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Whether or not you've adored or hated Dragon Ball Super's happy-go-lucky take on the Dragon Ball formula so far, there's one point everyone can now agree on. Something went horribly wrong during the making of the fifth episode. Horribly, disastrously wrong. With the first meeting between Beerus and Goku, the show's animation team had a chance to prove their chops and choreograph a major fight in the foremost action series to come out of Japan. The outcome didn't just fall short of expectations. It fell off the deep end.
Japanese television animation is a notorious business, fueled by cutthroat deadlines and sweatshop wages. Anyone who demands constant topnotch quality from a weekly, long-running anime has unrealistic expectations at best. But no matter how much I sympathize with Dragon Ball Super's staff for the grueling nature of their work, I have to criticize their final product for what it is. Bad animation is bad animation. And boy, does this episode have tons of it. Never before have I seen 25 minutes of anime so rife with animation errors and off-key art. It stands out as such an anomaly that news of its failings bled onto mainstream English websites. Forbes Magazine of all places published an online article questioning the show's direction. Forbes Magazine. In other words, a lot of people are upset and making noise, and it's not just a small subsection of nit-picky fans.
Animators receive a lot of flak for inconsistent drawings. Sharp-eyed fans can spot off-model art light years away, especially when a character's facial proportions morph and vary from scene to scene. Usually, viewers can forgive these mistakes when they're infrequent and offset by other factors, like the fluidity of the animation. But when the number of frames with off-model artwork comes close to numbering a full third of an episode's runtime, it become uncomfortably distracting. That's what happened In Dragon Ball Super's fifth episode. In multiple shots, Goku is drawn with a scrunched up or elongated face that defies all anatomical conventions. Even Beerus, who the animators usually draw spot-on, looked very off at points, either with a head that is too short or too wide. At one point, he and Whis stand completely stiff while talking to Kaio and Goku early in the episode, looking off into space with static facial expressions. It all comes across as painfully awkward.
Most critical viewers immediately railed against episode five's visuals. But here's the thing. Bad animation aside, it's still inherently flawed. The showdown on Kaiō's planet takes up almost its entire runtime, making it the most uneventful episode yet out of the show's initial batch. While it only took Beerus a few minutes to effortlessly best Goku in Battle of Gods - quickly getting the point across that our hero was outclassed - Dragon Ball Super needlessly drags out their one-sided confrontation. If the expanded action looked good, I wouldn't mind. Unfortunately, Goku is made to look like a complete amateur throughout, and not just from being so thoroughly out-classed, mind you. Thanks to balderdash fight chorography, he blundered about punching wildly at Beerus for most of the fight. A lack of dynamic camera angles sucked all the energy out of his attacks, and the whole affair felt dull and uninspired. Bad art squandered the more fluidly animated parts, and even little cosmetic touches like the sparks in Goku's battle aura looked weak.
What makes the fight's awful presentation so sad is that there are moments where its potential shines through. At one point, Goku sprang off the ground and went all out against Beerus, punching at him with such force that shockwaves flattened the ground beneath them. His rapid fire punches packed legitimate energy, as did the stylish Kamehameha blast he followed up with. Beerus flicking the Super Saiyan away with his finger also looked equally nice. But moments like these were set adrift in a sea of aimless action. The only legitimate saving grace for the episodes came from the personalities on display. Goku trying earnestly to address Beerus politely after Kaio bopped him on the heard for being too informal was as funny as in Battle of Gods. Beerus meanwhile acted typically aloof and inconsiderate, but also mixed in enough likeable charm. His voice actor absolutely nailed his portrayal, pulled off a threatening vibe with just the hint of whimsy, and lowered his pitch to a sinister cadence right before he finally delivered a knockout blow. At the same time, Goku's challenge clearly amused him. He gave the Saiyan plenty of time to try out different transformations during their (mostly) friendly sparing match. All the while, Kaiō tried desperately to placate Beerus and could only look on as Goku wrecked his planet trying to fight the wayward god. His reactions are comedic gold, even if Joji Yanami's vocals still left much to be desired.
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Up until now, Dragon Ball Super hasn't exactly tried hard to hide its low-budget trappings, but at least its four previous episodes maintained a general level of consistently. From an outsider looking in, it's hard to imagine why episode five turned into such a mess in comparison. Most likely, an overambitious staff became bogged down by a rushed production and simply had to air what they could get done. Maybe they'll even fix the off-model art for the eventual home video release. For now, fans are left with a lengthy curb-stomp fight that Battle of Gods pulled off exponentially better. If this episode is any indication of how much Toei Animation cares about doing its movie retellings justice, we're in for a rough ride.
Episode Score - D
Episode One, Episode Two, Episode Three, Episode Four,
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