Anime Vice News Feed
DRAGON BALL Z #20 - - Watch & Learn
Goku chasing a grasshopper around with a mallet for half an episode?
Yep. Exactly like a Tax Avery short.
Watching this so soon after MAN OF STEEL, I can’t help but feel like
Toriyama has been pulling an epic-sized prank all these years on everybody who’s
done any sort of serious comparison between Goku and Superman. I mean, when you
essentially recount the Fall of Krypton with a lisping goofball filling in for your Morgan Freeman-type, gravitas-wielding narrator, it’s impossible for
it not to be an epic-scale case of one cartoonist ‘taking the
piss out’ of another cartoonist’s creation.
Goku isn’t Japan’s answer to Superman. He became Japan’s parody of
Superman.
(And I really felt like I needed to grab a towel to wipe away all
the spittle that’d accumulated after King Kai’s epic monologue. Man, oh man… that’s definitely Sean Schemmel’s
‘wet’ voice).
Initially, I figured this would actually be a filler episode. Jiminy
Cricket up there fits the exact same mold as those red and blue demons from a
few episodes past - - a goofy seat filler cooked up by a hurried animation
staff. However, the accelerated pacing,
and sheer amount of exposited lore, quickly made this seem like A material.
Or at least, maybe meat sandwiched in with some spam.
I guess I wasn’t paying attention to this show that closely when I was
growing up. I don’t remember this business with the Tuffles (or whatever they
were called) ever being referenced again. It sounded like King Kai was playing Mad
Libs most of the time, and perhaps that’s the bigger goofy on over-complicated
anime mythologies anyway. We spent such a breathless amount of exposition on
this stuff - - just hurrying to get it done and over with, basically - - and
the show know it’s all just gobbledygook to toss away.
Watch this episode, “Goku's Ancestors" here and decide for yourself,
then read my comments on the previous episode here.
About the Author
 | Tom Pinchuk’s a writer and personality with a large number of comics, videos and features like this to his credit. Visit his website - - tompinchuk.com - - and follow his Twitter: @tompinchuk |
0 comments:
Post a Comment