Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon

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Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon
Japanese box art
Directed by	Mitsuo Hashimoto
Written by	Takao Koyama (screenplay) Akira Toriyama (character design)
Starring	Masako Nozawa (Son Gokū / Son Goten / Son Gohan) Shin Aomori (Hirudegarn) Takeshi Kusao (Trunks) Yūko Minaguchi (Videl) Ryo Horikawa (Vegeta) Hiromi Tsuru (Bulma) Mayumi Tanaka (Kuririn) Masaharu Satou (Kame-sen'nin / Shenlong) Naoki Tatsuta (Oolong) Hiro Yuuki (Tapion) Joji Yanami (Narration)
Music by	Shunsuke Kikuchi
Release date(s)	July 15, 1995, Japan September 12, 2006, North America
Running time	71 minutes
Language	Japanese

Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon, known in Japan as Dragon Ball Z: Ryū-Ken Bakuhatsu!! Gokū ga Yaraneba Dare ga Yaru (ドラゴンボールZ 龍拳爆発!!悟空がやらねば誰がやる, Doragon Bōru Zetto Ryū-Ken Bakuhatsu!! Gokū ga Yaraneba Dare ga Yaru^?, lit. "Dragon Ball Z: Dragon Fist Explosion!! If Gokū Can't Do It, Who Will"), is the 13th and final movie in the Dragon Ball Z series. It was translated by FUNimation and was released in the United States on September 12, 2006.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

[edit] Plot details

The movie begins with a young boy on a distant planet franticly searching the area he is in with his sword at the ready. Suddenly a loud noise alerts him that the thing he was searching for is behind him. However it is too late to react as the young boy is smashed under the foot of a giant creature. Off in the distant, a villainous laugh can be heard.

Hirudegarn in his Second Form

The movie then cuts to Earth as a bank robbery is taking place. The bank robbers are getting away when Great Saiyaman, Gohan’s superhero disguise, stops the car with his foot and smashes the front end flinging the felons out the car to confront Great Saiyaman II (Funimation dub Great Saiyawoman), Videl’s superhero disguise. They apprehend the felons and turns them into the police. All the while they were being spied on by some strange old man in the shadows. Afterward they are summoned again from their school to rescue an old man who wants to commit suicide. When Gohan and Videl enter the scene, they encounter the same man who had be spying on them. After rescuing him, the old man introduces himself as Hoi and tells the two about the legendary warrior Tapion and that he needs their help in releasing him from the music box he is being held in or the Earth would be endanger if he was not released. Gohan tries to open the box with his massive strength but it no avail his strength can not open the box. This is when he tells them he knows of the Dragon Ball and to use them to open the box. They agree to bring the box to Bulma’s home first to see of another way could be used to open the box not knowing that Hoi had a other plans on his mind.

They arrive at Bulma’s house with Goku, Goten, and Kuririn. After analyzing the box, Goku tries his hand at opening the box but he also can not open the sealed box. So it was decided to gather the Dragon Balls and summon Shenron to see if he can open it. After summoning Shenron, Tapion is released and the music box shatters into pieces. Angry at the fact that he was released, Tapion demands that he be sealed back again, but due to the music box being broken, it's impossible. Tapion, furious, storms off, because he is determined to stay alone in order to hide the fact he was holding the upper half of the creature called the Hirudegarn in his body . He is visited regularly by Trunks, who has taken a liking to him and brings him food, but Tapion refuses to eat and turns Trunks away. Trunks, however, becomes determined to bring him food and drinks, as he sees in Tapion what Goten has in Gohan: a older brother.

Shortly after Tapion is release, Hirudegarn's lower half starts to wreck West City. Gohan and Videl arrive at the scene to investigate, but shortly after they arrive, they are almost swept away by the monster's tail. They execute their Great Saiyaman poses, however Hirudegarn's legs are not impressed; he throws the two heroes each to opposed side of the street, with Videl losing her helmet, and Gohan losing his turban and sunglasses. Gohan immediately sets up a counter-attack, with Videl supporting him. After the short battle, Videl thinks Gohan has won, however Gohan says it isn't over yet. Tapion comes to aid Gohan and Videl by playing a magical tune on his ocarina, which weakens and Hirudegarn's bottom half, and causes it to vanish. Leaving the battlefield, Tapion comes to believe that Hoi has already killed Minosha, Tapion’s younger brother.

Later on, while Trunks is visiting Tapion, Hoi attempts to steal the ocarina from Tapion and tells Trunks that Tapion is the true monster, but Trunks doesn't believe him, and instead gives the instrument back to Tapion. Tapion then befriends Trunks, and asks him to dine with him. Tapion is invited to stay at Capsule Corporation, by Trunks. While there, Tapion explains the whole story to Bulma.

Tapion starts off with his story beginning thousands of years. On Konack, planet in the southern galaxy of the universe, a group of black magicians, the Kash-phar, use a spell on a statue to bring the monster it depicted to life. The monster, Hirudegarn, immediately goes on a rampage, killing everyone who tries to get in his way and devastating the planet. Two young heroes, Tapion and his brother Minosha, manage to freeze the monster in his tracks by each playing their divine ocarina, giving a priest the opportunity to cut the monster in half with a divine sword. Since Hirudegarn can't be killed at the time, his upper-half is sealed in Tapion and the other half in Minosha. However, fearing that the monster might reappear someday, the brothers are separated, each sealed in a music box, and shot into opposite ends of the galaxy. The music box holding Tapion lands on Earth. Soon after, Hoi, one of the Kash-phar, becomes determined to resurrect the monster to rule the universe. He releases Hirudegarn's lower half on a distant planet and easily disposes of Minosha, the young boy is crushed under the feet of the monster at the beginning of the movie. Now on Earth Hoi plans to unite the Hirudegarn’s body and release the creature on Earth.

After hearing Tapion’s story Bulma agrees to try to re-create the broken music box so that Tapion can finally rest.

Tapion tries sleeping inside the new chamber, but he has a terrible nightmare that causes him to destroy the chamber. At the same time, Hirudegarn's lower half is once again wreaking havoc, as he draws many men and a woman into his tail to devour their life energy. The next morning Goku, his sons, and Videl arrive at Bulma’s house to inspect the destroyed chamber. Suddenly Tapion appears warning everyone the lower half of the creature is on the loose. To stop the creature from uniting it’s body he ask the group to kill him, in turn killing the creature’s upper half. The Hoi and the lower half of the Hirudegarn appear to stop anyone from killing Tapion. When Tapion is about to play the tone from the ocarina the power of the lower half being so close to Tapion causes the upper half in Tapion’s body to react and release itself. Hoi has succeeds in his plans, and with the monster back together, he believes nothing can stop him. And a battle begins. Goku and Goten transform into their Super Saiyan forms, with Gohan using his maximum potential, thanks to Rou Dai Kaioshin's ritual, to do battle. They start to launch their counterattack. However, they are easily beaten since the monster can easily dodge by teleporting and counter their attacks. Just before Gohan gets crushed by the Hirudegarn's tail, Vegeta saves him and proceeds to fight. He transforms into a Super Saiyan. After a brief fight Vegeta is knocked into a nearby building but is knocked out after he saves the people in the building from Hirudegarn's flame attack by using all his powers to create a barrier strong enough to withstand the attack. Goku then transforms into his Super Saiyan 2 form but still his unable to beat the monster. Goten and Trunks decide to become Gotenks with the Fusion Dance. Gotenks now a Super Saiyan 3 seems to be enough to fight the monster but this attack only result in Hirudegarn evolving. In his new form Hirudegarn mows Gotenks down to the ground and splits Gotenks back into Goten and Trunks. Gohan and Videl are then thrown into a building and Goku gets thrown in some rubble.

Just then, Tapion plays the ocarina again and manages to seal Hirudegarn inside himself. He then asks Trunks to kill him with his own sword, which will destroy the trapped monster. Trunks hesitates at first, but is about to do as requested when Hirudegarn breaks free. His ocarina is destroyed in the process. Hoi (who's been watching the whole fight) mocks Tapion for being so foolish, but is killed as Hirudegarn steps on and crushes him. Just then Goku reappears in his powerful Super Saiyan 3 form and a battle begins between Goku and the Hirudegarn. Nevertheless Trunks tries to fight Hirudegarn too with Tapion's sword and manages to cut off the monster's tail, but then Goku stops Trunks. Gohan yells at Goku about the weakness of the Hirudegarn which Goku already seen and uses his Ryu Ken to pierce through Hirudegarn, obliterating the monster.

With the monster gone for good, Tapion uses Bulma's time machine to go back to his own planet, after giving his sword to Trunks.

[edit] Cast list

Character Name	Voice Actor (Japanese)	Voice Actor (English)
Son Goku	Masako Nozawa	Sean Schemmel
Son Gohan	Masako Nozawa	Kyle Hebert
Son Goten	Masako Nozawa	Kara Edwards
Vegeta	Ryo Horikawa	Christopher Sabat
Trunks	Takeshi Kusao	Laura Bailey
Bulma	Hiromi Tsuru	Tiffany Vollmer
Kuririn	Mayumi Tanaka	Sonny Strait
Videl	Yuko Minaguchi	Kara Edwards
Kame-Sen'nin	Masaharu Satou	Mike McFarland
Oolong	Naoki Tatsuta	Bradford Jackson
Shenlong	Masaharu Satou	Christopher Sabat
Gotenks	Masako Nozawa Takeshi Kusao	Kara Edwards Laura Bailey
Hoi	Shigeharu Matsuda	Troy Baker
Tapion	Hiro Yuuki	Jason Liebrecht
Hirudegarn	Shin Aomori	Robert McCollum
Narration	Joji Yanami	Kyle Hebert