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xb-squaredx · 2 months

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A Tribute to Akira Toriyama

It’s been a bit over 24 hours since I’ve heard the news that acclaimed manga author, Akira Toriyama, has passed away, and frankly it’s still hard to process. I’d like to just say a few things to honor and mourn a man that I have never met, but whose work touched me and millions of others all over the world in ways I am only now really beginning to see.

Like a lot of 90s kids in the United States, my first exposure with Toriyama’s work was through the Dragon Ball Z anime. Despite the fact that I didn’t even know this was a sequel to a completely different series, and I had no real clue what anime even was at the time, I was captivated. For years I would race home from school and sit glued in front of the TV as Toonami would air the latest episodes. A phenomenon that rippled out across the world for several years in waves, from the original airing of DBZ, to some snippets of the original Dragon Ball and even later on with the anime-only continuation that was Dragon Ball GT, this series had such a hold on me. Friends and I would spend recess trying to recreate the iconic Kamehameha Wave, we’d scream trying to become a Super Saiyan, or take turns fighting each other in one of the MANY different video games based on the series over time. I’ve made friends through my love of Dragon Ball and it would go on to foster a love of anime and later manga. But little did I know just how far Toriyama’s influence would reach.

While I was never all that knowledgeable of his past work, particularly Dr. Slump, so many other series would be inspired by him or have his involvement in some way. Sonic the Hedgehog’s Super Sonic is an easy reference to spot, but less so was Cloud Strife’s garb in Final Fantasy VII being a dead ringer for Gohan’s outfit in the Cell Saga. As long as we’re talking about RPGs, Toriyama’s long history with various properties, from Chrono Trigger to Blue Dragon, and going back to the grandfather of all RPGS in Dragon Quest, it’s safe to say his legacy is felt in multiple mediums rather than just one. This wasn’t even limited to Japanese media either. I would see references to Dragon Ball in things like The Powerpuff Girls or Codename: Kids Next Door. Even well into my 20s, I was still seeing series inspired by him, like the whole fusion concept that made up Steven Universe. His reach was vast and multigenerational.

As I would get older, I would listen to Linkin Park AMVs on YouTube, with songs like Numb or In the End overlaid over the various hypest moments from the Dragon Ball series and its later movies. Even long after the series had finished airing, you’d still see the rare movie or special crop up, alongside an endless series of games trying to capitalize on the success of the Budokai Tenkaichi games. Toriyama was inescapable, and in a way it was comforting. You start to get used to his work being there, whether subtly or overtly. You never think about the day when he’ll be gone.

When first reading the article stating his death, it took a moment to really let it sink in. This man who had been with me, inspiring me throughout my childhood, was gone just like that. Over the past day I’ve seen the greater Internet in mourning, as people share their favorite manga panels, or iconic moments from the various anime interpretations of his work. Outpourings of fanart and inspirational stories from people who grew up with his work just like I did. There are people that got into bodybuilding to be just like Goku, for one. For another, during the finale of Dragon Ball Super there were massive watch parties set up in Mexico and even when authorities tried to stop the events they went forward anyway because they just had to see how Goku could finally defeat Jiren. I remember when Trunks first appeared in the anime, and I thought he was the coolest. I had to try to draw and replicate his first appearance, how he defeated Frieza, the person that took Goku so long to defeat, in a mere instant; I’m realizing now Toriyama might have been my real inspiration to start drawing, alongside who knows how many thousands if not millions of people. As sad as it is to see him go, to see so many people pay tribute and remember him, it really does lay bare just how influential he was, just how powerful art can really be.

It was only in more recent years that I’ve come to really respect Toriyama’s craft. Far beyond the screaming and power ups that many associate with him from Dragon Ball Z this was also a man who valued whimsy. He got his start as a comedy author, and for the longest time the Dragon Ball manga was just a humorous retelling of Journey to the West. The man loved a good bit of toilet humor and the occasional fourth wall break. Looking back at his manga, you can see just how amazing his panel work was, and how it still holds up. The ease at which he guides your eye from panel to panel, the expressiveness of his characters conveyed at all times. Many of his peers have called him a God of Manga, and I think they’re right to do so. The likes of Osamu Tezuka, the creator of manga, had called Toriyama his heir apparent, and stated he was “almost too good.” You can’t get higher praise than that.

Outside of his manga work, just his raw talent at creating iconic character designs needs to be praised. Taking a rather uninteresting mockup of the slime enemy in Dragon Quest, Toriyama would create perhaps the most iconic enemy in all of video games. His enemy designs are often cute and goofy, but occasionally can be quite ferocious. If nothing else, they are eye-catching and never boring. He was also a fan of vehicles and machines, with some really interesting modes of transportation shown off in a lot of his work. And then there’s the fact that so many of his characters have the trademark spikey haircut that has become shorthand for “anime hair,” that is understood to this day. To see him effectively retire after finishing with Dragon Ball back in the 90s, with the occasional contribution here or there, only to get right back to business as usual in the 2010s with amazing designs like Beerus or Android 21, not to mention his continual work on the Dragon Quest series all throughout that time…the man never lost his edge even once.

A sentiment I’ve seen over the last day or so is that Toriyama might, with no exaggeration, have inspired more artists than anyone else in modern history. So many people making their own “Saiyan-sonas” or being inspired to make manga of their own…we may truly never know how far his reach really was at the end of the day. But we do know that the “Big Three” of Shonen Jump throughout the 2000s can be attributed to Toriyama, as the likes of Eiichiro Oda, Masashi Kishimoto and Tite Kubo are all big fans of Toriyama, with Oda in particular worshiping the ground he walks on. Kubo is also on the record for stating that a letter from Toriyama, when his first draft of what would later become BLEACH was rejected, gave him the encouragement to try again and later be accepted into the magazine. And now these authors have gone on to inspire the next generation and so on and so on.

Over the last few years, we’ve lost a lot of creative figures in the manga industry. Toriyama now joins other similar legends, such as Yu-Gi-Oh creator Kazuki Takahashi as well as Berserk author Kentaro Miura. It is the end of an era, arguably of many eras, and it can be hard to imagine the future, but the Earth continues to spin and as Toriyama has inspired and influenced others, we too will inspire future generations with our work. It isn’t enough to call him a legend; he truly was in a league of his own, a legend among legends, and the outpouring of love for him across all manner of social media posts in just a little over a day alone is a testament to his immense talent and reach. I can think of no greater sendoff than the one that Eiichiro Oda gave him: “I pray for his soulful rest in peace. May heaven be the joyous world he envisioned.”

Rest in peace, and thanks for everything, Mr. Toriyama.

-B

#akira toriyama #thank you for everything

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fairygeek777 · 2 months

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I am about to cry.

Rest in peace. Oh my gosh. What a legend. He will be missed for generations.

He's been gone for that long??? I literally went a week thinking about his works randomly in passing and he was gone?

I would never claim to have a vested interest in Akira Toriyama because its not true and him passing doesn't change that. He was however, the creator of a series that brought decades of bonding with my brothers. He was the creator of the series that inspired and continues to inspire manga authors, animators and comic creator's worldwide. Even as I read the author notes in my Naruto or Fairy Tail volumes, the name Akira Toriyama was always brought up by them at least once. In reference to the inspiration he was for all the mangaka that went on to contribute to the Shonen genre.

He was also the creator of the series that made me appreciate animation, and helped me discover that I had potential as an artist even at just 11 years old. As a child living with my 5 siblings, 4 which were my brothers, Dragon Ball Z was practically on 24/7. Did I know enough about the world outside the screen to recognize the name of Akira Toriyama at the time? No I definitely didn't. But I still was motivated to learn the style even just a little. And I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't a fan of dragon ball. I'd be lying if I said I was a casual fan. Saying I'm a semi casual fan of Dragon Ball Z is more closer to the truth. The series is and always has been with me whether I acknowledge it or not. I love Dragon Ball Z much like all my fellow manga/anime fans.

There was a silly game my brothers and me were playing where whoever drew Gohan the best, won the Hero Factory build contest (it was a tie or something so the following art contest was the tie breaker) Well, I drew Gohan in his Piccolo Gi from the Cell Games from memory, cape and all. My siblings practically said I won as a unanimous vote. Sadly, I misplaced that drawing the very night I drew it and I remember being so devastated to have lost it. Clearly because I remember vividly enough to ramble about it now. The point is, winning that silly contest and drawing Son Gohan from memory was what I believe motivated me to pursue art even a little more than before.

So yes, I think I can thank Akira Toriyama for that. Funny the things you realize when you lose something important.

So all this to say, I am extremely saddened and honestly shocked that Akira Toriyama is no longer on Earth with us. Its surreal in a way I wasn't prepared for. He was even younger than Stan Lee and I remember being just as effected by his passing. Its interesting how a societal figure you always knew and could check in on or hear news about for most of your life, suddenly isn't there anymore.

Its silly. I was just thinking a few hours ago about what the difference in my interests and personal pursuits were if I didn't watch TV with my brothers as a little girl. Would I have discovered Sailor Moon on my own? Would I have delved into magical girls before 2022? Would I even know or like anime??? Would I watch avatar??? And then one of the key figures from that world I grew up with my brothers in turns out to have passed away a mere week before I think like this.

Anyway, these are my immediate thoughts from this news. I'm grateful to Akira Toriyama, I only wish I took the time know him and his story better while he was with us.

Rest in peace sensei, you've earned it.

Akira Toriyama 1955-2024

#akira toriyama

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naturalborndragons · 2 months

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Remembering Akira Toriyama

On March 1st, 2024, legendary mangaka Akira Toriyama passed away due to acute subdural hematoma. He was just sixty-eight years old. His most famous creation, Dragon Ball, has had a profound effect on the anime and manga industry as a whole. Without it, we wouldn't have had series such as Yu Yu Hakusho, Naruto, One Piece, or many others. On top of how inspirational as a series Dragon Ball has been, it's shaped the childhoods of many kids all over the world, me being one such kid.

Toriyama is one of the few famous deaths that has actually brought me to tears, the only others being Satoshi Kon and Satoru Iwata. Losing Toriyama, for me, was such a sudden and devastating revelation and if I had never gotten into Dragon Ball Z when I was a kid, I don't know if I ever would have become an artist or writer. While I have had many inspirations for becoming an artist/writer, such as Yoshihiro Togashi, creator of Yu Yu Hakusho and Hunter X Hunter, Masashi Kishimoto, creator of Naruto, and Eiichiro Oda, creator of One Piece, it was Toriyama and Dragon Ball which really helped to show me the path I wanted my life to go on. While writing Dragon's World, I've gotten comments from readers who've told me that there were moments where they were reminded of Dragon Ball and with Dragon Ball being one of, if not my biggest inspiration for becoming both a writer and an artist, those comments, to me, are not just some of my favorites that I've ever received, I find them to be some of the highest praise I've gotten.

Alongside Dragon Ball, Toriyama's other works such as Sand Land, which has both a game and an anime series coming out, and Dr. Slump show just how funny and imaginative Toriyama was. His paneling was always so clean and any action scenes were always easy to read and his characters, while not always the deepest, were always full of life and made the series they starred in so much fun to read.

Like many other kids who grew up on DBZ, I also tried on so many occasions to do a Kamehameha or go Super Saiyan. I remember when I saw the episode where Gohan was teaching Videl how to fly and she was focusing her energy into her palms, I tried to do the same, thinking it would help me to fly, too. When a new VHS (yes, we are going back that far) and later, DVD of DBZ would be released, I would beg my grandma or my mom to buy it for me. The same way true for when new Dragon Ball Z action figures would come out. I had to have them all, and I think I actually did have most of them. Then, at fifteen, I sold them because I thought, "I'm going into high school. I need to be a big boy and big boys don't have toys". Heh. Funny how well that thought process aged. Especially since now, I'm trying to find those same figures from my childhood so I can buy them again.

I would often recreate the fights and adventures Goku and his friends went on with these figures I bought, and sometimes, I would make up my own stories. One that I can always immediately recall was Goku and the gang fighting a group that used a seal similar to The Seal of Orichalcos from Yu-Gi-Oh! (also, RIP to Takahashi-senpai) and just like the Seal of Orichalcos, whoever lost that fight would lose their soul, too. Granted, the stories I came up with back then weren't good (I mean, they came from the mind of a little kid, so please be a bit gentle on me), but when you're an Elementary schooler/early middle schooler, they feel like something incredible. It's like you're getting to contribute to this world you've come to know and love and yet, you're the only one who truly knows about said contribution. In a way, it's a really special feeling.

Call me a weeb if you want for saying this, but to me, Toriyama wasn't just another creator. He wasn't just another storyteller. He was my sensei. He was my biggest inspiration and the person who got me to realize where I wanted my life to go. That I wanted to be a writer and an artist. That I had stories I wanted to share with others. Toriyama was someone I always wanted to meet and, I guess now I'll have to wait until I get to Other World myself to get that chance.

Thank you for everything, Akira Toriyama. Thank you for showing me who I was meant to be. Thank you for Dragon Ball and for allowing it to be such a staple of my childhood. I'll be hoping your family is doing well and are remaining strong in these times. May you rest in peace.

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lukael · 2 months

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Today we learned that legendary manga artist and creator of Dragon Ball, Akira Toriyama, has passed away at age 68. I wanted to take a moment to share a bit about how his work has influenced me.

The first time I came across manga, I must have been around 8, I went to my friend's place and he was reading this little comic book called Dragon Ball, tome 26. I was fascinated by how much was condensed into this compact little book. I went through the pages and was instantly captivated by the artstyle, the cool action and characters. It was so creative, full of drama, comedy, it was violent, bloody, intense, in a way that no other comic books I was reading at the time (like Garfield or the Smurfs) had been. It captured my imagination and I was instantly hooked.

I was already drawing a lot back then, (a lot of Megaman, Sonic, and other video game stuff) but from that moment, all I would draw is Dragon Ball. I would try to recreate specific panels that I loved, try to emulate the art style, I created characters of my own that would fit the universe, I would make up new battles and stories. I begged my friend to let me borrow more books. I would ask my parents to take me to Walmart so I could sit on the ground in the book section (in which DB was the only manga at the time) and just read every tome they had available. Thankfully my friend eventually got every early tome so I was able to read the story from the start, and then we would eagerly wait for new releases. "Luk did you know? Tome 31 just came out at walmart!" "MOM!! Can we go to walmart???" until years later, the final 42nd tome came out (with shiny lettering! so you knew it was important) An incredible story from start to finish, that I loved reading and discussing for years.

While my interest eventually shifted to drawing other things and being inspired by new artists, Dragon Ball's impact on my style was noticeable for years and years. When I started going online and sharing art with others, I quickly realized my story was not unique and that countless other artists had also been influenced and motivated to start drawing by Toriyama's work and stories. Dragon Ball was the first introduction to japanese content for so many of us, and the culture has continued to influence our art and our lives ever since. And when you consider that so many other manga artists and games were themselves inspired by Toriyama, you start to realize just how much he changed the world. His art resonates through every sphere of media and is still felt in countless franchises today.

Nowadays, even though they're still coming out with new shows, games and movies, Dragon Ball feels like more of a childhood memory for me. It's something a lot of us "grew past" and moved on from, but I can still notice small bits of its influence in my own art. Even though at the time, I was most captivated by the stories, now that I look back on his work with the knowledge and perspective of an older artist, I'm truly impressed and amazed by the quality of Toriyama's illustrations, his technique, his eye for detail, the incredible creativity, the imagination. There's still so much to learn from him. It's as good now as it ever was.

I was shocked to hear of his passing, because Toriyama feels like such an everlasting giant and mainstay of the industry. I think we always took him for granted because his work has been a part of our world for as long as we can remember, even now his influence can be felt in every sphere of media. It's like he's always been there, and forever would be (and in a sense, he will) With the untimely passing of the man behind the creation, maybe now we can take time to really appreciate the magnitude of his achievements. I certainly would not be the artist I am today without him.

Thank you for everything Akira Toriyama, RIP to a true legend

#akira toriyama #dragon ball #i dont usually do posts like this but he truly was my greatest inspiration

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droodlebug · 5 months

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10 characters | 10 fandoms | (1)0 tags

tagged by @babeoffrontiers !!!! <3 yippeee. we are not going to talk about the threads of loneliness and neglect throughout these characters and what that means about me ok <3

under read more bc i got sooo verbose about them

1) Yun Seong - soul calibur series : he is fun hes goofy hes energetic and a little cocky he does lots of kicks and splits he wears a crop top his only goal is protecting korea by getting a cursed sword then realized oh this is bad i will now go hang out with my two besties he is a 17 year old child soldier get him out of here. i dont have character analysis for him i just think he is gay and transgender and makes me very happy. he is not super beloved by the game devs so there is very little about him to learn about unfortunately. that doesnt stop me though. you think i wouldnt fall in love with a man who queerly lies on the ground and fans himself when he beats someone up? think again

2) Maya fey - Ace Attorney : she is fun shes goofy shes energetic she has an older sister she loves with everything she has. she summons ghosts she is always afraid of never living up to who she feels she needs to be she grows up too fast she makes a lawyer her best friend she gets framed for murder all the time and is dealing with intense trauma but never lets anyone see and laughs it off but she is only 15 she is only 15. she is 15 and saw her sisters dead body and was framed for her murder and had no time to process it. she immediately tried to act like this was not the worst possible thing. she is 15 and independent with no parents and only an abusive aunt and she is all alone save for phoenix. she doesnt let herself think too hard about it she cant. she has to keep going to she carves out a grin and claps her hands together and summons the ghost of her sister to possess her body. how awful must it be to be so close to her after death but always still just out of reach. she was just there, but you cant see her. she is 15.

3) Wyll Ravengard - Baldurs Gate 3 : hes fun hes silly hes disabled he represses all his negative feelings and rarely shows anger. he is full of kindness he is kind on purpose. he needs to have a purpose and to feel needed. he was only a 17 year old child manipulated into twisting his life and his father cast him out and he refuses to allow himself to be angry about it. because if it isnt something he can make himself forgive then what was it all for what was the reason why did his father throw him away why did he not need him or listen to his words. he does not let himself be wyll anymore because wyll is not someone important enough to love. but he is

4) Gotenks - Dragon Ball Z : hes.....fun hes goofy hes energetic........ literally is just two children merged together and amplifying all their cockiest parts and i love him. he is just a silly ten year old doing cool trick and trying to be a hero because that is what he thinks is cool and thats what he wants to be. two mild mannered children together making each other stronger and more arrogant and it is wonderful. hes kind of a little shit. he just wants to be like the adults in his life. he wants to be as strong as his fathers and prove himself to them. he likes to spin and punt people like a volleyball. hes silly. in fighterz his big attack is so cute especially if you have piccolo in your team he passes it to piccolo it is my favorite thing on the world.

5) Chi-Chi - Dragon Ball Z : shes beautiful she is my wife she is half giant. toriyama hates her butni love her and she is mine now. she became a world-class martial artist and pursued some monkey boy she had a crush on as a child. she is one of the strongest people in the world and has strong morals and is the child of a king but wants to live a small cozy life with someone she loves and her kids and have everyone be safe and thats it. she is full of love but can absolutely wreck shit if it comes down to it. she is the only one whonis rightfully like hey. do not send my tiny child to fight on an alien planet. and then she waits. and her husband dies and she waits. and her husband dies again, for nine years, and she waits. raising two kids alone. she waits because she know he is coming back so she waits one more day, just one more day

6) Frankie Stein - Monster High : they have fun electricity things their limbs come off they are an inventor and 15 days old and autistic as hell but so excited and enthralled by the world and learning about it. they have a dog that is part dragon they dont know who they are yet but they are figuring it out but they know how to love and are full of wonder and just really really want to help people. they're the only monster like themselves, and have no community to turn to. at the same time, they arent any one person. they are made up of so many different people in their body and brain and they remember it all but only vaguely. DID coded king. to me

7) Russel Hobbs - Gorillaz : he is snarky hes the only one willing to punch murdoc he plays drums hes gnc hes possesed by a ghost that comes out when he plays the drums he is a father figure to noodle and is the only person caring about the Literal Child's safety and well-being. he became giant for a while and carried his essentially daughter around with him bc he was the only one willing to look for her. he literally always says the funniest shit hes everything to me. there is so little content about him bc jamie hewlett writes him away most of the time and i think i should be allowed to be violent for that. like ok i wonder why you keep not letting the fat black character have a turn. why do you think that is can you tell me can you elaborate on that.

8) Alistair Therin - Dragon Age: Origins : ok ok. hes fun. hes goofy. hes energetic. you get it. he didnt have a single adult who truly cared dor him growing up. he is lighthearted and has fun and cracks jokes but is willing to open up about his worries and be a person and is surprisingly well adjusted like hes been to therapy or smth. but then is he actually processing it or just saying it ? he is so convinced that he is worthless and forgettable to the point of putting himself in the background intentionally so you lead the team. he is scared and kind

9) Trucy Wright - Ace Attorney : she always has a smile but she so so rarely lets her real feelings peek through. she is the queen of repression she is so desperate to mever let anyone know she is really sad. she is just as snarky as her dad she is so silly and teasing. she is incredibly smart and intensely perceptive even though shes just a kid ! she puts on a personality of someone bright and energetic and carefree when in reality she is always haunted by knowing that her biological father abandoned her after using her to forge evidence and leading to her now father to lose the job he loved so dearly. she is so young but performs and earns the primary income for her and phoenix which is not something any kid should have to do. she carries the weight of feeling like she has ruined peoples lives so she puts on a smile and a show to try and make everyone feel a little better by putting on a smile and a show, which makes it all the more impactful in the moments when she briefly lets that mask drop.

10) Sera - Dragon Age Inquistion : she is a lesbian she is an archer so you know she has a chiseled back and strong ass arms. if she were real i would rubix cube my gender around and be a butch lesbian for her. she is so funny she is so autstic the game is so mean to her and assumes i dont understand her when she makes perfect sense to me and i love her so much. she does things as she thinks of them she cuts her hair by herself she doesnt make herself adhere to society and loudly and proudly stays herself even when others think its cruse and inappropriate. she has no self esteem and really truly is scared but she find purpose in having people to fight for. she is so lonely but passes it off with a grin. shes communist and kills rich people and makes fun of them. she stole a bunch of guards pants so she could laugh at them. shes the best character in inquistion hands down

SORRY THIS IS SO LONG <33 i am full of love. i wouldnlove to tag people but i have 0 thoughts in my head now I wrote them all out. if you would like to write about ten little guys in your brain i am tagging you right now and do not be afraid to tag me i would love to see your brain loves no matter who you are

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jcmarchi · 4 days

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Sand Land Review - Devil’s In The Details - Game Informer

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/sand-land-review-devils-in-the-details-game-informer/

Sand Land Review - Devil’s In The Details - Game Informer

Sand Land is experiencing an oddly timed resurgence. Its creator, Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball), recently passed away unexpectedly, effectively pointing a spotlight on his 24-year-old creation just as it was being adapted to film, anime, and video game. The video game has been my entry point into this world with characters, vehicles, and architecture that all resemble Dragon Ball beyond even just an art style, and I enjoyed the opportunity to live in a brand new Toriyama world and story. Other elements of the game, like its animation and performances, vacillate between high and low quality, but ultimately, Sand Land is the kind of experience I want from adaptation – the opportunity to spend time in a big, realized world with a story that pulls you all the way through.

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The Sand Land video game functions as both a retelling and a sequel to the 2000 manga. For franchise newcomers like myself, this is a fantastic entry point, but there is a jarring line in the narrative between old and wholly new. Moving beyond the borders of the Sand Land region, on a basic level, doesn’t make sense considering the world built up to that point. But, overall, I like the plot and was locked in to see where it was going early on, even if the characters lack depth. Outside of the overt bad guys, no one learns much in Sand Land, and its characters are basically fully defined from their first line of dialogue. Rao, however, stands out as a smart and committed do-gooder who is quickly accepting of everyone despite their differences – a rare character trait for someone whose accurate, uncreative nickname is “old man.”

As Beelzebub, son of the demon king Lucifer, you decide to assist a human in bringing water back to a dehydrated world. This entails exploring large, open worlds with a collection of vehicles that you can call at any time. Swapping between a tank for skirmishes and a motorcycle to speed across the dunes is a quick process, but you do it so often that I admit getting frustrated with the slightly cumbersome swapping system. I also didn’t love that swapping between vehicles basically requires a full stop. It may sound like nitpicking, but every encounter in the game requires frequent vehicle swapping.

Fighting enemies using your collection of vehicles is a highlight and, understandably, the focus of the game. Despite the focus on vehicle combat, the action feels closer to a third-person shooter and does a good job painting control styles between disparate vehicles. I favored the tank with its powerful guns and strong armor, but the jumping tank used to leap up mountains and the mech used to punch other robots are fun in their own way. Upgrading and customizing them is a slow process, and I rarely felt I was making big, impactful improvements by leveling up or swapping out vehicle parts, but I was always eager to check the garage and see what I could do to inch up my stats.

The process of upgrading the town of Spino is similarly rewarding as completing sidequests (many featuring genuinely interesting little stories and characters) brings new people to the growing town. Saving a painter in the middle of the desert, for example, opens up a shop where you can paint and decal your vehicles. You can even decorate the town with furniture, but I admit little interest in that aspect since all of my resources went into improving my vehicles.

Sometimes, Beelzebub progresses without a vehicle, and these sections are generally annoying without ever being too difficult, thankfully. Beelzebub is a powerful demon with a literal garage of armored weapons in his back pocket but insists on occasionally sneaking around for interminable stealth sections. These parts of the game feel like they’re from a different era of video games that we have left behind. The hand-to-hand combat scenarios aren’t as bad, but I was always eager to be back in a tank.

Sand Land has its shortcomings and feels a little overlong despite seeing credits around the reasonable 20-hour mark, but it maintains a charm throughout. Toriyama’s fun sense of humor is front and center with Beelzebub taking on the adventure primarily so his dad will give him an extra hour of video game time every day. I may not have had strong connections with most of the cast and was annoyed with a number of specific sections, but I liked spending time in Sand Land (and beyond) and seeing my garage upgrade and grow.

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tigerlover16-uk · 6 years

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Goodbye, GT

This is a very personal post written mostly for the sake of posterity and closure. You're free to read it if you really want, but I'd rather nobody comment or make a big deal out of anything I say here, I just needed to get my thoughts written out for the sake of moving on. So I'd rather people just scroll past.

Well, I finally finished watching Dragon Ball GT subbed. Thank goodness.

I have a lot of complex thoughts on GT, many of them very negative. I've made it no secret that I hate this series, and I have a lot of reasons why I hate it. The complete refusal to do anything meaningful with the vast majority of the supporting cast (With the things they actually do end up being very minor stuff, or downright insulting), especially the complete mishandling of Pan and Uub's characters. The boring stories, the bad designs and the general aesthetic of the show. The unengaging fights, and that utterly STUPID ending!

There were a few things I liked here and there, but in general I have a lot to complain about. And maybe if people ask me I will talk more about the show, but since this will likely be the last time I ever watch it, I felt now was a good time to really wax poetic about why I really feel so negatively about it.

Because after really thinking everything over and my experiences with GT and the franchise in general, I think I've found a more deep-seated reason besides it's own admittedly poor quality as a show. And I just wanted to get it all out for posterity's sake and so I can really move on.

I watched GT as it was airing on Welsh television as a kid, the Blue Water Dub specifically. It aired right after Dragon Ball Z finished, and the original Dragon Ball started airing after GT wrapped up. Like with DBZ, I watched every episode as it aired, and in general my childhood self enjoyed it. I was too young and stupid to really think critically about most of the media I consumed, so I never tended to notice any flaws in the shows I watched.

And Dragon Ball Z was my favourite growing up, alongside Spider-man The Animated series, so naturally I was inclined to think of everything GT did as being amazing and cool. And to be fair, yeah there is some cool stuff here, I can see why I enjoyed it. Even though now that I look back, a lot of it didn't stick with me the same way the stories, action and characters of DBZ and later Dragon Ball did.

I was confused and uncertain about the ending, but given that the original Dragon Ball started airing soon after I was never much concerned with it. Dragon Ball couldn't really be over, here was more of it showing me all that backstory and stuff that was always hinted at or flashbacked to in Z but I never saw for some reason. I quickly fell in love with OG Dragon Ball the same way i did with it's sequel series.

It was soon after that series finished airing, however, and I came to accept that Dragon Ball was over... that a powerful, uneasy feeling started to set in. While I know I hadn't actually been watching it for ALL of my life, it really did feel like Dragon Ball had always been there. A constant, welcoming, wonderful presence in my life that made everything feel so much cooler and life in general so much more fulfilling. Something to always look forward to...

I didn't dwell on it too hard at the time, but as time passed, and life generally got harder and more miserable as time went on (I'm pretty sure I was in secondary school when Dragon Ball finished, and that was one of the worst parts of my life, let me tell you!), I started to feel very alone and wistful.

To give an idea of what I was going through without giving too much away, I was losing friends, with my longest friendship ending in a great personal betrayal, my home life was an utter mess right up to and through my parents divorcing.

And between school work, undiagnosed aspergers that my teachers refused to acknowledge might be a possibility, and just realising how harsh, cruel and kind of miserable the world really was... let's just say that I became a pretty closed off, miserable person for a while.

I got better when I started going to college and life in general became more stable, but through all of that, and for the next several years after it even... the thing that made it especially unbearable, was that through it all, I felt like something was missing.

Something important, something grounding. Something that had helped carry me through life prior to all that, and give me something to always look forward to and find comfort in whenever things seemed rough.

It felt like a part of my soul had been missing for a long time, and I never understood why.

I think it was during my later years in secondary school that my family got a computer for the first time. I can clearly remember spending so many hours of my life browsing through wiki's of all sorts of shows, games and movies I liked.

One day, I inevitably started looking up Dragon Ball stuff.

I went all in trying to find as much information as possible about this series. I read all up about the behind the scenes information and Akira Toriyama's writing process. I read up on all the characters, the manga prototypes of Dragon Ball, and the reasons for why Toriyama wrote a lot of things the way he did.

I learned about all of the dub changes, and the various dubs that were out there for that matter. I used to have a laugh about some of them. Learned about a lot of the movies, games, Specials and other stuff I hadn't been aware of because I'd never seen them before.

While I didn't have any DVD's for the series available for a while and felt uncomfortable pirating the show (Didn't stop me from looking at some other things on YouTube, I notice though... I'm a weirdo :p), but I did frequently refamiliarize myself with stuff that had happened.

And when Dragon Ball Z Kai became a thing, I watched that, and I kept up with animated specials like the Yo! Son Goku and his friends return! special or Episode of Bardock (Which I actually watched before I even watched Bardock: Father of Goku, despite knowing about that special and everything that happened in it for a while, for some reason...).

I remember hearing about Dragon Ball Online and all the stuff about it's lore, and being utterly fascinated by the prospect, since I had never imagined another take on the series post-EoZ other than GT actually being presented, even though I REALLY did wish we had more.

Over time as I was doing this, the feeling of wonder and fun that I had always felt watching Dragon Ball as a kid started to come back, and I remembered why I loved this series so much. How much it meant to me... and how sad it made me that it seemed the series would never come back.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I appreciated that we had stuff like the video games, or the occasional specials, and even the SD manga when that became a thing was something I frequently read synopsis for since I didn't know where to actually read the manga for a while. I was glad there was content being made... but it was never nearly the same thing as having a proper continuation, you know.

And a lot of the stuff we got, like the YO! special, was pretty mediocre fluff in the long run. It was fun, but it didn't fill the void. And I thought nothing ever would.

I had begun to realize what that missing part of my soul had been.

I was excited when I heard about Battle of Gods being released, but I also assumed it would just be a one-off thing, something that would be great to pass the time and give me another chance to see all those characters I loved again, but it wouldn't lead to anything bigger. And despite stuff like the hints of there being multiple different universes, I was still certain by the time Resurrection F was announced that an occasional mostly self-contained movie would be the best we could ask for in terms of new Dragon Ball content.

I can't even begin to tell you how shocked... and how darn HAPPY I was when Super was announced. I never expected it to happen... I couldn't believe it was. For the first time in years... a new Dragon Ball series. One that ignored GT's continuity, and thus it's definitive ending, and opened up the possibility of more new Dragon Ball stories for many years to come.

I wanted to cry.

I didn't start watching the show until it was part-way through the Champa saga... mostly because there weren't legal ways to view it until part-way through the Future Trunks saga, and I thought I'd wait for the dub at first. but keeping up with news and spoilers about what was happening, and browsing the tv tropes pages for Super every day and watching clips on YouTube, I just couldn't control myself and started looking up episodes of the Champa saga myself.

And oh God... I felt at home. I mean, it wasn't a perfect story, really, but... it was good. And it was new Dragon Ball. Watching things unfold was such a magical experience, and when it got to the Hit fight... HOLY COW, was my mind blown. THAT... that was Dragon Ball, through and through! And then we got the Baby Pan episode, and dear God that was adorably perfect and I love it to bits. And then we found out that Future Trunks was coming back for a saga, and the new villain for it and, OH GOD THE EXCITEMENT!

Having Dragon Ball back in my life again was just... it felt just so... right. The missing part of my soul was restored. I had my childhood... I had my best friend back.

I suppose by now you're wondering about how all of this relates to GT. You're probably thinking "Oh well then, you only hate it because you blame it for ending Dragon Ball for so long!" and... well, okay, that's kind of on point. But I didn't hate it for that until after I actually re-watched the series not too long ago.

Truth is, I've always defended GT. I mean, I knew it had problems just listening to people talk about it, and remembering it for myself. I definitely agreed the ending was wrong. But... I remembered liking it as a kid. Even loving it.

I remembered there were ideas and a few characters I really liked. People complain about a lot of things in DBZ as well, yet whenever I re-watch that and the original Dragon Ball, they both hold up exceptionally well despite some issues. Better than so many things from my childhood.

So, why shouldn't GT hold up the same? I always told people that GT was okay, that a lot of people overreacted and that it wasn't anything offensive. People were just overreacting.

I strongly believed that for years. I was glad it was non-canon, because that meant there was another chance for another, better post-EoZ series that utilized the next gen characters (And the long standing supporting cast, for that matter) better, and I didn't want Dragon Ball to have a definitive ending. But I stubbornly refused to have negative feelings about GT.

I started re-watching GT when Super was about half-way through, out of curiosity and because I wanted to have an actually up to date, informed opinion on it. Especially where comparisons to Super came up.

I didn't go into the series intending to be negative, I went in with the intention of DEFENDING IT. I knew there would be stuff that would annoy me or that would be frustrating, but I wanted to enjoy it like I had as a child. I wanted to be able to say with confidence that despite it's faults, GT was a worthwhile addition to the Dragon Ball franchise and that I liked it.

And for the first two to five episodes, I did kind of enjoy it, despite some things I took issue with...

But the more I watched and was bored of the first saga, and the more I started looking ahead and really dwelling on what went on in the show. How it used the characters, how the stories were written and how it ended... after a while, I started to doubt it. I started to dislike it more and more.

While I had made up my mind about GT not being a good continuation of Dragon Ball Z by the time I finished the Baby saga, I still mostly enjoyed that saga at least, despite some glaring issues that bothered me. I was willing to say that was mostly fine. I hated the Super 17 saga a lot, but even going into the Shadow Dragons saga, I expected to like that. I tried very hard to be positive going into it... and then it kept spitting in my face.

And by the time I got to the penultimate episode, I was sick of the show and glad to stop watching it. I did something I never expected myself to do, and declared it horrible, a blight on the franchise! And I meant it, because after experiencing such a disappointing let down, and especially after that insulting final episode when I did watch it... I felt betrayed.

THIS was the show I had been defending all these years?! It was trash! People were right, GT WAS an insult to the franchise... it was an insult to me as a fan, as someone who loves this series.

And I feel this way because it feels like the series is specifically designed to annoy me. The first saga is a boring slog where it feels like nothing of actual value happens after our heroes leave earth, all for a stupid contrived premise. The only really notable episode is episode 15, and for ALL the wrong reasons! Goku is turned into a kid for no reason, which just feels wrong at this point in the series, Pan is derailed into an annoying brat for no good reason, and the only other character that comes along for the journey is Trunks. Who is one of the few characters I don't really care that much about, and he's blander here than he was in DBZ.

We get one half-decent story after that, one horrible trainwreck of an arc that did NOTHING right apart from a funny gag with Chichi and Videl, and a saga that sounds on paper like it should be the greatest thing in the world... but everything apart from Nuova and Eis Shenron's episodes was handled in the WORST WAY POSSIBLE.

The fights range from passable, occasionally good, to just BORING. While there were good jokes sometimes, the humour was usually dull. The many characters I loved either barely showed up and then only to get fodderised, have a lot of their personality drained away so they're just kind of dull, or in the cases of Piccolo and Majin Buu, get POINTLESSLY KILLED OFF! And in Piccolo's case he got shoved into freaking Hell for his troubles and never got out! What were you thinking, writers! That is NOT how you treat one of the greatest anime characters ever created!

Everything I felt could have potential to be interesting felt like it was deliberately sabotaged. Uub was shoved aside in the first episode and didn't show up until it was half over, and then despite getting a transformation all he does is have a fight with Baby that's way too short and anti-climactic and then stall the villain later on in the saga, otherwise he's so insignificant to the show he might as well never show up.

I always thought his character was very interesting and I wanted to see him be at least the co-protagonist and actually do stuff... and GT just bent over backwards to make him irrelevent, give him almost no personality or real purpose, and just generally undermine the entire point of the ending of Z...

Pan got off almost worse. She was never allowed to go super saiyan, only useful a few times throughout the show and didn't defeat anyone that mattered on her own. She got no real character development, and was mostly just a damsel in distress... because the writers LITERALLY ADMITTED that they only kept her around so she could get beat up by the villains so Goku could look better by comparison. But oh I've already made some long posts on how badly Pan was used, so I won't go on now.

Bulla and Marron barely existed as far as the show was concerned. Krillin was basically a prop that was there to be a butt monkey who disappoints his family in the Baby saga, and his only notable contribution to the story was to DIE to move the plot along.

Android 17... oh God, the poor guy. He barely had any personality left when he showed up inexplicably under Dr Gero and Myuu's mind control, that whole Super 17 fusion was stupid as all heck, and then they senselessly killed his character off for real without ever doing ANYTHING of interest with him in a really insulting manner.

Despite the brilliant premise of having all the past villains invade from hell, the show did NOTHING with ANY of them, apart from turning Frieza, my favourite villain of all time, and Cell, into a couple of jokes who are defeated in an embarrassing way.

As cool as the Shadow Dragons are in concept, not only does their explanation and build up make no sense, but only Nuova and Eis are worthwhile characters. Haze and Rage Shenron were absolutely pathetic, Oceanus Shenron felt like a monster of the week from an earlier point in the series and not suitable endgame villain material, Naturon Shenron was annoying and lost because he was the BIGGEST IDIOT in the entire franchise, and Omega Shenron was the most disappointing final boss possible with no personality beyond "Evil bad guy" and a dull final fight that just poorly rips off stuff that happened in the Buu Saga, as well as that one episode that was just pointless padding that existed to tease people who liked Nuova Shenron by bringing him back only to have his contribution mean nothing (Kind of like how Vegeta going super saiyan 4 meant nothing thanks to Gogeta being a time wasting idiot and Vegeta not even putting up a half-decent fight against Omega).

And besides that, there were only two new characters in the show besides Nuova (Who was killed off way too soon, IMO) and Eis (The only character used as well as he could have been, probably) that were any good, them being Baby and General Rilldo. And Baby devolves into discount Frieza with none of the charm halfway through his saga, and Rilldo only gets a mediocre at best fight and then gets a bridge unceremoniously dropped on him.

And apart from them? Giru/Gill was an occasional nuisance and as interesting as drying paint. Valese was awkward and pointless, Dolltaki was the WORST character in the franchise, Dr Myuu/Mu was a boring dollar store Dr Gero with a stupider moustache and nothing interesting to him at all, and none of the other few characters were anything worthwhile.

And it's not like the show did a lot of interesting stuff with the characters it already had, half the characters are barely around, with several being only silent cameos, and they don't get any development from when we last saw them. Even 18's highly touted contribution in the Super 17 saga just involved her conveniently showing up to shoot energy blasts at Super 17, allowing Goku to then do all the hard work necessary to defeat him. It was kinda cool, but it was barely anything and it still comes at the expense of wasting 17 completely.

And then that ending... that above all insulted me, because after the show went out of it's way to wreck up so many of the characters, and treat us to mediocre to horrible stories, destroy any of the potential that Dragon Ball Z left open for future stories... after all that, it had the GALL to offer up what it intended to be the definitive, no going back ending for the ENTIRE series... an ending that was out of nowhere, depressing, and overall just kind of pointless... I was so angry.

THIS SHOW... this show is the reason we went so long without another Dragon Ball series for almost two decades, outside of Kai being just a re-cut of Z. And it went out of it's way to be the worst possible send off for the franchise imaginable, and try to cut off all avenues for future series.

I was so angry over this! All those years wistfully longing to have Dragon Ball come back... all those years that I felt incomplete, like I'd lost my anchor to make life feel more bearable when things got bad... like I didn't have a lot to look forward to... all of that was GT's fault, and it was TERRIBLE to boot!

And I DEFENDED this show all that time, because I was just so clueless... I felt sick.

And yes, I know I can't blame GT for how bad life got for me, that's childish... but I really do feel like having a little hope that Dragon Ball would continue with more series would have helped through it.

Dragon Ball is not just a show or manga to me. It is my favourite media franchise of all time. The series, it's characters and it's world resonate with me like nothing else. Nothing makes me happier than watching Dragon Ball, nothing else gets me more excited. The magic I felt watching the show as a kid is something I have yet to experience from any other work of fiction, despite trying my hardest to find it elsewhere in the time since. Maybe Pokemon comes close, but it's not quite there.

Dragon Ball is an integral part of my life. And GT tried to rip it away from me. To torch the franchise and run, as tv tropes would put it.

That is why I was so happy to have Super come into my life.

Dragon Ball Super is not a perfect series, as I have stated many times before. It has plot holes, inconsistent animation quality, especially earlier on. It occasionally screws up writing certain characters like Vegeta or Goku (Even though I don't think the latter's portrayal overall is anywhere near as bad as people blow it out of proportion to be), and there are plenty of missed opportunities. The Future Trunks Saga's ending was a complete mess, some of the things it introduced didn't really pay off. It has problems...

But at the same time, it's given me more joy than any other series of the past decade. Because when Super is good... oh my God, is it good.

The best fights from Super are honestly some of my favourites in the entire franchise. Goku vs Hit, the big fight with Goku Black and Future Zamasu in episode 57, Gohan vs Lavender, Gokus first fight with Jiren, Android 18 beating Ribrianne... there are SO many good ones, and the best are so much better than any of GT's action scenes. Heck, just watching the clip of the last bout of the fight between Goku, Frieza and Android 17 against Jiren did more for me than the entire final battle against Omega Shenron did.

There are so many good jokes and funny episodes, I think I've laughed more watching Super than any other Dragon Ball series. The slice of life episodes and moments scattered throughout are wonderful, and give me such an unbelievably pleasant feeling. We see so much more of the supporting cast too, and while the show struggles with a lot of characters especially early on, they all ended up getting so much good character moments over the course of the show and especially in the final arc. It was so wonderful just to spend more time with everyone.

There were so many cool new concepts thrown in. The 12 universes, the integration of the Galactic Patrol from the Jaco manga, the super dragon balls.

And there were so many new characters that I'm actually interested in.

Obviously we have Beerus, Whis and Jaco carrying on from the recent movies, and I love them so much. But in Super we got to meet Hit, Champa, Vados, Cabba, Frost, Magetta, Goku Black, Caulifla, Toppo, Ribrianne, and so many awesome and intersting new characters, many of whom I desperately want to see fleshed out and get to do more in future series. I didn't care about anyone from GT NEARLY as much as I care about half of these new characters, except maybe Nuova.

There's just so many amazing things that have happened that I never dreamed I would experience.

I never thought Android 17 would not only come back and be developed more, but that he'd go on to be one of the best characters in the show and one of my new favourites. I never thought Frieza would make a big comeback either, but oh God was he so perfect in the Universe Survival Saga and I think I love him even more now than I already did! I never thought I'd see Master Roshi getting to be cool again and have what felt like an even better send off to his time as a martial artist than the original Dragon ball gave him, but oh lord was episode 105 so good and got me emotional.

I never even knew I wanted Pan the adorable super baby to be a thing, but oh God is she wonderful and perfect in every way and I just love her so much! Ahhh!

Already I have so many fond memories of watching Super. Sure, it's done things to upset me from time to time, but when it's good, and it is most of the time, it does more for me than most other shows I watch. When Super is at it's best, I feel the same magic that Dragon Ball Z made me feel as a child.

A feeling I never once got from watching GT.

And as much as I panicked when I heard the show was ending, we got confirmation soon after that Super would continue through the upcoming movie, and all signs pointed to a new Dragon Ball series being produced in the near future. When the final episode aired, I felt a great sense of satisfaction in how it concluded... and also excitement and hope for the future, because that last episode made it so clear that there was much more to come.

Dragon Ball GT's ending threw me out of the house, slammed the door in my face and flushed the keys down the toilet. But Super left the door open.

It wasn't a goodbye this time. It was a "See you later"

A promise from my oldest, most dear friend that we would meet again.

It was such a beautiful feeling. And I cannot wait to see what the future holds for Dragon Ball. I'm sure there'll be bad stories now and again, every franchise has those from time to time, but Toei seem to be making all the right moves to get things stable to better produce future dragon ball works. The movie seems like it's having a ton of effort put into it, at least. So I have faith. Now my dream where Dragon Ball can go on forever might finally be coming true, and I couldn't be happier.

And after all is said and done, looking back on GT... I can't help but resent it for trying to deny me that.

I can't help but hold GT responsible for all of the years where there were no new Dragon Ball series. All the years it felt like Dragon Ball would never come back for real. And for all the loneliness that caused me deep in my heart.

It had some good points. Bad as it truly was, I can't say it was the worst sequel or show ever produced, there are many works of fiction that are objectively far worse than GT, and stuff that has caused actual harm to the world.

It'll never be One More Day or Holy Terror levels of bad... but on a strictly personal level, GT causes me more anger than any other fictional work I have encountered.

Why did I bother watching it again? That was a question I found myself asking as I was binging the subbed version. Obviously the reason I started doing that was because I have a personal goal of watching each Dragon Ball series both dubbed and subbed, and I thought I might as well get GT out of the way since I'd watched it all dubbed not too long ago... but why did I keep going as quickly as I did, when watching it just caused me so much frustration to the point of feeling actually painful?

I don't fully know, but maybe deep down I just really wanted to convince myself that I was being too harsh. That it wasn't all that bad, that I could go back to liking it somewhat. Because I really didn't want to resent it so much.

Guess that didn't work out, since honestly I think the only thing it accomplished is making me all the more aware of why I dislike it.

But you know what... whatever. I could keep being angry about GT until I'm blue in the face, but it's really not worth it. Because it's not relevant anymore. As much as it still bothers me we don't have another series set post-EoZ yet, GT has officially been replaced regardless by Super. It's clear that the franchise is back, and here to stay. Hopefully for good, this time. So really, what do I have left to be worried about?

I've got what I wanted all this time. GT's attempt to end Dragon Ball failed, the story goes on. And now that I've watched it both ways, I have no reason to ever come back to GT, or worry about it ever again. I have closure.

The show is still there for people who do enjoy it, for whatever reasons I'll never be able to relate to again. But I'm free from having to worry about it getting in the way of more Dragon Ball stories.

Now I have hope again, hope that a new Dragon ball series where Uub and Pan are treated with respect will happen down the line. Hope that I'll get to see more good character development and cool moments from all the characters I love. Hope that Launch might come back, or that underdeveloped characters might get to come back and be made a thousand times better like Android 17 was.

Here's to a bright future for Dragon Ball, the story that never ends.

And so, with all that out of the way... I guess it's time to say goodbye.

GT, you were a frustrating experience. I will admit, a part of me will always cherish those good childhood memories you gave me, even if they've been somewhat tainted. I will always love Super saiyan 4, and Nuova Shenron, and there's probably some good moments I might watch again through clips if I'm bored. I'll certainly listen to that english opening song again.

As bad as I make you out to be, in the end you weren't a complete disaster, since Dragon Ball ended up coming back anyway. And while I can never say I enjoyed watching you, part of me is glad there are others who feel differently, because people do deserve to be happy, even if I can't share the experience.

Because I'm not coming back. Because unless some exceptional circumstances happen, like I somehow become a big-name internet critic and I decide to review you for views, I highly doubt our paths will ever cross again. And I think that's for the best. I am sorry we grew apart so much, but I'm much happier where things are now.

Goodbye, GT. May your memory fade with time.

#personal

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tigerlover16-analysis · 6 years

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Dragon Ball Super: Episode 2 Review

Okay, sorry about this one coming late, i was a bit distracted around here and i haven't had much access to my computer the last few days. But, here i am now.

So, episode 2. In contrast to the first episode, which was focused around the members of the Son Family and setting up Goku's role in the story, this episode focuses more on Vegeta, who will be the secondary protagonist for much of Dragon Ball Super, while also giving us a more substantial introduction to the main villain for the first arc (And a few funny scenes with Goku on King Kai's world to help move the plot along some more). Gotta say, it was a pretty smart move and a good way to steadily reintroduce us to the characters for the new show/introduce them proper for new viewers.

This episode also isn't particularly plot heavy, rather another episode focused on character interaction and comedy, but like last time what we get is pretty good.

The episode opens with a fun little scene of Goku arriving on King Kai's planet to train, and accidentally causing King Kai to crash his car into his house and destroying it (Man, the poor guy can't catch a break, can he?), and then transitions to Vegeta, Bulma and Trunks going on a family trip to a Hawaiian themed resort.

Not a lot to comment on the actual plot here outside of how it relates to Vegeta, but needless to say there's a lot of good jokes and back and forth between the characters. Whether it be King Kai's poor attempts at making puns, Bulma flying her airship underwater and through a forest like a crazy person to give Vegeta some "Training" as he stands on top, there's a lot of good stuff here. My favourite joke is probably the scene at the diner that ends in Vegeta digging in to an enormous cooked octopus that inexplicably squirts him with ink. If you're a fan of the briefs family, a Vegebul shipper in particular, then the first half of the episode is practically tailor made for you, since it's pretty much dedicated to having cute moments of Vegeta, Bulma and Trunks hanging out on vacation.

Naturally, Vegeta is silent and aloof through most of the ordeal, only putting up with spending time at the resort to try and be a decent family man for once, and out of obligation for the time he'd promised to take Trunks to an amusement park. Which, yeah, it's pretty sweet, even if Vegeta has to be a sourpuss about the whole thing. Still, as Bulma points out, the guy did stick around a lot longer than either her or Trunks would have expected.

This episode establishes Vegeta as the secondary protagonist of Super, replacing Gohan in that role from Z. A decision that would... have very mixed results, and I can't say it was necessarily for the best overall, but future episodes will provide much better context to discuss that.

As far as this episode goes though, his portrayal is mostly fine. It at least shows he's trying to make an effort to be a better father to Trunks. At the same time though, it also establishes that even after everything that went down in the Buu Saga, Vegeta still has a chip on his shoulder in regards to his rivalry with Goku, and his desire to surpass him is still present.

I know a lot of people were torn about this at the time, and still are considering the end of the Buu Saga had Vegeta conceding that Goku was the superior fighter and seemingly putting his obsession to an end, with arguments about whether this was a regression of his character. Personally, at least as far as the first half of the show goes, I don't have much of an issue with it.

Mostly because it's made clear through the rest of the saga that his overall character progression has still stuck in spite of his obsession with being the strongest still being present. And it's brought up by the time of the Champa saga that Vegeta by that point has moved past the point of having a self-destructive inferiority complex, and his rivalry with Goku by then is mostly a more healthy motivation for self improvement.

And let's face it, fundamentally changing who you are as a person takes a lot of time and effort. Self-realization of your faults and a desire to change for the better are only the first steps to self-improvement. And a deep-seated inferiority complex like what Vegeta has isn't going to go away after a few moving speeches, it seems natural to me that he would have some trouble letting his urge to surpass Goku and be the strongest go, even after some time had passed from the Buu Saga. He's had plenty of instances where he started to regress on any progress he's made before, at least in this saga the worst it amounts to is him being grumpy and storming off to train after being caught in a large crowd and losing his temper.

Vegeta and Goku's rivalry is very iconic, and you kind of have to keep it alive if you're going to have a series where they're the two most prominent characters. Vegeta is still a better person than he once was, and the later episodes of this saga would demonstrate that clearly, so i think that's what really counts. And hey, Vegeta still wanting to surpass Goku is consistent with the updated final chapter of the manga Toriyama put out in the 2004 Kanzenban, so they kinda had to do it this way.

So yeah, for me personally I'm okay with this. But then again, maybe I'm just not inclined to take issue with it right now since we also got to see Vegeta riding a choo-choo train with Trunks and Bulma. That was adorable.

The second half of the episode is a bit more action packed and plot relavent, as it gives us a more extended introduction to Lord Beerus and Whis.

It starts off with Whis being sent to an alien planet to bring back dinosaur meat that Beerus is interested in because it might help him remember the details of a prophetic dream he couldn't fully recall. After Whis fails to negotiate with some locals to give up their kill in time, Beerus shows up and gets into a fight with what i assume is the tribe leader. Who Beerus dispatches quite easily, and then decides to just blow up the planet out of annoyance. The resulting explosion ending up being what jogs his memory, ending the episode with foreshadowing of some mysterious figure called Super Saiyan God.

It's a pretty fun scene overall. The banter between Beerus and Whis is spot on and their dialogue gives us a good impression of their personalities, with Beerus in particular being presented as somewhat comedic but still threatening and someone to take seriously. I really like the designs of the aliens, especially the powered up form of the one who fights Beerus, makes it a bit of a shame their world got blown up. The action itself is very short, but it's pretty decent, Naoki Tate's effects work is always fun to see in the alien's energy blast.

Admittedly we still don't know much of anything about who the characters actually are, just the idea that Beerus is seeking a fight with a Super Saiyan God, what exactly that is being a mystery for several episodes, though Old Kai clearly knows what's going on with him. Thankfully we do get a more substantial explanation for who Beerus is next episode, so the show doesn't drag it's heels too long with that, and this episode does a good job of hyping him up and raising interest.

I do question how the heck Beerus got to the alien world so fast from his palace, considering he's not nearly as fast as Whis and seems to rely on him for transportation as next episode establishes, so that's a bit of an oddity. I'm just going to put it down to cartoon logic.

So, yeah, the episode is overall pretty light on actual story, but at this point in the series I don't think that's a big issue, especially as the plot does start to get rolling over the next few episodes. I do wish the parts focused on the Briefs Family vacation had gone on a bit longer though, it felt like the episode really breezed past that.

Also, I do feel like I need to bring up King Kai's voice in the Japanese version. Jōji Yanami, his original voice actor for many years, is well into his 80's and apparently wasn't in the best of health when Super started... and it really shows with his voice acting. All of King Kai's dialogue in the episodes he voices him in, starting with this one, are spoken in a weird monotone that's... kind of distracting. Especially in places where he's supposed to be shouting or expressing emotion.

It makes some of the scenes with the character in the first saga seem a bit off putting. I feel really bad for Yanami, and I'm glad that he took a leave of absense and seems to have retired by the 12th episode. I don't know exactly how he's doing right now, but I hope he's in the best health he can be.

Thankfully this also isn't a problem for Sean Schemmel's performance of the character in the dub, which is on point. Honestly, the dub for the episode and most of the saga is pretty stellar and makes the episode even more fun to watch with it's slightly wittier dialogue, though I do feel Chris Sabbat's tone as Vegeta sounds a bit harsher in places compared to Ryo Horikawa's portrayal... though, i can't understand a word of Japanese or really make sense of the inflections in the Japanese casts line reading a lot of the time, so maybe that's just me.

The animation and art direction is also strong in this episode. I love the animation of Bulma's aircraft spinning around, and the effects work on display as it dives underwater. And there's a lot of beautiful shots throughout the episode, the scenes on the beach during the evening with all the people on it draped in silhouette look gorgeous, and the explosion created from the planet that Beerus blows up in the last scene is just mesmerising. I mean, it's horrible that an entire planet and all it's inhabitants just got annihilated, but I can really see why Beerus finds the results beautiful. The music and direction are pretty effective, too.

This episode was the first to be supervised by Naoki Tate, one of my favourite animators working on the show and probably one of the most well known. And while he obviously didn't animate everything himself (See animeajay's videos for the low-down on that), as a supervisor this was a great first impression to make... pity then what he was forced to immediately follow it up with.

Oh boy, that episode is going to be "Fun" to talk about.

So, yeah, I don't think there's a lot else i can say without just recapping every moment from the episode and going "I like this" or "Wish this was a bit longer" or whatever. The character interactions were fun and mostly on point, the production values were good, and overall the episode was pretty enjoyable despite a few flaws. Admittedly though there wasn't a lot of substance to it, and I didn't enjoy it as much as the first episode. Still, I don't have any major complaints about it either, and for what it is it works fine.

I'd give it a B+, maybe a high B.

Not really the best episode in the series, or even this saga, but it was a lot of fun and gives us some necessary set up that gradually eases the viewers into the overarching story. I'm happy to come back to it, anyway.

I think the next episode should give me a bit more to talk about compared to the first two episodes, so look forward to that. Hopefully i get that one up by Sunday this time. Sorry if this review feels rushed or that i could have done better or gone into more detail in places, but I kind of was rushing. Any specific questions about stuff you might have in the episode though, just leave them in an ask.

#dragon ball super #dbs #dragon ball super episode 2 #dragon ball #dragon ball z #vegeta #Beerus #Whis #Briefs family

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vulcanlsj · 6 years

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Rightful Heir Chapter 2 (DBZ Alternate Timeline Fanfic)

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z, or the characters of Akira Toriyama's creation. I do however, own the story, and the characters of my own creation.

Vulcan couldn't remember the rest of that night, because he fell asleep before Lenora showed up. He couldn't be awoken so she left.

Suddenly, a blaring alarm went off inside his pod. He looked to the navigation screen, and saw the asteroid belt of the system. Vulcan pushed the emergency control button, and a rod with a handle attached to it with a few controls popped out. Vulcan grabbed the flight stick, and yanked it hard to the right as he just barely missed an asteroid the size of a small moon. Vulcan followed the asteroid with his eyes, and almost didn't notice the asteroid in front of him smash into a smaller one, and break into thousands of pieces. He did notice the collision, and pulled back on the stick, maneuvering above the debris. He hit a lever to his left, and the pod lurched forward with tremendous force. After a few seconds, he released the accelerator, past some of the asteroids.

Then he saw the biggest asteroid he'd seen since he left the planet he'd been residing for the last 27 years. There was some sort happening inside the asteroid, bright lights, amazing colors... and he realized what the bright lights were for. The asteroid was about to explode due to volcanic activity. He saw some craters that were very deep, no, they weren't just deep, they were tunnels. He couldn't avoid this large asteroid, and even though his pod could survive the crash, there was no way he could take off again before the asteroid was obliterated. He did the only thing he could think of, and directed his pod into the large tunnel. As he was enveloped in the blackness of the hole, he couldn't see anything. Opening his senses, time seemed to slow down. He could hear the rumble of the volcanoes, and tremors of the quakes. He could see around him through his ki, and the tunnel became clear to him.

He pulled to the left, and missed a wall by inches, followed by a hard right to make the winding turn. The tunnel walls started to break down as molten lava seeped through them. Vulcan began making more harrowing maneuvers, and finally escaped the asteroid as it shattered into hundreds of thousands of pieces, the lava cooling and hardening almost instantly without a atmosphere to maintain the heat. Opening his eyes again, Vulcan could see that the asteroid field was behind him, with only small debris in front of him. He pushed the emergency control button again, and the flight stick retracted into the floor. He sat back, and took a deep breath. He could relax again.

Vulcan sat back up, and looked at his projected route to Earth. He could see no more immediate dangers in his path, so he activated the auto pilot again. He opened his senses again, this time reaching out to Earth. He could sense Vegeta, along with Raditz and Nappa. Even though he could not tell what they were up to, he knew that as long as the three were together, Vulcan would have a tough time taking out Vegeta. Which brought another thought, where was Kakarot? He sensed harder, and finally located his signature. He was far off from Vegeta and the rest of them. Vulcan figured that he was just training alone.

Vulcan began to wonder how strong Vegeta and his elites were. Were they Super Saiyans? He assumed that Vegeta would have to be, along with Kakarot. After Vulcan had fought with cosmic entities, he himself had reached Super Saiyan. He had even managed to surpass that, which was why he knew that other Saiyans would be able to do what he could do. But were Nappa and Raditz also Super Saiyans? He'd hoped so. He wanted to test out his Super Saiyan abilites against another. Vulcan smiled as he laid back in the seat, anxious to get to Earth.

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Kakarot could not believe his ears. Vegeta had betrayed him? He was Vegeta's strongest warrior, he had even done what others thought that only Vegeta had done, become a Super Saiyan. Well, Vegeta might have taken that as a sign that he was not the strongest, but even then, Kakarot could not best Vegeta in a full fledged fight, let alone a serious sparring match. He looked at the child in front of him, no, he wasn't just any child, he was apparently his son. He had no knowledge of this, something that Vegeta had kept from him for nine years.

"Bardoku eh?" Kakarot asked the small Saiyan.

"Yes, named after a great Saiyan warrior that fell during the Saiyan/Ice-jinn war." Bardoku stood proudly looking at Kakarot. Little did he know that Bardock was really his grandfather, and the man standing in front of him was his father.

"Well, he was a great warrior. I only wish I had known him before he fell." Kakarot crinkled his nose at the next statement that came out of his mouth. "So your father is Vegeta?" Bardoku nodded his head. "So why haven't I seen you around? Or heard of you 'til now?"

"I guess it's because father wanted me to train more than he wanted me to interact with his subjects." Kakarot frowned at this. Vegeta had been successful in keeping this secret from everyone. Kakarot had decided to circle the planet a few times to clear his head today. He had this feeling that something was going to happen, and this must have been it. "He said that as soon as I was strong enough to be his heir, he would begin to teach me how to be a proper prince."

"Well, you certainly are a strong little one. Though something seems to be odd about you." Bardoku looked up at Kakarot with concern. "I can't place it, but there is definitely something odd." Kakarot could see the little one's worry. "But it's nothing that is bad, so don't dwell on it. I should probably let you back to you training so you can be Vegeta's next heir." Kakarot turned around swiftly, and strode down the hall away from his "son."

Bardoku watched as Kakarot walked down the hall, until he turned the corner and disappeared from sight. 'Yeah, I'll train hard, 'til I can kill you, and prove to Vegeta that I am strong enough to become his heir.' Bardoku's thought was disturbing, because he didn't know that Vegeta desired him to commit patricide. 'All I need to do is figure out your secret to becoming a Super Saiyan.'

A door opened and a female figure walked through it. A few human slaves could be seen picking up trash from the streets. One looked up at the armored Saiyan warrior, and was disgusted with her. She was part of Nappa's personal guard, so she only drew anger from the humans. Saiyans on the other hand almost worshiped her as much as they did the hulking Saiyan. If she was strong enough to be one of his guards, then she was desired as a mate to everyone. Only she never showed any desire to mate with any Saiyan. Almost as if she didn't want to bear an offspring to carry on the Saiyan legacy. In reality, she did want to bear a child, but she felt a connection with Saiyan that was long since dead. He had changed her life twenty-seven years ago. Unfortunately, he died this day that same year. As she remembered back to the day, she thought of how it started, with a royal cousin of Vegeta visiting Earth.

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A woman walked into Vulcan's room, and activated the light panel. The light was blinding at first, so she could not see details of the contents. As her eyes adjusted to the room, she saw the bed, with a Saiyan passed out laying on it. Vulcan was still wearing his armor, and looked as though he drifted off as soon as he made contact with the bed. She scoffs, and spins around, walking out of the room. She walks down the hallways for a few minutes, until she reaches a door marked "Nappa" and stands to the right side.

"So Lenora," came from the man to the left of the door, "what did Vulcan-sama want from you? You seemed to be out of there quickly. Hardly anything could happen that fast."

"He was asleep, so I don't know." Lenora seemed disappointed, but the guard could not tell.

"Well, are you going to see what it was in the morning?"

"Mayhaps, did you hear about the tournament results for today? Kurilin took out that Pintar in ten seconds!" Lenora enjoyed talking about fights she heard about, or watched.

"Yeah, and then that Spopovitch smashed Stiener's head like a watermelon!" The other guard also enjoyed watching the tournament. He thought that Vegeta really had a great idea creating this tournament. Most Saiyans he knew were excited about the tournament, and were also curious to see if a human might have the possibility to join the ranks of the Saiyans.

Just then, Nappa opened the door, and walked out. He looked at the male guard, and then at Lenora. "Can we help you Nappa-sama?" asked Lenora.

"I just received word that there will be an exhibition match at the tournament tomorrow." That was normally a statement that Nappa would have smiled after, but he wasn't.

"That's great," said the male guard, "though you don't look all that excited."

"Well Zetsumie, that's because I've also received word that there is rumor of an assassination attempt tomorrow." Nappa seemed displaced by his own words.

"On who?" questioned Lenora.

"Vegeta and myself. Seems as though some humans have it in their head that if they take out Vegeta, they will be able to take the Earth back for themselves. I want you both there to prevent that from happening."

"Hai," was the response from both Lenora and Zetsumie.

"Good, I expect both of you there tomorrow. And maybe Vulcan can help us too, though I have a feeling he might have something to do with it. The humans didn't seem this confidant until there was word of his arrival."

Lenora's feelings suddenly became mixed. She was worried for the Saiyans on Earth if Vegeta and Nappa were eliminated, but she also had this odd feeling towards Vulcan. If Vulcan had something to do with this "rebellion" then she was obligated to prevent it. But this feeling about Vulcan also told her that she shouldn't interfere with this. She pushed her feeling for Vulcan out of her head for the time being, and looked at Nappa. "Vulcan won't be a problem, not if all of us are there tomorrow."

"Only you, Zetsumie, Vegeta and myself are going to be there besides Vulcan. Any more would bring suspicion from the Humans, and we don't want to postpone the "rebellion" we want to quash it."

"Understood Nappa-sama. We'll have no problem with Vulcan and a few humans."

"Good," was Nappa's reply. Just then two more guards appeared, to take Lenora and Zetsumie's posts. "Well, I'm going to get some rest before tomorrow. Be prepared."

"Hai," Lenora and Zetsumie then let the new guards take their posts, and retreated to their rooms for the night.

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That was a week before Vulcan died. Lenora looked to Nappa's room. He had been with Vegeta and Raditz for a while, though it seemed Vegeta was now gone, and Raditz and Nappa were traveling to the northwest city from the capital. She was no longer Nappa's guard, so she didn't need to follow him everywhere he went. After he went Super Saiyan, he cut her loose because he thought that bodyguards were no longer necessary. After all, who could take on a Super Saiyan?

Suddenly she noticed a very familiar Ki in the solar system. Lenora looked up and tried to focus on it. She opened her senses and her memories to determine who the energy belongs to. Once she realized who it was, her jaw slacked and she was caught by surprise. Her only response is:

"Vulcan is alive?"

#DBZ #Dragon Ball Z #Vegeta #Saiyan #Earth #Kakarot #Nappa #Raditz #Vulcan #Lenora #Royal Saiyan #Zetsumie #Spopovitch #Steiner #Tournament #Exhibition Match #What if Goku never hit his head #Bardoku

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