Dragon Ball: Yo! The Return of Son-Goku and Friends!!

I cannot believe it has really been eleven years. It seems like just yesterday I saw "Wrath of the Dragon" and "A Hero's Legacy." Though it's true, Goku and company are back in the latest installment of Dragon Ball: Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!! First off, I'm going to solely recommend this to existing Dragon Ball fans. 9/10's of the enjoyment of this special is the nostalgia it emits. For starters, almost the entire main cast is featured, from Goku and Vegeta to Old Kai and Bubbles the monkey (who, as we all remember, passed on many a year ago thanks toGoku). However, there is the odd absence of Tien and Chaozu. This really bothered me, not because I am a particular fan of the Crane School, but just because I respect the roles they had to play in both "Dragon Ball" and "Dragon Ball Z". Although, seeing the faces of all the other characters did warm my heart. Another nostalgic aspect of this chapter, is that they revive the "Dragon Ball" humor and incorporate it into "Dragon Ball Z" style fighting sequences. You might say they took both series and did a fusion-ha....no applause please. The story of "Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!!" isn't that impressive. However, the audience does get to meet Vegeta's long lost little brother, Tarble. This is as interesting as it is cheesy but I'm just glad to know there was at least one more stupid monkey out there that Freeza wasn't able to finish off. The old theme song is back with new animation to fit the time period and I honestly believe it couldn't have been done better. However, I do take up issue with the Japanese voice acting. Though, this is probably just because I grew up watching the dub on Cartoon Network, I just can't get over the fact that Goku sounds like a little girl. And it's not just because the voice actor if Japanese and has a higher pitched voice than we westerners do, Goku actually sounds like he's being voice by a twelve year-old girl. Now the animation is the one aspect of this special that fails in almost no way. It's wonderful to see Bird Studio breathe new life into classic characters. If nothing else, watch this anime to relive something that you've possibly long forgotten, I promise you won't be disappointed, unless you're a Tien or Chaozu fan, then don't watch it.

This is my first review! Although there is no a big fight with powerful enemies I felt that this special was just to bring the anime back to life in the memory of many fans, after 11 years. I loved the way they redid the opening "Chala-Head-Chala" introduced the current characters (Goten and Trunks). The comic side still remains, with the "brawl" between Goku and Vegeta. At the end everyone ends up participating in the battle. is a great special, more not as interesting as the "Episode of Bardock".

Now don't get me wrong here, i am a huge DBZ fan. I recently joined this site a few days ago and came across Yo Son Goku n Freinds Return so i had to check it out. On the good side The animation definitely is cleaner and more well done. Now for the cons... Goku did not act like Goku at all, Vegeta cant have a brother that young, his father died when he was only about 5 years old, remnants of the Frieza force would NEVER be able to last a second against Goten or trunks, who each at that time have an individual fighting strengthof about 30 million, Gotenks..... now where the hell does he get off doing the wolf fang fist????? LOL All in all i would give this a 3/10... thats all its worth... think about it.... how is it possible for vageta to have a yunger brother.... lol its not, that is why if you go to the dragon ball z web site he is no where to be seen!!! this whole movie was a contradiction to DBZ, and well, pretty much this movie spitts in my face and in DBZ's face.. its pathetic... save your self the time

I know this was the first piece of Dragon Ball media in about 11 years when it first came out, and is a pretty weightless 35-minute filler episode designed mostly just to bring back all the old characters in a fanservicey way, but I sure wish it was a little bit less bad. The story is about Vegeta's long-lost brother who turns up alive after some evil dudes are chasing him. This is pretty good fodder for an actual plot, you know! But instead it's a silly "lol these dudes are weak so let's not take it seriously at all" story where the characters banterwith each other and not much else. Vegeta's brother completely disappears from the story about halfway through! I wanna know more about this dude! But whatever, back when it came out in 2008, it was probably a welcome sign for fans that the franchise hadn't been completely abandoned. But a decade later, after a whole new 120-episode TV series just finished, this feels completely superfluous.