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DRAGON BALL Z #35 - - Watch & Learn
I have no idea why Hulu deigned to remove the three specific
episodes between #31 and #35. Maybe whoever runs programming there is
just a DBZ fan with very strong opinions about which installments aren’t
up to snuff. Alas, my Saiyan Saga experience is irrevocably compromised.
Even if I’ve missed a few of the final steps that brought us to this
finale, it was still an absolutely thrilling experience. Yajirobe’s last stand is a moving act of
clumsy valor. Krillin's hesitation about killing Vegeta is one of the tensest
scenes I’ve seen in any anime. And it feels bizarrely appropriate that this
epic battle concludes with Gohan smashing his giant monkey butt on Vegeta.
To slide another bead on the abacus that we’re constantly using to
measure the differences between DBZ and supeheroes, the way the kill-or-don’t-kill-konundrum
is handled here certainly offers a meaty discussion point. People’s objections
to Batman’s refusal to kill the Joker have always been a little narrow-sighted
by my reckoning. The futility of locking a killer way, knowing that he’ll
simply break out again and kill more innocents, only ‘exists’ due to the plot conceits of
an ongoing superhero serial. ‘Realistically,’ it’d be more like the new movies,
where the hero locks the villain up and that’s the end of it (barring one or
two prison breaks at most).
There doesn’t seem to be any super jail in the world of DRAGON BALL,
so the mercy Goku begs Krillin to show Vegeta here is far more insensible. There’s a difference between taking the high
road and simply allowing a mass-murdering psychopath to go free while you’re all half-dead and he’s also swearing to come back and do the exact
same thing again. Of course, Goku’s ultimately proven right and Vegeta proves
to be a valuable ally… but that’s just as much as a plot conceit as the Joker
escaping Arkham likes it’s got a revolving door, isn't it?
I’m searching for a more conclusive statement about the Saiyan Saga
but, between however many episode write-ups and however many Vice Pit sessions,
I’ve probably said as much as I’ll never need to about this arc, anyway.
Watch this
episode, “Mercy" here and
decide for yourself, then read my comments on the previous episode here.
About the Author
 | Tom Pinchuk’s a writer and personality with a large number of comics, videos and features like this to his credit. Visit his website - - tompinchuk.com - - and follow his Twitter: @tompinchuk |
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