Product Description

The Definitive Collection Continues!!

Season Four contains the complete Garlic Jr., Trunks and Android sagas on 6 discs.

Having returned victorious from their battle with Frieza, the Z-fighters can at last breathe a collective sigh of relief… But they won’t have long to rest. A new host of villains has appeared, ready to wreak havoc on the Earth—and Goku, the Z-Fighters’ greatest hero is still missing!

In the face of these new dangers, a mysterious youth with Super Saiyan powers has come bearing a bleak prediction for the future: in just three years’ time, an evil greater than any the Z-Fighters have ever faced will emerge to cast a shadow of destruction and despair over the Earth. And if the young Saiyan’s prediction is correct, the Z-Fighters will have to train like they have never trained before in order to have any hope against these seemingly unstoppable foes—the Androids!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2176 in DVD
• Brand: Funimation
• Released on: 2008-02-19
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Animated, Color, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 6
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 735 minutes

Features

• Having returned victorious from their battle with Frieza, the Z-fighters can at last breathe a collective sigh of relief. But they won't have long to rest. A new host of villains has appeared, ready to wreak havoc on the Earth - and Goku, the Z-Fighters' greatest hero, is still missing! In the face of these new dangers, a mysterious youth with Super Saiyan powers has come bearing a ble

Amazon.com
Goku is still missing in action after the destruction of the planet Namek, as the fourth season of Dragon Ball Z opens. With Goku unavailable, Gohan and the other Z-fighters must defeat Garlic Jr., who has reemerged from the Dead Zone with his accomplices, the Spice Boys. Gohan saves the Earth by ramping up his powers and destroying the planet Makyo, the source of Garlic's strength. Before the dust can settle a new menace arrives: A largely robotic version of Frieza and his more powerful father, King Cold. These villains are easily dispatched by a new Super Saiyan: Trunks, the illegitimate son of Vegeta and Bulma. Trunks has come from the future to save Goku from what would have been a fatal heart virus. Goku must live to prevent the Artificial Humans created by Dr. Gero from ravaging the Earth. (Gero was one of the leaders of the Red Ribbon Army, which Goku destroyed in Dragon Ball.) But Trunks' mission may have altered the future in ways he didn't intend: Instead of two Androids, there are three, all programmed to kill Goku. The season ends on a cliffhanger, with the fate of the Z-Fighters--and the Earth--hanging in the balance. Trunks' visit creates a number of paradoxes, including the problem of his existing as an adult and an infant in the same space-time. However, these questions are unlikely to trouble Dragon Ball fans, who will be too busy watching Vegeta training at 450 gravities, Gohan mastering his latent powers, Goku's new combat move, and any number of battles, not to mention the comic relief of Krillin's courtship of Maron and Master Roshi's continued lechery. Some of these epsiodes were recut into the feature The History of Trunks. (Rated TV PG. suitable for ages 8 and older: violence, alcohol and tobacco use, ethnic stereotypes) --Charles Solomon

Customer Reviews

Another good season set
Dragon Ball Z is the one greatest anime series ever created. With its action-packed universe and compelling storylines, Akira Toriyama's magnum opus has never failed to please. This is the latest season set FUNimation has released of the series.

This set picks up where the last one left off. Goku has defeated Frieza, and the Z-Fighters have returned to Earth. Goku is alive, but has opted not to return to Earth, instead continuing personal training in the vastness of space.

An old foe, Garlic Jr., has escaped from his Dead Zone prison. Using a black mist, he turns all of mankind into vampiric zombies. It's up to Gohan, Krillin, and Piccolo to work together to defeat this returned threat... but how will they contend with an IMMORTAL foe?

It doesn't stop there. Frieza somehow SURVIVED his battle with Goku, and has come to Earth seeking revenge. But upon Frieza's arrival, a mysterious youth comes to their aid. Will he be a match for the tyrant who has conquered numerous galaxies?

Three years later, following extensive training, the Z-Fighters find themselves face-to-face with the Android threats that were announced to them by the mysterious young man who helped them before. It isn't long before our heroes, even with all their training, find themselves outnumbered - and Goku is bedridden with a heart virus! How will the Z-Fighters win against what could be their greatest challenge yet?

The DVD set is divided amongst six discs, and contains the Garlic Jr., Cyborg Frieza, Android Training, and Android Sagas. The picture has been subjected to digital noise reduction, and the set includes a booklet of character profiles and episode listings.

Obviously, if you're new to the Dragon Ball franchise, you'll want to start with the Season One box set, but if you're already a fan, you'll enjoy these episodes. I won't lie, this is one of the weaker box sets, it's basically everything that links the Frieza and Android/Cell Sagas. The Garlic Jr. Saga has some good moments, but it's ultimately an anime-only filler that contributes nothing to the overall storyline. The Android Training episodes fare similarly (Chi-Chi wants Goku to get a drivers license despite the fact that she was seen driving in an early episode of the series?) Even the Android Saga itself gets off to a rough, slow start. But amongst the filler and obligatory slow-moving plot progression stuff, there is some great moments, namely the battle with Cyborg Frieza, and the introductions of Androids 16, 17, and 18 - and the battles with them that follow. These aren't the best episodes of the series, but some of them ARE key moments in the series.

One of my personal favorite features of the set is the Marathon feature. FUNimation includes a feature in these sets that allows you to view all of the episodes on each disc from start to end with no interruptions from intros/outros/recaps/etc. This is an extremely handy feature I wish more TV shows on DVD had.

Like earlier Dragon Ball Z season sets, the picture has been cropped at the top and bottom (this was done due to excessive grain and damage to the original source), and it has been subjected to the digital noise reduction process. Obviously a lot of fans, myself included, were disappointed to see the picture get cropped. While the digital noise reduction doesn't do as thorough a job cleaning up the image as you'd hope, it IS the best these episodes have ever looked. In other words, it's a "give and take" scenario. You lose some of the picture you could see on earlier full-frame DVDs (and there ARE a few gaping moments that will really make you question FUNimation's decision), but on the good side, you gain some picture on the sides, and the image quality is superior to all earlier DVD releases.

Sound quality is similar to the earlier sets. English audio quality is fantastic, but the dub is still translated poorly and the voice cast is hit and miss. On the other hand, the Japanese audio quality is poor, showing its age, but it does feature a well-translated subtitle track from Steven J. Simmons that lets you experience the series as originally intended. Is Dragon Ball Z EVER going to get its Japanese audio remastered?

Additionally, like the earlier sets, you have the option of watching the English voice cast played against the original Japanese audio.

Disappointingly, the next episode previews aren't included. But they weren't in any earlier season set, so it's no big surprise.

No special features are included here unless you count the trailers and the same textless opening/closing sequence all other sets like this have had. On the good side, the set does include a booklet similar to the earlier sets, with character profiles and an episode guide, making it handy to go right where you need to go on the DVDs.

It's another good set. If you're a fan of the series and don't already have these episodes, you can get them all here for one low price. Cropping issues aside, this is a great set, and a good value, especially compared to the older DVD releases.

Highly recommended to any fan of Dragon Ball Z.

Based on previous viewings.
This has not been released yet so my review will be based on previous viewings of the episodes.

This is when things start to get really powerfull! DBZ has been called "The greatest action cartoon ever made!" I agree 100%. That being said this was/is the greatest season ever made. It's starts most likely with the Blackwater mist saga an auspicious begining. The only thing the B-W-M saga does is waste/fill time. Then we have the Trunks saga. This saga really shows how the power level has risen. With the eminant return of Frieza, Goku still missing, and a new frieghtfully powerfull young man, the drama is there. After everything settles down a bit The Z fighters find out about a new threat even greater than Frieza. Enter the Android saga. An enemy from Goku's past comes back to haunt him and his friends. A really dramatic action packed saga where Krilin falls for an attractive but vollatile advesary.

I really hope the original score is available for this season. There were some fantastic techno beats in this saga that I would love to hear in Dolby 5.1. I do find the original score is kinda fitting for the action in the first 3 seasons. So I won't be too disapointed if not.

If the first 3 realeses are any indication of quality expect a few chopped/cropped shots instead of actual widescreen. I know they had some real hard repair work to do on the original film, but don't sell me a mule and call it horse.

All in all a fantastic purchase for the DBZ fan or any fan of anime. Of course you should start at season one, but if you want to jump in without seeing every episode from the begining this is the season to do it.

Great Anime Series, But Needs Much Revising
Okay, I'll confess that I love DBZ. I've loved the show ever since it first aired on Toonami, and I still do. However, the only thing that irritates me to no end about the remastered sets is the color quality. Everyone can agree with me when I say that the original aired version of DBZ had great color quality. The whole show had beautiful color schemes combined with the variety of movement. It was absolutely perfect. However... the newly remastered sets have a dull and somewhat lifeless color pattern. It's just not the same!!! Now, I hate having to gripe about petty things like that, but I just had to get that off of my chest. Overall, it's still a good anime series. Even if it does have some crappy flaws to it.