Episode 1 review here if you missed it- http://scottynewton.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/a-worthy-return-to-tv-for-dragonball.html
After last week's lacklustre return into the realm of TV for Dragonball, anticipation and expectations were high for this week's follow up, titled 'Vegeta's Family Trip.' A lot of my criticism for last week's episode was that although it was a fun romp and did a good job of getting each of the character's unique personalities right, it did little to set up an enticing new series. Will episode two rectify this and put it down to growing pains? Or is this the direction we can expect for the rest of the series?
Dragonball Super Episode 2 Review
Super Saiyan Dad
After his absence in the last episode, this week the main focus (or at least the first half) is, as the title suggests, on Vegeta and a family outing. Vegeta is having a family trip with Bulma and Trunks, going shopping, to the fair, at a restaurant and ending up at.... a rave? Honestly this is one of the funniest sections seen yet in any Dragonball episode or film, with Vegeta's stubbornness and arrogance in full force and seeing him in his nightmare situations. From the initial reveal that he has chosen to stand on top of Bulma's plane rather than inside it to his vendetta with octopi to his final explosion at the rave. It's so Vegeta. I'm just surprised he didn't go Super Saiyan 3. This was a sequence that had me laughing the whole way through and so much better than the funnier-on-paper karaoke section of Battle of Gods.
The art of the foreshadow
Vegeta's storming out halfway through the episode marks the abrupt end of his family outing and from here the epodes crumbles worse than Yamcha at the World Martial Arts Tournament. Are we seriously going to run with more setting up Beerus as the main antagonist? Really? Beerus destroys another planet and the Supreme Kai world shudders at the fact that the God of Destruction has woke up. Don't worry guys, just watch Battle of Gods or the recently released Resurrection 'F' films like the rest of us have and you'll see that Beerus is nothing to be afraid of SO STOP MAKING THIS YOUR HOOK. Beerus has a premonition of a warrior who could be on par with him, a potentially interesting setup. What if this was a legendary, ancient warrior, from one of the previously mentioned parallel universes, with unfathomable power, who was being set up to as the real villain of the series? Good thinking, series! You had me worried tha..... oh no, it's just setting up Super Saiyan God, which we have seen in TWO MOVIES already with its ascended form.
Dragonball Filler
My main concern with Dragonball Super is that it's starting to just feel like a fan service filler series. If they were to continue Dragonball Kai (the re-release of Z that cut out all filler) into this arc, these first two episodes would be cut out and that isn't acceptable for the first two episodes of a series. So far we have got nothing more in terms of story than the Goku and Piccolo learn to drive episode. Fun, yes. Progression? No. Hey remember, that one line in Dragonball Z where Vegeta and Trunks are training and Vegeta promises to take him to an amusement park? Well let's make that! Let's not. We're going to end up with an episode of the origin of Vegeta's pink Badman shirt at this stage.
Animation on a budget
The actual animation in this episode also adds to the feel of a filler episode. Constant static images are used instead of actual animation, as if this was hashed together at the last minute to fill a gap and again, this is the second episode so that shouldn't be the intention. Now I know a lot of shows do this, Attack on Titan being one, but there are so many during Vegeta's trip that it feels like watching a Powerpoint presentation. The throwbacks to the already mentioned Dragonball Z training scene where Vegeta actually makes his promise and sets up this episode is a nice touch for nostalgia reasons, but again feels like a cop out and filler-y, as we want to see new animation. Lastly, I mentioned in the last review about there being a random monster with a horribly bad skin texture. Well his brother has popped up in this episode. A dinosaur that looks like he was coloured in Microsoft Paint.
Conclusion
Overall episode two provides one of the most genuinely funny moments in Dragonball and once again, the series is continuing to nail the personalities of the characters, but once again it is missing the tone and the point. There is no danger and no suspense, wasting time by teasing 'villains' and premonitions of a fighter that we have now seen in two movies. Admittedly, if Super came out before Battle of Gods and Resurrection 'F', my reviews would be saying that we have something special on our hands but alas, they're products of their time. Look at the first episodes of Dragonball Z. We have Raditz, a (back then) baddass, villain who even has Piccolo spooked, Goku's new son, the revelation that Goku is actually an alien called Kakarot who was meant to destroy Earth and that he's actually Raditz's brother....... Damn I'm off to watch Dragonball Z now!
Score: 2 Star Ball
(out of 7)
After last week's lacklustre return into the realm of TV for Dragonball, anticipation and expectations were high for this week's follow up, titled 'Vegeta's Family Trip.' A lot of my criticism for last week's episode was that although it was a fun romp and did a good job of getting each of the character's unique personalities right, it did little to set up an enticing new series. Will episode two rectify this and put it down to growing pains? Or is this the direction we can expect for the rest of the series?
Dragonball Super Episode 2 Review
Super Saiyan Dad
 |
| That's so Vegeta |
The art of the foreshadow
 |
| Have you not seen your own movies, Whis? We have. |
Dragonball Filler
 |
| This throwaway line became the script for episode two? |
My main concern with Dragonball Super is that it's starting to just feel like a fan service filler series. If they were to continue Dragonball Kai (the re-release of Z that cut out all filler) into this arc, these first two episodes would be cut out and that isn't acceptable for the first two episodes of a series. So far we have got nothing more in terms of story than the Goku and Piccolo learn to drive episode. Fun, yes. Progression? No. Hey remember, that one line in Dragonball Z where Vegeta and Trunks are training and Vegeta promises to take him to an amusement park? Well let's make that! Let's not. We're going to end up with an episode of the origin of Vegeta's pink Badman shirt at this stage.
Animation on a budget
 |
| Er, this doesn't look good. |
The actual animation in this episode also adds to the feel of a filler episode. Constant static images are used instead of actual animation, as if this was hashed together at the last minute to fill a gap and again, this is the second episode so that shouldn't be the intention. Now I know a lot of shows do this, Attack on Titan being one, but there are so many during Vegeta's trip that it feels like watching a Powerpoint presentation. The throwbacks to the already mentioned Dragonball Z training scene where Vegeta actually makes his promise and sets up this episode is a nice touch for nostalgia reasons, but again feels like a cop out and filler-y, as we want to see new animation. Lastly, I mentioned in the last review about there being a random monster with a horribly bad skin texture. Well his brother has popped up in this episode. A dinosaur that looks like he was coloured in Microsoft Paint.
Conclusion
Overall episode two provides one of the most genuinely funny moments in Dragonball and once again, the series is continuing to nail the personalities of the characters, but once again it is missing the tone and the point. There is no danger and no suspense, wasting time by teasing 'villains' and premonitions of a fighter that we have now seen in two movies. Admittedly, if Super came out before Battle of Gods and Resurrection 'F', my reviews would be saying that we have something special on our hands but alas, they're products of their time. Look at the first episodes of Dragonball Z. We have Raditz, a (back then) baddass, villain who even has Piccolo spooked, Goku's new son, the revelation that Goku is actually an alien called Kakarot who was meant to destroy Earth and that he's actually Raditz's brother....... Damn I'm off to watch Dragonball Z now!
Score: 2 Star Ball
(out of 7)
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