Dragon Ball Super Parts 7 and 8

Director- Tatsuya Nagamine

Cast- Various

Country of Origin- Japan

 

Distributor - Funimation

Number of Discs - 2/2

Reviewed by - Tyler Miller

Date- 12/18/2019

Dragon Ball Super continues to raise the stakes with the fate of seven universes now in the balance. Goku showcases his martial arts skills in a test battle for the two Zenos. It all seems like innocent fun until the Future Zeno calls for a super match with most of the twelve existing Universes. It will be labeled as the “Tournament of Power” and the rules are by the most complex of the series. Instead of one on one matches, the whole fight will be a battle royale, with the losers facing the annihilation of their homeworlds. Goku and company now have to get themselves ready for the “Tournament of Power” and the chances of defeat.

Funimation continues to release quality releases of Dragon Ball Super, With part 7 holding episodes 79 to 91, and part 8 holding episodes 92 to 104. The series takes a noticeable dive in quality in this batch of episodes. Action and plotting fatigue is starting to set in. The showrunners and scriptwriters have written themselves into another hole. More of the episodes are centered around filler, which is starting to alienate this viewer.

The show continues to deliver great character moments for series fans. By now all the characters feel like their manga counterparts. Unlike parts of Dragon Ball Z and the misguided GT, Super is able to keep up with all the characters and give them something interesting to do. The focus on Goku as the main hero is still a problem since he has hardly changed any since the first episode of the original Dragon Ball. But Vegeta, Gohan, Goten, and Trunks are all given fun bits of business to do.

There are some light comedy and plenty of bizarre filler. But the issues begin once the plot continues. The stakes are so ridiculously high and unbelievable that it’s just becoming tiring to really care. This franchise has rebooted itself or written itself out of a hole many times. But Super’s nonstop narrative hiccups are starting to damage the overall series. Super started with a few good episodes, but quickly shot itself in the foot with two whole arches that were just bloated remakes of recent movies. By the time the show found its footing with the Goku Black story, the suspense was gone.

Now with the introduction of multiple dimensions and universes, there is no fear that our characters will be killed off. We now have two huge narrative holes. Either one a stronger character will show up at the eleventh hour to fix something, or two the writers stand their ground and kill everyone off and make the audience angry. At the end of the day this is a kids series, but basic script logic would fix these issues. It just seems like the show has nowhere left to go. Part 8 ends on a cliffhanger with episode 104. The series ended with 131 episodes. So there is not much hope for the series to course-correct itself.

Funimation continues to release handsome releases of this show. Part 7 and 8 showcase some stunning animation and color use which are transferred over nicely on the 1080p HD discs. There is no digital noise or motion blur. Both sets also feature two great sounding audio mixes. The 2.0 Japanese Dolby TrueHD mix is clear with no hiss or pops. English subtitles are included. The 5.1 English Dobly TrueHD mix is also well used with no pops or issues. But I just prefer to watch the series in its original language when possible.

Extras are bare with textless songs, character bios, and a few interview subjects.

As big of a fan of the franchise as this reviewer is, Super is starting to lose steam fast with another batch of passible episodes. There is hope that the series could correct itself, but the story is lacking danger or any forward-moving motion. Die-hard fans will want to check these discs out. Soft recommendation.