Superhero Media: Dragon Ball Z - Fusion Reborn

Fusion Reborn is probably my favourite Dragon Ball Z film to watch, often finding its way into the DVD player when I'm bored and want a quick fix of Super Sayian action. A distracted employee of Otherworld allows the evil being washed from dead souls to be spilled, releasing Janemba, a playful and powerful monster, into the universe to wreak havoc. Only Goku and Pikkon, the most powerful warriors of the dead, have any chance of stopping Janemba, but it gets more complicated as the gates of Hell have swung wide and the dead have returned to menace the living. Fusion Reborn is fun in a way that a lot of DBZ films just aren't, with more jokes and slapstick than most, but still having plenty of good action and one of the most visually interesting fights in the franchise's history. Also, Goten and Trunks fight Zombie Nazis, what more could you want in your entertainment? How about Gohan killing Frezia in one hit? It's a great moment that shows just how far the character has come.

Ok, a question for the "hardcore" DBZ fans that read this blog, I know there's a couple of you, I've had to delete some of your comments; is Gogeta really a completely different character from Vegito? I'm asking because I've had a few people insist that they're radically different and I really don't see any separation other than nomenclature and appearance. Not that I dislike either character, I have a Vegito deck for Retro Score DBZ CCG, I just think it's weird that this is an issue for some people. As mentioned above, the fight with Janemba, once he transforms into his red and purple form, is brilliant to watch, especially once you consider that all of Janemba's teleporting moves are hand-drawn and there isn't an instant of CGI to be seen. Seeing Goku overwhelmed is nice, as it doesn't happen all that often, but I do find it pretty disappointing that Gogeta is so powerful that Janemeba just dissolves after one hit; it's a let-down and something of an anticlimax after such a great fight and fun film. Did I mention there's a scene where Gotenks battles Hitler? 

I think, before Dragon Ball Super, a lot of fans tended to brush aside the whole afterlife and gods thing, so I'm always happy to see the gonzo, Jade Empire by the way of Looney Tunes version that Toriyama crafted. Even if it's covered by giant, evil jellybeans for most of the film. As much I actually enjoy character development and the the background of DBZ, sometimes even I just want a big fight to watch, and Fusion Reborn delivers in spades, all in a tidy package less than a hour long. The film doesn't quite fit in with the broader canon of the series, but the tone is bang on and with a title that includes the word "Reborn", it almost plays like a solid Greatest Hits album. Anime, especially the "Weekly Shonen" style of which DBZ is a part, is rarely visually brilliant, engaging yes, but often technically cheap and stilted; Fusion Reborn however, manages to be really exciting and technically excellent, which is something that not much of the series manages. If you're wavering on trying out some DBZ, this can be found on several streaming services and both the dub and sub versions are decent.