Episode 198 - Paikuhan states Goku has become far stronger than when he first met him after he beats Malaiko, so yes, Toei was going to try and justify Goku being able to take on Paikuhan through...just fighting people.
I could buy it slightly more so if there was some sort of explanation that the increased spiritual aspect of fighting in a dead body helped amplify the Saiyan trait of growing stronger based on the strength of your opponent, but the lack of any explanation beyond protagonist plot armour makes it pretty bad. Along with that, it's pointed out how well Goku is doing despite being a newcomer, which shows the double edged sword towards the flaws in the execution of the fighters in the afterlife. Realistically, they shouldn't be that impressive when only Enma and Goku have managed to train with Kaio at the time of the Saiyan Arc, yet Toriyama established that the masters of the Next World are worth noting at the end of the Cell Arc. Going by the latter route, it seems pretty immersion breaking that those who have been going through such prestigious training that it's worth millions of years of Earthly training to the more veteran fighters could all be easily outdone by someone so young regardless of the training regimes he's gone through if this was supposed to be Goku's next stage in training (and, as later revealed, the training regime that allowed him to ascend to SS2 and 3).
All these problems are amplified by his fight with Paikuhan as, in his base form, he manages to fight on par with the guy who two-shotted Cell. It would be fine if it was explained that the Burning Shoot was such a high level amplification that functions similarly to Kaio-ken, but we get no explanation whatsoever and have to grasp at straws for it to be anything other than Base Galu surpassing SPC, making the arc even more of a joke.
It also seems strange West Kaio would be perplexed at Goku knowing who would win between Paikuhan and Tolbee when West Kaio knows Goku had seen Paikuhan's abilities first hand. It'd be more in character for him to gloat that it's obvious Paikuhan would beat anyone or something.
Episode 199 - SSJ Goku VS Paikuhan presents more scaling problems with Goku initially being outmatched by Paikuhan's speed, yet fighting on par not long after. What's more, there's the infamous Super Kaio-ken moment where Paikuhan endures the punch despite how much stronger it'd be. It'd be better if this is what brought him down to Goku's level from fatigue, but you have Goku overpowering his Hyper Tornado before that. It also seems strange that Paikuhan wouldn't be aware of the blind spot of his Thunder Flash, considering how many years he's had to train and how there's probably a fair few Yardratians in the afterlife with Shunkan Ido.
So, that brings the filler Anoyoichi Budokai Arc to an end. It had some good ideas with the new layers and information it added to DB's cosmology and how it tried to deliver on what Goku said at the end of the Cell Arc, but the execution of its main ideas such as the prowess of the Next World's masters, their characterisation and just general power scaling were all done terribly. As awful as the Tournament of Power was, at least that provided some level of reason for the main cast's growth in power, made more than one opposing character a competent threat and had characters that had defining character traits. That's not to say the ToP is better with its greater amount of plot holes, but it at least does better in 2 areas than this tournament did. Overall, I'd rate it a 1.5/10 at best.
That said, I'd say it's worth offering an idea for a rewrite of the arc. To start off, have it established that the fighters on Dai Kaio's planet have received direct tutelage from him as to plug the hole of why only Enma trained with North Kaio prior to Goku and instead have the prize of the tournament be for the Kaio representing the champion to receive the training to become Dai Kaio's successor alongside Dai Kaio teaching the winner everything he knows. With the spiritual strength of those involved and their long time spent training, make it apparent that the entire tournament takes place over the course of several years to explain Goku's growth in power when he finally faces off against Paikuhan, with him having attained SS2 in this time (something it was obvious he would've attained even at the time the episode aired when considering Vegeta made it very obvious he'd gained the form with how he talked to Gohan during his first appearance in the Boo Arc). Considering Fusion wasn't introduced yet, you could leave the Metamorans out, though I'd prefer to insert them into this rewrite to make its relevance more pronounced. If wanting to keep Paikuhan beating Cell, have this trouble occur partway through the tournament and have some explanation as to how he, Freeza and Cold have their bodies such as one of the fighters having requested to Enma that the strongest souls in Hell be given their bodies so he could test himself against them. Also, improve the character writing, such as have Olivue act as a mentor figure and friend to Goku who helps him with his training or do anything to give more to Paikuhan's character than being what's now basically a consistent Jiren. For instance, explore his past a bit or his personal philosophy as a martial artist. Also, show more bizarre and creative techniques amongst all the fighters, or perhaps each Kaio's equivalent of the Kaio-ken. Another major change, have Goku lose to Paikuhan in order to serve as further motivation for him to grow in strength and what allows him to eventually obtain SS3.
Away from trying to fix that mess though and onto the Boo Arc.
Episode 200 - We learn that the time we see Gohan become the "Golden Warrior" is the third time he's done so, showing how active he is when it comes to stopping injustice which is in line with his character. The narrator mentioning about how people will take peace for granted and go back to violent ways in times of peace is a bit more philosophical than you tend to expect of Toriyama. Too bad it doesn't tie into the arc's main narrative much.
The episode also establishes Videl's nature as analytic and snoopy when it comes to Gohan. This attitude of her essentially being the closest character in the franchise to a detective makes for a nice addition and it's a shame these traits are dropped once the Great Saiyaman plot is over.
A surprising amount of information is revealed in the class scene that's worth noting. Gohan apparently gained a perfect score in his exams for maths, chemistry, physics, history, language and foreign languages. Along with showing the academic accomplishments of him, it does kind of bring into question Gohan's main goal of being a "great scholar" as you have to wonder what field he's wishing to apply himself in specifically or what kind of scholarship he obtained by the end of the manga? Using DBO and his books on Ki control, I imagine he went towards a path of theoretical physics. One nice detail the anime has is that the teacher reading for the language lecture speaks in English to denote this. There's also a new stylistic change in some parts of the episode with the display of Gohan and Chichi at the start as well as when Videl talks to Gohan in class with characters being shown individually in rectangles as though panels from the manga. It's a striking and stylish take not often done with the anime that makes me wonder if a new director was brought on board for this episode and the start of the Boo Arc in general. We also learn the trivia that Satan City is 1000km from East District. One thing that comes off as strange is how characters such as Shapner or Eraza comment on Gohan looking weak. I mean sure, his neck can look a bit thin at times, but I wouldn't call someone with such defined chest muscles still somewhat visible as weak looking.
The baseball scene is a good one in showing the difficulty of one of the powerful characters trying and failing to blend into everyday life that creates some decent comedy and shows more to Gohan's character through his obliviousness in believing he succeeded at not being noticed. This kind of characterisation helps Gohan's characterisation in the early Boo Arc be a very good direction for him in standing as his own character, of which we'll get into soon.
(I mean, his injury against SPC would be evidence of it). Still, it seems very pointless when he accidentally reveals his identity to Videl twice in the episode anyway, making the plaster on his cheek pointless.
. Despite how much he'll be wasted later on, his introduction is really good in setting up a bigger picture for the arc and conflict with how everyone catches on to this not being a regular fighter and his comments on Goku having a nice soul, with the mysterious nature surrounding him being enough he could've been built up as a decent adversary or catalyst for an increase in stakes had Toriyama gone down such a linear route.
It does seem weird nobody caught onto who the other Mighty Mask was from his Ki, but it's logical to assume both Trunks and Goten suppressed their Ki to zero to avoid this.
