''Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon'' is a 1995 Japanese

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

science fantasy file:Warhammer40kcosplay.jpg, Cosplay of a character from the ''Warhammer 40,000'' tabletop game; one critic has characterized the game's setting as "action-oriented science-fantasy." Science fantasy is a hybrid genre within speculative fiction ...

martial arts film Martial arts films are a subgenre of action films that feature martial arts combat between characters. These combats are usually the films' primary appeal and entertainment value, and often are a method of storytelling and character expression a ...

and the thirteenth ''

Dragon Ball Z ''Dragon Ball Z'' (''DBZ'') is a Japanese anime television series produced by Toei Animation. Part of the ''Dragon Ball'' media franchise, it is the sequel to the 1986 ''Dragon Ball'' television series and adapts the latter 325 chapters ...

'' feature film. It was originally released in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

on July 15 at the Toei Anime Fair. It was later dubbed into English by

Funimation Funimation was an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming service. Launched in 2016, the service was one of the leading distributors of anime ...

in 2006 like most other ''Dragon Ball'' films. It was also released on VCD in Malaysia by Speedy Video with the subtitle ''Explosion of Dragon Punch''. It was preceded by '' Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn'' and followed by '' Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods'', which released in 2013. Set after the defeat of

Kid Buu , generally spelled Majin Boo in subtitles of the Japanese anime, and rendered as Djinn-Boo in the Viz Media manga, is a fictional character and final antagonist in the ''Dragon Ball'' manga series created by Akira Toriyama, before the release of ...

, the film focuses on the efforts of an evil magician, Hoi, to release the deadly monster Hirudegarn onto the Earth, forcing

Goku Son Goku is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the ''Dragon Ball'' manga series created by Akira Toriyama. He is based on Sun Wukong (known as ''Son Gokū'' in Japan and the Monkey King in the West), a main character of the cl ...

and his friends to enlist the aid of a warrior named Tapion, who may be the only one capable of defeating the evil monster. Series creator

Akira Toriyama was a Japanese manga artist and character designer. He came to be regarded as one of the most influential and important authors in the history of manga, authoring highly influential and popular series, particularly Dragon Ball (manga), ''Dra ...

designed the Tapion and Minotia characters.

Plot

On an unknown world, a young

humanoid A humanoid (; from English ''human'' and '' -oid'' "resembling") is a non-human entity with human form or characteristics. By the 20th century, the term came to describe fossils which were morphologically similar, but not identical, to those of ...

is crushed to death by a gigantic

monster A monster is a type of imaginary or fictional creature found in literature, folklore, mythology, fiction and religion. They are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive, with a strange or grotesque appearance that causes Anxiety, terror ...

which then vanishes as an unseen entity laughs and announces that it is headed for Earth. On Earth,

Gohan is a fictional character in the Japanese franchise '' Dragon Ball'' created by Akira Toriyama. Gohan is the son of the protagonist Son Goku and his wife Chi-Chi and made his appearance in chapter #196 "Kakarrot", published in ''Weekly Shōnen ...

and

Videl is a fictional character from the ''Dragon Ball'' media franchise. Created by Akira Toriyama, she first appears in Chapter 421 of the ''Dragon Ball manga'' originally published in Issue 23 of ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' on May 11, 1993. Her name is a ...

, acting as their

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...

personas Great Saiyaman and Great Saiyaman 2, stop an elderly man from committing suicide. The man introduces himself as Hoi and presents them with an enchanted

music box A music box (American English) or musical box (British English) is an automatic musical instrument in a box that produces Musical note, musical notes by using a set of pins placed on a revolving cylinder (geometry), cylinder or disc to pluck ...

, claiming that a hero named Tapion is trapped inside and is their only chance to stop an approaching evil. With all other methods of potentially opening the box exhausted, the magical Dragon Balls are assembled and a wish to the eternal dragon

Shenron ''Dragon Ball'' is a Japanese media franchise created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. The franchise features an ensemble cast of characters and takes place in the same fictional universe as Toriyama's other work, ''Dr. Slump''. While many of the cha ...

is used to open it. Tapion is released but expresses anger at having been freed, explaining that inside of him is half of the ferocious monster called Hirudegarn that only the box was keeping at bay. Tapion flees into isolation but is visited by Trunks who takes a liking to him. The lower half of Hirudegarn soon appears and begins attacking the city. Gohan and Videl attempt to fight it with Gohan learning that Hirudegarn is intangible except when it attacks. The fight ensues until Tapion plays a tune on his

ocarina The ocarina (otherwise known as a potato flute) is a wind musical instrument; it is a type of vessel flute. Variations exist, but a typical ocarina is an enclosed space with four to twelve finger holes and a mouthpiece that projects from the bo ...

which weakens Hirudegarn and causes it to vanish. Hoi claims that Tapion is the true threat and that the ocarina must be destroyed, so he attempts to steal the instrument and in the ensuing scuffle, Trunks takes possession of it and chooses to side with Tapion. Hoi flees and Tapion accepts Trunks as a friend. Tapion relays his story to

Bulma is a fictional character in the '' Dragon Ball'' franchise, first appearing in the original manga series created by Akira Toriyama. She made her appearance in the first chapter "Bulma and Son Goku", published in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' magazine ...

and explains that one-thousand years prior an evil race of alien sorcerers set out to destroy all life in the universe by awakening Hirudegarn. Their conquest eventually brought them to Tapion's planet where during the battle, a priest created an enchanted sword and two ocarinas capable of stopping Hirudegarn. Tapion and his younger brother Minotia kept the monster at bay with the ocarinas while the priest cleaved it in half with the sword. In the aftermath, a

war council A council of war Goku Son Goku is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the ''Dragon Ball'' manga series created by Akira Toriyama. He is based on Sun Wukong (known as ''Son Gokū'' in Japan and the Monkey King in the West), a main character of the cl ...

, Ultimate Gohan, and Super Saiyan

Goten ''Dragon Ball'' is a Japanese media franchise created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. The franchise features an ensemble cast of characters and takes place in the same fictional universe as Toriyama's other work, ''Dr. Slump''. While many of the cha ...

who are no match for the monster.

Vegeta ( ), fully referred to as , is a fictional character in the Japanese franchise ''Dragon Ball'' created by Akira Toriyama. Vegeta made his appearance in chapter #204 "Sayonara, Son Goku", published in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' magazine on January ...

arrives to join the fight in Super Saiyan form but is quickly defeated as well while Super Saiyan Trunks and Goten fuse into Super Gotenks 3 and bombard Hirudegarn with

energy Energy () is the physical quantity, quantitative physical property, property that is transferred to a physical body, body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of Work (thermodynamics), work and in the form of heat and l ...

blasts. Hirudegarn then transforms into a more powerful form and defeats Gotenks effortlessly. Tapion attempts to seal Hirudegarn inside of himself again by playing the ocarina and asks Trunks to kill him with the sword once he does. Trunks hesitates and Hirudegarn escapes yet again, destroying the ocarina in the process. As Hoi gloats over his apparent victory, he is crushed to death by the monster. A rampage Goku transforms to Super Saiyan 3 and prepares for one final battle with Hirudegarn. Trunks intervenes and cuts the monster's tail off with the sword and Goku figures out that the monster is only vulnerable after attacking and he takes a beating while antagonizing Hirudegarn. An enraged Hirudegarn is weakened allowing Goku uses his Dragon Fist attack to finally kill it. Tapion uses Bulma's

time machine A time machine is a fictional or hypothetical device that allows time travel. Concept A time machine is a device that makes time travel possible. The ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' distinguishes between two different types of time ma ...

to return to his planet before it was destroyed. Before departing, Tapion presents Trunks with his sword as a farewell gift. In the

ending credits Closing credits, aka end credits or end titles, are a list of the cast and crew of a particular motion picture, television show, or video game. While opening credits appear at the beginning of a work, closing credits appear close to or at the v ...

Future Trunks is a fictional character in the ''Dragon Ball'' manga series created by Akira Toriyama. Within the series, he is the half- Saiyan half-human son of Vegeta and Bulma and has at least two noteworthy incarnations. Trunks makes his debut appearance ...

is shown slaying

Frieza , also spelled as Freeza in Funimation's English subtitles and Viz Media's release of the manga, is a fictional character and one of the main antagonists of the ''Dragon Ball'' franchise created by Akira Toriyama. He makes his debut in Chapter ...

with a similar sword.

Cast

Music

*IN (Insert Song): ** *** Lyrics by

Yukinojō Mori , better known by his stage name , is a Japanese lyricist, composer and poet who is affiliated with Amuse, Inc. He has written over 2,500 songs for numerous artists such as Kyosuke Himuro, Takuro Yoshida and Junichi Inagaki and theme songs ...

*** Music by

Tetsuji Hayashi is a Japanese composer, singer-songwriter, and arranger known for his influential contributions to the development of J-pop and city pop during the 1980s. He was exposed to Western pop music from an early age, sparking his passion for music. He ...

*** Arranged by *** Performed by *ED (Ending Theme): ** '' Ore ga Yaranakya Dare ga Yaru'' *** Lyrics by

*** Music by

*** Arranged by Yūzō Hayashi *** Performed by

Hironobu Kageyama is a Japanese musician, singer and composer. He is best known for his work on anime, video game and ''tokusatsu'' soundtracks. Kageyama first rose to prominence as a teenager in the 1970s as lead singer of the rock band Lazy. Following their br ...

English dub soundtrack

The score for the Funimation English dub is composed by Nathan Johnson. He learned to play the

for Tapion's theme. The Double Feature release contains an alternate audio track containing the English dub with original Japanese background music by

Shunsuke Kikuchi was a Japanese composer who was active from the early 1960s until 2017. He specialized in incidental music for media such as television and film. Kikuchi was regarded as one of Japan's most highly demanded film and TV composers, working princi ...

and an ending theme of "Ore ga Yaranakya Dare ga Yaru".

Box office

At the Japanese box office, the film sold tickets and earned a net

distribution rental A box office or ticket office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a wicket. By extension, the term is freque ...

income of ,. In the United States, the DVD release has grossed $4,770,466 in sales, .

Releases

In Japan, several editions of the film were released on both

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

. The first DVD was manufactured by

Toei Video , simply known as Toei Company or Toei, is a Japanese entertainment company. Headquartered in Ginza, Chūō, Tokyo, it is involved in film and television production, distribution, video game development, publishing, and ownership of 34 movie ...

and released on April 14, 2006, under the title DRAGON BOX THE MOVIES, a limited edition containing all 17 theatrical films of ''Dragon Ball'', it also contains a deluxe box, a special brochure, a postcard-sized film poster sticker, and two personal transceivers that you can use to talk to your friends or coordinate your attacks. On February 13, 2009, Toei Video released the individual DVD of the film with some special features and bonus tracks. The Blu-ray ''Dragon Ball: The Movies #07'' was released on January 9, 2019, and includes 2 episodes, ''Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon'' and '' Dragon Ball: The Path to Power''. It comes with an 8-page booklet and HD remastered scanned from negative. It was released on

in North America on September 12, 2006, It was later released in final double feature set along with '' Fusion Reborn'' (1995) for

and DVD on May 19, 2009, both feature full

1080p 1080p (1920 × 1080 progressively displayed pixels; also known as Full HD or FHD, and BT.709) is a set of HDTV high-definition video modes characterized by 1,920 pixels displayed across the screen horizontally and 1,080 pixels down the sc ...

format in HD

remaster A remaster is a change in the sound or image quality of previously created forms of media, whether Mastering (audio), audiophonic, Cinematography, cinematic, or Videography, videographic. The resulting product is said to be remastered. The term ...

ed 16:9 aspect ratio and an enhanced 5.1 surround mix. The film was re-released to DVD in final remastered thinpak collection on January 3, 2012, containing the last 4 ''Dragon Ball Z'' films.

Other companies

A second English dub produced and released exclusively in

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

by Speedy Video features an unknown voice cast.

External links

Official anime website
of

Toei Animation is a Japanese animation studio primarily controlled by its namesake Toei Company. It has produced numerous series, including '' Sally the Witch'', '' GeGeGe no Kitarō'', '' Mazinger Z'', '' Galaxy Express 999'', '' Cutie Honey'', '' Dr. Slu ...

*
Review
on

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

Review
at AnimeOnDVD.com *

Notes

References

{{Toei Animation films 1990s 1995 anime films 1995 films Wrath of the Dragon Funimation Toei Animation films Films scored by Shunsuke Kikuchi Superheroes in anime and manga Animated films based on animated series