DVD Corner

Dragon Ball Season 5 DVD Review

While not on par with season four, the final season of “Dragon Ball” season has its moments.

In the fifth and final season (consisting of Eps. 123-153), there are (as one might expect) many story arcs occurring. Piccolo Jr. seeks revenge for the death of his father, the Eternal Dragon is resurrected, Goku trains with Kami and Mr. Popo, Goku is sent back in time and meets a young Master Roshi, Tien, Yamacha, and Chiaotzu train, Goku and Chi-Chi’s relationship develops, another fighting tournament occurs, and finally, Goku goes on a quest to save the Ox-King from a deadly fire.

Despite not being as intense or engaging as the superb fourth season, the final season sees the show going out in style with some memorable DB moments. Aside from the epic showdown between Goku and Piccolo, my favorite part of the season was actually the leap forward in time (which started in episode 133). I liked seeing the story jump ahead, observing how the characters had changed, and what lied ahead for the characters in the rest of the season. The end of the series also proved to have a nice lead-in to the sequel spin-off series “Dragon Ball Z.”

Two other moments I really enjoyed were seeing Goku interacting with a young Roshi in the time travel episode and a quiet, reflective moment involving Kami pondering the dragon balls. Amidst all the fighting and explosions, it was refreshing to get a rather deep character moment like that.

On the downside, I probably could have done without the excessive amounts of training at the start of the season. Additionally, did we REALLY need to see another tournament? Granted, the tournament was included to show how Goku had developed as a fighter (and to set up the Piccolo fight), but it felt like a been-there-done-that story arc that we didn’t need to see again.

Summary: Fans looking to complete their “Dragon Ball” collection will want to pick up this set now.

The 4:3 fullscreen picture quality has dirt specs here and there, but generally the colors look crisp (considering the show’s age). 

English Dolby Digital 5.1 and Japanese Mono audio tracks have been included in this set. As I’ve said in past reviews, “Dragon Ball” and “Dragon Ball Z” have the best English dubs around. The voice cast is just spot on with every character. As for the Japanese Mono track, many folks will likely prefer the original language track despite the scratchy quality.  

Extras:
* A booklet with character profiles, episode summaries, and more.
* Trailers for “One Piece,” “Dragon Ball Z Kai,” “Blue Gender,” “Romeo X Juliet,” “Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood,” “D.Gray-Man,” “Mushi-Shi,” “The Slayers,” “Black Cat,” “Soul Eater,” and the S.A.VE. titles.
* Textless opening and closing songs.

August 1, 2010 - Posted by nicklyons1 | DVD review | Dragon Ball Season 5 DVD Review