Dragon Ball Z Music Video Project: Back Against the Balls Symphonic to Pink Floyd The Wall
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Here are the links:
Clean Version Playlist with Music Only Here
Music with Soundbytes Playlist Here
The idea to synchronize Akira Toriyama's masterpiece story of "Dragon Ball Z" to the music of "Pink Floyd" and specifically the greatness of "The Wall," the pinnacle of all the Pink Floyd creations and the primary concentration of Roger Waters' amazing construct, has always been a desire of mine. "Pink Floyd The Wall" has always been my favorite album as I hold 95% of the entire album to be of strong preference over any other. It was only natural that I would use this as the primary musical orchestration to go along with the greatest anime franchise I've ever seen, this being the footage of "Dragon Ball Z." Both hold a very historic and monumental part of animation and music alike. I've found the story of The Wall to resemble and collide with that of Dragon Ball at numerous times, in particular the essence of Gohan as the young child growing amongst the likes of Goku, Piccolo, Vegeta, and his mother, Chi-Chi. Each of these characters holds a very prominent part of the Dragon Ball storyline.
The Wall is unlike any other album as it holds many climax tracks and numerous musical crescendo, a culmination of guitar riffs and matching words that penetrate the very membrane of all Rock music fans. I personally love numerous tracks on this album for their musical composition, particularly all three parts of "Another Brick in the Wall," "Empty Spaces," and "Goodbye Blue Sky" being the pinnacle of the album for me. Others that I find to be excellent pieces of work are "The Trial," "The Happiest Days of Our Lives," "Waiting for the Worms," "Run Like Hell," "Hey You," both segments of "In the Flesh," "The Thin Ice," "Vera," "Young Lust," "One of My Turns," "Goodbye Cruel World," and "Outside the Wall." Others I found to some extent, to my liking, are "Is there Anybody Out There?," "Bring the Boys Back Home," "The Show Must Go On," "Don't Leave Me Now," "Stop," "Nobody Home," and "Mother." Aside from these, there has always been one track I have always strongly disliked as it does not fall in the congruence of the remainder of the tracks and it lacks the feeling of the remainder of the album. The only track I've always disliked on the album is "Comfortably Numb." It holds more of a dreary feel and an ambiance rather than a systematic militant back-drop with a melodious tune in perfect unison. The pinnacle of the album to me has always been the primary riff from all three parts of "Another Brick in the Wall" and the two very engrossing and very dark rhythms in "Empty Spaces" and "Goodbye Blue Sky." These have always been the primary source of climax on the album and the highlights in the entirety of all 26 tracks. In hindsight, the original album and the cover album were both the same in terms of musical composition and the cover album "Back Against the Wall" was very high quality for sound and the delivery of each synchronized hit was moreso easier to concoct and place together. So I chose to synchronize the cover variation to the footage and went along with the amalgamation of both titles: "Back Against the Balls" as a dual tribute for the music and the footage and the emphasis of the project.
I've found that the Dragon Ball series has many powerful battles, including those of the physical, emotional, and psychological. Each of these have been engrained in my mind in a perfect unison of synchronized beats. The essence of the series is to convey a solid storyline, intertwined with sheer brutality, well-animated fighting, and emotional sequences; there's a commonly seen pattern of events building to climactic, pulse-pounding revelations. I made sure to skip most of the "beam struggle" moments as they are in particular, long-drenched out and lame scenes compared to the amazing physical combat portrayed throughout the series run. Some conflicts are rather long and tedious. I didn't enjoy the scuffle between Gohan and Cell, for example. That two-way Kamehameha was quite annoying. Nor was it enjoyable to witness the childishness of a candy battling Super Buu, that was poorly executed and rather lame, to say the least. These instances and some others were easy to skip as they played no role in the congruence of the series and its primary concept. However, there's enormously brutal instances littered with bone-cracking, back-breaking action that makes up for it.
I've found the first half of the series to be substantially better than the remainder, in particular the "Frieza Saga" being the epitome of the series, a strong culmination of the meaning of the series as a whole and the climax of the very concept of the story itself. All the characters are well-layered, exquisitely designed, and encompass radiant back-stories. The series is divided into four primary sagas: The Vegeta Saga, The Frieza Saga, the Cell Saga, and the Buu Saga, all having redeeming qualities. My least favorite's the Cell Games, where the main antagonist challenges the main protagonists to a tournament (I found this idea rather dull in comparison to the rest; it was less engrossing in terms of ferocity). I was rather neutral for the Buu saga in terms of progression since the main antagonist was a bumbling monster... Ultimately, I found the Frieza/Namek Saga along with the Saiyan/Vegeta Saga to be best, beginning with the Saiyan conflict between Raditz, Nappa and Vegeta... to the three-way guerrilla war making a battlefield of Namek, where Zarbon, Dodoria, and Cui take on Vegeta, who later joins forces with the protagonists to take down the Mercenary Squadron of the Ginyu Force... and the eventual rise of the Super Saiyan, Goku... who faces Lord Frieza to halt the tyrant's threat. This was Akira Toriyama's masterpiece; the epitome of the series at its zenith. Of course, like many series, the ending couldn't live up to prior expectations... it was rather low-key and without rising tension.
Everyone takes something away when they watch this series; be it last impressions or a complete understanding of the piece, I have obtained, to my knowledge, the best viewing experience an anime can offer. Giving mankind such an honorable taste of morals, it remains unparalleled. The actions of subduing one's own greed and desires to find a common goal, sacrificing oneself for the greater good, and sometimes even choosing to do things one would detest for the overall betterment makes this series genuinely riddled with moral overdose. As a highlight to anime history, the series should be judged on all levels; not its eventual decline. The Frieza saga portrays Toriyama's vision as he had originally grafted it, without altering anything based on fan preference. It was the initial concept to which the series unfolded; The struggle of good versus evil portrays the wicked with emotion; Frieza has feelings of his own, and the audience has the chance to comprehend him; his fears and his agony; and come to an understanding with the decisions he made out of his own fear of someday meeting a warrior who'd surpass him. And from Goku's perspective; to give into one's anger and become the thing you hate or remain oblivious to cruelty... the definition of a hero's quest to stand against the evil that destroyed his race, his planet, and the very struggle to sustain the love he's gained and contain the silent thunder that boils within.
It was only natural to attempt to match each synchronized maneuver to every bone-crushing, gut-wrenching, pulse-pounding, heart-stopping, and fiercely captivating sequence to that of Pink Floyd The Wall. Each muscle-bound maneuver must match each synchronized moment in perfect harmonious unison.
Here are the links:
Clean Version with Music Only Here
I separated the sagas and the story as follows:
The Vegeta Saga
1. "In the Flesh?" - Raditz vs. Piccolo and Goku [The World's Greatest Team]
2. "The Thin Ice" - Gohan's Training [Son Gohan and Piccolo Daimao]
3. "Another Brick in the Wall (Part I)" - King Kai and Global Training [The Lord of Worlds]
4. "The Happiest Days of Our Lives" - Nappa vs. Gohan, Piccolo, Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, and Chiaotzu [Earth vs. The Saiyans]
5. "Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)" - Vegeta vs. Goku [A Fateful Super Decisive Battle!]
6. "Mother" - Chi-Chi & Gohan ["Picking Up the Pieces" Sequence]
The Frieza Saga
1. "Goodbye Blue Sky" - Cui vs. Vegeta & Frieza, Zarbon, and Dodoria on Namek [Dragon Ball in Space]
2. "Empty Spaces" - Zarbon and Dodoria vs. Vegeta [Battlefield Namek]
3. "Young Lust" - Captain Ginyu, Jeice, Burter, Recoome, and Guldo vs. Vegeta, Goku, Gohan, and Krillin [The Ginyu Force]
4. "One of My Turns" - Frieza vs. Piccolo, Vegeta, Gohan, and Krillin & Frieza's Final Form [The Wrath of Frieza]
5. "Don't Leave Me Now" - Frieza [Final Form] vs. Vegeta & Goku [Son Goku... Revived!!]
6. "Another Brick in the Wall (Part III)" - Frieza [Final Form] vs. Super Saiyan Goku [The Legendary Super Saiyan]
7. "Goodbye Cruel World" - Frieza & Goku [The Destruction of Planet Namek Sequence]
The Cell Saga
1. "Hey You" - Frieza & King Cold vs. Future Trunks, Android 19 vs. Vegeta, and Android 18 vs. Vegeta [The Red Ribbon Androids]
2. "Is There Anybody Out There?" - Piccolo's Fusion with Kami & Piccolo vs. Imperfect Cell [Rise of the Machines]
3. "Nobody Home" - Piccolo vs. Android 17 & Imperfect Cell vs. Android 16, Android 17, and Piccolo [The Terror of Cell]
4. "Vera" - Vegeta vs. Semi-Perfect Cell, Krillin's Decision, and Cell's Perfect Form [Cell's Perfect-Form Achieved!!]
5. "Bring the Boys Back Home" - Vegeta and Trunks vs. Perfect Cell, and Mr. Satan enters the ring [The Room of Spirit and Time]
6. "Comfortably Numb" - Goku & Gohan vs. Perfect Cell [The Cell Games Begin & Gohan vs. Cell]
The Buu Saga
1. "The Show Must Go On" - Spopovich vs. Videl, Pui Pui vs. Vegeta, Yakon vs. Goku, and Dabura vs. Gohan [Mark of the Warlock]
2. "In the Flesh" - Majin Vegeta vs. Goku, Dabura vs. Majin Buu, and Majin Vegeta vs. Majin Buu [Farewell, Pride-filled Warrior]
3. "Run Like Hell" - Majin Buu & Mr. Satan Sequence & Evil Buu vs. Majin Buu [Mr. Satan to the Rescue]
4. "Waiting for the Worms" - Super Buu vs. Gotenks, Gohan, Vegito & inside Super Buu's mind Sequence [Do Your Best, Super Gotenks]
5. "Stop" - Kid Buu Transformation Sequence [Buu's Reverse-Transformation of Evil & End of Earth]
6. "The Trial" - Kid Buu vs. Goku, Vegeta, and Majin Buu [Last Hero Standing!]
7. "Outside the Wall" - Goku's Memories & Goku Departs with Uub finale [Goodbye Dragon World]