With all the set of films to come out of the Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z TV shows, very few of the features completely lined up with the show. Whether that be by release date or chronologically based where the feature took place compared to the other stories, there was always one or two parts that separated the features from the show. There’s only a couple of movies that actually make sense which are Bardock: The Father of Goku (1990) and Dead Zone (1989). The reason is that one fit between a show change and the other served as context to how the whole franchise began. As for this feature, it happens to have this to its advantage but in a different sort of way, even if it is still because of timing lining up correctly.
This story focuses on exactly what the title states. Trunks (Eric Vale) the son of Bulma (Tiffany Vollmer) and Vegeta (Chris Sabat) is in a future where he grew up in fear as Dr. Gero’s Androids 17 (Chuck Huber) and 18 (Meredith McCoy) caused chaos in destruction across Earth. Learning to fight by his mentor Gohan (Dameon Clarke) all grown up, he learns that perhaps he can fix his future in another way. Directed once again by the usual Daisuke Nishio and now with Yoshihiro Ueda, this feature at least can be seen as exactly as what it is in terms of story lineup. The screenplay was written by Hiroshi Toda who also worked on the show and adapted by Neil Bligh who worked on the previous features.
The reason why this movie works within the shows episodes, is that it’s described here like in the show itself. Trunks came from another parallel timeline to warn his loved ones that if they didn’t try to prevent Goku from dying, their future would be like his own. With that said, this basically serves as another background story which expands the universe of this franchise. There is not one character out of place that shouldn’t be displayed here. It is a little sad though as for those who know the franchise, Trunks going to another timeline only sets off another sequence of events that causes even more chaos and destruction. Why can’t more of the specials and features made in this franchise be more like this? It just makes the stories that much more connected.
Voice performances from the cast are as great as always. Another change in pace for this feature is that Sean Schemmel is not the main lead here like he always is. This time, Eric Vale as Trunks takes center stage. Vale who got his start as the world martial arts tournament announcer now takes a first lead as Vegeta’s son. Voicing alongside him is Dameon Clarke as older Gohan, which is ironic being that Clarke would be better known Cell, Dr. Gero’s ultimate creation, which young Gohan would end up fighting in the other timeline. There’s also Chuck Huber as Android 17 and Meredith McCoy as Android 18 respectively making those characters their own. McCoy actually got her start in the series as Launch. And lastly one of the voice actresses who was at the beginning was Tiffany Vollmer as Bulma, now just playing an older version of herself set in the future.
The visual look of this anime feature is about the same as the others. Since it was release in the 1990s, it has a very distinct style many would recognize. Surprisingly this time there was no cinematographer which is fine. The music on the other hand is another weird dated mix of music from the time that doesn’t belong. Instead of Shunsuke Kikuchi’s score, the background music has songs from mainly Dream Theater, Triprocket, Neck Down, Slaughter and even Bootsy Collins teaming up with Buckethead. The main title was composed by Andy Baylor but none of these tracks really sound right. Whoever thought these were even remotely decent choices made a fairly large miscalculation. Thankfully a later release of this did contain the original musical score, but it shouldn’t take a re-release for that to happen.
Really the music is the only component that is improperly utilized in this film. The array of artists can’t substitute for the original composer. The animation, voice acting and even continuity are well put in place.
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