Dragon Ball Z Movie 03: Chikyuu Marugoto Choukessen

A mysterious device crashes on planet Earth, causing a wildfire near where Gohan Son, Kuririn, Bulma, and Oolong are camping. Unable to fully save the forest, they decide to use the Dragon Balls to restore it to its previous condition. A few days later, a group of unknown warriors plant a seed where the mysterious device had crashed, sprouting a colossal tree that destroys the forest and neighboring cities in the process.

North Kaio contacts Gokuu Son and tells him that this tree is the "Shinseiju"—a tree that absorbs all the nutrients in the planet and leaves it a barren wasteland, all the while growing a mighty fruit capable of providing incredible power to anyone who eats it. After learning of this, Gokuu and his friends try destroying the tree before it is too late, but that may prove to be more difficult than they had previously imagined.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Pink Mizu Dorobou Ame Dorobou, Kennosuke-sama, and Dragon Ball Z Movie 03: Chikyuu Marugoto Choukessen were triple-billed in theaters as a part of the “Akira Toriyama the World” screening at the Toei Anime Fair.

Episode Videos

Episode 1

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Related Anime

Parent story:	Dragon Ball Z
Sequel:	Dragon Ball Z Movie 04: Super Saiyajin da Son Gokuu
Other:	Pink Mizu Dorobou Ame Dorobou, Kennosuke-sama

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Son, Gokuu

Main

Nozawa, Masako
Japanese

Son, Gohan

Main

Nozawa, Masako
Japanese

Turles

Main

Nozawa, Masako
Japanese

Piccolo

Supporting

Furukawa, Toshio
Japanese

Bulma

Supporting

Tsuru, Hiromi
Japanese

Muten-Roushi

Supporting

Miyauchi, Kouhei
Japanese

Kuririn

Supporting

Tanaka, Mayumi
Japanese

Yamcha

Supporting

Furuya, Toru
Japanese

Tenshinhan

Supporting

Suzuoki, Hirotaka
Japanese

Chi-Chi

Supporting

Shou, Mayumi
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Cook, Justin

Producer

Nishio, Daisuke

Director

Vale, Eric

Script

Koyama, Takao

Script

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Opening Theme

"Cha-La Head Cha-La" by Hironobu Kageyama

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Ending Theme

"Marugoto" by Hironobu Kageyama

Reviews

Oct 14, 2022

WhatAGoodShow

Recommended

Dragon Ball Z Movie 3: The Tree of Might is the first Dragon Ball movie where invaders from space appear to destroy or take over the world. In this case they want to plant a tree that absorbs the power of the planet.
One of the aliens happened to be a Saiyan named Turles that resembles Goku and unironically has in the Japanese version the same voice actress. That can at first be considered stupid knowing that only 4 Saiyans survived but considering that even Toriyama ignores that rule to introduce more Saiyans to the main plot and these movies are alternative storylines that can't fit ... to the main continuity, this can be ignored.

The tree of might feels like a believable threat since like real trees it takes nutrient from the ground but far more than the planet can provide for every living organism thus leading to the devastation of the host planet.
The movies has good foreshadowing of what is to come in its beginning act which shows the importance to value nature before the real conflict even begins. Thus when Turles wants to take the live from the planet, it gives the feeling of something important being lost.
The film also succeeds on making the environment and its inhabitants important in battle since the more the planet decays, the more the feeling of loss comes closer for the good guys.
The movie also does a good job justifying the power of its antagonists and the cost. In this case the Tree of Might which drains the life force of the planet and bear fruits that give the users that consume it immense power from the planet. And considering the destruction it causes, it feels believable the power it provides unlike many other villains who are: Born strong, trained hard or transform to get stronger.
Since the invaders have done it several times, they are one of few Dragon Ball villains in general that have justification for their immense power.

Turles is a good villain and feels like a real Saiyan as he is obsessed with power and strength willing to sacrifice an entire planet and its inhabitants just to increase his might. He also shows that while he likes fighting, he won't stray away attacking from behind or using other dirty tactics to win. Even going as far as using the main characters as weapons to beat one another.

Icarus or Hire Dragon is a cute dragon child that befriends Gohan. And their relationship plays a role in this movie where they help each other out in difficult situations.

The movie did also a good job using the unused Z Fighters in this movie well like Tien, Yamcha and Chaotzu who alongside Krillin fight against Turles' henchmen. Even against an opponent they can't win, they still used their remaining power to hold off the last villain showing bravery and guts just to allow Goku to prepare his finishing move.

Goku also feels like an amazing character where he puts the safety over his son over immediately saving the planet.

The criticism about this movie is obviously with Turles looking like Goku and there won't be an explanation why that is the case except Toei trying to cash in on the popularity of Goku by making an Evil Counterpart of him that looks like him. In giving a hint what if Goku never hit his head and remained evil. That won't be the last time we see a Goku lookalike and it will get tiring. In the French version Turles is related to Goku. In the case like this, it would have been better if they showed a backstory for Turles like what planet he was sent or how it molded him to the destructive being he is. Or something so we can see a parallel how Turles experienced the world compared to Goku. But that doesn't make him less of a good villain. Obviously like many Z movies there is the use of power from someone else to put the finishing blow, but in this film it was done a more creative way because how the movie played with expectation of the viewer. Lastly the typical cliches such as Piccolo arriving to save Gohan.

In conclusion, the tree of might is an excellent Dragon Ball movie using the environment well to show the state of the battle and the contrast between Turles and Goku even if not done in a way it warrants the need to have him look like an Evil Goku. And obviously using all the important Z Fighters at the time in the movie showing the importance to stop the threat unlike in something like Dragon Ball Super Broly where only Goku and Vegeta fight while everyone else is minding their own business.

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May 8, 2010

kekekeKaj

Mixed Feelings

Another Dragon Ball Z movie, another improvement on the ones I've watched before. This makes 4 in a row!!! This one is especially surprisingly - it turned out to be quite a good action anime overall, and not just compared to the other movies of the franchise. As far as fighting anime go, it's certainly not quite as the same level as the Street Fighter 2 animated movie, but still it's pretty good.

The action is quite absorbing for once, consisting of more than just ultra fast punching sequences, and the story is actually slightly more sophisticated than the usual "here's a new boss, now ...

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May 6, 2020

Thedude3445

Not Recommended

Dude this one sucks so much, where did all the fun in the last two movies go? Once again, they essentially just redid the plot of Dead Zone and pasted in some new villains, but this time, the fighting is really boring (despite the entire Z Warrior cast helping out) and the villain is just an OC recolor of Goku. Maybe if they played around with some duality stuff or whatever it might be vaguely exciting, but this is just plain dumb.

The cute dragon and Gohan being adorable as usual nearly saves the movie, but sadly when half of each of these movies is ...