Toei!Chi-Chi - not funny

[coola]

I know Super is marked for younger aundience, but..the way Toei wrote Chi Chi was annoying for me even as a kid, i really wonder, with all respect, whose idea it was, to make Chi Chi such unbearable obsessive soccer mom? Does Japanese kids like her and find her funny?

[VegettoEX]

She's an exaggeration of the "education-minded mother" (or "kyoiku mama") stereotype. It's something that would be far more familiar to and relatable to Japanese children, yes (and something those actually working on the show probably grew up surrounded by).

A "soccer mom," as you've labeled her, is probably a good parallel.

[DBZAOTA482]

TOEI hates Chi-Chi for stealing their precious Goku away from them... that much is obvious... jokes asides, the writers for Super are money-hungry hacks and seeing as being an insufferable wife is what she's remembered best for, it's easier for them to write her as just comic relief. Strangely enough , Chi-Chi herself said in a filler episode from the original anime she can't be Goku's wife if she got angry over every little thing and in Super, she'sgetting angry over literallly nothing. The fuck is up?

She's an exaggeration of the "education-minded mother" (or "kyoiku mama") stereotype. It's something that would be far more familiar to and relatable to Japanese children, yes (and something those actually working on the show probably grew up surrounded by).

A "soccer mom," as you've labeled her, is probably a good parallel.

Is it TOEI Chi-Chi you're talking about or in general?

[VegettoEX]

the writers for Super are money-hungry hacks

This assessment makes absolutely zero sense.

Is it TOEI Chi-Chi you're talking about or in general?

Yes, Chi-Chi specifically in the anime (up through and including Super).

Finally, because it's driving me nuts: there's no reason to write TOEI in all-caps. It's not an acronym.

[ulisa]

When I first started watching Dragonball, someone had to explain this stereotype to me. I had no knowledge of the "education-mama" but honestly, even after I had been informed about it, I still didn't find it funny. I agree a good western equivalent is probably a "soccer mom" but I never found those stereotypes funny either. Maybe it's just a personal preference but to me, this kind of humor really falls flat. I think if they emphasized some other traits in her more, I might have found her more tolerable but they tend to just draw attention to the same behaviors over and over again which not only makes it hard for me to sympathize with her but makes her uninteresting to me. I think that's why I sided more with her kids running off to battle even if I knew logically ChiChi had very rational fears about it. To me, I couldn't blame Gohan for wanting to get away from her! So, I really think the way they use ChiChi backfires on a Western audience, at least from my POV. I don't hate her as a character but I wish she had more substance to her than "education mama"

[Chuquita]

Gokû sounded like he was on the verge of tears at the end of episode 15. He was afraid to go inside his own house and chose to miss dinner and stay outside at night because he was scared of whatever punishment Chi-Chi had in store for him. It was heartbreaking to watch and I don't recall her being this severe in Z.

I'm wondering if it's just this episode's writer or not. The next couple weeks should tell.

[Avery]

I really hated what she did at the end of episode 15. It wasn't funny at all. Leaving the "greatest warrior ever is afraid of his wife!!!" jokes aside, the woman is being a real shrew! It's not funny.
Seriously, why would you even do that?

[Doctor.]

I really hated what she did at the end of episode 15. It wasn't funny at all. Leaving the "greatest warrior ever is afraid of his wife!!!" jokes aside, the woman is being a real shrew! It's not funny.
Seriously, why would you even do that?

She didn't do anything, though. Goku was the one who, for some reason, was afraid of getting inside the house.

[Chuquita]

It makes me worry about how she's punished him before and what she was planning to do.

How Gokû's afraid to go inside his own house and the sad way he spoke about it felt so close to a real life emotionally abused person it was painful to watch.

Where stuff in Z like the driving episode and Movie 8 played Chi-Chi demanding Gokû act a certain way for comedy, episode 15 played it straight and I can't tell if it was international or not. There was no laughing it off, or Gokû making comedic scared faces; just him sounding incredibly sad and sitting outside on the grass at night, making himself go hungry because that's the safer option in his mind.

[Doctor.]

But what can Chi-Chi do to Goku? Out of gag scenes, she can't hurt him physically, Goku probably doesn't care if she verbally assaults him either. The only thing that would hurt Goku would be if Chi-Chi didn't make him dinner, but he could just ask one of his friends.

[Akumaito Beam]

Toei's characterization of everyone in this series tends to be vastly distilled.They like to take a character's most obvious trait or most popular gag and ceaselessly milk it. I tend to just stay away from the anime.

[precita]

I find it odd people are blaming Toei when they wrote that 5-episode filler arc at the end of Dragonball with Goku/Chi-Chi on an adventure and she was written as a submissive waifu there.

[Chuquita]

I can't blame Toei as a group. I can blame the scenario writer though.

The wedding dress arc was almost all Koyama (of Z movies fame and Brolli's papa).

Episode 15 of Super was written by Yoshifumi Fukushima who also wrote Super episodes 1, 5, and the next three weeks (16 17 18).

[Black_Anime_Fan]

I can't blame Toei as a group. I can blame the scenario writer though.

The wedding dress arc was almost all Koyama (of Z movies fame and Brolli's papa).

Episode 15 of Super was written by Yoshifumi Fukushima who also wrote Super episodes 1, 5, and the next three weeks (16 17 18).

Oh no...

[Chuquita]

I can't blame Toei as a group. I can blame the scenario writer though.

The wedding dress arc was almost all Koyama (of Z movies fame and Brolli's papa).

Episode 15 of Super was written by Yoshifumi Fukushima who also wrote Super episodes 1, 5, and the next three weeks (16 17 18).

Oh no...

Yeah, the chances of Chi-Chi improving any before the reF arc starts are pretty low, imo.

[DBZAOTA482]

I can't blame Toei as a group. I can blame the scenario writer though.

The wedding dress arc was almost all Koyama (of Z movies fame and Brolli's papa).

Episode 15 of Super was written by Yoshifumi Fukushima who also wrote Super episodes 1, 5, and the next three weeks (16 17 18).

Oh no...

Yeah, the chances of Chi-Chi improving any before the reF arc starts are pretty low, imo.

I could imagine it getting worse. Super seems like the show that'd make her a main villain.

Unless maybe she's just going through menopause or her demon half is coming through and needs to be exiled.

[Chuquita]

I could imagine it getting worse. Super seems like the show that'd make her a main villain.

Unless maybe she's just going through menopause or her demon half is coming through and needs to be exiled.

I don't want it to get worse. I don't want her to become a villain. Gokû's overall been written so sweet-hearted in Super that seeing him emotionally abused by Chi-Chi in a way where it comes out played straight is awful. When Gokû's reaction is pitiable instead of comedic, it makes his family situation come across as darker, sadder, and more realistic than I want to believe the writer intended.

"I give up...Doesn't look like I'll be able to come home today...I'm so hungry..." *sits down on the grass, leans his back up against his house and stares up at the night sky*.
That's awful to end on! Do we even get to find out what happens next? Does he stay there all night? Does he teleport to Bulma's or Kame House to try to get dinner there? Does Chi-Chi see him out there, realize how afraid she's made him, and goes to apologize for all we know?

This is going to bother me all week until the next episode starts.

At least in BOG where he's more of a troll he gets punished for being a troll (Bulma slapping Gokû in a well-deserved manner over that mean-taunt comment he made while Vegeta cheers Bulma on.)
The way things are going in Super, if this was a more serious show, Gokû'd spill what's been happening to him lately to Kuririn and an intervention would be staged.

It's sad because I know Chi-Chi can be written better than this.

Come to think of it, is Gyu-Mao/Ox King an actual oni of some sort? It'd explain Chi-Chi's strength. I guess that's discussion for another topic.

[Lord Beerus]

I have to admit I didn't like how Chi Chi was handled in the most recent episode of Super, as it came off as more malicious and abusive than really funny. It think of her behaviour in that episode as akin to when Vegeta beat up Gohan in one episode of Z and then in the next episode they act like it never happened. It was just a one off moment for the sake of creating a notable scene, but it just wasn't executed properly. Prior to that, I really haven't had any issue with Chi Chi in Super. But then again, I don't really care for her all that much.

[Ree]

no...no she is not and neither is Toei Roshi.
all Chichi does in Super is just yell.
ThePhone999 explains pretty well in his review of Super 17 why she DOES NOT WORK.

[Gonstead]

Chi-Chi isn't even the worst case of what VegettoEX described above. She at least genuinely cares about her family, it's just her way of going about it is a bit over the top.

For any fans of Assassination Classroom reading this, I think we can all agree on someone much worse.