#goku has had lessons on this and knows exactly who hes dealing with when it comes to old men with wandering eyes lol

[artbybai]

I think we all actively forget

Goku was trained under Master Roshi

For all we know, Goku could think this is practically the same as a fighter’s stats in battle, approaching it analytically in an effort to sway Elder Kai to help them

This moment is crazy every time

What's wild to me is how Goku is practically devoid of any carnal desires or thoughts, but he still takes notes on the size and quality of different women's breasts. Bro is gathering this info for what exactly???

The manga version is way more blunt

Son Goku is quite the comedic figure

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Z 166

Cell Games Saga!    This is probably my all-time favorite part of DBZ.   I have a hard time deciding between this and the Perfect Cell Saga that preceded it.   This is probably because it was the Perfect Cell arc where I finally got hooked on DBZ, and the Cell Games was the payoff to the cliffhanger.   

Here’s the thing: Cell has already won.    Twice, really.    He was the last warrior standing in the post-apocalyptic future he came from, then he went back in time to this era to fulfill the true purpose of his design.    Actually absorbing 17 and 18 to become his final form involved a lot of extra battles that he didn’t have to fight in his own time, but like he told Piccolo in his debut, he was created to do it.    He had to do it.   

I suppose that’s the core concept of Cell as a character.  Winning alone isn’t enough for him.  He enjoys winning, but he wants it to be on his own terms.    Dare I say it, he wants his victory to be perfect.     So moping around in his native era, a world where the androids and Z-Figthers have all been killed, held no satisfaction for him.    The Imperfect and Perfect Cell Sagas were his chance at a do-over.   You’d think beating Piccolo, 16, Tien, Vegeta, and Trunks to reach his perfect form would be enough for him, but it’s not.    And so he spared Trunks, and promised to arrange a tournament where they could fight all over again.  

The other thing to keep in mind about Cell is that he only seems to enjoy winning for its own sake.    Reaching his perfect form seems to have been his only major objective.   In the last episode, he admitted to Trunks that he’s really only out to enjoy himself now.    He was created to kill Goku, but that no longer holds any particular interest for him.   He wants to fight Goku, but that’s probably because Goku’s the only major player he hasn’t beaten yet.   But Goku’s probably not going to offer much more sport than the other Super Saiyans he’s fought, so that’s why he’s planning a tournament, so he can fight all his enemies in one go.  

Except, that’s kind of what he just did in the last 17 episodes.   It says a lot about Cell that he won that gauntlet, and all he knows to do with himself is to clap his hands and say “Again!”.    Team Four Star observed that Cell is only six years old, which sounds about right.    For all his power and intellect, Cell lacks emotional maturity in a lot of ways.    All he knows is fighting, but he has no interest in conquest or spoils.   There’s no raddish farm Cell can go to between battles.  

So this leaves the Z-Fighters in the awkward position of losing a battle for the fate of the world, but still being alive to deal with the consequences.   Vegeta and Krillin meet up with Trunks, and he fills them in.   Vegeta scolds Trunks for trying to fight Perfect Cell alone and this just might be peak Vegeta right here.    Does he even listen to himself?  

Krillin tries to put Geets in his place by revealing that Trunks surpassed him, but Trunks shushes him.   When I first saw this episode, I thought maybe Trunks was still trying to protect his father’s pride, but over the years I’ve realized that Trunks was just trying to spare himself the embarrassment.   He had thought he had surpassed Vegeta, but his increased strength was illusory, and it’s just as well that Vegeta never knew about it, since he would have dismissed it as such.  

Actually, that’s kind of the tragedy of the time these two spent in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.   They had to share the room, but they clearly spent very little time working together, or Trunks could have shown Vegeta his Dummy Thicc form, and Vegeta would have told him why it was a blind alley.  To be sure, Vegeta probably wouldn’t have been very kind about it, but it would have been less painful than learning the lesson from Cell.   

In contrast, we saw Goku and Gohan have that exact conversation in the previous episode, and it was pretty early on during their time in the HTC.   Gohan was all “This will work”, and Goku was like “No, it can’t.    We need to try something else.”     Vegeta and Trunks could have shared that same exchange of ideas, but they didn’t because Vegeta insisted on training alone.  

From the Lookout, Piccolo starts planning his own session in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.    You’d think this would do the trick, since he was much, much stronger than Goku or Vegeta before they went in.    In theory, a year to train would push Piccolo over the top, but it never actually works out that way.   

Likewise, Trunks and Vegeta decide to do the same thing.    Krillin was pretty upset to hear about Cell’s tournament, because who could even enter the thing after Cell beat everyone?   But Piccolo and the Saiyans are game for one more round.    After all, they still have the time chamber, and this was what Cell was counting on, even though he doesn’t know about the chamber specifically.    He saw for himself that Vegeta and Trunks improved very dramatically, and apparently Goku’s doing something similar, so he’s hoping that if he gives them ten days, they’ll be even better opponents.   

Android 16 also wants in the tournament, and he steps forward to ask the Z-Fighters to take him in for repairs so he can fight on their side.    Trunks hates that idea, because he still regards the androids as enemies of the Earth, but Krillin agrees to help, because he believes 16 isn’t really a bad guy.   He doesn’t understand why the androids are worse in Trunks’ world, but in this world they all share a common enemy in Cell, and that’s good enough to help 16.

Hyperbolic Time Chamber Update: Goku tries to put Gohan in bed for the night, but Gohan wakes up and apologizes for passing out during their training.    Goku wants him to rest, but Gohan pleads to keep training with Goku, so Goku decides he’s going to turn in for the night as well, if only to convince Gohan to get the rest he needs.  

At Capsule Corp., everyone meets up to discuss the situation.    Trunks explains Cell’s tournament, and Yamcha gets all nostalgic for the Tenkaichi Budokai.  Oolong reminds him that he lost the first round of every tourney he entered.   Well, let’s see how that compares to Oolong’s win-loss record, which currently stands at oh wait Oolong never fought in any tournaments because he’s just a one-off gag villain who never did anything useful after that one time he wished for panties.   It’s almost like Oolong is a perverted jackass who needs to shut his mouth and stay in his own damn lane.  At least Yamcha shows up for these kinds of things, and he accomplishes his own personal growth, even if it doesn’t actually turn the tide of the battles.   What’s Oolong ever done for the world except drool and support the child-size suspender industry?   

On the other hand, Yamcha’s been in exactly zero suitcases full of panties, so I guess Oolong has him beat there.    In case you can’t tell, I’m being sarcastic.    Fuck you, Oolong.    

Vegeta, Trunks, and Bulma’s parents have never heard of the Tenkaichi Budokai, so Roshi explains it to them, while also noting that he was a former champion.   Puar’s all “Wait, when did you win the Tenkaichi Budokai?”    So I guess Roshi’s secret identity as Jackie Chun is still in effect?   I feel like there was some point where it was implied that the others knew the truth.    Or maybe I just thought that because Roshi keeps alluding to his Jackie Chun work without actually spelling it out.  

Vegeta mocks the tournament, which seems pretty stupid, since it was a long time ago, back when everyone was weaker.    I mean, he calls them “lower-level fights”, but by that logic, the scrap with the Ginyu Force was a lower level fight, and everyon in this room could kick Recoome’s ass today.   Except Oolong, he’d get killed in seconds.    Puar would shapeshift into a bug and burrow into his brain through his eyes and kill him that way.    Puar doesn’t mess around.   

According to Roshi, they stopped holding the tournament after Piccolo and Goku’s match destroyed the “fighting ring”.   I find that weird, because it buries the lead.    Piccolo destroyed the whole city the tournament was held in.   Of course, we would later learn that a 24th Budokai was held without the Z-Fighters’ knowledge, but we’ll get to that later.   

By the time Roshi finishes his story, everyone but Dr. Brief has left the room.    I kind of like this gag, because Roshi sort of got lost in his own exposition.   Most of the characters already knew what the Budokai was, and the ones who didn’t were only interested in how it relates to Cell’s version, which Roshi doesn’t know yet.  

Outside, Vegeta insists that the human fighters won’t matter in Cell’s tournament.   That’s kind of B.S., because when I first watched these episodes, I really thought they were going to do some sort of thing where Cell would fight each good guy one-on-one, and by the time he got to Krillin he’d be pretty tired, to the point where Krillin would have a real chance of making a difference.  I mean, 16′s no match for Perfect Cell either, but they’re still taking the time to repair him.    The more guys they bring to this party, the better their chances.   

Chi-Chi, for one, is relieved to hear about the tournament, because Cell will finally have to follow some rules, even if they’re rules he made up himself.   Killing your opponent was illegal in the Tenkaichi Budokai, and so she’s expecting a similar no-killing rule at the Cell Games.   

That being the case, she refuses to allow Gohan to participate in the tournment, because in her mind it’s voluntary, as opposed to the previous crisis, where the androids and Cell went around attacking everyone.  

Here’s a cute picture of baby Gohan, from a flashback to where Chi-Chi first declared that Gohan wouldn’t become a martial artist.    When he was born, the world as at peace, so Chi-Chi believed it would be a waste for Gohan to learn martial arts.    The last 166 episodes o this show suggest otherwise, but Chi-Chi’s sticking to her guns.  

Then she tells the others that she doesn’t want Gohan to become a delinquent like all of them, and they take offense to that.    Okay, from left to right:

Yamcha was a literal bandit.  

Chiaotzu grifted yokels for free corn.   He also cheats at things.

Krillin destroyed the remote, thereby allowing Cell to become perfect.   

Master Roshi belongs in jail.  

Oolong grifted yokels for free child brides.   

I mean, the shoe fits.  

On the other hand, let’s check in on Cell, who is literally murdering a guy so he can flatten his property and build a tournament ring over it.   I love Chi-Chi, but she’s like every overwrought crusader on the internet.     Cell’s out here dumping toxic waste into the ocean, and she’s calling out Krillin for using a plastic straw.   

This whole scene is bad ass.   Cell lifts a hill out of the ground with telekinesis, sort of like how Frieza did on Namek, except he carves it into a stone block, then slices it into tiles, and arranges them into a larger replica of the Tenkaichi Budokai stage.   This event hasn’t even started yet, and it’s already way better than those piece of shit Frieza Games from a few years ago.    Two hundred bucks a seat, and you get there and Frieza just sits in his stupid hoverchair and chatters while Zarbon and Dodoria fight people for him.   For six hours.  

A lot of this episode was a waste of time, because Cell pretty well explained the tournament idea to Trunks in the previous episode, and he’s going to announce the full details in the next episode.   So there’s not much point in having a bunch of good guys talk about it here.    This was probably just an excuse to do a flashback to some of the old Budokai episodes, but I still like this one because of Cell making the ring, and the gang chilling out on Bulma’s balcony.    Good times.  

[toooldforthis76]

In regards to Vegeta being “Father of the year”

I came across someone else’s blog who was really pretty disgusted that some people feel that Goku is unable to feel love with any depth beyond companionship and that so many people paint Vegeta as “father of the year” after spending so much time pushing Trunks away, verbally abusing him, disavowing him as a son until he demonstrated his power against Cell.  I don’t mean to do the passive aggressive thing by not answering someone directly, but I don’t really know anyone out here on tumblr and it’s not my place to barge into someone else’s conversation—I’m not some dbz expert, hell I only started watching the show and reading the manga within the last year or so, but I want to make a point about why *I* feel, just me, just a fan, that she is RIGHT but is maybe still skipping over the primary reason why Vegeta’s eventual *turn* to father-of-the-year was so utterly satisfying to fans.  Let’s be clear: 1.  To Goku’s defense, he and ChiChi have a very traditional love.  They met as children.  They had a courtship.  They married. They cohabitated.  Then they had kids.  

Guys, this seriously did not happen with Vegeta & Bulma.

Placing my head cannon aside and placing the generally accepted headcannon aside, the manga and the anime both make it pretty clear that Trunks came about as a result of physical passion.  It could have been a one night stand, it could have been a friends-with-benefits type situation, either way we will never really know for sure unless Toriyama decides to pen that side of the story, but in any case, Trunks is what Vegeta accuses Gohan of being during the Saiyan saga:  a half breed welp by an insignificant human female . . . a bastard.  

2.  Vegeta does not acknowledge Trunks as his son because he is, emotionally speaking, a narcissist.  Even after seeing what Future is capable of, and realizing that Future is the grown-up version of his bastard child with this earth woman, he refuses to acknowledge either the baby or the teen until the teen had something worthy of taking credit for—which is exactly what a narcissistic parent does, you are not worth until you achieve something that strokes their pride.  We see a toxic kind of companionship between father & son during the semi-perfect Cell saga because Trunks is so desperate for his father’s love that he plays along with this idea of being little more than an extension of his father.  He does this to such an extreme that although he has the ability to jump in and help his father while he’s getting his ass thoroughly kicked by cell, he waits until his father is knocked out before taking action.  He says it is because he knows how important pride is to his father and wants to protect it, but ultimately I think Trunks does not want to lose what precious little love he’s gained from his emotionally dysfunctional father.  

3.  the chains of narcissm could have very easily have continued had both Future and Goku not been killed by Cell at the end of the Cell games.  Future getting killed by Cell was shattering, but the fact that Goku was also killed by the monster that Vegeta willingly allowed to grow perhaps hit that soul-wound a little deeper because not only had Vegeta lost his direct bloodline legacy, he had also lost the last of what would have been one of his “subjects” had they still lived on their home planet. I don’t really want to say much more about this because it may undermine what I’m trying to do with my own fanfiction, but when you think about the way King Vegeta lost the planet to Frieza, you get a real sense that Prince Vegeta must have really resented his father on some level for allowing Frieza to fester until he was damn near impossible to kill . . . Prince Vegeta did the exact same thing with Cell, only, he has to suffer to live with the aftermath.  

I am no warrior, and I will never fight again  

4.  So we reach the Buu saga . . . and Vegeta, Bulma and Trunks are now living together as a family.  We don’t know that they have a healthy family relationship, but they are living together.  There is a scene where Trunks is in the gravity room with his father, who is very much annoyed by his presence until Trunks demonstrates that he is able to go Super Saiyan.  Vegeta is so surprised by this that he pauses his training to acknowledge his child and levels him a challenge.  If you land one punch on me I’ll take you to that park you’re always going on about.  –still very narcissistic, right?  But there’s a humbled quality to it as well . . . keep with me on this point . . .  Trunks DOES manage to land a blow, and Vegeta promptly strikes back.  He HITS his CHILD in the face—I never said I wouldn’t strike back—but Trunks is still happy because he’s going to get to go to this park with his dad.  Guys, this is EXACTLY how people with specific emotional dysfuctions such as narcissim and sado maschoism are formed in life.  When your source of love always comes with conditions or your source of love is deceptive to you or your source of love is manipulative, then it becomes greatly unsatisfying to receive love WITHOUT those twisted caveots later in life. But I digress.  My point is that Vegeta hasn’t bee “cured”, but BUT because he is perhaps still traumatized by the loss of his adult son by the actions of his own pride, he dials it down a notch and doesn’t take delight in having shown his dominance over this bastard that has caused him so much loss of pride in life, but agrees to do something “fatherly”.  And when Trunks is named jr champion of the world martial arts tournament, we see just for a second in the Anime a look of acknowledgement and pride as Vegeta pauses eating just long enough to listen carefully to what’s being said about the fight.

Then Bidibi happens.    

Bidibi knows . . . that the old Vegeta is just beneath the surface, and here’s the thing about psychological dysfuction:  it feels GOOD sometimes, to slide back into old patterns of thinking . . . because it’s very vindicating.  Those old demons don’t like being told that they were no good.  Nobody really wants to have a past that they’re ashamed of—they want to be justified in the way that they are, and when you think about how hard it is for a narcissist to admit their faults, it must be doubly true for them because they have such a deep need to be perfect.  It’s funny how, when Bidibi casts this spell to turn Vegeta Maijin, Vegeta isn’t under Bidibi’s complete control as Bidibi anticipated, probably because Vegeta’s old demons have a score to settle against those that tried to prove them wrong.  It feels GOOD to be evil, it feels good to be VINDICATED in your evil, but here the whole planet is starting to suffer . . . and Vegeta perhaps starts to see that pattern happening all over again with this planet he has come to call home.  Is he going to let earth be destroyed the same way his father allowed their Planet to become destroyed?  Could he do this in front of the son that he let down as an adult ? Can he let go of all those life lessons so easily over his love for power?  He could have . . . he owes no real allegence to the earth . . . but he’s also nothing and no one’s slave, including to that of his own pride.  His pride wants this power, but his soul wants freedom (as most souls do), so he holds the child who has been such a catalyst for so much healing in his life.  He protects him by knocking him out, knowing that Trunks, in that exact moment, is really wrestling with his own pride [dad knock it off, you’re embarrassing me], he asks piccolo if he’ll have a 2nd chance in the afterlife and piccolo flatly tells him no, that he’s going to hell for all the horrible things he’s done, and Vegeta. Does. It. Anyway. – because he has finally conquered that one thing in life that was his true adversary:  himself.    

5.  Potara fusion happens . . . and there’s a very interesting article that you can find here  http://www.kanzenshuu.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27546  that really illustrates the point that Vegeta changes after fusion with Goku , but I think this is also a kind of “spiritual cementing” of the fact that Vegeta is in fact in the process of being forgiven for his past transgressions.  He is still “in the bardo” during this time, and if you notice, this sequence where they are inside of Buu and the earth is gone and everyone they love is gone, is actually kind of light-hearted compared to the rest of the saga.  In buddhism there is this concept that we create a lot of our own suffering by taking out lives so seriously—we all walk around like WE are Goku and that WE have to save the world . . . well here is Vegeta, who has fused with the big dumb oaf, and maybe begins to see him as not being so frustratingly flawless afterwards. He still has anger towards Goku but he also has some modicum of pity,  probably because so many people have so many expectations of Kakarot, yet he really is just this free spirit with no real intentions of being a savior.

6.  And then we get to super, where father-of-the-year Vegeta is really in full swing, because he’s not just a father figure to Trunks, he’s a father figure to EVERYONE including Goku at a certain level, which is extraordinarily sweet because Goku never had a Saiyan father [I’m excluding the movies here guys, sorry].  Vegeta had a Saiyan father.  And because he was brought up as royalty, he has a memory of what it means to be a Saiyan in the highest sense of their culture, their fashion, their cultures, their customs . . . Now that he LITERALLY knows Goku inside and out, and he has conquered his pride AND he no longers harbors a serious need to prove himself better, Vegeta can be that fatherly figure that Goku maybe subconsciously needs him to be.  It’s very telling that Vegeta was the one that Whis chose to be an apprentice *first*. It’s very telling that Bulla came along during Vegeta’s apprenticeship because he is not done with his mission here on earth.  The thing that frightens me a great deal, however, is that Whis and Beerus are grooming him to be what they want him to be, and as these new “boogie back” credits seem to be indicating, I believe that he is going to leave that baby and go off to war by their command.  I guess we will have to leave that up to speculation for the time being, but he has such a sharp sense of “protection” now that he may not be satisfied until all threats to his little Eschallotte are obliterated . . . because he can’t depend on Goku’s dumb ass to do it <jk> sorry Goku-peeps  

 So this is kind of my take on the whole why-is-Vegeta-suddenly-father-of-the-year argument going around Tumblr this week. Feel free to leave a comment and read my Fan Fiction “Earth Vermin” on AO3 :)  [Shamless self promotion I know but what the hell]  http://archiveofourown.org/works/9672212/chapters/21847091

[recentanimenews]

THE GREAT CRUNCHYROLL NARUTO REWATCH Arrives at the Big Moment: Naruto vs. Sasuke in Episodes 126-132!

  Welcome back to the GREAT CRUNCHYROLL NARUTO REWATCH! I'm Nicole Mejias, and I'll be your host this week as we make our way through all 220 episodes of the original Naruto. Last week, we covered Episodes 120-126, where Gaara and the sand ninjas redeemed themselves and started kicking some major butt! Also, drunk Rock Lee!

This week, we’re passing the 100 episodes left mark by hitting episodes 127-133, and that means it is time for the showdown we’ve all been waiting for: Naruto vs. Sasuke! But first, Gaara has a few minor things to finish dealing with, but it seems like everyone’s favorite sandy boy will be fine. Sadly, this week’s batch ends right before the grand finale of Naruto vs. Sasuke, but we get through a lot of the emotional labor first before the big pay-off by seeing more of Sasuke and Itachi’s mysterious pasts.

Let’s not delay the big showdown any longer and find out what the Features Team thought!

Boy, that sure was an anti-climactic finish to the Gaara vs. Kimimaro fight. How did you feel about the way that resolved?

Paul: I didn't feel that Gaara vs. Kimimaro was anti-climatic, partly because the whole bone thing really creeped me out and I was ready for that to be over, but also because they spent time climbing inside Kimimaro's head-space, and he was ultimately such a tragic character. I'm a sucker for how Orochimaru keeps hoovering up all of the sad, queer ninja kids who don't belong in their original clans and Villages and creating a weird, evil Brady Bunch ninja family.

Kevin: The end of that fight is one of the few things in the entire franchise that disappointed me so much that it came back around to being memorable.

Danni: Honestly, having a character just up and die from an illness feels both so convenient and so subversive that I have to respect it.

Jared: It always kind of felt like that was going to be the inevitable end anyways, so I’m not too bothered by it. Although, I feel like with his ability, ripping out your spinal column and using it should be an ability that would ultimately end you, yet it’s just his illness.

David: The ending was so abrupt that I was surprised it was over well after the fact. Kimimaro has an interesting story but he got shortchanged by being the midboss before the most important fight in the whole first “part” of the show, I guess.

Joseph: I totally loved how it ended! I’m a sucker for subverting expectations like that. Considering all Kimimaro has gone through, it was more than appropriate to die like that on the spot during such a huge fight.

Noelle: I’m still surprised by it, to be completely honest. I could’ve gone for more of course, but there’s something about it that’s so abrupt that made it stick with me. Perfect timing for our heroes, but at the same time, fitting. I felt it worked.

Carolyn: I actually loved that ending. We don’t always need to have a big flashy violent showdown. He fought hard, his body couldn't take it. It’s different and refreshing. I’m a fan.

Kara: After Kimimaro literally pulled out his own spine I was kind of too dazed to register anything else.

Personally, I always found it interesting how other characters were far more interesting than Naruto and Sasuke at times, and I think the growth of Gaara is a great example of that. How do you feel about Gaara now vs. when he first showed up?

Paul: Before, Gaara was a psychopathic but adorable baby murder cinnamon roll, and I loved him. Now he's a sympathetic but adorable baby murder cinnamon roll, and I still love him, only in a slightly different way. I'm really looking forward to seeing how he continues to develop as a character.

Kevin: Well, they were supposed to be designed after Goku and Vegeta, so Naruto being the most boring one might just be an extra faithful homage. As for Gaara, I don’t dislike that he’s mellowed out and is willing to cooperate with people, but I wish that we saw more of a gradual change instead of him just suddenly not being murderous because Naruto’s greatest jutsu is friendship.

Danni: I really liked seeing Gaara act more sympathetic to those around him. I don’t think he’s more interesting than Naruto yet, but I’m looking forward to seeing more of him.

Jared: As someone who was definitely a detractor of him before his turn, I’m enjoying seeing how he’s taken to heart some of the stuff Naruto told him and even throwing it back in the face of Kimimaro. I’m curious to see if he continues to be ever brooding throughout or if that part of him changes or not.

David: He’s definitely more interesting now than he was previously. I particularly enjoyed the scene between him and Lee as they just sort of chilled together under a tree’s shade after the fight with Kimimaro was over.

Joseph: I like Gaara but I don’t necessarily think he’s any more interesting than Naruto is. It’s too early to tell how his character will evolve from here, but I like what they’re doing with him.

Noelle: Gaara is one of my top faves, so I’m not going to pretend I don’t have a bias here. I think Naruto’s still pretty great and I wouldn’t say Gaara is more engaging than he is, but Gaara’s really made some strides. He’s taken the lessons he’s been given and learned from them, and he is becoming more of a complete person as a result. Also, that doesn’t stop his potential in a fight at all. You go, Gaara.

Carolyn: I still feel like there was no character growth here. He just showed up. He wanted to kill Rock Lee not that long ago and there was zero resolution to that. They just join forces out of nowhere.

Kara: I’m not sure how I feel re: character growth. I mean obviously there was some, because he’s not rocking back and forth in a ball of sand whispering to his mother. So, you know, good for him, clearly got some stuff sorted out for himself. I’d be interested to see what happened while we were looking the other way, though. Naruto doesn’t exactly fear flashbacks, so I have a feeling we’ll find out at some point.

  Speaking of character growth, Rock Lee has certainly had an interesting arc in these past few episodes. It feels good to see him back, if a bit fast, but since we probably won’t see him for a while, how do you feel about Lee’s send off here?

Paul: Way back in the write-up for episodes 50–56, I proposed that Rock Lee is the Mick Foley of the Naruto universe, in that he's kind of a dork, everybody loves him, and he gets the ever-living tar beat out of him every time he shows up. I have to add an additional way that Rock's trajectory resembles Mick's pro-wrestling career: he loses–dramatically–in all of his most important matches. I'd honestly like to see him win something for a change.

Kevin: To be perfectly honestly, my first thought after seeing the question was “wait, did Lee get a send off?”, so that’s probably not a good sign.

Danni: That was a send off???

Jared: If there’s not a filler arc that’s just Rock Lee getting up to shenanigans, I’m going to be very disappointed.

David: Such is the fate of tertiary Naruto characters.

Joseph: Poor Rock Lee. I love him but this was his least memorable set of episodes in my opinion. I second the “that was a send off?” question.

Noelle: In terms of canonical material (filler not included) I know this is going to be the last we see of Lee for a while. And that’s such a shame–Lee’s a good kid, and I could always take more Rock Lee.

Carolyn: Yeah, I wasn’t aware that was a send off either. I would have just seen that as any other side character episode. They are there sometimes and sometimes they are not.

Kara: Wait, where’s he going? No one told me he was going anywhere. Shoot. Now I’m going to go back and watch his drunken fighting and appreciate it harder.

So, here we are. Naruto vs. Sasuke. The big culmination of the recovery arc is about to occur… and… flashbacks. So, how do we feel about the secrets of the Uchiha clan, the Mangekyo Sharingan, and Itachi after these revelations?

Paul: If I'm reading this correctly, in order to master the ultimate Sharingan technique of the Uchiha clan, you have to murder someone (or multiple someones) that you love dearly. I get that, very ninja-esque. I still don't understand what motivates Itachi to pursue that level of power. That bit about him “testing his vessel” was just gibberish to me. I did like how they changed up some details in Sasuke's flashbacks, implying that Itachi's techniques have the ability to alter people's memories.

Kevin: I am continuing to try to not spoil too much about future events, so for now I’ll stick with this: I like that that a lot of things are getting explored. The Uchiha’s role in the village, what the Mangekyo Sharingan is, some kind of motivation for Itachi killing the clan. It’s all neat and whether you like the answers or not, at least there’s an answer instead of everything completely unexplained for the entire show. That being said… don’t get too attached to most of it.

Danni: I continue to eagerly anticipate how they try to flip it so that Itachi was actually the good guy all along.

Jared: No wonder Sasuke has become the way he is, Itachi and his dad surely didn’t help things. Itachi’s drive to being out of his mind with the vessel talk seemed odd, but having that kind of constant pressure on you to be the best, especially at a young age can cause you to break in bad ways.

David: I actually thought the flashbacks did a lot to make Itachi look like one of the most intelligent and reasonable characters in the whole show, a real role model for Sasuke. Of course, Itachi doesn’t end up finding the results he wants fast enough by working within the system, so he ends up choosing to burn the system itself to the ground instead. His stated reasoning isn’t just odd, it’s also at odds with everything he said leading up to it. How can he justify all this carnage for the sake of power, when one of the core tenets of his ideology beforehand was how badly power and the pursuit of it messes people up? As of now anyway, he doesn’t, and that leads Sasuke to taking all the wrong lessons from his big brother. But maybe there’s more to the story than we’ve gotten so far.

Joseph: I found the past of the Uchiha clan interesting, but wasn’t a huge fan of the way they structured it. I’d rather have a couple solid episodes exploring the backstory than peppering it so much throughout the buildup to the fight that it impacts the pacing. There’s still a ton of mystery to Itachi to dig into, though.

Noelle: My other fave is Itachi, and I very clearly remember how these episodes went down and just how revelatory they were to me. The Itachi we see in the flashbacks, where you can tell Sasuke genuinely loves and admires, compared to the fallout we see now, what a difference. Growing up in the Uchiha clan is really not the best place to be, huh.

Carolyn: This week is very, very flashback heavy. Generally, we get some flashbacks intermingled with fighting. This feels like it leans on the flashbacks a lot. I do feel like they are trying to set it up to appear that Itachi was secretly a good guy and we got him all wrong like this show likes to do.

Kara: I was thinking to myself all through this how there are basically no ninja clans that don’t have drama. Then I remembered, well, this is a society devoted to training (and occasionally modifying your body in horrifying ways) toward a single purpose, of course it’s gonna be a mess every day. I actually didn’t mind the flashbacks being peppered throughout. That’s a thing I know the show does, and it’s an interesting way to slow-release info at just the right time for things to land meaning-wise. It explains a lot, I’ll say that.

So, something that always bothered me: I kind of feel like Sasuke is being a brat. How do you all feel about this development in Sasuke’s character? I never really found myself sympathetic to his personality change.  

Paul: I agree that Sasuke is being a brat, but to me that seems less like a drastic change in character and more like a natural evolution given his motivations and back-story. The desire for revenge has been eating him alive from the very beginning, and no matter how many people reach out to him, Sasuke can't see past his own pain and his own rage. I pity him and I want him to find a better path, and that's good character writing.

Kevin: He didn’t really have any kind of personality change. It’s more that he’s always been power hungry in order to kill Itachi, and now he’s seen that he’s nowhere near strong enough and so is desperate to grow even more quickly no matter the risks. It honestly makes a lot of sense, especially now that we know his backstory better. It’s just a shame that he perpetually sounds like he’s ignoring everyone and throwing a tantrum instead of telling people why he’s leaving and/or asking other people for help, since strength in numbers is still strength.

Danni: I don’t quite see him as a brat. If anything I fail to understand why he’s chosen Orochimaru’s path towards strength. Surpassing his brother means nothing if he does so with borrowed power. Itachi got where he is all on his own. Shouldn’t Sasuke do the same?

Jared: I don’t think he ever really changed out of his revenge obsession, but just got to a point where he figured Orochimaru’s plan would be his easiest path to getting the power to take on Itachi. Although it was interesting during the fight with Naruto where he basically had to keep pumping himself up and telling himself that there’s no turning back from this, as if he has to constantly say that or everything just breaks for him.

David: I take contention with both the idea that Sasuke’s personality has changed as well as the idea that this isn’t Sasuke’s last resort. In regards to the former, Sasuke was literally introduced with the idea of revenge as not just his main but his only motivator; every instance we see of him even confiding in his teammates like with the tree-climbing exercise was ultimately another step toward that goal and not much else. Evolving from that, it is only natural that Sasuke would be enticed by something like Orochimaru’s proposed “easy button” of sorts for power. He has been trying to do what Itachi could for essentially his whole life, even before he hated Itachi, as this week’s flashbacks show. However, he has never had the innate talent Itachi did; Itachi tried to teach him that this might not even be a thing he should care so much about, but that lesson got thrown out the window when Itachi made Sasuke hate him and forget all about it. I think what I’m getting at here is that Sasuke hasn’t changed almost at all so far, but if we step back and look at everything we’ve learned about him, he is simply more complicated than we used to think.

Joseph: It’s all really tragic, especially when we get hints of the potential for change within Sasuke. He’s clearly wrestling with the fact that he’s found friends yet he’s a freight train with a single destination. Anything in the way gets plowed through completely, and it’s just kind of sad. I will say I never saw Naruto and Sasuke’s relationship with the sometimes rose-tinted glasses the flashbacks give it, but such is life.

Noelle: Sasuke is 100% a brat, but at the same time, his mental gymnastic routine isn’t one that’s unfathomable for his character. He’s always stated that his driving force is vengeance, something that comes from a truly negative place as opposed to a positive one, so is it really that strange that he’d end up going to extremes? I don’t think so. The seed was always there, and now it’s exploded into the worst venue possible. It makes sense.

Carolyn: The more I rewatch the more I wonder why I liked Sasuke in the first place. He’s such a punk.

Kara: When Sasuke said that line about “I’m special, too,” I was like… that’s it, that’s the character arc. Naruto spent all this time grumbling about how much people like Sasuke, but then he turned that into a reason to get better. I can understand Sasuke’s background and damage based on his family, but this whole being mad because people are more interested in Naruto’s tummy-fox than in Sasuke is childish.

So, we don’t see what happens in the battle yet this week, but how do you all think it's going to go? Who do you have as the winner? And does it even matter who wins, since it may be the end of this friendship?

Paul: Judging by the episode for next week entitled “The Promise That Could Not Be Kept” which features a thumbnail of Naruto covered in bandages, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Naruto gets his butt kicked. I wouldn't worry about the friendship ending. If Shonen Jump series have taught me anything, it's that yesterday's mortal enemies are tomorrow's super best friends.

Kevin: This is Naruto, the world will end before a friendship does. That being said, this is a battle where no matter the outcome, there is no winner. If Naruto takes Sasuke back to the village, it’ll only be by literally dragging him back. If Sasuke wins, Naruto fails everyone waiting for him to bring Sasuke back. If Kakashi intervenes, then the fight had basically no meaning since there is no actual conclusion. But if there is any conclusion, then one of them may well die (of course, we have a bit of clairvoyance on our side knowing that there are 90 more episodes and two sequel series with the name Naruto in the title, so the stakes are lowered a little).

Danni: My gut is telling me that Sasuke will get away in the end, but my brain is telling me that we have months of filler ahead of us and there’s no way Sasuke can just be gone for all of it. Do you really expect any of us to believe this friendship is over, though? Really???

Jared: I’m not really expecting a de facto winner to emerge here, but something to happen and Sasuke is able to continue on his path and Naruto goes the other way. Whether that’s by Kakashi interrupting the fight or they somehow double KO each other. It’s just weird to think as well because this is it before we go into fillerville and I don’t know how exactly you continue on from this type of encounter and leave out someone like Sasuke who’s going to have this brand new story and character arc.

Joseph: Whoever wins… WE win, because episode 133 was an all-timer and one of the most impressively animated fights of the series thus far. It’s a testament to Kishimoto’s character crafting just how emotional it all is, too. It really feels desperate and crucial.

Noelle: Siding with Joseph here- we, the audience are the true victors. I’m so excited to have this fight on my plate again.

Carolyn: Naruto has to win, right? I don’t think this is the end of their friendship, but maybe a super, duper, major strain on it.

Kara: Kakashi’s gonna drag both those dumb buttheads back to the village.

As always, what were the high and low points of this week’s batch?

Paul: My high point is the entirety of episode 133, where Naruto and Sasuke really lay into one another and the production values get cranked up to eleven. I especially liked that key beats in the fight, such as when Sasuke nearly burns Naruto to a crisp with his fire-breathing Jutsu, were played like horror movie beats rather than action movie ones. My low point was all of the recycled footage leading up to that point, as the extensive use of flashbacks often took me out of the moment.

Kevin: High - Naruto and Sasuke actually fighting in earnest. Not a specific moment, but the back and forth of each revealing new powers and giving the fight everything, even a better animation budget. Low - So, does the Leaf just not have law enforcement anymore? The Uchiha were the police force, and I don’t remember anyone ever mentioning the force in present day, nor mentioning the force being rebuilt after the Uchiha were wiped out. Maybe the Anbu took over, but that seems excessive and we would probably see a lot more cloaked figures in masks if that were the case.

Danni: The high point this week is easily the entire real fight between Naruto and Sasuke, no contest. The animation was stellar and my god the creative choreography in that fight was to die for. I could watch it over and over again. I want to say the low point was the multiple episodes of recap, but if that’s what it takes to get the amazing-looking fight we did, just lay the flashbacks on me, Pierrot.

Jared: High point is easily Naruto vs. Sasuke when it actually got going. It was phenomenal. Low point would probably be the constant tease to the fight with a bunch of flashbacks and what not, but in the end, it was well worth the wait.

David: My high point actually is the flashbacks, because of how much more interesting they made both Sasuke and Itachi, which is vital to making the entire conflict actually interesting. Low point is the suddenly deflated balloon that is the end of the Kimimaro fight. Poor dude.

Joseph: High point: Naruto vs. Sasuke for real in episode 133.

Low point: I think they could have condensed the flashbacks or structured them differently. It took me out of the buildup even though it was part of the buildup.

Noelle: High point, Sasuke’s backstory and how that resulted in a massive character breakdown. Also, Naruto vs Sasuke, give me that high-tier animation any day of the week. Low point, the pacing of the flashbacks, but that’s more of an arbitrary point. I really liked the content we got this week.

Carolyn: High point: Honestly that super surprising ending to Gaara’s fight. So original! Low point: Probably Sasuke’s jerk attitude. Chill out, man.

Kara: High point is the Naruto vs. Sasuke fight, as expected. Low point is Sasuke’s level-up lipstick. It’s not working for him. I’d have gone warmer tone.

  COUNTERS:

Ramen: 2 bowls Hokage: 0 Clones: 15 + 1 uncountable scene

  Total so far:

Bowls of Ramen: 44 bowls, 3 cups

“I'm Gonna be Hokage!”: 52

Shadow Clones Created: 367

  And that's everything for this week! Remember that you're always welcome to join us for this rewatch, especially if you haven't watched the original Naruto! Watch Naruto today!

  CATCH UP ON THE REWATCH!

Episodes 120-126: The Sand Siblings Return

Episodes 113-119: Operation Rescue Sasuke

Episodes 106-112: Sasuke Goes Rogue

Episodes 99-105: Trouble in the Land of Tea

Episodes 92-98: Clash of the Sannin

Episodes 85-91: A Life-Changing Decision

Episodes 78-84: The Fall of a Legend

Episodes 71-77: Sands of Sorrow

Episodes 64-70: Crashing the Chunin Exam

Episodes 57-63: Family Feud

Episodes 50-56: Rock Lee Rally

Episodes 43-49: The Gate

Episodes 36-42: Through the Woods

Episodes 29-35: Sakura Unleashed

Episodes 22-28: Chunin Exams Kickoff

Episodes 15-21: Leaving the Land of Waves

Episodes 8-14: Beginners' Battle

Episodes 1-7: I'm Gonna Be the Hokage!

  Here's our upcoming schedule:

- May 31st, NOELLE OGAWA will start us off on a journey back into the land of filler.

- June 7th, DAVID LYNN keeps us going as we get even deeper into filler.

- June 14th, PAUL CHAPMAN will detail in the depth of this sea of fillers.

  Thank you for joining us for the Great Crunchyroll Naruto Rewatch! Have a great weekend, and we'll see you all next time!

  Have anything to say about our thoughts on Episodes 127-133? Let us know in the comments! Don't forget, we're also accepting questions and comments for next week, so don't be shy and feel free to ask away!

  ----

Nicole is a features and a social video script writer for Crunchyroll. Known for punching dudes in Yakuza games on her Twitch channel while professing her love for Majima. She also has a blog, Figuratively Speaking. Follow her on Twitter: @ellyberries

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Z 019

Not a hoax, not a dream, not an alternate reality!   Goku finally meets King Kai in this episode.

Yeah, I’d be surprised too, if I were Goku.

When Goku first got here, he thought the monkey was King Kai, but no, it’s just King Kai’s pet Bubbles.   Bubbles, of course, was named after Michael Jackson’s pet chimpanzee.   I looked him up and apparently he’s still alive, although Jackson had to turn him over to an animal sanctuary in 2003 because he was getting to big and strong to keep as a pet.    I never knew this before.   I had heard of chimp owners getting viciously attacked and losing fingers, eyes, and faces, but I didn’t understand how it ever got to that point.   Apparently the chimpanzees that everyone thinks are cute are just young chimpanzees.    The adults are much bigger and more aggressive, to the point where humans just can’t control them.     At least in the case of Bubbles (the real-world chimp, I mean), it took twenty years for him to get to that point.  

Maybe that’s why people think they can keep them as pets in the first place.    They don’t realize that chimpanzees have such long lifespans.    A cat or a dog might die of old age before getting anywhere close to 20, but a chimpanzee is just reaching adulthood.    That’s nuts.   I’m 42.   If I adopted a baby chimpanzee right now, I’d be in my 60′s right around the time he’s old enough to dismember me and anyone else who tried to come to my aid.   That’s just insane.   No one needs to be doing that, I don’t care who you are.    I’ll bet you a dollar MJ probably waited too long to give up Bubbles, too.   It’s probably more like fifteen years and then you’re in moral peril.   

Like, big cats, that’s another stupid thing.  On paper, they pretty much act like house cats, maybe.   Even if that were true 100% of the time, they’re still huge.   A house cat will claw you for no good reason.   They’re assholes, but we keep them as pets because they’re small enough that they’re not dangerous.   If a lion got a little overeager at playtime, he’d probably disembowel you and not even realize he’d done it.  Oh he might feel real sad about it afterward, but you’re still dead.    I’ve encountered enough sketchy dogs in my lifetime that I wouldn’t want to mess around with anything bigger and less domesticated.  

You know what?   Horses are kind of bullshit too.   People act like they’re totally fine and you can sit on top of one and nothing’ll happen, but that’s insane.   Christopher Reeve knew what he was doing and look what happened to him.   Forget riding them, I don’t trust their giant teeth.   People hold food up to their mouths like it’s no big deal, but I bet a horse could bite your finger off and not even care.   You get stitches and have to re-learn how to hold a pen, and Mr. Ed probably gets put out to stud because “You just didn’t handle him right,” or whatever.   No.   Not me, pal.    I don’t hate horses.    They’re beautiful animals.   Steel Ball Run was great.   I just don’t want to be anywhere near one, for the same reason I don’t want to be anywhere near a minefield. 

Sorry, I got off on a tangent.   My point is that Michael Jackson took Bubbles to Japan for a world tour in 1987, and Wikipedia says Bubbles drank tea with the mayor of Osaka, so I’m betting that had something to do with King Kai’s pet monkey.    But I trust King Kai to have a pet monkey, because he’s super strong and Bubbles seems pretty chill.

Where was I?   Oh, right, King Kai’s super into puns, which seems to be a stable of Japanese humor, probably because there’s so many homonyms in the language.   None of this translates very well into English, which is why the subtitles rely on rhymes instead of puns, or just really, really bad puns.    The Funimation Dub just fell back on corny jokes, like “What’s the difference between a jailer and a jeweler?”   There’s puns incorporated into the jokes, but from what I can tell the Japanese version is strictly into wordplays without setups or punchlines.  

Goku has to fake laugh a lot around King Kai, because he threatens to not train him unless he has a sense of humor.   This is why puns suck, by the way.   Used sparingly, and with great care, they can be very funny, but too many people try to use brute force in place of comedic timing.   “Hey, baby, do you have 11 protons?   Because you’re sodium fine?”   The words “sodium” and “so damn” sound almost nothing alike, but they share exactly four letters, so someone decided it barely qualifies as a wordplay, but we all know that it really doesn’t.   The “joke” is actually that it’s not a very good joke at all, since the setup takes forever to execute, and it telegraphs the punchline, which requires a lot of mental gymnastics to even interpret as a punchline.   It doesn’t provoke laughter so much as a feeling of “Oh, I guess that is vaguely a word play, so it’s mildly clever.”    The real satisfaction of telling this is to irritate people.     You can either laugh at the joke and pretend it’s funny, or you can no-sell the joke and everyone gets a tickle out of how “humorless” you are, when no, it’s the joke’s fault for not being funny.   

What makes King Kai a funny character is that he’s the gag.   Humor is about reversing expectations, like when you read an anime liveblog and the guy starts ranting about how you can’t trust horses.   Goku was sent to train under this guy because he’s like the god of all the Kamis on every planet in the universe.    He’s supposed to be the best possible instructor there is.   Then Goku runs all this way to meet him and all he wants to do is talk about puns.    He sounds exactly like the narrator (or, if you’re watching it in English, he sounds like Goku doing a funny voice, which is also kind of freaky when you think about it.)  

But the biggest punchline is that he’s not even that powerful.  Oh, he’s stronger than Goku, sure, but the Saiyans heading for Earth are still stronger, so Goku will have to surpass King Kai just to stand a chance.   And it took Goku over six months just to get here.   He’s got 158 days to close the gap, and he just wasted ten minutes on a free comedy lesson.   The world is going to end.    But not yet.   One sells watches, the other watches cells.

First thing’s first, Goku needs to get acclimated to the intense gravity of King Kai’s planet.  As small as the planet is, the gravity is ten times that of Earth, which is why Goku is having such a hard time moving around.   But the other Saiyans all grew up on a planet with the same gravity, so it’s just as well that he get used to this now.   King Kai tells him to chase Bubbles around until he can catch him, and once he pulls that off, he’ll be ready to train in earnest.   

Goku struggles at first, but then he remembers to take off his weighted training clothes to make things easier.    He wasn’t even wearing those when he died, so it’s kind of weird that he got to keep them.   

Goku also asks for a meal, since he hasn’t eaten since Princess Snake’s place.  King Kai finds it unusual that a dead man would be hungry, which sort of makes me wonder about all the other Saiyans who have died.   Do they hunger, even without their bodies?   Best not to think about it. 

King Kai tells him to put his weighted gear back on, since it’ll make the training more effective.   Goku isn’t keen on that idea, but King Kai explains to him how dangerous the Saiyans are, and how he’ll need to do whatever it takes to defeat them.

But Goku’s not worried because he’s a Saiyan himself.   That... hasn’t exactly helped him so far, but I like his confidence.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, Piccolo is still training Gohan.    Gohan finally manages to score a blow on Piccolo, so I wanted to make note of it here.   Good hustle, Son.

BEST GREEN DAD

BEST GREEN UNCLE DAD

BEST GREEN DAD

BEST GREEN DAD

BEST GREEN DAD

In spite of Piccolo threatening to murder his father, Gohan tells him that Goku always used to say that the current Piccolo isn’t as bad a guy as the previous King Piccolo.   Gohan agrees with that sentiment.

So Piccolo gets all tsundere on him.    “I’m totally gonna kill your dad, b-baka!”

Back on King Kai’s planet, Goku indeed manages to catch Bubbles.    Even with the weighted training clothes on.   Good hustle, Son.

King Kai is impressed.   To overcome the gravity in just one day is remarkable in itself.

He even entertains the hope that Goku might be able to master the Kaio-ken technique.   But those beads of sweat on his head suggest that we’re a long way from a guarantee.

[recentanimenews]

Vegeta Breaks New Ground in Dragon Ball Super

The recent events in Dragon Ball Super have shown what may be a significant turning point for the Prince of all Saiyans, one that has been a long time coming. Even by the end of Dragon Ball Z, it would be an understatement to say Vegeta underwent a change of heart. Maybe he calmed with age, maybe Bulma is much scarier than we know, but Vegeta managed to transform himself from planetary conqueror to a defender of the Earth (and universe now) and father. Dragon Ball Super has continued on that trajectory in some satisfying ways, showing his growth as a father with both his present and future sons, but in one frustrating way he has remained the same.

While Vegeta’s arrogance is one character flaw that I don’t think we would want to see him dispense with, Super has recently isolated a weakness that has been holding him back. Ever since Goku first achieved Super Saiyan, Vegeta has been playing a game of catch-up, only momentarily surpassing Goku twice--first after his year spent in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber where he discovered Ascended Saiyan, then later when he compromised to become Majin Vegeta. None of his efforts to take what Goku has achieved and pass him by have ever earned Vegeta more than a momentary glimpse of first place. The series has fallen into a pattern of Goku achieving a new level of power, and Vegeta following after. Not a good look for someone who wants to be the undisputed best.

This came to a head in their battle against Jiren--having witnessed Goku achieve Ultra Instinct, Vegeta attempted to follow suit by testing his limits in a close-quarters battle with the strongest fighter from Universe 11. After carefully analyzing his movements, Vegeta went toe-to-toe and used his observations to fight Jiren on the razor’s edge of disaster, dodging each of his punches by a hairs breadth, forcing him focus to its absolute limits in order to unlock whatever limiter Goku had surpassed to attain the same power. It didn’t exactly work out.

Vegeta did a very Vegeta-like thing, followed by a very un-Vegeta-like thing: when his Ultra Instinct gambit failed and Jiren attacked Vegeta’s pride, the prince lost his cool and doubled down on his flawed strategy, risking everything in an all-out, last-ditch Final Flash--an act which, historically, hasn’t found a lot of success.

History repeated itself.

Although Vegeta had abandoned his pursuit of Ultra Instinct and his full-power blast had failed, Vegeta didn’t fall into shock or despair as he had against opponents like 18 or Cell (although it did take a while before he could stand up). Rather than be shaken, he showed a new kind of belligerent stubbornness in resolving to find his own path to awakening a new power. Goku, realizing something was different this time, bought Vegeta enough time to get back on his feet and was rewarded when Vegeta broke through his limits to discover something new.

It’s appropriate that Goku could see that Vegeta was on the edge of a revelation since he has been the one constantly making his own discoveries. The barrier separating Vegeta and Goku in the past has been their approach to accruing strength. Goku forges ahead, focusing entirely on his own improvement while Vegeta took his cues from Goku, attempting to replicate what he had done for himself. Not a great strategy--not only because following in another’s path would prevent Vegeta from ever forging new ground himself, but also because he was using what worked for someone else when, classically, he and Goku just don’t fight very similarly.

Vegeta’s problem was elegantly mirrored in the same episode with Gohan and 17’s struggles against Toppo. Gohan’s attempt to sync up with 17’s attacks result in both of them taking a beating, and 17 advised Gohan not to try combination attacks since they require a great deal of work to master, suggesting both of them should just focus on what they’re good at. Gohan had been inhibiting his own abilities to match up with 17 and, as a consequence, was hindering them both by not fighting at his maximum potential. Rather than conform to 17’s style, he needed to stick to his own strengths.

Vegeta finally takes this lesson to heart. During his power, he also recalls his promise to resurrect the Saiyans of Universe 6, his responsibility as their prince. Rather than defending his pride, he contemplates the foundation upon which it rests. Vegeta achieves his own yet-to-be-named power-up above Super Saiyan Blue. The new look is a wonderful visual bookend to the moment in Dragon Ball Z where he first surpassed Goku, appearing as a Blue equivalent of Ascended Saiyan (plus some aura sparkles) with increased hair size and musculature. Although the specifics of the power-up are unknown, if any, just its appearance indicates that it is a power that is Vegeta’s alone, obtained by himself and for himself.

  Vegeta certainly couldn’t have picked a better moment for a ground-breaking revelation to achieve a new level of power. The stakes couldn’t be higher, only six minutes away from mutually assured destruction against the strongest opponent they’ve ever faced, with Toppo waiting in the wings if their allies are unable to take him down. The existence of their universe hangs in the balance, which is a considerable amount of pressure required to help Vegeta finally come to any sort of self-reflective personal conclusion. The event shows that the Super isn’t content to keep the same story beats, and is continuing to evolve and grow the world of Dragon Ball.

---

Peter Fobian is Features and Reviews Editor for Crunchyroll, author of Monthly Mangaka Spotlight, writer for Anime Academy, and contributor at Anime Feminist. You can follow him on Twitter @PeterFobian.

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com