When I was watching YU YU
HAKUSHO, you lunatics liked to harp on how influential the “Dark Tournament”
was - - how every following shonen basically ripped it off. I remember
thinking that was a weird notion. That was seriously the first show to feature
the heroes in a tournament?
Well, maybe it was more about
that show’s inexhaustible enthusiam for depicting every single match and every
single bracket over an entire arc. Because look at this - - it’s a tournament
arc, years before YYH! From the onset though, Toriyama skipping over a lot of
reduncies and is focussing almost entirely on the comedic side of the
premise. The timing more often reminded
me of a LOONY TOONS sketch (with Bugs
Bunny happening to use involved martial arts against the Big Red Monster, natch),
and I have no hesitation calling it delightful.
Last time, I talked about how
I never found Master Roshi that interesting or funny until he and I were
properly introduced here. That same sentiment goes for Krillin, now. He’s been
the butt of nearly every DRAGON BALL joke for me since I was seven - - pretty much the opening act to put any new villain over.
Want to see how nasty this Big Bad is? Watch him punk Krillin first, every single time, until Goku comes
along to save the day.
(To be fair, the same more-or-less went for Yamcha, too).
Goku has already shot way ahead of his rival, but watching
these two be plucky partners-in-crime dart their way through various bullies has been unexpectedly fun. A lot of that comes down to the quality of the voice acting, which pulls off the rare feat of making comedy transcend the language barrier (unlike TORIKO). Goku's voice actress may sound wildly inappropriate in DBZ, but she's so good here, even her karate chops make me snicker.
Oh, and yeah... the same goes for Krillin's voice, too.
Watch "Elimination Round" and decide for yourself, then read my thoughts on the previous episode.
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