Dragon Ball Super, Episode 129: Limits Super Surpassed! Ultra Instinct Mastered!
I've learned from the previous episode and not looked at the title of this episode until I've finished watching it. Sadly, though, the contents and new power-up form of Goku's Perfect Ultra Instinct form has been spoiled all over the internet thanks to the previous episode's 'next on...' segment. And magazines. And merchandise. And it being part of the newest Xenoverse 2 DLC pack. Yyyyeah. That kind of soured things somewhat.
Still, taken by itself, the journey to that power up is... decent. Sadly, it does seem like Dragon Ball Super is going through the motions of a generic "villain overpowers the heroes, villain beats Vegeta, Goku gains a new form, Goku overwhelms the villain" plotline. Did the Zamasu stuff and the generally negative reception cause the Super staff to stick to a safer climax? If so, then this is such a huge, huge missed opportunity.
This episode's mostly just action, intermixed with an actually good point from Vegeta that it's not just Goku that's breaking through his limits, but it's also all the other Saiyajins like Gohan, Vegeta, Kefla and Cabba. It's neat, I guess, although I really, really wished the final confrontation had actually made those other Saiyans' contributions more meaningful instead of just "Goku punches Jiren in his new form".
Mind you, what a badass series of action sequences for that new form! Goku goes through this fight in his regular bluish-silver Ultra Instinct aura that we've seen before, and there's a neat bit where Goku just lurches forwards in the space of an eye-blink, and the trading of punches and Goku eventually moving from a defensive to offensive strike is neat... but it all kind of went for too long of too much of the same thing over and over again, and way too much exposition. Plus, the animation's particularly lazy, with a rather high amount of recycled animation at points, and an over-reliance of wide shots of the broken arena and explosions.
But when Goku finally achieves the Perfected Ultra Instinct, with him glowing in an ethereal silvery glow, striking Jiren multiple times before he has any time to react? Or Goku grabbing Jiren's gigantic energy ball and just tossing it aside? It's pretty goddamn badass. That unearthly, amazing primal ROAR when Goku knocks back Jiren's barrage of punches, or the way the music stops when Goku does that "I'm already behind you" scene, or the way the energy just glows around Goku's hair and eyebrows like an unearthly, ethereal cloak? That's just amazing. And I don't doubt that once all the dust is settled, and Super is viewed not under the lens of a weekly anime show and viewed as a whole (like, y'know, Dragon Ball Z), these are going to be some of the more memorable moments.
It just came a wee bit too late and after way too much of the "Goku and Jiren trades blows" scenes. I'm not sure if that's a side effect of watching Dragon Ball Super weekly instead of in a huge chunk all at once, but at the same time... it doesn't quite have the badassery or the abrupt awesomeness of the original revelation of the original Ultra Instinct form. Still, with two episodes left before Super's conclusion, I just wish that it's wrapped up neatly -- I don't particularly expect anything super-duper amazing. I just want it to end satisfyingly. This episode, taken by itself, is definitely functional. I'm just worried that functional won't translate to satisfying when we actually do get the final conclusion of the Universe Survival Arc.
It just came a wee bit too late and after way too much of the "Goku and Jiren trades blows" scenes. I'm not sure if that's a side effect of watching Dragon Ball Super weekly instead of in a huge chunk all at once, but at the same time... it doesn't quite have the badassery or the abrupt awesomeness of the original revelation of the original Ultra Instinct form. Still, with two episodes left before Super's conclusion, I just wish that it's wrapped up neatly -- I don't particularly expect anything super-duper amazing. I just want it to end satisfyingly. This episode, taken by itself, is definitely functional. I'm just worried that functional won't translate to satisfying when we actually do get the final conclusion of the Universe Survival Arc.
First time commenting on something Dragon Ball - a series I grew up with but honestly never thought a whole lot about until I was older - so I might not be all that eloquent here ^_^;
ReplyDeleteBut anyway, I largely agree with you that Dragon Ball Super is, for the most part, playing it a bit safer and more re-treaded here. Not that Dragon Ball wasn't arguably a formulaic series from the start, mind you - hell, with how many times people have died in this series only to come right back at the season/series climax, I think this show almost epitomizes the phrase "no true risks." However, Dragon Ball's always managed to make the journey feel worth it in spite of that - even if you know how it all ends, the characters and the fights make you wanna take the whole ride in spite of that - so not seeing that creativity in what's supposed to be one of the closing fights is admittedly disappointing.
However, if there's anything that did make me laugh a hell of a lot in all this... it's the hair changes. Don't get me wrong, it's still badass, but at some point I'd like the physical change to go beyond hair color; We've had yellow for most of the old series, red when the God form was shown, Blue for the Super Saiyan God (which I've seen one guy jokingly refer to as "blue-shifting"), Green for the "Legendary Saiyans" like Broly and Kale, Pink for "Super Saiyan Rose" when a God takes a Sayian body, and now Silver for the Ultra Instinct. Oh, and there's the Orange-hair of the powered-up Super-Saiyan 4 Gogeta from the GT series, if you're willing to count that. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Frieza's joke about Saiyans and color-changing hair doesn't sound so far off anymore - we're starting to run out of shades XD
...
Though speaking of that, I just realized that Frieza's still in the ring, isn't he? Unconscious, yes, but I think he's still in... and according to Whis, Goku's probably going to drop like a rock from the strain of this fight. Makes me hope something big's in store for this arc's end beyond just the Jiren fight.
Dragon Ball (and Z, if you are the type of fan who distinguishes the two as separate series), I think, gets a lot of pass thanks to nostalgia factor, but also because a lot of the tropes it introduces are relatively revolutionary for the audience at that time. It ends up going a bit off the rails especially in the Buu saga, and the existence of the dragon balls themselves as a get-out-of-jail free card where even the original restrictions on resurrection is forgotten or handwaved away, and at this point only the villains and poor, poor Android 16 are allowed to stay dead.
DeleteYet unlike a lesser manga like, say, Fairy Tail, where "death" also holds no consequence, Dragon Ball tends to really make the plot relatively interesting to be invested in, and the small moments like, in this episode, the roar and adrenaline as Goku unlocks Ultra Instinct. But at the same time, there's a huge lack of accomplishment and emotion in these final episodes, where they just play it safe and by the ear.
We ARE starting to run out of colours, aren't we? Purple's the only one that doesn't have a Super Saiyan form associated to it. It's really a bit annoying since Ultra Instinct was initially presented as a whole new ability instead of a transformation... but nope. It's just silver hair and super-dodging abilities.
Freeza kill-stealing the tournament is so transparently telegraphed, isn't it? At this point, I'd be far more surprised if the tournament doesn't end with Goku losing and Freeza's being in the ring being a victory-by-default, or if Freeza just straight-up shoots Jiren or Goku in the back and wish that he become the new Zen'o or some shit like that. Of course, as much as people are doomsaying about Dragon Ball Super, the franchise's far from dead -- it's making way too much ratings and money for the people in charge to give up on it before milking it even more, so yeah... there's definitely something more to come after this tournament ends.