Synopsis: Goku and Bulma wake up the next morning to discover that Oolong has stayed up all night to guard against Yamcha in case he decided to come back again, both of them blissfully unaware of the events of the prior night. Bulma's upset that she missed seeing Yamcha again and also upset with Oolong for not doing her laundry, leaving her with only one outfit he had on hand that would fit her – a bunny girl costume. As punishment, she makes him drive while she puts on her make-up just in case they run into Yamcha again. Back at his hideout, Yamcha watches and waits for the trio to get on the road again, vowing to himself that he has to get those Dragon Balls. Once he sees their vehicle move, he launches an immediate attack – much to the horror of Oolong and the initial excitement of Bulma – knocking their camper out of commission with a rocket launcher. Yamcha once again demands that they hand over their valuable, including their Dragon Balls, but Goku makes a face at him before launching into a fight. Unlike before, Goku has a full stomach this time, leaving Yamcha no chance for victory. Defeated, Yamcha retreats, and revises his plan. If he can't beat Goku outright, he'll just have to follow along behind the trio, let them gather the remaining Dragon Balls, and then steal them for himself at the last second. Oolong is greatly impressed by Goku's strength, but with their camper destroyed, they have little choice but to proceed on foot and carry Bulma. Out of nowhere however, Yamcha turns up again and gives them a car as an “apology” for all the trouble he's caused. Oolong is suspicious, but ultimately they take the car, unaware that Yamcha can now track their every movement with his own car's radar. Review: I'll be brutally honest with you. I don't like this chapter. This is the very first chapter of the manga that feels like it's spinning it's wheels, honestly. There's very little progress made in terms of story, there's almost no jokes of note, and what fighting we get pales in comparison to the previous fights we've had that are between the exact same combatants as the ones we have here. This chapter seemingly hits all the notes that you'd want a Dragon Ball chapter to hit, but it does so without any real flair or gusto, like it's just going through the motions. That's not to say that you could just remove this chapter entirely and not lose something though, because fortunately (or unfortunately, given the chapter's dull nature), there are a few things that come up that do set the stage for the story to continue onward. Bulma ends up in the bunny girl outfit, which on top of being clear fan-service, sets up for a storyline just a handful of chapters down the road. Yamcha is transitioned from a clear and present threat into a little more of a side or background role. And...actually, I'm drawing a blank. That's really about all that's accomplished this chapter. Oof. In the interest of not having this review be entirely brief and putting my own money where my mouth is, I guess I should mention a few ways I'd improve this chapter. For starters, rather than giving us all the same stuff we had before, we could have at least gotten something different. Just off the top of my head? Have Oolong notice Yamcha in pursuit of them before their camper gets destroyed, and have Goku and Bulma be all for stopping for him (for different reasons of course), but since Oolong's driving, he could try to outrun them. This would go pretty terribly in a top-heavy vehicle like the camper, but seeing them try to outrun Yamcha and his vehicle before the bandit ultimately pulls out the rocket launcher to stop them would have been SOMETHING at least. Beyond that though, any other fixes I can think of would basically be tied to the previous and/or next chapters as well: Basically, take the story tidbits needed here to move forward (Bulma changing into the bunny outfit, Yamcha switching plans and tailing them, etc.), and put them into either the previous chapter or the next one somehow. Hell, the bunny suit for Bulma doesn't really pay off until the storyline after the one we're heading into, so it could have been put off entirely for now. Man, what a dull chapter. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: Goku meets his future father-in-law.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
About the AuthorAspiring author and big anime/manga fan, just trying to do my best in the world. For more details, go to About Me. Archives
September 2022
Categories
All
|