Saturday 6 May 2017

Power Rangers VS Voltron/Natsu VS Ace

OK so I've gotten a bit behind but there's a good reason for that and that good reason is... laziness. After 6 months I've found that I haven't really been enjoying writing these as I did when I started and that has mainly come from the fact that every time I write one of these reviews, I end up saying the same things over and over in a slightly different way. Hell I'm sure some variation of "pretty good" started becoming somewhat of a catch phrase over time given how many times I used it.

The thing is that while each episode of DEATH BATTLE is different they end up very formulaic. For the analysis, start with some background information before going over the character's feat/powers. Throw in a joke or two for good measure. While the animation is much more variable, it is essentially two characters passing the advantage ball between themselves (maybe getting some good combos in) before one of them dies. The conclusion is essentially giving the audience some information that was seemingly omitted in the analysis portion. The result is arguably even more predictable if SA is using the 'weakness trap'.However, despite this formula DB manages to entertain with a constant but subtle increase in quality. That changed when Power Rangers VS Voltron was uploaded.

To be blunt, I felt the fight was a disappointment. Now before you start raging I thought it was a pretty good episode and definitely one of Torrian's better animations. Unfortunately SA hyped it up so much that even I, who has had no experience with either show, was hyped to the point of believing it was going to be a fight worthy of rivaling Goku VS Superman (the good one) in terms of quality. Instead I got a fight that was only 4 minutes 25 seconds long (only one second less than Deadpool VS Pinkie Pie) and while the episode utilizes every second of those 4 minutes 25 seconds to their maximum potential, it feels like the episode would have benefited from a longer animation. The characters don't play off each other very well and despite bringing in an AllStarCast to fit the characters, the dialogue isn't that great. The one scene where I actually feel invested is Lance's heroic sacrifice to save Pidge and the impact it had on Pidge. From then on, I was fully invested at both the fact that Power Rangers had actually managed to cripple Voltron and possibly killed someone and the sheer awesomeness that was Pidge. Unfortunately that happens very late in the fight and while the choreography is still awesome, it doesn't really help the problems I addressed.

The analysis and conclusion are par for the course with some good jokes here and there. The conclusion was actually the only thing that matched my expectations by demonstrating how far Power Rangers were outclassed by Voltron with over the top calculations. Now I know I'm being a bit harsh to the episode but in my defense SA deliberately hyped this fight up and this is where I reached my revelation. DB has reached a quality where its almost impossible to surmount. Sure episodes will keep slightly improving in quality but unfortunately that works against fights that SA wants to hype up.

For example Goku VS Superman was able to exceed beyond expectations because the quality of its animation was far beyond anything we had ever seen before at that point in time. Hell at that point in time most of the episodes were animated by Ben Singer himself and let's just say they have not aged well due to him being an amateur animator. Goku VS Superman 2 was also a success in my opinion mainly because there were two types of people prior to the episode's release. Those that were hoping Goku to win or those that like me had understood the message of the first fight and as such were not looking forward to this. Surprisingly the episode was rife with symbolism. How Wiz and Boomstick take a break from the formula and instead focus on the history of the franchise. How Superman actually decides to Mercy Kill Goku. And of course the infamous "Superman walking through the Super Kamehameha". Sure its not a great message (that being 'Superman is limitless' which is BS imo) but it gets the point across.

Power Rangers VS Voltron turned out to be a failure because while I like it more than Goku VS Superman 2, it couldn't live up to the hype. Sure there's Voltron overloading Power Ranger's systems at the end to "show how powerful Voltron is" but for the majority of the fight the Megazord and Voltron were fighting on equal footing and the Megazord ends up being somewhat of a curbstomp cushion by coming dangerously close to actually defeating Voltron which is weird considering that unlike Superman, Voltron has no reason to hold back. Now I'm used to these kinds of fights appearing in DB where the victor actually curbstomps the loser in the results but is nearly defeated in the animation but that's where my point is. Power Rangers VS Voltron ended up being simply another Death Battle rather than a milestone fight. Don't get me wrong, I loved this episode and I'd probably be saying completely different things had SA not hyped it up but I guess thems the breaks. The fight's not really bad and is even really good. I just expected a bit more out of a milestone episode. I give this episode an 83%

Now onto Natsu VS Ace. The analysis is good with some good jokes here and there such as the early closing of Natsu's analysis upon realization that he died at an early age. The analysis does a good job at informing the audience of what exactly the combatants' arsenals consisted of. The animation was excellent and for the first time I thought the close ups on the characters actually served a purpose and helped make the fight seem more cinematic (even if one or two felt out of place). I especially enjoyed Ace's disintegration and the close up used for it. The results provide a reasonable explanation for why Natsu won and actually contained a heartwarming moment between Wiz and Boomstick. I only have two issues with the episode: 1) the reason for the fight happening was pretty dumb and 2) I CAN'T FIND THE MUSIC FOR ACE'S FIREFLY ATTACK!!! Though seriously if you know the name of that track could you please tell me? I give the episode an 85% As for next time: ALL OF MY YES!

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