Late and lazy~
Episode 21
This is the most weird and jarring episode of the batch, and it's why I asked the question about pacing. In the manga, you have a series of events, everyone's established to be doing X thing until the Saiyans arrive, then there's a skip, and everything plays out just fine. In the anime, everything post-Raditz moves are essentially one pace, and there's a natural flow of time set in place. This episodes rolls around and mimics the time skip in the manga, but because it's not a natural time to suddenly jump forward, it just feels jarring, like you missed a whole batch of episodes. It does not work whatsoever.
Funnily enough, one of the highlights of the episode also plays a huge factor in bringing about that feeling of missing something.
Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru animates a training sequence with Goku and Kaio that excusively appears in the recap portion of the episode. It's a great scene, but it's so jarring having a brand new scene show up in the recap in amongst scenes from the last episode. Again, it's as though episodes have been skipped over. I totally understand why they've structured the show this way - not spoiling Kaioken and going through endless filler - but man, it just doesn't work.
The rest of the episode plays out just fine, so it's not as though this is somehow lacking in entertainment value, it's just... a bit messy.
Episode 22
This is the type of episode that I think showcases the worst of Dragon Ball filler in a nutshell. There's a sense of immediacy established (the Saiyans are here!!!), but the majority of the episode is dedicated to Yajirobe messing around with reporters.
When it finally gets into the swing of things in the second half, it improves greatly. I love Gohan and Kuririn's first proper interaction: "My dad said you're small, but strong, right?" ... "He didn't have to include that "small part". So good!
Vegeta doesn't speak much, but when he does, it's always great. Horikawa in his prime is such a treat to the ears. I'm so used to hearing him in Super that getting accustomed to a younger sounding voice took a second. It's fantastic, though. Really.
Nothing much to say on the animation front. I'll just note that Naotoshi Shida handles the bulk of the Saibaimen section.
He sure knows how to make them look terrifying.
Not a particularly entertaining episode, I'm afraid.
Episode 23
Now things really begin! Like pretty much every single fantastic episode in this arc, it's directed by Yoshihiro Ueda. It's pretty much like 20 minutes of fantastic action followed by the unfortunate death of Yamcha. I wish I had more than just "this is so good!!!" to add, but I turn into a blob of wide-eyed jelly in these kinds of episodes. They're so closely linked to my childhood.
I will say one thing: I so miss Hirotaka Suzuoki, Tenshinhan's original voice actor. He has such an intensity to his performance that I adore. It gives him such a screen presence. My only notes about him in this episode read: he's so unbearably cool!
It's a remarkably well animated episode, actually. It was supervised by Katsumi Aoshima who's typically a solo animator. In this episode he's got a spare hand in the form of Hideko Okimoto.
There's a neat little rotation towards the start, and
Yamcha's fight is petty cool, too.
Great episode. The start of a very strong run.
Episode 24
God, these episodes are just so good. Killing off all of these characters that have been a staple of franchise for the past few arcs is very ballsy, and so effective in establishing the threat of the Saiyans. There's such brutality to the way Nappa fights - I love it.
That said, that's more of a comment for the next episode, as Shindo Pro's work here is pretty weak, much like their last episode. Not too sure what's going on with them at this point in the series, but I have memories of them being much better. It's not poor, but it is seriously limited, especially when you consider what's actually required of these scenes.
Regardless, it's still very engaging. I love seeing all of these characters in action.
Episode 25
The top-tier all-star episode of this batch. It's directed by the series director of Dragon Ball Z, Daisuke Nishio, and the animation comes from Seigasha, featuring such stars as Masahiro Shimanuki and Kazuya Hisada. It all comes together to form one hell of an episode.
While the first half's animation is fairly weak, the second half is on fire.
Shimanuki delivers a pretty cut, while Hisada's popping up here and there to help keep things moving.
My absolute favourite part of this episode has basically nothing to do with action, though. Tenshinhan lying on the ground and reflecting on his life with Chiaotzu is just so unbelievably powerful.
The music from Kikuchi is especially strong. From what I understand, it's pretty much Chiaotzu's theme, so that certainly makes for one hell of a build-up to the Kikoho. Huge emotional resonance. So so so effective.
Best episode of the bunch, and the first to really force me to exercise all willpower to not continue watching onward.
