Chapter 1: Introduction
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In late 2016, Craig Skistimas, one of the co-founders of ScrewAttack, officially stepped down as the company head in favor of heavier involvement in its gameplay division. This was particularly significant because Craig had technically been Ben Singer’s “boss” for almost ten years at that point. Although he had been the one to personally select Ben for the internship position that had led to his employment at ScrewAttack, and later the creation of Death Battle itself, the overall impression one gets reading between the lines of Ben’s “Road to 100” blogs is that Craig was a rather parsimonious employer, and that his departure better allowed the show to continue expanding upon the developments begun during Season Three. First, Rooster Teeth allocated some of their in-house graphic designers to give Death Battle a complete visual overhaul. The harsh reds and grays that had defined Death Battle’s appearance for over five years were suddenly replaced with softer purples, blues, and oranges, as well as the logo itself getting a comparable makeover (obviously there are more colors than that, but those are some of the immediately obvious ones). Although I remember worrying at the time that the Suicide Squad-inspired font with its smoother appearance and subtler visual cues would be swiftly dated after people forgot about the film, it has actually stood the test of time reasonably well, with the overall sleeker and more effects-heavy look helping to make the show feel more “professional” than its simpler graphics from the ScrewAttack days. This redesign extended to the episode thumbnails themselves, which, after some experimentation with the season’s first two episodes, would eventually settle on a permanent design alteration from Venom VS Bane onwards. Another major change could be found in the episode lineup itself. Due to ScrewAttack being a gaming-focused company, Death Battle’s matchups tended to cater more to that market, with Season Two and especially Season One having an abundance of episodes featuring video game characters. Even in Season Three, they still made up well over half of the combatants. In Season Four, however, only a little over forty percent of the characters used would be from video games, easily the smallest proportion yet, and that number would only get smaller as the years went by. Rather, Rooster Teeth noticed that many of Death Battle’s most successful episodes in its previous seasons had involved either comic book characters - specifically Marvel Comics or DC Comics - or Dragon Ball,a popular action manga franchise (which obviously anyone reading this knows, but the point is that action manga was a medium pulling in big numbers). Thus, seeing as Craig’s departure allowed ScrewAttack to begin expanding further beyond its focus on gaming, Ben believed that it was only reasonable to begin altering their episode lineup to reflect that interest. While the show certainly did not just immediately begin flooding its lineup with such franchises, this season did nonetheless see a noticeable uptick in the quantity of combatants from Marvel Comics,and it also featured two manga-themed episodes when the first such episode had only appeared the season prior.
Season Four was not just significant for marking a change in Death Battle’s focus and demographics; it also saw the continued growth of the Death Battle crew begun in Season Three. This was able to take place largely thanks to Death Battle’s greater reliance on Rooster Teeth, a shift that was embodied by ScrewAttack itself moving its headquarters from Dallas to Rooster Teeth’s own base in Austin around the middle of the year. This allowed for greater collaboration between Death Battle’s animators and some of Rooster Teeth’s personnel, interactions that began building the skeleton of what would emerge as Death Battle’s sprite and 3-D animation teams in Season Five. It was also during this time Luis Cruz became a full-time member of the Death Battle team and was quickly appointed the show’s lead 2-D animator. Even Torrian finally began to receive more help, acquiring an assistant animator in the form of Jerome Rodgers-Blake as well as more sound engineers and editors to lighten his workload and increase the overall quality of his animations. The Death Battle crew also expanded in a somewhat different way this season in the form of musicians. Ben Singer once again contracted Brandon Yates to compose a few scores; however, this also marked the first season to see extensive collaborations with Aaron Caruthers, more commonly known as Therewolf Media. Aaron had done work for Rooster Teeth in the past, and his work with the Death Battle crew marked an increased attempt by the show to turn away from licensed music and rely more on stock tracks and their own specially commissioned work. The obvious intended effect was the mitigation of copyright claims, but this also had the effect of increasing the moving parts involved in constructing a Death Battle episode. It was no longer just a matter of writing a fight script and creating the animation; soon, integrating an original soundtrack would join those elements of animation construction.
In addition to all of these changes, Season Four was the first season to see a heavy reliance on numbers and feats as opposed to the interpretation-based methods that the show had previously relied upon. While the show had experimented with using numbers as early as Zelda VS Peach, they were often more supplemental to an episode’s verdict rather than central. On top of that, calculations in general did not appear all that often in previous seasons, and when they did, there was no guarantee that they would even return in the conclusion. In Season Four, on the other hand, every single episode includes quantifiable stats of some kind. While they are not always ones that are necessarily relevant to the verdict, and there are plenty of times when the numbers they give objectively do not match what they state the feats to be indicative of (largely due to the Research Team not fully ironing out their methods until Season Five), this was nonetheless a sign of the show’s conscious movement in favor of using these sorts of calculations to explain their verdicts. It is worth bearing in mind that, although Death Battle’s numbers have become rather infamous over the years, the use of these calculations is, on paper, a genuinely effective way of giving the audience a quantifiable, easily understandable reason for why the crew went with the verdict they did. Considering that Season Three suffered upon release from far more accusations of the show being “wrong” than had been usual even during Season Two (something that makes sense given how lackluster many of that season’s conclusions were even by the standards of "interpretation"), it was perfectly sensible that Ben Singer would move the show in a direction that would, at least in theory, make their reasoning far clearer and more understandable. The basic principle of relying on these numbers had been present in at least some aspects of the show’s research for a while; indeed, Goku VS Superman (2013) was arguably the episode that really paved the way for the show to eventually fully embrace this particular method of battleboarding.
One final change that Season Four brought was the standardized sixteen-episode schedule that the show would use for most of its time under the Rooster Teeth umbrella. Although the three-week waiting periods had technically been around since late in Season Two, this overall structure and format for the show is far more in line with the process it would use for years to come than even Season Three, and that is worth mentioning when considering how this season furthered Death Battle’s modernization.
With all of this being said, some might expect Season Four to be a substantial improvement over its predecessor. The expanded crew would allow for greater episode polish, the use of numbers should make the conclusions more ironclad than the slipshod messes they often were in Season Three, and the experience the crew had obtained with seasonal formats from Season Three could be used to more efficiently manage the workload at hand. Indeed, there are plenty of old-school Death Battle fans who consider Season Four to be the proper beginning of “modern” Death Battle due to all of the aforementioned changes. Even Ben Singer seemed to express as much in his “Road to 100” blog, saying that, to him, “it really felt like a whole new Death Battle had hit the scene” upon the release of the season premiere. Now, it is worth acknowledging that, once upon a time, Season Four was “modern Death Battle” if for no other reason than it being the most recent season. Ben wrote that comment before Season Five had finished airing, and I rather doubt that he would still consider the season “new” seven years later. In fact, I personally remember when this was considered the “new” Death Battle; Season Two may have been when I became a fan, and Season Three was when I began actively following the show, but this was the first season that I caught upon release. Thus, I remember the cleaner aesthetic of the show truly feeling like the start of a new chapter in the show's life. However, I think I have made it pretty clear that I do not consider Season Four to be the beginning of “modern Death Battle” as understood now, but just the next step of Death Battle’s adolescence, being the continuation and expansion of many of the changes that Season Three set in motion. As for the season’s actual quality: I have said this before, but I truly believe that, with the benefit of hindsight, this has managed to become the one Death Battle season with no real reputation to speak of, good or bad. Critics who view it as markedly better than Season Three will often admit that the season overall doesn’t leave much of an impression, and regard it more as a stepping-stone on the way to the much better received Season Five. On the other hand, some just outright argue it to be the worst season of the entire show, claiming that it has even more middling episodes than Season Three, but without the equally numerous highs to make up for it. (I should mention for those who might be confused that, when Death Battle fans “compare seasons,” it is generally understood that Season One is either excluded from the conversation, or given substantial leeway for being the show’s “baby steps” that the other seasons do not receive.) As for myself, I remember actually agreeing with the latter crowd during my Season Eight Marathon. To me, while it may not have had as many outright bad episodes as Season Three, it had nowhere near as many that were even just good, let alone great. In a way, that actually served to make the overall experience worse, because I found myself bored rather than actively annoyed. Given how faceless this season has managed to remain over the years, I have no idea what conclusion I will come to this time; regardless, I suppose it’s ironically fitting to begin a relatively forgotten season with one of the most controversial episodes in Death Battle history.
Chapter 2: Episode 72. Lara Croft VS Nathan Drake
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Considering how much of a legacy gaming matchup this is, there’s a part of me that is surprised it didn’t happen sooner. Of course, that may in part be because it was supposed to happen sooner, being part of the original lineup for Season Three. However, production issues, as well as Ben attempting to give the episode’s animator, Torrian Crawford, more breathing room, resulted in it getting pushed back to Season Four as the premiere episode. Given how much Hulk VS Doomsday, and later Power Rangers VS Voltron, wound up benefiting from their expanded production times, one would assume that the same would be the case here. That assumption would be quite mistaken, as this episode instead suffered from severe technical problems prior to release which had a substantial impact on the finished product.
Following the sleek new intro animation, Wiz and Boomstick begin their usual preamble. I really appreciate the usage of footage from Raiders of the Lost Ark during this introductory sequence, as it not only fits the theme, but also serves as a subtle nod to how Indiana Jones was a direct inspiration for both combatants, especially Lara. Unfortunately, after that sensible opening, the analyses that follow might just be some of the most vapid and lifeless of the entire show. Aside from Boomstick saying “I think I’ve found my next ex-wife,” absolutely nothing about either analysis stands out in any way. They cover both characters’ backstories, arsenals, and feats in sufficient detail, as well as providing enough information for the audience to have at least something of an idea of their personalities, yet for some reason these analyses just go in one ear and out the other. At first, I found this rather odd, as there doesn’t seem to be anything necessarily wrong with the analyses; the editing is good, Wiz and Boomstick don’t sound off, the music is fitting, and they technically talk about everything they need to. Sure, they don’t really go over their stories much outside of their origins, but that wasn’t terribly common even for good episodes back in the day. Rather, the answer suddenly hit me when thinking about how a Boomstick quip is the only memorable part of either analysis: Wiz and Boomstick barely bring anything to the table. Even subpar or bad Season Three episodes at least gave the hosts some banter that capitalized on their characters; here, they basically don’t have any at all. The reason why the Boomstick ex-wife joke is memorable is because it is the only part of this entire section that actually takes advantage of who either of the hosts are. Sure, Boomstick talks about the weapons while Wiz focuses more on story and feats, but neither sound especially enthusiastic about any of it. Boomstick in particular sounds no different when talking about Lara and Nathan’s guns than he does when talking about anything else, which is particularly frustrating when one remembers him going over the Terminator’s arsenal in its episode and how into it he got. Wiz and Boomstick interacting with the material in unique and interesting ways is the facet of Death Battle analyses that has always distinguished them from similar rundowns in other versus shows, as, even when the jokes are unfunny, they nonetheless serve as a means of making the rundowns more interesting. What makes this especially weird is that Nick Cramer, the episode’s lead writer, consistently pushed for giving Wiz and Boomstick more characterful banter as early as his first-ever episode. On top of that, the episode credits Ben Singer and Gerardo Mejia as co-writers, which makes the utter absence of any charm or character in these analyses even weirder. It almost feels like the crew was worried that people would be annoyed if they gave Wiz and Boomstick anything to do, so they decided to just sap their personalities from the script to minimize these issues. I have no clue if that is the case (in fact I quite doubt it), but either way, I don’t think any pair of analyses has better justified the existence of Wiz and Boomstick than these absolutely sleep-inducing segments.
Honestly, the thing I remembered most about the fight animation when revisiting it wasn’t anything particularly stand-out about the choreography or characters; rather, it was the backing track that plays throughout almost the entire animation. “Invidia” by Yoko Shimomura, despite being from a completely unrelated franchise to either Tomb Raider or Uncharted, fits this matchup like a glove (let it not be said that Torrian was bad at picking his backing music, even if the Anarchy Reigns music didn’t always fit that well). That’s probably because the animation itself is, to be blunt, a complete mess. Much like Hulk VS Doomsday, the actual picture quality is very inconsistent; textures fade out of existence between shots, lighting is scattershot and confused, and the frames themselves sometimes don't appear to have finished rendering. Nathan’s model especially suffers from these visual inconsistencies, and the hair and fabric physics on both combatants are often heavily out of whack. Even the character models themselves don't look nearly as expressive as they ought, with mouths that barely ever leave their default position. However, Hulk VS Doomsday made up for its technical problems with great action, as well as plenty of points where the rendering issues were largely resolved. Here, on the other hand, the quality ranges from “slightly fuzzy” to “unfinished.” Frankly, the last Torrian animation that looked like this was Terminator VS RoboCop, but even that animation was at least more consistent. Now, I would be remiss not to acknowledge that this poor quality was hardly Torrian’s fault. Ben explained the issues quite clearly in his "Road to 100" blog:
This was a project that was riddled with technical problems, mostly because of how many set changes were involved. I don’t remember the exact numbers, but I want to say it took 4 to 6 hours just to render 1 second of animation inside that temple. It was a much rougher process than we expected, and when some shots kept having render problems after 3 or 4 attempts, some things had to be prioritized.
Had this episode been produced during Season Two, then Torrian might have had the time he needed to finish things up and maybe include the cut scenes to add context. It wouldn't have fixed some of the issues with the script, but it would have dramatically mitigated this episode’s visual woes. Unfortunately, this was one of those times when the tighter deadlines of the new system caught Death Battle’s still-adapting animation team on the back foot, and in this instance, they can scarcely be blamed for that.
Of course, Terminator VS RoboCop also compensated for its limitations with great choreography, and this animation could absolutely have done the same. Unfortunately, the writing leaves quite a bit to be desired. Having said that, the setup begins more or less perfectly, with Nathan waltzing into an ancient temple without a care in the world, while the more careful and meticulous Lara observes from a distance. This makes sense; frankly, the two competing for some sort of relic is about the most natural instigation one could ask for. Nathan then starts talking to no one, and now would be the time to mention Gianni Matragrano’s performance, which might be one of the most frustrating cases of “good casting, poor direction” I think I have yet seen from this show. In terms of timbre, Gianni is an excellent choice for the role, naturally capturing the charisma yet carelessness that the character ought to have. However, when he actually starts talking, not only is the audio balancing off - Nathan’s boots and voice are too far forward, something accentuated by the lack of ambience - but Gianni does not sound like he was given much in the way of direction. Regardless, he complains about the cold in a temple that is soon revealed to be in the middle of a desert, declares his intention to try something, before stepping on an obvious button that he somehow missed given his surprised reaction. The Holy Grail shows up - another neat reference to the combatants’ inspiration - and Nathan moves to grab it, only for Lara to use her stealth to appear unexpectedly and hold him at gunpoint. Lara is played by Eileen Montgomery, and much like Gianni, her sound is accurate, but her direction is lacking. Although she certainly succeeds at capturing Lara’s arrogance, she also consistently makes the character sound petulant and easily flustered, which flies in the face of what the analysis said about her level-headed temperament (although in Eileen’s defense, the dialogue she was given arguably plays an even greater role in this strange portrayal). Of course, what naturally follows would be the shortest fight in Death Battle history: Nathan makes no move to obey Lara’s order to walk away, so, being the pragmatist she is, she immediately shoots him dead. Unfortunately for Lara, the writers instead have her disconnect her controller and stand there like an idiot, allowing Nathan to slowly pull an AK-47 from his back and point it at her, at no point making the slightest effort to even discourage him, let alone stop him. The worst part is that this scene could so easily have been made into a genuinely awesome moment with just a few minor adjustments. Perhaps Nathan could have made as though to comply with Lara’s demand specifically to place himself in a position to evade her fire, arm himself, and then say, “I don’t walk away.” This would not only give the line far more impact but would also serve as a good way of showing off Nathan’s own ability to improvise and think on the fly without completely switching off Lara’s brain. As it stands, this has to be one of the sloppiest fight preludes of the show; certainly it is the worst of any of Torrian and Nick’s collaborations thus far.
Regardless, the fight begins, and, to Torrian’s credit, there are some genuinely good elements here that are worth appreciating. The unique fighting styles of both combatants are well-contrasted with each other when they engage in melee combat: Lara is clearly the better-trained of the two and has a more refined, practiced fighting style, while Nathan’s movements are far clumsier. Nevertheless, he is still capable of putting up a fight thanks to his willingness to do whatever is necessary in the moment to gain the advantage, be it smacking Lara with his weapon, or putting his whole weight into a headbutt. Nathan’s line about “gold at the end of the rainbow,” while not particularly funny, is nonetheless charming and one of the few lines where Gianni sounds like he was given clear direction. Nathan firing his gun behind him while fleeing from Lara is a really nice attention to detail given his scrappier fighting style, and I particularly like how distinct the sound effects are for Lara’s pistols and Nathan’s machine gun. Unfortunately, this opening scuffle still has its share of problems: the two dodge each other’s fire at the beginning by moving in the same direction, Lara is shown getting behind cover in one shot only to be magically in the middle of the arena with no cover whatsoever in the next (an action that is in itself incredibly stupid given that it is the most vulnerable position she could be in), Nathan does not even try to take advantage of his cover to return fire and instead feels the need to completely expose himself every time, and his movements during his one-liner are strangely limp and make him seem boneless. On top of that, the scene ends in an incredibly stupid fashion: the two are firing at each other across the arena, and Lara’s bullets are shown knocking the Grail off its pedestal. We know that they must have been Lara’s bullets because Nathan is diving back to catch it as it sails towards him in the very next shot. The reason this matters is because, after Nathan prevents a now-untextured Holy Grail from hitting the floor, Lara bawls him out as though he was the one who shot it off its perch. The temple then begins to “collapse,” creating a rift in the floor that the two try to clear in order to escape. This sees the last genuinely clever detail in the animation: Lara fails to clear the gap, falls into the pit, and is forced to save herself with her climbing ax, whereas Nathan manages to get across just fine. This is a genuinely smart way of integrating Nathan’s superior jumping ability into the choreography in a way that makes sense. Unfortunately, this moment also directly leads to some of the dumber scenes later on, but this scene is worth appreciating while it lasts.
Nathan gets in his jeep - which is the only vehicle present at the location, by the way - and drives away with the Grail as the temple awkwardly collapses in the background. Nathan gloats over his prize for a few seconds before a cut reveals Lara approaching him on a motorcycle that was apparently there the entire time, and that she used her famous teleportation powers to get on and pursue him with. This moment has been widely criticized since the episode was first released, and rightly so; it is a complete impossibility that utterly ruins suspension of disbelief. However, this sequence also betrays a more fundamental flaw with the animation’s script that I have not seen anyone else talk about, and I shall take this opportunity to discuss it. Ben mentioned in his “Road to 100” blog that the animation’s script was not unlike that written for Solid Snake VS Sam Fisher, in that the combatants have a primary goal that is separate from the battle itself. Ben drew this comparison to explain the complicated set changes and the fact that the animation has far more moving parts than the average Death Battle fight. Personally, I think that the comparison is particularly apt because it exposes the biggest issue at the core of this animation’s writing. In Solid Snake VS Sam Fisher, although the combatants had a primary objective that was more important to them than killing the other, Nick made sure to use said primary objective as a motivating factor. After Sam acquires the data, he engages in a brief scuffle with Snake. Although he manages to drive Snake away, their fight is what convinces Sam to kill Snake before fleeing with the intel, even though he technically could try and do exactly that now that his primary objective is complete. This makes sense, as Sam has presumably deduced from their altercation that Snake is skilled, highly dangerous, and could easily mark any attempt Sam makes to escape. Thus, it also makes sense for Sam to press his advantage, because if he does not, then achieving his primary objective would be that much more difficult. The same then proves true for Snake after he manages to swipe the data, as evidenced by the “You’re pretty good” scene; Snake has also decided that Sam is too dangerous to leave alive due to the risk he poses, and that his best bet is to meet him head-on. In short, Nick and Torrian crafted a narrative in which efficiently achieving their primary objective is the thing that motivates the combatants to kill each other. As I’m sure one will realize at this point, Lara Croft VS Nathan Drake fails to do this, at least on Nathan’s end. After he escapes from the temple, Nathan spends the rest of the animation trying to evade Lara’s attempts to steal the Grail from him, which makes sense as nothing about the narrative in the animation encourages him to do otherwise. He has no reason to think that Lara has the necessary teleportation powers and apparating motorcycle that might inspire him to try and prevent her from following him, nor does he have any way of knowing that she could possibly stop his escape via helicopter by throwing her climbing ax at him. As for Lara, she also is given no real reason to actively try and kill Nathan, since she completes her objective the moment she gets the Grail from him… I think, as her actions seem to indicate that she's actually far more concerned about the former for some reason. After leaping onto Nathan’s jeep, she easily beats him in an awkwardly animated scuffle - which makes sense, seeing that he's trying to fight and drive at the same time - and manages to obtain the Grail. Nathan seizes her, and Lara - who barely a minute ago was screeching about Nathan’s supposed carelessness - decides to retaliate by trying to hit him with the Grail. Fortunately for Lara’s apparent objective, Nathan dodges, but this would be like if Sam had tried to stab Snake with the flashdrive during one of their scuffles. Anyway, she disarms Nathan and holds him at bow point, getting an abysmal line that implies that, now that she has exactly what she wanted, killing Nathan is somehow still necessary. She has her magical teleporting motorcycle, the Grail is in her position, and Nathan is defenseless; killing him is now superfluous.
What follows immediately afterward is somehow even dumber: Lara looks up in surprise at nothing, given that the obstruction they are about to crash into is in front of her rather than above. She leaps off the jeep with the Grail clearly attached to her back, leaving the car to careen into the distant object and explode. Considering what follows immediately after, I can only assume that either an extensive scene was cut, or ideas from earlier drafts were never fully hammered out. The animation cuts to Lara, limping along with what looks like a massive laceration on her right arm and a head injury of some kind. Although it makes sense that she would not be able to just leap off a speeding jeep and emerge unscathed, the only visible injury that makes sense is a minor limp. Perhaps they were inflicted by Nathan’s telekinetic powers, which he must have given that he is next seen in a helicopter that had been established in barely a frame of animation before, flying away with the Grail. Of course, seeing as Lara had leapt from the jeep with the Grail on her back, there is no way other than some sort of telekinesis that justifies Nathan somehow having it with him after he survived an exploding vehicle off-screen. Also, as just about everyone has pointed out, Nathan taking off in the helicopter, as though the audience is supposed to believe that one of the combatants in a show called “Death Battle” will be able to just escape, is insanely stupid.
Hilariously, despite the myriad of issues we have gone over thus far, virtually none of them are the reason that this has become one of the most hated Death Battle episodes of all time. That honor goes to the kill: Lara throws her climbing ax at the helicopter, causing it to explode, Nathan falls to the ground, and somehow survives long enough to be killed by the propeller pinning him to the sand below. From what I understand, this rubbed a lot of Uncharted fans the wrong way, as they felt that Nathan dying due to what appeared to be plain bad luck spat in the face of his character. Now, most, if not all Death Battle critics have disagreed with this criticism, defending the death as at least being both a more creative way to end things than a generic explosion, and symbolic of Nathan's luck running out. Ben Singer even replied to the vitriol in his “Road to 100” blog, pointing out that Lara had already won as soon as the helicopter exploded, and that the analysis took care to draw attention to the feat of her doing so in canon to justify it in the animation. Personally, while I don't hate this ending to nearly the degree that a lot of Uncharted fans seem to, I also have far more problems with it than most neutral parties. First, few things betray how bad an idea it was to even try to pretend that one of the combatants could just flee than Lara’s method of retrieving her primary objective being to explode an entire helicopter around it. It is true enough that, for all I know, Lara in the Tomb Raider games may be petty enough to destroy ancient artifacts just to make sure that no one else can have it, but I somewhat doubt that to be the case, or at least I doubt that to be intentional. The actual animation of the helicopter blowing up is bizarre as well; rather than exploding in a ball of fire, it instead shatters like glass. This was probably done to facilitate Nathan surviving the fall; if the helicopter had just instantly gone up in flames as it should have, then his surviving would have been rendered immersion-breaking. As for the death itself; while I understand Ben’s desire to make it a bit more unique than a standard explosion, I am actually a little sympathetic to the negative reactions due to a few factors. First, the fact that Nathan survives the impossible fall from the helicopter does somewhat create the impression that he might get back up to continue the fight. He doesn’t look so horribly mangled as to render that impossible; in fact, he doesn’t even appear that much worse off than Lara, who got her injuries from who-knows-what. This brings us to the propeller being the thing that kills him. I get what critics mean when they call it “symbolism of his luck running out,” but the thing is that someone’s luck “running out” and suddenly having something spectacularly unlucky happen are not the same thing. To try and illustrate what I mean: Nathan dying in a helicopter explosion directly caused by Lara rupturing its air intake would necessarily demand that his luck “run out” because he died; him somehow surviving, only to just so happen to get impaled by its blades is simply pure bad luck because of the absurd odds of such a thing happening. In case it wasn’t obvious enough, I am firmly of the opinion that, if the episode needed to end with Nathan trying to make his getaway in Lara’s helicopter, then the explosion should have been what killed him. Having something so unquestionably fatal happen to him would have been a perfectly reasonable way of killing him off, with Lara’s skill having trumped his fortune. Granted, I could definitely see some Uncharted fans arguing that because “explosions are Nathan’s exit of choice,” he should somehow survive a helicopter blowing up around him, but I think the conclusion would easily be able to explain things fine enough. I just think that it was a fundamentally poor choice to have Nathan survive long enough to die to a one-in-a-million blow, when a perfectly decent means of killing him directly preceded it.
As for the conclusion…it’s fine. I think they actually did a pretty good job of justifying Lara’s greater strength and skill. I also like their line about “luck always runs out” ...is what I would say if they didn’t play the footage from the animation of him getting impaled by the propeller blades. In his “Road to 100” blog, Ben expressed confusion over why so many people seemed to think that their entire argument for Nathan’s victory was that “luck always runs out,” and I actually agree that it’s pretty silly that the people complaining about it somehow missed the previous minute of them going over how Lara held every necessary advantage. However, I think that the reason so many people got that impression is because playing that footage over Wiz saying “luck always runs out” naturally draws a connection between the two, silently telling people that such is what killed Nathan rather than Lara’s myriad of advantages. I think this could have been rectified if they made clear that Nathan’s “luck” wouldn’t help him against Lara because of how much above his weight class she is; in other words, Guts VS Nightmare if it had gone with a verdict that made sense. Regardless, ill-chosen footage aside, this conclusion is an acceptable enough start to Death Battle’s numbers-heavy future.
I recall catching this episode upon release and being underwhelmed. I remember rewatching it for my Season Eight Marathon and being completely bored. Rewatching it now, not only is the episode overall substantially worse than I remember, but I actually found myself more frustrated and disappointed than anything else. I don’t have any personal attachment to either of these characters or their franchises, but this is such a classic matchup that I was genuinely excited to see Death Battle bring to life. Considering the undeniably ambitious nature of its script, I truly believe that the Death Battle crew were more than willing and eager to do exactly that; unfortunately, I don’t think any episode in Death Battle history has betrayed its troubled production more than this one. The script obviously went through rewrites that weren’t properly smoothed over and the animation just needed more time in the oven. I am not willing to give this episode an absolute terrible grade, if only because the analyses and conclusion are competent in spite of their blandness, and the animation does have some positive elements; nonetheless, this is easily the worst season premiere thus far, and a limp opening to a year that was supposed to be something of a fresh start for the show.
Honestly, the most joy this episode gives me is with its Next Time trailer, but that discussion can wait until the next segment.
Ranking: D Tier
Chapter 3: Episode 73. Scrooge McDuck VS Shovel Knight
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Back in 2017, young me had just finished Lara Croft VS Nathan Drake, and was feeling thoroughly underwhelmed. At the time I didn’t really understand why I hadn’t enjoyed myself, but I was hoping that the Next Time trailer would give me something to look forward to. At first it rolled through some cartoon footage I didn’t recognize, and I wasn’t sure what to expect…then Scrooge McDuck was revealed as one of the next episode’s combatants, and I was absolutely ecstatic. This may or may not be a surprise, but despite being an American, I am actually incredibly fond of the Disney comics, specifically those written by Carl Barks, Floyd Gottfredson, and Don Rosa. Barks and Rosa specifically wrote primarily for Disney’s duck characters, and while I by no means “grew up” on their comics, nor have I read their entire output (yet), I nonetheless had read enough for me to be quite fond of the characters by the time this episode was announced. Thus, while Hulk VS Doomsday was the first episode I actively looked forward to, and characters had previously been announced for the show that I had mild investment in or wanted to learn more about, this was the first time that I was excited for a character that already meant a lot to me to appear on Death Battle. When the episode finally came out, while I don’t remember much of how I felt at the time, I know for a fact that I was overjoyed when Scrooge won. As for why I am saying all of this, it is largely to lay on the table my significant personal bias; regardless of how good the episode itself proves to be, I cannot deny that it makes me happy that one of my favorite comic book characters of all time won his episode, silly though that may be.
It’s really odd how they begin the preamble by playing b-roll of the previous episode’s combatants. I get that this is a unique case where four Death Battle contestants in a row have been treasure hunters, but it almost feels like a mistake. Anyway, I really wanted to like Scrooge’s analysis, and for the first thirty or so seconds, I did. Their coverage of his background is a bit light on detail, but they get the broad-strokes, and Jake Kaufman’s “The Moon” playing in the background is a lovely touch. Unfortunately, things quickly go downhill after they just instantly leap from Scrooge immigrating to the United States to seek his fortune to him having obtained it. Wiz gives an unsubstantiated estimate for his wealth, which is particularly disappointing given that it's always fun seeing what unique method people use to try and measure it, and they use that to immediately start talking about his weapons. What follows is a very standard, boring rundown of Scrooge’s weapons, feats, and weaknesses, probably delivered competently enough for most, but immensely disappointing and frustrating from the perspective of someone who's a bit more familiar with Scrooge’s story. Without turning this into a Disney lore summary, just about all of my problems with this analysis are perfectly encapsulated by their handling of Scrooge’s riverboat feat. So, the segment is led into by Wiz mentioning Scrooge’s “greed” as one of his biggest weaknesses, saying that Scrooge is liable to “fly into a rage” if someone gets between him and riches. After using some panels that don't go with what they're talking about at all if one knows the context (which is hilarious given that actually fitting examples aren't exactly rare), Boomstick pushes back against it being a bad thing, with Wiz’s concession being their overview of Scrooge destroying a riverboat. They specifically call out that the thing that triggered Scrooge’s wrath was the news of his mother’s passing, and yet end the segment by saying “Just goes to show that nothing can stand between Scrooge and his wealth.” …did they miss the part where his property being stolen was not the thing that roused his ire? I wouldn't think so, given that they themselves called attention to it, which makes it utterly bizarre that they blatantly contradict themselves about the story like that. On top of that, they give the boat feat no weight or impact due to their providing nothing more than the most basic elements of the narrative context. The audience has no idea what was at stake for Scrooge, nor do they understand why hearing about his mother’s death in that fashion shook him as much as it did. I obviously don't expect Death Battle to go over every minute detail of a character’s story, but this whole analysis is scarcely past the bare minimum when it comes to such things. In fact, their giving the boat feat any context at all is the only thing that separates this from a Season One analysis. This is especially frustrating because Scrooge’s story is one that could so easily be made interesting in several different ways; instead, the script went with the most insipid option possible (it’s primarily for this reason that I would actually like to see Scrooge return, even if it’s just to get flattened by Mr. Krabs; I think that his story would fare much better with Death Battle’s modern analysis construction). Ben mentioned that Scrooge was picked as Shovel Knight’s opponent because Sam really wanted to go over Scrooge’s “wacky cartoon history”; not his character, but his “crazy” feats, and frankly, it really shows. The only part of this analysis outside of the first thirty seconds that I actually like is Boomstick wanting to apply as a poultry scientist at Disney. Other than those things, this is a thoroughly unremarkable rundown that utterly fails to capitalize on the character being covered.
At least Shovel Knight’s is quite a bit better, albeit hardly without flaws of its own. They actually spend longer than thirty seconds on his backstory, going over the beginning of his game’s plot with some genuinely fun expressions of character from both hosts: Wiz trying to get Boomstick to appreciate the “Order of No Quarter” is actually rather funny with how proud of it he seems, and Boomstick apparently firing rockets at Wiz’s house to “mourn” his divorce is an amusing mental image, complete with decent background footage. They use his emergence from “retirement” to segue into his arsenal, and while their coverage of his weapons, armor and skills is perhaps a little on the dry side, they pace the discussion well, keep things interesting with relevant b-roll, and even manage to throw in some decent jokes here and there. I love how, after Boomstick says that Shovel Knight’s War Horn is like “the Horn of Gondor” but with explosive capabilities, it actually cuts to the explosion footage from The Two Towers rather than just any random explosion; it’s a smart use of media clips. I even like the “get raked” joke. I just think it’s overall well-constructed and delivered: Wiz shows Shovel Knight performing a great feat with his Shovel Blade, which naturally leads to Boomstick reminiscing about when he had a similar weapon. Him developing a “rake-blade” makes sense given who he is, and the fact that he stopped using his weapon, not for any practical reason, but because people were apparently reacting in a negative way, is a delightfully “off” reason, where he is perfectly willing to attack people with a sharpened rake, yet for some reason cares about their reaction to his using it. I even like Wiz’s immediate reaction, sounding almost disappointed on Boomstick's behalf until he realizes why people reacted like they did. However, my favorite part of the analysis is easily the calculation. They build up to it by talking about his armors, with Boomstick mentioning that the additional weight would make his Shovel Drops more devastating. This works as a natural transition to him asking Wiz to “math that,” a task which he tackles with gusto. While he doesn’t show the calculations, he still covers all of the relevant information to get the number, from Shovel Knight’s height, to his weight, to that of his armor. Once he presents the number, I love how Boomstick genuinely compliments his work; no backhanded comments or snide remarks, just appreciation for Wiz's efforts in getting the number. Of course, one will notice that the high points of this analysis do not have much to do with their coverage of Shovel Knight’s story and character, and that is because there is barely any more to say on that front than Scrooge’s. In fact, I think they give even less an idea of his personality than they did for Scrooge overall. Also, their attempted justification for Shovel Knight not being very bright is hilariously bad. They derive him being a low-watt bulb from him “assuming that [Shield Knight] was dead,” but they gave absolutely no evidence for how he could have possibly drawn any other conclusion. However, I still think this analysis is significantly better than the last, because it is far more entertainingly presented thanks to the good jokes and committed delivery from Ben and Chad.
The fight animation was done entirely by Luis Cruz, who had been hired by ScrewAttack shortly after Season Three and would later be appointed the lead sprite animator. This particular animation is remembered for its eight-bit aesthetic, especially seeing as this is the only one in the show’s history to fully commit to that style. The only one I can think of that employed a similar look was Bomberman VS Dig Dug, and that episode was heavily inconsistent about its use. In terms of how fitting the aesthetic is, I think it makes perfect sense for Luis to do this: Scrooge’s best sprites would naturally be from the old DuckTales NES game, while Shovel Knight is styled as an eight-bit sidescroller. Overall, Luis does an excellent job of maintaining the aesthetic, and there are some genuinely impressive elements to the animation: the picture of Scrooge in his mansion was apparently custom, most of the sound and visual effects were sensibly chosen or bit-crushed, and the Super Contra and Ninja Gaiden music fits quite well. Shovel Knight himself is also very expressively animated; Luis apparently had to personally edit Shovel Knight’s sprites to have the range of expression they demonstrate in this animation, and they flow seemlessly with his normal sprites. However, the actual writing and choreography is a serious mixed bag. From the outset, I honestly really dislike the setup, but not because it mischaracterizes Shovel Knight (or at least, not principally); rather, given that this apparently takes place in Scrooge’s Money Bin, this might be some of the most wasted potential of any setting they have ever used. In the comics, Scrooge’s Money Bin is a veritable fortress, filled with all manner of deadly traps and weapons that Shovel Knight could probably interact with in fun and creative ways. Honestly, if the treasures in the Bin are Shovel Knight’s objective, then a lot of the choreography would write itself, with Shovel Knight drawing all manner of things from his arsenal to get around and neutralize Scrooge’s weapons, forcing Scrooge to think creatively on the fly to stop him (funny enough, the actual structure that a number of the old comics followed). On top of that, it would make the arena shift from plain tables and hallways into the Bin itself perfectly natural given that it would provide Shovel Knight a logical destination to aim for. However, the animation as it stands uses practically none of this. Outside of a single door and one cannon, none of Scrooge’s various weapons and traps are used, which tells me that the setting is probably supposed to be his mansion from the DuckTales cartoons rather than the Bin from the comics. There isn’t necessarily anything wrong with this, and I understand that what I just mentioned would be a lot for sole animator Luis to bring to life; however, the fact that this takes place in that version of Scrooge’s vault means that he winds up using far less than he otherwise could, which in turn results in Shovel Knight not pulling out much of his arsenal either. Instead, most of the choreography consists of Scrooge sluggishly pulling out some gimmick to throw at Shovel Knight, who proceeds to make short work of it and get an impactless combo on Scrooge with his Shovel Blade. Neither combatant really gets to do much, which is a shame given that the two have massive arsenals that could be easily written to have unique interactions. Instead, the most interesting trading of abilities in the entire animation is Scrooge firing a single cannonball at Shovel Knight and him responding with his Fishing Rod. Other than that, Shovel Knight uses the Dust Knuckles twice, Flare Wand once… and that’s it. None of his other armors or relics come into play, and he uses Drop Spark only once. As for Scrooge, the only things in his arsenal that he actually uses are his cane, one cannon, and his Neutra-Friction and Anti-Inertia Rays, which are basically just used as a single weapon given that he fires both at once. Sure, he throws a bunch of pots and statues at Shovel Knight, but not only does the scene make no sense - Scrooge twitches his kneecap and suddenly a massive pile of background objects materializes into existence behind him - but they are also completely useless as Shovel Knight evades them with complete and total ease. The first half of the animation also somewhat suffers from a serious visual problem: Scrooge and Shovel Knight constantly blending in with the background. Not unlike Fox McCloud VS Bucky O’Hare, Scrooge and Shovel Knight’s sprites are covered in thick, black lines. Normally this would not be a problem, as not only do both of their games make sure to keep the black lines in the backgrounds to a minimum, but they also kept the areas that the two are supposed to be in front of duller and more dimly lit, allowing the more colorful sprites of the characters to stand out better. Unfortunately, Luis fills the backgrounds of the hallway in Scrooge’s building and the dining room with all sorts of visual clutter and background details, which are not only filled to the brim with black lines but are also not moved noticeably further back in the animation. This results in the sprites constantly getting lost in the setting, something that, combined with the frenetic camera movements, makes the action difficult to see at points.
The fight’s climax takes place in the Money Bin itself, which is admittedly a perfect place to close things out. It is a little weird that Scrooge and his cannon were falling next to each other in the previous shot, only for Scrooge to somehow be much further along in the next, but it isn’t a massive deal, and I appreciate that the setting allows the characters to stand out far more than they did before. However, I do take issue with the actual liquid physics of the money itself. I get the idea, and I imagine that it was a pain to animate; however, in both the comics and cartoons (or at least the 2017 one), the pool of money is not “fluid” in any way. Scrooge’s ability to swim in it is clearly established to be a personal skill of his rather than cartoon logic making a solid mass behave like a liquid. Granted, this isn’t that big of a deal, and Luis does animate the oscillations of the money itself quite well, but it is extra work that he really didn’t need to do (although it does make for a handy way of getting the cannon out of the way). Scrooge and Shovel Knight engage in more melee combat that Shovel Knight easily dominates, despite them claiming Scrooge to have the strength and experience advantage in the conclusion. Scrooge then pulls out his ray guns, which, for some bizarre reason, receive an accompanying text clarifying what each one is. Not only does this kill the pacing and make no sense, but it also proves completely unnecessary given that he fires both at once. Regardless, the kill this leads to is probably the most tonally jarring one since Pokémon VS Digimon: Scrooge picks up Shovel Knight’s weapon from where he dropped it after losing his balance, leaps into the air, and uses the move that makes up half of this matchup’s connections to decapitate Shovel Knight in three hits. The hand-drawn shot of Shovel Knight’s neck muscles as they fail under the weight of Scrooge’s blows, combined with the obscene amount of blood and impactful cinematography, combine to make this one of the most gruesome kills of the show, particularly with the shot afterward of a blood-soaked Scrooge watching Shovel Knight’s corpse slowly get consumed by his money. While the insane brutality does come out of nowhere, the chiptune DuckTales theme playing in the background does lead me to think that this tonal disparity was intentional, and Luis was generally good at providing gory kills. I just wish the choreography had taken better advantage of the characters and been less overall one-sided in Shovel Knight’s favor until the very last sequence.
The conclusion is okay, but they do the same thing that they did in Dante VS Bayonetta where they gave Scrooge a number, but forgot to make it one that actually compares with the one they gave Shovel Knight. Sure, Scrooge ripping apart a boat can be safely assumed to have a greater energy requirement than sixty-seven hundred joules, but it would have been nice if they had actually used the rowboat feat - or any feat, for that matter - to give Scrooge an energy output that mattered, rather than how fast his arms were moving. Regardless, also like Dante VS Bayonetta, the things they discuss and footage they show are sufficient to make their point despite the irrelevant number they wound up giving.
Frankly, this episode has probably fallen from grace for me more than any episode of the show thus far. I remember thinking it was a fairly decent episode; not amazing by any means, but one with fun analyses, a standout animation, and a great kill. Unfortunately, upon revisit, only a few of those things are true. Shovel Knight’s analysis is good mostly thanks to the decent writing for Wiz and Boomstick, and while the kill is excellent, everything leading up to it is okay at best and actively wastes the genuine potential this matchup had given the combatants’ extensive arsenals. Like most people, I would definitely like to see Shovel Knight return against an opponent who actually makes sense, but I would also really like Scrooge to return as well given how little the episode actually did with him. His story is completely glossed over in favor of going over his feats with no gravitas or fanfare, and the choreography gives him barely anything to do outside of being on the receiving end of at least four combos, panting, and firing weapons twice. While hardly a bad episode, “average” is still rather disappointing, especially given that this episode’s lackluster reception resulted in the crew staying away from cartoon and indie game characters for years afterwards.
Ranking: C Tier
Chapter 4: Episode 74. Venom VS Bane
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In retrospect, I think that the most important thing about this episode is that it saw the finalization of the modern Death Battle thumbnail format. Scrooge McDuck VS Shovel Knight lacked the logo's splatter effect that Venom VS Bane added back in, and Lara Croft VS Nathan Drake went through three public updates before the current version. Aside from that, the matchup was apparently a massive request at the time, and given that the episode itself is the second most-viewed of the entire season, I suppose that checks out. I will admit, although it is pretty clear-cut in terms of results, I actually don’t hate the matchup itself. I think it makes a decent amount of sense in a vacuum, and Spider-Man characters are not consistently portrayed as so out of Batman characters’ league that an actual back-and-forth would be impossible to portray. This was also the first episode of the season to have an overall positive reception upon release, which probably helped further convince the crew that Marvel VS DC matchups were a good path to continue down. However, despite being a fairly popular episode, Venom VS Bane’s reputation among Death Battle fans is as having arguably one of the worst animations in the show’s history, with many considering it the worst Marvel VS DC episode of the show (aside from Rogue VS Wonder Woman, obviously) for that reason alone. Personally, I remember rewatching this episode all the time after it came out; not because I loved it, mind you, but because I was trying to figure out what on Earth was happening in the animation. Having said that, the highest-quality screen I had access to at the time was about 480p, so I’m curious how things will look now that I can actually view this episode in the quality it was made in.
Considering how many people dismiss these analyses as dull and generic, I was quite surprised by how much I enjoyed them. Venom’s begins by defining the term “symbiosis,” providing a “hypothetical” reason that encapsulates Venom’s motivations, before moving on to a brief synopsis of Eddie Brock’s background. This eventually serves as a natural transition into the symbiote itself, with episode writer Nick taking care to emphasize the destructive and insane character of the symbiote’s previous hosts, thus contextualizing both Spider-Man’s rejection of it and its own newfound obsession. Admittedly, I do wish they had explained how the symbiote went from “Spider-Man is my ideal host” to “Spider-Man must die,” considering that even it being rejected makes that quite the leap, but I might just be overestimating the thin line between obsessive desire and murderous intent. While the rest of the analysis drops the narrative element in favor of running through Venom’s abilities and feats, Nick’s experience both writing and editing these sorts of analyses help make the rundown highly engaging regardless. The transitions from abilities to feats and to his weaknesses are mostly quite natural, there are a few cute jokes here and there - namely Boomstick making fun of the origin of Venom’s name and wondering where one can acquire “phenethylamine” for their diet - and the choices of clips, comic scans, and even music are sensible. My biggest problem with Venom’s analysis is that it fails to reach a natural ending point. Wiz explains to Boomstick that Venom eats brains, Boomstick responds in a surprisingly cheesy manner, and then it just stops. Granted, the ending clip they chose was pretty much as perfect as one could ask, but that doesn’t make up for the fact that it feels like Nick hit a deadline and couldn’t give the analysis a proper resolution. Making Venom “eating brains” be the ending note of the analysis is also a wasted opportunity, as it could have so easily been used to help make him seem like a bigger threat in the analysis proper. Regardless, I would say that this is about as good as Shovel Knight’s rundown. That one may have had a few more standout jokes, but I think this analysis did more to make its subject seem interesting on its own merits, as opposed to that one which was largely carried by the hosts’ banter.
Bane’s analysis, on the other hand, is so close to being fantastic, and it might have been were it not for a few annoying flaws. Those are not immediately apparent, as this is easily the best opening of any analysis of the season thus far. They spend a lot of time talking about Bane’s background, from the absurdity of him being raised in prison, to his dedication to conquering “fear,” and how that led to his crusade to break Batman, to the lengths he went to prepare himself and how he encountered the Venom serum in the first place. While there aren’t too many jokes and the editing obviously lacks the flair of modern seasons, I found Nick’s handling and pacing of this story to be genuinely excellent. Now, I will admit that this episode was, to some degree, my young self’s introduction to Bane, so that might be coloring my perspective here, but I love how much focus Nick puts on Bane’s dedication to training not just his body, but his mind as well. It helps make Bane seem like a more well-rounded and thus threatening villain rather than the witless brute I had generally seen him as before. Everything about this opening does such a good job of building up to the eventual payoff of the famous events of the Knightfall story…only for it to annoyingly trail off into the logistics of Bane’s Venom and what it does to him. This results in the breaking of Batman becoming a mere feat to top off their discussion of Venom’s capabilities rather than the climax of Bane’s journey. Thus, instead of being the narratively powerful moment it should have been, one of the most iconic moments in all of comics is utterly robbed of its potency, with only strong editing from Nick saving the moment from total failure. This whole thing is frustrating mostly because Nick had been doing such a good job of building towards this moment, talking about Bane’s quest to conquer fear and the many things he was willing to do in order to do so, only for the narrative payoff of this quest to be completely sapped of its weight by the script deciding that it needed to start going over feats instead. In spite of that severe disappointment, Bane’s analysis does manage to pick up again. I like how they use him surviving a beating from a superpowered Batman to naturally lead into the debilitating effect Venom could have, causing Bane to swear it off. This allows for a sensible transition into his many impressive feats without it. I also like how Nick reiterates Bane’s intelligence, although I really wish he had given more feats and moved Bane discovering Batman’s identity into the story section; it would have given Bane’s intellect some important plot significance to back up its existence, as well as making him seem more formidable without needing to handhold the audience too much. Unfortunately, this also leads into one of the analysis’ stranger problems: Nick spends so much time going over how amazing Bane is without Venom that he forgot to actually explain how the serum makes him all that much more formidable than he would be otherwise. This is probably due to the incomprehensible decision to put their discussion of the substance in the middle of his story rather than lead up to it after going over his normal capabilities. It’s almost backwardly structured, leading with Bane’s most physically impressive attributes, only to leave the audience with his substantially less notable ones, as though they needed more reason to think that he stood no chance against Venom. Overall, despite my complaints, I like Bane’s analysis; I just wish it was restructured somewhat to give things the proper weight they deserved. If this analysis was just shuffled around a little, it could so easily have become one of the best analyses of a comic book character yet.
The fight animation is what people remember this episode for, pretty much entirely for the worse. Supposedly the animator, S. K. Alam, wound up having to create the entire animation by himself in a single night due to a communication breakdown. Although I am unaware of what the source for this is, I do find it rather easy to believe given that it was not unheard of for pre-Season Five animations to have to be rushed out by precious few people during an obscenely short period of time due to technical complications (in fact, it isn’t unheard of even to this day, but that is a story for later). I also find this idea credible because the animation itself is…subpar, to say the very least. There is a lot to criticize here, easily more than any animation since Cammy VS Sonya (which wasn’t actually all that long ago). However, I am going to somewhat break away from the normal trends of Death Battle critics in this instance and go out to bat for a couple of elements of the animation, because, unlike some, I do not think this to be totally devoid of positive qualities. I certainly won’t deny that they are quite small in number and do precious little to make up for the cavalcade of issues present regardless, but I also don’t think that this is the completely worthless fight that some consider it to be. First, I really like Christopher Guerrero’s Bane. Although his microphone quality isn’t always good, I think Chris does a great job of selling Bane as the intelligent character he is supposed to be, and I think that some of his lines are quite good on their own. I particularly appreciate how the script is able to work in a reference to the famous “darkness” speech from Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises without it seeming like cheap fanservice. Bane reprimanding Venom for relying on “magic tricks” to disappear from view rather than knowing how to be “truly invisible” is not only perfectly natural given the context, but also serves as a good way of letting Bane show off his significant experience and skill. On the subject of voice acting, I actually don’t hate Adam Wennick’s take on Venom. In fact, I much prefer his performance here to his return in Venom VS Crona, if only because here he at least vaguely sounds like some iterations of the character rather than just some guy with a voice filter. Granted, I can’t really speak on his dialogue; while none of it bothers me, I must acknowledge that I have not seen a single fan of the character speak positively about his portrayal in this episode. Still, from my perspective in a vacuum, I think that Adam delivers a good performance for the kind of character he was directed to play. There are also two shots that I quite like: the shot of Venom leaping across the stadium light in the opening preliminary is probably the one shot in the entire animation that actually benefits from the heavy blur effects, and it works well with the atmosphere that the sequence tries to build. I also think that the rigging for both Venom and Bane during the backbreaker is really good, particularly the shot of Bane hoisting Venom into the air. There’s a subtle focus shift that I like, and the scene in general feels like one of the few moments of the animation where S. K. Alam actually had time to finish the scene. Finally, I really appreciate the tone the animation goes for. The music choices are all really good even when what they accompany isn’t very well animated, and it all builds what is probably the first animation of the entire show to actively lean into a horror-esque tone. While it obviously doesn’t capture that atmosphere perfectly (the animation is too poor for that), I do think it succeeds better than some of the show’s actual Halloween episodes, so that’s something.
Of course, despite my defenses for a few elements of the animation, I think it’s rather telling that pretty much everything I praised, with the exception of Chris Guerrero’s performance, are entirely good in isolation. In context, this animation is quite rough. While the setup isn’t atrociously done, there are a few red flags right from the get-go: the colored water effect representing Bane’s Venom is distracting and completely out of place, the sprite movements themselves are incredibly stiff with minimal animation, and the pacing is just off. Venom spends so long cackling in the background that the horrifying tone the animation is going for begins to devolve into a farce by the time he actually appears onscreen - and I mean appears, because he doesn’t lunge out of the darkness, or run into frame, or anything like that; he just suddenly pops into existence between shots as the “FIGHT!” graphic plays, and that’s it. Once the action finally begins, while the animation itself is somewhat competent, the sound design is absolutely awful. In fact, most of the problems with this animation largely circle around horrifically bad sound design and some of the worst cinematography of the entire show. Attacks rarely have any impact, with the chosen sound effects often being either out of sync, completely ill-fitting, or both. This is demonstrated right away when Bane pulls out a gun to fire at Venom - which looks hilariously bad due to his fingers and arms contorting into eldritch abominations to make the effect work - and the sound effects for the bullets being fired are the exact same as the ones when the bullets actually hit Venom. After Venom pulls Bane towards him in an edit straight out of Fulgore VS Sektor, the only consistently smooth series of attacks in the whole animation happens, before the plot is completely lost in a mess of blur effects and the camera having a seizure. After some atrocious-looking action - largely because the bad cinematography makes it impossible to see - Venom cuts Bane and we get a painfully long shot of the two just flying away from each other in slow motion, before one of the most poorly done setpieces of the show takes place. So, Venom and Bane have just charged past each other, moving away at an indeterminate speed. This scene is then immediately followed by a hardcut to Venom’s webbing attaching to Bane from the front, who is now flying through the air for some reason, before Venom knocks him to the ground with more indeterminable attacks and an actual gunshot sound effect when Bane falls over. Venom fires some strands around Bane, presumably to fling himself towards his opponent, who promptly backflips away. This is followed by a cut to one of the worst frames in the entire show. I’m genuinely not even sure what is supposed to be happening: Venom lands in the bottom left, barely in frame, and making a sound as though he somehow managed to hurt himself from the landing, while a shadow of some kind is moving slowly across the camera. I guess that the shadow is supposed to be Bane, but the silhouette barely looks like him, so the shot is just incomprehensible. Bane lands an awful-looking combo, Venom gets a line that is just bizarre - I’m not sure if it's supposed to be funny, if Venom is flirting with Bane, or what on Earth is supposed to be happening - and then Bane grabs Venom and body-slams him through a bunch of crates. This leads to an absolutely painful reference to Spider-Man 3,with Bane slamming Venom’s face against a moving train in homage to Peter’s fight with the Sandman in that film. The reference isn’t painful because I dislike either the concept or that film; it is painful because everything about it is poorly done. Bane’s hand is clearly just composited on top of Venom’s sprite in the animation - there is no drawing to make it look even slightly like Bane is really holding Venom - the shot is so blurry that it is almost impossible to see, the sound design for Venom getting ground against a train is the same as him being slammed through crates for some reason, and the train itself appears completely out of nowhere. Nothing in the animation previously indicated that there were so much as active train tracks, let alone a moving train, and yet it suddenly materializes into existence just so the animation can reference a moment from what was at the time Venom’s sole cinematic appearance. Venom flies off to the left in the next shot, with him then mimicking Bane’s earlier maneuver and dodging Bane’s attempted flying stomp. What actually happens is that a dark circle appears under Venom before a cut to Bane in an intense position as the camera shakes for the umpteenth time, something that is made obvious by the fact that the crates behind Bane are not the same as the ones that were clearly behind Venom in the previous shot.
Regardless, Venom leaps into the darkness - meaning that an unanimated sprite sheet moves up and away from the camera into a black void - and we get one of two scenes in the animation that I almost like, the aforementioned The Dark Knight Rises reference. It is far more naturally integrated into the script than the pitiful Spider-Man 3 reference, Chris Guerrero’s line delivery is spectacular, and the immediate panning shot of the empty arena helps to set a tense atmosphere. Unfortunately, that atmosphere is completely ruined when it cuts back to Bane, who has now teleported to being in front of a completely different setting than before, with Venom doing a looped animation in the background. It doesn’t even look like he’s getting closer or trying to get in a position to attack Bane; it looks more like he’s doing the world’s slowest dance. I guess it’s because he knew he could use his teleportation powers to suddenly appear in front of Bane in the next shot so that his tongue can be grabbed and thrown in a clearly overhand move, only for Bane to finish his throw by swinging his hand to the side in a completely different pose in the next shot. Bane grabs a convenient rocket launcher and fires a cartoonishly oversized missile, which explodes, leading to what might actually be the worst cut in all of Death Battle. I know I said the same thing in Mewtwo VS Shadow, but I mean it when I say that this episode is in a close race with that one in this regard. So, Bane is presented in the center of the frame, facing towards the camera. The fire effects in the foreground are clearly meant to indicate that he is looking towards the explosion he just caused specifically. Anyway, this scene is followed by an immediate hardcut to one of the most baffling frames I have ever seen: a large person in full silhouette with glowing red eyes standing motionless in the middle of a circle of flames, mounting a pile of debris. Obviously, given the position of this person in relation to the previous shot of Bane, and when considering that Venom had landed on a random crate before getting blown up, it makes sense to infer that this must be Venom having gotten back up, despite the red eyes. However, it turns out that this is actually just Bane. He has apparently teleported between shots from outside the flames to inside them and on top of the object he fired at. What’s especially hilarious is how, aside from the effects for the flames, the shot has no motion whatsoever; Bane is just standing completely still in a dramatic pose as the flames burn around him. We then cut back to the green water footage - which is just as immersion-breaking as before - followed by some mercifully brief shots of Bane bulking up, before the second scene that I almost like: the backbreaker. I already mentioned that I think the rigging in the shot of Bane actually picking up Venom is genuinely good, and Bane slamming Venom onto his knee is…fine. It isn’t particularly well-drawn, but the visual effects are fine, the sound design is good, and this is the second time in the animation where the blur effects actually help the scene rather than get in the way. Unfortunately, I can’t say that I completely like the backbreaker, because despite Venom reversing it by using it as a means to just impale Bane with his spikes being a genuinely cool idea, it is terribly communicated. The spikes just appear out of nowhere after Venom’s line, and the shot of Bane kneeling over in pain is just hysterical: the hand-drawn crater is suspended over the flame effects, the border is covered in overbearing speedlines, and the spikes themselves don’t even all look like they’re impaling Bane. Venom punches Bane in a shot that would make Darth Vader VS Doctor Doom proud due to being barely animated, before shooting a bunch of webs at Bane, creating a lovely continuity error. At first, it seems that Bane is being suspended in the air against something by the cords that Venom has politely only tied around his arms (at least Batman was more thoroughly covered). However, after the kill, it is revealed when Bane’s corpse falls over that he actually was just hovering in the air, leaning against absolutely nothing. The kill itself is decently creative and has some good elements - I like the squishy sound design, Chris’ muffled screams of pain are well-delivered as always, and the concept itself serves as a neat reference to Chad’s original pitch for the kill in Batman VS Spider-Man - but the inept hilarity of Bane’s floating corpse just sinks the whole thing. Overall, this animation is quite bad. If I judged episodes just by the animation alone, this would probably be one of the worst episodes of the entire show; certainly more than even a lot of Season One episodes, because at least those had actual animation in them as opposed to constant still frames using blur effects and shaky-cam to hide the lack of movement.
The conclusion is decent, if only because it goes back to the Lara Croft VS Nathan Drake method of comparing the actual relevant numbers they gave both characters. There is admittedly a weird moment where they give Bane the durability to withstand hits from Superman, only to take it away a few sentences later, but seeing as this was only discussed like this in the conclusion, it doesn’t bother me too much. Of course, given that the matchup is Venom VS Bane, only so much credit can be given for making a convincing case in Venom’s favor.
Considering how poor the animation is, I don’t blame people at all for ranking this as low as they do. In fact, I actually agree that, aside from Rogue VS Wonder Woman, this is the worst Marvel versus DC episode thus far. However, I also think that the gap between those episodes is absolutely immense; in other words, I would watch this over Rogue VS Wonder Woman again in a heartbeat. I still like the analyses, and those few things about the animation that I think are good are enough to keep me from calling this an utterly dreadful episode. Of course, it isn’t even close to being a good episode - in fact, it is quite easily the worst episode of the season so far - but it has just enough positive qualities to save it from outright failure. It helps that there is some ironic enjoyment to be had from the animation's stranger mistakes.
Ranking: D Tier
Chapter 5: Episode 75. Power Rangers VS Voltron
Chapter Text
It’s still a bit odd to me that this is one of the few Death Battle episodes titled after the franchises rather than the combatants themselves. I at least understand the logic behind the names for Pokémon VS Digimon and Skyrim VS Dark Souls, but I genuinely don’t understand how “Power Rangers VS Voltron” is better in the YouTube algorithm than “Megazord VS Voltron.” Still, I suppose I should at least be grateful that their names are in the correct order given the most recent example of the practice as of my writing this.
Looking over this episode’s production history, I don’t think any episode had been quite as much of an “event” for the show itself since Goku VS Superman (2013). Ben Singer had wanted to do this specific matchup for years, having tinkered with a script for the animation as early as 2012. At the time, Ben was unaware that Death Battle would even venture into the realm of 3-D animations and endeavored to contract someone to create custom sprites of the combatants. That wound up falling through, and Ben later created Tigerzord VS Gundam Epyon to scratch his “mecha” itch instead, largely due to their having functional sprites. However, he never forgot his original dream matchup, and, when Death Battle started to grow under Rooster Teeth’s wing, the episode was designated as the Season Three finale. However, as has already been discussed, it would be delayed several times and was eventually pushed back to its current position as the episode seventy-five milestone (incidentally, this would be the last time that Death Battle would go out of its way to make a quarter-century milestone something particularly special). When the episode finally entered production, it quickly became apparent that the animation would be among the most technically ambitious of the show just by virtue of the matchup alone. Aside from Torrian’s usual mocap setup, an entire crew was pulled in to help build the character models, which, in the Megazord’s case at least, wound up being completely from scratch. Lead modeler Reid fa*gerquist also assisted Torrian and Jerome Rodgers-Blake with the lighting and textures, and Noel Wiggins was brought on to handle the sound design. Overall, I think it is safe to say that this was the first 3-D animation of the show - if not the show’s first animation in general - to be animated by a proper animation team rather than just one person with a bit of help. Of course, Torrian did the majority of the work with respect to the combat itself, but never before had so many people been on board to iron out the finer bells and whistles of the animation as a whole. However, Ben wanted this to be more than just an elaborate animation; as far back as his original concepts for the episode, he had wanted to assemble an all-star cast (relatively speaking) of fellow YouTubers to voice the ten characters involved. In the end, Marissa Lenti - who worked as Death Battle’s casting director at the time - managed to pull together Alejandro Saab, Jeffrey Fabe, Morgan Berry, Melonie Mac, and Andre Meadows to voice the Power Rangers, while Matthew Patrick, Austin Hargrave, Nick Landis, Amanda Lee, and Scott Frerichs voiced the Paladins. To make things even more special, Ben also commissioned Brandon Yates to write an original track for the animation, marking the musician’s first work for the season and his return after an eleven-episode hiatus. Given all of this hassle in the behind-the-scenes work for the episode, I think it’s quite apparent just how much of a passion project this was for Ben. He clearly wanted this episode to match the scale of the combatants in every way possible; whether or not he succeeded is another matter.
To start off, the first half of the episode honestly reminds me quite a bit of Godzilla VS Gamera. For one, they start off the preamble by describing the matchup as one of the “biggest” they’ve ever tackled, even going so far as to clarify that things are being boiled down to a “five-v.-five war of the giant robots.” An opening like this immediately raises the bar for what is expected of the episode considering all the grandiosity they have established for it, and the analyses do not disappoint…mostly. Don’t get me wrong, these are good analyses, and the comparison with Godzilla VS Gamera was largely a positive one. The Megazord’s analysis, much like Godzilla’s, is fairly oozing with passion and love for the combatants. Nick’s script manages to strike a perfect balance between poking fun at a few low-hanging fruit about the show while still building up the Megazord itself as “the coolest thing” the viewer has ever seen. Unlike just about every analysis so far this season with the slight exception of Shovel Knight’s, Wiz and Boomstick actually sound happy and excited to be talking about these franchises and the things within them. Wiz gets to explain to Boomstick what the Megazord “redirecting energy” means, and Boomstick gets to gush about its various weapons and abilities. Sure, some might find it strange that they spend as much time on the Rangers and their individual Zords as they do, but I personally think that Nick strikes a good balance between giving the uninitiated viewer enough information to go on without dragging an analysis that is supposed to be about the Megazord to a halt with irrelevant tangents. I don’t even mind that they give a few of the Zords feats and abilities. The Pterodactyl Zord’s speed feat gives an idea of what the Megazord may be capable of if push came to shove, and while the Triceratops Zord doesn’t get a payoff in the animation, the Mastodon Zord does, which makes the mention of its ability to freeze its foes in saran wrap a clever setup rather than a superfluous detail. Actually, that’s another thing; although none of the jokes are particularly elaborate, nor are they especially funny, they are nonetheless a welcome addition to this analysis, as they help sell the enthusiasm that Wiz and Boomstick are supposed to be expressing for the combatants. Nick’s deft handling of balancing jest with praise is probably in part due to the fact that he meant what he was writing to at least some extent. Despite being the episode’s lead writer, Nick had never actually interacted with the Power Rangers franchise before. According to Ben, Nick apparently enjoyed the MMPR show so much that he went on a rant during one of their lunch breaks lamenting that he had not gotten to grow up on the show like so many others. Overall, while not a great analysis per se,this is nonetheless an entertaining and fun one. It basically functions as a better version of Tigerzord’s analysis, with better thought-out jokes, more sensible progression in the script, and every bit as much love for the material.
Voltron’s analysis is probably a little weaker, but for a rather interesting reason: it has more backstory to cover. With the Megazord’s rundown, once Zordon summons the “five overbearing and overemotional humans,” Nick is able to immediately go over the Megazord’s attributes, something that mostly works because of the entertaining way in which they are presented. Here, a lot more time has to be spent on Voltron’s backstory. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but aside from one joke about the “merchandisability” of Voltron’s components, all of it up to the Paladin rundowns is presented in a straightforward manner, and this is where the Godzilla VS Gamera comparison is less favorable. In that episode, Gamera’s backstory was kept interesting and engaging through strong music choices and good jokes that lampshaded the decisions of the Atlanteans without taking away from Gamera’s grandiosity. Here, again apart from that one joke, the entire backstory is gone through with little more flexibility and personality than a Wikipedia synopsis. Still, once that portion is over, things do improve noticeably. The Sven fake-out, while prevented from being as funny as it could have been by Boomstick’s reaction taking a little too long, is still rather amusing, and I appreciate that Pidge being “unhinged” is actually brought up now rather than coming out of nowhere later (I also like the joke Boomstick gets about how Pidge’s colors are the only ones that actually match his lion’s). Boomstick’s speculation about the Paladins getting “motion sick” leading into Wiz confidently stating it to be the reason that Voltron fights at a distance is a neat way of using a rationalization for a quirk of the source material to tie in with the mech’s fighting style. Overall, while this analysis is not as fun as the Megazord’s, it still has some decent jokes and goes over Voltron’s arsenal in a decently engaging manner.
Of course, the main event was always going to be the fight animation. As one might expect, there’s quite a lot to say, so I’m going to start off by going over some of the issues. From a visual perspective, easily the worst element of the animation is the models for the Rangers and Paladins themselves. Now, given what Death Battle has done before and since with naturally low-resolution models, I think that the problem here is not so much with the models themselves so much as the simple fact that they were just always going to be a fairly low priority when it came to making them look good in the animation. While the Power Rangers don’t look completely abysmal, their flat, unmoving hands and limp movements are quite noticeable during the opening sequence. The Paladins, on the other hand, are far more reliant on facial animation, and their expressions range from neutral to hilariously terrifying. I genuinely burst out laughing on rewatch at the point where the Yellow Lion waves at the Rangers, both because of the hysterically stilted animation and Nick Landis’ odd delivery. I suppose that last point leads me to another of this animation’s quirks: the voice acting. I went over the cast list earlier, and looking at all the names selected for this particular animation, I cannot help but think in a few places that some of the actors may have been chosen for their billing rather than due to being the best choice for their roles. However, given that most of the dialogue for the Rangers and Paladins boil down to shouts and battle-cries scattered throughout, most of the performances don’t necessarily need to be particularly good in order to function fine enough. Rather, the two performances that are actually important are Alejandro Saab as Jason and Matthew Patrick as Keith, as they easily get the most lines. For my part, I think that Alejandro does fine enough as Jason. He gives his line-reads enough energy to be convincing, although the script doesn’t exactly require him to exhibit much range. Still, as the main actor on the Power Rangers side of things, he works decently well. Matthew, on the other hand, is a rather interesting case. Although all of the members of the cast are relatively big names in their own right, I don’t think any of them have quite the same universal Internet recognition as Mister Matthew “MatPat” Patrick himself, and while there is something thrilling about seeing Death Battle pull in an Internet celebrity of that kind of reputation, there is also a degree to which it works against the episode. Matthew has a very distinct voice - I mean that as neither a compliment nor an insult; that’s just how it is - and there is a certain degree to which it becomes almost impossible to actually hear him as a character and not just “the FNaF Game Theory guy” saying the things that the character from Voltron is supposed to say. Even his delivery of “Everything!” at the end which so many people praise, while being a genuinely well-delivered line, is helped somewhat by the radio effects filtering his voice and making suspension of disbelief easier. I should mention that I actually have nothing against the man himself; I know that he is a strangely divisive figure on the Internet, where people seem to either love him or hate him, but while I myself haven’t found much of his content particularly interesting for years, I never had an issue with him specifically. Regardless, while I think that he does a decent job in a vacuum, it mostly just sounds like him yelling in his normal voice, which is incredibly distracting and makes it harder to invest in his character as a stand-alone person. One last genuine issue I have with the animation is the setup. Now, I understand that this is one of those matchups where getting the characters to fight would almost entirely rely on a misunderstanding at best, if not old-school Season One logic of “show up, take out weapons, fight.” That does not change the fact that the animation opting for the latter is shockingly bare for a Torrian animation. In fact, this might be the first Torrian animation of the show that doesn’t even attempt to give the combatants a reason, no matter how flimsy, to fight each other: the Power Rangers just show up, see the lions walking around, and immediately summon their Zords. They proceed to teleport into the co*ckpits of their Zords somehow, although I suppose that might just be how things function in the show; I wouldn’t know.
However, once the Megazord and Voltron begin their transformations, things pick up spectacularly. The transformations themselves are lovingly recreated, with a split screen ensuring that the audience gets to see both in all their glory without either being shafted (although the Megazord’s transformation does look like it skipped a few steps, but again that might just be how it was in the original show). Once the mecha have assembled, the custom models are shown off in all their glory, and they look spectacular, especially the Megazord. I love how its almost plastic sheen makes it look like a toy come to life; in fact, that's probably because that isn’t far from the truth. Apparently, Chad James brought in an actual Megazord toy he owned for the modelers to use as a base, and while I didn’t hear of a similar process being used for Voltron, it nonetheless looks every bit as great. Part of what I love about this aesthetic it lends the animation is that it works with Torrian’s mocap methods to recreate the old-school “actor in suit” method with full CGI. This gives the animation a natural fluidity that none of Death Battle’s future robot fights would quite be able to obtain. Don’t get me wrong, Optimus Prime VS Gundam and Dragonzord VS Mechagodzilla both look amazing in their own right, and we will get to them in good time (or bad time, I suppose). However, both liberally abuse the models to create rubbery positions that would obviously not be possible were they not fully computer generated. Although Power Rangers VS Voltron does that as well, it is far less noticeable thanks to the use of mocap. Indeed, I think that the mocap in general allows the animation to successfully capture the feeling of actors in suits that MMPR would have had in a way that no Power Rangers episode before or since has done. Sure, the acrobatics are more elaborate, and the effects are flashier, but the rigid movements and shiny look of the models evokes that particular style in splendid fashion. Of course, I stand by the animation as not capturing the size and weight of the combatants nearly as well as Godzilla VS Gamera (and arguably Dragonzord VS Mechagodzilla), but I don’t think that poses much of a problem both due to the alternate style I mentioned earlier, and also thanks to the natural size difference between the mecha themselves. The opening shot of the Megazord towering over Voltron, who looks on in awe, does as good a job of creating the impression of size as the animation needs. It helps that, much like Hulk VS Doomsday, the animation makes great use of heavy sound design and rubble effects. I admittedly don’t think it manages the former quite as well, and there is less rubble overall, but what rubble is present is used wonderfully. Everything from the explosion of rock as the Megazord slams Voltron to the ground, to even the subtle rupturing of the surrounding area when the Power Sword plummets to the Earth, work to convey the scale of the fight despite the lack of perspective. All of these things also help make up for the lack of scale for the fight itself, effectively conveying the power these mecha hold without quite going to the scale that the analyses put them as capable of. The effects themselves are also, for the most part, really good. Torrian had made use of some hand-drawn effects before, but this was his first animation where he heavily leaned into using 2-D effects to accentuate and complement the models. This is significant because Death Battle in general has become more liberal with using such effects in its 3-D animations, style permitting.
As for the writing and choreography: like most Torrian animations, the combatants are given a very clear dynamic that is established right from the opening scuffle. The Megazord is more of a brawler, and, if it is not outright stronger, it at least takes a very clear edge in terms of pure skill. It succeeds in using the Mastodon Shield to turn Voltron’s arsenal against it, outfences Voltron in their sword fight, and in general is shown being far more comfortable getting its hands dirty in melee. Voltron, on the other hand, positively flies circles around the Megazord. It is easily capable of creating distance and closing it again without the Megazord being able to do anything about it, and it also clearly has more weapons up its proverbial sleeves. It isn’t a slouch when it comes to brute power either, as evidenced when it matches the Megazord’s striking power and plows it through the canyon floor. Now, I will concede that this dynamic, while clear and consistent, is also not fully in line with the analyses. The Megazord is definitely shown as being somewhat more agile than its analysis gave it the capability of being, and Voltron does not spend nearly as much time engaging in long-range combat despite that being Wiz’s entire explanation for how the Paladins avoid “motion-sickness.” However, while I do think that these real discrepancies hold this episode back ever so slightly, they don’t bother me too much because the choreography itself contextualizes them. With respect to the Megazord’s agility, the only point in the animation where it really exhibits more grace than the analysis implied is when it rolls out of the way of Voltron’s laser attack. In that particular instance, not only had the Megazord just been shown largely tanking a volley of Laser Blades that Voltron threw at it due to being too slow to evade them, but Voltron is also shown telegraphing its laser through a lengthy windup. Thus, I do not think it inconceivable that the Megazord would be capable of reacting quickly enough to get out of the way with how much time Voltron gave it, especially when considering that its dodge isn’t exactly the most graceful; it’s a relatively clumsy roll, not too unlike Nathan Drake’s in his episode come to think of it. As for Voltron, this is admittedly more of an issue due to the whole “motion-sickness” tangent, but I think it’s willingness to engage the Megazord in blade and melee combat can be justified by the Megazord using the Mastodon Shield to turn its own ranged attacks against it, setting Voltron up for the devastating Power Sword hit. This is why Voltron doesn’t use these attacks until the very end to buy Pidge time to retrieve the Blazing Sword; it knows that the Megazord can turn its attacks against it and decides to use its speed to retain the advantage instead to avoid that situation. Speaking of which, I love how the speed difference between the two is shown with the simple act of the Megazord retrieving the Power Sword. In the time it takes for the Megazord to run up and pull the Power Sword out of the ground, Voltron had already recovered from getting sniped and crashing through the rock pillar, almost managing to close the distance. The Megazord is able to react just in time to parry and send Voltron careening into a nearby cliff face, but it pulls off the maneuver none too soon. Speaking of the Power Sword, I absolutely adore the weapon trails in this animation. Generally, weapon trails in Torrain’s fights tended to be simple lines or streaks based on the color of the combatants’ weapons. This normally sufficed for whatever he was going for, and in the case of Wolverine VS Raiden, helped make the fight downright stunning. Here, he opts for a curious glass sheen effect, which does an absolutely phenomenal job of making every stroke dealt by one of the combatants feel absolutely devastating. Visually, it looks as though they are creating gaps in the space itself through sheer speed with which they move their immense weapons, and it works wonders to give them so much more weight.
Voltron responds by pulling out the Blazing Sword, and this leads to the extended blade combat that makes up much of this animation’s second act. The two initially charge forward for a clash in the bind, with Voltron building up power through momentum while the Megazord does so by charging the Power Sword itself. The effects work is excellent, and Torrian does a good job of using strong poses, colorful effects, and good sound design to convey the power the mecha are hitting each other with. Admittedly, that is mitigated when the music and effects die down so that Kimberly can make a reference that I'm not familiar enough with MMPR to get, but the line is decently funny regardless. I love how, after the Megazord headbutts Voltron away, it actually manages to shift the ball into Voltron’s court, which easily dodges the Megazord’s sword strokes and uses its greater mobility to bypass its guard and get in some heavy hits of its own. The sound design in general for these sword strokes is really good. Sure, I don’t think it sounds quite as heavy as the opening of Guts VS Nightmare, or even a handful of other episodes, but the solid metallicthunks work excellently, as do the accompanying flashes of lights and effects every time the blades impact something. At first, Voltron takes the advantage, using its superior speed to avoid the Megazord’s attacks and land some hits of its own; however, once the Megazord is able to keep Voltron in place, it manages to overwhelm Voltron with a flurry of blows, eventually disarming its opponent. The cinematography here is fantastic: when Voltron takes the lead, the camera constantly follows its movements, keeping it in the foreground of the action; when the Megazord begins to bring its superior bladework to bear, the camerawork relies on upward angles to convey not only the size of both mecha, but also the more imposing form of the Megazord as it beats down Voltron’s defenses. After being disarmed, Voltron immediately uses its flight and momentum to plow the Megazord through countless tons of rock on the canyon floor in an absolutely superb sequence. The sound design, rubble effects, and the amazing camerawork when Voltron finally throws the Megazord into the distant cliff side all come together fantastically. Voltron then tries to go for the same move again; however, this time the Megazord is ready, and responds with a head laser that it uses to stun and blind Voltron, opening it up for a counterattack. The Megazord then uses the Mastodon Shield to saran wrap Voltron’s left arm to the nearby stone pillar, which is an excellent way of working in that unique element of one of the individual Zord’s traits in the choreography without it actually appearing. The animation then takes a rather interesting turn, as it takes advantage of a curious difference between the Megazord and Voltron: Voltron’s Paladins have to work together from their individual lions, whereas the Rangers operate from a central control room. This is shown with the fact that the Red Lion is able to go out of its way to try and shield Voltron’s body from the Megazord’s sword stroke. Of course, it is amputated from the main body for its efforts, which prompts the Green Lion to escape from its icy prison and knock the Megazord back.
Seeing as this takes us along the animation’s conclusion, now would be as good a time as any to bring up Brandon Yates’ track for this episode, “Stronger Together.” Much like “I Am All of Mewtwo,” this track is less an original composition so much as it is a remix and re-instrumentation of themes from both franchises. However, what makes this track particularly interesting is that Brandon released a remastered version in 2022, and, unlike “Alive” and “Exo” where I feel quite comfortable recommending the new version over the old, I’m a bit less willing to do that this time around. The overall soundscape in the original “Stronger Together” is very tight and efficient, with standard percussion, keyboard effects, and guitars in harmonic and melodic roles. When the keyboard or one of the guitars assumes the melody, the rest of the instruments naturally recede in support. The remaster, however, has so many extraneous bells and whistles that the track almost sounds compressed rather than expansive. The melody all but drowns in a cavalcade of percussive effects, which severely dilutes the impact the central instruments are supposed to have. Nevertheless, while I certainly think that Brandon has written more interesting material in the years since, I still like this track a fair bit. The themes from the original material are well-played and reasonably transcribed into Brandon’s instrumental style, and the music fits the progression and events of the fight quite well. However, the obvious highlight is the last half a minute or so, which features a guitar solo (sort of; the percussion remains persistent throughout) performed by Mason Lieberman. This is particularly relevant given that it is timed with the animation to kick in right when Voltron begins its comeback.
Speaking of said comeback, the Green Lion head is launched to retrieve the Blazing Sword, and I love how, rather than just flying in a straight line, it can be observed moving in slight concentric patterns, giving the very act of flight a little more character. Matthew Patrick then gives one of the best line deliveries of his acting career, and Voltron prevents the Megazord from trying to intercept the Green Lion with an onslaught of every projectile weapon in its arsenal: everything from the Stringray Missiles, Ion Dart lasers, flames, and even the Electro Force cross can be observed as it unloads everything it has in one last effort to keep the Megazord in place. I love the fact that, through this attack - which is conveyed with some truly outstanding effects work for the time - the Megazord can be seen trying to defend itself with the Mastodon Shield, which gets slowly worn down before finally shattering like glass when Voltron finally retrieves its sword. The Rangers get a line that is probably there to specifically address audiences wondering why they didn’t “redirect the energy,” and Voltron charges forward and bisects the Megazord in a single slash, leading to an ending frame that Torrian just knew had to be lingered on to let the full impact sink in. The actual destruction of the Megazord itself might not be quite as impactful as the Mega Tigerzord in its episode, but everything else about this death is leagues better: the cinematography, the sound design, the resolution of Mason’s solo, Voltron’s dynamic pose as it finally cuts down its rival, the single slash against the black screen conveying its victory, and the final shot of a drained and damaged Voltron standing triumphantly before the ruined ashes of its foe after a hard-fought victory. This is an absolutely outstanding ending; it might not have the narrative weight of some of Death Battle’s other episodes, but in terms of a pure adrenaline rush of a resolution that juggles building tension with swelling triumph whilst still conveying the very real struggle of the winner, this is definitely among the greatest the show has ever done.
The conclusion is, on the whole, really good. It is notably lengthier than most conclusions from the prior season and covers just about everything they need to make their case. They acknowledge the Megazord’s skill advantage but go to great lengths to demonstrate how Voltron took everything else. However, I do have a few minor gripes with some of the technicalities. For one thing, I dislike how their strength feat comparison is between the Megazord throwing an uppercut and Voltron performing a kick. The difference in strength between legs and arms in humans is admittedly small enough that their comparison technically works, but I still think they should have gone with a more direct comparison, especially given that they themselves only give Voltron a five times strength advantage. Again, in realistic terms that is a massive gap, but a difference of five times does not sound that big in a general context. There’s also the fact that, during their explanation for Voltron’s superior durability, they gave the black hole meteor a number that roughly equates to three teratons of TNT; about small country level according to VS Battles Wiki. Although they made it crystal clear that an upgraded Megazord did not scale to the planet-busting Serpentera in any capacity, even one-quarter of planet level would still be almost five million times greater than the number they gave Voltron. Still, they clearly meant to give Voltron planet-level durability; they just used the wrong numbers, which is understandable given that Death Battle had not yet developed a standardized research system yet. I nonetheless think the conclusion works; its worst enemy is just some of the technicalities of its evidence, but the overall argument is solidly presented enough.
Considering what the script for this episode tries to do overall, with detailed rundowns, a conclusion that covers all relevant bases, and an animation that honestly looks far better than even most other 3-D animations of this season, it’s not at all surprising that this was supposed to be a season finale. If the episode as it currently exists had been presented as the Season Three finale, it definitely would have been the best one since Goku VS Superman (2013) (for what that's worth with only two other finales). Certainly, it would have been far better than the episode that currently holds that spot. However, if the delays were necessary for the episode to turn out how it is, then I think that having a superb episode seventy-five milestone instead is a more than fair trade. While this episode is not perfect, what issues it has are consistently quite minor. Even the fight script really has no problems once the fight actually begins, unlike Wolverine VS Raiden, which had plenty of scripting issues all throughout its runtime. Unlike some most episodes designed to signify the show’s growth and progression from its humble beginnings, Power Rangers VS Voltron absolutely reflects the incredible amount of effort that went into bringing it to fruition. I’m not entirely sure why the episode severely underperformed following its release, but it definitely deserves far more attention than it has gotten.
Ranking: S Tier
Chapter 6: Episode 76. Natsu VS Ace
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In retrospect, I find it a little strange that this of all matchups happened instead of Natsu versus Luffy. I guess it was a highly requested match at the time, and it seems that Luffy is more likely to fight Naruto nowadays, but considering that the connections on the face of it are “character who eats fire” versus “character who is fire,” I just find it odd that this was apparently so highly requested that the episode technically went into production at the same time as Zoro VS Erza. According to Ben, the crew decided to kill two birds with one stone by just combining the research process for both episodes, so, despite Zoro VS Erza being much further up in the overall schedule, the actual research for Natsu and Ace were done at the same time. I find that rather interesting, particularly given that a lot of people saw this as a pity win for Fairy Tail at the time due to Erza’s loss in her episode. Anyway, I remember disliking this episode far more than I had expected to on my last watch; I think the main reason was Natsu’s voice acting. Considering that a lot of people seem to regard this as one of the more underrated episodes of the season, I’m curious as to whether my opinion will become more positive this time around, or whether this isn’t another Ryu Hayabusa VS Strider Hiryu situation where I just don’t like an episode that most do.
Natsu’s analysis is decent overall. I actually quite like the gag at the beginning of them playing the Death Battle transition after correctly stating that Natsu died with his family in a dragon attack, although I wish they had let the transition sit a little longer than they did. Regardless, the opening coverage of Natsu’s backstory is really good. They go over what details are necessary without lingering on anything for too long, and there’s even a Boomstick dad joke that, while not funny, isn’t painful either. Admittedly, like a lot of analyses from Season Three to this point, Natsu’s analysis is extremely light on character discussion, focusing more on his backstory and powers, and only really mentioning his “headstrong attitude” when going over his weaknesses. There’s also the bizarre moment where Wiz states that his town-destroying escapades “aren’t always intentional,” as though Natsu is sometimes in the habit of blowing up towns full of innocent people for kicks (maybe he is, I wouldn’t exactly know otherwise). Still, I would call this analysis noticeably better than Erza’s if only for the larger quantity of funny jokes and some smartly-chosen edits. Gerardo Mejia was this episode’s lead editor, and his growing experience with these sorts of panels was really paying off. I also appreciated Wiz actually capitalizing on Boomstick bringing up Natsu’s motion sickness to explain how it relates to his unique physiology. It’s a neat moment that is informative, naturally led into, and perfectly in character for Wiz. However, I would definitely say that Ace’s analysis is better, albeit not by much. Their rundown of Ace’s weapons has some decent jokes, such as Saint Elmo and the “Cross Fire” gag, and I like how they use Ace needing to consciously activate his fire state to give him a reaction feat. However, the main reason that I consider this analysis better than Natsu’s is thanks to the cohesion between their coverage of Ace’s birth and his death. When Boomstick questions how Ace’s mother holding her pregnancy for twenty months was possible, Wiz rationalizes it with “sheer inconceivable willpower.” This receives an actual payoff towards the end, where Wiz brings up his “willpower and endurance” as things he inherited from his mother, and that he used to save Luffy at his own expense. It’s a small moment, and definitely could have been better built up throughout the script, but it being here at all is rather unusual for analyses at this point in the show’s life, and I appreciated its presence regardless.
The fight animation served as Luis’ next project for the show, although this time he was not alone. Death Battle had been incorporating hand-drawn elements in their sprite fights for years. Although they were often as not ripped or traced footage from the combatant’s source material, sometimes the animators would go out of their way to design custom pixel art or hand-drawn animations specifically for their work; Ryu VS Scorpion comes immediately to mind. For this particular project, Death Battle employed Chris Bastin to work on these frames. Chris would go on to do a large amount of hand-drawn animation for the show in the years since (although the consistency of his being credited is somewhat lacking). Normally his work would be done in a sketchy, line-drawn style, but sometimes the custom art would be pixel drawings. This animation primarily relies on the latter, which is interesting given how the former has gone on to become by far the more common method used by the show. Regardless, some of the drawings are painfully transparent ripped or traced footage, while others look genuinely phenomenal; but we’ll get to them in time.
The fight takes place in a similar, though not identical setting to Zoro VS Erza, which was probably an homage to the shared production of both episodes. Unlike the village in Zoro VS Erza, which at least bore a passing resemblance to a real layout in some shots, this village is laid out as a perfectly convenient arena. Anyway, after some insanely awkward voice acting from an uncredited extra, Ace is shown fleeing a nearby restaurant with a single chicken leg, as Natsu watches from a nearby rooftop. It’s possible that I’m just desperate after some really bad shots in past episodes, but it’s nice to see this technique where one subject is near the camera in silhouette while the other is in focus further away actually getting used effectively. Anyway, Natsu demands that Ace return his prize, who responds by eating both the meat and the bone it was on with an amusing sound effect. Natsu decides that this heinous crime warrants lethal retaliation, kicking off the fight. Like a surprising number of Season Four animations, the fight overall isn’t very long; the animation in general is barely two and a half minutes, never mind the time actually spent fighting. This isn’t inherently a bad thing, of course, provided the animation manages its time efficiently. As for whether or not it does so; things kick off with an obligatory exchange of basic punches and kicks, but for what it’s worth, I actually really like the sound design of this opening. Rather than the meatier sound effects that usually accompany this sort of CQC, Luis opts for effects that are softer, yet still possessing a great deal of lower crackle, keeping true to the spirit of their pyrokinetic abilities. Natsu eventually tries to splatter Ace with a charge attack, who promptly switches to his fire mode and lets Natsu destroy the building in the background instead. This moment accomplishes a few things: effective use of the 3-D background (in fact, this animation in general makes better use of the environment than Zoro VS Erza did), the fantastic silhouette shot of Ace in his fire mode after absorbing the attack with the building exploding in the background, and a nod to Natsu’s casual approach to collateral damage with his having no scruples about pulverizing the building. Natsu then gets the obligatory line about how Ace is “MADE of fire,” followed by a genuinely terrible-looking closeup of Ace. Given how good some of the later hand-drawn shots in this animation are, as well as the overall crusty look of this image, I am inclined to say that it’s ripped from the source material. Natsu dodges Ace’s retaliation before deciding to follow Ace’s lead in using the power of ripped footage to enter his…strongest form. Barely thirty seconds into the animation, and Natsu has already assumed his most powerful form. Now, I’m actually not completely against this given the payoff it gets later in the animation, but I do think it illustrates an issue that this animation has throughout: the pacing. Due to its short runtime, this animation is constantly rushing through every single scene as quickly as possible, with barely any shots being given time to linger or sink in. This is painfully spotlighted with Natsu and Ace’s big fist clash. On paper, this should be an excellent scene: Natsu and Ace charge at each other with their strongest punch attacks, and the ensuing explosion completely engulfs the village in flames, not only ramping up the scale of the battle, but also setting up a massive meal for Natsu to consume later. Unfortunately, none of this is given time to sink in: the two clash fists, the big explosion envelopes the screen, followed by an immediate cut to the burning village and the two panting from exertion. The audience doesn’t have time to fully appreciate any of these things, because the animation never slows down; it just instantly moves from the village burning to the combatants panting to Ace having immediately recovered and moving to finish the fight. The whole animation suffers from this problem, including the next scene where Ace tries to use his Firefly/Firey Doll combo to finish Natsu off. The orbs' movements after Ace fires them are hilariously lethargic, the closeup of Natsu looks like another traced still, and the actual attack is stopped almost immediately, making the animation’s emphasis on Ace’s cool finisher almost comical.
Having said that, there are still things to appreciate; the silhouette battle in the flames, where the two are illuminated only by the intensity of their own attacks is a neat moment, even if it too is rushed like everything else. Despite some awkward shots earlier, the pixel art of Ace after setting up Firefly is genuinely superb; it fits the style, is proportioned well relative to everything else, and syncs with what is going on. There are also several things to appreciate about the scene where Natsu actually starts eating the fire. The effects are excellent, and the detail of how Ace starts getting eaten before dropping his fire mode is nice, as is the fact that Natsu eats all of the fire currently within the village. I also really like the way Ace’s reaction to Natsu’s tastes contrasts with Natsu’s own earlier response to his being made of fire: Natsu sounded as though Ace being made of fire was just a neat thing about him, a quirk that, while strange, doesn’t necessarily make much of a difference. Ace’s response to Natsu eating fire, on the other hand, is clearly and distinctly unnerved, particularly seeing as he just narrowly avoided being consumed himself. I suppose on that note, I ought to talk about the voice acting. Ace is played by Valentine Stokes, and he does a decent job. I think his suave, steady diction fits Ace quite well, and he delivers most of his dialogue competently. There are a few attack names that are rather awkwardly read, but even there it sounds more like he was directed to deliver his lines quickly rather than effectively. Howard Wang as Natsu, on the other hand, is a different story. I mentioned above that, last time I watched this episode, I strongly disliked his performance as Natsu, to the point where it was a major reason that I wound up thinking that the episode overall was mediocre. As of this viewing, my opinion has softened somewhat, but not entirely. I actually think that Howard’s approach to Natsu’s regular dialogue is fine. It does sound a little try-hard to my ears - like someone clearly putting on a voice rather than just a person’s natural timbre - but it isn’t bad, and there are a few deliveries that are actually really good, especially his smug “I’m not trying to!” at the end when his plan to defeat Ace pays off. However, his shouts are almost uniformly some of the worst battle-cries I think I have yet heard from the show. Granted, he isn’t nearly as bad as Stewart Schlomach in Tigerzord VS Gundam Epyon, but there is not a single battle-cry that actually sounds like Natsu screaming at the top of his lungs. Every single one sounds incredibly held back and artificial, and this is especially a problem when a significant portion of his dialogue is just him yelling out his attack names. When most of the dialogue on both ends is like that, committed line delivery is key, and the fact that most of them sound restrained is a serious problem.
Anyway, Ace responds to Natsu’s buffet by contributing with Flame Emperor, which, like most attacks in this episode, has no weight or time to sink in due to being rushed through as fast as possible. It doesn’t even feel all that different from any of his other attacks due to the only clear shots of it barely impressing its size and intensity. Natsu charges through easily enough, leading to the kill, which admittedly has a lot to like about it. Natsu makes as though he’s just going to charge through Ace like he did at the beginning, making him feel comfortable enough to deliver a taunt in another genuinely amazing bit of pixel art animation. The animation immediately cuts to ripped footage of Natsu that actually fits this time due to it not having any awkward cuts or crops (and being a closeup as opposed to revealing much of the background helps) as he delivers a genuinely awesome line that helps highlight his intelligence as a fighter; he realized that raw might alone was not enough to destroy Ace, so he actually powered down to a supposedly weaker form that gave the ability he needed to bypass Ace’s intangibility (I also love Ace’s concerned expression after Natsu’s response; Luis is always great at giving his characters plenty of personality). The actual killing blow, while somewhat hampered by Howard’s limp yells, is nonetheless amazing, with one of the most visceral hand drawn kills of the show: Ace screaming in pain as he is melted head-first. It’s a bit of purely hand-drawn work that completely holds up to this day (and yet is somehow less gruesome than Shovel Knight’s death due to the lack of blood). The animation then ends with Natsu standing on a rooftop while the village burns and laughing as a random explosion goes off behind him. I will admit, that seems a bit odd to me, but then again, the analysis didn’t give me enough of an idea of his character to know whether Natsu would casually let a village explode and declare “All’s well that ends well” or not.
The conclusion is fine, but I have a few odd problems with it. For one, they honestly don’t do anything to explain why Natsu couldn’t just eat Ace whenever he’s in his flame form. From what I’ve heard, there is an actual reason for this, but considering that the analysis just said that the only fire he couldn’t eat is his own, I don’t really see why eating Ace would be somehow off the table. On the other hand, they don’t really explain how or why lightning could hurt Ace. Given how they build the back half of their conclusion around doing the Season One thing where they give a soft-recap of what we just saw, that should have been explained far more thoroughly than not at all. Of course, the best part of the conclusion is Boomstick actually complimenting Wiz on his pun, and Wiz being genuinely thankful. Considering how pretty much every single “Wiz tries to make a pun” joke ends with the punchline of “Boomstick gets angry that Wiz is doing his thing,” it’s nice to see an episode actually do something different in a way that gives the hosts a better rapport with each other.
Overall, Natsu VS Ace is, in fact, better than I remember…in that it has graduated in my estimation from a thoroughly mediocre episode to a perfectly okay episode. The whole thing is heavily uneven: the analyses are sometimes interesting, other times boring; the fight has a lot of cool things about it, but the rushed pacing and awkward voice acting bring a lot of it down; the conclusion is technically correct by their own logic, but their arguments both for it being close and their specific reason for Natsu’s victory don’t really make sense. I certainly don’t dislike the episode like I used to; however, given that I also still don’t especially like it, it seems that the Ryu versus Strider comparison from earlier was more apt than I had thought.
Ranking: C Tier
Chapter 7: Episode 77. Sub-Zero VS Glacius
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It's actually rather amazing to me that it took this long for Sub-Zero, arguably one of the most iconic fighting game characters of all time, to appear on Death Battle. Apparently, this matchup was fairly popular at the time, although it seems like that was mostly a byproduct of Sub-Zero being a popular character considering that one of his most requested matchups was against Elsa from Frozen. The crew went with Glacius both to avoid the obvious tonal disparity that would come with an admittedly amusing idea like that, and due to Nick Cramer being a big fan of Killer Instinct.Seeing as the episode has pulled in a surprisingly high view count for a post-Season Three episode, the decision has clearly paid off. Nonetheless, this episode has a reputation of being about as interesting and unique as a plank of wood, and while I remember this episode going in one ear and out the other on my last watch, I was curious if this episode is really as faceless as its reputation suggests.
Sub-Zero’s analysis is a less engaging version of Scorpion’s from his episode, but I actually didn’t think it was bad at all. If anything, compared with some of the other analyses from previous episodes, it actually gives me far more of what I want out of these character rundowns. They cover his backstory decently, running over the necessary beats about the tribal rivalries and his personal conflict with Scorpion, and they manage to keep their discussion of his arsenal and feats engaging through good banter and jokes. Boomstick sounds like he’s actually having fun talking about him, and even Wiz gets a few moments to express his admiration, particularly with the tangent of how much punishment Sub-Zero can take; he honestly sounds more amazed by Sub-Zero surviving massive blood loss than Boomstick does, which makes perfect sense given his lower suspension of disbelief. I also appreciate that Nick actually tries to give Sub-Zero a nice ending note about him improving his people’s lot in life and mending bridges with Scorpion, although it would have had far more impact if it had been better integrated into the rundown. Still, this analysis actually managed to remain consistently engaging, which I really appreciate. Of course, Glacius’ analysis is probably a little better. I like how Gerardo includes an edit of Glacius in cop paraphernalia during the exposition about the galactic marshals without just directly stating in the dialogue “Glacius was a space cop,” allowing for a far more natural transition from Glacius as a random officer on his way to do his duty to him actually developing a personal grudge against Ultratech (speaking of which, while it isn’t as well-delivered here as it has been elsewhere, I appreciate Nick’s dedication to the “Evil Walmart” gag). Glacius’ telekinesis naturally leads into the aftermath of his being intercepted by Ultratech, leading to his cryokinetic associations. Of course, what follows is their overview of his abilities and weapons, and it's just as engaging as Sub-Zero’s. Sure, neither analysis contains the most gripping presentation imaginable, but Nick’s script properly takes advantage of Wiz and Boomsticks’ banter. Wiz making a Kelvin joke that Boomstick doesn’t get, and then remaining extremely proud of it despite Boomstick’s jabs is a nice moment, but Boomstick ending things off with the “How Many Licks” reference and Wiz just saying “You’re f***ing weird” in a thoroughly exasperated tone is definitely the highlight. Overall, these analyses were decent. I wouldn’t call them great, but they held my attention far better than I had expected; I suppose Nick’s personal love for these franchises bled through in the best way.
I must admit, I’m a little surprised that the fight animation isn’t talked about more often; not because it’s good (we’ll get to that), but because it served as the animation debut for Gustavo “Gus” Espinal. Although perhaps not as well-known as other Death Battle sprite animators, such as Zack Watkins or Luis Cruz, or even Jordan Lange, Gus would probably prove to be one of Death Battle’s most important acquisitions, joining the animation team during the production of Season Six and remaining a consistent presence ever since. He has worked on some of the show’s most beloved and respected episodes and became particularly significant for the show’s movement towards puppet animations from Season Seven onward. However, he has also worked on some rather lousy episodes (which is perfectly normal for any professional), and his first animation does not exactly buck the trend of Death Battle sprite animation debuts being rather rough for the animator (interestingly, I think that Jordan Lange still has the best showing in that regard).
Anyway, the animation opens on Glacius emerging from Samus’ ship in his molecularly dispersed form, for some reason, while Sub-Zero takes his daily jog through the forest. The two then meander around awkwardly for a few seconds before they instantly decide to kill each other. The fight begins with a melee scuffle of all things, which is particularly strange given how they made a huge deal about how Glacius’ strategy is built around keeping his foes at a distance. Regardless, the two continue to trade blows, blending in with each other somewhat due to their low-quality sprite sheets, before Glacius uses his Puddle Punch to knock Sub-Zero back. The whole altercation is just odd; Glacius uses what I think is an ice lance to keep Sub-Zero at bay for a moment, and the close-up shot of Sub-Zero dodging Glacius’ swings is actually really well-done. However, after Glacius does the funny “Combo Breaker,” his following beatdown on Sub-Zero is bizarrely presented. The best way I can describe it is that it is both too fast and too slow at the same time: Glacius’ movements are weirdly lethargic, and it seems like Sub-Zero should have plenty of time to get out of the way, but his attacks take place so quickly that it’s difficult to even tell what he’s supposed to be doing. He ends the combo with the Shatter technique, which is just as abrupt as everything else and has some truly horrendous sound design; a light tinkling sound that doesn’t sound like it should have even hurt Sub-Zero, let alone sent him flying as it is shown to have done in the next shot. Anyway, Sub-Zero disappears into a conifer, and Glacius responds by cutting it in half…somehow. Whatever he did is off-screen, so I have no idea what his attack was supposed to be. Sub-Zero then instantly emerges by sliding forward on his own ice, which looks incredibly stupid due to him not changing his pose at all and just moving forward at a single speed the entire time. What follows is probably even dumber: Glacius very slowly summons ice projectiles, which Sub-Zero just stands there for almost ten seconds and lets him do, probably so that he can get an ill-fitting voice clip, which Glacius also politely waits for him to finish before actually throwing them. Sub-Zero then destroys the incredibly slow-moving projectiles with an even slower sword, ending by throwing one back to shatter against Glacius’ carapace, a moment that might have been neat if it wasn’t so sluggish and accompanied by better sound design. After a few more hits, there’s another almost good part where Glacius destroys Sub-Zero’s hand, a moment that is ruined by the slow, bad-looking sprite rigging of Sub-Zero staring in amazement at his stump. Glacius then tries to slowly cover Sub-Zero in his essence to dissolve him, which, thanks to the sluggish animation, Sub-Zero has plenty of time to foil with an ice clone. Glacius emerges, then turns around in another moment of bad rigging as Sub-Zero pops up out of nowhere to perform his finisher. I have to admit: somehow, they managed to make one of the most famous fatalities from Mortal Kombat feel slow, impactless, and rushed all at once thanks to a combination of lousy sound design, subpar visual effects, and no real emphasis on Sub-Zero’s maneuver. I suppose I have to give credit where it’s due: the second ever episode between Mortal Kombat and Killer Instinct really lived up to Fulgore VS Sektor’s legacy.
The conclusion is fine, I guess. I appreciate that they at least gave numbers to prove that Sub-Zero could bypass Glacius’ shell, but I love how they gave him the skill and maneuverability advantage due to his “ninja-like training” rather than anything even remotely substantial.
On a rewatch, I can definitely see why many critics view this episode as the forgettable one of the season, as there’s just not much to talk about. The analyses are decently engaging, but they aren’t terribly memorable; the conclusion is adequate, but honestly feels like a Season Two conclusion with a few numbers thrown in the mix; and the animation is just a more competent version of Fulgore VS Sektor, with better interscene continuity but arguably worse rigging and speed. I might be astonished that this is one of the most popular episodes of its season, were it not for the fact that Batman VS Captain America is one of the most popular episodes of the show.
Ranking: D Tier
Chapter 8: Episode 78. Android 18 VS Captain Marvel
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Despite being yet another episode of the season that doesn’t get discussed all that much, there are two ways in which Android 18 VS Captain Marvel possesses some historical significance. First, this episode marked the return of Zack Watkins as an animator for the show. Although he only worked on one other fight this season, he would nonetheless go on to become one of the show’s head animators in future seasons. The second reason this episode is important is due to its production taking place during the movement of ScrewAttack’s headquarters from Dallas to Austin as part of its move to properly join Rooster Teeth. This made production somewhat more hectic than usual, with Ben stating that he believed the “writing may have suffered a bit” due to a consequent lack of focus. This effect would bleed over into the following two episodes as well, although Ben affirms that this was not a second “dark period.” Nonetheless, it is worth noting that this is one of only a few occasions that Death Battle has publicly admitted to presenting flawed research. Granted, the way in which they did this doesn’t actually help the episode at all, but it is interesting regardless.
Android 18’s analysis is a bizarre mixed bag. On the one hand, there are a number of jokes that I almost like: Wiz sympathizing with Dr. Gero is honestly way better executed here than the similar bit in Stitch VS Rocket Raccoon, if only because it’s handled with some degree of subtlety, and him going to great lengths to correct his use of the term “androids” was nice, especially seeing as it influences Wiz using the term sardonically later on. I also like how much time the analysis spends at the beginning on 18’s backstory. It’s intriguingly presented, clearly explained, and contains a few decent jokes to keep things engaging. However, the analysis also has a few components that get under my skin as well. For one thing, while I understand people want analyses to “respect the combatants,” every now and again Boomstick will interrupt the flow of the analysis to say, “Android 18 is so awesome!” which, considering both that she wins and they never do the same with Captain Marvel, is a little irritating. It honestly reminds me of Guts’ analysis from his earlier episode, and while Boomstick’s drooling isn’t nearly as prevalent here, it nonetheless works with the abysmal conclusion to hinder the episode’s credibility. More annoyingly however, is that this analysis’ pacing is all over the place. At nearly eight minutes, it’s about as long as most modern analysis segments, and yet they manage to avoid going over her story and character much, if at all, by stretching out their discussion of her arsenal and powers for as long as humanly possible. Of particular curiosity is how they spend so much time on the logistics behind “breaking Super Saiyan Vegeta’s arms,” when it winds up being completely superfluous to the verdict given the scaling they actually give her. The entire analysis just seems unnaturally stretched out, which works to make it feel far longer than plenty of other analyses that are technically of greater length. It’s also hilarious to me that they bring up her “cold and apathetic” reputation as a potential weakness considering they turn around an instant later and call it a “guise.” It’s made even sillier to me because they give no evidence for how it affects her capabilities; frankly, it’s the closest this analysis comes to actually going over her character, but considering that she apparently isn’t either of those things anyway, I guess I’m just back at square one. Oh, and the other weakness they give her is a remote shutdown that is completely irrelevant to the debate, begging the question of why they brought it up in the first place. Carol’s analysis was a little better, if for no other reason than it actually having a runtime to match the amount of things they cover. Honestly, while there were one or two minor jokes, I’m just stunned at how little comedic material Sam and Jessica - the episode’s writers - tried to get out of Mar-Vell, or even Captain Marvel herself. One would think that there would be plenty of things for the hosts to get out of that sort of writing, but the episode never tries to take advantage of any of it. The rest of her analysis outside of their coverage of her backstory is just as dull as Android 18’s, only less annoying due to their not stopping the analysis to tell the audience how “cool” she is. I guess the joke at the end of Boomstick guzzling beers while critiquing Captain Marvel for her crippling alcoholism was almost funny, and I appreciate how it ties in with Wiz’s earlier remark that Boomstick has “a problem.” Other than that, this analysis definitely fits in with the rest of the season’s boring rundowns.
As mentioned before, the animation marked the return of Zack Watkins to the Death Battle crew, where he has remained ever since as one of the leading sprite animators. Zack has consistently proven himself to be one of the best animators the show has hired, his animations being marked by excellent attention to detail, fast and fluid choreography with a good deal of weight, and vibrant color palettes that make his animations visually stimulating. Obviously not all of his animations are winners, but his work is generally high quality. This time around, Zack wasn’t alone; Chris Bastin returned as the graphic artist once again to provide some more detailed frames and stills. Thus, despite my distinctly remembering not liking this episode at all last time I watched it, I was nonetheless excited to see how Zack and Chris would fare in their first episode working together. At first, it seemed that my excitement was warranted, as the opening preliminary of Android 18 flying around is actually really good: there’s an expressive and detailed bit at the beginning with a squirrel that is both charming and extremely well-animated, Chris Bastin’s hand-drawn work for 18’s flight trails is excellent, and the animation itself has a great sense of speed. Not to mention, for the first time with any sprite animation this season, the colors actually seemed to possess a reasonable degree of saturation. The closest a sprite episode had come yet to this degree of visual clarity was Natsu VS Ace, but not only was the background itself heavily muted, but the effects quickly caused that animation to become oversaturated. 18 eventually arrives at a cliff where Captain Marvel is already staring at a Dragon Ball, and I immediately noticed that there is no sound design whatsoever for Android 18 moving forward. That was a bit of a red flag, but it was also no cause for alarm yet; Mega Man VS Astro Boy had a similar audio breakdown at its beginning as well, but the problem instantly went away, and the rest of the animation was excellently-done action. However, one advantage that episode had was that its characters were silent, while this one has full voice acting, which I might as well discuss now because it never gets any better than this brief exchange. Captain Marvel is played by Terri Doty, and while her cadence fits Carol decently well, she is unfortunately shackled to some really mediocre dialogue. As for Amber Lee Connors as Android 18: I know that this is somewhat heretical of me to say given that she is the TeamFourStar actor of the character, but I really don’t like her performance here. I get that she’s going for an uninflected, steady diction in order to sell 18’s “apathetic” demeanor, but I don’t think it comes across clearly due to her trying to give 18 a playful, smug edge as well. The two wind up clashing, creating an uneven performance.
Regardless, they start fighting, and, for the first half or so of the animation, there is plenty to like. In terms of the action itself, Zack clearly wanted to make clear that he was still in the game, because much of it is very well done. The effects for 18’s Instant Transmission are simple but highly effective, several midair forced perspective shots are smooth and seamless, the camera tracking is excellent, and the sense of speed in the action actually holds up to this day; considering how many episodes like to abuse the “invisible midair clash” effect, I honestly think that this is one of only a handful that succeeds in making them feel as fast as they should be. There are a few moments of fairly interesting choreography: Carol using one of her lasers to obstruct 18’s vision so that she can get a hit in is genuinely clever, and the scene where the two mirror attacks is decently comedic without being distracting. Of particular note are Chris’ hand-drawn shots, which are consistently great, particularly the shot of 18 doing doughnuts around Carol due to her greater speed. However, despite my praise for the genuinely good elements in this half of the animation, there is one major problem that it suffers from all throughout, and I found it distracting enough that I think it brings down the entire sequence to some degree: the sound design. Now, I should be clear that the problem is not with the sound effects themselves; Zack (or whoever did the sound mixing) makes liberal use of Dragon Ball melee effects, and most of them fit the action quite well. Unfortunately, while the effects are sensibly chosen, the balancing is not. For some reason, while the two “swooshing” through the air is far forward in the mix, their actual clashes are much further back. This severely blunts the impact of many moments that, given Zack’s posing and the effects themselves, are clearly supposed to hit like a truck. This problem persists all throughout; at best, the mixing might be a bit cleaned up, as it is during some of the invisible clashes, but there is never a point throughout this entire sequence where the sound design actually has the weight that it is supposed to. Even Ragna VS Sol Badguy, for as bad as the sound mixing in that animation was, occasionally had points that actually packed a wallop. Sure, they often felt like mistakes due to how haphazardly they were chosen, but they were at least there. This sequence doesn’t have anything of the kind, and it severely hinders what Zack was clearly going for.
Anyway, after a decently funny moment where 18 uses Carol’s hair to throw her into the side of the cliff, she gets a line that, despite this animation lacking lip syncing, is somehow poorly timed with her movements as she prepares to fire a ki barrage. Captain Marvel dodges for some reason, despite her using this very energy to power herself up, which she promptly does when 18 fires a large beam that has even worse sound design than usual. She then turns into Binary in one of the funniest “transformations” of the show: her sprites turn white after absorbing the energy, creating a random explosion that causes her to change. This is also the point where everything starts going down the drain from “acceptable” to “awful.” First, Binary’s sprites are hilariously bad. I can forgive the effect for her hair making it look like she’s missing half her head due to sprite limitations, but that does not change the fact that her entire sprite sheet looks…for lack of a better word, compressed. It looks like the result of someone messing around with distortion tools, crushing her top-down appearance while unnaturally stretching her sideways at the same time. It looks incredibly goofy, not helped by the cartoonish dialogue she gets from this point onward. Regardless, she punches the nearby mountain, causing the top to blast apart in what is probably the only moment in the entire episode with actually heavy sound design. This is immediately followed by 18 getting knocked to the ground by falling rocks, which might be one of the silliest bits in the entire episode: her stilted movements while getting hit, combined with the nonexistent sound design, make the sequence seem like a slapstick bit from a cartoon, with 18 getting hit with the equivalent of a giant rubber hammer. This might not be a bad thing, except I’m pretty sure this isn’t supposed to be funny. Binary gets another awful line where she politely tells 18 exactly how her powers work, and fires a big laser that, in the next shot, has turned into a small projectile that 18 can easily block (complete with what I’m positive is a lightsaber sound effect for some reason). After a few more impactless clashes, a giant rock that I think is supposed to be the top of the cliff that Marvel destroyed earlier shows up, although there was nothing in that shot to set up its existence. 18 decides to destroy it by throwing her Destructo Disk in an arc. This was quite considerate of her, given that if she had just thrown it straight up, she would have hit Carol with it due to her flying behind the rock while 18 was wasting time on something she should be able to just tank. I’ll grant Zack that the actual effect for the rock getting cut in half is really good, but that does not change the bizarre writing of this sequence. Marvel prepares to fire another laser, complete with a Star Wars blaster effect this time, which she then does with a lovely supervillain laugh and monologue to top things off. Again, the visual effects themselves are pretty good: the laser has a good sense of power and momentum, the way it envelopes 18 to the point where only her silhouette can be seen is a nice touch, and it has a degree of scale that similar attacks don’t always have. The whole thing is just brought down by the writing and acting, which kill the momentum. Anyway, 18 says the funny Booster Gold line without a fraction of the energy or charisma, powers up with more bad sound design and out-of-sync voice acting, and knocks Binary into a smear-spin that would go on to haunt many a Season Seven animation in the future. She breaks Binary’s arms, which I guess is a decent nod to the “breaking Super Saiyan Vegeta’s arms” feat they waffled on about in the analysis, and is also the only time in this episode where the voice acting is actually good; Terri’s primal screams of pain are so good that it almost makes me feel sorry for her. 18 knocks Binary into a stupid-looking pose that manages to make the effects for her hair look even worse than they already did, before crushing her head in for the kill. Overall, while the animation looks pretty and is mostly well-animated, the sound mixing, writing, and voice acting really hurt it to the point where I actually don’t think it’s all that much better than the previous episode’s animation.
The conclusion, however, is what really sinks this episode. So, their first argument is that 18 was much faster, which is admittedly true by their own logic. In fact, one of the corrections after this episode came out was them explaining that they put her speed too low, thus making the gap even bigger. However, every other argument they make is stupid. First, they spend a weirdly long time trying to argue that 18 likely wouldn’t give Carol enough energy to reach Binary at all, making it a nonfactor in the debate. Ignoring how they proceed to use antifeats to justify Binary not affecting the debate regardless, they seem to have forgotten that their own rules dictate that combatants are examined at their maximum potential, which Binary clearly would be for Carol. It’s not unlike how they always give Sonic characters their super forms despite them almost never being able to just access them whenever they please in canon; it’s a concession made for the sake of the debate. It doesn’t help that their entire argument against Binary being able to sway the debate is “well, I guess her energy absorption isn’t as good as she thought.” They don’t go over how her own strength would match up with 18’s, nor do they do anything to explain how 18 held any advantage other than speed, despite them rattling off “strength, tactics, and endurance” at the end. This is particularly important because they gave Binary far more direct planetary feats than 18, and consistently scaled her to “star levels of power.” It is not rocket science to infer that “star levels of power” are substantially greater than those required to destroy a planet, which is the best scaling they gave 18. As far as this episode is concerned, 18 should have been unable to do anything other than die the moment Binary showed up due to how huge this gap in power is. For some reason, they never discuss any of this; instead, all they do is compare speeds, state that Binary is a nonfactor, and then conclude that “the winner is Android 18.” It’s so poorly justified that it honestly feels like this script came from Season Three. I guess the ending with Boomstick admitting that his closing pun was bad is decent, at least.
I get that this episode is often seen as perfectly acceptable by most, but I just have too many problems to fully agree. The analyses are badly paced and indifferently written when they aren’t going on about how awesome Android 18 is, the conclusion is atrocious, and the animation, while nice visually, has awful sound design and a bizarre script that results in a confused tone and muddled pacing. I can’t quite bring myself to call this episode “bad,” but only being beaten thus far by Venom VS Bane in the race to the bottom is not something to be proud of.
Ranking: D Tier
Chapter 9: Episode 79. Metal Sonic VS Zero
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Am I alone in being a little surprised that this is only the second time that the Sonic and Mega Man franchises have been pitted against each other on this show? I appreciate that the thematics allow it to serve as a sort of spiritual sequel to Eggman VS Wily, but given that Mega Man is probably the video game franchise that has the second most amount of legacy with Sonic behind Super Mario, one would think that they would get more matchups together than they have. Regardless, this was the second episode created during the move to Austin and was Luis’ first time operating as not just an episode’s lead animator, but the sprite animation director of the show. Granted, that probably didn't make a massive difference yet given that this animation was the work of him and Chris Bastin alone, but that additional level of responsibility for him technically began with this episode.
I guess Metal Sonic’s analysis starts off fine enough; the opening setup of Eggman having a “speedy blue problem” is decently self-explanatory, and I enjoy whenever Boomstick tries to sing the theme from the Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon. Honestly, the splicing of footage from that cartoon with clips of Metal Sonic from the Sonic the Hedgehog OVA is very well done; it takes advantage of the more menacing landscapes and Eggman design from the former to enhance the intimidation of the latter, which I appreciate. Unfortunately, after Boomstick announces Eggman’s “greatest creation” as “Metal Sonic,” things begin to go downhill with the start of the painful “metal band” running gag. The way it’s introduced is so weird: Boomstick putting so much emphasis on Eggman’s name for his “greatest creation” led me to think that the obvious joke would be Nick taking a light jab at Eggman’s lack of creativity when naming his robot. Instead, Boomstick uses the resemblance of Metal’s core to a speaker to postulate that he can use it “to blast Slayer all day long.” That’s fine enough, but then Wiz responds by saying “no, he’s just made of metal.” So did Boomstick get that idea in his head from his name being Metal Sonic, and not the way that his core resembles a speaker? The joke just seems so confused and all over the place, to the point where I’m just wondering what it’s even supposed to be. Is it making fun of Metal Sonic’s design? His name? Regardless, it’s a mess, and Boomstick continues to make unfunny “band name” references as the analysis goes on. The rest of Metal Sonic’s analysis is rather standard fare, with the most interesting point to me being when they actually tried to determine base Sonic’s speed to use as a reference for Metal’s. I get that nowadays these in-game methods are looked down on, particularly with Death Battle putting Metal Sonic’s maximum speed at Mach-35, but I do somewhat miss this time period when even speedsters were not necessarily just handed FTL speeds (granted, the idea that Quicksilver of all characters is almost one hundred thousand times faster than Sonic the Hedgehog is hilariously stupid, but still). Other than that interesting tangent, most of the analysis is a fairly normal, uninteresting rundown of Metal’s various abilities with no narrative throughline.
Before we discuss Zero’s analysis, I should probably mention that, back in 2017 when this came out, young me had genuinely never heard of him before. The only characters from the Mega Man franchise that I was aware of were the ones covered in old Death Battle episodes. Thus, like with the rest of the franchise, this analysis essentially served as my introduction to Zero as a character. To be frank, it was not a particularly flattering one. Zero’s backstory, despite being more extensive than Metal’s and thus more interesting on paper, is somehow the less engaging of the two. I’m not entirely sure what it is, but something about the way that Zero is portrayed and described to the audience does very little to endow him the same amount of gravitas that Metal Sonic was given. In his analysis, Metal was built up as Eggman’s ultimate solution to his perpetual problem; here, Zero sure does exist to be “stronger than original Mega Man in every way.” There’s no sense of weight or threat to his introduction, resulting in their coverage of his alignment shift being completely devoid of any narrative weight. There’s no sense of catharsis, or that a possible catastrophe was averted, because the audience is given no frame of reference for how deadly Zero could have been. As for his defection to the Maverick Hunters, it’s skimmed over with even less fanfare. Hilariously, I don’t think this analysis mentions X at all at any point; in fact, the closest it comes to doing so is in the sidebar in reference to Zero defeating a copy of him. Other than that, X might as well not exist, and he certainly didn’t for young me when watching this episode upon release. They go over his weapons with all the excitement of Metal Sonic’s rundown, before discussing his saving the world from Eurasia. Of course, it is given no weight or narrative context, because that would require going into more than the barest of bare essentials for the story. I guess I appreciate that, unlike the last episode, Zero’s analysis mentions a few actual weaknesses, such as him being capable of exhaustion and being destructible (what a debilitating weakness, getting destroyed if hit too hard). They also play the funny Mega Man X4 clip, which I honestly don’t like. Don’t get me wrong, I do find the clip itself humorous, although it is far funnier to me in full rather than just the “punchline” they play in the episode, but not only do I find it distracting in this context, but, because they didn’t go over Zero’s character at all in this analysis, I remember it giving 2017 me the impression that the funny clip is just Zero’s entire character, which did absolutely nothing to endear me to the Mega Man X franchise as a whole, nor make me intrigued enough to research it on my own. Obviously, this isn’t something I’m bitter about; I’m not a video game person, and it’s not as though Mega Man X is some franchise that I discovered later and became really immersed in. I just think it’s a shame that nothing about the presentation succeeds in selling Zero as an interesting character in any capacity.
The animation was Luis Cruz’s first project for the show as the lead 2-D animator, with Chris Bastin once again acting as the graphic artist for the various hand drawn elements and stills. At the time of release, the animation was quite popular among fans and the general audience thanks to its experimental techniques and sense of blistering speed; however, as time has gone on, the animation - and the episode with it - has been increasingly falling out of favor. I was hoping that this rewatch would really put me in the shoes of its old champions and let me see what so many others seemed to back in the day - believe it or not, I do, in fact, prefer watching good episodes to bad ones. Unfortunately, while I don’t doubt that Luis and Chris worked hard, I have very few actively good things to say about this animation.
Let’s start from the beginning: the animation opens on, fittingly enough, a faux-3D shot of a collection of F-Zero cars on a bridge. The shot lingers for less than a second before depicting Metal Sonic smashing through them with blazing speed. This isn’t necessarily an issue, but it does provide something of a prelude for the breathless pacing that is going to plague this animation from here on out. To Luis’ credit, Metal Sonic’s movement has an excellent sense of speed thanks to the smear frames and speed lines, and while the head-on shot of Metal Sonic looks a bit strange, it’s probably the best use of the 3-D models in the animation due to its reliance on shadows to emphasize Metal’s glowing red eyes. Zero’s introduction, on the other hand, is far more awkward. The plane shot of the road is bizarrely positioned, making it unclear at first what it’s even supposed to be showing, particularly with the muted, unappealing color palette. I think I get why this was done; it was to emphasize Zero’s own speed as he enters the scene, and again, to Luis’ credit, this also has a good sense of speed. However, instead of landing with a heavy impact to really drive home Zero’s presence, him touching down on the road is instead accompanied by light sound effects, as though he lost all of his momentum before landing. This leads immediately into a shot of his own 3-D model, and it looks really bad. The lip syncing is nonexistent, but the more fundamental issue is just that the model looks horribly out of place. It’s too detailed to properly fit in with the simplistic backgrounds, but it’s not clean enough to stand out on its own. It just looks added in post every single time, which somehow manages to make the models look cheap despite their clearly being here to show off Death Battle’s expanded resources. I guess Zero grabbing his Z-Saber doesn’t look too bad, but the following flourish has some truly atrocious sound mixing: Zero says something, but it is impossible to tell what he's supposed to be saying over the insanely loud sound effects for his flourish. I guess Zero swinging his Saber downward to intercept Metal leading into the “FIGHT!” graphic is a neat idea, but then Metal just plows through anyway with no accompanying sound effects whatsoever. The following camera rotation to follow the combatants on their way is another fine concept, but the scene immediately cuts as soon as the camera finds them, giving the audience no time to really appreciate the cinematography. Regardless, after cutting away from the fancy camera tracking, we are treated to a standard side-on view of the action, which is, in a word, incomprehensible. Despite being speedy, the whole thing just comes off as a mess of moving pixels, smear frames, and mismatched sound effects, and I think this is because the sequence lacks any real key poses. Sure, the combatants are technically interacting, but because the entire sequence consists of the two smacking into each other as smear frames, and what poses present are overwhelmed in a barrage of visual effects, it becomes difficult to distinguish what is supposed to be happening. It doesn’t help that, when I slowed things down to actually try and see, none of it is particularly engaging; the most interesting bit of choreography is Metal Sonic creating a fire shield to stall Zero’s onslaught. Other than that, it’s just the two crashing into each other accompanied with bad, out-of-sync sound effects. After a stupid-looking shot of the two 3-D models’ faces smashed against each other, Zero flies backward, knocking another F-Zero car off the bridge, and pulls out his Z-Saber. Bear in mind, the animation is clearly showing him moving backward at high speed. Suddenly, he’s leaping towards Metal Sonic and the camera in the next shot, having apparently reversed his momentum. This isn’t necessarily a bad sequence on paper, but the lightning-quick editing doesn’t leave any time for the viewer to figure out what’s going on; it just looks like Metal Sonic suddenly teleported behind Zero in order to get hit by him. Zero does land a hit in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it frame, leading to a semi-decent shot of Metal Sonic’s 3-D model tumbling head-over-heels backwards. Zero follows up with a combo that is impossible to see due to the overbearing visual effects, yet is also impactless thanks to bad sound design, launching Metal into the air. This leads to a shot of Metal’s 3-D model, clearly in the air flying backward, righting itself for a counterattack. This is fine, but then the next shot shows that Metal was apparently on the ground readying a Spin Dash the entire time. He launches himself backwards into the air and fires a Plasma Laser that might just have the worst sound design for any attack in the show thus far, with a limp pulse effect that doesn’t sound like it would burn a dead tree. However, apparently this attack was actually so devastating that Zero loudly grunts, holds his shoulder in pain, and is shown as completely winded. I don’t think any scene in the entire show has made as good a case for the importance of strong sound design at key moments than this one for the simple fact that the sound design is so horrendous that it makes the idea of anyone being hurt by the attack, let alone Zero, utterly preposterous.
Anyway, now that Zero is apparently too injured to do anything, another 3-D shot of Metal shows him leisurely summoning the Bat Guard projectiles, which Zero responds to with missiles of his own. The way that Zero’s previously injured demeanor and posing just vanishes the instant he needs to counter Metal’s attack is absolutely hysterical, as is the atrocious-looking sequence of 3-D Zero readying a “cHArGe sHoT!” to destroy the remains of his attacks. Everything about this sequence is broken, partly because every single shot of Zero powering up this attack is incongruous with the last: first he’s shown side-on in sprites having instantly pulled out his Z-Buster without issue, holding it at an upward angle from his body to the side; then the next shot shows that apparently that was just a hallucination, because not only has Zero not actually gotten out his Z-Buster yet, but when he does, he enters a completely different pose, holding it awkwardly in front of him with two hands, aimed slightly to his left. A zoom-in on his face in the next shot shows that he’s apparently preparing to fire to his right instead like he was in the first shot given the direction his eyes are pointed, except his head is angled downward for some reason, implying that his arm is now facing the ground instead of his target; finally, when he gets it off, it is revealed that he was holding his weapon straight in front of him this whole time, and his “charge shot” is shown moving in a straight line at an angle perpendicular to his stance. Also, this last shot reveals that the almighty “charge shot” is so powerful that it almost knocks Zero off his feet when used, which really works wonders to make him come across as a competent, seasoned warrior. Fortunately for Zero, his charge shot was apparently a homing missile this entire time, because it manages to completely change course and destroy the remains of Metal Sonic’s earlier attack despite going the wrong way. Of course, why have one utterly horrendous scene when we could have two? A shot from Metal’s POV shows that Zero is now facing away from him, despite having to have been facing him in order to counter his attack in the previous sequence. Maybe the kickback from the charge shot was so great that it caused Zero to spin around one hundred and eighty degrees. Regardless, Zero turns back the right way and faces Metal again, who locks on and begins to very slowly and lethargically charge what is apparently supposed to be a Rainbow Laser, complete with a “powering up” sound effect that I guess suffices for the blast itself, considering that it has barely any sound effects to speak of. The animation then cuts back to Zero, who apparently decided that Metal was taking so long to do whatever he was doing that it was safe to just turn around and face away from him again, as evidenced by the dramatic 3-D shot of him turning back to face Metal in clear astonishment. Regardless, in a series of shots that are so poorly framed that I can barely tell what’s supposed to be happening, the laser - which does not have any accompanying sound effects - hits Zero at a downward angle, somehow knocking him into the top of a distant building…I think. There’s an explosion towards the top-right of the screen - which, to be blunt, looks like one of the stock effects Ben Singer used back in Season One - and once it fades a building can be seen falling to the left. However, there’s also a massive geyser of debris at its base, and it looks like it’s falling because its foundation was compromised, not because its top was destroyed. The next shot then shows Zero diving to the side. I think the intention was for him to be leaping out of the destroyed building and back on to the road that serves as this animation’s arena, but because of Zero’s size in relation to the collapsing building in the distance, it looks more like he’s diving out of the way of nothing.
Metal Sonic then activates V. Maximum Overdrive, which has no sound aside from an effect accompanying its activation because at this point why bother, and uses it to slam Zero to the ground, which prompts the Death Battle transition sound effect to play for some reason. We then get a delightful sequence that does a fantastic job of perfectly encapsulating so many of this animation’s problems: after the initial impactless slam, we get a closeup showing a motionless 3-D Zero hugging the V. Maximum Overdrive, which I guess is supposed to be him resisting it. A landscape shot then shows Metal Sonic pummeling Zero with the attack over and over, with excellent squash and stretch, good use of smoke effects, and absolutely pathetic sound design. I’m not even sure what the sound effects are supposed to be representing; not someone getting slammed by a speeding robot at full force, that’s for sure. Meanwhile, Zero’s sprite is lying in the crater in a single pose, not flinching whatsoever throughout this entire sequence, which, coupled with the useless sound design, serves to make Metal Sonic’s flashy, speedy V. Maximum Overdrive seem completely ineffective. This is followed by broken sequence number four, with Zero - who, bear in mind, was just depicted as lying inert on the ground - raising a fist, with the next shot showing that he is now standing upright and punching the camera…or at least that’s what the stupid-looking 3-D model shot conveys. The shot immediately after Zero punching the camera reveals that he actually punched the ground in a completely different pose from the one he was in previously, which makes more sense given that he was supposed to use Rekkoha. Speaking of which, Rekkoha manages to disrupt Metal’s V. Maximum Overdrive, only for him to instantly swap into his Black Shield - which, being an unanimated black circle, looks substantially worse than the same ability in Eggman VS Wily - resulting in the Rekkoha seeming superfluous, since there is barely any visual distinction between Metal Sonic before and after the attack. Zero then leaps up, transforming into Black Zero between shots, and, in probably one of the only fun bits of choreography in the entire animation, spikes Metal Sonic like a volleyball. He then follows up that bit of characterful action with another flashy combo with nonexistent sound design - it sounds like a stock electricity effect from the YouTube store, which is just sad.
Metal Sonic then says the line that Super Mario Bros. Z made famous - which serves as a lovely reminder that I could be watching that instead - and uses a flash of lightning to transform into Neo Metal Sonic…or maybe the lightning summon was incidental, I’m not sure. Regardless, instead of using this as an opportunity to have an awesome battle between the combatants’ intermediate forms - Black Zero versus Neo Metal - Metal instead decides to just immediately power into Metal Overlord. I guess I like the detail of how Metal uses the nearby F-Zero cars to transform, but other than that, it’s amazing to me how this transformation is so much worse than the one from Eggman VS Wily in just about every way. In that episode, Metal Overlord’s transformation completely overwhelmed the screen, and he was shown pulling in massive ships from the background, creating a greater sense of scale. On top of that, the transformation itself took a fair bit of time, building up the scale of both Metal Overlord himself and the threat he posed. Here, not only is there no music switch to signify a change in the fight’s dynamic, but there isn’t even any time to let the admittedly nice-looking hand drawn shot of Metal Overlord sink in. We just get another terrible-looking 3-D closeup of Zero looking flabbergasted for the umpteenth time before cutting to the brief shot of Metal Overlord looming over him. The shot itself also creates problems for the rest of the animation. See, in the next sequence, Zero is shown as running up the road to close the gap, and, after the killing blow, his walking away from his enemy’s corpse requires that he walk down the road toward the camera. However, for some reason, this shot portrays Metal Overlord as having left the arena completely, standing off to the side an indeterminate distance away to its right. Considering the rest of the animation is pretty consistent about having Metal Sonic, Neo Metal, and Metal Overlord all remain on or near the arena, I’m not sure why this one shot bucks that consistency. The best I can figure is to save Chris Bastin from having to draw a lower half for the model, but considering the last shot depicts him as still being off, just much closer than this frame indicates, I think it’s probably an unintentional continuity error. Regardless, Metal fires some ice crystals that Zero avoids by running in a straight line (I guess he technically moves a few centimeters in either direction occasionally, but he mostly just runs in a straight line) before using another crystal to launch himself at Metal and into Absolute Zero with barely any fanfare. Seeing as it worked out for him last time, Absolute Zero continues to avoid Metal’s attacks by moving straight forward and lands an impactless combo that leads to a closeup of Metal Overlord’s face that I have always found really goofy for some reason; I think it’s because of his proportions. He hits Zero with another attack that is instantly shrugged off, upon which he flies up into the air and changes back into Black Zero, presumably to regain his Z-Saber, which he readies for another hit, before Metal Overlord uses Chaos Control to set him up for a killing blow. What follows is a death that I so badly want to like, because the concept is genuinely cool: Zero uses Dark Hold to not only resist Metal’s imperfect Chaos Control, but to trap his enemy in frozen time. I love the idea of all sound dying away except for the ticking of a clock as Zero delivers the finishing blow, with both the sound and the music only returning once time resumes. Unfortunately, the execution does not do this idea justice at all. Metal Overlord gets a hysterically stilted laugh, followed by Zero’s use of Dark Hold being precluded by him getting a stock voice clip that doesn’t work with the scene’s tone. He then charges forward to cut Metal Overlord in half from top to bottom head-on. However, after the purple effect plays conveying that Zero landed his hit, he is then depicted as landing in front of Metal Overlord again in the next shot. How is that possible if he charged at Metal Overlord from the front? Wouldn’t his momentum carry him through behind Metal Overlord in the next shot? I assume this was done so that they could reuse the one still of Metal Overlord they had for the killing blow, and I get it; Chris presumably had to draw it himself, and I imagine that it would have been a lot of additional time and energy to have to create an entirely new drawing for his back. As it stands though, it just creates another annoying continuity error in an animation already chalk-full of those. It doesn’t help that 3-D Zero’s walk cycle at the end looks worse than Link’s from the end of Link VS Cloud (2012), sucking most of the intensity from the shot. The red-tinted freeze frame of Zero standing in front of a mostly-dissipated explosion at the end is also far goofier than I think it’s supposed to be.
I’ve mostly been talking about shot continuity, but this animation has so many other problems that I only touched on as relevant: the effects are consistently overbearing, completely overwhelming the combos and making it impossible to see the action. The pacing takes all of my gripes with Natsu VS Ace and dials them up to eleven with an utter inability to let anything sink in; yet somehow, several sequences that try to use the 3-D models to accentuate the action actually result in things feeling slow paced, especially what with how they rarely ever match with what their sprite counterparts are doing. Honestly, the faux-3-D models do absolutely nothing to benefit this animation, and their very inclusion was a poor decision from the get-go, sapping the animation of resources that could have gone into better polishing everything else about it. Of course, the sound design is infamously bad. While a handful of the sound effects aren't necessarily poor choices as supplements, and the explosion at the end is somewhat impactful, the overall sound design of this animation is probably the worst of the entire show. When sequences aren't saddled with ill-fitting, unimpactful sound, they often as not are just missing any such effects entirely.
At least the conclusion is mostly good. I wish they had given Zero some kind of number in his analysis so that the audience had something to compare with Metal Sonic’s beforehand, but other than that, I think their overall presentation is really good; they provide solid numbers to justify Zero holding the speed advantage, and they cover the durability difference with a sufficient amount of detail to convey their point. My only issue with the conclusion, and it is a minor one, is that, because they only compare their durability, they don’t give Zero the attack potency needed to surpass Metal Sonic’s two hundred kiloton durability. Again though, it is a minor issue, and I think they made the stat gap clear enough regardless.
I’m sure it may seem a bit strange that I truly view this episode as worse than Venom VS Bane, but honestly, after going over both episodes again, I stand by my assessment. Venom VS Bane has good analyses; this episode does not. Venom VS Bane’s fight animation gives the characters personalities that, regardless of accuracy, are capable of interacting with each other to some degree, along with a genuinely good performance from one of the voice actors; this episode does not. Venom VS Bane’s animation has key poses; this animation does not. Venom VS Bane has three moments with semi-competent sound design; this animation has one. Venom VS Bane’s pacing sometimes drags to a halt; this animation is incapable of taking a breath at any point. The one area where the episodes are about even is the conclusions, with both being fine enough for what they are. Frankly, I actually had a harder time deciphering what was happening in this animation than Venom VS Bane due to the oversaturated effects, rapid-fire editing style making the continuity errors more pronounced, and lack of key poses. The characters even blended in with the background more often here due to their often being reduced to a mess of pixels in smear frames that last longer than they ought. Overall, this episode is awful; looking back, perhaps I was too hard on Eggman VS Wily.
Ranking: E Tier
Chapter 10: Episode 80. Lucario VS Renamon
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To be perfectly frank, the most interesting thing about this episode is the behind-the-scenes discussion concerning how the combatants were to be handled. Basically, Ben Singer wanted this episode to be a whole different beast than Pokémon VS Digimon right from the get-go, meaning that this fight was going to be human-free. This was also intended to keep digivolution and Mega Evolution out of the debate so as to keep things more fair than last time, but there was apparently some argument from the researchers that both combatants might be capable of such things on their own. Ultimately, Ben’s desire to keep things “fair” resulted in their being disregarded anyway. He expressed this sentiment in his “Road to 100” blog:
I believed it would be a closer fight this way, and given the Digimon’s huge advantage last time, avoiding the possibility of such a power difference would likely encourage viewers to enjoy it more.
Interesting choice of words at the end, given that the only side that benefits all that much from keeping digivolution out of the debate is Pokémon, but perhaps that was just a coincidence.
I like the idea behind the analyses, taking a page out of the Pokémon Battle Royale’s book and examining the combatants as general representatives of their species rather than particular individuals. Unfortunately, this also comes with a few problems that the analyses are unable to compensate for, namely depriving themselves of any kind of character to build the analysis around. This Achilles’ Heel is made painfully apparent whenever they try to use individuals as examples to illustrate points, as the analyses are clearly hamstrung by being unable to elaborate on these “specific” Lucario or Renamon. The reason this functioned sufficiently in the Pokémon Battle Royale is because the analyses themselves were only a few minutes each and made a point of tying the abilities and personalities of the individual Pokémon together. Despite arguably having around the same amount of actual content as those analyses, these are far less efficiently written, presumably in order to justify their five-minute runtimes. I will give Sam and Jessica credit for trying to keep things engaging with interspersed jokes, but those tend to be more miss than hit. In Lucario’s analysis, I appreciated their lampshading of his having psychic abilities despite not being the right type being due to his disproportionate popularity, but the entire Goku comparison drags on far too long and, out of the many times they have done so, arguably is the most stretched for points of comparison. Yes, Lucario sure does have specialized combat techniques, and harnesses its spiritual energy for combat; truly riveting connections, I guess they should have done Lucario VS Goku instead. They also spend a painfully long time building up Lucario's durability to fire being impressive due to it being weak to fire types. I don’t know anything about Pokémon, and even I figured out that they were going to bring it up the moment Wiz tried to make his second point a “surprise.” Other than that, the most interesting thing in Lucario’s analysis is the mention of Smokey Bear due to it foreshadowing his upcoming episode. Renamon’s analysis is pretty much the exact same, with maybe one additional joke that I appreciated. While I like the bit of Wiz telling Boomstick that Renamon is better than him, I admittedly think that the actual setup for the punchline is weak. Chad’s delivery of his line is weirdly slow and lethargic, resulting in him not even sounding particularly perturbed by Renamon apparently looking down on him, which doesn’t complement Ben’s almost Season One-esque delivery of the punchline at all (for once I actually mean that last part as a compliment). On the other side of things, Wiz’s line making fun of Renamon’s attack names could have been funny if Ben’s delivery was a little more subdued. Boomstick going on about how he would invest diamonds in catching Bigfoot is probably the best joke in the analysis, because, although it isn’t particularly funny and arguably grinds everything to a halt, I at least appreciate the way it plays into Boomstick’s character in a way the other jokes mostly didn’t. Of course, then there’s the elephant in the room: the uncensored p*rnographic fanart of Renamon they use at the end of the analysis for the purpose of a Rule Thirty-Four joke. From a critical perspective, I have two primary issues with this joke. The first is that, out of all the characters Death Battle has ever used about which they could make these kinds of jokes, they went with Renamon of all characters. While I don’t doubt that Renamon has an abundance of such art on the Internet, perhaps even disproportionately so when compared with the rest of the characters in her franchise, it is beyond odd to me that the first franchise where Death Battle would actively take a crack at its fans’ proclivities is Digimon. There are so many franchises Death Battle has used before and after this episode with fanbases notorious for their predominantly fetishistic tendencies, and yet they had never taken the low-hanging fruit before. I’m not necessarily opposed to these kinds of jabs; I just find it bizarre that this was the matchup where, after seven years, they finally decided to do so. Was there really that little for the writers to go over? This is especially irritating because this is the note that Renamon’s analysis ends on. At least Lucario’s ended by continuing to build him up to the audience as a fierce warrior. My second issue has a number of parts to it: assuming that this joke just had to happen in this of all episodes, I think it was poorly handled and constructed. First of all, these kinds of jokes generally function best if more is left to the viewers’ imaginations, as they can fill in the blank with whatever horrible things they believe the art to contain. By showing an uncensored image, Sam and Jessica are not only unnecessarily cruel to the optic nerves of the people watching this episode, but they also deny the audience the ability to speculate as to just how bad things could get. Frankly, this joke would have worked better if, after Boomstick started his internet search, the screen had either cut to a whole series of heavily blurred images or a black screen. On top of that, Boomstick’s noisy reaction probably should have been cut as well; I understand that comedy is subjective, but just allowing the audience to absorb the implied horrors on their own without Chad’s delivery functioning as the cue would make the joke more concentrated. As it stands, rather than focusing on the main punchline, the audience now has to divide their attention between the material and Boomstick’s delivery. Anyway, aside from the exploitative shock-value ending gag that I spent way too much time discussing, these analyses are just halfhearted, being haphazardly constructed and heavily padded with dragged-out deliveries and jokes that miss more than they hit.
I had some hope for the fight animation, largely because it serves as the second and final appearance of Aquila Harukaze, the animator responsible for Mega Man VS Astro Boy. It may be recalled that, despite her apparently having put it together in only a few days, that animation was thoroughly entertaining and well-made, notwithstanding a few minor hiccups at the beginning and towards the end. Thus, with that in mind, I do not think my optimism was particularly misplaced. Unfortunately, it nonetheless failed to pan out. The animation begins with about twenty-five seconds worth of preamble, and that time is spent on Renamon entering a temple, noticing Lucario meditating, and demanding that he make himself scarce. For some reason, this is one of those episodes where only one of the combatants has a voice actor, in the case being Marissa Lenti as Renamon. To be frank, her delivery is not particularly good, and the sound balancing stands out obnoxiously against the stock voice clips that make up Lucario’s grunts and shouts. Anyway, the fight - which, discounting the opening actionless seconds, is barely over a minute long - begins with Lucario zipping here, there, and everywhere with Extreme Speed. I’m going to be generous and assume that he was doing this to disorient Renamon and open her up for a hit, because otherwise it seems that he decided to just move about for no real reason. He knocks her further into the temple, and the two trade a few impactless combos before he destroys a pillar with Force Palm. Renamon evades and lands a hit of her own with a very laid-back delivery from Marissa that contrasts hilariously with the admittedly meaty sound design and Lucario’s shout of pain as he is sent rocketing in the other direction. Lucario recovers and fires an Aura Sphere that only hits Renamon because she runs straight into it, who responds with another combo. Lucario using Bone Rush to deflect Diamond Storm, complete with Star Wars sound design is a decent trading of abilities, although Marissa’s delivery of “Diamond Storm” is just okay. Lucario retaliates with Dragon Pulse, something that they never mentioned in the analysis, probably because it is so powerful that it breaks continuity upon being fired. Lucario fires it towards the bottom right of the screen, and a pillar can be seen dropping slightly in the background, presumably due to his attack obliterating its foundation. However, the following shot of Renamon reveals that the beam has not, in fact, hit the pillar yet, giving her plenty of time to run upwards before it falls. I like the idea of Renamon using collateral damage Lucario caused against him, but her own counter winds up being to use the power of layering to leap into his attack and, rather than get knocked back, phase through it (or on top of it in this case) to land a Rapid Kick. She uses Diamond Storm again, and I guess Sam was so impressed with Marissa’s previous delivery that he didn't even bother having her say it more than once, as evidenced by the voice clip for this portion clearly being reused. Lucario powering through the pain to close the distance is another decent idea, and yet another one undermined by the slack presentation. After healing himself, Lucario doesn't even react to the attacks in any capacity, making him less seem tough and more Renamon’s Diamond Storm seem worthless. Renamon decides that the only fitting last words is an MCU-tier one-liner before Lucario closes the distance, lands a decent-looking combo, and stabs her through the throat with Bone Rush…somehow. Maybe I'm just being stupid, but is Bone Rush sharp enough to impale someone rather than just take their head off? Regardless, I guess the kill itself is fairly brutal, with Renamon slowly choking to death while desperately struggling to stay alive. Like everything else in this animation however, it's over almost as soon as it begins, robbing the kill of the impact it could have had. That's not even to speak of how this whole animation suffers from the Batman VS Captain America problem, where it's so short that it ends almost as quickly as it begins with no real midpoint.
I love how they begin the conclusion by saying that Renamon held the speed advantage and that Lucario could only match her in “short bursts,” completely contradicting the animation depicting the exact opposite. Other than that, the conclusion is acceptable since at least their numbers match their verdict, although it is really funny to me that they end by essentially saying “this was an extremely close match, but Lucario held every advantage” ...it's not a good sign that the best parts of the conclusion are when it is blatantly contradicting itself and the episode at large.
If I may draw the comparison, Lucario VS Renamon is a slightly less bad version of Beast VS Goliath, being a similarly short, forgettable episode with an animation that is technically competent while suffering from some very noticeable issues. Except, while I do think Beast VS Goliath to be the slightly worse episode due to how backwards its character writing was, at least it actually gave enough of an idea of its combatants for the butchering to be apparent. At least its conclusion didn't contradict the animation and itself, even if it was stupid in other ways. At least its analyses didn't feature exploitative fanart of one of the combatants. Lucario and Renamon’s analyses are only slightly less padded, and the animation arguably has more problems despite the writing not being quite as bad. This isn't even a situation like Venom VS Bane or Metal Sonic VS Zero where the problems are interesting to talk about in their own way; this is just a padded, boring, sloppy episode that exemplifies so many of this season’s worst qualities.
Ranking: E Tier
Chapter 11: Episode 81. Balrog VS TJ Combo
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As the summer of 2017 drew on, Death Battle was not in a particularly good place. Although the show wasn't doing poorly view-wise, people were growing tired of the seemingly never-ending cavalcade of short, not particularly well-done sprite animations and the dull matchup spread. The animations themselves seemed to be getting shorter and shorter, and the analyses weren't interesting enough to compensate. The 3-D animation team’s previous effort had been outstanding, but backlash over the verdict coupled with a weaker algorithmic distribution had prevented the episode from gaining the reputation it deserved. In short, after five episodes of progressively lower quality, people were starting to get bored, and views were slipping. If Death Battle wanted to keep people’s attention, they needed to release something outstanding; something that reminded people just why they loved the show in the first place. Fortunately, Nick Cramer and Torrian Crawford had been preparing exactly that.
Nick and Torrian’s partnership has always struck me as one of the most undiscussed, underappreciated production details of the entire show. These two are responsible for so many of the show’s most acclaimed episodes, such as Deadpool VS Deathstroke and Solid Snake VS Sam Fisher, as well as plenty of highly enjoyed ones, like Ratchet & Clank VS Jak & Daxter and Hulk VS Doomsday. Only two of their collaborations can be said to be outright misses; every single other one is minimally great. However, this one in particular was a project that they invested themselves in more than almost any other, having picked it up as soon as the matchup was finalized for Season Four’s lineup. Nick and Torrian knew what they wanted right away: a classic boxing match, one that would run through multiple rounds of increasing intensity before coming to a head in one last match. In fact, they even wanted to apply real-world boxing rules to the episode in order to fully commit to the bit; however, when they presented their idea to Ben, he worried that explicitly making the animation a boxing match would lead viewers to believe that the rules had been taken into account in the research, thus unfairly swaying the outcome. Ben pointed out that this would especially be a problem if it looked like one of the combatants was about to win, only for the round to end before they could close the deal. Thus, Ben worked with the episode’s creatives to find a middle ground between their vision and what would make for a satisfying viewing experience, resulting in the animation’s script as it currently exists.
Of course, an episode is always more than just an animation showcase, and Nick’s writing is a crucial part of this episode’s greatness, even as early as the preamble. Normally, episodes that use their preamble to build up the matchup do so by focusing on the legacy of the rivalry itself: both Mario VS Sonic episodes, Godzilla VS Gamera, and Power Rangers VS Voltron are examples of this. For this episode, Nick does something a bit different: he uses the primary connection of “video game boxers” to connect this matchup to the legacy of the boxing sport itself. He invokes boxing’s “three thousand year” history as one of the oldest sports in the world to lend the matchup itself a sense of grandeur just by virtue of being linked with that heritage. Once this has been accomplished, the analyses begin. I’m going to be frank: while there may have been better individual segments in previous episodes, this is hands-down the best pair of analyses of the entire show up to this point, and any episode moving to challenge that fact is in for a steep uphill battle. Wiz begins Balrog’s segment by reciting three of his qualities and spotlighting one he lacks, all of which Boomstick then contextualizes by bringing up his backstory. This is accompanied by excellently-chosen stills from a fanfilm, something that Gerardo Mejia was forced to heavily rely on for his accompanying b-roll due to the lack of relevant official footage of this portion of Balrog’s life. After mentioning Balrog’s massive size, Wiz does something that will prove a consistent theme throughout this entire episode: tying in the combatants with real-world boxing in interesting and thematically appropriate ways. In this case, contextualizing Balrog as, in real-world terms, “only” the second-largest heavyweight serves to not only make him sound more impressive, but also keep him a little more grounded. This is furthered by their explanation that Balrog is a “slugger,” which they brilliantly tie in with his in-game moves, going over how Balrog “embodies [the] style to a T.” From there, they do something that no analysis has done in a long time: they continue the story. After Boomstick highlights Balrog’s “craziness” in a decently fun bit, Wiz explains that Balrog destroyed his career by killing someone in the ring, which leads into his joining Shadaloo. They use his rise through the ranks to move into his big strength feat, killing an elephant in one punch. The overall presentation and analysis of this feat has several excellent things going for it. First, they use the real-world physiology of elephants to explain how strong Balrog would need to be in order to accomplish killing it that way. However, they follow it up with another boxing comparison, giving the feat context and establishing just how unnaturally strong Balrog has to be in order to pull it off. They move on to his durability, which they also connect with his slugger fighting style, before moving on to his weaknesses, which, once again, Nick contextualizes by his being a slugger. They explain how his attacks can be easily predicted and maneuvered around by a clever enough opponent, and even give his story something of an ending note by explaining how he “ran Shadaloo into the ground” after becoming its leader. There’s even a good moment of banter between the hosts, with Wiz trying to correct Boomstick on an expression and Boomstick instantly responding to it with a jab of his own. Something I really appreciate about this analysis is how it wraps up. After going over his weaknesses, Boomstick explains that Balrog is “here to show that he’s still got what it takes to win,” ending the analysis on a note that implies that Balrog’s story wasn’t over before, but this episode will wrap it up. It actually reminds me quite a bit of some Season Two analyses, where the hosts end things by treating the combatant as though their activity in Death Battle serves as a canonical continuation for their character. In this case, the Death Battle itself is almost used as a way of giving Balrog one last narrative chance to prove his chops and ability to win…bearing in mind that “fairness is the last thing he cares about.” This will become especially relevant after the end of TJ’s analysis.
Speaking of which, TJ Combo’s analysis is every bit as good, not the least of which due to how well it ties in with Balrog’s. Right away, the stories are presented as paralleling each other in a rather interesting way: while both built themselves up from nothing, Balrog was depicted in his analysis as “a brute at heart” with “a natural gift for roughing others up,” leading immediately into his career as a boxer. Once he was banned from the sport, the analysis focused more on his stint as a terrorist and hedonist. TJ’s relationship with boxing, however, is given far more attention. They go over how he distinctly did not take to the sport right away, instead immediately losing in the Junior League. The story of how he got his revenge is delightfully presented, with simple but effective edits from Gerardo that are far funnier than they usually get credit for. It also serves to set up his willingness to take shortcuts. Regardless, they move on from this story to go over how he dedicated his life to boxing, complete with a short skit of his time as a janitor that Luis put together specifically for the episode due to their again being no canon footage. They also tie TJ to the sport more explicitly than Balrog just through his clear love for it. They mention how all of his money was spent on training and studying, and they specifically highlight how his boxing style was built in reverence of “his hero,” Muhammad Ali. They eventually mention how he was able to work his way into his first tournament, which serves as a flawless transition into his skills. This segment even has a few good jokes, such as Wiz shutting down Boomstick’s attempted reference to A Goofy Movie, as well as an homage to the first Death Battle Q & A. This provides another natural lead into the next part of TJ’s story: his rise and fall. They talk about how he finally acquired the “fame and fortune” he had been seeking - another neat parallel between him and Balrog - before explaining how he succumbed to sloth and indolence. I like how Boomstick is initially supportive of TJ squandering his newfound wealth, until Wiz explains that he soon lost his title while b-roll of TJ lying in a pool of his own blood plays in the background. It's effectively done and leads to a superb payoff. Rather than learning his lesson and trying to build himself back up naturally, he makes a Faustian bargain with Evil Walmart to obtain another metaphorical roll of quarters: his implants. It's an amazing bit of continuity with earlier, as is the continuation of his story. Nick’s framing of Evil Walmart’s demand in return for the aid is superb, leaving Fulgore unnamed, and boiling down their demand to its core through the simple word "lose." Presenting their ultimatum in this simple fashion gives it so much more impact than the wordier version shown in the b-roll. Even TJ tearing out his implants is wonderfully handled, with more editing that is effective in its simplicity and an emphasis on how, unlike last time, he now “refuses to go out in disgrace.” In spite of his love of winning, TJ also genuinely respects the sport, giving him the incentive to mutilate himself if it means getting rid of his crutches. This naturally leads into his feats and abilities, with Wiz using him somehow surviving to explain that the experience left him with a minor healing factor. They cover a similar durability feat as Balrog’s, and cleverly get around spoiling the winner by presenting how high in the air he can punch someone rather than the energy required to do so. It makes the outcome less obvious than just neglecting to give him any number at all. Eventually, they end things just about perfectly, explaining that TJ seeks now to prove that his skill is “all-natural.” I'm going to be blunt: this is the best single analysis of the entire show up to this point. It has everything, tying in TJ’s story with the versus analysis seamlessly, with one always complementing the other. In fact, something that these analyses as a whole have over most modern rundowns is how they give the combatants ending notes that actually lead into the fight. Balrog’s ends emphasizing his greed and anger, while TJ’s concludes by highlighting his determination to prove himself as being worthy of the championship he worked so hard for. Neither get a proper ending to their story; instead, after going over their lives, their current goals are presented as ones that they hope to achieve through victory in the animation itself. It's this kind of open-ended note that Death Battle seems to try and steer clear of nowadays, not irrationally so; however, Nick’s use of it here to tie the analyses and animation together is absolutely superb. It creates the sense that the characters themselves have an actual feud better than any episode ever has. The only two I can think of off the top of my head where I came away knowing that the characters would have enough of a narrative contrast to despise each other are DIO VS Alucard and Bill Cipher VS Discord, the latter of which had the advantage of the combatants being able to interact before the animation even began. Here, Nick managed to accomplish the exact same thing just through clear, well-handled storytelling. I cannot think of analyses that better represent Nick at his best than these two.
As for the fight animation…where to begin. I suppose I could get my incredibly minor issues out of the way so that I can focus on everything this fight does well. The most obvious problem this animation has is everything to do with Balrog’s coat. While it doesn’t always clip through his model, it does so often enough to be quite noticeable. It’s not necessarily an issue that bothers me that much because it never actively interferes with the choreography, but it’s easily the most obvious issue with the animation and I could definitely see it being immersion-breaking for some people. On top of that, it is clearly layered above the arena in the shot where Balrog discards it, which is a bit silly-looking if one notices. Somewhat less obvious are the numerous positioning errors throughout the fight. Props will teleport around the arena if they run the risk of interfering with the flow of the fight, and the referee’s corpse is particularly guilty of this. Speaking of the ref, I’m not a fan of how it takes Balrog four hits to actually put him down. Maybe it’s a reference of some kind, but I think that Balrog’s intimidation and overwhelming strength would have been much better conveyed if he had just taken him out in one massive hit, preferably sending him across the arena and off to the side instead of right in the middle like in the actual animation. That way, he would already be out of the way, and Torrian wouldn’t need to subtly move his body further out from the center than he actually is in order to keep him from getting in the way. Some of the effects aren’t always integrated well - of particular note are some of the cracks in the arena left from the combatants’ clash of fists, as well as a couple of the background lights - and I guess Balrog and TJ are vampires, because they lack shadows for substantial portions of the animation. Now, as I shall soon make clear, I don’t think that any of these problems matter much at all when stacked up against how much this animation does right; however, they are issues, and as is always the case with Torrian’s episodes, I could see newer Death Battle fans finding these visual discrepancies distracting enough to prevent their immersion from coalescing properly.
Fortunately for me, I have no such scruples.
Let’s start off with one of the most underappreciated elements of this animation: the setting itself. As fits this matchup, the fight takes place in a boxing ring; however, there are a variety of elements that go into this setting that inform the setup as a whole. To elaborate, it is worth bearing in mind that this is not the only Death Battle animation to contextualize itself as a prearranged matchup between professional fighters; Hercule Satan VS Dan Hibiki and Heihachi Mishima VS Geese Howard are both examples of this device’s implementation. What Balrog VS TJ Combo does better than any of those episodes, especially Heihachi versus Geese, is using the setting to contextualize and inform the setup. With Heihachi versus Geese, the martial arts tournament hardly requires that the two battle on the slope of a volcano; rather, the setting was chosen due to its association with the Tekken franchise and the reference it would later allow with Geese. Here, the nature of the combatants’ profession all but demands that the fight take place in a boxing ring, which Torrian delivers. He apparently had to construct the ring himself from scratch, and although I don’t think the same applies to the stands and room itself, he still took the time to decorate it with all sorts of nice details that somehow manage to create a surprising amount of worldbuilding despite the setting’s small size in comparison with some of Torrian’s previous arenas. First, there’s the abundance of ScrewAttack logos. Torrian has hidden a few of these in his animations before, with prominent examples being Iron Man VS Lex Luthor and Ratchet & Clank VS Jak & Daxter. In those episodes, the logos served as cute references to reward eagle-eyed viewers or people returning to watch the animation again. In this animation, however, the ScrewAttack logo is everywhere, from the banners hanging from the ceiling, the curtains at the base of the boxing ring, and even the center of the ring itself. Considering that the ScrewAttack logo is also positioned on top of the excellent pre-fight graphic depicting both fighters (which is in turn complete with Death Battle’s “versus” symbol from their old thumbnails), it manages to turn ScrewAttack into an in-universe entity that is clearly hosting this match. This impression is helped by two of the other logos featured in the background: the emblems of Shadaloo and Evil Walmart. Not only are they displayed by both combatants in their accompanying graphics, but they can also be seen on some of the banners along with the ScrewAttack ones. It is true enough that only the Ultratech logo gets displayed on the overhead screens, but this is somewhat understandable given that it probably has far more resources and pull than Shadaloo would if the two were present in the same universe (at least I would assume from the analyses. I could definitely be wrong, given that I know nothing about either franchise). Finally, I love how Blue Apron has their own representation in the arena, being present both on the screens and various banners tucked in the background. Considering that Death Battle was being mocked at the time for their seemingly never-ending Blue Apron sponsorships, this is funny way of laughing with the audience, particularly since this was apparently something the Death Battle crew did all on their own; Blue Apron never requested it, nor would they have been aware of their presence in the animation until the episode’s release. All of these details with the logos and advertising scattered throughout the arena help to build immersion by acting as subtle, visual worldbuilding: TJ and Balrog are clearly here on behalf of Ultratech and Shadaloo respectively, with ScrewAttack hosting the fight and Blue Apron presumably being a sponsor for the whole project. It all serves to flesh out this little world, which in turn lends a sense of legitimacy to the setup that no similar Death Battle has ever achieved. The closest one I can think of is Hercule versus Dan, and that one prioritized cartoonish antics over any sort of realism (which works for that episode, mind you; it just naturally has less meat on its bones than this one). On the subject of the arena, I don’t mind the silhouette people at all. For one thing, it would be incredibly silly to expect Torrian to fully render each and every one of the spectators individually (apparently just getting them to look and move how they do took him an entire week). However, unlike Hulk VS Doomsday, which also used silhouette models, Balrog VS TJ Combo is far more consistent. Whereas in that episode the models were all the colors of the rainbow (and a few outside of it), here, all of them are a stark black color. Not only does the consistency help make the animation more coherent overall, but it also prevents the silhouette people from popping out from the background much when the action is supposed to be focused on the combatants. Despite their overall minor role, their presence nonetheless justifies the time Torrian put into them due to their further working to make the animation seem more plausible and grounded. The crowd can be heard actively reacting to the fight for the first minute or so, particularly when Balrog starts cheating. They can also be heard going wild later on when Balrog lands his Gigaton Blow and after the finisher. The various employees that can be seen initially, as well as the referee, also play a key role in building this immersive setting, their very presence making the whole animation seem far more authentic than other such episodes.
There are a few more elements of this animation that are really worth discussing, starting with the voice acting. Now, many of Death Battle’s classic and beloved episodes usually have at least one performance, if not multiple, that people specifically praise as excellent: Chuck Huber as Iron Man, Christopher Sabat as Solid Snake, Tom Schalk as DIO, Edward Bosco as Courage the Cowardly Dog; the list goes on. Obviously, there are far more superb Death Battle voice acting examples than these, but the point is that many of Death Battle’s great episodes often have particularly standout vocal performances to go with them. While this is not necessarily one of those episodes, all three of the main voice actors nonetheless form a crucial portion of this fight’s success. To start off, Chris Jai Alex does a great job as Balrog, wonderfully conveying the character’s changing attitude as the fight progresses: smug, arrogant confidence at the beginning, mounting frustration and rage as the fight drags on, and confusion and fear when the tables are completely turned on him at the end. He does a fantastic job of selling Balrog as the antagonistic force of the animation, the one who does not care about rules, the sport itself, or even necessarily winning; just a brute who views this whole thing as a means to an end. On the other side of things, Gabriel Kunda does equally well as TJ. His take on the character allows his more competitive spirit to shine through with great clarity, what with his challenges, his taunts, and especially his raw determination to keep going to the end. However, although Gabriel obviously gets the best line and delivery in the fight’s climax, strangely enough, my favorite performance of the episode is probably the least important of the ones concerned: Christopher Guerrero as the battle announcer. Now, Chris’ delivery as the “FIGHT!” and “KO!” announcer will be familiar to all but the newest of Death Battle fans; after all, he played the role almost without exception for eight years. However, unlike most episodes, where his presence is entirely as an audial accompaniment to those graphics, here, he actually plays a role in the animation as the commentator. Considering the reserved, deeper intonation that he normally uses in the announcer role, his performance here is notably far more energetic and bombastic. Interestingly enough, his take here is remarkably similar to Billy B Burson III’s from Season Eight onward, and while I admittedly still prefer Chris’ usual performance for the graphic accompaniment, the more enthusiastic tone that he uses in this episode more than fits within the context of the animation. His investment in what is going on - or at least his responsibility for getting the in-universe audience invested - is showcased wonderfully with his exuberant introductions to both combatants, building them up for the purpose of making their impending confrontation all the more exciting. His presence in the animation is smartly handled as well, with him having far more lines during the opening exchange while the two are still more or less following the rules of the sport. I particularly appreciate how, like any good commentator, he isn’t just reciting what’s blatantly happening before the audience’s eyes; he’s doing his best to create a clear dynamic for the audience that gives them a story to follow, something he accomplishes by using Balrog’s opening aggression to paint TJ as the underdog. Of course, this mostly works because it gels with what is actually happening - it would obviously be silly if he tried to sell the same story and TJ was the one who had the clear upper hand - but it nonetheless helps justify Chris’ presence due to it serving to make the fight more engaging. The investment in his diction also helps, particularly with his genuine astonishment as the round continues and excitement when TJ gets back up for his final beatdown. His final line also serves as a decent bit of levity. Like the “jogging” exchange at the end of Iron Man VS Lex Luthor, it helps relieve the tension after the death, giving the audience a chance to breath as well as providing an amusing payoff to that consistent element of the animation. All in all, while these vocal performances are not necessarily among the show’s bestper se, they work excellently for the episode they’re in regardless, and the animation would certainly be worse off without them.
Another facet of this episode that really helps pull it together is the effects work, both visual and audial. Balrog VS TJ Combo had quite the roster of engineers, with the audio effects being the work of Alena Lecorchick, Howard Wang, and Amber Lee Connors, while Noel Wiggins worked on the animation sound design and VFX. Although Torrian’s animations had employed some level of 2-D effects in the past, his earlier animations especially had often relied more on stock effects and standard 3-D ones than anything else. This obviously was never a problem, but the hand-drawn effects in this animation are used incredibly well to emphasize certain attacks. For the most part, when Balrog and TJ are engaging in standard punches, the only effects present are flashes accentuating their hits; however, when they are using moves from their games, or are landing heavier blows, the effects become more pronounced, being stark white for Balrog and light blue for TJ. This consistency helps to lend the big attacks more impact, something further enhanced by the excellent sound design. While Torrian’s animations usually never had an issue with making blows feel heavy, it is fair to say that he had been somewhat limited in the variety of sound effects he was able to use in Season Two, and even Season Three. Here, the additional audio engineers were able to further flesh out this battle with far more refined sound design, even down to just the characters’ swings. Balrog’s swings are accompanied by an overall stronger gust sound than TJ, who in turn has sharper effects. As for the hits themselves; while the sound design is consistently meaty, different hits have different accompanying sounds depending on what is being conveyed; standard attacks have heavy, yet slightly muted effects, while more debilitating ones generally have some kind of indication of physical distortion or injury. This is especially noticeable with such things as TJ getting his first proper hit on Balrog, and Balrog stomping on TJ’s foot. Of course, other things have appropriate effects as well, such as when the arena is shattered, Balrog’s attempted finishing stomp hitting the floor, and the various “swoosh” effects as the two move about at high speeds. Again, these may be simple things on paper, but every sound effect has its place. Every hit feels exactly as debilitating as it needs without having the same kind of weight as, say, Hulk VS Doomsday. That sort of heaviness would be completely out of place given the difference in scale; instead, the sound design more emphasizes the natural pain from the attacks in addition to sheer power. The distinct effects for the smaller moments also help draw further attention to them. Balrog’s stomp is a good example, but others include TJ readying his Power Line, Balrog his Gigaton Blow, and other such instances. Best of all, the balances are consistently on-point. As much as I love Iron Man VS Lex Luthor and many of Torrian’s other old episodes, I can’t deny that the overall audio mixing wasn’t always good; effects could be too loud, voice lines too quiet, and other such things. This episode has no such problems; in fact, I daresay that it has the overall best sound mixing of any Torrian animation up to this point. Nothing ever feels crowded out, and the audience can always best hear whatever a shot’s focus is, be it the voice acting, the hits, their movements, or even the music.
Speaking of the music, that is another element that plays a vital role in this animation’s success. Balrog VS TJ Combo was the last episode of Death Battle that made extensive use of licensed music all throughout, and Nick took full advantage of this opportunity. Torrian had loved Mick Gordon’s “I’m Back (to Rise)” ever since he had first heard it, and had apparently used it as a temp track when making his animations. He had long wanted it to accompany one of his animations in an official release, and this matchup gave him the perfect opportunity to do so. Seeing as it was composed by Mick for the 2015 second season of Killer Instinct (2013) as TJ Combo’s theme, it seemed a shoo-in for this episode’s primary backing track. Now, before going into how it might be one of the most perfect marriages of licensed track and animation in the show’s history, I suppose I ought to address the elephant in the room: “I’m Back (to Rise)” is TJ’s official theme, and one common point of criticism against Yang VS Tifa is that “I Burn” playing during that fight’s second half telegraphs Yang’s victory due it being her canonical theme. Frankly, for as much as I dislike Yang VS Tifa, I don’t agree with that criticism. I might if it only kicked in to accompany Yang preparing to take the win, but it doesn’t; it just turns on in the second half of the animation, which contains just as much of Tifa beating down on Yang as the other way around. Thus, for similar reasons, I have no issue with “I’m Back (to Rise)”’s implementation here, as it in no way is used as a means of celebrating TJ’s victory. Sure, the chorus is used to accompany his final beatdown, but it had been used numerous times prior in the animation, and being the main theme of the song, it only made sense to use it when the animation was reaching its dramatic conclusion. As for the music here, Torrian clearly relished his chance to finally use it to accompany his animation, because its implementation is nothing short of beautiful. First, its placement in the balance is always sensible, getting quieter for dialogue, cutting out when a particular moment needs heavy emphasis, and blasting just alongside the sound effects when the focus is purely on the action. On top of that, the placement of verses and the chorus is generally quite sensible. At first, Torrian allows the song to cycle naturally; the first two verses (which are actually rather vague and apply to both characters to some degree) accompany the opening round, with the chorus kicking in perfectly in time with TJ knocking Balrog to the ground after being at a disadvantage for the best few dozen seconds. It then recedes back in the mix, Torrian not quite ready to let it fully build up excitement yet, and instead allowing just the first line to tickle the viewers’ brain. Once the two begin interacting with their in-game moves, Torrian fast-forwards to the song’s last verse. It’s a small detail, but I love how the opening lines (“It feels good without the implants in me - Here to show the world that my skill’s more than skin-deep”) accompany TJ turning Balrog’s introduction of illegal moves against him by immediately getting off his Shoot Toss. It’s a small detail, but it helps show how, just like Balrog was holding back to abide by the rules of the sport, so was TJ. Of course, the use of the chorus is perfect all throughout as well, being used to increase tension and momentum as the battle hits its stride. This is made particularly effective with how the music will sometimes switch to a sound bite of a bridge or other intermediary portion, which, in their own construction in the song, build up to the catharsis of the chorus. Overall, given that this is the last fight animation to use a licensed song like this, I definitely think that this era of the show went out on a proverbial - and literal - high note.
However, these things would largely go for naught if the core script and choreography were poor. Fortunately, Nick and Torrian poured their all into this animation, creating what might just be some of the best hand-to-hand action of the entire show, combined with genuinely good narrative progression displaying the differing personalities and priorities of the two combatants. This is helped by some of the best character animation Torrian has ever done, which is particularly impressive given that he did the motion capture for every character in this animation himself. Consider just the opening preliminary with the combatants entering the arena: Balrog walks forward slowly and deliberately, not really bothering to pay attention to either the crowd or his assistants. Given that boxing is a means to an end for him, it makes perfect sense that he wouldn’t think much of impressing the crowd, instead being completely focused on his opponent. TJ, on the other hand, puts on more of a show, acknowledging the crowd and even getting in a few mock swings to show off. This is an excellent way of showing how he cares more about boxing for its own sake than Balrog does, as well as his personal interest in proving himself to be authentically skilled. After a few shots of the overhead screens, which serve as the transition to save Torrian from having to animate them entering the ring, the two approach each other, their greetings giving yet another window into their personalities. TJ’s line is challenging, pushing Balrog as to whether he really is capable of taking on a two-decade champion like himself. He leaves room for Balrog to prove himself, but makes clear that it’s going to take a lot of work. Balrog, on the other hand, extends no such courtesy, boastfully declaring that TJ won’t last one round (I also love how the ref in the background can be seen admonishing Balrog for his aggressiveness). Again, this shows their difference in mentalities: TJ is proud, but takes the sport and his opponent seriously enough to understand that him losing isn’t out of the question, whereas Balrog doesn’t think anything of those he fights, and doesn’t care about competition at all. Even their opening taunts - which I’m pretty sure Torrian replicated from their games, which is a great attention to detail - highlight this difference, with Balrog’s emphasizing his overwhelming power, while TJ is actively egging on his opponent. With just a few lines of dialogue and some deliberate, purposeful character animation, Nick and Torrian show off the ways in which the characters’ personalities, goals, and overall approach contrast with each other.
Once the fight animation begins properly, the first “round” is used to really show off their differing styles as highlighted by the analysis: Balrog begins immediately with heavy hits, and his own not-insignificant speed is shown right away with how he is able to still bypass TJ’s guard and land a hit despite TJ dodging his first punch. TJ, on the other hand, starts off cautiously, only getting a few hits - ones that Balrog easily tanks without flinching - and spending most of his time avoiding or blocking Balrog’s blows. A knock to the head gives Balrog the opportunity he needs to get TJ in a corner, where he follows up by forcing TJ to protect his head with both arms, while he gets in gut-punches with his right fist. TJ’s perseverance eventually allows him to evade Balrog’s intended finishing blow, and then charge back in with a headshot of his own. Again, deferring to how the analysis and conclusion determined them to be comparable in strength, this is shown to disorient Balrog badly enough to allow TJ to get in a significant combo of his own before Balrog finally recovers. Balrog tries to drive him back - complete with excellent attack trails, dynamic cinematography, and other effects that, combined with Chris Jai’s deliveries, really sell his frustration and the power behind his swings - only for TJ to easily dodge the follow up and land yet another blow to the head that gives him the first “fall” of the fight. This whole sequence does a great job of showing off the two’s relationship for the rest of the animation: Balrog might put more power into each individual swing, but TJ is capable of matching or exceeding his strength if he tries. On the other side of the scale, while TJ is generally the faster and more agile of the two, Balrog is capable of matching his speed in short bursts. More fundamentally, this scene also shows off TJ’s experience and skill advantage. He spends the first bit of the fight taking things slow, letting Balrog attack him and generally getting a read on his opponent. Once he does, he quickly takes the advantage with his better mobility and Balrog’s reliance on tanking hits rather than dodging them. After this great opening, Nick and Torrian’s original plan for the animation shines through with the round’s conclusion. Not only does this give the fight a chance to breathe after the opening flurry of action, but it once again contributes to the air of authenticity that this entire animation does such a good job of building. There’s even a great detail after the two walk away to rest in their respective corners: TJ turns around as expected, serious yet confident. Balrog, however, looks over his shoulder and expresses far more frustration with the outcome. Again, it’s a small way of showing the skill gap, with TJ’s confidence restored now that he has a read on how Balrog fights, while Balrog is just frustrated with his quick, slippery opponent. This attention to detail continues with the beginning of the second round, as both all but leap up from their seats and move in to resume the match; TJ out of professional confidence, and Balrog out of anger. Their attitudes are validated by the fight’s continuation; TJ begins taunting Balrog in turn, calling attention to his predictable moves as he continues to dodge Balrog’s hits while getting in heavy ones of his own. All of this serves as context for Balrog fundamentally changing the dynamic and tone of the fight through his use of illegal moves to regain the upper hand (which I’m pretty sure are also from one of his games, but I could be mistaken about that). This is further signified by him discarding his coat. Sure, it’s a technically insignificant moment, but I appreciate it as a way of visually representing the way in which the nature of the fight has been altered; the transition from a boxing match to a Death Battle, if you will. Of course, TJ doesn’t call Balrog out for his flagrant violation of boxing etiquette; instead, he proceeds to immediately meet him on his own terms by bringing in his own highly illegal arsenal. Aside from this obviously happening because there needs to be a death battle in an episode of Death Battle, I appreciate how the script uses this as a way for TJ to show that, despite his desire to prove his skill “all-natural,” he also loves winning, and is perfectly willing to meet and beat Balrog on his own terms.
This leads into the heart of this animation, with Torrian blending the fighting styles of the characters and franchises seamlessly to create what is probably some of his best work. So many moves and abilities are replicated all but flawlessly, and with remarkable smoothness. While Torrian had always been able to compensate stiff movements with fast motions back in his early days as Death Battle’s 3-D animator, this animation has all of the positives of Torrian’s best animations with none of the old weaknesses (aside from a few visual details, but as I have said time and again, if visuals are a serious problem for someone, then every season will be worse than the one that comes after). I particularly love how this opening exchange manages to seamlessly merge video game action with the characters’ natural fighting styles: TJ uses his better maneuverability to land his Shoot Toss, following up with a Tremor. Despite both of these things being incredibly impressive visually and feeling impactful thanks to the strong sound design, Balrog, being a slugger, is able to quickly power through and take the advantage. This leads to what is easily the best “Combo Breaker” of the entire show, largely because, unlike just about every other time it’s been used, the offending character - Balrog - actually managed to land a good combo that built up a lot of momentum for an intending finishing blow. After more trading of blows and an extended sequence of TJ eluding Balrog’s hits that may or may not wind up being important in the grand scheme of things, Balrog manages to bypass TJ’s attempted Vortex Punch and send him flying, leading to a superb moment of him trying to crush TJ’s head with a single stomp. Sure, this moment barely lasts a few seconds, but the excellent sound design, effects work, and cinematography all do such a good job of selling the deadly power of this simple maneuver that it’s probably one of my favorite little moments of the animation. It also helps demonstrate Balrog’s ruthless drive to win, having no issue with literally stomping his opponent while he’s down. The two get a few fist-to-fist hits that begin shattering the ring beneath their feet, which lines up with the conclusion’s argument that they are comparable in strength. It also doesn’t stop the two from getting a few lighter hits at the same time. They eventually ready their dash attacks, only for Balrog to finally outmaneuver TJ, giving him all the room he needs to land another meaty combo before closing things out with his Gigaton Blow. Despite the sound design itself not necessarily being too different from Balrog’s many other punches, the outstanding presentation of this blow makes it one of the most impactful-feeling hits in the entirety of Death Battle: the music completely cutting out, the slow camera tracking as TJ limply collapses to the ground, and the way the color fades from the background and is overtaken by the flashes of cameras and spotlights, with even Balrog fading from view so that the camera can focus on TJ’s fall. Of course, the supplemental material during the interim between TJ’s comeback and this moment is great as well, with the crowd going wild in the background, Chris Guerrero’s clearly staggered delivery as it seems that this match might finally have a winner, and even Balrog expressing his celebration through his exuberant movements. Admittedly, part of me thinks that TJ should have remained grounded just a few seconds longer to give Balrog’s hit just a little more impact, but I appreciate how he manages to get himself into a crouch just as the music kicks back in with the buildup to the chorus.
As Balrog approaches TJ from behind, Torrian delivers an absolutely perfect supplement to the Gigaton scene. TJ enters his super mode, the blue outline appearing his model causing the background to fade once again, leaving him the only thing in focus as he shouts his defiance (“I ain’t done!”), punching the ground so hard that Balrog is knocked back by a hit not even focused on him. What follows is one of the most thorough final beatdowns of the entire show, arguably even more one-sided than the ending of Iron Man VS Lex Luthor. In that episode, Lex managed to briefly stagger Tony with a kryptonite blast, and Iron Man had to dodge his flamethrower. Here, every hit Balrog tries to go for - all two of them - is either dodged or turned against him. Many have described this as one of the most satisfying comebacks in the entire show, and while it doesn’t give me quite the same adrenaline rush as the aforementioned Iron Man VS Lex Luthor, it is a very close second, and arguably does some things that episode does not. For one thing, TJ’s line and determination to push through the pain and win this last round isn’t just the narrative payoff of his being on the backfoot from his more physically intimidating and decidedly less gracious opponent; it is the resolution of his story as built up throughout this entire episode. TJ’s goal at the end of his analysis, leading into this animation, was to prove himself as being deserving of the boxing title that he worked so hard for, to demonstrate that he never needed the artificial enhancements he had used to cheat when the going got tough. His line doesn’t just function as a “cool one-liner” telling Balrog that he hasn’t won yet; it is the verbalization of how he isn’t done with boxing, and that this will not be his last match (even though killing Balrog will definitely harm his career in the long run, but this is still a show about characters brutally murdering each other). Again, it might not have the same personal weight as Tony Stark throwing Lex’s god complex back in his face, but it ties in with the episode overall in a way that is every bit as clever and helps make this beatdown just as satisfying. This is partly because, when considering the only two hits Balrog is even able to go for during this section, it’s clear that he’s worn down; his attempted follow-up finisher completely staggers him when he misses, and the punch that just gives TJ the chance to shatter his arm lacks the same power as his earlier strikes. These tiny details mean that this isn’t a just moment where one character suddenly unlocked “the power within” and is now able to effortlessly demolish their opponent as opposed to having just done so earlier; this is a payoff of TJ’s out-boxer strategy and experience getting the better of Balrog’s slugger approach. TJ spent much of the animation bypassing Balrog’s guard and getting small hits, if he wasn’t just avoiding Balrog’s blows altogether. After putting everything into one last Gigaton Punch, Balrog is now running on empty. Anyway, TJ proceeds to absolutely pummel Balrog in a series of close-ups, the editing growing more frenetic as his beatdown picks up more and more momentum, before he finally closes things out with a Vortex Punch that decapitates Balrog in a single blow, the camera tracking every facet of this movement with positive relish. This leads to an excellent little epilogue: TJ walks off-stage, not even bothering to watch his opponent’s corpse hit the ground, Chris Guerrero’s commentator remembers his job, acknowledging TJ as having “taken the title” - again, further payoff to TJ’s analysis - and, as the camera tracks Balrog’s head flying through the air, excuses himself to lose his lunch. Again, it’s a good way of relieving the tension with a bit of levity, particularly immediately after closing the book on TJ Combo’s story.
As for the conclusion, it’s the best of the season thus far by a country mile. They begin by explaining how TJ held a slight strength advantage, which, while numerically insignificant, helps feed into their larger argument at the end. They also use relevant numbers (Newtons) converted from PSI and determined from TJ’s Vortex Punch. As always, I appreciate when they actually show the audience what they did to get their numbers, as it makes it easier to take their word for it. They spend less time on their comparable durability, but they really don’t need to do more than they did; just showing the numbers and how they could survive similar falls proves their point well enough. What really ties everything together is when they bring up the triangle theory. Now that they’ve established that their stats were so close that neither really had any significant advantage over the other, skill is clearly the best way to determine the winner. However, Nick goes even further than that; after giving a nice visual demonstration of how the triangle theory functions (which I guess means that Balrog beats Little Mac; the more you know), he proceeds to demonstrate an example of an out-boxer overwhelming a slugger using Muhammad Ali, the very boxer that he established as being TJ’s biggest inspiration and hero. This allows Nick to resolve the episode through the conclusion of not only TJ’s story, but the real-world boxing comparisons as well. Overall, while perhaps not the most extensive or in-depth conclusion, it still does everything it needs to, providing the numbers necessary to prove the ways in which the combatants had each other matched before completing the boxing theme of the episode to use the sport itself to determine the winner.
It might be recalled at this point that Balrog VS TJ Combo was a passion project for Nick Cramer and Torrian Crawford, and was apparently something they had been working on more or less all year until the episode’s release. Considering how good the finished project is, that is scarcely a surprise. I will be blunt: I do enjoy Solid Snake VS Sam Fisher and Iron Man VS Lex Luthor a tad more than this episode, if only due to the more extensive nature of their fight scripts. However, I think that this episode is better than either of them as an overall package: the analyses are superb, the animation has some of the best choreography of Torrian’s entire tenure as Death Battle’s 3-D animator with (almost) none of the old problems, and the conclusion ties everything together thematically as well as functionally. The music is perfectly chosen, the effects are wonderful, the writing is strong; there is virtually nothing wrong with this episode, and it is an absolute joy to watch from start to finish. I daresay that there is a great deal of irony in the best episode of the entire show being found in a season that, up to this point, has been decidedly more miss than hit; whether any future episode will top it remains to be seen. For now, the bar has been set absurdly high for the best the show has to offer, and if no episode manages to surpass it, there can be no shame in that.
Ranking: S Tier
Chapter 12: Episode 82. Shredder VS Silver Samurai
Chapter Text
Season Four marked a turning point in the show’s history, seeing the broadening of the combatant roster to have more universal appeal, as opposed to the greater focus on video games in the previous seasons. This proved to be a wise move in the long run, allowing Death Battle to remain relevant with people of all interests rather than just gamers and comic book fans. However, that would not stop the show from still doing matchups just because they liked them. Shredder VS Silver Samurai was one of those matchups, as, while it wasn’t completely unheard of before its announcement following Balrog VS TJ Combo, it was by no means the Shredder’s most common request. Nonetheless, the crew thought that it would be fun to do, and Shredder was a popular enough character to carry an episode, so the matchup was given the go-ahead. The far more important element of this episode’s production is that it marked the beginning of Death Battle’s shift away from licensed music towards relying entirely on royalty-free and custom battle tracks. Brandon Yates was brought in to compose this episode’s track, and, seeing that he and his work would soon become a regular part of production, his track was given custom artwork, designed by the animator Luis Cruz, creating the precedent that all future Death Battle OSTs would follow. These changes would have a significant impact on production as time went on, although those differences would not be particularly noticeable at this point.
The Shredder’s analysis is rather interesting considering that the character’s very nature demands dealing with a troubling facet of Death Battle’s modus operandi that I have not really addressed up to this point: compositing the combatants. Some of Death Battle’s rules have remained fairly consistent throughout the years: the combatants cannot have prior knowledge of each other unless somehow canon, moral restraints regarding killing are disregarded for the sake of fairness, and so on. However, despite Death Battle locking down Rule Four’s wording during Season Three - “all official material is considered unless contradictory to the primary sources” - its application has been somewhat inconsistent. Some characters can get away with “soft composites” due to having a strong enough presence in pop culture; Godzilla is a good example of this. However, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as a franchise is marked by dramatically distinct continuities. While there are recurrent elements throughout the various canons and incarnations, the characters themselves tend to be fundamentally different, and the Shredder is no exception. Although the most iconic iteration of the character probably remains his 1987 version, the Shredder’s portrayal as a character often differs quite a bit depending on the story, making it very difficult to lock down a “primary” canon for Death Battle to build its research and presentation around. Their solution at the beginning of this analysis is to primarily use the 2012 show as the basis for his story while still factoring in feats from other continuities…sort of. On paper, I think this makes perfect sense for Death Battle’s normal aim to make things accessible to a general audience. The 2012 cartoon was the most recent and popular version of the franchise at the time, meaning that more of the show’s audience would probably be familiar with its take on the character. The 2012 version also had more in common narratively with the 1987 show than the 2003 cartoon, which would keep things from seeming too “out there” for the millennial audience Death Battle still had. (Speaking of which, this whole tangent just made me realize that Death Battle is older than the 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon. I knew that already, but it only now sank in.) Regardless, Death Battle presents this composite in the episode by treating the non-2012 versions as “legends” surrounding his origin, which I think is a decent enough way of getting around the fact that the various Shredders are very different characters. Overall, Shredder’s analysis is pretty good, covering his weapons, armor and training in the context of his leadership of the Foot Clan, and moving on to his feats after bringing up his rivalry with the Turtles (speaking of which, I absolutely love how Wiz decides to refer to the turtles in the most pretentious way possible, and that Boomstick just doesn’t comment on it). Once they start getting into his “weaknesses,” I do think that the manner of composite starts to get a bit eyebrow-raising. For one thing, every single actually impressive feat they give the Shredder - surviving a bite from Leatherhead, defeating “eight mutants at once,” and the “faster than the eye” feat they use to give him his speed - is from the 2012 cartoon. They’re a bit more balanced with Super Shredder, using footage from the original movie and the video games for some of his wackier abilities (also, Wiz giving Boomstick credit for “doing a science” is a great moment). However, when they move on to his weaknesses, pretty much the entire segment is just them making fun of his various dumb moments from his old incarnations. Granted, I do find the segment funny, and it’s not as though some of the things they mock are exactly beloved even by TMNT fans, but it does create the impression that Nick and Ben - the episode’s writers - were unwilling to let the 2012 version look bad in any way for some reason. It doesn’t help that, because the whole segment is basically just a bit mocking Shredder’s various dumber moments in previous incarnations, they wind up not giving him any actual weaknesses. Still, while I do wish they had thrown in a dumb moment or two from the 2012 cartoon to counterbalance things a bit, the joke is nonetheless functional, and Wiz’s depressed affirmation in response to Boomstick’s query as to whether “the nineties were always this stupid” is funny and very well-delivered.
Still, Silver Samurai’s analysis is probably the better of the two, presumably because determining the version of the character’s story and powers they had to focus on was far more straightforward. Things are already off to a good start when Wiz calls Harada a bastard child, Boomstick tells him off for “throwing insults around,” and Wiz tries to explain only to just give up mid-sentence (admittedly, I probably find this joke funnier than I should due to the perfect accompanying clip of Silver Samurai walking away in a Charlie Brown stance). One thing that I actually really appreciate about this analysis is that, thanks to its focus on Harada’s training, story, and fighting style, it doesn’t actually tie in with the broader Marvel Comics canon all that much. Were it not for references to Wolverine and a few other characters during their rundown of his feats, it would be easy to forget that Silver Samurai is a Marvel character in the first place. They justify Harada’s samurai training through his being an illegitimate child denying him a stable future, and him training to master all elements of the samurai lifestyle in order to stand among the great warriors of his day. After a genuinely funny bit where Boomstick refers to this as him needing to become “a Silver Samurai,” and Wiz just awkwardly agreeing with him, they start going over the various fighting styles he mastered, which is a nice little way of tying in his analysis with Shredder’s, where they mentioned he had mastered all eighteen forms of ninjutsu. They eventually use the swordfighting style - kenjutsu - to lead into his mutant abilities (with Wiz getting back at Boomstick for the earlier “insensitivity” gag in the process). Considering that a big part of Silver Samurai’s ability revolves around how it enhances his blade, this is an excellent, logical transition, and their explanation of the “tachyon fields” is decent enough for what the episode requires of it. This leads back into the rest of his arsenal, after which they go back to his story to talk about his relationship with Wolverine. They use this portion of the story to build yet another connection with Shredder, with Wolverine essentially marrying into leadership of the role Harada was denied due to his birth status. Unfortunately, I do think they somewhat fumble the ball with actually giving Harada’s story some direction at the end. This wasn’t really a problem in the Shredder’s analysis given that his role in the story is as the Turtles’ nemesis, but aside from a brief mention of how he would battle Wolverine throughout the years, they just leave his story off at how he was able to take over the family clan due to his sister getting poisoned. They don’t bring up how that affected his and Wolverine’s rivalry at all, which strikes me as a significant missed opportunity. Still, the rest of the analysis is hardly bad; them giving Harada a clear number for his striking speed is nice, Boomstick’s delivery of “the f***ing Jetson’s?!” is excellent, and making the ending note basically just be about how Silver Samurai was absolutely brutalized in the afterlife is weirdly fitting given the fight itself. Overall, while not fantastic, these were still an excellent pair of analyses that complemented each other quite well in addition to making the characters feel like skilled and threatening warriors.
Before discussing the animation, I suppose I ought to acknowledge that, despite my repeatedly saying that Luis Cruz was one of the most significant acquisitions of talent Death Battle would ever make, one could be forgiven from reading my reviews for thinking that a strange claim. While I have praised a few of his animations - Ken VS Terry and Zoro VS Erza I specifically thought were quite good - I have been more critical of his work than I haven’t, particularly when considering that Jordan Lange and Zack Watkins both had animations shortly into their tenures that I considered absolutely excellent. Jordan had Batman VS Spider-Man, while Zack had Ryu VS Scorpion. All of these animations really pushed what Death Battle sprite animations could do, setting standards that were no mean feats for those that came after to live up to - including themselves. While Luis had certainly proven his mettle, he had not necessarily yet had that one animation that really showed off his true capabilities. Bear in mind, these benchmark animations are not necessarily the animator’s best, nor are they flawless - Batman VS Spider-Man has a few moments that forget about the Spider-Sense, and Ryu VS Scorpion really fumbles the ending. Rather, they served as effective testaments to the quality of work the animator was capable of. With Shredder VS Silver Samurai, Luis would finally get that standout animation; one that, while not flawless, allowed him to show off his talents and abilities in a way that his previous animations had not. What’s particularly interesting about this is that, when looking at Shredder VS Silver Samurai through the lens of his previous animations, it becomes clear that it was the payoff of all the experimentation he had been doing with expressive, fast-paced combat, as we shall soon see.
The beginning of the animation, admittedly, does not immediately inspire great confidence. While the opening shot of the waning Moon, combined with the nighttime ambience and the minimal instrumentation of Brandon’s score, does a good job of establishing a vaguely ominous atmosphere, the still of Silver Samurai is really awkward. The artstyle clashes with the rest of the animation, and the positioning of the still relative to the trees in the background makes the shot composition confusing. Nonetheless, the shot is brief, and the traced artstyle never returns, so this isn’t really a big deal. Silver Samurai is shown cutting down a few trees, because he presumably has nothing better to do, when a series of Foot Clan drill pods show up. All but one of them open, and the ensuing group of ninjas lunge forward to attack him. Fortunately, much like Ken VS Terry, Luis uses this example of one of the combatants doing battle before the fight properly begins in the best way it can be used: building up the beleaguered combatant’s skill. After the ninjas charge forward, a much better closeup of Silver Samurai’s narrowed eyes, complete with an aspect ratio change to emphasize his concentration and irritation - which, like all of this episode’s graphic arts, was done by Chris Bastin - precludes an amazing effects shot of Harada cutting them all down in seconds at blinding speed, perfectly selling how deadly of a fighter he is (I also like the little detail of how Silver Samurai’s armor trembles slightly after the apparently robotic ninjas explode; Luis is always good at little details like that). This whole sequence showing off Harada’s immense skill and speed more than makes up for his somewhat lackluster opening frame, and Shredder’s introduction is every bit as good. The camera zooms in on the final pod as Shredder’s cackle echoes in the background, leading into a superb hand-drawn shot of Shredder pulling himself out of the pod in sync with his dialogue (in fact, if one pays attention, they will notice that Shredder’s final line when he exits the pod lacks any reverb effects, perfectly syncing with his drawing nearer to the camera and into the open). In fact, with Shredder’s reveal, it becomes clear just how ingeniously the composite was handled with his portrayal in the animation. Shredder’s sprites are in the style of the 1987 cartoon, which makes sense given that it’s not only his most iconic look, but also the easiest to get sprite assets for. On the other hand, his voice is that of the 2003 Shredder, which (at least from what I can tell) is generally agreed upon as the most threatening voice the character received. His overall portrayal is more in-line with the 2012 cartoon, being a deadly, capable ninja yet still fundamentally human (as opposed to his goofier iteration from 1987 and his decidedly inhuman nature in the 2003 show), and when he transforms into Super Shredder, the design looks more like the version from the old live action films in both the sprites and hand-drawn shots (or at least it looks that way to me. I’m not exactly a TMNT expert, and I’m more than open to correction on these points). It’s such a clever use of compositing in the animation itself, and it results in Shredder arguably benefitting more than any other character from Death Battle’s old soft-compositing tendencies. It also makes this one of precious few episodes to actually benefit from the lack of any specially contracted voice actors; had Shredder received a voice, only a phenomenally good impression of Scott Rayow would have maintained the reference.
The two begin their fight, and Shredder immediately gains the advantage, pushing Harada back one-handed and landing a slash across his chest. Harada survives the blow just fine, fitting with the analysis emphasizing how tough his armor is, but Shredder follows up with a melee combo before he can recover. Some claim that this minor sequence muddies their verdict that Shredder and Silver Samurai only needed “one fatal hit” to win, seeing as the rest of the animation will see neither land any clear hits until the climax. While I actually agree that Harada’s later hit might have had more impact if it truly was the first clean strike of the entire animation, I don’t mind Shredder taking a quick advantage here, for a few reasons. For one thing, their conclusion also gives Shredder the edge in striking speed, and, considering that Harada had just had to deal with useless robots instead of a serious opponent, I think it makes perfect sense for him to be taken aback initially by Shredder’s skill. On top of that, while Shredder does get hits, none of them are even close to the “fatal” ones the conclusion claims he needed, due to him simply not having a read on Harada yet; his first sword slash is foiled by Harada’s armor, and while he manages to land a combo, it is quickly shrugged off, as shall be apparent in a moment. Now that he knows what kind of opponent he is dealing with, Harada charges his blade with tachyon energy in another excellent hand-drawn still and uses it to throw an energy slice at Shredder…which I don’t think the analysis ever established that he could do. Still, ignoring that rather irritating detail, everything else about this brief scene is awesome. The shot of Shredder earlier showed him charging towards Harada with a great sense of speed, only for Harada’s tachyon energy to hurtle towards Shredder at an even faster rate. This leads to an absolutely superb shot of Shredder only just managing to dodge the attack, which cleaves an entire tree in half before Shredder even recovers from his sudden movement. Despite the sound design not being overpowering per se, this still has a ton of impact thanks to the use of speedlines, strong shot composition keeping the tree in focus without losing track of Shredder, and excellent visual and audio effects. This little moment does a great job of reestablishing the threat Harada poses, not just to the audience, but to the Shredder as well, who now understands the vital importance of avoiding Silver Samurai’s blade. Now it’s Harada’s turn to charge full speed towards his opponent, who dodges his swings and leaps away just as the Silver Samurai’s blade destroys the ground beneath him. The next shot reveals Shredder to have leapt away into the trees, and this is unfortunately one of my other minor issues with this animation. Again, like the earlier frame of Silver Samurai, this isn’t really a big deal, but not only does it bother me that Shredder seems to be just running away from the battle rather than using the trees to actually gain any kind of advantage, I find the shot of him dashing through the trees to be really silly-looking, and I’m not convinced it’s intentional. Shredder just looks like he’s skipping away, light as a feather, for all the world as gaily as the Invisible Man after escaping from the police. I do like the visuals of Harada chopping down the trees at such a rapid rate as to be capable of keeping up with him regardless, but I really wish that visual could have been conveyed in a way that didn’t make the Shredder seem so…carefree, I suppose would be the word. At least the shot of Silver Samurai charging through the forest, destroying everything in his path is fantastic. Despite being an effects-heavy shot, the effects themselves are placed just right relative to Harada’s sprites that his swift movements are still excellently conveyed, with the rapid speed of the background further helping to sell this illusion.
Shredder eventually drops behind an earthen pillar, which Harada quickly destroys, a swift duck preventing his head from being taken off. Nonetheless, he loses his cloak, which is a nice bit of battle damage, again further conveying how much more lightly armored the Shredder is than his opponent. Harada throws some shurikens, which Shredder dodges, after which he detonates a smoke bomb. This results in a crucial change in the battle’s dynamic, with Shredder using his superior stealth training to vanish into the shadows, his skill being particularly highlighted by how he avoids Harada’s follow-up in an excellent mixture of smear and transparency effects. What follows is some of the fastest-paced action of any sprite animation in the entire show’s history; it is every bit as fast as Ryu Hayabusa VS Strider Hiryu, and has far more substantive choreography to boot. This animation also handles its blazing speed much better than Luis’ previous two animations, and it does this through one simple mechanism: pacing. Natsu VS Ace and especially Metal Sonic VS Zero suffered from breezing through just about every sequence and exchange at the same rate regardless of significance. For example, Natsu and Ace clashing their biggest attacks barely had any more time to sink in than the two trading basic punches and kicks. On the other side of thing, the usage of the faux-3-D stills in Metal Sonic VS Zero would often break the pacing due to being incongruent with the surrounding sprite animations and failing to provide the audience with information that they wouldn't already be able to glean from the normal shots. Shredder VS Silver Samurai, on the other hand, perfectly understands how to give important moments time to sink in without derailing the pacing. For example, the shot of Shredder dodging Harada’s tachyon energy is clearly presented as a slow-motion shot. The scene gives the tree slash enough time to sink in with sufficient accompanying effects before refocusing on Shredder’s reaction. The scene lasts just long enough for the audience to fully appreciate the power of what the Silver Samurai just did without dragging on to the point of halting the pacing. The next major instance of this is with the scene at hand, with Shredder using a smoke bomb to melt into the shadows and get the drop on Harada. The audience is presented with a few upward angles of the misty forest as Shredder’s cackle rings in the background - complete with an excellent echo to convey his distance from his opponent - and a phenomenal shot of Silver Samurai on the alert. I love how the movement of the background, combined with great sprite rigging and subtle shifting of the sheets, perfectly conveys Harada’s focus as he tries to narrow down where Shredder is going to attack from. I also like the small detail of how the Silver Samurai withdraws the tachyon energy from his blade, knowing that the light would only help his opponent more than himself. This scene manages to maintain the animation’s pacing through the movement of the background, never sacrificing the scene’s length for the sake of keeping things moving. It feels fast, building tension despite there technically being no action. Shredder soon makes the first move, throwing shurikens of his own that Harada easily blocks. This leads to one of the fastest-feeling scenes in any Death Battle sprite animation, with Shredder using the smoke to vanish from Silver Samurai’s perspective and land sneak attacks, only for Harada to successfully parry with his own skill. Neither land any proper hits, instead clashing blades and dodging blows. Eventually Harada uses his teleportation ring to try and get the jump on Shredder himself, coming from behind just as the conclusion pointed out is his tendency. This leads to an even faster scene of the two furiously attacking, counter attacking, and dodging, Harada using his ring to match Shredder’s stealth. Part of what makes this scene such a delight to watch is how evenly matched the two seem. One thing that Death Battle can struggle with, particularly in its sprite animations, is actually managing to prevent either combatant from feeling like they have a substantial advantage over the other. Generally, the combatants will just take turns holding the advantage, or, in worse episodes, have the loser beat down on the winner until the winner decides to stop losing and wins (every now and again this is justified by the characters, but only rarely). Here, Shredder had the upper hand in the beginning, Harada took it back after charging his tachyon energy, and now the two are evenly matched. The best part is, neither seems weaker or less skilled than they ought: Shredder used the smoke bomb to give himself an advantage, and it works; he’s clearly the stealthier of the two. While Silver Samurai is unable to just melt into the shadows like his opponent, he makes up for it with his own formidable skill and teleportation ring. This, combined with how both are forced to avoid the other's attacks as often as they deal them out, perfectly sells the two as dead even, with only a single mistake being necessary for one to pull ahead. This is beautifully paid off in another great hand-drawn still, in which Silver Samurai catches Shredder in his blade’s reflection and manages to bypass his guard, stabbing him in the shoulder. Shredder falls to the ground in a pool of his own blood, and Harada, perhaps not unreasonably, assumes that he's won.
Of course, Shredder isn't exactly a good sport, leading to the one scene in this animation that is genuinely bad: the Super Shredder transformation. First, Shredder punches the ground in frustration, which, despite being well-rigged, has distractingly impactful sound design. Considering that he isn't Super yet, I'm pretty sure that a single punch from an injured Shredder should not be enough to cause the ground to tremble like he’s Donkey Kong. He then hoists the canister of mutagen into the air in a really awkward hand-drawn still. I'm not entirely sure why, but something about Shredder’s positioning relative to the camera angle just makes the shot rather off-putting, and not in a good way. He then breaks the mutagen over himself and proceeds to turn into Super Shredder in a transformation straight out of Super Mario Bros. on the NES. I get that it's apparently a reference to some old TMNT video game, but said reference is completely incompatible with the animation's tone and style. The cherry on top is the cut back to Silver Samurai - who has apparently just been standing there allowing Shredder to power himself up - looking hilariously over his shoulder, before hardcutting to Harada in a different pose, his sword having teleported into his other hand, making a silly face as a strobe light flickers. I think the reason Silver Samurai’s expression during this scene looks so awful is because it's too cartoonishly exaggerated. It isn't necessarily out of place, like Captain America’s expression was in his episode; it's just so over-the-top in its display of horror and surprise that it breaks the animation’s tone. Still, things quickly go back to normal once the transformation is over. I really like Super Shredder’s sound design overall. Everything from his attacks to even just his footsteps feel incredibly meaty and powerful, perfectly conveying his newfound strength advantage. However, he doesn't just turn into a braindead brute; he still fights with a certain degree of finesse, which he uses to overpower the Silver Samurai and launch him back. He then throws lightning at Harada, leading to a wonderful scene of him recharging his blade, and using it to cut the lightning bolt in half. While I do think the sound design is a little weak, everything else is perfect: Silver Samurai’s strong pose, the effects for the bolt being sliced in two, and the heavy saturation being used to emphasize the blinding light of the lightning meeting Harada’s tachyon energies. Again, it wonderfully communicates the Silver Samurai’s own formidable skill; his controller doesn't just switch off because he's now at a disadvantage. The best part of all this, however, isn't even the natural awesome nature of someone cleaving a lightning bolt in two with a sword; it's how it's used to change the surrounding arena by setting it on fire. While the fire does admittedly get absolutely massive in just a few seconds, it does an amazing job of fundamentally changing the animation’s tone and atmosphere. The harsh yellows and oranges almost make things claustrophobic with how they overwhelm the screen, and the shot of Shredder silhouetted against the crackling flames, with only his glowing red eyes visible as he marches towards the camera, is one of the most menacing shots of the entire show, bar none. I'm not sure if that was Luis’ or Chris's doing, but both of them deserve so much credit for this fantastic setup for the kill.
Said kill remains one of the best of the entire show to this day. There's so much to discuss: Silver Samurai once again charges in, not letting himself be deterred by his opponent's newfound power, only for Shredder to grab his sword arm and bludgeon it off in a single karate chop. Harada stumbles back, armor slicked with blood, and Shredder is similarly doused. I love how, despite his insanely debilitating injury, Harada remains standing; he doesn't even fall to his knees, perfectly matching what the analysis said about his resilience. Of course, Shredder doesn't care about that, and hits Silver Samurai’s falling sword so hard that it launches straight at him like a missile. I like how the kill itself isn't actually shown on screen; instead, Silver Samurai’s death is conveyed through an excellent shot of his helmet tumbling to the ground, minor afterimages included for emphasis. Admittedly, given the sheer quantity of gore, it was probably done this way to save Luis and Chris from having to actually show Harada getting impaled in the face, but I think it works anyway as the one moment of subtlety in a sequence otherwise devoid of it. However, despite being dead, Silver Samurai still remains upright, even if he falls to his knees. It's only after Shredder uses his own sword to wrench off his head that his corpse actually collapses. This leads to what is probably the best shot of the episode: Super Shredder crushing Silver Samurai’s head one-handed. The shadows on Shredder’s face allowing only his narrowed red eyes to stand out; Harada’s head gradually succumbing to the power of Shredder’s grip; the perfectly chosen voice clip, complete with a reverb effect to make the Shredder sound downright demonic; the way all light - including Shredder’s eyes - flares in intensity when the skull finally caves, and the fact that the music is cut completely, leaving the crackling fire, Shredder’s voice, and Silver Samurai’s skull as it is crushed to a bloody pulp as the only accompanying ambience. This is probably one of the most haunting finishers of the show, and Luis and Chris did an absolutely superb job putting it together.
The conclusion is similarly excellent. They go over Shredder’s experience advantage, as well as explaining how Silver Samurai didn't tend to use his teleportation ring in any way difficult for a skilled opponent to predict. They also remind the audience how Harada’s armor had gaps, complete with relevant footage from the animation. This is followed by them comparing the speeds of the feats they gave in the analyses, tying things together by giving Shredder a two-times speed advantage. This particular works with how they gave Silver Samurai the strength advantage. I admittedly wish that they had given Super Shredder a number of some kind, and the closeness of the match is somewhat diluted by how they make clear that Harada had no answer to it. Still, this is an excellent conclusion, and yet another that actually succeeds in selling a matchup as “close.”
Shredder VS Silver Samurai is considered by some to be the second-best episode of the season, and while my few issues do prevent me from going quite that far, it's still fantastic. The analyses are really good, the conclusion actually presents a matchup as “extremely close” while still containing all the evidence needed for their verdict, and the animation, despite a few hiccups, is easily Luis’ best work for the show up to this point. The sense of speed matches any of Jordan Lange’s animations, the saturation fits the animation without being too overbearing, and both characters are portrayed as absolute masters of their craft without ever looking worse for the sake of the dynamic. While some episodes have fallen from grace for me upon revisit, this is the opposite; this is much better than I remembered, and unquestionably a great episode.
Ranking: A Tier
Chapter 13: Episode 83. Smokey Bear VS McGruff the Crime Dog
Chapter Text
In spite of being by far and away the season’s least successful episode, currently sitting at only sixty percent of the next-least popular episode’s view count, Smokey Bear VS McGruff the Crime Dog is not only surprisingly important for Death Battle’s continued evolution as a show, but is also yet another example of a Season Four episode largely being in the season due to having been trapped in development hell. The matchup was apparently suggested to Ben and Chad at a convention by an unnamed fan, and they agreed to do it completely on a whim. While overall production of the episode itself seemed to have gone smoothly once it finally got off the ground, the matchup spent two years in pre-production; Ben assumed the role of lead writer in 2015, only for the script to get passed over to Nick Cramer in 2016 after Ben’s role changed to become more managerial. Finally, Sam Mitchell took over in 2017, and he is largely responsible for the script as it currently exists, although this episode’s messy production is the reason that Ben, Chad, Nick, and Sam are all given creative credits at the end. This episode also signifies the final time that a Death Battle animation would not feature a specially commissioned custom track (aside from the Seven Battle Royale, if it counts); from here on out, every single animation and fight scene would feature its own original score, composed by either Brandon Yates or Aaron Caruthers, with only two exceptions (at least as of my writing this). Finally, this episode’s fight marks the debut of traditional hand-drawn animations as a viable style for the show. Ben adopted a “spare no expense” attitude with this episode and insisted on it being traditionally animated. This was accomplished by contracting the animation out to Blind Ferret Entertainment, a privately run animation studio. They would later return to work on Mario VS Sonic, although Samurai Jack VS Afro Samurai, as well as all of Death Battle’s future hand-drawn episodes after the one hundredth episode, would be worked on by in-house animators. Still, even if the people that worked on it only wound being responsible for two of these animations, the debut of this style was still important, as it marked just how much more Death Battle could do with Rooster Teeth’s expanded resources (and, as Ben pointed out, bereft of Craig Skistimas’ tight-fisted approach). This was commemorated by using the combatants’ custom stills in the episode’s thumbnail. This is actually not without precedent, and, with the exception of Boba Fett VS Samus Aran (2010), every episode debuting a new medium for the fights does this: Link VS Cloud (2012) uses stills based on the models Jordan Lange employed, and Nightwing VS Daredevil used pictures of the costumed actors. Given that this episode was the first proper “joke episode” since Deadpool VS Pinkie Pie, the episode’s production shows a clear desire to use the shows expanded resources on an inherently silly matchup that, chances are, no one aside from that one guy had ever given any thought beforehand. This is marked not only by the animation style, but also the cast, with Christopher Sabat and Chris Rager lending their vocal talents for the episode’s combatants. All of these things together wound up ballooning the budget, and the episode apparently turned out to be the second-most expensive of the season to make, only exceeded by Power Rangers VS Voltron. Still, while the argument could certainly be made that Death Battle would have been better off sinking those resources into other matchups that people actually wanted to see (ignoring that this season had, to be frank, a rather lackluster matchup spread), I personally quite appreciate Ben’s commitment to turning this silly joke episode into something of an event. Ben mentioned in his Season Three commentary that he had feared that the show was starting to take itself too seriously, when, at the end of the day, Death Battle is an inherently ridiculous show. Sure, the episodes can present themselves with a straight face, and the animations can have a lot of work put into them to make them as good as they can be, but it doesn’t hurt to remind fans that the concept of these sorts of debates is just dumb fun, and that the Death Battle crew knows it. It’s these sorts of eccentric matchups that help keep the show self-aware and true to its goofier roots, something that I think is especially valuable in this season where, to be blunt, Death Battle “taking itself too seriously” was a far bigger issue than it had been in Season Three. Season Four, on the whole, had generally presented itself as far more strait-laced than any season before, largely thanks to its use of numbers and calculations in its analyses and conclusions, as well as the hosts being relatively toned down. It made the show seem like it was less aware of its inherently speculative and interpretive nature, and something as silly as this was exactly what the show needed to lighten the mood. Of course, the episode can only really succeed at that if it’s any good, and while I remember enjoying it quite a lot when it came out, impressions can certainly change over time, and this episode has not exactly burned its way into the minds of Death Battle fans the same way that other joke episodes have.
To begin, I thought the analyses were enjoyable; perhaps not as funny as they could have possibly been, but enjoyable nonetheless. I appreciated how they had Wiz subtly acknowledge the matchup’s absurdity in the preamble by pointing out the irony of having public safety mascots “fight to the death,” and Smokey’s rundown has quite a bit to appreciate about it. I like how it manages to serve as a history lesson, versus rundown, and bear PSA all in one, starting off by contextualizing America’s fire problem with the Second World War drawing off able-bodied people from being able to combat the fires directly. They proceed to distinguish Smokey “the mascot” from Smokey “the man,” going over the story of the “real-life” Smokey Bear not just to pad the runtime, but to give the character an actual backstory. They even use his arrival at the National Zoo as the beginning of his fire-fighting career. This leads to their going over a variety of his fire safety-related escapades, complete with a bit of Wiz expressing skepticism at the idea that Boomstick has never started a forest fire (I also like how Boomstick admits that he's only never done so intentionally). Also, Wiz’s hatred of the nineties rears its head once again, although I like how it's done to actually give Smokey the feat of “protecting his dignity.” Eventually Boomstick brings up that Smokey is, naturally, a bear, making a pun that actually prompts Wiz to take a jab at him. This leads to the Wiz and Boomstick “pun war” that makes up much of the comedy in the analysis’ back half. Frankly, not only is this one of my favorite Wiz and Boomstick moments of the show, but I genuinely think that it's Sam’s best analysis gag, period. Sure, the puns themselves aren't funny, but they aren't supposed to be; the comedy comes from Wiz and Boomstick consistently trying to one-up each other. The gag is made better by how their puns normally differ between the hosts. Wiz’s puns are generally based around words that already contain the “bear” sound: “barely,” “bearing,” “baritone,” and so on. Boomstick, on the other hand, tends to just twist words into puns that only have a few syllables in common. There are only two exceptions to this rule, both of which are their closing puns, and Wiz using Latin to keep things tied up at the end is delightfully in-character. What makes this bit even better is that the hosts are still delivering information all throughout, going over Smokey’s time manipulation, disguises, and ability to grow to gigantic sizes. Thus, the gag serves the purpose of making the presentation of information more palatable and engaging, enhancing the presentation rather than distracting from it. This alone makes it better than the vast majority of modern cutaways, which tend to get in the way and distract more than anything else. It helps that this is easily the most energy Ben and Chad have put into their performances all season. After Wiz gets one over on Boomstick with the power of Latin, Boomstick’s frustration allows for a natural transition into Smokey’s “weaknesses;” in other words, virtually nothing by virtue of being a bear. Even the end clip is smartly chosen; rather than just any random Smokey advertisem*nt, they go with the ending of the nineties ad, showing his commitment to “giving it straight.” Honestly, while this analysis isn't terribly funny, it's still highly enjoyable, managing to be informative while having the best Wiz and Boomstick writing of the season so far.
McGruff’s analysis isn't quite as good, but it's still entertaining in its own way. I like how they use footage from Halloween and Friday the Thirteenth to accompany their discussion of the uptick in domestic crimes, and playing the soundbite of McGruff saying “take a bite out of crime” is a much better way of introducing his slogan than if the hosts had just said it themselves. While I think that McGruff’s analysis suffers a bit from lacking any clear structure, I appreciate how it still embraces the silliness of the overall campaign by lampshading his musical career, the fact that he isn't actually able to do anything in stopped time, and how a “pre-tective” is “just as fake as it sounds.” Honestly, my favorite part of the analysis isn't even really meant as anything special. It's just that, after Wiz explained that violent crimes went down in the decades following McGruff’s creation, my immediate thought was that it could just as easily be nothing more than a coincidence. Hilariously, just as I was thinking that, Boomstick pointed out:
Now, some of you are probably thinking, “Hey, you can't prove that McGruff was responsible for all of that!” And I say to you, can you prove he wasn't?!
Fair enough, I suppose. Anyway, sort of like how Smokey’s endclip was the conclusion of the nineties ad they had played earlier, I like how McGruff’s is just the continuation of the “reality-flipping switch” they mention towards the end.
As mentioned before, the fight animation is the first ever fully hand-drawn Death Battle, and it's…perfectly fine. To its credit, McGruff’s design is translated from some of his material almost exactly, just with an overall smoother look. In terms of his basic design, he almost looks as though he stepped right out of some of the material they played in the analysis. On the other hand, I don't really care for Smokey’s design at all. It isn't bad, but his face doesn’t bear any resemblance to any portrayal of the character I’m aware of. I know that bears have long jaws, but Smokey’s are usually hidden in the same manner as most bears, not the almost dog-like proportions displayed here. As for the animation itself: considering that this was Death Battle’s first attempt at a hand-drawn style, there are plenty of positives and negatives to point out. On the one hand, the overall art style, while simplistic, is nicely stylized and fits both characters quite well. On the other hand, there’s a lot of obvious layering, which particularly stands out given that the fight is supposed to be taking place during a forest fire. I actually really like the idea of these two having a dramatic battle in the middle of a burning forest a la Shredder VS Silver Samurai; unfortunately, the fact that the fire effects themselves are clearly layered separately from the trees combined with how the plants themselves never actually burn or react to the fire results in the intended effect being lost completely. I also appreciate the idea of fire being used as the setup, with Smokey being upset with McGruff for not properly taking care of a campfire that he was apparently using for a fire PSA of his own, but not only is the layering for the initial fire just as obvious as it is everywhere else, but McGruff’s fire is also clearly not the origin of the “forest fire” that Smokey complains about; it can be clearly seen advancing from left to right a fair distance from where the campfire is. However, despite my thinking these to be genuine issues, I also will concede that not only was this Death Battle’s first hand-drawn animation (even if was outsourced to a group who had experience with this sort of thing), the very simplistic, almost Cartoon Network aesthetic of the overall animation does fit the child-friendly nature of the combatants very well; it genuinely looks like the sort of low-budget children’s entertainment one could very easily see either of them being in, and while I’m not sure how intentional that is, it nonetheless fits the fighters arguably far better than if the animation was more detailed and refined.
The action is similarly simple, which, again, works against it in some ways and to its benefit in others. I will give Sam and Blind Ferret credit: in spite of the obvious difficulties, Smokey and McGruff do have a clear dynamic set up as soon as the action begins. McGruff is faster and lighter, getting in more hits, and is clearly the more skilled fighter of the two. However, those advantages mean absolutely nothing in the face of Smokey’s tenacity and brute strength, which he uses to easily shrug off just about everything McGruff tries to pull off. The animation itself is also decently fast, and there is some genuinely fun tracings of abilities: Smokey using his shovel as a javelin to trip up McGruff is decently creative (even if I don’t buy Smokey deliberately cutting down a tree for that purpose), and I like how they use just about everything in McGruff’s rather pitiful arsenal, with the exception of the “bone-crushing bite” they gave him by virtue of being a bloodhound. The McGruff Monster Truck actually being worked into the animation is a good way of letting him have at least one significant moment of advantage (even if the limp sound design takes away from that), and I really appreciate how in-line with their analysis McGruff’s use of his time stop is. He always addresses the audience during those moments and is completely unable to actually use it to gain an advantage in the fight (part of me does wish they had had Smokey use his own time stop to negate McGruff’s, but I also understand that they wanted to let McGruff have something). However, my favorite use of abilities is easily the way they worked McGruff’s Circle of Respect into the animation. Something about having Chris Reger say “I’ll show you respect!” as a one-liner in a dead serious voice before using it to knock Smokey off him is absolutely hilarious, in a good way. Honestly, Reger in general really steals the show in terms of vocal performances. Don’t get me wrong, Christopher Sabat’s Smokey isn’t bad at all, but his tone simply lacks any of the warmth that Smokey is generally portrayed with. It helps that the expression-work for McGruff is fantastic, particularly with how his demeanor drops more and more as he realizes just how outclassed he is. However, this animation also has some not-insignificant issues. While the Hanna-Barbera sound effects normally fit fine enough - I particularly like how McGruff’s Circle of Respect actually muffles Smokey’s run - they do sometimes get in the way by robbing scenes of any impact. The worst offender is definitely when McGruff is using his truck to slam Smokey into trees. The trampoline-esque sound effects, combined with the rather limp movements of the truck itself, make it seem like Smokey isn’t even getting hurt, which is particularly frustrating given that this is the one thing McGruff has that spurs him to go giant. On top of that, neither combatant ever displays any good, strong poses, something that particularly works to blunt the impact of their attacks. Also, most egregiously to me, is how McGruff just summons his monster truck from absolutely nowhere after getting launched in the opposite direction of where he drives in from. I was willing to hand-wave McGruff running from Smokey as him trying to find said truck, but unless he had it stored in the lake itself - which makes no sense given how Smokey is framed throughout this sequence - there is no way he should have been able to acquire it that quickly. I get that this is a cartoon fight, and that this animation is quite short as it is, but out of all the understandable shortcuts this animation takes, this is easily the biggest issue in my eyes due to it being a massive continuity error. It results in it not really seeming like either are putting their all into it, which does somewhat dull the battle’s trajectory. These issues, combined with the ones regarding the setting I mentioned earlier, do hold this fight back somewhat, although not enough for me to call it bad. I especially can’t call it that thanks to the genuinely great ending. Smokey grows to his kaiju size, never letting go of the truck as he does so in order to immobilize it in his hand. He winds up to crush McGruff, who, with a thoroughly defeated expression on his face, freezes time once more to ask the children in the audience to remember him. I love how this kill somehow manages to both be rather funny and sad at the same time. The sincerity of McGruff’s pleading combined with his forlorn expressions and how he braces himself for the end all work to make his death genuinely depressing with how he was clearly trying to accept his fate in spite of obviously not wanting to get crushed by a giant bear; on the other hand, the blood leaking from the destroyed vehicle combined with the hound whimper played as Smokey pancakes McGruff manages to scrape together some morbid amusem*nt from the whole thing. It helps that they cut away as soon as Smokey destroys the vehicle, denying the audience a death that’s too gory. It straddles that line between “edgy Newgrounds flash animation” and sincerity to a genuinely impressive degree. I also love how Smokey uses his shovel to start scooping water from the lake set up earlier to put out the fire as soon as McGruff is dead; it’s a small attention to detail that they by no means had to include, but it’s nice that they did.
The conclusion is good enough. They point out the obvious fact that Smokey is a bear and McGruff is a dog, meaning that the latter stood no chance in a physical confrontation. They also bring up Smokey’s relevant powers and how they countered McGruff’s own unique abilities, which is direct and to the point. I get that people make fun of Death Battle for pitting a bear against a dog - something they themselves lampshade in the next season - but I at least appreciate that they don’t really try to pretend that this was ever a “close fight.” It helps that there aren’t exactly Smokey and McGruff powerscalers waiting to pounce on Death Battle if they imply that this wasn’t a hard-fought victory on either side, meaning that they don’t need to offer any pretense. Boomstick using his ending pun to win the earlier pun war is also a fine enough payoff, and I like how Wiz concedes without much fuss due to him needing to say “The winner is Smokey Bear” as soon as the pun is completed. Also, Christopher Sabat as Smokey redirecting viewers to the Red Cross Disaster Relief page where they accept donations is a really nice way of tying the episode together; it helps make it almost feel like this entire episode was a quasi-PSA of its own.
Smokey Bear VS McGruff the Crime Dog is simple fun, nothing more, and nothing less. Obviously, it isn’t as good as Season Two’s joke episodes, but frankly, it didn’t need to be, nor does it try to be. Instead, it focuses on just delivering a silly, enjoyable experience, and I think it absolutely succeeds on that front. The animation is obviously flawed, but the overall presentation is straightforward enough that most of them aren’t too bothersome, aided by the characters being used. While they don’t always turn out the best, I’m glad that Death Battle does dumb matchups like this now and again; it helps keep the show from completely losing touch with the inherently silly nature of its very concept, which, considering how impassioned versus debating can become, is always welcome.
Ranking: B Tier
Chapter 14: Episode 84. Thor VS Wonder Woman
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Interestingly enough, this was the first episode of the show to feature two returning combatants in a completely new matchup. Sure, Boba Fett VS Samus Aran and Goku VS Superman 2 (2015) technically had two returners as well, but one was a remaster, and the other was a continuation of an already existing episode. This was the first time in the show’s history that both combatants were returners and fighting someone other than their previous opponent, and there have been surprisingly few of these matchups even to this day; as of my writing this, only six such episodes have been released. As for the matchup itself, it was apparently slated for Season Three; however, the announcement of Wonder Woman and Thor: Ragnarok in 2017 caused Ben to push it back into Season Four instead, with the episode in question premiering a few months after Wonder Woman’s film, but a few weeks before Thor’s. Ben in particular was quite enthusiastic about the matchup, wanting to give the characters and their substantial powersets more justice than had been done in their Season One episodes (particularly in Wonder Woman’s case, given that her debut is one of the show’s worst episodes). Sam was set to write the episode, while Torrian handled the animation. Unfortunately, the animation side of this episode’s production wound up being incredibly troubled, actually setting back Torrian’s animation schedule due to the issues; however, those will receive far more focus when discussing the animation itself. Regardless, this was one of those episodes that I remember disliking during my Season Eight Marathon; however, while this episode isn’t considered a hidden gem like Natsu VS Ace, general consensus seems to be that it’s perfectly average rather than outright bad, and I was curious if my perspective would change at all with this most recent revisit.
To some degree my opinion did change, particularly seeing as I do not remember enjoying Thor’s analysis this much during my last viewing. Don’t get me wrong, Boomstick making the low-hanging fruit joke about the name “Asgard” is still annoying to me, but other than that, I actually thought his rundown was a lot of fun. Like most of this season’s analyses, it primarily focuses on Thor’s arsenal and feats rather than talking about his character all that much aside from an offhanded mention of his “co*cky attitude” towards the end; however, I actually think that the analysis still functions mostly well due to two primary factors: pacing and presentation. After breezing through the basics of Thor’s kit - super strength, super speed, etc. - they begin discussing Mjolnir, and they do a superb job of making it sound like the overpowered weapon it is, despite them not even going over anything remotely as crazy as they do in Thor’s next episode. They accomplish this through a combination of the hosts’ deliveries, well-chosen comic panels, and some truly fitting music. Just from the way Wiz treats the weapon through his intonation in sync with the epic score in the background serve to give the weapon so much presence. This remains relatively consistent all throughout, with their making what could so easily have just been a basic checklist of feats and abilities far more engaging through the gravitas they give it. The music in particular really carries a lot of this analysis, with its emphasis on brass and percussion making the things they talk about seem so much bigger and grander. I particularly appreciate how they handled the Midgard Serpent feat, beginning with Wiz doing his usual business of calculating how long the snake is and using that to determine its weight. However, Boomstick then chimes in with knowledge of his own, pointing out that the snake is probably a constrictor, and that running with Wiz’s own comparison would actually make the feat sixteen times more impressive. While I admittedly think it’s a little strange that Wiz begrudgingly concedes that Boomstick is correct as opposed to being happy that Boomstick actually offered a substantive contribution to the analysis, it’s made up for by the delivery of Boomstick’s follow-up line, which actually got a chuckle out of me through its sheer conviction. Much as I appreciate Boomstick’s line poking fun of how they matched Thor up against Raiden in his previous episode and how one-sided that was, I do find it strange that Sam uses that of all things as a lead-in to Thor’s co*ckiness, as though that somehow made that matchup any less of a stomp. I also find it really funny how quickly the ending speeds through Thor’s story, mentioning that Thor’s banishment was part of Odin’s plan to stop Ragnarok, and that it worked. Still, while hardly a great analysis, I at least appreciated that it was an entertaining one.
Wonder Woman’s analysis was a massive step up from her last one, which says virtually nothing as there was never anywhere to go but up in that regard. Compared to Thor’s, it had one additional joke I found funny: Boomstick making the obvious Amazon delivery joke, only for Wiz to actually supplement it. Wiz joining Boomstick in the joke, and Boomstick letting him do it instead of throwing a fit like he would in a modern episode, allowed what I at first thought was just obvious low-hanging fruit to actually get a laugh out of me. Unfortunately, other than that, Wonder Woman’s analysis was nowhere near as fun as Thor’s. The music is less grand for one thing, and their overall approach to her feats and abilities has nowhere near the gravitas and presence they gave Thor’s. It’s structured less efficiently, for one, but they also don’t give her numbers near the match of Thor’s aside from raw strength (the number for her durability is particularly bad, but we’ll get to why later). The overall editing for her analysis is also less well-done than Thor’s, being far more standard and giving her feats less emphasis. Don’t get me wrong, this analysis is not bad; just very standard and boring with little to set it apart, and nothing to make up for the fact that they don’t analyze Diana’s character at all. At least they gave Thor’s co*ckiness a mention; with Wonder Woman, they forgot to give her any character traits at all.
The fight animation for this episode has become rather infamous for a variety of reasons, few of which are actually Torrian’s fault. Things admittedly do not get off to the best start given the setup: Diana is training with a spear, complete with strangely overbearing weapon trails, before Thor shows up via the bifrost for some unknown reason. I mentioned in Power Rangers VS Voltron that the fight was strangely unmotivated by Torrian standards; however, while this one is arguably no more or less simple, it arguably has worse writing. Diana yells at Thor that “no man can enter Themyscira unannounced,” who responds in a weirdly misogynistic way. I get that Thor is thousands of years old, but I’m pretty sure he is rarely, if ever, depicted as viewing women as “weak” or “maidens.” Thor in general is written as something of a brute in this fight, particularly given Jonah Scott’s performance. I don’t think that Jonah was necessarily "miscast," and he does do a better job in Thor VS Vegeta; however, I think that there is a degree of restraint to his battle cries in both this episode and that one which causes him to sound less so like a proud, ferocious warrior and more a brutish simpleton, which is hardly accurate to his character, either as the script wants him to be seen or in general. Natalie Van Sistine’s Wonder Woman suffers similarly from middling direction despite not being a bad choice for the role. A big reason for this is that her portrayal is quite confused, going from complimenting Thor’s ability as though this is just a friendly contest of warriors, to giving snappy one-liners about how he will “relent to her.” There's no consistency to her portrayal, resulting in Diana coming across as both moralizing and bloodthirsty, a delightful combination that works to make her even less likable than Thor despite him being portrayed as a mulish oaf. Of course, this also means that there's no decent banter, which is a bit of a shame given what could be done with these two.
[Now, given that a major issue with this animation is that it is just unfinished, plain and simple, I ought to address a seeming discrepancy of standards. I made it crystal clear in my reviews of Goku VS Superman (2013), Terminator VS RoboCop, and Godzilla VS Gamera that I did not hold their visual flaws against them, or at least not enough that I thought it made a significant difference in determining their deserved grade. Of course, if visuals don't matter to me, then it is reasonable to wonder why I did take issue with such aesthetic flaws in Lara Croft VS Nathan Drake, and more relevantly, this very episode. Before I elaborate, I should stress that this is just how I prefer to view things, as I think it is more fair towards creative works without deliberately losing all standards. With the older episodes, visual quality was simply not something that could be helped, at least not without obscene work and time that Death Battle as a show has never had and never will have. Goku VS Superman (2013), Terminator VS RoboCop, and Godzilla VS Gamera were all finished projects released as intended. Given the resources at the animator’s disposal, the only way for visual quality to improve was through practice, which is exactly what Torrian got; each of his first three animations looks progressively better thanks to his growing ease with the resources. However, even Deadpool VS Deathstroke has some severe visual issues that exist simply due to the material at Torrian’s disposal. Is it possible that these episodes could have looked better than they do? Yes. Is it likely that they could have, even if Torrian had sunk even more time into them than he already had? No. On the other hand, consider the episode at hand. Its visual woes aren't the result of inexperience or resource constraints, but rather deadlines that could not be ignored. If Torrian had a choice, he probably would not have released this animation as it exists now. (Of course, none of this is to say that Torrian would not have made his earlier episodes look better if he could have; it's that he knew what kind of visual quality was possible for him given his tools and experience and did not shoot higher than he could achieve.) To put what I am clumsily endeavoring to express simply: Terminator VS RoboCop and Godzilla VS Gamera are products of their time; Lara Croft VS Nathan Drake and Thor VS Wonder Woman are unfinished. I don't think it is fair to blame Torrian for his work having to be rushed; the technical problems that plagued the rendering process and forced him to nix extended action sequences and prevented others from receiving the polish they needed could not have been foreseen. However, that does not change the fact that this animation, as it exists, is unfinished, and not only is that a very real problem, but it also allows for other technical issues that bring down the overall experience due to getting in the way of Torrian’s action.]
However, to give credit where it's due, there are some genuinely good things about this animation. For one thing, the original score, “Thunder of Wonder,” is a decent track and a good accompaniment for the action. It was the first track composed for the show by Aaron Caruthers, also known as Therewolf Media. Like all of his commissions this season, he was aided by members of his band, Werewolf Therewolf, in scoring. Considering that Aaron would largely find himself in the role of scene-specific scoring in future seasons, it is interesting how his earlier efforts more closely resembled Brandon Yates’ song-like compositions in their use of repetitious harmonies and rhythms (not to say that Aaron’s future compositions would fully do away with those things; that would hardly be accurate. They rather became less heavily emphasized than in Brandon’s tracks). The action itself also has a number of characteristics that help make it somewhat worthwhile. The choreography for the hammer and sword melee combat is excellent, selling Diana’s finesse and Thor’s raw power wonderfully, particularly with the great moment of Thor shattering Diana’s shield in a single blow. Unlike Lara Croft VS Nathan Drake, the prop shattering like glass actually fits, the utter pulverization selling Thor’s strength fantastically. I also appreciate that the fight does try to go for a decent sense of scale, with Thor creating a gigantic tornado after shattering a mountain, and the collision of Mjolnir with Wonder Woman’s bracelets causing the Moon to break apart. The fluidity of motion is, for the most part, as good as it usually is in Torrian’s work, and the blows Thor lands while in Warrior’s Madness have sufficiently meaty sound design to convey their devastation.
Unfortunately, this animation’s technical problems hold it back tremendously, as, not unlike Yang VS Tifa, they actively get in the way of Torrian’s good choreography. Effect clipping is not an uncommon issue in some of Torrian’s animations; nonetheless, it is often easy to overlook due to it not interfering with the visual clarity of his work. However, this episode suffers heavily from overbearing effects that are not properly clipped, particularly with Thor’s lightning. This was probably due to Torrian not having enough time to finish the effects, resulting in them either being completely overbearing, blatantly flat, or unanimated - the worst offender in the last case is the mirrored bolt when Thor destroys the mountain. The tornado also looks quite bad, being just a series of gray lines and streaks. Despite its decent sense of scale, its actual aesthetic looks somehow worse than the same move in Thor VS Raiden, which, frankly, did a better job of making the tornado feel massive thanks to its interaction with the background trees. The abundance of lines results in the tornado being a downright obnoxious setting when the two battle within it, particularly thanks to their untextured models being too duly lit to stand out properly when the tornado is as flat and light as it is. Frankly, the effects in general - both visual and audial - seem largely unfinished. Again, I don’t necessarily blame Noel Wiggins for this given the episode’s troubled production, but the fact is that most of the sound effects seem strangely fuzzy and recessed, robbing many scenes of the impact they should have. The melee combat especially suffers from the metallic rings sounding softened, blunting the harsh, sharp sound they ought to have. Many of the visual effects are also blatantly unfinished: the speed lines often seem more like sluggish, solid polygons, the explosions for the debris of the Moon falling to Earth are untextured circles, and the tornado, as mentioned before, is just a series of large, flashing rings. The part of the fight that suffers from the unfinished visuals the most, however, is easily Thor’s Warrior’s Madness. As a transformation, it is almost hilariously underwhelming: an effect dims the lighting, Thor gets a red outline, and that’s really about it. There’s no shot just focusing on the transformation itself, really letting the change to the combatant and the expected alteration of the fight’s dynamic really sink in. Even Final Bison had a better transformation than this, because, despite proving useless, Jordan at least gave it significant focus and gravitas. It doesn’t help that none of Thor’s attacks in Warrior’s Madness seem any more effective than anything he was doing before, with the scene of him pummeling Diana on the ground being particularly egregious. Despite the supposed ten times power increase, Thor - who had just shattered the Moon through the reaction of his thrown hammer with Wonder Woman’s bracelets - isn’t even able to break the ground beneath her with his blows. Even Terminator VS RoboCop at least showed the ground reacting to the T-850’s beatdown on Murphy despite the limited technology; here, Thor’s Warrior’s Madness is apparently so weak that it can’t even budge the Earth beneath his feet (and this will not be the last time that one of Thor’s big moves is treated like absolutely nothing in a Death Battle animation). Again, I’m sure there would have been more going on had the animation had more time in the oven, but what exists does not benefit from that what-if scenario.
It doesn’t help that this animation has some serious issues even without the technical glitches, namely ones of continuity. The first obvious one is when Diana kicks Thor into a nearby cliff, only for it to instantly cut to a completely different mountain that Thor is now apparently breaking out of - which also looks substantially worse and unfinished. Things are more or less fine from there, but then more issues arise after Thor hits Wonder Woman into the Moon. Diana gets up from her crater and looks back at Earth, only for Mjolnir to burst through…something. Maybe it’s supposed to be an asteroid, or maybe it has something to do with the two suns that this Earth apparently has given the shot of Diana hurtling through space. Either way, it breaks through, Diana stops it with the power of a stock translucent circle, and it immediately cuts to the Moon in pieces, the shockwaves going the wrong directions relative to Earth, and having significantly less debris than its size would demand. Mjolnir returns to Thor, who has moved to a location that is obviously not Themyscira and is instead in the middle of who-knows-where (I know it’s probably supposed to be the effects of their battle, but unlike Hulk VS Doomsday, where the city ruins matched up with the aftermath of their clash, the geography itself has clearly changed in a manner unexplainable by what happened earlier). It’s at this point in the animation that Thor’s cape gives up the ghost and just decides to go wherever it wants regardless of where Thor himself is, making the clipping issues in Balrog VS TJ Combo look like a multi-million-dollar production in comparison. Diana evades Thor’s intended finishing blow with a really bad-looking backflip and defeats him by jump-cutting her lasso onto his arm and clonking him on the head. This limp hit apparently injures him so badly that he exits Warrior’s Madness, with the immediate next shot being him on the ground in confused pain. This leads to the hilariously bad kill: Wonder Woman stabbing Thor through the back of the head is a decent idea on paper, but the way her sword forces his mouth open rather than just cutting through his jaw, followed by the incorrectly lit shot of Thor making a dumb face before he falls forward into a stock, unfinished pose elevates this death to a level of comedy rarely seen before on the show. Wonder Woman doesn’t get off much better, having apparently taken off her bracelets despite having already won and not needing them for the finishing blow. Her line also makes no sense and is a clear case of the writers just wanting to reference that famous thing the audience would obviously be familiar with thanks to current pop culture.
However, in spite of all my issues with the animation, none of this was necessarily enough to sink this episode too far. Solid analyses for both combatants, Thor in particular, combined with some good choreography and decent music, would probably have kept this episode in at least the low C range provided the conclusion was at least functional. Having said that, allow me to explain why this is hands down the worst conclusion of the entire season. So, they start off by arguing that Diana was faster by mentioning the bracelet feat and her catching Hunter Zolomon attacking her from the future. Had they properly explained what either of those feats meant, then maybe they would have had a point; however, rather than doing that, they just state that it makes her vaguely faster than Thor, despite them putting him at massively faster than light speeds (which does admittedly give us the birth of the famous “Thor Speed” meme, so I can’t be too upset). Given that the casual audience has no reason to just infer what the Zoom scaling would mean - nor would they have much of a precedent to given that Death Battle itself wouldn’t really dip its toes into the idea of immeasurable speed until Season Seven - the episode simply fails to provide evidence for Wonder Woman’s greater speed. This is particularly important given that, despite their giving Diana an eight thousand times strength advantage, it doesn’t actually matter thanks to their difference in durability. They gave Thor a very clear-cut durability feat around small planet level; Wonder Woman, however, was given a number for her durability so low that it’s actually rather funny. In her analysis, they state that her durability was equivalent to “two billion megatons of force.” Being generous and assuming that they meant tons of TNT - a rather common mistake Death Battle has made - that would put her durability at around small country level: in other words, a difference of about twenty-six and a half million times with the numbers given. This gets even worse if they actually did mean “megatons of force,” because that would equate to less than five gigatons of TNT, on the low end of island level. Either way, her durability would be much too low to survive even a single hit from Thor, who they gave planet-level feats and directly compared the power of Mjolnir with a black hole. Considering that they failed to give her the speed advantage, that means that, based on the evidence they present in this episode, Thor should have won. Their final argument about Thor being “unable to exploit her weakness to piercing weapons” is also complete nonsense seeing as they give him Jarnbjorn, which they conveniently neglect to elaborate on due to it obviously throwing their conclusion out of whack. What frustrates me especially is that it is not impossible to make the argument that Wonder Woman wins; from what I understand, while Thor is the generally agreed-upon winner, an argument can be made for Diana depending on what one buys for both. However, this unfortunately is the prime example of Death Battle having not properly worked out the presentation of their research yet, relying on interpretation for the things that matter - namely Wonder Woman’s speed - and using the wrong numbers. I was willing to let this slide in Power Rangers VS Voltron due to their clearly intending to give Voltron planetary durability, but I can’t excuse it here, because not only is the conclusion flawed in other ways, but even being as generous as possible and giving Wonder Woman the dwarf star scaling they were trying to provide for her durability, it would still be substantially lower than the black hole-tier Mjolnir, and the speed gap would remain the same. Going in, I was somewhat surprised that this was the second-most controversial episode of the season, with a positivity rating of only seventy-five percent; however, after not just the lackluster animation, but easily the worst conclusion since Mewtwo VS Shadow due to being outright incorrect by their own logic, I can definitely see where people are coming from. At least Ben 10 VS Green Lantern contained the evidence for Hal Jordan’s victory, even if it was extremely poorly presented.
Ranking: D Tier
Chapter 15: Episode 85. Naruto VS Ichigo
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If Death Battle was going to be serious about its endeavored movement towards using manga characters more frequently, then at least one matchup involving two of the Big Three was going to have to happen at some point. Naruto versus Luffy had been a part of Ben’s original pitch for Death Battle’s first season way back in the day; however, Ben had more or less made up his mind to do Naruto VS Ichigo instead some time later, and managed to time it to when both characters’ original stories had concluded. Given that this was one of those rivalry matchups that had managed to transcend their franchises into becoming a legacy matchup of its own, Ben knew that they were going to have to pull out all the stops to be as thorough as possible with their research and explain themselves as clearly as they could. Blatant issues with the research in Android 18 VS Captain Marvel had forced the show to issue several statements publicly addressing their mistakes, and Ben was determined that such would not be necessary for this of all matchups. Thus, it is rather fitting that this was the episode that saw the introduction of the now-infamous “black boxes,” designed to present information to the audience that may not be expedient to convey through simple dialogue or visuals as usual. Generally, these pop-ups serve to either elaborate on an assertion they make through the provision of evidence, provide fun trivia, or, in more modern episodes, go into scaling that the writers believe too absurd to just mention as normal. [It is worth mentioning that it was not generally understood how important reading the corner boxes is until Ben 10 VS Green Lantern, but that episode also served to illustrate what I believe to be a very important point: any evidence that is of fundamental importance to explaining their verdict should be stated out-loud by the hosts, and should not be relegated to the corner boxes alone. This is because the vast majority of viewers will not read them, and it is thus critical that Death Battle focus on the elements of the debate that are actually relevant for the verdict in the portion that people who aren’t already skipping everything except the fight will hear. Therefore, if any episode technically provides the correct information for its verdict in the boxes, but neglects to justify itself outside of them, I will consider it a defect of the conclusion, even if said issue wouldn’t be as bad as if the episode was still just outright wrong. I understand that it could be pointed out, and rightfully so, that it is not Death Battle’s fault if people do not read their black boxes; however, while I agree with that sentiment, the reality is that the vast majority of Death Battle’s hundreds of thousands of viewers will not take the time to read them, and not enough attention is drawn to them to guarantee that everyone does. This also means that I consider it a bigger deal from here on out if an episode is incorrect by its own logic, because the black boxes should provide all the room necessary to thoroughly justify their verdict.]
Anyway, the analyses are interesting to me, because, on the one hand, they do the thing that I normally dislike in these rundowns, focusing primarily on the extensive arsenals of the characters and barely discussing their stories or personalities. However, while that does hinder the episode to a degree with respect to immersion for outsiders such as myself, I actually don’t mind that decision in the slightest with this specific matchup. I get what Nick was going for: a Goku VS Superman (2013)-esque analysis that endeavors to leave no stone unturned with respect to what the characters are capable of, laying every card on the table to make crystal-clear just how seriously the crew is taking this matchup. On top of that, while they barely cover their personalities - all I gleaned about Naruto is that he was a troublemaker as a kid, and I have no idea what Ichigo is supposed to be like - they do manage to at least cover the way their stories begin and end, substituting narrative progression with the escalation of their powersets. Sure, it isn’t as compelling as some of Death Battle’s other analyses throughout the years that manage to weave story and versus analysis together, but it still helps make it seem like the analyses are actually going somewhere as opposed to just meandering through the characters’ abilities like in some other analyses. I also appreciate how they bring up key story beats to explain new developments in the characters’ arsenal. For Naruto, they use the fact that the chakra of all beings is limited, and Naruto’s own excessive quantity, to naturally transition into discussing Kurama. I particularly appreciate how they don’t just say, “Yeah, Naruto has a big monster within him capable of leveling mountains, and he can draw upon its power to augment his own.” Instead, they take at least a little time to go over how Naruto acquired him in the first place - complete with a nice joke wherein Boomstick bemoans how he doesn’t have a destructive pet fox - and how he had to befriend Kurama before being able to better utilize his full power. This also allows for a perfectly smooth move into discussing his various forms, which they justify the existence of through Kurama’s impressive power. They also do this a few times with Ichigo, explaining his heritage in order to contextualize his twin Zanpakutō, and they continue to use this facet of his character to elaborate on his various forms. I also like how both of their endings explicitly draw attention to all of the plot beats that they mentioned throughout their respective analyses. Naruto’s places his becoming Hokage as the payoff of the restoration of Kurama they mentioned earlier, defeating Sasuke - the occasion of which they just used to give him a feat that they wind up not really using - and defeating Kaguya, who they introduced earlier as the origin of chakra, and whose first defeat was at the hands of one of Naruto’s ancestors. Sure, they don’t elaborate on why all of these things matter, and I’m sure they left out countless pages of other things; however, I definitely think that focusing on the things they actually saw fit to mention when wrapping up his story was the right call. Similarly, in Ichigo’s analysis, they tie his forms together by explaining that it was the result of him finally balancing all the aspects of his rather complicated heritage and becoming powerful enough to stop someone who wanted to destroy everything. I also didn’t mind the Boruto callback at the very end of his analysis; it’s a decent way of tying the segments together due to Wiz shutting down Boomstick’s suggestion, before letting Boomstick have it due to the endings of both stories being similar enough (I have no idea if the conclusion of Naruto and Ichigo’s stories are actually similar at all, but I think the gag works for the episode).
Speaking of gags, given how much time this episode spends going over powers, abilities, forms, and other such jargon, Nick needed to provide some decently solid comedy to keep things engaging, and I think that he, for the most part, succeeded. They get off to a pretty good start with their inevitable coverage of the infamous “Naruto run,” with Wiz trying to offer the standard justification for its existence of reducing drag, only for Boomstick to handwave all of it and make fun of Wiz for “experimenting” with it in middle school (adding to the Wiz and Boomstick lore by confirming that they went to middle school together). The aforementioned Boomstick dad joke of Boomstick wishing that his dad had given him something like Kurama is also charming without being distracting. Sure, the rest of the jokes in Naruto’s analysis aren’t exactly standout, but (almost) none of them are annoying or distract from the flow, instead keeping things somewhat spiced up to prevent things from getting too monotonous. Ichigo’s is similar, although it did have a few more jokes that I liked; Boomstick dismissing Fullbringers was rather amusing, and the entire bit regarding how to pronounce “Yhwach” was far funnier than I had expected. The presence of these jokes, both funny and not, is a good thing, because it counterbalances the biggest issue with these analyses: the sheer quantity of stuff. To be clear, I have no interest in either Naruto or Bleach whatsoever, and the amount of forms, attack names, abilities, and other such things getting thrown at the viewer meant that there were points in both analyses where I more or less stopped trying to keep up with what was going on. I don’t actually hold this against the analyses all that much; as I mentioned before, I really appreciate how these analyses do their utmost to convince the viewer that they have done their homework on all of these aspects of both characters' arsenals. It's just that these rundowns are about nine minutes each, which, while not as out of the ordinary today, are still substantial periods of time, every minute of which is devoted to some new power or thing that is important for the debate. If I have any real issues with these analyses, it's that they’re so focused on cramming in as much stuff as possible, that they don’t make what these things actually do as clear as they could have. I’m sure that fans of Naruto and Bleach would be perfectly capable of recognizing what all of these things mean just by hearing them mentioned and vaguely quantified, but the analyses just don’t do much to make these things clear to total outsiders such as myself. Still, I can’t bring myself to say that these analyses are even remotely close to bad; there is far too much work put into both of them for me to do that. I just wish that Nick could have written them to be a tad more accessible, because as it stands, I left the analyses still unsure as to what exactly both characters were capable of.
The fight animation is rather interesting, as it oscillates between many of the best and worst qualities of this season’s sprite episodes. As per usual, Luis Cruz was the primary animator, although this time around he received assistance from an animator named Kervin Alcindor, in addition to the usual hand-drawn shots from Chris Bastin. More so than any other sprite animation this season, much of the fight has a heavily saturated look, making things appear brighter but also fuzzier than normal. For the most part, I don’t mind this; not only does it help give the animation a distinct aesthetic, but it’s overall handled better than Natsu VS Ace due to the backgrounds relying more heavily on sprite layering to create the illusion of depth. Having said that, it does become a problem during certain sequences with excessive quick-cuts and overbearing effects, but we’ll get to those later. The voice acting, for the most part, is decent. Noel Wiggins - who also worked on this episode’s sound design - does a fine enough job as Kurama, although he does sound a bit like Doctor Claw (maybe that's just how Kurama sounds, I wouldn't know). Ichigo is voiced by “Adam Park,” who is widely believed to be his original English voice actor, Johnny Yong Bosch. Obviously, he does quite well in the role. I admittedly don’t like most of his dialogue, but that isn’t the voice actor’s fault; he still delivers his lines quite well, although to be frank, the highlight of his performance is probably his pants and quiet expressions of frustration. Not only are they all supremely well-delivered, but they lend Ichigo far more personality and grit than any of his normal lines. However, strangely enough, the standout performance in my eyes is Dawn M. Bennett as Naruto. Not only is her vocal acting every bit as good as the other two, but the little subtleties of her performance - exhalations, inflections, and other such things - are all superb, giving her deliveries far more character. As far as other technicalities go, Brandon Yates’ original track “Shonen Showdown” is, in my opinion, one of his more underrated offerings for the show. Sure, it isn’t as amazing as some of his other work, and it’s fairly straightforward all things considered; however, not only does it have a fitting aesthetic with its use of wind instruments and chants, but it also has a degree of frenetic energy that fits the battle’s fast pace in such a way as to almost make said pacing less jarring.
I appreciate the way the animation begins, with a few sprite nature shots that have a decent amount going on given their superfluous nature, before panning to Naruto “meditating” under a waterfall…or sleeping, as it is soon revealed. Chris Bastin’s opening custom shot of Ichigo is excellent, complete with distinct sound design for his hand going around the tree; however, the best part of this moment is the shot from behind. Luis has gone for a few of these in the past, but Chris’ hand-drawn style allows this one to have proper shading while leaving his outline just visible enough to create the illusion of depth. It’s an excellent shot far beyond anything the show had been able to do up to this point (even though Naruto in the foreground looks distractingly flat, an issue with his sprites that pops up a few times throughout). The following shot of Naruto is decent as well (even if I’m not convinced that it isn’t the same drawing of his face that Chris reuses multiple times, just drawn with closed eyes), although the custom bubble of Kurama trying to wake Naruto up is honestly much better. It’s nicely stylized, the red outline is drawn to create the illusion of 3-D space, and the low framerate fits with the franchises in question. However, the actual frame of Ichigo charging forward as the “FIGHT!” graphic plays is rather bad. It isn't poorly drawn, but not only is Ichigo’s positioning relative to the graphic off, but Naruto’s silhouette isn’t clear enough to make it seem like the attack is coming from his perspective; ironic, considering that the previous shot of Ichigo had been a phenomenal over-the-shoulder shot. Regardless, the following action scene is pretty good, with a well-conveyed fast pace and some solid hand-drawn elements. The illusion of depth is implemented quite well when Ichigo uses his Getsuga Tenshō to clear a portion of the forest, and Naruto using his shadow clones to set Ichigo up for an ambush, while fairly obvious, is nonetheless a sensible use of his powers. This leads to the first proper transformation, with Naruto going into his Kurama form and landing a strong hit on Ichigo. The hand-drawn still of Naruto’s eyes, while reused a few times, is nonetheless an effective supplement to Dawn’s excellent deliveries, and I love the layered visual effects used to create the shot of Ichigo slamming into the riverbank. It’s simple, yet, combined with the fast pace, good sound design, and strong framing, still manages to be quite impactful. Unfortunately, this leads to a bad shot of Ichigo stuck in a hole at river level, which makes no sense because, if that is the case, the water should be rushing in on top of him.
This is also the point where the animation gets rather messy. There are still plenty of good elements, with Chris Bastin’s hand-drawn frames in particular being consistently good; however, the fight is rather let down by some awkward cinematography, editing, and choreography. First, Naruto creates a horde of shadow clones, with a shot from Ichigo’s perspective giving the impression that he is about to take on all of them at once. He launches a Getsuga Tenshō, seemingly to do exactly that…only for the clones to land on the ground completely unscathed, as though his attack was completely useless. This leads to a shot from the clones’ perspective, facing Ichigo, again creating the impression that he is about to take them all on at once - his “bring it on!” line only furthering that idea. However, what actually happens is that a single clone tries to hit him with a Rasengan again, using the Kurama arms to fight Ichigo one-on-one as all the clones just stand around doing nothing. The coherency of this scene is not helped by the rapid-fire editing, muddled cinematography, and the animation’s overall fuzzy look. There’s also just some baffling sound design at points, such as the POV shot of Kurama’s arm punching Ichigo making metallic ringing sounds for some reason. I get that it's supposed to be interacting with his Zanpakutō, but the sound design makes it seem like they're clashing blades, which isn't the case at all. The clones finally move in, and Ichigo destroys them in a very confusingly presented scene. I get that he’s supposed to be blitzing them at high speeds, but due to how lethargically his afterimages are presented, it looks more like he conjured a bunch of clones to zip around and do nothing instead. It doesn’t help that it’s difficult to even see Ichigo finishing the shadow clones off due to it being done in a series of smoke effects. I guess Naruto trying to throw Ichigo off with the Sexy Technique is a little funny, although I think it would have been funnier if Ichigo hadn’t even slowed down his attack rather than stopping to recollect himself. Anyway, more incoherent action happens, with Ichigo getting launched into the air by…something, and getting dogpiled by Rasengan-using shadow clones again. He transforms in midair to his Bankai form, only for the next shot to reveal that the transformation had apparently taken place on the ground instead. The following scene is probably where the effects and camerawork are at their worst, as I was still mostly able to track with what was going on before. Now, after a few nice shots courtesy of Chris and a line that sounds like placeholder dialogue, Ichigo fires a big laser so powerful that it tanks the framerate and causes Naruto to summon his Kurama avatar virtually off-screen. In a shot that would make Venom VS Bane blush, Naruto enters his Tailed Beast Mode on the far right of the screen as effects consistently overwhelm everything. This not only robs what should be a dramatic, table-turning transformation of its gravitas, but also makes it difficult to even get a sense of scale for what’s going on. At least Chris’ shots for the Tailed Beast are really good, and the shot of it looking down into the hole it punched at Ichigo’s body is fantastic. Unfortunately, the entire middle portion of this fight is just a jumbled mess of weird choreography, poor cinematography, and garish effects.
Fortunately, things mostly get good again in this animation’s third act. Ichigo’s defiant line despite lying bloodied in a giant crater is wonderfully delivered, and the Final Getsuga Tenshō transformation, unlike virtually every other transformation this episode, is genuinely fantastic, in part because it is the only one that actually benefits from the over-the-top visual effects. Either way, the transformation being so powerful that it destroys Kurama’s avatar, as well blasting away many of the shadow clones, just by existing, is a better demonstration of raw power than many other moments of the show, and the fuzziness of the Mugetsu effects, again, actually helps make the transformation more terrifying, making it seem as though the form is so powerful that its energies defy reality itself. Of course, Chris’ phenomenal hand-drawn work certainly helps, with the amazing closeup of Ichigo in the form that looks like it could be from an actual show (which it, along with the other shots of Ichigo in this form, might be; fortunately, the custom effects largely work to keep it from seeming out of place). The way Ichigo’s single attack not only covers the entire screen, but also swallows all sound - including the track - is incredibly ominous, as is the great final close-up shot of Naruto’s eye before it too is consumed. Dawn then gives the best delivery of the entire episode as Naruto dissipates the attack by summoning his most powerful form. Although the effects, again, are a little too overbearing and make it difficult to see a few things, I actually don’t mind here because, again, it helps convey the raw power of these transformations. The actual kill this leads to is excellent, with Ichigo, having lost all of his powers, picking up a stick to at least go down fighting as Naruto throws the biggest attack he can at him, wiping him out with a great hand-drawn shot and an equally great shot from space conveying the sheer scale of what just happened. Naruto then immediately lands on a tree with barely any time to breathe and gives a “Well that just happened!”-tier line as though his opponent didn’t just push him to bring out his strongest moves. It’s a shame that the actual ending of the animation had to be so weak considering how good everything else about this final portion is.
However, strange though it may sound, my favorite part of this entire episode is the conclusion. Admittedly, it doesn’t get off to the best start, what with the jarring juxtaposition of Boomstick complimenting Ichigo for quite literally sticking it out to the bitter end, only for Wiz to follow up with the now infamous comment:
Sorry Bleach fans, I know you all really wanted a win, but unfortunately, this wasn’t it.
This isn’t even necessarily insulting, it’s just funny on a number of levels: the way Wiz’s word choice makes it sound like Bleach characters have lost numerous times on Death Battle before, the hilariously condescending tone, and the blunt conclusion. It also stands out because Death Battle doesn’t actually call out fanbases in such an explicit manner all that often. Sure, they might do things in the script that are clear homages or references to certain fandoms, but they rarely just directly address a fanbase like this. I think the last time was all the way back in Kratos VS Spawn, when Boomstick cheered for the rage of “the God of War fanboys.” They also skim through Naruto’s advantages in terms of skill, arsenal, and healing factor, and I do somewhat wish they had elaborated more on why those things were points for him, especially since they didn’t go much in-depth with either of their training regimes. Still, after explaining why Ichigo’s invisibility was irrelevant, things start getting really good with their coverage of speed. They cover Naruto’s movement and reaction speeds, using the return stroke of lightning for the former and his light-dodging feat for the latter. After this, they use a feat that I admittedly don’t think they brought up in the analysis to calculate Ichigo’s travel speed, with the black boxes explaining why the scaling works and how they determined the distance he traveled. After getting the number, they directly show how they used this, based on the difference in Naruto’s travel and reaction speeds, to calculate Ichigo’s own reaction speed. While I do think that they should have explained why they thought that the difference between travel and reaction speeds could translate like that, I get what they were going for and I appreciate how they directly show these numbers in a way that the viewer can easily understand. What’s interesting to me is that they actually did something that not even Goku VS Superman (2013) was able to achieve: give the loser a legitimate advantage without seeming condescending, particularly with how they immediately point out that Naruto had the tools to negate the speed gap and that it didn’t matter anyway if Ichigo couldn’t land a fatal hit. After pointing out the rather obvious fact that Ichigo would be unlikely to damage someone with stronger “spiritual energy” than himself, they move on to the thing that, from what I can tell, has led to a lot of the controversy surrounding Death Battle’s overall approach to Bleach on its show in general: equalizing Naruto’s chakra and Bleach’s Reiatsu. [Frankly, to briefly touch on the controversy surrounding this episode’s verdict: not only do I not care, but the parties arguing in either direction generally strike me as too partial to take seriously. I would need to read both works myself to have a proper opinion on the matter, and I am simply not interested in doing so.] I love how they go about determining Ichigo’s attack potency, explaining their reasoning for applying the standards they did, and even making clear that, at least as far as they’re concerned, they’re giving him the maximum possible benefit of the doubt. They proceed to try and calculate a feat scaling to one of the lower forms on the totem pole, which, according to Ben, was incredibly difficult to lock down:
…one part required calculating the square mileage of Las Noches to determine Ulquiorra’s power output. Because Las Noches’ size isn’t very clearly defined, this became a challenge in and of itself. In a very early draft of the script, it was believed that Las Noches was circular in shape. However, as the script passed through the process, this was noted as a mistake, as a few particular screenshots show that Las Noches is, in fact, square. Obviously this changes the dimensions of the city a lot, and in fact a square city meant Ulquiorra’s power was much greater than if it were circular, so it was incredibly important to catch such a specific, otherwise arbitrary detail.
Also, much to my shock, the episode includes a forty-fifth president of the United States joke that was actually rather funny. Don’t get me wrong, the number of jokes about this person who shall go unnamed that I have heard that tickled my funny bone exceed the fingers on both my hands, but I have also heard so many of these jokes that the proportion that are actually in any way amusing is pitifully small. Thus, I feel the need to give Nick credit for getting a real snort out of me with the “Mexican hell” joke. Anyway, I love how they show a depiction on-screen of what they did to determine the city’s size, perfectly leading into the resulting number. For Naruto, they just present an instance of his chakra being applied destructively and give it a number, which they emphasize due to it being greater than the one they gave Ichigo (I do wish that they had explained why they put Mugetsu at only eight hundred teratons of TNT, but seeing as it doesn’t factor into their main argument much, it isn’t a huge deal). They debunk a potential black hole feat using the power of antifeats and basic common sense - things that they probably wouldn’t do nowadays - and argue that neither Kaguya nor Yhwach were planet busters, which is made retroactively hilarious given what they buy for both franchises as of Madara VS Aizen and Darth Vader VS Obito Uchiha. The black box then confirms that the way in which their evil plans were stopped did not require that the characters in question scale to them; again, nowadays, all of these things would probably be taken at face value, and I appreciate this degree of restraint. Fundamentally, what I love about this conclusion isn’t just how thorough it is, but how much they show, explaining how and why they got the numbers they did and why they matter. I honestly think that Madara VS Aizen would have really benefited from this degree of transparency, as I think it probably played a not-insignificant role in this episode being somehow less controversial than that one; however, that is a conversation for later.
To be perfectly frank, if I was judging episodes by their animations alone, I probably wouldn’t be able to rate this episode as “good;” much as I love some elements of it, I can’t deny that it suffers from some serious pacing and editing issues that prevent that good elements from standing out like they should. However, the animation would have to be downright inept for me to give analyses and a conclusion like this a less-than-good score, and fortunately, the animation is not bad, just messy. I certainly wish that, for a matchup this significant, not just for the show but for battleboarding in general, that the animation had gotten treatment more along the lines of Goku VS Superman (2013), but it’s fine for what it is, and there are many episodes that I wish at least had conclusions like this; I get that Death Battle doesn’t want their conclusions to go on for too long, but given how heavily debated some matchups are, I think they could only benefit from the greater transparency represented here. The Goku VS Superman remake is the closest things to that openness in recent years I can think of, and hopefully they do more like it in the future.
Ranking: B Tier
Chapter 16: Episode 86. Batman Beyond VS Spider-Man 2099
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The most interesting thing about this episode is that there were apparently talks of scrapping it completely after Black Panther VS Batman was finalized as the Season Five premiere. The crew stuck with it due to believing that Terry McGinnis was a different enough character that people would be willing to look past having essentially only a single episode and a brief hiatus between two Batman matchups. Also, there’s something strangely amusing to me about the fact that the voice actor for Old Bruce in the animation would have been fifty-three at the time; something about the juxtaposition of someone who would be sixty now taking part in such an Internet-driven show like this is rather funny to me for some reason. Honestly, the main thing I remember from when this episode came out was that batinthesun had released their own less-than-stellar take on the matchup earlier that year; I guess 2017 saw a resurgence of interest in these two for whatever reason.
Given that I have developed more of an appreciation for Terry McGinnis as Batman since this episode came out, I was hoping that this revisit would prove more interesting than my previous watch had been. Unfortunately, Terry’s analysis was just as boring and bland as I remembered. I guess there were a few things I enjoyed: the “Jokerz” bit had good delivery, and some of Boomstick’s quips about the future were charming. However, none of that saves this analysis from just being a dull checklist of all kinds of crazy things his suit can do, something made particularly tedious by the fact that the animation will barely pay off any of it. This is especially rich given that they devote two whole sidebars to these abilities. Their coverage of his feats isn't any more engaging, and all of this is made worse by the script trying to bring everything together at the end on the note of how Terry “earned the mantle of Batman.” This attempted conclusion just falls utterly flat due to how little focus Terry received in his own rundown, their only real discussion of his personality being the flattering traits of “hot-tempered” and “lacking Bruce’s brainpower.” They don't touch on any of his other traits or how he earned the mantle at all. This probably wouldn't bother me so much if Sam didn't clearly want the rundown to have this "inspiring" ending note, but conclusions like that only work if what came before supports it, and this analysis simply isn't written to do so. I suppose that Miguel’s is a little better, if only because they integrate his story into the versus analysis more effectively. Wiz ranting about people in the future having no knowledge of past events was a little funny, but the “Light Brite” joke goes on way too long and has a depressingly limp punchline. I at least appreciated that they built up to the ending note of him claiming Mjolnir as a symbol of his responsibility better than Terry’s similar conclusion, but Miguel coming to terms with his powers and harnessing them for the betterment of others is barely touched on, which is rather important for the emphasis on “responsibility” to carry much weight. Overall, these rundowns are not bad, but they are very dry and boring, which is a shame considering that both characters have been enjoying fairly steady cult followings over the years.
The fight marks the first collaboration between Zack Watkins and Luis Cruz, which should mean that the animation is absolutely amazing. What’s rather frustrating, however, is that, while the animation is never “amazing” necessarily, the overall setup and first minute or so are actually pretty good and engaging. Ben mentioned that he wanted this to essentially be an updated look at Batman versus Spider-Man, and it works as that. The opening establishing shots are well-paced, have some nice, simple effects to make them more immersive, and the opening of the custom track “Beyond 2099” does a great job of establishing a futuristic atmosphere. It admittedly is a little strange that this matchup wherein much of the theming centers around the combatants being future iterations of famous heroes takes place in a normal city, but I can largely look past that due to the work put into said city. The shot of Terry standing on Goliath’s shoulders doesn’t have the best layering - it looks like Terry is floating on a separate realm of existence - but I like its presence anyway, particularly with how it works with the setup. Sure, the setup is extremely petty and basic - Miguel accidentally destroys the statue Terry was lounging on, leading to the fight - but I love the animation work put into it: the rigging on Beyond’s sprites looks excellent, the shot of Miguel swinging towards the camera as Terry falls behind him is fantastically composed, and I love the detail of 2099 being reflected in the windows of the buildings he swings by. The animation for Miguel’s swinging in general is really good, despite it being rather distracting the way the webs just vanish after he lets go of them. Still, the shot of him and Beyond flying through the city makes great use of forced perspective, the animation for 2099 swinging under the stoplight is excellent, and the "FIGHT!" shot itself is wonderfully framed, the full Moon between them casting a lovely glow on both (even if I don’t like the ripped stills in the corners of the screen to make the shot more “cinematic”). What follows is simple, yet effective: Miguel takes advantage of his webs to land hits, avoid and redirect Terry’s retaliation, and flee to safety, perfectly showing off the aerial superiority Bruce observes him having. While none of this is too excitingly presented, the sound design is consistently effective, and the rigging is genuinely some of the best of any sprite animation this season. My only real issue is that the scene of Miguel redirecting Terry’s batarangs is a little too slow; the presentation makes it feel as though Beyond should have had enough time to get out of the way. Still, I appreciate the dialogue they have with their respective partners. I’ve heard that Miguel acts a little too much like Peter in this animation, which could very well be true. I personally wouldn’t know one way or another, and I admittedly don’t think he acts nearly as light-hearted as Peter would in a battle like this. Sure, he gets a few quips, but nowhere near as many as one would expect from most other spider-men. Anyway, after another well-animated scuffle on the side of the building, Beyond traps Miguel with a slow-moving bolas that, again, does not feel fast enough for Miguel to have been unable to dodge, Spider-Sense or not. The bolas are also one of the few instances of bad custom sprite work, as it clearly is not tied around 2099’s arms as it is supposed to be. Terry charges in with a limp-looking attack pose, and to its credit, the shot of Terry keeping Miguel from latching onto the side of the building as they fall is pretty good, particularly the faux-3-D building in the background. Terry knocks Miguel into the car from Batman VS Spider-Man - with nowhere near the impact as in that animation, I might add - and, instead of following up, he politely flies away to the other end of the street.
Now, while the animation certainly hasn’t been perfect up to this point, I would call it fairly decent; easily some of the most well-animated sprite action of the season so far, a few moments here and there notwithstanding. The way in which this fight has been structured creates the impression that this first minute or so has been the setup for a more intense battle where the two pull out more of the wacky gadgets so emphasized in the analyses. However, this is where the animation draws to an end, and it is insanely underwhelming. Terry and Miguel continue to stand around as Lyla tries and obviously fails to out-hack Bruce Wayne, before they finally charge forward. Beyond hits Miguel with a flashbang grenade that has no impact - although the distortion and fade effects on the visuals representing his perspective are very nicely done - Terry gets some choppily animated punches before blowing up a perfect circle in Miguel’s chest with grenades, completely bypassing the suit they claimed could withstand howitzer shots. This entire ending screams rushed production due to severe time constraints; it really seems like Zack and Luis were building up towards a really cool second act before the grand finale, only for it to end like this for some reason. Again, to give credit where it’s due, this sequence is consistently well-animated aside from Terry’s brief combo, but I simply do not believe that this was the resolution the script always wanted this battle to have. I particularly stand by this given that, at the beginning of the conclusion, Wiz claims that Terry used the flashbang to take advantage of Miguel’s heightened senses at Bruce’s advice. Not only did we never see this exchange take place, but it doesn’t even make sense in the context of the animation for this to have happened. For what Wiz says to be true, Bruce would have had to learn about Miguel’s super-senses somehow before informing Terry, and we are never presented with a scene or moment in which it would have made any sense for him to have done so. It feels like several scenes had to be dropped from the fight, resulting in the animation seeming, for lack of a better word, unfinished. Don’t get me wrong, I stand by what I said about the overall polish of this animation being among the best of this season’s sprite fights; however, the sudden rush at the end creates the impression that Zack and Luis just didn’t have time to animate the rest of the fight and had to jump immediately to the kill from the building scuffle.
Speaking of the conclusion, it reminds me a lot of Beast VS Goliath, in the sense that, despite how barebones the analyses and fight are, it seems strangely padded out. I appreciate this to some degree in this episode as they at least don’t pull any “golden tree” moments, but the conclusion doesn’t actually argue their case terribly well at all. They stated in the analysis that Miguel’s suit could withstand two hundred tons of force, or about eighteen hundred kilojoules. Although they consistently argue that Terry had better lifting strength than Miguel, they don’t address this particular point at all, which causes their lengthy diatribes about how they determined Beyond’s strength and Spider-Man scaling to ring hollow. Their response to the obvious intelligence gap between the two is also just “Sure, Terry isn’t as smart as Bruce, but he isn’t dumb!” ...alright, then how smart is he? I know that book smarts and street smarts are two different things, but they never establish that Terry is even any cleverer than Miguel in the latter fashion. This creates a weird situation where, while I’m not quite willing to call this episode “wrong” by its own logic due to their being correct about the differences in speed and strength, their arguments regarding Terry’s ability to actually get past Miguel’s suit and the intelligence gap just don’t make sense.
I knew not to expect much going into this episode, but for some reason I’m still rather disappointed that it turned out to just be perfectly acceptable. In fact, the best way I can describe this episode is “competent”: nothing more, and nothing less. It doesn’t make enough fundamental mistakes for me to just call it mediocre, but all of its strengths have such significant asterisks attached to them that I can barely give it a passing score.
Ranking: C Tier
Chapter 17: Episode 87. Sephiroth VS Vergil
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For some reason, just about every single Death Battle critic feels the need to preface discussing this episode with some spiel about how the matchup “isn’t finale worthy” and that the Season Four finale really have been Naruto VS Ichigo instead. Maybe for normal shows I would agree with the idea that a season finale ought to be some big, grand occasion, but I just don’t think Death Battle has historically given their season finales nearly the weight that many seem to think they have. Goku VS Superman (2013) and Pokémon VS Digimon both wound up as the finales of Seasons One and Two respectively purely by chance; sure, Goku VS Superman (2013) was planned as a “special occasion” and was given far more time and attention than any other episode, but that wasn’t because it was set to be a finale. It seeming more like a season finale than most of Death Battle’s future finales is largely just a coincidence brought about by how massive in scope the episode is. Deadpool VS Pinkie Pie was obviously given the season finale spot out of sheer luck of the draw, and in seasons after this one, while the finale does tend to be a “big” matchup in some capacity, none are so big that they completely overshadow everything else in the season. To run through the future finales for a moment: Thanos VS Darkseid, despite being arguably one of the biggest Marvel versus DC matchups, is not only not the biggest or most famous rivalry between those companies but faces competition within its own season from Mario VS Sonic in terms of overall significance. Season Six is a strange case where virtually none of the matchups had massive legacies, but there was no shortage of matchups that could have fit into the season finale slot just as easily as All Might VS Might Guy. Hulk VS Broly is a classic legacy battleboarding match, but Flash VS Sonic arguably has just as much, if not more legacy than that, and every bit as much animation potential. Season Eight had Batman VS Iron Man and Madara VS Aizen, matchups with far more legacy than Saitama VS Popeye. Season Nine had an abundance of matchups that could have worked as finales just as easily as Gogeta VS Vegito. The only possible exception is Season Ten due to the massive legacy of Galactus VS Unicron; however, even that season still doesn’t necessarily have a finale that is the most "worthy" of them all due to the existence of Goku VS Superman, the classic battleboarding matchup. I’m not saying that none of these finales have any legacy at all; obviously, many of them do have something about them that would set them apart in any normal show as matchups that could be considered finales. The point I’m trying to make is just that Death Battle has never particularly cared about using “legacy” as the foundational basis for choosing its season finales, and it’s quite weird to me that people tend to pick on this season specifically for going with a matchup for its finale that wasn’t “worthy” due to lacking the legacy of another matchup in the same season. What I will suggest instead is that this matchup in general is just…strange. I think that it works on a purely aesthetic level, as Torrian proves with his fight animation, but how exactly did the crew get the idea to pit these two against each other? Was this a popular matchup at the time? Is it still popular? Maybe it is, given that this is one of the dark horse candidates that seems to be brought up for a potential remake. I don’t usually concern myself with why Death Battle goes with the matchups they do, as, unless I think the matchup itself actively hinders the ability of the characters to fully express their capabilities, I’m generally willing to let Death Battle do what it wishes with the assumption that they will at least make the two work well of each other; however, while this is not an exception, it does strike me as a bit of a random matchup. Of course, I don’t know anything about either character or franchise, and maybe if I did, all the pieces would fall into place for why this was the Sephiroth or Vergil matchup that needed to happen. [I should stress that this isn't really a criticism, just me expressing my ignorance of major pop culture franchises.]
Anyway, the episode gets off to a great start, giving a spin on a supposed Plato quote that does a surprisingly good job of tying the combatants together, unifying them through their glorification of power above all things. Sephiroth’s analysis is similarly excellent, Nick bringing his experience to bear in masterfully weaving his story together with his abilities. They play a brief snippet of “One-Winged Angel” after introducing him properly, which is one of a mere handful of times after Balrog VS TJ Combo where they have gotten away with using music from a character’s home series. Wiz mentions the shampoo fact, which is not only a funny reference given that it is, apparently, canon, but also leads to a decent bit of Boomstick wondering why Wiz knows something like that, and Wiz being unable to give a decent answer. Boomstick’s reaction to an “electric company” having their own private military is charmingly horrified, and it serves as an excellent segue into Sephiroth’s arsenal, specifically his sword. I like how they provide historical context to make the manner in which he wields it even more impressive, and moving on from there to how the accomplishment of his mission, combined with his great skill, made him “a legend” - a description they precluded by mentioning that the rumor surrounding his abilities did no justice to the reality of his power. They move on from there to how Sephiroth discovered the truth and went crazy, was killed, and fell into the Lifestream. I’ve no doubt that their explanation of the Lifestream is highly simplified, but I appreciate how Nick keeps things plain and approachable. They explain how he went about using Jenova to resurrect himself, complete with Boomstick protesting Sephiroth’s handling of “his mom,” arguing that she “probably makes a good breakfast.” After they cover his revitalization, they go over his powers, including Materia, which is far more engagingly presented here than the previous two Final Fantasy episodes due to its substantial narrative relevance. From here, Nick does something that genuinely surprised me: he actually covers the basics of Sephiroth’s evil plan, explaining how he intended to summon a meteor to destroy the planet and consume its life force. I admittedly think he could have stood to give at least a passing explanation for what “Black Materia” is, but other than that, all of the important information is present. The script eventually works its way to Supernova, and, from what I understand, this is probably the most controversial part of Sephiroth’s analysis. They argue that it works “like a Summon,” basing their argument on the transition animation being the same as for those sorts of things and explaining that this means that Sephiroth “transports his foes to a specific point of time within an alternate dimension.” From what I understand, this argument is similar to their argument in Hulk VS Doomsday regarding the relationship between the Hulk’s rage and his healing factor in that it is, fundamentally, nothing more than interpretive headcanon. Apparently, this is not how Supernova works, although I have no idea how it actually works because the same people who dismiss Death Battle’s argument tend to be very divided on its real functionality. I’m not going to hold this against the episode, not only because I simply do not know any better one way or another, but also because I respect that Nick does attempt to provide a legitimate justification for the interpretation rather than just making the claim and moving on. Anyway, after laying out their case, they end on the note that he was defeated by Cloud and his team…somehow. I love how Wiz’s only real suggestion for how that was achieved given everything they’ve gone over is “Well, he’s not invincible.”
Vergil’s analysis is also pretty good, although in a different way than Sephiroth’s. In Sephiroth’s analysis, Nick used his story to contextualize his arsenal, abilities, and feats, thus making the overall presentation far more engaging. Vergil’s, on the other hand, takes the more straightforward approach of disregarding story almost entirely after completing his backstory, instead just running through all of those things in checklist fashion. Nick tries to make this entertaining by simply having the hosts - particularly Boomstick - express clear enthusiasm for the character, building up how “cool” he is throughout the analysis. Unlike Android 18 VS Captain Marvel, this handling of one combatant does not actually reflect poorly on the episode overall, partly because Vergil actually loses, but mostly due to the fact that they focused more on selling Sephiroth as intimidating in his rundown. The episode builds up the combatants just as much as each other to the audience, just in different ways. This was why it was so important that they cover Sephiroth’s story, because much of his intimidation factor comes from the narrative context and his own evil plans. Honestly, the highlight of Vergil’s analysis is the part that most people deride: their calculation for his strength. At first, I thought it was dumb that they brought up the raindrop feat yet again given that they still didn’t give it a number that actually mattered; however, they actually brought it back when covering Vergil’s Beowulf feat to provide an example of Devil May Cry’s use of cinematic time and how it would affect the energy output Vergil displayed in the feat they focused on. The number they actually give him - seven hundred and twenty million Newtons - has become infamous due to it equating to about 0.17 tons of TNT, which is on the upper end of small building level. Thus, Vergil’s analysis has become one of the textbook examples of Death Battle “downplaying” combatants, as Vergil was regarded as far stronger than that even at the time. I’ll cover the idea of “downplay” more when we get to the conclusion, but for now, I actually appreciate this part of Vergil’s analysis the most due to how transparent they are about how they calculated Vergil’s attack potency. They cover how large Beowulf was, employed the raindrop feat to determine the effect Devil May Cry’s cinematic time had on the feat’s presentation, and then used that number, combined with the distance to the ceiling of the room Vergil performed the feat in, to get the striking strength they did. I appreciate when Death Battle devotes so much time to explaining how they got their numbers, as it provides some degree of clarity rather than just requiring pure blind trust (obviously they could be even more transparent, but they usually don’t even go this far, so it’s appreciated nonetheless).
The fight animation is significant for a few reasons, the first being that this was the last collaboration between Nick Cramer and Torrian Crawford. Although their record together was not perfect, they had delivered many classic episodes over the course of the three years in which they had worked together, their styles complementing each other wonderfully. The second was that this animation’s production was actually delayed due to the issues with Thor VS Wonder Woman. The rendering issues that episode experienced had shaken Ben’s confidence somewhat, and he was worried that the same problems might afflict Sephiroth VS Vergil in spite of Torrian’s best efforts. Fortunately, Torrian and his two-man crew - Jerome Rodgers-Blake assisting with the animations, and Noel Wiggins on the sound design - proved more than up to the challenge. Now, this animation is not perfect: both models experience a fair bit of clipping - Sephiroth’s hair in particular almost never cares about where his model is in space - the background flickers sometimes, and the overall dim lighting makes the characters’ faces look almost plastic in a way that Torrian’s animations normally manage to avoid. Of course, there are also some issues with Vergil specifically: for one, as everyone has pointed out, his model looks strangely fat at points. I’m not entirely sure why or how that is, but it is incredibly distracting in some shots, although it becomes irrelevant during the action itself. I’m also not too fond of Marc Soskin’s performance as Vergil. Don’t get me wrong, he gets a few good lines and deliveries, but the voice he gives the character just doesn’t sound like someone’s normal voice. It makes it sound like Vergil is trying his hardest to sound “cool,” an effect made worse by the metallic voice filter added by Devil Trigger. Fortunately, other than that, this animation is excellent. The opening is simple and effective; Sephiroth just appears behind Vergil, complimenting him on his power. Sephiroth is voiced by Kamran Nikhad, and he does a superb job. Every delivery is so full of malice despite his consistent monotone, his subtle inflections on particular words selling that edge amazingly. I also like the arena. Sure, it’s very simple and doesn’t give the combatants much to interact with, but, along with the cloudy skies and dark blue brazier fires in the background, it gives the fight a very strong, sinister atmosphere that not just any animation is able to capture. It’s the exact right tone for a fight between characters like this, further aided by the excellent track. “One-Winged Devil,” composed by Aaron Caruthers and his fellow bandmate Carlo Decanini, fits the fight wonderfully, making use of a simple piano melody at the beginning together with guitar and percussion accompaniment to contribute to the menacing tone.
Once the fight begins properly, it becomes swiftly clear that this is some of the best sword combat the show has ever done. Torrian had handled sword fights before, but they usually hadn’t been as much of a focus of the core dynamic as this, and he worked extremely hard to make it convincing. I would say that he succeeded; the combat is fast and fluid, accompanied by weapon trails that, unlike Thor VS Wonder Woman, actually look finished and highlight the swings without being overbearing. There’s also some really smartly chosen effects-work during the opening scuffle. Vergil dodges Sephiroth’s first two swings and deflects the next two with Yamato while it’s still sheathed. These impacts with the Masamune are accompanied by small shockwave effects to convey that the strikes are blunted; once Vergil actually pulls out Yamato and starts to clash blades properly, the effects are replaced with sparks. This is a really smart attention to detail, and the effects for the rest of the animation are similarly excellent. In fact, if one pays attention to the choreography at the start, Vergil’s skill and speed is made apparent through how he responds to Sephiroth’s attacks, easily dodging many of his swings and parrying the rest, eventually knocking Sephiroth back with a particularly powerful parry. This sets up that, of the two, Vergil is the better swordsman, something made particularly apparent by the manner in which he loses the advantage in the next exchange. Vergil activates Beowulf and goes on the offensive, using the Dark Slayer Style they mentioned in the analysis to try and put Sephiroth on the backfoot. However, when he tries to go for a big attack, Sephiroth quickly regains the initiative by using his magic to stonewall Vergil and knock him back with what I think is Black Materia. The sound design for the Materia exploding against Vergil is particularly good, giving it decent impact and making it all the more impressive when Vergil is able to shrug it off moments later. Torrian then makes excellent use of smear frames and blur effects to sell their speed as they charge back at each other, which brings me to another of this animation’s greatest strengths: the sense of speed. Not since Wolverine VS Raiden has Torrian so perfectly sold the sheer blistering speed of two combatants; even Dante VS Bayonetta never conveyed speed quite as well as this animation does. Not only do the combatants move around quickly, but Torrian pulls out all the stops to further convey just how fast they’re moving. The aforementioned blur effects and smear frames play a part, but he also takes advantage of his mastery of dynamic cinematography to maintain that emphasis without ever losing focus on the action. There’s plenty of nice details in the swordfighting, such as Vergil using his sheath to hit Sephiroth when he can’t reach with his sword. Eventually, Masamune's greater length lets Sephiroth land the first big hit of the animation, which Torrian handles in a rather interesting way. After Vergil staggers due to having a massive sword impaling him through the lungs, he manages to free himself through sheer speed, which actually causes Sephiroth to stumble due to him not having time to properly brace himself for Vergil’s escape. It’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it detail, but it’s there and helps keep Sephiroth’s advantage from lasting too long. I like how Vergil actually runs around behind Sephiroth, forcing him to turn around in order to face him again. Vergil decides to kick things up a notch by blitzing Sephiroth, and this leads us to a rather interesting creative decision on Nick and Torrian’s part: giving Vergil the clear speed advantage. Technically, Death Battle did not actually provide any meaningful information on either of their speeds, just placing them both as vaguely hypersonic; however, in terms of portrayal, speed is much more commonly associated with Vergil, and Devil May Cry in general, than Sephiroth, meaning that, from a choreography standpoint, it makes sense to portray Vergil as significantly faster. The two lunge at each other again, only this time, Vergil blasts past him faster than Sephiroth can react - which is wonderfully conveyed by giving Vergil stronger lighting in the relevant frame - and lands a flurry of attacks too quickly for Sephiroth to react, moving so fast that, as they said in the analysis, his sword cannot be seen, only the attack trails. Vergil then hits Sephiroth with another blitz attack, which actually sends him to his knees, giving us a neat shot mirroring the similar one earlier in the animation after Sephiroth had used his magic to knock Vergil to the ground. This, combined with Sephiroth's response, shows their distinct strengths; Vergil is faster and the better swordsman, and takes the edge when those are the focus of the fight. However, Sephiroth has the stronger magic, as he showed earlier, and again by creating a series of illusions of himself to distract Vergil. What follows is mostly excellent, save for one serious issue: Yamato is depicted as passing through one of the fake Sephiroths’ blades, which tips Vergil off to their illusionary nature. This, however, doesn’t make sense, as Yamato is shown interacting with the illusions just fine after this. It’s also strange considering that they mentioned in the analysis that Vergil escaped from an illusion cast on him by a sorcerer, begging the question of why he can’t just do that here if he knows that he’s being manipulated. This issue does hold the script itself back quite a bit, which is a shame seeing as the action that follows is absolutely superb. Vergil enters Devil Trigger in order to take care of things as quickly as possible, and the fight he is shown putting up afterwards is excellent. I love how he’s so fast that, in the time it takes for three Sephiroths to leap into the air towards him, Vergil is able to deliver a line, activate Devil Trigger, and wipe out all three at the same time with a blitz attack. Vergil then uses just about everything he can to destroy the rest of the clones, teleporting around their attacks, knocking them back with Beowulf, and holding multiple Sephiroths off at once with his Summoned Swords. Some of the Sephiroths actually parry the swords away, which is a nice attention to detail, and there’s an amazing shot of Vergil using Beowulf to defeat one illusion while the Summoned Swords can be seen holding off a second one in the background, giving an actual reason for why they don’t just all attack him at once.
Eventually, Vergil destroys the illusions, only for it to be revealed that Sephiroth had used the time they bought him to heal himself and hit Vergil with Supernova. What’s awesome about this is that they mentioned in the analysis that, due to Sephiroth’s exposure to the Lifestream, he can use Materia techniques whenever he wants, meaning that the battle we just saw took place so quickly that the real Sephiroth only had enough time to do two things that are available to him whenever he pleases before Vergil took care of his distraction. Other than that, while I really like the Supernova scene, it isn’t for the reason that a lot of critics seem to cite, which is it being a moment where Sephiroth used his cunning to get one over on Vergil and set him up for his big attack. I just don’t think that this is the best example of one combatant gaining an advantage by fooling the other in the show, if only due to the fact that Vergil’s susceptibility to being placed under illusions in general - saying nothing of his ability to escape them - means that, unless he knew he was being tricked, there wasn’t anything he could do. However, there are plenty of other great things about it: Kamran’s delivery is just as wonderfully venomous as the rest of his lines, the “Witness oblivion” in particular being given a good amount of contempt. The guitar breakdown in the track is clearly composed in the style of “One-Winged Angel” with its handling of descending scales, making the scene more frenetic and intense. I also love how they play a modified version of the Final Fantasy VII cutscene for the attack itself, complete with a specialized menu for Vergil. It even shows his HP as virtually maxed out, perfectly demonstrating just how potent his healing factor is, and making it all the more impactful when Supernova actually hits him. The illusionary Sephiroth vanishes into the blast, as Vergil, facing an explosion strong enough to wipe out a solar system, powers through the pain to grab Yamato one last time and cut his way out of the dimension. I ragged on Marc’s performance earlier, but his yell of determination in the face of horrible pain in this instance is excellently delivered, as is his exhausted relief after thinking he managed to escape Sephiroth. Even Vergil’s skeleton can be seen at points as his healing factor desperately fights to prevent him from being incinerated. Vergil emerges on the other side, charred to a crisp and clearly on his last legs, with Sephiroth then coming from behind and killing him in that one pose that they referenced in his Smash reveal trailer. The actual kill is pretty good; decently bloody though not excessively so, made more impactful by Vergil’s resilience throughout the animation. When considering the sheer amount that happens in this animation, it might surprise some to know that this is actually the shortest finale animation in Death Battle history, clocking in at a little under three minutes. Even Gogeta VS Vegito managed to break that mark, and yet so much excellent choreography is packed into this tight package that it doesn’t feel like it went by too quickly. Overall, this animation is excellent; obviously not perfect, but a wonderful high point to end off the season.
Unfortunately, the conclusion does try to prevent that positive outcome. On paper, it's functional: they explain why Sephiroth held the strength advantage, and the numbers they give do fit that argument. They point out that Sephiroth could heal himself as much as necessary, whereas Vergil’s healing factor, while impressive, could still be worn down, something they took care to mention in his analysis. They further explain the animation itself by saying that Sephiroth could disguise Supernova with illusions, denying Vergil the time needed for him to escape (this is a bit redundant given that Sephiroth just explained this himself in the animation, but it’s nice that they verified his claims anyway). I do wish they had elaborated more on both of their speeds, given that they didn’t really go much in depth for either of them. They didn’t give the raindrop feat a number that mattered with respect to speed, and the most they gave Sephiroth was the aforementioned supersonic speeds. However, their overall approach to the numbers is just bizarre, despite them not technically being wrong. They calculate Zack Fair’s feat of cutting through a metal door, deducing it to somehow be fifty-eight percent stronger than Vergil’s Beowulf feat. Regardless, they upscale Sephiroth from that feat to three and a half billion Newtons, which equates to about 0.84 tons of TNT. This is around the middle of building level, and is stronger than the number they gave Vergil; however, they contextualize Sephiroth’s number like this:
… Putting Sephiroth's strength output at over three billion newtons. That's almost as much force as 30 Hiroshima bombs.
Thirty “Hiroshima bombs” is four hundred and fifty kilotons of TNT, over five hundred and thirty-five thousand times stronger than the number they gave Sephiroth. I am genuinely baffled as to how on Earth they managed to get to that level from numbers like this, and how nobody thought it was slightly strange that they had somehow put an attack three times greater than destroying a metal door at large town level. To be frank, I think that this incorrect comparison, combined with the widespread notion that Death Battle put Vergil at “wall level,” is what led to the idea that this episode “downplayed” Vergil and Vergil alone. According to their own numbers, ignoring Supernova, Vergil was put at small building level, and Sephiroth at building level. Sure, this is hilariously low given where these two are commonly placed, but from the perspective of just trying to sell their verdict to an audience that might not be familiar with either of these two from a versus perspective, I don’t think Death Battle did something “morally wrong” by presenting these two this way. I just think that their extremely poor way of explaining Sephiroth’s greater strength gets in the way of their efforts.
Aside from the conclusion, Sephiroth VS Vergil is an excellent episode. The analyses, while not among the best of the show, are very good in their own ways, and the animation manages to accomplish a lot in its short runtime, showing that great finales don’t necessarily need to have massive extended runtimes so much as tight and efficient choreography. This may not be Nick and Torrian’s best collaboration, but it is definitely a high note to wrap up both their partnership and Death Battle’s fourth season.
Ranking: A Tier
Chapter 18: Season Four: Episode Ranking
Chapter Text
- S
- Balrog VS TJ Combo
- Power Rangers VS Voltron
- A
- Shredder VS Silver Samurai
- Sephiroth VS Vergil
- B
- Smokey Bear VS McGruff the Crime Dog
- Naruto VS Ichigo
- C
- Natsu VS Ace
- Scrooge McDuck VS Shovel Knight
- Batman Beyond VS Spider-Man 2099
- D
- Sub-Zero VS Glacius
- Thor VS Wonder Woman
- Lara Croft VS Nathan Drake
- Android 18 VS Captain Marvel
- Venom VS Bane
- E
- Metal Sonic VS Zero
- Lucario VS Renamon
- F
Chapter 19: Full Series Ranking (2010 - 2017)
Chapter Text
- S
- Balrog VS TJ Combo
- Iron Man VS Lex Luthor
- Solid Snake VS Sam Fisher
- Goku VS Superman 1 (2013) The Original Classic
- Hulk VS Doomsday
- Deadpool VS Deathstroke
- Power Rangers VS Voltron
- Godzilla VS Gamera
- Dante VS Bayonetta
- A
- Wolverine VS Raiden
- Chuck Norris VS Segata Sanshiro
- Hercule Satan VS Dan Hibiki
- Shredder VS Silver Samurai
- Ratchet & Clank VS Jak & Daxter
- Pokémon VS Digimon
- Meta VS Carolina
- Sephiroth VS Vergil
- Terminator VS RoboCop
- Ryu VS Scorpion
- Joker VS Sweet Tooth
- Batman VS Spider-Man
- Pokémon Battle Royale
- B
- Kirby VS Majin Buu
- Mega Man VS Astro Boy
- Thor VS Raiden
- He-Man VS Lion-O
- Ken VS Terry
- Zoro VS Erza
- Green Arrow VS Hawkeye
- Smokey Bear VS McGruff the Crime Dog
- Tigerzord VS Gundam Epyon
- Naruto VS Ichigo
- Shao Kahn VS M. Bison
- C
- Ryu Hayabusa VS Strider Hiryu
- Eggman VS Wily
- Vegeta VS Shadow
- Boba Fett VS Samus Aran
- Mario VS Sonic (2011)
- Donkey Kong VS Knuckles
- Natsu VS Ace
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Battle Royale
- Zelda VS Peach
- Kratos VS Spawn
- Deadpool VS Pinkie Pie
- Akuma VS Shang Tsung
- Goomba VS Koopa
- Scrooge McDuck VS Shovel Knight
- Flash VS Quicksilver
- Darth Vader VS Doctor Doom
- Link VS Cloud (2012)
- Haggar VS Zangief
- Batman Beyond VS Spider-Man 2099
- Boba Fett VS Samus Aran (2010)
- D
- Fox McCloud VS Bucky O’Hare
- Master Chief VS Doomguy
- Sub-Zero VS Glacius
- Pikachu VS Blanka
- Bomberman VS Dig Dug
- Thor VS Wonder Woman
- Batman VS Captain America
- Lara Croft VS Nathan Drake
- Felicia VS Taokaka
- Android 18 VS Captain Marvel
- DEATH BATTLE! VS The World
- ScrewAttack Steam Sale VS Your Wallet
- Fulgore VS Sektor
- Luke Skywalker VS Harry Potter
- Amy Rose VS Ramona Flowers
- Yoshi VS Riptor
- Venom VS Bane
- Vegeta VS Mewtwo?
- Zitz VS Leonardo
- E
- Metal Sonic VS Zero
- Gaara VS Toph
- Guts VS Nightmare
- Lucario VS Renamon
- Bowser VS Ganon
- Tracer VS Scout
- Beast VS Goliath
- Cammy VS Sonya
- Luigi VS Tails
- Starscream VS Rainbow Dash
- Ragna VS Sol Badguy
- Mewtwo VS Shadow
- Goku VS Superman 2 (2015) The Original’s Sequel
- F
- Yang VS Tifa
- Ivy VS Orchid
- Chun-Li VS Mai Shiranui
- Rogue VS Wonder Woman
- Justin Bieber VS Rebecca Black
Chapter 20: Conclusion
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If one judges seasons based on their highs and lows, it is not terribly difficult to understand why many Death Battle critics regard Season Four as a noticeable improvement over its predecessor. When considering the bottom of the barrel, Season Four’s worst episode would only be the fifth worst in Season Three, and at the other end of the spectrum, Season Four saw the release of arguably the show’s best episode up to this point in its life. From that perspective, the lows are becoming less low while the highs are getting higher, a shift that can actually be seen in the previous three seasons as well (mostly). This seeming improvement continues depending on how one views proportions. Discounting the bonus episodes, one-quarter of Season Two was bad, a proportion that increased by about four percent in Season Three. Season Four, on the other hand, saw a drop to about half of that percentage in terms of bad episodes relative to the overall season. However, things begin to slide the other way when one considers the proportion of good episodes to the overall episode count. Over half of Season Two was good at the very least, something made more significant by the fact that the quantity of episodes in the season means that there are more good episodes in Season Two than there are episodes in Season Four as a whole. Moving forward, exactly half of Season Three is good if one disregards the bonus episode. On the other hand, only thirty-eight percent of episodes in Season Four are actually good, a substantial drop-off from the previous two seasons. This makes sense when one considers that, in both Seasons Two and Three, around twenty percent of the episode list - give or take - ranged from acceptable to mediocre. In Season Four, exactly half of the episodes fit into that range, and over thirty percent overall can be easily classified as mediocre. Given these proportions, especially the staggering drop-off of good episodes relative to the overall season list, I consider Season Four to be quite easily the worst season of the show thus far, a title that it is unlikely to lose unless Season Seven’s rejuvenated reputation proves unfounded. What especially hurts Season Four as an overall package is the five-episode downward slope from Natsu VS Ace to Lucario VS Renamon. Not only are none of the episodes good, but every single one is worse than the one that came before it. Sure, the season managed to recover with Balrog VS TJ Combo, and overall, the season’s back half is a noticeable improvement over the first set of episodes, but that middle stretch is just an absolute chore to sit through, and they are hardly the end of this season’s sub-par output.
Another element of this season that holds it back is one that I don’t believe I have ever seen addressed: the animation runtimes. Old school Death Battle fans have criticized the show from Season Seven onward for the standardization of “three-minute” animations. Now, I have addressed the increased runtime standardization already in my Season Two review, and I stand by my claim that Death Battle largely made up for its lack of long animations through more efficient writing. Animation runtimes also still retained some variability after Season Seven, with outliers in both directions; the only real exception to this is Season Nine, which not only has the second-shortest average animation runtime of any season (ignoring Season One) but was also marked by its consistency. This season is much less consistent with regards to length; however, when it comes down to it, Season Four has the shortest average animation runtime of any season (again, ignoring Season One), and it is not even close. This average runtime of two minutes and fifty seconds trails Season Nine by half a minute, which, given that this season actually does have some animations that break the four-minute mark, really says something about how short some of these fights are. As mentioned before, this isn't necessarily a problem if the animation’s script is efficient enough to make good use of the restrictions, but most of them simply aren't, either rushing through exchanges too quickly like Natsu VS Ace, or spending so much time on extraneous details that there winds up being little actual fighting, like Batman Beyond VS Spider-Man 2099. The writing, choreography and pacing did not adjust themselves to make optimal use of their time. Personally, I think that this was most likely yet another result of Death Battle adjusting to a new schedule. The animators, often as not, simply lacked the time needed to flesh out the stories they wanted to tell, resulting in sprite fights that, while more technically competent than many of Season Three’s, suffer from these severe pacing issues.
However, I think a more fundamental reason that this season’s animations often had to rush things is due to a rather admirable factor; this season was, in its own way, extremely ambitious. Luis and the rest of his crew were experimenting with more fully-voiced animations, newer effects, different levels of saturation, and the presence of Chris Bastin’s hand-drawn elements. They played with different styles, various kinds of 3-D backgrounds, and a greater frequency of custom music. Even the awful 3-D models in Metal Sonic VS Zero are important in their own way due to being the first time in Death Battle history for a fight to deliberately incorporate multiple animation styles. Sure, they may have aged like milk left in Death Valley, but it was experimentation like that which has led to Death Battle’s far more successful implementation of those ideas in future seasons. Torrian’s own animations, while certainly more inconsistent in terms of overall quality than the previous two seasons, were finally beginning to move in the direction of the higher visual standards of future seasons thanks to him finally having an expanded crew and not needing to do virtually everything himself. On top of all these things, I will admit; while this season’s matchup list isn’t particularly interesting on paper, I actually rather appreciate how this season represents that strange turning point between the video game focus of the past and the comic book emphasis of the future. There are plenty of matchups this season that, while not necessarily obscure, are certainly between characters who probably wouldn’t be matched up today due to one or both franchises having little to no relevance to modern Death Battle’s audience. On top of that, this season’s implementation of calculations in the research and verdicts was a monumental step forward for the show, one that would only continue to be hammered out and refined over time. In other words, I do not agree with the criticism some have levied against this season that it “played things safe,” or was “just filler.” Sure, I certainly agree that it feels like filler due to the consistent mediocrity, but the show was clearly taking this opportunity to experiment and try new things, just in smaller, less noticeable ways than other seasons. I might not particularly care for this season; it is my current least favorite for a reason, after all. Nevertheless, I still find it difficult not to respect it, at least a little bit. Much of it doesn’t work at all, but it was the willingness on the part of the crew to change things up and try new things, even if it often didn’t work out, that formed the basis for the standards the show would adopt in the future; in the long run, every step counts.
Season Five is next on the chopping block, and it is definitely one of Death Battle’s most important seasons in a number of ways. The Research Team was given clearer direction and methodologies, for one thing, and this was the season where the show finally cleared the one hundred episode milestone. This was also the first - and one of the only - seasons to be built around a distinct theme, that being, in this case, the top ten percent most requested matchups. This was also the season which finally saw the proper coalescence of animation teams. Although there were still a few fights most animated by just one person, this was the season that began Death Battle's movement away from that and towards animations as proper team efforts. There was a time, which from what I can tell lasted until sometime during Season Nine, when this was considered one of the best seasons of the entire show, and was widely regarded by many as the point where modern Death Battle really began and the show’s standards increased dramatically. However, as time has gone on and Death Battle has continued to evolve, people are becoming more critical of various aspects of this season, with some of its episodes being among the show’s most controversial, at least among fans. On top of this, I distinctly remember that there was one particular episode this season that, back when it first aired, bothered me so much that it caused me to largely drop the show during Season Six and fully abandon it by Season Seven. Whether this season more deserves its positive or negative reputation shall be discussed at a later date.
