How To Improve Ep. 123: A Dragon Ball Discussion

Dragon Ball Super Ep. 123 suffered from a number of problems in what could have otherwise been a strong episode. The most glaring problem was the animation. Episode 122 had some of the best animation of the series while episode 123 goes back to some of Super’s most generic. But beyond the superficial there were more serious problems with the writing. I understand that not everyone shares my feelings on this episode, but I think it’s worth exploring how it could have been vastly improved.

Fixing the animation would be a simple manner of putting one of their better animators in charge or giving the team more time to get everything right. Budget is often not as big a concern as the skill level and the time given to the animators involved. Toei should reserve that level of animation for nonaction scenes and comedic episodes. Really it shouldn’t be there at all but there are practical reasons why Toei probably will not improve much.

While fixing the animation is simply a matter of skill and effort, the writing was a bigger problem. The draw of this episode was supposed to be Vegeta’s new transformation, a new power unique to him. Unfortunately this is far from the focus of the episode.  Goku actually dominates most of the episode and it doesn’t foreshadow Vegeta’s transformation all. Once he transforms we are told how much stronger he is, and both he and Goku team up against Jiren, which slightly puts him on the defensive.

A better solution would be to have Vegeta, who Jiren took down in the last episode, watching Goku, from the ground, and reflecting on how he has once again fallen behind. As Jiren beats Goku back he should start to lose hope while remembering his promise to Cabba. It’s only then that his stubbornness should kick back in and he starts his transformation.  The episode should end on his making a decisive blow on Jiren, demonstrating his new power.

This would have been much more satisfying. New transformations in Dragon Ball have often been accompanied by emotional breakdowns. By having Vegeta confront the pending end to his universe and the blow to his honor and pride we would have some foreshadowing for the transformation to follow based on established series tropes. They should have stretched out the transformation scene to put on a show of light and yelling, which doesn’t sound like much but would connect it once again to past transformations. Having Vegeta then strike a powerful blow against Jiren would allow no doubt that he is now is a higher league and would end the episode on a strong note. You could do whatever you wanted next week. Have Goku and Vegeta fight together, have Jiren curb stomp him again but this time actually trying, but Vegeta’s new transformation would still be established as an important spike in his power.

At least in terms of the writing, I don’t think these changes would have been that difficult. There are of course time and budget concerns that can hold back improvements in animation, but given the series popularity I think they are also reasonable.

Review of Ep. 123

-Gedaemon