Dragon Fist Explosion!! If Goku Can't Do It, Who Will?, more simply known to us English plebs as Wrath of the Dragon, marked the end of the Dragon Ball ZNon-Serial Movie timeline, but it's a hell of a bang to finish on. As it's clearly set after the Majin Buu arc, the story does not contradict the main series' plot in any major ways, making it one of the less confusing entries in terms of where it "fits" into the manga or anime's continuity. In some ways, you can take it as a nicely fitting epilogue to the last saga, but it's certainly not the kind of story Akira Toriyama would have written, for better or worse...
The story concerns an all-new protagonist named Tapion, a mystical-themed, thousand-year-old alien hero imprisoned in an unbreakable music box. His musical theme extends to his melancholic leitmotif. Hoi, a creepy old gremlin wizard, tricks the Dragon Team into using the Dragon Balls to reawaken Tapion, which would be cool, if not for the fact that Tapion's body houses half the soul of a massive bloodthirsty Kaiju named Hildegarn who is promptly unleashed upon planet Earth.
Tapion isn't with us for long, but he's an excellent character nonetheless. He's often compared to Future Trunks, another sword-wielding doom-prophesying badass, but Tapion is quite different. He's a truly tragic character with no humour to him whatsoever, which makes him an outcast next to the main Dragon Ball heroes. Future Trunks' introduction had him casually bring a minifridge full of beer from his time machine and chill out, whereas Tapion literally can't sleep or relax around people for fear of unleashing Hildegarn. Appropriately, Tapion spends most of his screentime interacting with Present Trunks, with their relationship unexpectedly driving the whole film. The angle of Kid Trunks desperately wanting a cool big brother figure to look up to seems to have inspired his dynamic with his own future self in Dragon Ball Super.
Wrath of the Dragon is one of the darkest Dragon Ball movies, dealing with intense themes of suicide and genocide with a deadly serious tone. To clarify, the opening sees Tapion's kid brother get murdered by Hoi, and Hoi's full introduction sees him fake a suicide attempt to get Gohan and Videl's attention. It's not for the faint of heart. The artwork, while dark to match the tone, is beautiful, much like most of the anime production staff's work during this era - ironically, Toriyama's manga art took a noticeable downturn at this time due to burnout, making it all the more impressive that the anime side looks so damn pretty!
Things I dislike: Hildegarn himself works decently in the context of this movie but is overall one of my least favourite DBZ villains. His designs are horrendously ugly and he lacks personality - him being an evil kaiju doesn't excuse that when we also have Godzilla and Gamera's vibrant Rogues Galleries. And yes, the ending really is a stain on a great movie. Without spoiling too much, Goku suddenly taking the reigns with the titular Dragon Fist is an Ass Pull to end all pulled asses. Did you know that the titles for these movies are picked by executives before the rest of the plots are even written? This whole scene had to be forced into the climax somehow, even though it makes no thematic sense and comes out of nowhere. Don't get me wrong, the Dragon Fist is an awesome technique (for once one that Goku completely invented himself), but it has no place in this film. It gets more mileage in GT.
Anime One of the best, but let down by its ending
Dragon Fist Explosion!! If Goku Can't Do It, Who Will?, more simply known to us English plebs as Wrath of the Dragon, marked the end of the Dragon Ball Z Non-Serial Movie timeline, but it's a hell of a bang to finish on. As it's clearly set after the Majin Buu arc, the story does not contradict the main series' plot in any major ways, making it one of the less confusing entries in terms of where it "fits" into the manga or anime's continuity. In some ways, you can take it as a nicely fitting epilogue to the last saga, but it's certainly not the kind of story Akira Toriyama would have written, for better or worse...
The story concerns an all-new protagonist named Tapion, a mystical-themed, thousand-year-old alien hero imprisoned in an unbreakable music box. His musical theme extends to his melancholic leitmotif. Hoi, a creepy old gremlin wizard, tricks the Dragon Team into using the Dragon Balls to reawaken Tapion, which would be cool, if not for the fact that Tapion's body houses half the soul of a massive bloodthirsty Kaiju named Hildegarn who is promptly unleashed upon planet Earth.
Tapion isn't with us for long, but he's an excellent character nonetheless. He's often compared to Future Trunks, another sword-wielding doom-prophesying badass, but Tapion is quite different. He's a truly tragic character with no humour to him whatsoever, which makes him an outcast next to the main Dragon Ball heroes. Future Trunks' introduction had him casually bring a minifridge full of beer from his time machine and chill out, whereas Tapion literally can't sleep or relax around people for fear of unleashing Hildegarn. Appropriately, Tapion spends most of his screentime interacting with Present Trunks, with their relationship unexpectedly driving the whole film. The angle of Kid Trunks desperately wanting a cool big brother figure to look up to seems to have inspired his dynamic with his own future self in Dragon Ball Super.
Wrath of the Dragon is one of the darkest Dragon Ball movies, dealing with intense themes of suicide and genocide with a deadly serious tone. To clarify, the opening sees Tapion's kid brother get murdered by Hoi, and Hoi's full introduction sees him fake a suicide attempt to get Gohan and Videl's attention. It's not for the faint of heart. The artwork, while dark to match the tone, is beautiful, much like most of the anime production staff's work during this era - ironically, Toriyama's manga art took a noticeable downturn at this time due to burnout, making it all the more impressive that the anime side looks so damn pretty!
Things I dislike: Hildegarn himself works decently in the context of this movie but is overall one of my least favourite DBZ villains. His designs are horrendously ugly and he lacks personality - him being an evil kaiju doesn't excuse that when we also have Godzilla and Gamera's vibrant Rogues Galleries. And yes, the ending really is a stain on a great movie. Without spoiling too much, Goku suddenly taking the reigns with the titular Dragon Fist is an Ass Pull to end all pulled asses. Did you know that the titles for these movies are picked by executives before the rest of the plots are even written? This whole scene had to be forced into the climax somehow, even though it makes no thematic sense and comes out of nowhere. Don't get me wrong, the Dragon Fist is an awesome technique (for once one that Goku completely invented himself), but it has no place in this film. It gets more mileage in GT.