Dragon Blog DAIMA #28: Thieves

Article by Sean Wilkinson,

a.k.a. the Animeister

I usually enjoy being right, Ticketholders...but not this week.

In last week's Dragon Blog DAIMA review, I said that I expected more stall tactics and plot repetition in the "Thieves" episode, and I was unpleasantly disappointed by getting exactly what I expected for most of the episode.

So even discounting my current financial stresses and the fact that the once-greatest country in the world (where I live) is regressing into the kind of propaganda-fueled, assassination-riddled hellhole we've repeatedly gone to war with in the past, I ask as always that you please give me your energy and grant my wish by clicking the Follow button to Become A Ticketholder if you haven't already, commenting at the bottom of this post, helping out my ad revenue as you read so my life doesn't become a repetitive waste of time, and following me on Tumblr, Reddit, Facebook, and LinkedIn to like what you see and receive the latest news on my content.

Stop me if you've heard this one: our heroes stop to rest for the night but they attract unwanted attention and have all hopes of progress literally stolen out from under them.

Also, our other group of heroes get in a fight with some disposable goons...and have all hopes of progress literally stolen out from under them.

This is the entire first half of "Thieves," and all it basically does is repeat the end of the "Daima" episode...twice. Some of the disposable goons are even the same.

Goku's keepaway fight to reclaim the Dragon Ball is fun and dynamic, the werewolf and gargoyle thieves are cool (I especially like the gargoyle's voice acting performance), and Mini Vegeta styling on the returning "Daima" crooks in a neon-soaked nightclub was a unique visual. But that doesn't change the fact that with almost half of the episode count behind us, we're having to endure recycled plot with two-thirds of the series' setting left unexplored. It's such a glaring flaw that Goku just tells Vegeta "sorry 'bout your plane gettin' stolen; I'mma go move the plot forward and fight the next strong guy withoutcha. Good luck, 'bye!"

Thankfully, instead of waiting around, Vegeta's group get to bump into the crooks who stole their plane (whom I called the Teenage Majin Ninja Thieves because of their skin colors and weapons showing clear inspiration) so he can have a decent, low-scale fight and intimidate them into giving the plane back (which only lasts long enough for my best boy Hybis to eat two potato chips).

We get more hijinks with Degesu and Gomah that feature some funny, hyper-deformed animation for the latter's reactions, but is basically more of that, "I couldn't believe they were that strong as adults and I can't believe they're still that strong as kids" nonsense that could have been remedied with a more properly-phrased wish, and I'm kind of done with it.

What almost redeems this episode for its repetitive nature, as it usually does in the absence of proper plot and fight escalation, is the lore.

Hybis now has a living eye buckled around his waist that he found somewhere offscreen (which is a perfectly subversive, Toriyama-esque way to introduce the Tertian Oculus into the story, if that's what it is), and the episode ends with another mind-blowing visit to Dr. Arinsu and Grand Witch Marba, wherein Marba hints that she may be the creator of an old Saiyan Saga staple, the Saibamen!

This blew my mind and I had to run it back to see if I was reading the subtitles correctly. It seems Marba only has two left after selling most of her stash to the outside world (which, directly, or indirectly through the Freiza Force, once included Nappa and Vegeta). But with the potion to make their clone Majin incomplete, Marba contributes a Saibaman seed, giving birth to this glorious thing:

In his review video for the episode, Geekdom101 namedropped him as Majin Kuu, and to hopefully move the plot forward, Dr. Arinsu commands Kuu to fight Tamagami #1 for the First World Dragon Ball...in the next episode. Maybe.

The tenth episode will be called "Ocean," and what you see below is basically the entire contents of the preview, so I will continue to expect disappointment until the series proves me wrong.

To keep hope alive, please give me your energy and grant my wish by clicking the Follow button to Become A Ticketholder if you haven't already, commenting at the bottom of this post, helping out my ad revenue as you read so I don't get my magic balls stolen, and following me on Tumblr, Reddit, Facebook, and LinkedIn to like what you see and receive the latest news on my content.

Mini Animeister,

Out.