Episode 9, "Thieves"
*****SPOILERS*****
Synopsis: Goku's group stops at a hotel for the night to sleep. While there, thieves attempt to steal the Dragon Ball they obtained, but are quickly thwarted. Meanwhile, Vegeta's group's plane has been stolen in retaliation for his beating some thugs in a fight. An irritated Gomah is informed by Dagasu of the defeat of the Third Tamagami. Goku's group meets up with Vegeta's, but informs them there's not enough room on their plane, so they get left behind. The ones who stole Hybis' ship reappear with backup and are again taken down by Vegeta and Piccolo. Marba combines her creation with a Saibaiman and a creature named Majin Kuu is born. Arinsu orders him to take down the First Tamagami.
Comments:
Well... that was a whole lot of nothing.
Coming off what was obviously the best episode of the series thus far, the momentum grinds to a screeching halt with this episode, in which almost nothing actually occurs. There's some thieves that try to steal the Dragon Ball, there's some thieves that steal Vegeta's group's plane, Gomah gets angry at Dagasu, and Majin Kuu is born. That's pretty much it. There's not much to review.
It's not so much the events themselves that seem uninteresting. It's the way they're presented, really, that makes the show seem like it's just spinning its wheels this week. Deliberately slowly and without any care to the pacing built up by the previous episode. Sure, I expected a little bit of a come down, but to this level? Did we really need to go through the whole rigamarole with Goku's hygiene and the diversion by the thieves at the hotel? Then we just kind of have Vegeta's group hanging out with Hybis to no great effect. Even Gomah's scene with Dagasu seemed superfluous, or at least overdrawn. And Vegeta's beat down of the other group of thieves feels a little stale, too. It feels like the only really significant portion of the episode was the birth of Majin Kuu.
And... really? Majin Kuu? The Saibaiman-looking Majin? It looks about as original as a recolor of a previous enemy. Tell me that it either has other forms or doesn't stick around long, because looking at this thing for several more weeks is not high on my "to do" list. And did we need Saibaiman lore at all? I hope the Tamagami kicks this thing's ass.
Glorio Watch: Glorio doesn't do anything in particular that's suspicious in this episode. Or really much at all. Oh well. Looks like next week is more of Vegeta's group hanging out with Hybis. Please let them do something significant, Toei. I hate to see the show dragging its feet.
