Dragon Ball Z - Episodes 36-40 - Discussion Thread [Rewatch - Week 8]

[Ajay]

Welcome! For details on this rewatch, click here!

To fake Namek we go~

Here are some legal ways to stream the series:
Funimation (North America)
AnimeLab (Australia and New Zealand)

This week we're covering:

[spoiler]飛び出せ宇宙へ！希望の星はピッコロの故郷
Tabidase Uchū e! Kibō no Hoshi wa Pikkoro no Furusato
We’re Off Into Space! The Planet of Hope is Piccolo’s Homeland

Goku has finally chased off Vegeta! Bulma and Kame-Sen’nin rescue Goku and the others, and recover the bodies of Yamcha and the rest. Piccolo has been killed, and God and the dragonballs have both vanished! But Kuririn heard Vegeta say that there are also Dragon Balls on Planet Namek. Planet Namek is far away, but they should be able to go there if they use the Saiyan spaceship! Kuririn and the others spirits return as this possibility of restoring everyone to life emerges!

謎のユンザビット！神様の宇宙船を探せ
Nazo no Yunzabitto! Kami-sama no Uchūsen o Sagase
The Mysterious Yunzabit! The Search for God’s Spaceship

Goku and the others are hospitalized, having been seriously injured, and Bulma comes to their hospital. She knows how to use the remote control that manipulates the Saiyan spaceship! Bulma goes right ahead and uses it, but for some reason the spaceship explodes… As Bulma and the others are disappointed, Mister Popo appears before them, telling them to come, as there is another spaceship. Bulma goes with Mister Popo to the Yunzabit highland! Over there is the spaceship that God, who was Namekian, rode on as a child!!

ナメック星行き発進！悟飯たちを待つ恐怖
Namekku-sei Iki Hasshin! Gohan-tachi o Matsu Kyōfu
Blast-off for Planet Namek! The Terror Awaiting Gohan and Company

The spaceship is carried to the laboratory at Bulma’s house, and its reconstruction begins! With this spaceship, the round trip to Planet Namek will take two months. But Mister Popo, who understands Namekian, is unable to abandon God’s palace. Ultimately, the ones to go to Planet Namek are Bulma, Kuririn, and Gohan, who overcomes Chi-Chi’s opposition! On the launch day, Bulma, wearing a spacesuit, is dumbfounded to see Kuririn in ordinary clothes and Gohan looking like he’s off to Sunday school. They take off with her in a bad mood.

敵か味方か？謎の巨大宇宙船の子供たち
Teki ka Mikata ka? Nazo no Kyodai Uchūsen no Kodomo-tachi
Friends or Foes? Children of the Mysterious Giant Spaceship

It’s the seventh day since they departed from Earth. As they continue their peaceful journey, Gohan and Kuririn push themselves in their image training. At that moment, they were suddenly attacked by a spaceship! They shoot down the army of battle machines that come at them, but this time a spaceship identical to God’s appears! They’ve drawn near a gigantic spaceship lined with mirrors!! Gohan and the others are pulled inside the spaceship, and explore its interior. They overcome numerous traps, but Bulma is captured!

ホントにホント？あれが希望のナメック星
Honto ni Honto? Are ga Kibō no Namekku-sei
Really, for Real? There Lies Namek, Planet of Hope

Riding in the spaceship were children whose planet had been destroyed by Freeza! They are convinced that Gohan and the others are Freeza’s underlings. At that time, the spaceship is sucked into a meteor swarm!! The intense shock caves in the ceiling, but Gohan and Kuririn save everyone by a hair’s breath! Escaping from the meteor swarm, the children realize that Gohan and the others aren’t enemies. Leaving the children, Gohan and the others head for Planet Namek through a shortcut, but are drawn into a universal current.[/spoiler]


Suggested Format & Weekly Questions

Language: For the sake of context, let us know which language you're watching the series in (and what score, if required).
General Thoughts: Your thoughts on the episode, possibly linked to the suggested questions if need be. Cover the plot, the tone, the character interactions, and characterisation.
Entertainment Factor: How was the pacing? Did the episode keep you entertained throughout, or what could have been done better?
Animation: Did you like the action sequences, or the way characters emoted? Did things move in a satisfying way, or was it mostly style over substance?
Questions: Not necessary, but if you're curious about opinions on a specific point that hasn't been touched on, go ahead and ask! It's a nice way to spur the topic onward.

- How seamlessly do you feel the end of the Saiyan arc transitions into preparations for Namek, and in the case of the anime, into this fake Namek story?

[gaberparadiso]

Episode 36

General thoughts: you know something's off when Yajirobe is the most sensible character of this episode. The 1st half can be summed up like this "X, Y and Z are dead. Wawawa". I know this is supposed to be a transition between the Saiyan arc and the Namek arc, but here Bulma and Chichi's characterization is so poor it pisses me off. First off, I really loathe when Bulma told Yajirobe he should've died instead of Yamcha, because no matter how annoying she can get, this line of hers sounds way too mean-spirited. However, Yajirobe's answer made a lot of sense, since without his help, Goku and the others would've surely gone to the next diemension. Either way, it's Chichi who gets the prize for the Worst Character, because she cares about Gohan EXCLUSIVELY, and not only she ignores Goku, but even BLAMES him for putting Gohan into danger. Once again, I really like Yajirobe defending Goku, and much like the audience, he's annoyed by Chichi's idiotic behavior. But it's Kamesennin who has the most rational reaction, since he feels powerless for not being able to help his students. The 2nd half is mostly focused on uncovering planet Namek, which feels slightly more interesting and less frustrating than the 1st.

Entertainment factor: if you think whining and bitching is an actual form of entertainment, then you might enjoy this episode.

Animation: Orime's storyboarding is in line with the episode content, as his direction stands out especially on the 1st half, when Bulma has memories of Yamcha, in a very similar fashion as Tenshinhan after Chaozu's death in ep. 24. This was outsourced to Seigasha, after only 5 weeks from last time, so it's perfectly reasonable to see such limited outputs from both Shimanuki and Hisada. The former animated Chichi running to take Gohan, while the latter handles the mourning of Kamesennin and Bulma, with some nice character acting, which is something DB usually lacks of. The 2nd half is quite curious, because it shows uncredited key animation from Eguchi, Nakatsuru and Ide (and maybe other few), as an attempt to complete the episode in a limited amount of time: Nakatsuru is impossible to miss, with his thick eyebrows, three-quarters stances and stock on-model figures, Ide with his trademark bulbous ears and masculine jaws, especially on Bulma, https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/dra ... 0806175910 and Eguchi's eye lines on Krillin, even under Takeuchi's corrections. Ironically enough, both Nakatsuru and Ide started off as Seigasha animators back in DB. https://twitter.com/DBanimators/status/ ... 5977556992

Music: plenty of sad/sappy BGMs, so no surprise here.

Overall: 6/10. Could've been lower, but I guess this episode needed to exist.

[gaberparadiso]

Episode 37

General thoughts: whilst being overall boring, this episode still caused me a headache. Much like last time, Bulma is portrayed really sloppily, with her bitchy side standing out, but unfortunately, not in just one half. She pushes the self-destruction botton of the pod, and BLAMES Krillin for that. Just how much irritating can she get?? Even though we get some backstory about how Kami landed on Earth, there's really nothing that engaging. Moreover, I believe Piccolo Daimao was smarter than Kami, because at least he knew he could spit out eggs, while Kami talks about 'parents', despite Namekians not being able to breed like humans. But still, the worst thing is Popo's terrible sensitivity at the end, which ruined his character in my opinion. He was one of the most interesting characters back in DB: calm, wise and pretty strong. Starting from this episode, DBZ turned him into a black version of Spongebob, he cries all the time. Desperately waiting for Garlic jr. arc to humiliate his attitude even further... In Super he appeared a very few times, but he seemed to get his DB personality back. On the plus side, I kinda liked two things: Krillin imitating Yajirobe (funny enough, since Tanaka voices both of them) and Kamesennin's stupid excuse to cop a feel. Nevertheless, it's not an episode I'd willingly rewatch again.

Entertainment factor: boring and also terribly directed.

Animation: for the first time, I have nothing much to say. Shindo's staff is back after 13 weeks, and his corrections are dominant and kinda solid. Matsuura's storyboarding and direction are boring and underwhelming.

Music: poor, sloppy and questionable placement: for instance, the unreleased Tenshinhan Prepares To Kill Chaozu is not that great, but its use actually made SENSE in eps. 24, 25 and 36. How come is it played during a not that sad scene here? It misses the point. Furthermore, M516 is a track with a strong historical context, since it's related to the moment when Goku killed Piccolo Daimao in DB. And... here it's used during the journey to Jupiter. That's just DUMB.

Overall: 3/10. Dull entry.

[gaberparadiso]

Episode 38

General thoughts: while not being spectacular, this episode is FRESH AIR compared to the last one. Of course, Bulma and Chichi's characterizations are a bit off, with their annoying sides being enhanced. But in this case, it's not that bothersome, because it leads to something concrete. In fact, this episode has pretty nice moments, and each of them involves Gohan's character: his training on the hospital terrace, Goku asking to punch him to test his conditions, his massive respect towards Piccolo, and of course, roasting Chichi by telling her to shut the HFIL up. Another pretty underrated moment is Krillin saying goodbye to Kamesennin, which shows a really nice master-student bond. It feels refreshing to see this kind of moments on DB, because they seldom happen.

Entertainment factor: entertaining and with a very solid direction from Ueda.

Animation: once again, Ueda's skills of creating a solid sequence are undeniable: for example, when Gohan gets up from the hospital bed, and takes his slippers, it's shown from the under the bed perspective in order to obtain a more tridimensional output. Art-wise, it's a quite solid episode, and as usual, Uchiyama's corrections are strong. In terms of action, the highlight is clearly the departure for Namek, animated by Shida. The spaceship moves really fast and the animated objects coming out from the opened suitcase are a really nice touch. https://twitter.com/DBanimators/status/ ... 1432757248

Music: can someone explain the sense of Pansy In The Forest when the doctor removes Krillin's head bandages? It's a bit weird. Either way, this episode has a fairly okay placement. M518 at the end sounds so glorious and fitting. It really reminds me of Piccolo's threat in DB.

Overall: 7/10. Not bad.

[Taisa732]

Language: Japanese

General Thoughts:
Episode 36 : Where do I even begin? I know, we can go back to the manga and start form there.
Before arriving on the battlefield, the “other” characters are discussing on the fate of there friends that went to fight the saiyan. On the plain they talk about the probability of casualties and Kamesennin states that he senses only four ki where the fight has taken place, five if you include Vegeta himself.
Let's put ourselfs in there shoes for a moment. If a bunch of people you know finds themselfs in a bad situation and you are aware that not everybody has made it alive, who would you want to survive? The answer is simple, the closest ones to you, your loved ones. Whoever is most dear to you.
Am I right? And yes, I am. It's human, selfish and understandable because we want that special someone to come home, even if it means losing someone else.
There, on that plain they are all thinking the same thing, they are all silently hoping that there loved on survived. And while Chichi is worried for Gohan, and maybe Goku, Bulma is praying for Yamcha. But Bulma isn't stupid and quickly figures out that Yamcha has a very low possibility of making it out alive.
Upon arrival Krillin, Gohan and Goku are already three of the four survivors, thinning Bulma's window of hope to practically zero, her only hope is now Piccolo and the dragon balls. But when Yajirobe turns out to be number four everything comes crumbling down to crush her. All her hopes and expectations are now lost, Yamcha is dead and there is no way to revive him.
You can say what you want about Bulma, you can like her, you can hate her, but we can all agree that she isn'ta crybaby. Yes, she complains a lot and she screams often, but she rarely burst in tears. A side for a few occasions where she has a single tear by the corner of her eye, there are only two moments in which she truly weeps, this is one of them, and if you know the story you can easily figure out the second. In common they both have the loss of her loved one, somebody that is very important for her.
But where am I going with this? Well, this is why I hate the journalist shenanigans soooooooo much. And yes, I am aware that this bugs me and only me, but hear me out if you will. The thing is that in the manga there are two pages where you can see Bulma's hopes getting destroyed by the second and her reaction is so heartbreaking. The realisation that not only Yamcha has died, but there isn't any way to bring him back (as far as she knows) making her break up in tears and it's the first time we fully see her cry.
In the anime on the other hand she already knows everything and it makes a huge difference. First of all you can't sense her attempt to keep a straight face, even if a part of her already knows that Yamcha is dead. Second, her reaction to Yajirobe is out of proportion. Of course she wasn't expecting him to survive, but that doesn't mean she was hoping he was dead! There is a fine line between wishing someone to still be alive and praying that a loved one isn't dead even if it selfishly means somebody else's demise. The scene where she shouts at him makes her look spiteful and cruel, robbing her from any empathy you may have for her.
Third and most important, she already knows! Bulma knows that Yamcha is dead, she knows that Piccolo is dead, so why does she react like that? There is no reason for her to have that burst out if she saw everything. And no reason for her to cry on the journey back.
The anime actually has a very beautiful moment where Bulma has a final realisation, Yamcha is really dead. No words are needed, just a sad low music plays while a few images pass by and Bulma starts crying in silence. That is a very sad scene and makes you fell sorry for her. Except we already saw all of this three times!
It could've been so much more impactful if not only she had just known about Yamcha's death, but also if the first time she reacted wasn't many episodes ago (with a disgustful sexual joke in addition to that).
I guess the reason this makes me so upset is that Bulma is one of my favourite characters and since she isn't a fighter her characterisation comes form small things like this and a very important moment for her was randomly ruined.

With all this said, if I had to pick up something good about this episode I'll say that I really like Krillin here.

Episode 37 : The first scene at the hospital always makes me laugh, maybe it does go on a bit too long, but it still is really funny to me. Goku, the almighty warrior that screams like a baby whenever he has to deal with doctors. I like the contradiction.
A side from that, like I just said, Bulma is one of my favourite characters, so I'm always happy when she gets some attention. I love that she messes up with the remote, despite her being a genius she does makes some mistakes even in the field she is generally good at, and that makes her very human. Plus it makes for some very funny reaction.
And Goku makes me laugh while he gets left out because he can't see anything and nobody is paying any notice of him.
Again, one of the reasons I like Bulma is because I like watching her brain function. I enjoy this episode because I like to see how she goes into “scientist mode”.

Episode 38 : Not much to say here. Like the little father/son moment when Goku tells Gohan to hit his hand. And Bulma getting upset because she's the only one taking seriously the space adventure, while Krillin and Gohan don't care that much. It's funny.

Episode 39/40 : I'll briefly talk about these two episodes together since they basically are a small story that really amount to anything. And just by saying that I already don't a have much to add.
I like Krillin's role as the “leader”, but I think I'll delay this argument until we are really on Namek. And Bulma taking control of the ship makes me very happy for all the reasons I've already talked about.
One thing that bothers me thou, is the solution to survive the fall out of the spaceship in episode 39. How should it even work? Krillin and Gohan are firing ki blast that should push them back up, except for the fact that they are hitting literally nothing since they are blasting the nothingness of space! It doesn't make any sense! Plus they can fly!

Animation: There isn't too much worth mentioning, having a lot of exposition episodes and standing around, but I liked the way they told Kami-sam's backstory (#37), with the sepia colours and a very dirty look.

- How seamlessly do you feel the end of the Saiyan arc transitions into preparations for Namek, and in the case of the anime, into this fake Namek story?

It is pretty smooth actually. I fell it's a natural transitions between the aftermath of the saiyan saga, where the characters are trying to find a way to fix the situation, and the solution they come up with.
In case of the anime the fillers are just ok. Luckily the don't overstay there welcome and are done fast so it's not to tough trying to go through them, even if they are not that entertaining.

[TrunksTrevelyan0064]

Episodes covered: Dragon Ball Z 36-40 ("Dragon Ball 189-193")


EPISODE 36
* Loved that scene where Kuririn went from scared to relieved when he saw Muten Rôshi. Such a heartwarming moment - the soothing music that played alongside it just made me feel like I was "home".
* For once, Yajirobe is right when he says he saved the day. Pretty heavy accusations/threats being thrown his way here. Not cool, Bulma, but... I can't get angry at you because I understand why, and also because of Hiromi Tsuru.
* Kuririn's bearing such a burden here. Having to relive the deaths of all the close friends he saw die right in front of him, and feeling the pressure of explaining a possible way to resurrect everyone, while at the same time not wanting to get anyone's hopes up.
* Quite a lot of exposition to suddenly have to wrap your head around, but it helps that the anime takes a slightly more show-don't-tell approach than the manga. Also, I like that it's not just one character dumping a bunch of info in a hurry; instead, we get it all piece by piece through conversation and logical (albeit somewhat convoluted in parts) reasoning, with plenty of time to let it all sink in. And a hopeful ending!
* I actually really, really enjoyed this episode. Though unusually heavy, with so much focus on loss and grief, it is heartwarming as well. All the characters are grieving together. Watching them interact like this, they feel like one big family. It's comforting to know that they will always support each other through thick and thin.

EPISODE 37
* Rôshi and Chi-Chi carrying Kuririn and Gohan across the hallway cracked me up. Also funny to see Kuririn do a Yajirobe impression, considering it's the same voice actress.
* Nappa's spacepod used its owner's signature move: "Bakuhatsu-ha", a.k.a. "explosion".
* I'm glad I can still separate Mr Popo from Abridged!Popo in my mind. I wonder about his history. Where did he come from? How did he end up on God's Temple? Why is he so devoted to that place? It's not like he's bound to it by some curse or spell; he just went into outer space!
* I hate to bring up Hiromi Tsuru's tragic passing... but I find myself paying a touch more attention to her performances than I otherwise would have, and boy was she astounding this episode.

EPISODE 38
* One of those hospital patients looks suspiciously like Konkichi... (from Dragon Ball episode 83)
* Bulma learning the Namekian language is something that never really went anywhere, sadly. Could've been an interesting plot point if she somehow ended up being the only one capable of summoning Porunga.
* If I could tell one Dragon Ball character one thing, I would tell Chi-Chi that Gohan will be absolutely fine (and I'm talking about the long term). Stop fussing, stop worrying, just relax!
* I like that this initial "Planet Namek team" is reminiscent of the old "pirate cave team" from the Red Ribbon arc (Bulma, Kuririn, little Gohan/Goku).
* Ahhh, here come the hairstyles and the outfits that I have the most nostalgia for (when I first got into Dragon Ball, the Namek/Freeza stuff was airing).

EPISODE 39
* Mehhh. I'm struggling to come up with anything to say about this one. Probably the least compelling episode of Z so far. Dull content, subpar art quality, some funny moments but nothing noteworthy.

EPISODE 40
* The first mention of Freeza (by name, at least) and the fact that it was Kewi (or someone who looks identical) who apparently attacked the planet these guys come from, made this episode significantly more interesting than the last one, though that's not saying much. One thing this episode does accomplish is drive home just how brutal and merciless Freeza's army is. I felt for the orphaned children.


- How seamlessly do you feel the end of the Saiyan arc transitions into preparations for Namek, and in the case of the anime, into this fake Namek story?
It is quite a huge dump of exposition all of a sudden, but the seeds for it were planted throughout the Saiyan arc. The reasoning and explanations make sense enough, but you do have to pay attention. I could see newcomers missing details here and there and not fully comprehending the big picture. Also, though the children-in-space episodes aren't the greatest, I do like that we hear about Freeza before we actually get to Namek.


Favorite character: Toss-up between Bulma and Kuririn, because of their visible emotional trauma and their involvement in kicking off the next arc. Since Kuririn already won the last round, I might as well pick Bulma this week.
Previous favorites: Raditz, Gohan, the saber-toothed tiger, Kaiô, Tenshinhan, Vegeta, Kuririn.

[gaberparadiso]

Episode 39

General thoughts: okay, I'm taking the elephant out of the room: the 39-40 pairing is mostly known for displaying Bulma in her underwear, with a 5-year-old kid and a bald guy, who are apparently indifferent about it. Now... the first 5 minutes are the best thing about this episodes: we get a mental training sequence with Gohan and Krillin, which is poorly executed despite having a cool idea behind, and a relevant question: since when does Gohan know the Makankosappo? We saw him doing that in videogames ONLY, and Piccolo had at most taught him the Masenko before the Saiyans' arrival. Something's off.
Anyway, the hospital cutaway is kinda funny, with Kamesennin not caring about Goku's physical conditions and copping a feel on the nurse. And that's it, because the rest is mostly mediocre: Krillin and the others bump into this sort of spaceship through a really confusing and illogical device, and come across several booby traps, more or less akin to those from General Blue arc. Speaking of which, Krillin and Gohan can fly, right? So, they could've easily levitated to escape outer space, instead of using energy blasts downwards. Maybe they wanted to recreate a DB-esque adventure here, but it doesn't have a solid concept and just happens.

Entertainment factor: after 5 decent minutes, the rest is mostly meh. Nishio's direction is not that great, either. Ironically, Krillin's hat floating in the outer space has the same sound effect as Paikuhan charging his Thunder Flash.

Animation: while I kinda liked the mental training having a different background, the execution leaves to be desired. Yes, we have some backflips from Krillin, better animated than those from ep. 27, but the rest is conservative and stiff. Ebisawa is not an entirely bad animator, and definitely knows how to speed up his action scenes, but he seems to be restricted by his own pattern, and due to this inflexible approach, his scenes tend to share the same timing and choreography over and over again. And as soon as they are not sped up, they might be kinda repetitive. https://twitter.com/DBanimators/status/ ... 6087186432 Besides, his art doesn't look that promising, either. He certainly has problems drawing kids and girls. Handa and Kudo's outputs are okay-ish, overall. At least they draw gentler and cuter features on Bulma. Lastly, I may be wrong, but I think I spotted uncredited Toshiyuki Kan'no at some point. If it is true, this would be his first official appearance on DB (even though he'd be officially credited on ep. 46). https://twitter.com/DBanimators/status/ ... 1532836864 Overall, I would've willingly swapped Last House and Studio Live in the 38-39 pairing. This could've been such a perfect episode for Uchiyama's staff. Don't know why, but it's possibly related to a bigger amount of action scenes with Ohara and Shida.

Music: DBZ really likes M6** a lot, don't they? In my opinion, M6** is one of the most inconsistent Kikuchi compilations, next to M21** (M13). How many times did they use the unreleased Karin's Lesson To Goku so far? Feel The Burn at the end sounds perfect, and I guess playing several DB tracks on an adventure-centered episode like this one... is all right.

Overall: 5/10. Mediocre outcome.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

Episode 37

General thoughts: whilst being overall boring, this episode still caused me a headache. Much like last time, Bulma is portrayed really sloppily, with her bitchy side standing out, but unfortunately, not in just one half. She pushes the self-destruction botton of the pod, and BLAMES Krillin for that. Just how much irritating can she get?? Even though we get some backstory about how Kami landed on Earth, there's really nothing that engaging. Moreover, I believe Piccolo Daimao was smarter than Kami, because at least he knew he could spit out eggs, while Kami talks about 'parents', despite Namekians not being able to breed like humans. But still, the worst thing is Popo's terrible sensitivity at the end, which ruined his character in my opinion. He was one of the most interesting characters back in DB: calm, wise and pretty strong. Starting from this episode, DBZ turned him into a black version of Spongebob, he cries all the time. Desperately waiting for Garlic jr. arc to humiliate his attitude even further... In Super he appeared a very few times, but he seemed to get his DB personality back. On the plus side, I kinda liked two things: Krillin imitating Yajirobe (funny enough, since Tanaka voices both of them) and Kamesennin's stupid excuse to cop a feel. Nevertheless, it's not an episode I'd willingly rewatch again.

Entertainment factor: boring and also terribly directed.

Animation: for the first time, I have nothing much to say. Shindo's staff is back after 13 weeks, and his corrections are dominant and kinda solid. Matsuura's storyboarding and direction are boring and underwhelming.

Music: poor, sloppy and questionable placement: for instance, the unreleased Tenshinhan Prepares To Kill Chaozu is not that great, but its use actually made SENSE in eps. 24, 25 and 36. How come is it played during a not that sad scene here? It misses the point. Furthermore, M516 is a track with a strong historical context, since it's related to the moment when Goku killed Piccolo Daimao in DB. And... here it's used during the journey to Jupiter. That's just DUMB.

Overall: 3/10. Dull entry.

Whoa. You usually are always far too kind with your ratings, this episode must have really riled you up!

[gaberparadiso]

Episode 37

General thoughts: whilst being overall boring, this episode still caused me a headache. Much like last time, Bulma is portrayed really sloppily, with her bitchy side standing out, but unfortunately, not in just one half. She pushes the self-destruction botton of the pod, and BLAMES Krillin for that. Just how much irritating can she get?? Even though we get some backstory about how Kami landed on Earth, there's really nothing that engaging. Moreover, I believe Piccolo Daimao was smarter than Kami, because at least he knew he could spit out eggs, while Kami talks about 'parents', despite Namekians not being able to breed like humans. But still, the worst thing is Popo's terrible sensitivity at the end, which ruined his character in my opinion. He was one of the most interesting characters back in DB: calm, wise and pretty strong. Starting from this episode, DBZ turned him into a black version of Spongebob, he cries all the time. Desperately waiting for Garlic jr. arc to humiliate his attitude even further... In Super he appeared a very few times, but he seemed to get his DB personality back. On the plus side, I kinda liked two things: Krillin imitating Yajirobe (funny enough, since Tanaka voices both of them) and Kamesennin's stupid excuse to cop a feel. Nevertheless, it's not an episode I'd willingly rewatch again.

Entertainment factor: boring and also terribly directed.

Animation: for the first time, I have nothing much to say. Shindo's staff is back after 13 weeks, and his corrections are dominant and kinda solid. Matsuura's storyboarding and direction are boring and underwhelming.

Music: poor, sloppy and questionable placement: for instance, the unreleased Tenshinhan Prepares To Kill Chaozu is not that great, but its use actually made SENSE in eps. 24, 25 and 36. How come is it played during a not that sad scene here? It misses the point. Furthermore, M516 is a track with a strong historical context, since it's related to the moment when Goku killed Piccolo Daimao in DB. And... here it's used during the journey to Jupiter. That's just DUMB.

Overall: 3/10. Dull entry.

Whoa. You usually are always far too kind with your ratings, this episode must have really riled you up!

As long as episodes find a way to entertain viewers, that's fine by me. For example, ep. 15 had zero plot, and I gave it a 5 out of 10. However, the fact that it was very animated, did exempt me from giving a lower rating. Whereas I found ep. 37 dull, unpleasant and uninteresting, as it also enhanced characters' ugly sides. Popo's mistreatment is one of the worst things DBZ has ever accomplished.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

Episode 37

General thoughts: whilst being overall boring, this episode still caused me a headache. Much like last time, Bulma is portrayed really sloppily, with her bitchy side standing out, but unfortunately, not in just one half. She pushes the self-destruction botton of the pod, and BLAMES Krillin for that. Just how much irritating can she get?? Even though we get some backstory about how Kami landed on Earth, there's really nothing that engaging. Moreover, I believe Piccolo Daimao was smarter than Kami, because at least he knew he could spit out eggs, while Kami talks about 'parents', despite Namekians not being able to breed like humans. But still, the worst thing is Popo's terrible sensitivity at the end, which ruined his character in my opinion. He was one of the most interesting characters back in DB: calm, wise and pretty strong. Starting from this episode, DBZ turned him into a black version of Spongebob, he cries all the time. Desperately waiting for Garlic jr. arc to humiliate his attitude even further... In Super he appeared a very few times, but he seemed to get his DB personality back. On the plus side, I kinda liked two things: Krillin imitating Yajirobe (funny enough, since Tanaka voices both of them) and Kamesennin's stupid excuse to cop a feel. Nevertheless, it's not an episode I'd willingly rewatch again.

Entertainment factor: boring and also terribly directed.

Animation: for the first time, I have nothing much to say. Shindo's staff is back after 13 weeks, and his corrections are dominant and kinda solid. Matsuura's storyboarding and direction are boring and underwhelming.

Music: poor, sloppy and questionable placement: for instance, the unreleased Tenshinhan Prepares To Kill Chaozu is not that great, but its use actually made SENSE in eps. 24, 25 and 36. How come is it played during a not that sad scene here? It misses the point. Furthermore, M516 is a track with a strong historical context, since it's related to the moment when Goku killed Piccolo Daimao in DB. And... here it's used during the journey to Jupiter. That's just DUMB.

Overall: 3/10. Dull entry.

Whoa. You usually are always far too kind with your ratings, this episode must have really riled you up!

As long as episodes find a way to entertain viewers, that's fine by me. For example, ep. 15 had zero plot, and I gave it a 5 out of 10. However, the fact that it was very animated, did exempt me from giving a lower rating. Whereas I found ep. 37 dull, unpleasant and uninteresting, as it also enhanced characters' ugly sides. Popo's mistreatment is one of the worst things DBZ has ever accomplished.

You do bring up a pretty good point about Popo, never really thought too much about it before, I feel like Z on a whole just ruined a lot of the old cast members from OG DB, most of them to this day have not recovered, just look how long it took to show Roshi in a new light. I feel sorry for people who haven't read/watched DB to know how good those characters actually were.

I personally think the fall of Yamcha was the worst offence of the lot. Especially since that was Toriyama, he made him into a chicken and then even had to cheek to make him into a bad guy in his relationship with Bulma to the point she saw Vegeta as a more suitable mate, it doesn't get much more worse than that.

[Professor Freeza]

Whoa. You usually are always far too kind with your ratings, this episode must have really riled you up!

As long as episodes find a way to entertain viewers, that's fine by me. For example, ep. 15 had zero plot, and I gave it a 5 out of 10. However, the fact that it was very animated, did exempt me from giving a lower rating. Whereas I found ep. 37 dull, unpleasant and uninteresting, as it also enhanced characters' ugly sides. Popo's mistreatment is one of the worst things DBZ has ever accomplished.

You do bring up a pretty good point about Popo, never really thought too much about it before, I feel like Z on a whole just ruined a lot of the old cast members from OG DB, most of them to this day have not recovered, just look how long it took to show Roshi in a new light. I feel sorry for people who haven't read/watched DB to know how good those characters actually were.

I personally think the fall of Yamcha was the worst offence of the lot. Especially since that was Toriyama, he made him into a chicken and then even had to cheek to make him into a bad guy in his relationship with Bulma to the point she saw Vegeta as a more suitable mate, it doesn't get much more worse than that.

Hurray for Vegeta

[gaberparadiso]

Episode 40

General thoughts: this bunch of episodes was nothing that memorable, but this one is not as dull as I remembered. This is the second time DBZ uses filler orphans after ep. 16, but in this case I let it slide because it introduces the new villain, the space emperor Freezer. Of course, these are boring characters, but unlike that filler, we have some ACTION. Without it, my rating would possibly be much lower, especially considering the hospital cutaway, which I find FRUSTRATING to watch. By now it's perfectly clear that Chichi has been flanderized in the DBZ anime, a proportionally mild-mannered girl was turned into an overprotective and annoying housewife, who doesn't seem to care about her own husband by any means. Even though he'd sacrificed himself also to protect Gohan, he's STILL to blame for putting him into danger. Furthermore, Goku's fear of needles (anime-only) is unfunny and stupid. I never liked this recurring gag, because it feels FORCED. And even so, someone still believes Super is the only series which ruined his character. Anyway, this episode isn't that boring, but it's definitely flawed. As a whole, Krillin is by now the most privileged character.

Entertainment factor: inconsistent pacing overall, the 1st half is slightly more enjoyable.

Animation: pretty inconsistent storyboarding from Hashimoto. He can definitely make nice transitions (like Gohan being shot followed by the orphan crying), but here his output doesn't look that compelling. Fortunately, we can't say the same about Seigasha, who sounds like a proper choice for this episode, unlike Studio Live last time. Takeuchi's corrections are almost non-existent, but it's pretty much solid overall. Bulma looks 10x better, so no surprise here. Shimanuki and Hisada's contribution is minimum, probably due to time issues or to movie 2 production (since they animated large portions each), but even so, they're simply great at building up action and at giving some neat character acting moments. It's so much fun, Naoki Tate owes both of them a lot. https://twitter.com/DBanimators/status/ ... 0690419713 Moreover, in the 2nd half, uncredited Takeo Ide stepped in to animate a rough minute-long segment, and his sharp shading, trademark ears and manly jaws are simply hard to miss. I don't know why, but I kinda like how he drew Bulma here. https://twitter.com/DBanimators/status/ ... 5323443200

Music: the memorable M811 during the action scene and the glorious M518 at the end. Apart from those, it's a fairly okay placement.

Overall: 6/10. I don't hate it. Now, onto next week, and I'm afraid it will hurt...