Post
by zDBZ » Thu Dec 13, 2018 2:50 am
Another reason the whole tennis thing might not have bothered people is because of something Gaffer Tape mentioned in the Freeza videos: in serialization, not knowing where things are going, it's exciting to read and/or watch. And, seeing this the first time, it's not a given that any of these character power-ups that get countered are going to be useless. Look at the Saiyan saga: Gohan's hidden power was built up as (one of the) thing that could beat the saiyans. By the time we're in the middle of the fight, that starts to look like a red herring, the same as the earthlings' training. It turns out, however, that that's the thing that delivers the finishing blow to Vegeta, in the unexpected form of the oozaru state. And Goku's Spirit Bomb technique looks like it's going to be a dud at one point to, then turns out not to be, then turns out to kind-of be after all. So there's reason to have some suspense and hold out some hope when taking the story in for the first time.
On repeat viewings, I can't say the tennis issue bothers me in either the Cell or Freeza sagas. It's still fun to watch the escalation play out, and I wouldn't discount the strength of certain story elements either. The build-up to Piccolo and Kami reuniting, and how that moment itself is executed, is extremely well-done. And, while Piccolo's had something of a leadership role prior to that point in the story anyway, I like seeing that carry through after he assimilates Kami. Is it frustrating that this story element doesn't end up making any appreciable difference to the fight against Cell except to tip him off where the androids are? Yes; I'm not denying that that's a major flaw in the story. But somehow, that doesn't take away from the strength of that character arc itself. Piccolo's redemption from his demon past was essentially complete at this point, so reuniting with Kami wasn't necessary, but it made for a nice cap on things. In a way, it's a shame that that couldn't have happened at the tail end of the Freeza saga, without any villain to motivate it.
Ultimately, in both the Freeza and Cell sagas, the Super Saiyan concept is what makes a lot of this palatable to me when taking a critical eye to the narrative. Dragon Ball operates as much more of an ensemble cast than the adventures of Goku from the Saiyan saga on, and it does get frustrating at times that members of that ensemble don't get more to do at key crucial moments. But in the Freeza saga, the legend of the Super Saiyan - and Freeza's fear of the saiyan race in general - is set up early enough that it's baked into the narrative that things will come down to Freeza vs. Goku, with the Super Saiyan legend in play. The idea of surpassing the Super Saiyan form isn't introduced as organically in the Cell saga, but it does come up when a lot of things are in play: Piccolo's technically the strongest fighter they have, Cell's gradually gaining strength, and the androids are still gunning for Goku. When the others come up short or pan out to their logical conclusion, that leaves the "go beyond Super Saiyan," as done by Goku and Gohan, as the one thing left in play, and its culmination in Gohan's SS2 transformation makes the story work IMO.
In the Buu saga, on the other hand...
