Analysis
Balrog's analysis gives a good rundown on his background before moving onto his fighting style making the analysis a bit more refreshing. It even has a nice transition into Balrog's arsenal of moves. The analysis then goes on to cover Balrog's feats and does manage to bring up some good calculations such as the 10'000 pounds of force required to kill an elephant and even shows its working for Balrog's falling feat.
TJ's rundown is fairly similar to Balrog's starting with his background and for the most part Wiz and Boomstick are able to keep it informative and entertaining while also having some good jokes in there such as TJ Combo as a janitor (who Jetz animated). They go on to cover TJ's past such as his deal with UltraTech and how afterwards, TJ strived to prove he could win in the ring for real making him a foil to the more villainous cheating bastard that is Balrog. The transition into his berserker mode is also pretty well done and perfectly sums up what it can do. Both rundowns also showcase the weaknesses of both fighters and averts the weakness trap. I give the analysis a 9/10.
Animation
I LOVE this animation. It plays out almost as if it were an actual boxing match rather than a fight to the death. That is until Balrog kills the referee. Both combatants receive an introduction and the announcer spectates and comments on everything. There's even actual rounds to the fight! The way the combatants are restricted to only the boxing ring (even when they start to break it) actually works in this animation's favor as it helps the fight feel a lot more grounded. Also of note is that the two aren't actually trying to kill each other during round 1, abiding by a special set of rules making it seem like a completely different fight than most of the ones we see in death battle. The audience even boos Balrog when he starts to fight dirty.
As soon as Balrog takes out the referee there is a noticeable tone shift, more akin to the regular fights in death battle. Both fighters are now giving it their all, even if it means killing the other combatant. Balrog scores a combo but TJ c-c-c-combo breaks it. The best part about all of this is that even after the fight has descended into a death battle both combatants are still utilizing their respective styles. Balrog is using his powerful but slow punches while TJ is clearly dodging Balrog's attack and attacks when he sees an opening complimenting the outboxer style.
The music and sound design is also well done as the animation uses the much slower part of "I'm Back (to Rise)" to help the defeatist feeling of TJ being knocked down by Balrog. The music then immediately picks up to symbolise TJ's second win as he enters his berserker state. After that its pretty clearly a curb-stomp battle in TJ's favor but during this we also get a pretty good POV shot from Balrog's perspective as he's getting his ass kicked. The killing blow is well executed and even after that we still get to see the camera track Balrog's head as it lands on the camera. Cue color bars. I give this animation a 9.5/10. The only reason its not a perfect score is because Balrog often phases through his robe but even that stops about halfway through round 2 when he removes it.
Conclusion
I think what makes this episode so refreshing is how close it really is. Wiz and Boomstick show that both TJ and Balrog had advantages over each other but because each advantage was so slight that they didn't really matter. Instead what ultimately decides the match is the fighting style each combatant uses and they even use a triangle theory done in real life and provide examples to show why TJ would win. In the end TJ didn't win because of superior stats (though that is a factor) but instead because of the type of boxer he was. I give the conclusion a 9/10 providing a total score of 27.5/30 or about 92%.
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