Okay, finally, we get to sink our teeth into some new characters in this episode. Well, I mean, besides weird Other World characters who don’t matter in the least. Then again, the only thing separating Yamcha and Puar from that description is the fact that they aren’t dead… yet.
So, Yamcha has become a joke in the DBZ canon, but I’m going
to play devil’s advocate for the guy a little bit over the course of these
reviews, because it isn’t all his fault that he sinks so far into irrelevance.
Plus, let’s be honest, it’s not like the guy was any more successful in the
original Dragonball, where he was more often than not a victim of the good old
Worf Effect. But the guy exhibits a real desire and willingness to go into this
fight. He even jumps in when a fight breaks out on the baseball field where he
happens to be batting home run after home run, and he’s so stoked he just jumps
in and kicks the shit out of people with a big cheesy grin. And as for fighting
the Saiyans, well, he just can’t wait to avenge Goku. That’s definitely way
more zeal than Krillin shows. Then again, that could as easily be seen as
intelligence on Krillin’s part. Now there’s a man who knows his limitations.
We get to hear a little bit about the status of Bulma and
Yamcha’s relationship in this episode. Apparently Yamcha stood her up on a date
and then was spotted days later with another girl at some game or other social
function that involves tickets, at which point Yamcha protests that he had
tickets and what was he supposed to do with them?! It’s all very drab and
reminiscent of your shitty first relationship. Later on, Yamcha and Bulma warm
up to each other again, as they and the rest of the group are flying… somewhere… which is explained in a
later episode.
So what’s Gohan doing in today’s story? Well, he started
catching his own fish to cook and eat, that’s definitely an improvement. You
know what they say—give a man a fish, you’ll feed him for a day, but if you
leave a five-year-old human/alien hybrid in the desert so he can get stronger
in time to face a pair of intergalactic planet pirates, he will eventually
teach himself to fish so that he can survive in a show that is just itching to
kill off its main characters as often as possible. I know it’s probably not as
snappy as you remember, but trust me, that’s the saying. I’m just… Saiyan.
Gohan meets a big-ass dinosaur this episode, and after being
momentarily freaked out by it, he helps it by slowly and agonizingly pulling a small thorn (comparative to the dino’s size, at least—the fucking thing’s as big as
Gohan’s sword) out of it and then letting it get killed by a different
dinosaur. If it’s any consolation to Gohan, I’m sure it was the smell of blood
from the oozing thorn wound that attracted the other dinosaur in the first
place.
No, but seriously—Gohan does put in a valiant effort to try
and save the dinosaur he decided would be his pet halfway through the episode.
He doesn’t get scared away from the big T-Rex, and this was the same one that was
chasing him around a couple of episodes ago, so now you know he means business.
Unfortunately, the T-Rex is easily able to swap him away with a few flicks of
its tail, knocking Gohan out and far enough away from the battle scene that he
doesn’t get up until it’s already too late, and what he happens upon when he
wakes up is the sight of his new dino friend’s big skeleton laying upside-down
on the ground, every bit of meat having been stripped off the bone by the
larger predator.
As Perfect Cell says to Gohan much, much later in the
series: “Yet another one you couldn’t save.”
Gohan’s journey through self-reliance requires him to
confront the harsh truths of death and loneliness. Sometimes, nobody’s going to
make you a meal and put you to bed. Sometimes the people you love, or the
things you care about, are going to be taken away by outside forces you can’t
always control. In finding this out, Gohan is not only becoming a fighter, he’s
learning how to accept and understand the plight of others. He’s learning how
to save those he cares about, and learning that sometimes something cannot be
saved. And he’s also learning that dinosaurs probably don’t make very good
pets. You know, the bloodlust and all that.
(3/5)
A Few Final Thoughts:
-Hey, we cut to Goku on Snake Way, and guess what he’s
doing? He’s sleeping. Fucking sleeping. They might as well show HIM taking a
piss every episode instead of Gohan. At least Gohan’s usually doing something
interesting between pisses.
-There’s a black baseball player in this episode named Pepper
Johnson, and he sounds exactly like a cross between Semi-Perfect and Perfect
Cell. Wonderful. Dameon Clarke’s best work.
-You know, I can’t get over it—why do they insist on showing
us Goku sleeping on Snake Way? He’s a fucking spirit, right? Does he even need
sleep? Or food? Or any of the other things he’s bitching about not having as he
runs down this god-forsaken path?
No comments:
Post a Comment