, and to wish themselves immortality with the Dragon Balls. Afterwards, Piccolo decides to take Gokou's infant son, Son Gohan, for training for one year due to the boy's incredible hidden powers. Meanwhile in the world of the dead, Son Gokou decides to use the great Snake Path to reach Kaiou-Sama, a grand martial arts master, to prepare him for the battle with the Saiya-Jins within the year (when he would be brought back to life thanks to Shen Long and the Dragon Balls). Besides just that, Gokou's friends Yamucha, Tenshinhan, Kuririn, and Chao-Zu would train with Kami-Sama (The God of Earth) in preparation for the fearsome duo.

After a year passes (and a LOT of drama), the Saiya-Jins (named Nappa and Vegeta, the Prince of the Saiya-Jins) finally arrive. Son Gokou, completing his training, heads back a bit late. When he arrives, most of the Earth's warriors have been wiped out by the Saiya-Jin warrior Nappa. Chao-Zu, Tenshinhan, Yamcha, and Piccolo have all died (due to Piccolo's innate connection with Kami-Sama, Kami also passed away, causing the Dragon Balls to dissapear). Gokou's amazing new powers shined in the battle, as he easily took out Nappa with his Kaiou-Ken Technique. Due to Nappa's idiocy, the Saiya-Jin Vegeta kills off his own partner and challenges Gokou to a one-on-one battle. The battle is intense as Gokou pushes his body to the limits and pulls a victory. However, Vegeta survives Gokou's powerful Kamehameha technique, and uses his own technique to transform himself into an Oozaru (a giant, warrior Saiya-Jin Ape which Gokou transformed into by looking into the moon in the Dragon Ball series years ago. The Moon was destroyed by Piccolo earlier in the DBZ series). Oozaru Vegeta cripples Gokou harshly, until Gohan and Kuririn return to the battlefield (along with Yajirobe, a lazy, non-fighter ally). Thanks to some built-up courage, Yajirobe cuts off Oozaru Vegeta's tail, turning him back into his humanoid form. Vegeta proceeds to beat the living tarr out of Gohan, Kuririn, and Yajirobe. After a long battle, Gohan manages to stare into the beam Vegeta created in the sky, transforming into an Oozaru and crippling Vegeta. Vegeta leaves in his ship and the first saga of Dragon Ball Z (The Saiya-Jin Saga), comes to an end.

After the battle, the heroes regroup. It was discovered during the battle by Nappa that Piccolo and Kami-Sama are in fact also aliens, of a race called Nameksei-Jins, a.k.a. Nameks. Since the Dragon Balls on Earth have dissapeared due to Kami's death, it is concluded that they must travel to the Planet Namek to retrieve new Dragon Balls created by the elders there. So Gohan, Kuririn, and Buluma all unite and travel through space to retrieve them. Gokou, however, had to stay back on Earth to heal his injuries, but would soon be on his way to Namek within a matter of six days. Once arriving on Namek, Kuririn and company discover that Vegeta is indeed alive, and searching for the Namek Dragon Balls. Besides that, a new terror has emerged in the form of Freezer, the Emperor of the Universe. During this era of the series, there are several subplots which show Kuririn and Gohan searching for the Dragon Balls while Vegeta discovers the TRUE fate of his treasured home planet: It was destroyed by Freezer in fear.

After a looooooong, drawn-out "trading of the balls", Gohan and the others meet a bunch of new friends (including a young Namek boy named Dende, and Saichourou, the elder who created the Dragon Balls), and are soon confronted by Freezer's devilish Ginyu Force, which is a group of five of the universe's strongest fighters, each with their own mysterious techniques. It is at this time that Gohan, Kuririn, and Vegeta are forced to form an alliance to combat the Ginyu Force. After disposing of the midget time-altering Girudo, Recoome is the next foe that they battle from the Ginyu Force. Recoome absolutely cripples Vegeta, and succeeds in breaking Gohan's neck. Is it at this time that Gokou arrives on Namek with some senzu (magic beans that heal wounds). After arriving on the battlefield, Gokou gives Gohan and Vegeta some senzu, and proceeds in knocking out Recoome with ONE ELBOW! Vegeta questions the fact that Gokou could be the legendary Super Saiya-Jin, who is said to appear every millenium and is said to be the strongest warrior ever. Gokou soon outbattles Jisuu and Bataa of the Ginyu Force, and after a long, drawn-out battle with Captain Ginyu (the leader), soon goes into a healing chamber to fix his wounds from the battle (you'd have to watch to see how it happened). At this time, the Namek Shen Long (named Porunga) is summoned. It is revealed that he can grant 3 wishes instead of one, and they use this to their advantage. They bring Piccolo back to life (and Kami-Sama), and transport him to Planet Namek. It is at this time that the evil Freezer appears.

After a long fight (and lots of transformations and power-ups), Freezer beats the hell out of the warriors in time for Gokou to be healed. Freezer not only kills the young healer Dende, but takes Vegeta's life as well. Gokou arrives and takes on Freezer, and after THE MOST drawn-out and longest fight in the whole series, discovers that he is no match for the evil alien. Gokou summons up enough energy from the solar system to create a Genki-Dama attack and nail Freezer, in which supposedly kills him. However, Freezer, being incredibly powerful, survives the attack in time to heavily injure Piccolo and kill Krillin. This is enough to put Gokou over the edge. His hair turns gold and his eyes turn green, and he becomes a Super Saiya-Jin. After lots of useless information, I'll just get to the point. Gokou defeats Freezer, and everybody is ressurected and brought back to Earth.

However, since then, the question has been raised: Is Gokou the legendary Super Saiya-Jin? Well this movie answers it...


The Plot

First of all, allow me to explain the REAL title of the movie. It's not called "Brolly"... my ass. The real title (which is much cooler) is Burn Your Spirits to the Max! A Close Battle, A Violent Battle, a Super Bloody Battle. It is the eighth full-length DBZ Movie to be released in theatres (in Japan) in the spring of 1994. Just so that you know, the Dragon Ball Z movies DO NOT fit in any way with the storyline of the series. They are not based off of any sort of Akira Toriyama story or one-shot, and are merely created for profit. So whatever happens here will not affect the series at all, and it is skippable. However, the movie does indeed provide a nice side-story.

Anyways... on to the movie...

Burn Your Spirits to the Max! kicks off with the entire group of the Z Fighters at a Karaoke Festival. Everybody is there with the exception of Gokou and his wife Chi Chi. Why? Well they are elsewhere trying to enroll their son Gohan in a high-class school. These scenes are pretty funny as you can see Gokou acting funny with a horribly itchy suit that Chi Chi made him wear to the school board meeting. Meanwhile, at the Karoake Festival, a mysterious Spaceship lands and a man named Paragus comes out. He is followed by many of his minions. He approaches Vegeta (the Prince of the Saiya-Jins) and informs him that there is a Planet New Vegeta for him to rule, if he can simply do Paragus a favor. He must search and kill the "Legendary Super Saiya-Jin" who has been wreaking havoc across the Southern Galaxy. The arrogant Vegeta takes over and boards the ship.

Meanwhile, Kaiou-Sama informs Gokou of this through telepathy, and Gokou decides to check it out using his instantaneous movement technique (teleportation). He learns from Kaiou that the Legendary Super Saiya-Jin is causing a ruckus in the galaxy. Gokou uses his teleportation to head to New Vegeta. There, he meets up with the group, who all meet Paragus' son Brolly. Brolly and Vegeta go out hunting for this "Legendary Warrior", but soon realizes something is up with Paragus and Brolly. For some reason, Paragus has inhabitants from the Planet Shamo who are enslaved there to work for him. Question is... why?

We establish early in the movie that Brolly can't control himself at times, and has a short temper (besides the fact that he knows Gokou's birth name of Kakaroto). Gokou soon learns that Brolly is indeed the Legendary Super Saiya-Jin, and that Vegeta was lured to the planet so that he could be destroyed by a comet which is heading directly for the Planet. Vegeta realizes that he has been tricked, and the battle finally begins against Brolly. Brolly soon proves how strong he is, dismantling the Z Fighters piece by piece and completely and utterly annihilating them with his immense power. The question is... Can they possibly beat this huge, muscle bound, and seemingly invincible villain?


The Movie's Quirks

This movie is action packed. Once the final battle with Brolly begins, get ready for close to 20 minutes of non-stop, over-the-top, martial arts action that only Dragon Ball Z can deliver upon. The animation only assists in making the blows by Brolly to the heroes that much more devastating. Brolly is a huge powerhouse villain and arguably THE MOST dominating villain in the entire series AND movies. Watching Brolly quite simply embarrass the likes of Gokou and Vegeta is mind-boggling, and watching his power raise higher and higher is ridiculous. At one point it honestly seems as if Brolly is invincible.

The animation is very well-drawn, even though the movie has, primarily, a dark atmosphere. From the dark blue and black landscapes of Planet New Vegeta, to the gritty, abandoned city where the climax takes place, the movie is very dark. However, the use of brilliantly light power-ups and ki-blasts allow a much more pleasurable viewing experience. The way that Brolly's muscles buldge and the buffness of the character is shown with incredible artwork. One of the coolest moments artistically is when Trunks transforms into a Super Saiya-Jin, and his jacket rips off and burns into ashes. Beautiful.

Before picking up this DVD, I had the movie on Fansub (bootlegged imports). Let me just say that even though Funimation isn't too good at DVDs, the quality is lightyears away from my old fansub tapes. In both languages, the movie is visually pleasing to watch.

The Voice Acting is superb. The voice actor who plays Brolly (can't pinpoint his name) in the japanese version is truly menacing. The way he violently screams "KAKAROTOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" whenever he sees Gokou (they have a shady history together) is brilliant, and the mere anger in his voice is enough to send chills down one's spine. One particular shining moment is when Gohan comments on Brolly's evil after destroying the Shamo Planet, saying "He's pure evil..." and Brolly returns with "No, I'm the devil". This is a perfect example of the awesome scriptwriting found in the movie. Brolly has quite a few more cool one-liners about "pain and suffering", but you'll have to watch the movie to hear those. Brolly is typically quiet, but when he talks, it's usually very cool. The rest of the cast is excellent, as usual.

Musically, the movie, as does the rest of DBZ, shines like a new penny. The assortment of themes go from happy-go-lucky light hearted flute melodies, to pounding and thumping war-like drum anthems to signature Brolly's dominance in the fight. What I love is how in the middle of the movie when you are still trying to figure it out, it plays a nice violins solo which gives the effect of "true mystery". Afterwards, we get another beautiful theme which is faster, high-pitched violins to signal the battle with Brolly, as we hear the pitches of the themes scale higher and higher as Brolly tears into Gokou, Gohan, Trunks, Piccolo or whomever he is fighting. THESE are synthesizers done right.

The only real problem I had with the movie was the ending. I won't spoil it, but damn it was too quick for my tastes...


The Dub

The Dub is terrible... enough said. The voices are crap compared to their japanese counterparts (even though I liked Brolly's a little bit) and the music is composed of stupid, idiotic, Texas-native Garage Bands who wouldn't know talent if it came with a manual. One thing I DO admire about THIS Movie is that the script was kept fairly true to its japanese counterpart, with only minor differences. However, i REALLY hate how they screwed up the title. That sort of thing really irks me. If you pick this up, don't even bother with the dub and just watch the subtitled version.

DVD Extras

Nope... Forget About it. Funimation ARE TERRIBLE at this. The only extras you'll find here is commercials for more of their crap. Nothing here is of any worth at all... just the movie.


Conclusion

Story: 4 Stars
Animation: 5 Stars
Sound: 3.5 Stars
Music: 4.5 Stars
Subtitle Quality: 4.5 Stars
Video Quality: 4.5 Stars
Entertainment: 5 Stars
Box Art: 3.5 Stars
DVD Extras: 1 Star
Bang for the Buc: 3.5 Stars

Burn Your Spirits to the Max is arguably the MOST action packed DBZ Movie ever. The fight scenes in this movie are intense, and the mystery plotline will keep you on your toes until the climactic final battle. I love how they tease you as to what is going to happen before it happens, then when it does, you flip out. Pretty much all of the important characters are here, and pretty much they are all lynched by Brolly until the end. This is my personal favorite out of all the Dragon Ball Z movies due to it's amazing action and incredibly dominant villain. I highly reccomend picking up this DVD, but make sure it is the uncut bilingual version. Do NOT waste your time on the insipid and idiotic dub.


4.5 Stars... Rounded Down to 4