WARNING: SOME MILD SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW
I can almost hear the screams of "FILTHY WEEABOO" coming over the hills as I type this review out.
Dragon Ball Super. The anime that came in after Dragon Ball GT was considered not canon by Akira Toriyama and made to milk as much money as possible out of this franchise that was completely fine the way it was.
To begin, let's talk about the plot. Anyone who has seen any Dragon Ball series ever basically understands the basics of the plot of any arc. Goku and friends are confronted with a new enemy that everyone says is impossible to beat, and through the magic of power escalation, plot armor, and plot holes, somehow Goku manages to defeat a literal God of Destruction in battle, in addition to many other ridiculous enemies.
Now, you may have noticed a word I said in there called power escalation. "What's power escalation, Nate"? I'm glad you asked, audience. Power escalation is a rather large problem in fantasy media in general, where the enemy somehow gets stronger and stronger, and so too do all the characters, resulting in a never-ending ladder climb of strength, new transformations, and new techniques. A perfect example of this can be seen when Goku, the main character, first achieves this form known as Super Saiyan God. Goku, in this form, has limitless energy, travels at the speed of light, and can land one punch so hard that he can shatter the Moon. That actually happens. Now, you may ask, what could get stronger than this? That's a great question. Literally nothing should be stronger than this. But, to keep a plot going and not have the whole series filled with one-sided beatdowns, somehow something is stronger than this. This is power escalation. Eventually, this gets to the point where it's quite ridiculous, and Goku becomes faster than time itself.
Now, how's the audio? Well, the music in the background is top notch, giving a quite substantial amount of hype to incredible scenes and battles. As the series is still airing, if one wants to watch the series' newest episodes, you have to watch the show with Japanese voices with English subtitles. For some reason, someone decided that every time any character gets into a battle with a flurry of punches, they should sound like Liu Kang when he does the bicycle kick move from Mortal Kombat. This is quite possibly the most annoying thing in the entirety of TV. The English dub, while hated by some, does make the series slightly more bearable.
Now, apart from these things, is the series enjoyable? To me, absolutely. The fights have resulted in some very great scenes that get you quite hyped. It wouldn't be as popular as it was to try and do a Kamehameha or go Super Saiyan if the series wasn't that hype. Is it well made, objectively? Absolutely not. The Animation looks blocky and rigid, and at times they just slap lines and flashes on the screen to cover up how bad the actual animation is. As previously mentioned, it also has the very blatant issue of power escalation and audio that simply doesn't match up. This puts it in the realm of BAD - GOOD. It is objectively trash, but it's still very enjoyable.
To see a quite hilarious and interesting scene from Dragon Ball Super, here's a clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckGjiWj4Ht8
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