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Dragon Ball Z: The Fall of Men by BlackSmokeFilms is the fan-made DBZ video that we’ve long been waiting for. Grab a drink and a snack, because you’ve got 30 minutes of awesome to watch.

Whether you’ve seen the Hollywood film Dragonball: Evolution or not, there is one thing you can say about it, it was terrible. With only a 14 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the attempt to bring the magic and power of the beloved Dragon Ball Z series to the big screen was a complete failure.

Earlier this year a fan version titled Dragon Ball Z: Light of Hope showed people who a live-action Dragon Ball Z could actually be good, and now a second fan movie by a different set of fans has been released. It also follows the story of Trunks in the future timeline, but its darker, much grittier atmosphere make it over 9,000 times better than what Hollywood gave us.

BlackSmokeFilms said the short film is a tribute to Akira Toriyama’s famed universe through familiar characters but set in an alternate future timeline. The story doesn’t exactly follow the manga or anime, but the changes they made still leave a powerful impact on the viewers.

▼ Our hero…

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▼ …and our really creepy villain.

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Fans of DBZ will be happy to see favorite characters and familiar items being given their screen-time, but they may be surprised to see a few things that they might have forgotten about.

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▼ If you can name the protectors who live here, you get extra bonus points.

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These 30 minutes of intense entertainment really emulate what fans hoped to have seen in Dragonball: Evolution, and the fan movie might reach an even bigger audience as it has already been viewed over 8 million times in one week. It’s not perfect by any means, but seeing characters we love being brought to life the right way makes it definitely worth watching. Fans will also be delighted by the many Easter eggs hidden throughout the movie that pay homage to the original anime series—you’ll want to watch the short film again and again to make sure you catch them all.

BlackSmokeFilms first foray into fan-made movies should be considered a major triumph and all of us at RocketNews24 are on the edge of our seats awaiting their next project.

H/T: Kotaku JP
Top Image: Facebook/BlackSmokeFilms edited by RocketNews24
Screenshots: YouTube/BlackSmokeFilms