I know Dragon Ball Super is going to have epic fights in the next few episodes. Since this is an Anime First production (well, technically speaking), I wonder how they are going to be paced.
So, I just finished the Buu saga, most of which I hadn't seen and I have a few thoughts on it.
- It's a shame that the only fighter in Otherworld who could even come close to matching up with Goku was Pikkon. There was a lot of potential in the Otherworld Tournament idea.
- I wish the Great Saiyaman wasn't so hated. I really liked that concept.
- Gohan trying to be normal is very funny.
- I used to not like Videl, because most of what I saw of her was out of context, but she's actually my favorite female character in the show.
- I honestly find Mister Satan to be pretty funny.
- Supreme Kai really rubbed me the wrong way when he was first introduced.
- Supreme Kai accidentally gave Babidi half of the energy he needed to revive Buu. Whoops.
- Piccolo and Krillin get turned to stone almost immediately after they arrive. It's great to see they're there just to prove the situation to be serious.
- Vegeta takes out Pui Pui no sweat. It's not like we had other characters that could have fought such a comparative weakling, even if that's all they did. Oh, Wait!.
- 18 is awesome.
- Babidi really gets on my nerves.
- Why would a being who eats light live on a planet in perpetual darkness?
- VEGETA, NO!
- Wow, Goku was going to attack Supreme Kai if he couldn't fight a fight that would endanger the world?
- I will say, Vegeta and Goku's fight was really good.
- Babidi really gets on my nerves.
- Wow Goku, Genre Blind much?
- Goten and Trunks are Actually Pretty Funny together.
- Thank you Piccolo for cutting Babidi in half.
- Vegeta sacrificing himself was really well done and poignant and that is the point in the series where I actually started liking Vegeta unironically.
- Wait, I get how Buu survived the explosion, but how did Babidi?
- Babidi really gets on my nerves.
- Wow, what Buu did to everyone is just as horrible as what Cell did to everyone, and he didn't even know what he's doing is bad.
- Babidi really gets on my nerves.
- Huh, Babidi apparently got on Buu's nerves as well. Goodbye, shithead.
- Gotenks really gets on my nerves.
- Why is everyone still outside when 2/3 of the population is dead?
- That scene with Buu and the blind boy is one of my favorites from this saga, weirdly enough.
- Mister Satan trying to convince others and himself that he can take Buu is pretty great.
- Buu and Satan becoming friends is really sweet.
- Huh, I think this is the first time I saw bullets actually played for drama in this series.
- Old Kai is a huge asshole.
- Damn, Goten and Trunks are pretty dumb, even for kids. Get in the time chamber already!
- Gotenks vs Super Buu is Actually Pretty Funny.
- I heard someone say that Gotenks is Genre Savvy. No. No he is not.
- Hey, Mystic Gohan is finally here. Cool.
- How does Piccolo not hear that Buu thing that's sneaking up on him? It's making a really loud squelching sound.
- Super Buu with Gotenks and Piccolo absorbed is probably my least favorite villain.
- I love how Mystic Gohan was relevant for all of ten minutes before he got his shit kicked in.
- What would a fusion between Mister Satan and Goku be called? Saku?
- Vegetto really gets on my nerves.
- Oh thank God, he's finally split up.
- I've heard someone say that Vegeta destroying the Potara earring was a stupid move, but honestly, do you think Vegeta would want to not be Vegeta anymore and share a body with Kakarot?
- Goku and Vegeta's shenanigans inside of Buu are pretty entertaining.
- Heh heh, "Buu who".
- Ah, thank God Super Buu is no more.
- Wow, Kid Buu doesn't fuck around.
- Why would you save a guy you barely know and another guy you barely know over your sons and second-best friend, Goku?
- Kid Buu vs SSJ 3 Goku is pretty awesome.
- Yay, Good Buu is back!
- Vegeta giving up everything and admitting Goku was better than he was is a great part.
- Huh, Namek is still a thing.
- Vegeta's plan with a lot of help from Mr. Satan was great.
- That was probably my favorite showdown in the series.
- Goku, Vegeta, and Mr. Satan meeting back up with everyone was really nice.
- Majin Buu vs robbers was pretty funny.
- Just use your instant transmission with the egg, Goku. Jeez, what an idiot.
- Whoever voiced Pan did a worse job than whoever voiced Marron.
- Even though Uub only got like ten minutes of screentime, I still liked him a lot.
- Yep, that settles it, Vegeta is a better husband and father than Goku is.
When I said Gotenks was Genre Savvy, I guess I meant he was more Wrong Genre Savvy. It's like Toriyama took the tropes overused in Dragon Ball and decided to just make fun of them.
The Buu Saga is self-parody. It really is.
The *Legendary* Super Saiyan is motivated by a crying infant! He is a literal giant f***ing baby!![]()
I suppose that's true.
He thinks that Talking Is a Free Action, after all.
edited 8th Jul '15 9:20:04 PM by BaconManiac5000
what do you mean I didn't win, I ate more wet t-shirts than anyone elseAnd he uses Calling His Attacks, AND he tries to invoke Heroic Second Wind, only for Piccolo to not get it at all.
The *Legendary* Super Saiyan is motivated by a crying infant! He is a literal giant f***ing baby!Yeah, I noticed that. It certainly was a lot better after the Boo arc had him like "oh, you slacked off and Vegeta's giving you endless amount of shit for it? I'll just silently express my disappointment for you".
Consider this:
Gohan choosing to never train again and to have nothing to do with the martial arts means that he chooses to have nothing to do with his father, since the martial arts are his father's life.
himitsu keisatsu seifu chokuzoku kokka hoanbu na no da himitsu keisatsu yami ni magireru supai katsudou torishimariGotan in Japan, Gokule in English. The character has been playable in some of the video games, most notably Budokai 2 and Dragon Ball Heroes.
That's more or less how I took it. Goku's been pretty consistent about wanting Gohan to be a fighter all throughout the series. That's not being a Bad Dad, that's just fathering; it's not uncommon for parents to expect their children to follow in their footsteps.
I think Gohan getting boosted back up to the strongest in the universe and then still failing to get the job done was the straw that broke the camel's back as far as Goku's parental expectation that Gohan will succeed him as the ultimate fighter of the universe. Gohan's never going to be the guy that relishes punching stronger and stronger foes, and Goku has finally made peace with that.
Having done so, he can now be supportive of whatever Gohan chooses to do in life that's more important than being a great fighter like his dad.
edited 9th Jul '15 6:47:40 AM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Gods vs Gods, Time Patrolers vs Time Breakers, a new trailer for DBH God Mission 3!
The trailer officially reveals the Supreme Kai avatars, Supreme Kai of Time, SSJ Time Patrol Trunks, SSJ Time Patrol Bardock, Towa, Time Breaker Majins
◊, Devilmen
◊, and General Bon of the Red Pants Army
◊.
Also, a new special ability for characters... TOKI WO TOMARE! The ability to stop time for long combos!
Also also, the secret cards for God Mission 3 are speculated to be a playable version of True Form Mira and SSJ3 Time Patrol Bardock.
edited 9th Jul '15 9:50:32 AM by Rinsankajugin
Wasn't stopping time from a different anime?
...I would say Roshi should get with the times
but that would involve approving of Roshi's habits.
...I mean, at least it's presumably better than actually sexually harassing people. Assuming the actresses are consenting adults.
Except he still does that anyway so nevermind.
Hype train!
Woo!
...Now I wish Goku was voiced by James Earl Jones.
edited 9th Jul '15 10:47:36 AM by unnoun
Regrettably, if Android 18 has to Stay in the Kitchen, there was never any hope for Videl.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.I mean.
Part of it is also just personality.
I've not seen Resurrection F yet so I can't say entirely about how that's all handled and presented.
I mean, yeah, just the description is messed up, but. There's different degrees of messed up.
Changing a character's entire established personality is pretty messed up.
...One of the things with Videl is that she actually likes to fight. She's seriously competitive about things. It's something of a major difference between her and Gohan.
The way the female DBZ characters all tend to gravitate towards "housewife" in terms of personality is really really frustrating.
...I wonder whether the Battle of Gods and Resurrection F arcs in Super will be handled differently. I mean, the pacing of a x-episode anime is always going to be different than a movie. Not necessarily better or worse mind, but different.
EDIT: Also, I want someone to comment on the Chillin out one.
I'm proud of that joke dammit.
EDIT: So are Gohan's vision problems going to be a thing?
Like, can he have issues in a fight because he's having trouble seeing?
Like, I know the characters don't rely as much on vision because of energy sensing, but.
edited 9th Jul '15 10:35:21 AM by unnoun
I agree that they shouldn't forget that Videl is a fighter herself.
It's getting a little frustrating, like Toriyama has no clue what to do with his female characters, so to the Kitchen they go.
Admittedly, not enough has happen to indicate she's no longer fighting at all, but still, it doesn't look good.
Funny thing, I was thinking about the 18 thing, and I just came up with a potential in-universe justification (that they could have used):
18 doesn't give off Ki. Which means if she ran with Marin (who's likely so weak as to be barely noticeable) she'd never be found. It's actually another reason why she's a better choice to protect Marin than Krillin (though massively flimsy one still).
Of course, this banks on Frieza sending out goons to hunt them, when we know he'll just nuke the whole planet, but in the event he doesn't, it's not a bad idea.
As usual, I'm desperately trying to fix something that can't be fixed. Rob never gives up, and unfortunately, never learns.
One Strip! One Strip!Thinking about it now, seeing Videl in the Z filler and seeing her in Super is pretty eye-opening. She's so dainty now.
What a positive illustration. Teenage girl who likes to fight doesn't after getting beaten by a fully grown man, then grows into a responsible, petite, and healthy mother.
Really progressive Dragonball.
I'M MR. MEESEEKS, LOOK AT ME!![]()
He probably wouldn't.
That being said, if by some miracle, he didn't destroy the entire planet outright, he'd be hunting down the population to purge it (I'd assume he'd still try and sell the planet).
18 is powerful, and can't be detected, so she'd catch a lot of the guards off guard (and if Krillin taught her to sense ki, she'd have an even easier time getting ahead of them, or picking her fights wisely if she had to fight).
And Maron's ki is likely so low, that even if they did track her, as you said, it'd be hard to pick her out of a crowd or anything.
Lets' not grab the Torches and Pitchforks quite yet. I have my doubts too, but we might still be reminded that Videl is pretty capable.....
Of course, she's human, so that's not too likely to happen, but still.
edited 9th Jul '15 11:04:33 AM by HandsomeRob
One Strip! One Strip!The problem with wanting the humans to be fighters is that they're so damn weak that there isn't a thing they can do. Goku, Vegeta, and Gohan are so powerful that they can kill any enemy that any given human fighter could defeat but just looking at them hard enough (and they don't even have to use eye beams). Same goes with Android 18. They can still be important to the plot in various ways but they can never be truly important to a fight.
If you want Videl to do something important in a fight, you'd have to write out literally every other combatant in the series. Hell, Master Roshi can probably defeat her on the basis that she's never done any super human training beyond ki control.
edited 9th Jul '15 11:14:12 AM by Zelenal
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See, I think you're conflating two very different things here.
It's one thing for a female character to not be able to fight with the rest. Or even for there to be no female characters on an even playing field with the rest of the cast.
It's another thing altogether to make a female character that was all about aggression be suddenly cutesy and submissive. To make a character that was all about fighting and competition suddenly give that up in order to live at home and cook and clean and buy things.
Like, either can be somewhat problematic, but they're both different types of problematic and thinking of them as interchangeable does nothing to help anyone.
Also, 18 is stronger than anyone that isn't a Saiyan or Piccolo.
For example, Videl is probably one of the characters in the series most likely to try to train during peace-time. Not even because she wants to be the strongest, or because she can be the strongest, but just because it seemed like she likes it.
That's literally what her and Gohan's relationship is founded on for fuck's sake.
She wanted to know about another fighter, and she wanted to learn the cool things he could do.
The sort of job I can imagine Videl having is to work at her dad's gym or start her own. I can imagine her trying to keep up the crime fighting or superheroing thing.
Possibly being a police detective or private investigator. I mean, she did a fairly good job at investigating Gohan.
edited 9th Jul '15 11:25:26 AM by unnoun

About the same as one Yen. So big numbers in Zeni aren't as much as you think they are.
The *Legendary* Super Saiyan is motivated by a crying infant! He is a literal giant f***ing baby!