So, here’s Gohan’s transformation into an Oozaru, and it really demonstrates, to me, how useless the form is in an actual combat situation. When you’re an Oozaru, you’re just a big, clumsy target. You don’t have the element of stealth and speed, things that are deeply important in these fights. I know everybody has the image of DBZ fights being a bunch of beam spam where one character is totally unaffected, or as just these speedy mid-air sparring sections where a few frames of animation are just repeated over and over, but take the Frieza fight for example. Goku, completely outclassed, still managed to get a couple of decent hits against Frieza just using some strategy and a little bit of speed and stealth.
If he were the big,
stupid gorilla, he might have a lot of power, but he wouldn’t be anything more
than a way bigger thing for Frieza or any remotely competent opponent to aim
for. Oozaru is great for destroying cities and fucking up people on the ground,
but when you’re actually fighting someone who has power, skills, and is able to
fly… well, imagine fighting a fucking gnat, only that gnat can blind you with
energy beams and cut your tail off. Yes, you do have to be a gnat in this
scenario. That’s the only way it works.
Speaking of big
targets, Yajirobe just made himself a huge one (lol cuz he fat) by slashing
Vegeta in the back while he was getting ready to sever Gohan’s tail. Or maybe
he was going to kill him. The memorable part of this scene for me is when
Vegeta shouts out, “you cut through my armor,” before falling down for a bit.
In the Ocean dub, they had him say “you almost cut through my armor!” I guess
because showing Vegeta about to murder a child was okay, but it’s too violent
to cut through the BACK of the potential child-murderer’s armor.
Anyway, Yajirobe, in
his complete idiocy, thinks his dinky little cut on Vegeta’s back was enough to
put him down for good, when a Spirit Bomb, a Kaioken-charged Kamehameha, his
tail getting sliced off, and several shots in his eyes weren’t good enough.
This doesn’t last, however, as Vegeta gets right back up and Yajirobe
immediately starts bullshitting him and trying to bargain for his life.
Unfortunately, there is just too much ass on that boy for Vegeta to resist
kicking it. He doesn’t bother to insult Yajirobe, and we know from the fight
with Android 19… and Dodoria… and pretty much anybody else that he fights, that
he loves taunting opponents. Then again, honestly, Yajirobe isn’t so much an
opponent as he is a side of beef, only the beef is lard and okay we get it
Yajirobe is fat and sucks, let’s move on.
Hey, remember when I
made a big deal about him showing heroism two or three reviews ago? Me neither.
Vegeta is so
ensconced in the act of beating the dogshit out of Yajirobe, he doesn’t even
realize that Gohan just woke up and got a direct look at the fake moon Vegeta
planted in the sky. This is some classic DBZ villain hubris, folks. I take that
back—this is classic DBZ character hubris. Everyone loves to just stand
around or get distracted until something bad happens. The idiot ball gets traded
around in this show more than a goddamn Charizard card in the late ‘90s. Vegeta
ineptly attempts to punch Gohan’s transforming body, trying to kill him or
something I guess. But to no avail; Gohan goes full fucking ape.
Gohan, of course, is
not the trained Saiyan that Vegeta is. He has no idea how to control himself
when he’s an Oozaru, which brings me to a bit of a weird question; could Nappa
and Raditz control their beast forms? Particularly Raditz, because Gohan and he
are about the same power level at this point in the show. Well, we don’t
technically know what power level Raditz is now, in hell, but assuming he stays
the same power level, he and Gohan are about equal. When Vegeta and his boyz
went out on planet-razing missions, did Vegeta have to keep Nappa and Raditz
under control so they didn’t fire their mouth beams at him, or were they all
able to control themselves? I feel like Nappa probably was, since he also
outgrew the tail weakness, but Raditz probably wasn’t, so he had to sit and
sulk in the space pod until Nappa and Vegeta were finished. Or maybe he got
them coffee.
Anyway, I guess I
gotta keep reviewing this episode. Goku still has telepathy, so he talks to
Gohan through his mind. Even as a big ape, Gohan can comprehend the voice and
message of his father. If that doesn’t show the kind of bond the two of them
share, well, it shouldn’t, because Goku is really not around enough. The boy
needs his father. But not as badly as Vegeta needs a friend, because he is
seriously in trouble once Goku turns Gohan against him. I know I said way
earlier in this review that the Oozaru is an ideal opponent for somebody like
Vegeta, but that doesn’t make the notion of being chased and victimized by King
Kong with Mouth Lasers any fucking better. Especially when you’re severely
injured, because of earlier beams.
And here comes the
most awesome part of the entire episode for me: Vegeta showing that, even after
an amount of abuse that would destroy an entire galaxy, he can still scrap well
enough to take down an ape 100 times his size, or since he’s Vegeta, about 150.
Because he is short, you see. Even Krillin marvels at the sheer strength of
will Vegeta has—the dude absolutely REFUSES to fucking die, it’s like he was born
with steel bones and… I don’t know, muscle of rubber? That just makes me think
of Majin Buu. Krillin says something to the effect of, “what is this guy,
immortal or something?” It’s ironic because that’s exactly what Vegeta’s
looking for, an indestructible body to match his (as of now) indestructible
will.
I don’t think that’s
something any of the Z Warriors encountered before, and I think that’s the
thing a lot of fans of the manga and later the anime saw in this character. Vegeta
is somebody who is a born survivor, a Saul Goodman-esque con artist who happens
to pack a hell of a punch, who is willing to play the long game and be patient
as long as he can get what he wants in the end. My Saul Goodman comparison
comes from the fact that, no matter what is served to this guy, he can swallow
it down and press forward, like some kind of shark. The difference is, Vegeta
was born into that mindset, having been semi-adopted by Frieza since his childhood.
Something tells me it’s
going to be a while before I can justify that Saul Goodman/Vegeta comparison. Oh,
well. My computer has no backspace button.
So, people may
remember this episode as the one where Goku proves he is the smartest idiot in the
universe by letting Vegeta go, even as he continually expresses his intention
to come back and murder the shit out of everyone. See, Vegeta eventually
manages to get the jump on Gohan and cut off his tail, reducing him to his
normal form… but not before his still-huge gorilla form falls right on top of
Vegeta, crushing him underneath and finally rendering him too weak to fight
back against all further attempts to kill him. It took two different beam-trips
to the atmosphere, being slashed in the back, being beaten severely by Kaioken
x3 Goku—Neko face and everything—but Vegeta has finally fallen.
Yet, as Krillin
takes Yajirobe’s sword and prepares to finish off Vegeta, Goku stops him,
saying that for them to murder Vegeta as he’s trying to get away, they’d have
to be just like him. Well, I don’t know, considering we already know a
fully-rested and unscathed Vegeta can blow up an entire planet in the time it
takes most of us to piss. If Goku were thinking about the safety of his family,
he’d be all but begging Krillin to kill Vegeta… right?
Well, no, and that’s
the thing. Goku IS thinking about his family, the only hang-up is that he
thinks in his screwed-up Saiyan head, “sure, I can protect my family from
anything.” We’re going to explore this in more depth during later reviews, but
Goku and Vegeta aren’t much different in the way they approach the fighting
lifestyle. Sure, Goku is ultimately not a murderer and doesn’t bully people who
can’t fight back, but that thirst for battle is really what compelled him to
spare Vegeta’s life, as anyone who knows about the original translation and/or
the manga can tell you. Goku is arrogant enough to think he can save his loved
ones and have a good fight at the same time. Vegeta just doesn’t have any loved
ones.
(5/5)
A Few Final
Thoughts:
--And that pretty
much is the end of the Saiyan arc, at least as far as the fighting goes. I can’t
believe I’ve committed to this project long enough to get this far, but on the
other hand, I have way too much disposable time, being a 31-year-old man with
no family and all. LOL. LMAO.
--Uh, Krillin, the Saiyans didn’t kill Yamcha. At least not
directly.
-- King Kai comments on how well Goku and his friends did
against the Saiyans… but there’s an even greater evil headed their way? WHAT A HOOK!
--I can’t argue much with Goku’s argument that, hey, Piccolo
changed, maybe Vegeta can too. Difference is, Vegeta is an immediate threat to
the planet’s very existence. Piccolo just wanted to take over the world. Big ol’
difference there, see if you can spot it.
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