- Joined
- May 31, 2015
- Messages
- 27,967
I, for one, am someone that believed filler tended to improve the anime up until the end of the Saiyan Arc due to adding more emphasis on characters' growth in power through training segments between timeskips and character interactions, the 22nd TB and Saiyan Arcs being good examples. Despite them adding some ridiculous plot holes such as Mutaito VS Goku or the post-23rd TB Wedding Dress filler in general, they tended to at least have their positives in adding to either the adventure aspect of the series or some level of character development, at least far moreso than any anime-only material from the Freeza Arc and onward did (though the Driving filler in the Cell Arc was still good at least).
However, none would I say improve the arc moreso than in the Piccolo Daimao Arc. Despite being a fan favourite when discussing Part 1, I'd say the manga's version of the arc was made average at best by it's plot once Goku fought Daimao being a diet version of the Taopaipai events and the Choshinsui tying with many of Super's plot haxes as worst power up of the series. The anime version thankfully prevents a few of these problems through it's filler.
Before I talk about the good filler of the arc, I'll point out it has perhaps the worst filler segment in the franchise in Yamcha VS Tambourine. Apparently, Bulma thought it'd be a good idea to point out they just moved away from the co-ordinates for the house an obvious demonic monster was looking for and Tambourine lets Yamcha go when getting Daimao's message despite it only taking a second to kill him before heading to Galu.
Nevertheless, I'd say the rest of the filler in the arc make up for it.
* Tambourine's killings - Seeing a few cameos of previous fighters getting killed did help build him up as a threat, even if oneshotting Kuririn already did that job.
* Tenshinhan's apology - Seeing Tenshithands apologise to the former fighter who's life he ruined was a pretty nice turn. Aside from Vegeta up until the end of the Cell Arc, the main cast and other characters part of the plot tend to go along too easily with a former villain's change of heart and it was nice to see how your own realisation of your past sins and folly won't instantly convince those you've wronged. It was also more meaningful characterisation than anything we'd get from Tenshithands thereafter, at least.
* Minor character plotlines - It was good to see minor characters such as Chichi, Gyumao and Suno make cameos and have their own storylines. Gyumao fending off those ordered by Daimao gave a good opportunity for a minor battle, as well as follow up on Daimao's primary desire to eradicate martial artists that seemed to be forgotten in the manga once he got his wish. Some say that Goku reuniting with Chichi makes him not recognising her at the 23rd TB unlikely, but I'd say her huge growth spurt excuses that. Most of all, Suno's story line offers a sense of realism and relatability we don't often see in Dragon Ball. The actions of the guards at the start of her storyline in them trying to keep Daimao's invasion low-key and act as though nothing is out of the ordinary is quite realistic in how most nation's handle nearby threats and her attempt to assassinate Piccolo only to realise the futility is quite relatable to any real world human who would be put in such a position.
* Daimao's society - In the manga, we never get to see what was happening with Daimao's order to release all prisoners and remove all law. It was good to see society break down and impressionable kids be influenced. Although it wasn't as dark as it realistically should've been and a bit too easily resolved by just Goku killing Piccolo, it's at least far more than the manga added.
* Tenshinhan's Non-Broken Denshi Jar - Tenshithands heading to the battle without checking how busted the Denshi Jar was is perhaps his dumbest character decision in the entire manga and makes everything he did prior meaningless and anticlimactic. Not only does the anime fix this by including this Chekhov's Gun, but offered some potential of expanding on various scenarios with the Mafuba with it being made apparent that a user doesn't lose their life if the Denshi Jar is destroyed by an outside force before trying to seal the opponent. If treating Tenshinhan's superior Ki to Roshi as a reason, this could even be used to justify the lack of repercussions in Super.
* The Choshinsui - Saving the biggest contrivance of the arc as the second last to list, adding an actual adventure Goku and Yajirobe had to embark on to gain the Choshinsui and giving Goku a test of strength in both the physical and character sense really made this plot device far more tolerable. It was still stupid that the characters presented in the illusion had such a perfect scenario and lack of consistency even the naive Galu called their bullshit, but I'll take it over instant power up water Karin had hidden away all this time.
* Post-Daimao training - Aside from the Mutaito episode, having an expansion on not just Goku's training with Kami, but the support cast's own adventures was a nice touch compared to an instant timeskip and helped add more to how Popo trained Goku than just a few sentences of what it consisted of.
So, that was a somewhat extensive analysis of why filler improved the arc greatly. Do y'all agree or have a contender for an arc overall improved by filler?
However, none would I say improve the arc moreso than in the Piccolo Daimao Arc. Despite being a fan favourite when discussing Part 1, I'd say the manga's version of the arc was made average at best by it's plot once Goku fought Daimao being a diet version of the Taopaipai events and the Choshinsui tying with many of Super's plot haxes as worst power up of the series. The anime version thankfully prevents a few of these problems through it's filler.
Before I talk about the good filler of the arc, I'll point out it has perhaps the worst filler segment in the franchise in Yamcha VS Tambourine. Apparently, Bulma thought it'd be a good idea to point out they just moved away from the co-ordinates for the house an obvious demonic monster was looking for and Tambourine lets Yamcha go when getting Daimao's message despite it only taking a second to kill him before heading to Galu.
Nevertheless, I'd say the rest of the filler in the arc make up for it.* Tambourine's killings - Seeing a few cameos of previous fighters getting killed did help build him up as a threat, even if oneshotting Kuririn already did that job.
* Tenshinhan's apology - Seeing Tenshithands apologise to the former fighter who's life he ruined was a pretty nice turn. Aside from Vegeta up until the end of the Cell Arc, the main cast and other characters part of the plot tend to go along too easily with a former villain's change of heart and it was nice to see how your own realisation of your past sins and folly won't instantly convince those you've wronged. It was also more meaningful characterisation than anything we'd get from Tenshithands thereafter, at least.
* Minor character plotlines - It was good to see minor characters such as Chichi, Gyumao and Suno make cameos and have their own storylines. Gyumao fending off those ordered by Daimao gave a good opportunity for a minor battle, as well as follow up on Daimao's primary desire to eradicate martial artists that seemed to be forgotten in the manga once he got his wish. Some say that Goku reuniting with Chichi makes him not recognising her at the 23rd TB unlikely, but I'd say her huge growth spurt excuses that. Most of all, Suno's story line offers a sense of realism and relatability we don't often see in Dragon Ball. The actions of the guards at the start of her storyline in them trying to keep Daimao's invasion low-key and act as though nothing is out of the ordinary is quite realistic in how most nation's handle nearby threats and her attempt to assassinate Piccolo only to realise the futility is quite relatable to any real world human who would be put in such a position.
* Daimao's society - In the manga, we never get to see what was happening with Daimao's order to release all prisoners and remove all law. It was good to see society break down and impressionable kids be influenced. Although it wasn't as dark as it realistically should've been and a bit too easily resolved by just Goku killing Piccolo, it's at least far more than the manga added.
* Tenshinhan's Non-Broken Denshi Jar - Tenshithands heading to the battle without checking how busted the Denshi Jar was is perhaps his dumbest character decision in the entire manga and makes everything he did prior meaningless and anticlimactic. Not only does the anime fix this by including this Chekhov's Gun, but offered some potential of expanding on various scenarios with the Mafuba with it being made apparent that a user doesn't lose their life if the Denshi Jar is destroyed by an outside force before trying to seal the opponent. If treating Tenshinhan's superior Ki to Roshi as a reason, this could even be used to justify the lack of repercussions in Super.
* The Choshinsui - Saving the biggest contrivance of the arc as the second last to list, adding an actual adventure Goku and Yajirobe had to embark on to gain the Choshinsui and giving Goku a test of strength in both the physical and character sense really made this plot device far more tolerable. It was still stupid that the characters presented in the illusion had such a perfect scenario and lack of consistency even the naive Galu called their bullshit, but I'll take it over instant power up water Karin had hidden away all this time.
* Post-Daimao training - Aside from the Mutaito episode, having an expansion on not just Goku's training with Kami, but the support cast's own adventures was a nice touch compared to an instant timeskip and helped add more to how Popo trained Goku than just a few sentences of what it consisted of.
So, that was a somewhat extensive analysis of why filler improved the arc greatly. Do y'all agree or have a contender for an arc overall improved by filler?
.
