Back in the late-1990s and early-2000s, Dragon Ball Z was the flagship of Cartoon Network’s Toonami segment. Divided into sagas rather than seasons, Akira Toriyama’s manga-turned-anime was the Japanese answer to Superman. The protagonist, Son Goku, discovers in the first episode the secret of his otherworldly strength and superpowers. In the words of his biological brother Raditz, “You were born on planet Vegeta …. You are a Saiyan … a space fighter.” Later in the series, we learn the fate of planet Vegeta; it was destroyed by the Saiyan’s Galactic overlord Frieza, a shape-shifting monster with enough power in his pinky finger to crack planets open like an egg. But it wasn’t just his godlike strength that set this villain apart from all the previous chief antagonists of the series. All the way through Dragon Ball, all the other main villains Goku had faced had redeemable qualities, after showing them mercy all of them were converted into good guys; allies like Tien, Piccolo, Vegeta, even Yamcha, all started out as villains but were turned to the light by Goku.
Frieza was the first nemesis the Saiyan was forced to kill because he just wouldn’t accept mercy and refused to change. (Although, technically in the Android Saga we learn that Frieza survived by being transformed into a cyborg by his father King Cold.) So, when it was announced that the character was being resurrected with a major power boost and new final form for Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F, fans that had grown up with the anime were drawn back to finally see the rematch they never saw in the original anime but always wanted to see. They were not left disappointed and Dragon Ball Super Season 1 Part 2 retells and expands on the events of the film.
Highlights for longtime fans include finally seeing a new Super Saiyan transformation, as well as finally seeing Super Saiyan Vegeta fight against Frieza; and in a surprise departure from the film version of the new saga, Frieza’s underling Captain Ginyu also makes a return. Fans who grew up with the series will love reliving their childhood, and in the extras we even hear Ian Sinclair, voice of Whis, talk about how 20-odd years ago he was a fan of the anime and how excited he is to be a recurring character in the new series.
The extended runtime makes the series version the preferable version of the Resurrection of Frieza storyline in almost every way. There are, however, some problems with the quality of the artwork compared to the original movie which the saga is based on.
DRAGON BALL SUPER SEASON 1 – PART 2 / CERT: PG / DIRECTOR: VARIOUS / SCREENPLAY: AKIRA TORIYAMA / STARRING: MASAKO NOZAWA, RYO HORIKAWA, MASAKAZU MORITA, NAOKI TATSUTA, HIROMI TSURU / RELEASE DATE: JANUARY 29TH
