Episode 14, "Taboo"
*****SPOILERS*****
Synopsis: King Gomah has his special forces gathered to protect his castle. The quirky group poses for their king, prepared for battle, but doubt that their coming enemies actually defeated Buu and the Tamagamis. Meanwhile, Goku's group finds that Lord Warp has been shut off, blocking their way to get to the First Demon World. Goku attempts to get through the seal on the bottom of the realm, but can't. Neva, however, can easily open the seal, having created it to begin with. Glorio flies the group into the tunnel to the First Demon World as Gomah's special forces encounter Kuu and Duu in the palace's convenient store. Goku's group is forced to abandon their plane as it goes out of control, with Vegeta carrying Bulma and Hybis and Glorio carrying their two Dragon Balls. When they're spotted by Gomah's forces, they're fired on.
Comments:
Much like last episode, there's not much to say about this one. But unlike the last episode, this one was still a delight to watch, despite it being kind of a transition episode.
For one, yes, obviously Gomah's special forces are just a recycling of the Ginyu Force. Though these guys are even goofier and clearly not as sharp. They're a lot nicer, though, assisting Kuu and Duu by buying them snacks at the convenient store. I wonder if they each have some kind of particular specialty like the Ginyu Force. They don't seem particularly powerful, though. In fact, Kuu and Duu are probably much stronger than they are, which is part of why the convenient store scene is so humorous.
Neva seems to be able to do pretty much anything. Besides having a wealth of knowledge from his experiences in the Demon Realm, he can summon inert Dragon Balls and revive them, he can power up the Tamgamis (he built them, after all), and he can even create and dissolve huge barriers. One wonders if he could just summon all the Demon Realm Dragon Balls together if he wanted to. It also makes me wonder what exactly his motivations are. It almost seems like he just finds Goku and his group entertaining, though I wouldn't put it past him to have another, ulterior motive to helping them. The crafty old Namekian might even turn out to be the real mastermind behind everything.
I want to comment on the visuals of the show here, too. One of the best scenes in the entire franchise is when Neva takes down the barrier of the Demon Worlds. It is a gorgeous scene, visually, and has appropriate music as well. And some of Gomah's facial expressions are hilarious. I'm also a big fan of how they depict the eerie red skies of the First Demon World. There's no doubt that Daima has good production values, for the most part.
I'm really looking forward to what is sure to be an action-packed episode next time.