“Arise Shenron”

Two movies converge in a Blu-ray disk and neither is less loved. I join you once again with the info that any DBZ fan needs to know. As I mentioned, this set has not one, but two DBZ movies, we have Fusion Reborn and Wrath of the Dragon. 

In Fusion Reborn we join Goku as he is fighting Pikkon in the Other World Tournament.  As the tournament rages a young worker at the check-in station for the souls is listening to his music too loudly and not paying attention to the tank filled with evil gunk from the evil purification machine. Suddenly, one of the tanks overloads and explodes causing a chain reaction, making all the other tanks to explode, releasing thousands of years of evil waste. In the middle of Goku’s and Pikkon’s fight they notice that something is wrong and then King Kai sends them to the check-in station to check things out. When Goku and Pikkon get there they find the check in station completely incased in a barrier and a giant monster created from the evil, named Janemba, on top the station.

Wrath of the Dragon starts out with the Great Saiyaman I and the Great Saiyaman II (Gohan’s and Videl’s alter egos) stopping a robbery. This robbery causes Gohan and Videl to be late for school, but they get a call about an old man about to jump off a building. The old man jumps, but Gohan catches him. The old man introduces himself as Hoi and tells Gohan and Videl a story of a hero, a hero named Tapion. Tapion was sealed in a music box a long time ago and Hoi, with what appeared to be good intentions, asks Gohan if he could open the box. Gohan and Videl take Hoi and the box to Goku and Bulma where they realize that not even Goku can open it, so Goku and the gang go to find the Dragon Balls. After the Dragon Balls were gathered Hoi makes the wish to release Tapion from the box. Tapion seems to be a bit odd for a hero and now Hoi has disappeared. Was releasing Tapion a mistake?

Highlights 
Fusion Reborn is very reminiscent of Dragon Ball Z Season 9. Janemba, in his first form, is like a good version of Majin Buu: he’s big, fat, and has half a brain. After Janemba pushes Goku into Super Saiyan Lv. 3, (which is something that only Majin Buu and Janemba have done) Goku smashes in Janemba’s head and Janemba turns into his second form. Janemba’s second form is a lot smaller than his first form: he’s now thin, buff, and looks like a devil and is the equivalent of Kid Majin Buu. As Goku fights this new Janemba, he is beaten quickly and falls into the bloody pond. Before Goku is killed, Vegeta comes out of nowhere, tries to stop Janemba, and fails. So the only thing for Goku and Vegeta to do is to fuse, just like they did to stop Majin Buu.

Wrath of the Dragon: Tapion is a alien from a far away planet, and at one time this planet was full of life. One day Hoi and his people came to the planet. Hoi is from a race of aliens that think they are the most superior race of people in the universe. On Tapion’s planet there was an evil that had stayed dormant for so long that everybody though that it was dead, but it was brought back. The entire population would have been wiped out is it wasn’t for Tapion, his brother, and a wizard. Tapion and his brother played a magical ocarina that immobilized the evil beast, then the wizard struck down the the beast and cut it in two. The top half was sealed inside of Tapion and the bottom half inside of his brother. Then Tapion and his brother were sealed into magical music boxes. Now with Hoi in possession of the bottom half of the beast, the same danger now threatens Earth.

Overall
Fusion Reborn and Wrath of the Dragon are both excellent movies. Fusion Reborn is more humous than Wrath of the Dragon. One instance of the humor in Fusion Reborn  is that the dead can walk among the living, so Mister Satan is beating up all the zombies, which isn’t very hard, so Mister Satan goes off and shows his “awesome might”. Another thing in Fusion Reborn is that one of the zombie armies is Frieza and his army, but with one punch to the face from Gohan, Frieza turns to dust, and his army scatters. Wrath of the Dragon is more serious, with Tapion being Mr. Serious, and there being a giant monster on the rampage, there is less time to be funny. I do feel like Goku steals the spot light a bit too much, there was a time when Gohan was going to do what he could do by telling Goku the monster's weakness, but Goku just shoots him down. The visuals on Blu-ray were excellent. This is Dragon Ball like never before: The punches are harder, the energy bursts are more energized, and it’s all on one disk. Dragon Ball Z  is an amazing series, and can now be loved be another generation.

ComicsOnline Gives Dragon Ball Z Double Feature: Fusion Reborn and Wrath of the Dragon 5 out of 5 Super Saiyans