Dragon Ball Z Movie 09: Ginga Girigiri!! Bucchigiri no Sugoi Yatsu

Dragon Ball Z Movie 9 Bojack Unbound takes place shortly after the defeat of Cell, and is one of few movies that can fit into the main story. To celebrate the birthday of his son, Mr Money holds a tournament where the winner can challenge Mr Satan. However, your average space invader appears to ruin everything. It is up to the Z fighters to stop them and safe Earth.

This movie is one of few where Yamcha and Tenshinhan take part in and the film does a good job utilizing them especially during the tournament part. The movie uses humor in a good way too especially ... with the scene with Yamcha who like usual gets humiliated, but not in a disrespectful way. While Tenshinhan had an impressive showing fighting a Super Saiyan tier opponent respecting his strength.
Even when facing opponents far above their level, them appearing to help Gohan show bravery and courage.
Speaking of Gohan, this movie is basically taking advantage of the latest transformation introduced in Dragon Ball: Super Saiyan Grade 5 aka. Super Saiyan 2 and it is about Gohan taping into that power once again to save everyone. And how the movie did it, was not insulting by nerving Gohan for the billions of time as he happened to be the most powerful fighter of all the Z warriors even before taking that form. Most importantly, it was Toei's take on how taking the torch from Goku affected Gohan as now he grew from apprentice to master and from a protected to a protector. Showing that he took his father role as earth savoir.
The movie also has Piccolo and Vegeta with their own unique issues. Piccolo desiring to fight a worthy opponent that takes him serious and isn't boring him to death. Vegeta has given up on fighting since Trunks was killed temporary and Goku left earth. In this movie, he has to find the courage to get his fighting instincts back once again. It is not the best thing the movies have done as Movie 6, 8 and 12 have used Vegeta far better, but it is something that make him feel more than a character who just appears for fan service.

The antagonists in this movie are also unique. They belong to the same race making it more believable they know similar techniques and have similar abilities as some use a unique transformation giving a fitting design that stands out in the environment they are fighting.
Speaking of environment, since the tournament is founded by a family with too much money, there stages created are all unique. Since the villains don't care about the tournament itself, the locations happen to change often when they smash the Z fighters somewhere else. Examples as such are: a flowery field, a place with hot lava, a desert and even a town that looks like Central Europe at night.
Generally the movie did a good job taking advantage of "show don't tell" which many modern anime can't do and would rather infodumb to explain the things you see.

A criticism about this movie is the appearance of Future Trunks which makes it questionable why he is still around instead of staying in his timeline since he is the only one who can protect it. However, the movie didn't waste him as it used him well to show that he grow past the need to use his sword by defeating a powerful sword user himself. Not to mention him reacting to his father getting his fighting spirit back which could only be effective when someone like Trunks witnessed it. Then again, swords in Dragon Ball since the defeat of Raditz should not even be needed unless they provide a specific purpose like when Janemba in Fusion Reborn used it.
Also while Vegeta got his character arc, he still feels like a character who is there just because since neither he nor Piccolo mattered to this movie and their accomplishment meant nothing overall.
Lastly Bojack himself. He used to be sealed by the 5 Kaios and the death of one undid one of the seals which was enough to free him, which gives some insight and justification for his power, but that doesn't explain why he is so powerful to begin with. The movie never elaborated on his race which is weird since his henchmen belong to the same race. It would be nice to know if they happen to be the strongest of their race or if they are relatives. Did they chose to leave their homeworld willingly or where they banished? Anything to grasp on would have been useful to flesh them out. Even something about their transformation would have been nice. Not to mention, Bojack coming to earth is also not explained well. The only interesting thing about Bojack is that he is the only villain who gangs up on his prey and doesn't usually fight a one on one fight.

In conclusion, Bojack Unbound is a fine movie with a rather unmemorable villain. It uses the underused characters well but most are just here for fan service. Regardless, if you are a Dragon Ball Z fan you are going to enjoy this movie. Especially if you are a Gohan fan as this movie gives Gohan the most respect of all Dragon Ball movies does far including Dragon Ball Super Super Heroes.

The first one without Goku being in the story turns out to be the best one yet, probably because the story is unable to rely on constant deus ex machina spirit bomb stuff (aside from the almost-literal deus ex machina found near the end, but whatever).

Most of the movie is a fun tournament where all the characters get to beat each other up and have races and tell jokes. This part is great. You know the entire time that it's gonna get ruined by a boring fight scene with boring villains, but it's great while it lasts.

Like with Broly, the very fact it mixes ... up the formula makes it a whole lot more interesting than usual. Yeah, it still devolves into mindless fighting, but the stakes are more fun when you know Goku can't save the day (mostly). There's a couple REALLY iffy moments in the climax though that hurt the movie significantly. With just a bit of editing this coulda been great.

Like the first Cooler movie, this actually fits perfectly in the timeline with no issues. It might even enhance the main series by being included, unlike Cooler. It's a darn fine Dragon Ball movie, even if it's not much of a movie-movie.

Bojack: Unbound is the ninth movie in the long running Dragon Ball Z series, and I have to say it's not only among my most hated movies in the franchise, but also in the anime genre altogether. Even for a DBZ movie, there is no imagination or any attempt whatsoever to at least make the already beaten path the least bit tolerable. It's so by the numbers that after watching the first eight movies, you can actually create a checklist and start marking off plot related elements as you go.

After a few very boring fights and mind-numbingly lame comedy; Trunks, Gohan, and Krillin advance ... in the tournament and leave for a new area to continue fighting. From there they meet Bojack, his minions, and then several brawls occur. DBZ is an all out action anime, this is something we all know and there's nothing wrong with that. However, this movie is just way too by the numbers and very bland. The side characters are nothing but bodies to be dominated. They make very dramatic appearances as if they're going to actually pose a threat, yet they're beaten quicker than they show up. If a new viewer came into this movie first, I can't imagine them wanting to delve deeper because no one comes off looking like a bad ass at all. Bojack and his gang are nothing but cookie cutter baddies with about as much personality as a pimple between them all.

This movie takes place after Goku's death which occurred during the Cell Saga, and his son Gohan arose as Earth's new protector. Instead of developing him in that way, he comes off needing support from his dead father. There was so much potential to develop the entire cast as a team, plus mentor Gohan along the way. Instead, they clearly find a way to cram Goku into it, thus proving there was no way the show could have possibly survived without him. Many fans believe that this movie can actually fit in the DBZ main continuity in between the Cell Games Saga and The Great Saiyaman. Well, without nitpicking in the characters dialog it actually can; but that's not a reason to praise this movie.

While the backgrounds have moments of looking very good, from the peaceful looking prairies, to the dark and menacing ruins in the battle ground. The animation unfortunately is the usual reused-cels found in the DBZ series. In other words, very quick, blurred motions passing off as action, the laziest path to take when it comes down to delivering action scenes. There really isn't much choreography, as there's a heavy reliance on a light show. While plenty of the explosions and energy attacks look nice, the actual fighting has always failed to register with me. Up to this day I still haven't heard the sub, and I have no desire to. However, the dub is pretty good with the usual suspects featuring Chris Sabat playing both Piccolo and Vegeta, along with Eric Vale as Trunks; and please don't come into this expecting the fun rock scores you heard in Cooler's Revenge or Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan. Instead, what you get here is something mums will use to put the kids to sleep.

Everything about this movie screams "lazy money draining succubus". If someone told me it took Toei Animation 10 minutes to come up with this movie, it would be lies to me and I'll swear it took less. In closing, this movie is only for Dragon Ball Z fans. Everyone else do yourself a favor and avoid it. If you're looking for a fun anime feature minus the psycho-babble, Redline or even Read or Die would make better choices. If you want something with a deep storyline that doesn't run for 10 hours, Area 88 OVA will be a great choice. Skip this 50 minute waste of time.

Highs: Makes great anime look greater

Lows: Slapped together boring and cliché story