Connect with us
Dragon Ball Super: Episode 4 “Bid for the Dragon Balls! Pilaf and Crew’s Impossible Mission” Review

Television

Dragon Ball Super: Episode 4 “Bid for the Dragon Balls! Pilaf and Crew’s Impossible Mission” Review

Lord Beerus and Whis: Beerus and Whis continue on their way to King Kai’s planet, stating they are about 10 minutes away. So of course, in true Dragon Ball fashion, you know they are going to get there right at the end of the episode.

Goku and King Kai: King Kai realizing that Beerus is approaching tries to get Goku to go to Bulma’s party. However, he refuses to go, continuing his training instead.

Z Gang: Everyone else is enjoying themselves and continue to party. They talk about the bingo prizes, which includes a castle, a jet, and the mystery grand prize.

Dragon Ball Super: Episode 4 “Bid for the Dragon Balls! Pilaf and Crew’s Impossible Mission” Review

Trunks and Goten hunt out these prizes and break into the grand prize vault which holds the… Dragon Balls (surprised?)

Dragon Ball Super: Episode 4 “Bid for the Dragon Balls! Pilaf and Crew’s Impossible Mission” Review

Pilaf and Gang: We are reintroduced to Emperor Pilaf (the blue guy), Mai (the female), and Shu (the dog) as they are searching for buried treasure. Emperor Pilaf was a villain initially introduced in the very first saga of the original Dragon Ball series. He has no special powers, often creating or stealing robots and toys of mass destruction to do his dastardly deeds with. His main plot line involves going around and just trying to get the Dragon Balls so that he can become the absolute ruler of the universe, or something like that. I really don’t care. At some point they all wished to be young again, so they appear to be children, although they are about the same age as Goku, if not older (in Pilaf’s case).

Back to the story: Pilaf and gang happen to have one of the Dragon Ball radars, from a storyline that I can honestly not care to remember. When Goten and Trunks opened the vault with the Dragon Balls in it, the radar started going off, indicating that the Dragon Balls were headed right for them. This happens to be the boat traveling just off shore of the island they were searching for treasure on.

Dragon Ball Super: Episode 4 “Bid for the Dragon Balls! Pilaf and Crew’s Impossible Mission” Review

Pilaf and gang start to row their decrepit boat towards Bulma’s yacht, eventually swimming there after escaping a shark encounter.

Dragon Ball Super: Episode 4 “Bid for the Dragon Balls! Pilaf and Crew’s Impossible Mission” Review

They are rescued from the side of the boat by Goten and Trunks with a ladder. Goten and Trunks offer them any food they want. Pilaf withholds the food from his henchmen because of some misguided notion of nobility (showing his rather poor treatment of them in general. I mean really, why do they even hang around?). But eventually relents when food is brought to them.

Vegeta: While continuing his training he is interrupted by a phone call from Bulma, who demands his presence at her birthday party.

Goku and King Kai: While Goku continues his training, King Kai lets it slip that he and Beerus can never meet, or else disastrous consequences will occur. After Goku overhears the name of Beerus, he explains to Goku everything about who Beerus the Destroyer is, rehashing a lot of what has been mentioned in previous episodes.

Afterwards, Beerus shows up, although since Whis is standing in front, Goku assumes that he is Beerus.

Dragon Ball Super: Episode 4 “Bid for the Dragon Balls! Pilaf and Crew’s Impossible Mission” Review

And with that, the episode finally ends.

Battle of Gods Movie Link

Battle of Gods to Super Time Correlation: ~19 minutes to ~20 minutes 30 seconds.

Unlike the last episode, which actually entailed a lot of the movie, this current episode entails almost none of it. Pilaf isn’t in the movie at all, and therefore this entire episode doesn’t exist in the movie. The only part that does exist is the final part with King Kai and Goku discussing Beerus, along with his eventual arrival at King Kai’s planet.

Episode Thoughts and Feelings

I have many feelings about this episode. First off, why, oh why does it even exist? I for one have never been a Pilaf fan. And this episode just ingrains my hatred for him even more. Nothing about this episode doesn’t say “filler” to me. The entire arc of the episode is even absent from the movie, further cementing that fact.

Second; as someone who does not typically watch a lot of anime, I do not know if this is normal, but I find it very jarring when the animation style will all of the sudden jump to really, really wide black lines to outline the characters. It seems to happen rather frequently on this episode, and I notice it from time to time on other episodes. It feels sloppy and jarring.

Dragon Ball Super: Episode 4 “Bid for the Dragon Balls! Pilaf and Crew’s Impossible Mission” Review
Top image is normal animation. Bottom image is immediately following top image with heavy black lined animation.

Third; one of my favorite parts of the episode though is the interaction between Vegeta and Bulma (however brief it is here). When Bulma decides to not take any of Vegeta’s crap over the not showing up to the party and demands his presence, he shows up. Although he may appear to be an aloof and inattentive husband, he actually defers to her when she requires it. This is something that is expanded upon later in the series. Vegeta, in actuality, is not a (completely?) bad husband and Bulma is a strong enough woman (maybe not physically but emotionally tough) to demand his respect. She may come across as a nagging stereotype to some people, like how Chi-Chi is portrayed, but I don’t get that vibe from Bulma.

On a bright note, I have been having a hard time finding these old episodes as dubs since both Funimation and Crunchyroll only have the subtitled episodes available on their websites and apps. However, I have just realized that the [adult swim] app has these episodes available as dubs, with most of them available for free, and the older episodes available if you have a valid cable company account.

So, did you like Episode 4 of Dragon Ball Super? Share your thoughts below!

Dragon Ball Super: Episode 4 “Bid for the Dragon Balls! Pilaf and Crew’s Impossible Mission” Review
Bid for the Dragon Balls! Pilaf and Crew’s Impossible Mission
3

Join the AIPT Patreon

Want to take our relationship to the next level? Become a patron today to gain access to exclusive perks, such as:

  • ❌ Remove all ads on the website
  • 💬 Join our Discord community, where we chat about the latest news and releases from everything we cover on AIPT
  • 📗 Access to our monthly book club
  • 📦 Get a physical trade paperback shipped to you every month
  • 💥 And more!
Sign up today
Comments

In Case You Missed It

I Heart Skull-Crusher! #1 I Heart Skull-Crusher! #1

‘I Heart Skull-Crusher!’ #1 review: Apocalyptic squad goals

Comic Books

Full June 2024 DC Comics solicitations: Gotham by Gaslight sequel and more Full June 2024 DC Comics solicitations: Gotham by Gaslight sequel and more

Full June 2024 DC Comics solicitations: Gotham by Gaslight sequel and more

Comic Books

Marvel reveals new X-Men era titles, art, and more, launching July 2024 Marvel reveals new X-Men era titles, art, and more, launching July 2024

Marvel reveals new X-Men era titles, art, and more, launching July 2024

Comic Books

DC reveals 'DC: Pride' and 2024 Pride Month celebrations DC reveals 'DC: Pride' and 2024 Pride Month celebrations

DC reveals ‘DC: Pride’ and 2024 Pride Month celebrations

Comic Books

Connect
Newsletter Signup