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DRAGON BALL Z #24 - - Watch & Learn
While I’ve previously mused about how it’s funny watching this arc as
an adult (knowing that it’ll end up being an over-used blueprint for subsequent
storylines), I’m also coming to see how it was likely intended (and received?) as a horrific Apocalypse for the DRAGON BALL universe.
Not only was Goku dramatically killed, and not
only were all his heroic allies reassembled to take on the foe he couldn’t
vanquish, but now we’re seeing these friends valiantly perish, one by one. It
really makes me think of the various end times crises in superhero comics - - DAYS
OF FUTURE PAST, KINGDOM COME, et al - - and it’s not a way I ever saw this
storyline when it just seemed like a lower-stakes set-up for all the dozen or
so sagas that followed it.
I’m trying to put myself in the headspace of the kids who were watching
this as it originally aired in the late 80’s. Every episode must’ve been a
gut-wrenching horror, seeing their favorite characters die off. Hell, I
don’t even feel a particular attachment to Chiaotzu (because I never got a
proper intro to him in DRAGON BALL), but boy, my stomach’s in knots over his heroic
kamikaze attack on Nappa.
Of course, there is always that recurring, reassuring notion about any dead Z-Fighter being easily returnable with the Dragon Balls.
Weirdly, it seems to hold the tension at a moderate threshold - - mollifying
the stakes lest they get too gloomy, but still coming across like tragically
wishful thinking for a lot of the time. Roshi copping a feel whilst consoling Bulma actually seems like a
smaller demonstration of this tension. It’s almost like DBZ's playing one
viciously morbid prank on its viewers!
Watch this
episode, “The Power
of Nappa"
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 |
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