Post
by MaGyunia » Sun Jul 05, 2015 3:29 pm
All in all, this first episode managed to contain or pack quite a large chunk of different events from all angles (Goten + Trunks, Gohan + Videl, Beerus, Goku + Goten, Mr. Satan + Goku, Mr. Satan + Majin Buu, Muten Roshi + Chi Chi) in a short period of time. I'm not postulating they're rushing these first lighter, softer episodes to get to the more action/fighting-oriented or serious and dramatic tone of the series, which, if it will happen at all, will most likely have a different tone to it when compared to the genocidal maniacal villains and all the seriousness and drama we had in pretty much all arcs throughout DBZ. The series might get more violent when we finally get past these first introducing episodes, the retelling of the story of Beerus and Whis, the introduction of Champa and his attendant, the attaining by Goku and Vegeta of the stage of Super Saiya-jin God, the resurrection, training and defeat of Freeza and we get to the episodes where we start dealing with the 6th Universe. At this point we can only speculate at what sort of villains or characters or events may happen, but it will really be the first material which will be both completely new/previously unknown or unexplored and at the same time featuring the type of insane fighting and blood and guts any long-time hardcore DBZ fan should want and need.
Regarding the comparison between the first and second episodes, as I said before, it's just natural to be more hyped about the concept of a Vegeta's family fun time when compared to laid back, humorous or smooth events occurring in Goku's family, considering the huge difference in the characters and the fact that Vegeta was first introduced in the Saiya-jin Saga as a major villain with psychopathic violent tendencies, a killing machine with a wish for immortality and for ruling the universe as the prince of a fighting race. It took him - and Toriyama - gradual, very slow and incremental changes in his relationship with others and with himself over the Freeza, Jinzouningen and Majin Buu arcs to reach the point where he can no longer be considered the "evil guy amongst the good guys". We're past that, Vegeta is a family man, but that shouldn't and won't mean he'll lose any of his inability to adapt to society in general and toss away his humongous pride and stoic, serious, reserved character. It wouldn't be Vegeta at all if that ever happened.
Judging from the information we've been getting in the last days and weeks and yesterday's first episode and the preview of the second one, I'd say with a fair degree of certainty and confidence that they're doing things just the right way: a few episodes of character development, covering the retold stories of Beerus, Whis, Super Saiya-jin God Goku and Vegeta and Freeza - BoG and Fukkatsu no F are obviously going to be made "non-canon" although the new characters and developments will be introduced just the same, only in different circumstances and at a different time - and then, finally, moving to the really new material. One might automatically associate the search for "Super Dragon Balls" outside of Earth to the Namek Saga or GT, but the main point of the storylines in DB and especially DBZ has never been to collect the Dragon Balls as it was in the earlier arcs in DB, but to survive and fight in dramatic circumstances against insanely powerful new menaces (although they obviously end up using Shenlong to repair the damage done after every major arc), and I hope they'll follow this trend in Super as well. I want things to get to a point where the circumstances seem so desperate and the enemy is so powerful that it will take a serious and dramatic set of events and transformations to beat and/or kill them, much in the same way we had it in all the arcs from the Tenshinhan arc to the Majin Buu arc, with the Piccolo Daimao, Piccolo Jr., Saiya-jin, Freeza, Jinzouningen and Cell arcs in between. After so many years of creative inactivity and an entire new generation to attract, I'm not expecting so much gore, death, blood and guts or violent fights, but Dragon Ball has always also been about extremely well-conceived character development, both in the good guys and in the villains, and I'm sure we'll get these fundamental and structural elements of DB later on in Super.
I'm not hoping to see dramatic events such as what we've seen in the Saiya-jin, Freeza or Cell arcs, with so many deaths, genocides and violence, they won't go in that direction nor could they even if they wanted to. That atmosphere belongs to the 80's and early 90's and has earned its place in history forever. What we've seen previously in DB and DBZ is pretty much just untouchable and they can't and won't be able to equal it, let alone surpass it. As such, there goes another reason for us to approach this new recent material in recent years, especially Super, from a different standpoint and perspective. We must be able to be open-minded and remain confident about whatever Toriyama plans to develop and introduce to the Dragon Ball universe from now on, it's really not like GT where he wasn't even involved, was made in a rush and got partially or completely rid of fundamental characters with fantastic backgrounds. We must also be able to both be able to see this new, previously unexplored material from a different angle when compared to the 80's and 90's DB and DBZ, but at the same being able to connect the two and believe that whatever is coming will be a worthy continuation of the previous sagas. It's not even a matter of belief to me, it's a mere certainty, in fact. The sheer fact that Toriyama is overseeing this pretty much ensures and guarantees at least an extremely high degree of quality in terms of character development, background and storyline.
I can't actually believe we just saw the first episode of a new Dragon Ball series for 18 years yesterday. We get to get hyped about the next episode without knowing exactly all the details of what's going to happen on a weekly basis. This alone should guarantee the hype for all of us.
