Dragon Ball Z

Dragon Ball Z is infamous for dragging fights out with flashbacks, which really hurt the flow of things.  At least from my perspective as someone who noted that issue and continued to enjoy.  Now, why would they do these kinds of breaks in a fight that is supposed to be high speed and intense?

I believe the key is in that last word.  Intensity of a fight scene is necessary to keep the reader or viewer in the action.  The problem is that intensity is a fast-burning candle, which can go out even if the action continues.  A reader will become tolerant of the tension and fighting to the point where they are simply looking at words.  Even in movies, they can run into this issue and use various pauses to pull back the intensity enough that it doesn’t die out.

Here are a few techniques:

1. Reloading or scrambling to get a new weapon.  You see this in movies like ‘John Wick’ where there is a slight pause for the characters to either get a new gun or reload.  It isn’t more than a few seconds, but it’s enough to give a pause to the louder noises and action.  It is also how a real fight could go since unlimited ammo isn’t a thing.
2. Banter is another aspect that can be used when fists, bullets, or blades aren’t being used.  This is the psychological aspect of a fight where characters try to fluster each other.  Anger can lead to mistakes, but it isn’t easy to banter while you’re also trying to attack.  So, a physical pause is more likely.
3. A defensive retreat by a losing party in order to find a way to claim the upper hand.  I don’t know if I’m using a great term here.  The gist is that the action stops being both characters fighting.  It’s now only one attacking while the other dodges, blocks, and/or hides.  This is a temporary situation that can maintain tension while reducing intensity of action.  Eventually, an opening will appear and they will strike to continue the faster battle.
4. Silent staring at each other after an intense exchange.  This is something that is more likely in movies and shows, but reading can do this by focusing on the thoughts of the hero.  The situation here is that the combatants can’t get an advantage, so they stop and wait for the other to drop their guard.
5. Accidental separation is another that you might see.  An event in the fight will force the combatants to move away from each other, but not leave the area.  So, the intense fight becomes a ‘cat-and-mouse’ hunt for a bit.  Once they are together again, the battle will continue.

There are more types of pauses out there and probably many that haven’t even been invented yet.  You can see that these don’t end the fight or erase the tension entirely even if the intensity is heavily reduced.  The balancing act is to maintain a sense of danger while letting the reader calm down a bit.  Perhaps one could say that they have to be shifted from ‘fight’ to ‘flight’.  Both have tension, but the former is offensive and the latter is defensive, which is how the pauses can work.

What do other people think of pauses in fights?  Any strategies you’ve seen or used with good effect?