The World Martial Arts Tournament starts to get underway in the fifth volume of the Great Saiyaman storyline. A lot happens in the three episodes in this volume: Goku teaches Goten and Videl to fly, Gohan comes back from the dead for a day, and qualifying for the tournament begins. This story is played for laughs, and there are a lot of them to be found too. A highly entertaining volume.

Series background:

Since the Cell Games, several years have passed on Earth. Young Gohan has been studying hard with his mother at home and now is a teenager. Gohan may have traveled across the universe and saved the Earth, but there is one great challenge he hasn't yet faced: high school. With no schools near his mountain home, Gohan travels to Satan City, named after the person that the world thinks was responsible for defeating Cell, to attend formal school for the first time.

On his way to Orange Star High School, Gohan encounters a police stand off. Thieves are robbing a bank and are in a battle with the police. Gohan decides to put a stop to things so he turns into Super Saiyan mode and easily defeats them. Of course his exploits are the talk of the town and by the time he gets to school, everyone is talking about the 'Golden Fighter' who stopped the bank robbery. To protect his identity, Gohan decides to become a costumed super-hero, the Great Saiyaman.

One of his new classmates is Videl, the daughter of Mr. Satan, and she eventually finds out Gohan's secret. A great fighter herself, Videl convinces Gohan to enter the World Marital Arts Tournament (aka the Tenkaichi Tournament.) She wants to prove that she's better than he is once and for all. When he hears about it, Goku announces that he's built up some brownie points in the afterlife and can visit the living world for a day. He says that he'll enter the tournament one more time. Of course Vegetta can't let Goku win, so he's going to enter too. Not wanting to be left out, Goten and Trunks join up too. It promises to be a great competition.

This volume:

Since Videl has learned Goku's secret, she's made him promise to teach her how to fly. While he's at it, he shows his brother Goten too. Goten, who can already turn into a Super Saiyan, picks up the techniques quickly, much to Videl's annoyance. With hard work, she slowly starts to pick it up though.

Vegetta is training too of course, under 150 gravities. Trunks joins his father, but can hardly walk under all the weight. When his father teases him about it, Trunks turns into a Super-Saiyan much to his father's annoyance. He gets even more pissed when he finds out that Goten can make the transformation too. "Why not, it's a Super Saiyan bargain sale."

In the middle episode, it's time for the tournament. After all the training and practicing, everyone gathers on an island to find out who the strongest fighter in the world is. Videl has worked hard and learned how to fly, and Gohan and Goten are as ready as they'll ever be. Videl is sure that her father, Mr. Satan is going to win. Since he's forbidden Videl to date anyone weaker than he is, Gohan is hoping to meet him in the ring.

On the way to the tournament venue, everyone promises not to not to turn into a Super Saiyan which is good, because as Krillian notes, "Trying to fight a Super Saiyan is like fighting a steam roller with your hands tied."

The tournament starts to get underway in the final episode on this disc. With Goku having returned from the dead for one day everyone's ready. Trunks and Goten are registered in the juvenile tournament, but there are only 16 slots on the adult side. Mr. Satan, as the reigning champion, automatically gets a slot, but to determine who else qualifies, everyone has to hit a punching machine that will measure strength. Mr. Satan scores 135, and it hard for the Z fighters to score that low.

These shows were definitely played for laughs, and they are very funny. There are several laugh-out-loud moments that really work well if you know the background of the characters. One riotous section was when the South Kai showed up at King Kai's place with a new person fresh from the world of the living. This new fighter towered over the Kais, and was bursting with muscles. South Kai was sure he had a new champion, but was a little impressed when he saw Goku training with two ton weights on each arm and leg. When the weights were increased to 10 tons each, South Kai thought that Goku was out of it. Until he changed into a Super Saiyan, of course. South Kai's look was priceless. I also loved Vegetta's suggestion, when they first arrived at the tournament, that they kill all of the other fighters right away to get rid of the weaker entrants. Typical Vegetta.

This disc contains three episodes of Dragon Ball Z in its uncut format. The disc comes in a standard keepcase. One irritating thing is that FUNimation included a trailer for the Galaxy Railways before the menu that is unskippable.

Audio:

This DVD includes the original Japanese track in stereo and an English stereo dubs. I preferred the original soundtrack over the English dubs, though the English actors did a good job for the most part. The teachers at Orange Star High all have a different accent that sounds really phoney, but aside from that, the dub wasn't too irritating. The English track has different background music added and though it generally fits in well with the show, I liked the original music a bit more. The sound is very good, there isn't any noticeable hum or distortion, and the range is fine. The dialog is easy to discern and is very clear. I would have preferred that they had included a 5.1 mix also, like they've been doing with the new Vegeta saga discs, but this is satisfactory.

Video:

The full screen video looks excellent. The lines are sharp, the colors are bright and solid, and digital defects are nonexistent. The image is clean and clear. A fine looking DVD.

Extras:

There aren't any extra features on this disc aside from a series of trailers.

Final Thoughts:

Dragon Ball Z is a guilty pleasure of mine and this is one of the funnier storylines. These shows kept me laughing through the whole disc. If you've seen the earlier volumes in this story, you'll know what I mean. These are a lot of fun. Recommended.