Episode 17, “Gomah”
*****SPOILERS*****
Synopsis: Goku’s group faces down Arinsu’s. The scientist Glind admits that what she wants is to create a more terrifying Demon Realm that the outer worlds would bow to. She suggests they have a fighter from each side take each other on in a bid to decide who will get all the Dragon Balls. Goku and Majin Duu are chosen. The two do battle and Goku finds it difficult to injure his opponent, so he transforms into a Super Saiyan, and the two are more even. However, the two combatants are interrupted by Gomah, who has transformed himself, because of the Third Eye. Gomah creates an arena out of rocks to fight in. Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, Kaioshin, and Glorio all attempt to subdue Gomah, with no luck. Upon prodding from Bulma, Arinsu sics Kuu and Duu on Gomah, as well, and Nevah gets Tamagami Number One to go, too. However, even with everybody’s efforts combined, they can’t even scratch the nigh invincible Majin king. Gomah attempts to finish Goku off with a beam, but Tamagami Number One and Majin Duu rush in to block it. Finally, Goku transforms into the third Super Saiyan form to take on Gomah.
Comments:
What a fantastically awesome episode. This might be the best one, at least since Vegeta transformed into Super Saiyan 3 himself, back in Episode 12. It has everything I was looking for in Dragon Ball Daima: plot developments, great action, a bit of comedy, and extraordinary production values. It captured the best parts of the DB franchise and boosted the franchise at the same time.
You have to just adore the production values of this episode, and most of all, it comes out in the action. I’m not usually an identifier of sakuga, I lack the discerning eye, but the cuts in the action, particularly in the fight against Gomah, were definitely noteworthy. The part where Gomah fires rocks at his opponents and they’re flying through the rock shower at top speed, the bit where the “camera” moves around where the fighters are about to fire their attacks, all of Gomah’s super fast movements, it is some of the best animation and action in DB this side of Dragon Ball Super: Broly. And unlike that movie, it doesn’t involve Broly, so that’s a plus.
The music, which I haven’t commented on before, was definitely on point, too. When Goku was up against Duu, when Gomah first appears before his opponents, when all the fighters teamed up against Gomah, and finally when Goku changes to Super Saiyan 3, these all have remarkably fitting, cinematic music (and sound effects, by the way… and voice acting) that hits all the right places. While I don’t love the soundtrack as much as Kikuchi’s, it certainly beats a lot of Super’s music. I’ve never heard Kosuke Yamashita’s BGM work before, since I’ve never seen any of the anime he’s scored for, and I usually didn’t notice Daima‘s music until now, but it can be quite good.
I loved a lot of Nozawa’s delivery in this episode, too. Especially when Goku asks why Majin Kuu is so proud of having lost to Tamagami Number One, or when he says that Arinsu’s idea is good, or when he punches Gomah through a bunch of rocks when the Majin king is being held by Duu. The Super Saiyan 3 transformation performance wasn’t quite as good as the one in Z, but it was still pretty on point, and I doubt the English dub will outdo it. The soundtrack and animation picked up the slack, there.
Chibi Vegeta, Chibi Piccolo, and Chibi Kaioshin’s voices are all doing really well, too. I don’t even notice that they’re not the original voice actors. They just seem naturally the characters as smaller versions. I think Vegeta’s new voice is especially good, and can probably be trained to voice an adult Vegeta if Horikawa ever retires. I like the sound of Glorio’s VA, too.
I’m guessing the bag of bugs Goku dropped will be used sometime soon, possibly in the next episode. I can see Kuu and Duu using the fusion bug to form a bigger threat for Gomah. Unless Goku and Vegeta use it to form Vegetto, but I think the former is more likely, because Kuu and Duu already compliment each other so well apart, together they’d be very formidable and I’d like to see that more than Vegetto.
Next time, it looks like Goku might, at least temporarily, give Gomah a run for his money.
