Riffin' on the DBZ film 'Wrath of the Dragon'

The Dragon Ball Z film Wrath of the Dragon, thematically, is deeply concerned with the idea of comprehensive inclusivity regarding populations across entire planets, through the focal point of a cataclysm-narrative, which features a new “hero” thrust into a “keeping-a-great-monster-within-at-bay” beat that effectively sees his personhood entirely erased, and him turned utterly soldier at all moments (Sisyphus). His predicament is one of severe psychological dissonance, as universal stimulus, his natural impulses, see him wanting to return to himself, and are setting the stages for a narrative which thematically squares off against the idea of war in society itself (if constant vigilance against it amounts to a trauma disorder, and will ultimately be ineffective as it doesn’t effectively face off against the causes of war in our actual world…how can this devil be?!). Our new hero, Tapion, clearly resembles the social myth regarding severe post-traumatic stress disorder, and both the heroes and the villains of the storyworld are tinkering with universal forces which will shape the contextualized narrative on how death/antagonistic forces will play out dynamically in the world (as heroes do!); is it in service to greater chaos, or are these upheavals few and far between, and actually part of a Messianic self-orienting process of universe itself that is in dialogue with the decisions freely acting agents are making, and which intersects the destinies of emerging or potential heroes within the vicinity of the drama, correcting wayward types who were provoked to villainous ways in the first place?

The feel good (which is the tone of DBZ….victorious!) comes at the notion of eventual resolution but the stark contextualized example of a process mid-resolution could be Hiroshima post bomb drop during WW2. Tapion and his brother were visited by God as their planet was facing an obvious apocalypse at the hands of “alien” sorcerers who came in from the outside. The details are hazy but it’s projected as if these outsiders lived amongst the civilized but created an intentional, ideologically driven (they resemble terrorists, or outlandish types that don’t show up in actual societies, and that require artificial means to be produced) rancor amongst the populace that allows for the eventual manifestation of the monster the wizards just get rock hard about manifesting (war). Tapion, his brother, and a great priest in the society were given an opportunity to split the monster in half and seal him in the respective individuals. Post-seal, the two couldn’t be too close to one another, and they struggled to contain the parts within them which naturally longed to break loose and rage (here this both resembles PTSD, but more realistically, as this doesn’t play out fully psychologically [it’s not very real or relatable], this is meant to represent a pronounced difficulty to maintain peace while in a head of state position [more than it resembles mental illness…they are heroes of the culture and are shining examples of excellency within soldier life…which is usually the most disciplined beat in any society…]).

Eventually Tapion and his brother leave society entirely, post fighting in the war. To try to protect their world, they continue the cycle of death as soldiers in trauma narratives stereotypically do, turning it inwards/focusing it on themselves- they choose to have themselves sealed inside of special music boxes and sent to universes distant to one another, to avoid the return of the monster (war). This is when countries hunker down…and close themselves off from international communities as much as possible… this is ‘we are clearly separate and autonomous and you do you and I’ll do me.’ It doesn’t keep war at bay. War is some sort of mechanism by which solidarity on the planet is achieved, ending war, as portrayed in this narrative, ultimately, and they make it resemble the tonality of WW2 as much as possible to relate it to what’s happening in real life.

The wizards start working again. The movie begins with one pretending to be in great reverence of the sealed Tapion and he uses the DBZ heroes, as well as the power of the dragon balls, to break the seal, bringing a destruction akin to a great war to the Earth. The heroes rabidly attach to the revived Tapion, regarding him as family/a brother… they refuse to allow Tapion to be sealed again, or to be killed after he seals the monster… and eventually it culminates in a very macho Goku fight in which he becomes a bit of an anomaly…he turns one with war itself as the hero, much as Tapion did when he sealed the monster in the past, much like any great soldier who did anything great…he leaves his normal self behind, heroically…and in spontaneous yet provoked rage he realizes a void in the universe the hero must begrudgingly fill (as opposed to the cocky, bratish ways of the child Gotenks who isn't open to growth in any meaningful way). Goku becomes that which needs to manifest (Super Sayain 3), and he kills the monster with a dragon punch, alluding back to when Tapion was freed by Shen-ron, who is all powerful… affirming that they were entirely willing to go through all of this to rescue/free Tapion… and also implying the power of the Omnipotent, Shen-ron, will be used to overcome the very potential for war not by way of wishing war or destruction away, but by correcting lives currently wayward/unresolved.

Ultimately, an evil wish made upon the Dragon Balls greatly increases the prospects for peace in the galaxy.  Such is what life somehow does, according to Buddha. It’ll blow your mind, it’s enigmatic, but life finds a way…life tends to life, all of it the planet over, in each and every thing we do at all moments.

At some level, as free acting agents, we have utter freedom, and none at all. Can death, chaos, and negativity actually be in service to sharpening individuals? No. We make the most of chaos where we happen upon it, but we qualitatively transform it as we do as much…it’s us, and not the chaos, which brings the light of resolution, and the difference between the two systems is a form of sheep shepherds wish actually existed you try directing those things around… and heroes… are people inherently compliant, dynamically, or are they larger than life?

Can we remain separate and side by side? Can we ever fight a war? Can we even maintain the peace we have very much longer? Can we be broken even…forced to always be at war…never having time to come out and spend time with community members or loved ones? Or are all things marching towards a grace that is comprehensive, which still, to this day, can make entire lives, socially, or induce health, even, when glimpsed directly?

I’ll end by saying that the Earth sphere in this story is portrayed as opulent. For a good chunk of it, the DBZ heroes themselves are portrayed as nearly fatted calves…they are still heroic, they are still super nice, but they have no acute sense of the dangers that begin to emerge as they begin to emerge. Ultimately, though, their comfort seems to be a positive thing, as well as their restful lifestyles, day in and out, and they effectively maintain the universe with their exceptional and timely actions. Such…seems to be the effects of working with the Dragon Balls (the eternal…the Omnipotent).    

In the end, the “wrath” of the dragon is the end of war in the universe in an acute and figurative sense of it.