Dragon Ball Z Movie 14: Kami to Kami

Taking place a few years after the final battle with Buu comes a new threat, Birusu, The God of Destruction. He is feared by even the Kaious and Kaiou-shin himself. After a 39 year slumber (since the destruction of the Planet Vegeta), Birusu awakens and wonders how Freeza is doing and always talked about fighting him. Apparently, his assistant informs him that Freeza was defeated by Gokuu and that he obtained the form of Super Saiya-jin. During his slumber, Birusu had a dream about fighting the Super Saiya-Jin God and wishes to do battle with him. Always loving a good fight for the sake ofthe fight at times, Gokuu tries to challenge him but sees that he is strong and must find a way to defeat him. For a good percentage of this movie, up until the ending, this will follow the basic DBZ formula. I won't give away the ending, but all I can say is it does something very different and will probably be controversial amongst western fans of the franchise. The movie does a good job of justifying the way that it ends and I think this movie deserves credit for doing something different. On one hand, you don't really expect to see it coming, but on the other hand, it does make good sense. What you can take out of this ending is how we all interpret Dragon Ball and the spirit of it. Overall, this movie brings back a good portion of the charms of this series. The humor, the action, the intensity, and so on. So hardcore fans may enjoy this but the ending is very disputable at this point. Birusu as a villain is very distinct from other villains in Dragon Ball. I won't get too much into him since they would be spoilers, but I do think he is rather unique. The action is pretty much in tune with how Dragon Ball Z always has been. Very destructive, explosive, and hyper paced. I wish in terms of special moves it was more diverse but it is more centric on hand to hand and the flying combat. I won't get into too much of what I think should have been used since they would be spoilers. The CG used in this movie isn't top notch. It is PS3 DBZ game quality, but the imagination I feel is what it counts. It demonstrates the devastation and the intensity very effectively and that is enough for me. As for Birusu's style, his posture is a lot like Freeza's where he will wrap his arms around his back but he will use hands while fighting. As for his mannerisms, he does remind me of Thanatos from Saint Seiya The Lost Canvas. He is very powerful and a bit of a show off when it comes to demonstrating his strength against the other DBZ characters. As for the general animation and design, its very much in tune with the franchise overall so no other complaints. The music from the TV series and old movies is not present and is mostly using new BGM tracks. The tracks are more techno and a bit more orchestrated. It brings a more fresher feel to the series and it works in its own way. The only ending spoiler I can give is that the ending song is a new rendition of Cha-La Head Cha-La which I thought was ok. The voice acting is still in tune with the original TV series. Nozawa Masako still captures Gokuu and doesn't sound like she's aged. She also does Goten and Gohan very well, too. She still has a great grasp of the character. Horikawa Ryo still does a great job as Vegeta, but due to the writing in context of the story, it does allow Horikawa to show more of his other voice talents in this portrayal of Vegeta. Horikawa Ryo is a very versatile actor and he did a great job of playing Vegeta. I think this is probably one of his best performances with the character. Last, Yamadera Kouichi plays Birusu. Yes, it is the voice of Spike from Cowboy Bebop. I didn't recognize his voice at all throughout the movie and when I saw the credits, I was surprised it was him. His voice as Spike had this really distinct charm to it while in this one, he is also a playful character but also something of a sadist. I think he captures the character in his own way where he is scary and also has his own distinct charm. Other voice actors are back that are still alive and reprised their roles did a great job with re-capturing their characters. And there will be some surprise cameos from some other characters. I say this movie is certainly a give it a shot movie for the fans. I say people not familiar with Dragon Ball Z will be slightly confused and some familiarity with the franchise should be a prerequisite before watching. Like I said, a lot of the things are still the same, and some things will be different this time around. I don't think it is as good as the first Brolly movie or the Cooler movies, but it does bring a refreshing feel to Dragon Ball at some capacity. I think when this movie is made internationally available, it will get people intelligently discussing about the movie and franchise based on the ending. I am still trying to in-take it but I do understand why the movie chooses to go with the ending it has but I do have some issues with it. But feel free to watch it when you can.

First thing I just have to talk about is the art/animation... Seriously, I see a lot of people complain about the animation of the original DBZ series (though I personally love it and find it to be amazing for a 80's/90's show), well watch this and observe some of the best 2D animation in the history of 2D animated movies/tv shows. Seriously, practically every scene is accurately drawn, complexly shaded (as in they have shades, mid-tones, and highlights, whereas most 2D animations only have shades, and mid-tones - oh and One Piece where there's only mid-tones), and basically any other positive thing you can possiblysay about 2D Animation. Then there's the 3D CGI animation done for backgrounds when there's complex camera motion. Most people hate 3D CGI mixed with Anime, but I mean, it's way too hard to do with hand-drawing and get the accurate details in. In this movie, I found it all to be well done; other than that there isn't much to say about it. Now, finally, I'll talk about the story. Right before the Super Saiyan God part, it was 100% perfect for me. I wasn't keeping track of time, and so the entire movie before Goku came back to Earth felt like the intro to me. Now, that makes it seem like they spent too long on those parts, but I didn't find it to drag on, I was enjoying it. It just ended up feeling rushed when Goku got there. I don't know, it's like, you don't see Goku, and then suddenly, here he is and in a minute or two becomes Super Saiyan God. So yeah, that was my main problem, but I understand it's a movie (and an anime movie at that - they tend to be just over an hour) and so they have to try and get to the end pretty quick. If the movie was twice as long or even just 40 minutes longer, I feel this problem wouldn't have shown up. But yeah, just Goku's transformation feeling rushed was my main problem here. After that it was pretty much just Bills VS Goku, which was an epic fight with some real badass animation, and then after that was the ending, which I enjoyed and had no problems with. In terms of sound, I just didn't like King Kai's (Kaio-sama's) voice acting in the beginning of the Anime; everything else was good. Unlike the Anime series, there aren't any "staying-in-your-head" soundtracks except for the theme song that plays during Bills vs Goku, which I didn't think was needed, but it didn't do any harm - made it feel kind of..... "AMV-ish" I guess. In terms of characters, I love Goku's character in both the original series and in here. Also, Vegeta too; Vegeta's best moments are always when he's avenging his family and the part where he battered Bills after Bulma got hurt was pure badassery - though it didn't feel as serious as the scene in DBZ where he beats up Cell after Cell kills Trunks. And then of course there are the two new characters Bills and Whis. I liked Bills because he brought some comedy with him despite his title of "God of Destruction" and his immense power. And to avoid spoiling it for anyone who reads this without watching the movie first, let's just say the end of the fight is the ending of a fight that you probably haven't seen in DBZ since somewhere in the original Dragon Ball series; this is also something I like, because I preferred Dragon Ball and always wish maybe Akira Toriyama could someday do something with DBZ but takes it back to its original roots where Goku's friends are involved and every enemy isn't 100% pure evil. Oh and Whis is someone who has a lot of power but doesn't care to show it - it's not a new trait of a character within Anime, but I think other than Mr Popo and Master Roshi (in DB), this is a first in DB(Z). I enjoyed this; best Anime movie I've seen to be honest. Especially considering it's a movie based on an already produced anime series, but then again, this is kind of different from Naruto and Bleach movies in that DBZ ended like 17 years ago. So yeah, I absolutely LOVED it, and hope there's probably more new Dragon Ball content coming in the future!

Give me pudding or I destroy the Earth! Just when I thought this movie might be the rebirth of Dragon Ball, it presented itself as a lousy, high quality, piece of junk. Perhaps it was the initial hype from trailers that got me excited, but after thoroughly watching the movie twice, I just can’t seem to appreciate it. At all. But let us first get the good points of the movie out of the way since there are very few to talk about anyway. The animation is quite something. If only the recently remastered DBZ TV series could be completely re-animated like that, I’m sure thefans will all wet their pants to see it. The CG used in flying and combat scenes were great. Not top notch, but still a welcome change especially when compared to the older DBZ movies. The remix of the popular theme song, Cha-La Head Cha-La, at the end of the movie give a nostalgia feeling. Talking about nostalgia, it was awesome to hear Goku’s voice actress, Nozawa Masako, still so lively. Brings back memories. Yeah. God, I never ever dreamt of the day I have to criticize my childhood favourite anime. Where should I begin? How about the plot? Except there is none to start with. Unlike other Dragon Ball movies that has a villain with a sense of purpose to do evil, this movie tried to steer away from that tradition. I applaud its attempt, but there is nothing good about it. What we have is a god that got bored and want to have fun. When things didn’t go his way, he naturally become this “evil” threatening to destroy Earth. Cool story, bro. What is missing in the movie is the struggle of our heroes and how they eventually prevail. Isn’t this what Dragon Ball has always been about? The DBZ fighters always give it their all and fight one bloody hopeless battle after another, all the while viewers cheer and cry and finally a miracle happens leading to victory. We see none of that here. Very disappointing. Not only is the plot non-existent, but the overall execution of the movie is just terrible. With a quarter of the movie dedicated to super minor side-kicks that most viewers simply doesn’t care about (not to mention their appearance serve no purpose to the plot), it felt like a complete drag to watch. While I understand people watch Dragon Ball for the fast paced action and cool fighting effects, this movie may have served its purpose in that regard, but it is a disappointment in every other category. This is just another sad case of milking money from an old established series by fooling loyal fans. Highly not recommend.

Dragon Ball Z is Back! I was so excited to see this movie and it didn't disappoint. Not like that other piece of shit Dragon Ball: Evolution which will go down as the absolute worst piece of cinema I have ever seen in my life. But I'm not here to talk about that I'm here to review Dragon Ball Z: Kami to Kami a.k.a. Battle of Gods. The overall story is that Lord Beerus and his master Whis travel to Earth in order to find the Super Saiyan God for him to fight. After hearing that Frieza was defeated by Goku he decides to locate himand challenge him to a fight. After kicking Goku's ass in their first encounter Beerus travels to Earth and arrives at Bulma's Birthday party and if he wasn't amused about with the Earth's culture, people, food, etc. he would destroy the planet. Vegeta then tries to make sure Beerus was happy, so he could make sure that the Earth doesn't get destroyed. However, after Buu wouldn't share his pudding with Beerus, he throws a tantrum and starts a brawl with the Z-fighters. Goku arrives and later summons Shenron, who is also scared of Beerus, and tells Goku that a Super Saiyan God does exist and how to become one. After his transformation he and Beerus battle to decide if Beerus will destroy the Earth or not. One major thing about this movie is that it is hands down the funniest DBZ movie I have ever seen. I mean there are so many funny moments in this movie. In addition there is kind of a breaking the forth wall joke in the beginning of the movie that got the whole theater laughing. The problem I had with this movie is how Goku becomes a Super Saiyan God. It was strange how someone becomes one, but it's even more strange on what they needed to turn Goku into a Super Saiyan God. Another, problem was Super Saiyan God itself. It just looks like a Kaio-ken. Even though it looks awesome with the reddish gold aura around him it wasn't that impressive of a design. The art is outstanding. This was something I wanted to see and see how the fight scenes were going to play out with the updated animation. And my god is its amazing. Now this is a double-edged sword because even though the animation was beautiful it was a little unusual to watch because the animation was so much different then what I remembered as a kid. The voice acting, as expected, was awesome. I mean come on it's Funimation and all the voices I remembered as a kid. However, got to give major praise to Manica Rial who wasn't the original voice of Bulma, but she did such a superb job that I didn't even recognize it. The characters are basically the same. The one I want to talk about is Lord Beerus. His design is like an Egyptian cat which was a good design seeing that cats were considered gods back in ancient Egypt. He is incredible powerful, but still not as strong as Whis. Not to mention he has the title of "The God of Destruction". Beerus acts like a spoiled child, but acts like a gentlemen at the same time giving him a likable personality. Overall this movie was a blast. It was funny, it had action, it had badass characters... It's Dragon Ball Z. What else it there to say. If you can find this movie in the DVD section of a store I recommend you buy it. Not only that it was just a delight to finally have a new DBZ movie be released. Did it have it problems, Yes, but it's still DBZ being DBZ and it will always be awesome.

Merchandise

Links may contain affiliate references

Studio

Producers

Themes