Dragon Ball Z Movie 01: Ora no Gohan wo Kaese!!

Not the best dragon ball movie, but certainly a fun romp.

As someone just recently getting in to dragon ball, I was quite shocked when I reached the Garlic Jr saga (incredibly important piece of the story btw) in DBz only to learn that this movie existed.

A lot of the discourse online often ignores this movie or simply writes it off as filler garbage, but I think that’s an incredible disservice. Sure, the story has problems and inevitably is just backstory for a filler arc, the first 10 or so minutes don’t matter really at all, and Krillian, piccolo, and Kami all just kind ... of show up without a lot of reason to fight Garlic Jr. They are real and can be considered legitimate problems with this film.

But through and through this movie is a short and fun 420 romp. You get good action, minor psychadelic visuals (in meaningless first few minutes I mentioned), and a story you really don’t need to think all that hard about.

This movie is NOT going to fundamentally shift how you view dragon ball, but is well worth the short 40 minute run time. It’s especially valuable if you watch it in line with dragon ball z, as it’s one of the only movies with tangible reference in the show.

The first DBZ Movie is nothing crazy.
Gohan is captured by Garlic Jr.- Who seeks vengeance for his father, who was a rival for the title of Kami. Goku and Piccolo set off to get him back! The plot is explained pretty quickly, and it turns to essentially 40 minutes of pure unadulterated action with the gang versus some standard villains. Great color work (i love the reds and oranges) and animation. If you're a fan of DBZ and wanna see some hands thrown with quicker pacing, this is recommended.

My Anime List refused to accept my review at this point, so this section is me typing ... more in an attempt for the stupid bot system to get the review to accept.

The movie was just bad. First of all the movie was way too short for the events happening in there like there was so much room for more. Second of all the movie is a typical non-canon anime movie so pretty much nothing special. Like you see some events in DBZ and wonder: But that already happened in the movie so why is Son Goku surprised? Third of all the movie didn't really explain the new character (Garlic Jr.). He just appeared out of nowhere kidnapping Son Gohan and then a little 1 minute backstory about Garlic Jr. Including... literally nothing about him in it. ... So the movie was pretty bad in my eyes.