Then we are in agreement.
Huzzah!
As for her infinite energy, I suppose you're right. Once Piccolo powered himself up, he fought 17 equally, and as he pointed out (in the dub at least) if 17 made a mistake, he was done for.
Of course, Piccolo was at a bigger disadvantage, but still.
Come to think of it, I think I asked this before, but how many equally (or at least close to equal battles) have their been in Dragon Ball?
Most of them are curb stomp battles of one form or another, but outside of Piccolo vs 17, not many battles are made out to be completely evenly matched.
One Strip! One Strip!I'm more upset about Videl being a housewife than I am 18 anyway.
I mean. Strength isn't something 18 cares about. Neither is fighting. She's about doing and taking whatever she wants because she can. And her family. Even as an antagonist. Now that there are people stronger than her, she can't just steal shit and kill people, so.
With Videl.
I mean, she worked with the police a lot. 7 percent of Japan's police force are women, and currently they're planning to expand that and increase that percentage. The JSDF has had female members for a long time.
I could see Videl being a detective. I can't see her staying at home, cooking and cleaning and child rearing.
I can't see 18 doing that either, but. I mean, I imagine her liking to take care of Marron but not really anything else.
She liked her brother and 16. So family matters to her.
Fair enough.
Unfortunately, Videl is a completely normal human in a series where such characters are completely irrelevant (hell, Toriyama revealed the Earthlings of Universe 6 wiped themselves out, because that's how much he cares about them).
Not that you aren't right that there are things she could still do that don't involved fighting earth shaking threats and all, but she ran into the DBZ's glass ceiling before she even appeared on the show.
One Strip! One Strip!I like Krillin and 18 a lot and I liked her tournament subplot. I feel like Krillin spared her not because she was hot, well, not just because she was hot, but because she hadn't really done anything wrong. He was being asked to kill an innocent to defuse a greater threat.
Krillin gets a subplot about being a cop. Being a cop fits better with Videl what with her being a vigilante who contacted and was endorsed by the police chief and was seemingly on good terms with them.
I mean. The thing is that the standard model of "man works woman takes care of home and family" is increasingly breaking down even in Japan partly because more and more women want more out of life but probably mostly because it just isn't as economically viable anymore.
Like, I don't expect or even want Videl to become SUPER SAIYAN INFINITY GOD SQUARED and then suplex the potara fusion of Whis and Vados into the sun. But I definitely don't want her to go from a feisty spitfire and tomboy whose entire character was about wanting to be the strongest into a submissive housewife who does nothing but take care of her kid.
Like. Not even that that's bad in and of itself necessarily. Like. I can sorta see it with 18 because she tends to be apathetic a lot. I can't see 18 pursuing a career because I can't imagine her giving enough of a damn.
Her motivations as an antagonist were a combination of brainwashing/programming, care for her brother, and boredom. She ditched the programming, and traded the brother for a husband and daughter, but. There's still the boredom.
And. I mean, I actually like Krillin and 18! I ship it! I think they're cute together! I liked their relationship in the Buu Saga!
But. Like, Videl falling into the housewife trap infuriates me.
Although. Oddly enough it actually seems like Bulma's managed to avoid it mostly. In hindsight.
edited 20th Mar '16 8:50:39 AM by unnoun
Videl is a completely normal human in a series where such characters are completely irrelevant
That's only because of the scope Toriyama himself chose.
If the narrative was ever willing to drift away from the Saiyans for a while, ah ha ha ha ha ha excuse me that was a good one, then there should be plenty of smaller scale conflicts for the other characters to engage into. Batman stories can take place in the same universe as Superman's without us having to wonder at each turn "Why isn't Superman just swooping down to knock the Penguin out with a flick of his finger?'
The thing is that the standard model of "man works woman takes care of home and family" is increasingly breaking down even in Japan partly because more and more women want more out of life but probably mostly because it just isn't as economically viable anymore.
Well, most of anime aims at children, who aren't that aware of shifting complex social changes yet, and otaku, who are naturally introverted, less likely to make lasting contact with women, and tend to objetify females in the first place.
edited 20th Mar '16 8:52:39 AM by NapoleonDeCheese
The otaku thing really is a problem. There's actually been a documented increase in sexism and other things that put off western audiences in anime and other Japanese entertainment due to pandering to otaku more. If you have a bit of spare time you can read about it here
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Children that are watching anime where daddy works and mommy doesn't are capable of noticing when their mommy and daddy both work, or when their mommy works and daddy doesn't. Or they just have a mommy, or just a daddy, or two mommies or two daddies. And any combination of who does or doesn't work.
So while you may be right that children may not be aware of large social trends in an abstract sense, quite a lot of kids would be quite aware of it in a personal sense.
As for otakus. I mean, I am given to understand that that subculture is also changing and dying down, albeit to a lesser extent. And the industry is in some ways trying to preserve it because it has been profitable and they don't want to change their business model.
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Really interesting, actually, yeah.
Maybe forget what I said about the otaku subculture shrinking.
I mean. I think, given that people don't have as much money it is shrinking, but not for the better.
edited 20th Mar '16 9:04:30 AM by unnoun
Otaku are pretty powerful as consumers of entertainment at the moment. As the article states, this is due to a combination of Japan having both a declining economy and a declining birthrate. For the former, the spending power of non-creepy people has decreased, while it's remained about the same for otaku, making them the more lucrative market. For the second, there aren't nearly as many young people in Japan as there used to be; the stuff the kids and teens were buying in the '90s and aughts is now going to twentysomething Man Children.
Think about it, however: the ones who run the creative establishment, both in the actual creative and financial sides, are mostly males of a certain age (especially in the financial area). And coming from a more traditional Japanese society that spawned them decades ago, any change that transpires right now in the younger target audience will still be delayed for a while until it reaches them and they are willing to accept it.
I mean, the economic and birth rate stuff is related.
As a general rule, in agrarian economies you want more kids, because the more kids you have the more hands there are to work on the farm, the more work gets done and the more food you have and the more money you make.
In more industrialized and service based economies, children are pretty much only an economic drain. Especially for women.
....See, joke or not, I now totally want this to happen.
As for the Otaku stuff, that's pretty bothersome. I didn't read the article, but I can see the trends that have been defining anime as of late.
One Strip! One Strip!Coming back to Dragon Ball, yeah, Videl becoming a housewife is really fucking stupid. Why is she not The Great Saiyawoman, again? I mean, I think it'd be better if she was still just Videl being, well, Videl ('cause the people she loves can bench press planets or have an Eldritch Abomination of unimaginable power at their beck and call, she doesn't need no silly secret identity), but Videl really should've stayed a Vigilante, maybe even graduated into a full blown Super Hero once she learned the ki stuff.
It's not like she's in any danger. There's literally zero downsides for her becoming a super hero - not even from the economic standpoint because her father is rich as balls.
himitsu keisatsu seifu chokuzoku kokka hoanbu na no da himitsu keisatsu yami ni magireru supai katsudou torishimariAlso, Videl's spent her entire life with servants there is no way she knows how to cook anymore than Bulma does.
Gohan might know a little bit about cooking, he had to help raise Goten.
As far as I know we've never seen Videl cook, and the one time she tried Gohan did it instead, so I'm going to headcanon that she's really bad at it.
I like that painting.
Nice decoration.
edited 20th Mar '16 10:05:16 AM by unnoun
Its basically Anime filler, but that hasn't stopped Toei from adding it before.
And yea, it is kinda sad how she's had all of her character sucked out of her just to become a generic housewife. I don't even care about the sexism crap, its just making a character extremely boring in my eyes.
A lazy millennial who's good at what he does.Yeah, I don't think Krillin gets more focus because he's a man. I probably has more to do with the fact that he's one of most important characters in the series, while 18 was a part of trio of speed bump villains who got almost immediately upstaged by a bigger villain. If she wasn't paired with Krilin she would fade into obscurity after Cell saga, like her brother did.
So the situation is less "a man gets more focus than a woman" and more "an established character gets more focus than a less established one."
She was also Great Saiyawoman in the anime, during the post-Buu-pre-Uub episodes.
Long live Cinematech. FC:0259-0435-4987Yeah. Krillin has been around a long time. Though that doesn't always mean Toriyama will stick with you.
Krillin and Bulma are still more or less important, while other characters who've been around almost as long as them or longer are tossed to the way side. It all depends on if Toriyama has anything he wants to do with you (or in the case of Vegeta, how popular you are), and if he likes you.
And just for random bitterness, I'm still pissed that Buu never got a chance to fight in the Tournament. What was even the point of bringing him?
edited 20th Mar '16 12:07:20 PM by HandsomeRob
One Strip! One Strip!The Great Saiyawoman was filler, but I don't know why that's important - I literally asked why she wasn't the Great Saiyawoman, implying that it was a good idea that I thought should have been in the manga.
himitsu keisatsu seifu chokuzoku kokka hoanbu na no da himitsu keisatsu yami ni magireru supai katsudou torishimari

It's not about 18 being the focus. It's about her getting any focus. Make the relationship feel more equal.
And the movie being stupid does matter when it was written straight from Toriyama to illustrate a cute scene between Kuririn and 18. It is extremely important context when looking at his own mentality in putting them together.
edited 20th Mar '16 7:54:12 AM by Saiga