War never changes; Ki blasts and Namekian arms everywhere.
It makes sense that not all the fighters in this tournament
are going to use brute force, or even fancy martial arts techniques. Snipers
are famous for their ability to pin down superior forces with stealth and
deadly shots. Can this be adapted to Dragon Ball; a series all about one on one
fights?
After taking out three opponents last week master Roshi is
taking a rest, meanwhile Gohan and Piccolo are dealing with a…wart hog? Doctor Rota apparently thinks he is a match
for Gohan and Piccolo, but before he can announce his special power—like an
idiot—a ki blast takes him out.
Gohan and Piccolo take shelter from the incoming blasts.
They don’t know where the blasts are coming from and are pinned down. But there
attempts at moving silently are foiled by several mirror like balls that track
them and reflect the blasts at them. The beam is strong enough to blow off
Piccolo’s arm. Regrowing it, the pair come up with another plan. Piccolo
provides a target while Gohan tracks down the source. They then create a smoke screen
and use that for cover. By luck they stumble on one of the orbs and realize it
finds them using body heat. He then gets both his arms blown off.
The constant regeneration is taking a toll on Piccolo but he
realizes by creating heat sources he can fool the sniper. In response the
sniper fires multiple beams simultaneously; maintaining the advantage.
Meanwhile Tenshinhan, Goku and Vegeta discover there is
actually a pair of snipers; one who shoots and another who reflects the beams
at the target. Tenshinhan goes to help Piccolo and Gohan while Goku and Vegeta
goes to take out the Plum; reflector. Vegeta seems to consider sniping tactics shameful
and blasts him, but the shot is reflected back. Realizing they should have gone
after the sniper first, Goku and Vegeta split up. The sniper; Hermila tries to
prevent this with some more reflection tactics.
With the attention off Gohan, Tenshinhan and Piccolo,
Tenshinhan takes action. He uses the multiform technique to go after the
sniper. The clones fall to ki blast one by one, but Tenshinhan keeps going. At
the same time Vegeta and Goku attack the reflector by throwing rocks. With the
sniper pair’s group tactics restricted Tenshinhan goes on the offensive. One shinkikoho later and the sniper is on his
knees. His shoulder was damaged in the attack but as he feigns defeat he blows
up the ground beneath of them. Tenshinhan seems to have seen through the tactic
however. He has already deployed clones that drag Hermila off the edge, taking
both of them out.
Without his partner the reflector: Prum is useless. He is
attacked by Dr. Rota. Right before the good doctor can reveal his power Vegeta
gets fed up and blows them both out of the ring.
This idea of this episode was pretty good: a fighter who
uses unconventional tactics to take down head on fighters. It kind of delivers,
but I was left wanting. Prum had a horrible character design, and was a one
trick pony. I don’t know anything about Hermila other than he ran around
shooting. You would think someone who used tactics like those would be a
thinker first and a fighter second, but I never got that feeling from him. If
anything I got the feeling of a guy who thinks he is smarter and stronger than
he actually is.
Bad villain’s give bad pay off when they are defeated. So
investing a whole episode to hunting down a sniper can only pay off if you make
that sniper interesting. This is not easy in a one off episode but it can be
done, if you’re not lazy about making him. This time Dragon Ball Super did not
deliver.
I won’t say this episode was bad. It was… disappointing. Next
week’s villain is one that is actually clever. Frost will be back and perhaps
facing Roshi’s mafuba. That I do have some hope for.
-Gedaemon
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