Dragon Ball Kai - Episode 30 Review

Episode 30, "The Hellish Rikuum! Keep Me Entertained, Vegeta-chan" or, "Oh, Snap!" *****SPOILERS*****

Synopsis: Rikuum, the largest member of the Ginyu Force, is the next to fight, with Vegeta as his opponent. Vegeta goes at him at full power, astonishing everyone, but not harming his target very much. Rikuum counterattacks, and Vegeta tries his best to keep up, but is ultimately subdued. Returning the earlier favor, Gohan and Kuririn attack Rikuum and save Vegeta, but he easily puts Kuririn down and brutalizes Gohan. Ginyu brings Freeza the Dragon Balls, but Freeza finds that he can't get immortality from the immediately. He goes off to question the remaining Namekians he detects with his scouter. Rikuum breaks Gohan's neck with a kick, but before he can finish, everyone sees a spaceship landing: the Capsule Corp ship with Goku on it

Comments: What a brutal episode. First up, Vegeta's battle with Rikuum. He starts off pretty strong, you have to give him that. Of the three of opposing Ginyu's group, he's clearly the most powerful at this point, having been in combat since arriving on Namek, so boosting his strength. However, in the long run, all that level grinding meant very little in comparison to the powerhouse strength of Rikuum. Vegeta took an even worse beating than in his first fight with Zarbon. I think my favorite part was Rikuum smashing him into the ground and then picking him out like a vegetable (lol). At least he countered with a blast to Rikuum's face. Then, Gohan and Kuririn got involved, but there's not much to say about that fight, either, since they got subdued, too. Kuririn got bitch slapped and downed immediately, which is pretty embarrassing, but has become his lot in life. Gohan wasn't as lucky, as he kept at it and kept getting wrecked. He's lucky to even be alive, with his neck being broken by a kick. This is probably the most brutal beatdown until Videl's bout with Spopovich in the Buu arc. That kid can sure take a licking. I don't particularly care for Rikuum's new Japanese voice actor. I felt like the first one captured more of his utter weirdness. Of course, I recall his English voice actors, too. The first was clearly a Stallone impression, the second one was like a watered down versio of the first, and the re-dub Rikuum sounded mentally challenged. Consistently bad across the board. At least the new Rikuum gives him a little character.

A pretty awesome episode, though. And Goku's arrived! Wooh!

Overall Score: 4 out of 5

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