#DBZ Chapter 97

[everymangavegeta]

Now for the battle jackets. Luckily there were some miniature ones...made for the people of the planet Lilliput.

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Super 001

All right, time for Dragon Ball Super. 

Let’s set the stage first.  In 2013, the Dragon Ball franchise returned with the feature film Battle of Gods.  I often refer to that film as “Movie 14″, in keeping with the convention of the previous DBZ movies, but Battle of Gods was on a completely different level.  In addition to being longer and more complex than the old movies, this one had Akira Toriyama overseeing things much more directly than in the past.  It added new characters and lore to the franchise, and it capitalized on the pent-up demand for new DB content.  In short, it was a hit, and a sequel was planned soon after. 

Shortly after Resurrection F premiered in 2015, there came announcements that there would be a new manga and a new TV anime for the Dragon Ball franchise.  Chapter 1 of the Dragon Ball Super comic was published on June 20, 2015, and Episode 1 of the anime aired on July 5, 2015. 

And so, the Dragon Ball Renaissance was in full swing. The only problem was that Dragon Ball Super had a pretty weak start.  And a lousy middle.  And a pretty dull third quarter.   And... it didn’t really get good until episode 97.  Well, that’s just my opinion.  There are plenty of critics who hated the entire thing, and there are others who enjoyed it from beginning to end.  Still, I maintain that Super was a mixed bag, which kind of tarnishes the brand’s reputation. 

On the other hand, I’m not sure that mattered much in the long run.  Fans love Dragon Ball, and I think most of the fanbase was just hyped to get a new show, even in spite of its problems.  The classic shows were far from perfect, after all, and the important thing was that there was something new featuring Goku and the gang.  And there is a lot to enjoy about Dragon Ball Super, even if it takes a while to get there.

Continuity-wise, this series takes place between Episodes 288 and 289 of Dragon Ball Z.   If you’re not familiar with DBZ... seriously, why are you reading this?  Anyway, Goku and the others defeated Majin Buu in episode 286, and then there were some epilogue scenes, and then the series skipped ahead ten years for a finale depicted in Episode 289-291.  Dragon Ball Super takes place during that period, what fans have termed the “Ten Year Gap.”

Accordingly, this episode opens with a recap of the Kid Buu fight, since that was the last big thing to happen recently. 

Just so we’re clear, this is the big distinction between DBS and Dragon Ball GT.  Both were presented as sequel series to DBZ, but their chronology is different.  GT is set five years after DBZ 291, while Super is set 0-9 years before it.  Also, Dragon Ball GT sucks ass, while Super is just kind of bad in a lot of places. 

Let’s get that straight up front.  I’ll probably draw some comparisons between Super and GT as we go, but I’m not interested in doing some “which was better?” discussion here.  GT is awful, and I recently spent six weeks writing about exactly how awful it was.  I’m not really eager to refer back to that.  There’s some really lousy episodes of Super, and I’m sure I’ll bring up the matter of whether or not they’re GT-level terrible, but there’s no point in doing that every single time.  Super has a lot of problems, but GT is a problem. 

The big issue I’m faced with here is that the first 28 episodes of Super are mostly comprised of a decompressed re-telling of Battle of Gods and Resurrection F.  There’s also a few filler episodes of varying quality, but very little actually happens in any of them, and they’re mostly warm-and-fuzzy-feeling stories with little meat to them.  Which means that there really isn’t a whole lot for me to write about.

So what I’m going to try to do is zip through these relatively quickly, so that I can move on to the important stuff later on.  If you haven’t seen Battle of Gods, then do yourself a favor and check out the movie, because I have no interest in giving it a thorough recap here.

All right, so there’s only a handful of things that actually take place in this story.  Goku’s a farmer now, and sometimes Goten brings him his lunch and drives the tractor for him.  Goku wishes he could train on King Kai’s planet, but Chi-Chi wants him to earn a living, and Goku’s not interested in the kind of celebrity business that Mr. Satan does. 

Meanwhile, Mr. Satan has just received a big cash award for his heroic defense of the Earth.  Remember, even though Goku defeated Kid Buu with a Spirit Bomb, the people of Earth don’t remember Majin Buu, because they used the Dragon Balls to make everyone forget Buu’s involvement in that crisis.  So the world believes Mr. Satan saved them from some kind of alien invasion, but they have no idea what it was.  Satan brags about his power in press conferences, but in private he offers the money to Goku, since he actually deserves it.  Also, Vegeta refused the cash off-screen, possibly because he’s already married to the richest woman on Earth. 

Goku reluctantly accepts, because, as Goten points out, the money would convince Chi-Chi to let him go train on King Kai’s planet.

Then we’ve got a few subplots that go nowhere.  For example, we see Satan here giving a speech about receiving the award, when Buu barges in demanding food.  No one knows who Buu is, and Satan has to explain that Buu is an alien who sought to train under Mr. Satan as a disciple.  The press buys this, which sets up DBZ Episode 290, where Mr. Buu is widely known as Mr. Satan’s top student. 

Meanwhile, Videl buys Gohan an expensive academic book to aid in his research.  Gohan feels bad that he can’t reciprocate the gesture, but Videl doesn’t care because she can afford it, and the smarter Gohan gets, the more appealing he gets as arm candy.  Also, Piccolo watches them from the rooftops.  I remember seeing this in 2015 and foolishly thinking any of this was going to lead to anything in later episodes.  I guess Piccolo was irked about Gohan not keeping up with his training, which did get paid off in the Super Hero movie last year, but it looks more like he’s jealous more than anything else.  As for Muzakashii Hon (lit. “Difficult Book”), you’d think the long, detailed look we get at this book means that it would become an important plot device, but no, it never gets seen again.  Well, it appears in the opening credits, but so what?

Meanwhile, Beerus visits an alien planet, samples their cuisine, and then destroys it.  I remember thinking this depiction of Beerus meant that the series took place after Battle of Gods, since we saw Beerus wake up from a 39-year nap in that movie, but in this episode, he’s already on the move, and it isn’t clear yet whether the events of Movie 14 have happened or not.  But no, we’re just re-doing the same story, only with details changed for no reason, and much slower.

Finally, there’s a whole thing where Goten wants to buy a gift for Videl, since she’s going to be marrying Gohan soon.  He doesn’t know what to get her, so he asks Trunks for advice, and he settles on eau du toilette, since his mom likes that stuff.  This just leads to a “hilarious” misunderstanding, as the boys overhear an old man complaining that the cosmetics at a store are nothing compared to the rejuvenating hot spring.  So they go there, thinking they can just fill a bottle with water from that place instead, but when they see all the old people bathing in it, they fly further upstream and get that water instead. 

Let’s clear this up now, because I’ve seen eau du toilette jokes for most of my life, and I’ve never understood them.  I mean, sure, it has the word “toilet” in it, but the phrase is always used in a pun, which makes no sense, because the pronunciation is different.  “TOY-let”.  “Oh duh twah-LET”.  Goten’s not going to hear the word and think of toilet water.

So what is eau du toilette?  It’s French for “grooming water”, but it isn’t actually water at all.  It’s a dilute solution of fragrance oils in alcohol.  Stronger than aftershave, but weaker than perfume.  The punchline here is that Goten and Trunks show up at Videl’s house and give her a bottle of creek water, and she realizes that it’s literally just water, so she goes through the motions and tells the boys how much she loves it. 

What else have we got?  Uh... Master Roshi somehow hears about the money Satan gave Goku, and he wants to use it to buy pornography.  Chi-Chi doesn’t like that idea.

And the Supreme Kais notice the destruction of all those planets and wonder what it could mean.  So yeah, we’re just introducing characters at this point. 

And that’s it.  Very little actually gets done in this episode, although in its defense, it’s trying to reintroduce characters that haven’t appeared on TV in a long time.  Even if this series wasn’t about to retell Battle of Gods, it would still play out pretty much the same way.  On the other hand, I think it’s kind of dumb to make a show like this, cashing in on the success of two feature films, and then acting like no one knows who’s who. 

[sugirandom]

365 days of writing: day 326

Day 326: fall colors

   This morning I went to class as usual and we got our Kanji tests back. I actually got a C on this one but the teacher is so strict that she wants everyone who got under an 80% to retake it. I got a 76% and I’m happy with it so I’m not going to go out of my way to take a retest unless she gives it to the entire class in which case I’ll have no choice but since this Friday we have chapter 3′s Kanji test and then next Wednesday we’re going to have a big test covering all the lessons we’ve done so far I have other material to study and I don’t thin I’ll do any better and probably would do worse on a retest since my mind has to move on to new materials. I had a grammar test today and it was fine, I don’t think I will get 100% like last time but I still feel like I did good. I honestly think this method of over testing is not a good idea at all. I am sure they are thinking that this will force us all to study and therefore help us to retain all the information but for a lot of students the opposite may happen. I’ll keep it brief as I probably explained it before but I pretty much have trouble with too much stimuli in general which I do think contributes to me being bad at tests. I am feeling more and more confident that I need to do something else for the remaining six months after this semester is over.

   Anyway, after class I got some lunch at the Italian restaurant nearby and then I walked to Sanjo station and got to enjoy some of the fall colors around me. I also stopped by a Shabu shabu restaurant and asked them if they were opne tomorrow. The man actually made a reservation for me which is great because tomorrow is a holiday so I imagine it will be packed. Shabu Shabu is basically meat and vegetables that you can cook in a soup broth, it’s really nice food to have when it’s cold outside and we’re starting to get 50 and even 40 degree weather so I’m happy about that. I headed home after I made the reservation and studied a little bit and watched two episodes of DBZ. I saw episodes 97 and 98 and I’m still enjoying it for the most part. They are giving me tragic feels for my Krillen and Goku broship. It’s a canon broship too so I guess I lucked out in that respect lol. Anyway, I also watched a few youtube videos and then made some dinner. I’m not sure what I’m going to do tomorrow. I\m probably going to wait until the week to attempt karaoke again because I’m hoping that my cough will go away or at least be better. I also don’t know if I want to go out in the crowds or just stay here until dinner time whem I have my reservation. Oh well, I’m sure I’ll figure something out. Friday I have a test but after school I get to go to an LGBT meetuup in Osaka so I will more  than likley be getting dinner there Friday and Saturday I’m going to meet up with a Japanese girl I met at the Kyoto community house party. We\re going to go to an area of Arashiyama where you can see monkeys so this weekend should be a good one.

[everymangavegeta]

Take your clothes off and put on those undersuits. Make it quick! Freeza's coming!

[everymangavegeta]

[everymangavegeta]

This one's in the older style. I couldn't find a standard set that fit me.

[everymangavegeta]

With his constitution, he should be fully healed in 40 or 50 minutes.

[everymangavegeta]

Yes.

[everymangavegeta]

Force it on! They'll stretch enough if you pull on them. They didn't rip when I became a Great Ape on Earth, did they? And they'll withstand most impacts.

[everymangavegeta]