The Super Re-Read

Discussion specifically regarding the "Dragon Ball Super" TV series premiering July 2015 in Japan, including individual threads for each episode.

Moderators: General Help, Kanzenshuu Staff

User avatar
TobyS
I Live Here
Posts: 2450
Joined: Sun Jun 20, 2010 12:11 pm

Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by TobyS » Sun Dec 27, 2020 6:16 pm

The Undying wrote: Fri Dec 25, 2020 1:23 pm Personally, I completely agree with Magnificent Ponta on Minus. If I have any distaste for that chapter, it's purely because it's background fluff rather than a concisely told story. Its depiction of Bardock doesn't make him more "special" than the original TV outing, in my view; he thinks more critically than most other Saiyans and appears to have more of an altruistic streak than expected, but he's certainly not as physically out-of-the-ordinary as originally portrayed. He does stand out psychologically, but I'm fine with that, and I feel that his TV special arguably infringes on the Saiyan arc's themes more than Minus since it highlights Goku's genetic potential over his individual talents and hard work. But I understand why some of the audience might feel differently. As Yuji puts it, de-emphasizing the irony of Goku's purpose in conquering the planet he considers home is an understandable critique. I'd argue that neither one of them ultimately enhances the original manga, and both thus feel unnecessary as stand-alones, but you can enjoy them if they resonate.

However, as the re-read has noted, and as I've said many many times, the Minus material works perfectly in the Broly film. I love the movie upholding its primary theme of fatherhood and generational ripple effects through its juxtaposition of Goku, Vegeta and Broly. I'm surprised you didn't mention the bonus chapter's final panel deliberately only showing the parents of DBS Broly's principal cast, although I suppose the narration box spells it out well enough on its own.

While Toyotaro does take a few artistic liberties in drawing Broly's events, I really don't get the impression that he's trying to change anything about the film. Note that Goku and Vegeta's clothes are intact (with absolutely no battle damage) when they use the fusion dance, which is honestly unlikely if they're supposed to be doing that as a last resort. The manga takes these liberties as a way of compressing the film to get its points across, but I don't think the intention was to imply it happened differently at all. It skips it because it's essentially asking its readers to watch it.

Merry Christmas, y'all!
I mean even the RoF manga which was literally a pre god in base retcon product purely to promote the films... He still changed a bunch of things for the better (no zarbon tier idiots hitting Piccolo, Gohan not getting beat by first form Freeza, no piccolo dying like the show...)

So it's fair to say his hypothetical Broly retelling would not be panel for panel.

I think the failed fusions thing, while funny made no sense why Broly didn't kill Freeza, they will probably put them in the RoSaT between attempts or have them succeed first time/after one fail.

More fighting together before fusion. Probably not as much focus on wrathful form, base gets owned and goes Super Saiyan.

No Base goku fighting a God Tier foe that reeked of toei bullshit.

He's not limited by paying VA's so probably would have reaction shots from other fighters.
Yamcha almost certainly did not cheat on Bulma:
He was afraid of Women, Bulma was the flirty one.
Yamcha wanted to get married (it was his gonna be his wish)
He suggested they settle down in the Trunks saga.
Alternate future Trunks is not a reliable source.
Toriyama wanted new SSJ Kids and not make new characters.

User avatar
The Undying
Banned Alternate Account
Posts: 433
Joined: Sun Dec 22, 2019 5:47 pm

Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by The Undying » Sun Dec 27, 2020 7:31 pm

TobyS wrote: Sun Dec 27, 2020 6:16 pm I mean even the RoF manga which was literally a pre god in base retcon product purely to promote the films... He still changed a bunch of things for the better (no zarbon tier idiots hitting Piccolo, Gohan not getting beat by first form Freeza, no piccolo dying like the show...)
I disagree.

Omitting specific scenes is hardly "changing a bunch of things", or really changing anything at all; it's just excluding certain details to truncate the larger story into what's essentially an advertisement for more important plot beats. Toyotaro's comicalization of Resurrection 'F' is promotional material for the movie, not some alternate take or self-contained narrative.

Likewise, Volume 11's bonus chapter doesn't actually depict events differently than what's shown on-screen. One extremely minuscule difference shows Goku and Vegeta not appearing to have battle damage or tattered clothing, but this is implausible for a couple of reasons: 1. As mentioned, the fusion dance would have been a last resort, and 2. Goku's gi is already inconsistent with the movie gi we see him briefly wearing in Volume 9's Broly page. Again, these minute changes are clearly for truncation purposes.

Fans tend to have this bizarre tendency to get caught up in "canon" or "continuity" differences based on the slightest art details, but if the writers really wanted readers to come away with that sort of interpretation, they would have diverged in much broader, more noticeable ways than that (or otherwise would have drawn the story themselves) but Toyotaro specifically encouraged his audience to see the film.

This isn't anything like the divergences we observe between TV Super and manga Super.
Formerly Marlowe89.

User avatar
batistabus
Patreon Supporter
Posts: 2108
Joined: Fri Jun 18, 2010 2:55 pm
Location: DBS:SH

Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by batistabus » Sun Dec 27, 2020 7:44 pm

I have not re-read Minus for this post (I read it a couple months ago), but I'll share a few thoughts.

I know some fans complain about the implications on the lore that come with Minus, especially when compared to Toeis' Bardock special, which even Toriyama says he loved. I get that.

As a manga, as a work of art, I think Minus is a masterpiece. It's so fucking beautiful that it moves me. I feel this way about Jaco the Galactic Patrolman in general, but especially so about the Minus portion. The scenes, the expressions, the backgrounds, the visual worldbuilding...every little detail is worth taking extra time to observe. It flows and reads magnificently. As much as I like Toyotaro, reading Minus lays bare the gap between the two artists.

When it comes to story, it's couldn't get much more simple. Like it or not, that's by the design, and it's effective.

Toyo's two bonus chapters are fun, and while Freeza's absence from the arc didn't NEED an explanation like this, I'm happy to be thrown a fanservice bone every once in a while.

User avatar
batistabus
Patreon Supporter
Posts: 2108
Joined: Fri Jun 18, 2010 2:55 pm
Location: DBS:SH

Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by batistabus » Wed Dec 30, 2020 1:09 am

Cipher wrote: Thu Dec 24, 2020 12:00 am I hadn't forgotten that he said it took his magic a few years to recover to the point where he could escape, but for some reason I never put two and two together on "a few years ago" being when the evil Boo would have been killed.

There isn't much other reason to include a detail like that, so ... hm, yeah. That probably is the intended implication.

Huh!

I guess I can stop wondering about the Trunks+Trunks timeline then!

...It also feels kind of strange to think about the Boo arc still just being "a few years ago" at this point in Super.
Oh yeah, there's another (more blatantly stated) connection. Moro would never have gone to Namek and regained his magic if not for Cranberry, who was wished back along with everyone on Namek at the end of the Freeza arc, and was later arrested by Jaco.

User avatar
TobyS
I Live Here
Posts: 2450
Joined: Sun Jun 20, 2010 12:11 pm

Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by TobyS » Wed Dec 30, 2020 5:10 pm

That's a good point. Cranberry was on old Namek how did Moro find new namek
Yamcha almost certainly did not cheat on Bulma:
He was afraid of Women, Bulma was the flirty one.
Yamcha wanted to get married (it was his gonna be his wish)
He suggested they settle down in the Trunks saga.
Alternate future Trunks is not a reliable source.
Toriyama wanted new SSJ Kids and not make new characters.

User avatar
batistabus
Patreon Supporter
Posts: 2108
Joined: Fri Jun 18, 2010 2:55 pm
Location: DBS:SH

Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by batistabus » Thu Dec 31, 2020 8:26 pm

TobyS wrote: Wed Dec 30, 2020 5:10 pm That's a good point. Cranberry was on old Namek how did Moro find new namek
Although Cranberry is the one driving, it's explained here:

User avatar
Magnificent Ponta
OMG CRAZY REGEN
Posts: 898
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2020 2:25 pm
Location: Not on Tumblr, I guess

Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by Magnificent Ponta » Fri Jan 01, 2021 10:56 am

The Super Re-Read: Chapters 41 - 44
Part 2 (Chapter 42 Cont., Chapters 43 and 44)

Image

Welcome to 2021, everyone, and to the next instalment of the Super Re-Read! Well, it's a New Arc for a New Year, as we start the Galactic Patrol Prisoner arc - but, for my part, old habits continue, as I've written too much again (exacerbated by the fact that I also had to finish off Chapter 42) - there's no way around it, so please accept my apologies with this double-post, as I hope for better next time (resolutions toward conciseness would be pointless)... Anyway, we're moving up to the end of Dragon Ball Super's Volume 9 here, which will take us from a brief interlude of peace to the onset of the initial confrontation with Moro, the new arc's Big Baddie.

As ever, credit and thanks are due to Kanzenshuu, its staff, contributors, and predecessors for building up a wealth of Dragon Ball knowledge that I liberally draw on in writing up the Re-Read - particularly the Translations of reference materials and interviews.

Anyway, time to crack on - grab your manga, and let's get re-reading!:

Chapter 42 (Continued)
21 November 2018
Chapter Notes
  • Vegeta asks Goku where he's been, and gets an evasive answer. The fandom has speculated that Goku has come back from Vampa after visiting Broly, which is clever (though, since he has an obi on and not a belt, perhaps not straight from the movie's denouement). This seems a good place to raise the question of how much time has passed since the Tournament of Power - in particular, Majin Buu is asleep, just as he was immediately before the Tournament started. In 超 #31, we learned that Buu's time 'hibernating' happens only once a year, and lasts for 2 months, which may give us our chronological window - Buu wakes up a week after this scene (and falls asleep again, but that's explained), so if we assumed a timescale of 60 days that starts a day before the Tournament of Power, we have something like 52 days (or a little more than 7 weeks) passing between these two arcs, which is plausible. But Vegeta talks as though he doesn't necessarily expect Buu to be asleep, scoffing at the idea that he could be kidnapped - though Vegeta rules out the possibility that Buu was stun-gunned in 超 #43, telling us that this is part of his hibernation cycle. I personally doubt we've had a full year pass since the Tournament of Power, in order to get a different instance of Buu 'hibernating' again, but it's possible, I guess.
  • We immediately get two of the key things that will resolve the arc raised at the outset - the question of Ultra Instinct and the fact Goku can't use it at will, and that both Goku and Vegeta would rather fight their enemies alone instead of working together. The course of the arc will lead the pair to come together by means of two diverging paths to power, one of which is Ultra Instinct - Son Goku will demonstrate Omen Ultra Instinct in 超 #59, and will finally attain to True Ultra Instinct in 超 #64, whereas Vegeta will walk the path of Spirit Control to learn a technique that he uses to save Goku (and the world) in 超 #66. Ultimately, they both have to use their individual strengths in combination to defeat Moro at the end of the arc.
  • Vegeta mentions he can get to Satan City in 5 seconds from West City by flight alone. We've had a few flight 'feats' in Dragon Ball - Son Goku managed to race back from Kaio-Sama's to Earth in two days back in DB #212-220 (which works out at something like 13,000 mph, or Mach 17); Son Gohan easily outraced Kinto'un in DB #423 - according to Daizenshuu #7, Kinto'un's maximum speed is Mach 1.5 (or 1150 mph); and in DB #482, we see SSj Gotenks fly around the world half a dozen times in an instant - he brags that in 29 minutes, he "circled the globe a few dozen times" before taking a nap. If he's telling the truth, and Dragon Ball's Earth has the same circumference as our Earth (approximately 25,000 miles) then we're talking something ridiculous - even if it took him the whole 29 minutes and circled Earth 36 times, it'd be a speed of something like 1,800,000 mph, or Mach 2346 (or even more, given his loose flightpath, and the more time he spent napping, the quicker he was going, of course - so that's his minimum speed). Even so, 1,800,000 mph would only get you 2,586 miles in 5 seconds, and it's pretty clear Vegeta'd be travelling further than that, however big Dragon Ball's Earth is - so he's still faster.
  • Mr. Satan pulls out his gun in "self-defense" - presumably the 45-calibre pistol from DB #501. According to Daizenshuu #7, it's capable of rapid-fire, but he only fires one shot here. Merus makes an early demonstration of his Angelic speed by unholstering his weapon and shooting the bullet in mid-flight. He follows this up by moving faster than Goku and Vegeta can react, knocking them out with his stun gun - which caused a three-minute fandom uproar (dispiritingly typical in this arc) before it was made plain that Merus can do this kind of thing thanks to his Angelic powers.
  • Goku and Vegeta wake up at Galactic Patrol HQ. By 超 #6, Jaco has received a newer ship than the one he used in Jaco the Galactic Patrolman, and it's stated it can make the journey to Earth (presumably from HQ) in 50 minutes. This ship is larger, but presumably at least equally capable. When Goku and Vegeta wake up, not only are Jaco and Merus present, but one other character who bears a strong resemblance to Jiya, hero of another Toriyama-penned, Galactic Patrol-Centred work. In Jiya #1-3, it's made clear that this is a typical power-suit for Galactic Patrolmen, so this could be some other person - it has super-strength, flight, ki powers, and runs on water. Alcohol works too, though with comic effect.
  • The Galaxy is split into Sectors - Merus manages 104 (the most), whereas Jaco manages 3. Given the contempt in which Jaco is held, he presumably looks after the least - the other members are likely to manage a varying number in accordance with their competence and the density of intelligent life-forms in each sector. At the time of Jaco the Galactic Patrolman (approximately 40 years prior to the present), there were 38 members of the Galactic Patrol, 5 recruited in Jaco's own cohort. It's worth considering how long Merus has been a Galactic Patrolman - it's clear he's an authoritatice mainstay of the organisation (He's called "Captain Merus" in 超 #50, and Jaco calls him a "leader" in 超 #51); this would imply he's been in this position for at least several years. However, that since the Galactic Patrol learned from harsh experience never to mess with Freeza, one might suppose they learned this before Merus was a member - even with a commitment to Angelic neutrality, he'd've found it difficult to keep out of that fight, and even more difficult to end up beaten like his comrades. Even so, it's been about 15 years since Freeza met decisive defeat on Namek, which would be ample time for a Trainee Angel to build a glittering career.
Chapter 43 - Galactic Patrol Enlistment!/Joining the Galactic Patrol!
21 December 2018
Chapter Notes
  • From the outset, the scene of the 10 million years-past fight basically contains all of the important arc elements. All the pertinent details about Moro were given in this encounter, and so is the fact that the ultimate path to victory then was the same as it will be at the end of the arc (albeit deployed differently) - the Godly power of Dai Kaioshin. Moro has various magical powers, but most significant of all is his theft of, and literal consumption of, the life energy of his targets. This makes him too powerful for others to resist him, allowing him to perpetuate this process ad infinitum. Fans made some pretty wild theories about other things Moro might be able to do (and, in fairness, sometimes he does some very unexpected things, like his fusion with Planet Earth in 超 #65), but his basic 'deal' is presented about as forthrightly here as possible.
  • Moro is confronted by Dai Kaioshin and the South Kaioshin. One might have expected the North Kaioshin to be a more logical companion, as the Galactic Police are the forerunners of the Galactic Patrol, and they operate in the Galaxy where Earth is situated, which is in the Northern part of the Universe (or alternatively, Toyotarou has...history...with the West Kaioshin, making her an antagonist in DBAF - among other things, the mother of the main villain Xicor); while Toriyama has designed all of Universe 7's Kaioshin, it's most probable that Toyotarou has elected to use these two because they're the only ones to be depicted in the Original Manga, in Shin's description in DB #508, and they're the two strongest of the Kaioshin. By the time Buu emerged 5 million years later, Shin notes, the South Kaioshin was the strongest, but this scene makes clear enough that Dai Kaioshin was originally much more powerful. Despite Dragon Ball's insistence that raw fighting power isn't what the Kaioshin are about (see especially 超 #17), it nevertheless makes intuitive sense that the Highest God should also be the most powerful.
  • The scene with Dai Kaioshin being assaulted with comets is very cool - if it weren't for the next-level end-page to this Chapter, it would probably be my pick for favourite art. As a note, Dai Kaioshin doesn't actually lift the comet off himself to throw it, but actually uses a Godly Psychokinesis to do so, as he's levitating it above his head before tossing it aside. Shin has done similar things (e.g., in DB #479, where he holds a block of Kattin aloft), as has Zamas (who does the same in 超 #23).
  • Moro appears to us shrouded - this is no doubt partly to preserve some air of mystery around his true appearance, though even the flashback scene should make clear that fundamentally, he looks like a sentient bipedal goat. But the cloak is also a deliberate design choice on Toyotarou's part to evoke the Grim Reaper, just as the overall design connotes demonic evil. Toyotarou notes that the goat motif refers to "Western-Style Demons", presumably referring to some popularised Christian depictions of Satan, though in this aspect, he is often presented more akin to a Satyr/Faun or the God Pan than a goat proper. Toriyama has, in the past, appropriated stereotypical Western images of the demonic for characters and settings - for settings, the "Devil's Cesspool" in DB #101, complete with demonic grotesques, and for characters, Akkuman (DB #103-104) and the much less jokey Dabura, King of the Demon Realm (DB #446-464).
  • Moro immediately consumes the life energy of a suitably idyllic planet, which is his whole schtick for the rest of the arc. The Galactic Police note that he's destroyed 320 planets by this point. This marks out his threat level in a way that is perhaps evocative of Majin Buu, who destroyed hundreds of planets "in just a few years", as Shin noted back in DB #445. The scene doubles down on this impression by involving specifically the Kaioshin who were (or, I should say, will be) absorbed by Buu in this particular encounter. This immediately paints two of Moro's main characteristics, which we'll look at more closely later: that he's an Apex Predator, and that he's a Thief.
  • We see the Galactic Police, the forerunner of the Galactic Patrol - Toriyama mentioned that there is a "Galactic Police Organisation" as early as Daizenshuu #7, which is no doubt an early reference to the vague idea of the Galactic Patrol. So, now these things are married up, and we get a retro view of the organisation, including less 'stylish' uniforms (though Vegeta and Goku will express their opinions on that later in this Chapter) with a slightly 'swooshier' symbol, clunky headsets with visible microphones, and different weapons (clunkier sidearms? Space-Batons? Traffic Wands? Not exactly sure what they are). Since their comical uselessness is foregrounded here, it's fitting that we see a member of Jaco's species front and centre. This arc will, however, give us a thematically nobler view of the Galactic Patrol than what we've seen so far, particularly in 超 #63, as Merus points out that while "helpless" on the Universal Scale, its Agents still try to act according to their convictions and ideals and uphold justice against more powerful villains.
  • Dai Kaioshin's 'Kai Kai Matoru' seals away Moro's magic powers. I think 'Matoru' means 'Demon Sealing', or something similar. This isn't the first time Toyotarou has given us a Godly Sealing technique in his own oeuvre, as in his own DBAF (#2) the merged Kibito-Shin seals the main villain, Xicor, within a sword for two months using "Kai Kai Shin Fuu Ha" (Kai Kai Divine Seal Wave, according to the translation I have read). From within Dragon Ball itself, however, the technique bears obvious similarities to the Mafuba (Demon Seal Wave), except that Dai Kaioshin puts most of his Godly power into his hands and fires it so that it disempowers Moro rather than directly imprisoning him - which happens rather more literally immediately afterwards. This gives us the first indication that apart from the characteristics already mentioned (which accordingly modify this), Moro principally takes his cues as a character from Piccolo Daimao. Toyotarou mentioned that the design was meant to provoke the same response as to Piccolo Daimao, and so it's hardly surprising that his background and character follow this baseline, for better or worse. There will be more to say about the choices made around Moro's characterisation later. It's also important to note that one of the themes of this arc comes through clearly in the scene - that of Stealing. Moro has already been shown to be a thief of life energy/the lives of others; Dai Kaioshin, interestingly, uses the language of stealing when he says the Kai Kai Matoru will "steal his magic". That this isn't a typo for 'seal' is made clear when Moro states, in 超 #46, that the Dai Kaioshin "stole my abilities". We'll see a lot more of this in a broad theme that can be summarised as "Stealing, Earning, and Giving".
  • Moro was presumably subdued by being struck by the technique, as a possible reason why the weakened Kaioshin could submit him to Galactic Police custody, despite the fact that nobody is strong enough to kill him. It's interesting that Moro received a Death Sentence originally, which is commuted into a Life Sentence - given that Jaco establishes in his own series that he has been delegated the authority to use the Extinction Bomb on Earth (Jaco #1-2, DBminus), one supposes that their officers receive authority to make this determination from the Galactic King, or else they submit wrongdoers to his judgement. In Jaco #2, banishment from one's home planet is also mentioned as a possible punishment (apparently the punishment for attempting Time Travel, which is against Galactic Law). One might think Law Enforcement Officers having the power to issue custodial and capital sentences without recourse to trial is an unconscionable infringement of Galactic Citizenship Rights, but there it is. Merus comments that the actual approach of the Galactic Patrol is one of "reforming villains" in 超 #63 - it is not clear how they attempt to achieve this (the particulars of their penal system aren't really examined, though we see the prison in 超 #50), though I guess this doesn't apply to villains on Moro's scale. Goku will decline to kill Moro when reminded he's under said Death Sentence in 超 #64, and will attempt unsuccessfully to coax him back to prison in 超 #65.
  • Merus also mentions Moro is a "capable fighter even without his magic", which undersells things a bit. While 超 #45 will establish that Moro is powerful even when he regards himself pathetically feeble and his magic doesn't necessarily add to his power even when it weakens others, 超 #59-60 will show that his consumption of energy can give him power "to transcend the very Gods", even if that's not the primary goal.
  • Merus's recap of Buu's absorptions gives us a cute little visual representation of Dai Kaioshin getting absorbed - Toyotarou remembered that this would've been absorption by the 'Buff' South Kaioshin-absorbed Buu first seen in DB #507-508, and also that Vegeta and Goku don't have any way of knowing this, as this was only explained to the Elder Kaioshin in the same Chapter. Merus knowing this stuff so well might be a clue to his Angelic status (I doubt all this extra detail is common knowledge, whatever he might know through being a Galactic Patrolman), and in turn also his age (超 #67 establishes that Angels don't have lifespans). However, he says his knowledge of Goku and Vegeta, and their power, is through rumour. The most natural source of this would be Jaco - even down to the "quite powerful" phrasing (compare with 超 #45, where he says "Those two are strong. A teeny-weeny bit stronger than me, even"), from when he saw their power in both Revival of F and the Universe 6 Tournament. Goku's response is a segue into Extra Edition #4, where they discuss Broly and his strength (covered already!).
  • The induction of Goku and Vegeta as Special Recruits of the Galactic Patrol is a lot of fun, and shows what a strange organisation the Galactic Patrol is:
    • First, we have the Galactic King, who (in a delightful reference to the interstitial between 超 #13 and 超 #14) is again molested by Son Goku by way of a greeting (he will follow this up by teleporting to the Galactic King while he's in the bath, in 超 #50, and will grab his dong again in 超 #67). He's been King for at least 40 years, as he was King when Jaco was sent to intercept Goku as an infant. He's put out in 超 #7 when nobody takes much notice of him (familiar as they are with the Divine Hierarchy), but in fairness he is supposed to be powerful - in Jiya #3, the Galactic Patrolman Jiya says that the Galactic King "has unbelievable powers", but he is prone (rather like Beerus) to sleeping for a long time - as of Jiya #3, he has been asleep for 9 years. In support of this, Goku comments that his was the only ki that he could sense in order to teleport off Namek, in 超 #50. The Toriyama-penned one-shot Sachie-Chan GOOD!! showed us aliens with a design very like that of the Galactic King (this design is, in turn, similar to the Martians shown in Go! Go! Ackman #8) - they are from the Planet Octo: a peaceful planet where evil does not exist. The Galactic Patrol show up (eventually) here, too.
    • Next, we have the ceremony itself - another artistic reference here, this time from Jaco #3: the Patrolmen arrayed in ranks are shown in this way when Jaco is explaining to Dr. Omori that only a handful of privileged individuals can join the Patrol. Of course, these images are 40 years apart in-Universe, but some of the Patrolmen are clearly the same people as back then, just like Jaco is (such as the splodgy alien with stalk-eyes in the back, the lizard man in the front, the Patrolman with shiny hair, and those around the Galactic King - the one who looks like Zeno with a cape has been deliberately moved to the right so he isn't obscured) - one conspicuous absence from the scene, however, is the Namekian Patrolman shown in Jaco #3. In the same conversation with Omori, it emerges that Jaco had a 55% chance of getting hired when applying for his position (5 hired out of 9 applicants), which Omori comments is rather less "super elite" than Jaco implies. In Age 737, the Galactic Patrol had only 38 members (Jaco #3), and Jaco was Patrolman Number 34 (Jaco #7) - in 超 #56, they will be able to field 47ish agents to Earth (26ish are visible in the double-page spread, but later shots indicate this larger number), along with the Dragon Team forming 7 new special recruits (and Merus, Goku, and Vegeta arrive later).
    • We get some jokey ideas of what the Galactic Patrol defines as an "abuse of authority" - cutting in line to buy a parfait because you say it's relevant to an investigation, using the Galactic Patrol symbol to hit on girls, etc. The summary execution of villains without trial doesn't apparently figure; nor does elimination of a planetary population - Jaco mentions he did this once by accident in Jaco #2 ("My boss was really angry at me"). So, we get an idea of their priorities, I guess.
    • And we get a glimpse of the fetish around the Galactic Patrol symbol (already implied to be a babe magnet) - Jaco insists on how cool the design is, both here and in 超 #64. This is a well-established opinion of his, as he declares in Jaco #3 that the symbol is "adored by all and feared by criminals!" I enjoy the fact that, since Goku and Vegeta aren't interested in wearing the "super cool" uniform (despite the cover art for Volumes 10 and 14), the Galactic Patrol have to sharpie the symbol onto their ordinary clothes. I also enjoy Vegeta experimenting with the Galactic receivers in the background. Jaco, "always obsessed with looking cool" (Jaco #10), follows it up by trying to teach them poses - fortunately for Goku and Vegeta, a situation develops to get them out of this.
  • The induction addresses Vegeta as "Vegeta IV", which confirms his father as Vegeta III. Nappa mentions in DB #226 that Vegeta is named after the Planet, not his father as such. This might indicate that the name gained more general currency after the move from Planet Sadala to Planet Plant in c. Age 550 (from Daizenshuu #7), since it seems less likely that the Planet is named after Vegeta's father, he now being merely the third bearer of the regnal name in an established dynastic line (against the contention of GT Perfect File Vol. 1, which unsurprisingly makes the war with the Tsufruians in Age 720 the event that changes everything). One could speculate that Vegeta I gave his name to Planet Plant in Age 550, and that the Saiyan Kings have had various other names in the ensuing 187 years, as Vegeta III and IV are latter-day bearers of the name. As Nappa implies that Vegeta's fearsome strength is the reason why he is named after the planet (and it has likewise been established that only Vegeta III and his son are 'true' elites in strength terms), it may be that the name is reserved for especially powerful royalty.
  • So, on to Planet Jung, and the Great Blue Aurum Train Robbery by the Macareni siblings. Everything about this scene has a pleasingly retro-futuristic vibe (compare with Toyotarou saying that even Merus has deliberately retro motifs in his design), as dog-men in 19th-century style police uniforms ride on hover scooters ("mounted forces") after a revolver-toting, poncho-and-bandana-wearing gangster trio who have, in the true Wild West style, stolen a locomotive for its cargo - which happens to be a magical planet-busting metal, amidst an extra-terrestrial scene among the floating rocks of Planet Jung. The scene has all the classic tropes of this kind of encounter, such as the train operators being tied up (albeit with a ki ability), a decoupling of the cars, destruction of the railway (portending a train crash), and a last-second save by the good guys. It's all a pretty fun romp, while also giving us a better insight into Merus's abilities, doubling down on Vegeta's instinct that there's much more to him than one might think. It is, of course, also a variant on the arc theme of Stealing (it is a train heist, after all), which predominates from 超 #43-52 (though it is in evidence throughout, as the primary modus operandi of all the antagonists), to be challenged by themes of Earning in 超 #52-66, and also Giving in 超 #63-66.
  • The Macareni gang appears to be a trio of super-powered, incorrigible rogues - the leader, Pasta, appears to have the ability to impart ki to objects, increasing their destructive power (as he does when turning his revolver into a small bomb to decouple the cars, and as he does to ordinary rocks against Piccolo in 超 #52); his sister, Penne, has stretchy limbs like Piccolo or Buu (and 超 #51 indicates she has unusually sensitive hearing, as she overhears Jaco's conversation with Goku from a distance); and the little brother, Ghetti, has a kind of ki lasso, which he uses to tie up the train conductors here, and which he tries to tag Piccolo with in 超 #52. Despite the 'boy howdy, aw shucks' demeanour (particularly exemplified by Pasta, which solidifies the Wild West bandit vibe going on in this scene), the Macarenis are clearly scumbags - their principal trade is in stolen Blue Aurum specifically (they continue a search for it even when they could be stealing other valuables), and they're perfectly prepared to let a whole planet be destroyed for Blue Aurum - they return to Planet Jung in 超 #51 to steal processed Blue Aurum, and casually shoot the police once the heist is complete - they also try to kill Piccolo on sight in 超 #52, and bring Moro to Earth in hopes of being able to steal Earth's Blue Aurum once he's killed everyone. Not exactly loveable.
  • The implication of 超 #51 is that this Blue Aurum is in its raw state (i.e., unprocessed, carried in 4 train wagons, as opposed to the processed results, which fit in a half dozen briefcases). While Jaco's statements could indicate that Skygold and Blue Aurum might not be exactly the same, the fact that the Macarenis use the statement to pursue Blue Aurum on Earth indicates that they are. The name implies this, too (in English, at least) - 'Blue' evokes the 'Sky', and 'Aurum' quite literally means 'Gold'. Skygold first appears in Jaco the Galactic Patrolman #3, where Dr. Omori identifies it as "an extremely precious blue-coloured metal" - it's capable of storing a lot of power for use in machines, and Jaco adds here that one could also build "a planet-busting bomb" with the amount being stolen here. Omori says 2 pounds of it costs 76 million Yen - that's 50,666,666 Zeni by the exchange rate established in Jaco+1, or about $506,666. For reference, an equivalent amount of Gold is worth around $57,000 today, so Skygold/Blue Aurum is worth almost 10 times as much. Unsurprising that Merus describes this as an "audacious caper". Toriyama played with a similar idea to that in Jaco in his earlier miniseries, Savings Warrior Cashman, where an alien police officer lands on Earth after damage to his ship, and learns his engine, which runs on Gold ("Dorgoon", in his language), is empty - as he needs 9 kilograms of it, he fights crime for money so he can save up and buy enough gold to run his ship on (hence his moniker).
  • Pasta glances at a sign written in Galactic Script, which presumably indicates a branch in the track. We also get examples of this script in Jaco #1 and #7 when Jaco talks, and in the Saganbo Bandit Brigade 'mugshots' that form the interstitials for Volumes 12 and 13. Batistabus made the interesting observation in a topic he made some time back that, in a number of cases, Galactic Script appears to be a blocky, 'alien-ized' version of Katakana. Looking at the signage Saganbo is holding in that topic, one could also argue that the second line also bears a resemblance to a blocky, 'alien-ized' Kanji for 'Galactic Bandit Brigade' (Ginga Goto-Dan - 銀河強盗団), so I guess Galactic language is blocky 'alien-ised' Japanese generally, rather than just Katakana. I didn't feel qualified to comment at the time (as I'm sure many people didn't - and really, I'm still not), but I thought I'd show the theory some love here. That said, I can't identify any likely candidates for transliteration from the signage here.
  • Pasta appears to impart ki to his firearm to make it explode. Try as I might, I can't recall an explicit prior example in Dragon Ball of ki being imparted to an object to change its characteristics (in this case, to make a gun explosive). This will happen a couple more times in this arc: Pasta will do it again to rocks to make them explosive in 超 #52, as I mentioned above, but also Yuzun infuses part of a building with ki to harden it when fighting Vegeta in 超 #55, and Merus powers his sidearm with his own ki to fire it at Moro in 超 #62. It's an interesting use of an ability, and we get all the examples of it in this arc.
  • I enjoy the momentum of this encounter - more than being a fun romp, it really moves through the gears well and pulls the various 'switcheroos' enjoyably, keeping the scene ticking along quickly and with an actual sense of mild tension - until Goku brings it to a screeching (and amusing) halt by simply flying to catch the Macareni getaway ship. This is presumably a deliberate reference to Dragon Ball Super: Broly's memorably funny scene of Goku on the windshield of the ship Freeza's goons use to try to escape (the chapter was published a week after the premiere of the film), but I also enjoy Goku's childish earnestness as a Galactic Patrolman self-consciously doing a super-heroing bit - I think that's sold well here. Goku's position as a member of the Galactic Patrol is also a driver of the way the plot works out through this arc, so it's nice to see him committing to the bit. He will destroy the symbol when he quits the Patrol to do what comes naturally to him, in 超 #64.
  • I also like the intertwining of the action with Vegeta's analysis of Merus's abilities - he rightly divines that Merus could've done it all himself, and even quicker than he did. His scepticism at Merus needing help against Moro is also well-founded, from a pure power perspective; of course, we'll find out that Merus would have needed his Angelic powers to pull it off, which would have been tantamount to violating his essential neutrality and thus nullifying his existence, as actually happens in 超 #63. But I like the depiction here, as the picture of what Merus is all about slowly unfolds as the heroes pick up on (or don't, as the case may be) little hints dropped that Merus is something more than just an oddly hyper-competent person who has decided to attach himself to a goofy outfit like the Galactic Patrol. The way it's done is a big plus for me.
  • And finally, we get the true reveal of Moro. It's the obvious winner of favourite art in this issue - not just the piece at the end of the Chapter (which is really well done in the superimposing of the shocked Goku on the finally-uncloaked, menacing villain), but also the pacing of the reveal, which skilfully draws it out to zero in on and escalate the feeling of menace in the scene. The first full chapter of the arc ends on a real artistic and tonal high.
Continuing in the following post...

User avatar
Magnificent Ponta
OMG CRAZY REGEN
Posts: 898
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2020 2:25 pm
Location: Not on Tumblr, I guess

Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by Magnificent Ponta » Fri Jan 01, 2021 10:57 am

...Continued from the previous post...

Chapter 44 - Escaped Prisoner Moro/Escaped Prisoner Moro
21 January 2019
Chapter Notes
  • Goku and Vegeta make the first distinctions of several between kinds of ki in this arc, which permeates the whole arc. We have ordinary Huge ki, 'God Ki', Moro's ki, and ultimately 'Divine Power' (which is sometimes implicitly identified with, but at other times implicitly distinguished from, God ki). The dialogue foregrounds an important point about Moro from the outset, which is that his ki is "a mass of slaughtered souls". Firstly, this indicates that it is an aggregation, which serves the theme of Stealing - Moro has killed these people by stealing their energy, and while he uses it himself, it's clear that in some way it's distinct from his own, which allows the arc to maintain the sense that Moro is using what isn't his own (which will, in turn, serve as the climax of the arc) - and secondly, it's this distinction that will allow Vegeta's Forced Spirit Fission to start cleaving the energy from Moro in 超 #61, and again in 超 #66. Goku also mentions that the ki is "terrifying", and heightens the sense of theft by talking about the feeling of suffering from "a whole lot of people" - Gohan will also comment on the "pure evil" feeling of Moro's ki, in 超 #57, which makes him shudder (Moro even makes Cranberry, who can't sense ki, shudder in this very Chapter). Dragon Ball has shown us previous examples of being able to determine the character of a ki signature from how it 'feels' - most notably the first time Goku does it, in DB #152, when he feels "a huge demon power" (Piccolo Daimao's). Likewise, in DB #462, Kid Trunks will comment that Majin Buu's ki is "kind of spooky".
  • I quite like the structure of ping-ponging back and forth between the Galactic Patrol and Moro/Cranberry, which takes up the first half of the Chapter, only to be immediately replaced by the confrontation; it sets up all the basic information we need, and yet doesn't overstay its welcome - it always surprises me how quickly the Chapter gets down to business, as I'm always expecting more discussion of the problem before it's basically bearing down on us.
  • The design and general state of disrepair in Moro's ship indicates that this is an old Freeza Force ship, rather than a Galactic Patrol ship - one might assume Cranberry's own, obtained upon his desertion but before he was caught by the Galactic Patrol. 超 #50 makes clear that the Galactic Patrol impounds the ships of the incarcerated, at the same facility as the prison (hence how Saganbo and his crew are able to get hold of their ship when they break out).
  • We get a proper look at Moro's design. The 'hunched' posture, wrinkles, and long white beard are obvious signs of age. We already noted Toyotarou's evocation of the association between the goatlike motif and the sense of the demonic in Moro's design, but it's worth also mentioning that Toyotarou went to a lot of trouble over Moro's horns, which are in some ways more befitting a ram than a goat - he had to sculpt his design onto a model to get the extra 'twist' at the end right from all angles. The prominent, frowning brow is something of a staple among Dragon Ball villains by this point, as are the lines down the cheeks (less obvious though they are on his goat face, they will become very prominent indeed from 超 #61 onwards) - but in particular, I really like the design detail of the 'Snake Eye' pupils Moro has (already prominent in one panel in the last Chapter, but we get another really good look at them now); I think it's a neat touch, almost unique among Dragon Ball villains so far, and it seems to tell us something about his personality without him having to say or do anything - it helps mark him out as cunning, cautious, treacherous, and dangerous, and we'll see him run through all of that in the coming arc. It also helps sell the design as 'demonic' in the way Toyotarou intends, given the connection between serpents and the Devil: in Dragon Ball, only First Form Cell and Dabura have these pupils, though Moro's have an iris around them, which to me plays up the serpent connection more, since snake eyes are set round. His 'Grim Reaper' cloak will be discarded at the end of the Chapter, revealing his true wiry physique, and the clothes underneath give an almost shamanistic vibe.
  • Moro notes that life has grown and spread through the Universe in the last 10 million years. This is probably mostly true of so-called 'lower life forms', including creatures of various kinds that Moro might snack on - it's worth noting that not all the planets Moro devours after Namek are home to fully-fledged intelligent Mortals (the planet Miza, Izawa and Kikaza discover in 超 #51 is "crawling with energetic beasties", but no Mortals are in evidence), and his crew will abort their assaults on some planets with Mortal life on them (Yardrat). Even so, it seems "Life", in this very broad sense, has overcome the assaults of Moro, Buu, and Freeza, despite each being responsible for the eradication of hundreds of planets.
  • Moro's magic is routinely described as "pathetic", or "decrepit", which to me would indicate that while sealed by Dai Kaioshin's power, Moro's magical abilities have naturally atrophied over the last 10 million years (as opposed to still being artificially inhibited in some way). Moro confirms that his magic, such as it is, returned to him "a few years ago" - since Dai Kaioshin will note in 超 #49 that his power was "obliterated" when Son Goku's Genki Dama destroyed Kid Buu, fans have cleverly drawn the connection between the obliteration of Dai Kaioshin's power and Moro's experience of having his magic return to him. I think this is convincing, and it would indicate that Dai Kaioshin's Godly power was what was keeping Moro's power sealed away, but also it might imply that no longer doing this would free up the totality of that Godly power once it is reincarnated within Uub - 超 #66 seems to imply this, given the huge amount of Divine Power Goku is given in order to finally defeat Moro. On another note, this would mean that Moro being at liberty is technically a problem of the heroes' making, unwitting and necessary though it may have been.
  • Moro also notes that his magical power allowed him to escape from "that wretched cage" - we'll actually get a good look at the nature of Moro's restraints in 超 #50, and they're pretty formidable: Moro himself would have been shackled to a chair, immobile, with a headpiece strapping him in place and also potentially providing a sensory deprivation (it appears to have a dark visor, and its construction indicates that it would likewise go over the ears). This is within a barred cell, which rests behind, it seems, at least two more sets of bars and a combination-locked vault door, the whole complex being recessed from the main chamber. It seems clear the Galactic Patrol was concerned by the possibility that Moro might a) Do Anything, and b) Interact with the other prisoners. Pasta, however, says "word got around" to Moro about Cranberry's tales of life in the Freeza Force and the jaunt to Namek; this sounds rather organic for someone so sequestered as Moro, but it's clear that Moro also has telepathic abilities (see, e.g., 超 #48) - one might conclude, then, that Moro was able to establish contact with various prisoners once his magical power returned; not just Cranberry, but also Saganbo, who speaks of Moro as "Lord Moro" in 超 #50, before we even see them meet, and it's clear that the plan to free him and his followers was a plan cooked up between the pair of them during their confinement - so it seems Moro has been making plans and telepathically 'working on' the inmates of the Galactic Patrol Prison for the last 6ish years, even though we never see this ourselves. Even so, I can imagine that 10 million years of solitary confinement in a shackled, sensory-deprived state is enough to never want to return to prison, with or without one's abilities.
  • I get a chuckle out of Cranberry's obliviousness to Moro's obviously sinister phrasing - "I'll have no need of your services." "Phew! Thanks." :lol: Whatever one thinks of Moro's characterisation, he's an obviously sinister villain, through-and-through. He does this again in 超 #51, when he tells Shimorekka "you will need objects of value once my ideals are realised", an obvious reference to them needing to bargain for their lives at some point along the line, and Shimorekka's similarly unaware of the meaning. Back to Cranberry, though - one wonders where Porunga might have sent him so that he'd never be found. I'm tempted to think Vampa, which would've been pretty funny. Later Chapters make clear that there are plenty of planets in the Galaxy that are beyond the immediate reach of the Galactic Patrol (such as Zoon), and still others that are outside their jurisdiction entirely (such as Yardrat).
  • And now, to New Namek. Muri tells the children (one supposes they're his own, since Esca is his successor?) that they live in peace thanks to the protection of the Gods. Rather than this being mere pious spiel, we see the other meaning of it soon enough - once the protection afforded by Dai Kaioshin fails, the planet is placed in existential jeopardy by Moro, and all of the Namekians (except Esca, Dende, and Piccolo) are killed; while a Mortal with the power of a God is able to resolve this for them by giving the Planet and (at least some of) its people life once more by returning their stolen energy, the situation isn't resolved until the Divine power of Dai Kaioshin returns to ensure Moro's final defeat.
  • The last time we saw the Namekians was in DB #513, when Dende returns to New Namek - Muri greets Dende and tells him they managed to restore their new planet to how the old one used to be. He's there with a crowd, too; it's clear that some of them are supposed to be the same as the Namekians we see in this arc. Esca, for instance, is the kid immediately to his left, which is reinforced by the interstitial of the pair between 超 #45 and 超 #46 (credit to Cipher for that insight), and the other kid is the one on his right in DB #513. We also see repeat designs like the freakishly tall, skinny Namekian in both of these, and I feel like the older Namekian on Esca's left (the one with the elongated head) is possibly Elder Tsuburi of 超 #46 (albeit with an accessorised turban) - he holds aloft the 3-star ball in DB #513, which appears to be the one taken from Tsuburi's village. In this Chapter, Muri greets Son Goku - they last met when Goku took Dende to become Kami-Sama of Earth, back in DB #393. Apart from individual Namekians prospering, we see scenes a lot like those shown in DB #259 at Tsuno's village - people sit at outdoor tables seating six, rows of Ajiisa plants are being farmed, new buildings are being fashioned - and in these placid times, games are being played: Esca and the other child play chase, while older Namekians appear to be playing some sort of variant of Chess. The surroundings of this New Namek are an understated fusion of how it looked in DB #393 (see the orbiting planetoid/moon, or the wispier plant-life), and DB #513 (the more typically "Old Namek" features, such as the trees and Ajiisa plants).
  • Is the Star Wars "I've got a baaad feeling about this" reference deliberate? That (if it carries through in the original Japanese), plus the pacing of the ship's ramp descending and the cloaked figure of Moro emerging (which feels reminiscent of the Emperor's arrival on the Death Star in Return of the Jedi) both give me a strong Star Wars vibe. Toriyama has been quite partial to the odd Star Wars reference, particularly in Dr. Slump - you know, various robot designs, some of the more serious alien designs, domed houses looking like R2-D2, etc. That's apart from the explicit send-ups; I think there's one of Senbei dressed as C-3PO and Arale as R2-D2; an R2-D2 reference also appears in Bulma's room, in DB #69, plugged in to her hover-car...I'm sure there's a ton of other stuff dotted around here and there, so this would be in keeping, though rather more subtle. You're welcome to have the Emperor's Theme in your head here. I know I do.
  • In retrospect, Goku's position never actually shifts from his initial exchange with Moro: "We hear you've done some nasty things! So how about you turn around and go right back to prison?" While Goku goes into things more in 超 #65, this is his basic position still. Moro ignores Goku here in favour of trying to snack on Esca; while by 超 #65 he isn't ignoring Goku any more, he's still as determined as ever to eat people. While both of them get stronger and change physically, there's never really anything that takes them both past this initial exchange on the level of personal interaction. Arguably, that their personal interactions go no further than this is something of a weakness of the arc: Whereas Goku typically manages to draw his opponents out in a way that shows us something else about them, whether by his open manner or his pushing them in combat (most notably Hit and Jiren, but also Zamas), I don't think this ever happens with Moro - partially because Moro is a very straightforward antagonist who lays it all out there for us with little prompting. However, I think this is thematically significant, since while they both change in obvious ways throughout the arc, in the most important way, neither of them ever do - so they end up having very little to say to each other beyond this basic demand and refusal. It also points up the signal character distinction between Goku and Vegeta, which Piccolo highlights in 超 #61 - Vegeta has changed tremendously, whereas Goku doesn't change at all. Piccolo says "That works for you", but we see an instance in 超 #65 where the 'unstoppable force' of Goku's unchanging personality meets the 'immoveable object' of Moro's own unchanging character, which gives us the unusual spectacle of his unchanging leniency becoming cause for regret, for Goku. This is an unusual instance of the series managing to do something kind of different by not doing very much, which is interesting in its way.
  • I do enjoy the brief panic that Moro might be using Esca as a hostage for some nefarious scheme, only for Moro to undercut it by saying he's just a snack, like that's somehow less alarming. 'Don't worry guys, just eating a kid here - we're cool, right?' It's good at revealing Moro's assumptions about himself and how he relates to everything else - while I think a full attempt at an exposition of Moro's character should probably be saved for the next instalment when we see a bit more of him, it already seems apparent that everything he encounters is just a meal to him (when Vegeta intervenes, all Moro can think to say is that Vegeta has interrupted his meal), and he looks at eating things pretty much the same way that we do - only he eats anything and everything that lives, including people, because he's the Apex Predator of existence. Fittingly, his name pun is for a kind of Shark cutlet (credit again to Cipher for this) - in keeping with the general Galactic Patrol seafood-based puns, but a predator among them.
  • We get an artistic reference to the original Manga - Goku moving to intervene while telling Moro to stop seems to take its cue from his intervention against Android #20 in DB #339. Comparisons like this help us see the key stylistic differences between Toyotarou's art and Toriyama's from back then. More than anything, I think Toyotarou's rounder, plumper faces with smoother, rounded linework probably aligns more with Toriyama's current artistic style.
  • We see the first inkling of the challenging theme of the arc - that of Earning - from Vegeta's intervention. He acts first out of guilt for his past, when he killed around 20 Namekians in DB #259, and consequently from determination that no-one else should do such things. He'll follow this up in 超 #47 when he speaks to Muri about his past sins, and resolves to restore the Planet, telling Goku to make it his priority once the battle is over. In 超 #61, Vegeta will attempt to Earn his own redemption by Giving the Namekians back their world and their lives, which Moro has Stolen, thus resolving his personal arc along these themes.
  • The fight's pretty fun. I like how Moro starts by hopping nimbly around on all fours, surefooted as the goats he takes his design from - it's enjoyably odd, particularly from a frail old man. Blink and you'll miss it, but immediately before Moro telekinetically grabs Vegeta, we see Vegeta transform to SSj2 - it's clear that Moro is well beyond that level of power, and even Vegeta's advantage in SSjG isn't absolute, as it's established that Moro is not really using his magic. It's only when Vegeta pulls out SSjBe that he gains the advantage - or so we think. Moro also uses psychokinesis on rocks and trees to attack Vegeta; the use of a tree as a stake, particularly in the Namekian setting, reminds one of Gurd's attempt to impale Gohan and Kuririn in DB #274 - while various villains since then have used this ability, one gets the feeling that Vegeta particularly references this when he says he's seen it all before.
  • One artistic niggle I can't avoid mentioning - I know foreshortening is tricky to make look 'right', but for the life of me I can't figure out what's supposed to be going on with SSj Vegeta's shoulder in one early panel in this fight. It just looks like it's ballooned out of all proportion to the rest of him. But Toyotarou has again saved the best art for the hook: yes, favourite art goes to the fully revealed Moro. His wiry, wasted-away physique is pretty unusual among villains, and Toyotarou's made a virtue of his generally 'hunched' postures by making it a proper feature for the aged Moro. The furry patches help add a shamanistic or witch-doctor edge to the design, which is appropriate here since we're about to get a taste of Moro's true magic, and I think the tone is well-used to help convey the ominous sense that comes with Moro. While he'll get a number of different appearances throughout the arc, including the buff young bruiser, the OG73-I absorbed sleekness, the Angelic Power modifications and his planetary-fused self, all of which have their followers, I think this depiction is my favourite.
  • So, I think the first 2-and-a-half Chapters of the arc have done some very solid, smart groundwork here to set up the initial major confrontation. We've seen pretty much all we need to know of Moro's character (some of which is cleverly conveyed by artistic choices), background, and motivations - it's clear he's a predator, and a villain basically of Piccolo Daimao's stripe - conversely, we've had some enjoyable, if inconsequential, action which has set up Merus as a significant character with some secret behind his power. We also get, for Vegeta at least, the first hint of an arc for character development, which will get ultimate pay-off in 超 #61, and a smaller, more teamwork-dependent pay-off in 超 #66. The art's been of a good standard in these Chapters, too, with the action clearly and skilfully conveyed.
    However, despite the brisk, enjoyable beginning to this arc, we can already see some of the problems here, which will magnify issues with the arc later by reason of their brisk simplicity. For instance, as I mentioned, Goku and Moro have nothing to say to each other, at this or any point, which means that there isn't anywhere for their personal conflict to go, except for us to see who wins and how. As I've said, the comparison is likely to be thematic, and it also highlights the difference between Goku and Vegeta as well, but one might question whether something so straightforward can sustain the drawn-out nature of the arc: similarly, the contrast as such seems more led by plotting and thematic considerations than genuine character beats as such, though these will also occasionally be in evidence. Likewise, within the next few Chapters, we will have seen almost literally everything that there is to see about Moro's character and what his personal goals and gimmicks are, and after that, he mostly becomes a device for bearing the arc's themes.
    The set-up is spare and smart for now, but at some point it just becomes clear that this is actually all there is, for an arc that will last another 20+ Chapters (60+ in "old money") - the critique that there just isn't enough here to sustain an arc of this length and scope is basically on-point, even if we are also throwing in the development of Merus, Goku and Vegeta's paths to power, and the ever-present message that the pair need to come to work together to find victory. I guess future instalments will tell whether this first sense of the weaknesses of the arc (and their pervasiveness) is entirely fair, but the fact that so much of the substantive background detail is incorporated here already is probably what helps to give the feeling that what follows drags out what's already here, as opposed to building on what's already here.
    But that's technically a critique for the future. It doesn't take anything away from what is a clean, slick curtain-raiser to this arc. It's well done.
Well, that's the first instalment of the New Year under my belt. Now it's over to you guys - what did you get out of your Re-Read?

User avatar
Magnificent Ponta
OMG CRAZY REGEN
Posts: 898
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2020 2:25 pm
Location: Not on Tumblr, I guess

Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by Magnificent Ponta » Fri Jan 08, 2021 7:07 pm

(Triple-post. Ick. No matter - the Super Re-Read is a labour of love.)

I'll be posting the next instalment of the Super Re-Read on Monday 11th January, as promised - but it'll focus to a considerable extent on what I think the arc is doing with Moro's character, so I wanted to tee that up by following up on the brief discussion around that, with a talking point around what I think Moro's characterisation might be doing in his arc (i.e., what its ultimate purpose is). So here's my take.

I think Moro deliberately draws from Piccolo Daimao as his most fundamental character pattern, as I've said. But I don't think this is simply for the sake of calling back a villain archetypally cast in the Daimao's mould, but rather to structure the specific conclusion of the arc. The proper place to go into this in-depth will be in the Third Act of the arc itself (around 超 #58-59 onwards), but to summarise, I think the culminating act has a 3-level structure, broadly as follows:
  • Level 1: Immediate Structure - Goku fights an ancient ki-stealing space wizard, and achieves True Ultra Instinct in doing so. The specific events of the scenario unfolding in the arc take place on this level, governed by its themes.
  • Level 2: Intermediate Structure - Goku's personal arc as laid out at the beginning of Dragon Ball Super culminates in surpassing the Gods by defeating an ancient, Demonic Evil. This draws directly from the patterns set by the last time he did just this - which was in the overarching plot of the Piccolo Daimao-23rd Budokai arcs. Thus Moro's character concept belongs to this pattern and serves the resolution of this 'level' of the arc's final Act. This is why it shows up so often, and at important plot beats (e.g., Goku giving Moro a Senzu in the hope he might pivot to becoming a powerful rival; Moro throwing up a Daimao-esque guard of hands to catch Goku's finishing blow, introduced with the same quote Goku used against Piccolo, etc.)
  • Level 3: Ultimate Structure - The general drift of the arc reinforces the culmination of Dragon Ball up to this point as a whole, progressively using plot elements from Dragon Ball's arcs in chronological order, running from the Saiyan arc (picking up from the Piccolo-centric plot that governs the structural layer above it) through to the end of Dragon Ball.
To produce this culmination, each layer of the plotting structure is parsed through, and dynamically re-interpreted by, the level above it. So, for instance, while Moro's concept replicates Piccolo Daimao for the reason mentioned above, they express themselves in immediate plot beats that evoke the direct themes of the arc. Just from the above examples - Moro doesn't just take the Senzu and fly off like Piccolo; he vows to go on stealing and does so in a way that challenges Goku's specific surpassing of the Gods; Goku doesn't break Moro's guard like he does Piccolo - he gets caught by the number of hands Moro is uniquely capable of throwing up, which moves us on structurally to a 3-level plot beat. In this example, Vegeta's final use of Forced Spirit fission (Level 1) re-gifts Goku his Divine Power, which results in a Piccolo-Daimao arc-esque effusion of visible power (his Oozaru back then, but his Divine self now), which makes its way through Moro's guard for a decisive punch (Level 2), but which draws on the gifting of energy for the Genki Dama in the Buu arc (previously facilitated by Satan, now done so by God) and which trades on Uub's importance at the End of Dragon Ball (Level 3). I think the structuring is purposeful, and I guess I'll have to make the case some more as we go. But I think that's the point of Moro's likeness to Piccolo.

To be clear, I don't think every significant plot point is drawn from all three levels, but what I do think is that the general drift of the arc's plot resolution relies, to a great extent, on all three levels interacting in this way. Some important plot beats along the way use merely two levels, and others just ride the top level of the contingent arc scenario: e.g., much of what Vegeta does, since his position in the series post-dates the Daimao arc, but it's also why the victory isn't ultimately his, but is just a fake-out - but it also explains the purpose behind the earlier Dragon Ball references that fans have detected in the Final Arc in particular, and also the reason Goku's conflict with Moro takes pride of place in the resolution (which puzzled some fans, who had thought the greater early focus on Vegeta made for a more natural character conflict) - Goku's character arc is that of surpassing the Gods in the course of defeating a demonic evil, and Goku beat the Daimao (and his second incarnation) to achieve this, so Moro is deliberately constructed in this fashion to meet this pattern.

So, throwing that out there prior to the 'main event' - any thoughts from y'all?

User avatar
TobyS
I Live Here
Posts: 2450
Joined: Sun Jun 20, 2010 12:11 pm

Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by TobyS » Sat Jan 09, 2021 3:02 pm

My only additional thought as I've said elsewhere is vegeta being a likeable character regretting his gross childish embarrassing former evil, and the 4 humans and Gohan and Piccolo trusting him with their energy in a cool Saiyan saga throwback is great.

People wrongly said that the humans getting thrown a bone derailed the pace, I disagree. I think it helps to show the possibility of a world not so dependant on Goku and Saiyan power (culminating in Uub at EoZ) and it leads to that awesome character moment.

Plus rule of cool l, and some fucking variety in cast use is far more important than pacing imo.

That scene where they go to free Goku so they can die together is awesome.

The rest of the casts abscence was a distraction throughout Broly, obviously limited by screen time and voice actor money. This is better and I hope this is a trend that continues rather then a final send off.
Yamcha almost certainly did not cheat on Bulma:
He was afraid of Women, Bulma was the flirty one.
Yamcha wanted to get married (it was his gonna be his wish)
He suggested they settle down in the Trunks saga.
Alternate future Trunks is not a reliable source.
Toriyama wanted new SSJ Kids and not make new characters.

User avatar
The Undying
Banned Alternate Account
Posts: 433
Joined: Sun Dec 22, 2019 5:47 pm

Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by The Undying » Sun Jan 10, 2021 4:09 am

Back when this arc concluded in December, I'd finished my own re-read of GPP; these are my complete thoughts. I guess it's because I judge everything on its own merits instead of jumping the gun every month, but a retrospective approach did very little to change my original view of these chapters during serialization. I don't think I have much more to add that I didn't already post, though I'll say the arc's final act is at least a mild improvement over its (relatively more mishandled) first and second acts. TKA called it the nadir of the manga over in the manga thread, a sentiment I wholeheartedly agree with. It's easily its absolute lowest point by far.

Still, that's not exactly the same as claiming it's a terrible arc. As with most of Toyotaro's work, there's a lot to like and I'm sure everyone's mileage will vary. My main issue is that its structure, pacing and derivative execution are overall just not what I look for in Dragon Ball, and if the manga continues to go in a similar direction as this particular tale, I probably will lose all interest in Super eventually. It is what it is.

In the meantime, I'll hope it's just a bump in the road and not the start of some inevitable decline. After all, the zenith of the original manga (Boo) comes right after its own nadir (Cell) as I see it. As can be said for artists of any profession, perhaps our greatest achievements are only made possible because of our greatest setbacks. We'll see how it goes.
Formerly Marlowe89.

Cipher
Born 'n Bred Here
Posts: 6333
Joined: Wed Oct 21, 2009 11:54 pm
Location: Nagano
Contact:

Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by Cipher » Sun Jan 10, 2021 12:55 pm

The Undying wrote: Sun Jan 10, 2021 4:09 amIn the meantime, I'll hope it's just a bump in the road and not the start of some inevitable decline. After all, the zenith of the original manga (Boo) comes right after its own nadir (Cell) as I see it. As can be said for artists of any profession, perhaps our greatest achievements are only made possible because of our greatest setbacks. We'll see how it goes.
Oh. I rarely see anyone agree with me on those being the best and worst arcs, respectively. I wonder how 1:1 we are on other storyline rankings.

Anyway, I'm staying a bit mum on the Moro arc for now, as I rediscover how I feel about it in light of its ending (and discussion here) going back through the it via the colored volumes ones a month and posting commentary and reactions on Twitter. In the meantime, I don't think I have anything that's particularly worth adding to the discussion here, mostly because I'm not half as enthusiastic about it as I am the previous ones. But I'm also curious to see how I feel about it by the end of my own, slow-moving reread. I do know that it's my least favorite in Super--which is not to say I dislike it, or don't have fun reading it--but I hope to find more reasons to specifically want to revisit it, as I do the other arcs in the series.

Or maybe it'll be, like the Cell arc of DB, one that, while I do enjoy overall, I'm just not particularly enthused by, and that's okay! It seems like it's a lot of people's favorites for reasons it might be my least. But I hope to be able to say more about why, in light of its completion, then I currently feel I'm able to, before I add to this thread. I am still reading updates here eagerly though!

Even if it remains a storyline that doesn't particularly move me, it's also not something that would put me off of Toyotaro's writing or plotting on the whole. What I enjoy about him on the series still comes through in the arc, and what I don't enjoy as much feel like things he may have wanted to get out of his system on a first pass given a bit more control. A dip for me personally doesn't mean there can't be upswings, and it never dips so far that I'm actively frustrated or having a bad time reading--I'm just not having as good a time as with previous arcs of Super.

I did reread "Minus" today, while flipping back through Jaco for something, and found it pretty enjoyable for the fluff it is. I'd forgotten that Freeza's attack on Vegeta is still a month away at the point Bardock and Gine send Goku off, leaving plenty of time to build up to the events of Freeza's television-special-inspired flashback in the Namek arc. (In its adaptation in Broly, it seems like the attack is the same night, which leaves the transition from A to B a bit of a headscratcher.) I'd also forgotten that it ended with the hilarious bits of Jaco preparing for his journey to Earth, excited to be able to use the Extinction Bomb. Its final note about Goku unwittingly facing his arch-enemy in Freeza recalled (albeit in reverse publishing chronology) the punchline of Toyotaro's backup in Super Vol. 11, mining some dry humor out of how removed Goku, Vegeta and Broly are from the conflicts of their parents' generation. Both fit within DB's ethos as a world of unwitting heroes.

As a mostly expositional bonus chapter, it's not something I particularly feel needed to exist, but I also don't find it as detrimental to DB as some fans do. It is what it is, and we get some more Jaco gags out of it.

User avatar
The Undying
Banned Alternate Account
Posts: 433
Joined: Sun Dec 22, 2019 5:47 pm

Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by The Undying » Sun Jan 10, 2021 6:32 pm

Cipher wrote: Sun Jan 10, 2021 12:55 pm Oh. I rarely see anyone agree with me on those being the best and worst arcs, respectively. I wonder how 1:1 we are on other storyline rankings.
Now that you mention it, it looks like both of us contributed to the "Kanzenshuu's Favorite Arcs" thread and there's indeed much overlap in our rankings (I should mention that the arcs I listed within each rank aren't in any particular order, however):
The Undying wrote:S: Boo, Freeza, Saiyan, Red Ribbon, Broly (movie)
A: Piccolo Daimao, all Budokais, Prologue/Opening, Battle of Gods (movie)
B: Androids/Cell, Universe Survival, Universe 6 Tournament
C: Future Trunks, Resurrection 'F' (movie)
D: Galactic Patrol Prisoner
But yeah, I also don't have a ton of enthusiasm when it comes to continued discussion of this arc, though I hope to see some new/infrequent faces show up more often in this thread. Fresh perspectives can't hurt, even if they don't fully align with my own. I'll try to chime in if I feel there's something worth adding.
Formerly Marlowe89.

User avatar
Magnificent Ponta
OMG CRAZY REGEN
Posts: 898
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2020 2:25 pm
Location: Not on Tumblr, I guess

Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by Magnificent Ponta » Sun Jan 10, 2021 6:54 pm

Cipher wrote: Sun Jan 10, 2021 12:55 pmAnyway, I'm staying a bit mum on the Moro arc for now, as I rediscover how I feel about it in light of its ending (and discussion here) going back through the it via the colored volumes ones a month and posting commentary and reactions on Twitter. In the meantime, I don't think I have anything that's particularly worth adding to the discussion here, mostly because I'm not half as enthusiastic about it as I am the previous ones.
The Undying wrote: Sun Jan 10, 2021 6:32 pmI also don't have a ton of enthusiasm when it comes to continued discussion of this arc, though I hope to see some new/infrequent faces show up more often in this thread. Fresh perspectives can't hurt, even if they don't fully align with my own. I'll try to chime in if I feel there's something worth adding.
Well, all I can say is I hope I can make it worth your while in the meantime ;) (also, I should take the opportunity to thank Cipher in particular, as I know you've kindly shared this discussion here with a wider audience on Twitter - I owe you at least a few thousand views by this point, and I'm grateful.)

But yes, all and any comment is welcome from any and all members of the forum (and sincere thanks are due to those who have done so up to now). I hope to be able to always write something that draws interest and comment (even if my style is prolix) - I guess I'll try not to exasperate the unconvinced when pushing my pet theory of there being a 3-level structure to the Final Act of the arc (see above), but I guess now I've said it, I have to take it at full run.

Anyway, next instalment comes tomorrow...

User avatar
Magnificent Ponta
OMG CRAZY REGEN
Posts: 898
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2020 2:25 pm
Location: Not on Tumblr, I guess

Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by Magnificent Ponta » Mon Jan 11, 2021 6:08 am

The Super Re-Read: Chapters 45 - 48 (Plus Bonus Chapter #6)
Part 1 (Chapters 45 and 46)

Image

Welcome back, one and all, to The Super Re-Read! We're back on the usual schedule now, and moving right along in the Moro arc by looking at Volume 10 - this covers almost the whole of the confrontation on Namek, as Moro shows his true abilities, and Goku and Vegeta have to fight for their lives as Moro inches towards realisation of his immediate goals.

As ever, thanks and credit to Kanzenshuu and its contributors for creating the wealth of information the Super Re-Read draws on in each and every instalment. And a big thank you in the New Year to all of the members who take the time to share their views and insights on the material - I know the Moro arc doesn't enthuse generally, but I'll do my best to approach it just like all of Dragon Ball Super so far - hopefully readers will find it worth their while...

Okay, time to dive in - grab your manga, and let's get re-reading..!

Chapter 45 - Moro’s Magical Power/Moro's Magic
21 February 2019
Chapter Notes
  • Moro starts the Chapter by being forthright about what he's going to do, so it's surprising that Goku and Vegeta (and much of the fandom, for that matter - and even the English publisher's blurb for Volume 10 gets it wrong!) don't really understand what Moro is doing here. I think this is firstly because Moro's explanation comes in stages, which makes it easy to miss linking it all up, and secondly because the reveal of the drain on Goku and Vegeta is held off till the very end of the Chapter for maximum narrative impact. It has led, unfortunately, to an interpretation springing up that has held that Moro's energy-thieving magic was initially a passive ability that later had to get "nerfed" into an active one. But Moro is very clear before he begins that he is going to use "the same technique" Goku mentions (absorbing life energy), only in a "different application". When he uses it, he says, "With this move, I attack with the life energy of the very planet we stand on", and later specifies that he can use it "until the planet itself is extinguished". And later, after Vegeta's lost too much energy to transform, Moro says, "You were already aware that my magic robs a planet of its life energy, weren't you? Naturally, that included a healthy portion of your energy as well." So, every time Moro uses the technique, he takes their power (along with the rest of the planet's) to make it run. The connection between the technique and energy absorption is strengthened when Moro uses the same technique (Vegeta recognises it) and eats the output, and when he uses it again (in offensive mode) against Buu in 超 #47, Vegeta notes that Buu's power isn't affected. Moro will do it again in 超 #50, targeting only Goku and Vegeta and simultaneously empowering his own goons, and OG73-I, having copied Moro's abilities, will likewise target only Piccolo, Gohan, Kuririn and Jaco in 超 #54. So it's clear that it's a targeted attack (not a passive one), and it is depicted consistently throughout the arc.
  • Cranberry calls it "that same terrifying move he did when we broke outta prison" - in 超 #50, we'll see the prison more closely, and the damage Moro did to enable his escape. The Galactic Prison doesn't actually have a planet near it, so for Moro to have used this technique at that point, he would've had to steal the power from all the inmates and guards in the Prison to wield it.
  • Despite the fact that Moro calls what he is using "life energy", the move basically looks just like geysers of lava (in both the black-and-white and colour versions of the manga); this feeling is reinforced by the fact that Vegeta appears to be scorched by the attack here, Goku calling the geysers "fire and flames" in 超 #47, and that, once used, the residue of the attack looks very much like lava once it has hardened and cooled (as when Vegeta breaks out of the hardened flow, or later manages to harden a wave of it in mid-flow using a ki blast). Nevertheless, the coloured version in particular makes it seem like the 'lava' is 'charged' with energy in some way, even when used as a 'raw' offensive weapon. Perhaps when Moro clenches his fist to make a ball of pure ki from this same attack, he's preparing the life energy within it in a way that makes it consumable?
  • Favourite Art: I really enjoy the exchange between SSjG Vegeta and Moro, while Vegeta tries to avoid Moro's technique and land a hit - it has some really unusual moments and shows off Moro's formidability effectively, as it clearly puts him on the front foot in the fight. From that sequence, I think my favourite art comes from when Vegeta has to skid to a halt to avoid Moro's technique, and then Moro's grinning face appears in the flames to taunt him. I really like the 'look' of Moro here - it just lends a real 'infernal' sense to his mocking grin, enhancing his 'presence' as a villain further. In fact, I think the art in this Chapter, particularly in how it depicts the action between Vegeta and Moro, is very strong overall - dynamic and fresh, with a good sense of escalation as Vegeta moves up a gear into SSjBe and fairly dances between the geysers that caused him so much trouble in the early part of the Chapter.
  • Vegeta employs a ruse to wheedle information out of Moro - specifically, what he's after, and (once he's confirmed it's the Dragon Balls) what he might want to wish for. The last time any of the heroes pretended to be defeated to learn about a foe was in DB #363, when Piccolo submitted to Cell to learn his backstory and intentions. Now, Vegeta learns Moro's goal to restore his power. In fairness, Moro's not exactly reticent about sharing things about himself when prompted generally, so it's not exactly a necessary ploy, but Vegeta's little fake attempt at bargaining over his own potential usefulness is a fresh beat.
  • When Moro appears behind Vegeta to strike, Vegeta's hands glimmer with what appears to be a protective forcefield, so he can catch Moro's attack - perhaps akin to the forcefield used by Goku to block Trunks's sword strikes in DB #334 and 超 #15.
  • Moro states that the length of his confinement accounts for his "decrepit state"; despite the fact that Dai Kaioshin's power sealed away Moro's magic, this statement indicates that it doesn't appear to be the reason he has so little of it now - it has naturally atrophied under the "seal". In practical terms, as Moro implies here and as is confirmed in 超 #48, the restoration of his full magical power seems principally to affect the rate at which he can steal and consume energy - once his magic is restored, Vegeta notes that Moro's drain on the planet is "far faster than before", and in 超 #47, Moro voices frustration that he doesn't have his full magic power, with which he could "devour this entire world" - as here, where he says it would be "a quick meal" for him with his full power. It seems that, although he is indeed hiding his "true intent" here, part of the reason it takes him so long to steal the energy of those nearby is that he can't do it quicker than this. Of course, the rate at which he is able to do it later is partly dictated by the needs of the plot.
  • Moro's intended wish is one of the many ways he takes direct inspiration from Piccolo Daimao, Dragon Ball's original world-ending ultra-evil Doomsday villain. We've already noted that the vibe meant to be conveyed by Moro's design is the same as Piccolo Daimao, but there are lots of other direct references made:
    • Both are ancient evils responsible for terrible destruction, before they were imprisoned thanks to a ''sealing' technique (Piccolo was literally imprisoned by the technique itself, whereas Moro was incarcerated after his magic was sealed by the technique).
    • Both evoke the demonic - Piccolo is the Demon King, after all, and Moro has deliberate Demonic influences in his design, both the Goat and (to a lesser degree) the Serpent.
    • After aeons, both are released with the connivance of a pathetic villain from the past with their own ambitions (Pilaf and Cranberry, respectively), who are promptly betrayed and disposed of once Piccolo/Moro gets what he wants.
    • Both have aged hugely during confinement, which means their powers have atrophied (though are still powerful) and they want to restore themselves to their prime, and to do this they seek to wish on the Dragon Balls .
    • After their first encounter with the hero(es), they leave them for dead and continue collecting Dragon Balls, and are successful in having their wish made on the Dragon God (the only villains in Dragon Ball to do so, significantly).
    • Prior to their full rejuvenation (which they both get), they learn that the technique that they originally feared cannot be used against them any longer, and they rejoice to be free of the fear.
    • Both harbour intentions to rule so that they can shape their 'realm' to suit their overriding impulses (Piccolo, the World, for the sake of evil; Moro, the Galaxy, for the sake of feeding).
    • Both have henchmen whose power is taken from their own (Piccolo's by heredity; Moro's by gifting the power he has acquired); one of these completely beasts the second-place hero(es) before being quickly overpowered by the main character.
    • On the brink of final defeat, we learn they have left behind a shade/clone of themselves, which allows them to return more powerful than ever (there's also a characteristic Dragon Ball inversion, here: Piccolo spits this clone out, whereas Moro takes his in). Fittingly, this will also give Moro the literal abilities of Piccolo.
    • For a couple of Ma Jr. connections, Moro pierces Goku right through, as Piccolo does (using his regeneration as he does it, I might add) - the identical scar placement on Goku's chest in DB #194 and 超 #64 is surely deliberate - and they are both spared by Goku, who gives them Senzu beans in the hope of getting a better fight from them later on, despite the criticisms of onlookers.
    • In the end, we get a final Piccolo Daimao connection in which Goku is ultimately victorious through all his power being put into a single blow (Goku even uses the same phrase in 超 #66 as in DB #160: "Everything's riding on this fist of mine" - and ends it with a gigantic manifestation of his power to accompany it: then an Oozaru, but now a gigantic emanation of his own Divine Power), the successful landing of which defeats both enemies and causes them to literally explode.
    One can argue piecemeal links for Moro (or rely purely on archetypes), but I don't believe they should be advanced over his principal inspiration: Piccolo Daimao. And I don't think this is all done simply for the sake of calling back a villain in the Daimao's mould, but rather to structure the conclusion of the arc, as I said above in my 'talking point': Moro's characterisation after the pattern of the Daimao serves Goku's character arc by representing the villain he last faced when he surpassed the Gods, as he will do again (on a grander scale) this time.
  • Vegeta expresses a consciously heroic sentiment - "I won't sit by while this planet suffers". While he hasn't completely flipped his character, particularly with reference to Goku (in 超 #42, he says he never wants to team up with him again, and in 超 #51, he re-commits to achieving victory over Goku as much as anyone else) - so it's nice to have it recognised that he's still on the road from the grudging admission of inferiority in DB #510 to the more friendly air of DB #517-519 (or, if you prefer, he maintains the commitment to defeat Goku that he will still have in the Kanzenban revision of DB #519) - but we see a very particular evolution in Vegeta, namely the urge to right past wrongs. The commitment made in the previous Chapter to protecting the Namekians, restated here, and again with a determination to die trying to secure their restoration in 超 #47, points up the fact that Vegeta's character arc relates specifically to himself, with Namek as a sort of 'totem' for it. Provisionally, this will come to grief when Moro destroys the planet in 超 #51, but Vegeta will work hard to earn his redemption for his guilt, and will end his arc in 超 #61 when he is finally able to make good on this by giving the Namekians their lives back. In this way, the theme of Vegeta's Development will be intimately bound up with the overall arc theme of Stealing, Earning, and Giving; it's unsurprising that with this achieved, Vegeta receives relatively little focus until the climax in 超 #66. I think I like the choice to have this limited kindling of heroism in Vegeta; it's the next logical step in his character development, having changed remarkably in his relationships with those he's familiar with, but in keeping with the Dragon Ball spirit of always having further to go no matter what one achieves, I also think it is a good choice to have Vegeta relativise his own achievement here, saying that he still thinks of himself as a villain bound for Hell.
  • Moro uses misdirection to evade the heroes so that he can buy time to enact a plot he's been working on - Goku will later summarise Moro as "a sneaky coward" in 超 #65, which is in keeping here - he'll do it again in 超 #48 when he uses his energy geysers to escape from Goku and Vegeta and hide nearby, in 超 #49 when he repeatedly wrong-foots the heroes with illusions to allow him the freedom to gather more ki from Namek at leisure, and in 超 #61, he uses the geyser to escape from Vegeta, buying enough time to consume OG73-I. In 超 #64, he will try some similar ploys to try to land an attack on Goku, but thanks to Goku's attainment of True Ultra Instinct, this tendency to misdirect no longer gets Moro anywhere.
  • This is the first time we see Moro use his planetary energy attack to form a ball from it - Vegeta presumes he will attack with it (and he can, as we see in 超 #47, when he tries it with Buu), but he actually consumes it. This is the first time since 超 #43's flashback that we've seen Moro actually consume energy; Goku says it makes him "way stronger than before", but even after days of absorbing energy from the planet, plus a stint of absorption at the enhanced rate of Moro's full magical capabilities, Vegeta is able to say in 超 #49 that "Just one of us at full power in Super Saiyan Blue form could handle him". Since Moro is able to put Vegeta under serious pressure in SSjG in this Chapter, this might give an indication of the magnitude of difference that exists between SSjG and SSjB - at this point, as Vegeta says, it is "far beyond your scope".
  • The fact that Goku and Vegeta have lost too much energy to transform and yet still have a great deal of ki - enough to begin Moro's rejuvenation - speaks to the idea I mentioned in the Super Re-Read Chapter Notes for 超 #12 and 13, namely, that of transformations having some sort of ki 'access spend', where you need to use a certain amount in order to activate (and maintain) the transformation - as Goku says in 超 #12, "Transforming takes a lot of energy". Unsuccessful maintenance of a transformation through having lost too much ki shows up in Dragon Ball in such places as DB #342 and DB #512-513, but I don't think we'd ever seen an instance where characters have lost too much ki to even activate a transformation before this (though perhaps by having fallen out of a transformation, it may imply that the character might not be able to activate it again without restoring their energy). This will happen again in 超 #50, where Goku and Vegeta lose their transformations in mid-fight. Interestingly, however, even though at some point they fall out of SSjG into Base form, they retain the ability to transform into bog-standard (and presumably least demanding to activate) SSj.
  • As a narrative moment, I think the gradual revelation of what Moro's been doing, taken by steps over the last third of the Chapter, is really effective - it's both praise and censure to say that it's one of the most compelling moments of the whole arc (with 20+ Chapters of content still to go). The small hints that all is not well (Vegeta breathing heavily, the leaves on the trees falling, Goku's pensiveness); the first visible sight of energy being taken from weakening bystanders; the beat of confusion when Vegeta tries to transform but hasn't quite twigged that he can't...the explanation from Merus and Jaco, which also stretches the moment until Vegeta realises, in a great revelatory beat, "I can't...turn Super Saiyan", followed by Moro linking up the things that were already 'out there' but not yet fully connected, finishing with the echo that he was hiding his true intent - serving, as it does, a narrative flip where Vegeta thought Moro's wish was his hidden 'true intent', but actually this is what he was 'hiding' - and he has revealed his trump card after Vegeta, to one-up him and ultimately win the day - is a fabulous piece of construction, here. I can't praise this moment enough.
  • Since not revealing the full implications of the attack (and, implicitly, letting Goku and Vegeta draw a false distinction between "the planet we stand on" and everything on the planet, themselves included) is a great character beat for Moro, this is probably as good a place as any to try to sketch Moro's character, in the way I did for Zamas. In short, Moro sees himself as the Apex Predator of creation, and thinks this makes him superior. However, as befits a Thief, which is all he is, he's really just (as Goku puts it) a "sneaky coward", and his Serpentine Cunning throws this into clear view:
    • Fundamentally, Moro believes he's the "supreme life-form" because he is capable of consuming everyone and everything, and compelled to do so. He's the Apex Predator of existence, and this makes him Insatiable. He'll even say that "I do not fear divine power!" (超 #64), because "The Gods' creations are mine to devour!!" This predatory aspect to Moro's character is such that it's not too much to say that he looks at everyone and everything as either a meal, or else as accessory to the creation of a meal - literally everything he does and says has to be parsed through this fact. He says the main reason he consumes energy is "to fill my stomach", which is "the primary goal", rather than becoming stronger or anything else (超 #59), and everything else he says reinforces this outlook: for instance, he notes Planet Namek has power remaining in 超 #49 and says "What a waste to leave food on my plate"; he also evaluates planets like Zoon on the basis of how good a meal it is (超 #51), and calls Goku and Vegeta "livestock" in 超 #51 (and tells Vegeta "You will make for my finest meal yet" in 超 #61); his interest in them expires as soon as he's eaten all of their energy in 超 #46 ("Those drained of their energy will perish on their own in short order. Their lives no longer concern me"). That this consideration overrides all others shows up when Moro merely concludes from the loss of some of his scouts that a planet that can do this is probably a good meal (超 #52), and declares Vegeta's defeat of Yuzun (and that Vegeta must have become stronger) as a "delightful development" (超 #55), and he says he's "in high spirits" to have chanced upon the high number of powerful individuals on Earth (超 #57). Even as his team gets defeated by Earth's warriors, he simply muses on who might be first on the menu (超 #56), and his followers play up to this single-mindedness: Saganbo, for instance, quite literally offers to "cook" Moro's foes "to your liking" in 超 #57. In this sense, this is pretty much all there is to Moro. It's very straightforward, and one might wish there were some other twist (or even a gag) to this aspect of the characterisation, but there really isn't; it's played totally straight, which is probably why Moro comes across as a 'generic Doomsday villain' to a lot of people, even when one puts aside his conceptual reliance on Piccolo Daimao - he says what he's about, he does stuff that reemphasises this...and that's about it.
    • Moro introduces himself by trying to eat Esca (超 #44), but says, "Worry not. This one is merely food", which indicates that he also thinks of consuming the lives of others as fairly natural and undramatic; in fact, he seems to regard it in a philosophical, detached manner - as he tells Tsuburi, "You are all fated to die in due time" (超 #46), and he thinks of the Galactic Patrol's opposition, and peace-keeping attempts, as "nonsense" and they should be "eradicated" (超 #50). Goku will throw all this back in his face in 超 #64, where he asks Moro if he can understand the pain of all those he killed, now the shoe is on the other foot. Clearly, this never really occurred to Moro - like a Shark (his namesake) devours its prey and keeps moving forward without any difficulty, hesitation, or regret, that's the way Moro is too.
    • Despite the compulsion to devour, there's not much in Moro's character that points towards any intention to husband and secure these resources, irreplaceable as they are (though Moro does not think so, as we'll see). The closest he gets to such a sentiment is in 超 #54, where he consents to wait until Goku and Vegeta have trained, so that he will get a better meal out of it, and in 超 #62, where he refrains from killing the heroes outright because "You people are my meal, you know". The only time he actually passes up the opportunity to consume energy is with Jaco - but only because it's "Such a small portion...and probably foul-tasting" (超 #62). Otherwise, his consumption of others appears always to be total and final - we never get the sense that Moro might take the view of securing his food sources for the long term (say, draining people like Earth's heroes to feed himself, allowing them to recover, and coming back to repeat the process) - it's always simply annihilatory, even though he admits that there aren't many planets "teeming with so many high-energy individuals" (超 #57); all it means is that he doesn't want to eat it all in one 'gulp', but to "prepare this dish" in a way that's to his liking. This cements the characterisation of Moro both as Apex Predator and as Thief, as he has no view of allowing what he steals to be restored to his victims, and he predates on them insatiably.
    • Being able to consume everything and anything has given Moro a misplaced sense of superiority, as a limitless being who should properly inhabit some sort of rulership function (albeit just one that sustains his habits) - he says his goal is "To create an ideal Galaxy where I am free to consume Planets as I wish" (超 #50); and later specifies that this means he will be "ruling over the Galaxy for all eternity" (超 #61). Even as his ambitions are limitless (in service of a base urge though they are), so is his self-conception: when he resolves to eat until he hits the limits of his power, he questions whether he even has such limits (超 #55), and later scoffs at the idea, even while Merus's Angelic power is destroying his body, on the basis of the Life Force he has consumed (超 #65); even self-improvement is unnecessary, as with training, which Moro despises as "a crutch for the weak" - hardly fitting for the limitless predator of all. He also refuses to receive judgement from others - as in 超 #64, where he tells Goku that to "presume to lecture me", he must "think yourself a God" - only the Gods might judge, and the greatest of them is Moro's hated enemy (超 #43, 48, 49); others aren't fit to do so.
    • Conversely, in keeping with this conviction of superiority, Moro regards other beings as lower life-forms. That's not particularly unique to Moro; most Dragon Ball villains have a similar outlook (See: Piccolo Daimao, DB #159; Vegeta, DB# 237; Freeza, DB #291; Cell, DB #388); however, Moro's seems drawn specifically from his position as a predator. Moro has no difficulty in killing his own men (Cranberry, 超 #48; Saganbo, 超 #58 - he calls him "pathetic" for dying, into the bargain, and his death comes from Moro's insatiability, as his curiosity essentially drives him to kill Saganbo; Shimorekka, 超 #61), and disavows the notion that he might have "friends", as while his followers might die, "I can always collect more". He also calls Goku a "lowly life-form" (超 #59), Earth's fighters "worms" (超 #60, #64), and generally acts in a condescending manner to those he encounters (see, for instance, the way he toys with the "insect" Vegeta in 超 #45, or that he kills the Namekian "saviour" without bothering to look at him in 超 #46, or that he declines battle in 超 #48 because he doesn't see the need, or when he condescendingly says to Goku "consider me shocked that you amassed such power" in 超 #60). He also doesn't accept that other beings might have goals that don't align with his own; even if they don't necessarily work against him, it is likewise unacceptable - as with his order to kill the Macarenis, on the grounds that "Traitors acting on their own are dispensable" (超 #53). Only Moro's goals matter.
    • Moro always seems intent on having some sort of back-up plan or cautious, hidden approach (artistically pointed up by his serpentine eyes), despite the very straightforward goals he has - or, as Goku puts it in 超 #65, he's "a sneaky coward". He hides his "true intent" of devouring Vegeta and Goku's power in the first battle, slowly whittling their power away in 超 #45; he also keeps the fact he has another wish secret until his first is granted, and doesn't reveal its contents until it's too late and his convict allies have arrived (超 #48-50). He lets his pawns do the fighting in 超 #50, siphoning energy from Vegeta and Goku and gifting it to his goons, and he uses the abilities of one particular goon (OG73-I) to "create a complete back-up" of himself in case things go wrong (as they do, in 超 #61), which enables him to gain the upper hand once again. But in battle, his approach is rarely straightforward: He waits for Goku to wear himself out in the first phase of their battle (超 #59), and then when he sees the full extent of Goku's power, says simply he "approached you too cautiously" (超 #60). Even though he is confident Dende poses no threat, he makes sure by sealing off the battlefield with a barrier (超 #62). Once Goku attains True Ultra Instinct, however, there aren't any obvious ploys left - only fear (超 #64) - and begging for his life, which he tries to use to provide one last opening to kill Goku, which fails (超 #65); and his final, improvised move, stealing Merus's Angelic power, proves his undoing because he succeeds beyond his wildest dreams: the power of the technique begins to destroy him, and he tries a last-minute manoeuvre to merge with Earth to contain it - it's not planned, simply desperate: Goku backs him into a corner and he throws caution to the wind, as the cunning that has served him so well eventually proves to be his undoing in 超 #66 - his eyes are too big for his belly.
    • For anyone with eyes to see, Moro is ultimately just a Thief, whatever his grandiose self-conception - and he is Incorrigible. He's the main villain in an arc that deals strongly in the theme of Stealing, and it's stated at the outset (超 #44) that his power is an aggregation of souls, which have been slaughtered and stolen by his magic. He steals the Dragon Balls from the Namekians (超 #46-48), and liberates his fellow-convicts - bandits all - to engage in an orgy of rapine across the Galaxy; his goons steal tangible treasures, and Moro steals the very life-force of the planets once they're finished. Ironically, when he "gifts" what he has stolen (Giving and Earning being two major related themes), it kills his henchman Saganbo, who has not earned the wherewithal to handle Moro's stolen gifts. And, of course, he thieves one of his own thieves: he consumes OG73-I to regain his own stolen power (once Vegeta has given that back to its true owners), and gains his "Copy Ability", which (as Jaco describes it) "steals" the abilities of others, and he uses it with abandon. In fact, all the underhanded ploys mentioned above are pressed into service to allow Moro to do what he does best - "stealing lives". Goku puts his finger on this in 超 #65, where he calls what Moro does just that. Goku also points out that this makes Moro much less than he might be otherwise; but he's an incorrigible scumbag - he resists even a token gesture of reformation when Goku offers the chance, and spurns it in favour of stealing anew, using the stolen Copy Ability to steal Merus's abilities. But he is undone by his own compulsion to steal, as he cannot handle the power either, and tries, in his most audacious (and desperate) caper, to steal the whole Earth so he can hang on to his ill-gotten gains. Even then, he doesn't stop stealing, consuming the energy of all on Earth - he even steals energy quicker than Vegeta can take it back, even though it is driving him insane and killing him.
    So, that's what I get of Moro's character. He's a thief to the end, and that (his incorrigibility), mixed with his compulsion to devour and predate on others (his insatiableness), overrides his natural serpentine caution and cunning to steal things he can't handle, hastening his own end. While the inspirations drawn from Piccolo Daimao are many and obvious (as listed above), I think there's enough here to say that Moro has his own, relatively satisfying and well-constructed arc that make his vices both the centre of his strength and yet the key to his undoing. But whether the specific things that characterise him (broadly unique to him though they are) are in themselves quite enough to make Moro personally stand out as a worthy addition to the Dragon Ball rogues gallery..? That's up for discussion. Have at it!
Chapter 46 - Planet Namek in Decline/Namek in Decline
20 March 2019
Chapter Notes
  • I like the slightly more physical aspect to Moro's attacks at the end of the last Chapter and the beginning of this one. In particular, I like the deft sweep he pulls off in grabbing Goku's leg, whacking him into the ground and through a rock, before tossing him into another rock and cooking him in a geyser of flaming energy. I think that's a really effective fusion of Moro's description as "a capable fighter" and a dangerous wielder of magic, and it's probably my favourite art for this Chapter (moreso than the equally physical, somewhat more graphic, impalement of the "Namekian Saviour", or the similarly impactful nuking of the village that Moro indulges in to defeat Goku and Vegeta - well-drawn though both those sequences are). We'll get this same strong fusion of physical prowess, energy absorption and random magical ability in 超 #49, during the battle in space, and again in 超 #59, where a much more powerful Moro intersperses lots of random magic with some more straightforward brawling (though only a couple of attempts at energy absorption occur there, as Goku has found a way around it in Ultra Instinct). It's a nice balance.
  • Vegeta launches his first Gyarikku Hou in the manga since DB #231, when he tried to destroy Earth with it. Daizenshuu #7 describes the attack as "Vegeta’s version of the Kamehameha. The difference between it and the Kamehameha is the hand position when shooting out the ki. He thrusts out the palms of his hand towards his opponent, and fires it as if pushing out the ki. The ki put out from the two palms then becomes a single powerful current." Whereas the Anime has been somewhat prolific in the use of this one-shot technique, in the manga Vegeta has moved on to other techniques, such as the Big Bang Attack (which we'll see again for the first manga outing since its introduction - in DB #344 - in this arc, too, albeit used by Moro in 超 #62), Final Flash (again, a Dragon Ball one-time attack, from DB #384, but already re-used in 超 #19), and Gamma Burst Flash (a creation of Dragon Ball Super, appearing in 超 #25 and 超 #42).
  • On the return to Beerus's planet, we get anew the Uselessness of Beerus. It seems a number of fans had hoped that his experiences in the Future Trunks arc and the Tournament of Power arc might have helped Beerus learn to improve his attitude and take his job seriously. Of course, that is what a reasonable character might have done, but people expecting a change of heart from Beerus were always on to a loser: his very introduction was in pursuit of his strongest rival, who "would be so fun to play around with", to the extent that he's happy to destroy Earth for no particular reason even when he gets his fight (the confrontation having started over pudding, in 超 #3); in Revival of F, he only appears with Whis at all when Bulma bribes them with food; his childish spat with his twin, Champa, led to him wagering the Earth and all its delicious treats - the only things he obviously values - in the Universe 6 Tournament arc; and even though he steps in briefly in 超 #19 to destroy the threat Zamas poses in the present during the Future Trunks arc, it's only because "We're all gonna die otherwise!", and once he's done that he declines to go all the way with it, electing to stay on Earth and eat more goodies in 超 #21; in the Tournament of Power arc, it's likewise a matter of life and death which holds Beerus's attention, and the whole arc lasts about 41 hours, which underlines its character as an ephemeral crisis rather than something that might prompt an abiding change of heart; as for Broly, Beerus plays babysitter for all of it. Now, he rejoices (as in 超 #15) at how little of his job he actually has to do, which will aid and abet the crisis of this arc, starting with letting Moro destroy Namek because it doesn't have any food, until he finally - too late - appears in 超 #63, coaxed by the promise of tasty food on Earth (again - as he says, it's the "only reason" he helps out on Earth at all anyway), until his indolence catches up with him, as Merus gets erased and The Grand Priest summons him at the climax of the battle in 超 #66 (just as he's actually preparing to finally do something useful, fittingly), so he can entertain the Zenos by playing horsey for them in 超 #67...He adamantly refused to befriend Zeno back in 超 #18, so it seems that refusing to do the job he actually has earns (for him) a terrible punishment where he's pressed into service for this new job...
  • Contrast with Whis's reaction, from the outset. He's peeved by Beerus's contradictory claims of boredom and busy-ness, and while he never acts out of line with Beerus's selfish commands, and acts with (arguably) perfect neutrality throughout (as it has been established since 超 #18 that an Angel must), he seems to do his best to Wield Neutrality as a Weapon, in contrast to the indolent Beerus and the impetuous Merus, but in such a way that steers a middle course and ends up contriving for just about everything to turn out okay - in 超 #54-55, he specifically draws The Grand Priest's attention to the goings-on in his Universe, and while he makes great play of being neutral as to the outcome, he stops The Grand Priest from bringing Merus back to the Angel World (which would have saved him) and deliberately takes responsibility for Merus even when he knows he has "gained a bias", and after coming to collect him (ostensibly so that he will not participate in the battle) shows the young trainee Angel a vista of a hopeless battle which will destroy the people he has a bias for, while insisting that there's nothing they can do and that they shouldn't do anything (except, he pointedly notes, at the behest of the God of Destruction), in 超 #60; in 超 #63, when Beerus, Whis, and Merus are all on Earth, Whis allows Beerus to take off and leave the hot-headed young Angel with a highly dubious "No harm in leaving him behind", until Beerus notices himself that this was a bad idea - and when Whis says that he can only act at Beerus's direct instruction, it's clear Whis is laying the consequences of "losing an Angel" at Beerus's door, and Beerus knows that full well when he says, "You sneaky little...so The Grand Priest is gonna be pissed at me!" and when it's too late, Beerus knows Whis knew this would happen (despite his highly unconvincing protestations), and the consequences duly follow: they are summoned back to The Grand Priest in 超 #66. As we've mentioned, Beerus pays a "penalty" for his part in the "mistake" of leaving Merus in Universe 7's care - however, The Grand Priest steps in to eradicate Merus so that he can be 'saved' as a Mortal (almost a reward for his virtuous conduct, since it gives him a new life with the freedom to do what he has decided he cares most about), while teaching Beerus a little lesson that isn't too drastic (though Beerus himself would surely disagree) and contriving a way to save Earth without getting personally involved in the fighting. I wondered whether Whis might finally have sought to contrive a change of partnership, but in retrospect he's too closely aligned with Beerus (they like the same things, at least) to actively want him gone; they're sort of like an old married couple, and Whis works out his own little frustrations by making Beerus uncomfortable (that's the flip-side of the frustration, and the joy of it, one supposes), but they'll always be together. I'll no doubt say more about Whis's neutrality later on.
  • Goku finds he's lost too much energy to use Shunkan Idou. This surprised me at first when I read it - it hadn't occurred that one would need much ki to do so. Daizenshuu #7 doesn't have much of consequence to say of the technique ("A technique that Goku learned from the aliens that live on Planet Yardrat, which he visited by chance when he escaped from Planet Namek. This teleportation senses a person’s ki, then moves to where that person is. Because of this, it is impossible to move anywhere that does not have people or ki you know"), but the idea that teleportation as such might fail if one is too drained has precedent from DB #516, when Kibito-Shin tells Dende that he can't teleport because he sent his ki to the Genki Dama. This arc will go much deeper into the mechanics of the techniques used by the Yardrat, as Pybara indicates that one performs Shunkan Idou by "shifting" one's Spirit/ki to another place (超 #52) - the body presumably follows. Moro draining Goku too much to use other techniques (not just transformations) will appear again in 超 #66, when Goku loses Ultra Instinct and requires a transfusion of Divine Power to re-attain the technique.
  • We get a nod to the Stealing theme of the arc, when Moro states that Dai Kaioshin "stole my abilities". Obviously, he did not 'steal' them in the way that, say, Moro 'steals' ki from others (i.e., so that he now possesses and can use it), but rather he forcibly deprived Moro of said abilities. It's arguable as to whether Dai Kaioshin's own Divine Power is counted among Moro's statement that "Beings such as yourselves did not exist in my era"; in 超 #49, Vegeta will note that a partly-rejuvenated Moro can still be beaten by either of them in pure power terms, and this Moro will note that Dai Kaioshin's power is rather less than it was 10 million years ago ("Did something happen to you these past ten million years? Because this is unimpressive. (...) Did someone steal your power...and reduce you to that pink, piggish form from earlier?"), and the Divine Power sent to Goku in 超 #66 - originally Dai Kaioshin's - is considered massive by both Goku and Vegeta. One might suppose that, although the divine character of the power is clearly the key thing in 超 #66, its size also rivals, and possibly exceeds, both SSjB characters.
  • Moro's consumption of ki from Goku and Vegeta partially rejuvenates him. He will rejuvenate further in 超 #49, with energy gathered from Planet Namek, and he will complete his rejuvenation when he finally destroys Namek in 超 #51. While the restoration of power and the restoration of youth for Moro takes its cue from his inspiration, Piccolo Daimao, and is intelligible to this extent, I wave a reluctant goodbye to the original, ancient goat depiction of Moro. There's something increasingly insipid and less threatening about the youthful and buff Moro when compared with his craggy elderly counterpart, and I feel like this wasn't really a necessary change, either, given his nimbleness and ability to mix in physical as well as magical attacks, though I suppose it was natural enough.
  • Cranberry's built-in Scouter is pretty cool. He's only ever shown with one deployed in the original Manga, but the helmet does appear to have other functionality, as it's plugged into his beam gun (see, e.g., DB #251); in 超 #48, his helmet will be plugged into some sort of mind-control device attached to Esca, while his beam gun will have an aerial to enable a remote connection (Namek has Wifi, I guess). Cranberry's suggested means of finding the Dragon Balls matches the general method that Freeza's group (of which Cranberry was a member) when they went to Namek, about 15 years prior. While some fans have expressed incredulity that it would take Moro and Cranberry 3 days to collect the Dragon Balls, it's worth remembering that from the point Freeza left Planet Freeza #79 until the point all 7 Dragon Balls were in his possession, something like 33 days passed. For Moro, the same 'mission' (if you like) takes 7 days. We don't know how long it took Freeza to get to Namek, but the quicker it was, the longer they spent on Namek. Freeza says the Ginyu Force should take 5 days to get from "Planet Freeza" to Namek in DB #264; Goku notes Freeza's ship is faster than a Ginyu Force ship in DB #336; so we could be talking near enough a month spent on Namek - this puts Moro's achievement in perspective.
  • Despite his amenable, slightly downtrodden demeanour in front of Moro, Cranberry's actually a bit of a scumbag himself - we see him in DB #251, threatening Muri, Dende, Cargo and a couple of other Namekians with death. In DB #252, he seems pretty pleased at seeing Zarbon casually murder 2 Namekians. In DB #253, he prepares to kill the 3 arriving Namekians, but of course is defeated himself, and (according to Bonus Chapter #6) killed by Zarbon. He'll return to finish the job, killing Muri and another Namekian in 超 #48.
  • Bulma notes that a week has passed since Goku and Vegeta vanished - this presumably includes the 3 days' slumber on Namek, so the other 4 days must have been spent in the journey from Earth to Galactic Patrol HQ, the trip to Planet Jung, mop-up following the Macarenis' caper, and the journey back to Galactic Patrol HQ. Given that the journey from Earth would probably take less than 50 minutes (see 超 #6), and one can hardly think the journey to Jung is much longer than this due to the fact that they were informed of a crime in progress, one would have to think that most of this time was taken up with unconsciousness after arriving at the HQ, chit-chat, the Induction, and mop-up on Jung. That said, the fact that Merus only arrives back at Galactic Patrol HQ 3 days after Goku and Vegeta left for Namek confuses this timeline greatly.
  • The Galactic Patrolman who notes that Buu is awake and ravaging their supplies gets another cameo in the Interstitial, demanding more food for Buu - the food seems to be the same as the bar that Cheelai gives Broly to eat when she finds him, so it seems to be a pretty standard Space Ration. Probably better than Buu turning them into candy, thinking about it.
  • We get a "My Vegeta" reference from Bulma, which corresponds to Vegeta's "My Bulma" from 超 #3 and 超 #6 - the latest evidence of their deepened relationship; the last being Bra, who is also around, held by Mr. Satan. She's still a babe in arms, so having her about 2 months old would be likelier than the alternative, which would have her over a year old. And of course, we have a reference to DB #330 and Revival of F, where Bulma says she wants to see Freeza - turns out she wants to see what's going to kill her whenever it shows up, because now she wants to see Moro too. In the end, I guess she does that when he comes to Earth, given the monitors she has set up to watch the whole thing.
  • Esca notes that he can heal like Dende, only he's not quite so good at it - while Dende is described as "talented" by Piccolo in DB #394, it may have more to do with Dende being the final beneficiary of the Great Elder's power-up, in DB #285. Daizenshuu #7 describes Dende's healing technique thusly: "With his dormant power released by Saichourou, Dende gathers the electricity-like ki from his entire body, and emits it from his hands." It's also possible that Esca's ability may be slightly inhibited due to the fact that, as Goku says, his ki got drained as well, even though he suffers no ill effects from doing it - though Dende, even after giving almost all his energy to the Genki Dama in DB #516, suggests he can still use this technique, so maybe it is just a question of skill. Moreover, as Goku mentions in 超 #47, Moro has continued to drain energy from Namek and its inhabitants, themselves included, so it's likely that whatever headway Esca makes with each course of treatment, Moro's magic partially undoes it, making this a painfully slow process.
  • The fact that Muri dolefully recognises the blasting sound when Moro attacks Tsuburi's village means that his modus operandi has been the same with each village during this phase, before the Namekians truly scatter in an effort to keep the Dragon Balls out of his hands: he surrounds the village with his flaming geysers, demands the Dragon Ball, and kills anyone who resists. From the fact that "He slaughtered them all", one is inclined to suppose that none of them would give over their Dragon Balls.
  • We get a brand new reference to Assimilation, seen in DB #295 (Piccolo and Nail) and DB #360 (Piccolo and Kami). Daizenshuu #7 says of it, "A mysterious power which Namekians are born with. With the goal of powering up by becoming one with an ally, they are also able to gain that ally’s memories. By deciding in advance the person who will become the post-merging body’s personality, they are able to determine whose body it will be afterwards. However, they are unable to return to being the former two people once again." With respect to the "deciding in advance" part, this is probably a reference to Kami saying "You, the foundation, must be the one to touch me". This is respected here, as the main warrior puts his hands on the shoulders of those who are assimilated to him. Muri declares that "several dozen" may assimilate this way, and that this is standard when the planet is threatened; we see 6 warriors join with this "foundation" warrior; but it also raises the question of why this was not employed when Freeza came to Namek - perhaps Nail, as the only warrior Namekian, found the others insufficient for his purposes until Piccolo came along, or else his constant attendance on The Great Elder made this tactic impossible. Vegeta will mention in 超 #61 that Forced Spirit Fission can even undo Namekian Assimilation. Muri tells the "saviour" to "Embody the pride of every Namekian!", which evokes his own defiant cry prior to his own first death in DB #255: "I will show you the honor of the Namekians!!!!"
  • Aaaand finally - In a dramatic (and enjoyable) subversion, Moro kills the "saviour" instantly, before even seeing his face (linking back with the last comment, this subversion is just like in DB #255, where Freeza immediately kills Cargo and Dodoria then snaps Muri's neck). He impales him on his arm, which becomes something of a preference of Moro's: he'll try again with Buu (to no avail) in 超 #48, will succeed with Goku in 超 #62, and will try one last time on Goku in 超 #65, but will instead break his hand on him. Using one's hand to impale an opponent through the torso evokes the Piccolo Daimao arc again: Tambourine does it to Giran in DB #140, and Piccolo Daimao himself will do it to a guard at the King's Castle, in DB #149. Of course, Namekians are no strangers to having this done to them: Dodoria does it to one of the Namekian fighters arrayed against him in DB #254.
Well, that's all for Part 1 - I'll be back with Part 2 (Chapters 47 and 48, with Bonus Chapter #6) at the end of the week...

User avatar
Magnificent Ponta
OMG CRAZY REGEN
Posts: 898
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2020 2:25 pm
Location: Not on Tumblr, I guess

Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by Magnificent Ponta » Sun Jan 17, 2021 7:11 am

The Super Re-Read: Chapters 45 - 48 (Plus Bonus Chapter #6)
Part 2 (Chapters 47 and 48, and Bonus Chapter #6)

Image

Hello again, Kind Reader, and welcome back to The Super Re-Read! We're moving on to finish up Dragon Ball Super Volume 10, covering the second encounter with Moro on Namek, the arrival of Majin Buu, and the summoning of Porunga to give Moro the wish he's been seeking!

As ever, thanks and credit goes to Kanzenshuu and its contributors for a lot of the information that goes into The Super Re-Read.

Okay, it's that time again - grab your manga, and let's get re-reading..!

Chapter 47 - Stolen Dragon Balls/Stolen Dragon Balls
20 April 2019
Chapter Notes
  • Vegeta mentions that Moro has become stronger than when they fought him. After a fashion, this is obvious, since Moro was rejuvenated by absorbing their ki after he'd beaten them, but the specific intention of this dialogue is to indicate that Moro has also slowly been absorbing energy from Namek and its inhabitants since then.
  • Additionally, Moro seems to have gained the ability to detect Dragon Balls. One might question whether this is linked to his rising strength - as Buu/Dai Kaioshin notes in 超 #48, his magical abilities are strictly demarcated from his power, as such - and instead point to Moro growing more magically 'attuned' (in some way) to the Dragon Balls' presence by exposure. Moro first demonstrated unusual senses the moment he was revealed, in 超 #43, where he detects Goku searching for his ki, and in 超 #44, he searches through the Galaxy (and possibly the whole Universe), even in a weakened state, to detect the proliferation of life. On the other hand, his physical rejuvenation may account for this in some way, as that attempt took him to his "limit", and he does not seem so taxed by the use of his abilities at any time thereafter. But that detecting Dragon Balls is not something he was capable of when he touched down on Namek can be deduced from the fact that he doesn't detect the Dragon Ball that Muri's village keeps, until this Chapter.
  • I really like the looming shadow of Moro as it descends over the fleeing Namekian - it seems to evoke the 'Grim Reaper' connection of Moro's general presence in a new way, as he becomes the shadow of death to this poor individual, just as he will to all the inhabitants of New Namek.
  • As Moro makes a beeline for the convalescing Goku and Vegeta, and they decide to meet him head-on, there is much that reminds one of the scene in 超 #26, where Goku and Vegeta similarly elect to face the army of Merged Zamases alone: the protests from bystanders, the beat where Vegeta's thoughts are with others (Bulma and Trunks there, the Namekians here), the resolve of the villain to kill them once and for all; the power-up of the drained duo and the "gallows camaraderie" that comes with it - the scenes share all these characteristics. Fittingly, a Divine Being will also intervene to save the heroes from certain death (Zeno in 超 #26; Merus here, his nature as yet unrevealed). The only thing that seems dramatically different about these scenes, in terms of their basic 'beats', is Vegeta's lengthened moment of introspection when speaking with Muri - while this befits Vegeta's redemption arc in a basic way, it also points up a contrast when Muri tells him the Namekians aren't so foolish as to hold grudges, but seek only peace for themselves: all of the prisoners of the Galactic Patrol bear a grudge against them (particularly Moro - "A ten-million-year grudge", as Pasta puts it in 超 #44, and as Moro implies 超 #50); Vegeta's life has likewise been marked by a singular grudge against Son Goku, which reached its crisis point in DB #457. So it's unsurprising that, in what seems to be their final moment, Vegeta's usual animus toward Goku (even playfully expressed, as in 超 #26) does not feature - he asks his grudge figure to give the Namekians, wise enough to move beyond the things that limit him, a restored world where they can enjoy their peace. When the pair power up to face Moro, the look shared between them is perhaps the friendliest they've ever yet seemed toward each other. Maybe I'm reading too much into it (why stop now, after all?), but this seems like a well-judged, surprising addition to what seems at first glance to be a rather familiar scene.
  • Merus gets a very cool intro into the encounter, riding atop a Galactic Patrol vessel to snipe the 'floater' engines off Moro's ship, rocket through Moro's ki blasts, and imprison the villain temporarily. Toriyama has used the idea of riding a spaceship being singularly cool in Jaco #10, where he rides the outside of his own spaceship after saving East City, to Tights's statement that he's "obsessed with looking cool" - this is, in turn, a repeat of the same gag from the cover of Neko Majin #2, where the eponymous character rides an alien craft in the same manner. Merus's sharp-shooting here gets another run-out in 超 #50, when he snipes Saganbo's gun from his hand at an implausibly long range, amazing the bandit. Increasing hints like this are dropped throughout the arc until the revelation in 超 #54; while Merus has already been singled out by Vegeta as implausibly impressive, he's still careful to remain in the general sphere of a just-about-explicable level of hyper-competence. That there was a lot of discussion at the time over whether Merus was a (so-called) 'Gary Stu' or something more significant testifies to the broad success of this narrative manoeuvre.
  • When we get the grand entrance of Majin Buu (which, of course, dwells on his fatness by having him comically land on Jaco), Jaco mentions that the Galactic Patrol has a "Galactically licensed" medium, hypnotist, and aromatherapist to conduct some sort of regression therapy - all kinds of quackery (or accessories thereunto) in the real world, whereas in Dragon World, at least being a medium is a real thing, as the case of Uranai Baba, diviner and psychopomp at large, attests (first seen in DB #98, last seen in 超 #32). Of course, Dai Kaioshin is still very much alive, so awakening his...submerged personality, I guess would be the phrase...seems more like a job for a hypnotist. It's interesting to think that there could be more people out there (especially on Alien worlds) who dabble in the spiritualistic - particularly one appointed by order of His Majesty the Galactic King. Since Dragon World has a thickly populated world of spirits, maybe an adventure exploring that would be interesting.
  • An important detail that gets a little bit glossed over here is that Dai Kaioshin says that Moro "killed so many of my friends." I don't think this antipathy on Dai Kaioshin's part is ever explored further (and its impact is undercut a little by the childlike expression, "You don't get to pick on everyone anymore!"), whereas Moro's problem with Dai Kaioshin - that he is responsible for his loss of magical power and consequent incarceration - is directly shown us in 超 #43. No doubt the 320 planets Moro ate 10 million years ago were home to the "friends" to whom Dai Kaioshin refers. In that case, Dai Kaioshin would not only be the highest God of Universe 7, but also a friend to creation, which would fit his overall outlook.
  • Favourite Art: I do enjoy the face-off between Moro and Buu, particularly as Moro breaks free and tells Dai Kaioshin that he has not forgotten the debt he owes him - that's a cool close-up. Toyotarou follows it with an enjoyable and varied clash, starting with another excellent panel of someone getting punched in the face (I've mentioned before that drawing people getting punched in the face is something Toyotarou does typically very well). Though actually, there's a lot of good stuff in this Chapter, and honourable mentions go to Goku and Vegeta's last stand, and Merus's intervention to trap Moro, which is alive with a sense of momentum.
  • Can I mention how good it is to see Buu doing weird Majin Buu things? Not just that he's fighting (he was kept out of it in Revival of F, 超 #8, and 超 #31 - at least 超 #8 got a fun gag out of it, though), but that what he's doing feels very like the way one might expect Majin Buu to fight. This is partly because in 超 #47, and particularly in 超 #48, several of the things Buu does reference (at least obliquely, and sometimes with amusing new twists added) the sorts of things he did in the Buu arc, and the way he did them:
    • Regeneration after the piercing of his enormous gut (DB #463, 465, 475)
    • Spitting ki blasts at his opponent (DB #466)
    • Giving a vertical kick to his target (a ball of ki, in this case, akin to his kicking of tied-up Vegeta in DB #466)
    • Giving an overhead, Looney Tunes-style bonk to the head (DB #462) following a tumble-turn through the air (DB #463)
    • A good ol' Change Beam (DB #264, 513)
    • Landing on an opponent (DB #263, 266) and pummelling them while pinning them under his bulk (DB #266)
    • Re-growing his head after removal (DB #512, 513)
    • Striking with an elongated limb (DB #474)
    Two fresh, but characteristic, twists come in 超 #48 - growing a face out of his hand to distract Moro (a prelude to a sucker punch), and growing more hands to fight with, which can function totally independently of Buu. The depiction of Buu is very in keeping with his classic blend of fearsome power and comedy.
Chapter 48 - Moro’s Wish/Moro’s Wish
21 May 2019
Chapter Notes
  • Of course, we can't pass up an opportunity to do a "Boo!" pun (does that track in Japanese?), with Buu playing 'Peek-a-Boo' with his hand morphing into his (as yet missing) head. Personally, I'm fonder of it for Moro's dumb 'bwuh??' face, and Buu's immediate follow-up with a sucker punch is impeccable comic timing.
  • Goku says it's a long time since he last saw Buu fight - we're probably looking at something like 6 years by this point (or close enough); Goku fought Buu himself in DB #474-475 (using SSj3), and saw (a much weaker version of) Buu fight Kid Buu in DB #512-515.
  • When Goku mentions that Buu is now stronger than he was before, Merus speculates that unlocking Dai Kaioshin's memories unleashed his potential. Dai Kaioshin actually increasing Buu's power is something that has been long overdue in Dragon Ball, given that originally one of the most noteworthy things about that absorption was that it tamed Buu and "lower(ed) his power" (DB #508, Herms Tr.), against the general run of everything else we saw in the Buu arc. Given the themes of Stealing, Earning, and Giving in this arc, it's perhaps somewhat fitting that Dai Kaioshin should come forth and take such pride of place in Buu's persona now, since Buu owes "the heart which he gained" to Dai Kaioshin (to use Shin's phrasing) - the reader may judge for themselves which of the three themes is most applicable to Dai Kaioshin's role within Buu at this point given Buu's tortuous past; while undoubtedly 'Stealing' would apply at the time this occurred, this Buu is now pretty much defined by Dai Kaioshin, so one might (obliquely) consider it a gift. In any case, on top of that, Buu now has a lot more power than he did before.
  • But how much power might that be? It's difficult to know. Buu was originally well above SSj2 (as seen in DB #465-466), but below SSj3 power (as seen in in DB #474-475, and as Goku noted in DB #509); arguably, SSj2 Gohan was roughly 45% of Buu's full power back then (DB #449; DB #459 establishes that a full gauge represents full power), and if one were to interpret DB #485's split as giving Buu a similar 'less-than-half' share (though it may have been less than this, given the ease with which he's beaten - that is, if you don't consider such division a reductive calculation in the first place), then we might consider him as originally being in this ballpark. For right now, though, it depends a lot on how powerful we should consider Moro by this point, who is "a little weakling" compared to Buu right now, apparently. When he fought earlier, he had no trouble whatsoever with Vegeta at SSj or SSj2, and didn't need to use his magical powers. Arguably, one could say Vegeta became stronger than Moro in SSjG, but that Moro's magic made that gap in power, however big it may have been, meaningless. One might safely say that initially, Moro is at least somewhere in the gulf between SSj3 and SSjG power, which would already make him rather stronger than Fat Buu originally was, even before he split in DB #485. Moro has since added to his power by slowly taking ki from Goku, Vegeta, and Planet Namek in general, but 超 #49 establishes that even after he becomes stronger than Buu is now ("Your strange abilities confused me...but now that my power exceeds yours, they no longer trouble me"), SSjB Goku or Vegeta could still definitely defeat him. So Buu is nowhere near SSjB, but likely somewhere around SSjG or greater. It would make a sort of sense for the awakening of a God within him to propel Buu into the realms of Godly power generally, but also to be decisively surpassed even before Moro gets to an SSjB level of power (which only occurs around 超 #51).
  • Buu piles on the comedy - I really enjoy the rejoinder of "Making excuses? You suck!" to Moro's cliched villain monologuing of the 'you'd-be-nothing-to-my-real-power' stripe. Telling it how it is... Then, we get the growing and detachment of 4 extra arms to pummel Moro some more. The reveal panel obviously reminds one of Goku's 8-arms technique against Tenshinhan in DB #132 (in response to Tenshinhan literally growing 2 extra arms in the same Chapter). Given Buu's tendency towards body-shock, this is a fitting, and fun, addition to the classic abilities we've already seen from Buu - right down to the great little beat that reveals his arms are detachable and autonomous (which was technically shown, in a way, by Kid Buu in DB #514, on Buu himself). Funny stuff.
  • At the crucial moment, the Dragon Balls are gathered and Porunga is summoned. Jaco asks if New Namek experiences abrupt night-time; while we don't know exactly what New Namek is like, we might expect that, in order to be suitable for the Namekians, it is meant to be broadly similar to Old Namek, whose star system had three Suns, and therefore no night-time (DB #293).
  • Cranberry has summoned the original Dragon God, Porunga (apparently Namekian for "God of Dreams"), with the use of a mind-controlled Esca to use the right language for the summoning and the wishes - apparently Cranberry has more common sense than Freeza, who was unsuccessful in summoning the Dragon (DB #278) and in making a wish on the Dragon (DB #324); since Cranberry died before Freeza acquired all the Dragon Balls, and was running for his life when the final wish was made on Porunga, one wonders how he might know it. The mighty Porunga is much bigger than Shenron (DB #292 - Daizenshuu #4 specified he's about 5 times bigger), and grants 3 wishes, as we all know by this point. We've seen him summoned a few times - in DB #292 (DB #323 is really the same summoning), DB #329, and DB #513; significantly, this is the first time since Piccolo Daimao (in DB # 147) that a villain successfully summoned the Dragon God.
  • We saw from the interstitial between 超 #47 and 超 #48 that Cranberry unleashed his teeny standard Freeza Force-issue space scooter (it has forward-mounted cannons, like a surprising number of vehicles in Dragon Ball - see, for instance, the car Gyuu-Mao gifts the gang in DB #15) and took off with the six Dragon Balls he and Moro had already collected, and beat down Muri and the lanky Namekian to snag the last one. He mentions he was able to beat them because he was an elite trooper once - everything's relative, I suppose; Cranberry's Battle Power is somewhere well above 1000, but well below 3000, as shown in DB #253 - one might assume around 1500 to 2000. He kills Muri with his beam gun, which (as mentioned above) apparently has a remote setting; according to Daizenshuu #7, a beam gun's power adapts to the target, by virtue of its connection to a Scouter. We will, of course, learn in 超 #49 that Muri already made Esca his successor, perhaps sensing a portent of calamity.
  • An interesting point to note in Moro's telepathic communication with Cranberry is that the collected release corrected a significant error in the digital publication - sometimes some minor tweaks appear to be made between the digital and collected releases (e.g. 超 #33, where Jiren calls Goku "an eyesore" in the digital release, which is amended to "pathetic" in the collected release, or 超 #46, where in the digital release, Moro says that while his opponents will get more enfeebled as they fight, he will "grow ever stronger", which is amended to "even stronger" in the collected release). But in the digital release, Cranberry's question, "W-what about my wish to escape to some outlying planet..?" is repeated in the next panel. I had thought this was just some telepathic 'echo' or something, but actually this just appears to be a goof, as the same panel in the collected release shows Moro replying with "The third wish is yours to use as you see fit, after mine are granted!" This, of course, sharpens the inevitable betrayal, because we see that Moro is, even now, still promising Cranberry something he has no intention of following through on.
  • Favourite Art: Moro's recovery of his magical power (with the appropriately sinister grin of realisation, his menace restored) and racing over to Porunga, streaking across the sky with his ragged magical aura, looks great, especially as he whacks Goku and Vegeta out of the sky on his way past. While I like the aura generally, and it'll be nice to see some more in 超 #49, I think here, both in close-up and from afar, it looks particularly impactful on the pitch-dark sky as a stark, bright, 'evil-looking' streak of light - in the last panel where we see this, it's composed in such a way that it almost looks like he's rending the sky.
  • It's interesting that Goku and Vegeta sense the restoration of Moro's magic - as with various others (Cranberry in 超 #44, Gohan in 超 #57), they shiver instinctively from the feeling Moro gives them. But despite the clear, bright line that most of the story puts between Moro's magical power and his battle power, Goku specifically notes that the restoration of Moro's magic has actually done something to his ki. However, it isn't clarified whether it has actually gotten bigger or just 'feels' different in some undefined way. We know, of course, that Moro's magic most directly affects his ki by stealing the ki of other living things and adding it to his own power, as first explained in 超 #43.
  • I may be mistaken, but Namekian appears to be written left-to-right, in horizontal rows. This appears consistent with previous usage in Dragon Ball (e.g. DB #181; DB #324).
  • I gather that this is for reasons of narrative suspense, but in retrospect it does seem very odd that Moro wonders, even after getting his full magical powers back, whether Porunga's powers are sufficient for staging a simple prison-break. To me, this seems doubly so since this is the first time we've seen Porunga since we learned that the Namekian Dragon Balls are actually small fragments of the basically omnipotent Super Dragon Balls (in 超 #6); while there are limitations to Porunga's abilities, the now cosmic origin of his existence makes the possibility that he wouldn't have been able to do this even more remote than it otherwise would have been, to my mind.
  • I really like the slow burn of shock-to-anger in Vegeta, as he contemplates the bodies of the Namekians. It feels more effective than Goku's immediate anger at the atrocity, not least because we've seen Goku angered by the atrocities of scumbags often enough before this (even artistically; Goku's demand that Moro divulge his final wish references his "we'll tear you to pieces!" panel at Android #20, in DB #339). While Vegeta has been angered by many things before also, it's not often we've see him speechless with shock at the death of others, much less strangers (compare his smiling "So what?" at #17 stomping on Gero's head in DB #350); I find this an affecting change to him, not least because of his own pledge to protect the Namekians, his conversation with Muri in 超 #47, and his resolution there to restore the Namekians - this is the total thwarting of Vegeta's heroic aspiration in the First Act of this arc, and so means something personal to him in a way that most of the other threats he's faced down in the past aren't - and I think the art sells this well, by using more panels to stretch the 'beat' from the point that Vegeta notices the corpses, which helps this land with more emotional impact. This will remain an issue linked to his own personal redemption until 超 #61, when he comes good by returning to Namek its own ki. 超 #61 will also point up the contrast between the two main characters, as Vegeta's constant, gradual changing from what he used to be when he was introduced (in DB #204) is juxtaposed with the fact that Goku never changes at all (certainly not since DB #194, when I'd argue that his character arc was basically completed).
  • Buu revives Esca, and restores Goku and Vegeta's power instantly. Buu's magical healing was last mentioned in 超 #30, by Shin. It was first shown when he saved Babidi's life, in DB #468, with a beam shot from his antenna. He also restored the sight of a boy born blind, in DB #478, in a way much more similar to what we see here, and he saved the lives of Mr. Satan and the dog Bee in this way also, in DB #484; as he also says here, he can effect a healing so long as the target isn't dead.
  • I enjoy the surprising emergence of the Dai Kaioshin from within Buu; while Buu's design is already influenced by Dai Kaioshin, as with all his absorptions, it's new to get one 'in the driver's seat' like this, and given that we won't learn until 超 #49 that Dai Kaioshin's power is 'gone' (and, as we will see in 超 #66, it is now all within Uub), it's important to have this escalation of the 'presence' of this figure, to show us what has changed, and the union of Moro's past and present foes for a showdown heightens the sense of climax (false though it is, in the context of the arc). Merus ends the Chapter by expressing faith that the three: Goku, Vegeta, and the Dai Kaioshin, can between them defeat Moro, and in the end his faith in them is repaid - albeit, characteristically, in a Dragon Ball 'the-long-way-round-is-the-quickest-way-home' sort of way - as Goku's Ultra Instinct, Vegeta's Spirit Control, and Dai Kaioshin's Divine Power will become the three pillars that are the foundation of final victory, in 超 #66. They won't win in the straightforward clash that this Act builds towards right now, but this moment establishes the three as the key to the effort against Moro, and therefore to the arc in general.
  • Well, I have to say that these four Chapters were very entertaining - not only is there some excellent action interspersed throughout, and a good sense of everything Moro's about (we really won't get anything much 'new' to his character - simply supplementary material that confirms and solidifies the characteristics that have already been shown us so far), but also important character work done with Vegeta in particular as he strives to make amends for his own past by taking the fight to the villain in a more self-consciously heroic fashion. That we see it all turn to ashes before him, in spite of his best intentions (arguably because of them, since he and Goku go ahead and make Moro a good deal more formidable than he would've otherwise been by forcing an early confrontation), makes for a compelling throughline from the first act.
    Things have started off very well here; I mentioned the action and the character work already, but there's also a surefooted and skilful deployment of themes here - the Tournament of Power arc used its own themes and Dragon Ball's own backstory in a skilful way too, by deploying the characters from that story, which was one of the arc's main selling points (for me, anyway), and contributed inestimably to the richness of what otherwise would've been an entertaining but relatively flat knockabout; Toyotarou has continued the strength seen there with the pervasive themes for this arc, which is Stealing, Earning, and Giving. As this is still very much the First Act of the arc (which seems broadly broken down into a fairly standard 3-Act structure: Act 1 runs from 超 #42-50; Act 2 runs from 超 #51-58; Act 3 runs from 超 #59-66, with a little denouement/epilogue in 超 #67; I guess you can haggle over where the exact divisions are, but I'd say that's more-or-less right), the emphasis is very much on Stealing, which wins out clearly because it combines with the duties that every First Act performs in setting out the nature of the problem/adversary - Moro is a thief, and the way he steals the ki of his adversaries sweeps all before it right now, as the resistance put up by the heroes is futile. From Act 2, Earning will rise to challenge it in what Goku and Vegeta have learned and how hard they have worked to overcome their limits and face the challenge Moro represents, but this won't quite be enough on its own, and the recourse to the theme of Giving will strengthen throughout Act 3. As before, Toyotarou will spin these themes in skilful ways that show their various facets: in these Chapters alone, Moro will steal Goku and Vegeta's ki (in the best moment of the arc so far), he will steal the Dragon Balls from their rightful owners, and he will even steal a wish from his accomplice; the nature of the opposition to Moro - simply trying to stop him from stealing - is straightforward and doesn't yet tie in to the countering themes of the arc (which is arguably why it fails), but sets up things well. The use of the themes of this arc is arguably one of its strongest points. In addition to this, we see the characterisation of Moro all laid out in these Chapters, which, I have argued, is part of a 3-level narrative structure that plays most fully in the Final Act (in this case, a secondary, 'Character-arc' level that serves to position him athwart Goku's personal character arc) - I will have a fair amount more to say about this when we get there.
    These 4 Chapters are probably the most compelling of the Moro arc until we get to 超 #58 onwards - this is, as I commented above, both praise of this part of the arc, and censure of the arc as a whole. While the intervening Chapters will interest and entertain, I don't believe it will compel like the moment Vegeta understands he can't transform in 超 #45, or Buu's great little comic-dramatic turn in 超 #47-48, or the action or character work that takes place around both of these. We have the remainder of this Act to go, and the interim triumph of the bad guys that comes with it, but it will feel extraneous to the good work done here, in some important ways, and while the Second Act will do important work with Merus, do some necessary and interesting development of Goku and Vegeta, and tide us over with some nice enough action in Gohan vs. OG73-I (超 #54), none of it will actually compel in the way it does here, in my opinion. While the Galactic Patrol Prisoner arc has some glittering moments in it, like the ones covered here, in retrospect we can already see it getting inexorably drawn into the slow-turning mass at its centre, which, like every black hole, dilates the pacing and stretches the plot points of the arc to the utmost; though it's early to say so, I doubt the arc will be entirely able to escape it, even when considering the extra momentum that a re-read of the whole will give.
Bonus Chapter #6
02 August 2019
Chapter Notes
  • So, this little Bonus Chapter does all the canon-welding for Cranberry that the main storyline leaves indefinite. While we know from 超 #43 that Cranberry went to Namek with others from Freeza's army, this is the content that specifically identifies him with the humanoid, beam gun-toting thug from DB #251-253 (Technically, he seems to first appear in the background of DB #247, but his first actions as a character come in DB #251).
  • As a piece of chronology, the Bonus Comic directly links the plan to go to Namek with the moment Vegeta is leaving Earth. We already know from DB #246 that Freeza went to Namek because of Vegeta's Scouter-transmitted statement about the "legend of the Namekian power spheres" being true, in DB #222, but this Comic indicates that the plans were made and finalised on the same day (3rd November, Age 762, according to Daizenshuu #7); the goons on Planet Freeza #79 note 18 days later that Freeza "just went out", however (DB #246). There isn't necessarily a contradiction, here, as it could've taken some extra time for logistics and whatever, and Freeza could've gone out some days prior to Vegeta's arrival.
  • All the goons we see present at Zarbon and Dodoria's briefing (11 of them) are the goons we see on Namek in the original run. While we only see most of them from the back, inhibiting precise identification, we can hazard a guess here:
    • There are Zarbon and Dodoria, obviously, present as Freeza's personal guard.
    • On the left, in the nearest row in the panel, is the diminutive Nappa lookalike who appears behind Cranberry in DB #252 (though he is first seen in DB #249); he dies in the battle with the 3 Namekians in DB #253.
    • Next to him, moving right, is the alien with the triangular wedge-shaped face, who first appears seizing the 3-star Dragon Ball from the destroyed Namekian village in DB #247. He likewise dies in the battle in DB #253.
    • Next to him is Cranberry himself.
    • Next to Cranberry is one of the Appule-type aliens. We first saw that there were two in DB #249. One of them wears a Scouter (DB #249), but Appule himself does not seem to, and the figure next to Cranberry here does not, either. Therefore, I would guess that this one is Mr. Appule himself. Appule was the only regular Freeza goon to survive the battle in DB #253; Zarbon sent him out to scout for villages in DB #260, and he found the one destroyed by Vegeta in DB #264 - he is named in the same chapter, and is killed by Vegeta in DB #265.
    • Starting from the right, on the far row, we have a helmeted goon. There are two such in the force that comes with Freeza - one is a dog-faced goon whose scouter is destroyed by Muri after he is killed in DB #253; the other is a sort of dragon-kinda-thing who gets smacked around (knocking his helmet off) and killed by the lead caped Namekian fighter in DB #253 - so this goon is one of these two.
    • Next to him, moving left, is the large recon scout with the long hair, who finds Gohan, Kuririn and Bulma, and notes that the goons have orders to kill everyone on Namek. His horns are obscured by the speech bubble, but the hair indicates it's clearly supposed to be him. He is killed by Kuririn in DB #248.
    • Next to him on the left is his recon partner with the skull face and cranial fin. He is killed alongside his partner, by Gohan, in DB #248. Zarbon indicates in the same Chapter that they were sent out specifically to investigate Kuririn and Gohan.
    • Moving left, sort of in the middle of everyone, is a big, burly horned alien - his hair isn't filled in on one panel, but his positioning near Cranberry indicates they're meant to be the same person. This is the goon who led the charge against the Namekian fighters in DB #253, saying to "Kill them all!", and got instantly killed for his trouble.
    • Next on the left is the other helmeted goon - so, either the dog-faced goon or the dragon-faced one, likewise killed in DB #253.
    • The last full figure on the left is the other Appule-type goon. He is distinguished by wearing a Scouter in the original run (though we can't see it from this angle), and is killed during Zarbon's show of force in DB #252, when a Namekian elder misses his shot at Zarbon and the goon becomes collateral damage.
    • Finally, on the left, there's a mostly obscured figure - we only see their right arm. There is one other Freeza goon shown in the original run on Namek - this is the sort-of Dracula-esque Vegeta lookalike with the massive widow's peak. He's not shown at any time prior to being a corpse, in DB #253, though he might be the target of the Namekian's beam during the melee panel. He isn't dressed like the left-most guy in this panel, though (he wears gloves), so either he changed his combat suit prior to departure, or he was originally a helmeted guy, in which case this is the dragon-faced guy, as the dog-faced guy also wears gloves.
    Perhaps some of the uncertainties here might be resolved (or not) by the colour release, but overall, this seems basically in keeping with the established continuity. In all, this seems to confirm that, Freeza, Dodoria, and Zarbon included, there were 14 members of the Freeza Force in the mission team to Namek. With Kiwi and the Ginyu Force added in, we get to 20. I assume that the statement that this is a secret mission is meant to explain why, when possessed of a huge fighting force spanning many dozens of worlds, Freeza only elected to take this tiny force to Namek. It's fair enough, though for some reason Kiwi is privy to this "secret" in DB #246, despite not being part of the expedition.
  • Cranberry speaks up to voice scepticism about the Dragon Balls - I guess this is meant to correspond to Vegeta's similar statement in DB #222, which indicates that the Dragon Balls are known as a vague legend across the known Universe, but not one that anyone believes in enough to actually go check it out.
  • Dragon Ball Super goes full TFS with its use of a technicality to wish back this particular Freeza goon as "killed by Freeza and his men". It's kind of funny, in its way, and I like it, though I can't shake the TFS echo whenever I think of it.
  • It's interesting to see that the Bonus Comic actually does a teensy bit of theme-work in keeping with the main arc, in the final panel. We weren't told why Cranberry was incarcerated in the main story, but this Bonus Comic makes it clear: like the other inmates we see in the Galactic Patrol Prison, Cranberry is a thief. The panel implies that Jaco is the Patrolman who catches him at the market from which he steals (Jaco is carrying a shopping bag himself, and drinking from a bottle - no doubt milk and cheese or something akin to that, in keeping with Jaco #1); taken seriously, and assuming no complicating circumstances, we'd have a potential scale for Jaco's Battle Power: since Cranberry is well above 1000, but well below 3000, to have been able to restrain him, we'd have to assume Jaco has a Battle Power somewhat above 1500. We might've assumed that already, from the fact that he kept up with Freeza's goons in Revival of F, and we learn in Dragon Ball Super: Broly that Freeza's only really interested in Battle Powers above 1000, but it's a piece of supporting evidence, if you care to read it that way.
Okey-doke, another one down. Over to you, then - what did you guys get from your Re-Read?

User avatar
Yuji
Advanced Regular
Posts: 1107
Joined: Tue Dec 01, 2020 6:20 pm

Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by Yuji » Sun Jan 17, 2021 3:09 pm

Cranberry has summoned the original Dragon God, Porunga (apparently Namekian for "God of Dreams"), with the use of a mind-controlled Esca to use the right language for the summoning and the wishes - apparently Cranberry has more common sense than Freeza, who was unsuccessful in summoning the Dragon (DB #278) and in making a wish on the Dragon (DB #324); since Cranberry died before Freeza acquired all the Dragon Balls, and was running for his life when the final wish was made on Porunga, one wonders how he might know it. The mighty Porunga is much bigger than Shenron (DB #292 - Daizenshuu #4 specified he's about 5 times bigger), and grants 3 wishes, as we all know by this point. We've seen him summoned a few times - in DB #292 (DB #323 is really the same summoning), DB #329, and DB #513; significantly, this is the first time since Piccolo Daimao (in DB # 147) that a villain successfully summoned the Dragon God.
I'm surprised you missed Zamasu and Goku Black summoning Super Shenron (twice) even if off-screen (I think? I only remember the anime visualization of the scene). Was it an oversight or did you make a deliberate distinction between Porunga/Shenron summoning and Super Shenron?

User avatar
Magnificent Ponta
OMG CRAZY REGEN
Posts: 898
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2020 2:25 pm
Location: Not on Tumblr, I guess

Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by Magnificent Ponta » Sun Jan 17, 2021 4:14 pm

Yuji wrote: Sun Jan 17, 2021 3:09 pmI'm surprised you missed Zamasu and Goku Black summoning Super Shenron (twice) even if off-screen (I think? I only remember the anime visualization of the scene). Was it an oversight or did you make a deliberate distinction between Porunga/Shenron summoning and Super Shenron?
That's a fair point; good catch. It is off-screen in the Manga (except for the interstitial 'Monaka Black' gag), so I guess the answer is first the former ( :lol: ), but then the latter, as even considering that, I think there is still a distinction to be made on some level between Piccolo/Moro on the one hand, and Zamas on the other (though not really because of the Dragons they summon).

For me, I'd say that distinction really comes from its place in the narrative as the primary initial goal of the villain that is opposed by the heroes for Piccolo and Moro, whereas for Zamas it's really more of a fait accompli we're presented with than a goal that's a main point of contention in the narrative. Basically the point as written was meant to foreground the Piccolo-Moro connection more than anything else, so I think that general aspect of the Chapter Note remains pretty intact, though as a point of fact, you're quite correct. Thanks!

Cipher
Born 'n Bred Here
Posts: 6333
Joined: Wed Oct 21, 2009 11:54 pm
Location: Nagano
Contact:

Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by Cipher » Wed Jan 20, 2021 3:18 am

We've seen him summoned a few times - in DB #292 (DB #323 is really the same summoning), DB #329, and DB #513; significantly, this is the first time since Piccolo Daimao (in DB # 147) that a villain successfully summoned the Dragon God.
Zamasu was mentioned above, but pour one out for the Pilaf gang (depicted in Future Trunks' timeline via back-up pages in Super) and Sorbet/Tagamo (on screen) as well.

This is also assuming one is removing GT from the discussion of Super on continuity and authorship grounds, as we have main villains both tracking DBs and successfully summoning dragons there too.

Still, the distinction in terms of plot construct is well enough covered above!

User avatar
Magnificent Ponta
OMG CRAZY REGEN
Posts: 898
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2020 2:25 pm
Location: Not on Tumblr, I guess

Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by Magnificent Ponta » Mon Jan 25, 2021 5:03 pm

The Super Re-Read: Chapters 49 - 52
Part 1 (Chapters 49 and 50)

Image

Iiiit's another Super Re-Read comin' atcha! We're moving into Volume 11 of the Dragon Ball Super Manga and passing the 50-Chapter mark, which straddles the end of the First Act of the Galactic Patrol Prisoner arc and the beginning of the Second Act - Moro calls Saganbo's Bandit Brigade to his side and completes his rejuvenation and the destruction of Namek, beginning a Galactic crime spree to gorge himself further; meanwhile, the heroes make good their escape and start to make plans to counter Moro's threat...

As ever, thanks and credit goes to Kanzenshuu, its staff and contributors for creating a lot of the resources used in the Super Re-Read.

Okay, so there's nothing left to do but dive on in - grab your manga, and let's get re-reading!

Chapter 49 - Outer Space Battle/Outer Space Battle
21 June 2019
Chapter Notes
  • Speaking from a broader arc context, for the moment, it really does feel like 超 #49 is the point that the Moro arc starts to suffer from being stretched beyond the basic plot points that constitute it. While the action is enjoyable enough, and in particular I do enjoy the second outing of Merus's hyper-competence, the only really essential piece of information that emerges from the Chapter is that Dai Kaioshin's power is gone, and he can't use the Kai Kai Matoru (which, in turn, sets up the arc resolution). Otherwise, this particular Chapter suffers from the problem I critiqued in the final third of 超 #23 (SSjB Vegetto vs. Zamas2) - the action moves elliptically, serving to put us right back where we were before it all happened - in this case, with the heroes back on Namek, power restored, preparing to face Moro down but with the question of the Third Wish hanging over them. The plot has only inched forward, mostly showing us a lot of what we already saw in previous Chapters. The Moro arc will do this again in 超 #54, where the action in progress leads to us having to wait until 超 #56 to see it happen all over again. While I understand that part of it is to show how wrong-footed the heroes are by these unexpected abilities (so that they need to develop counter-strategies for the many, many rematches that take place in this arc), it moves the plot in a slowly-advancing spiral - which only really sharpens Vegeta's frustrated question from 超 #50: "How many times will we fall for his tricks?!" Indeed...
  • The opening shot of the dying New Namek seems evocative of DB #325's opening shot, where we see the death throes of Old Namek, and the scenery of the world starting to be ruined. 超 #51 will show the other half of that opening shot, with the long-range shot of the dead planet from space.
  • Jaco says the energy drain has put him out of breath - I assume this isn't just a gag for him being a rubbish, out-of-shape Patrolman, since 超 #51 will establish that the Galactic Patrol are into fitness, and Jaco himself is good at Yoga (as shown in a delightful interstitial illustration). So I assume this is meant to be played as a straight enough beat. 超 #66 will show other victims of the energy drain left "feeling really weak" - Gohan notes, "M-my body hurts all of a sudden!" Part of the intention here, no doubt, is to show the difference in the rate of consumption between Moro's previous energy thefts, which were slow enough to be counteracted in various ways, and the present, which has basically put Namek into a death spiral that will be finished off shortly.
  • Esca reveals that he is essentially the new Elder, so the Dragon Balls are tethered to his life force instead of Muri's. In the short term, this is something of a blunder, as it allowed Moro's wishes to be made despite the fact that Cranberry killed Muri in 超 #48; had Muri kept it tethered to himself, Moro would not have regained his full magical ability or freed the Galactic Patrol prisoners. In the long term, however, it serves as the way to restore New Namek fully, and many other planets destroyed by Moro into the bargain, in 超 #67. While the gift of the Dragon Balls is stolen to work evil initially (expanding to a more widespread and egregious theft), Muri's foresight gives the heroes the wherewithal to give back the things that were stolen.
  • There's some fussing about chasing after the magical after-images Moro puts up. Superficially, they're kinda like the Zanzouken from classic Dragon Ball, but one might suppose this is rather more like Dabura's "After-image sorcery" from DB #455. Daizenshuu #7 describes it thus: "A technique that confuses the opponent by using sorcery to put out a 3-D image identical to the user. Its function is basically the same as the Zanzouken, though the method of preparing it is different." The implication of these illusions, however, is slightly different again, in that Moro seems never to have been where he seemed to be when the heroes were attacking him, but somewhere else entirely - so the illusion can move and seem to be doing things, as opposed to just putting out an image, and it may well also put out a ki signature, since Goku can move to it using Shunkan Idou. Moro will use this technique again in 超 #59, but Goku will see through it this time.
  • Vegeta stops Goku from chasing Moro, reminding him that Saiyan's can't breathe in space. In a way, this scene helps us reconcile some odd imagery from past Chapters with this basic datum - Freeza destroyed Namek on the basis that Goku can't survive in space (DB #320), of course, but we've seen Saiyans in orbit of planets before - most notably Bardock, who stood in high orbit of Planet Vegeta in Freeza's memory of having destroyed both it and him (DB #307), and more recently Goku during his battle with Beerus, in 超 #4. Toriyama has mentioned that they can breathe in the upper atmosphere, so this scene goes about basically establishing there's a line between thin but (for Saiyans, anyway) breathable atmosphere and Outer Space, where they cannot survive, thus bringing things into line. In the real world, Outer Space legally begins at the "Kármán line", 100 kilometres above the Earth's surface.
  • Favourite Art: I think a lot of the stuff in the Dai Kaioshin vs. Moro fight is interesting - as a little detail, I quite like the use of screentone to give the rippled effect on Moro's stolen power blocking Dai Kaioshin's punch. I particularly like the page where Moro appears behind Dai Kaioshin, leg outstretched, to deliver a vicious backheel in the next panel, and his cheeky little grin at Goku and Vegeta before zooming off. The details of the space fight are enjoyable, too, like Moro's threading his way through the Space Debris (with his cool flight aura, which I mentioned last time) to evade Dai Kaioshin's attacks. Although the fight, as such, is superfluous to strict plotting needs and this will get worse, at least right now it's well-presented, and makes the most of its unusual setting.
  • Moro hiding behind the planetoid and scampering out to eat Dai Kaioshin's ki blast reminds me somewhat of Android #20 pulling the same ploy on Vegeta in DB #345. Android #20 was supposed to be the original 'Big Bad' from that arc, but Toriyama changed that up under pressure from his former editor - and now, years later, we get a fight between "a geezer and a fatso" as a focus of the last 3 Chapters, with the geezer bearing the same basic energy-stealing threat as Android #20 did (only magical instead of technological). Sometimes I feel like Toriyama's contrarian influence comes through in Dragon Ball Super, just because we see some of the things he was thwarted in taking 'at full run' in the original series reappear, now that nobody's really there to be a check on his inclinations: the editor, Victory Uchida, mentioned that Toriyama and Toyotarou tend to accept and build on each other's ideas, rather than paring things down or discarding ideas. That's all speculative, of course, so take it how you will.
  • "Did something happen to you these past ten million years? Because this is unimpressive" is excellent old man smack-talk. That is all.
  • So, we learn that Dai Kaioshin doesn't have his old Divine Power any more. As a beat, Moro's elation to find himself free of the fear of the sealing technique (deliberately) follows Piccolo Daimao's, from DB #146, but more importantly, this sets up the resolution of the arc by going in-depth to explain what has happened to Dai Kaioshin's power. Merus explains that the power of Dai Kaioshin went into the "evil" Buu when they split; I guess this raises a question as to which split we're talking about - Vegeta mentions his "good and evil halves", which points towards the original wrathful split shown in the Buu arc, between the Fat (Innocent) and Gaunt (Pure Evil) Buu in DB #485, but the images given with Merus's dialogue indicates that the splitting he really means was the one where Vegeta ripped the Fat Buu out of Super Buu in DB #507, which forced the unexpected reversion to Kid Buu in DB #508 - as Goku notes, "That little guy had actual God power in him?" We also get a "latent memory" from Dai Kaioshin showing the obliteration of Kid Buu in DB #516, showing that the power was obliterated with Buu. It's left implicit, but this particular moment in the original run seems to be both the origin and solution of the problem of Moro's magical power - Dai Kaioshin's power, diminished though it was by sealing Moro's power, was nevertheless holding it 'in check'; when the power was obliterated with Buu, the destruction of the power gave Moro his magical powers back (as noted in 超 #44 - it came back "a few years ago"). However, as Kid Buu was reincarnated into Uub, the power of Dai Kaioshin went with him - undiminished, at that, since it was no longer sealing Moro's magic, which is probably why Uub is able to give such a massive amount of Divine Power - far more, it seems, than Goku even needs to reactivate Ultra Instinct - in 超 #66.
  • As a couple of incidental points - while Moro can't actually sense Godly power (超 #63), this scene (and probably 超 #59-60 as well) indicates he can at least detect its presence somehow, since here he detects its absence in Dai Kaioshin now. Also, Dai Kaioshin's latent memory seems to be staged from around the physical place where Fat Buu was lying after being beaten by Kid Buu, which is a nice little piece of observation.
  • I like the cool little bit with Merus's custom space-suit - it's a neat little gadget, and its contours fit in nicely with the sort of retro sci-fi design that Toyotarou was going for with Merus generally, with the globular goldfish-bowl helmet jiving nicely with other features, like his Great Gazoo/Saiyaman-style stereotypical alien antennae on his earpieces, and the tracksuit stripe on his jumpsuit. I dig the retro-futurism going on here, and it does serve to point up the fact that Merus is a man out of place in the Universe, even more so than his Galactic Patrol colleagues. (On 'Interstitial Watch', here: I assume this is the point where he's meant to pass Boss Rabbit and his goons? They really have been floating through space for a while...)
  • We get the final and most decisive confirmation here, that now Kai Kai Teleportation is supposed to be a technique that the Kaioshin can, in fact, use, even without access to an attendant such as Kibito. I talked about this very briefly in the Chapter Notes for 超 #21 - although Shin lost the ability to heal when he stopped being an apprentice to the Dai Kaioshin (as noted in 超 #24), Kai Kai Teleportation might be a power that is likewise gained while an apprentice/attendant, but (unlike healing), not surrendered upon progression to the higher position. That still would lead to the difficulty of Shin originally noting that this is Kibito's ability rather than his own (in DB #509), but whatever, I guess - in fairness, Toyotarou didn't invent this problem, as Daizenshuu #7 declares this to be both Kibito's and Shin's ability.
  • Even taken as it was at the time of release, Merus's tussle with Moro was a clever and well-staged piece of asymmetric fighting, since his objectives were to save Dai Kaioshin and get Moro back to Namek's surface where Goku and Vegeta could deal with him, and he succeeds admirably by a clever series of ruses and small attacks. But of course, Merus is an Angel, and so this also works very well in hindsight, as a series of tactical manoeuvres that specifically avoid using Angelic power and achieve a set of limited aims. Moro is incredulous that Merus comes at him with "a toy", and will likewise be perplexed by Merus confronting him with "a tool" in 超 #63 - of course, when opposing Moro directly is the object in view, Merus will have to start using his Angelic powers more fully, and will pay the penalty, but here, he manages to get by with custom-made gadgetry that is deployed effectively against an opponent who's trying to brute-force his way through the opposition. On that note, while Moro always had a physical aspect to him (as in 超 #46) and will continue to use his magic liberally (as in 超 #59), this is probably the point at which Moro starts to rely less on hidden acts of cunning to gain the advantage in his fights, and is able to act more straightforwardly, since he has the raw power to do so. It's therefore fitting that he's confounded here by someone who's hiding his true abilities and acting in an oblique fashion.
Chapter 50 - Great Escape/Great Escape
20 July 2019
Chapter Notes
  • I feel like 超 #50 highlights the other emergent pacing flaw that becomes central to the Moro arc, which is its tendency to follow the principle of "show, don't tell" to the letter and beyond necessity (this will later become "show and tell"). The beginning third of this Chapter is devoted to a somewhat laborious exposition of the prison break, which sets us up for a pattern of that sort in the rest of the arc, wherein we get a very full exposition of their raiding of planets, and then an overly full account of their encounters with Earth's warriors. While some of it is necessary to adequately set up the nature of the problem the Bandit Brigade represents, when it's combined with the elliptic approach to plot progression mentioned above, I don't think it's unfair to say that it contrives to try the patience of the reader at times.
  • We get a close and detailed look at the Galactic Prison. It appears to have 3 main 'cell blocks', of globular shape, each arranged at the end of an access corridor. Moro's cell is recessed and isolated from the main cell block (and is no doubt located at least near to where the exterior damage appears to be). The main cell block is arranged according broadly to 'Panopticon' design principles (popularised as a concept in the real world by English philosopher Jeremy Bentham): the cells are arranged around a central point of observation, allowing the guard(s) at the centre to observe the full sweep of prisoner activity at any time (also important to the Panopticon concept is that the guard remains unseen, so the prisoners cannot know whether they are under direct observation and so essentially police themselves due to their uncertainty - this does not appear to be a feature here, as we can see into the observation tower). At least 84 cells exist in each cell block from what we see, but it's likelier to be at least double this (though not all cells are occupied). 4 cells are stacked atop each other in each column - it is not clear how the upper cells are accessed without the power of flight. The cells appear to be cubes, and are sealed by a powered barrier, and contain only a light, a bed, and a toilet - as with the Macarenis, multiple inmates may be made to share a cell, but otherwise have freedom of movement within these (cramped) constraints. There appears to be a failsafe switch in the observation tower that can re-establish the barriers in the event of failure. Moro's cell, however, sits behind at least three sets of bars and a sealed vault door, wherein he was shackled to a seat with what appears to be a headset for sensory deprivation and restraint. Ships captured in arrests are impounded at the Galactic Prison. Inmates of the prison are clothed in a bright orange-red jumpsuit with the symbol of the Galactic Prison emblazoned on the left breast. Guards wear the same uniform as Galactic Patrolmen, except they do not wear the ear receivers and the symbol on the uniform is that of the Galactic Prison.
  • Again, I'm not sure why Moro questioned whether orchestrating something so simple as a power failure in the prison might be something beyond Porunga's powers. The Prison officers seem to think it's not possible for the power to go out, though, so I guess it's supposed to be impressive (and I guess it's the first referent to the Chapter title: "Great Escape"); if nothing else, Galactic Patrol tech seems pretty advanced - even the gun Saganbo seizes from Calamis is apparently capable of destroying or crippling a Galactic Patrol ship (as implied later in this Chapter).
  • We catch our first sight of Saganbo's Galactic Bandit Brigade, a group of 10 ne'er-do-wells - Jaco explains in 超 #53 that they "rampaged around the Galaxy before great pains were taken to catch them" - agent Merus caught them, which is why they are here. Their names and roles are as follows:
    • Saganbo: Leader of the gang, and owner of the fastest ship known to the Galactic Patrol - too fast to track on radar. His natural personal strength is apparently less than that of Kid Trunks (as per Vegeta, in 超 #51), but with the exception of OG73-I (who is effectively his possession), he's likely to be the strongest of the group. He meets his end in 超 #58, when Moro pumps him full of energy to fight Son Goku, which he can't handle.
    • Zauyogi: Lizard-like advisor to the Bandit Brigade. We see him express misgivings at Moro devouring whole planets, in 超 #51, and he makes short work of Yamcha and Tenshinhan in 超 #57. He's defeated in one punch by Goku in 超 #58, and incarcerated by the Galactic Patrol. 超 #67 reveals he's still alive.
    • Shimorekka: Apparently a pilot - he pilots Saganbo's ship when not sent out elsewhere (as in 超 #51), and then pilots the scout craft (in 超 #53). Seems to enjoy brutal, hands-on murder, and is a cocky runt to boot. He seems to be stronger than Jaco (who implies that all of the Bandit Brigade are, for that matter), but is much weaker than Android #18. He's killed by Moro himself in 超 #61.
    • Yunba: Food-obsessed obese teddy-bear(?) man. Apparently faster than he looks, often uses attacks based on bouncing/rolling into a ball, and seems to be stronger than an out-of-shape Kuririn. He's eventually defeated by Kuririn and re-arrested in 超 #57 - 超 #67 reveals he's still alive.
    • Yuzun: Bishy member of Zarbon's species. Like Zarbon, he can transform into a much more powerful form, rumoured to be "unbeatable". Nevertheless, he is indeed beaten by Vegeta, and accidentally killed by a freak chance as he's hit by his own attack while he flees, in 超 #55.
    • Miza, Iwaza and Kikaza: A trio of female fighters. Individually, they're all powerful enough (and Miza, at least, can use ki sabres), but they can't lay a hand on Roshi when he uses his pseudo-Ultra Instinct. They're capable of fusing into a huge, bulky and powerful fighter when desperate (as they do in 超 #57); their fused form is defeated in a single hit by Son Goku in 超 #57, and they're re-arrested. They're still alive as of 超 #67.
    • Bikkura Quoitur: A Metalman from Universe 7 (as opposed to his Universe 6 counterpart, Autto Magetta), with all the same strengths and weaknesses that we've come to expect from members of the species. He's subdued by Chaozu (no, really) in 超 #57 using the power of insults, and is incarcerated. He's still alive as of 超 #67.
    • OG73-I: An artificial life-form - one of the 'OG Soldiers' (and probably now the most advanced of these), developed by a bunch of technologically-advanced alien scumbags with ambitions of ruling the Universe; a powerful killing machine with no emotions. 超 #67 reveals that Saganbo and co. stole him from his creators when he was just an empty shell, and input data into him themselves, so OG73-I follows their orders. He has extensive databanks, high durability, infinite stamina, and his key move is the ability to copy the abilities of up to 3 targets at once for up to 30 minutes of use. The abilities (including punches and kicks) are as powerful as if performed by the target. OG73-I can also create a complete backup of a person's abilities, including their power (presumably from repeated exposure); he will do this for Moro, who will consume him in 超 #61 to gain his power back, in addition to OG73-I's copy ability. While he's still integrated with Moro at the latter's destruction by Son Goku in 超 #66, 超 #67 reveals that he survived with his data intact, which kicks off the next arc as his original owners manage to retrieve him. Other models of his type include OG72-I, OG1-WI, OG5I, OG31, and OG20.
    In addition, it seems that pretty much all the other inmates of the Galactic Prison come with them - if each cell block has more than 160 inmates (less empty cells), then we're looking at something like 400+ goons of all shapes and sizes - "a small army", as Moro puts it. Their ship is also impounded at the Galactic Prison - which, given the fact that two prison breaks have managed to take advantage of this fact in short order and make good their escape, ought to occasion a review of this policy by the Galactic Patrol. Saganbo's ship, as noted, is the fastest yet seen - it is shaped like a spinning top, and seems to propel itself using that force, sort of like a pull-string aerial disc (but also, no doubt, using what looks like a massive engine on its underside). Along with interstellar flight, it is also capable of atmospheric re-entry and hovering. It has an observation deck atop it, and a Command Deck directly underneath this, linked by a hatch. It also has hatches on its underside, which can open to facilitate a drop assault. It has several small cannons arrayed in a 360-degree arc, as well as a massive main gun (the destructive power of which is demonstrated in this Chapter). It also appears to have 9 or 10 support craft docked in its frame, which can detach and operate independently as scout craft - these have their own engines, unfolding wings, and armaments.
  • So, Moro has a credible amount of back-up coming from the Galactic Prison, but one must question a) the extent to which he really needs it, and b) the storytelling function these goons really play. Most of these characters get very little development: Saganbo is probably the principal exception, as he'll actually get an interesting amount of character interaction with Moro in 超 #57-58, and Shimorekka, while a deeply obnoxious and irritating character, can at least be said to receive characterisation, and he acts as OG73-I's handler. I personally like Yuzun's turn in the spotlight in 超 #55, where he actually shows some flashes of nice comic characterisation, and although OG73-I has literally no character to speak of (this is in keeping with his depiction as a commodity, which is still an active throughline for him as of 超 #68), but he is narratively essential. Beyond these 4, I'm not sure what the point of all the extra characters is, either for their own sake or for the broader plot. It seems like they only exist because just having 4 people in the gang doesn't 'seem' like enough, somehow, but enough really isn't done with all these extras: of the remainder, Yunba gets the most attention, but his characterisation (he likes food) and use in the plot (he fights Kuririn) are pretty perfunctory, and the rest are used for some pretty ropey gags, if even that, so it shows itself to be a pretty unwieldy element in this arc. Moreover, their introduction forces Moro into the background, and their presence together rarely a meaningful set of interactions - more like actions being taken in turns, with additional expository commentary - which is to the detriment of Moro's depiction, as he's just left doing more of what he's already done, rather than anything much else (超 #58 is the only real exception to this): although his own threat is what makes these people formidable (as mentioned below), I question the amount of attention given to them, when a more sparing and character-focused approach would've also done enough to make the point - beyond that, it seems like a mostly superfluous element that bloats the arc, so it's a missed opportunity.
  • I think one of the aliens incarcerated at the Galactic Prison looks like a (less physically impressive) member of the same species as the criminals from Savings Warrior Cashman #1. But I don't recognise any of the other species the goons may belong to when they land on Namek, and I figure most of them are random generic 'alien' designs - though I'm sure at least some of them may be references to aliens we may have seen before (if you recognise any, by all means have at it!) - we see at least 20 different convicts (some of the same species), and they're all amped by Moro sharing his power. After a lot of concentration on Stealing as a key theme in this arc (which continues, as seen when Moro reverts to taking Goku and Vegeta's energy in this fight also), we get a surprising introduction of the theme of Giving, since Moro is the first one to do it by sharing his stolen power with Saganbo and the goons more generally. While none of them are a match for SSjB, Saganbo, at least, may be amped beyond SSj3 level even now, since he decks Goku hard (though there's an aspect of unguardedness in the beat as well; he's almost certainly the only guy amped around that level, though, as Goku and Vegeta are able to hold off everyone else in SSj alone, and we'll see people like Yamcha able to beat the random mooks in 超 #56). This is a new variant on what Moro's magic can do, and also enhances the formidability of the threat Moro represents - none of his henchmen are very impressive on their own, but Moro's magic turns faceless goons (some of them almost literally so - see 超 #55) into legitimate threats to the Galaxy - and even these are just "smidgens" of energy, from Moro's perspective. Moro's twisted version of "giving" is aimed at creating grief for the Cosmos and giving him the wherewithal to steal more life force for himself, rather than being a gift in and of itself (moreover, since he stole it in the first place, it isn't his gift to give) - the arc will also point up the evil lying under this twist on the "Giving" theme, as it's shown to be unnatural in 超 #58 - the gift of Moro's stolen power will be more than Saganbo can handle, and the 'gift' will kill him.
  • Favourite art: I do really like the opening exchange between SSjB Goku and the random convicts, just for that first beat - I think the choreography of zipping past the attacks of two, to grab them by the heels and slam a third with their bodies before finishing it up with a kiai is pretty slick, and I don't think that particular kind of exchange has been seen before in Dragon Ball. I also like the panel where Merus and Jaco appear to lay down covering fire. Just a few details, really, but I enjoy them and feel they lift an otherwise workmanlike offering.
  • Moro reveals his basic motivation here, and it's suitably straightforward: "To create an ideal Galaxy where I am free to consume planets as I wish". I already went over this in the Chapter Notes for 超 #45, where I gave an overview of Moro's character as I see it, but he never deviates from this very basic ambition at any point, even when under the threat of annihilation by Goku in 超 #65. This motivation is pretty uniquely his own, but perhaps a little too straightforward. 超 #61 will draw it into line with Piccolo Daimao's inspiration a little more, where he characterises it as a kind of rulership, but otherwise there really isn't any further development of this intention. It's clean and simple, I guess, but I feel somehow that it might've done better with some further twist to it - despite Moro's underhanded way of achieving his goals, they're a bit too surface-obvious in themselves.
  • Interestingly, for an arc whose main weakness is its pacing, I think the pacing of the scene as it turns towards the heroes trying to escape and regroup is actually pretty effective (the second referent of the title: "Great Escape"). I think there are a number of well-played beats in ramping up the frenetic 'feel' of the escape, as Goku and Vegeta lose power (again), Saganbo tries to blow up Irico's ship, Dai Kaioshin escapes with Esca, Jaco loses his sidearm, Vegeta takes off on his own, Merus runs out of ammo, and the gang escape with a moment to spare (in a moment that feels reminiscent of their escape from Zamas in 超 #26). I feel the mounting frustration in another introspective 'beat' for Vegeta helps sell all of this too, as a slower-paced moment amidst a swift set of mounting exchanges that ratchets up the tension. It's also a good character moment for Vegeta, again, as he's forced to confront the limits of the kind of Saiyan Power-focus that he was touting and building on in 超 #40, and has to change his approach (loath though he is to do it, as shown here and in 超 #51 - he won't abandon it completely, though, as this direction will also end up amplifying the power he can put forth). The beat where he determines to go his own way (literally and figuratively) lands with weight amidst a very busy scene, which I think is worthy of note.
  • And finally, I enjoy the gag with the gang ending up with the Galactic King getting surprised in the bath, and I'm particularly fond of its silly little development in the next Chapter, with its reference back to Jaco+1.
Okay, so that's Part 1 finished for this instalment - Part 2 (Chapters 51 and 52) will be coming at the end of the week!

Post Reply