Dragon Ball (All Series)

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I also enjoyed it. I thought that they actually got the comedy right in their own way. It's not Toriyama humor, but it does stay true to the characters and it also does a good job of showing why despite being a total fraud, Mr. Satan is still an awesome guy in his own, strange way.

That said, I still maintain my opinion that the previous episode was legit good for the reasons that I mentioned,  and that the few before that were small but gradual improvements over the first ten or so episodes.

I'm still not convinced that Toei suddenly gives a shit, but I'm praying that this might be the beginning of a much needed improvement in quality that the series desperately needs. Like I said, though, I'm not realistically expecting it to happen.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I just bought DBZRF on DVD. I had read that FUNimation would charge $30 for it, but Wal-Mart had it for much cheaper than that. Anyways, I re-watched the movie, and it's still as great as the first time that I saw it. Next time I'll check it out in Japanese with subtitles, though.

[LumRanmaYasha]

This week's Super was actually pretty great, with some really nice character moments and enjoyable humor. Moreover, it did what I've been wanting the show to do in the first place - show stuff that the movies didn't and move the story past them. I don't know how long that'll last since they still have to cover ROF at some point, but for now, the show might actually start being worthwhile to watch.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I genuinely loved (and I mean LOVED) the sentimental moment between Goku and Krillin in this episode. Not just the call-back to classic Dragon Ball, but their conversation in the present, reflecting on how distant they've grown as fighters (while subtly insinuating about their long-time friendship as well), and then Krillin asking Goku to give him a serious punch just to get a taste of how much stronger he's gotten.

I love this moment for three reasons:

1. It's true to both characters and how they would act.

2. It actually addresses their relationship and how they've grown over the years.

3. This is exactly along the lines of what I want to see when I say that the series needs to evolve rather than relying on nostalgia as a crutch. I love Toriyama's manga to death, but Toriyama isn't going to write every episode of this series, and even if he would, he's not going to be around forever. If this franchise is going to successfully continue without him, it has to show new strengths from different writers. This genuinely heartfelt moment that we got was unlike anything that Toriyama himself would write. It's not the type of moment that you'd expect from Dragon Ball, yet it's still so good and well-written and well-executed. And that's the best kind of thing that this new series really needs in order to stand on its own.

Basically, more writing like this, as well as more great scenes that aren't exclusively just like what we normally associate with Dragon Ball.

The rest of the episode was really good as well. More like this, please, Toei.

[LumRanmaYasha]

It was indeed a great moment. The Goku/Krillin friendship was something that became really downplayed during the Z part of the series, so to see it readdressed in such a way was really refreshing and wonderful. I also like the idea that Krillin was wondering whether he made the right decision about giving up martial arts and experiencing Goku's punch has reigntied his passion for it, which I hope to see followed up upon.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Sounds like this is the episode for me.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Uh-oh, I can see this episode adding tons of fuel to the criticisms of Goku-haters. To be fair, it's completely in character for him, but it does really make him seem like a bit of a selfish dick in cases like this where he flat-out just runs out on everyone to train. Still, I did find it genuinely funny that the show completely acknowledged that character flaw of his in this episode, though he got off a bit too easy. I don't expect it, but it'd be interesting if they found a way to subtly develop his character a bit over the course of the show in order to make him a bit more empathetic towards his friends and family (though, once again, to be fair, Chi-Chi was the only person really against him leaving in the first place).

I'm also probably in the minority on this one, but I actually enjoy the filler scenes that deal with friends and family actually acting like friends and family for a change, without a dire situation in the works. It's one of the few additions to the DBZ anime that I actually appreciated, since it makes the characters feel a bit more human and relatable, and it's unlike most other actions shows that feel that some high-stakes situation needs to be going on with just about every episode in order to be good. It's a good thing for characters to have breathing-room from time to time, IMO.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Goku was totally in character in that episode. I liked how the show presented it as a flaw, but most of the characters didn't really care except for Chi Chi, and even she just gives up after everything was all said and done.

I also like scenes showing the characters in their downtime and just hanging out and doing regular people stuff. It's definitely very humanizing, and just refreshing to see because of how rarely we got scenes like that in the manga.

I liked the episode quite a bit. My favorite parts were probably the montage showing Goku staring at the phone waiting for Bulma's call and him repeatedly interrupting Whis' meal to see if he's done before he even starts eating it. Some very funny and enjoyable scenes there. This week's episode promises more good antics, and the long overdue introduction of Champa, so I'm quite looking forward to it. The upward streak for this show continues.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

So, it looks like even when you are literally training among gods in the DB-verse, you can't escape daily chores. That's a nice little callback to Master Roshi's training way back when the concept of Goku being an alien was non-existent, and he literally only possessed human levels of power (by DB standards).

Anyways, we're unfortunately bound to retread the DBZRF plot, which means that we won't get too much new content for the next few episodes. But at least we finally got introduced to Champa and Vados, and can start speculating on what his plan is. If you've read up to date with the manga, he proposes a tournament of people from his Universe fighting Goku and the others for the posession of Universe 7's Earth. However both the anime and the manga have made it clear that he's searching for something behind Beerus's back, and leveling entire planets in order to do so, which means that this whole tournament deal is clearly a ruse and he's up to something else. What exactly that might be is pretty much anyone's guess.

This kind of brings back nostalgic memories of Toonami from when I was always watching DB and DBZ on a daily basis, and my older brother and I would talk for quite a while about the episode to figure out what would happen next. It was a ton of fun to do that....until my brother discovered the internet, and subsequently the existence of spoilers, and then proceeded to tell me all about cool reveals like Trunks coming from the future or the fact that there was a time-skip after the Cell Saga and that Super Saiyan 3 along with character fusion were actually things that existed in the story. I still enjoyed the series immensely, but that killed a lot of the element of surprise that I used to experience from it.

[Dr. Insomniac]

So Goku buried the hatchet with another Piccolo.

[Daikun]

Toonami Asia has already picked up Dragon Ball Super.

And it's the English dub, too.

[LumRanmaYasha]

While the latest Super was mostly a re-tread of the first 10 minutes of ROF, scenes in the episode, the next episode preview, and leaked upcoming episode titles indicate there will be some changes made to the storyline, including Trunks and Goten meeting Jaco and their potential participation in the fight with Freeza, as well as the surprising return of

Spoiler

Captain Ginyu, who will apparently switch bodies with Tagoma around episode 22!

[close]

I'm definitely down with both of these additions. It will make this ROF stuff feel like less of a retread of the movie, and I just know seeing that particular character return is going to lead to a lot of fun comedic shenanigans. I hope he doesn't get killed off for good, because I just have to imagine the potential in him switching sides and teaming up with Jaco, as they seem like they'd make a great comedic pair considering their mutual interests. But most likely he'll probably just return to normal after the end of the arc, we'll see. Really, this one addition has me way more excited and interested in the Super re-telling of ROF than it has any right to be. 

Toonami Asia has already picked up Dragon Ball Super.

And it's the English dub, too.

It's a english dub, one specifically produced for asian markets. FUNi has confirmed they are not involved with it, and there are no plans for a NA release of Super at this point in time.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

You know, even though I only recently re-read Dragon Ball up through the Namek arc (I still have yet to re-read through the Cell and Buu sagas), I can't recall a scene where Ginyu got off of planet Namek before it exploded. Toriyama just kind of seemed to forget about him after he turned into a frog. Did he escape the destruction of the planet in the anime? Because I haven't seen that version in a long time.

Also....did the writers just pull the three-wishes rule out of their asses? The last time that I checked, it was two at a time for the Earth Dragon Balls. I wouldn't mind so much if they actually did something interesting with the third wish other than modifying the Pilaf-gang's gag from the movie. Though, it might become a plot point later on, but it's an inconsistency with continuity that kind of bugs me, personally.

Other than that, even though this is a retread of DBZRF, the general quality of the episode is still significantly better than it was for the BOG arc. Could Toei actually be effectively listening and responding to criticism for once? Or, have I just fallen into an alternate reality of some sort?

[LumRanmaYasha]

In the manga we never see what happened to Ginyu, but in the anime, he was wished off of Namek alongside everyone else and was shown living in Bulma's greenhouse for a while. At some point before the Android arc he went off globe-trotting, and had small cameos in the series where he showed here and there in random places after that.

According to Daizenshuu 4 and a scene in the manga where Piccolo and Dende comment on Bulma reviving the people Majin Vegeta killed in the Buu arc, the dragon balls being able to grant three wishes normally but reduced to two when a wish is used to revive a large number of people is actually proper canon. The movie was the one that actually made a continuity error. Though I do agree that they should have used that extra wish for something more substantial than just tacking something onto the Pilaf gang gag.

[LumRanmaYasha]

The latest Super has the exact opposite problem that I had with the BOG stuff. I would've liked to see more scenes and content that weren't in the movie. Freeza's training is the obvious one, but also more scenes with Jaco interacting with Trunks and Goten, scenes showing why Tenshinhan didn't bring along Yamcha and Chiaotzu, and why Buu didn't come. There's a lot more they could've done to flesh out this material and improve upon ROF, but with these last two episodes they just been rehasing the movie scene for scene with the exception of Freeza not killing Tagoma and the setup for Captain Ginyu's return. A part of me is glad this isn't being dragged out like the BOG stuff was, but they could be doing so much more with this material than they are, and it's disappointing.