General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20264 min read

Dragon Ball Z: The World's Strongest (ドラゴンボールZ この世で一番強いヤツ)

Dragon Ball Z: The World's Strongest (Dragon Ball Z: Kono Yo de Ichiban Tsuyoi Yatsu, ドラゴンボールZ この世で一番強いヤツ) is a 1990 Japanese animated film, the fifth theatrical release in the Dragon Ball franchise and the second based on Dragon Ball Z, in which Goku and his allies fight the scientist Dr. Wheelo, a brain in a cybernetic chassis who wants the body of the world's strongest fighter as his new vessel.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Japanese release	March 10, 1990; fifth Dragon Ball theatrical film, second Dragon Ball Z film¹
Staff	Director Daisuke Nishio; screenplay Takao Koyama; animation director Minoru Maeda; producer Kōzō Morishita; production by Toei³^•⁴
Premise	Dr. Kochin uses the Dragon Balls to resurrect his mentor Dr. Wheelo, whose body was destroyed by an avalanche fifty years earlier; Wheelo seeks the strongest fighter's body as his new vessel²
Timeline placement	Falls in the television series' span after Vegeta's first appearance and before Goku departs for Planet Namek⁵
Runtime and rating	60 minutes; rated PG⁴^•²
Reception	IMDb 6.6/10 from about 7,000 votes; Rotten Tomatoes audience score 68% from more than 5,000 ratings²^•⁴
Home and streaming	Collected in the Dragon Ball theatrical DVD-BOX of April 14, 2006, with a standalone DVD on August 8, 2008; streaming in the US on Crunchyroll and the Crunchyroll Amazon Channel¹^•²

Spoilers

Plot

Dr. Kochin uses the Dragon Balls to resurrect his mentor, Dr. Wheelo, whose body was destroyed by the avalanche that killed him fifty years before. Wheelo, preserved as a brain in a large cybernetic machine, desires the body of the strongest fighter in the world as his new vessel.² Believing Master Roshi to be the world's strongest warrior, a belief rooted in Roshi's victory in the World Martial Arts Tournament decades earlier, Kochin abducts Bulma and forces Roshi to surrender himself to save her.²^•⁴ Roshi is tested against Wheelo's fighters, and the villains learn that the title of world's strongest now belongs to Goku, whom they then try to bring to their laboratory.⁶ When Goku hears of the abduction, he goes to the rescue, and the heroes battle through the scientist's stronghold, where they face a barrier, high-voltage currents, and Piccolo, whose evil heart has been placed under the villains' control.²^•⁷

Production

The film was directed by Daisuke Nishio, written by Takao Koyama, and had Minoru Maeda as animation director, with Kōzō Morishita credited as producer and production by Toei.³^•⁴ The Japanese cast draws on the television series' regulars: Masako Nozawa voices Son Goku and Son Gohan, Toshio Furukawa voices Piccolo, Mayumi Tanaka voices Kuririn, Hiromi Tsuru voices Bulma, Kōhei Miyauchi voices Kame-sen'nin (Master Roshi), and Naoki Tatsuta voices Oolong; Koji Yada voices Dr. Kochin and Kōji Nakata voices Dr. Wheelo (Dr. Uirō).²

Place in the series

The film is set in the television series' timeline between Vegeta's first appearance and Goku's departure for Planet Namek.⁵ Like the other early Dragon Ball Z theatrical films, it is a side story rather than part of the manga's main continuity.⁶ Audience commentary has noted that it departs from the series' usual formula of a single overwhelming villain: the story is science-fiction based, recalls the Red Ribbon army era of the original Dragon Ball, gives Master Roshi a prominent role, and has been read as a forerunner of the later android saga, with Dr. Wheelo as a prototype for Dr. Gero.⁴

Reception and availability

The film runs 60 minutes, in line with the short runtimes of the early Dragon Ball Z theatrical releases.⁴ It holds an IMDb rating of 6.6 from about 7,000 votes and a Rotten Tomatoes audience score of 68% from more than 5,000 ratings.²^•⁴ Audience reviewers have generally treated it favorably among the early Z-era films, praising the action and the use of an evil, mind-controlled Piccolo, while noting that some comic sequences with Oolong and Gohan sit awkwardly in the story.⁴

The film was collected in the Dragon Ball theatrical DVD-BOX released on April 14, 2006, and received a standalone DVD on August 8, 2008.¹ In the United States it is currently available for streaming on Crunchyroll and the Crunchyroll Amazon Channel, with digital rental and purchase options on other platforms.²

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026