Synopsis: As Raditz looms large over a downed Goku and prepares to stop Piccolo's attack, Piccolo fires the Mankankosappo at last, seeming to catch Raditz off guard and put an end to him for sure. As the light fades however, Raditz is revealed to have side-stepped the attack at the last second, receiving only a small wound to his shoulder. Piccolo is horrified, thinking that nobody should be able to move that fast, and Raditz concedes that if he'd taken that blast full on, there wouldn't be much left of him.
As Piccolo thinks this is truly his end, Raditz says that playtime is over and he'll finish him off in one blast. Raditz raises his hand to attack again as Piccolo braces himself, but Raditz suddenly lurches over. Looking back in confusion, Raditz is stunned to see that Goku has grabbed hold of his tail, chastising him for getting careless. Goku squeezes the tail, causing Raditz to fall to his knees, and Goku tells Piccolo to charge up his attack again. Piccolo praises Goku but warns him to hold the tail tight, as he can only use this move once more. Raditz pleads with Goku, saying he wouldn't really kill his own brother, but Goku tells him that he doesn't consider him a brother at all – besides, who tried to kill who first? Raditz insists that he was only bluffing, and says that if Goku just lets go of his tail, he'll leave Earth and never return. Piccolo tells Goku not to listen to him, but Raditz continues to plead for his life, and eventually Goku relents, letting go of his tail. Seizing his chance, Raditz launches back up and knocks Goku back with an elbow to the face. Leaping over, Raditz lands on Goku's chest with his foot as Piccolo curses Goku's foolishness. Raditz says he now understand that Goku could never have been a warrior if he falls for something like that, stating that a real warrior will even kill his own brother. Using Goku as an example, he begins to stomp on his chest, breaking Goku's ribs. As Raditz continues to torture Goku, he taunts Piccolo, encouraging him to fire another one of his attacks in the meantime, but Piccolo knows he'll only dodge again if he does. As all seems lost and Goku's cries fill the air, Raditz's scouter suddenly picks up a new reading again, just as Gohan bursts free of Raditz's space pod and leaps into the air. Review: Raditz just can't win this chapter. Sure, he manages to get one over on Goku, but I don't think that's really enough to counter-balance the three other times he gets shown up here. His first fall from grace is Piccolo's Mankankosappo. Raditz's scouter already picked up on how devastatingly powerful it was earlier (and there's a good chance it's only grown in power since the last time his scouter pinged him about it), but once he's actually faced with it, he's left with no choice but to dodge if he doesn't want to die. Contrast this with the last attack he was worried about, Goku's Kamehameha, and there's a marked difference. Raditz eventually stood his ground and was really no worse for wear from Goku's attack, but Piccolo's he HAD to dodge, and he still got an injury to boot. A flesh wound, sure, but that's more than he ever expected to get from tangling with this pair. Secondly, there's Goku managing to grab his tail. I don't know if Raditz just fell completely off guard, or if he wasn't counting on Goku or anyone else knowing about that weakness in the first place. If it's just him being careless, that's one thing, and it fits how arrogant he's been shown to be. If he didn't think Goku would know, that's...wow, that's stupid of you, Raditz. It may have been gone for some time now, but you know that Goku used to have a tail, and you don't think at any point in time he discovered that it made him weaker when it was grabbed? Then again, Goku has no knowledge of his Oozaru transformation either, so maybe Raditz thinks he really is clueless about that. Either way, this notion has come back to bite him in the butt, and it's great to see something get from that far back called in here. Before moving on to Raditz's final miscalculation, I want to talk briefly about Goku's choice in letting go of Raditz's tail here. It's really hard to read into what Goku might be thinking here, to be honest. If this were Goku in any other situation, especially later on in the series, I'd say he was thinking about Raditz's potential, and perhaps wanting to keep him around as a good rival to force himself to get even stronger. It'd certainly fit with the sort of person Goku is in other situations. In this one though, that doesn't really seem to fit with the expression on Goku's face, nor does it fit with his earlier worry about how much stronger the other two Saiyans are. So is it actually that Goku was hesitant to kill his own blood relative, despite his words to the contrary? It's possible, although Goku's not normally one to think too deeply on that sort of thing. It's kind of like the moment in Avengers: Infinity War where Starlord becomes emotionally distraught enough to let Thanos free for a moment (a split second emotional reaction that people are STILL up in arms over), except Goku isn't Starlord. Goku's not the sort of person to be overcome by an emotion like familiar or even romantic love usually, but in this instance, it seems that he was. The real world answer to this dilemma however is of course that it ups the drama. After looking like they had a sure-fire win with the Mankankosappo, Toriyama had Raditz dodge it and put things back in his favor. Then it immediately flip-flopped to being in our heroes favor again for about ten seconds before Raditz was back winning again. It's the same kind of back-and-forth Tennis match writing that we've seen numerous times before, and it usually ends up resulting in a climax that nobody would have seen coming at the time of the story's original publication. Which is exactly what seems to be happening when Raditz's third and final miscalculation suddenly breaks free from his space pod and starts glaring daggers at him. Oh yes, Raditz, now you've got an angry four-year-old to deal with. Hey, you laugh, but anyone who's ever had to babysit can tell you that he's in for a living hell now. Until next time! Favorite Panel:
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Synopsis: Raditz laughs at Goku and Piccolo, telling them to enjoy themselves if they really want to spend their last moments alive making some sort of plan. Goku asks Piccolo if he means it when he says he has a new technique, and Piccolo says he does. Goku asks him if it can be done with one arm, and Piccolo says that's no problem, though it does take some time to concentrate his power first, meaning he needs Goku to handle Raditz on his own for a while. Goku asks Piccolo if he's sure it'll work, and Piccolo says that while he can't be certain, they don't really have any other choice either. When Piccolo confesses that he originally devised this technique for use against Goku instead, Goku laughs about it helping him instead. Hearing this laughter, Raditz is confused, and Goku agrees to hold Raditz off as long as he can.
Goku launches himself at Raditz as Piccolo places two fingers to his forehead and begins charging his new attack, the 'Mankankosappo' (Piercing Light Beam of Death). Raditz is confused at first, but quickly starts smacking Goku around like a ragdoll, eventually kicking him away and forcing Goku to retreat to the air. Left with no other choice, Goku starts charging a Kamehameha, a move that Raditz's scouter informs him pushes Goku's power level to 924 and rising. Raditz is confused as to how he can raise his power level just by focusing his energy to a single point, but he doesn't have long to figure it out before his scouter picks up on Piccolo as well. Raditz is horrified to realize that Piccolo's power is 1,020, then 1,030 and still rising. Before he can do anything about it however, Goku fires his Kamehameha, and Raditz is forced to dodge out of the way. Goku bends the beams trajectory so that it chases after him, and Raditz stops and stands his ground, catching the blast in one hand. Goku is astounded to see Raditz take that attack, and Raditz retaliates by throwing an energy blast of his own that catches Goku full on from the front. As Goku falls to the ground, Raditz rushes forward, preparing to finish off his brother with a fatal punch. His scouter alerts him to Piccolo again however, and Raditz is more horrified than ever at it's reading – 1,330! Raditz can't figure out how they keep doing this and raises his hand to attack from afar, but Piccolo fires the Mankankosappo, a spiral-shaped energy beam, straight towards Raditz. Review: Yeah, remember how I said before that power levels aren't all they're cracked up to be? Well, this chapter ends up showing that off even more than the previous one, as well as really driving in the point that relying too heavily on a scouter is a foolish, foolish thing to do. Sure, the ability to detect power levels from afar and give an exact reading as to how strong they are seems handy at first, but the ability to sense energy isn't exclusive to it – our heroes have started to be able to do that just naturally for a while now – but it's also incredibly easy to deceive. At least, it is for our Earth based heroes. The series never really delves into it too deeply, but there seems to be some fundamental differences between how martial arts on Earth are approached as compared to how it's treated in space. The main characters are able to raise and lower their power levels at will, something that we'll see them utilize more and more moving forward, and their powers also raise when they're using an attack and putting a lot of power into it. Raditz's reactions in this chapter show that that's not really a thing for people from space...except when it is. I get what Toriyama is trying to do here, give the heroes an edge in skill to help make up for the dramatic difference in power, but I don't think he ever fully thought it through all the way. The idea that the space based characters don't 'power up' as it were is something that's hard to really believe when we see them doing just that in this very arc later on, but it's still treated as something unique to our heroes that completely blows the villains' minds. It's a neat idea, and something I really wish he'd been able to utilize in a better fashion, but as it stands, it just comes across half-baked. Beyond that though, we do get our first sighting of Piccolo's new special move, the Mankankosappo, or as I like to call it, the Move-I'm-Never-Going-To-Remember-How-to-Spell-Much-Less-Say Beam o' Death. Even writing this review, I had to double check online to make sure I was spelling it properly, because Viz's translation likewise changed it to 'Light of Death' similarly to how the dub has long used 'Special Beam Cannon'. It's a shame that no matter which direction you go, the move is just oddly named, because in of itself it's really cool. It has a unique look about it that no other attack in the series has, and that easily sets it above even the Kamehameha in that regard, as plenty of large energy blasts are going to look basically like it does. That said, it does have the big drawback of taking forever to charge, which probably means the move is relatively incomplete as of now – I can't imagine Piccolo thought he was going to convince Goku to stand still and take the blast...I...say as I suddenly remember that Goku made it a point to do that at least twice in their last fight. Hmm. Maybe it's a luckier break for Goku than we think that it's getting used now actually. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Synopsis: Raditz asks Goku and Piccolo how it feels to know despair, as the pair grapples with the idea of having to contend with two even more powerful foes even if they defeat the one in front of them. Piccolo asks Goku if the idea doesn't thrill him, and Goku confesses that even he's feeling terrified at the prospect – regardless however, he's still determined to get his son back. Raditz tells Goku that he put Gohan in the space pod to keep him quiet, and Goku floats up intot he air to check on him. He shouts to Gohan that he'll be saving him soon, but Raditz laughs and tells him not to get the boy's hopes up, as no 'dead daddy' will be saving him. Goku asks Piccolo if he's ready, and Piccolo retorts back by asking if they really have a choice. Goku and Piccolo rush Raditz, pummeling him with furious blows, and eventually trying to flank him from behind just as he did to them before. Raditz smirks however and kicks them both before flying away, forcing the pair to chase after him. Raditz dodges their newest attacks by flying even higher into the air, and as Goku and Piccolo pursue him, he fires a large energy blast at each of them. The pair barely have time to dodge, and they watch as large chunks of land explode from the blasts making contact. Goku lands on the ground and looks back up to the sky, but Raditz reappears behind him, kicking him to the ground. Raditz asks Goku if he believes him now that he far outclasses them, and Goku struggles back to his feet to ask Piccolo if he's okay. Goku is shocked when he sees that Piccolo had less luck dodging Raditz's blast, and is now down to one arm. Raditz laughs and says he'll be taking his head next. Piccolo asks Goku if he has any new secret technique to try, and Goku confesses that he's fresh out, prompting Piccolo to comment that they should both be thankful that he is not. Review: While we had a little bit of fighting last chapter, it basically existed to drive in all the more how much more powerful Raditz seems to be at the outset – the chapter itself was much more focused on the idea of power levels and how they seem to work, as well as teasing how misleading they can be in the long run as well. Here though, it gets going in earnest, and it definitely doesn't look to be going in our heroes favor. Well, our hero and his reluctant green sidekick – it can be easy to forget, especially for fans introduced in this era, that Piccolo is very much still a bad guy at this point. He really doesn't care one way or the other what happens to Goku outside of how it'll effect his own chances of making it out of this alive. It is interesting to note Goku's reaction to hearing that there are two more Saiyans out there even stronger than Raditz though, as it stands in stark contrast to how he usually reacts. Prior to this and even after this, Goku usually reacts with excitement at the idea of facing off with someone stronger than him. He loves the thrill of trying his hardest to win, and even if he doesn't, he looks forward to trying to reach that level of power himself some day. It's an integral part of his character and his outlook on life...except for seemingly this one instance. I'm not sure if this was Toriyama trying to evolve his character a bit, or if it was meant to be an outlier due to his son being held hostage at the time, or what exactly, but it's always seemed a bit odd to me. It does work well enough to express just how badly the odds are against them though, I'll give it that – when even Goku doesn't feel hopeful, you know things are getting bad. Once the fight gets going, there's not really a lot left for me to comment on, but oh man, do I love this fight. A lot of people like the fighting in this arc in general, and the final fight in it is often cited as the best fight in Dragon Ball period – hell, it's sometimes been cited as the best fight in anime period. I've already stated that Goku V.S. Piccolo is my own personal favorite however, and the fight with Raditz very much continues in that same tradition. The fisticuffs are fast but choreographed well, and you never know when someone's going to suddenly fly or launch a well timed energy attack rather than just channeling up a big named one – it's SO good. Oh yeah, and something I neglected to note before now, Raditz can fly. I'm so used to this concept myself that I forgot to note that this is actually the first time we see it treated fully as something that's practically a given for someone of a particular strength level, as prior to this it was seemingly exclusive to the Crane school, the demon clan, or people associated with one or the other. Guess flying's a lot easier to come across in space, who knew? By the chapter's end, Piccolo's down an arm – pretty sure it's the same arm too, he's really got to watch that thing – and the fight couldn't be going worse for the reluctant team. That said, it does look like Piccolo might just have a trick up his sleeve. Let's just hope it's not the sleeve on the arm he still has, because...well, you know. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Synopsis: As Goku and Piccolo use the dragon ball radar to locate where Raditz has taken Gohan, Raditz has arrived back at his space pod with the bawling child. Raditz tells the young boy to stop crying, telling him the blood of Saiyans runs through his veins, but when Gohan won't stop crying, Raditz tosses him inside of the pod. Raditz starts to leave to get something to eat, but suddenly, his scouter (the device on his face) goes off, alerting him to a power level of 710 nearby. As he turns to look at the space pod, the scouter locks on, prompting Raditz to wonder if it's malfunctioning – there's no way an infant has a power level that high. Gaining ground on Raditz's location, Goku suggests they start going lower, but Piccolo says it won't make any difference, telling Goku about the scouter's ability to pick up on an opponent's position and power. Goku asks if that means Raditz knows they're coming, and when Piccolo confirms this, Goku thinks they have no choice then but to hit him head on. Trying again to leave, Raditz's scouter again picks up a power level of 710 coming from the space pod. He curses it, but it soon after picks up two more power levels of 322 and 334 quickly approaching. Raditz recognizes one of the power levels as Kakarot's exactly, but thinks there's no way his brother would be coming to face him so soon, not to mention having no way to find him. Raditz is about to take off the scouter when he spots Goku and Piccolo approaching from the air. If the scouter isn't broken, then...he turns to look at the space pod, still in disbelief, as there's no way that even a Saiyan child could have a power level that high. Goku and Piccolo land before Raditz, and Raditz laughs to see the two of them teamed up. He asks Goku how they found him, but Goku just says that they did and demands that he give him back his son. Raditz asks Goku if he really wants to defy his own brother and refuse to rejoin his race, and Goku angrily states that he has no brother. Raditz calls Goku a fool and says he expected better of him, as surely he doesn't think that even the two of them together stand a chance against him? Piccolo tells Raditz that he talks too much and begins taking off his turban and cape, revealing them to be weighted clothes, just as Goku still wears as well. With their weighted clothing removed, Goku and Piccolo's power levels jump up to 416 and 408. Raditz laughs however, stating that they could both be hundreds of times stronger and still not be enough to fight him, but Goku says that if he thinks power is everything then he's the one that's a fool. Raditz says that such idiocy has no place on a Saiyan mission, and declares Goku a shame to the race, and that he'll kill him for it. As Goku and Piccolo go into fighting poses, Raditz charges them, instantly getting behind them and striking them both with his elbows, knocking them forward. Goku and Piccolo are in disbelief that he can be so strong and fast, and Raditz praises their defenses at least. He thinks they might actually last a few minutes against him after all, but as Goku wonders how he's going to be able to get to Raditz's tail, his brother drops another bombshell – of the three remaining Saiyans, Raditz is the weakest, with the remaining two being far stronger than even he is. Review: Alright, let's rip the bandage off and talk about these pesky power levels. Longtime fans are already used to these being a thing, and although official power levels do exist (courtesy of the Daizenshuu guidebooks in Japan) for the material prior to this arc, they're an invention of this arc, and one that will persist off and on throughout it and the following arc both. Outside of one final usage at the start of the arc beyond that, they'll quickly be phased out, and with good reason – they don't really add anything, and in a lot of ways, they can be rather arbitrarily limiting. At first glance, they appear to be a pretty good indicator of how strong someone is, but it's basically a short hand way to get that idea across without doing much more heavy lifting in the writing or the visuals to express it. It's easy to see why Toriyama would have thought to introduce and rely on such things – as strong as the characters have gotten, it's only going to get harder and harder to portray them as much stronger than they were before, and that is something he's going to struggle with as the story goes on – but even he ultimately does away with them in the end. So why then, if they're only here for such a short time, and are basically pointless in the end, are some fans obsessed with them, and have been going back as far as there HAS been a Dragon Ball fandom in the US? If I had to guess, honestly? It's for the same reason that people have long loved to talk about who would win in a fight. The Youtube channel Death Battle has made a success of crunching numbers and arguing in favor of one character over another for over a decade now (they've even had a good handful of Dragon Ball related battles, with their most recent one being Vegeta V.S. Thor), but even going back decades before that, nerdy fans have always loved talking about who would kick who's butt. Whether it's something like Freddy V.S. Jason, or Godzilla V.S King Kong, debates over who would win are an age old thing. In a lot of those cases, it's battles that would never happen because they're from different franchises that would never cross over (FvJ and GvKK aside), so it's all down to opinion, but fans love coming up with reasons for why their argument would be right. Now take that mentality back into Dragon Ball specifically, and lookie there – a number system based entirely on how strong someone is that could potentially be used in arguments. How handy. Of course, and some of this is jumping ahead quite a bit, fans can often take these power level debates way too far, essentially creating numbers that don't exist, and using them for their own means. On it's own, there's nothing wrong with this, but it does sort of go against what Toriyama's own usage of the numbers ultimately is. I mean, just look at this chapter in particular – we've got Gohan giving off a number that seemingly can't be right, and we've got Goku and Piccolo increasing their numbers by just taking off their weighted clothes. From it's first introductions, Toriyama is already showing that putting strength into numbers is an inexact science at best and a complete folly at worst, and I think he's right. TeamFourStar's Dragon Ball Z Abridged said it best - “Power levels are bullshit!” As far as the rest of the chapter goes, there's two more power related points of interest that definitely serve to keep the excitement going, and I can't imagine the effect they would have had on fans with no idea where any of this was going back in the day. First off, there's the previously mentioned power level of Gohan's. While the numbers themselves are largely pointless, the fact that this cryng infant is seemingly giving off a number that's higher than either Goku or Piccolo's even after they raise theirs is definitely something to make you feel curious. Is Raditz's scouter broken after all? But if it is, why did it accurately pick up Goku and Piccolo's arrival? There's a lot of questions being asked here that I'd love to have been a fly on the wall overhearing young fan's predictions back when this chapter was first published. The second point of interest comes from Raditz's statement after Goku refuses to join him (you really should have seen that coming man, he's been pretty clear on this so far) and he mentions that those other two Saiyan survivors? Yeah, they're both way stronger than he is. So now the stage has set an opponent up that's going to take both Goku and Piccolo to even attempt to fight him, and he's not even the strongest guy out there? Mother of Kami...now THAT'S how you build tension. This of course also builds expectation, as now that we know the other Saiyans are stronger, we pretty much HAVE to see them at some point, which also leaves Goku and Piccolo with a tall order set before them – even if they somehow beat Raditz, they're both going to have to become a LOT stronger. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Synopsis: Raditz reiterates his demands to Goku: pile up one hundred dead human bodies on the beach in a day, or he'll never see his son alive again. Kuririn accuses Raditz of having no honor for using a kid like this, and Roshi says he's crazy if he thinks Goku will listen to him in the first place, but Raditz says the choice is his if he values a hundred people over his own son. He then adds that the choice should be made easier by knowing the fact that, as soon as he and his partners are through conquering this other world, they'll no doubt come back to Earth to conquer and sell it next. Raditz gives the Earthlings about a month tops to survive against their 'cleansing', and says that it really shouldn't matter then if Goku gives a hundred of them a head start. As Piccolo listens in from behind Kame House, Goku demands that Raditz give him his son back, but Raditz tells him to make his choice as he flies into the air. He warns Goku not to try fighting him again, saying that even if Goku had the power to challenge him, he greatly lacks the training, and flies off as both father and son scream for each other. Goku pounds his fists in the sand as his friends try to check on him and console him, but Goku wants to chase after Raditz immediately, even calling back down kinto'un. Roshi and Kuririn convince him that it would be foolish to do so in his condition, and try to get him to come up with a plan of action with them. Bulma thinks it's a shame that Goku finally finds his family only to find out that it's someone like Raditz, but Goku doesn't care about that - he just needs to get his son back. The problem is that he's never seen anyone nearly as strong as Raditz is, and Kuririn asks him if he has any idea how to deal with him. Goku says that if Raditz's tail is anything like his was, then it should be his weak point, and all Goku has to do is grab it to drain him of his power. He'll need help to pull it off however, and Kuririn and Roshi both offer to fight with him, but when Kuririn asks Bulma to wish them back with the Dragon Balls if they die, Goku says that won't work. He found out that Shenlong can't grant the same wish twice, and since both Roshi and Kuririn have already been brought back to life before, if they die this time it's for keeps. The pair agrees to fight alongside Goku regardless, albeit more timidly than before, with Kuririn lamenting that he'll never get a girlfriend at this rate. Bulma raises the idea of asking Shenlong to 'save the world' for them, but Roshi doesn't think they'd be able to find the remaining balls in only one day. Goku asks Bulma to borrow the dragon radar so he can find where Raditz is heading, and once the ball that was moving stops, Goku and the others prepare to head out to take him on. Their leaving is interrupted however by Piccolo, who says that he also has business with Raditz. He tells Goku that he, Roshi, and Kuririn don't stand a chance against this new foe, but that the two of them together might just stand a chance. Goku thinks this makes sense, but doesn't trust Piccolo, asking him what's in it for him. Piccolo tells him to make no mistake, he doesn't care what happens to Goku or his son, but he has plans for this world that Raditz is interfering with, and he'll even team up with Goku to put a stop to that. As soon as Raditz is dealt with however, Goku will be his next target. Goku likes the sound of that, and agrees to play along as well, at least until they get his son back. With the temporary alliance made, Goku asks for the radar back from Bulma again, and hops onto kinto'un. He asks Piccolo if he thinks he can keep up with him on it, but Piccolo says he'll let his speed do the talking for him. As the pair fly off to confront Raditz, Kuririn can't tell how to feel about this, but Roshi thinks they're about to miss out on a fight unlike any they've ever seen before, and tries to hurry them along to follow after. Review: So with the stage finally set for this new story arc – or at least it's first act – it's time for Toriyama and his characters to figure out what exactly to do about the terrible situation they've suddenly found themselves in. It's basically a given that Goku's not going to go and kill anyone, much less a hundred people, not even to save his son. If Raditz had shown up about a decade prior, he might have been able to show him some Red Ribbon corpses, but beyond that, it's a no-go. So in that case, what to do, especially knowing that it's going to come to a fight one way or another later on now that Raditz has confirmed the Saiyans' interest in this planet as well. Being the hot-headed person that he is at times, Goku of course wants to rush in and try fighting again, even though Raditz just took him down with the greatest of ease. He even has a plan on how to deal with the gap in power, and it's actually somewhat of a brilliant idea. Goku knows better than any of them what grabbing his tail used to do to him, so it's a pretty smart guess that it might have the same effect on Raditz, though the immediate problem from this plan is getting close enough to grab the tail. For that, Goku is going to need some help, and without any of his other fighting friends around at the time, that job seems destined to fall to Kuririn and Roshi. Poor guys – one of them just wants to get a girlfriend, and the other one wants to retire (though he likely wouldn't say no to a pichi-pichi girlfriend either). As the talk turns to the Dragon Balls, we run into two different ways that the balls are becoming somewhat less of a fail-safe than they might otherwise have been. The smaller problem is that it's still quite a task to collect them, to the point that it's certainly not possible within the span of one day, but the larger problem is a new restriction on what they can do. Goku's statement of them only being able to grant a wish once is something that, on the one hand, feels like it should have come up by now. After all the training at Kami's palace where he seemingly learned quite a bit about Kami and how the Dragon Balls work, you'd think this would have been important information for him to mention at some point. At the same time though, this is really the first time that it would have even been an issue – sure, they all could have died at the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai, but there was just enough in favor of them being protected there, at least compared to this situation, that it likely just never came up in conversation. The real world reason for this new restriction of course is to make the Dragon Balls less 'perfect', to ensure that there's still some sense of peril in the series. This is something that has been a long time coming, and started back in the King Piccolo arc when Toriyama first had the titular villain kill Shenlong, and continued by revealing the life-link between Kami and Piccolo and how that could also get rid of the Dragon Balls if either of them were to die. All of this serves to make it so that the characters can't legitimately just gather the Dragon Balls and save the day every time – they're going to have to get their own hands dirty, magical wish-granting orbs or no. That said, the Dragon Balls do serve a purpose here, as the Four-Star Ball on Gohan's hat allows Goku to track where Raditz has gone much easier. The problem of how exactly Goku is going to grab Raditz's tail persists however, and it seems like it's going to be really long odds that he'll pull it off...and that's when Piccolo shows back up. This could very easily have been a case of things getting worse before they got better, as for all the characters know initially, Piccolo may have just shown up for his rematch with Goku, without any idea of what's going on otherwise. Come to think of it, that might have actually been an interesting route for Toriyama to take – have Piccolo show up for his fight, and have it be Goku that suggests the team up. I don't know how well that would have worked in the long run for Piccolo's character arc as we know it though...hmm. At any rate, the idea of Goku and Piccolo WORKING TOGETHER? Ho. Ly. Crap. Of all of the things undersold by coming into the series at this point rather than having experienced all the previous material first, this might be the biggest, and is easily just as shocking an idea as anything that Raditz has revealed to us. Roshi's excitement is likely a proxy of the audience's excitement when this chapter first came out, because not only is the idea crazy to think about at any point prior to this, Roshi's completely right – if Goku and Piccolo are actually fighting together, then this promises to be a more insane fight than anything we can possibly imagine. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Synopsis: Goku is astounded to see that the intruder has a tail just like the one he used to have. The intruder thinks this means Goku finally recognizes him, but Goku says he still has no idea who he is. The intruder says it should be impossible for 'Kakarot' to forget who he is or his mission, unless... He asks Goku if he's ever taken a strong blow to the head, and Goku says he does have a scar on his head suggesting that he did hit it hard when he was really young, but he doesn't remember it. The intruder curses him saying this would explain everything, but Goku still doesn't understand what he means. Roshi interjects and tells Goku that his grandfather Gohan once told him about finding a baby in the woods, a baby with a tail that was too wild to be controlled. Eventually however, the baby fell in a gorge and hit it's head, and when it miraculously survived it's injury, it's disposition changed and it became as sweet as could be. While the intruder is disgusted at the story, Goku is surprised to realize that it must have been him. Bulma still doesn't get what's going on, and Goku asks the man again who he is and what he wants. The intruder warns Goku that if there's any trace of his former memories in there, he'll find a way to reveal them, because Kakarot's people need him back. As Kuririn gets out of the debris of Kame House's wall, the man begins explaining his connection to Goku at last. He says that Goku's real name is 'Kakarot', and that both of them are aliens known as Saiyans, and that their race is the most powerful in the universe, and compounds this by revealing that his name is Raditz, and that he is Goku's older brother. Everyone is taken aback by this shocking reveal, and Goku even denies that it's true. Kuririn asks what Goku's doing on Earth if he's really an alien, and Raditz tells them that as well: the Saiyans are a race of both warriors and entrepreneurs, and they find planets worth re-selling to other races and conquer them, wiping out all life on them and making them ready for their new inhabitants. Adult Saiyans are sent to take care of the stronger worlds, but that's only after years of battle, and Saiyan infants are thus sent to weaker worlds to start with and begin their training. Raditz says this planet should have been easy for Kakarot to conquer too, given that it has a nice big moon. Roshi and Kuririn think all of this makes Piccolo sound like a good guy in comparison, but Goku doesn't get what Raditz means about the moon. Raditz asks Goku if his brain is that badly damaged, saying that Saiyans only show their full strength at the full moon, prompting Goku's friends to remember his giant Oozaru form once more. Goku says he has no idea what Raditz is talking about, and Raditz at last notices Goku's lack of tail. Raditz accuses Goku of acting like an Earthling and becoming comfortable on this world, but Goku says he doesn't care if he is an alien or if Raditz is his brother, stating that everything he's just told him is wrong and he wants no part of it. He tells Raditz that his name is Son Goku, and for him to leave the planet immediately. Although Goku's friends back him up, Raditz says that he can'tleave, telling Goku something else about the Saiyans – their home planet, Vegeta, was destroyed by a collision with an asteroid, killing all Saiyans save for Raditz, his two partners, and Goku. Raditz even states that their parents were killed in the collision. Raditz states that the only reason any of them are alive is because they were out 'doing wrong' as Goku put it, and says that he and the others have found a planet that should fetch a nice price, but even they might have trouble clearing it on their own, which is where Kakarot comes in. Raditz tells Goku to picture the carnage, hoping to stir his Saiyan blood, but Goku says he'd rather die than be involved in something like that. Raditz thinks this is a shame, but switches gears, asking Goku if the small tailed child he sees is his offspring. Goku denies it, but Raditz doesn't believe him, and when Goku tells him to leave him alone, Raditz says that if his own brother won't help him then he'll have to make do with his nephew. As Raditz approaches Gohan, Goku tells him to step away or he'll kill him, but faster than Goku can react, Raditz knees him in the stomach, knocking him to the ground in pain. Shocked and powerless to do anything, Goku's friends watch as Raditz grabs Gohan who begins to cry. Raditz tells Goku that if he wants Gohan back alive, he'll kill a hundred humans and pile them on this beach before the next day is through, and he hopes that Goku listens as he'd hate to have to kill his only nephew. Review: I think it's safe to say that everything escalated rather quickly, didn't it? While I can't say that Goku's re-introduction is quite as bad as a first introduction for the character like it was for many US viewers, a lot of the weight of this reveal does get lost when it's your first taste of the franchise. For most fans, the idea that Goku is an alien isn't even a fact they have to accept, it's just how it is – he's always been an alien for lots of folk. For fans who had been with the character and the series from the very beginning, and who didn't have the benefit of hindsight, this was likely an extremely shocking reveal. Although, it might be somewhat of a natural conclusion as well. We've always known that Goku was odd, even by Dragon Ball's standards, and throughout all the strange things we've seen in the series, he's still been marked as different from any other character we've come across. Given some of the strange things that exist on Dragon Ball's Earth, standing out as an oddity is no easy feat either, but now it all starts to make a little more sense. The trade-off to this however, is that slowly but surely, many of the traits that were predominantly about Goku are going to start being attributed to his Saiyan nature instead of just being how he is. It won't go so far as to render Goku just like any old Saiyan, not by any means, but some of the features that always felt like his are certainly going to feel less unique moving forward. There's already three of them front and center in this very chapter. Firstly, Goku's always been hungry for battle, craving a good fight almost more than he craves food even. As Raditz explains it, the Saiyans are a warrior race, so it's easy to infer that they likely all share this same craving for battle. Secondly, and more obviously, there's Goku's long lost tail. It was a feature completely unique to him prior to this, but now that we've seen that his son has inherited that feature, it's pretty easy to see this one as an alien trait that all Saiyans share. And thirdly and related to that, there's the ability to turn into a gigantic ape monster at the full moon. It's been a long, long time since we've seen that in action – the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai, in fact – but it's a trait that's been remembered even beyond that, what with it being used as a way to show Goku's raw power coming out of him during the King Piccolo arc. If it worked that way for Goku, it's easy to imagine that as a trait of all the Saiyans as well – and easy to imagine how horrifying that must be. One Oozaru out of control was bad enough, but an entire race of them that are using that power on purpose? Thankfully the number of giant space werewolves is somewhat more limited than our overactive imaginations might lead us to believe however, as Raditz also drops the bombshell that the Saiyan race is all but extinct at this point, with only four known Saiyans to be left alive at this time. Everyone who's been a fan for some time now go ahead and feel free to chuckle at how quickly anime only material adds to this number. Discounting those however, this creates a believable enough reason why the Saiyans would suddenly want Goku back – he might be 'weak' by their standards, but when there's only a handful of you left in the first place, you tend to take what you can get. Naturally however, Goku has no interest in the offer of being a space pirate, and instead turns down his brother to the point of telling him to leave and never come back. Like all relatives we disagree with however, Raditz does anything but, and promptly takes Goku down a peg before taking his son and giving him an ultimatum. All of this is incrediby fresh territory for the character and the series as a whole. We've seen someone taken hostage to prevent Goku from acting a few times before, but that was always in cases where Goku had already proven to be too much for the other character to handle. This time however, it's Goku who can't hold a candle to his opponent, and the hostage is only taken after the fact. We've likewise never seen someone as intimately related to Goku as a family member taken hostage either, nor have we ever seen him ordered to do something such as he's been told to do now. The only part of this situation that we've been through before is Goku getting taken down with ease (Taopaipai did it first), but even that manages to feel relatively fresh with all of the surrounding details unique to it. It also cements Raditz as definitely one hell of a problem for Goku to contend with, as he's now shown no effort in taking him down on top of what he was capable of against Piccolo and Kuririn. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: An Impossible Team-Up! Synopsis: At Kame House, Roshi, Kuririn, and the turtle greet Bulma as she drops in for a visit. Roshi tells her that it's been a long time, chastising her for only showing up when invited, but Bulma says that she's here now and has even brought some cakes for them all to enjoy. Roshi says she didn't have to do anything like that as he'd have been happy just with a kiss, but Bulma hits him on the head, prompting him to say she still has no sense of humor, and her to say he's still as ornery as ever. As Goku is shown flying towards the house on kinto'un, Kuririn asks Bulma where Yamcha is, and she says that she doesn't care about that jerk after what he did, and that she didn't even tell him about today, saying that they're all better off without him. Bulma likewise asks where Lunch is, and Kuririn explains that she went chasing after Tenshinhan five years ago and that they haven't seen her since. Goku points out to someone on kinto'un with him that this is his old master's house, as the intruder from the previous chapter uses the device on his face to track Goku's movements. As Goku steps off kinto'un and calls out to his friends, the intruder can tell he's stopped moving now and that he'll catch up to him soon. Goku's friends all come out to greet him, but are surprised to see a small child in his arms. They ask Goku if he's started babysitting, but Goku shocks them all by introducing his son, Son Gohan. Roshi is pleased to hear that they've named the boy after Goku's late grandfather, but they're all still taken aback by the notion of Goku having a kid. Bulma asks Gohan how old he is, and he timidly replies four, surprising Bulma with how polite he is. Bulma is then surprised to see that Gohan has a tail, and they all ask Goku if Gohan is occasionally 'odd', like say, during the full moon – Goku says they all go to bed pretty early, and is confused as to why they ask, and they quickly change the subject. Kuririn asks Goku if Gohan is strong like he is, and Goku frowns, saying that he knows Gohan has it in him, but Chi Chi won't let him train him, saying that since the world is peaceful now, nobody realy needs martial arts. Instead, she's been homeschooling Gohan and focusing on his studies. Bulma notices the Dragon Ball on Gohan's hat as well, and Goku points out that it's the four-star ball that his grandfather gave him, saying that the three-star and six-star balls are back home as well. Everyone's reminiscing is soon interrupted as Goku suddenly feels a powerful presence approaching. Roshi and Kuririn can't see anything in the direction Goku's looking, and Bulma scowls saying that it better not be Yamcha, but Goku says it's more powerful than anything he's ever felt before. Suddenly, the intruder drops from the sky and lands before them. The intruder says that 'Kakarot' has grown up and looks just like his father, confusing Goku and Kuririn who have no idea who he's talking about. The man asks 'Kakarot' if something on this planet has distracted him, as he was supposed to exterminate all life on it. Thinking that the man is clearly drunk, Kuririn walks over to tell him to scram, and before Goku can shout for him not to get any closer, the man suddenly hits Kuririn, sending him flying into the wall of Kame house. As Goku yells in fury, he and everyone else is shocked as they turn back to look at the intruder, to discover that he didn't kick Kuririn away – he hit him with his tail. Review: I promise that I'll eventually stop harping on about what a disservice to the franchise it was to start with this part of the series when bringing it to the US, but it really does seem worth talking about again, as this re-introduction to a few characters basically takes away a lot from who they are if you don't have the material prior to it. Lunch and Bulma are really the only characters to get away unscathed by this re-introduction, and in Lunch's case that's mostly due to her absence. Yeah, that last time we saw Lunch kicking Kami into a hole? That was the last time you'll ever see her again in the pages of the manga (save for maybe a chapter title page somewhere), as she's being pretty much unceremoniously dropped from the cast. Toriyama has said in interviews that he didn't really plan to not bring her back and simply forgot to do so, which...honestly, I do believe. Toriyama is well known for his forgetful nature (in a different interview alongside One Piece's Eiichiro Oda, Toriyama had even forgotten who Taopaipai was), but I also think there's more to it than that. He probably didn't actually plan on ditching Lunch, but some part of his brain probably let it happen because she'd pretty much been entirely spent as a character by this point. You might recall me complaining quite a bit at her first appearance that not only was her gag one of the most one-note out of everything Toriyama ever created, it also had an incredibly botched introduction to the audience. His use of her character improved greatly as the series went on and he figured out how to utilize her better, but overall, she was still probably one of the weakest part of the background cast. It's a little sad to see her go, but at the same time, I can't lie and say we're really missing that much in the long run. For the characters that are re-introduced here though, like I said, Bulma's pretty much the same as she was before, and nothing here really colors her as something that she's not. She's always been quick to anger (though really, with Roshi it's easy to get angry sometimes) as well as showcasing a rather petty side as well. This chapter doesn't do anything to show her brilliance, but that will get brought back in later, so no harm done really. Kuririn and Roshi suffer a little bit here though. Roshi's pretty firmly retired from fighting at this point after bowing out of participating in the previous tournament, but outside of a line referencing him as Goku's old master, there's nothing here to indicate that he's a martial artist at all. Again, for fans following from the very beginning, there's no problem here, but for fans being introduced to the character for the very first time? He's shown as nothing more than an old pervert. Granted, that's basically going to be his lot in life moving forward, so I guess that's not really the most damaging to his perception for the rest of the series, but it's still sad given his position in material prior to this. Kuririn's poor showing is about the same, although his doesn't come in until the end of the chapter. I don't have a problem with neither he nor Roshi picking up on the intruder's incoming arrival, nor do I really mind them not getting the same feeling of danger from him that Goku does. I also don't really have a problem in-of-itself with him getting slapped away by his tail, as this is a new character that's already been shown as capable of laughing off an attack from Piccolo. That said, when you don't have that prior material to show how strong Piccolo really is, you also don't have the prior material to show how strong Kuririn is, like the fact that he was able to at least hold his own against Piccolo and even impress him. Without that knowledge, Kuririn just comes off like a short bald guy who gets immediately tossed to the scrap heap. Maybe it's just the big fanboy in me, but I don't like that, not one little bit. In a complete inversion of Lunch faring best by her absence, Yamcha likewise fairs the worst by his. Yes, although this chapter doesn't entirely spell it out (at least not in Viz's translation), this is the beginning of Toriyama's new mindset of Yamcha being a cheater. As if his poor showings in every single tournament prior to this wasn't bad enough, now he's going to slowly be deprived of having a girlfriend as well. This is something that has never set well with me with Toriyama's writing, and it bothers me the more I go over it. It's almost like Yamcha came to life and peed in Toriyama's cereal or something, because the man just does not miss a chance to make the poor guy's life even worse at every opportunity. This one doesn't even feel natural or necessary by any means either, as it completely flies in the face of what we know about him prior to this. When first introduced, Yamcha couldn't even look at a girl without freezing up. Once he got with Bulma, he did lighten up on that quite a bit, and there was some indication that he started to get popular with girls in general, but no actual indication that he actually did anything skeevy like cheating – it was always entirely based around Bulma's viewpoint, and we know exactly what she can be like sometimes. So we're suddenly asked to believe, based on the material that the series gives us, that he's suddenly turned into a womanizer this late in life? It just doesn't feel natural. There are, just off the top of my head, three more noteworthy 'Kick Yamcha' moments left in the series, one in this very arc and two in a future one, but I'd say this recharacterization of him might be the worst one of all (it's even directly related to 'Kick Yamcha' moment #2 in the future). What's worse is that modern material continues to feed off of both this general new perception of him, as well as getting a TON of mileage out of 'Kick Yamcha' moment #1 that we're not too far away from, so for anyone that liked Yamcha in the previous material, especially anyone that feels about him the way I do about Kuririn? All I can say is I'm sorry, and buckle up. There's one more character re-introduced in their absence, and they're arguably just as ruined as Yamcha is, but their reinvention is also directly tied to the first introduction of a brand new character, Goku's son Son Gohan. The very notion of Goku having a kid is crazy enough already (something else that's a bit lost when you jump into the story at this point), but what makes this idea even more surprising is how unlike his father he already seems. The character might only get one line of dialogue in this chapter, but it coupled with everything else we learn about him paints quite the picture. While Goku was (and is) impetuous, eager, and quick to try and find the fun in a given situation, Gohan comes off very quiet, reserved, and shy. He's also seemingly as polite as his father can be impolite to boot, something that's made even more shocking by the reveal that he's four years old (quite a bit younger than his father was on his first introduction). The main source of these differences comes from his mother, Chi Chi. Chi Chi has long been a divisive character for a lot of people, and it's chiefly down how her character is written in this portion of the story as opposed to anything we saw of her before. There are even many who like the earlier versions of Chi Chi that don't like this version – I'm part of that latter group, to an extent at least. There's going to be numerous chances to talk about her in the future, particularly where the writing of her has gone wrong but also why the fanbase is far too harsh on her at the same time, so I'll hold off on the deep dive into her character for another time. One thing that Gohan does have in common with his father in his youth quickly turns out to be something they both have in common with this new intruder as well – their tails. If everything about this new character wasn't already mysterious enough, this would definitely be more than enough to peak the interest of readers coming to this material for the first time. In every part of Dragon Ball prior to this, Goku's tail was treated as a trait specific to him, something that nobody knew why he had it, or where he or it even came from. Now however we learn that it can be hereditary, passed on from father to son, but even bigger than that, we're introduced to a completely unknown character who also shares this feature. Who exactly IS this guy anyway, and what does his arrival mean for Goku? Until next time! Favorite Panel: Synopsis: Five years after the Tenkaichi Budokai, a farmer is working his fields when he sees a mysterious object crash down from the sky. Thinking it might be a meteor, or even a UFO, the farmer drives over to investigate it. In the crater created by the crash landing, he spies a weird ball-shaped ship. As the ship door opens, a large man with long black hair and wearing bizarre armor and an eyepiece on his face steps forward and leaps out before him. The bizarre man scoffs at seeing the farmer, cursing 'Kakarot' for letting life still exist on this planet. The farmer naturally begins to freak out, demanding to know who this intruder is. The device on the man's face beeps and the intruder laughs, mocking the planet for this man's 'power level' only being 5. As the intruder approaches him, the man fires his shotgun at him, but the intruder merely catches the bullet and flips it back at the farmer, killing him instantly. As the intruder scoffs again at this clearly being a planet of weaklings, the device on his face suddenly beeps again, detecting a much stronger lifeform some distance away. Wondering if this is 'Kakarot', the man flies off in the direction of the reading. In a desolate wasteland, Piccolo stands alone when he suddenly senses an incredible power coming towards him. He wonders if it's Goku, but to his surprise, it's the intruder, a man he's never seen before. As the intruder lands before him, he scoffs at Piccolo for not being 'Kakarot' at all. Piccolo asks the intruder if he has business with him, to which the intruder says no. Piccolo asks him if he came here to die then, and the man laughs, calling him feisty. As the intruder scans Piccolo with the device on his face, he remarks that although Piccolo's power of 322 is more than he expected on this planet, it's still nothing compared to him. Piccolo asks the man if he has any idea to whom he's showing such insolence, and the man quips back that he doesn't really care. Piccolo is unnerved, wondering how powerful this man thinks he is. Piccolo launches a surprise attack, blasting the intruder at point blank range, but as the dust clears, the intruder is revealed to be entirely unscathed. As Piccolo stands aghast at this, the man offers to show him 'real' power now. Before he can do anything however, the device on his face beeps again, picking up an even stronger power. Flying back into the air, the man remarks that though the power is some distance away, it seems to be the strongest power on this planet – surely it's Kakarot for real this time. As Piccolo falls to his knees and deals with how outclassed he was, to the point of actually feeling fear, the man flies off and asks 'Kakarot' if he's lost the pride of the Saiyan warriors, with imagery of 'Kakarot' showing a baby Goku. Review: Right from the start, this chapter shows a marked difference to any other chapter of Dragon Ball we've had thus far. Not only is five years a bigger time skip than any we've had before, there's absolutely no Goku in this chapter. Even the filler that didn't concern Goku generally still had him in some way (and the anime adaptation of this episode would likewise include scenes of Goku), but this chapter just plain doesn't. If it wasn't for the reveal at the end, you wouldn't even know for a fact that it was him that 'Kakarot' was referring to. This revelation and the revelation to come are all old hat for long time fans of the franchise of course – heck, for US based fans, some of this is older to them than any of the previous material I've covered – but try and think about what this chapter must have been like for fans when it was first coming out. Not only are you treated to a chapter completely devoid of the lead character, you also get a bizarre man crash landing from space (at least, that's what all the implications so far imply anyway), killing a man, and then going on to upstage PICCOLO of all people? Keep in mind that Piccolo is the second strongest person in the world at this point in time, and that not even Goku's last fight with him had him pulling off anything quite like this intruder does against him. Goku's victory over Piccolo was hard earned – this guy shrugs him off as absolutely nothing. There's a great air of mystery here even beyond this man's power however. Where did he come from, is he actually an alien like the chapter implies? If so, what did he come here for – well, that part's somewhat answered in his search for 'Kakarot', but that small answer only serves to bring even bigger questions. Is Goku really 'Kakarot', and if so, what's his connection to this guy? What are 'Saiyan' warriors? What's this device that this guy has that seems to be able to detect people's locations and how strong they are? And the biggest question of all – what does this guy want with Goku once he finds him? On the one hand, I can see why this was seemingly the perfect jumping on point for a lot of fans, and why FUNimation decided to start with this material via the 'Dragon Ball Z' anime when they first brought it over. It wasn't like attempts hadn't already been made with the original Dragon Ball as well, and that likewise always seemed to fail. This arc is going to continue the new standard for Dragon Ball that first started with the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai, or arguably even before that with the King Piccolo arc, and it also benefitted from being the start of that second anime rather than having well over a hundred episodes to get through before getting to this point. At the same time though, I still can't help but feel that the franchise starting off with this material in the US has done it a really big disservice. It's resulted in a lot of fans overlooking the previous material to a shocking level, to the point that even with the manga, a lot of people treat it like an entirely separate series (something that Viz didn't really help by likewise separating the series into 'Dragon Ball' and 'Dragon Ball Z' when no such distinction existed outside of the anime in Japan). It's also frankly astounding, and a testament to how good the series is, that fans were able to not only follow but properly get engaged with the series by just dropping in like this. It won't be long before a good handful of familiar faces start to pop up, and it's baffling to imagine just having to go along with this group of characters with barely any indications who they are and what they've been through to explain why they care about each other. But that's exactly what we did. I'm getting a bit off topic of this chapter itself, but bear with me for a moment. While this introduction to the franchise was hardly ideal in the long run, that's exactly how a lot of fans in the US first got into the series. It's how I did as well, though my jumping on point came quite a bit later in the series. It's insane to think how so many of us just went along with half the story untold and managed to make any sense of who these characters were, but frankly? We did that a lot back in those days. The US anime scene in the late 90's and early 2000's wasn't what it is today. Streaming wasn't a thing, and you could forget about simuldubs or even simulsubs, especially on the official release side of things. Some people did have the benefit of being in an area where they could take advantage of trading fansub tapes, but in my and many other people's cases, we were stuck with whatever came on TV via the likes of Toonami and Adult Swim, and a lot of times – especially before the invention of DVR – you didn't always have the benefit of coming into a series at the very start of it, even if it was presented to viewers in that way. It would be years after first encountering it before I saw InuYasha from the very beginning, for example, and for a long time anytime I watched any part of it, I was working with extremely vague notions of who the characters were and why they did what they did. I do sometimes miss the wonder of dropping into a series with barely any idea what was happening, but overall I think it's best that that's a notion left to the past – stories are always at their best when you get to experience them from the very beginning. So basically what I'm saying is, enjoy your streaming, official simuldubs and simulsubs, and readily available DVD and Bluray box sets, kiddos, because back in my day, we had to walk ten miles home to watch something on TV and hope that the VCR recorded the ones we missed to tape in our absence. We walked ten miles. Both ways. THROUGH SNOW. Kami, I'm getting old. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: Don't you hate it when someone crashes your reunion? At long last, we've hit the first point in the Dragon Ball franchise where the series “splits” into a second series, at least in part. I've already talked about the split a little bit in a previous review, but now that we're actually here, it feels like a good time to check in again, and explain exactly how things will and won't be changing as we move into this next era of the Dragon Ball stories to review. First, let's go over what won't be changing:
There are however, a few things that are slightly changing as we move into the 'Z' era, that I wanted to note.
I think that about covers it. For the most part, things are going to move about in roughly the same manner they already have. It feels like I've made it all the way to the top of the hill in some ways, as a majority of the original manga's story arcs have already been covered now. There's only four left! At the same time though, the rest of the story is still far, far longer than anything that came before it, so there's actually another even larger mountain to scale in front of me...but I'm going to grit my teeth and keep on climbing – the Z Era begins now! Synopsis: As Gyumao's castle begins to crumble as the fire rages more fiercely than ever before, all seems lost for Goku's new father-in-law. At the Eightfold Furnace, Goku again pleads with Annin to do something about the furnace otherwise Gyumao will burn to death, but the caretaker insists that saving one life isn't worth risking the fate of the entire world. Goku gets frustrated enough that he knocks Annin's fork from her hands, and while Gohan and Chi Chi try to apologize for him, Annin tells Goku that if he's so full of energy and truly wants to put out the fire, then all he has to do is turn the handle on a nearby pillar as far to the right as he can. Goku rushes to the handle with Gohan struggling to stop him, and Goku even knocking his grandfather backwards in his efforts to put out the fire. Annin leaps in and grabs Goku with the tendrils from her head-dress, tossing Goku high above the furnace. When he lands back on the ground, she asks him if he noticed all the steam pouring out, and explains that that steam turns into the mist that leaves from Mt. Gogyo and connects this world (the world of the living) to the next (the afterlife). Gohan further explains that everyone who dies passes through this mist, and that likewise anyone that dies and comes back passes through it as well. If the fire goes out and the mist were to disappear, the souls of the dead would wander aimlessly in the world of the living, unable to rest eternally, and eventually causing the dead to rise from Hell as well and throw the entire world into chaos. Hearing this dire news, Chi Chi asks if they can put the fire out for just a short time so that the steam won't disappear, but Annin says it won't work, as it will take at least 2,000 years to re-light the fire if it goes out. Chi Chi frets and asks if there's truly nothing Annin could do, and Annin looks at Goku and says that there might be something she can do after all. Without warning, Annin summons a spear and attacks Goku with it, and Goku is ultimately able to knock the weapon from her hands and knock her backwards. Gohan asks Goku what he's doing attacking someone who has been guarding the furnace for over ten thousand years. Goku's surprised to hear that Annin is 'so old', angering Annin further and causing her to transform back into her giant form. Goku continues fighting the now giant Annin, ultimately resorting to pulling out the Basho Fan, but even that fails to knock her over. Annin stops the fight however, surprised to see that Goku has such a thing, and tells Chi Chi that there is a way to save Gyumao without putting out the fire at all. Annin explains that the Basho Fan can't put out the furnace's fire, but it can help them plug the hole that must have formed at the bottom of the furnace. Annin explains however that there's still a problem, as the materials needed to fix the hole – egg shell from the Fire-Eating Bird, and honey from bees that live in octagonal beehives – are not easily acquired. Chi Chi reveals that she has them both however, shocking Annin further. Annin cautions them not to celebrate too quickly however as what needs done is still risky, and if Goku fails, he'll almost certainly die. Goku says he's going to do it however, so Annin tells him that while she lifts the furnace's pan slightly off of the fire, Goku will have to head into the furnace to patch the hole. Gohan objects, saying that the fires inside are too hot for even Goku to withstand, and Annin says that's where the Basho Fan comes in, telling Goku that he'll have to swing the fan from the furnace's surface, parting the flames and giving him a short time get down there, patch the hole, and leave. Despite all of this risk, Goku confidently says again that he'll do it. As Gyumao begins to lose hope and say that he wishes he could have seen his daughter in her wedding dress, Annin lifts the pan and tells Goku that the hole is likely somewhere in the middle of the furnace. Goku uses the Basho Fan, and as the flames part, he leaps into the furnace. Annin struggles to keep the pan lifted, and Goku reaches the bottom and desperately looks for the hole. Goku eventually spots it underfoot, and places the egg shell in the hole and affixes it with the honey. As soon as Goku does so, the fire begins to go out back at Gyumao's castle, prompting Baba to wonder if Goku has truly done it. With time running out to escape however, Goku leaps up and flies out of the furnace, barely making it out in time (and having to resort to the nyoibo for help to boot) before the flames re-converge and Annin puts the pan back down. Annin thanks Goku for the help and apologizes profusely to Chi Chi for the trouble, and Gohan congratulates Goku and Chi Chi for overcoming their first ordeal as husband and wife, wishing for them to live together in happiness. Back at Gyumao's castle, Baba is horrified at first to discover what she thinks is a dead Gyumao, but Gyumao reveals that he merely covered the wedding dress with his body, successfully preventing it from receiving any damage. With the fire out at last, Goku and Chi Chi's wedding is finally held, and the villagers all toast to their happiness as Gyumao sobs happily at finally seeing his daughter in the wedding dress. As the narrator wonders if days of happiness truly await the newlywed couple, Baba looks into the future with her crystal ball, seeing something that she then blocks anyone from seeing, and winking to the camera. Review: Everything in this arc finally comes to a head in this episode, and every one of the story elements that seemed completely at odds with each other all tie together at last – well, more or less. Goku and Chi Chi did need Baba's help to set them on the right path to fixing things, and while it looked at first like she'd accidentally sent them on a wild goose chase searching for the Basho Fan, it turns out that they needed each and every place they stopped to actually achieve a good ending here. If they hadn't gone to the octagon shaped hot springs, they wouldn't have heard about the Fire-Eating Bird and thus gotten it's eggshell; and if they hadn't gotten that, they wouldn't have then heard about the ice mountain, which lead to them getting both the Basho Fan and the honey from the octagon loving bees. Even if Baba had later divined the true cause of the fire, they would have been out of luck fixing the problem if they didn't have those items on hand. I'm of two minds on this really. On the one hand, it's nice that it makes all of the previous episodes actually have more of a point now that we've been through them. It sort of makes this all come off like an RPG's side-quest as well, with one side-quest opening up another, and each of them needing completion to reach the 'true ending'. On the other hand though, considering how insanely specific the item's needed were, it's a little on the nose that they just HAPPENED to get the items needed on their way here. This holds especially true for the eggshell, as at least the honey was directly given to Chi Chi by the old lady. If Chi Chi hadn't taken the eggshell as a souvenir on a whim, then they'd be in pretty dire straights right about now, and that's pretty crazy to think about. What works better than this happen stance is the reason behind the furnace being unable to be turned off. I'd say causing a disconnect between the worlds of the living and the dead is a pretty good reason to keep the fire going after all, though Annin's comment about saving one life not being worth saving in comparison is a little bit crass - Logical, yes, ethical, no. Goku seems to disagree as well, given that he goes as far as to shove his own grandfather away to try and stop the fires from burning. I don't know if Toei planned it that way, but that's far more striking of a visual to show off how far Goku's willing to go right now than him fighting the caretaker of the furnace, someone he's only just met. Goku's venture into the furnace is where the stakes at last feel compatible with Goku's newfound levels of strength as well. It's hard to believe he's really in any danger from the likes of the Pilaf gang or even volcanos and icy mountains, but a fire that literally bridges the gap between the living and the dead? Yeah, that's just supernatural and crazy enough for us to believe Goku could really die from coming into contact with it if he's not careful. It only really comes in at the last portion of the episode, but I can sympathize with how hard it must've been for Toei to come up with something at this particular stage of the story, so I have to give kudos where they're deserved. Once the fire is taken care of, Annin and Gohan wish the newlywed pair well, and then proceed to never be seen ever again. It's a shame for Gohan as I said before, but everything Annin takes care of will basically be handled in a different way by Toriyama in very short order anyway, so...yeah. She's rather expendable on that front, it's just a shame that Gohan ends up sharing chiefly the same fate. What's also a shame is that we don't actually get to see much of Goku and Chi Chi's wedding at all! Dragon Ball so rarely dabbles in romance – it's not something Toriyama is anywhere near good at writing, so it's probably for the best, as disappointing as that is – but c'mon Toei, you couldn't have at least thrown us a bone here? What's almost even more damning is what it does show us, in that nobody from Goku's group of friends is there to witness it. If we go by what we have here, the only people close to the pair that's in attendance for the wedding are Gyumao and Baba. I could kind of see Tenshinhan and Chaozu not showing up, but c'mon, at least Bulma, Yamcha, Puar, Oolong, Roshi, Kuririn, and Lunch all should've been invited and shown up – this is just a sad state of affairs. At the end of the day, I can't say this arc is particularly memorable. It tries to serve as a bridge between the end of the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai and where the series will be going next with Goku's life, but all it really manages to do is be a romp that tries to be like old times. Which isn't to say it's terrible – it's actually kind of nice to have another adventure like that again. But it doesn't quite manage to stick the landing, passing up far too many chances to do something that Toriyama himself wouldn't have been equipped to do, while also relying a little too much on contrivances to get where it needs to be by the end. The arc's well worth watching at least once if you haven't seen it before, but beyond that, there's a reason it's not talked about as much as a bunch of other filler material in the franchise. Until next time! Favorite Scene: Seeing Goku and Chi Chi's wedding is a short but nice moment that it's kind of surprising we didn't get to see anywhere else but here. Next Time: Piccolo (and the Farmer) and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day |
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