Episode 212 "Heart of A Villain"

The Summary

As the battle between Gohan and Dabura finally gets interesting with Gohan becoming a Super Saiyan, we finally get a chance to see what Dabura is truly capable of. Is he any match for the Super Saiyan Gohan?

At first, the answer is a resounding NO. Gohan pretty much pummels Dabura with a few volleys of that sweet-sweet DBZ action, leaving Dabura in the dirt. However, Dabura soon shows that he is far from being done.

Quickly powering up after a challenge from Gohan, Dabura begins the battle once again. It looks pretty even as neither one is able to gain a distinct advantage over the other until Dabura uses an after-image technique to catch Gohan off-guard, blasting him into the water.

Interestingly enough, Babidi comments that despite the apparent pounding Gohan has received, Dabura has done very little damage to him.

After another attempted water trick from Gohan, the battle continues. Though it would seem now that Dabura is the fighter with the upper hand. He even challenges Gohan to charge him with his back turned, but quickly turns as spits on his glove. As the glove turns to stone, Gohan quickly sheds the glove, preventing the rest of him from being petrified as well.

Close call.

Meanwhile, at the WMAT, Hercule is reveling in his glory as he is once again the World Champion. Android 18 watches from the sideline as Chi-Chi, Bulma and Marrin. Chi-Chi and Bulma are amazed that "That Guy" could beat her, and even said the crowd thought she threw the fight until Hercule explained his "Delayed Punch" technique.

(Delayed Punch…he he he he he….)

Yet with all this happening, Trunks and Goten are still flying away to find where their dads went in order to help save the world before they miss out on the good stuff.

"They're so cute at that age."

Returning to Babidi's ship, Dabura has made an interesting discovery during his battle with Gohan, so much so, that he requests a "brief intermission to re-evaluate their strategy"

His Discovery: One of the fighters has a burning rage inside him. Since he lacks the same convictions as the others, he could be turned to The Dark Side…

"Yes, yes. Can it be done?" - The Emperor

How is the fighter to be turned? Find out on the Next episode of DBZ…as if you don't already know.

The Review

Animation

The animation was much better than last week when I reviewed, and for good reason; it's one of those, "Get ready for a really important turn of events" kind of episodes, but it still wasn't on par with some of the other episodes in terms of facial detail.

However, the action sequences were smooth and very entertaining. Dabura's "sword" attack was a good sequence as he called his sword and began to swing before it was fully materialized. Also, the first volley after Gohan went SSJ was also classic DBZ animation…

However, more detail could have been paid to the faces once again. They lacked that extra level of detail that prevent their faces from looking too angular or chiseled like that did for various parts within this episode.

Good, but could be better.

..next.

Choreography

Good animation.

Good Choreography.

Now we're catching on, right? Of course, the fighting choreography was well done with excellent use of transitions from one volley to the next. Again, Dabura's sword sequence was excellently done, with a very interesting fish-eye angle that gives him a distinct "distortion" as he makes his first thrust at Gohan with the sword.

Clever.

Another sequence of interest, yet not uncommon in the DBZ bag of tricks was when Gohan was struggling to prevent Dabura's sword from slicing him. They power emanations were well animated, as well as their effect on the water, with surges in power causing greater action in the water.

There wasn't too much that I wasn't happy with on the storyboarding side of today's episode. I think there may have been some minor things here and there, but nothing to gross for me to notice.

Dialogue

Dialogue was summed up really by one person today; Vegeta. His rant about, "I'm not here for you to have Father-Son memories…. I'm here to win!" is a key monologue which is the basis for some future events to come. However, this is also accompanied by key utterances from him all throughout the episode, culminating in that dramatic speech.

Goku had a "Goku-esque" response when Vegeta called his boy soft.

"Yeah, but at least he got straight A's on his report card."

Other than that, there really wasn't much in the way of dialogue. We had some scene-fillers with the announcer, Chi-Chi, Bulma and 18, but nothing substantial.

…nothing that is, except Trunks explanation to Goten what a wizard was.

"Wizard rhymes with lizard, so its like a Lizard turned into a man."

Oh yeah….you know that's what I think of when I hear "wizard."

Plot

Hoo-wee momma!

<Que the "Dark Side" music from Star Wars>

"Fear leads to anger…anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering."- Yoda.

Looks like someone's anger is about to turn into a whole lot of suffering, maybe even for those he may "care" about the most.

Today's episode in many respects seems like it was written by George Lucas and the Star Wars team. Here we have a young, angry fighter being spied on by the Emperor and his Dark Minions, if they can turn him to the Dark Side, then they will be able to raise Majin Buu.

<Shhhhcooooooo>Join Me, Vegeta! I can feeeeeeeeel your anger…<Shhhhhcoooooooo>Come with me to the Dark Side, and reign supreme as the strongest fighter in the Universe!<Shhhhhcooooooo>

Doesn't that just fit?

With all seriousness…

A HUGE Day in the plot because we are about to bear witness to the introduction of a character that seems to have a lot of popularity out there amongst the DBZ Community, particularly in the younger audience.

Well now you're finally going to meet the character you have loved for so long.

Overall

Not a bad episode, all in all. Love the fighting, love the suspense, and I absolutely love the "Stars Warsishness" of the episode. Maybe Darth will make a cameo in tomorrow's episode.

With good animation, but a little light in the dialogue department, this episode was 70% Action, 10% plot, and 20% Time filler. Because of that, it was definitely worth watching about 20 of the 25 minutes, but the Hercule gloating could have been easily done without.

The Celestrian gives today's episode:


5 Dragonballs out of 7

-The Celestrian