The Super Re-Read

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

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Magnificent Ponta
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Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by Magnificent Ponta » Sun Mar 05, 2023 3:53 pm

The Super Re-Read: Chapters 79 – 82
Part 2 (Chapters 81 and 82)

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Greetings, Dear Reader. Welcome back to The Super Re-Read! This instalment covers Volume 19 of the Super manga, as Goku steps up to take on the might of the Heeters, comes to terms with what's been holding him back so far, and encounters the final events that took place involving his father, 40 years ago...

Thanks and credit go to Kanzenshuu and its contributors for collating and publishing a lot of information that goes into the Re-Read, particularly the Translations Archive; fellow re-readers should also check out the info on the Dragon Ball Official Site, which gives important insights into the Granolah arc.

Alright then; let's get re-reading!:

Chapter 81 – Goku’s Conflict/Goku’s Conflict
21 February 2022
Chapter Notes
  • The Chapter title, “Goku’s Conflict”, uses the word Kattō (葛藤), which is compounded from the Kanji for “Arrowroot” (葛) and “Wisteria” (藤). Both plants are climbing vines reliant on other trees to grow, intertwined and entangled with them (Arrowroot in particular is highly invasive and competitive). This is nicely expressive of a couple of things for Goku: firstly, it’s an image of relentless, voracious growth that is dependent on others (which will swiftly become highly relevant for Goku in this arc, and is foreshadowed here when Gas comments that not knowing his father or the Saiyans mean that he doesn’t know what sort of person he really is: we’ll be going back to his roots); and secondly, it’s an image of complication (hence “conflict”), a knotty problem that Goku won’t free himself from easily, particularly since his Nature is tangled up in the problem: in this Chapter, he naturally struggles with keeping his emotions in check because this impedes proper use of Ultra Instinct, but, as we’ve seen, this requires Goku to play false to his own Natural Convictions in the midst of battle, which is what limits him. Since we’re about to embark on the climactic phase of the arc, which stresses a key example of growth through conflict by a character who always acts in line with his True Nature (and is Goku’s natural father, obviously), its employment here seems peculiarly apt.
  • Gas uses paralysis arts. The last character to rely on this sort of special power was General Blue of the Red Ribbon army, causing the heroes some trouble (DB #78, 79, 83); Blue’s power also works telekinetically on inanimate objects such as ropes (DB #80). In Blue’s case, immobilising his opponent required looking into his eyes, but for Gas, it seems he can impose the technique without preconditions. This isn’t the only familiar technique Gas shows he can execute with unique tweaks built in: he uses Shunkan Idou on Elec shortly after this by simply pointing at him, teleporting him away from Granolah’s attack. From what we know of Shunkan Idou thanks to the explanation of Spirit Control in 超 #52, this effectively means that Gas can shift other people’s ki to different locations at will, not just his own. Unaccountably, Goku and Vegeta don’t twig that Gas can do this until 超 #85, when he beats Vegeta around with it.
  • I like the panel that shows Elec distantly floating above Gas, just before he orders him to “End them”. It really sells the sense of Elec being a puppeteer over his brother, pulling his strings and being the guiding intelligence behind his actions. Elec seems to be at his most expansive in this Chapter, suitably swaggering in his dialogue with Granolah, able to presume upon Gas’s actions even as he speaks, seemingly knowing that Gas will act as he wishes (e.g., the “We could’ve killed you at any time…Even now” beat, leading into Gas attacking Granolah on cue). Elec is never more apparently powerful than he is at this specific point in the arc, as despite also having the eternal gratitude of his little brother along with his power, tensions almost immediately resurface (as we’ll discuss in a moment). Having reached his own personal zenith, things actually start to ebb away from Elec at this point.

    To intrude on things with another Daoist talking point, this isn’t surprising. Elec is the definition of a character whose actions are all purposive: in Daoist discourse, this is denoted by the word wei. Wei is action purposefully aimed at achieving some Human end; to the Daoists, Humans indulge in this activity dismayingly often, and it is commonly inadvertently damaging or self-defeating. This is because Human ideation isn’t the same thing as following what is in their True Nature (De), and striving for things like power, order, or wealth (or whatever else Humans consciously value and strive for) meets with failure because it limits things to our preconceptions, rather than seeing and supporting these things in what they truly are; it interferes with Nature, both within and without, and magnifies complexity and instability: the Dao is self-transformation in Nature and cannot be completed or improved by limited purposive action; to tamper with that Nature instead of leaving it to itself creates chaos and ruin. In so doing, this activity generates its own resistance, since the Dao manifests in dual opposites, which are in “constant circum-motion” (Dao De Jing §37): that which waxes must wane, and to act excessively, purposively (wei) undoes itself because it is unnatural: “How long can you stand up on your toes? How far walk with stretching stride?” (as opposed to acting naturally: Dao De Jing §24); rather “The gentle will outdo the strong, and the nonmaterial (Wu, ‘nothing’) are able to enter the impregnable. Thus I know for sure the gains that wuwei yields.” (Dao De Jing §43): wuwei, “actionless action”, is non-purposive, reflexive activity that adheres to and acts in harmony with the De of a person or thing, even the true nature of things in toto (Zhen: in Daoist writings such as Zhuangzi/Chuang Tzu, this refers to a true, unspoiled natural state, harmonious, uncomplicated, unadorned). Zhen opposes falsity and hypocrisy, because, being the truth about Nature, within and without, it is genuine and pure, appropriate to all situations, and succeeds in its endeavours because it moves with the grain of that nature. Elec waxes now, but immediately his position begins to wane as he tries to keep a leash on his brother and to stamp out opposition at one remove – the man of plots, schemes, and insincerity, willing to upend the natural order to dominate it, is opposed by the sincerity, spontaneity and naturalness of the one whose activity aligns as far as possible with wuwei, and whose progress will depend on the successful revelation of his True Nature: Son Goku.
  • Granolah has one last go at vengeance, this time at the guy who deserves it. Unfortunately, Monaito’s warnings from 超 #69 and 70 come back to haunt him, as that pursuit has, at last, simply provoked an enemy Granolah can’t beat, and leads to his own ruin. The injuries Gas inflicts seem pointed, striking at those areas that Granolah has relied on most and which mark him out as special:
    • First, Gas breaks Granolah’s arms at the wrists, rendering his hands and fingers useless. Granolah’s finger-gun schtick has been his signature since the beginning of the arc, in keeping with his fighting character as a sniper. Gas kicks him, of course, just as he’s preparing to charge up the massive attack he was also intending to use in 超 #76 (and which Flayk used to destroy the Moon 40 years prior, in 超 #77).
    • Second, Gas decides to put out Granolah’s eyes, which are the distinctive trait of a Cerealian; Granolah in particular has progressed further than any other in terms of acuity of vision, thanks to his left eye evolving to be like his enhanced right eye (as of 超 #75). Apart from robbing Granolah of his principal natural advantage at a stroke, it also speaks to the motif of sight that has accompanied Granolah throughout the arc: he has repeatedly blinded himself to the truth thanks to his obsession with pursuing vengeance, and now, at the end of the quest, the figurative becomes literal.
    More than this, of course, Granolah’s quest for vengeance is about to put his very life in jeopardy.
  • Elec pulls out his gun again. We last saw it in 超 #77, as he shoots Muezli, but we get a better look at it now (and we’ll see it again in 超 #83). In keeping with Elec’s modified Space 18th Century Gentleman Dandy aesthetic, we get what looks like a lightly sci-fied pocket flintlock pistol (here’s a Late 18th Century French pistol picked at random; I’m sure there are better examples but this should do). And of course, the pistol is golden (because if you’re going to be violent, why not also be tacky?). The pistol appears to have a striking hammer, though Elec never seems to cock it, and although the muzzle smokes when the gun is fired, it doesn’t seem to fire projectiles, since the firing chamber seems to just be a vial of some chemical. The firing effect doesn’t seem to be quite like a Freeza Force Beam Gun, particularly in 超 #81, where the damage is more explosive.
  • Colour Watch: The full-page panel where Elec shoots Granolah is extremely arresting in the original black and white, for its totally white background that deliberately gives us nothing but the characters and the sound effect, making the moment as stark and shocking as possible. Unfortunately, the colourist decided not to convey this very clear intention, instead slapping a logical but entirely uninspired sky-blue gradient up as the background, which has an anodyne effect on the image. The odd goof or missed reference aside, I’ve generally really appreciated the skill and eye for detail and balance the colourist has demonstrated across this arc, but this is a rare instance of an important ‘miss’ in their fundamental artistic choices, for me.
  • Vegeta gives Goku his energy. Again.

    Since we’ve been here before in 超 #66, it’s worth noting that Dragon Ball Super likes to revisit the previous arc’s solutions so it can portray them as obsolete and not fitting the current situation:
    • In 超 #24, Son Goku reveals the completion of SSjB by sealing the power within himself so that it remains with him throughout the fight, allowing him to stand up to Zamas2; Vegeta catches up in 超 #27 and demonstrates what a leap in capacity this is, by his improvement in fighting Beerus. But then by the time the Tournament of Power rolls around in 超 #35, Jiren treats the form as nothing, and bluntly tells Goku “You should’ve picked an opponent down at your own level.” Ultimately, Teamwork ends up being the solution to the situation (超 #41-42), rather than completing transformations, which is a solution that falls short at every turn, whether we’re looking at Blue (超 #35), Evolved Blue (超 #40), or Ultra Instinct (超 #41).
    • When Moro and his goons come along and attack Earth in 超 #56-58, we get extended teamworking action from Earth’s Heroes: each of them technically work as part of the extended team that is the Galactic Patrol, of course, but particularly Gohan and Piccolo work out a way to combine their moves to overcome OG73-I’s Copy Ability, and #17 and #18 also show up to beat down OG73-I and Shimorekka, as part of a fully worked out stratagem. But when Moro steps onto the scene and empowers his main goon Saganbo with a “smidgen of energy”, he immediately wrecks shop. Tight teamwork from both of Dragon Ball’s closest fighting pairs achieves absolutely nothing (超 #58), nor does it get any better when the heroes try to combine as a team against Moro: they all get merked for their trouble (超 #62). In this case, Earning and Giving become the solutions: Merus gives up his life to help Goku achieve the power of Ultra Instinct that he’s worked hard to earn (超 #63-64), and Goku later receives a gift of Divine power from Uub to awaken Ultra Instinct again in the critical moment (超 #66).
    • Goku and Vegeta train hard again to progress in their own power (超 #71), but they don’t manage to defeat either of those who hold the title of the Universe’s #1 Warrior; with Gas Empowered and Awakened now, Vegeta tries giving Goku his own power so that he can “do something about that scumbag” – predictably, it achieves nothing but frustration, as Gas plays with a Goku who is using Ultra Instinct, and gifted power, but still isn’t (as it were) showing everything he’s got. It’s only once Goku uses Ultra Instinct in such a way that fully unites his Nature and Convictions, and fights with complete resolve, that he is finally able to surpass Gas himself.
    In Super, basic lessons that are easy to overlook always contrive to reveal their continued importance, even at the Cosmic level on which the main characters and their foes operate (e.g., 超 #39, or 超 #84) – but old answers will never do.
  • We get the issue at the heart of Goku’s “Conflict”: he’s naturally angry to see Granolah ‘die’, but he can’t use Ultra Instinct properly when emotions like rage get in the way. 超 #41 introduced the idea of the incompatibility of Ultra Instinct with heightened emotional states when Goku was first able to sustain Omen: “All I’ve done is get rid of unnecessary emotions […] Right now, my heart’s as calm as the gentle streams of Mount Paozu.” But, as we’ve seen, maintaining this is extremely difficult: “I gotta empty my heart and mind for that move to work, but when I’m fighting, my emotions are all over the place” (超 #52). Merus gives the strongest statement of antithesis, in the same Chapter: “Rage, grief, joy…these strong emotions can translate to prodigious power […] but the technique you’re after is the opposite. It will activate when you achieve self-control…in the face of a jarring shock to your emotions. Such is Ultra Instinct.” As of 超 #71, Goku has trained specifically to integrate Ultra Instinct with his “lower” forms, but Whis has also specified that the technique working in these forms will occur “When your heart is calm”; the tranquility of Ultra Instinct has been its hallmark, particularly Full Ultra Instinct, which requires Goku to be abnormally tranquil (and yields huge dividends as a result, for the relatively brief span of time that it lasts). But while Ultra Instinct may be like that in theory, Goku isn’t naturally like that in fact, which means that to align himself with the apparent requirements of the technique, he’s required to take himself out of the situation: to be something other than his Natural, True Self. Unsurprisingly, this is causing problems, as Goku, man of Conviction, has to act in a way that opposes his Nature.
  • Gas hoists an 8-car train telekinetically to whack Goku with for some clean art and fun beats, particularly when they crisscross to hit him the second time: Delays Owing to a Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan Being Hit By A Train in the Cereal Area; Tickets are Being Accepted Via Any Reasonable Route. Using the Japanese Kawasaki-built M8 railcar, used on some American train lines, as a basis for calculation (because ‘why not?’) we get the rough weight estimate of approximately 400 metric tonnes for an 8-car train. Of course, Gas does this twice over simultaneously, and keeps the pair of them at or above running speed consistently.
  • The combat between Goku and Gas is good fun with some highly entertaining bits and pieces, though it’s quite inconsequential. Then again, that seems to be the point. Though he got aged up a few Chapters ago, Gas is still the kid brother of the Heeters, and like a kid, it’s clear he’s playing here (albeit modified by the fact that he’s an ultra-powered kid in an interstellar crime family): he tells Goku he’s using his “toys and tools” and playing with him, he plays with trains as just about every little boy does, and he goes for a splash about in the lake, as a kid might. He’s at the centre of attention, and having tremendous fun with it. The only thing taking the shine off it, perhaps, is that his playmate isn’t really into it, and that’s kind of boring. When Goku’s more into things at the end of the Chapter, goading Gas into a game of Chase, Gas seems pretty pleased to get another chance to play and show everyone that he’s the best (until Goku makes fun of him, in 超 #82: no kid likes that). But this expansive use of pages on inconsequential stuff also serves the purpose of beginning to hint that there’s something wrong with Gas doing this: Elec says at the beginning of all this that “We can’t afford to waste any more time, so just kill them already”, and by the time we get to the big splash, we get a tiny panel where Elec is very much Not Pleased by what he sees; Gas isn’t following The Plan and eliminating their enemies; he’s just wasting time. This will advance through a series of increasingly frustrated beats (超 #82: “That idiot…”, followed by an angry panel when Goku returns alone; another angry beat in 超 #85 when Goku surpasses Gas, followed by a heated exchange where Elec grabs him by the neck and forces the resolve to die on him; backhanded compliments in 超 #86, followed by frustration welling up into rage and blind panic by the end of the Chapter and the start of 超 #87), until by the end he’s screaming at his little brother to “Stop screwing around” and calling him “worthless scum” as the last moments tick away. It all starts here, with Gas messing around with trains, like a carefree kid.
  • Gas makes some pointed observations around Goku’s basic issue, even though he doesn’t understand the ‘mechanics’ of the problem discussed earlier. Not only do we have a contrast between Goku, who remembers nothing and has no connection to or understanding of a fundamental part of his Nature, against the all too situated Gas, who seems to draw his self-image and power from within his family unit, but we also get a dense tumble of thematic components and connections in the dialogue: Gas is puzzled why he doesn’t get any “fighting spirit” from Goku (闘志, Tōshi; compare Vegeta’s burning 闘争心, Tōsō shin), and he directly and immediately makes a contrast of Convictions between Goku and his father, on the basis of Bardock’s “resolve” (覚悟, kakugo; note the shared character with a concept we’ve already encountered in the story and which is close to Gas’s heart in particular: 覚醒 – kakusei, “Awakening”), and promptly turns the question around to become one of Nature: “Are you truly his son?” (Note the appearance of another familiar character: 本当, hontō, “truth”, shares its first character with 本能, hon’nō, “Instinct”, and likewise with 本質, honshitsu, “True Nature”, “Essence”, which will appear prominently in 超 #84 as part of The Lesson Bardock hands down); Vegeta has quipped on Goku’s heredity from Bardock, averring he received his “softheartedness” from him; now Gas questions whether Goku has inherited anything from Bardock at all. Goku replies that he has lost his “memories” (記憶, kioku; we might note that the kanji for this term shares a radical, for ‘speech’, with 信じ/信念, shinji/shin’nen: “Belief”, “Conviction” and also, incidentally, fukushū, “revenge”, 復讐; and also a different radical, that of ‘heart’, with our good friend kakugo, “resolve”: 覚悟, and, as it happens, with “emotion”: jo/kanjō, 情/感情, and also with 闘志, Tōshi, “fighting spirit”, so it’s possible the very terms being used do something to point up a dense tangle of thematic interrelation here (but, you know, Caveats, since radicals don’t necessarily convey connected meanings). Gas replies that this means that Goku therefore doesn’t understand what sort of person he is; these issues tie together in a knotty problem encompassing Goku’s memories, emotions, conviction, resolve, and extending to his very Nature, his True Self (perhaps also worth noting, kakugo bears the first kanji of Goku’s own name: 悟). It is only once each element gets restored to Goku in turn, and he is able to use it all at once, that he surpasses Gas in combat.
  • Gas goes paddling with his new playmate. In the Dragon Ball Z Anime (#85), Freeza pulls a similar move in creating a vortex of water to reveal dry ground when beating around Vegeta; as a key difference here, Goku is being telekinetically held in place to drown. This sequence probably gets my nod for Favourite Art (particularly in colour, as opposed to the Granolah shooting panel, which is probably the strongest contender in black and white only) – the water effects are lots of fun (particularly the massive explosion from two angles; a new way of doing what we’ve seen a lot of in this arc, even at this stage), the way Gas catches and dynamically pitches Goku’s blast back at him makes for some really nice figure art (I particularly appreciate Gas’s leading hand in the pitch panel), and as an impromptu Colour Watch, Part Deux, it’s pretty neat to see Goku’s blast get its colour changed from blue to Gas’s signature neon pink as he catches it and uses it for himself. Neat all round. The art around the fight when it moves to the next planet is really neat, too, with its combination of teleport effects, shockwaves and good old-fashioned impact panels. This Chapter’s actually really pretty, arguably one notch up from the last couple, even though the quality of those was good; there’s arguably more variety and creativity in the general scene-setting and choreographic choices in this Chapter. That said, I am sorely tempted to cheat again in my nomination and give it to the Volume inside cover illustration of Son Goku; not only does it work well as a great standalone drawing, but it seems perhaps to be a companion piece to the cover art for Volume 18, given the complementarity of the poses and gazes: Goku and Bardock end up staring at each other across the divide.
  • We get two more important flashes of strong Conviction in this Chapter, from both Monaito and Son Goku: they end up being the more effective for it. Whereas we saw Monaito throw his hands up in 超 #77 and give up on Muezli’s life, sadly concluding “It’s no use…My power ain’t enough to save her”, here he’s confronted with arguably even more grievous injuries, but now he acts with a desperate resolve to ensure his adopted ‘son’ survives: “I won’t allow…another soul to die! Not on my watch!!” This in turn sparks a joyful reaction in Goku, and then another Protective action. Goku doesn’t even use Shunkan Idou, he’s just immediately in Gas’s face despite the more powerful warrior having a head start; Gas asks what Goku’s trying to achieve, but this is really just an instance of Goku doing rather than purposively planning out anything: his Natural Conviction to protect others simply for its own sake has landed him his first successful act of the Chapter. “Why do we Fight?” The answer, “to protect others”, still seems prominent.
  • We get a light-hearted shift to Jaco buying his groceries on another planet. This is the same planet where he apprehended former Freeza soldier Cranberry for theft (or else Jaco called backup) in the Volume 10 “Special Edition” Bonus Comic. Until Goku and Gas show up, he’s having a quieter day (and there’s a “How many Super Elites does it take to screw in a lightbulb?” joke in there, somewhere). Once again, Jaco decides to pretend he didn’t see anything after they’ve blown through and left chaos in their wake, to avoid trouble for himself (see also 超 #12, where he and his boss do similarly).
Chapter 82 – Bardock vs. Gas/Bardock vs. Gas
19 March 2022
Chapter Notes
  • Goku leads Gas on a merry chase across the cosmos, moving between people whose ki signatures are familiar, as Shunkan Idou requires (DB #336). Most of the places are totally unfamiliar to us, but the people have all appeared before, in a nice set of cameos. The list of places and people is as follows, with the issues in which we’ve seen them:
    • Unnamed Shopping Planet – Patrolman Jaco (Jaco The Galactic Patrolman, passim; Revival of F; 超 # 6, 7, 10, 13, 14, 42-54, 56-67)
    • Listening Post Planet – Patrolman Calamis (超 # 46, 50, 51I, 56, 63, 64, 67, 69) and Patrolman Mezashi (超 #42, 43, 46, 50, 51I, 56, 63, 64, 67, 69)
    • Alien Ring World – Universe 6 Tournament Referee (超 #8-13) and Universe Anthem Singer (超 #8)
    • Desert Planet – Patrolman Bodara (Jaco #3; 超 # 43, 56, 67) and Patrolman Sakaytoba (超 # 42, 43, 56, 67), or perhaps some similar Galactic Patrolman
    • Planet Wagashi (named in 超 #7) – Monaka (超 #7-13), or perhaps another member of his species (Cf. DB #393)
    • Galactic Patrol HQ – The Galactic King (Jaco #3, DBMinus; 超 # 7, 10, 12, 13, 43, 50, 51, 52, 67)
    • The Galactic Prison – Prison Warden Katsubushi (超 # 50, 59I), Prison Warden Niboshi (超 # 50, 59I, 67), Zauyogi (超 # 50, 51, 54-58, 67), Yunba (超 # 50, 51, 53, 54, 56, 57, 63, 67), Bikkura Quoitur (超 # 50, 51, 54, 56, 57, 67)
    • Rock Pedestal Planet – Unseen Galactic Patrolmen
    • Asteroid in Space – Squid Aliens (超 #56)
    • Irico’s Galactic Patrol Ship – Irico (超 #43, 44, 46-52, 55, 60, 61, 67), The Patrolman With No Name (超 # 56, 67?)
    • Dinosaur Planet – Whis and Oracle Fish (Nope, not doing it)
    I enjoy the rapid scene-changing of the first half of this Chapter, and the continuing ‘Chase’ thread that runs through it as Goku leads Gas further and further from Granolah. Dragon Ball Super occasionally has Chapters where the action leads in a big loop to land us back where we were at the beginning of the sequence (e.g., Vegetto’s turn, 超 #23, or the Outer Space battle with Moro, 超 #49). In a way, this is similar, but the constant change-up gives this a much more pacy feeling than the last handful of Chapters despite their saturation with action content, and the circularity of the sequence does actually make an opening for the plot to progress further naturally, rather than simply moving circularly for its own sake; moreover, it’s full of a refreshing and enjoyable levity that has been all too rare in this arc.
  • It’s only on Re-Read that it became apparent to me just how much of Gas’s behaviour can be put down simply to him being a kid. It’s easy to forget, considering his eager complicity in general Heeter scumbaggery, his articulateness (when he actually chooses to speak), and the fact that his ‘childhood’ has by this point lasted several decades, along with his inhabiting a visibly adult body now. But that he’s hit up a Cosmic Zoltar Machine doesn’t change what he’s truly like inside, as a kid; that’s whether considering his petty childish jealousy of Granolah, his attention-seeking neediness for his brother, or his self-centred indulgence in childish pursuits – having played around with Goku in 超 #81 with toys and tools, trains and a stint paddling in the lake, Gas is goaded into playing Chase across the Cosmos so he can win at another game and prove he’s the best (before killing his playmate). Unfortunately, this part doesn’t go so well, as the childish dislikes of getting dirty during play, the inevitable consequence of bath time, and being subjected to the public mockery of peers for wetting himself (that twin dread of children everywhere), and insults directed at his big brother all feature, before he’s left with a responsible adult that he “has to behave himself” around as his playmate runs off and leaves him. I feel like a lot of the levity in the Chapter comes from this root, and from the contrast between the carefree, childlike adult Goku and the dour, self-important child Gas, whose key “pose” is that of trying to pass himself off as a true ‘grown-up’ in spite of himself – the pose of all children, trying to act Big and Important and Serious (and a Stoic Toriyama Badass Ultimate Being, to boot), only to be exposed very uncomfortably as the Chapter goes on. Not only is it the occasion for good fun as a reading experience, but it also makes Gas strangely relatable. And it dovetails surprisingly naturally into the more serious latter part of the Chapter, where we return to the record of Gas’s first fateful attempt to puff himself up and wear the Big Boy pants in front of his brother (as in 超 #77) – the day he never grew past.
  • It’s a cute touch that the first couple of planets Goku and Gas visit have diametrically opposed functions: the first planet they appear on is festooned with dishes and seems to be a listening post (particularly given Calamis’ ear receivers being plugged in to one of them: compare with Jaco doing this when receiving a call from Bulma, 超 #46). The second planet they appear on, by contrast, has a gigantic megaphone strapped to a skyscraper, which may make some sense of the Universe Anthem singer carrying his microphone in this specific scene (unless it’s literally stuck to his hand no matter where he is or what he’s doing).
  • On which note, at this point, it is important that we are all reminded that the Universe is so huge.
  • Colour Watch: Continuing on from the previous Chapter, the colourist expands the contrast of colours between Goku and Gas, in giving them both coloured Shunkan Idou effects in the opening sequence for ease of reference by the reader, instead of leaving us only with bare hatched lines for them both: Goku gets blue effects, and Gas stays with his crimson (with some orange and red clothing smudges for the pair of them, when hatching alone figures). This is probably a logical development of the portal-esque effects that Toyotarou occasionally uses (particularly when he wants to convey directional momentum, as in 超 #81 when the pair tumble out of Goku’s last-ditch teleport). Once again, unfortunately, the colourist goofs a bit by depicting part of Goku’s arm as a combination of empty space and Goku’s gi in the early panel where he blocks Gas’s massive kick, which makes that part of the panel look totally incoherent.
  • Gas gets buried under a truckful of manure. It may be Monaka driving the truck, in which case he accidentally asserts his dominance over the Strongest in the Universe once again (超 #13) – or, given the visible non-magnificence of his ponta, this may be some other Wagashian (since Goku can search out ki that is similar to that of known individuals). The muckiness of Gas and Goku’s play leads to bath time with the Galactic King: such is the history of Goku’s inappropriateness towards “His Royalness”, that this is not even the first bathroom faux pas experienced between the two (超 #50-51).
  • Given the litany of Galactic Patrol cameos, it’s a nice touch that Vegeta is shown using the Spirit Control powers developed on Yardrat in the last arc. He’s able to sense directly that Goku is leading Gas away from Planet Cereal. In 超 #55, Vegeta can tell that Moro has not reached Earth, and Elder Pybara notes: “Honing your Spirit allows you to sense other Spirits – even ones faaar, far away.” Vegeta is thereby able to keep tabs on the progress of the battle between Goku and Moro even from Yardrat, 10 days’ travel from Earth. Since Vegeta is on Cereal (18 days’ travel from Earth) and Goku pops up in places like the Galactic Patrol HQ (50 minutes’ travel from Earth: 超 #6), Vegeta’s acquired abilities are serving him very well here, considering he seems to be trembling with the effort of even continuing to stand (the next time we see him, he’ll be laid out in Oatmeel’s hover car).
  • Things move on to the Galactic Prison, where we get the clearest sense of Gas as a child (and as a poseur); he may in fact be the Strongest in the Universe, but he’s still just a kid playing at being a grown-up, with all the affected self-importance that this entails, puffing himself up as though he’s too cool to acknowledge old associates – and the Saganbo Brigade hit back with the cruellest barb disgruntled children can fling, to cut him off at the knees: it all comes straight from the playground, as they bring up memories of imperfect bladder control (with a side of ‘scaredy-cat’); by hitting back with embarrassing detail about something they think of as belonging to the past, the Saganbo Brigade actually expose Gas’s pose of a composed and superior coming of age and reveal him as the child he still is. It becomes something that should be familiar to all of us from our young childhoods, as it’s all a perfect encapsulation of how children act when crippling embarrassment is at play: denial; insistence; mockery that turns the screw; angry repetition of denial; cringeworthy details that give it the ring of truth; piling on by peers; admission, but making out like it’s not the way they’re telling it and it somehow doesn’t count. Not only does the exchange arguably make Zauyogi and Yunba more characterful than they ever were in their own arc, but in exposing Gas’s “pose” the story manages to hint again at the unnaturalness of Gas’s false ‘growth’ from the wish on the Dragon Balls (a thematic point) by showing he hasn’t really changed despite appearances, while also giving some welcome extra characterisation for Gas (through both the details of his past self and his own reactions), and a serviceable comedy beat into the bargain (one that Toyotarou is so keen to land, he apparently forgets that the cells behind Goku ought to have people in them…).
  • The conversation moves on to another sore spot of children: family. We already know that Gas’s main reference point is Elec: we’ve seen them paired conceptually and actually throughout the arc (e.g., 超 #72). Goku gains enough insight off Gas’s interactions with Elec in 超 #81 to challenge a key part of Gas’s self-understanding more earnestly than Yunba’s earlier mockery, but in a way that is arguably more damaging for that, as he questions the meaning of the familial embeddedness Gas was touting in the previous Chapter. He explores Gas’ dependency on his brother, and uses it to badmouth Elec; entirely correctly, as it turns out, since we learn for sure in 超 #87 (but already had plenty of reason to suspect by this point anyway) that Elec has traded away Gas’s life for the sake of pursuing his plot. Goku mentions his brother “Almost killed me awhile back”; obviously this refers to the battle with Raditz, who says he won’t hesitate to kill him and then starts to break his ribs (DB #202). Elec has been similarly unhesitating, but given the little brother-big brother dynamic between them being in many ways quite typical, it’s not surprising Gas seems just as angry at the idea that the scumbag brother he idolises isn’t to be trusted, as he was at mockery of his own self. It’s interesting to see Goku put his finger on this tender spot, just like he did with Zamas in 超 #22; making a basic, obvious point that strikes at the heart of how his opponent sees themselves and their aspirations (Zamas can’t accomplish anything without Black, he’s misled him and is using him; Gas chooses not to accomplish anything without Elec, but he’s misleading him and is using him) is a nice consistency in the depiction of Goku’s direct, forthright sort of insight which is good to see here, tossed out casually as it is.

    Given that Freeza reveals Elec is the weakest Heeter, one could call into question Gas’s statement that he was once the weakest until Elec worked on raising him up “to this level”; it’s possible this could’ve been another of Elec’s poses, but I don’t think that’s necessarily so: it’s clear that Gas is easily the strongest Heeter when he is introduced (超 #68), so this is probably referring to the far, unseen past when Elec must have chosen to make Gas into the “muscle” of the Heeter unit, and as such I see no reason not to take it as the simple truth. I perceive there’s another glance at the thematic ideas of Nature and Conviction, as Gas indicates that Elec’s interference with him in shaping him according to his will (which is, apparently, “absolute”) has not been part of just recent events, or even for the last four decades, but rather has been lifelong – Gas’s innate potential is extraordinary (“You’re the only member of this family who can surpass Freeza himself”: 超 #71), but it seems that developing this natural talent would not have been the natural inclination of that scared little boy from way back when. And as is often the case, Gas seems to have been caught in a conflict: while not naturally disposed to be the fighter he is, he nevertheless finds pride and validation in his accomplishments here (or, if you prefer, shame and frustration in his lack of accomplishment – either way, it goes back to how he relates to “Elec’s Will”; how his brother sees him, and what he entrusts to him). Gas may be strong enough to make his own choices, but this was never on the cards.
  • Goku’s move that leaves Gas stranded is both a clever payoff for the goading “Can you really follow me wherever I go?” originally seeded at the end of 超 #81, and a great beat in itself, panelled with rapid-fire verve. In being followed by Gas’s futile attempts to locate Goku and the amusing and dynamic panel of him blasting off the Dino-planet on his way back to Cereal (because that’s his only way back), the cleverness of Goku’s defensive play is only enhanced by reflecting on the fact that Goku is employing a strength that Gas just doesn’t have: the Influence of Others. Not only is this a clever way of employing Shunkan Idou in a plotline, it’s also a very ‘Tournament of Power’-style beat, for me, in a way; Gas may be unequalled in power, the Mightiest of Warriors – but he only really knows his own family (with a couple of exceptions he can recognise and follow, like Granolah or Goku). Goku, by contrast, has drawn people from all across the Universe into contact with, and direct recognition of, him: Galactic Patrol members, Singers, One-time Alien Teammates, Convicts, Angels; they’re all entries on Goku’s rolodex and he can use the very strength of knowing them in his play against Gas here, so however much power Gas has, he really can’t follow Goku wherever he goes, because he doesn’t know the people Goku knows – Goku stands as a critical centre that draws disparate threads together, with unguessable power resulting from the association. We’re even seeing that in the plot thread of 40 years ago, where Goku’s influence draws together Bardock and the last Cerealians against the Heeters.
  • After the extremely heavy build-up of Granolah and Gas as the “#1 Warrior in the Universe”, teased from 超 #68 with Oracle Fish’s prediction, it still feels extremely bold to get a tiny throwaway panel upending all that. In fact, much of what appeals in this Chapter is its fresh boldness when compared with the (action-packed, but) rather rote offerings of the last few Chapters: the much-touted “Strongest in the Universe” is mocked as a pants-wetting kid (who may not even be the Strongest anyway); we step right up and start slaying the sacred cow of Not Talking About Or Meaningfully Engaging With Goku’s Saiyan Nature/Past (after how many decades of dancing around whether it’s really relevant or not?); even the presence of unusual artistic touches like deciding to place the Title Page two-thirds of the way through the Chapter (other manga may well have employed this touch, but I think this is a first for Dragon Ball, whether Super or otherwise) – the whole thing is packed with unusual, arresting touches that offset the pace and levity to raise the Chapter’s quality and make for a real stand-out offering in the late arc, for me.
  • Oatmeel shows up as a full-on robot, driving a hovercar. Oatmeel’s robotic form, and his implicit folding mechanics, somewhat resemble the DUM-Series Pit Droids from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, albeit with more sophisticated, tidier methods: 超 #79 shows that the inside of Oatmeel’s ‘head’ section is lined with cushioned fabric for Granolah’s ear, so either the body is an extra modular attachment, or the body tucks up compactly enough to fit under this layer. It seems that features like Oatmeel’s forearms are designed to fold over or slide up around his upper arms, as an example of compact collapsible design that may be replicated elsewhere in the body section, but we also see that Oatmeel has processor equipment in his main dome, meaning this section isn’t entirely hollow for storing his robot body, so it’d be a squeeze. As for the hovercar, we’ve seen vehicles in this arc before, but both the Cerealian vehicles of yesteryear (超 #77) and the more modern Sugarian cars of the present day (超 #74) are ground vehicles with wheels; Namekians have never yet been depicted with distinctive terrestrial vehicles of their own – only spacecraft (DB #244). This, then, is probably something Granolah acquired in the wider Universe while bounty hunting. Antigrav technology isn’t particularly novel in Dragon World, which is why Jaco and the Galactic Patrol allow Dr. Brief to reverse-engineer it for use on Earth (Jaco +1).
  • Whis sticking a communicator on Goku without him noticing is a cute callback to Revival of F, where Whis blocks and dodges Goku and Vegeta’s furious assault and “had ample time to autograph both your shirts” without either of them noticing. That scene introduced the idea of the body acting on its own that would become Ultra Instinct, so it’s fitting that Whis’s legerdemain leads back to discussion on Goku’s progress here, in the set-up to a climax where Goku manages to step beyond his current facility with the technique, however briefly.
  • Another great transition comes on the line of Bardock insisting that Monaito and Granolah “have to stay alive”, with Bardock’s final words to Goku and his farewell scene from DBMinus in Goku’s “mind’s-eye” (a Toyotarou re-draw rather than a duplication of the original Toriyama panel, and arguably technically better-drawn than the original), then fading back to the events of 40 years ago using the same techniques as used in 超 #77: it all has the effect of once again bringing things back to the links forged by Bardock’s Convictions between the Past and the Present, as his memory of young Kakarot (and his instinctive association of his own child with Granolah) leads him to fight for their survival, and the events unfolding in this combat where Bardock has fought to protect this child will in turn give Bardock an opening to secure the growth of his own child Kakarot, which he will follow up on and ensure in DBMinus/Dragon Ball Super: Broly; this is now the key thing Goku remembers about him – it’s his own peculiar “survival”, and the record of it will continue to spur Goku’s growth now. I do enjoy the interconnectedness of the Past and Present here; rather than merely being there for prologue and pretext, as in Broly, the scenes of the Past remain continually relevant to the way the arc progresses in a thematically coherent ‘feedback loop’ around the motivations of some of its core characters.
  • The shift to 40 years ago leaves out the initial encounter between Gas and Bardock: clearly Gas has not only intercepted the trio of survivors, but some unseen combat has taken place. Bardock is pretty scuffed all over when reintroduced, and his other shoulder pad is now broken (Muezli having broken the first one in 超 #77).
  • Favourite Art: Toyotarou really can’t help himself again, as he dips into Bardock’s extensive gaming move list for a charged punch on Gas – the second panel in particular does a really good job of ‘stretching’ Bardock between the focal points of his charged fist and his target (Gas) to sell the sense of motion and power he’s attacking with. Those familiar with Bardock in the game Dragon Ball FighterZ will recognise the charging pose on this move as the start-up to “Saiyan Spirit”, Bardock’s Level 1 Super Move – the move also appears with some variations in the earlier Heroes, Xenoverse and Budokai series of games. I’m not sure what the Japanese name for the move is (fan information suggests the totally spurious-sounding “Supiritto obu Saiyan”), but if there’s even a related name originally, then this seems like a fitting move for Bardock to use in a fight where both his Nature and Convictions are on show as a perfect unity. It also seems that towards the climax of the battle in 超 #83, Bardock will use another sequence of moves closely resembling “Saiyan Spirit”; in both cases he is energised by an aura that he doesn’t seem to usually exhibit. In addition to the initial punch, it’s a neat touch that the aura flickers to life again around Bardock’s other arm when he bats away Gas’s energy ball attack, exceeding his apparent power (no doubt why Gas thinks he’s not just an average lower-class grunt) in a neat little piece of foreshadowing on Bardock growing into the battle. Given the focus the last Chapter gave us on Bardock’s Resolve (覚悟, kakugo), it’s also perhaps worth noting that in FighterZ, the word is found in his mouth in one of the possible lines accompanying his Level 3 Super Move: “覚悟はいいな⁈” (kakugo wa ii na?!”, “Are you ready?!”).
  • I think the consensus (at Kanzenshuu, anyway) is that these 4 Chapters are the nadir of this arc. This seems unfair. Yes, there’s a big pacing issue at the heart of it all, which freezes a lot of it in place, and that’s not a small craft defect: 超 #79 and the first half of 超 #80 in particular get caught in extensive action choreography and little else, as Granolah gets a ‘turn’ as the chief fighting protagonist. And as noted, the turn-taking makes things drag and seem emptier; that’s undeniable. But for all that, the choreography is actually very enjoyable, before the whole thing moves back to advancing the plot a bit. It’s slow, and could feel much ‘fuller’ than it ultimately does, but it’s not as much of a drag as I feared it might have been from memory.

    超 #81, I have to say, is a highly underrated Chapter: I think on first read, most of us were expecting the story to go in a different direction, leaving this as a slightly anonymous puzzle, plus trains. But actually, it’s not just full of fun choreography and great art (and it has that in spades), but it also contains the thematic nub of the arc, revealing Goku’s problem and deploying some thematically pointed exchanges with the main villain to work through it (and the villains have some of their best ‘presence’ in the arc in this Chapter); meanwhile Granolah pushes his pursuit of vengeance to its foreseeable conclusion, which brings this section of his character arc to a conclusion with strong impact. The Chapter is highly enjoyable and deserves re-evaluation.

    超 #82, in turn, is a great Chapter: it’s full of fun hijinks, pacy scene-setting, and lots of fresh and arresting choices that make it probably the most interesting and enjoyable Chapter since 超 #76 – Goku’s great in it particularly, making smart choices and giving us enjoyable action to show us the specific strengths he can bring to bear even when he’s not firing on all cylinders, while the formidable Heeters start to get exposed and their fault lines start to appear, and the transition into the Bardock segment makes a lot of sense and works well as a set-up for the impending climax of the arc.

    In short, I think that for all its slowness in getting us through this section of the arc, this was actually a lot more enjoyable than I was expecting overall. Particularly 超 #81-82; I’d happily re-read them again and again.
Right. Into the home stretch, then. Over to y’all: What did you get from your Re-Read?

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Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by GreatSaiyaman123 » Sun Mar 05, 2023 6:03 pm

Magnificent Ponta wrote: Sun Mar 05, 2023 3:53 pm Gas uses paralysis arts. The last character to rely on this sort of special power was General Blue of the Red Ribbon army, causing the heroes some trouble (DB #78, 79, 83)
Huh? Chaozu and Kaioshin both use this power too. Even if you're counting only villains, Zamasu also uses paralysis on Goku and telekninesis to move his Katchin blocks. Freeza also uses telekinesis against Caulifla.
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Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by Magnificent Ponta » Sun Mar 05, 2023 6:17 pm

GreatSaiyaman123 wrote: Sun Mar 05, 2023 6:03 pm
Magnificent Ponta wrote: Sun Mar 05, 2023 3:53 pm Gas uses paralysis arts. The last character to rely on this sort of special power was General Blue of the Red Ribbon army, causing the heroes some trouble (DB #78, 79, 83)
Huh? Chaozu and Kaioshin both use this power too. Even if you're counting only villains, Zamasu also uses paralysis on Goku and telekninesis to move his Katchin blocks. Freeza also uses telekinesis against Caulifla.
Fair point, insofar as immobilisation is involved in all cases and they are all technically paralysis arts - I guess I should've been more specific as to why I thought of it that way. I'm thinking of it just in terms of it being paralysis arts that are performed from a glare and no other technical requirement, really, which is the specific commonality between Blue and Gas's usage that made me think of it (and which I don't think we see from anyone else; not even Gurd) - Chaozu, for instance, needs to constantly use his hands to hold Kuririn, and the Kaioshin (both Shin and Zamas) seem to need to keep holding their targets with outstretched arms. The Daizenshuu lump things like Jackie Chun immobilising Man-Wolf in under "paralysis arts" also, and while this is true enough, it's not much like what Blue or Gas do other than its general effects.

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Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by Koitsukai » Mon Mar 06, 2023 5:12 pm

While this arc -and this particular part- left a lot to be desired, there are a few things that I actually liked.

The "flaw" in Goku's approach to battle, fighting just for laughs instead of being a bloodlusted beast that fights until the other guys's bones are dust has brought a lot of problems for Goku in the past.
He didn't want to fight Nappa anymore; the entire Ginyu Force was spared, once he knew they wouldn't be any fun due to the power gap(that one thing Ginyu said was preventing him from becoming a SS); as soon as Freeza got winded, Goku lost interest; tried to not fight Broly, tried to talk Moro out, same for Granny and Gas(although done on purpose).
This has brought a lot of good as well, spared Piccolo, Vegeta... but I think it was clever to exploit this "problem", or present it as such, in order to move forward with Goku's growth as a fighter. It's not bringing something new to the table, it's taking an existing trait and working with it.
It's more of a saiyan trait than a human trait, so it makes sense to have Bardock help on this, and for Goku to need to lean on his saiyan heritage which he always moved away from.

Gas being a kid at heart is definitely something that I, at least, needed to re-read to fully grasp, and even then it's mostly on the reader's, which I think it's a writing problem because this should be much clearer than it was. The general consensus is Gas got no characterization, even though he has, as you pointed out, but it's so subtle that it's easy to interpret he hasn't gotten any.

I find interesting to read people working around the actual arc, trying to trim it down. These chapters were fun, they just didn't deserve to be fully expanded upon, all of this could've been told much more brief and concisely.
The Shunkanido competition was nice but it lasted way too long, an entire chapter of that when we had Gas taking his time with Goku the previous month. It felt like those footballers doing step overs and fancy tricks but end up passing the ball back to a defender... yeah, nice technique but it took us nowhere.

Gas stops looking the strongest when Goku enters the fight. I'd expect Gas' speed to be unmatched, yet Goku's UI-SSB form is enough to intercept him before getting to Granny and Monaito. I actually expect Gas to be so much stronger that Goku shouldn't even have time to think about Shunakindoing the fuck out of there, but hey, it's entertainment, so I can overlook that.
But Goku doing much better on his own with SSB than with silver UI fighting alongside Vegeta against the same guy, aside of Shunkanido, that's too much of a stretch for me, that shouldn't be explained just by the efficiency of each form, a tired Granny was already making short work of that form. Even Gas was toying with Goku one chapter ago.
I can buy Gas taking his time with Goku during the train chapter - it didn't have to take that much in time in real time, though-, but once they start planet-hopping, Goku blocks, catches a punch, and even takes a kick to the gut and is hardly even down... Gas is no longer toying with him, there's even a beam clash Goku holds up for a while until he teleports... It seems like those filler scenes from Z like Goku fighting Buutenks or Krilin vs 1st form Cell, where you know the fight is being stretched out for the sake of it, or Jiren and UI Goku trading blows in the anime even though Goku is wiping the floor with him, before and after that scene, but we know they were just rehashing animation, so those 4 evenly matched seconds of the fight aren't to be taken seriously.
Based on what was shown on the previous chapter, and of course being in worse shape than before that beating, Goku should in no way be such a problem for Gas without Shunkanido. UE Vegeta had a tougher time! I don't mean to make this a dumb pawascaling complaint, because it's not, but this set of chapters really made me have to suspend my disbelief more than usual.

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Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by GreatSaiyaman123 » Mon Mar 06, 2023 7:52 pm

It happened a bit sooner, but by #81, this saga has officially jumped the shark. Sure, we all might have judged #81 too badly in hindsight (Back then I thought SSJB Goku just magically got on-pair with Gas), but it's still a low point in the whole series. All the plot points here could've happened in other chapters, and Gas' moves will be used better later (not to mention earlier against Granolah). And a train? Really? What is this, Spider-Man 2?

The high point for #81 for me is the comparison between Goku and Bardock, already planting seeds for the next chapters. Going into #82 we got a better sense of pacing, more exchanges between Goku and Gas (in fact, this chapter is probably the most characterization Gas ever got) and a pointing towards the finale. But before that, some Bardock vs Gas... ugh.

I don't always talk about my Favourite Art, but I think it's kinda cute how when Goku had the round eyes in the Galactic Patrol Prison. It reminds me of pre-CG era Goku.
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Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by Magnificent Ponta » Tue Mar 14, 2023 9:57 am

The Super Re-Read: Chapters 83 – 86
Part 1 (Chapters 83 and 84)
Part 1 of Part 1 (Chapter 83)

Image

Yes, well, there's always one, isn't there.

One instalment of The Super Re-Read where putting everything into just one post, nice and neatly within the forum character limits, really isn't feasible, because there's just too much to discuss and I've simply written too much and chopping it all down to size isn't an option either. This time, Chapters 83 and 84 are that instalment, as we finish off Volume 19 of the Dragon Ball Super Manga, with the full fight between Bardock and Gas revealed, and the final confrontation in the present finally getting underway! Two controversial Chapters - one that I'm really in favour of, and one that's a good deal more mixed, so it's time to get into it.

Writing such long entries (I know, sorry, SORRY EVERYONE) requires a few things, not least of which include the information published by the folks at Kanzenshuu, both on the site proper and on the forum (particularly the Translations Archive), and also the information that's published on the Dragon Ball Official Site, including storyboards, summaries, and interviews (and, apropos of nothing other than the fact that a Scouter is at the heart of the current bit of the story we're in, possibly the most bizarre article on Scouter tech one could imagine). So thanks and credit are due there.

It also requires the will to write it all down and keep momentum 😅 The contributions of y'all are greatly appreciated to that end, even when we come to drastically different conclusions; it's nice to think the thread is still being enjoyed (I hope that's the case, anyhow). And in this specific instance, playing Solid State Scouter on a several-hour loop really helped keep me in the mood 🤣

Anyway, enough preamble. Let's get re-reading!:

Chapter 83 – Bardock vs. Gas, Part 2/Bardock vs. Gas, Part 2
21 April 2022
Chapter Notes
  • The question of “Fate” comes up once again, as Monaito tells Bardock he’ll take what Fate hands him, and Gas tells Bardock that the Saiyans aren’t “Fated” to last long. It’s interesting to see the conjunction of this language around Bardock in particular: from the reader’s perspective, he’s the only major character of the arc whose fate is already sealed, and yet he’s also the one who contests the idea most fiercely. This seems to be one of the ways in which the current depiction of Bardock relates directly to his “classic” depiction from A Solitary Final Battle: in that Special, a Kanassan curses Bardock with visions of the future, declaring “I will warn you now, that you have no future save that which is cursed! As it is with my own people, there will be nothing but destruction for yours! I condemn you to see your own future, and agonise over the form it takes!”. Bardock spends the climax of the Special trying to “change that future” by the power of his own resolve: “Now, everything changes! The fate of Planet Vegeta…my own fate…Kakarot’s fate…as well as your [Freeza’s] fate!

    Likewise here, Bardock is similarly prepared to combat the idea of ‘Fate’ and is resolved to change the future (fittingly, he contends here that it’s his enemies, the Heeters, who have no future), but not on the Big Scale of the original Special, but rather on the smallest scale of a few surviving stragglers: Bardock fights for the survival (and therefore the future) of the young Granolah, the aged Monaito, and when handed the ability to change almost anything he could wish for (given the outrageous scope of Toronbo’s capacities), he essentially opts simply to open a new window to a good future for two more children – his own (thus establishing the limits of likeness between “classic” and “current” Bardock). This also intersects well with Bardock in his Toriyama-led characterisation as “saving his companions”, and this gets further explication in Dragon Ball Super: Broly: “Maybe it’s because I’m always in the middle of a battle, and I’d like to save something instead for once. Especially someone deemed to be a lower-class warrior – my son.” As I said in comments around 超 #77, Bardock occasionally shows himself off as a really well-chosen character in conveying some of this stuff, and in this case, it’s not just threading his modern characterisation in the beats of the arc in a meaningful way but also features that have always been pretty intrinsic to Bardock’s character concept – just given a slight twist. Since he’s only there in memories in bits of the arc, it necessarily comes to us piecemeal rather than receiving strong and continual development in the way a main arc character might, but what we get is woven together pretty well, I think, and it’ll continue to come through in this Chapter in particular.
  • Toyotarou can’t help himself, as he has Bardock attack Gas with another move that we’ve seen from A Solitary Final Battle and, as a result, various Dragon Ball video games: on this occasion, it’s the Final Spirit Cannon (AKA Riot Javelin, if you prefer). In the Special, the attack is used immediately on the beat of Bardock talking about the future changing, and likewise here, Bardock spits a line about the Future immediately before he uses the attack.
  • It’s interesting to see Conviction continually drawn forth from Bardock as the fight progresses, but in a way that also unifies that Conviction with what might be considered his Nature as a Saiyan, to meet the progressive unleashing of Gas’s Instinct (or “Inner Nature”). Probably most familiar in this arc is his retort to Gas that “Nothing gets my blood pumping like a powerful foe”, which seems directly reminiscent of Vegeta’s line to Granolah from 超 #74 that pure combat is “Just the thing to get a battle-crazed Saiyan’s blood pumping”, but in a number of instances in the battle where his Nature and Conviction unify in this way, Bardock’s power seems to swell and his performance seems to catch Gas out. He starts here not merely by fighting as one might expect of a Saiyan, gritting his teeth and flinging Gas away unexpectedly, but by taking personal ownership of the fight in the same beat (“This is my fight now!”); he later declares that “A Saiyan would rather die…than run from an enemy!!”, and in the same beat hits (a yet more powerful) Gas with a punch so hard he carves a trench in the ground (at around this point, even Oil suggests that “I guess Gas has met his match?”); in the climax of the fight he states that “We Saiyans have a way of growing and evolving every time we push past our limits”, but this also comes off the back of some personal, Convictional statements for himself in a way that dovetails neatly with this statement, and which are accompanied by their own expressions of burgeoning power: “I’m not dying…before I’ve beaten you” – followed by a blast that gives him a decisive attacking opening on Gas; “In a life-and-death battle, what sorta idiot would think about anything else besides Victory?” – in the same beat as he catches Gas’s strongest punch and gives him a critical blow right back. This is a feature of the battle that I really like, not so much for its “message” (which will get trotted out in a fairly clunky way in 超 #84) as for how it helps sell the unfolding of the battle. Gas by Nature has plenty of power at his disposal and uses more and more of it to stay ahead of Bardock, but the repeated, increasing surges of power on Bardock’s end when he marshals his Nature and Conviction into his own attacks means that the ebb and flow of the fight isn’t just Bardock constantly getting helplessly beaten up, until the flipping of some switch suddenly gifts him the win: his power is borne along on a rising tide of Conviction (better yet, “Resolve”, as Gas called it in 超 #81) that actually lets him grow into the fight, even if it doesn’t give him the advantage until the end, when by contrast Gas has all the power his Nature can afford him put to use, but he begins to lose himself as his Convictions ebb away in the face of Bardock’s resolve and growing strength.
  • Gas unleashes “a little bit” of his Inner Nature (the word for “Instinct” - 本能, hon’nō – appears here again). I do rather like the look of this intermediate Gas form; it’s better balanced visually than the hulking Full Instinct form he’ll use later, allowing Gas to look more vicious and formidable than his cutesier young self (without going the played-out Brolyesque Beefcake route of his Full Instinct form) and giving Toyotarou scope to do some dynamic, expressive figure work in Gas’s action sequences with the revised proportions the design affords (in fact, stuff like his darting kick to Bardock’s gut, his swinging kick after breaking Bardock’s armour up some more – an example of doing well what he unfortunately messes up later when he tries it with Bardock’s kick – and his kick to Bardock’s back while holding his tail are all cool examples of this dynamic choreography that collectively gets a Favourite Art nomination from me). In the way that Gas’s normal form presents him as a child (which he is, of course), this gives us something of a more Adolescent vibe to Gas, and in turn his Full Instinct will depict Gas as a full-grown adult. Just as Bardock demonstrates kinds of growth in this combat, Gas is shown running his own, more visible (though perhaps ultimately superficial) pattern of growth by moving up through the standard schema of Three Ages as the battle goes on. He’ll do the same in the present day: he began the arc still visibly a child (超 #68-78), ages up to prime maturity when Elec makes his wish (超 #78-85), but then moves on to the withered state of aged decline (超 #85-87: V-Jump names this form 老化状態, or ‘State of Old Age’; 老化 apparently can also connote senile deterioration rather than simply ageing per se), ending in his death.
  • Monaito tries to wish Bardock home by Toronbo Express, but Bardock refuses. This forms another small linkage of behaviours between father and son, as Goku refused a Dragon God’s attempt to return him to Earth (in his case, Porunga, in DB #329); Goku also refused this same wish in principle on Namek during his battle with Freeza (DB #323), for a more direct connection with Bardock’s refusal to withdraw from a battle until it’s settled. Interestingly, Goku promises to come back alive in the same Chapter after refusing to retreat, which has of course been a preoccupation of Bardock’s here also, and is the last subject on which he speaks to his son, in DBMinus.
  • The exchange between Monaito and Bardock over the wish (which Goku and Vegeta would only hear half of via the playback without some extensive verbal footnoting from Monaito, I guess - but still enough to get the gist, even if they only hear Bardock's side) becomes the occasion for the story to whack the reader about the face with the message HEY ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION, WE’RE TALKING ABOUT GROWTH NOW, as the appearance of growth-related keywords signals the thematic turn. Monaito begins by mentioning that the kindness that “sprung up” (芽生えた, mebaeta, “sprouted”) in Bardock’s heart is why he needs to live, as it will save someone else. Bardock opts for a wish that has his sons in view: that they “grow up” well (育ち, sodachi, “grow up”, “raised”); when the tide of battle decisively turns in Bardock’s favour, he tells Gas that “We Saiyans have a way of growing and evolving every time we push past our limits” (I don’t actually see any word for ‘growth’ in the Japanese, but the word for “Evolve” is sure there: 進化 – shinka, which seems to refer to the biological process of evolving as much as anything). And of course, both cereals and vegetables grow naturally.

    The characters in the arc thus far have been enjoined to grow (e.g., 超 #71: “Work hard to grow stronger than your past selves”), have been admonished for their inability to do so (e.g., 超 #69: “So long as you’re trapped by the past…you’ll never manage to grow beyond this point”), and have sometimes appeared to do so, only for it to become clear that this is a mere mask covering the absence of true growth (or worse, reversion), because the spectre of The Past seems too overpowering, smothering the possibility of growth (which, in turn, can only be assessed by comparison of progress made from the previous status quo in The Past). But now, out of that same past, comes the impetus for the positive growth images of the arc: the linkage of Bardock’s personal growth to the potential of the newborn Kakarot (and, by extension, the young Granolah); the growth of his strength through struggle and resolve to win; and the safeguarding of an opening for the future growth of his offspring by means of the wish. Arguably, it’s a trifle late for the positive side of growth to come forth so strongly without a proper antecedent, which is one reason I think the story should’ve returned to Bardock a little more quickly than it does; however, the story’s problematisation of growing beyond oneself, and its message of rooting that growth in your Past, in the Significance of Others, in your own Nature, and in your Convictions all admittedly make this conflict (and Bardock’s presence in laying all this out) a natural turning-point in how the story treats this motif.

    As an extended aside, even the plot summaries on the Official Site go to lengths to signal the presence of growth motifs in this encounter, to the extent that they place growth language Bardock doesn’t even seem to use on his tongue: it quotes Bardock as wishing “For the healthy growth of sons” (息子たちの健やかな成長), which here uses the word 成長 (seichō) for “growth”; however, slightly below, it reproduces the panel where Bardock makes his wish, wherein we noted he actually uses 育ち (sodachi). Doubtless there’s no real divergence in meaning here – Bardock simply wants his kids ‘growing up/raised right’, if you like – I just thought the substitution of extra, clear growth wording for the summary was interesting. It also describes Bardock himself with the same terminology, as 闘いの中で成長し続ける – “Growing through battle”, which seems likewise to be treated as a quote, but again it doesn’t appear to be a quote of anything. GROWTH’S IMPORTANT, OKAY
  • I suppose we really can’t avoid talking about the wish itself, which confused and angered some among the readership to no end. Does this undo Goku’s own contribution to his growth, undermine his agency in his own story? Is he fated to succeed (or at least, to keep surviving no matter what) by literal magic plot armour? Does the wish somehow impact on the battle by giving Bardock some strange nonsense power-up? Or does the wish do basically nothing except give off some ‘good vibes’ between father and son – in which case, what’s the point of it?

    The answer to these questions is: No.
    • The wish doesn’t really predestine Goku towards doing anything in particular. Dragon Ball certainly hasn’t shied away from making Goku the centre of prophecy (DB #111, 158) or the fulfilment of legend (DB #280, 307, 317) when it suits its more ‘epic’ mode, without much issue, so it wouldn’t be totally out of keeping to see it trotted out again here (and since Bardock is around, one can’t avoid noting that his whole character concept has always been tied up with fate, future-seeing and the like: his prognostications in A Solitary Final Battle show Goku growing up and succeeding, as a destined thing, right up to some dimly-perceived future confrontation with Freeza). Still, it’s hard to see how Goku being “raised well” (lit. “grow up healthy and fast”) equates to a strict predestination of the kind of success Goku enjoys in Dragon Ball. Goku has clearly had to put the work in to get the results that we’ve seen throughout Dragon Ball; we know this because we’ve seen him do it on countless occasions. Goku could’ve grown up just fine per the terms of the wish, without necessarily becoming the preeminent Martial Artist of his world, or without successfully overcoming the host of challenges he has had to face in the original series. He need merely survive to adulthood as a strong individual (and this latter element would be basically a given, as a Saiyan) to meet the terms of the wish as phrased, if you really want to read it this way (we'll address that in a moment). But what’s more, the future-directedness of the wish – laying the opportunity for Goku’s continued, self-determined growth – serves as a clear and obvious counterpoint with the wishes made in the present, where the Dragon Balls are wished on “selfishly”, sacrificing the futures of their subjects, and their inherent potential for growth, for a predetermined and specific goal in the present that brings only “doom” to them. Bardock’s wish, by contrast with these later, misbegotten wishes, predetermines nothing, by the sheer logic of the story as told up to this point; it rather makes (and leaves) the way open for Goku to grow. That’s the point of it.
    • So, then, how about bedecking Goku with magical plot armour, to this end? Vegeta does, after all, complain in 超 #84 that Goku and Raditz survived when young because of this wish; nobody challenges the claim. Fair enough; the focus of the wish definitely seems directed more this way. But it really depends how prescriptively we’re interpreting the wish; I think arguing for inviolable wish armour goes well beyond the bounds of what is intended, and the more closely itemised the list of protective actions one argues for, the more absurd the argument becomes. Take one of the few examples from the original series where Goku appears to have his life actually under threat: DB #78, where General Blue has him under the gun.
      • Bulma establishes that Goku won’t survive a shotgun blast while he’s paralysed by Blue’s Special Power. At this critical juncture, enter The Mouse, whose intervention saves Goku’s life, as he himself states when he repays the favour later in the Chapter. What freakish good luck!
      • Hang on, a second. If Bardock’s wish is for Goku to survive to adulthood at all events and we’re taking the position that Toronbo is acting specifically to ensure this throughout Goku’s life, then we’re basically arguing that this isn’t good luck; Toronbo decided to put a Mouse in front of Goku at the critical moment in order to save his life. Bardock’s wish has predetermined Goku’s survival!
      • But hang on, again; the only reason The Mouse does anything to affect the situation at all is because Toriyama’s making an off-colour gag about General Blue’s effeminacy; he recoils and calls it “Filthy, Filthy!!” (compared with jungle boy Goku, who’s happy to keep it in his mouth for a bit). So, the only reason The Mouse is efficacious is because Blue is gay. So, what exactly are we saying now? Toronbo used Bardock’s wish to turn General Blue gay so that Goku would survive? Erm. (I know, this line of thought is deeply embarrassing as phrased; I didn't enjoy writing it, but the point is that this just goes to show that it's easy to see how a close, ‘maximal’ advocacy for Toronbo’s interference just leads to an argumentative regression back towards nonsense).
      I would say the likelihood that Toronbo is interfering closely in Goku’s life to ensure his continued survival is basically nil. (And even if he were, it’s difficult to see how this changes much about Goku’s life anyway, since critically he still needs to overcome his challenges for the story of Dragon Ball to unfold the way it does – surviving just isn’t enough.)

      But if we’re arguing for the wish maximising opportunities for Goku to survive and grow despite the theoretical odds – to “bless” him, if you like, with good fortune in a pinch that he can seize and exploit with his own gifts – this seems like a much less objectionable interpretation from the standpoint of sheer logic and likelihood, given Monaito’s comment that “A wish is a way to create hope for the future”. It also has the benefit of aligning more closely with the sort of things people have said about Goku in the past (e.g., in the Trunks: The Story manga special, Bulma claims that Goku’s real power was “He was the kind of guy who made you believe that he could make things right, no matter how terrible the situation seemed…”); he can turn even the worst sort of situation around by how he naturally is, and how he sees the opportunities even in apparently insurmountably grim problems: that’s Goku’s “unique way of thinking” which comes out in a pinch (超 #32: in similarly dire straits, Whis mentions his 柔軟性, jūnansei, “flexibility”; ならではの発想, Naradewa no hassō, a “way of thinking/approach/idea characteristic of [him]”) and gives hope for the future. It also makes better sense to see things this way from the standpoint of a more intuitively recognisable Father-Son relationship between Bardock and Goku: fathers - or at least, fathers with whom we have sympathy - don’t typically micromanage their sons’ futures; they give them the best start in life by making sure they’re ‘raised right’ (both in terms of physical growth and according to the values they wish to inculcate), and they provide a basic safety net to ensure adequate support during the most vulnerable period of life, allowing their sons to recognise and make the most of opportunities that come their way: they see some survival of themselves in their offspring while also recognising the unique individuality of that new person, and they seek to nurture it by any means necessary, giving them a ‘leg up’ wherever they can (hence Vegeta’s complaint about whether Bardock doing this is strictly “fair”: comments around the disparity of gifting one’s children with opportunities often carries this edge out in the real world). Bardock may technically be indulging in a little bit of surrogacy here instead of doing the heavy lifting himself (in fairness, he is going to die), but the intent seems clear and well-connected to a wish of this sort. And some fans may not like this more obviously Humane sentiment from the Saiyan Bardock when compared with the (more alien) rough contempt his classic depiction had for his son, but it certainly makes fine sense on its own terms.

      The key survival event that the arc seems to have in view is a good case in point for showing us the sort of thing Bardock’s wish is ‘doing’: the destruction of Planet Vegeta, which both Raditz and Kakarot escape. In A Solitary Final Battle, the Saiyans are eradicated at the margins of their operations first, before Freeza destroys the rest of them himself (and Toyotarou took this sort of “Order 66” vibe and ran with it in his own fan work, in DB Zero); Kakarot is sent to Earth as almost a standard piece of bureaucracy; Bardock has no part in it, and the story moves on its own around him, with his future already assured and foreseen. By contrast, DBMinus and Broly have Freeza take the unexpected step of ordering all Saiyans to return to Planet Vegeta so he can destroy them en masse; this brings (a naturally suspicious) Bardock back to Kakarot, and gives him the opportunity to act on his hunch to directly ensure that Kakarot survives, according to the sentiments and convictions he already holds (which this Chapter shows has already been at the front of Bardock’s mind for some time). Meanwhile, Vegeta takes the characteristically wilful step of ignoring Freeza’s order, which ensures the survival of his partner/hanger-on, Raditz. There doesn’t have to be any specific, particular interference with events, or invasive modifications of character to make things turn out right for the little Kakarot so that he “grows up well”; there’s just an unforeseen opportunity – which needn’t have occurred, but has – that allows the characters at the centre of events to make the most of things by being who they really are at heart, and seizing the opportunity at hand.

      In terms of direct protection, it doesn’t seem that the wish does anything more substantial than this. And a lot of the interpretation that seems to lead in this direction (e.g., suppositions that Bardock’s power surging later in the Chapter is a gift of the Dragon Balls so that he can beat Gas, survive, come home to Kakarot and save him), while not necessarily totally implausible when read in isolation, seems to me to cut across the other key throughline that the Chapter, and the arc, is pushing. Part of the point of the flashback in this Chapter is to teach Goku and Vegeta something about the way they’ve been approaching their fights (and by extension, themselves). If Bardock only prevails because of an extension of wish logic, then clearly there’s nothing for Goku and Vegeta to learn here and apply in their battle, or anything that they might choose to apply would be lacking a critical dimension that would disconnect the fight 40 years ago from the fight in the present. I very much doubt that’s the intention here, not least because it would ignore the obviously character-driven foundations of this plot beat. So, I’d argue that the protective character of the wish, while clear, is also clearly limited.
    • But what about the vibes? Is that all there is to it? I think it’s certainly possible to underestimate the significance of this factor (or rather, to pretend like it isn’t important just because its results are less concrete), and it seems to be a big part of why the wish is placed here: as mentioned above, this is a beat where the Natural fatherly sentiments Bardock has developed get a concrete airing in something directed towards opening up a window to a better future. But also, I think the connection along these lines, with Goku and his story specifically, helps turn an otherwise jagged beat into something that is more cohesive than it seems at first blush.

      Son Goku’s story is also the story of his interaction with the Dragon Balls – his connections with the people who have helped build his life are threaded together by the Dragon Balls. When we first meet him in DB #1, his only connection is to Grandpa Gohan through his keepsake of the Four Star Dragon Ball – more than this, Goku infers that the Dragon Ball is his Grandpa in some fashion; the knowledge that other Dragon Balls exist doesn’t shift this deep-seated conviction: by the time DB #87 rolls around, and the Four Star Dragon Ball protects Goku from Tao Pai Pai’s Dodonpa, Goku’s response is “Grampa saved my life…”; the connection is maintained when the spirit of Son Gohan actually appears in the final stage of the arc for a final hello and goodbye (DB #105-108), and Bulma chimes in to explain “That [Four Star] ball changed Son Goku’s life forever!!” And it’s true: his oldest friends, his greatest rivals, his growth from a wild jungle boy to the protector of Earth to the legendary Super Saiyan and beyond – it all centres on the Dragon Balls, the attempt to collect them, the wishes made on them, the adventures that unfold. There’s only his past as a Saiyan infant that seemed to be unrelated to his life as it would unfold. This wish made on the Dragon Balls of Planet Cereal serves not only to reveal a real and abiding connection with his father where Goku previously thought he had none (one might also bring this into line with the protective connection that he felt with his ‘Grampa’); it also brings this small, forgotten piece of his life into line with the rest of his life as he continues to live it: centred around the Dragon Balls. Goku’s life is a life shaped and blessed by the Dragon Balls. We always knew that; we know it again, in a new way.

      But there is also the connection with his father – not just in terms of sentiment, but also with respect to this specific story, and the effect it has had on Goku’s growth. Not only did the wish solidify Bardock’s hopes for his son’s future and give him openings to survive that might otherwise have been closed; it also inadvertently laid the ground for the growth of Goku’s later adulthood, by likewise safeguarding Raditz’s survival, which would result in their encounter (DB #195-204) and Goku’s growth to meet the threat of the Saiyans, evolving further in the adventures on Namek (the rest, as they say, is history); in their encounter Raditz says that he’ll find a way to reveal any trace of surviving memory in Goku that he can (DB #197); the vector of Goku’s growth has its beginning with a wish that opened the way for both he and Raditz to survive and meet, and its course has therefore led inexorably on to the revelation of those memories, the completion of a part of himself that Goku had “lost” at that time: he’s taken the long way round, back to himself, thanks to a wish made during the original encounter of 40 years ago that has shaped the story of Goku’s adulthood, which in turn has shaped the current arc story. As a survival of an encounter that Goku is able to access, learn from, and use to find further opportunity to grow now, the wish (and more broadly Bardock’s action in the Past) acts as a kind of virtuous cycle, not just opening the way to Goku’s survival into the present, but also opening a way of Bardock ‘meeting’ him in that present so he can touch off his next, vital spurt of growth to meet the challenges of the present. Small wonder that once it’s all over, Goku has a quiet moment where he perceives his father’s continued presence, on a level where they can plausibly engage (超 #87).
    So on reflection, I think the wish as it actually comes out in the reading fits a lot better than might have been expected. One could argue that its absence wouldn’t have cost the story much – I think that’s fair comment – but I also do think its presence isn’t simply superfluous, and it certainly isn’t damaging; it gives the reader positive and interesting facets of character and theme work (sentimental connections, opportunities for growth in both a diffuse and direct sense, and a deliberate reaching toward the future in a supportive rather than prescriptive way) that adds without detracting from the more important aspects of the story. That’s how I feel about it having reflected on it, anyway. I think it’s good, even if it seemed controversial.
  • As Gas rips off Bardock’s tail, his dialogue seems to indicate that having the ability to transform removed has decided the fight in his favour. Perhaps this indicates that Gas’s own power is no more than 10 times what Bardock could muster, which would make Oozaru a challenge to his position ‘on paper’ (and when Bardock turns the tables, Gas again makes the comparison with Oozaru, so this may be another indication of power differentials). Moreover, despite the consistency with which the importance of Bardock’s Resolve is presented throughout this Chapter – Gas knocks Bardock off his feet 7 times in this fight, only for Bardock to get back in there every time (on the third occasion, he even manages to land on his feet), and with surging strength – it’s also important to note that at this point, he’s left coming up short and staring down the haft of a spear. The union of Nature and Conviction, however effectively Bardock achieves it, can still be overmastered by pure power, as everything in Dragon World can. But one of the extrinsic thematic elements of the arc re-enters the fray: The Influence of Others. Kakarot’s influence on Bardock has formed a kind of feedback loop where Bardock’s own protective actions and wishes for the future now inspire Resolve in Monaito, who in turn acts to save both Bardock and, by extension, Granolah, when he had previously given up on that future and accepted ‘Fate’. This extrinsic contribution becomes inseparably linked with the intrinsic contributions of Bardock’s Nature and Conviction to work out the ultimate victory. I really like this conjunction; it comes back again in the present at the climax in 超 #86.
  • Gas’s final release of his power comes from mounting impatience as time runs out for him to finish the job before Freeza shows up. The introduction of this time-critical element is one of the ways in which the battle in the Past parallels the battle in the Present, since Elec has started that clock ticking all over again by inviting Freeza to show up in 超 #79; time will run out in 超 #87, just as it does here. Once again, Freeza’s absence but immanence is key to the way the arc unfolds.
  • Toyotarou can’t help himself, as Bardock’s blast when Gas has him by the neck is a fairly direct (albeit flopped) visual reference to his open-handed blast at the climax of A Solitary Final Battle, when Freeza’s goons dogpile him in his mad charge to confront the tyrant.
  • Yes indeed. “Why do we fight?” This arc has given us a whirl of potential answers for this thematic question: “For Money”, “To Avenge Ourselves”, “To Atone For Our Past Sins”, “To Prove Our Superiority”, “For the Sheer Love of it”, “To Gain Supremacy”, “To Validate Ourselves”, "To Eliminate Those Who Stand In Our Way", “To Protect Others” – all these have featured in some way or other. And now there’s the final, most basic answer of them all: “勝っこと” – kakkoto: “To Win”. Bardock may have been induced to fight by his unexpected desire to protect and nurture the vulnerable lives of his son (transferred to his emotional proxy, Granolah) in the moment, but once he’s in it, he’s just in it to win it, and everything else is a distraction. They’re various rationalising ‘poses’ for the simple truth that needs re-learning, if you like.

    Goku and Vegeta will attempt to incorporate this simple clarity of purpose into their fight with Gas in 超 #84-85, but it’s interesting to compare this blunt, direct approach of Goku’s father to that of another father figure (and oftentimes bearer of Dragon Ball’s message), the Muten Roshi. In his introduction to Martial Arts, Roshi teaches Goku and Kuririn that one does not study Martial Arts to win fights (DB #30; see also DB #32 for a restatement), a lesson he repeats in 超 #39 (a Chapter that, incidentally, bears one of the key words of this arc in 覚醒 – kakusei, “awakening”, and 超 #39 gives us the first ‘Awakening’ of Migatte no Goku’i; as yet another fun little aside, “Kakkoto” and “Migatte” share a character in 勝: on its own, meaning "victory") – the point is to overcome yourself. So phrased, Bardock might reply that this is stupid: one only fights to win; "what sorta idiot" would say different? But it really ends up the same, as what Roshi declares must be the end goal of concerted application (“to conquer ourselves”), Bardock can simply take for granted as part of his Saiyan Nature (“We Saiyans have a way of growing and evolving each time we push past our limits”): fighting is an activity that allows the practitioner to overcome themselves, to constantly grow past their boundaries as a whole person. Different phrasings, different assumptions, same basic message.

    More interesting, perhaps, is the potential challenge to a core thematic message of Dragon Ball: “There’s always someone stronger” (DB #46). For one, as Vegeta notes, being the strongest only lasts for a moment (超 #74); Granolah, Vegeta, Gas, Goku and Freeza all seem to have their time in the Sun, however fleetingly (and some of them more than once); the whirligig of stronger opponents emerging only gets faster and easier to take for granted as the story goes on, to the extent that Whis winks at the reader in 超 #87 and suggests it’s someone else already (or may as well be). But Bardock’s focus on winning despite the scale of the contest, and his success in contending with so overwhelmingly powerful an opponent as Gas with sheer Resolve, fundamentally challenges this fixation, because it suggests that while it’s true enough that there’s always someone stronger, maybe that doesn’t even really matter, when all is said and done: yes, your opponent may be stronger, but if you meet the challenge with deep Conviction, perfect Resolve, and act in a way that works with the grain of your True Nature (who you really are as a person), then maybe you can go right ahead and beat them anyway. 超 #87 will re-establish the saliency of the classic Dragon Ball message when Freeza one-ups everyone again, but there’s a marked shift of emphasis, from “There’s always someone stronger (so you need to keep working hard to attain that level)”, to “There’s always someone stronger (and so you should be your own target and measuring stick in working on your progress)”. And more than that, there’s a way off the merry-go-round of chasing the Strongest: it’s to nurture your True Self, and bring it with you to every encounter.

    Is that it?”, the disgruntled fan plaints. Yep, comes the answer. Because what else do you really need?
  • Gas reacts to Bardock’s final surge in power – a full-body aura of the sort we saw encompass only his arm in 超 #82 – and says that Saiyans should have no ‘ascended states’ other than Oozaru. This is actually another example of the keyword thematics that have run through the story, as the Japanese word Gas uses is…覚醒 (kakusei, “awakening”), once again – Gas has already referred to his own power as “slumbering” within him, and we already know that the idea of his “awakening” was key in 超 #80 (moreover, it’s a key concept in the arc overall, as we’ve discussed before; this is just another big example of it). This wording, resting in the ‘Conviction’ thematic keyword cluster as it does, is juxtaposed with a couple of ‘Nature’ theme-words, as Bardock counters that Saiyans “evolve” (進化 – shinka); meanwhile, Elec looks on disapprovingly when commenting that Gas has released his “inner nature” (本能 – hon’nō, “instinct”) in this fight. It’s interesting to think that the fact that he’s losing the fight is neither here nor there so far as Elec is concerned; to “lose control after unleashing yourself” is the real issue, for a man with such an investment in the kind of clear, calculating intelligence that “instinct” eschews, and who divides things according to what he can and cannot use. It’s also the occasion where we get another indication of the limits of intel in a situation that is rapidly evolving: Gas thinks Saiyans don’t have any “awakenings” apart from the Oozaru, but Bardock throws this back in his face as an intel failure, by calling him “ignorant” (お前が知らないだけだ限界を超えたときに往々にして進化するんだオレたちサイヤ人はな; “It’s just that you don’t know…We Saiyans often evolve when we exceed our limits”); not for the last time, what Gas doesn’t know is more important than what he does know; what’s more, it’s information that is a commonplace among Saiyans. Like the title of “The Strongest”, intel is only good for the moment in time (or slice of reality) that it reflects; once the object of knowledge has grown beyond that, it's no longer good for anything (stuck with his fixed ideas as he is, Gas can’t deal with it). That this is true in this past combat points the way for this to become true again in the present, as Goku grows past the limits of Ultra Instinct.
  • Colour Watch: Damn, but the use of colours and the contrasts of tints and shades on the wide shot of Bardock’s final blast (contrasted with the blinding white of the panel above it, and offset by the fluorescent yellow-green of the effect lettering) is just gorgeous. That’s it; that’s the whole comment.
  • After giving the game away regarding Freeza’s plans and his own, and botching his killing shot on Bardock, Elec takes a line from the Big Book of Villain Clichés and assumes Bardock will die after his exertions. Despite the fact that Bardock literally just surprised him by not being dead, to be fair there is a small hint that Elec’s supposition isn’t actually wrong – it’s just that he’s had another critical intel failure that has stopped him from knowing all the facts. When Monaito hobbles out of the rubble and finds Bardock, his pose is highly evocative of the healing poses we’ve seen from him earlier in the arc (particularly 超 #81-82, as he does with the dying Granolah), so it’s quite possible that Monaito’s feeble healing powers assisted in stabilising Bardock’s condition enough to keep him alive. Monaito notes that Bardock left “as soon as he was back on his feet” and he means it; both 超 #84 and the interstitial where Bardock leaves show Bardock and Monaito still bleeding from the fight, so though he's still pretty messed up, Bardock recovers enough to become mobile and head home in very short order, from a state of apparent near-death. In 超 #77, Bardock tried to stall by highlighting Monaito’s “strange power”, but Elec’s preoccupation with killing the survivors meant that he ignored this, and so neglected the opportunity to gather this critical piece of intel.
Alright. Well, I could just go ahead and put up the Chapter Notes for 超 #84 right now, but I guess I'll let this rest for a couple of days before putting that one up, for the sake of digestibility 🤣 Hope y'all enjoyed it!

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Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by kemuri07 » Thu Mar 16, 2023 12:58 pm

In regards to the wish, like I've said in the threads since: My issue isn't so much that the wish basically granted Goku magical plot armor, my issue is that the wish even happened at all. Why complicate something that did not need to be complicated. Because it didn't. It's enough to make it a coincidence that Raditz and Goku were offworld when Planet Vegeta was destroyed. It's enough. But no, DBS cannot help itself because ultimately it's merely regurgitating DBZ's success. So it does the thing that all shows that eventually wear out their welcome tend to do: cannibalize its own legacy for content. And really the wish is really. just an extension of how awful Bardock's inclusion in this series is.

I like what you're written and i think you do a good job of trying to make sense of it. But I think you're thinking waaaay more about this than the actual comic is.

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Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by GreatSaiyaman123 » Thu Mar 16, 2023 1:33 pm

If not for Cipher explaining Viz butchered Bardock's wish (He wished for them to grow up well, but Viz changes to "end up thriving", which makes no sense for Raditz and applies eternal plot armour for Goku), but in hindsight it's a cute little moment for Bardock to show he has a heart and motivate Monaito. What happened, happened, so I don't think it "ruins" any earlier stories. But if it was like Viz and it turned out Goku is still under Toronbo's protection... sure, we all know Goku isn't ever going anywhere ('cept for the Future timeline, and that would be a plothole), but it wouldn't be nice for the story to spell it like that.

I've already complained about the amount of padding in the bigger scheme, but this chapter flows surprinsgly well in the big scheme. When all is said and done, I don't think Z Bardock and Super Bardock are all that different: Bardock has always had this "small measure of humanity", caring about his team (Specially how he lets Toma die on his arms and then puts on the bandana with is blood) and not only the existence, but also the pride of his species. Z Bardock may have despised Kakarotto at first (which may have been true in Minus when Kakarott was first separated from Gine: She said it was unusual for Bardock to care about his kids) but when he saw his future in the special he still felt proud anyway. People act like Bardock was just Vegeta with Goku's face, which is both not true.

I think you make Bardock fighting for Granolah and Monaito a bigger deal than the story itself does, not to mention it's not an interpretation I'm really fond of. Bardock explicitly denies fighting just "To protect others", just like Goku and co. throughout the series, he's picking up a fight because he likes to fight, protecting the innocent is just secondary. Still, the story seemed too unsure of it in other chapters (Bardock saying "Why am I doing this?" last time we saw him), so it sounds like this chapter wasn't properly planned.

The ending is basically everything people hate about Super and just flies in the face of the chapter: Bardock just says "I don't fight to lose" and turns the tables. I must apologize before saying this, but it sounds like something straight out of Toei. Did they run out of ideas that badly? Making him go Super Saiyan would've been better than this.


A side note: How strong is Bardock here? Gas says he's rather strong for an average Saiyan, so I guess he's somewhat stronger than Raditz (2000?), and ends the fight just behind Nappa or Paragus since he was never promoted to middle class.

Bardock: 2,000
~ Powered up: 3,900

Gas: 2,400
~ Powered up: 3,000
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Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by Koitsukai » Thu Mar 16, 2023 3:16 pm

I definitely agree the point of the wish wasn't to plot-armor Goku's childhood, the interpretations that every little obstacle Goku encountered as a kid had a dragon behind them it's a little bit of a stretch. I don't think it went beyond securing Kakarotto's survival from Bejita-sei and being raised by Son Gohan/the Prince's posse.

The story could do very well without it, it didn't answer any question the story or the characters involved always had floating around, it wasn't even mentioned aside from two panels, so... really, it's like it's there to mess with the fans, who at the drop of the hat will go for the worst possible scenario like Toronbo made him survive Tambourine's assault. It probably wasn't, of course, but it's been done in such a sloppy manner than it brought more questions than it answered.
It's always funny how Toyo gets blamed for everything, when he is only holding the pen. Toriyama has his own fandom armor.

Bardock vs Gas was fun, but it was too lenghty, I don't think you needed all of those developments to tell this story, Monaito and the wish, Monaito showing up to defend Bardock, Toronbo and Bardock talking to each other, etc... I miss the original DB when fights weren't so long, characters weren't able to take so much damage and keep on going, even if this fight was exciting.
I mean, I don't mind having an entire chapter dedicated to a flashback or to Bardock per se, but when the story is suffering so much from pacing issues, and with chapters that could be trimmed down greatly, then it's a problem.

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Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by GreatSaiyaman123 » Thu Mar 16, 2023 5:25 pm

GreatSaiyaman123 wrote: Thu Mar 16, 2023 1:33 pm I've already complained about the amount of padding in the bigger scheme, but this chapter flows surprisingly well in the big scheme.
By itself*, as a standalone. Reading it once a week it’s a fun little story about Bardock with a poor ending, but it slowed pacing down to a halt back then and if I were binge reading I’d skip it.
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Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by Kappa » Fri Mar 17, 2023 2:54 pm

So I really like what they're doing with Vegeta now. I think it's cool how he feels guilty about what the saiyans did.

Also, I have a feeling that the old namekian who lives with Granolah(I forget his name) is related to King Piccolo somehow.

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Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by Magnificent Ponta » Sat Mar 18, 2023 8:44 am

Wow. What a lot of comments, all at once. Thanks everyone!

(I should really try to find more time/energy to engage outside of my main contributions, so here goes nothing)
kemuri07 wrote: Thu Mar 16, 2023 12:58 pmI like what you're written and i think you do a good job of trying to make sense of it. But I think you're thinking waaaay more about this than the actual comic is.
Hey, kemuri07! Thanks for your comment; I hope you've been enjoying what you're reading so far.

Fundamentally, I think the key difference between what the story is saying and what my contributions to The Super Re-Read are saying can be found in the fact that the story is a story and has the responsibilities of telling that story, whereas I have the luxury of expostulating on what I think it means and why, and unpack it to my own satisfaction in a 10,000 word essay any time I want. That in itself gives it a very different-looking aspect than the comic itself does because the approach is different (and being able to explore and explain at length makes it look more 'sophisticated' than it really is as a consequence, I suppose - I've been pulled up on that before, but it's too late to try being any other way 😅), but I really do think that in a more general (but also thoroughgoing) way, the things I'm writing about are meant to be there, and meant to be picked up on.

Of course, in turn I have the freedom and ability to layer things with my own reading (which is part of the point of doing this, as I see it), so sometimes what I write about is simply because I think it's an enriching and rewarding and interesting approach (for me, and hopefully for you, Dear Reader). Do I think, for instance, that Toyotarou painstakingly researched Acupuncture points to figure out which specific bits Granolah should strike during the fight? No, I daresay he didn't. Is it nevertheless basically what he's showing us? Yes, clearly. Is it fun to look into it and see some cool (perhaps coincidental, perhaps not) stuff that drums up? Sure is, for me (and hopefully, for you). Do I think Toyotarou is consciously aware of Daoist talking points? Very likely not. Do I think, nevertheless, that he's consciously deploying theme-work around Nature, Growth, Potential, and acting with one's True Self, as a general approach that yields interpretive rewards when using this particular lens (internally cohesive as it is) on it in my reading of what's there? Sure do. And do I think Toyotarou is deliberately and consistently using keywords and related wording through the arc to evoke these thematic ideas (my execrable 'command' of Japanese notwithstanding)? Certainly; it's hardly the first time he's done that in the series - just look at all the 'true strength' stuff that pops up in the Tournament of Power. This kind of craft stuff isn't new to Toyotarou; maybe it's underappreciated but even if I step beyond it in my reading, that doesn't mean I'm conjuring it from nothing or necessarily thinking about things that haven't gone into the construction of the story in some way; from my perspective I'm just highlighting and annotating (at length), really.

But I also think that so far as Dragon Ball and making conscious reference or allusion to the original in order to build the plot-points and character work that he's writing (which I think is all over The Wish, as you can see) are concerned here, I definitely think Toyotarou is more sensitised to, and willing to deploy, this stuff than most readers give him credit for. As an example, in the next Chapter (84), Toyotarou actually keys into an extremely abstruse reference from Raditz's dialogue in DB #195 to touch off all the 'Pride' stuff at the top of the Chapter, which took me 4 read-throughs to pick up on - and it "works" with the ideas of memory and 'losing sight of' one's pride, belief in one's own power, the visual associations with Goku's infancy, etc. (the whole thing doesn't actually work in the reading in my opinion, but I mean it "works" in a technical sense insofar as it deliberately conjures a complex of related elements that exist in the story by means of that reference). One interview noted that where Dragon Ball is concerned, Toyotarou's sensitivity to the work is reverential, almost religious, and I think that's worth taking seriously. For me, that is not only true, but the investigation and expenditure of effort to meet that halfway also makes for a better reading experience.

And that's the point of my contributions here; not just to give my opinions or to make things seem more 'clever' than is warranted, but to enhance the reading experience for anyone else encountering the material. And I'm interested in seeing readings from other people too, which is why I made the topic - I believe that everyone's insights and willingness to engage with the material enhances appreciation of it. Hopefully I'm just holding up my end on that.

Just my two penneth there, really.
Koitsukai wrote: Thu Mar 16, 2023 3:16 pmThe story could do very well without it, it didn't answer any question the story or the characters involved always had floating around, it wasn't even mentioned aside from two panels, so... really, it's like it's there to mess with the fans, who at the drop of the hat will go for the worst possible scenario like Toronbo made him survive Tambourine's assault. It probably wasn't, of course, but it's been done in such a sloppy manner than it brought more questions than it answered.
Thanks for your comment! I'm not sure about whether the use of it is sloppy, exactly; I think it's meant to be deliberately ambiguous because the point is about leaving things open so that there is space in which to grow - I feel that anything more prescriptive than what we see would've cut across one of the main throughlines of the arc and would've been much more like what the antagonists are doing in the story. And by not being prescriptive, I think it invites questions, which are more there to think on than to be answered definitively. That's not a craft defect from my perspective (unlike, say, the way they try to explore the 'believe in your power' angle in Chapter 84, which is a definite attempt to say something or other and really is sloppy).
GreatSaiyaman123 wrote: Thu Mar 16, 2023 1:33 pmI think you make Bardock fighting for Granolah and Monaito a bigger deal than the story itself does, not to mention it's not an interpretation I'm really fond of. Bardock explicitly denies fighting just "To protect others", just like Goku and co. throughout the series, he's picking up a fight because he likes to fight, protecting the innocent is just secondary.
Thanks for your comment! But I'm not saying Bardock is doing this - quite the reverse.

He was induced to fight in the first place because of the emotional transference from his thoughts about Gine/Kakarot to Muezli/Granolah, and thus he has acted in a protective fashion at the outset - that's clear enough; it's why he spares and protects them in Chapter 77 in the first place, and it's why he is so angered and willing to push this to its foreseeable conclusion when Elec kills Muezli. And Chapter 83 makes clear that even in the midst of the battle, he's still thinking about Kakarot because when given the choice of literally anything, he wishes for him to grow up well. It's clear that Kakarot is generally in Bardock's mind here; others benefit from it almost by chance.

But he's not consciously acting to protect others; he's not Son Goku and never will be. His inducements aside, once he's in the fight, he's fighting to fight (and to win), as you say (and as I said, in my Chapter Notes). That's why his convictions are always expressed around winning, continuing to fight, his own power, etc., and this feeds both his power in the fight and segues neatly into the 'believe in your own power' stuff that comes through from the next Chapter onwards. But it's also about being oneself. Bardock is always himself and, whatever impresses him to act in the first place, he does it in such a way that he's true to his own Self - this comes through in the rest of the arc as well, since it is apparent that when he thinks of Kakarot, his only wish is really that he should be able to be himself as he Truly is, which ends up being the way forward for Goku next.
GreatSaiyaman123 wrote: Thu Mar 16, 2023 1:33 pmStill, the story seemed too unsure of it in other chapters (Bardock saying "Why am I doing this?" last time we saw him), so it sounds like this chapter wasn't properly planned.
There is a point of interest here, I think - principally from the sorts of things that were being said about Gas in Chapter 80, for me, which don't seem to quite line up with what we see here, so you may well be right in inferring that Toyotarou only had quite a general idea of the beats in this fight before he specifically sat down to write and panel it.

It might be a translation issue, but in Chapter 80 Monaito seems to indicate Bardock had already seized the initiative and gained the upper hand in the fight before Gas unleashed his Instincts as a final resort, thus losing himself (with Monaito unaware of how the outcome of the fight came about), but the Chapter here of course has Gas unleash his Instinct by choice in anger and impatience about not being able to put Bardock and co down, and Bardock only 'has him on the ropes' and makes him lose himself after this (for which Monaito is unconscious).
GreatSaiyaman123 wrote: Thu Mar 16, 2023 1:33 pmThe ending is basically everything people hate about Super and just flies in the face of the chapter: Bardock just says "I don't fight to lose" and turns the tables.
I can't agree with this interpretation. The story actually makes great play of showing us that when Bardock does stuff, he's actually stronger than you'd have expected, and he keeps getting stronger as he acts and as he fights; his power is repeatedly surging and we're shown that. His first assault gets Gas sort of impressed, auras fly about all over the place to surprise Gas because Bardock is doing stuff he technically shouldn't be able to do (like batting away Gas's blast), gritting his teeth and withstanding Gas's assaults, getting back in there and continuing to fight even when Gas raises his own power - he even punches a stronger Gas so hard he carves a trench with him. It's shown to us that Bardock is constantly getting stronger as he acts with his convictions throughout that fight; it's precisely the opposite of a sudden turning of the tables from nowhere - it's just that at that point, Bardock's power has actually escalated beyond Gas's for the first time (remember that Gas's power has visibly escalated twice to keep him ahead of Bardock by this point), so it's the first time he has a proper advantage, which is what makes that beat stand out, I think.

As for how strong they get? It's a strange one because I guess it depends on whether it sticks or is only accessible for similar situations, where Bardock is concerned. If it's a situationally-based awakening/evolution, you could go crazy with it and give him a 50x boost if you wanted, but whenever I think of going wild, my gut tells me that Toyotarou loves A Solitary Final Battle too much and is probably thinking something like 10,000 BP for Bardock at the end (if BP escalation is even the right way to think of this, considering that Super is also fond of pushing the throughline of getting huge performance enhancements by using what you already have to the utmost). That'd line up nicely enough with the Oozaru-type comments that pop up in the Chapter if Bardock is 'ordinarily' something like 1,000 BP (which would put him at the high end of the low class, given that Freeza's only interested in getting soldiers at least that strong for his own army).
Kappa wrote: Fri Mar 17, 2023 2:54 pm So I really like what they're doing with Vegeta now. I think it's cool how he feels guilty about what the saiyans did.
Hey Kappa! Thanks for stopping by! We look forward to seeing what you think of the whole arc once you've caught up with it; hopefully the various comments and discussions about it in this topic will help you enjoy and appreciate the story too!

Summary for Chapter 84 will be up later today!

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Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by LoganForkHands73 » Sat Mar 18, 2023 10:44 am

The wish isn't as conceptually terrible as some make out. The intense backlash boils down to people's understandable attachment to the post-Saiyan arc narrative of Goku being the underdog outcast who had absolutely nothing good going for him until he came to Earth. As said, this is not the first time that Goku has worn some prophetic importance on his shoulders -- from the Red Ribbon Army to the Piccolo arc, he was portrayed as more of a Chosen One than people like to admit. As little as we understand about the exact details and mechanics of it, the wish (probably) doesn't undermine the choices and paths that Goku has taken. It just gave him a slight boost in luck stats at the beginning of his life, perhaps just enough to get him away from Planet Vegeta before Freeza fingered it to death.

The only issue I have with the wish plot point is very simple: it's just a bit cheesy, innit?
kemuri07 wrote: Thu Mar 16, 2023 12:58 pm I like what you're written and i think you do a good job of trying to make sense of it. But I think you're thinking waaaay more about this than the actual comic is.
Lol, /thread.

Jokes aside, if Toyotaro really put a fraction of the amount of thought into the manga that Ponta and the rest of us put into analysing it, he'd have a Nobel Prize for Literature, but Ponta's already explained his intentions for the thread well enough. If you can suspend your disbelief into rolling with the core premise that there actually are some deeply valuable and profound themes inside a teen boys' comedy-action-adventure comic midquel to a multi million dollar media franchise published in a video game spin-off magazine, which need to be painstakingly dissected in the form of several hagiographic essays... then you can have some fun.

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Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by Magnificent Ponta » Sat Mar 18, 2023 5:46 pm

The Super Re-Read: Chapters 83 – 86
Part 1 (Chapters 83 and 84)
Part 2 of Part 1 (Chapter 84)


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(Hey, it'll be the last colour banner, so why not)

Continuing from the previous part of the first part! Happy Saiyan Day, Everyone!

Chapter 84 – The Pride of an Entire Race/A People’s Pride
20 May 2022
Chapter Notes
  • It’s interesting to reflect on the presence of children in this arc, as Son Goku recalls his connections with Bardock as an infant in relation to the events of 超 #83 and DBMinus (and bearing in mind the outsized ‘presence’ children such as the infant Kakarot, the child Granolah, and the younger Gas have in the ‘Past’ strand of this story). The connections of protecting uncertain growth and the embodiment of future potential are clearly of a piece with childhood, but (to indulge in one last Daoist-flavoured note) children are also full of De (Virtue, Potency); they’re never anything other than themselves, truly and effortlessly authentic; they have the perfect, undifferentiated harmony of Original Nature in themselves, and this is a powerful expression of the Dao (the Cosmic power of being and nothingness underpinning all existence). When a child cries, says a Daoist, they do so with their whole self; they use all their strength without cramping up or getting tired; even though a child has no desire or use for sex, because their natural De is perfect, undissipated by the delusive ideation to which adults are prone, they nevertheless have the capacity for it because they are full of energy (Dao De Jing §55: “Before it ever knows of intercourse, its phallus standing shows its full life force”; fixation on erections and ‘essence’ retention is a weird little sub-clade of Daoist and broader Chinese thought – children are not exempt); a child is natural, spontaneous, carefree: “The infant acts without knowing what he is doing, moves without knowing where he is going” (Zhuangzi §23); even so, their power is small, tender, yielding; it is intrinsically bound up with their vulnerability, their weakness, even their ‘uselessness’ from a conventional standpoint: they are sustained by the nurturing force of Dao in their De (De is, effectively, Dao inhering in the specific Nature of a thing, and as such is more limited, but nevertheless is the key manifestation of Dao in concrete things), and so growth and potential are key concepts when considering De. That which is ‘completed’, ‘full-grown’ is basically dead to a Daoist (“Man alive is tender, gentle, Hard and fast in death…For fast and hard are marks of dying, And gentle, tender marks of life…Let strength and might be put below, And tender, gentle in control”: Dao De Jing §76); that which is vitally powerful keeps growing, is never complete, is unselfconsciously self-transforming and self-transcending according to its own Nature, rather than being put to a preconceived use by a controlling intellect.

    The child, and the childlike, are perfect in their self-ness.

    Remind you of anyone we know? (Not the boners; the rest of it.)

    The infant Kakarot is officially Not Strong; Bardock is well aware that his Battle Potential will land him as an Infiltration Baby, the castaways of Saiyan Society (DBMinus); Classic Bardock even scorns him as “scum”, “the lowest-class warrior without any promise at all” (perversely, Current Bardock accepts the same facts about his son, but instead sees this as just another reason to want to ensure the infant thrives). But this infant, simply by being itself, embodies vulnerability, growth and potential in a way that fundamentally affects Bardock’s outlook – in turn, Bardock acts in accord with his Saiyan Nature, fighting in a way that ensures the continuation of this growth in his son and his proxy, Granolah; he does it spontaneously, with full force and total dedication of his whole self: he resolves not to back down or leave, not to flee or be ordered off, not even to die until he wins. He’s acting totally with the grain of his own self, he’s perfect in his selfhood, and in his selfishness in pursuing these ends he is very like a child himself – single-minded, naturally harmonious with himself, but also growing and self-transcending. This, in turn, opens up a window into the future for Son Goku to continue to be his own childlike, perfectly authentic self (see, e.g., 超 #85, just before Son Goku activates True Ultra Instinct: “Despite your impending death…you remain carefree”, “I guess so. That’s just how I am.”). The insignificant power of a useless infant thus threads through to the Cosmic level: “The gentle will outdo the strong, and the nonmaterial are able to enter the impregnable” (Dao De Jing §43), “Gentle conquers strong, and tender hard” (Dao De Jing §78).
  • Goku’s snapshot memories of Bardock and Gine tie the Past plotline back into the scenes from DBMinus and Broly.
    • After returning to reconnect with the infant Kakarot, we see a panel of Bardock departing once more, with Leek waiting in the doorway: Bardock’s tail is missing here, still, so one gets the impression that not much time has passed from the events of 超 #83. Toyotarou often forgets that Bardock has a tail (see, for instance, the Toyotarou Drew It!! where he forgot to do this; it was added for the reproduction of this piece as the interior frontispiece art for Volume 11), but the instances where we have been able to track the regrowth of tails in Dragon Ball suggests it is a process that takes several months: it takes Son Goku approximately 8 months to regrow his tail from the first time we see it cut off in DB #22 (it reappears suddenly in the Budokai, in DB #40); it also takes Son Gohan around 11 months to regrow his tail from when Piccolo removes it in DB #208 (it also reappears suddenly, during the fight with Vegeta in DB #239), so Bardock’s recovery time seems to be brief. His tail will be back by the time of DBMinus.
    • Leek standing at the door indicates that Bardock is departing for the tour of conquest that leads up to DBMinus, where Leek is his only partner. However, since by the time Bardock returns to Vegeta, Kakarot is around 3 years old, it seems unlikely that the planet we see the pair conquering by that time is their first destination; this seems vaguely indicative of a much longer tour of duty, where Saiyan teams might be dispatched to several planets in succession before finding reason to return to Planet Vegeta. This seems to reflect the original series, where Vegeta and Nappa are clearing another planet (DB #204) while they have another, more “potent” planet lined up for conquest immediately afterwards (hence Raditz reaching out to Goku, in DB #197). Raditz is also present with Gine as Bardock departs, which lines up with Gine’s update on Bardock’s return, that Raditz has become a full-fledged child combatant in Nappa’s group, and paired specifically with Prince Vegeta. That Goku has memories of Raditz links to a small but important detail in the original series, since Raditz is scandalised to note that Goku has forgotten him when they meet again (DB #197).
    • We get Gine’s daily grind as apparently many months pass; a couple of panels where she gnaws on what are presumably the offcuts of her work at the Meat Processing plant where she works (Kakarot’s incubator sits in a room behind the processing chamber proper), and chatting with the other Saiyan female who works there (also introduced in DBMinus). Gine sleeps on a stool by the table in the back; we’ve never seen Saiyans use bedding – the interiors of the Saiyan Spacepods, which are “easy on the body” and made to allow cold sleep, nevertheless don’t permit their users to lie prone; likewise, recuperation is undertaken in a seated position, and infants are likewise held upright in their incubators until they are released at the age of around 3.
  • We’ve had plot-driven, theme-driven, and character-driven arcs in Dragon Ball Super so far, and in this Chapter we see the awkward enthronement of message-driven Dragon Ball, as the characters lay it all out for us. I think there are a couple of reasons why it feels quite so awkward: firstly, Dragon Ball hasn’t historically gone in for extended, in-your-face sequences of message-bearing before – mostly it’s quite oblique, and even if it is a direct-to-reader ‘message’, it tends to be fleeting (really, the only straightforward ‘message’ that comes to mind is from DB #112, when Bora says “Upa, from this day on, do you think you can live each day as vigorously and courageously as Son Goku?”), so the earnestness of this sequence feels slightly out of keeping with the tenor of the series, from the drop. But also, the Chapter takes what looks like a real swerve by introducing the idea of “Pride” (誇り, hokori) in the middle of all this, and the delivery gets further confused by introducing it on what seems like a broad-brush Racial level while giving it a set of special definitions that seem only to apply to the situation at hand. The outcome is…unfortunate, and obfuscates the key message.

    Son Goku is the one to lead on the subject of “Pride”, and specifically Saiyan Pride, which is curious given his history as an Earthling, and seems empty at first glance. Connections between the Nature of the Saiyan warrior race and their Pride (and even specifically between Goku, Vegeta, and Bardock) have been drawn before outside of this sequence: Tatsuya Nagamine, Director of Dragon Ball Super: Broly, has opined that Bardock, Goku and Vegeta (and Broly, Noble Savage that he is) have all retained the purity of Nature of the Saiyans long after they lost their Pride under Freeza’s thumb, and that an encounter between Saiyans of such purity invigorates them each with a renewed sense of Pride – arguably, just as the encounter between Goku and Broly was the spur for such a renewal, the way in which Goku and Vegeta have just encountered Bardock could be seen as another opening for a sparking of Pride through encountering similar purity of Nature. Whatever one thinks of that (I must confess that introducing language around Purity and Renewal in among the Nature and Pride rhetoric really doesn’t make this whole thing less icky, for me), and whatever influence this may have had on Toyotarou’s thinking here, this sort of talk seems very much more at home with Vegeta on the face of it, who references Saiyan Pride earlier in the arc (超 #76) and whose Pride has occasionally been central in the telling of the original story, often popping up as a consideration when his actions are at their most questionable: see, for instance, his insistence on fighting the Androids alone even when at a disadvantage (DB #353), his abetting Cell’s completion and the way Trunks holds off saving him from the consequences of that decision or revealing a power greater than his own (DB #383-384), or his consent to Babidi’s control because learning the power gulf between himself and Goku was a blow to his Pride (DB #459); from another perspective, Goku realises that the “Pride of a Saiyan” meant that Vegeta hated being used as Freeza’s puppet, though his own actions and attitudes were hateful on their own terms (DB #308). In all respects, the connection between his power and his pride is evident.

    In Goku’s mouth, however, it sounds foreign. But in his case, we actually enter the realm of direct reference to the original series: specifically, Raditz’s statement, “Have you lost your pride…the pride of the Saiyan warriors…Kakarot?!!” (DB #195; Raditz uses hokori here, as one might expect.) In that scene, we get our first view of the infant Kakarot in the series (who likewise gets prime focus in the first sequences of 超 #84), and of course the first encounter between Raditz and Goku in DB #197 centres around Goku’s loss of memory (referenced in this arc in 超 #81) and the revelation of the Saiyans, “our proud and mighty race”, as “The most powerful race in the Universe!!” Their Power is their Pride. So, in Goku’s case, this is framed by allusion as the restoration of a part of himself that he had “lost sight of” (Vegeta uses this wording in 超 #84; it’s also the specific wording Raditz uses in DB #195, so this is likewise a reference, I think); the reintegration of his memories of infancy, his pride in his power as a Saiyan, all come together at this point; the Nature and Conviction thematic groupings are drawn together in this allusive beat to latch onto what is being discussed now. I feel like this is quite an obscure reference to bring full-circle (I like to think of myself as pretty sensitised to reference and allusion, but it took me till the fourth go around to figure out that this was in focus here), but it makes sense of what seems like an otherwise disparate and idiosyncratically-defined complex of concepts haphazardly crowbarred into the sequence; once you key into what they’re going for, this element seems a little more cohesive. Goku is able to return to his own beginning and reintegrate that last lost piece of himself, of his True Nature; this includes a Pride in his own Power that will serve to fuel his own Convictions, which he relies on in the coming fight.

    But then we still have the fundamental problem of why Goku or Vegeta should identify with “Saiyan Pride” even in this apparently strict sense of having pride and confidence in ones’ own might, when one considers how Saiyans on the whole have used this power – namely, in a cruel and destructive way that has devastated the lives of untold millions, and have been perfectly happy to do so (unsurprisingly Akira Toriyama, more straightforward and less prone to wax lyrical than other contributors to the franchise, has simply said that one should not wish to be like the Saiyans). To be fair, the arc hasn’t been insensible to this problem by any means (even if the Official Arc Summary doubles down by insisting that this sort of Pride is 気高き, kedakaki, “Noble”): the whole premise of it has centred around a character who knows only too well the dark deeds of the Saiyans on the whole, and who has had plenty of reason to hate them because of what they’ve done; half the arc keeps a keen focus on this, and we see it in detail in 超 #77. The contrast at this later point in the arc comes with knowing that the Saiyans (even those who are routine partakers in that aforementioned carnage) can apply that might to better purposes, in keeping with their personal convictions, and that, even in the midst of their more typical actions, one particular Saiyan did do this in a key way that reaches into the present. So, whereas Goku can have his Conviction fuelled by the reintegration of his True Nature, Vegeta is able to see that a lifelong awareness of that Nature and all that it implies (including its use for evil in his own Past) doesn’t necessarily have to make for a lack of Conviction through the sense that one can only be true to their Nature by acting in a certain preconceived way, and feeling guilt for being in thrall to the tyranny of it. The unclear, saccharine clumsiness with which ‘the other side of the coin’ is considered here makes it all too easy to misconstrue this as just a bald statement that ‘SAIYANS RULE OK’, but it’s really pointing up that one can act with the grain of one’s True Self and employ one’s Nature in the service of one’s Convictions, rather than being resigned to the idea that one’s Nature destines a particular set of behaviours – and so one can have Pride in a Power that is used to the full, in a genuine way: the Better Angels of One’s Nature are still part of One’s Nature. Goku and Vegeta taking this on board will work out for good overall in the climax of the story, because that's in their true natures as well.

    Finally, Monaito basically points out that the Pride of a Tribe (any Tribe; the Saiyans aren’t particularly the focus of his statement) belongs to and inheres in the individuals who make it up – so long as they’re true to themselves, and act in a way that is consonant with that, they bear the Pride of the Tribe they belong to, because they therefore bring the best of what that Tribe has to offer and can themselves have Pride in that. With that understanding, the sequence carries a meaning that seems counter to that which many have derived from it: it’s not really about the glorification of essentialist Racial characteristics. A lopsided focus on one’s Nature without also having Conviction merely provokes fatalism (as with Vegeta’s guilt in the early arc), and Unnatural Conviction (that is, a strongly-held Conviction that is in tension with one’s Nature, as with Granolah’s fixation on vengeance through most of the arc) is destructive. A character has to bring a focus on both elements in proper perspective, aligned rightly. The framing of all this is unfortunately so clumsy that it’s very easy to misinterpret, or to react with total ambivalence: framing it on this Alien Tribe level, even when it’s actually talking about individuals and who they really are and what they really believe in, serves to detach the message from something the reader can intuitively connect with. Too many elements are pushed into what ought to be a clean and lean message, and it comes out messy and misses its mark. The reader can clean it back up a bit by scrutinising what the sequence is trying to do and refer to overall, but one can certainly be forgiven for not expending the effort to clarify what the story itself muddles – I’ve always believed that it’s necessary to meet stuff like this halfway to try to be open to what is being attempted, but in this case it’s a bridge too far and consequently this makes for a big distracting miscue at the top of the Chapter, even though (I think) I get what they’re going for overall. Bluntly, the series should probably stick to being oblique and/or brisk and light in how it deploys any messages it wants the reader to pick up.
  • We get one last oblique opportunity to compare the current depiction of Bardock with the classic depiction from A Solitary Final Battle, with Monaito mentioning the idea of Bardock passing down his “will” (difficult to verify by the low-res drafts, but appears to be 遺志, ishi, the last wish of the deceased); the same-sounding expression is used in the Special (but see below), as the dying Bardock commands, “Kakarot, carry out my will! You will avenge the Saiyans, and our Planet Vegeta!”. Goku does respond to this in some fashion, by resolving to defeat Freeza in return for the Saiyans and Namekians he destroyed (DB #308), but otherwise Goku has no particular sentimental identification with the Saiyans at this stage, so this expression of Bardock’s “will” seems forced, particularly in its conscription of Son Goku as an avenging proxy. The contrast with Bardock’s “will” in this storyline couldn’t be clearer, and it’s one of the better facets of the scene, for me. Monaito specifically eschews vengeance as an extension of Bardock’s “will” here, and the prescriptiveness of his “will” as in the Special is nowhere to be found here. That fits with the character of his wish in 超 #83, which only seeks to allow Goku an open future to grow into, and as Monaito declares now, Bardock’s will is simply that Goku accept his 本質 (honshitsu, “true nature”, “essence”) and stick to his 信念 (shin’nen, “beliefs”, “convictions”). In short, Bardock’s “will” is that Goku should be himself; his True Self. He isn’t trying to force Goku into a preconceived shape to fit any particular purpose; he’s trusting that so long as Goku always remembers to be true to himself, and is able to bring everything that he is to any situation, that he’ll always be equal to the challenge.

    Moreover, this isn’t even the first time in Dragon Ball Super that Goku has ended up bearing the “will” of another character (albeit with a slightly different meaning): in 超 #64, Goku mentions that the recently-departed Merus’ “will (this time 意思, also pronounced ishi but this time meaning "will" in the sense of "intention", "wish", or "purpose") lives on in me”, as prelude to his achieving the proper emotional control required to complete Ultra Instinct. Here, of course, Bardock’s "will" is borne by him, and will end up in Goku gaining the insight required to reintegrate his own self with Ultra Instinct, to push its strength beyond what he has hitherto achieved. It’s unfortunate that this key expression of the themes of the arc is hitched so awkwardly to an ostensibly tangentially-related set of concepts as mentioned above, but insofar as this element comes under consideration and is given pride of place, I think this works a little better – it certainly dovetails better with the coming battle, where Goku is able to take the things he’s learned and approach them from a different and more characteristic angle, in 超 #85.
  • The awkwardness of the scene is ratcheted up slightly, while fortunately getting a playful pushback at the same time, when Monaito dresses Goku and Vegeta in Saiyan garb. We saw clothing bearing the lessons learned by the main characters in the early stages of the arc, when in 超 #71 Beerus hands Vegeta an earring that signifies the bearer can use Hakai, and Whis retaliates by signing Son Goku’s shirt once again – this time the lesson is from a Saiyan through-and-through, so Monaito gives the pair Saiyan armour. But since this is really Freeza Force garb (and we’ve seen discomfort from characters at wearing clothing based on this design: DB #375), the signals get pretty mixed and uncomfortable – it’s not really like Son Gohan electing to wear clothes in the style of his mentor Piccolo (DB #245, 390) or his father Goku (DB #496), so I do like that both the Saiyans are uncomfortable doing this and would rather be more like themselves, as per the actual thematic lesson that just got trotted out; it’s a cute record-scratch ‘o-oh, was this not what we were going for?’ moment, and it obliquely brings the themes back again through a gentle cringe gag.
  • Goku and Vegeta emerge ready to do battle with Gas, in clothes that are more familiar to the readership; Goku’s back in his normal clothes (less Whis’s signature, and by way of a cute Interstitial where he gets some sleeves), whereas Vegeta’s back in his spandex body suit from the Buu arc. Not only does this do a little bit of visual bridging with Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero where Vegeta is dressed in the same garb; it’s also a potential visual connection with Vegeta as he was under Babidi’s Charm in the Buu arc. This is conventionally known among the fandom as ‘Majin Vegeta’, but Daizenshuu Vol. 2 actually gives this Vegeta the designation “Hakai-Ouji” (破壊王子, “Prince of Destruction”), which dovetails in an obvious way with his current focus in using the powers of the Gods of Destruction; it’s not a figurative expression anymore.

    Additionally, it’s worth musing that there’s a set of (perhaps coincidental, but nevertheless quite strong) similarities between Vegeta in these two ‘modes’: his will to control his own body freely comes to the forefront in both (note at the end of this Chapter, Gas asks in astonishment, “What trick is this..? How is your body still moving?”, and compare with DB #456-458, where Vegeta repeatedly asserts control over his own body by sheer willpower in the face of Babidi’s attempts to make him act otherwise), there is the admission in both that Vegeta presumes a reversion to his old self would produce the strength that he’s trying to find (超 #76, DB #459), and there are beats in both relating to how critical to Vegeta his Pride is (we just came off the ‘Pride’ beat in this Chapter, but DB #458 is a famous moment along these lines). It seems the ‘Hakai-Ouji’ remains quite consistent in certain ways, though the context may change and the years roll by.

    Perhaps equally coincidentally, Toyotarou released his own drawing of ‘Majin Vegeta’ as part of a Dokkan Battle collab wallpaper piece for “Saiyan Day” (18th March: by goroawase number-punning, “Saiya” converts to the number 318), and this got posted up on the Official Dragon Ball site between the release of 超 #83 and 超 #84 with additional interview content. There are some fairly clear similarities between the way Toyotarou draws features of this form of Vegeta and his approach to Vegeta using Wagamama no Goku’i – in particular, his dark and frenzied expression (apparently the key point when drawing Majin Vegeta), and the use of raised veins to depict the strain of Vegeta’s musculature, which becomes apparent again later in this Chapter and 超 #85. Toyotarou mentioned in the Volume 19 Release Interview (Part 2) that while he tends to draw Goku and Vegeta’s muscles in a broadly comparable fashion (most of the difference being due to height), he takes special care to identify and depict the detail of Vegeta’s blood vessels on his arms in this form (Timestamp: 02:07 to 03:07).
  • Colour Watch: Goku and Vegeta’s transformation panel introduces a really interesting centre-line shadow pattern on Goku’s body contours in particular, which isn’t suggested by the original black and white pages. I assume this is meant to link up with the huge glowing geyser of power Goku and Vegeta generate in the next panel, so that this panel effectively shows Goku as lit up by an external, multidirectional light source that allows these shadows to play on his figure. It’s a very arresting choice.
  • Oil amusingly totally botches the technique names for Goku and Vegeta’s Divine Power Forms; given his schtick as the Heeter eyes and ears, the fact that he’s lost track of the technique names and given his family a silly round of Chinese Whispers is both amusing for poking fun at the slightly overwrought punning that sits at the heart of these names, and pointed on a more serious level in showing the limits of intel-gathering as subject to error in transmission: ultimately, all he can say of use is that they’re strong, and they were already used against Granolah before Elec made his wish. Goku’s 身勝手の極意, Migatte no Goku’i, becomes 自分勝手のなんちゃら, Jibungatte no nancha-ra, “Selfish Something or other” (Google Translate suggests “Selfish bastard” :lol: ); Vegeta’s 我儘の極意, Wagamama no Goku’i, becomes 気まぐれの秘訣, Kimagure no Hiketsu, “Secret of Caprice”.
  • We get a juxtaposition of two approaches and assumptions that have threaded this arc, once again, as the fight begins and proceeds: the Heeters again embody the idea of Calculation, as Gas assumes that Goku and Vegeta are fighting together because they think it will improve their ‘odds’, and Elec talks a little later about how his own calculations around the wish for Gas have effectively anticipated and negated the power, abilities, and teamwork that Goku and Vegeta might bring to bear. On the other side of things, Goku and Vegeta repudiate this approach by taking a leaf from Bardock’s book: they’re not the least bit interested in Calculation, but are instead displaying firm Conviction; they’re determined to win no matter what. The one approach presumes a static, rigid logic, whereas the other betrays a more intuitive and fluid perspective.
  • Toyotarou forgets Vegeta’s earring in several panels intermittently throughout this Chapter, particularly the sequence immediately leading up to the battle and the earliest combat choreography (it appears more consistently in the later Chapter, but there are still occasions where it’s notably absent). He noted and apologised for this little goof on Twitter, asking the audience to kindly “fill in” the blanks he’s left. Fortunately, these errors have been caught and rectified for the colour release, and Vegeta’s earring is consistently present. Toyotarou also forgets Elec’s ridiculous little chinbeard in one prominent panel later in the Chapter (slightly more understandable, since he spent all of 超 #83 drawing him without one); the colour release corrects this goof too.
  • The combat choreography obviously has an outsized place in this Chapter, focusing as it does on Goku and Vegeta fighting Gas together. The last time the pair fought properly together was in taking on the weakened Jiren in 超 #41-42, but the nature of the choreography here is very different to that fight. In 超 #41-42, Goku and Vegeta’s movements deliberately mirror each other, and their actions take place either simultaneously in action panels, or are represented in complementary panels that communicate the synchronicity of their attack on Jiren. In 超 #84, however, Toyotarou only occasionally gives Goku and Vegeta this sort of combat synchronisation for ‘set piece’ beats (e.g., their first combined strike, the mirrored kick on Gas, the Kamehameha/Gyarikku Hou), instead choosing more often to alternate between the pair for short choreographed sequences. One might suggest that this is in keeping with the tendency of this arc to represent things as taking place in generally neat, discrete ‘turns’ – a defect for the arc overall, but I think this helps sell the more competitive character of their team-up on this occasion, as they each have individually resolved to win for themselves, and it also allows for these sequences to show off the unique character of their forms and how they are fighting with them: Goku’s sequences are usually sharp but also contained, often using straight line motion conveying multiple quick movements in single action panels, whereas Vegeta’s seem wilder and heftier, with wider swinging motions whose beats are often spread across more than one panel (incidentally, on an impromptu Colour Watch note, the colourist unfortunately goofs by mixing up Goku and Vegeta’s flight auras, giving Goku’s straighter flight arc Vegeta’s colours and Vegeta’s erratic, wider swooshing arc Goku’s colours, despite colouring the Ultra Ego flames around them just fine…). I think Toyotarou does a good job of leveraging the choreography to convey good combat moments for each kind of Divine Power form separately while still giving a clear sense of Goku and Vegeta fighting together in a coherent way against Gas.
  • It’s also interesting to note that the fight yields a couple of instances of direct opposition between the skills that are peculiar to the characters on both sides – specifically, Gas’s innate technique of conjuring weapons directly counters – and comes up short against – Goku and Vegeta’s Divine Power techniques. Gas conjures a spiked mace and whacks Vegeta, but Goku dodges his swings with the mace without much issue (as one might expect of Ultra Instinct) and Gas is obliged to throw it away and rely on his enhanced power to catch Goku; shortly thereafter, Gas conjures a shield to deflect Vegeta’s “God of Destruction move”, but the shield disintegrates in the face of the attack, and Gas is again forced to fall back on the crutch of his wished-for powers to win through against the pair.
  • Elec makes an opaque comment that there’s some kind of difference between the wish to make Granolah ‘#1 in the Universe’ and the kind of ‘#1 in the Universe’ that Gas is: the wording is 別物, betsumono, “another thing”, which perhaps Viz doesn’t quite capture in its choice of saying Gas “outclasses” Granolah, here (possibly instead answering to the possible translations of betsumono that are more like "exception", "special case") – it thereby carries the implication merely that since Gas > Granolah, there’s nothing to worry about. We never do get the wish spelled out verbatim, and as such this is another instance of a rather unsatisfactory peculiarity that dogs this arc at various points: the plotline is in many ways very simple, but at times it elects to be weirdly coy about it to avoid having to own that simplicity from the outset and thus it generates an artificial feeling of suspense (I assume deliberately) that occasionally gets let down when the story ‘reveals’ that things were pretty much as you first thought they were. This isn’t always a problem, because the arc sometimes sets out to build that kind of speculative tension in order to undercut it: the most obvious instance of this is the seeding of Bardock somehow being able to overcome Gas despite his strength (超 #78, 80), the dropping of the hint that his “fierce resolve” was somehow noteworthy (超 #81), but continuing to imply that there might be something else involved (超 #82), or at least coyly letting the reader think there just has to be something more…only for it to be made clear that it really was the Resolve that mattered, united with Bardock’s Saiyan Nature (超 #83) – as simple as you’d’ve thought, but only really having its impact and provoking reader reaction by flirting with a misdirect. But then there are other times where it seems to serve little purpose and so is empty trickery: For instance, in 超 #70, Elec waves away the idea that Freeza is the main Heeter target “just yet”, hinting that maybe he’s making a play for something grander than just killing and usurping him; the arc stacks the deck in the Heeters’ favour with the infinite possibilities of what they might have asked Zuno (超 #71), and keeps hinting that Gas needs to do something to advance the Heeter plans (e.g., 超 #71, 78, 81), only to ‘reveal’ in 超 #85-87 that the plan was, in fact, just to kill Freeza and usurp him after all. The fact that there are fewer elements surrounding the combat in this arc, and its consequent slower pacing, means that the arc relies on this kind of tease as a bit of a narrative crutch at times, which unfortunately produces diminishing returns and a ‘Cry Wolf’ effect, as the reader quite fairly starts to wonder whether the latest Big Hint is really going to be anything much to fuss over.
  • Vegeta abruptly leaves Goku in the lurch to take his turn against Gas, which the competitive banter at the top of the fight foreshadowed. As before when using Ultra Ego, damage is “fuel” (燃料, nenryō – Gas will use the same word for himself at the top of 超 #86) for Vegeta, but this time he will try out integrating an indomitable desire to win into his form and carry this forward into 超 #85 (which we will cover in more depth then), which makes for a fairly indefinite end to the Chapter (redolent of 超 #79, which was a similar action-dominated offering with little else to it); meanwhile, Goku struggles unsuccessfully alone with the Hakai ball, until the question of protection comes up – he notices that the Sugarian colony is in the path of the Hakai, at which point he finally manages to find the strength to divert it harmlessly away. Chalk another one up for Goku fighting to protect; he’s definitely not done with that yet, either.
  • Aaaand finally, Favourite Art: the last couple of sequences around Vegeta are particularly strong both in black and white and in colour; they help sell the visceral character of Vegeta’s combat approach all over again, even when he’s just talking on the final beats of the Chapter (though as I’ve mentioned before, Toyotarou always manages to sell a good ol’ face-punch well); the fun art around Vegeta will also carry over into 超 #85.
Okay, that's the First Part of this instalment finally all finished up; look out for Part 2 toward the end of next week!

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Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by GreatSaiyaman123 » Wed Mar 22, 2023 1:20 pm

I really like this fight. One might think it's too much, but there's never too much when it comes to a Goku/Vegeta team up. In fact, this is their first proper team up: Their ToP fight against Jiren is still the de facto first, but they were too tired to do much of anything other than buy time. The context also helps. They were fighting for the sake of having a good fight, and even willing to take turns at times, rather than desperately throwing everything they had.

The way this saga handles Goku here is very smart. He's basically the perfect martial artist (or as close as anyone could ever be), he just learned the technique of the gods, so where to take him next? Well, have him reconnect with his Saiyan roots, that he's downplayed for so long. And who better than Goku's own father?
Magnificent Ponta wrote: Sat Mar 18, 2023 8:44 am But he's not consciously acting to protect others; he's not Son Goku and never will be.
This one is very funny, because Goku himself doesn't fight to protect others. He still cares more about people than Bardock, but think of all the times he refused fusion because it would be too easy, or when he preferred to train and fight the Androids instead of catching Gero right away (he gives the feeble excuse of Gero not having done anything wrong yet, but Gero was always an evil scientist working for the RRA). I like this because it further blurries the line of when exactly Goku and Vegeta lost sight of their "Saiyan pride", you can't pinpoint an exact time but you can tell they've been too caught up on this god stuff.

I guess my problem with Bardock is that I'm trying to look at it backwards: You present Bardock's paternal love for Goku as the reason why he protected Granolah, while I'm trying to read it as if meeting Granola and Muezli awoke this paternal feeling in him, even though I don't even like my own reading. The former is probably what the story had intended, and I'm just still tangled with the idea of Bardock not caring that much about Kakarotto to see it.

One thing I can say for sure is that at least Bardock never expressed this love before and always kept it to himself, since Gine says in Minus it's unusual for Bardock to care about his children.
Magnificent Ponta wrote: Sat Mar 18, 2023 8:44 am As for how strong they get? It's a strange one because I guess it depends on whether it sticks or is only accessible for similar situations, where Bardock is concerned. If it's a situationally-based awakening/evolution, you could go crazy with it and give him a 50x boost if you wanted, but whenever I think of going wild, my gut tells me that Toyotarou loves A Solitary Final Battle too much and is probably thinking something like 10,000 BP for Bardock at the end (if BP escalation is even the right way to think of this, considering that Super is also fond of pushing the throughline of getting huge performance enhancements by using what you already have to the utmost). That'd line up nicely enough with the Oozaru-type comments that pop up in the Chapter if Bardock is 'ordinarily' something like 1,000 BP (which would put him at the high end of the low class, given that Freeza's only interested in getting soldiers at least that strong for his own army).
Reaching back to the Modest Proposal, I think it would be like Gas' own capacity was going down as his instincts were unleashed, while Bardock experienced the same thing Nappa did when fighting Goku. Look, I even did a little scheme based on it:
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Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by Magnificent Ponta » Sun Mar 26, 2023 2:25 pm

The Super Re-Read: Chapters 83 – 86
Part 2 (Chapters 85 and 86)

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Hiya, and welcome back to The Super Re-Read, y'all. We're into the penultimate instalment now (I've said that before; saying it again is weird, but whatever), as we move on in to Volume 20 of the Super Manga, and the final battle of the Granolah arc moves towards its climax!

As ever, thanks and credit go to Kanzenshuu and its contributors for collating and publishing a lot of information that goes into the Re-Read, particularly the Translations Archive; fellow re-readers should also check out the info on the Dragon Ball Official Site, which gives important insights into the Granolah arc as a whole.

Now, let's get re-reading!:

Chapter 85 – Their Respective Answers/To Each His Own Answer
21 June 2022
Chapter Notes
  • As before, Vegeta uses damage to his body as ‘fuel’ (燃料, nenryō) to constantly feed a ‘burning’ fighting spirit (as in 超 #75, Vegeta’s 闘争心, Tōsō shin, “Fighting Spirit” is said to “burn”, 燃やす, Moyasu); unsurprisingly, ‘fuel’ and ‘burning’ share a kanji. As mentioned above, Gas will use the same general wording (both the same specific word for ‘fuel’ and the related 燃えている, moeteiru, “burning”) of himself in 超 #86 – unsurprising, for a Heeter. Later, Vegeta uses language that seems to speak to both the ‘Conviction’ and the ‘Nature’ sides of growth that the whole arc has been covering so far, describing the damage as a “stimulant” that will help his form “evolve” (Bardock used the term 進化, shinka, “evolve” in 超 #83 to describe Saiyan growth). I haven’t seen the Japanese page for the descriptions Vegeta uses so I’m not sure, but one word for “stimulant”, kakuseizai (覚醒剤), bears an obvious connection to the regularly-used arc keyword for “Awakening”, kakusei (覚醒). However, the unnaturalness of what Vegeta is doing is exposed by the fact that he’s essentially burning the physical side of himself as fuel for his mental state, and of course this isn’t sustainable: Gas will mockingly call Vegeta’s attempt here 自滅 (jimetsu) once he runs out of puff, denoting “self-destruction” (Viz appropriately renders this “burned himself out”).
  • People have been going on and on about Goku being on top of Chronoa in Super Dragon Ball Heroes for aaaaages and have made it a meme, but nobody does it for Gas on top of Vegeta? smh
  • Gas teleports Vegeta around to whack him a bunch and really rack up the damage. Quite apart from the fact that this seems to be news to Son Goku (despite the fact that he saw Gas do this to Elec in 超 #81), this beat seems to be very like what we saw from 超 #24, where Zamas starts throwing attacks and enemies through small portals; at one point, he rapidly pinballs Goku through a succession of portals to land multiple attacks, much like Gas uses his directed Shunkan Idou on Vegeta for a flurry now.
  • Goku begins to meditate at Vegeta’s behest in order to figure out his own unique style of Ultra Instinct, and performs a couple of Mudra (“Seals”, sacred meditative gestures thought to channel energy in order to bring the inner states of a person into proper alignment) in so doing. The first, where his thumbs and forefingers join, looks like the Chin Mudra (the Consciousness Seal), which represents the union of the individual consciousness with the universal consciousness. Apparently, it is used for calming and for eliminating negative emotions, increasing inner awareness and spiritual focus. Goku follows this up with his ubiquitous palms-together Gasshō (see, e.g., 超 #70), which is also known as the Añjali Mudra (the Reverence Seal), the Hrdayanjali mudra (Reverence to the Heart Seal) or the Atmanjali Mudra (Reverence to the Self Seal). These Sanskrit names are suggestive enough, to be sure; moreover, the purpose of the mudra is apparently one of centring oneself, returning to one’s heart, promoting inner awareness, unifying the self and acknowledging the divinity within the self, which all seems appropriate to the goal in mind here: Son Goku is embarking upon a process of self-realisation and self-integration that will find a way of uniting the centred calm that has hitherto been Ultra Instinct’s hallmark and requirement, with his True Self in his heart of hearts including his emotions, so that he will produce a variant of Ultra Instinct later in the Chapter that is briefly able to use his whole self.
  • Vegeta becomes more and more a physical wreck, which has raised the question of what exactly he was trying to do here that was so different to his fight against Granolah in 超 #75, where he similarly took damage until he could take no more. I’d suggest there’s a few things going on here:
    • The first thing relates to Vegeta’s Conviction and self-belief, which was touched on in 超 #84. The problem Vegeta ultimately encountered with Granolah, as we’ve seen, was one of ebbing Conviction as the fight went on; the lesson he learned from 超 #83 was that of Bardock’s fierce and unwavering Resolve in facing down a much more powerful opponent (and as with Bardock, Gas smacks Vegeta down 7 times between 超 #84 and 超 #85, so there’s a Resolve-led commonality there too). Since we know that the principal feature of Wagamama no Goku’i is in fact mental (the hotter Vegeta’s Fighting Spirit burns, the stronger he grows, and Toyotarou has expressed the mental dimension as “moving your body freely”: by demand), Vegeta is trying to fuel this aspect of himself, aiming towards his own expression of a perfected Resolve, a determination to keep getting back up in the certainty that if his Resolve is strong enough, his body will continue to respond to his mentally-stimulated commands no matter what its actual condition (hence his talk of the damage Gas deals as being an “ideal stimulant”). This is the principal thing he failed to achieve previously in his fight with Granolah.
    • The second thing relates to Vegeta’s Nature as a Saiyan – specifically, to the Saiyan trait of surpassing their own limits through combat, rapidly increasing in strength as they fight. This is something he can take for granted as part of his Nature and as a feature of Wagamama no Goku’i itself, as he did in 超 #74 (and as Bardock’s combat in 超 #83 also reinforces: “We Saiyans have a way of growing and evolving each time we push past our limits”; compare with Vegeta’s statement in 超 #40 that “We Saiyans evolve as we fight”). As Vegeta notes, he hopes to “evolve” his form in such a way that with his Convictions leading his Nature, he will no longer be bound by the Natural limits of his being (as he specifically claims to have achieved, just before he goes down), but rather his Nature will be “fuel” for a continually growing and evolving combat capability. Taken on its own, the ‘Nature’ element doesn’t seem like much of a departure from what Vegeta was already doing, but it’s a logically necessary aspect of what Vegeta is doing differently, so I thought I should address it.
    • So, we can see that there’s a kind of union of Nature and Conviction here in a way that integrates with the peculiarities of his form. This is in keeping with Vegeta’s tendency to apply lessons learned in a totally straightforward manner, addressing the previous specific problem in order to advance now: the thing that held him back before was lack of Resolve; supplying unbeatable determination to evolve his form so that it moves beyond the current limits of his Nature, being able to move and fight through Resolve when physically it should be impossible. But this is where the unnaturalness to what he’s doing creeps back in to his approach; Vegeta imagines he can continue this cycle ad infinitum, effectively using his battered body like a totally controllable puppet of his Resolve, where damage has no effect but to fuel his mental state. But everyone has a natural limit, and to try to ‘hack’ his abilities in this obviously damaging way is inherently self-destructive; the arc is pushing Growth as key, but it’s evident that Vegeta’s play here moves in the opposite direction: in trying to move beyond his Natural limits, he simply ends up “Like some sorta Zombie” (as we noted, Gas uses the term 自滅, jimetsu, “self-destruction”, “ruining oneself”, but appropriately, the word can apparently also connote “natural decay”), a half-dead thing still being moved by sheer force of will, rather than a Saiyan whose evolution is led by resolve, as he intends. Having attempted to correct for a lack of Conviction, he overbalances in the other direction and subordinates his Nature too much.
    I have to say, it’s unfortunate that Vegeta’s attempt here doesn’t do anything much before he goes down for good (though the rawness of its depiction is highly memorable, and probably the panel where Vegeta opens his eye one more time gets the nod for Favourite Art – though it’s pushed by Goku’s punch on Gas, and Gas’s power up at the end of the Chapter). Historically in Super, Vegeta’s revised approaches have tended to at least gain limited success for their straightforwardness (being a positive way forward for him, even if it doesn’t net him the win), so it’s a shame that his “answer” turns out to just be the wrong answer here: ultimately, the reader could be forgiven for supposing that Vegeta isn’t trying anything different (though he technically is). Even a token demonstration of improvement over his previous showing – say, breaking one of Gas’s tusks to show that the perfection of Vegeta’s Resolve actually achieved something, even if limited and not sustainably – would have been preferable here, both for its own sake and from Super’s ever-present ‘Teamwork’ angle, wherein Goku and Vegeta have clear and important parts to play; unfortunately, that doesn’t happen here, and I think that’s a bit of a miss. Really, Vegeta’s decline and defeat here simply serves as direct foreshadowing for what will happen to Gas from the end of this Chapter to the end of the arc, even as he mocks Vegeta for doing it now.
  • Goku protects Vegeta with a shield he casts, at the last second. The gesture Goku makes doesn’t appear to be a mudra – just pointing; but it is, of course, the same kind of gesture Granolah has been making all arc long, with his signature ‘finger gun’. For Goku, however, this appears not as an attacking gesture, but instead as a characteristically protective one, befitting Goku’s most effective beats in this arc.
  • Goku’s characteristic beats continue: “You remain carefree.” – “I guess so. That’s just how I am.” A couple of pieces of dialogue from a carefree, animated Son Goku go great lengths to prefigure the kind of integration of True Nature and Conviction that will progress his wielding of Ultra Instinct now. The resulting Transformation has black hair, indicating the presence of Omen (兆) Ultra Instinct here (which was fully confirmed by the V-Jump Interval Special published in November 2022); thus we get a passing reference back to 超 #68, where Whis notes that Oracle Fish’s insomnia is an “Omen” (前兆), the content of which is the rising up of the Strongest Warrior. We’ve seen Omen Ultra Instinct before, particularly in 超 #39-41, 超 #58-60, and 超 #63 (but occasional touches elsewhere, such as 超 #55 and 超 #68); it is introduced with Goku saying “All I’ve done is get rid of unnecessary emotions” (超 #41), but since then he has demonstrated a certain level of emotional expressiveness (esp. 超 #60) that he is now able to latch onto and expand in a way that he says he can’t when using Full Ultra Instinct, which requires his heart to be calm and tranquil; it’s also a plot move that has become something of a commonplace in Super, where ostensibly outmoded transformations reappear with unexpected advantages that prove pivotal. Omen is also an “Omen” in and of itself, of course, and this points forward to the events of 超 #86 where Goku’s Full Ultra Instinct reappears once more, of itself displaying a power beyond what is merely bodily (last seen in 超 #66).

    But this black-haired transformation is also a movement more towards representing the kind of naturalness that Goku says he is trying to express here, which makes it the “transformation best able to demonstrate/use” (一番発揮できる変身, ichiban hakki dekiru henshin) his power overall, despite the highly stamina-draining instability of Omen as an ignition state for Ultra Instinct (超 #59, but again referenced in this Chapter by Goku when he says, “I don’t have long, so let’s get this done”). Goku’s Convictions and Emotions (感情, kanjō) are a crucial part of his Nature, so he is only acting as his True Self when he is capable of using them “as they are” (そのまま sonomama, “as is”, “without change”), rather than attempting to control or excise them when he fights, as he has been all through the arc so far. Goku’s unchanging Nature was a highly significant motif that came to the fore in the late Moro arc (超 #61 in particular), so coming full circle to accommodate the technique of Ultra Instinct to this True Nature makes good sense from the perspective of the direction in which this arc has moved, allowing Son Goku to be whole-hearted in how he fights (with appropriate self-belief) and to bring all that he is to the fight. Toyotarou comments on the ‘Naturalness’ aspect of the transformation in the Volume 19 Release Interview (Part 2) (Timestamp: 12:44 to 14:40), and Uchida’s comments are extremely telling:
    Toyotarou: Goku ultimately chooses to use his black-haired transformation because it allows him to fight without any hindrances, rather than using the silver-haired form that he has to turn off his emotions to use. That’s what the black-haired Ultra Instinct transformation is.
    Uchida: From a glance it looks like Goku incorporates his emotions into the automatic movements of Ultra Instinct.
    Toyotarou: Honestly, I think that Goku is getting used to Ultra Instinct and is able to use it more freely. For example, Whis is able to constantly use Ultra Instinct without any special transformation, so if you can stay in the Ultra Instinct state at all times, whether you’re asleep or awake, that would be optimal, and I want fans to see that Goku is getting closer to that level. Goku’s special silver-haired form looks totally different, and his power and personality change. That isn’t normal, so Goku’s new form is supposed to show that he’s getting used to Ultra Instinct. So Goku seems more like his usual self, and that’s why I gave him black hair.
    Uchida: He’s more like himself, but he can still use Ultra Instinct.
    Toyotarou: That’s what the goal is.
    Uchida: So I guess that means that Goku’s feelings and method of getting used to the form have changed.
    Toyotarou: Yes, that’s right.
    If you’d presented the idea that Goku’s progress with Ultra Instinct would hinge on his ability to use his emotions while using the technique from the drop, I must confess that I probably would’ve been against seeing a move like this: Super has been very clear on the antithesis between Ultra Instinct and the more conventional emotional states on which Dragon Ball has traded for so long (超 #52); it has been part of the key identity of the technique: complete tranquility, emptying of the mind and heart, perfectibility of movement because the body is the thing acting on its own – it all hangs coherently as a technique of its own type. To reintroduce the well-worn Dragon Ball trope of emotional power dilutes what gives Ultra Instinct its appeal. I think as critique, all that is still fair. If the reader still holds these opinions, it’s understandable. Having read the arc, however (and Re-read it, obviously), and having seen the story’s moves to have the integration of Ultra Instinct with Goku’s “normal” states come in from the top of the arc (超 #71 onwards), and the way this has been unified with the huge amount of thoroughgoing thematic work that has gone into aligning Son Goku with his True Self, drawing together threads that include his Saiyan Nature and his Past (previously tiptoed around by the franchise as a whole, but gone for full throttle now, with the connections to Bardock and the Main Character of the arc), his instincts, emotions, convictions and self-belief (particularly as they pertain to combat) and his true nature and continued growth as a character as a result, I feel like the depiction of this ‘True’ Ultra Instinct ultimately reads less like an unfortunate obfuscation of what the technique is about, and more like a generally well-considered restoration to the centre of the series of what Son Goku is about.

    Which seems to be what Toyotarou has been going for. In that respect, then, I think the arc is very successful, and I feel that objections of the sort I outlined above lack the weight they might otherwise have had for me, on re-read. Enough work has been done, successfully enough, with enough attention to the stuff that really matters, to answer it, so far as I’m concerned. What’s more, the use of the technique in this way is presented as the tentative, on-the-fly beginnings of a solution to meet the situation and take a definite step forward, rather than a hard-and-fast re-completion of the technique, and this also helps. It obviously has the advantage of opening up avenues for further growth as the series continues (and we’ll see another flash of that in 超 #86, as we noted), and I think the combination of the look, feel, and constituent elements (including the ‘lore expansion’ that comes from new arc material) of this particular development works really well, particularly on re-read.
  • The connection between Goku and Bardock is solidified by a (slightly predictable, particularly considering the story played this card already in 超 #80) visual comparison between the two in Gas’s mind’s-eye, which triggers him. We haven’t seen the specific “look” that triggers Gas in any prior material involving Bardock, though he grins during the combat on a number of occasions – given the visual connection with an empowered Goku, one might suppose that this is a “look” fired around the time Bardock says, “We Saiyans have a way of growing and evolving each time we push past our limits”, which presaged Gas’s defeat 40 years ago. Of course, the association between Goku and Bardock now is more than visual, as we’re about to see that Goku has successfully integrated his Nature with his Convictions and his form in Ultra Instinct – precisely the same kind of union that Bardock managed to present in his battle with Gas in the Past, thus showing Goku has learned the real lesson of acting with the grain of his True Self, whatever the circumstances – and so he’ll be coming at Gas with everything he has; his whole self.
  • The art around Goku’s performance in True Ultra Instinct is a mixture of fun intensity and some more staid and tropey choices: ultimately, the “feel” from it leaves one with the sense that while it isn’t inferior to the sort of choreography we saw from Full Ultra Instinct in the previous arc (超 #64, 65), it doesn’t necessarily intuitively come across as something obviously much more impressive. We’ve done the craters and shockwaves from punches (and even the appendage breakages, fun though the first smashing of Gas’s tusks is), Shunkan Idou has never been so popular, and the Kamehameha is basically obligatory at this point. But it’s nice to see the speed and agility dimensions of Ultra Instinct maintained during the fight, as Goku dodges through the last of Gas’s conjured weapons outings (in “FIRE EVERYTHING” mode, this time), just to show that it remains significant to the character of the technique overall, and it seems like there’s a neat enough combination of typically ‘Goku’ stuff with typically ‘Ultra Instinct’ stuff (though that seems a little like we’re methodically ticking off the right boxes, instead of investing Ultra Instinct with a properly “Goku” vibe, which I think is what Toyotarou is trying to do here). But I think the thing that really sells the change best is just Goku himself and his personal intensity: the raised veins variously on his arms, neck and forehead as he acts, the extreme expressions, and even the little surprises like the comic beat around his mouth blast at Gas, help convey the vibe of a supercharged Goku who’s bringing it all with nothing left out, and helps give his depiction the required heft to make that mostly convincing.
  • Elec appears for another interference with his little brother; this time all the supportive poses are stripped: the smiling, relaxed “What’s wrong, Gas? This isn’t like you…” becomes a stern “Hey. Gas. What do you think you’re doing?”, grabbing him by the neck, giving him a condescending question-by-question lecture; the forcing and compelling aspect of the “brain” function Elec embodies comes to the fore, as a furtherance of the body metaphor the Heeters generally run; while it was predictable that this would eventually come out, it’s good fun to see Elec flip now he’s under pressure. Significantly, there’s also the reappearance of a favourite arc word, 覚悟 (kakugo – “Resolve”); it was key to Bardock’s victory in the Past, as Gas himself noted (超 #81), but in his bullying mode, Elec uses it with a negative phrasing that results in negative effects, akin to a Monkey’s Paw: “Find the Resolve to die in battle if you have to!” (Lit. 命を使い切る覚悟で闘え, “Inochi o tsukaikiru kakugo de tatakae”, “Fight with the resolve to use up your life”). Not, to Win no matter what: just to Die if he must. And indeed he does. It may be worth noting that kakugo spans a wider semantic range than just being resolved to do something: it extends to readiness and even resignation, so here we get a turn towards more negative valences of the term. What’s more, the phrasing again points us toward the fact that Elec has already decided to use up most of Gas’s lifespan in exchange for “The power I gave you”; pushing his little brother to give up what little he has left is a small step.

    The response is suitably graphic, as Gas gives Elec the power he demands, but memorably withers before our eyes. I like the way it reveals itself in the panelling, which uses the angles to just show Elec surrounded by a huge aura for an instant, as though the power is his own. Considering Gas’s role as the ‘muscle/body’ for the Heeters as a Unit, it kind of is, and he certainly tries to use it that way. The development takes on a character much like Vegeta’s earlier in the Chapter: an attempt by the mental faculties to enlist and totally control what is Natural and bodily in extremis, to co-opt and direct that power like the will directs the sinews (“Elec’s will is absolute”: 超 #82; though significantly, unlike with Vegeta, the Resolve isn’t even Elec’s own, but what he manages to wring out of Gas – he brings little to the fight but schemes and demands to that end), but at the expense of the health and growth of the whole organism – Vegeta becomes “Like some sorta Zombie”, and Gas becomes “totally ancient” (as V Jump would have it, 老化状態, the ‘State of Old Age’), both signifying things that are on the way to death.

Chapter 86 – A Full-Power Battle/All-Out Bout
21 July 2022
Chapter Notes
  • I recall there was a lot of discussion about how the feel of the pacing in this Chapter is significantly out of step with much of the arc so far. I don’t dissent from this perspective, and I’m all for the change, in place of the familiar turn-based pattern of action. I’d merely suggest there’s a couple of clear reasons for this change:
    • For the first third of the Chapter, we get the same kind of impetus as we did for Goku vs. Zamas in 超 #25 – we have Goku wielding a form he can’t maintain for long (then, Completed SSjB; now, True Ultra Instinct), against a villain who has a clearly-signalled deterioration and end to their power in the near future (then, the end of Zamas’s fusion; now, the end of Gas’s life); these fights run the same kind of ‘race against time’ beat that automatically injects a compelling sense of pace into the fight as both try to win before time runs out; in this case, the pacy vibe is enhanced by the fact that Gas has a decisive upper hand in power now, corresponding to how drastic and visibly striking his decay is, so both sides of things are keyed to a higher pitch.
    • The remaining two-thirds of the Chapter switches things up (a good decision in and of itself, which keeps the Chapter from slipping into a predictably-paced groove) with what is essentially a firing countdown sequence. Granolah charges an attack and so becomes the site of a 'battle-winning' countdown, and the focus of the fight shifts to centre around protecting him until the countdown is up. So, we shift from a fight that is a race against time to a fight to stall the bad guy just long enough to win. This obviously provokes a jumble of frantic action from all parties with twists and turns as they pile on and bounce off each other to try to affect the outcome; as such the sense of pace is lent as much as anything by the fact that this portion of the Chapter is packed with unpredictable activity.
    In 超 #87, the pacier feel continues; after it’s revealed Gas isn’t beaten yet, the story leans back on the first pacing element identified, as we seesaw back to focus on how time is running out for Gas (and the Heeters more generally) while his power continues to confound heroic resistance. The whole thing certainly is a switch-up from the pace established in much the second half of the arc – but again, that’s a change for the better, in my opinion.
  • Gas starts off the Chapter in a style appropriate to his name: he’s burning as fuel. And fairly literally, at that: even the aura he manifests seems to continually blaze off of every contour, like a roaring flame. And his language with Goku is similarly literal, revealing the destruction of Gas’s Natural self: his “cells, one by one” (細胞一つ一つ, saibō hitotsuhitotsu), are “burning” (燃えている, moeteiru) as “fuel” (燃料, nenryō) for Gas’s power. It’s surprising that he doesn’t draw the connection with his own advancing self-destruction here, but maybe that’s because he’s feeling a kind of “pleasure I’ve never tasted before”/“a new flavour of ecstasy”: perhaps it’s just hard to make such an unlikely connection, or to be so suspicious of his brother that he would expect this as a possible outcome (despite the Big Hint Elec dropped at the end of the last Chapter). Even so, his language connects directly with that used by Vegeta in 超 #84-85, which along with his burning, withering appearance bespeaks the same kind of self-destroying, anti-growth direction.
  • Beyond his blazing aura, Gas’s presence and power get a real gear shift in this Chapter. I don’t know what it is, but Toyotarou seems able to invest his craggy old antagonists with a very characterful sense of menace and malice (see also: Moro). But in a more obvious and direct way, the Chapter does a really good job of demonstrating how overwhelmingly powerful Gas has become. There’s the basic relational stuff of beating Goku up and tossing him around at will, obviously, but also whenever Gas and Goku appear together on-panel, Toyotarou seems to make sure to make Gas look big, and Goku look small. Usually this is by simple perspective work (often Goku is further away), close-ups, and framing (Gas often fills bigger panels or, as on the first page, breaks out of them entirely, while Goku is often left with smaller ones on-page). But it’s also through Gas’s bearing and figure-work: he takes a very wide stance and still somehow also stands tall in a number of panels; he looms over Goku quite literally at points, even in ways that don’t make strict sense – in the “I’ve never felt better” panel, he seems to even have one arm resting on his knee, a la Super Buu 2 against Gohan (DB #500), up at Goku’s head-height, he leans down to smugly whisper in his ear, and his hand slams down on top of Goku’s head before he throws him back through the rather small-looking gap left between his arm and his leg (the focal point of that panel); he hoists him clean off the ground and face-to-face. The adult Gas has usually seemed to be a bit taller than Goku in previous Chapters, but this Chapter makes Gas look huge and overbearing. And his reach is even longer than his physicality: he immediately snags Goku with telekinetic grip on his first gesture, and his huge tornado of power is ridonkulous. Even his more precise outings like the finger beams shoot off into space. Toyotarou does a good job of dialling Gas up another notch in this Chapter.
  • And another way in which the scale of Gas’s presence and power is upped is, of course, practically literal, with his outsized conjured limbs that he uses to attack Goku throughout the rest of the Chapter. I enjoy this development on a few levels:
    • I feel it jives pretty well with Gas’s schtick generally on a basic visual level. Conjuring of weapons to fight with has been his signature move, so it’s a logical progression to keep the sense of conjuration with his power, but essentially make his own appendages the weapon (just as he in turn is used as a weapon and appendage by Elec, who provokes this change). It’s a further movement towards rawer, more basic and tactile fighting for Gas while the technical means of fighting remains essentially unchanged; we already highlighted the distinction between the more primitive hand-held weapons he conjures and some of the fancier and occasionally hands-off gunplay dynamics of Granolah and Elec. It gives his trademark gimmick an extra facet to bring (some version of) his own self into it.
    • I think it also works from the perspective of Gas’s role and place as part of the Heeter Body Metaphor. Gas characterises the development as a “liberation” (解放, Kaihō) of his power; we’ve already seen this language used for when his Inner Nature is unleashed, and this likewise is a progression along lines we’ve already seen laid down for Gas, as his power, previously liberated from its sealing behind a talisman, now is “liberated” from being sealed within Gas’s physical body. We’ve discussed Gas’s role as ‘muscle’ or ‘body’ for the Heeters, and his subjugation to the controlling intelligence that is Elec: the previous “liberation” Gas underwent was forced on him by Elec, and so is this one. Only this development shifts the ground of what it means for Gas to be in this role, as now we increasingly see the construction of a literal “body” of liberated power for Gas to replace his wizened physical body when he fights, and as his physical body degrades, his body of power grows continually: both Gas and Elec speak of this decoupling of power from physical form as though it is a positive, transcendent thing – the movement of power beyond what is merely bodily. But on the other hand, imposing and growing though this “body” of power is for Gas (and he flattens Goku with it more than once), it’s only ever partial. We only see Gas conjure dismembered limbs via this power; it never becomes a whole body.
    • Finally, therefore, I think it plays really well when compared against what’s coming up for Son Goku. Goku comments on the (implicitly destructive) desynchronisation between Gas’s body and his power, and there is a limit to how even the “#1 in the Universe” can transcend himself here, even when the power is wrested out of him by conscious coercion and a fatal cost is paid by his body. By contrast, Ultra Instinct’s schtick is that the Body will determine for itself how to respond to any threat, and so Goku’s body projects a power that constructs a whole body of power, expressive of the superior synchronicity between Goku’s body and Goku’s power: it’s not a ‘liberation’ of his power from his own self, but the integration of his power with his own self. Thus, Goku one-ups Gas with a “body” that moves beyond the bounds of what is bodily, without the same destructive cost.
    I think this is a really good way of bringing together the visual and thematic strands around Gas; it’s memorable and intuitive from the standpoint of progression, and does a good job of visually selling the final growth of Gas’s power, along with showing the reader its drawbacks and its limits when set against something more complete.
  • It’s also nice to see some cleavage between the Heeters opening up as Gas starts to physically deteriorate: Macki and Oil start voicing tentative concerns grounded in their care for Gas as their little brother, and this natural concern butts up against Elec’s plans and calculations that as long as Gas’s power is fine, that’s all that matters – he’s already taken it for granted that Gas will die soon, anyway (超 #87). This tension within the Heeter unit only gets stronger in this final part of the story, as the pair try (unsuccessfully) to intervene to help their brother at a critical point while Elec stands aloof and watches, and in 超 #87 Elec prepares to abandon his family when his plans appear to be in ruins, and Macki vocally opposes Elec’s will and pleads with him in her worry at Gas’s decrepit state to try to save him (“Quit it, Elec!! Look at him! That isn’t normal!!”), which as a beat signifies the breaking of the Heeters as the destructive and callous nature of Elec’s control, and the huge fault line between him and his siblings that has hitherto been quietly in the background of their interactions, is clearly exposed: a “mind” taking its “appendages” for granted and indulging the conceit that maybe it can do without them.
  • Granolah returns, with a seemingly abrupt about-face provoked by his hearing Bardock’s voice while sleeping; he’s now willing to help those he’s been fighting, and (later) explains he no longer seeks revenge for the loss of his people. I’ve seen complaints about this particular move, which deposits Granolah at the battlefield with nothing really left to work through and a fairly offhand explanation as to why this should be so, sidelining his journey in favour of Goku and Vegeta when he ought to be the central character of the arc; while I understand the complaint ‘in the moment’, it can hardly be said that the arc hasn’t paid enough attention to Granolah’s emotional and educational journey overall by this point:
    • On the educational level, what Granolah learns in this arc unravels his whole life as he thought he knew it to be. He begins the arc assured of the story of what happened to his people and his family, and it’s not untrue, but there’s vastly more to the story than he knows: he learns of the culpability of the Heeters for the loss of his world in general and the death of his mother in particular, the victimhood of the Saiyans who were destroyed by Freeza, and the fact that he unexpectedly owes his life to a Saiyan who decided to protect him in the face of apparently insurmountable odds. Almost everything about his quest for vengeance is (predictably) revealed as basically wrongheaded and the grounds for maintaining his grievances ends up looking shaky: he has nothing much left to draw on in his original opposition to Goku and Vegeta in order to maintain his grudge.
    • On the emotional level, Granolah has clung as hard to his biases as a character can; he’s nurtured his grievances for his whole life (超 #69) and does everything he can to keep hold of them, particularly in the face of his unravelling worldview: he makes broad-brush equivalencies and assumes bad faith when he encounters corrective detail (超 #74), he engages in point-blank denial when he learns of Saiyan victimhood (超 #75), he wishes for death when his resolve is fatally undermined (超 #76), he understandably reels and lashes out when he learns he’s been lied to for his whole life (超 #78), before turning his grudge onto its true target, which he runs into the ground until his rage leads him to blindly attack and nearly gets him killed (超 #81). He’s run the gamut here and has nowhere else he can really take this fixation.
    He can only be said to have been well and truly primed for a final revelation to complete his change of heart, and I think it is only appropriate (and it certainly seems deliberate) that Granolah’s change comes on the beat of a literal “Awakening” (as in, having been asleep, he wakes up) which also signifies the emergence of his True Self: someone who wants to fight to do the right thing and protect his world in the way that he couldn’t previously, but who doesn’t have the self-destructive drive to avenge himself mixed up in his motivations and action anymore because he’s become able to let go of them (and has experienced the consequences of not having been able to do so previously). He’ll go on to put his money where his mouth is in the next Chapter, and in the broader arc context, I think this works just fine.
  • There are some really well-paced beats in this ‘final’ melee, and I enjoy the fact that (almost) everyone gets tossed into the mix – as mentioned previously, the arc could’ve done with a little more content carrying this sort of ‘vibe’, with the characters unpredictably bouncing off each other. The filling of the pages with the varied action obviously also winds up the tension in the Chapter by repeatedly using these asides for the purpose of lengthening the beats before each action punchline, with each successive deferral opens the way for its successor, and the mounting and lengthening of each interceding event works well in setting up for the sense of release that the Big Blast finale gives. But also within the tension-building ‘chaos’ of this sequence there’s the rough coalescence of one of Dragon Ball Super’s key fixtures on both sides of the conflict, which is Teamwork. 超 #86 gives us the first instance where all the hero characters have worked through their individual issues enough to fight on the same side at the same time, and it’s predictably uncoordinated and improvised: there’s no overriding ‘stratagem’ but everyone is wholeheartedly dedicated to protecting Granolah long enough to get the shot off and each plays their own part to make it happen (even Oatmeel), while implicitly trusting that he’ll get the job done as he is resolved to do: these individuals form an organic union in the moment. On the other side, the Heeters finally come back off the side-lines too, to try to help Gas – except for Elec, of course, who doesn’t get involved – but the remaining siblings are immediately thwarted and Gas is left on his own. This will also be the case in 超 #87, where although the Heeters are interacting with each other on a much more intensive level, they don’t manage to come through with a coherent and undivided “will” that actually backs their little brother up effectively; though overwhelmingly powerful, he continues to wither on his own, as the metaphorical “body” of the Heeters (so key to their concept) falls into disunion. So while the characters get chucked in the blender of the arc climax pretty enjoyably, there’s also a nice and effective contrast between their approaches and their effectiveness going on here.
  • We see that “True Ultra Instinct” was an Omen for something more after all, as Goku gets a literal “Awakening” to balance with Granolah’s own, complete with an eruption of Divine Power last seen against Moro in 超 #66. It’s a mark of how far Goku has come since then, that this power had to be supplied him with a gift of power from Uub, but this time it is something that he is fully capable of doing himself, merely with sufficient motivation. It’s worth considering whether Goku’s progress in integrating himself more successfully in this arc is responsible for being able to do this more readily, without needing a blunt power trigger to bring it forth. But it still seems to require an external stimulus: Goku’s response mirrors Granolah’s in not only being a literal Awakening, but also one that is brought on from what he has heard while asleep. Moreover, the thematic element of Conviction rises again, as Goku’s Awakening comes in response to Elec’s taunt to Granolah about protecting Planet Cereal. Goku’s convictional affinity for protecting others has been clearly drawn for this arc since at least 超 #76, when he steps in to protect Vegeta and starts to act more effectively for doing so: it’s where he finds his True Self and directs it in a focused fashion. Whereas I argued that the shaping of Goku’s Divine Power in 超 #66 as a giant version of himself was something of a ‘Divine Power’ update and callback to Goku’s old Daimao-destroying Oozaru power accompanying his finishing blow (DB #161), here its appearance makes a different kind of sense, as a scaled-up representation of what is purely Goku’s own Self; it’s Goku’s apotheosis, using the utmost of his power to do the single most characteristic thing Goku would do, at the crucial moment.
  • Favourite Art: The return of Goku’s giant body of power is just such an excellent surprise in the moment; the scale and suddenness with which it appears among all the other events packs an enjoyable punch. For me, I think part of the surprise was that I was never really expecting to see this again – in 超 #66, Goku had to be gifted that power by Uub, but this time he suddenly finds this power within himself. But the art in this Chapter as a whole is stunningly pretty: we already covered the highly effective ways in which Gas’s power is depicted, for instance, and Toyotarou goes all-out on Granolah’s finishing move as well. It really makes me a little bit sad that the Re-Read has now, at the climax, outpaced the colour release and I can’t do a Colour Watch here, because between these elements, I’m willing to bet that this Chapter is going to look absolutely phenomenal.
  • We get one more instance of Granolah benefiting from the Influence of Others in the climax, as his A.I. Friend Oatmeel comes in with Aim Assist again (see 超 #74), this time to make up for deficiencies in Granolah’s damaged Natural sight. It’s interesting to track the inverse positions of this pair, as their relationship becomes a good example of complementariness; we’ve seen different images of that in this arc: Elec and Gas’s mind-body duality, Goku and Vegeta’s Ultra Instinct-Ultra Ego conceptual balance; even the thematic concepts of Nature and Conviction find pride of place in the arc as counterparts. Effectively, the Granolah arc is a whole arc composed of counterparts, and this pairing is no different. At the top of the arc, Granolah made use of Oatmeel’s special skills but it was pointed out that he didn’t really need them to hit his targets (超 #68), which he could do simply by a quirk of his Nature. After powering up his Natural sight, Granolah discarded Oatmeel’s support, but then later reaffirmed and readopted it; now Granolah actually needs and relies on Oatmeel to do what he previously could have done on his own – at the beginning and the end, the pair are true counterparts. And as a final note, in the instant that Oatmeel commands Granolah to fire, his left eye flashes red once more; perhaps it's just artistic forgetfulness. Or perhaps it’s the True, whole Granolah showing up one more time, with a little help from his friend.
  • So, that’s almost all there is to say for the arc, as we’re left dangling on the penultimate Chapter. I think it’s fair to say that Chapters 83 to 86 are overall a bit of a mixed bag; there’s plenty of engaging (and sometimes compelling) fighting spectacle to round off the climax of the arc, but somehow the flash and pizzaz vie awkwardly with a noteworthy fumble and a slightly perfunctory set of beats in the middle of this stretch.

    So what stands out as really good? For me, 83 and 86 are both excellent. Chapter 83 was controversial for the wish, and slightly baffling to a number of readers because it didn’t reveal some big mystery about how Bardock managed to beat Gas (and on Re-read it should be painfully apparent that this was, in fact, the point: there wasn’t one; Bardock had, and by extension Goku and Vegeta have, everything needed to prevail within themselves). But I think all of the potential of this part of the story is leveraged to the utmost in showing us a well-characterised Bardock (full of Resolve, burning for the fight, but showing us the growth of that “Humane Sense” that gives us character-driven activity throughout the Chapter – yes, including the wish) taking on a Gas who seems more characterful and comfortable in what he’s doing, more believable and formidable somehow than in previous Chapters, and giving us a generally great action art spectacle, shot through with the thematic build of the arc, to boot. I think that Chapter handsomely does everything it sets out to do.

    Unfortunately, having seen some very good work here, I can’t deny that Chapters 84 and 85 are rather more mixed. The top of 84 smudges things all over and gets in the way of what was, in retrospect, as perfectly clear a “message” as we needed from the previous Chapter. I get what it’s going for in drawing on threads in the original to give a sense of completeness for Goku in particular, but I don’t think it really works; it trips over itself for the sake of a rather obscure reference to give a fairly awkward “message” for the heroes to march out with. Probably the best thing about it is subtly highlighting once more, ‘for the road’, where the boundaries are in the characterisation of classic and current Bardock. But this gives way to a pretty and very competently-done, but basically unsurprising piece of long fight choreography (Gas’s “About what I expected” could stand as a reaction); the absence of much surprise here makes it feel perhaps a little emptier than it should for its bulk, pretty though it is, and the convergence of these things makes Chapter 84 probably the arc’s only clear ‘miss’, for me. Fortunately Chapter 85 is better, giving a bit more time to the divergence of Goku and Vegeta again, in ways that are pretty memorable for both of them. Vegeta’s offering is particularly memorable visually, but unfortunately lacks the narrative payoff to make it stick; Goku’s is, by contrast, something we’ve (visually) seen before, but is probably the more satisfying for giving us a sense of culmination and integration that brings the story together in him, yoked to an actual (if slight) sense of progression in the Chapter itself. And the hook for Gas’s latest power-up is extremely effective.

    Which leads on to Chapter 86, which is again just great – the Chapter is stuffed full of spectacle, pacy action, and artistic clout that really sells the scale of the escalation throughout, from Gas’s burning new power and its movement beyond what is bodily, through the depiction of Goku’s own surging power, through Granolah’s final blow to win the battle – it’s a mega-scale, outstandingly pretty climax Chapter, which also does a good job of bringing all the main characters together in the conflict and tying their individual arcs together in a way that solidly answers to the themes of the arc while still allowing the action to move on with a breathless unpredictability. Like some said at the time, the sudden slam into high gear almost makes it feel like it belongs to a different arc, and it’s a bit of a shame that the frenetic tempo that gives this particular Chapter such engaging heft isn’t much in evidence beforehand in the arc (or dips all too easily after promising moves made in that direction); however, it’s also clear how the Chapter has drawn on what the arc has been careful to set up even while it cuts loose, and it works well for me. After a slightly indifferent early climax, the arc manages to find its wallop where it really matters, and I find it a very satisfying read.
Nearly done! Just the final Chapter to come in the next instalment, in a couple of weeks. But now over to y’all – What did you get from your Re-Read?

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Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by Magnificent Ponta » Fri Apr 07, 2023 6:19 pm

The Super Re-Read: Chapter 87

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Okay. Time to get this all done.

Hello Once Again, All. With this instalment, the Super Re-Read is once again done, as we cover the final Chapter of the Granolah arc of the Dragon Ball Super manga, as the Battle reaches its end, and a Certain Someone finally appears to mop things up...

Thanks to everyone who read this and contributed, and to everyone who read along, even if you didn't feel you could contribute; I hope y’all found it rewarding to look back over this arc with me. Obviously it will be at least several months before much could be written about the ensuing arc(s); I probably won’t be around that much for a goodly while in any case: I’ve just become a dad myself - my kid was born last week, in fact, so I have a whole new person to figure out (which obviously isn’t particularly conducive to writing what is in effect a small book on a children’s comic, even if the nights are long and wakeful...😅). So, the Re-Read returns to hiatus, for the time being.

Once more, I direct all interested readers to the resources that the industrious folk at Kanzenshuu have aggregated, much of which has gone into the Re-Read - particularly the Manga Guide and the Translations Archive, which contains a huge amount of important and informative interview material. Speaking of which, the Official Dragon Ball Site also has extensive interviews where Toyotarou gives key insights into the writing of this arc; if you haven't checked them out yet, have a look - their value is inestimable. The Site has become a hub of important background information for the arc as a whole, containing further insights for all Re-readers, in their Official Plot Summaries and the Storyboards that were posted in advance of each Chapter - The Super Re-Read collected all the relevant links to these resources in one handy post, for ease of your reference, Dear Re-Reader. It may be a little gauche to shout-out Twitter feeds, but credit where credit's due; this re-read made liberal use of insights and resources in the feeds of Cipher, Herms, DBSChronicles, and DBHype. Hope it's all useful!

There’s still one more Chapter to look over, and the shape of an arc to consider. Won’t you Re-Read with me, one more time?

Chapter 87 – The Universes’ Strongest Appears/The Universes’ Strongest Appears
20 August 2022
Chapter Notes
  • Toyotarou gets in quick with another bit of Super Hero bridging, with some slightly ironic foreshadowing as Goku scoffs at the idea that he’ll lose to Vegeta. In the movie, the pair face off and Vegeta emerges barely victorious in the post-credits sequence. Of course, this battle has the stipulation of no transformations or ki attacks, so perhaps isn’t a complete representation of the progress made in this arc (which, to be fair, the movie doesn’t really take account of in any case, having been written first).
  • Monaito’s healing powers finally come into their own and he restores all the heroes. This is accompanied by more Nature language, which points up the thematic connection here: Monaito’s powers are “flowering/blossoming” (開花 – kaika); the English translation opts for “ripen”, which similarly links into images of positive growth – in this case, despite Monaito’s advanced age, conventionally thought of as a barren time of life. The union of his Nature with his Conviction, effected in 超 #81 when he resolved “I won’t allow another soul to die! Not on my watch!”, has been the spur of a growth that had its first flowering 40 years prior in response to Bardock’s influence, and which now has emerged again in the present, under the protection of his son. This also makes for an interesting comparison with Gas on the one hand, whose resolve has been forced and co-opted by his brother and has led to a different image of ageing, which ravages him (recall that the official name for his current form is 老化状態, or the ‘State of Old Age’, with attendant connotations of deterioration), and with Granolah on the other who, while still appearing to be in his physical prime, has just noted that his lifespan is now even shorter than the wish made it – he has had to spend even more of it to undo the situation he helped create with his original warped convictions.
  • Elec makes a telling statement before he flees: “The joke’s on me for trusting in those Dragon Balls.” The phrasing he uses (信じ, shinji) is very similar to that which Goku uses in 超 #84, when he speaks of not having had “total faith (信じ切) in my own power”, and it exposes once again the gulf between where Elec claims to have reposed his trust, and where he has actually done so: not in his brother, whose strength he relies on to implement his plots (and as we have often discussed, his claims of confidence in his brother are constantly undercut by bet-hedging, interference and out-and-out exclusion from playing his role), but rather in his own wish. And this underscores previous discussion on the gulf between the True Nature of things and the conscious ideation of sentient beings, which distorts and damages those things in conscripting them to a preconceived purpose: Elec doesn’t really believe in the strength of his brother in and of itself; he believes that the Dragon Balls have done what he asked so that he’ll get what he’s aiming for. But as Monaito has said, “selfish wishes can only bring about doom” (超 #83), and the union of the unnaturalness of what Elec has wished for with the lack of conviction it betrays has come a cropper, and the doom it brings him is in the midst of unfolding now.
  • It’s a little strange to say this, but I do quite enjoy the slight confusion I experience every time I read the page where Monaito gets pierced; it’s sort of like a reverse of Dende’s death in DB #304, where Freeza’s beam lances past everyone, kills Dende, and then the group turns to react: here Gas pierces Monaito, and then the group turns to react as the beam (and Monaito, carried on it) passes them by. Usually I’m not such a fan of sequences that make you pause and go ‘Wait, just what is happening here??’ on a basic comprehension level, but as a flipping of expectations and for the fact that it succeeds in briefly making the reader as confused as the characters are, I could give this sequence some plus points.
  • Gas reappears, like some horror villain, for one last scare. And appropriately, he’s a fright to behold, totally ruined: the ageing that we saw in 超 #86 has advanced further, to reveal a gnarled and skeletal figure; his ragged skin is stretched over his plainly visible bones, and his tusks are twisted with age, but the most striking design change comes in Gas’s eyes, which are now black with only glinting irises visible. This points up his decaying towards his ultimate demise, as it gives his face a skull-like, grinning Death’s Head quality. When Freeza ultimately kills him and he decays further into an actual skeleton, the change in his eyes is basically tiny – the barest nudge over the edge of living death, as the rest of him catches up. While still alive, the Chapter shows Gas becoming progressively more wrecked, as in the initial combat sequence Goku punches a great gash in his face, improbably ups his tally of tusks broken to 3, and kicks a deep break in his arm in the follow-up, so his shambling undead look takes hold in the same way that Vegeta’s ‘zombification’ came to the fore in 超 #85 – as the pair say, “It’s like fighting something already dead…”, and he looks every inch the part for that characterisation.

    Arguably, we also get a little frisson of similarity to the Future Trunks arc, which pops up from time to time in this arc: when Goku breaks Gas’s arm but he continues to use it to fight with, this reminds one of Zamas’s powers of recuperation that Goku struggled against in 超 #25. At the top of the Chapter, Goku breaks Zamas’s arm with a kick, and Zamas recovers by way of his wished-for immortality. Unlike Zamas, however, who boasts that he won’t take damage no matter what Goku does (and the Chapter see-saws between Zamas trying to recover and Goku trying to overwhelm Zamas’s recovery with rapidly mounting damage and pressure, ultimately going for broke with Destruction-dealing to just wipe him out), Gas simply “doesn’t even care about taking damage”, acting unnaturally in spite of it, and so the fight continues with Gas contributing to his own deterioration. Either way, in both cases the sequences yield a formidably powerful and perhaps impossible to beat down, but wrecked and distorted antagonist pushed to the brink before the Deus Ex Machina of the arc gets wheeled out to abruptly resolve things (Zeno in the Future Trunks arc, and Freeza in this one); it’s just that in Gas’s case the ill effects, or “curse”, of a selfish wish are rather more obvious.
  • While Goku and Vegeta fight Gas, Monaito quietly slips away. Apart from contributing to Granolah’s own personal “turmoil” as one result of what his wish began, this also takes us one step closer to leaving Granolah as the sole survivor from the confrontation on Cereal 40 years prior: Muezli, of course, died on the scene, and Bardock died in the destruction of Planet Vegeta not long thereafter; Monaito dies at Gas’s hands now, and Gas and Elec will be killed by Freeza in this same Chapter, leaving Granolah alone, fully owning his moniker.
  • The Heeters finally come apart as Elec goes fully unhinged in cheering the dying Gas on (which will soon lurch toward furious abuse); the rest of the family finally has had enough after repeatedly voicing their mounting worries at how Elec has used Gas across the latter half of the arc, and Gas at last finds out that he is doomed to die by the wish his brother has made. While this had been coming for a long time and was entirely predictable as an outcome even when the wish was made back in 超 #78, the moment is still played very well by flipping the switch on how we regard Gas’s condition: we already know that it is essentially “a curse” that is destroying him, and that it shows us how he has been used up and disposed of by his brother, but the last couple of Chapters have enhanced the angle of how disturbingly formidable all this seems to make Gas, as he becomes increasingly powerful and insensible to any damage he’s taking, an animated corpse and a nightmare opponent. Following the revelation of his impending demise, the same state that made him seem so formidable now makes him seem equally pitiable, as he wobbles over to a stream, sees a living corpse staring back at him from the water for a stunned beat, and cradles his ruined face, unable to quite comprehend what has happened to him. Add in the stream of boiling invective that (the now desperate) Elec pours on him – he calls him 無能, munō, “useless”, which plays off nicely against the arc keyword 本能, hon’nō, “instinct” (the two words share the final kanji: 能 (: “capacity”, or “ability”); having made so much of Gas’s “innate capacity” earlier, here Elec says it is mu, that is, “nothing”; a total negation of the apparent boundlessness of “instinct” and of Gas’s nature generally) – and Gas’s shocked and hurt reaction as it comes home to him that he’s just been ruined and made into nothing for someone else’s ambitions (whereas previously he might have thought, as in 超 #71 and 超 #77, that the unit were all in it together: he certainly seemed to believe in it whenever he mentioned the end goal) – and this beat actually does a very good job of making the reader feel a twinge of sympathy for someone who (firstly, is a scumbag, but also) only a second ago we reckoned among the implacable and unrelenting undead; it’s an effective flip in the reader’s perceptions. This is brought home doubly by Macki and Oil’s anxious, pleading intervention for their brother’s life and their scandalised reactions once the truth is out, as Elec has crossed a line whereby the Natural expectations of filial piety have been shredded (since he sets no value on what he can’t use), and the unitary Nature of the Heeters has been fatally undermined by one person’s self-aggrandising conceit. Comeuppance is, naturally, swift.
  • Favourite Art: The Man Himself makes his dramatic entrance, in a beat that again flips the tone of the whole Chapter. Toyotarou has used the ground-pound move a couple of times already in the arc, as Gas used it to initiate phase 2 of his fight with Granolah in 超 #80, and again upon arrival at Planet Cereal before calling out the Saiyans, in 超 #84. The similar figure work might point up that we’re looking at the new “Strongest”, but more to the point, it’s clear that Toyotarou just wants to make a big entrance with a big impact – not least because he has directly said as much, in the New Year Interview (Timestamp: 04:52 to 05:16):
    Uchida: Continuing on with the Granolah arc, what are your favourite scenes?
    Toyotarou: Honestly, it has to be the scene where Freeza appears.
    Uchida: Ah, that scene does give you goosebumps.
    Toyotarou: That scene where he appears got me more excited than when he transformed into Black Freeza. The panel where he lands on the battlefield is the one I wanted to draw most in the Granolah arc.
    In fact, Toyotarou manages to give Freeza big moments of artistic heft throughout the Chapter, which (along with the arc-long tease of his appearance) really helps sell his significance in the resolution of the arc: huge panels taking up much of a page regularly focus on him for his big moments in this Chapter, sometimes whole pages (such as his entrance, and his overt transformation) and even a double-page spread for impact (when he shows off what Black Freeza can do). Toyotarou makes great play with having our big bad stand out, grab the attention and fill the pages of the second half of this Chapter with sheer presence. It’s a lot of fun.
  • Freeza’s sudden arrival to abruptly sweep up the enemies and end the arc was divisive at the time; it’s certainly a Deus Ex Machina move and I assume those who didn’t like it felt similarly about Super pulling this self-same move with Zeno-Sama back in the Future Trunks Arc (超 #26). In fact, this is another instance where the general shape and tenor of events in the arc seem weirdly similar to the Future Trunks Arc: when things look grim for the heroes, the absurdly powerful, oft-name-dropped character everyone fears suddenly appears by invitation, inspires terror in the hitherto apparently unstoppable villain who has baffled the main heroic effort thanks to the supernatural ‘hacking’ of their own abilities (albeit with a cost to themselves), and eliminates them instantly, thus resolving the whole arc at a stroke. The only key difference, really, is in the tone: with Zeno, the childlike humour jiving with the existential horror that occasionally comes with him gives a strong, amusing tonal whiplash in the resolution of that arc, whereas it’s all of a piece with Freeza, who is a scumbag getting his jollies off doing scummy things – if I had to articulate the tone difference between what are otherwise superficially similar beats, I suppose I’d say it feels kind of like the difference between a silly grin and a darkly ironic smirk.
  • Given the focus devoted in this arc to how Granolah’s ultimate target is Freeza, I like the fact that so much has happened to him since then that when it comes to the moment, the pair don’t actually even interact. Granolah reacts to Freeza’s arrival (like everyone else), but we lack the burn of vengeful anger that we see, for instance, when he reacts to Elec’s arrival (超 #80); he is clearly surprised in the moment, but his real focus is finally on the more important things (i.e., trying to keep his adoptive father alive). Of course, Freeza doesn’t even seem to notice that Granolah exists – why would he? – and so, quite rightly, the much-touted showdown passes us by, unrealised.
  • Despite the betrayal by his nearest and dearest, Gas tries faithfully to pull off the plan as intended of him. Interestingly, the shift from serialisation to the collected Volume also features a dialogue change that gives a little bit extra to Gas’s characterisation in the moment: in the serialisation, he says he’ll kill Freeza (おまえを殺す, omae o korosu) which is a very mission-focused set of last words; in the collected release, this becomes an anguished reply to Elec’s calling him “worthless scum” (無能じゃない, munōjanai: “I’m not useless!”), which now reads more strongly in terms specifically of proving himself to his big brother, despite the betrayal that’s just been revealed to him; arguably these dynamics were there in the serialisation also (since he’s proving his worth by taking the chance to complete his mission as Elec commands), but this change sharpens the whole thing by making this element more explicit. In any case, the attempt promptly gets him killed in a pretty graphic way, and not just by Freeza poleaxing him: he doesn’t simply fall down dead from impalement, but also it seems, by the continued operation of the wish in response to Freeza’s sneaky manifestation of massive power, trying to make Gas the Strongest again: he ages and decays into a skeleton in seconds. Even when it’s not successful, the nature of this short-sighted wish seems to point itself up as a curse, and the aspirations of the Heeters fall quite literally to dust.
  • I really like how, when Freeza appears and starts running the beats, all of Elec’s faculties desert him – at least in part because the arc spent time building him up only to divest him of his apparent capabilities by progressively exposing them as poses (revealing him as not really ‘all that’ after all), but more importantly, perhaps, because he’s now alone and hasn’t included the strengths of the rest of his unit – he can’t do a thing on his own. Elec doesn’t see Freeza coming even though he’s expecting his arrival imminently, so he’s caught entirely by surprise when he actually does arrive (something he might’ve ordinarily tasked Oil with monitoring); he babbles incoherently and stumbles over a half-baked excuse when Freeza demands to know what the deal is (facility with plausible lies is typically Macki’s schtick); and when Freeza reveals that he’s the weakest Heeter, he pathetically tries a weedy punch to shut Freeza up (which would be Gas’s thing, except for the fact that he is quite unfortunately dead, thanks in no small part to Elec’s ill-use), before getting blasted to smithereens. Even his much-touted ability to manipulate and scheme is exposed as an empty shell, since his ambitions have always been known to Freeza, who has in turn manipulated the Heeters for his own advantage since way back when. It’s a fitting end for Elec, to have isolated himself from The Influence of Others in his unit because of his lowkey conceit that he’s the really important guy among them, only to find that he isn’t really anything on his own, and never was.
  • Freeza, for his part, reveals his own big “pose” of the arc: his pretence at being ignorant. His pretending not to know that the Heeters were plotting against him for the last 40ish years has allowed him to take advantage of their skills in helping his Planet Trade along, while they think they’re working for themselves and that their own “poses” successfully cover over their secrets (which they don’t). Of course, this is a case of Freeza pretending to be less than he is, rather than pretending to be more (as with the Heeters), or trying to actually be something he just isn’t (as with Granolah, Goku and Vegeta); in any case, his apparent ignorance is tempered by the fact that it’s still obvious to all that he has the brains required for his station (as Macki comments in 超 #77) – so even his “poses” clearly reveal what he is really like. That’s not surprising, as the idea of hiding his true self behind a series of masks is integral to Freeza’s original self-presentation in the manga, but it tends to be a question of degree which nevertheless shows clearly what it aims to conceal: his forms are all really suppressions of power behind which the true Freeza hides (DB #296), but his power’s mammoth size is clear anyhow even in his First Form; similarly, Freeza’s pretentiously polite manner conceals a much more hostile sensibility that only comes out plainly under duress (DB #293), but it also throws his quite straightforward scumbaggery into even sharper relief anyway. No matter what “poses” Freeza runs, he still reveals himself as himself in so doing, and owns it in his deliciously hammy way, controlling the exchanges, cracking wise, smacking his foes with abandon and generally chewing the scenery.

    We also get a strong dose of Conviction from Freeza, as he gives us the story’s long-awaited ‘no shortcuts to strength’ bit, revealing he’s had a decade-long grind in a Room of Spirit and Time strictly for the purpose of surpassing Goku and Vegeta quite handily (“I couldn’t very well keep losing to Saiyans my whole life…so I needed a bit of a power-up”), with his new black form. It’s an effective surprise in the moment, and I like how it advances the alignment between Freeza and Goku once again; though they’ll never see eye-to-eye because Freeza is a villain, the approach of this pair has become increasingly alike since Revival of F, with Freeza continually training (Revival of F #1, 超 #32, 超 #87) in order to reach the peak of power rather than just relying on his innate, prodigious talent without putting it to use. Fittingly, for an arc where a lot of fuss is made over which particular hair colour Goku’s using in his most powerful transformations, only for it to end up black (超 #85), Freeza again serves as a kind of mirror for his ultimate foe, following suit with his own black form. But of course, the key reasons for this design choice were spelled out for us by Toyotarou in the New Year Interview (Timestamp: 04:04 to 04:51):
    Uchida: By the way, his new form is black. I guess you can also tell us why you chose that colour, right?
    Toyotarou: Yes. So you and I settled on that colour while we were talking. We were talking about the top level of a Credit Card. The level above Gold is Black. I’m only half-joking. No matter how I look at it, it was the only choice. When you think of Gold, you think of a Gold Medal. It’s hard to imagine something higher than that […] It’s hard to explain, but the colour black has really ominous connotations. So the level above Gold is Black. It wouldn’t work the other way around.
    This is another suitably characterising detail around Freeza that dovetails nicely with the premise of the arc as a whole – given his long-since established status as a Galactic Land Shark awash with money from real estate speculation, and that the events of the arc started 40 years prior, with Freeza’s planet trade destroying a world for a heap of cash, the thought of using credit card colouring has a tight and enjoyable logic all its own when applied to Freeza. This is doubly the case when one considers the luxury and exclusivity that surrounds a black credit card (American Express’ Centurion Card is prototypical): not only are they very costly to own for the slew of perks and benefits they afford the owner, along with the general cachet that comes with ownership, but one can only be owned by invitation to the ‘club’ of cardholders; perhaps fittingly, Freeza appears on the scene by invitation to share in a “business deal” (albeit under false pretences). Technically Freeza has skipped right over the Platinum level of card ownership – while Goku is still “having fun” hopping from silver to black and back again, Freeza blasts right on past that to a whole new level; as 超 #88 notes, it represents a “massive power gap”.

    And the form is distinctive enough visually – the white gives way to the black from the centre outwards, which in turn gets a glossier texture at the extremities just to offset those features a touch. It’s all a tad too ‘bitty’ on the back, though, as the white doesn’t go all the way over the shoulders and so the white elements stick out more awkwardly than on his much more contiguous frontage. Though the colour version of 超 #87 hasn’t been released yet, we get a decent idea of the colour balance from the initial colour pages from 超 #88. Really, Freeza’s classic purple seems like a bit of intrusion on what could have been a highly effective, spare and stark monochrome scheme. Given the glossy texture that naturally comes with these patches, going all-in on these with straight black (and with inking, instead of using the softer screen tones that are employed in this part of the design) also might have obviated the need for the glossy greyer extremities, since it might have lent the design that kind of textural difference that is used apparently for visual variety in the black and white, since it seems to be absent in the colour pages anyway. The effect of the whole thing is perhaps a smidgen too ‘busy’.

    That said, it isn’t surprising that the original design features are taken over without very much modification here, but it may be worth comparing the overall balance of the design with that of Golden Freeza (which similarly used screen tone for gloss and visual variety in black and white): for the Golden Freeza design, Toriyama noted that “there was no way I could possibly make his design simpler than it already was”, but it is noteworthy that he did at least make the original purple caps less prominent (and got rid of the shoulder caps entirely), which keeps the design balance for the Golden Form un-‘busy’ despite the tone and colour changes. Similarly, Black Freeza probably could’ve afforded to strip the design down just a little more than what we got, without sacrificing Freeza’s iconic aesthetics. Perhaps if he ‘evolves’ the form further, there may be an opening to push the design in a more minimalist direction.
  • We get a cute little nod to the kind of tunnel vision that has beset the arc’s antagonists, only this time it breaks in favour of the heroes – Freeza declines to finish Goku and Vegeta off for the simple reason that “I came here in pursuit of a different target”. For once, the pair aren’t the ones with the bullseye on their backs. But it also reads a little like an excuse on Freeza’s part – a “pose”, perhaps, to disguise the fact that he feels the need (or even wish?) to keep his two key rivals (and frenemies?) around.
  • As he departs, Freeza employs the remaining Heeters as kitchen and waiting staff. In 超 #83, Oil wished for tasty food on the Dragon Balls as they dispersed; he’s now got his wish – it’s just that he’ll be the one cooking it. Of course, the same is true of Goku and Vegeta, who are likewise summoned to help Beerus make Instant Yakisoba: we see the gang chow down in 超 #88, and the golden kettle used to add the boiling water is also sitting to one side at the feast (it seems around a dozen portions are scarfed down by the group).
  • We get a round of fond farewells when Whis shows up to revive Monaito, involving matters of Conviction and the True Self once again – Goku gets a quiet moment reflecting on his father, for one. It’s almost a little too much, but it stops short of being the meeting that the fandom splits between longing for and dreading (depending mostly on how they feel about Bardock, it seems); as we’ve already noted, Son Goku and his father share precious little identification in terms of values, but the idea that Bardock’s “will” is simply for his son to be truly himself, and thrive in so doing, is just about good and strong enough to hang this quiet moment on, in my view, without becoming overly mawkish or becoming a confused fumble like the whole ‘Pride’ exchange in 超 #84. It ends up as a nice beat. Meanwhile, Vegeta gets a final exchange with Granolah, offering him the chance to come tangle with him again someday. Granolah replies, with Conviction, that he’ll definitely win – Vegeta responds, 上等だ, jōtōda, meaning “excellent” (rendered “That’s a good attitude” in translation), but also jōtō can mean “that’s just fine”; “bring it on!” so it seems that after everything that’s happened, Vegeta truly believes he can win that engagement too – which was, after all, one of the lessons of the arc. It’s also a nice little coda to the unusual connection that the pair managed to develop across the course of their encounters in this arc. They’ve both come through their issues and ended in a better place together.
  • Aaaaand finally, we get a nod and a wink from Whis about the whole “Strongest” throughline of this arc: maybe it was Freeza all along…and maybe it’s someone else entirely. In light of Super Hero, Broly and Son Gohan step forth as ever-present contenders for the title, one supposes, but really, the point is the one I mentioned a couple of instalments back: this arc shifts the emphasis of Dragon Ball’s traditional message from “There’s always someone stronger”, to “There’s always someone stronger”; it really doesn’t matter who it is because that’s just reflective of a moment in time that is already passing, and there’ll be someone who comes along to take their place soon enough. And that could be almost literally anybody. It’s in flux; Oracle Fish might be able to tell the future, but contrary to what the characters repeatedly assume, none of it is Fated: that’s always successfully challenged by the characters who are able to draw on their true essence and their conviction, and overturn the status quo by realising their True Selves. Chasing down whoever the “Strongest” is in order to one-up them is pointless; there’s always someone stronger, so regarding others as your benchmark isn’t the goal. You are the goal; “Your rivals should be yourselves from the previous day. Work hard to grow stronger than your past selves” (超 #71), and part of that is to bring your whole, True Self to the situations you encounter. Becoming more like yourself is part of that too, and it’s the hardest thing of all sometimes; and it’s never finished. You’re never finished. And so your work continues.

    And so does Goku’s, and Vegeta’s…
  • One more thing to discuss, then: since the dust has settled and the whole shape of the arc is apparent, what can we say about the Granolah arc as a whole?

    Honestly, when we first got to the end of serialisation, I wasn’t entirely sure what to make of the Granolah arc. It seemed very much like a game of two halves, and it didn’t seem entirely clear what the second half was trying to do. The action was stellar, and there was plenty of memorable stuff mixed in, but it felt like the final impact was less than what was on the page because it didn’t seem to hang together properly, somehow. Ultimately, I wasn’t sure whether or not I preferred this over the Future Trunks arc (for me, a very distant third place in the Super manga arcs. Well, that’s the beauty of the Re-Read. It’s almost like this arc was made for it, because I came away from all this feeling rather that, despite its flaws (and they’re not insignificant), the Granolah arc is actually great. For me it’s easily a podium finish, and pushes the Universe 6 arc hard for second place.

    But there are some things that stop it from elevating it to its full potential. Most significant is the story structure and pacing: as noted, it’s very logical, precise, neat and tidy, planned out almost to within an inch of its life: two halves of an arc which spin on a precise mid-point fulcrum in 超 #77, and which each have their own structural mid-points that move the telling of the arc into new phases. In theory, there’s nothing wrong with that; every story needs structure. My issue is that in the telling, it is almost too structured; the structure captures the telling of the story and breaks it down into rigidly sequential steps where the main action is going on, but nothing else of much note is occurring around it until it gets its ‘turn’, and then everything else gives way to it, and so on; this occasionally makes it feel slower and emptier than its intensity warrants. Whereas the Moro arc occasionally gave us the monotony of having lots of anodyne stuff chucked into it at all turns without always being done in a judicious enough way to make those elements weighty, the Granolah arc instead gives us the occasional monotony of having nothing else being there to get drawn into line with the main progression of the plot – scarcity, rather than blandness. The fact that (for its bulk) the story is actually quite simple probably also contributes to this feeling; the arc coyly holds back on telling some of the foreseeable beats of the story for several Chapters, with resort to nudges, winks, conversational asides and (sometimes needless) misdirects as we wait for the beat to land, and sometimes this tries the reader’s patience. In the meantime, we cycle through combats that take their neat, placed turns until it is time for the next beat to reveal itself, which can make the story seem languid and repetitive on occasion.

    But while this is a key craft defect for this particular story, I don’t feel like I did with the Moro arc, where the pacing issues meant that almost nothing of note happened (while stuff was happening) for much of the Second Act as that story entered a holding pattern, followed by a sideshow (more stuff) as we waited for the main thread of the story to pick itself back up. Even at its most repetitive and plodding, the beats of the Granolah arc are usually fulfilling an actual purpose in characterisation (which is a huge and – in my opinion – insufficiently appreciated aspect of what is going on in plotting terms also, as the antagonists and other players inject themselves more into the main combat phase of proceedings), in thematic exploration, and in just presenting action that is fun to read, much of the time. Its defect is real, significant, and sometimes quite frustrating, but for me it doesn’t truly spoil the arc; it merely stops it from being everything it could have been, if it had been tightened up and written in such a way that multiple things could’ve been presented and balanced at the same time. To an extent, then, I can sympathise with the sentiment that the execution of the arc is in some way less than the sum of its parts; while I think it’s often overstated, it isn’t exactly wrong. But the things to appreciate are important, and numerous:

    Let’s begin with the art. Historically I’ve thought Toyotarou’s art is just fine, even in the earlier arcs (in the Universe 6 arc I judged his output as generally ranging between ‘perfectly serviceable’ and ‘pretty strong’, with some deviations either way), but looking at the Granolah arc and then back at one of the earlier arcs really does show how massive his improvement has been over the course of his run on Super; somehow he’s on a totally different level to his output from a few years back, and his action art has moved up a gear even from the standards of the Moro arc, and his best stuff from that arc is now the baseline standard for this one, which is mostly better still. While the panelling allows Toyotarou to sometimes over-indulge in a couple of his favourite tropes a little too often (e.g., the plunging zoom which has its beat across three obligatory panels), it also allows him to give us all action sequences that are, quite consistently, tremendous fun to read, with strong momentum, sharp and exaggerated impacts with great figure work, huge-scale power, and visual variety: the fights go places and use their surroundings to give different actions and vibes; the strengths of the characters and the features of their approaches to combat are sold in the choreography (see, for instance, Vegeta’s turn in 超 #74-75, or Granolah’s performance through the first half of the arc, or Gas and Goku’s fight in 超 #81-82); even considering that this arc’s key defect is its pacing, the actual pacing of the action beats, and how they’re panelled out, is also done with skill and a verve that gives the action clarity and intensity. There are of course a few (mostly anatomical or detail-oriented rather than compositional) blunders here and there that are unfortunate to see, but they’re pretty few and far between, and generally Toyotarou really full-sends it. It’s a huge plus for this arc, to have what is an embarrassment of riches artistically; some readers seem to have become a little blasé about it and have, I think, stopped appreciating it for the highly enjoyable strength that it is. That’s a real shame. The design work is also very good: Granolah in particular is one of Toyotarou’s strongest designs in the series so far, being evocatively old-fashioned and leveraging a set of classic Toriyama-inspired design tropes in a character concept that is both cohesive and feels of a piece with the wider Dragon World. The Heeter designs are also pretty interesting, doing some of the same things to make an ostentatious uniform for a conspicuously wealthy crime family, with some interesting leavening detail that keeps the group interesting and gives them immediately recognisable identity. The Sugarians are super-cute, and the scenery is nicely varied and generally well-employed to enhance the effect of the art throughout the arc.

    Then, there’s the theme-work. This is usually a strength of Super, and this arc is, in my opinion, no exception. In this case, the guiding Theme of the arc is about the True Self, which gives itself to the rather more character-focused offering that the Granolah Arc is; the various characters struggle to act in ways that answer to their True Selves, or have obstacles or inducements (whether by inclination or influence) that prevent this self-realisation, resulting in a series of “poses” that each of the characters hide behind: Granolah has his past and his need for vengeance, resulting in his Avenger pose throughout the early confrontations in the arc, Vegeta has his guilt mixed in with his conviction that reverting will give him the power he needs, thus trading real growth for the pose of a kind of man he has long since stopped being; Goku has the idea that he is already completed by using a technique that requires him to be fundamentally unlike himself, thus hiding behind a pose of total equanimity because this gives him his greatest apparent strength within a transformation (while, ironically, foregoing his greatest strengths as a person); meanwhile, the Heeters hide behind a series of deceptive, manipulative poses throughout, to fit the needs of their plot. But these approaches set up the thematic problem – that is, to open to one’s True Self and align with it in one’s actions is perhaps the most difficult kind of progress to make. Usually it requires a series of Awakenings, in this arc – both sides go through them in order to (re)gain sight of their True Selves, and integrate who they really are with what they’re really doing.

    To pursue this thematic line, the arc seems to break its exploration of the True Self down into two further thematic strands – Nature, and Conviction – and the arc goes to town with keywords that are expressive of these two key elements, a number of which seem to be in some way related, forming thematic clusters that pepper the arc dialogue and relate clearly to the approaches and outlooks of the characters and the way they pursue their goals. The Nature cluster involves words and ideas like 本質 (honshitsu; true nature, essence), 本能 – (hon’nō; instinct), 進化 (shinka; evolve), and explores Growth and motifs around it; the Conviction cluster involves words and ideas like 信念 (shin’nen; belief, conviction – see also 信じ切, shinjikiru – to believe completely), 覚悟 (kakugo; resolution, resolve, readiness), and the related 覚醒 (kakusei; awakening). These explore Resolve and motifs around it; typically when elements from both strands are taken and fused together in some key arc event (see: Vegeta’s Awakening to Wagamama no Goku’i, Bardock’s constantly surging power against Gas, Goku’s integration of his emotions into Migatte no Goku’i to make it his “true” form of the technique, Granolah’s eschewing of vengeance), it is the spur of growth for the heroic characters and I find it generally works pretty well in this story – that goes for its negative side too: when the characters ignore (or find themselves incapable of actualising) one element or another, they are either fatally inhibited in pursuing their goals (see: Goku, Vegeta, Gas) or are in some way distorting or harming themselves (most notably Granolah and Gas, the ‘beneficiaries’ of selfish wishes that are unnatural and are the product of distorted or frustrated conviction). I think the themes are deployed well in constructing convincing and layered character arcs that are generally resolved in a satisfying way, along with conveying enough depth and variety on their own in the various plot beats of the arc to make for rewarding reflection.

    These character-‘intrinsic’ elements are married well to other, ‘extrinsic’ thematic elements about what makes the True Self what it is – specifically, The Past, as a constantly-recurring plot strand that the characters in the present encounter. It’s almost a strange kind of mirror of the Future Trunks arc, where the Future is always there in the story; the key difference being that the Future is directly accessible to the heroes in that arc, whereas the Past in the Granolah arc is constantly being recalled, revealed, and reinterpreted and isn’t directly accessible to anyone, but is instead a set of survivals, the significance of which is contested by the various characters as they pursue their combat (and their True Selves) in the Present. Granolah, Gas and Monaito, as characters who were direct actors in that Past, all come through strongly as representatives of that Past (who have all, in their different ways, failed to grow beyond it: Granolah and Gas in their fixations on vengeance, and Monaito in his fear), and Vegeta and Goku attach to it relatively convincingly in their different ways: Vegeta by means of his own past, of which the ‘Past’ story strand is an example of the kind of activity that used to be his own; Goku by means of the connection with his own father, which draws out the other ‘extrinsic’ thematic element pretty effectively (and it’s one that finds a place in Super across arcs, in one form or another): The Influence of Others. The arc performs a pretty effective and enjoyable flip in making Goku the originating influence on the events of the Past, which in turn impacts him in the present by way of the virtuous circle he touches off, simply by his original impact on Bardock at a crucial point of choice. The influence of others is equally apparent in the present, with both positive examples (e.g., Oatmeel for Granolah, the group eventually coming together as a kind of team in the climax) and negative examples (particularly Elec’s influence on Gas, but also the Heeters generally on Granolah) that are mixed well with the other thematic elements in the plot.

    Given how closely bound the arc themes are to how characterisation is employed in the arc, I also think the use of the characters, and the union of character beats with thematic elements, is another big positive point in this arc’s favour, maligned though it has been around the inclusion and use of two particular characters – namely, Bardock (I get the impression that backlash really came from two camps: those who loved Classic Bardock to death and found his current incarnation a travesty, and those who dislike Bardock generally and found his very use here to be a story defect) and Gas (criticised, I have argued largely unfairly, as a particularly characterless figure). Leaving these two aside for the moment, however, there’s a load of strong stuff in the arc – Vegeta in particular comes out strong as the poster boy for the character issues that thread the arc, struggling with his self-conception and how to unite how he feels and what he’s like with what he’s learning and what he’s doing, how to grow and move forward; he initially seeks to change (or at least mask) himself to conform with a preconceived idea of how he needs to act both as a Saiyan whose course is set by Nature, and as a wielder of God of Destruction Power as to how he needs to behave to use it properly. Goku also approaches this same issue, but of course from a slightly different angle as someone who has “completed” Ultra Instinct, taking himself out of the equation (and so seeming almost absent even while present, strangely ineffectual even when at the peak of his capabilities). Granolah is similar but different again, listening to and constantly re-provoking his vengeful convictions and burning his whole self, with anything else he might have become, so that he only becomes an unnatural self-and-other-destroying thing to the heroes in the first part of the arc, a flat projection of a non-character, so that he doesn’t have to grow past what distorts him; of course, that distorts him further, causing him emotional turmoil as the truth is progressively revealed, and leading him on to ruin and near death, before he gains the wherewithal to act as he truly is and eschew revenge. Even Monaito gets a rewarding turn as a character who has had to bite back his convictions owing to his own powerlessness, and tread the line of being a good father figure, fostering Granolah’s growth, without jeopardising their lives by answering to his pride and telling the truth (as he progressively does throughout the story), and ‘posing’ accordingly. The story manages to do compelling work for these characters, freighting these simple and believable arcs with thematic significance, allowing them to discard their poses and become more like their True Selves.

    And Gas, from the Heeters, is much the same (a deliberately flat projection who is in some way out for revenge), albeit with the interesting added dimension of being obviously part of a greater artificial unity in his family’s characterisation as a kind of body with parts performing defined functions, a twist expressive of a stock-in-trade of ‘distorted unity’ that Super likes to run with its antagonists. Although this isn’t always exploited as fully as it could have been (since he’s often sequestered from them as a straightforward fighter out there on his own, while the others just watch), Gas and his inability to grow, his ‘pose’ as a quiet powerful badass (which is what Elec has made him) ought to be read within the broader body dynamic of the Heeters as a whole. They’re most interesting when bouncing off each other, particularly in sequences where Gas and Elec specifically interact, as Gas’s insecurities are manipulated to serve his brother’s plots and a clear (if twisted) Big Brother-Little Brother dynamic mixes together well with the Heeter body/unit dynamic, and also with the themes of the arc, since Nature and Conviction are writ large across what much of Gas does, particularly in how his Convictions are affected by the course of the arc and by the way he interacts with his brother in particular. It’s usually believable, quite natural, and often combined with these other factors in a skilful way, giving us a sense of a character whose prescribed role has been a source of frustrated pride which he has never had the ability to truly express, as his resentment at it festers. For all the talk of Gas as ‘boring’ or ‘characterless’, there’s actually plenty of enjoyable and interesting stuff done with him, if the reader is willing to actually poke at it and think on what’s there. And that’s only part of the story, given the broader Heeter dynamics around him, where their actions take cues from their ‘body’ roles. The same is true of Elec, as the ’Brains’ of the outfit, constantly absorbed in plotting and scheming and dissembling and giving commands to all concerned, increasingly revealing that he’s possessed by the conceit that he’s the only member of the ‘body’ that truly matters (while he sets events in motion that doom the group). I really like the way the Heeters are conceived and how they play off against each other in particular; the only issue is, as I’ve said, that it would’ve been nice to see it a little more in the combat phase of the arc, rather than being confined to a few stand-out instances.

    And then there’s Bardock. He has a pivotal bit-part for the development of the story, which some find wholly jarring. I think that, for what he is, it’s generally well-considered, and that more than anything, it’s interesting to see the way that Toyotarou balances features that are recognisably ‘classic’ in this character (particularly in the resolve-led approach to his combat, questions of Fate and the Future, and his self-understanding as a Saiyan, which also ties in with the themes of the arc) with the newer, DBMinus-influenced depiction of the character, which is used deftly enough to clearly sketch the boundaries of the character, and which link well with the ideas of growth that the arc plays with, through the connection with his newborn son and how it impacts his personal trajectory here. Along with serving the purpose of thematically hitching Goku in a convincing way to the events of the Past that thread all the way through the arc, Bardock’s involvement also gives the opportunity to see a “heroic” (i.e., acting against the proper villains) character act in a way that is both true to themselves and yet capable of being changed in such a way that he is capable of growing further while uniting his True Nature and his Convictions, in order to produce a resolve through which he prevails, and to produce action that rebounds on the other characters in the arc (Goku especially, in more than one way). I think re-reading his segment reveals a character with a good mix and balance of characterising and thematic elements within a highly entertaining action setting – if anything, I might have liked to see more of it, from earlier on in the arc.

    Overall, as an arc that crucially pegs its themes to how its characters act them out, I think the Granolah arc is fundamentally a successful piece, both in the present and the past strands of the story. As this Re-Read should make clear, turning this aspect over in my mind and exploring all the facets of it has been extremely rewarding. The arc is perhaps not always a totally successful story in all its particulars, but it seems to me to be an eminently successful one insofar as it presents and works with its characters.

    In brief: on re-read and reflection, I really like the Granolah arc. I just think there’s so much to like about this arc; there’s great design and art; there’s thoroughgoing, interesting and well-deployed thematic work that is developed in a pretty consistent and well-considered way; there’s good characterisation that trades compellingly on these themes and does interesting stuff both with totally new characters, reimagined characters, and established characters finding extremely interesting ways to integrate the new with the old – even the things I wouldn’t have asked for (e.g., Bardock’s appearance; Goku’s “True” Ultra Instinct), I find are executed in a pretty satisfying way that makes sense for the story in the way it is being told, and which add to the overall experience. It’s not by any means a flawless arc (as noted above, the pacing is just too wonky to excuse, and sometimes there just isn’t enough going on now and again), but I find it a rewarding and entertaining story to encounter, and re-encounter. For my money (and I will certainly be spending my money on the Volume release, once it finally all comes out), the Granolah arc re-reads much better than it originally read, and has a great deal to commend it in this format. It’s worth a Re-read – and, I would say, for many, a reassessment.
Okay, I think that’ll do; just about managed to inch my way over the finish line... Thanks for the ride, y’all – it’s been fun!

Until next time – What did you get from your Re-Read?

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LoganForkHands73
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Re: The Super Re-Read

Post by LoganForkHands73 » Wed Apr 12, 2023 7:28 pm

First off, big congrats Ponta on the new baby!

Re: Your credit card has been declined
Freeza's appearance could've easily felt very cheap, anticlimactic, or Deus Ex Machina-ery, but it ended up being a highlight of the arc. The threat of the Heeters had already been effectively neutralised - Gas was clearly burnt out already and the impotence of Elec had been exposed. Having Freeza deliver the final blow doesn't undermine the catharsis of Granolah, Goku and Vegeta (more or less) defeating him physically and ideologically. Freeza ultimately proves Vegeta's earlier points about Earned Strength vs. Cheated Strength better than anyone else. He's undeniably a scene-stealer - after over a year of speculation that Freeza might not physically appear at all, he bursts in at the literal last second with a new transformation strong enough to wipe the floor with everyone. So predictable that it wrapped round into being completely unpredictable. Good stuff.

Re: Stamina drained
I've ran out of energy to say much more criticism about the arc as a whole. While I can find some respite in the strong themes and character work, even on re-read I find many of the flaws that turned me off the arc during the monthly releases still apply. The story doesn't feel anywhere near substantive enough to justify the runtime it was given. Relatively, millions of other stories manage to give much more reward for the time invested. You mention at one point that the story may feel too precise and tightly wound, I feel the opposite - the substance that was there was diluted by a continuous sense of wheelspin and aimlessness. Padding on top of padding on top of padding, trying to abate a conclusion which was evidently planned out well enough in advance; for whatever reason, Toyotaro just couldn't get the pieces to fall into place.

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