Post by Alex on Apr 24, 2021 22:17:20 GMT -5
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbzZCikxiDg
(First off no Super spoilers)
There are a lot of great fights in DBZ. Goku vs Vegeta on Earth is definitely way up there. But Goku vs Frieza on Namek has to be the best fight of the show in my opinion. First of all, Goku vs Frieza is argued to be the longest fight in anime history, beginning at episode 86 and going through episode 105. 19 episodes of one single battle. This along makes it special in the anime community even for non-DBZ fans. That's not even counting all the episodes where Vegeta, Krillin, Piccolo, and Gohan (and yes, Dende) had already been fighting with him.
But when you consider some of the nuances of the fight, it becomes all the more important. I have talked about this in chat sometimes but felt it would be fun to post it as well. Consider this: Frieza is and was the strongest in the universe. Nobody had ever challenged him like this before. Ever. He had never had a single fight of this magnitude where somebody could actually stand up to him. Up until this fight, all he had ever done was fuck around with people letting them feel like they had a chance whilst knowing all along they were a speck to him.
This means Frieza was basically a noob when it came to battling because he never had a true challenge. Contrast that with Goku. Goku was a professional fighter. He had been fighting literally since he was a child and was a master martial artist. For Frieza to take him on, and hold his own, Frieza must have been even more powerful than Super Saiyan Goku.
Frieza was of course naturally talented. He was just making shit up as the fight progressed and a lot of it was actually working. All the while Frieza also had in the back of his mind how his greatest fears had actually come true. A Saiyan had risen up to overthrow him. He had to win this. He was desperately fighting in a fearful panic and you can see this in his facial expressions. Even his insults and mocking tone at certain points in the fight ring hollow. It's almost like he's trying to convince himself that he can win. His life and whole empire rested on the outcome of this fight.
The stakes for Goku were just as great if not greater. The entire universe was literally riding on him. If he lost, Frieza's wrath over merely being challenged would have led to billions of deaths. But he was unpanicked. It was like a day at the office for him. Now that he was a Super Saiyan he knew he had the power and the prowess to beat Frieza and he wouldn't give up until he had.
Another read-between-the-lines moment is at 2:28 in the video linked above. After a grapple with Goku, they both land on rocks. Look how heavily Frieza is breathing. He's throwing everything he has into literally every exchange. Then it cuts to a closeup of Goku. He's not breathing hard at all.
This is foreshadowing to who will win. Frieza wore out. As Goku later stated, Frieza's power level decreased "with every blow" to the point where he "wasn't even a challenge anymore." Frieza put up a good fight, but he just couldn't keep up with the power of a Super Saiyan.
What a great fight!
(First off no Super spoilers)
There are a lot of great fights in DBZ. Goku vs Vegeta on Earth is definitely way up there. But Goku vs Frieza on Namek has to be the best fight of the show in my opinion. First of all, Goku vs Frieza is argued to be the longest fight in anime history, beginning at episode 86 and going through episode 105. 19 episodes of one single battle. This along makes it special in the anime community even for non-DBZ fans. That's not even counting all the episodes where Vegeta, Krillin, Piccolo, and Gohan (and yes, Dende) had already been fighting with him.
But when you consider some of the nuances of the fight, it becomes all the more important. I have talked about this in chat sometimes but felt it would be fun to post it as well. Consider this: Frieza is and was the strongest in the universe. Nobody had ever challenged him like this before. Ever. He had never had a single fight of this magnitude where somebody could actually stand up to him. Up until this fight, all he had ever done was fuck around with people letting them feel like they had a chance whilst knowing all along they were a speck to him.
This means Frieza was basically a noob when it came to battling because he never had a true challenge. Contrast that with Goku. Goku was a professional fighter. He had been fighting literally since he was a child and was a master martial artist. For Frieza to take him on, and hold his own, Frieza must have been even more powerful than Super Saiyan Goku.
Frieza was of course naturally talented. He was just making shit up as the fight progressed and a lot of it was actually working. All the while Frieza also had in the back of his mind how his greatest fears had actually come true. A Saiyan had risen up to overthrow him. He had to win this. He was desperately fighting in a fearful panic and you can see this in his facial expressions. Even his insults and mocking tone at certain points in the fight ring hollow. It's almost like he's trying to convince himself that he can win. His life and whole empire rested on the outcome of this fight.
The stakes for Goku were just as great if not greater. The entire universe was literally riding on him. If he lost, Frieza's wrath over merely being challenged would have led to billions of deaths. But he was unpanicked. It was like a day at the office for him. Now that he was a Super Saiyan he knew he had the power and the prowess to beat Frieza and he wouldn't give up until he had.
Another read-between-the-lines moment is at 2:28 in the video linked above. After a grapple with Goku, they both land on rocks. Look how heavily Frieza is breathing. He's throwing everything he has into literally every exchange. Then it cuts to a closeup of Goku. He's not breathing hard at all.
This is foreshadowing to who will win. Frieza wore out. As Goku later stated, Frieza's power level decreased "with every blow" to the point where he "wasn't even a challenge anymore." Frieza put up a good fight, but he just couldn't keep up with the power of a Super Saiyan.
What a great fight!