Where the last episode took a shotgun approach, giving us small glimpses of several fights, this one focuses on Goku as he tries to fight off a gang of 5 fighters from universe 9. The number inexplicably drops down to three, but seeing Goku try to fight off the trio de dangers was still quite an entertaining spectacle.
Normally, when you see saiyans who can transform fighting in their base forms, the tension diminishes, but here it actually seemed to increase. The reason for why Goku and Vegeta aren't going blue is given. I'd once again note that stamina never seemed to be a problem with the blue form before, but Whis points out that senzu beans aren't an option here. I guess that helps explain it a little. Either way, it means that Goku and Vegeta have to fight more conservatively here.
The trio actually put up quite an impressive fight. It's repeatedly said that they're weak, but they each have a unique skill set and they are incredibly well coordinated. You can see why Goku is put on the defensive the way he is.
I've said before that I'm a sucker for 2 or 3 on 1 fights. In most cases, it's multiple heroes trying to take down one superior villain. This episode shows that even inverting the formula can make for an entertaining watch.
Surprisingly enough, it's Vegeta that jumps to Goku's aid. It's a far cry from the usual saiyan schpiel about fighting by yourself due to the whole warrior's honor code. Granted, Vegeta does mock Goku a little. Goku also notes that he was fighting them; but given the circumstances, both seem to be a bit more flexible on that front. It's nice to see that they are being smart about things here.
Alas, Vegeta draws the attention of 5 other fighters from universe 9, meaning they each have to fight four people. Admittedly, Vegeta doesn't adhere to that strategy, but it still seems like a case of "stop helping me".
It was cool to see Goku and Vegeta fighting along side each other for once. The fact that universe 9 still gives them a good run for their money makes the fight that much more impressive. It shows how coordination and skill can gain an advantage over even the most powerful of fighters.
Granted, that's undercut by the fact that the two saiyans turn the tables and manage to knock most of the universe 9 fighters out of the ring, but still. It also gave the saiyan's status as "warrior race" a nice reaffirmation, as they knew just the right time to strike in order to get the win against 8 fighters.
One of the other universe 9 fighters was taken out by 18 while the other was tortured by Frieza to the point where he panicked and ended up unintentionally fleeing the ring.
This brings us to another way that this episode differentiated itself from its predecessor. I said before that the herd wasn't thinned all that much in the last episode, with only two out of eighty fighters being knocked out. Here, we see an entire team get disqualified in one go.
With disqualification, comes erasure; as we see in the episode's closing wham moment. Having the scene set to "Earth's Fate" was oddly appropriate. The title fits, of course, but the tune itself is ominous and really gives the scene extra emotional umph.
One of the more common "wild mass guesses" was that the zen'os were bluffing and that the erasure was just a way to get everyone to fight at their best. We see here that that is clearly not the case. The two omni-kings don't hesitate to erase universe 9 when all the fighters are out (even smiling when doing it.) The gods (as well as the ten fighters) disappear and when Whis goes to check on the universe with his staff, all he sees is the same void that we saw when Future Trunks' timeline was erased.
Now, it's still possible that the omni-kings have the power to restore erased universes. There's also the super/dragon balls, but as of now, an entire universe was wiped out. It makes the stakes for the tournament quite real.
All in all, this episode was really good. The fight was intense and fast paced. The episode also managed to make the combat feel unique from what we saw last episode. Even if the entire episode did center on a fight, it still stood out in such a way that we never got bored. It also had one of the franchises bigger "oh crap" scenes, which is saying something given the way this franchise works. It seems like the tournament's really kicking into high gear and I'm excited to see how things play out from here.
Click here to join our Patreon campaign
No comments:
Post a Comment