| 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” |
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| 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) |
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.
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 |
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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.
Gohan, Kuririn, Bulma, and Oolong are spending a peaceful day camping, but that night a huge fire breaks out it 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 by a space probe landing. The next morning the space pod begins scouting the area and it is soon revealed that it was sent by a Saiyan, 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 fisher in the earth to plant the seed. Kaio 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 on 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 him 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 shots Hire Dragon. Gohan goes into a frenzy and quickly turns on Tullece. Tullece decides he’s 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 unleashes their 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.
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.
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
He was described as a robot in the scenario, so Kakao was designed as a mechanized fighter.
— Minoru Maeda
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
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)
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)
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?]
[“Marugoto”; who sung it, when/where it was recorded, notables among those who helped make it; Kageyama comments from Movie Dragon Book interview]
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.
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.
