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Movie Guide

Dragon Ball Z Movie 03

地球まるごと超決戦

Chikyū Marugoto Chōkessen

A Super Decisive Battle for Earth

General Information

Premiered: 07 July 1990 (“Toei Anime Fair” / “Akira Toriyama: The World”)
EIRIN Code: 113237
Running Time: Approx. 60 minutes
Box Office: Total Gross: Unknown
Net Earnings: ¥800 million (approx. US $5.4 million)
Attendance: 2.2 million
Opening Animation: “CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA” (Dragon Ball Z Movie 3 Animation)
Ending Animation: “The Whole World”

Availability: VHS and LaserDisc (08 February 1991 – Original Print / 21 March 1997 – Re-issue)
8mm Film (08 February 1991)
Dragon Box The Movies; Disc #02 (14 April 2006)
Dragon Ball The Movies Individual DVD Volume #03 (12 September 2008)
Dragon Ball The Movies Blu-ray Volume #02 (02 November 2018)

Movie Premiere & Promotion

The movie premiered as part of the Summer 1990 “Toei Anime Fair” (東映アニメフェア; Tōei Anime Fea) on 07 July 1990, which was additionally dubbed “Akira Toriyama: The World”, as the other two movies premiering at the fair were based on works by Akira Toriyama — Pink and Kennosuke-sama. The event’s name was once again changed for this season, this time from the “Toei Anime Festival” (東映アニメまつり; Tōei Anime Matsuri), which originates from the “Toei Manga Festival” that was established by Toei in 1969 as a way to showcase their popular children’s series as theatrical films during seasonal breaks in the school year. In Japan, almost all schools below the university level run a three-term school year (trimester system) with a vacation period of several weeks to a month at the end of each trimester: spring vacation, summer vacation, and winter vacation. The movies were screened together back-to-back in various cities across Japan, with a typical total running time of roughly three hours. Most festivals would last roughly one month, or as long as the seasonal vacation allowed. Tickets could be purchased at the theater, or discount tickets could be purchased in advance which covered the cost of admission, as well as a bonus item such as a promotional pamphlet describing the featured movies, and various other special presents, such as posters, paper hats, cards, and toys. Additional items, including the official theatrical pamphlet and a variety of other commemorative goods, were available for purchase at cinemas or by mail during this period.

Home Video Release

Up until the Dragon Box DVD sets began being released in the early 2000s, the only Dragon Ball properties released to home video in Japan were the original seventeen theatrical films, most of which were available on VHS, LaserDisc, and 8mm film reels. These home video releases were a luxury for most fans, as they came at a rather high price point for the time. They were later re-released in the late-1990s to replace the then out-of-print VHS tapes with a lower price point and slightly alternate covers.

After releasing the entirety of the three Dragon Ball TV series, Toei released their fifth and final “Dragon Box”, which was entitled “Dragon Box The Movies”. The Dragon Box contained all seventeen original Dragon Ball movies presented in their theatrical 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio. As a special bonus for the movie’s first DVD release, Toei dug through their vaults and included some of the movie’s original promotional material.

Theatrical Preview (劇場予告)
Running Time: 50 seconds

Following the “Dragon Box”, Toei began releasing each movie individually on DVD. To help promote the sale of movie individual discs, Shueisha handed out a free promotional DVD highlighting the releases at Jump Festa 2009. The DVD contained promotional trailers for each movie which were narrated by veteran Dragon Ball cast member Shigeru Chiba, the voice of such notable characters as Pilaf, Garlic Jr. (TV series), and Raditz. More information about the promotional DVD is available in our “Home Video Guide”.

In July 2018, the original seventeen theatrical films were released on Japanese Netflix and Amazon Prime streaming services. The addition of the movies themselves was heavily promoted throughout social media, however it was not announced or promoted at the time that they were actually new, high-definition remasters of the films scanned, and subsequently remastered, from the original film negatives. Shortly thereafter on 09 August 2018, Toei Animation formally announced the release of these newly-remastered versions of the movies across eight Blu-ray volumes. All non-credit versions of the opening and endings included with the release are up-converts of those originally included on the original LaserDisc releases and all bonus promotional materials (trailers, digests, etc.) are presented in their original standard definition format as included in the Dragon Box release.

Movie Synopsis

Gohan, Kuririn, Bulma, and Oolong are spending a peaceful day camping, but that night a huge fire breaks out in the nearby forest. Using their ki, Kuririn and Gohan put out the fire and use the Dragon Balls to restore the forest. Unbeknownst to our heroes, the fire was started as a result of a space pod landing. The next morning, the space pod begins scouting the area, and is revealed to have been sent by a Saiyan named Tullece who has chosen the Earth to plant the Shinseiju (lit. “Tree of Godly Might”). The Shinseiju absorbs the world’s energy, storing it in its fruit, and whoever eats it is granted great power.

Tullece’s minions land and create a fissure in the earth to plant the seed. Kaiō recognizes the Shinseiju and warns the Z Warriors of the Earth’s imminent devastation if they don’t destroy it immediately. The Z Warriors head out, but their attacks don’t even leave a scratch on the Shinseiju. Tullece’s minions soon appear, and a battle breaks out as Tullece watches from their space ship. The Z Warriors attack with all they have, but it soon become apparent they are no match.

Tullece soon notices the young Saiyan Gohan and appears before him, trying to convince him to join and help him conquer the universe. Gohan refuses, so Tullece decides to kill him, but Piccolo intervenes. Unfortunately he is no match for the Saiyan and is sent flying. Tullece decides to have a little fun and creates an artificial moon, forcing Gohan to look at it and transform. Goku notices this and comes to help, only to be attacked by Gohan in Ōzaru form. Hire Dragon appears and calms Gohan, but after seeing this, Tullece shoots Hire Dragon. Gohan goes into a frenzy and quickly turns on Tullece. Tullece decides he has had enough fun and fires a massive ki attack at Gohan, but Goku severs his tail return him to normal just in time so that the attack misses Gohan.

Enraged at Tullece for treating Gohan like this, Goku quickly defeats Tullece’s minions and heads off to take on Tullece. Goku and Tullece’s one-on-one showdown begins and Goku has Tullece on the ropes. However, the fruit of the Shinseiju has finally developed and Tullece grabs one, taking a bite. With the sudden surge of power, Tullece quickly turns the tables on Goku, but the Z Warriors come to his aid. As they take on Tullece, Goku begins to form a Genki-Dama, but the Earth barely has any energy left.

Energy from the Shinseiju suddenly flows into Goku and the Genki-Dama is complete. With the remaining Z Warriors defeated, Goku confronts Tullece and each unleash their respective final attack. Goku’s Genki-Dama overwhelms Tullece’s ki attack and hits him head on, sending him flying through the Shinseiju. The massive Genki-Dama also destroys the Shinseiju and its energy is returned back to Earth.

With peace returned, our heroes enjoy another camping trip.

Movie Characters & Items

The following original character profiles were translated from Akira Toriyama: The World Anime Special (released in September 1990), along with additional character design comments from the movie’s character designer, Minoru Maeda, as published in the “Design Lab” section of the “Dragon Box The Movies” Dragon Book. The character descriptions are essentially verbatim from the theatrical program released with the film earlier that year; perhaps because of the yearlong festivities, each character is given a fairly detailed backstory, although this information is never brought up in the movie proper and is not repeated in later guidebooks.

  • Tullece (ターレス; tāresu)
    The leader and strongest fighter in the Tullece Space Crusher Corps. He is a low-class Saiyan warrior who survived Planet Vegeta’s destruction by luck. Learning of the power of the Shinseiju’s fruit by chance, Tullece embraced a scheme to rule the universe, travelling around destroying planets and gaining more and more allies. He and his men all got stronger by repeatedly planting the Shinseiju on planets and eating its fruit.

    Since Tullece was supposed to be Goku’s lookalike, it’s basically Goku drawn as-is. However, I gave him a cruel expression and a scouter, and his build has been made a little bit bulkier, as well. His skin color is different, and more than anything else, his costume is completely different, so there was no need to go and deliberately make him seem like an “impostor”.
     — Minoru Maeda

  • Rezun (レズン; rezun) / Rakasei (ラカセイ; rakasei)
    The Tullece Corps’ twin warriors. Tullece used extract from the Shinseiju’s fruit to revive them from fossils of the Beanz People, discovered out on the frontiers of the universe. They possess super science and technology unknown to humanity, and even constructed the Corps’ spaceship. Their bodies are small and ugly in appearance, but they both have high battle powers. They excel at deception and staggered attacks, requiring the kind of mental link found only in twins.
  • Daiz (ダイーズ; daīzu)
    Though currently a member of the Tullece Corps, he used to be prince of the Pukimpa Dynasty on the Planet Kaborcha. When Planet Kaborcha was in crisis under attack by Tullece, he personally led the defense forces and bravely fought against them. In recognition of his courage, the cool and nihilistic warrior was allowed into the Tullece Corps. He wears earrings and a necklace, and is the first to fight Goku.
  • Kakao (カカオ; kakao)
    Formerly a lone-wolf space bounty hunter, he personally volunteered to join the Tullece Corps in order to further strengthen his cyborg body. His entire body is covered in a special metal, rendering him impervious to normal attacks. His chest, shoulders, and legs are equipped with high speed rocket thrusters, allowing him to outmaneuver his opponents and attack with super speed. Being a cyborg, his battle power is quite high.

    He was described as a robot in the scenario, so Kakao was designed as a mechanized fighter.
     — Minoru Maeda

  • Amond (アモンド; amondo)
    Formerly a space criminal who rampaged throughout the entire galaxy, he was arrested by the space police and held in a prison on Planet Nutz. However, he broke out of prison when Tullece attacked Planet Nutz, and joined the Tullece Corps. He has a vicious personality and overwhelming power.
  • Hire Dragon (ハイヤードラゴン; haiyā doragon)
    A dragon that lived in the forest visited by Gohan, Kuririn, Bulma and friends. A completely wild animal, it is ill at ease around humans, but opens its heart to Gohan, to whom it owes its life. Sensing via animal intuition the danger posed to Earth by the Shinseiju taking root, it tries to warn Gohan. At the lake where Goku and the Ōzaru Gohan had fallen, it takes Tullece’s energy blast head-on, and sustains major injuries.

    This is another character where I took a hint from color illustrations in Dr. Slump — Arale-chan. Perhaps because it was well received, it ended up appearing from time to time after that, as well.
     — Minoru Maeda

Items

  • Tree of Godly Might (神精樹; shinseiju)
    The Shinseiju is a tree with fruit which only the gods are allowed to eat. Once it takes root, it grows fruit until it sucks out all of the land’s nourishment, and whoever eats these fruit is able to absorb the planet’s energy. But the dreadful result of this is that the planet that had its nourishment drained becomes a desert, and for hundreds of years afterwards not even a single blade of grass will be able to grow on it.

    The origin for the idea of the Shinseiju that appeared in “A Super Decisive Battle for Earth” was from an Asian ginseng that producer Kōzō Morishita received as a souvenir! Hearing that the Asian ginseng sucks up a field’s nourishment and grows big, he thought up the Shinseiju.
     — “Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 6: Movies & TV Specials” (p. 68)

Movie Notes

  • Daizenshuu 6 classifies this movie as a “movie-only” event:

    From the “Go” mark on the breast and back of Goku’s dōgi, it seems that this is a story from after Goku arrived on Planet Namek. However, there are inconsistencies, like the stage being set on Earth, that make it fair to say that this is a movie-only story.
     — “Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 6: Movies & TV Specials” (p. 60)

  • Although this movie was presented in a 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio in theaters, it was actually animated in a 4:3 fullscreen format. In fact, when the movie was initially released in 1991 on VHS and LaserDisc, it was presented in this 4:3 fullscreen format. However, the “Dragon Box The Movies” release would later drop this format, instead presenting all of the movies in their original widescreen theatrical format. Overall, this movie has been released to the home market on VHS, LaserDisc, 8mm film reel, DVD, and Blu-ray.
  • The movie was eventually adapted and released by Shueisha as a film animation comic in May 1994, and subsequently re-released under Shueisha’s “Jump Remix” line in April 2005.

Name Puns

  • In keeping with the Saiyan vegetable theme, Tullece is named for lettuce.
    レタス (re·ta·su)  ›  ターレス (ta·a·re·su)
  • Rezun’s name comes directly from raisin.
    レーズン (re·e·zu·n)  ›  レズン (re·zu·n)
  • Rakasei comes from rakkasei, the Japanese word for peanut.
    落花生 (ra·k·ka·se·i)  ›  ラカセイ (ra·ka·se·i)
  • Daiz comes from daizu, the Japanese word for soybean.
    大豆 (da·i·zu)  ›  ダイーズ (da·i·i·zu)
  • Amond gets his name from the almond nut.
    アーモンド (a·a·mo·n·do)  ›  アモンド (a·mo·n·do)
  • Kakao gets his name from the cacao bean (カカオ), which is used to produce chocolate, and is written exactly the same as his namesake.

Musical Notes

The orchestral score for this film, as with all Dragon Ball Z TV series background music, was composed by Shunsuke Kikuchi. It was recorded on 22 June 1990 at AVACO Studios in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture; pieces recorded for the film are designated by the numbering M10xx, where xx stands for the ordering of the track within the film itself.

The Dragon Ball Z TV series began making use of music from this movie with the Bardock special (aired 17 October 1990, between episodes 63 and 64). Its use in the special is extensive, and the Shinseiju‘s leitmotif, which runs through much of the film, effectively becomes Bardock’s theme. In particular, the haunting vocal piece that plays in the movie as the world’s energy is restored (M1023) is perhaps better known as the music in Bardock’s death scene. Within regular series episodes, meanwhile, the music used at Shenlong’s summoning in the film (M1002) is closely, though not exclusively, associated with Cell; it plays at a number of dramatic points involving the character, perhaps most memorably being his death in episode 191.

[Commercial releases; “Dun-Dun-Dun” only on Ongakushū]

An unused piece, known by its call number (M1018) to have been recorded for this film, has been made several appearances in commercial releases (“Ongakushū” Track 4, “Daizenshuu” Disc 4, Track 24, Part A, “BGM Collection” Disc 3, Track 5, Part A), yet unused in both the film and the Dragon Ball Z TV series. Its first actual use within an animated Dragon Ball work came with the 2008 Jump Super Anime Tour special, as Goten and Trunks begin their fight against villains Avo and Cado. This is likely due to its presence on the aforementioned “BGM Collection” CD set, as all pieces used in the 2008 special are included there.

[Uses in Kikuchi-scored version of DB Kai?]

Ending Theme

[“Marugoto”; who sung it, when/where it was recorded, notables among those who helped make it; Kageyama comments from Movie Dragon Book interview]

Movie Credits

All credits listed below are as originally presented in the theatrical film. All original credit errors have been corrected to maintain accurate spellings throughout the site. For more information and a complete listing of the series staff, visit the Production Guide.

Cast Credits

The cast credits are listed in order of character importance within the series. For more detailed information about the series cast, visit the Cast Guide.

孫悟空

Son Goku

孫悟飯

Son Gohan

野沢雅子

Masako Nozawa

 

 

クリリン

Kuririn

田中真弓

Mayumi Tanaka

ヤムチャ

Yamcha

古谷 徹

Tōru Furuya

天津飯

Tenshinhan

鈴置洋孝

Hirotaka Suzuoki

餃子

Chiaotzu

江森浩子

Hiroko Emori

ピッコロ

Piccolo

古川登志夫

Toshio Furukawa

亀仙人

Kame-Sen’nin

宮内幸平

Kōhei Miyauchi

ブルマ

Bulma

鶴 ひろみ

Hiromi Tsuru

チチ

Chi-Chi

荘 真由美

Mayumi Shō

ウーロン

Oolong

龍田直樹

Naoki Tatsuta

プーアル

Pu’er

渡辺菜生子

Naoko Watanabe

界王

Kaiō

八奈見乗児

Jōji Yanami

レズン

Rezun

内海賢二

Kenji Utsumi

ラカセイ

Rakasei

佐藤正治

Masaharu Satō

ダイーズ

Daiz

真地勇志

Yūji Machi

カカオ

Kakao

里内信夫

Shinobu Sato’uchi

アモンド

Amond

銀河万丈

Banjō Ginga

ターレス

Tullece

野沢雅子

Masako Nozawa

Opening Credits

製作総指揮

Executive Producer

今田智憲

Chiaki Imada

小島民雄 (集英社)

Tamio Kojima (Shueisha)

原作

Original Author

鳥山 明

Akira Toriyama

(週刊少年ジャンプ・連載)

(Weekly Shōnen Jump – Serialization)

企画

Planning

森下孝三

Kōzō Morishita

清水賢治 (フジテレビ)

Kenji Shimizu (Fuji TV)

週刊少年ジャンプ

Weekly Shōnen Jump

製作担当

Production Manager

堀川和政

Kazumasa Horikawa

岸本松司

Shōji Kishimoto

脚本

Script

小山高生

Takao Koyama

音楽

Music

菊池俊輔

Shunsuke Kikuchi

オープニング テーマ

Opening Theme

作詞

Lyrics

作曲

Composition

編曲

Arrangement

うた

Vocals

「CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA」

“CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA”

森雪之丞

Yukinojō Mori

清岡千穂

Chiho Kiyo’oka

山本健司

Kenji Yamamoto

影山ヒロノブ

Hironobu Kageyama

(コロムビアレコード)

(Columbia Records)

エンディング テーマ

Ending Theme

作詞

Lyrics

作曲

Composition

編曲

Arrangement

うた

Vocals

「まるごと」

“The Whole World”

佐藤 大

Dai Satō

清岡千穂

Chiho Kiyo’oka

山本健司

Kenji Yamamoto

影山ヒロノブ

Hironobu Kageyama

Ammy

Ammy

(コロムビアレコード)

(Columbia Records)

撮影

Photography

池上元秋

Motoaki Ikegami

編集

Editing

福光伸一

Shin’ichi Fukumitsu

録音

Recording

二宮健治

Kenji Ninomiya

美術監督

Art Director

池田祐二

Yūji Ikeda

作画監督

Animation Supervisor

前田 実

Minoru Maeda

監督

Director

西尾大介

Daisuke Nishio

Ending Credits

声の出演

Voice Performances

~~~~

[ Cast Credits ]

協力

In Cooperation With

青二プロダクション

Aoni Production

絵コンテ

Storyboard

西尾大介

Daisuke Nishio

上田芳裕

Yoshihiro Ueda

折目達也

Tatsuya Orime

山内重保

Shigeyasu Yamauchi

橋本光夫

Mitsuo Hashimoto

 

 

作画監督補佐

Assistant Animation Supervisor

中鶴勝祥

Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru

佐藤正樹

Masaki Satō

原画

Key Animation

須田正己

Masami Suda

山室直儀

Tadayoshi Yamamuro

佐藤正樹

Masaki Satō

島貫正弘

Masahiro Shimanuki

井手武生

Takeo Ide

沖本日出子

Hideko Okimoto

木下和栄

Kazue Kinoshita

小山善孝

Yoshitaka Koyama

松田宗一郎

Sōichirō Matsuda

鎌田祥央

Sachio Kamata

六崎光幸

Mitsuko Mutsuzaki

鈴木雅也

Masaya Suzuki

青嶋克己

Katsumi Aoshima

江口寿志

Hisashi Eguchi

志田直俊

Naotoshi Shida

久田和也

Kazuya Hisada

宮原直樹

Naoki Miyahara

直井正博

Masahiro Naoi

堀澤聡志

Satoshi Horisawa

宮田忠明

Tada’aki Miyata

林 伸昌

Nobumasa Hayashi

花輪弘昌

Hiromasa Hanawa

下笠美穂

Miho Shimogasa

 

 

動画

In-Between Animation

上杉千佳子

Chikako Uesugi

市橋則子

Noriko Ichihashi

三柴直樹

Naoki Mishiba

松田千織

Chiori Matsuda

江原 仁

Hitoshi Ehara

中村美雪

Miyuki Nakamura

舘 直樹

Naoki Tate

清原順治

Junji Kiyohara

佐藤辰巳

Tatsumi Satō

白須順子

Yoshiko Shirasu

佐藤美智子

Michiko Satō

伊勢川直孝

Naotaka Isekawa

岩上久仁子

Kuniko Iwagami

中村まゆみ

Mayumi Nakamura

新井洋子

Yōko Arai

玉井志保

Shiho Tamai

関 明美

Akemi Seki

棚橋香予

Kayo Tanahashi

広川智子

Tomoko Hirokawa

森本泰司

Taiji Morimoto

大谷恵子

Keiko Ōtani

富田美穂子

Mihoko Tomita

吉川真奈美

Manami Yoshikawa

中村敏子

Toshiko Nakamura

動画チェッカー

In-Between Animation Checker

高橋健一

Ken’ichi Takahashi

美術

Assistant Art Director

高田茂祝

Shigenori Takada

長崎 斉

Hitoshi Nagasaki

背景

Backgrounds

高橋 忍

Shinobu Takahashi

小野忠彦

Tadahiko Ono

一色美緒

Mio Isshiki

伊藤 豊

Yutaka Itō

工藤英昭

Hideaki Kudō

高木佐和子

Sawako Takagi

土井則良

Noriyoshi Doi

谷口百範

Momonori Taniguchi

仕上

Finishing Touches

増井美知子

Michiko Masui

大堀陽子

Yōko Ōbori

福田イキ子

Ikiko Fukuda

金井八重子

Yaeko Kanai

上村育代

Ikuyo Uemura

我妻恵子

Keiko Azuma

花海美希

Miki Hanaumi

 

 

検査

Inspection

酒井日出子

Hideko Sakai

特殊効果

Special Effects

橋本由香里

Yukari Hashimoto

撮影

Photography

前原勝則

Katsunori Maehara

大藤哲生

Tetsuo Daitō

池谷和美

Kazumi Iketani

伊藤 寛

Hiroshi Itō

鈴木克次

Katsuji Suzuki

配島尚久

Naohisa Haijima

鈴木典子

Noriko Suzuki

黒田洋一

Yōichi Kuroda

野口博志

Hiroshi Noguchi

難波充子

Michiko Nanba

池上伸治

Shinji Ikegami

安生哲也

Tetsuya Anjō

音響効果

Sound Effects

新井秀徳

Hidenori Arai

録音助手

Recording Assistant

渋江博之

Hiroyuki Shibue

ネガ編集

Negative Editing

麻生芳弘

Yoshihiro Asō

記録

Documentation

原 芳子

Yoshiko Hara

製作進行

Assistant Production Manager

山口彰彦

Akihiko Yamaguchi

村上恒一

Kōichi Murakami

前橋雄治

Yūji Maebashi

仕上進行

Finishing Manager

植木知子

Tomoko Ueki

美術進行

Art Manager

田村晴夫

Haruo Tamura

助監督

Assistant Director

藤瀬順一

Jun’ichi Fujise

今村隆寛

Takahiro Imamura

録音スタジオ

Recording Studio

タバック

TAVAC

現像

Film Developing

東映化学

Toei Chemistry

宣伝協力

Promotional Support

フジテレビ

Fuji TV

おわり

The End

© TOEI ANIMATION STUDIO 1990