Synopsis: Dodoria insults Vegeta as he crawls back out of the water, prompting Vegeta to ask if that's his way of saying he missed him. Dodoria accuses Vegeta of being the one who just attacked him, and Vegeta confirms it by saying he'd been waiting some time now for him to stop clinging to Freeza's side – after all, there's no need for him to take on more than he can handle at once. Dodoria laughs and calls Vegeta arrogant, but tells Vegeta that if he hands over the scouter on his face, Dodoria might just let it go this time. Vegeta laughs and says they really did lose all their scouters as he thought, and thinks this might be the perfect time for him to make his own moves then. As he takes the scouter off of his face and says that it'd take them several days to go back to one of Freeza's planets to get new ones, Dodoria thinks Vegeta is really handing it over and praises him for seeing sense...only for Vegeta to drop the scouter on the ground and crush it beneath his boot. Dodoria asks Vegeta if he's crazy, but Vegeta says he doesn't need it anymore so it was useless to him. Dodoria says that if Vegeta's searching for the Dragon Balls too then surely he needed the scouter to find the Namekians, but Vegeta reveals that he doesn't – while he was on Earth, the people he fought there had the ability to sense energy without such devices, and one of them was a Saiyan. Vegeta realized that if Kakarot could do it, then he should be able to as well. This claim perplexes Dodoria, but Vegeta says it was easy once he got the hang of it, and says it's something that anyone obsessed with brute strength alone such as them (or himself from before) would never be able to master. Dodoria then says the two he was chasing must have been Earthlings and accuses Vegeta of having teamed up with them, but Vegeta says there's no way Earthlings could have made it all the way to Namek and even if they had, he'd kill them just the same. Dodoria says he doesn't care what's going on then, and tells Vegeta to get out of his way and be grateful to be spared, but Vegeta laughs and asks if he's afraid of him. He asks why Dodoria doesn't just attack him, and questions if he saw how high his power level was against Cui. Outraged, Dodoria proclaims that that reading was a mistake, and tells Vegeta he just blew his one chance to survive this encounter. Dodoria fires a massive energy blast from both hands towards Vegeta, and repeatedly blasts away at him, but Vegeta appears behind him suddenly and asks if the scouter really made a mistake at all. Dodoria tries to swing his fist and arm towards Vegeta, but Vegeta blocks the blow, catching Dodoria's arm before grabbing the opposite arm and pinning both of them behind Dodoria's back. As he keeps Dodoria pinned, Vegeta says that Saiyans grow stronger the more they battle, especially against strong opponents. Revealing that he almost died on Earth, Vegeta reveals that his own strength has increased far beyond his wildest dreams as a result. As Vegeta prepares to go in for the kill, Dodoria pleads with him, saying that he'll tell the Saiyan a secret about Planet Vegeta. Vegeta lets go of Dodoria's arms and asks him what he could possibly know that Vegeta himself doesn't, but Dodoria won't talk until Vegeta promises not to kill him afterwards. Vegeta says he could just kill him now if he doesn't, and Dodoria is left with no choice but to talk. He says that Planet Vegeta wasn't destroyed by a meteor at all. The truth is that Freeza had come to realize that while individual Saiyans were of no concern, there were too many like Vegeta who were being born with higher and higher power levels. Faced with the possibility of an eventual Saiyan uprising with stronger than usual Saiyans, Freeza opted to destroy Planet Vegeta himself to keep such a thing from happening, but chose to attack at a time when at least Vegeta himself was off-world so as to keep at least him around as a 'pawn'. Vegeta seems shocked by this news at first, and Dodoria says he'll take this chance to head back to Freeza now, but Vegeta shocks Dodoria by revealing that he's not upset about the loss of his home world, his race, or even his own parents. The only thing that Vegeta is upset about is having allowed himself to be used by them for so long. Horrified, Dodoria flies away and screams for Freeza, but Vegeta blasts him away, killing him instantly. Laughing, Vegeta is pleased to hear that Freeza is scared of the potential of the Saiyans, while off in space, Goku is shown to training on his way to Planet Namek. Review: If his encounter with Cui didn't make it obvious enough, this early portion of Namek is very much running with Vegeta at the story's helm. Sure, Gohan and Kuririn might still be in the mix of things and slowly figuring out what's going on, but Vegeta is the only character active at the moment that already knows what's happening on Namek. He's also the only one who's taking advantage of what he's learning now to make strides towards his own goals, starting with taking out some of Freeza's men that he previously couldn't fight against. That in of itself is a pretty good cue as to how inflated powers are going to be getting moving into this arc, by the way. While Vegeta was apparently strong enough to be considered one of Freeza's higher ranked soldiers, he certainly wasn't on par with the likes of his right hand men. That further drives in just how powerful Freeza himself must be. Now however, Vegeta's taking those higher level of opponents out, so the question does arise – just how MUCH stronger are our heroes going to have to get to manage anything against this drastically more powerful foes? But as said, the focus right now is on Vegeta and all the new things he can do. Like sensing ki without a scouter. Yeah, apparently that's a thing he can do now. It's not really all that surprising that this was coming given he wanted to leave behind his scouter before, but actually seeing him do it is more than a little odd. It doesn't help that we never really saw how the Earthling based fighters learned it – it seemingly was just something they picked up by getting to a certain level of strength (based on Goku first displaying it before his rematch with King Piccolo), and then further refined by training at Kami's sanctuary. Vegeta doesn't have either of those elements under his belt, as he was already way stronger than they were and didn't train while on Earth, so...seemingly he literally just went 'Oh, well if Kakarot can do it, then I can to'. Which...I guess...sure...why not? Further story elements will kind of help this make more sense if you try to parse it out, but for now, it's just handled in a really wonky way. I do like the tidbit that Vegeta only finds out for a fact that the other scouters are all broken from talking to Dodoria though. The last time we saw him before this, he was listening in over his own scouter, so presumably he just hit radio silence all of a sudden during the fight and had to guess as to what happened. It also shows that that scene and this one with him breaking his scouter to make this big reveal were probably Toriyama's only reasons for having him keep the scouter a bit longer after all. Another factor that gets re-highlighted here is Vegeta once again explaining that he's gotten far stronger as a result of his loss on Earth. He distinctly states that it's something that happens to Saiyans when they fight strong opponents. The series isn't spelling it out all the way just yet, but it's already pretty easy to think back to Goku and realize that this explains quite a few moments in his own past. Goku seemingly got stronger each and every time he lost. We never had a number to put to it, and a lot of times training of some kind was involved to kind of help bolster or cover up any innate gains he may have made, but it doesn't change the fact that this is kind of something we've seen many, many times before. Well, now we know why – it's Saiyan physiology. And similar to Goku's innate craving for a good fight, this element of what makes Goku tick is now being taken and given to Saiyans at large. Again, I can see where this would be an issue for a lot of people, but for now at least, this is an element that I sort of like. It helps explain something we've been seeing rather than just taking something wholesale and giving that to the other Saiyans just because they can. And speaking of Saiyan related revelations, we also get the big reveal that Raditz was a dirty, dirty liar. I joke, because it's not like he would have known any better either, but this does make his whole exposition at the beginning of the series somewhat null and void. It's honestly one of the handful of times that the term 'retcon' (or retroactive continuity) gets brought up that definitely is what's happening in the series. Once again however, I find myself okay with this. The previous explanation worked fine for what was needed at the time, but now that we're building up a new villain, it helps to make him seem as imposing as possible, and it doesn't get more imposing than casually destroying an entire planet full of super strong monkey men. That said, you know who is a dirty liar? Filler Kaio-sama. Yeah, that whole episode with the Saiyan backstory claiming that a Kami of Planet Vegeta caused the meteor to collide with it suddenly doesn't make sense now as a result of this revelation...oops. In reality, this can be hand-waved away in the same manner as Roshi's story about the origin of the Dragon Balls back in the original anime, as Toei staff making up a back story where Toriyama hasn't provided one yet. It's likewise never again referenced or brought up again once Toriyama's actual explanation is given. There's ironically an in universe reason that could be given for Kaio-sama seemingly lying however as well – but we'll get to that once it occurs. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: The most dangerous game of hide and seek ever played continues!
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Synopsis: Gohan and Kuririn continue trying to fly away with the Namekian child in tow, but Gohan thinks they don't stand a chance at getting away and suggests instead that they land and fight. Kuririn insists this isn't a fight they can win however, and urges Gohan to keep flying. Realizing that they're going to get caught however, Kuririn quickly devises a plan and hands the child over to Gohan and tells them to close their eyes. Still flying, Kuririn turns towards Dodoria and uses the Taiyo-ken, blinding their pursuer. As Dodoria tries to clear his vision, Kuririn tells Gohan to quickly follow him as they hide behind a mountain down on the ground. Gohan asks Kuririn what he did, and Kuririn says he just blinded Dodoria for a while. As Dodoria's vision clears, he flies around desperately trying to find the trio, but Kuririn thinks there's no way he'll ever find them thanks to the old Namekian destroying the scouters. Dodoria likewise realizes the search is futile and grows angrier, declaring that they'll pay for making a fool out of him. Dodoria flies higher into the sky, and Gohan thinks he's giving up, but Kuririn watches in horror as Dodoria yells down to the hidden trio to die and fires a massive energy blast down at the land below. The blast erupts and destroys the entire island, and Dodoria taunts the 'dead' trio to show off one of their cheap tricks now. Dodoria laments that Freeza's orders were to bring them back, but this is still better than letting them get away, though he does think it's a pity they never figured out who they were. From up above, Gohan and Kuririn watch as Dodoria flies away thinking that he's killed them. Kuririn says they need to get back to where they left Bulma, and asks the Namekian child if he can fly on his own, which the child confirms. The young Namekian thanks them for saving him, and Kuririn says most of the thanks goes to Gohan as he's the one that jumped in first, but Gohan says they all would've died without Kuririn. Kuririn accepts their thanks, and the trio start heading back towards Bulma. Flying back to Freeza, Dodoria thinks of what a hassle it's going to be trying to find the last two Dragon Balls now that they don't have scouters to easily find the Namekians. As he remarks to himself that at least the planet isn't that big, he's suddenly knocked out of the sky by something and sent hurtling down into the ocean below. Scrambling back to the land, Dodoria sees a figure standing in front of him – Vegeta! Review: While Gohan saving the young Namekian child was very much the morally right thing to do, his actions have definitely landed himself and Kuririn in some hot water, and it's because of that that Kuririn has to once again step out of his comfort range of being a supporting character. In fact, this is possibly the first time we've seen him put in the central role honestly, and in some ways it suits him. He's never going to be the overly strong “superhero” that saves the day at the last second the same way that Goku is, but he's more than versatile enough to pull a few tricks out of his hat every now and then. Granted, the trick he pulls here is one of Tenshinhan's moves and one that Goku's already pilfered once before as well, but hey – neither of them are on Namek, so who's going to complain? And frankly, using the Taiyo-ken as a method of distraction and escape is probably the most fitting use for the technique, so it's sort of nice to see it brought out again in situations like this, even if it would be preferable in some ways for characters to have more moves unique to themselves. What makes this use of Taiyo-ken all the more ingenious however was the fact that once they're out of sight, Dodoria doesn't easily have a way of finding them again thanks to the elder Namekian taking out all of the scouters. This can only be a good thing as it means our heroes don't have to tiptoe around quite as much as they were before, though flying around at high speeds high in the air is probably still a bad idea since they could still get spotted pretty easily. It'd be pretty easy for any of Freeza's men to just take a potshot in their direction at that point. Or, you know – just try to blow up the whole island that they're on at the time, like Dodoria does here. It's a pretty drastic move, and one that Freeza likely would have condemned – possibly even killed Dodoria for – had he been there to witness it, because for all they know, one of the Dragon Balls could have been on that island. It might seem unlikely given the rest of them are near villages, but still. Dodoria is very much the new Nappa in terms of not thinking things through. And speaking of Nappa, Dodoria might well be going the way of him and Cui soon enough, as he runs into none other than Vegeta at the end of the chapter. An interesting thing to note? Vegeta still has his scouter, the last remaining scouter on the planet seemingly. Hmm... Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: The truth about Planet Vegeta, revealed! Synopsis: Knocked down from Dodoria's sudden, vicious attack, the elder Namekian protests and says that Freeza gave his word, telling him and his men to leave at once. Freeza says the Dragon Balls are useless unless he has all seven of them however, and says that since the old man destroyed the scouters and took away their ability to find the other villages easily, he'll have to make up for his mistake by telling them where they are. The old man reiterates that he would rather die than sell out his own kind. Zarbon asks Freeza if they'll be able to find the other Dragon Balls without the scouters, and Freeza says that they'll find them eventually if they keep searching...so he orders Dodoria to kill all three Namekians still in front of them. Dodoria eagerly agrees, and the elder Namekian tells the two children behind him to run away as fast as they can. As the kids run, he tries to shield them and says that he'll show the invaders the honor of the Namekians. Freeza quickly fires an energy beam from one finger however, catching one of the two escaping children in the back and killing him instantly. Gohan grows enraged, and as the elder Namekian looks on in horror at the child's body, Dodoria grabs hold of him and snaps his neck with ease. Kuririn tries to calm Gohan down, telling him that there's nothing they can do, but as the remaining child tries again to flee and is instantly caught up to by Dodoria, Gohan snaps and yells in a fury. As Kuririn watches in shocked horror, Gohan leaps up as he yells, the sound immediately catching the attention of Freeza, Zarbon, and Dodoria. Dodoria tries to locate the source of the sound, but before he can, Gohan swoops in and kicks him in the head hard enough to send him crashing into one of the Namekian houses. Cursing Gohan's rash decision, Kuririn flies down to help. As he gets back up, Dodoria angrily asks what Gohan is, and Gohan screams his intent to beat him up. Dodoria finds this amusing, but is soon knocked down a second time by a dive kick from Kuririn, who quickly grabs the Namekian child and tells Gohan they have to get away fast. Freeza and Zarbon watch on in confusion, with Freeza noting that the two that have appeared before them aren't Namekians. As Kuririn and Gohan flee back into the sky, Dodoria gets back up cursing, and Freeza screams for him to chase after the escaping trio and bring them back immediately. Dodoria screams in anger and pursues them into the sky, with Kuririn telling Gohan to fly as fast as he can, because it's all over if they get caught. As they speed away, Kuririn looks back to see Dodoria hot on their tail and thinks they're not going to be able to get away. Back down on the ground, Freeza questions who these two even are. Review: With everything we've seen from Freeza in the past handful of chapters, I don't think it's a surprise to anyone that he's not exactly the type to keep his word, or that he's willing and able to kill children. Or have them killed, as the case may be. One interesting difference right at the start of this chapter though is actually who kills the first Namekian child (who we finally get a name for, Scargo). Here in the manga, it's Freeza who does the deed, but over in the anime, it's Dodoria. Honestly, while it's nice to see Freeza do something for himself, especially with that quick reaction time to further tease how formidable he is? I kind of prefer the anime's take on this scene. Don't get me wrong, it's perfectly fitting that Freeza would do such a thing, but at this stage in the story he's very much letting his men take care of anything and everything and isn't getting his own hands dirty as of yet. And keeping his abilities as completely under wraps as possible further heightens the tension and makes the audience wonder just how strong this guy really is since he's getting all of these other strong people to listen to his every command. This also helps keep the focus on Dodoria as he's very much the most active of Freeza's men at this point. Well, the most active that's actually still alive and a threat anyway. I might be reading too much into things, but I also can't shake this feeling that there's more going on with Gohan's angry outburst than what appears on the surface either. It's not that the scene needs further elements at play to make sense, given what he's seeing, but...I can't help but wonder if Gohan's having 'Saiyan flashbacks'. I mean, think about it. He's seeing a massive brute, Dodoria, slay various Namekians trying to defend their home, and ultimately Dodoria is about to kill an innocent child. What happened on Earth when the Saiyans attacked? Gohan saw a massive brute, slay various people trying to defend their home, and ultimately Nappa was about to kill an innocent child – Gohan himself. The similarity in scene setups are remarkable, but there's a key difference at play – Gohan had Piccolo to save him once, and his father to save him a second time. As things stand right now, this last surviving Namekian child doesn't have anyone coming to save him. While that alone is enough to enrage Gohan, I think he's seeing a lot of himself in him right now, and the situation is just hitting way too close to home for him, and as such, he blatantly refuses to stand by and watch it happen again. Thanks to the Namekian elder breaking all the Scouters, Gohan's power rising doesn't catch the attention of the villains either, and both Gohan and Kuririn are able to get the drop on them pretty quickly. It's a little surprising they're able to fly away as easily as they are, given we saw Freeza's quick draw game is pretty on point just moments earlier – another point in favor of having Dodoria kill the child instead perhaps – but there is just enough different here that it doesn't exactly strain credibility either. Freeza had already decided there wasn't anything he couldn't get out of these Namekians that he can't find for himself at this point, whereas here Gohan and Kuririn not only surprise him by coming out of nowhere, he's also extremely curious as to who they are, where they've come from, and what they're doing here. While Freeza wasn't interested in anything but the Dragon Balls before, this sudden change in things is enough to make his curiosity feel worthwhile in his mind seemingly, and let's be honest – the ball is very much in his court anyway. If he decides to take the time to figure out who they are, it's not going to delay him any further than the lack of scouters already has. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Synopsis: The elder Namekian is pleased with himself for having destroyed the scouters, as Kuririn figures out why he did it – Freeza and his men must have been finding Namekian villages based on energy readings rather than actually tracking the Dragon Balls as they would with a radar. The happy moment is short-lived however, as Dodoria rages and shouts his intentions to kill every Namekian there. He leaps into the air after the elder Namekian first, but Freeza shouts for him to take down the young adult Namekians first, and Dodoria follows his orders, flipping back to the ground to deal with them first. Dodoria tells the three Namekians that he can kill them all in about ten seconds, prompting one of the Namekians to ask if he really thinks he's a match for all three of them alone. Dodoria compares himself more to a forest fire however, and quickly proves his point by moving quickly and impaling one of the Namekians through the chest with his hand, killing him instantly. As that Namekian falls to the ground, Dodoria dispatches the second of them by firing an energy blast from his mouth. As the elder Namekian, Kuririn, and Gohan watch on in horror, Dodoria then attacks the last remaining fighting Namekian, who does his best to dodge all of Dodoria's blows. The Namekian eventually backflips away and fires a two handed blast that hits Dodoria head on, but as the dust fades from the resulting explosion, Dodoria is revealed to be unharmed. Kuririn thinks an attack like that won't be enough to deal with an opponent like that, and is proven correct when Dodoria bum rushes the Namekian, crashing both of them into a nearby hill with his spiky head, killing the last fighting Namekian. The elderly Namekian is aghast as Freeza calls up to him and asks him to come back to the ground as surely he sees now that it's pointless to fight back or run. The elderly Namekian does so, and Freeza tells him that since he broke their expensive scouters, he should give them the Dragon Ball as an apology. If he doesn't, well...he thinks the old man sees how they operate now, and points out the children may die next if he continues to be stubborn. The old man agrees to bring him the Dragon Ball on the condition that they agree not to hurt the children, and Freeza gives the old Namekian a smile. As the old man walks away to retrieve the Dragon Ball, Kuririn catches Gohan seething with rage and warns him not to get any crazy ideas, saying these aren't the sort of people they need to get involved with. With the Dragon Ball in hand upon his return, the elder Namekian hands it over and tells the invaders to leave. Freeza thanks him but asks if he would be so kind as to tell them where the remaining two Dragon Balls are located now, and the old Namekian refuses, stating that he would never give up his fellow Namekians even if they killed them all, and demands that Freeza keep up his end of the promise. Freeza laments that everyone on this planet really is so stubborn, as it looks like the old man and the children will all have to die after all. The elderly Namekian reacts in horror just before Dodoria slams him in the face with his elbow. Review: The Namekian cavalry arriving and the Namekian elder making and carrying out a pretty good plan of attack of his own may have made it seem like the tide was turning in good's favor, but oh no...no, my sweet summer child, it is not. That's not to say that the elder's plan wasn't a good one or worth doing – his actions are definitely going to make things harder for Freeza's forces going forward, and at the very least will help stall their collecting of the Dragon Balls. Considering they're already up to five of them as of the end of this chapter? That can only be a good thing. The poor Namekian cavalry however fares far less effectively, the poor guys. Sure, they inadvertently destroyed a fair few scouters themselves, but that's about all they really end up achieving in the end. The men they take down are easily replaced, and they themselves end up getting taken out in particularly brutal fashion, far more so than what they just dished out to Freeza's men moments before. As sad as it is to witness though, Dodoria's slaughtering of the Namekians is still a sight to behold, as Toriyama gives him, for lack of a better term, 'creative' methods of execution. Sure, we've seen mouth blasts before, but they're still rare enough to feel novel, and when's the last time you can remember seeing someone get an arm through them and someone else get rammed against a rock hard enough to die? Yeah, me either. I also have to praise Toriyama's alien design motifs once again in the case of Dodoria. He's more or less humanoid looking in build, but the spikes all over him, coupled with his three-fingered hand help him look all the more alien – it's a shame the latter feature, much like with Piccolo and the other Namekians' hands, didn't carry over to the anime adaptation. Once the other Namekians are killed, the elder has no choice really but to give the Dragon Ball to Freeza in the hopes that he'll stop what he's doing. Unfortunately for him, Freeza's not exactly as good as his word – and given the creepy smile he gives as an assurance, that really shouldn't be too surprising – and it looks like elder and child murder might be back on the menu after all. Speaking of children though, there's one child watching all of this that's starting to lose control, and I think we all remember that Gohan does not handle his anger well. Uh oh... Until next time! Favorite Panel: Synopsis: The three young adult Namekians land before Freeza and his men, looking on at the scene before them in anger. Freeza chastises their arrival as annoying, as he feels they had just persuaded the elderly Namekian to give them the Dragon Ball and now they have to waste time killing these newly arrived Namekians instead. The adult Namekians realize that the rumors they've heard of invaders raiding other villages and taking the Dragon Balls must be true after all, and the elderly Namekian warns them to be careful as these invaders are strong. Freeza is amused that they seem ready to fight and has Dodoria check their power levels with his scouter. Dodoria chuckles as he clocks them all in at about 1,000 each, hardly even a challenge for them. Seeing this, the elderly Namekian realizes that the devices on the invader's faces must be how they've been able to find the villages scattered all over the planet. As Kuririn and Gohan note that none of Freeza's men seem to be able to figure out that the Namekians are hiding their true powers, the fight between the Namekians and Freeza's men breaks out. Freeza's men are instantly put on the backfoot much to Dodoria's surprise, and most of the lower level soldiers are killed. After kicking one of their own soldiers away as he was sent flying towards him, Zarbon asks Dodoria what's going on as the Namekians are performing far better than people with power levels of only 1,000 should be. Dodoria is confused himself, as his scouter now reads them all closer to 3,000. Freeza says that the Namekians must be capable of controlling their combat power at will, and Dodoria recalls having heard of such races before. Watching all of this go down, the eldest Namekian observes that there are only three working scouters left due to the fighting – one on the ground, one on the face of a downed Freeza soldier, and Dodoria's. He tells the two Namekian children to step away from him, and as Dodoria sets his Dragon Balls down and asks for Freeza's permission to kill the three Namekian fighters, the elder launches his own attack. Firing a blast from his fingertip, the elder destroys Dodoria's scouter, catching him as well as Freeza and Zarbon by surprise. Dodoria laughs and asks if such a weak attack was meant to take him down, but the elder then leaps into the air and fires two more energy blasts, destroying the other two scouters. Zarbon realizes what the old man's true goal was too late, and Dodoria screams in rage, declaring that he'll kill all of them for this. Review: The Namekian resistance begins! After a handful of chapters showing just how overwhelmingly the odds are stacked against the 'forces of good' right now, this chapter comes along to give us a little bit more hope. Between the understandable rage these Namekians are feeling towards the invading Freeza and his men, and the fact that they have the ability to hide their true power, it looks like they might just have a chance at turning the tides as well. On that latter note, the Namekians' ability to hide their true powers? This further cements the idea that Kami knew how to do it due to his own Namekian heritage, thus kind of recycling this concept from a spiritual one to an alien one, and...I'm not really feeling that, if I'm being honest. We're very much at a point in the story where things are leaning as heavily sci-fi as they can, and that does sometimes come as a detriment to the more mystical side of the franchise unfortunately. It's nice when the two ideals can coincide though, and even with this redefinition of the ability's origin, you can still basically roll with the idea that it's still a spiritual skill, just one that's origins can be traced to a planet other than Earth's – not everything about an alien race has to be technological, after all. Seeing the Namekians kick ass is a really fun moment, with some great panel choreography on display – we might be well past my favorite style for Toriyama, but even at this point, he still has it in spades. Also shout out to the poor soldier who Zarbon just kicks backwards into a lake. Don't worry buddy. Your day will (inexplicably) come. As the fight starts and goes on, the old Namekian makes the most of his own downtime here and puzzles out exactly how these invaders have been finding and massacring his people so far. It's clear that he's never seen anything like the scouters before, but he easily determines their function and the fact that there's only a couple of them left. If he can just take those out of the equation, then while it's still possible he and his brethren in the immediate vicinity will die, they can at least rest in peace knowing they've set the invaders plans back a good bit if nothing else. This all works great to further endear us to these people we've only just met (and don't even have names for), and when the old man sees his chance, he wastes no time in taking it. With the scouters taken out however, Dodoria's anger is rising, and Planet Namek might not be out of the woods just yet... Until next time! Favorite Panel: Synopsis: Gohan and Kuririn stay hidden and watch from atop a cliff as Freeza's men force a group of Namekians (three old men and two children) out of their house. As Kuririn wonders what they're going to do to them, Gohan asks if everyone down there is a Saiyan, and Kuririn says that they're not though they are all wearing the same clothing. He surmises this must be some of the aliens the Saiyans were in league with, but he notices that Vegeta isn't anywhere to be found and wonders if he's off looking for another Dragon Ball somewhere else. The eldest Namekians react with shock then anger when they see four of the Dragon Balls being held by Dodoria and Zarbon. Freeza introduces himself and explains that he's collecting the Dragon Balls, and asks where the other Namekians have gone as they know that there were ten of them here before. When the Namekians don't respond at first, Freeza says they'll have to kill them if they won't talk, so one of the elders speaks but in the Namekian language. Freeza tells him that they know they can speak in a language everyone present can understand, so asks him to do so. Scowling, the elder Namekian explains that the others left to go work in the fields and that only the elderly and the young stayed behind. Freeza praises the Namekian for cooperating at last, and says that as long as he keeps that up, everything should work out fine. Freeza next asks them where the Dragon Ball they're keeping is, and the elderly Namekian tries to claim they don't have one. Freeza merely laughs in response, and speaks with Dodoria about what the second Namekian they killed said before he died – that Namekian had claimed they could only give the Dragon Balls to great heroes, and refused to cooperate. Once they killed another Namekian to force his hand however, the Namekian explained many more things – how the Dragon Balls were made by the Grand Elder of this planet, and how all seven balls were dispersed across the planet to different villages and elders, and how anyone wishing to gather the balls must pass a test of wits or strength, or explain the reason for the wish they desire. Freeza said he tried to do as was instructed, but the Namekian had refused to ever give him the Dragon Ball. Freeza said he was forced to kill him and as a result, it took some time to gather that first Dragon Ball, but after that, the other three Namekian villages they visited were 'quite happy' to hand over their Dragon Balls. Listening in on this conversation via his scouter, Vegeta smirks. The elderly Namekians are outraged and accuse Freeza of lying, as they know they must have killed the other Namekians to get the Dragon Balls in their possession. Freeza says they really did hand them right over however, as soon as they 'did this'. He asks Zarbon to demonstrate, and Zarbon leaps into the air before landing behind one of the three elderly Namekians and breaking his neck with a kick. Outraged, one of the other elderly Namekians tries to attack Zarbon with a ki blast, but Zarbon dodges (the blast instead hitting another soldier) and leaps into the air, blasting and killing the elderly Namekian before landing back on the ground. Kuririn and Gohan are horrified by what they've just seen, and Freeza asks the last remaining elderly Namekian if he's feeling more agreeable now. The elderly Namekian asks Freeza what he wants to wish for, and Freeza answers him simply: immortality. Kuririn is confused as he thought that was what Vegeta wanted for himself as well. Gohan wonders if Vegeta's not actually working with these other aliens anymore. The elderly Namekian tells Freeza that he can't give someone like him the Dragon Ball, not even at the threat of losing his own life. Freeza laughs and remarks that people on Namek are so stubborn, but he questions if he'll still feel that stubborn when faced with the death of the children. The Namekian is horrified and says that surely not even they are evil enough to murder children, and as Kuririn and Gohan listen to this, Gohan's rage begins to build. Just then, Dodoria's scouter picks up on a high power level, but it isn't Gohan – in the sky, three adult Namekians fly down, much to the delight of the elderly Namekian. Review: If there's one thing this chapter does very well, it's driving in just how monstrously cruel Freeza and his men can be. We haven't even seen Freeza do anything yet, he just floats around in his chair and spouts refined dialogue, but this chapter makes sure the audience understands how dangerous he is, and in a more direct manner than what has been done already. In the past few chapters, Freeza has been built up as being incredibly strong and having a lot of forces at his disposal – here we see that the truly scary thing about him however is just how far he's willing to go to get what he wants. Try as he might, the poor elderly Namekian (the main one that we deal with in this chapter) just doesn't stand much of a chance of outwitting Freeza either. He tries pretending to only speak Namekian, he tries claiming they don't have a Dragon Ball – nothing works, and while Freeza remains calm, that's actually just more proof of how in control of the situation he is and how cold-hearted he is as well. The elderly Namekian tries to keep one of the other elders from fighting back once Zarbon kills the third elder, but it's too late – the situation has already escalated to a point that there's no going back from. Freeza's dialogue and actions make it clear that he pretty much already knows the answer to everything he's asking the old man about and is just screwing with him because he thinks it's fun, and there's really only one question he actually wants the old man to answer – where is the Dragon Ball? Amidst all of this, Gohan and Kuririn are watching things go down and slowly putting two and two together as far as Vegeta's place in all of this goes. For his own part, Vegeta is listening in and getting some intel on how finding the Dragon Balls works too, and is no doubt making plans of his own based on what he's learned. This is all setting up a great set piece of character writing we've yet to see from Toriyama – there's not just one villain or group of villains for our heroes to contend with, there's two, and that second villain (Vegeta) is only out for themselves and won't hesitate to screw up the plans of either side against them. The closest we came to having this sort of setup before now was the brief moment that Pilaf was searching for the Dragon Balls opposite Goku and the Red Ribbon Army, but Pilaf being Pilaf...yeah, that didn't last very long. Here though, Vegeta has more than enough power to make himself a viable threat to either group. Just when it looks like our characters' cover may be getting blown due to Gohan's rising anger however, the day is seemingly about to be saved by some returning Namekians! Surely they'll be able to fight off these threats to their planet, the same as our characters have done so many times before for theirs, right? …Hmm. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: The Namekian cavalry arrives! Synopsis: Goku gets to Capsule Corp. in short order, and quickly hops down off of kinto'un to start looking for Dr. Brief and the spaceship. He runs into Bulma's mother first, and she happily greets him and seems glad to see him doing so well. Goku asks her if Dr. Brief is done re-building the spaceship, and she says she's pretty sure he's still puttering around with it out back. Taking Goku's arm with hers, Bulma's mom leads the way to the back yard, praising Goku for growing up to be so handsome and to invite him out drinking some time, as well as to thank him for saving the Earth so she could end up finding this great little pastry shop. They soon arrive at the ship, and Goku is surprised to see how big it is. Goku asks if it really isn't finished yet, and Dr. Brief says it's almost done. He invites Goku inside to take a look around, as his wife leaves to get them something to drink as well as to tell Oolong and Puar that Goku's here. As Goku steps inside the ship, Dr. Brief explains that he had to practically re-build the entire thing, but as a result Goku should be able to train all he wants inside of it. Goku asks him if the artificial gravity generator works, and Dr. Brief says it does, explaining that it can handle up to 100x Earth's gravity. He warns Goku that trying to survive that would be insane though as even Goku would probably die as a result, and Goku says that if he'd never managed to get used to higher levels of gravity, he would never have been able to fight Vegeta. Goku then asks if the ship is able to fly yet, and Dr. Brief says it can and should get him to Namek in six days. As Dr. Brief further tells Goku where the bathroom, kitchen, and bedrooms are, Goku asks him what isn't finished yet, and Dr. Brief says he just hasn't figured out the best place to put the stereo system yet. Goku asks if that's really all that isn't done, and Dr. Brief starts to lecture him about proper stereo placement, but Goku tells him about everyone being in danger on Namek, something that even Dr. Brief agrees sounds pretty urgent. Goku has Dr. Brief show him how to fly the ship, and Goku leaves almost immediately after, launching into space just as Bulma's mom returns with drinks and Oolong and Puar in tow. Oolong and Puar ask if Goku already left, and Oolong scoffs saying that Goku could have at least said hi first, though Puar thinks something must have happened if he left in such a hurry. As the ship flies through space, Goku marvels at how dark it is, but decides to get down to training, as six days isn't a lot of time to get ready to fight Vegeta again. Going to the gravity machine, Goku remembers that Kaio-sama's planet was about ten times that of Earth's gravity, so Goku decides to try out twenty times first. The effect is immediate, and Goku struggles to move, but says he'll have to get used to it if he ever wants to be able to withstand higher levels of Kaio-ken. On Namek, Gohan and Kuririn rush in the direction of the Namekian energy they felt earlier, trailing behind Freeza and his men. Kuririn tells him that they're getting close so he cautions Gohan to lower his energy, and as they reach a cliff, they stop running and move slowly to peek over the edge. They see a small village full of buildings that look a lot like their ship, and soon notice Freeza, Dodoria, and Zarbon, with Kuririn singling them (especially Freeza) out as the scariest people there. Kuririn then notices the Dragon Balls beneath Dodoria and Zarbon's arm, and is surprised by how large they are. Dodoria seems to hear something and glances up in their direction, prompting them both to hide quickly. Freeza asks Dodoria what's the matter, and Dodoria says his scouter picked up a small power level on that cliff for a moment but it disappeared immediately, so he writes it off as an animal. From inside one of the Namekian buildings, one of Freeza's men says they've only found five people as the rest just left apparently, and they drag the ones left behind out by force. As an elderly man and two small children are brought out, Kuririn recognizes them as Namekians due to them looking like Kami and Piccolo. Review: It might not amount to much for them, hell for two of them it's little more than a cameo, but this chapter actually makes a grand return in the manga for four characters that we haven't seen in it's pages for a long, long time. Bulma's parents weren't introduced until the Red Ribbon Army arc, and if I'm being honest, I...I think this might be the only time we've seen them SINCE then, at least as far as the manga goes. Oolong and Puar fare a little better as we saw them at least fleetingly in the Saiyan arc. It's still pretty crazy to think about how much their roles have shrunken since the old days though, but if Toriyama is struggling to come up with a way to include Bulma in the proceedings, then it's probably for the best that he didn't try to force Oolong or Puar's characters in any further as well. That said, their limited appearances make it pretty hard to figure out where the heck they live nowadays too. Puar we can assume lives with Yamcha, so presumably at Bulma's, but where the heck does Oolong stay? Seeing Bulma's parents again is great though, because the aloof nature of their characters has always cracked me up. Now that Goku's an adult, Bulma's mother pretty much seems to be flirting with him too, and while that happens before they reach her husband, given their nature I don't think Dr. Brief would have really minded that much either...hmm. At any rate, Goku's ship is completely unrecognizable as previously having been a Saiyan pod now that Dr. Brief has worked on it, with the only real similarity left being the spherical shape they share. This thing's way more spacious than even Kami's ship though, and it has it all. It's got a bedroom, it's got a bathroom, it's got a kitchen, it even has...an artificial gravity device? More on that in a second. The one thing the ship doesn't have apparently though is a stereo, and the fact that Dr. Brief considers that to be an absolutely crucial working of the ship will never not be hilarious to me. Even when he finds out his daughter's in danger, he basically goes 'Oh, well that's not good. ...You sure you don't want a stereo though, I'm pretty sure I can get one installed in, like, an hour.'. I love it, so, so much. Once Goku leaps into space, he starts his training with the artificial gravity machine as soon as he can. The device does pretty much exactly what it sounds like it does, somehow creating a field inside the ship that simulates gravity while also having the ability to increase said gravity many times over what Earth naturally has. As a result, Goku is able to continue his weight based training that he's been doing ever since the turtle shells Roshi gave him and Kuririn, but now taken to the most absolutely ludicrous degree possible – hey, if the gimmick isn't broke, why fix it? Kaio-sama's planet had a gravity ten times that of Earth, so to start getting stronger almost immediately, Goku decides to start things off at twice that, a whopping twenty times Earth's gravity. It's noted that the machine itself can handle up to a hundred times Earth's gravity, though Dr. Brief thinks anything remotely close to that would kill Goku. Hmm, does anyone else smell foreshadowing, or is it just me? As the scene switches back to Namek, we see Gohan and Kuririn still having to play things safe on their approach towards the Namekians, and they still almost manage to get caught – these Scouters are definitely a pain in their butts. That said, this does all create an interesting dynamic to tie our characters down now that they've all gotten so strong and have such amazing abilities. During the Saiyan arc, the only time the Scouters were an issue were when Goku and Piccolo knew it meant Raditz would know they were coming. After that, they were pretty much a liability for the Saiyans who used them, existing purely to give them misleading numbers from our heroes. Now though, Gohan and Kuririn are surrounded by people far stronger than them that they really don't want to find them, and they're forced to keep their powers as restrained as possible, to the point that they can't even freely fly around. This is a much more satisfying use of the Scouters in my opinion, as rather than just giving us math for no reason other than 'this number looks impressive, right?', they're actually hindering what our characters can do and forcing them to get creative. There's two other small things I wanted to touch on real quick that I realized I forgot to mention before. Firstly, the Namekian Dragon Balls are way, WAY bigger than the Earth ones. It's a small touch, but I like it as a way to differentiate them in appearance, since without that they'd look exactly the same, and that's just boring. Secondly, Freeza's level of politeness is so extreme that he even refers to his direct underlings with manners, referring to Dodoria as 'Mr. Dodoria' on occasion. His face makes it clear that this is all just the calm before what could be a storm however, and this polite facade he has going on actually serves to make him even creepier, because you just know that when that facade goes away... Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: The cruelty of Freeza... Synopsis: Kuririn tells Bulma to hide in the cave quickly, as he's pretty sure the energies Gohan and he feel heading towards them are friends of the guys they just beat up. Bulma wonders how they can possibly tell stuff like that, and as the trio hides in the cave, Freeza and his forces fly by. Bulma is relieved as this must mean they weren't looking for them after all, but Gohan and Kuririn are both petrified with fear. Kuririn asks Bulma to confirm something with her Dragon Ball radar, and when Bulma checks it, the four Dragon Balls they saw before have moved past them, confirming Kuririn's fears – the Dragon Balls have already been found by the group that just flew past them. Making matters worse, Kuririn asks if Gohan saw the one second from the front (Freeza), and Gohan confirms that he saw him...as well as felt his power, a power that Kuririn says may actually be a lot stronger than Vegeta's. Bulma wonders who they could possibly be if they're stronger than Vegeta, and Kuririn thinks they must be people Vegeta works with since they're all wearing the same armor. He curses their luck and wonders how they're supposed to get the Dragon Balls back from people like that. Checking her radar again, Bulma says the four Dragon Balls are now closing in on a fifth, and when Bulma points out which direction it's in, it turns out to be in the same direction Gohan and Kuririn felt possible Namekians in earlier. With no other choice, Gohan and Kuririn decide to go check things out, telling Bulma that it's safer to stay back in the cave. She says she'll set up a capsule house inside of it and call Roshi again, and Kuririn tells Gohan they'll need to hurry as fast as they can while keeping their power levels low, and the two run and leap quickly from island to island. Back on Earth, Goku is trying to do sit-ups in his hospital room. His doctor and nurse come back to check in on him and chastise him for continuing to do things that will make his recovery take longer. The doctor says he still doesn't believe Goku's claim that he got hurt fighting aliens, but reminds Goku that he is severely injured. When the doctor asks Goku where his wife is, Goku says she got bored so she went shopping. Roshi arrives and (as well as harassing the nurse) tells Goku what Bulma just informed him of, namely that Vegeta is on Namek now and that he's not alone – he has 'friends' there as well, and one of them seems to have a power even greater than Vegeta's. Goku is at first horrified by this news, but Yajirobe soon interrupts, bringing with him a bag with seven senzu beans, all that Karin could grow in this amount of time. He gives Goku one despite the doctor's complaint, and after eating it Goku grins and breaks out of his casts. Changing out of the hospital gown and into another gi that Kaio-sama sent him, Goku takes the other senzu from Yajirobe and says he'll be heading to Namek. Roshi questions how he's going to do that, and Goku explains that when Bulma's dad came to visit him before, he asked him to make a space ship for him as well, just in case. Roshi asks if it's the same sort of ship as Kami's, but Goku says that one was made of material they couldn't figure out how to make. Instead, Goku had remembered that there had been two other Saiyan pods to come to the Earth before Nappa and Vegeta's arrival – his brother Raditz's (which Gohan broke), and his own from when he was a kid. Dr. Brief was able to find it and has been repurposing it into a ship that can take Goku to Namek in only six days time. With that, Goku calls kinto'un from his hospital room window and leaps out onto it, saying that he's off to save everyone now, terrifying the watching doctor and nurse as he heads for Bulma's house. Yajirobe asks Roshi who he's off to save, and Roshi says his son and his two oldest friends. Yajirobe is shocked that Goku would look so excited when something horrible is clearly happening, and Roshi can only think it's because of his Saiyan blood. He knows Goku truly cares for his friends and family, but there will always be a part of him that loves going up against strong opponents. Yajirobe says he doesn't know whether to pity or admire him, as Goku proves Roshi right as he flies through the sky, excitedly thinking about people even stronger than Vegeta. Review: If Gohan and Kuririn thought for a moment that maybe things were going to be easy because they took out those two aliens with ease, and all they have to do is hide from Vegeta...well, I think it's pretty clear that they no longer labor under any such delusion. The energies they feel flying past them as they hide are all really impressive, but worse than that, they now know about Freeza. They don't know his name, they don't know who he is other than what they've gathered based on everyone wearing Saiyan armor, but they absolutely know he's not someone they want to mess with if they can avoid it. I know I'm harping a lot on how imposing the story is making Freeza, but that's because it's very much the main event happening in these early chapters. In a similar fashion to Nappa and Vegeta being built up as impressive by Raditz being considered a “weakling” in comparison to them, Freeza is likewise being built up to be even more impressive by being described as way stronger than the likes of Vegeta, as well as the amount of really powerful people following him. The Saiyans were a motley crew of three; Freeza's army, even just the small collection of people we're seeing around him right now, are much more numerous and incredibly powerful. Even without seeing him fight, Freeza is being cast as the worst thing that any of our heroes could possibly come up against, and it's an element that Toriyama is going to continue to work moving forward. Making matters worse of course is the fact that Freeza's group already has the majority of the Dragon Balls and they're on their way to grab another one. Gohan, Kuririn, and Bulma are all having to play catch-up, and given what's at stake, that's not a good position for them to be in. As Gohan and Kuririn leave Bulma behind in the cave too, you may as well say goodbye to Bulma's involvement in this story arc as well. Sadly, her job was pretty much done the minute she got them all to Namek. It's sad because this is just the sort of adventure that she previously had a part to play in back in Dragon Ball, but now with the powers inflated to the degree there are, Toriyama doesn't seem to be able to figure out a way to include her in all the fun. It's a really big waste, and I can't help but think Toriyama must have thought so as well because (jumping WAY ahead for a moment), she'll end up having much more of a part to play in the arc after this one...even if part of that inclusion is, well...kind of sexist. We'll touch on that when we get to it though, and there is at least a little bit of anime original filler that gives Bulma something to do on Namek, so it's not all bad. The chapter then switches focus back to Earth, where we see Goku still being an absolute nuisance to the hospital staff watching over him. I'd wager this is likely where the anime staff were inspired to do some of the filler they did in previous episodes, as it's definitely where the designs for Goku's doctor and nurse come from, as well as some similar banter between them, Goku, and Roshi. Roshi gives Goku the bad news from Namek, but a stroke of good news follows immediately when Yajirobe shows up with senzu – this is basically going to be his job moving forward, but given he likely wants absolutely no part of fighting ever again after his run in with Vegeta, I don't think he's complaining really. Now fully healed, Goku is quick to suit up and head off to Namek, but there's a handful of curiosities in this scene as he leaves. First, Goku has a new gi straight from Kaio-sama. It looks the same as his previous gi, right down to having the Kaio kanji symbol on the back and the Kame symbol on the front. Like his previous one, Goku says this one was sent to him by Kaio-sama. The question though is, uh...how? I'm assuming given that Kaio-sama is shown to have telepathic communication powers, and he is a god and all, that he simply teleports them to Goku at some point during his hospital stay, but that's really all I can can give is an assumption, as the story doesn't really go into how this was done. The fact that it doesn't isn't a problem really, it's not a big deal, but it's still something that caught my eye. Secondly, when Roshi questions how Goku is going to get to Namek, Goku reveals that he's been having Dr. Brief work on a space ship for him based on what was left of his own space ship, the one that he was sent to Earth in as a child. This is a brilliant use of information previously revealed to us that didn't seem like it would ever come back up again, and it's really impressive to me that Toriyama thought of it. It makes perfect sense as a way to get a second space ship far more capable than any Earth can make right now as well, and it works great as a way to get Goku to Namek in far shorter time than his friends did (something that, given the danger they're all in, is important). Kami's ship is a few hundred years old, and what we've been told about the Namekians is that they're mostly peaceful. Goku's space pod however is only a couple decades old probably, and it was used by the Saiyans to get from planet to planet for the purposes of conquering them. With how fast these ships can go though, and especially one as old as Goku's, it also brings to light that Nappa and Vegeta must have been really, REALLY far away from Earth if it took them roughly a year to get there with their presumably newer ships. And third and finally, there's Goku's curious reaction once he's back on his feet and heading to Bulma's house so he can hop on his nice shiny new spaceship and head out into space. While he was injured, Goku was worried about his friends and son, but as soon as he's healed, Goku's reaction changes completely. He's now eager to get to Namek, seemingly not only to save them, but also to see what people way stronger than Vegeta are like. This is a purely Goku reaction, it's the sort of thing we've seen from him time and again, which is why his fearful reaction when Raditz arrives stuck out so much in comparison. Here however, it's finally being noted as something his friends and master have observed about his nature as well, and Roshi gives a probable reason for Goku being this way: his Saiyan heritage. I'm a bit mixed on this 'retcon' as it were, honestly. On the one hand, it's a completely fitting trait to give a race like the Saiyans, who we've already seen crave battle above all else. At the same time though, taking a trait that was Goku's and just going 'Oh, well it's because of his genetics' can come across a little bit like it's taking away from who Goku is and instead just coloring him the same as the Saiyans in some ways. This is going to be a big sticking point for Goku's character arc in this storyline, so I'm fine with it in this particular instance, but there'll be more times that we'll see a feature of Goku's taken and applied to the Saiyans as a whole, and I'm not really happy that this first moment sets that slippery slope precedent. Oh, and as another aside – did anyone else notice that Roshi refers to Kuririn and Bulma as Goku's oldest friends? I'm sure he meant that in a general sense, but he's known Yamcha longer and they were still close as well. And even with Yamcha being dead, he's also known Oolong longer too. Speaking of Oolong and Puar, where the heck ARE they anyway? Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: Goku heads into space! Synopsis: Cui begins to freak out over Vegeta's claim of being able to hide his true power, and Vegeta tells him to watch his scouter carefully. As Vegeta's power begins to rise, Cui thinks this should be impossible as they were supposed to be roughly even – Vegeta points out however that while Cui has kept close to Freeza's side, Vegeta has been out in space fighting real battles, even admitting to almost dying on Earth. Cui watches Vegeta's power rise, and as it hits 22,000, Cui's scouter explodes off of his face. Back at the destroyed Namekian village, Zarbon's scouter likewise explodes off of his face as well. Zarbon says it was probably a malfunction, but says it exploded as a result of keeping track of Vegeta's power, and says it exploded as the reading went past 22,000. Dodoria laughs and says that Zarbon likely just had too old of a device, and checks things again with his own scouter. Much to Dodoria's surprise however, his scouter puts Vegeta at about 24,000. Both of them think that should be impossible – Vegeta should only be at about 18,000, and if he's reached 24,000, that makes him stronger than either of them. Freeza however doesn't think it's that surprising at all – after all, Vegeta has been out on the front lines all this time. He also wonders if Vegeta didn't learn some new trick while he was on the Earth. Either way, he thinks Vegeta's power shouldn't be too much for Dodoria and Zarbon if they work together anyway. Freeza surmises that Vegeta must want the same wish of immortality that he does, and thinks that Vegeta must think that getting it will allow him to dethrone Freeza as well, sadly sighing and saying that it seems they were destined to be opposed like this. Still, he thinks it was rather rash of Vegeta to oppose him openly like this...rash, and foolish. Overwhelmed by Vegeta's power, Cui tries to offer an alternative to fighting by saying he'll join up with Vegeta, claiming to have secretly always hated Freeza as well. He even suggests that together their power could probably take down Dodoria and Zarbon, but Vegeta scoffs and says that he knew Cui was a coward, but never pegged him for a liar as well. Cui grins and pleads again for Vegeta to see reason, but then looks past Vegeta, claiming to see 'Master Freeza'. Vegeta quickly looks behind him to see nothing behind him, and Cui takes advantage of Vegeta looking away to launch multiple energy blasts at him. When he's done, there's only scorched ground where Vegeta stood, and Cui laughs and says that it's better to be a liar than a fool. To his horror however, Vegeta reappears to his side, bemoaning both Cui's poor strategy, and his stupidity in not realizing that Vegeta's power increase also meant an increase in speed. Scared beyond words now, Cui lets out a scream and tries to fly away, but Vegeta zips in front of him, hitting him hard and sending him flying higher into the sky. With a grin, Vegeta motions towards Cui's body with two fingers and causes him to explode as Vegeta comments on always having liked fireworks. Landing back on the ground, Vegeta knows that Freeza's men will no doubt be following him with their scouters. He's sure he can handle Dodoria and Zarbon as well, but knows he has no chance of taking on Freeza yet, so he'll have to be careful. From listening in with his own scouter, Vegeta has figured out that seven Dragon Balls need to be gathered to make a wish, so he decides to find just one of them and keep it hidden until Freeza has found the other six. At that point, Vegeta can steal the other balls and have his own wish granted, and at last he'll reign supreme. Back at the Namekian village, Dodoria is aghast that the scouter was right as Cui is dead. Freeza isn't concerned however and wants them to get to the fifth Dragon Ball. Another alien soldier tells them they've picked up the energy of about ten Namekians elsewhere, and Freeza warns them all to stay on their guard in case Vegeta tries anything. With that, they all fly off towards the found Namekians. Elsewhere, Kuririn and Gohan try to get Bulma to walk faster as they try to find a cave or something else to hide in. Bulma complains that they can fly and they should just carry her, but Gohan explains that flying takes too much energy and would thus get them found by the bad guys' scouters way too quickly. Kuririn spots a cave that should do nicely, and Bulma frets about how long they may have to stay there. Gohan notices some energy in another direction, and Kuririn notices that it feels different from the ones they just dealt with before and wonders if it might really be Namekians this time. Suddenly however, he picks up on an entirely different energy coming right at them, and warns Gohan and Bulma to hide quickly. Review: Cui's here! And Cui's gone. Yes, that really was a short lived run for our newest villain at the forefront, but I doubt anyone was too surprised by this turn of events when they first came out. From the very first, Cui has been treated as Vegeta's equal or ever so slight superior...compared to before. As readers, we know Vegeta just went through a lot on Earth, so it's really not that surprising that he'd come back from his downfall stronger than ever before. Granted, there's going to be a more specific reason given for this in the near future, but even without it, it makes sense. People try, they fail, and try again better than they were before all the time. Vegeta having gotten stronger as a result of his fight with Goku and everyone else is the least surprising way this could have gone. What keeps this turn of events interesting however is tracking how everyone else around reacts to it. Cui is scared out of his mind obviously, as he knows he's about to be on the receiving end of Vegeta's new level of power. Zarbon and Dodoria are concerned because this new power seems to be even greater than their own, something that shouldn't be possible given how much weaker than them Vegeta was when they last saw him. Freeza though? Freeza not only doesn't think any of this is a surprise, he doesn't think it's much of a concern either. Freeza's reaction continues to drive in just how much further above his power must be, since even this newer, stronger Vegeta doesn't want to tangle with him, and Freeza himself knows that and thinks it's stupid that Vegeta has turned on him in the first place. I said it before, and I'll say it again – Freeza is already being set up to be absolutely terrifying. Cui has to resort to a dirty trick to try to get a leg up on Vegeta, but as we just saw, it wasn't anywhere near enough. Vegeta ends this fight with three hits, and that's all she wrote for the poor alien. It's a little ironic that Vegeta compares Cui's explosion to fireworks though...but we'll touch on that later. Even being down another soldier isn't enough to worry Freeza, and he quickly gets his men in order to look for another Dragon Ball as they already have four of the seven needed collected. He does warn his soldiers to watch out for Vegeta, as well as whatever those other strange powers are, but it's clear he's not particularly concerned about either “threat”. As Kuririn, Gohan, and Bulma try to get to a safer location, they too feel the energy of nearby Namekians, and it looks like our heroes are about to have some unwelcome visitors. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Synopsis: Gohan, Bulma, and Kuririn wonder what they should do now that a second Saiyan space pod has landed on Namek when, as far as they knew, there shouldn't be any more Saiyans to worry about other than Vegeta. A short distance away, Cui uses his scouter to contact Vegeta, telling him that he finally has the orders he's always wanted from Freeza – orders to kill the Saiyan. Vegeta laughs at Cui for thinking he can actually carry out those orders, and tells him he'll wait for him. Cui laughs in return, telling Vegeta to check his own scouter as Cui is far stronger than Vegeta now. Vegeta merely smirks at the thought. Bulma nervously tells Gohan and Kuririn that she'll be back in about two months, but Kuririn tells her to wait. Clearly scared now himself, Kuririn suggests to Gohan that they go back with her, trying to pass his fear off as concern for Gohan. Gohan thinks if they leave that Vegeta will get the Dragon Balls, but Kuririn thinks that's fine – they'll just come back afterwards and get the Dragon Balls another time! Bulma points out the flaw in this plan being that Vegeta could just destroy the dragon like King Piccolo once did, and Kuririn doesn't have a retort for that. The conversation is interrupted as Gohan senses energy approaching them. Bulma worries that it could be Vegeta, but Kuririn says that whatever it is feels way weaker than that. A short distance away, a pair of soldiers wearing Saiyan armor say that somewhere around here should be where those power levels from before disappeared, with one suggesting that it was probably just more Namekians. Kuririn likewise suggests to Gohan that what they're sensing might just be some Namekians. As the two groups meet eyes however, both sides quickly realize that they're all wrong. The two alien soldiers wonder who Gohan, Kuririn, and Bulma are, but ultimately decide that it doesn't really matter – their orders are to kill everyone on the planet anyway. Gohan and Kuririn recognize the clothes the aliens are wearing as Saiyan armor but can tell that neither of them are Saiyans, and even Bulma can tell they don't look very friendly. Kuririn reminds Gohan to keep his energy in check, and when one of the aliens checks their scouter, Gohan and Kuririn register as weaklings. This only encourages the aliens to toy with them however, as they blast a hole in their ship first, damaging it enough to render it inoperable. Angry now, Kuririn tells Gohan to release his energy, and although the two alien soldiers scoff at first, their scouters soon pick up on the increasing power levels. As they realize they may be in over their heads, the aliens fail to respond in time before Gohan and Kuririn leap above them and take them out with a single punch and kick each. The two soldiers collide in the air before falling into a nearby pond. Gohan and Kuririn give each other thumbs ups, but Bulma thinks they're missing the point here. Back at the destroyed Namekian village, Zarbon's scouter beeps and he informs Freeza that their scouts were just taken out by quickly raising power levels that once again disappeared afterwards. Freeza thinks that's odd as that doesn't sound like Vegeta at all, and Zarbon concurs, saying that the power levels registered were high – 1,500 – but not at all like Vegeta's. Freeza thinks he'd like to know more about these mysterious people able to raise and lower their power levels at will, but decides that it's not really worth the time and effort, and tells his men to kill them if they appear again. Back at the ship, Bulma weeps as with their ship damaged, they'll never be able to go back home now. Kuririn tries to get her up and moving as they need to hide somewhere before stronger people come to look for the ones they took out, and Gohan says that based on how they acted and what they were wearing, all of this evil ki they're feeling are probably Vegeta's cohorts. The pair try to comfort Bulma with the idea that the Namekians will probably be able to fix their ship, but Bulma doesn't seem quite as optimistic. A short distance away, Cui has finally found Vegeta. Cui says it's time for them to settle their score, and accuses Vegeta of slacking off due to his lower power level. Vegeta however says that he learned something very interesting while on Planet Earth. Cui asks him if he learned a better way to run and hide, but Vegeta smiles as he reveals the real lesson he learned – how to hide his true power. Review: Things on Namek are quickly going from bad to worse, seemingly in favor of Freeza and his men – Cui is on his way to deal with Vegeta, something that Zarbon and Freeza seem to think he'll be capable of, and our heroes' presence has already been noticed by them as well. Before Bulma can go through with their plan to have her go back to Earth and the others lay low for a while, they're found by two of Freeza's men sent to check things out – things couldn't possibly get any worse! Except, you know – they do. The alien fighters, stupid as they may come off in other ways, are at least swift enough to take out any means of escape for the trio as they damage the space ship almost immediately. There was really only one way this could have been avoided frankly, and that would've been Gohan and Kuririn powering up immediately and taking them out rather than trying to surpress their powers first. I assume Kuririn's hope was that the villains would think they weren't worth the time and just leave, but...that was a pretty naive thought honestly, and it quickly bit them in the ass. The point has been made clear however – nobody's leaving Namek until this story arc is good and done. Of course, that was the only real threat these two soldiers posed, so as soon as they've achieved that narrative goal, they're quickly done away with. I don't know that Gohan and Kuririn's attacks actually killed them, but we never see them re-surface from the water either, so...Gohan may have just taken his first life at five years old. Before moving away from the topic of those two soldiers though, I do want to praise Toriyama's character designing abilities, especially now that we're reaching aliens that don't look as human as the Saiyans do. We've previously seen what Toriyama was capable of with the likes of the animal people, and even Piccolo and his King Piccolo born brethren, but the aliens we're getting to now are something else entirely. They're humanoid enough to be easily able to be shown fighting, but they're also very clearly not human in the least. It's a nice varied level of alien motifs that we're going to see repeated throughout the arc, and some of the most fun designs are sadly the mooks that we're not going to see get to do much either. As far as their outfit designs go, those are pretty basic in that they're all wearing some form of the armor that we've already seen the Saiyans wear since Raditz's arrival. That said, there are a few neat changes here and there as well. I particularly like the kind of energy gun that one of the soldiers is wearing and using. I'm not sure if anything is ever said about them in a guidebook anywhere or not, but I've always assumed it's essentially a device that helps focus energy for the soldiers that can't quite do it very well themselves – basically the most inept of Freeza's recruits. They can probably fire ki blasts on their own, but these devices make it easier and probably make the attacks stronger as well – again, that's all just my assumption on them though. With his soldiers taken out, you would think that Freeza would be more interested in what's going down on Namek that he's unaware of, but he takes it in a cool, unworried stride that goes a long way towards showing how in control he feels. He doesn't have the first clue what's going on, but it's of no concern to him – the only thing he is concerned about is getting the Dragon Balls, and as far as he knows, the only bug with even the most remote chance of getting in the way of that goal is Vegeta. And speaking of Vegeta, Cui seems pretty confident he can best the Saiyan too. The pair were previously considered to be about the same level of power, but as far as Cui's scouter can tell, Vegeta's been slipping and is weaker than Cui now. Unfortunately for the alien however, Vegeta didn't come away from the Earth with nothing but a loss, because he picked up a few tricks – namely the ability to hide how strong he really is, just as Gohan and Kuririn were doing earlier. I'm...not entirely sure HOW Vegeta picked up this trick, given it's never properly explained to him how it works, nor does he really get that much time to figure it out, but I assume it's just meant to show how quick of a learner Vegeta is as a fighter. Either way, if he's not just boasting, Cui could be about to be in for a bad, bad time. Until next time! Favorite Panel: |
About the AuthorAspiring author and big anime/manga fan, just trying to do my best in the world. For more details, go to About Me. Archives
September 2022
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