Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock

Plot summary

The story starts where the TV special leaves off, with Bardock fighting against Freeza in an attempt to save his home planet Vegeta. He fails, as Freeza destroys the planet, killing all Saiyans on it – seemingly including Bardock. However, somehow he survives the blast and wakes up in a little village house. A purple colored creature enters the room and introduces himself as Ipana. He also tells Bardock that he is on the Planet Plant (惑星プラント), which – as the confused Bardock recalls – was the former name of Planet Vegeta. Suddenly the village is attacked by henchmen of the pirate Chilled, whom Bardock easily defeats, earning him the gratitude of the villagers. He ignores their thanks and states that he doesn't care if they lived or died and flies away into a nearby cave to recover. Doctor Ipana's son Berry comes and brings him food. At first he yells him to go away, but soon they form somewhat of a friendship as Berry keeps bringing him food.

After a while Chilled comes to find out what happened to his henchmen. The people tell him that a man called Bardock rescued them. Berry sees this and quickly runs to Bardock, telling him that there are people looking for him. After the villagers fail to find Bardock, Chilled and his henchmen start attacking them and destroying the village. At first, Bardock refuses to save them, but after Berry begs him, he flies to the village and saves Ipana, who was going to be killed by Chilled. Due to the resemblance, Bardock at first mistakes Chilled for Freeza and attacks him angrily, but Chilled seems to have the upper hand. However, after Chilled fires an attack at Berry to warn him not to interfere, Bardock becomes angry and turns into a Super Saiyan. Chilled laughs and says that changing hair into blond doesn't do anything and attacks Bardock with his blasts which have no effect on Bardock anymore. He asks who he is, to which Bardock replies that he is just a Saiyan. Chilled launches a final desperate attack in order to destroy the planet, but Bardock's attack overpowers it and sends the mortally wounded Chilled into outer space. The dying Chilled tells his henchmen to warn his family about Super Saiyans. Revealing that Bardock was the Super Saiyan that was encountered centuries ago, therefore making him partially responsible for the events of the entire series as it was Freeza's fear of the Super Saiyans that drove him to wipe them all out and leading to Goku being sent to Earth.

Characters

Bardock (バーダック, Bādakku)

Voiced by: Masako NozawaThe father of Son Goku and Raditz, who was thought to be killed by Freeza.

Berry (ベリー, Berī)

Voiced by: Houko KuwashimaHe is the son of village doctor Ipana, who treats Bardock.

Ipana (イパナ)

Voiced by: Masashi EbaraThe village doctor, who treated Bardock.

Chilled (チルド, Chirudo)

Voiced by: Ryūsei NakaoHe is the ancestor of Freeza and a space pirate. Toriyama provided the design for Chilled.

Release

Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock was serialized in V Jump, with the first chapter released on June 21, 2011, the second on July 22 and the third on August 21. On November 21, 2011, it was announced that the manga would be given an anime adaptation by Toei Animation. The short film premiered on December 17–18, 2011 at Jump Festa 2012. Kazuhiko Torishima, Akira Toriyama's former editor and a former editor-in-chief of both Weekly Shōnen Jump and V Jump, served as producer. The movie later received a coupled home video DVD release with Dragon Ball: Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans included in the March issue of the magazine Saikyō Jump, which was released on February 3, 2012.

The entire manga was re-printed in the April 2012 issue of V Jump, released on February 21, 2012, with a slightly different ending which follows that of the film. The film was included subtitled in the European and North American exclusive Xbox 360 video game Dragon Ball Z: For Kinect, released in October 2012. The March 2014 issue of Saikyō Jump included a kanzenban version of the 2012 reprint of Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock.