Dragonball Z - Movie Special 2: Die Geschichte von Trunks

As far as entries in the Dragon Ball universe go, this one is kind of unique. Taking place in the alternate future of Trunks, a world torn apart by the merciless Artificial Humans, where almost all the warriors are gone, along with the Dragon Balls, and nearly all hope. Only two warriors remain, Gohan, now a grown man, continuing the legacy of his father, and Trunks, the teenage son of Vegeta and Bulma, who is training in hopes of becoming a Super Saiya-jin.

What makes this movie truly unique in terms of the Dragon Ball franchise, is that death has a lot more meaning here. The majority of the time in the series, when a character dies, it's kind of hard to get emotional about it, because you know as long as the Dragon Balls are around, they will likely be all right in the end. This fantastic TV special shows us what would happen without them. There is also no Goku, save for a small scene of him dying from a heart virus at the start.

With a run time of only about 50 minutes, there is not a whole lot of time to go into too much depth, but it definitely tells you the story that it intends in that time, fitting a fair amount of story into it. We get several of most intense fight scenes of the whole series, which probably owes to the short length, since they wasted no time on time filling power up scenes, as the main series often did.

As usual the voice acting (Japanese) is of a high quality, with Nozawa's voice give adult Gohan a newfound maturity, and Takeshi Kusao plays Trunks well. As far as villains go, Artificial Humans #17 and #18 are brilliantly malicious and evil, treating humans as mere toys for their enjoyment. Being a TV Special, the animation is pretty much at the same standard set by the series, not bad in any sense, but far from groundbreaking.

In the end, the special definitely has a lot to offer, and fans of the series should definitely love it. There is plenty of intensity and emotion, and many memorable scenes. The special portrays Gohan in a new light, very different from his usual timid nature, which has seemed to annoy some fans. Despite being a TV special, it remains one of my favourite parts of the series, which is rare for material that hasn't come from Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama. I'd call this one Toei Animation's greatest achievements in the Dragon Ball franchise.

This made for TV movie is a classic. The animation is top notch. Better than the series even. It tells what happens to the Z warriors in the future, and why Trunks had to go back in time to save Gokou.

A short summary would be: In the 'alternate' future the androids have killed everyone but Gohan and Trunks(and Master Roshi and Bulma, though they don't play a big role in the movie). Gohan trains Trunks, but Trunks cannot turn Super Saiyan. Gohan doesn't let Trunks fight the androids because he's not a Super Saiyan. Not until Gohans death does Trunks finally turn Super Saiyan.

There are some very emotional scenes, and some great fighting scenes as well. I recommend that if you see a fansub copy to pick it up. It's well worth it. KamehameHAA!

Well, I have to say that I was impressed by FUNimation's translation of the Trunks Special. The VAs performed quite well, and the script was fairly decent.

The dubbed special features a variety of musical acts, although the most disappointing music, by far, was the title sequence by Andy Baylor. The obnoxious techno track did not match the opening animation at all, and actually had me longing for "Rock the Dragon".

I would recommend waiting for the bilingual DVD to come out, so that you may enjoy the special in its "true" form, but if you can't wait, then the VHS version of "The History of Trunks" should keep you happy for now.

The "History of Trunks," was the greatest DBZ movie that i have seen. It had more drama than the normal movie, and that was what made it so great.

Basically it reveals the future in which everyone except Gohan and Trunks have been killed by the Androids, and the two Z-fighters train hard to win the future...

Unlike the Dragon Ball movies, which don't fit in the continuity, the specials fit comfortably into Dragon Ball cannon. This story takes place in the alternative future timeline that "Future Trunks" comes from. This leads to some compelling story aspects. In this timeline there are no dragon balls, thus making all the stakes a lot higher and all the consequences instantly more dire.

The tone of this special is decidedly darker than the series. The special begins with Goku and most of the Z- Fighters dying. The androids then spend most of their time going on a killing rampage, destroying cities, causing havoc and doing whatever they want.

The problem with most of the DBZ movies are their bland villains being pale imitations of their series counterpart. The villains in this one are fun, charismatic and at times scary. It is a simple concept done to a high degree. What if teenagers got a crazy amount of power, and no sense of responsibility? They would go to amusement parks, fly around cities, and kill anyone that got in their way.

The fights in this are more bloody, visceral and brutal than most of Dragon Ball. There is some great character work for Trunks and Gohan. And the special does a good job of giving a sense of fear and hopelessness for our protagonists.

History of Trunks will go down in history as one of Dragon Balls very best.