Wrath of the Dragon

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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 (Hildegarn) 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	70 minutes
Language	Japanese

Dragon Fist Explosion!! If Gokū Can't Do It, Who Will? (龍拳爆発！！悟空がやらねば誰がやる, Ryū-Ken Bakuhatsu!! Gokū ga Yaraneba Dare ga Yaru^?) is the 13th and final movie in the Dragon Ball Z series. The official FUNimation English title is Wrath of the Dragon, it was released in the United States on September 12, 2006.

[edit] Plot details

The movie begins thousands of years before the main plot of series. On Konats, 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 Minoshia, 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 Hildegarn can't be killed at the time, his upper-half is sealed in Tapion and the other half in Minoshia. 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 Minoshia, who is crushed under the feet of the monster. On Earth however, Hoi switches to a more tactical plan. He starts by spying on a boy and a girl who are fighting crime in a city on Earth. The boy and the girl are none other than Son Gohan (as the Great Saiyaman) and Videl. Soon after, they are summoned 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 spied on them. After rescuing him, Hoi tells the two about the legendary warrior Tapion.

Both are anxious to see who this Tapion is, however neither they nor Son Goten, Trunks or Goku are able to open the seal. They decide to gather the Dragonballs and summon Shenlong to see if he can open it. After summoning Shenlong, Tapion is released and the music box becomes shattered. Angry at the fact that the monster will now be lose, he 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 ensure the imprisonment of Hirudegarn's top half. He is visited regularly by Trunks, who has taken a liking to him and brings him food, but Tapion refuses to eat and shuns him Trunks away. Trunks however becomes determined to bring him food and drinks, as he sees in Tapion what Goten sees in Gohan: a brother.

Shortly after Tapion's release, Hirudegarn's lower half starts to wreck a 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 each to a 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 the magical tune on his ocarina, which weakens and absorbs Hirudegarn's bottom half into his own body. Leaving the battlefield, Tapion comes to believe that Hoi has already killed Minoshia.

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 flute back to Tapion. Tapion then befriends Trunks, and asks him to dine with him. Tapion and Trunks form a friendship, and Tapion is invited to stay at Capsule Corp, by Trunks. While there, Tapion explains the whole story to Bulma, whom agrees to try to re-create the broken music box so that Tapion can finally rest, much to Tapion's delight.

Tapion tries sleeping inside the new chamber, but it is still no use, and Hirudegarn manages to get free from Tapion's body. At the same time, Hirudegarn's lower half is once again wrecking havoc, as he draws four men and a woman into his tail to devour their life energy. Hoi directs his power to rejoin the two halves of Hirudegarn. He finally succeeds in this, and with the monster back together, he believes nothing can stop him. Goku, Gohan and Goten start to launch a counterattack, but they are easily beaten. Just before Gohan gets crushed by the Hirudegarn's tail, Vegeta saves him and proceeds to fight because of his house being broken by Hirudegarn. Goten and Trunks decide to become Gotenks with the Fusion Dance, however this results in Hirudegarn evolving. In his new form Hirudegarn mows Gotenks down to the ground, smashes Gohan and Videl into a building and Goku gets thrown in some rubble.

Just then, Tapion plays the ocarina again and manages to seal Hirudegarn inside himself then orders Trunks to kill him with his sword which will destroy the trapped monster. Trunks hesitates, but is about to do it when Hirudegarn breaks free as Tapion couldn't contain the whole monster by himself, 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. Nevertheless Trunks tries to fight Hirudegarn with Tapion's sword and manages to cut off the monster's tail, but then Goku arises as a Super Saiyan 3 and uses his Dragon Fist to pierce through Hildegarn, 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	Christopher Sabat
Narration	Joji Yanami	Kyle Hebert

[edit] References

• Movie page on Anime News Network
• Daizex.com explanation for Trunks' sword