August 6, 2015 : Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’ (And The Transitive Property)
Last night, I saw Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’ – and I wasn’t the only one since the movie is killing it during it’s limited release in the theaters. In fact, I tried to see the 7pm show, but it was sold out. Instead, I had to wait around for the 8pm show, which also had a good sized crowd. The takeaway lesson from this is to buy tickets online… particularly for the Iron Giant super-limited-theatical-release.
As for Resurrection, it was solid. I liked it more than its predecessor, Battle Of Gods; However, ultimately it was still a DBZ movie, and I find that the franchise shines in episodic format because it is given adequate time to create the world and properly define the characters’ hierarchy of power.
In order for the movies to move the plot along (and keep things entertaining), the story has to employ ‘DBZ-math’ – which entails forgetting the Transitive Property. For example, Fighter A is stronger than Fighter B; and Fighter B is stronger than Fighter C. According to ‘DBZ-math’, Fighter C can easily go toe to toe with Fighter A.
Still, Resurrection was fun; and I don’t want to give away anything, so below is my spoiler-free, bullet-point takeaways:
- As expected, the action scenes were great, which was the reason I went to see the movie; and they did not disappoint.
- In addition to many backgrounds being done in 3D (often during fight scenes), a lot of the background characters were CGI. I don’t remember the latter being the case with Battle Of Gods.Â
- There were some truly funny moments in the movie. By this, I mean clever writing versus awkward, anime comedy (like Vegeta performing a dance).Â
- Several characters were not in the movie. Some of this was for the better, and some of it for worse. Â
- The writers need to work on subtle foreshadowing.
At the end of the day, Resurrection ‘F’ was worth it. I’m still not sure how the new series will turn out, but the movie does hint at the general direction it will take.
posted by Pi Visuals at 4:59 pm
Tags: DBZ , DragonballComment
May 3, 2015 : A New Dragon Ball Series Is Gonna Happen
It’s been 18 years since the last Dragon Ball Series, and that had an asterisk since it was GT (creator Akira Toriyama was not involved with that although he did give his blessing for its production). However, that will soon change as Dragon Ball Super will premiere in Japan this July. Toriyama is overseeing the project, but he will not direct. No US release date has been set, but there’s no doubt it will be made readily available to US audiences eventually.
The latest addition to the franchise has come out of the success of the two most recent theatrical films, Battle Of Gods and Resurrection F (the latter of which is set to air in America this summer). This new series will take place after the Majin Buu saga, which probably means they won’t acknowledge anything that happened in GT… not a bad idea.
There is no doubt that I will check out the new series. However, I will have fairly low expectations. It is tough extending the life of these types of shows. Each season or story arc requires an even stronger bad guy, and I find that that devalues previous enemies (and starts to get stale story wise). Plus, I still believe that Gohan should have supplanted Goku as the main protagonist after the Cell Saga. He was the one that truly developed and transformed (pun intended) from the Saiyan Saga through Cell. Going back to Goku in the Buu Saga felt tiresome to me.
Oh well. It’s still cool news; and when it does finally air, I will look forward to cool action sequences… and perhaps some Mr. Popo. However, if there is an episode with getting a driver’s license, I’m out.
posted by Pi Visuals at 12:16 am
Tags: DBZ , DragonballComment
December 18, 2014 : DBZ Style Disappearing Effect
For the past month, I’ve wanted to reproduce the ‘vanishing’ effect often used in DragonBall Z fight scenes. I always thought it was cool and wanted to figure out a way to create it. DBZ just started replaying on Adult Swim from the first episode, and I just purchased the upgrade to Lightwave 2015. Those were reasons enough. Below is the final product.
I went with two characters from Ninjas Tales because… well, they’re ninjas. It was fun to revisit those models. The animation done in Lightwave was pretty minimal – it was basically a kick. Most of the work was done in After Effects, which was used to create the actual ‘disappearing’ effect. Throw in a few sound effects, and this short took less than a week to crank out.
posted by Pi Visuals at 11:53 pm
Tags: After Effects , DBZ , Lightwave , Ninja TalesComment
August 5, 2014 : I Christen Thee… Piccolo
To say it was long overdue would be an understatement, but I finally got myself a new computer! This is the first new one I’ve had in 8 or 9 years; and to make sure if fully met my current and future production requirements, I decided to build it from scratch… something I have never done before. Seeing as how I wasn’t very knowledgeable about computer hardware, I had to do a lot of research into the various components.
It took some time and a great deal of effort, but the end result is the computer you see below (with and without side panels). I call him Piccolo.
I am very stoked to have a computer that can easily (and quickly) handle the programs used for production. Granted, I still need to install most of these, but I’d like to think most of the hard work is over. This is technically the third computer I’ve owned that was built from scratch, however the first two were put together by Moridin.
In case you’re curious about the name, I give all of my computers DBZ character names. This is the fourth one. The first one was Vegeta (obviously), who was one of the home-built computers I mentioned above. He was followed by Gohan, which was a Dell. I then received a used, home-built computer (mostly for music recording and additional storage), and it was named Tien.
And now, I can add Piccolo to the list. I considered naming it Trunks but felt the Saiyan race was already well represented. For the record, Vegeta is no longer with us. He died a painful death a few years ago, presumably at the hands of a virus named Frieza. Gohan and Tien are both still in my arsenal and was used to make Ultra. However, they are sorely outdated, and I have been questioning their usefulness for quite some time now. I briefly considered changing their names to Yamcha and Krillin…
posted by Pi Visuals at 9:54 pm
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July 8, 2014 : DBZ Animated Movie Hitting Theaters
Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, came out in Japan March of 2013. This is the first movie in 17 years for the series and will now have a limited English dub release. It is set to premiere in 350 North American theaters from August 5-9. You can check out the FUNimation trailer below:
The plot seems pretty much on par with a DBZ movie – that is to say, ‘meh’ – however, the animation looks very crisp. In addition to seeing a fair amount of 3D in the trailer, I am willing to bet this is the first movie in the franchise to be done digitally (versus the old school cel-shaded method).
While I will go in with relatively low expectations, it will be nice to see some new material from the DBZ franchise. Also on the plus side, series creator Akira Toriyama was involved in the production – which will make me overlook the fact that some people call this movie in-canon (having taken place after the Buu saga but before DBGT). After all, I’ve said it before: the series ended after the Cell Saga… at least that is what I tell myself.
posted by Pi Visuals at 11:33 pm
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September 25, 2013 : Closing The Book On Bleach
Good news! Bleach has finally come to a satisfactory point to stop watching! And it only took over 300 episodes, 7 years, and countless filler sagas. I could (and should) have stopped watching a long time ago, however it became an example of wanting to see things through. By the end of the second season, a story line was set up – sadly they just finished resolving it. While a lot longer than anticipated, it was satisfying to see how everything wrapped.
In many ways, Bleach (the series) is very tragic. It started out so promising – having a cool story and moving at a quick pace. Unfortunately, the anime eventually caught up with the manga, and that lead to mindless side story arcs and incredibly slow paced episodes to allow the manga time to generate new material. This killed the show’s momentum, and I am sure it turned many people off of it. Part of me wonders what might have been had it not slowed to a snail’s pace.
Still, I am glad I kept with it. Of course, I am also happy to be done with it. I believe there are two more seasons, with another 60 episodes; but much like the Buu saga and DragonBall GT, I will pretend they don’t exist.
posted by Pi Visuals at 12:23 am
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April 12, 2013 : Stop Motion With DBZ Action Figures
This video is a little longer than it needs to be, but it’s still pretty sweet. The stop motion in itself is impressive, but adding in the additional effects afterward is just icing on the cake.
Not sure why Piccolo is fighting Trunks, but you have to love the fact that it isn’t filled with annoying, time-consuming flashbacks.
posted by Pi Visuals at 6:19 pm
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August 16, 2012 : New DBZ Movie Coming In 2013
After a bunch of rumors and a barrage of nerd speculation, it has been confirmed that there will be a new DBZ movie in 2013. The teaser of all teasers was released a few weeks ago:
Unlike the previous 13 movies, this one is supposed to be in-canon: taking place after the Majin Buu saga but before the ’10 years later’ epilogue in the manga. If Akira Toriyama was smart (who will be involved with the writing and production), he would set the movie right after the Cell Saga and reveal everything after that was a dream… a horrible, sub-par dream.
Ultimately, in-canon or not, the movie will probably be alright at best – but still, it’ll be kinda cool to see new DBZ anything. In a perfect world, Toriyama will realize how much he missed the DBZ world and erase the GT episodes from everybody’s memory banks by creating a real 26-episode sequel to this infamous series.
posted by Pi Visuals at 12:07 am
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May 22, 2012 : Toonami’s Return
This Saturday is Toonami’s official return… on Adult Swim, and it is no longer just an April Fool’s joke. Not much of the schedule has been revealed until recently, but two new anime that will be airing are Casshern Sins and Deadman Wonderland. Sadly, I’ve had the displeasure of watching the former, but I do not know much about the latter. Casshern had promise but was incredibly slow. It’s cool color design couldn’t make up for going absolutely nowhere with the story.
Adult Swim has stated they will not be able to air shows like DBZ or Naruto because they are no longer properties of Cartoon Network, but Toonami is supposedly looking at several other shows to air in the future. Most notably, Inuyasha: The Final Act – which will be awesome and will justify the return of Toonami in and of itself.
posted by Pi Visuals at 11:12 pm
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April 9, 2012 : A Pi Sighting On The East Coast
Last week, I spent some time in Boston with Lady Pi, and this included a trip to MIT where I saw Jaume Plensa’s Alchemist. The sculpture is a thinking man comprised of numbers and math functions.
In addition to being an overall cool piece, I found the following symbol:
There were actually several Pi’s on the sculpture, which was pretty sweet to see. Overall, Boston was a fun time. Another fun thing I found was:
I did not eat here, although I was tempted. Rest assured, had it been Vegeta’s Vienna Hot Dogs, I would have been there faster than you could transform into a Level 2 Super Saiyan.
posted by Pi Visuals at 3:11 pm
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