DNA's Filler Arc analysis: Announcement

[DNA]

So I just finished re-watching the Garlic Jr. Arc and felt like analysing it, giving you guys my opinions. So without further ado, lets start.

The Pros:

• - Features the return of Garlic Junior, an immortal enemy with a somewhat distinct goal. Missed opportunity to show the original Garlic.
  - The theme of everyone turning into foes. Reused later in the Baby Arc.
  - Kami doing something, albeit for too long.
  - The showcase of a different plane within Kami's Palace; like the Room of Spirit and Time; Shinsenkai, the plane where the spirits of the previous Kami's rest. They're ass-holes.
  - Chichi kicking ass, a rare occurrence and always welcome.
  - Vegeta cleaning the universe of Freeza's Army remnants, including the showcasing of the Litt people and Appule's race. Although he spends the time being proud by the fact that Freeza was killed by a Saiyan and then right after despising the Saiyan that killed him. It's either one or the other dude.
  - A bit more back-story for the demon race, with the introduction of Planet Makyo.
  - No Goku means an opportunity for others to shine.

The Cons:

• - The animation is pretty bad.
  - The soundtrack is repetitive and annoying at times.
  - There is obvious dragging with many scenes that go on for longer than they should, sometimes nonsensically. Many events go on for too long, with scenes repeating over and over.
  - Characters stand for too long either remembering something or explaining something.
  - There is filler within filler, the bits with Vegeta, albeit not bad; and the bits with Marron in Karin Tower.
  - The story is inconsistent within itself. Characters are unbeatable one scene and beaten the next; Popo finds it amazing that Kami can break a spiritual wall but he himself breaks one not too long after that; amongst other examples.

So we have eight pros to six cons, but although some pros are bitter sweet and some cons weight more overall.

So what do you think? Am I wrong? Am I right? Did I miss something? What's your opinion?

I'm thinking of turning this into a series so if you enjoyed it like, comment and subscribe! I mean just comment, or something.

Next stop! Some other filler arc!
*Spoiler: It's probably going to be the Wedding Dress Arc.*

[Insertclevername]

I like this a lot, I always thought about reviewing filler, it's good to show why and how it fails at stalling the story, since I feel a lot people seem to miss the point of filler in the first place.

Even though I despise the Garlick Jr. arc as much as the next guy, I like how you gave a fair treatment and showed some of its positives.

[DNA]

Well, I try to like this arc but it's really hard. I can't say I hate it, mostly because I can't say I hate anything in the franchise, it's just simply not as good. But the thing is, it's not that bad, it simply could have been handled better, just like the whole of GT.

By the way, I'm kind of neutral about Marron, I think she stands in the line between pro and con.

[JulieYBM]

Bad animation? It's the same exact quality as the series has been up until then. Hisada even found the time to do some really awesome cuts (Chichi v. Gohan, for example).

Since getting the Dragon Boxes I've watched the Garlic Junior arc two or three times. It's a lot of fun. Music from the fourth Dragon Ball Z movie was beginning to leak in more often and the voice acting was all great.

[Toadster]

Yeah, the animation quality's actually pretty good in the Garlic Jr. arc.

[Cipher]

Agreed with those above me on the animation quality; there are several great looking episodes in the arc.

Anyway, I like a lot of things about the Garlic Jr. arc. I just wish it were at least three episodes shorter.

[VegettoEX]

This isn't "In-Universe" -- moving over to "General Franchise Discussion".

The animation quality is interesting to think about. I always felt the same way after the first time watching through the arc -- that it was pretty awful. What I've come to realize, though, is that everything else about the arc is influencing the way you're thinking about the art, and totally drags it down in your mind (more than it fairly should). All in all, like others have pointed out, it's actually halfway decent through and through the entire the arc. In fact, it was so mostly consistent, that our buddy Scott used and abused it for his "This is Your Life" AMV back in 2001. Best use of Garlic Jr. ever!

[DBZAOTA482]

I agree with everything you said. If I were to rate the Garlic Jr. Saga, I'd give it a mediocre 5/10. Mainly because of Chi-Chi getting to kick ass.

[DNA]

This isn't "In-Universe" -- moving over to "General Franchise Discussion".

Oh okay, wasn't too sure, thanks.

As for the animation, I'm fairly sure there were a few face shots that I did not like at all. Also, Garlic's size kept changing, and when he grabs Kuririn's head, it looks like he's missing half a finger. Amongst many other slight hiccups. Maybe it was consistent but there were many small details that looked dodgy. To me at least.

[Son_Gohan]

I rewatched this arc fairly recently, so I'll add a few inputs of my own. Some things I had hoped they'd go more in-depth on was the actual showing of how Garlic Jr. escaped the Dead Zone, instead of simply attributing it to the power of the Makyo Star; more on the origins of the Four Demonic Monarchs; and what happens to Tenshinhan and Chaozu.

I wouldn't call the animation "bad", it did have its shining moments. It didn't really stick out much differently from any of the inconsistent animation applied in prior arcs, in my opinion.

I liked the fact they brought back a few themes and techniques that we hadn't seen as prominent in the manga anymore, such as with the addition of the Maron character, who provides a lot of the fan-service gags and became the brunt of Roshi's perverted antics, a role Bulma formerly held in the beginning of the story. There was also Piccolo's Namekian abilities which he used in the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai, such as his arm-stretching and becoming a giant techniques, it was nice to see them being used once again.

The viewing experience overall wasn't very enjoyable, however. There were too many times where the creativity was lost, with things persisting far longer than necessary and the idea of using filler for the sake of filler became too transparent. Scenes such as Gohan's utter reluctance to fight back with Piccolo who was whopping his ass one episode to the next (despite being accustomed to fighting him during their harsh training together), and Gohan's unwillingness to drop his barrier and destroy the Makyo Star to stop Garlic Jr. and ultimately save everyone. It was poorly executed, and eventually leaves the viewer bored, eagerly wishing for some progress to be made.

[DNA]

Some things I had hoped they'd go more in-depth on was the actual showing of how Garlic Jr. escaped the Dead Zone, instead of simply attributing it to the power of the Makyo Star; more on the origins of the Four Demonic Monarchs; and what happens to Tenshinhan and Chaozu.

Really? Tenshinhan and Chaozu must be in recluse as always. The origins of the Four Monarchs are the same as any henchmen from the entire franchise. Garlic Jr. probably just broke the barrier with sheer power. Nothing too mysterious on any of those accounts; I'm sorry to disagree with you. What I would like for them to go in depth instead would be the relation between Kami and Garlic and possibly have Junior actually ressurect him as originally intended.

(...)the addition of the Maron character, who provides a lot of the fan-service gags and became the brunt of Roshi's perverted antics, a role Bulma formerly held in the beginning of the story.

I get where you're coming from but I'm not a big fan of lewd fan-service for the sake of it. Especially when the character has no depth beyond that. Again, my stance is still neutral about her since she provided good interactions with other characters.

There was also Piccolo's Namekian abilities which he used in the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai, such as his arm-stretching and becoming a giant techniques, it was nice to see them being used once again.

This was good, the arm-stretching has been used a few times in the movies though.

(...)Gohan's unwillingness to drop his barrier and destroy the Makyo Star to stop Garlic Jr. and ultimately save everyone.

This was glaring, especially since Gohans reluctance was because he did want to endanger Piccolo and Kuririn and a bit after that they are shown to not be affected by the Dead Zone, so he was simply stalling for no reason.

[Piccolo Daimao]

I’ve never watched the Garlic Jr. arc, so I can’t really make any criticism here. But it’d be nice to see you do a review for the Anoyoichi Budoukai arc.

[DNA]

I’ve never watched the Garlic Jr. arc, so I can’t really make any criticism here. But it’d be nice to see you do a review for the Anoyoichi Budoukai arc.

It will be covered eventually, don't worry about that. ;)

[LiamKav]

I seem to recall a few instances with Gohan's hair style during that arc. In some scenes he was drawn with his fringe (bangs) still in the bowl-cut from the Freeza episodes. I guess Toei were a bit slow to realise his hairstyle had changed.

[JulieYBM]

I seem to recall a few instances with Gohan's hair style during that arc. In some scenes he was drawn with his fringe (bangs) still in the bowl-cut from the Freeza episodes. I guess Toei were a bit slow to realise his hairstyle had changed.

Gohan's hair style in the arc is an original one to the TV series. It's a cross between his bowl cut and shaggier look. Any inconsistencies is on the different animation studios being used. Toei Animation only did two episodes (#112 and #117) by themselves, the usual studios did the other nine episodes.


Getting back to the animation in general, it is around the time where Uchiyama Masayuki's episodes started looking bad, but he was only involved with #108 and #113. Hisada Kazuya's work on the arc was, great though. Tate Naoki also had a cool cut.

[DBZAOTA482]

Ehh... I remember the Garlic Jr. Saga in general looking significantly worse than the rest of the series. Sure, there were a few good moments by Segaishi but the saga as a whole tends to look ass-ugly.

P.S. I didn't think Uchiyama's shit looked that bad up until somewhere around the Android/Cell Saga (Episode 151, I believe).

[penguintruth]

Garlic Junior arc is so frustrating because it should be over in exactly one episode.

Immortal or not, Garlic Junior should be completely and utterly devestated in any fight with Gohan at that point. Like, even Piccolo should be able to single-handedly defeat Garlic Junior. Hell, even Kuririn. Pretty sure any of the gang could. They had serious power ups in the Namek/Freeza arcs. Garlic has immortality, but being endlessly beaten down would be even worse than death.

Yamucha could fart and destroy the Makyo Star at that point. It's absurd that anyone would have trouble taking on Garlic Jr., he's a complete pussy compared to the Ginyu Tokusentai and Freeza.

The whole thing could be 22 minutes of Gohan and Piccolo laughing their ass off at Garlic Junior. He might as well be a Saibaman.

[DNA]

Garlic Junior arc is so frustrating because it should be over in exactly one episode.

Immortal or not, Garlic Junior should be completely and utterly devestated in any fight with Gohan at that point. Like, even Piccolo should be able to single-handedly defeat Garlic Junior. Hell, even Kuririn. Pretty sure any of the gang could. They had serious power ups in the Namek/Freeza arcs. Garlic has immortality, but being endlessly beaten down would be even worse than death.

Yamucha could fart and destroy the Makyo Star at that point. It's absurd that anyone would have trouble taking on Garlic Jr., he's a complete pussy compared to the Ginyu Tokusentai and Freeza.

The whole thing could be 22 minutes of Gohan and Piccolo laughing their ass off at Garlic Junior. He might as well be a Saibaman.

The Makyo Planet gave him an unknown boost of power, they covered their asses with that. You can't say it's illogical for him to be stronger than x or y if you don't know the amount of power boost. About the destruction of the planet, you also can't be sure, every planet is different, what destroys one might not be sufficient to destroy another.

[Fizzer]

I actually like the Garlic Jr arc. Other arcs generally reduce to:

1. A new enemy, more powerful than anybody else, appears/
2. Protagonist gains a power boost and defeats the enemy with brute strength.

The Garlic Jr arc has much more to it story-wise than that. There's the quest to restore humanity to normal, the element of "You can't attack me because I have God in a bottle", Piccolo and Kuririn's act, and the enemy is defeated by destroying his power source so that he falls into his own trap, not simply overpowering him. I really wish there were more arcs that had this sort of more complex plot, so we could be left thinking "How are they going to beat this guy? What can they do about that situation?", rather than "I wonder if it will be Goku or someone else who gets the power-up and wins". Admittedly, the arc needs speeding up, but so does every arc in the Z era, and the Frieza arc needs it far more than the Garlic Jr arc.

Also, I agree that it's good to see Chichi fighting, and God actually doing something.

Garlic Junior arc is so frustrating because it should be over in exactly one episode.

Immortal or not, Garlic Junior should be completely and utterly devestated in any fight with Gohan at that point. Like, even Piccolo should be able to single-handedly defeat Garlic Junior. Hell, even Kuririn. Pretty sure any of the gang could. They had serious power ups in the Namek/Freeza arcs. Garlic has immortality, but being endlessly beaten down would be even worse than death.

Yamucha could fart and destroy the Makyo Star at that point. It's absurd that anyone would have trouble taking on Garlic Jr., he's a complete pussy compared to the Ginyu Tokusentai and Freeza.

The whole thing could be 22 minutes of Gohan and Piccolo laughing their ass off at Garlic Junior. He might as well be a Saibaman.

The Makyo Planet gave him an unknown boost of power, they covered their asses with that. You can't say it's illogical for him to be stronger than x or y if you don't know the amount of power boost. About the destruction of the planet, you also can't be sure, every planet is different, what destroys one might not be sufficient to destroy another.

I agree. The planet could be made of the substance that broke the Z-sword or something.

[DNA]

I agree. The planet could be made of the substance that broke the Z-sword or something.

That's unlikely. Kachin, a metal so strong that seventeen year old Gohan with the all mighty Z-Sword couldn't cut is what a planet that six year old Gohan destroyed with a single blast? I don't think so.