Cheap Dragonball Z, Vol. 4 - Pendulum Room (DVD) (Minoru Okazaki) Price

Related Products

Customer Reviews of Dragonball Z, Vol. 4 - Pendulum Room

Good anime series, bad dub
INTRODUCTION:
The Dragonball manga was created by Akira Toriyama, the same person who was previously responsible for the Dr. Slump series, as well as the Dragon Quest (Dragon Warrior in America) series of video games. In the latter half of the eighties, Dragon Ball became a Japanese anime. And when the series drew to a close, he created a follow-up series - Dragon Ball Z. This one also became an anime. Nearly six years after its original Japanese release, Dragon Ball Z finally arrived in America. Unfortunately, Toei Animation (the company that created the anime) added in a number of filler episodes, and FUNimation (the owner of the American rights to the series) was forced to make large amounts of edits so that the show would meet American television standards. Though their dub voice actors actually were pretty good, they had a tendency to mistranslate some information and use a good deal of stupid dialogue. This package contains the second batch of episodes of the series. Read on for my review.

EPISODE SUMMARIES:
-Showdown In The Past: In a special room in Kami's lookout, Krillin, Tien, Chiaotzu, and Yamcha are sent back in time 100 years to battle Saiyans of the past for their training. Unfortunately, they end up being stronger than they ever could have imagined. To make things worse, Kami states that the Saiyans on their way to earth are even stronger.
-The End Of Snake Way: Gohan turns into a were-monkey again, and Piccolo has to stop him. He does so. Goku reaches the end of Snake Way, where he meets the mysterious King Kai.\
-A Fight Against Gravity... Catch Bubbles: King Kai's planet has VERY high gravity. To put this to use in Goku's training, King Kai tells Goku to catch Bubbles, his pet monkey. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done in the high gravity.

EPISODE OPINIONS:
Here's where the dubbed version took a nose dive. It's doubtful that the Saiyans the Z-team battled were really back 100 years, because this was probably when the Tuffles still were the dominant race on Planet Vegeta. These Saiyans have scouters, a piece of Tuffle technology, so this is obviously after they took over the planet and renamed it Vegeta. Also, it is soon revealed that the Saiyan homeplanet has ten times the gravity of earth, yet the Z-crew is unhindered.

DVD:
This DVD is good because it has better picture quality than a VHS tape, but horrible because it only contains the edited dub, and not an uncut sub like later Dragon Ball Z DVDs. I recently heard word that FUNimation will be redubbing the Saiyan Saga and the former half of the Frieza saga, so don't go out and buy this right away.

OVERALL:
Overall, Pendulum Room does a pretty good job continuing the Dragon Ball Z series - but the dub could have been SO much better. Although Dragon Ball Z is an excellent anime, I don't recommend this. I recommend seeing the series in its uncut, original Japanese glory; this dub doesn't do it justice.

---

Pendulum Room
This is a must have in the Dragon Ball Z DVD set. Goku finally reaches his destination and starts his training. The Z fighters on earth train at Kame's palace in the pendulum room, where they fight Saiyans from the past. Meanwhile Gohan gets entranced by a Saiyan spacepod and he and Piccolo go on an all out fight. This gets to the Dragon Ball Z bascis, which is fighting, lots of fighting. The Z fighters against the old Saiyans is great, but the best is the Piccolo and Gohan fight. Goku's training is quite humorous and one laughs at King Kai's methods. Definetly a must buy, you'll thank me after watching it.

---

Good Stuff
These have SWEET fight scenes. and I know what the other guy meant about cartoon network... I want to see the end!