Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock
7.2
Quality Score
0.30 (Mild Positive)
Audience Mood
7 / 10
Controversy
79,694
MAL Ratings
Synopsis — from MyAnimeList
Shown at Jump Festa 2012, held in December, 2011. Bardock, Goku's father, who was supposed to have died when Freeza's attack hit him along with the Planet Vegeta, was sent way back in time where the planet was inhabited by strange creatures. There, he meets Freeza's ancestor, a space pirate named Chilled, and fights him to protect the planet.
Audience Consensus
Audience reception is highly divided, with strong criticisms leveled against the plot's contrivances and disregard for established canon, often deeming it akin to fanfiction. However, a significant portion of the audience acknowledges the excellent animation and action sequences, finding it an entertaining, albeit non-canonical, 'what-if' scenario for fans of Bardock.
Strengths
- Excellent and fluid animation, dynamic and nice overall presentation, comparable to other high-quality Dragon Ball specials.
- The 20-minute runtime is surprisingly effective, with a good pace and satisfactory adaptation of the story, contrary to initial concerns about its brevity.
- Bardock's characterization, while different from the original special, is presented as a middle ground between Goku and Vegeta, showing a 'real Saiyan' who is wild but not inherently evil, with some tsundere moments.
- Chilled is a compelling villain, strongly resembling Frieza in his self-centered, sadistic, and ruthless behavior, making him a satisfying antagonist to defeat.
Weaknesses
- The plot is considered weak, contrived, and nonsensical, with a preposterous premise of Bardock time-traveling instead of dying, and the reason for his survival being unexplained.
- The Super Saiyan transformation is criticized for being unearned and too easily achieved, lacking the training and psychological pressure seen in other transformations.
- Significant continuity errors and contradictions with established Dragon Ball canon, particularly regarding time travel mechanics, the origin of the Super Saiyan legend, and Frieza's fear of them.
- The writing is described as fanfiction-level, with a lack of meaningful plot developments, characterization, and originality.
- The music is deemed lackluster, lacking memorable tracks or epic transformation/battle themes found in other Dragon Ball entries.
- The character designs for the non-Saiyan/Frieza-related characters are seen as odd, silly, or overly cartoonish, detracting from the overall aesthetic.