English Dub Review: Dragon Ball Super “Gohan’s Plight! The Preposterous Great Saiyaman Film Adaptation?!”

Is this episode worth the on-set drama?

Overview (Possible Spoilers Below)

The episode while feeling unfocused at first, primarily begins to find it’s footing on two separate storylines that begin to converge. One with Jaco being hilariously oblivious at his job as a space-cop when an alien prisoner simply known as “Watagash” (a parasitic alien squid criminal that possesses its hosts) somehow escapes. But the major focus is on Goku’s oldest son, Gohan who at this point has become a well-educated family man long after the events of DBZ’s Buu Saga but would occasionally don his old “Great Saiyaman” Superhero persona from time to time. And it’s this persona alone that becomes the Impetus for the episode’s proceedings as Hercule/Mr. Satan (Videl’s Father and Gohan’s father in law) reveals to the two that he is starring in a new superhero film: “Great Saiyaman vs. Mr. Satan!”

 

 

As Videl, Gohan, and their child Pan check out the film set, Videl presses the matter to her Dad that to keep Gohan’s superhero persona a secret, while the movie’s leading man who’s a douchey yet famous actor named Barry Kahn openly admits to having the hots for Videl and even tries to woo her. But Videl being married and highly principled turns Barry down in front of the entire film crew thereby indirectly humiliating his ass. Being an ego-fueled douche who’s obviously not use to any sort of rejection, Barry seeks petty revenge on Videl by convincing her husband Gohan to take over as the main stuntman for the film to embarrass and possibly injure him, but of course, Gohan easily impresses the director giving his full approval much to Barry’s dismay.

As Gohan uses his powers to easily take on the role, he later dons the suit again to stop an actual bank robbery. Consequently, when the film crew later attempts to put the pieces together and accuses Gohan on the matter, Bulma bails him out with a plausible lie. However, out of happenstance and bad timing, Gohan’s identity by accident is indirectly revealed to Cocoa, who is the starlet/romantic lead in the film. Cocoa blackmails Gohan into flying her around the city. But intercut with Gohan’s subplot, the story thankfully doesn’t forget what Jaco is up to as he actively pursues Watagash by suspecting that “The Great Saiyaman” might be the alien criminal’s current host. The episode ends on an intense cliffhanger as Jaco attempts to attack Gohan leaving his fate uncertain.

Our Take

For Jaco’s sub-plot while kinda short, I’m curious where this will lead towards, and how Gohan will be tied into this as he’s a character Akira Toriyama has been trying to put into the spotlight for quite some time to the point that he even has his own Manga series tied with the world of Dragonball, but is occasionally played for laughs with his grossly incompetent antics that thankfully don’t irritate me enough to overstay their welcome. If I can best describe Jaco’s personality, he’s like a cross between Zim from Invader Zim and Frank Drebin from the Naked Gun Franchise.

After stepping away from the spotlight at the end of DBZ’s final season, it’s rare that we get to see Gohan take center stage again since the early episodes of the Buu Saga when Gohan in his teens had a very Peter Parker-like Dynamic when he attempted to balance out his school life with a superhero persona. But now even after reaching adulthood on his own terms with his wife and daughter, The mere idea of Gohan revisiting that old persona once more years later is interesting, and despite the show’s attempt to satirize the ugly & superficial aspects of show business, I’m at least hooked enough to find out what happens next.