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EP. REVIEW: Dragon Ball Super


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Ethe





PostPosted: Sun Jan 07, 2018 8:47 pm Reply with quote
Ep. 122:

There were definitely some animation highlights, but seeing them reuse animation footage over and over again made me enjoy the fight scenes way less. I'm used to it by now though.

Anyway, Freeza remains my favourite character of this arc. I still think he'll be the one to win the Super Dragon Balls, but we'll see Razz

EDIT: Oh, I forgot to mention, the new ending is incredibly lazy. What a shame, especially considering the song itself is quite good.
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CycloneJoker



Joined: 18 Sep 2016
Posts: 59
PostPosted: Fri Jan 12, 2018 5:55 pm Reply with quote
Interesting. I got almost the exact opposite out of this episode. I felt that this was some of Vegeta's best development since he decided to sit out on the Exhibition Match in order to be present for the birth of his daughter. That said, Super has managed to sway me into making Vegeta my new favourite character, so I might be a tad biased.

This was one of few occasions where Vegeta has actively thrown away the notion of getting stronger the same way as Goku for the sake of his own pride ("I can never throw away who I am. Kakarot can have his Ultra Instinct. I'll defeat you in my own way."). He'd rather be true to himself and his own strength than copy someone else. In addition, the preview makes it sound as though Vegeta isn't to be counted out quite yet, as it sounds as though he'll either get a new, not to mention unique form (a first for him), or at least master Blue to a greater extent than Goku and put them that much close to equal footing.

We're all in agreement when it comes to that animation though. Hoo boy. Besides the hour special, obviously, I don't think we've had quite as much weight to a fight scene since Vegeto's return.
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#844391



Joined: 09 Sep 2015
Posts: 517
PostPosted: Sun Jan 14, 2018 3:36 am Reply with quote
Ep 123,

No name for Vegeta's new form? Going by his hair it looks like Super Saiyen Ascended, so I'm guessing something like Super Saiyen Blue Ascended or something. Nice to see Jiren start to get serious (finally). I think Goku missed an opportunity to finish him off for good, when he knocked Jiren off and Jiren was hopping stones to get back up Goku should have blasted him, or at the very least blasted all the rocks he was using as stepping stones, and he could have finished the fight there. Why he teleported away when he literally had the high ground struck me as weird.

I wonder if there is going to be any look at the reason behind Jiren's actions. He's been holding back the whole tournament when he could have pretty much wiped out all the rest of the fighters single handedly at the beginning. Is he like saiyens in that he wants to fight opponents at their strongest? or is there some other reason?
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Gasero



Joined: 24 Jul 2009
Posts: 939
Location: USA
PostPosted: Sun Jan 14, 2018 1:05 pm Reply with quote
Ep 123

Jiren has punched through air, energy, and time, and they actually have the nerve to tell the audience that Jiren isn't using his full power? This is ridiculous. The ante is already high enough. We don't need more ante!

Also, the writers have completely ignored stamina since Goku first used ultra instinct. Vegeta and Goku could barely stand after fighting Jiren, and then a minute later, both of them are powering up to their maximum strength and overwhelming Jiren.

On the good side, I am very impressed by the amount of strategy Goku used against Jiren in the first half of the episode. I would have been happy if that was the moment of Jiren's defeat because Goku could have followed up Jiren's fall with a solar flare and a barrage of energy blasts that kept him off the stage. Woulda been cool, but perhaps too sophisticated for the DBS writers. Instead, we get more unnecessary powerups.

The battles with Toppo and Dyspo are not as flawed, so I don't have much to say about those. I would be excited to see Frieza revive the same energy lifting technique he used to kill Krillin to defeat Toppo or Dyspo.
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Kicksville



Joined: 20 Nov 2010
Posts: 1224
PostPosted: Sun Jan 14, 2018 7:19 pm Reply with quote
How touching that Vegeta powered up from his desire to save his least disappointing son.
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Maidenoftheredhand



Joined: 21 Jun 2007
Posts: 2634
PostPosted: Sun Jan 14, 2018 8:09 pm Reply with quote
Besides Jiren and his unnamed wish Vegeta is actually the only character with a real motivation beyond fighting so his universe doesn’t get erased. And I don’t think it’s throw away that now that he has found a planet of Saiyan again he wouldn’t want to see them disappear. He couldn’t do anything the last time but now he can.


Oh wait I did forget about Freeza’s wish to take over the Gods or something to that effect.
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Ethe





PostPosted: Sun Jan 14, 2018 11:08 pm Reply with quote
Didn't enjoy the latest episode either. The animation quality took a dive once again, and Jiren is is still a boring opponent whose only character trait is being strong (also, I can't take him seriously). Hope that changes soon.
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Greed1914



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4534
PostPosted: Mon Jan 15, 2018 11:24 am Reply with quote
It makes sense that Vegeta would have his own variant transformation in the works. When everyone was trying to go beyond Super Saiyan in order to fight Cell, he came up with his Super Vegeta transformation, and Goku went in a different direction with it. It's at least more interesting that seeing Vegeta playing catch up, only to find out that Goku secretly pulled ahead of him again.
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GhostD



Joined: 07 May 2016
Posts: 1026
PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2018 12:11 pm Reply with quote
Looks like it really will end come March but if what the pic says is true then the series is not over yet

spoiler[https://twitter.com/Herms98/status/954086203044675584]

Like a lot of people have been saying its probably to work on the new movie and maybe ideas for a continuation. Heres hoping
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Gasero



Joined: 24 Jul 2009
Posts: 939
Location: USA
PostPosted: Sat Jan 20, 2018 10:07 pm Reply with quote
ep 124

I am starting to think that the DBS writers don't actually have a clever way of wrapping things up. With only a few minutes of battle time remaining, characters are still powering up and revealing new techniques that they should have used long ago in order to gain an upper hand as fast as possible.

Frieza vs Dyspo was a really boring battle. No suspense or excitement or buildup to some clever victory. Gohan's plan made sense, but I don't understand why Gohan didn't attack Dyspo from a distance instead of sacrificing himself at close range. Also, I must have missed the scene of Gohan leaving the battle with Toppo. That seemed like an important battle to stay in.

After all this time I was was thinking that Frieza had some clever plan for victory, it turns out Frieza's got nothing. Nobody has anything. It's just more powerups. Please stop.
Why is Jiren still holding back power? Just win already!
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#844391



Joined: 09 Sep 2015
Posts: 517
PostPosted: Sat Jan 20, 2018 11:44 pm Reply with quote
Ep 124,

I was disappointed in Frieza, I thought he was going to use his cunning or something to win, hell, he should have taken out Dyspo the moment he stopped him with his tail. But he really didn't have anything planned and got his ass saved by Gohan. It ruins the whole point of his character being a mysterious wild card in the tournament.

And can Goku keep up Kaio-Ken indefinitely at this point? Vegeta found a new form but you normally think of Kaio-Ken as a trump card to get that extra burst of power for a final attack or to tip the edge in a close fight. Now it just seems to be an additional power up.
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Tuor_of_Gondolin



Joined: 20 Apr 2009
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Location: Bellevue, WA
PostPosted: Sun Jan 21, 2018 11:09 am Reply with quote
I'm of the opinion that Frieza orchestrated the ending of the fight between him, Gohan, and Dyspo. He *is* pretty smart, and I think he pretended to start losing after turning to Gold, knowing that Gohan would notice and come to help him, because that's how Gohan is. So he did that. Then, when Gohan proposed a method of taking out Dyspo, Frieza readily agreed. He formed the cage and then pretended to weaken near the end, before failing *just* before Gohan delivered the deciding blow. This forced Gohan to use outright self-sacrifice in order to achieve their goal of defeating Dyspo.

As a result of the battle, Gohan and Dyspo are now out. 17 is still locked in battle with Toppo, and I doubt 17 can beat him. Both Goku and Vegeta are locked in battle with Jiren and I doubt they can beat him, either. Freiza is now the trump card in the battle between 17 and Toppo, and Freiza is probably hoping that whoever wins between Goku, Vegeta, and Jiren is so worn down that Freiza can defeat them. And even if no one else gets ringed out, Universe 7 will win 4-2 over Universe 11.

So, I don't think Freiza has been acting stupidly. Freiza is always about Freiza, first and foremost. He's playing all of the angles, but I think his ultimate goal is for him and only him to received the Super Dragon Balls, and he has to be pretty careful about how he goes about achieving that.
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#844391



Joined: 09 Sep 2015
Posts: 517
PostPosted: Sun Jan 21, 2018 4:54 pm Reply with quote
Tuor_of_Gondolin wrote:
I'm of the opinion that Frieza orchestrated the ending of the fight between him, Gohan, and Dyspo. He *is* pretty smart, and I think he pretended to start losing after turning to Gold, knowing that Gohan would notice and come to help him, because that's how Gohan is. So he did that. Then, when Gohan proposed a method of taking out Dyspo, Frieza readily agreed. He formed the cage and then pretended to weaken near the end, before failing *just* before Gohan delivered the deciding blow. This forced Gohan to use outright self-sacrifice in order to achieve their goal of defeating Dyspo.

As a result of the battle, Gohan and Dyspo are now out. 17 is still locked in battle with Toppo, and I doubt 17 can beat him. Both Goku and Vegeta are locked in battle with Jiren and I doubt they can beat him, either. Freiza is now the trump card in the battle between 17 and Toppo, and Freiza is probably hoping that whoever wins between Goku, Vegeta, and Jiren is so worn down that Freiza can defeat them. And even if no one else gets ringed out, Universe 7 will win 4-2 over Universe 11.

So, I don't think Freiza has been acting stupidly. Freiza is always about Freiza, first and foremost. He's playing all of the angles, but I think his ultimate goal is for him and only him to received the Super Dragon Balls, and he has to be pretty careful about how he goes about achieving that.


It's possible that Frieza planned all of that, but DBS is not exactly known for its subtlety, they usually broadcast plot twists pretty far out by a bunch of obvious hints. And even if this whole episode was his plan, it would be one of those convoluted plans that requires a ton of things to fall exactly into place for it to happen that no one could possibly predict. He was literally about a second or two from being knocked out of the arena before Gohan saved him, saying that he planned that all along is a bit far fetched, not to mention predicting how the rest of the fight would go and stuff.

I don't deny that he's only looking out for himself, and is a schemer, I just don't see that kind of hidden planning and stuff being in this particular show.
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penguintruth



Joined: 08 Dec 2004
Posts: 8483
Location: Penguinopolis
PostPosted: Sun Jan 21, 2018 5:22 pm Reply with quote
It was only because Gohan worked out a strategy that Freeza was put in a position to knock Dyspo out (along with Gohan). I enjoy when the fighters actually have a plan and don't just power through everything. The latter has its place, but I'm always happen to see the former, showing that characters like Piccolo, 17, and Gohan think things through. Even Goku and Vegeta, meatheaded as they can be, have a kind of brilliance when it comes to fighting and Super allows them to finesse at times. Goku's clever use of Kuririn's Kienzan in his fight with Jiren, for instance.
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Saku-dono



Joined: 14 Feb 2014
Posts: 801
PostPosted: Sun Jan 21, 2018 5:44 pm Reply with quote
I'm sure glad DBS will end in March. For all I care, I wish they ended yesterday. Frieza, either he was scheming or just stupidly overwhelmed was pathetic. As for Gohan, as usual, DBS writers were Goku-Vegeta fanboys so they disregarded him again in such a vital timeline. There isn't a lot of logical sense in eliminating him rather than having Goku-Vegeta getting more attention in the final stretch.

Shame on these writers. They're crap AF. I'm not hopeful for another season, hope they can stay on indefinite hiatus for a very long time.
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