From Freeza, to Cell, to Buu, Beerus and Hit there is a
tradition. Before Goku can fight them Vegeta has to job, hard. As I write this
I have not seen Vegeta’s fight with Jiren yet, but I think we all know what
will happen.
Dragon Ball super episode 122 is now available I say now
because I was not able to see it until Sunday morning. The title this time is
“for one’s own pride! Vegeta’s challenge to be the strongest!! And at first I thought it disappointing but
as I watched on I found it somewhat impressive.
If you like long dramatic shots with nothing happening,
you’ll love the opening minutes of this episode. The spare no expense when it
comes to still shots with dramatic music behind them. Well done or not, the
amount of filler they stuff into each episode is criminal.
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| Standing still is a great way to save money on animation. Gohan is very considerate of the needs of others |
Finally fighting begins, but while we know this episode is
all about Vegeta Goku goes against Jiren first. Superma- I mean Jiren asks Goku
why he want to be strong, and Goku like child says he simply wants to be
stronger, which seems not to satisfy Jiren, who says he wants to see what lies
beyond strength, whatever that means if that makes sense to you let me know on
twitter because to me it sounds like nonsense.
However Vegeta just flies in and interrupts their fight;
rude.
Meanwhile Freeza is taking pot shots at Dyspo who is dodging
them, and Seventeen and seventeen are double teaming Toppo.
Jiren easily beats Vegeta so Goku steps in, and gets easily
beaten. The Saiyans attack to no avail however, Vegeta sees something. Jiren
attacks in a pattern and he uses that to dodge his fists and launch a counter
attack.
However Vegeta notes Jiren was stronger against Goku, and he’s
right, Jiren turns it up a notch and nearly blasts him out of the ring.
Meanwhile Dyspo uses his speed to try sneaking up on Freeza
who catches him with his tale, but this works for Dyspo who starts dragging
Freeza around with his great speed.
Back with Vegeta, he’s lost his transformation, and Jiren
calls him arrogant, and declares that he can’t win. This fires the prince up and
he charges his final flash pushing his ki to its limits and shocking the
audience, in the tournament, not in real life.
Jiren however doesn’t care he just stands there and
challenges Vegeta to do it. To Vegeta’s credit Jiren actually blocks and the blast
actually knocks him down, but not for very long. Vegeta actually chocks on his
words as Jiren appears right in front of him and blasts him point blank. Vegeta
collapses into near unconscious.
I called it! But wait! Vegeta is still in the next episode
and it says he gets even stronger as he fights with Goku? It seems they saved
the surprise for next week. I was sure Vegeta would get tossed out this
episode, and I thought Jiren’s attack would take him out of the fight.
This was not a bad episode by any means but it was . . .
strange. It followed the normal arc of Vegeta getting beaten down for his
arrogance, but it keeps him in the fight. It also changed art styles about half
way through which felt, disconcerting as the two styles did not mesh well. The
second style isn’t bad by at all, in fact it’s a bit of a relief from the
rather generic art style that has dominated the series, but it is different,
and it’s a bit distracting.
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| Note the detail in the musculature |
I would also point out this episode reminded by a lot of
Vegeta’s battle with perfect, cell. They both end with a final flash that looks
like it did major damage but it the end proved futile. I can’t imagine this was
an accident. Most likely it was a subtle call back to the Z era.
I actually appreciated this episode a lot more on the second
watch through, it’s dramatic, and it knows what it’s trying to do. Even though
the episode is centered on Vegeta and his vanity, both he and Goku are fighting
to no avail.
The episode also demonstrates Vegeta’s strength as a
character. Yes, even after everything he has been through is pride demands he
be the best and even though he realizes it makes him arrogant, he also realizes
that its part of his character and in that respect he has learned to moderate
it with love for his family and just a little more common sense than Goku has.
And if I am reading the preview right, his crushing loss
this weak sets Vegeta up for a major comeback next week. That’s the way you do
it, honoring old series tropes while changing up the formula a little.
So I am really looking forward to the next episode to see if
they pull this off. I would really love to see something other than a pure Goku
victory, even a Goku victory with a lot of help would be better, but I don’t
know what will happen at this point and that’s a good feeling.
-Gedaemon
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