Dir. Masahiro Hosoda
If you're a child of the 90's like me, you're far more likely to have enjoyed the brilliance that is the Dragon Ball Z series, and maybe even the original Dragon Ball, and Dragon Ball GT spin-off. I've never lost my love for this series despite it's conclusion back in, for us English readers, 2003. The more I watch other fantasy and science-fiction shows, the more inventive I find Dragon Ball Z. The concept of the Saiyans, an ape-like warrior race from space; the villains, from galactic tyrant Frieza, the cool and collected Androids, the egotistical Cell, and of course, Majin Buu, the pink blob demon himself; and all the characters of the series, with Krillin, Yamcha, Bulma, and the like from Dragon Ball, and the new characters of DBZ - Vegeta, Gohan, Trunks, and so on.
It's characters that make this show so special, and it's for that reason that today's object, the Pudding, is being discussed. Battle of Gods was the first official continuation of DBZ written by Akira Toriyama, since the anime series concluded back in 2003. It was released in Japan in 2013, with the English Funimation dub released in 2014 in the US. In it, the God of Destruction Beerus, pictured below, awakens from his 39 year slumber, with a premonition of a Super Saiyan God, a warrior to match his talents, now being active. We know from the series that our hero, Goku, has attained Super Saiyan form multiple times, from the first from to the most powerful, Super Saiyan 3. So too have other surviving Saiyans such as Vegeta and Trunks, although only Goku has reached Super Saiyan 3.
Lord Beerus meets Goku, who knows nothing of a Super Saiyan God, and completely outclasses him in a short fight, even with Goku in Super Sayian 3 form. We know that Beerus will mean business if he gets angry, which is a valid concern as he's an impatient God, who only seems tamed by food and simple distractions. Beerus and his guardian Whis travel to Earth to speak to Vegeta about any information on the Super Saiyan God. Vegeta's wife, the human Bulma is having a birthday party and nearly all of our beloved characters from the series are here, including some cameos from original Dragon Ball villain and crew, Emperor Pilaf, Mai, and Chou.
Out of the context of the film, this is clearly a celebration of the Dragon Ball universe. The first in 10 years. The plot is thin, the characterization superb, and it's just so damn enjoyable. Anyway, on to the object. Beerus loves his food, Whis asks if he's tried pudding, a rare Earth delicacy to the two. Beerus hasn't and so goes over to the fat version of Majin Buu. Now Buu himself isn't a stranger to enjoying delicacy, once a villain for the final arc of the original series, the fat Buu, the good personality of the demon, branched off. This left Super Buu and Kid Buu to be later defeated, and now fat Buu is a welcome friend to the Z fighters. This is a particular brilliance of this show, Vegeta, a central character of the series was once a villain, so too was Android 18, now married to long-time character Krillin. This sort of thing happens a lot in DBZ. So Majin Buu hogs the pudding to himself, and when asked by Beerus, need I remind you, the God of Destruction, for a cup or two. Buu, being his rude self refuses, licking all the pudding and eating it all. You can see the scene here, in behind-the-scenes form starting from :59. I recommend it just so you have an idea of how Beerus sounds, as you may be getting the wrong impression from the images, and of course Buu himself.
This is the spark that lights the powder-keg. Beerus loses control of his anger, and threatens to destroy the entire Earth, a feat he's easily capable of. The Z fighters try and stop him, particularly Vegeta who loses his temper after Beerus slaps his wife. There's a trope in gaming called Power Creep, where newly introduced content is far more powerful than the old content. This applies to DBZ, where the first villain Frieza is defeated using Super Saiyan, Cell, the second main villain defeated with Super Saiyan 2, and Buu, the final villain of the seires, with Super Saiyan 3 and fusions of various powers. Here, Beerus is a massive power-creep, he can destroy entire planets and suns with energy blasts, and so seeing our heroes and even old villains, such as Android 18 and Majin Buu be trounced by Beerus, well, we know he's remarkably powerful. Here, the build up of hours and hours of Dragon Ball content, with slowly succeeding powers is invalidated by one new God character.
Isn't it just hilarious that this whole fight is only happening due to pudding cups? I think so. It's such a, dare-I-say, Japanese approach...maybe that isn't right, it's likely more a Toriyama approach to the plot and characters. We have this notion, based on other TV shows and films, as well as DBZ itself, that ultra-powerful beings such as this should be serious. And yet what Toriyama does is make Beerus have rather un-threatening characterization beyond his short temper and power. Hell, earlier in the film, the God of Destruction himself does some break-dancing for fun!
All he wants is to try some pudding, as shown here in the original Japanese. And because he can't have it, he'll use his tremendous power to destroy the entire Earth. It's such a stupidly brilliant way to move the plot along and get some action, and what I love about it the most is that it involves characters above all else. Characters that we've known for years react to this pudding-obsessed God, and in typical fashion, it's Buu that sets things off. In the end, after Goku becomes a Super Saiyan God and the two fight (Beerus winning), Whis and Beerus both get some Earth food back home in their plane of existence and Beerus decides to spare the entire destruction of Earth. All because of pudding.
So in anticipation of the Japanese release of the new Dragon Ball Z: Ressurection 'F' film next month, I hoped you've enjoyed this light-hearted foray into the world of DBZ! Anyone else hungry for some pudding...?
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