[DreamSword]

Episode 35: The Strange Master

Episode 36: The True Power of the Master's Training

If you were able to guess that these episodes were an homage to the Karate Kid franchise based on their titles alone, then congrats, you've watched television before!

And hey, I'm a fan of martial arts flicks and shows. I love me a good training arc.

Which is why it pains me to say that I really didn't care for these two episodes at all. Everything they tried to do, I felt was done poorly, and I've seen done better.

The generous interpretation of Ray and Dimas' training is that the lesson that's imparted on them by the Master is all about mindset. That as long as you keep what's important in mind, you're be more motivated and thus perform better. Being focused is better than being scatter-brained or lethargic.

Unfortunately, the actual dialogue of the entire scenario instead makes the claim that somehow, the fight against Evil Torga made our heroes lose sight of the reason they fight in the first place. Which is frankly very stupid given that their struggle against their new found foe isn't treated any differently than any other threat to Earth that they've fought so far.

And the very ungenerous take on this is the implication that the lack of proper mindset is the reason why the duo couldn't beat Evil Torga to begin with. Which is frankly very insulting to the characters as well as very ignorant of the entire narrative up to now since a ton of episodes had to do with these characters putting others above themselves: Dimas using his wealth to aid the people of Jakarta, Ray resolving to help everyone he can ever since the original BIMA, etc.

Now, the episodes aren't a total wash: There's some decently interesting stuff done with the villains here. Such as Rexor reviving Draconer as a zombie, Iron Mask making an alliance with the Vudo Empire, and Mossa's' powers working how they logically should. But sad to say that they weren't cool or notable enough to me to make up for the main meat of the story. Needless to say, when it comes to fights to the death, I very much prefer what Dragon Ball Super had to say about the matter: