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The Dragon Ball anime has been the source of two different movies, which are two different retellings of Dragon Ball's beginning, the other being 1996's the Path To Power. Shen Long no Densetsu. or Curse of the Blood Rubies is the first one, and it is fast and furious. The movie is only 51 minutes, and the next two are shorter.

First, the characters are normal, unchanging rocks. Goku shows almost no emotions other than happiness and confusion. The other characters are pale and stiff.

The story is that there's an evil king that rules over a land searching for Blood Gems or whatever they are. Their ... military steals Goku's Dragon Ball, and from there, the story begins to converge from the official Dragon Ball timeline. According to the DB encyclopedia, it is an alternate timeline. The ending is nice, but the rest of the story is simply brushed over. The pacing is incredibly fast, and it was over before I expected it.

The art's great; Especially Kame-sennin's Kamehameha, which causes all the ships to blow up. A younger me would say, "Whoah!" and I would definitely agree.

If you are trying to watch every second of DB, then watch after finishing the anime, as it is interesting to see another version of the story. However, I wouldn't recommend this for anyone else.

Iron Knight died after a one-shot, 17-ish chapters and a singular chapter after the fact. It was certainly short-lived, but it told its story in a straight line. It never explored the interesting possibilities this manga could have become, and it could've lasted longer; Much, much longer.

Iron Knight tells the story of Teppei, a boy so naive and hard-headed it's sickening. He has the ability to become a goblin through the Goblin Virus epidemic and protects humans. He is simple, innocent, and square. His feelings are so dull, and not much is done to give his backstory attention so readers can relate to him. ... His personality could've reached a spectrum of different feelings; but instead, he's either happy, crying or angry. Near the end, Teppei undergoes a personality change caused by the virus, which happens completely between two chapters, remaining unseen by the reader. This breakdown could've been explored much further, to create that impending doom of this collapse. The plot could've jumped so far, to explore more situations and more feelings, but, it ended in 20 chapters, and two major arcs.

Iron Knight has several battles that can be pleasing. Scenes are drawn well, and Teppei's goblin design is neat. There is some tedious fanservice. Yet, there are about 3 or 4 major battles, which, as I said, leaves room for so much potential.

Iron Knight could've been a long running shounen that could dive its characters into emotion, explore a plot that could twist and turn, and leave its readers begging for more. I could've loved it. But instead of being that, it is dull, uncomplicated and simple.