GARLIC JR. ARC REWATCH

Episode 111 (Pikkoro to Chokusetsu Taiketsu!! Tenkai ni Ikari no Masenkō) aired on October 9th 1991. Script by Katsuyuki Sumisawa, storyboard and direction by Kazuhito Kikuchi and animation supervision by Mitsuo Shindo and Shindo Pro. Animation by Teruhisa Ryu, Tadayoshi Yamamuro and Noriko Shibata, with assistant animation supervisor Tadayoshi Yamamuro.

• Yamamuro's corrections are less dominant than Shindo's last two entries, but still look polished.
• Somehow I like that Vegeta is still desperate to find Goku (and to become a Super Saiyan, too).
• Sadly, this is when his current obsession actually takes off.
• Kikuchi's board has a few decent layouts, but lacks of depth and consistency. His direction is also pretty middle of the road.
• Again, one entire minute of a flashback taken from the first movie. If I ever wanted to see a clip from the first movie, I'd better watch the first movie then.
• Krillin getting humiliated trope.
• First Gohan wants to take on Garlic, then he gets a beating from his weak sidekick. Nonetheless, he gets to kill both of them in the end. What's with this passive-aggressive phase of his? Why not taking them on in the first place?
• Tard isn't the short for Mustard, but for Retard.
• Maron is still a terrible person after four episodes.

Episode 112 (Min'na no Kokoro o Torimodose!! Shinden ni Nemuru Chō-Shinsui) aired on October 16th 1991. Script by Katsuyuki Sumisawa, storyboard and direction by Junichi Fujise and animation supervision by Minoru Maeda and Studio Junio. Animation by Takeo Ide, Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru, Masaki Satou, Hideko Okimoto, Naoki Miyahara, Chikako Uesugi, Kuniko Iwagami and Noriko Ichibashi.

• Fujise's output is particularly solid and consistent: his layouts are pretty competent, his music placement is also on-point and his storyboarding guarantees continuity, especially when Piccolo fights Gohan, with Krillin trying to steal the Ultra Sacred Water from Garlic Jr. in the background. There's some sense of cohesion.
• Karin not being able to read Maron's mind makes way too much sense. She's so brainless. And also a terrible person.
• Piccolo totally ignores Gasshu and Vinegar's orders. Awesome.
• Satou's Piccolo looks so fiendish and wicked...
• ... Ide's angular expressions work on villains fairly well...
• ... while Nakatsuru's expressions look pretty stock on the main cast.
• Maeda's corrections are pretty selective, and much like his previous entries, his hybrid traits look a bit jarring.
• Piccolo's belt is miscolored in one shot.
• Krillin getting humiliated trope part 2.
• Gasshu's laugh is still really annoying.

Episode 113 (Asa made Matenai!! Kami-sama no Kakugo o Kimeta Kesshikō) aired on October 23rd 1991. Script by Katsuyuki Sumisawa, storyboard and direction by Yoshihiro Ueda and animation supervision by Masayuki Uchiyama. Animation by Tai'ichiro Ohara, Naotoshi Shida and Masayuki Uchiyama (uncredited).

• No Maron cutaway. Great.
• Somehow I like Vegeta's "Super Saiyan ambassador" figure, with him killing off Freezer's allies around the universe.
• Ueda's board is quite good, with some of his trademark reflections popping up...
• ... but his direction doesn't hold up that well. Some of Kikuchi's tracks are misplaced, such as M602 and M1118, which sound way too overdramatic for their respective context.
• Probably Shida's most unimpressive output on the franchise. His presence is terribly limited to the first minutes, and his art looks rough at times. He provides no action, which is really unfortunate.
• Krillin getting humiliated trope part 3.
• I can't stand Gasshu's laugh anymore.
• Vinegar looks so big and bulky, but is defeated by a simple Masenko.
• To be honest, I really don't get the power scaling of this arc: Garlic Jr's henchmen are far stronger than Krillin, but the latter's attacks hurt them either way.

Episode 114 (Chō-Kageki ni Shōbu da!! Okite Yaburi no Kami-sama) aired on October 30th 1991. Script by Katsuyuki Sumisawa, storyboard and direction by Shigeyasu Yamauchi and animation supervision by Kazuya Hisada. Animation by Kazuya Hisada (uncredited), Tomekichi Takeuchi, Yoko Iizuka, Masako Misumi, Masahiro Shimanuki and Naoki Tate.

• Yamauchi's directional output is just excellent: filled with creative transitions, use of different colors, true sense of scale and cohesive action. His music placement feels pretty strong, too. In particular M501, M520, M1105 and M1207A.
• Despite Hisada's corrections, every single Seigasha animator is pretty recognizable.
• The strong evidence of Kami-sama and Piccolo's lives depending on each other has never stood out like this before. Not even in the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai, in which Kami-sama actually tried to finish off Piccolo, so to kill himself. Very nice touch.
• Kami-sama and Popo running never gets old.
• Second episode in a row to neglect Maron. Brilliant.
• Gohan killing off Gasshu and Vinegar. Easily one of the most satisfying deaths of the series. Gotta adore Shimanuki's expression.
• Still, Gasshu and Vinegar have been pretty useless in this arc. They may be stronger thanks to the Makyo World, but get themselves killed by Gohan's outrage. I'm not going to miss them. At all.
• I'm not going to miss Gasshu's laugh, either. Certainly not.
• The bad timing of the commercial eyecatch.

Episode 115 (Kīta ze Chō-Shinsui!! Sekai ga Akumu kara Sameta) aired on November 6th 1991. Script by Katsuyuki Sumisawa, storyboard and direction by Mitsuo Hashimoto and animation supervision by Yukio Ebisawa. Animation by Yukio Ebisawa, Tomoya Iida and Toshiyuki Kan'no.

• Krillin gets some fair importance.
  
• Out of curiosity, wasn't Maron supposed to wear panties in Iida's original genga?
• Hashimoto's storyboard showcases some nice backgrounds...
• ... but as a whole, his output is kinda mediocre. His direction isn't that good, either. His cutaway timing feels forced and out of place, and his music placement is pretty inaccurate: what's the point of M520 (Kami-sama's theme) played while Kami-sama is in pain? Or M735 when the Aquamist effect is dissolved?
  
• Maron's cutscene is awful. She blames Yajirobe for something he didn't do, then she forgets about it and vacantly stares at the sunrise. She's so idiotic. And a terrible person, too.
• I'm not a fan of Popo crying a lot. He was far more composed in Dragon Ball.
• If Piccolo is aware of Garlic's immortality, then why does he order Gohan to blast him anyway?
• Inconsistent power scaling.

Episode 116 (Gohan ni Isshun no Shōki!! Ano Makyō-sei o Ute...) aired on November 13th 1991. Script by Katsuyuki Sumisawa, storyboard and direction by Kazuhito Kikuchi and animation supervision by Mitsuo Shindo. Animation by Teruhisa Ryu, Tadayoshi Yamamuro and Noriko Shibata.

• Pretty solid storyboarding from Kikuchi, with some competent layouts. His music placement is also correct. The use of M806, M816 and M819 is really clever, since they were used in the first movie (which introduced Garlic Jr). Overall, satisfying job for an arc finale.
• Even though Garlic Jr's Dead Zone was also used in the movie, this conclusion feels much less hasty. Better this way.
• I like the message of not necessarily relying on Goku to defeat enemies. That's possibly the main quality of this arc.
• Nice swimsuit.
• Unlike the last Shindo entries, Yamamuro doesn't provide any correction. As a result, Shindo's traits pop up one last time.
• Not very well-animated arc finale, though.
• Popo is a crybaby.

Episode 117 (Otoko da Nē... Kuririn　Hyakuikkaime no Puropōzu) aired on November 20th 1991. Script by Aya Matsui, storyboard and direction by Daisuke Nishio and animation supervision by Minoru Maeda. Animation by Takeo Ide, Masaki Satou, Hideko Okimoto, Naoki Miyahara, Chikako Uesugi, Kuniko Iwagami, Akira Inagami and Tetsuya Numako.

• Sinuous...
• Three things about Krillin's imaginary marriage: Piccolo's presence, Tenshinhan wearing a shirt (unlikely) and Goku still with his gi on.
• Cigarettes as candles on Umigame's birthday cake... nice?
• Ide's angry expression on Chichi.
• She may have a good point about Maron, after all.
• Through its structure and ending, this filler makes Krillin a perfectly relatable and sympathetic character. You genuinely feel sorry for the guy...
• ... especially if he happens to hang out with a terrible person like Maron. Not only she's empty, clueless, materialistic, pampered and flirts with other guys, but she also tends to play with other people's feelings. That's downright cruel. From this perspective, she may be more evil than Freezer.
• She appears to be only into fancy clothes and sport cars. She doesn't care about feelings AT ALL.
• Furthermore, this filler is an obvious "find the treasure" cliché.
• Yamcha's hair instantly growing.
• For being a 5-year-old, Gohan sure is buff.

GARLIC JR. ARC FINAL THOUGHTS

• Much like in the first movie, Garlic Jr. is okay as a villain. He clearly takes advantage of being immortal, which is definitely a challenge for Gohan and the others.
• Goku isn't here, which is something new.
• For the first time, they emphasize how Piccolo's life is inevitably tied to Kami-sama's. If one suffers and/or dies, the other one suffers and/or dies, too. Such aspect has never been so meaningful before, not even in the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai arc. In this forementioned case, Kami-sama even wanted to finish Piccolo off, despite THAT detail.
• Episode 114 is one of the best episodes of the series, for its direction and animation.
• The conclusion is nearly identical to that from the movie, but it feels less rushed and hasty.
• Garlic's "Spice Boys" henchmen are awful characters. They're not well-designed, they're uninteresting, bland and generic, with dull and clichéd personalities. Ginger, Nicky and Sansho had far better personalities, and they were mildly entertaining.
• Being a filler arc, it's no wonder the power scaling is incredibly inconsistent. Toei have always been struggling with this quirk.
• Maron: she's easily the worst character ever created. She's brainless, clueless, stupid, frivolous, careless, pampered, materialistic, likes flirting with other men, likes playing with other people's feelings and doesn't even know what she really wants. Her personality is pretty weak, too. Her sole quality is being mere fanservice. That's the actual point. It's like they wanted to create a dumber version of Bulma: they even share the same hair color.
• Her cutscenes are a complete waste of time. She never feels the danger, and keeps playing dumb games.
• In other words, she is a concrete bitch.

FINAL RATING: 6,5/10