Freeza Saga

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The Freeza Saga is the second story arc of Dragon Ball Z. It focuses on the Z-Fighters' battle against the galactic tyrant Freeza and his henchmen on Planet Namek. The saga spans from volumes 21 to 28 of the original Dragon Ball manga, volumes 5 to 12 of the English Dragon Ball Z manga and episodes 36 to 107 of the Dragon Ball Z anime. It originally aired from 1990 to 1991.

In the English dub of the anime, the Freeza Saga is divided into three seasons or sub-sagas; the Namek Saga, the Captain Ginyu Saga and the Frieza Saga.

Plot

Following the fight with Vegeta, the only survivors of the battle are Son Goku, Son Gohan, Kuririn, and Yajirobe, with Yamucha, Tenshinhan, Choazu, and Piccolo all dead. Because Piccolo is dead, Kami is also gone and the Dragon Balls are useless, meaning the others can't be wished back to life. Remembering when Vegeta spoke of Piccolo's home world Namek having Dragon Balls, Gohan, Kuririn, and Bulma depart for the planet in the spaceship Kami originally came to Earth with. Goku is forced to stay behind until he recovers from his injuries. Meanwhile, Vegeta arrives at Planet Freeza #79 and heals in a rejuvenation chamber. Once recovered, he is told by his rival Kiwi that Freeza, overhearing what went on Earth via his scouter, has already departed for Namek to get the Dragon Balls and wish for immortality. Furious, Vegeta also takes off for Namek to get to the Dragon Balls first.

Back on Earth, Goku is healed by a Senzu bean from Yajirobe and he takes off to Namek in a rebuilt version of his old Saiyan space pod built by Bulma's father, Dr. Briefs. During the trip, Goku trains under 100x Earth's gravity in order to get stronger to fight Vegeta. While inside the spaceship, North Kaio contacts him, informing him that the spirits of Yamucha, Tenshinhan, Chaozu and Piccolo made it to his planet to receive training, but when he finds out that Freeza is on Namek, he orders Goku to stay away from the powerful tyrant. On Namek, Vegeta defeats Kiwi, as well as Freeza's top henchmen Dodoria, who had previously pursued Gohan and Kuririn, and Zarbon, whom had transformed and easily defeated Vegeta during their first confrontation. After realizing that Vegeta was more than he bargained for, Freeza then summons his elite fighting unit the Ginyu Special Corps. Gohan and Kuririn, along with a young Namekian they rescued from Dodoria named Dende, meet with the eldest Namekian and the creator of the Namekian Dragon Balls, Guru who unlocks their hidden potential, as well as granting Dende the power of healing. They are then forced to form an allliance with Vegeta in order to have a chance against the Ginyu Special Corps. Meanwhile, after completing his training at 100x Earth's gravity, Goku reckons that he'll be able to handle even Kaio-ken x10.

While the leader of the Ginyu Special Corps, Commander Ginyu, makes off with the Dragon Balls, the weakest of the Ginyu Special Corps, Gurd, is the first to fight. A scared Gurd hides from Gohan and Kuririn's team attacks, and continuously utilises his time-stopping techniques to stall Gohan and Kuririn by holding his breath. But when the other members threaten to kick him out of their crew if he doesn't defeat them soon enough, Gurd hurriedly uses his Mind Bind to freeze Gohan and Kuririn permanently and then attempt to skewer them with a block of wood, but is decapitated with a surprise attack by Vegeta and then his head is blown to bits. The largest of the Ginyu Special Corps, Reacoom, is the next to fight. Vegeta steps up to fight him first, charging at him with a high-speed assault that, despite destroying most of Reacoom's armor and hair, does not do much damage, and Vegeta is soon defeated. Gohan eventually steps in and saves Vegeta from Reacoom's deadly Eraser Gun technique, while Kuririn sneaks up on Reacoom and hits his head, slamming his mouth shut and destroying a couple of his teeth. Kuririn is the next to be defeated, felled with a single kick, and Gohan is left to fight, but despite the young one's determination, he is also defeated when Reacoom breaks his neck. Before they can be finished off however, Goku finally arrives on Namek and heals them all with Senzu beans, including Vegeta, which surprises Gohan & Kuririn, who never thought Goku would actually help his old enemy. Goku then challenges Reacoom and, to everyone's shock, defeats the great brute with only one blow to the stomach during his preparation for his ultimate move, the Reacoom Fighting Bomber. As the remaining Ginyu Special Corps, Jheese and Butta, charge into the fight, Vegeta begins to suspect that Goku has become the first Super Saiyan in 1000 years.

Despite their combined attacks, Jheese and Butta are unable to even land a blow on Goku, who keeps dodging their every attack, without even appearing to. Eventually, Goku defeats Butta with a couple powerful blows to the back, but Jheese retreats to Commander Ginyu. Vegeta then proceeds to kill the unconscious Reacoom and Butta, much to the dismay of Goku, who believed that Vegeta changed for the better good and had hoped that he'd give them mercy, like Goku did to him. After Ginyu is informed by Jheese what went wrong, Gohan and Kuririn fly off to grant their wish with the Dragon Balls. Vegeta leaves to get the Dragon Balls for himself as well, after tricking Goku, and changes into clean battle clothes. Goku and Ginyu fight, but Goku proves to be far more stronger than Ginyu realizes. After witnessing Goku's amazing strength through the Kaio-ken, which brings his power level up to 180,000, Ginyu uses his body-switching technique, and, after injuring himself by driving his fist through his chest, manages to switch bodies with Goku. Then, he leaves with Jheese to guard the Dragon Balls. However, he learns that Gohan & Kuririn have already dug up the Dragon Balls Jheese hid earlier. Kuririn comes out to greet Ginyu, thinking that he is Goku, but Gohan isn't fooled. Gohan is proved right when Ginyu proceeds to battle Gohan and Kuririn. However, he is unable to use Goku's full power, with a lowly power level of only 23,000. After Vegeta dispatches Jheese with a blast to the face, he takes out Ginyu. Before he can land a finishing blow however, Ginyu tries to switch bodies with Vegeta, but Goku jumps in the way and is returned to his own body. However, Goku is severely wounded from Vegeta's earlier beating and cannot even fire a Kamehameha in the right direction. After getting beaten up by Vegeta, Ginyu tries to switch bodies with him a second time, but Goku throws a Namekian frog in the way, causing Ginyu to change bodies with it. With the Ginyu Special Corps defeated, and Freeza away for the moment, Goku is placed in a rejuvenation chamber inside Freeza's own spaceship to recover from the wounds Vegeta gave his body while Ginyu was in it. Vegeta then equips Gohan and Kuririn with Saiyan battle armour and then takes a nap to recharge his power.

After cautiously gathering the Namekian Dragon Balls from the sleeping Vegeta, Gohan, Kuririn, and Dende summon the Eternal Dragon Porunga, who, unlike the Earth's dragon Shenlong, can grant three wishes; however, he can only revive a single person per wish. With the first wish, they bring Piccolo back to life, causing Kami and the Earth's Dragon Balls to come back as well, and with the second wish, they teleport Piccolo to Namek so he can assist them, since the second wish didn't specify where on Namek, Piccolo ends up far away from Gohan and the rest, not before admiring his home planet. In the meantime, Vegeta awakes, and much to his dismay, Porunga has been already summoned; however, the third wish hasn't yet been used, and he convinces Dende to use the third wish for immortality. However, Guru dies of old age as Dende recites the wish, and the Dragon Balls become useless. Just as Vegeta thinks of what else can go wrong, he looks on with fright and sees Freeza.

Angered at being foiled for his quest to attain immortality, Freeza attacks Vegeta. After an even match, Vegeta tells Freeza to transform and show his real power. Freeza does this and becomes more powerful than Vegeta thought (claiming himself that his power has surpassed one million). Freeza then goes in to attack Dende, but Kuririn throws him out of the way and gets gored on Freeza's horns, then tossed into the sea, which enrages Gohan, who ambushes Freeza with a brutal beating, then a continuous barrage of energy blasts. After recovering from the attack, Freeza dispatches Gohan mercilessly. After being healed by Dende, Kuririn attempts to stall time for Gohan so he can be healed by throwing numerous Kienzans at Freeza, whose tail is damaged in the process. Despite his attempts to hurt Freeza, Kuririn fails to injure him and is chased by the galactic overlord. Later, Gohan is secretly healed by Dende. Meanwhile, Piccolo, on his way to the battlefield, finds the dying Namekian warrior Nail, who had tried vainly to delay Freeza from gathering the Dragon Balls. At Nail's suggestion, Piccolo merges with him, becoming even more powerful, and he continues on to the battlefield. Once there, he proves to be more than a match for Freeza, due to his fighting intellect, but then the tyrant transforms a second time and becomes even stronger and more monstruous in appearance. After Piccolo is badly injured by Freeza's rapidly fired Death Beams, Gohan explodes again in a bout of rage and attacks Freeza with his Masenko, however before he can finish the job, Freeza deflects the blast back towards Gohan, leaving Piccolo to save him. After discovering Dende's ability to heal others, Vegeta has Kuririn injure him to that he can be healed and become stronger due to his Saiyan genes, and although at first Kuririn is reluctant to hurt Vegeta, as much as he despises him, he is forced to blast the prideful Saiyan. During this, Piccolo is healed, then Vegeta, though Dende hesitated to heal him at first, since Vegeta was in part responsible for the death of Dende's fellow Namekians, but does so when he hears his friend Nail speak to him through Piccolo; Freeza decides to turn into his ultimate transformation, while he does so, he witnesses Dende's healing ability. After his final transformation is completed, Freeza first kills Dende with his Death Beam, so the others can't be healed anymore. Freeza then turns to Gohan and fires another Death Beam at him, but misses when Vegeta knocks Gohan out of the way, saving his life. Attempting to avenge Dende, Piccolo, Gohan and Kuririn attack Freeza, only to find out that their attempts to hurt him are hopeless. Vegeta, believing that he is now a Super Saiyan, powers up and attacks Freeza, only to discover that he still can't keep up with the tyrant's speed. Eventually he, for the first time in his life, cries in despair, and gives up, as he is beaten to death by Freeza.

Just as all hope seems lost however, Goku completely recovers inside Freeza's spaceship and discovers his power has greatly increased since his fight with Commander Ginyu, thanks to his Saiyan genes. The Saiyan hero then confidently arrives on the battlefield and Freeza recognizes Goku as the son of Burdock, a low-class Saiyan warrior who had fought and lost against Freeza when he destroyed their home planet, Planet Vegeta. Showing him no mercy, Freeza charges at him, but Goku manages to dodge him and then land a powerful kick to the tyrant's face, making him the very first to injure Freeza in his ultimate form. Angered, Freeza then attacks him with a barrage of Death Beams, however Goku is able to deflect them easily. Vegeta, realising how much his speed and power has increased since the battle with Ginyu, begins to boasts that Goku is a Super Saiyan. In response, Freeza angrily fires his Death Beam at Vegeta, piercing the Saiyan Prince's heart. With his dying breath, Vegeta explains to Goku of how Freeza used the entire Saiyan race to do his dirty work and then destroyed them all out of fear of an uprising. Upon hearing this, Goku is pleaded by Vegeta to show Freeza no mercy and he buries Vegeta in a shallow grave. Goku manages to shake away his kindness and, realising his inner Saiyan soul, promises revenge on Freeza. Goku and Freeza then begin to fight and for a while, Goku is able to hold his own, even exploiting Freeza's inability to sense another's ki presence. Meanwhile, Commander Ginyu manages to swap bodies with Bulma. Goku tells the others to fly away, so they don't get hurt. But they run into Commander Ginyu in Bulma's body. Freeza claims that he is only using 33% of his maximum power, and then powers up to 50%, turning the tables in his favour. Ginyu's identity is revealed and plots to switch yet again, with Piccolo, but his attempts are cut short when Gohan throws Bulma (in a frog's body) in the way of Ginyu's body switching beam, resulting in Bulma being returned to her original body, and Ginyu being returned to the body of a frog. Gohan, Kuririn and Piccolo then return to the battlefield, where Goku is losing the battle with Freeza. Goku is then overwhelmed by Freeza's newly gained strength when even the Kaio-ken x10 fails to injure him, and Goku is thought to have been drowned by the galactic tyrant. When Goku thinks of his loved ones, he regains consciousness and, desperate, he uses the Kaio-ken x20, which overpowers Freeza, and then he fires a massive Kamehameha, but Freeza manges to cancel it, albeit receiving some damage. Meanwhile, the deceased members of the Ginyu Special Corps invade North Kaio's planet and take on Yamucha, Tenshinhan and Chaozu (filler episode - anime only). Back on Namek, Goku decides to create a Genki Dama and gathers energy from Namek and its neighboring planets, making it over ten times bigger than a normal one. Noticing the Genki Dama, Freeza attacks Goku in rage, but still Goku continues to gather energy. Knowing that he needs to buy Goku more time, Piccolo steps in and attacks Freeza, briefly delaying him, but Freeza strikes back and Piccolo is defeated. Before Freeza can finish him off though, Gohan & Kuririn blast him when his back is turned. With Gohan, Kuririn and Piccolo distracting Freeza, Goku completes the Genki Dama and hurls it onto Freeza.

Back on North Kaio's planet, Yamucha, Tenshinhan and Chaozu defeat the Ginyu Special Corps and send them back to Hell, thanks to North Kaio's training. On Namek, the Z-Fighters celebrate in honour of Freeza's defeat. However, Freeza reappears, having survived the Genki Dama (as there was scarcely any signs of life amongst Namek and the remaining planets to make a more powerful Genki Dama), and he critically injures Piccolo with his Death Beam, angering Goku, then he kills Kuririn by levitating him into the air and causing his body to explode. Enraged beyond belief, Goku's fury unlocks his hidden power and he finally transforms into the Super Saiyan Of Legend. After ordering Gohan to leave Namek with Piccolo & Bulma in his spaceship, Super Saiyan Goku attacks Freeza and overpowers the tyrant. Desperate, Freeza fires his Death Ball on Namek, but fails to gather enough energy to instantly destroy it. Within five minutes left until the planet explodes, Freeza powers up to 100% of his maximum power as per Goku's request, and continues his fight with the Super Saiyan. During this, North Kaio has Kami use the Earth's Dragon Balls to wish back to life all those on Namek who were killed by Freeza and his henchmen, bringing back all the Namekians, Dende, and even Vegeta, but not before Vegeta sees Goku as a Super Saiyan (however, the Namekians who were killed by Vegeta remain dead, as the wish was to "revive those killed by Freeza"). Guru is also brought back to life for a short time, as his death was mainly due to depression of his children being killed by Freeza, with that, the Namekian Dragon Balls are also brought back. At Goku's request, Dende uses the final wish to teleport everyone on Namek to Earth except for Freeza, and also Goku, so the Super Saiyan can guarantee himself to finish Freeza off once and for all.

With everyone else back on Earth, Goku and Freeza continue their battle on the desolate and dying Namek. Soon, Goku notices that the tyrant's strength is diminishing due to the heavy amount of stress Freeza's 100% max power has on his body, and the Super Saiyan sees no point in battling Freeza anymore, but after he starts to leave Freeza cannot swallow his humiliation at the hands of a "monkey" and launches two heat-seeking energy disks (controlled in a similar manner to Yamucha's Sokidan technique). Forced to return to the battle, Goku escapes the disks and knocks Freeza to the ground. Eventually, Freeza is defeated when his body is accidentally sliced in half by one of his own energy disks. The dying tyrant begs for help from Goku, which he at first declines, remarking that he never showed a hint of mercy at his own victims; after Freeza continues to plead to Goku, he reluctantly gives in, and he gives some of his own energy to Freeza so that he can leave the planet. However, Freeza, ungrateful and still unable to accept defeat to a Saiyan, launches a final energy blast at Goku, but the Super Saiyan easily repels it back with a blast of his own and finally destroys Freeza (or so it seems). Goku then frantically searches for a means to escape, his ship is now buried amongst the craters, so it becomes inoperable, then in a desperate gamble, he tries to start Freeza's ship, but it won't operate, since Vegeta damaged said ship. Namek soon after explodes and Goku is believed to have died along with the planet.

Meanwhile, on Earth, Guru chooses Moori to become his succesor, so to guarantee the Namekian Dragon Balls won't ever turn to stone. After the events of Namek, they call upon Porunga while residing on Dr. Brief's residence, much to the fright of the remaining Earthlings (they're soon told that the Dragon is one of Dr. Briefs' experiments to avoid panic) and they begin to wish the souls of Kuririn and Goku to Earth's check-in station in the Afterlife, because if they're wished first, their bodies will be resuscitated where Namek once stood, so they would hopelessly die again because of the vacuum of space; during the first wish, they are informed that Goku is still alive, and will come back home later, as Goku himself has negated the third wish to be transported back to Earth; the second wish brings Kuririn back to life on Earth, and Yamucha's life is returned with the third wish. 130 more days later (which equates to one Namekian year), Tenshinhan and Chaozu are wished back with the first two wishes, and then the Namekians (except Piccolo as per request), teleport to a new planet, not before Dende and Gohan say their farewells. With the events of Namek over, the Z-Fighters return to their peaceful lives, waiting for Goku to return.

Funimation DVD Release

Season 2 - Namek, Captain Ginyu Saga - Episodes 40-74 [5.22.07]
Season 3 - Frieza Saga - Episodes 75-107 [9.18.07]