Episode 200 "Forfeit of Piccolo"

The Summary

Our episode begins with a press conference for Hercule, as he outlines his expectations of this year's World Martial Arts tournament. Even after some questions about getting whipped by Trunks, Hercule is able to play it off in typical style by reminding everyone that the match was just an "exhibition."

(Note to self: Develop personal adaptations of Hercule's marketing strategy to sell line of T-Shirts)

The World Martial Arts Tournament really gets underway in today's episode with the first of the Adult Division matches; Krillin vs. Pitoken and Piccolo vs. Shin.

For those not in the "know" Pitoken is this insanely large fighter with the stereotypical Indian accent. He's been talking trash to Krillin for a few episodes now, and we finally get to see what happens.

The round lasts a few moments, but only about 30 seconds of actual fighting. Due to Krillin's overwhelming "niceness", Pitoken really manages only to get creamed in the gentlest possible manner; he gets kicked out of the ring after a slight reprimand for his foul insults.

During this time, Piccolo becomes increasingly agitated thinking about his upcoming battle with Shin. Who is he? And why does Piccolo have this sense of familiarity with his energy? He has only moments to contemplate this questions as the second match in the tournament is called…his round.

Piccolo and Shin step onto the ring and stand there…

…and stand there…

…and stand there…

For some reason, Piccolo is unable to focus his energy, to bring himself to attack. He's never met this guy before and yet he still seems to recognize him, but from where? And what is his purpose here?

"I promise you will know soon, Piccolo."

Amazingly, Shin can read Piccolo's thoughts! With a flash, Piccolo so shocked with his realization of who he is that he forfeits the fight. The other Z Warriors are amazed, and are even more so when Piccolo tells Goku that yes, Shin really is that strong.

With that, the third match is Videl vs. Sappopovich!

The Review

Pre-review- Before I get into the actual guts of the episode I must first comment that this episode had a lot of "Little Things" that made this episode extremely entertaining to watch, but very hard to explain in a concise manner. Therefore, I recommend that if you missed tonight's episode (9/28), try to watch it when it re-airs on The Midnight Run sometime next week (The midnight run is currently 3 episodes behind, and due to Adult Swim on Thursdays, that "lag time" should grow by one episode per week.).

Animation

The animation in the recent episodes have really once again stepped up in the level of detail and fluidity, which means if the Laws of DBZ Animation are valid, that some pretty important stuff is going to be happening in the next few episodes, especially since we saw some important events occur today.

The coloration was top notch, and shading was not overdone. I've been amazed at the last couple of episodes in regard to the apparent Cell Quality of the animations used, they seem very clean and precisely painted. How do I know?

…because of the quality of the final product.

Once again this episode receives another top score for animation.

Choreography

The choreography of today's episode was definitely geared more toward the dramatic. Heavy use of three-quarter perspective close-ups with incredible detail to the faces indicate to me that the Storyboard designers were really trying to focus on the portrayal of emotion, particularly agitation in the case of Piccolo.

Because of this, I noticed a trade-off in the lack of fluid action shots that have so become a favorite of DBZ. While I admired the excellent job used to create the dramatic atmosphere in the perspectives (The profile shot of Piccolo opening his eye and looking "forward" at us was very well done). I feel that they might have been able to use some more cinematic techniques to enhance this effect. Most likely the "Short Focus à Long Focus" shot, where Shin (up close) would appear in focus, then go out of focus as Piccolo slowly came into focus with the look of agitation or suppressed uneasiness that we saw so much of.

The choreography was well suited to this episode.

Music

Well I think today was the first episode that I noticed the "Shin Music." It seems every character in FUNi's version has a "Theme Song" anytime they are the focus of a sequence. I'm sure the music was there a couple of episodes ago, but this was the first time I noticed it.

Dialogue

While sparkled with humor, the Dialogue simply did not pack the same punch it was in the previous episodes. My guess is simply the fact that there are not as many funny situations in this episode.

Some notable exceptions were the dialogue between Krillin and Pitoken, and the mini-cat fight between Bulma and Chi-Chi over who's going win, Goku or Vegeta? Since not even the "Otaku Elite" out there still are arguing about this point, I think its needless to say that the argument ended without a clear victor.

Plot

There were a lot of nuances in animation and dialogue that really conveyed a lot of the plot. This makes today's episodes one of those that really need to be seen in order to truly understand the plot advances made, and their significance.

Perhaps a good example is the look that Shin gives Spopovitch at the very end of the episode. You all the sudden find yourself asking, "Wait, why would he be doing that?"

All I can saw is some interesting plot twists are on the way.

Overall

With a heavy focus on drama through the Characters, this was not a typical DBZ episode, but a good one nonetheless. I enjoyed all the little things that occurred and their possible significance, even challenging myself as to whether or not they might just be "What they are" and nothing more.

If you are relying on our episode reviews solely to find out what's going on, stop. Get off your butt and start finding a way to watch these episodes. Record them, buy them…. something, because you are missing out.

The Celestrian gives today's dramatic episode:


6 Dragonballs out of 7...

-The Celestrian