Dragon Ball Kai - Episode 107 Review

Episode 107, "Secrets of the Terrible Majin; The Man Behind the Curtain Appears!!
 

*****SPOILERS*****

Synopsis: Vegeta is angered by Goku's desire to follow Kaioshin, as he was anticipating their battle in the tournament, but Goku assures him they can find time to do it later. Goku, Vegeta, and Piccolo fly off, leaving Gohan in Kibito's hands. Kuririn follows suit after telling 18. Kibito uses healing powers to revive Gohan, who follows him off, along with Videl. Kaioshin and Kibito reveal that they came to Earth to prevent an evil magician, Babidi, from reviving his father's powerful creation, a monster named Majin Buu, who can destroy planets and even kill gods. It's explained that Spopovich and Yamu were collecting energy to help Babidi release Majin Buu from his containment, and thus their entering the tournament and ultimately targeting Gohan. Kaioshin and Kibito allowed this to happen so they can follow the enthralled minions back to their master and stop him. Gohan notices that Videl, having only learned to fly recently, is having difficulty keeping up. He advises her to return to the tournament grounds. She agrees and flies back, telling him she'll be waiting for him. Gohan and Kibito pick up speed and meet up with the others. Yamu and Spopovich finally reach the area where Babidi's base of operations is. A short, green man with a large head and a very tall red demon with yellow eyes emerge from the entrance.
 

 

Comments:

 

Ah, nothing like a boat load of exposition. Actually, more than a boat load. You're gonna need a bigger boat.

 

To be fair, though people (yeah, I know people!) were griping about this episode being a massive slowdown from some of the previous ones, most of the WORDSWORDSWORDS is, in fact, necessary information and the infodump's weight comes directly from the manga source. Kai is doing its job here by depicting Kaioshin and Kibito's lengthy story of the evil madoshi Bibidi, his monster Majin Buu, and his son they apparently didn't know about (nice job investigating) until this very late date. It's all there in Toriyama's cumbersome tome that is the Buu arc of Dragon Ball. Share and enjoy.

 

What I enjoy is that the story is kind of split up into what Kaioshin is saying to Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, and Kuririn and what Kibito is revealing to Gohan and Videl. They're both being told the entire story, I'm assuming, but we cut to either or telling a particular portion of the story to the people they're flying with. It sort of gives both of them something to do. They could have very easly just one of them have to repeat what the other said when the others caught up, but they divvied up the duties instead. It also creates a narrative urgency. This information needs to be told as soon as possible, literally on the fly, as everyone speeds there way toward Babidi's hideout.

 

My question is, if Buu's egg is such a delicate mechanism, and they didn't want to attempt destroying it for fear he might awaken from their attempt, why didn't Kaioshin simply move the egg from an inhabited world to an uninhabited world, somewhere remote and utterly incapable of supporting life? Even assuming he didn't know about Babidi, surely removing even the potential that some idiot or idiots would accidentally jar the seal open somehow would be a judicious decision, right? Yeah, man had barely started back then, but come on, an inhabited planet is where you want to leave a horrible, god-killing abomination? Kaioshin, you kind of suck at your job. But I suppose that's par for the course for deities in the DB universe. Actually, I think Kaio might be the most competent one. At that point, you might as well start worshiping Dabura (you do it, that guy freaks me out).

 

Damn Japanese cartoons, teaching our kids blasphemy! With their Mr. Satans, and their Videls, and their impotent higher powers! I have half a mind (don't ask where the other half went) to take this up at the next PTA meeting! The knitting circle will be clutching their pearls so hard they'll choke on their Rice Krispie squares!

 

Uh, so, yeah, where was I, again?

 

It's interesting that Kuririn, unlike some married men in this series, actually consults his wife before flying off with weird space gods to go follow possessed roid heads back to their green scrotum-looking mage boss' secret hideout, in the middle of a fighting tournament. Some might assert that he's whipped (and who wouldn't get whipped by 18? Unf.), but I'd rather see it as being thoughtful. He's the only guy in the cast who actually knows how marriage should work, commiserating with your half-robot wife about the pros and cons of abandoning pummeling people with your fists to go help a higher power possibly pummel people with your fists... for free. 18, as you might expect, is not interested in the "free" part of that. Not that she's greedy, but I suspect the pair could use the cash prize. They live with Muten Roshi and for 18 it's a constant dodge of "does this rag smell like chloroform to you?" from that guy.

 

Think about it.

 

I see we actually get a really good piece of music in this episode during Gohan's chat with Videl, when he advises her to fly back to the Budoukai and she wishes him luck. It's tracks like that that make me happy, but also a bit frustrated, because Sumitomo clearly has the potential to score like that all the time, he just isn't quite living up to it. Come on, Sumitomo! Don't make that the only track from the soundtrack that I want to add to my playlist.
 

 

Overall Score:

 

3.5 out of 5


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