I’ve been a fan of Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball Z all my life and its TV specials are one of the best anime shows I’ve ever seen. The first of the two is entitled “Bardock: The Father of Goku”. I saw the video from an anime shop and with no hesitation, I bought it. The front cover looked really cool as it shows Bardock dressed as a Saiyan warrior along with his other Saiyan coleagues. Bardock looked exactly like Goku.

I found out that this TV special was aired in Japan on
October 17, 1990, between the episodes 63 and 64. Unlike the Dragon Ball Z movies, the story of “Bardock: The Father of Goku” is a part of the TV series. The main purpose of the story is to show the viewers, especially Dragon Ball Z fans, what happened to Planet Vegeta and have an idea about what type of person Goku’s father was. Like the other TV special, the “History of Trunks”, this special is purely action and drama.

The story began when Bardock and his crew were sent to destroy and wipe out the inhabitants of planet Kanassa. They all celebrated for a while after accomplishing their mission. But they didn’t notice that there was a survivor. He attacked Bardock but he was no match for the saiyans. Before he was killed, he told Bardock that he gave him the power to see the future so he can see his destruction like they did. Since then, Bardock kept getting visions of his planet being destroyed and his son growing up on planet Earth. Meanwhile, Freeza’s starting to notice that the Saiyans are getting stronger after every fight. He realized that they could be a threat to him and he must do something.

I also found out that the original title of this special is quite long. It directly translates to “A Lonesome, Final Battle: The Father of the Z-Warrior Son Gokū, who Challenged Freeza”. I watched Funimation’s version of this TV special. The voice acting is good just like the English version of the anime series.

This TV special is really special! Maybe even if I’m not a Dragon Ball Z fan, I would still be able to enjoy the whole thing because the story is great and the fighting scenes are good. But since I’m a huge Dragon Ball Z fan, I was overwhelmed. I’ve always be intrigued about the history of planet Vegeta. So seeing it animated is simply great. This show is another evidence to my theory that Dragon Ball Z is the greatest anime series ever made.

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Category: Animation

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