Television

Dragon Ball Super: Episode 19 “Despair Redux! The Return of the Evil Emperor, Frieza!” Review

May 31, 2017

The previous episode focused on Vegeta’s and Goku’s training, however there seems to be something nefarious going on with some other people in the universe. Will we find out more about them in this episode or will it be dragged out for a while?

Resurrection ‘F’ saga – Episode 5/13

The one thing that I liked about the original Japanese version of Dragon Ball Super is that the opening credits kept evolving to track the evolution of the characters in the series. That does not appear to be happening in the dubbed version. In the English dubbed version they maintained the same opening credits up until this episode, where now Goku appears as a Super Saiyan, except … he’s blue?!?!

Previous 18 episode opening credit end scene on top and the new end scene on the bottom.

Our episode begins in what can only be described as hell (actually it is called as such in the Dragon Ball Z series), where we return to Frieza, a big bad in Dragon Ball Z who often came back again and again, enhanced with cyborg parts at one point. Frieza’s hell is apparently being forced to watch stuffed animals and fairies enjoying themselves with a parade while being tied up in a cocoon in a tree.

We travel back to the ship at the end of the last episode with the villains who talked about the “Frieza Force.” Turns out they are the remnants of Frieza’s army that at one time ruled the galaxy. After a devastating loss to their forces, the leader Sorbet has determined that their only recourse is to resurrect Frieza.

To do that they looked for the Namekian home world, which is known to have some dragon balls. However, after Frieza destroyed Namek, nobody can find where the Namekians relocated to. So the next best place to head is to Earth, despite the powerful fighters there. This reintroduces us to the omnipresent Pilaf and gang, who are back searching for the dragon balls again.

On Beerus’ planet the training continues with Goku and Vegeta both still trying to attack Whis. The Saiyans are still way too slow, allowing Whis to sign both of the gis during the sparing match.

Afterwards Whis teaches Vegeta and Goku what their current issues are. Vegeta needs to learn to relax; he is currently wound too tight. Goku on the other hand is overconfident and lets his guard down.

Next, we intrude upon Piccolo while he is babysitting when he senses an evil power somewhere in the distance. Turns out that as the Pilaf gang discovers the final dragon ball, Sorbet and his minions show up. After firing a blast from his ring, Sorbet convinces the gang to call Shenron for him.

Shenron advises not to bring Frieza back. The main problem with resurrecting Frieza was that he was cut up into a ton of tiny little pieces by Future Trunks and to bring him back would mean that he would be resurrected as a bunch of tiny little pieces (insert subpar Dragon Ball Z footage here).

Despite all the warnings, Sorbet continues with his wish and chunks of Frieza rain down from the heavens.

We also get a bit of Dragon Ball Z history here, where we find out that Shenron can actually grant three wishes from when Dende became a guardian. This was not brought up at all during the previous dragon summoning, but I assume that was because of Beerus’ presence. With the remaining two wishes Shu and Mai pipe up and ask for 1 million zeni and the most delicious ice cream on Earth.

With Frieza’s pieces wriggling on the ground, Sorbet and his minion must collect them quickly. And here we are given another presence from the past. Why, it’s Captain Ginyu!!! Never thought I’d see him again.

I’d explain a little more about what the frog is, but either you can look him up yourself or be surprised in the show.

Sorbet and company leave the planet and regrow Frieza. Upon completion, Frieza emerges and a bad feeling shakes Goku.

And with that ominous omen of bad things to come, we end the episode… now with an English version of the closing credits song? That along with the recent change in opening credits song has me scratching my head over the music choices they are making for the dubbed version of Super.

Resurrection ‘F’ Movie Link

Resurrection ‘F’ to Super Time Correlation: From the start to ~13 minutes

We jump back in the movie to the beginning, catching Frieza locked in eternal torture. We skip over any introduction of Lord Champa, and the movie proceeds as the episode except Sorbet and company come along after Pilaf and Gang have found only the first six dragon balls. The last dragon ball is retrieved by one of Sorbet’s top minions.

The movie even has the same flashback with future Trunks, however for some reason the footage is of a much better quality in the movie. It’s like the TV series makers don’t even care about getting the best footage.

Episode Thoughts and Feelings

We have finally started the reproduction of the Resurrection ‘F’ movie proper with this episode playing almost beat for beat as the movie does. And despite my dreading the return of Frieza (it’s feels like a worn out trope) this actually gets me hyped. Frieza was the biggest baddie (at the time) that Goku and the rest have ever faced and here they have the potential to up the ante with him.

The series does a good job (in my opinion) of bringing up things that happened previously in Dragon Ball Z that the audience may have forgotten or never seen if they started with Super, like the three wishes thing. Captain Ginyu was a big surprise that I know they will get more into and I’m super stoked that they even thought to bring him back.

The return of Frieza also feels appropriately menacing, however Goku’s power level currently is monumentally higher than it was when Frieza was beaten, so how are they going to get Frieza’s power to a level that compares with Goku now?

So, did you like Episode 19 of Dragon Ball Super? Share your thoughts below!