Well THAT just crept up on me, now didn’t it? Honestly, I wasn’t really able to work on much of ANYTHING that last few days because of my schedule. You know I gotta go on the MORNING of Christmas Eve? After working THE NIGHT BEFORE with that…….. Awful fre@kin’ Supervisor I’ve mentioned once or twice. Probably shouldn’t mention her because they’re trying to read my blog, but I’m upset to have the Night Shift and then MORNING Shift. I managed to negotiate for less time(which I just KNOW that I will be paying for in the week following), but it’s made MORE awful by the fact that it’s Saturday with “Last Minute” types who want to use coupons and not know how they work. But it’s gonna be fine- I ordered something on Amazon that should make the next 4 days of work Super Duper Fun………..
But enough about how much I can’t stand Saturday- let’s talk about the New Chapter “Dragon Ball Super!!” The series has returned from Hiatus with a New Arc, following Goten and Trunk prior to the events of the most recent movie! Okay, that opening is over. Yeah; this is a “Prequel Arc” to the movie. Sometimes that gets messy- sometimes just annoying- and sometimes just not funny with all the coy little references with what comes next. And Toyotaro’s writing doesn’t inspire “confidence” in me anymore, so I’m going in with my expectations as low as I can get them. As a result- Pretty Darn Good Opening. Please O Kami or Lord Of Lords or WHOEVER actually does their job up in the Heavens- Don’t Let This Get Screwed Up. Dragon Ball Super Chapter 88: “Super Heroes Are Born.” Here Goes Zippo……
REVIEW
Following the Grand Battle On Planet Cereal against Gas; Goku and Vegeta have returned to Beerus Planet to train- in preparation for when they will battle the New Black Frieza. Back on Earth: New “Clean Up” Heroes make their debut appearance!! “Saiyaman X-1” and “Saiyaman X-2” have arrived to “Leave The World Cleaner Than We Found It!” and stop some Jewel thieves. Guns and Knives Are Pulled- And Promptly Crushed and thrown away. As the criminals are taken away, Trunks and Goten talk about their “cool poses.” They got the idea from the Video game “Clean God,” which is getting a Live Action Movie Adaptation at the end of the week. Though they don’t want to completely “rip off” the guy.
Goten gets a report that a Cybercrime has taken place, but neither of them are good enough with Computers for them to do anything about it……… plus, it ain’t “flashy.” Goten THEN gets a call from Chichi, demanding that he comes home. He quickly changes out of his Hero costume, reminding Trunks that they need a “cooler” way of changing their outfits. Goten flies off on the Nimbus cloud(been a WHILE since we’ve seen that one, huh?), leaving Trunks to decide whether to change now or when he gets back. But he ends up coming across his Grandparents, and is recognized by their pet Dinosaur.
He manages to play off the situation as “Super Heroes Are Loved By All!!,” and flies away. But as soon as he leaves; Dr Briefs and his wife are met with an odd sight……. First; some New Capsule Corp “Helper Robots,” but also Frankenstein types. Capsule Corp, The Next Day: Pilaf finishes the Transformation watch he asked for, and is hard at work on Goten’s. In exchange, Trunks won’t say anything about Pilaf stealing the Dragon balls out of Bulma’s room. But Bulma sees them conspiring and wants to know more. Also she tells Trunks that he’s late for School. But before he can freak out about it; he sees Mai carrying a Heavy box. So, trying to prove himself a “Gentlemen” and “Chad,” he takes the box off her hands and asks if they can “chat” after school. She says Yes, and he bolts. Then Pilaf is reprimanded because “Security Camera’s” exist.
Trunks bikes off to school- helping where he can along the way- and arrives, trying to sneak in through the window. But he’s caught and given another warning slip. He takes his seat next to New Character “Kompas,” and says that he wants to do more than just be CEO of Capsule corp. “Rulah” overhears this and confronts him after class about a “Dare:” The Hockey team has begun to talk about their experience at Mount Butterfly- they said that they saw some Ghosts in an abandoned building. Trunks refues. Because he’s scared of Ghosts. But he can’t let them KNOW that- his image, man. So he just brushes it off as “a different type of excitement that he’s not looking for.” He catches up with Goten, and they go to Capsule Corp to play “Clean God.”
Trunks reveals that he used his Free period to try out the new watch and head over to the Movie theater to get 2 Tickets to opening night of the Clean God Movie!! But he plans to ask out Mai instead of bring Goten. But when he arrives at their workshop; he finds them up to their NECKS in defunct Helper Robots! There’s been a total recall; hundreds of people claiming that they went “crazy” and ran off randomly. They’re only allowed to live here so long as they work- and that stunt with the Dragon Balls didn’t help their situation either. So they’ll be working without sleep for likely the next Month.
Pilaf speculates that someone’s been tampering with the machines, based on a rumor Shu heard. “Strange People appear at Nightfall, and their appearance makes the Machines run wild.” So in Trunks adolescent mind; all he has to do is stop these guys and Mai will be free for Saturday night!! Later That Night: Goten and Trunks go out on “Patrol,” not seeing anything that looked “Strange.” Goten remembers the rumors about “Ghosts” roaming these streets, and realizes that Trunks has a fear of Ghosts. Trunks won’t admit it, but Goten reminds him that BOTH their dads have come back with Halos before. The conversation is interrupted by- for lack of a current name- Frankenstein.
Trunks cowers next to the Street lamp(bumping and breaking his new transformation watch), leaving Goten to see Frankenstein press a button and mess with a passing Helper Bot. It wigs out and runs off. Before they can tail it; the boys are blinded by a car’s beams, and the car gets away. They tail it in the sky, all the way back to Mt Butterfly. Trunks- fearing the “Ghosts-” suggests they come back in the morning. But Goten questions: “Don’t You Want To Solve This Mystery So You Can Have Your Movie Date?” Trunks is ready. But Goten got a head start and is spying on the abandoned facility. He finds a whole bunch of Zombie types watching over some defective Helper Bots as they make the the Pre-Packed Sushi that’s been selling real well in West Capital.
It looks like the Mummy Guy had caught them, but it turns out he only caught Trunks’ Classmates. Seeing Kompas in trouble, Trunks tries to transform, but it seems like he bumped it earlier and it’s now on the fritz. He manages to get it to work, and goes in as Saiyaman X-1. Turns out the fat one is a Big Fan of the Saiyamen. So much so that he messes up his introduction. In any case; Trunks ends up facing off against the Zombies. He comes up against “Alpha 10-,” who proves to be a fair bit stronger than the others. So Trunks has to put a little more “Oomph!” behind his next attack. But before he can finish the attack- he changes back. Goten shoots a ki blast and turns the lights, then warps Rulah and the others out of there. He manages to convince them that they only saw an illusion- which ends up scaring them off. BONUS!!
With THEM gone; Trunks is able to go All In on Alpha 12, turning Super Saiyan and then getting into his suit again. He finishes the “Tornado Hurricane Punch,” busting up Alpha 12 and completing the mission! Though they still don’t know what the larger plan was. And it’s not like any of them are conscious enough to say anything. So they look around a little bit and find a safe containing a disk that belonged to DR GERO. Since it looks important, Trunks decides to take it back to study it. Though he admits he doesn’t care much beyond stopping the recall.
As they head out; they end up meeting up with Krillin, whose out here looking into a report. It seems that a bunch of Corpses were stolen from the Morgue not long ago, and now there are reports of “Zombies” walking around. Trunks freaks the F*CK out, and we cut back to the facility to see Dr Hedo return to the lab. Alpha 12- barely functioning- tells the Good Doctor about the kids who came in; says they were wearing the emblem of “Blue Hal High School.” He is about to help 12, but sees that the Data Disk he was keeping lock up was taken. 12 reveals that the kids took it. Now he’ll have to look around for another source of Research funding…….
The Next Day, At Capsule Corp: Trunks returns to see if Mai will be free by Saturday, But in trying to stop the recall; Trunks ended up breaking more of the Helper Bots. She won’t be free for a WHILE. Dragon Ball Super Chapter 88 END!! Trunks…….
Analysis
So the series is back in Full Swing, huh? I don’t really know how I feel about it after this……. 4 month? 5? This hiatus. I’m still trying to figure out how I feel about the Granolah arc. And hearing that this would be a Movie Tie In arc; I didn’t really know what to expect from the chapter. But I knew that- after the……… several, several pitfalls of arcs prior- to go in with Very Low Expectations. So finally getting to read the chapter- sitting on it for a few hours and digesting the content- I have to say: I liked it. Like- Genuinely. First watching the Saiyaman saga in Z; I’d usually find it kind of boring- I just wanted to get to the point where Videl figured out Gohan’s secret and see where we went from there.
Back then; I hadn’t been the fan that I am today- I had watched the series all kinds of out of order, missing episodes after episodes to the point where I didn’t even know that Gohan defeated Cell. I found that about that through watching Kai on Nicktoons Network after school. Then, the year I turned 14(?); my Grandmother took me to Walmart to get a Birthday present, and there I saw the Orange Brick Double set for Seasons 7 and 8. That’s kind of where it all started, I guess. But yeah- was not a huge fan of the Great Saiyaman stuff. Now, though- I find it funny. Now that I understand a little more about the reference, I kind of find it endearing and wish would would have gotten a little more of that- if not from the original manga, then certainly in Super, where the slice of life stuff of that variety shines.
I actually kind of like Goten and Trunk’s suits. Though after learning about the significance of the Scarf to Super Sentai type stuff; I kind of wish they were to have a scarf instead of a cape- 1)To differentiate them from Gohan and 2)From this Clean God character. I really need to check out some of Toriyama’s other works. I picked up Volume 1 of Dr Slump back in High school- flipped to the middle pages, and then immediately put the book back and walked out the f*cking library. Maybe I need to give it another chance……..
As for the chapter; I’m curious what this “Clean God” character is like beyond his gimmick, and I wonder when and how Goten and Trunks got into the series. That’s something that I would definitely like to see in a Filler episode of the anime, yeah? How long this arc will be- or what it’s building up to at this point- is alluding me at the moment. But we know that this is at most like 5 months prior to Super Hero. So it probably won’t go for THAT long- I don’t think the ending of this arc will sink up at all with the movie(in terms of “What Happens Next,” if you know what I mean). I don’t even really expect to see the Red Ribbon Army or expect them to get involved in whatever happens(he says and the VERY NEXT CHAPTER we see Magenta and Carmine). But we should be learning more about their surveillance of Dr Hedo. Speaking of……… He now has information.
He now knows that whoever was able to defeat his Alpha series of Reanimated corpses goes to Blue Hal High School. And considering Alpha 12 is still alive- me thinks he’ll be going in for repairs, and Upgrades. Enough to make him the Primary Antagonist of this arc? ‘Cause Goten and Trunks didn’t know Dr Hedo in the movie(that’s probably due to this arc being an after thought after the movie, as with a lot of prequels, I imagine), so they probably won’t meet here(or they’ll just forget about him, and Hedo will never see their faces). So Alpha 12 might just be the Central threat of the arc- should Hedo give him the proper upgrades.
TRUNKS……. TRUNKS……… Trunks……… That was some Super Ignorant Male Performing right there, man. Look at the letters. What happened to “Pals Before Gals?!” Or, you know- The “Big Boy” way of saying that? You spent all that money buying a ticket for someone who HONESTLY probably doesn’t even give 2 sh!ts about the movie, over your friend who you’ve known the VAST majority of your life, and have even………….. he’s fused with Goten, and that’ll lead to some innuendo about him “fusing” with Mai. That is how the sentence would go. He’d give up a LIFETIME of friendship for skirt? Ah, well- he’s like 16/17 years old now. His brain’s kind of in his pants. As such; this arc will probably focus a little more on him and how he learns to put those feelings aside to do what’s right. Final Battle: Mai finally says “Yes;” Hedo and Alpha 12(potentially) make their move; Trunks has choice to either go on the date or help Goten; makes the right choice but misses his chance; end. Something simple like that.
That being said; I also want a little more detail on Goten- how HE conducts himself in everyday life and social situations, to further differentiate him from Goku in the eyes of the fans. We see him talking with someone after school before Trunks re-enters the scene. Maybe we’ll see him kind of “break away” from Trunks at some point? As in; when he’s not a “Goku Clone,” then he’s usually acting as “Trunks No. 2(or I guess, No. 3).” He doesn’t really have a character. So much so that Gotenks just feels like an older(ish), stronger version of Trunks. So the little detail of him throwing shade at Trunks for 1)His fear of Ghosts and Ghouls and 2)For having such a “High Priority” placed on his Dream Date with Mai. Tying that in to the Potentially ending; maybe he realizes how “bad” of a friend Trunks is and decides that he’s going to try to be “himself” a little more- not letting Trunks dictate what they do from now on. Something like that, maybe……..
ALL OF THAT SAID: This is Dragon Ball. MODERN Dragon Ball, at that. This kind of “All Is Lost,” emotional character stuff…….. I won’t say that there’s “none,” but it’s few and far between, and not as “subtle and deep” as something like a Jujutsu Kaisen or a Chainsaw Man- or even something like My Hero and Black Clover, 2 series that have a lot of “Dragon Ball’s” DNA. So whatever “character relationship” type things that happen in this arc- be it between Trunks and Mai, Trunks and Goten, or the new characters introduced in this arc- don’t expect it to have a lot of “tact” or for it to be as important going forward. It’ll probably be introduced in this arc and then we’ll never speak of it again. Sad but true……….
Conclusion
Welcome Back, “Dragon Ball Super,” you Rat B@stard!! You cause a lot of problems for the franchise- actually making think about how well the old stuff holds up- but I’m kind of glad you’re back. Even though I’m still more interested in what’s going on in “Boruto” right now. Chainsaw Man came out this week, too, but……… Ugh……… Not my favorite. Not BAD, but…….. it makes me cringe. Oh well; can’t ALL be winners. Now if you’ll excuse me; I gotta get to Boruto and prepare for the Jump chapters in a few days. ‘Til the next post, folks; Have a Day Filled with Hakuna Matata!! By~~~~e!!!!
