Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot - Imperfections can enhance storytelling

There is a common saying that goes as follow: The journey is more important than the destination. It is a common misconception that things that may seem slow and even downright boring are pointless and that a story should never ask the reader to put effort into it to enjoy it. As you grow older and more accustomed to different tropes and cliches that are present in writing, you start to appreciate the little things more and more as they are what make these series and characters stand out and feel more alive. What happened to me was that there was this certain thing that I used to think was boring to read in different novel and manga series but after a whole I came to realize that thing is actually what we call substance. Adding too much substance can make a series feel too bloated and boring for no reason, but it is still extremely important writing method in making a series stand out.

For the past few days I've been on a journey through the new PS4 anime role-playing game, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, which tells the storyline of the second half of the Dragon Ball manga which is the Z part of the anime series. DBZ: Kakarot starts off with the main character Son Goku as a grown-up adult that is spending time in the woods with his son, Son Gohan, looking for ingredients to take back home. The game goes through the Saiyan Invasion saga, Emperor Frieza saga, Cell Games saga, and the Majin Buu saga, showing us the entire Z story in an RPG format and take us through the most iconic anime series where our heroes face against unbelievable odds. Most Dragon Ball fights feel like final fights in other series due to the grand scale they're presented with. The structure of Cell Saga's fight against Perfect Cell is used in most shounen series' final fights these days.

While Kakarot omits certain iconic scenes such as the It's Over 9000 / 8000 !!! scene or the Final Flash scene, it also adds elements in between the events as well as side stories to flesh the story out, making the game feel like a real journey that offers fans what they've asked for for a long time.

The BGM of Kakarot contains remasters of old DBZ soundtracks that are incredible. The BGM is different from basically any other game out there because it's made for the old school anime series, but it does have soundtracks such as the beautiful A Moment of Peace and Country Living tracks which are the embodiment of atmosphere. Some of the tracks remind me of Dragon Quest BGM's as well. Furthermore, the presentation of the story sagas also contain an episodic format with the DBZ narrator also participating in the presentation. The sagas end with a next episode preview as well. The entire thing is literally made to make players explode with nostalgia.

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is a slow burn but it is a nostalgic journey with nice presentation but most importantly, it's a majestically atmospheric experience even more than a game. It's a game that people who aren't into little things would find boring and unenjoyable, but for fans of DBZ, the game might honestly just be the greatest thing ever.