Ah. So this is where the Red Ribbon Army finally lives up to its name.
The boon and the bane of watching an endless shonen serial is that you're essentially getting a first draft delivered every week. When it works, you're tapping into pure, unfiltered inspiration. There's an infectious spirit of creativity. You're following a creator (like Toriyama ) as he continually challenges himself to outdo what he did, just last week. When it doesn't work... well, you get filler. Or padding. Or B-material. Or whatever you want to call it. It's the kind of stuff that'd be cut if the material ever went through a second draft.
The nonsense in Penguin Village at the end of this arc very much feels like the latter. So much so that I'm almost wishing there was a DRAGON BALL KAI which removed it. Don't get me wrong - - I like the “General Blue” saga for the most part. Still, it's hard not to get fixate on the last bite you've tasted, so to speak.
== TEASER ==
Unlike previous arcs, there's nothing here that makes me reconsider details I always just took for face value in DBZ. It's just a fun and charming romp. When people say DRAGON BALL is more about about adventure than battle stats, this is what they're taking about: Goku, Bulma and Krillin going deep sea diving, uncovering a pirate treasure cove and battling a particularly stubborn robot while the oft-shirtless General Blue stalks them at all turns.
Again, it all drops off once Goku takes the fight to Penguin Village, though -- rolling up in the business of some norms who eat nuts and bolts like they're cookies, for whatever reason? Prior to that, though, my favorite episode had to be one where Blue ties the crew up with psychic ropes and Launch's more demure alter ego is the only one who can save them from a ticking timebomb. It's just a perfectly-comedic escalation of stakes, where Goku actually has to finish untying himself in order to get rid of the bomb and then, with very Conan-esque determination, he hops on the Nimbus to chase Blue down to the ends of the Earth.
I'm just hoping he gets the hell out of there, lickety split, at the start of the next arc.
Check this arc out, decide for yourself, and read my comments on the last batch.
from Anime Vice Site Mashup http://ift.tt/17rZiD7
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