Dragon Ball Z saga takes curious turn

Yes, I’m about to rant about Dragon Ball Z. If that doesn’t float your boat, find another story, but for those of you who grew up with theses characters, the newest movies should be of at least mild interest to you. If not, it’s always fun to look at weird words – which there will be a lot of.

The latest feature film to be released in theaters, “Battle of the Gods,” is an interesting departure and homage to previous sagas within DBZ, and directly affects the series’ next installment, “Resurrection of (Frieza),” for which promos were just leaked.

I remember commenting to a friend before the release of BOG that I didn’t have to see it to know what would happen, since the series has been so formulaic. The movie would open with a shot of life on Earth and all our favorite characters and their currently hunky-dory lives, maybe then introduce a new minor character, then cut to the new bad guy. They meet Goku, Goku loses the first half of the battle, and right when you think he’s going to lose, he finds some new way to hulk out and saves the day, while still never maliciously eliminating the antagonist.

Or so I thought. During BOG (SPOILER ALERT) Goku lost. No ifs, ands, or buts. The antagonist does concede though, that Goku and company are just too cool/nice to destroy, and continues on their merry way.

I’ll admit that, even if this ending isn’t immediately desirable for one film, it does benefit the series as a whole, because now the audience can have a slightly more legitimate fear that Goku might lose, which would keep audiences marginally closer to the edge of their seats.

Which brings us up to speed on “Resurrection,” in which Frieza returns. I know, it took me a minute, too. Try to curb your excitement to a mild frenzy, however, since I still have more to say.

The latest promos, published on the twentieth issue cover of Japanese magazine “Shonen Jump,” feature Goku and Frieza duking it out in their newest “forms.” For those of you not familiar with the series, I know, I sound like I’m paraphrasing the ramblings of a homeless person right now; just Google “Super Saiyan” if you need to know.

Disclaimer aside, you’re not going to want to miss this one. Goku achieves “Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan,” as it’s being referred to in the canon, which is as freaking sweet as it is redundant. After having checked off natural shades of human hair to connote Goku’s elevated superhero status, the producers decided to go with blue this time. Goku’s hair is a pale metallic blue- almost white. Not sure how I feel about that.

Oh yeah, and Frieza’s alive, apparently, which shouldn’t be entirely surprising since he did have a brief cameo during the showdown with Majin Buu where he spectated from some version of Hell. And in case you didn’t have eyes, he’s gold. Which clearly means he has more power, in the same way flame decals make pickup trucks faster.