Synopsis: Goku runs along the Serpent Road, trying desperately to make up for lost time, even quickly passing the street cleaner that he fell off of before, inadvertently causing it to fall into Hell this time instead. Back on Earth, Piccolo continues his mental training, causing a twister to form in the air, while Gohan continues running in the wilderness and eventually comes across Piccolo's training, becoming both impressed and scared by what Piccolo can do. At Kami's sanctuary, Kuririn, Yamcha, Tenshinhan, Chaozu, and Yajirobe have arrived at last, with Yamcha remarking that he thinks the group of them will easily be able to handle the Saiyans. Tenshinhan remarks that he can't wait to begin the training. Back on the Serpent Road, Goku comes across a large house built at the side of the road and wonders if he's reached Kaio-sama's at last. The house's entrance suddenly turns into a large snake and swallows Goku whole, who now finds himself inside a large building where a group of blue-skinned women herald him as an honored guest. The ruler of the house, the Snake Princess, is told of their new guest, and rushes to get a good look at him, immediately finding Goku to be just her type. Goku mistakes the Princess for Kaio-sama and praises her as cute, flustering the Snake Princess greatly, causing one of her attendants to say that she hasn't been this worked up since meeting Enma about five hundred years prior. Goku is surprised to hear that they're that old, but is eager to begin learning martial arts from her. The Snake Princess instead suggests they dance and pulls Goku into a tango, and Goku mistakenly thinks that this is training to find an opening in your opponent's guard to exploit. Goku does so by flipping the Snake Princess to the ground, earning him an earful from one of her attendants who finally corrects his mistake in thinking that she's Kaio-sama. Disappointed to find that he hasn't reached Kaio-sama's at all, Goku tries to leave, but the Snake Princess asks if he won't at least stay for dinner first. Goku's stomach rumbles and he agrees to stay and eat. Princess Snake tells her attendants to do whatever is needed to make sure Goku won't want or be able to leave after eating, as it's been far too long since they've had a good man here. Her attendants plan to put a powerful sleeping potion in the food, and much to their surprise, Goku eats every bite of food they've brought out and appears to not be in the least affected by the potion. With his stomach full again at last, Goku prepares to leave, but the attendants stop him by saying he needs to take a bath before he goes, as Kaio-sama is well known to hate dirty people. Seeing how sweaty he's gotten from running the Serpent Road, Goku agrees and takes advantage of the hot springs bath offered to him. The Snake Princess has her attendants use a satellite device to cause the sky to turn to night so Goku and she can see the stars together, but to her surprise, Goku barely even cares, and even walks right out of the bath before her eyes, completely naked. The Snake Princess is embarrassed but pleased by the view until she realizes Goku is trying to leave again, and quickly has her attendants stop a newly re-dressed Goku from going. Running out of ways to stop him, one of the attendants offers Goku a way to train his mind before going to see Kaio-sama – Russian Roulette! The attendant tries to show Goku how to play it but gets unlucky with the first shot, shooting herself in the head, and Goku says he's definitely not doing anything that dangerous. Growing even more desperate, the attendants next try to distract Goku by putting on a swords dance performance under the guise of it being martial arts as well, and they bring him a glass of orange juice with the every last drop of sleeping potion they had left in it. Goku finally starts to feel the effect of the potion and falls asleep at last. Goku mumbles his family's names in his sleep, and the Snake Princess has her attendants bring out a dream viewing mirror to see what he's talking about. Upon learning that Goku's not single, the Snake Princess changes her plans – if Goku can't be her love interest, he can at least be her meal. As Goku sleeps, he has a nightmare about the two Saiyans arriving on Earth and killing his family, and the nightmare promptly wakes Goku up before the Snake Princess and her attendants can do anything with him. Goku starts to leave again and refuses to fall for any of their distractions this time, causing the Snake Princess and her attendants to attack him in earnest at last. The Snake Princess chastises Goku for insulting her, the 'goddess' of the Serpent Road, and as the house dissolves away, Goku finds himself inside the stomach of the large snake that swallowed him before – the true form of the Snake Princess! Goku quickly flies out of the Snake's stomach and mouth and is chased by the large creature. Goku decides not to kill the Snake even though it's trying to eat him, as it did feed him a lot of food earlier, and instead tricks it into tying itself into a knot by chasing him. Leaving the tangled up snake, Goku thanks it for the hospitality and flies off further down the Serpent Road. As Goku continues running down the Serpent Road, his friends all continue their training under the watchful eyes of Kami and Popo, as the two Saiyan pods grow ever closer to the Earth. Review: While this episode certainly doesn't expand upon the world of Dragon Ball in the same way the previous one does, I can't lie – it's actually a lot more enjoyable just to watch. The idea of a snake monster living on the Serpent Road and becoming an additional challenge for Goku to overcome is a fun one, and having it at first seem to be something else entirely is another showing of that usual Toriyama flair, even if it's not coming from Toriyama himself this time. The idea of women being after Goku and finding him attractive is certainly a far cry from how Goku's character used to be treated in the series, but to be fair, we have to remember we're not that far removed from him being a kid character. He only reached an adult level of maturity an arc ago, so we've really only had a few chances to see how women generally view him now. Chi Chi was already in love with him before hand, and even Bulma found him attractive once she saw him all grown up, so the common consensus does seem to be that Goku is a pretty attractive guy. And out of series, oh yeah – there is definitely a big group of fans, both women and men, who find Goku physically attractive. The muscles definitely help I'd say – to quote TeamFourStar, 'you could grind meat on them.' Also, you get some adult Goku butt for your troubles in this episode as well. Huzzah! Putting Goku's inherent attractiveness aside, only not really because that's what the Snake Princess is all about, the continuing building of her and her attendants attempts to detain Goku are all pretty fun to watch, and they're all interspersed with hints as to the group's true nature – let's just say that the fact that a big snake wants to eat Goku wasn't exactly a hidden factor given how he got here in the first place. The insanity of everything going on only gets wilder and wilder with each step as well, and if it wasn't for one moment in particular, my favorite would probably be these supernatural snake women having a satellite to turn the sky to night. That's just great. No, the real winner here though absolutely has to be the almost last ditch effort to detain Goku with Russian Roulette. I have no idea what that attendant was thinking or what they've done to have such bad luck, but that is one of the most darkly hilarious things I've ever seen. I always forget about that bit until I get to it too, and it's made even more hilarious by how out of absolutely NOWHERE it comes. 'Hey, I've got just the thing!', then she pulls out a gun. It's insanity. Definitely going to make an uneducated guess that the scene was censored from the original Ocean Dub run of episodes on Toonami – there is NO way that scene aired originally. Once the Snake Princess finds out that Goku's not single, which I'm not entirely sure why she just naturally assumed he was prior to this, she stops wanting him for his body and starts wanting him for his body instead. Just, you know. To eat this time instead of...ANYWAY, I can't help but wonder if her plan wasn't always to eat him in the end anyway. Don't forget, at the start of the episode, Goku was already eaten by the giant snake that is her true form. The entirety of the rest of the adventure is all an illusion, and he's been inside it's stomach the whole time. So really, the idea was just to distract him and digest him over time, I would assume. So the whole gimmick of the Snake Princess wanting to find a mate instead is...weird. It's a weird roundabout way to keep Goku inside of there long enough, honestly. The whole thing just doesn't make a lot of sense once you get to the end of it, but when it's so enjoyable to watch, it's hard to really stay mad at it in the end, you know? It's almost a shame that the concept never gets brought up ever again, it would've been entertaining to see certain other characters have to contend with her as well when the time came, but alas – this is the Snake Princess's one and only appearance. Wait...so if the Snake Princess both wanted to mate with Goku and also eat him, doesn't that make this vore? … Until next time! Favorite Scene: It's as dark as can be, but I can't NOT laugh at the poor attendant's Russian Roulette performance. Just...WOW. Next Time: Like all children, Gohan utilizes his newly learned skills to get into more trouble than he could have before.
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Synopsis: Goku wakes up after being knocked out by an attack in Hell, to find himself being chastised by a large blue oni for trying to take one of Enma's fruits. Goku asks if he can't eat even one of them, and the oni denies him this, saying that only Enma is allowed to eat those. Goku says that he's really hungry, and a second red oni shows up and thinks that's just ridiculous – he's dead, how can he be hungry? Goku introduces himself to the oni and asks them if either of them is Kaio-sama, and the oni ask him where he thinks he is. Goku is disappointed to find out that he's in Hell and must have fallen off of the Serpent Road. Back on Earth, Lunch scowls angrily at the tall Karin Tower and yells up to Tenshinhan that she's not giving up, as Tenshinhan and Chaozu climb their way up the tower again to reach Karin before heading up to Kami's Sanctuary. Down below, Lunch begins digging through a teepee for anything worth stealing, and is eventually found by a returning Bora. Bora tells her to leave, but Lunch tries to force her to hand over anything of value he has. An older Upa steps forward, and Lunch fires her gun at him, but misses. As Bora tries to hold her back, a tassle on his armband causes her to sneeze, reverting her once again to the calmer blue-haired Lunch. In Hell, Goku continuously leaps into the air to try to get back up to the Serpent Road. The oni (Goz and Mez) think they can have some fun with him and argue about who's going to get to torture him first. After Goz wins at rock-paper-scissors, the blue oni walks over to Goku and offers to help him reach the Serpent Road, picking him up by the head and throwing him high into the air. Much to the oni's surprise, Goku is fine upon landing, and asks if Goz isn't very strong as Goku still didn't reach the bottom of the clouds. Goz angrily says he's the second strongest oni after Enma himself, causing Goku to wonder if Kami was right and that Enma isn't that strong after all. Angered further, Goz challenges Goku to a test of strength, saying that if he wins, he'll help Goku get back to the Serpent Road for real – if he loses however, Goku forfeits his body. Goz draws a circle in the sand and prepares to fight Goku sumo-style, even rushing Goku before he thinks Goku is ready, but Goku succeeds in stopping him from pushing him out of the ring. Goku compliments Goz as being better than he thought, but Goku still manages to knock Goz out of the ring with the wind pressure from a quick palm strike. Defeated, Goz takes Goku to a large see-saw and has Goku stand on one end of it while he jumps onto the other end, launching Goku high into the air. Goku has to launch a Kamehameha at the end to propel himself further but succeeds in touching the clouds at last...only to hit his head against their hard underside before crashing back down into a pond of blood. Mez continues his duties in Hell before spotting Goku continuing to try to break through the bottom of the clouds above Hell, angrily stomping over to take his turn 'torturing' Goku. The pair tells Goku that nobody has ever broken through the clouds the way he's trying to, but Mez promises to show him a secret way to get back up there if Goku can catch him as he runs around Hell. Goku thinks this sounds easy and agrees, though Mez warns him that he's the fastest oni after Enma himself. Back on Earth, Gohan continues his wilderness survival by outrunning and tormenting a poor sabretooth. Goku's chase in Hell begins, with Mez quickly proving to be a lot faster than Goku expected, though Goku is likewise able to keep up and almost catch Mez a few times much to the oni's surprise. Mez continues to have fun with the race and even offers for Goku to stay in Hell and they can do this every day, but Goku says he has to get to Kaio-sama's. Eventually Goku asks if they can stop for a moment and rest, and asks again if he can eat one of Enma's fruits from the nearby tree. Mez tells him no again, saying that it's said someone who eats one can avoid hunger for a hundred days and even gets a power boost to boot. Much to Mez's chagrin, Goku rushes over to grab one, and as Mez chases him, Goku eventually turns around and catches Mez. Defeated and with no choice now, Goz and Mez show Goku a hidden stairway that will lead back to the Serpent Road. As he leaves, Goku taunts the pair by revealing that he grabbed one of Enma's fruit and eats it as he goes up the stairs. Goku is happy to get back to the Serpent Road, but soon finds that the path actually leads to the inside of Enma's desk – Goku is now back at the very start of the Serpent Road! He rushes to get started down the path again, though he notices that running it seems to be a little easier now than it was before. Review: This episode is definitely one of the most fun ones in early DBZ's filler additions, as well as one of it's most memorable, so it's probably little surprise that so much of what it brings to the table effected the anime to varying degrees long past it's initial airing. And yes, I broke my own rule about not referring to characters by name until they're stated once I realized the oni are never named in episode – I will accept my lambasting at a later time. In the manga, the Serpent Road is kind of a red herring. It's implied to be this great challenge that Goku has to overcome, and presumably it is indeed a challenge...but presume is all we can really do. It's not really shown. Most of Goku's running down the road is going to be presented as something that happens off-screen and something that didn't give him anything to do but run. That's challenging enough given it's length, but there's not really any story potential there. Realizing this and no doubt wanting to at least do something with their lead character before his eventual return to life, Toei seized upon a stray comment in a previous chapter and decided to send Goku to Hell – literally. This is something that doesn't happen at all in the manga, and as a result, we never do get to see what Hell is like in it. As a result, it's the anime's interpretation of Hell as shown here that basically takes over for the entire franchise's original run, and it would remain the official look of Dragon Ball's Hell all the way until 2015, when a new story from Toriyama would finally show us his vision of Hell, at least in part. But that's a long, long way's off from being covered, so for now let's just focus on this version of Hell. And surprisingly, the Dragon Ball version of Hell is somewhat chill. Sure, there's ponds of blood, a mountain of needles, and a pair of oni to torture you, but all things told it certainly doesn't seem like the worst place imaginable. In fact, as we'll later see, one of the biggest problems in it might be becoming bored, though that in-of-itself is something that requires a change from what's presented to us at this point – again, more to discuss at a later date. For now, Hell is presented to us as a place that bad souls go to, and like most people in the afterlife, the bad people have their bodies taken away and are reduced to little cloud puff ball souls instead. It was shown previously that Goku getting to keep his body was an exception to the norm, and that exception is what makes him so valuable to the bored oni – how fun can it really be to torture clouds, after all? Goz and Mez's various 'torture' methods for Goku are likewise pretty simplistic and childish, fitting with Toriyama's wry sense of humor – sure, Hell's torture can involve sumo, seesaws, and a foot race, why not? The oni pair also inadvertently serve to prove Kami's words about Enma not being the best person for Goku to train under, as he's already more than up to par against these oni, likewise showing that there wouldn't be much left for him to learn from Enma either. It does sort of make one wonder how Enma really was able to overpower Raditz, but I've always assumed that the taking away of a person's body is rather immediate, meaning all Enma had to contend with was a foul-mouthed little soul cloud – not exactly the hardest to punt down into Hell. Almost is a little surprising that Raditz isn't shown in Hell though, even if it is in cloud form – if this filler had been done far later in DBZ's run, there's almost a decent chance that would have happened. By the time we do see Hell again though, Raditz is going to be long, long forgotten. Poor guy. Overall, the episode is pretty fun, but I'd say it's the concepts that it brings to the table that are the real standout star of it, as the episode itself is a little underwhelming in some ways. None of the action is hard hitting, none of the jokes are going to make you bust a gut – it just sort of meanders it's way through it's setting after a while. That said though, it's still great to actually see Hell, and it's nice to see it presented in an unexpected way. Most of all, it's just nice to see payoff to Toriyama's off-handed remark about falling through the clouds leading to Hell. I mean c'mon, why bring it up if we weren't actually going to see it happen? Until next time! Favorite Scene: It's unrelated to the plot of the episode at large, but I really like seeing Upa and Bora again to be honest. Next Time: Princess Snake was absolutely horny on main for Goku. Synopsis: Gohan sleeps and dreams of his father, thinking back on the terrible events leading up to his father's death. The next morning, Gohan continues his survival ritual while coming to a decision – he's going to go back to his mother. In the afterlife, Goku continues running the Serpent Road, as his former master Roshi wonders if he's made it to Kaio-sama's yet. He and the turtle discuss whether or not Goku will become strong enough to stop the two incoming Saiyans, and neither can assure the other with certainty. Still flying through the skies, Bulma and Kuririn continue looking for Tenshinhan and Chaozu's location, with Kuririn worrying that Yamcha (who has left at some point) may have already gotten ahead of them and reached Kami's sanctuary. In the wilderness below, Tenshinhan and Chaozu are training at a gigantic waterfall, with Tenshinhan using his energy to stop the raging waters in place for a moment. Chaozu is pleased, but their training is soon interrupted by the sound of gunfire, with Lunch calling out to both of them to come down for some lunch, bemusing the fighters. They're both even more surprised to see the spread of food before them, with Lunch saying she 'hired' a group of chefs to make it for them with only the best ingredients. Chaozu thinks this all probably cost quite a bit of money, but Lunch says she just finished a 'job' so it's fine. Lunch asks what Tenshinhan is planning to do next, and when Chaozu says he's training until he gets strong enough to beat Goku, Lunch says there's no need for such things in peace time, and says that Tenshinhan is already plenty strong as it is. Tenshinhan is annoyed by this comment, and explains that he can't rest while others out there are still training and getting far stronger. Lunch suggests that Tenshinhan team up with her instead and they can go on a crime spree holding up every bank in the world, but Tenshinhan storms off, telling Chaozu to come with him as they still have more training to do. Back at the waterfall, Tenshinhan wonders just what kind of training Goku is getting up to without him nowadays. On the Serpent Road, Goku comes across a street cleaner driven by an Oni that was apparently asked to clean the road by Enma, and when Goku asks how much further there is to go, the oni remarks that Goku is maybe about halfway to the halfway point. When Goku sits down and says that he needs to take a break, the oni offers to take him further down the road as he rests, and Goku takes him up on his offer, taking a nap on the back of the street cleaner. Back on Earth, Piccolo meditates and lifts pyramids with only his mind so as to continue his own training while he waits for Gohan to be ready to train. Gohan meanwhile has completely turned the tables on the poor carnivorous dinosaur, chasing him down to cut another slice off of the dinosaur's quickly dwindling tail. Piccolo soon overdoes his own training, causing an earthquake that he fears will soon reach the nearby Gohan's location. Piccolo's fears are proven true, as a large fissure soon breaks open the ground around Gohan, who falls deep into the ravine. The earthquake even reaches Tenshinhan, Chaozu, and Lunch's location, with Lunch shown to be afraid of earthquakes and trying to rush to Tenshinhan's side. A training Tenshinhan spots a bigger threat in the form of the waterfall's water rushing towards them, and Tenshinhan grabs hold of Lunch and steadies them both against the torrent of water. This display of power finally raises Tenshinhan's power enough for Bulma's scouter to pick up on him again. As Gohan uses his sword to prevent himself from falling too deep into the ground, the ground itself begins to close in around him, and he has to quickly leap up out of the crevice to avoid being squashed. Having come to look for him, Piccolo scowls but seems to be pleased at the boy's survival. Back with the others, Lunch sneezes as a result of getting cold from the water, reverting to her blue haired form just as Bulma and Kuririn close in on their location. Lunch apologizes for causing so much trouble for Tenshinhan and Chaozu and says she'll return to Kame House for now, something that suits Tenshinhan fine. He thinks that they'll be able to devote themselves to their training fully now, but Lunch stops in a field of flowers on her way out, soon sneezing and turning back into her blonde form again. The blonde Lunch returns to bother Tenshinhan again, just as Kuririn and Bulma find them at last. Kuririn and Bulma explain everything that's going on to Tenshinhan and Chaozu, and invite them to come train at Kami-sama's alongside Yamcha and Yajirobe, and Tenshinhan and Chaozu think this is a great turn of events at least as far as their training goes, especially as it will get them away from 'her'. Lunch insists that she's going with them however, but Tenshinhan ignores her and vows to Goku that he's going to catch up with him. In the afterlife, Goku continues to nap on the back of the street cleaner, but when it hits a bump in the road, it shakes him off, causing him to plummet through the clouds, and fall straight through to Hell. Goku awakens upon landing, wondering if he's come to Kaio-sama's at last without even realizing it. He smells something tasty off ahead of him, so he starts walking towards a large fruit tree, but he's stopped from taking fruit by a sudden attack with a large club. Meanwhile, the Saiyans grow ever closer to the Earth. Review: This is one of those strange filler episodes that, when taken fully on it's own merits, really...doesn't have much of a story in-of-itself. It's mostly here to flesh out things that we know are happening in the manga but aren't otherwise privy to seeing, while also setting up for it's own unique filler story line to come. Case in point – we get a ton of focus on Tenshinhan and Chaozu in this episode. So much so in fact that really, the title of the episode should be something reflecting their part in the episode rather than a tease of something that only happens at the very end and is largely just setup for the following episode. But I guess having Goku's name in the title gets more eyes on the screen or something, so Toei titled it thus. It really is Tenshinhan's (and to a lesser extent Chaozu's) time to shine however, as this is the most time we've spent with just them since...well, ever, actually. And it fits perfectly with both Tenshinhan's character as well as what was said about them in the opening chapters of the arc. Tenshinhan is still training like a mad man, trying to catch up to the likes of Goku and Piccolo, who have both left him effectively in the dust after the previous arcs. Given Tenshinhan was very briefly considered the strongest person in the world, it's easy enough to see why he'd take this all so personally, but I don't think it's really about the bragging rights at all. He just wants to better himself, and if he can use others, particularly Goku, as a measuring post to do that, then that's just what he's going to do. Other than Goku, and arguably even more than Goku, nobody fits the martial arts mentality more than Tenshinhan. And hey, Chaozu's here too because he's everywhere Tenshinhan goes. Neat. The episode also shows us some more of Lunch, building both off of her scene in the last episode while also working with what was said about her at the start of this arc as well. In the manga, we never see her, suggesting that she never quite caught up with Tenshinhan, but in the anime here, we do get a good handful of scenes showing how ardently she's pursuing him. It's interesting to see someone like her become so obsessive, and especially to see the lengths she's willing to go to get his attention, but...honestly, I'm beginning to think there's a good reason they don't work out as a couple. Not that they ever really were one in the first place really. Don't get me wrong, it's a cute pairing idea, and I used to be quite behind the idea myself. Looking at the pair of them nowadays though, they couldn't be more different, and I don't think it's one of those 'opposites attract' sort of deals either. Lunch very much wants to be with Tenshinhan, but she wants it to be the kind of life she's always been living up until now too, with him joining her on her crime sprees. Given Tenshinhan's reformed nature from his time training to be an assassin, it's probably a pretty safe bet that he's not that interested in breaking any kind of laws nowadays if he can avoid it, especially not when doing so would get in the way of his real goal of training. Lunch can't see that he doesn't have any interest in that though, so I think any attraction he may have felt towards her initially has long since passed. Complicating matters further is the fact that the blue-haired Lunch barely seems to know who Tenshinhan is, much less feeling any attraction to him, so...yeah. Their relationship was basically a no-go from the beginning the more you look at it. There's a few other scenes in the episode that basically show us what we already know must have happened at some point prior to everyone getting to Kami's – Kuririn and Bulma finding the pair of them to explain everything, and Piccolo doing his own training while waiting for Gohan to be ready – but they're fairly short and just exist to hit the episode's needed runtime. The main other thing this episode brings to the table and even names itself after is Goku's part in it. The idea of a street cleaner oni cleaning the insanely long Serpent Road is pretty funny – seriously, with how slow that thing's moving, how long ago was it that Enma asked him to clean it? - but the idea of Goku taking a break on the thing is a little off-putting to be honest. I mean, this is Goku, a character that loves training and giving it his all. We've also already seen before that he doesn't like cheating and taking the easy way out, as seen when he didn't take the fake holy water from Karin while the latter slept. Sure, he flew part of the road at the start, but that's still moving under his own power – you can call it cheating to a degree, but I don't think that's anywhere near the same thing as him just riding on a vehicle and taking a nap. It feels like a pretty weird way to have him accidentally fall off of the Road and end up in Hell. Especially when there were basically limitless other ways for them to achieve that same end. I dunno, I'm just not really a fan of the execution here. What I am a fan of is anytime we get to see Dragon Ball's Hell though, so the next episode should hopefully prove pretty fun. Until next time! Favorite Scene: Lunch trying to get Tenshinhan to enjoy having her around and to team up with her on a crime spree is awkwardly hilarious. Next Time: Yeah, I'm not so sure eating a fruit grown in Hell is such a great idea either. Synopsis: Gohan awakens to another day living in the wilderness, and goes about his morning ritual of gathering food both easily and happily. His breakfast is soon interrupted by the carnivorous dinosaur that always tries to eat him, but he easily runs from it now, and even cuts off part of it's tail to cook and add to his breakfast. Witnessing this, Piccolo is pleased to see how far he's already come. Meanwhile, Bulma, Kuririn, and Yamcha continue to fly through the skies, heading towards Tenshinhan and Chaozu. Out in space, the two Saiyans race towards Earth in their pods, though a beeping noise awakens them before they arrive. The taller of the two (Nappa) asks the shorter (Vegeta) if they've arrived at Earth yet, but Vegeta says that he set up an early wake-up timer as there's a planet on the way that they should check out, as it could potentially be sold for a high price. Nappa is delighted by this, saying that spending a whole year in deep sleep could make them rusty after all. The pair crash land on a desolate looking planet that already looks like it's been attacked, causing Nappa to wonder if it's really worth that much. Vegeta says they'll have to inspect it more thoroughly to be sure. Just then, a pair of giant bugs pop from the ground, and the two bug-like people riding it say that these aliens could make great gifts for their king. Nappa prepares to fight back against the aliens, but Vegeta orders him to allow them to be “captured”, as it will just result in them being taken to this king. On Earth, Lunch (in her blonde state) is running from the cops after another successful heist, with Lunch saying that this money is a gift for Tenshinhan. As Vegeta and Nappa are taken to the bug people's king, they witness the state of the planet, as it seems the king keeps a rather oppressive rule. The Saiyans are locked in a jail cell along with some other bug-like prisoners, with one in particular warning that they've arrived at a bad time – things on Planet Arlia have been crazy ever since King Moai took the throne, with one prisoner explaining how he even had his wife taken from him on their wedding day. In the throne room, Moai asks his new queen, the kidnapped Lemuria, what's wrong, as she doesn't seem to be enjoying the battle staged before them, and wonders if she's still thinking about that other man. The loser of the staged battle is tossed into a pit, where a larger Arlian waits to eat him. Bored now himself, Moai orders the two space men that were captured to be brought before him, as they might make good pets. To Moai and the guards surprise, the two Saiyans soon walk out before them under their own power, causing them all to wonder what happened to the guards. The surviving prisoner who had his wife taken unburies himself from the rubble left behind and remarks at the amazing power these two aliens have. Moai challenges the Saiyans to a bet, saying that if they can beat his warriors, he'll give them anything they like, though he thinks they don't stand a chance, saying he really just wants to see what kind of blood aliens have. Vegeta instantly kills Moai's warrior however, shocking the king greatly. Vegeta says what he wants is the planet itself, causing the rest of the king's warriors to spill out around them. They try to attack, but are quickly overpowered, with Vegeta revealing they let themselves be captured on purpose. As Goku is shown to continue running down the Serpent Road, Moai orders the release of Yedi, the gigantic Arlian from the pit, but even it is quickly dispatched by Nappa. Seeing all of his forces defeated, Moai tries to flee, but is soon killed by a rock Vegeta sends flying through him. The surviving prisoner rushes out to see the throne room in disarray, but is happy to be reunited with Lemuria. As Vegeta calls for their pods, the prisoner thanks the Saiyans for saving their planet, thinking that peace will surely return to their planet at last now. As the two lovers reunite however, Vegeta and Nappa decide that this stop was a waste of time and that they wouldn't get anything for this planet, so Vegeta simply blows it up with a blast fired from his fingertips. With Arlia no more, Vegeta and Nappa continue their journey towards Earth, hoping that it's a more fruitful visit than this one was. Review: The opening of this episode takes some of it's material from the previous chapter I reviewed, once again showing that there is no perfect way to bounce between the anime and manga medium the way I'm doing, but alas – it's the method I chose, and it's the method I'm sticking with. From there though, the episode jumps immediately to completely original material, including a rare scene of Lunch! I'd imagine Lunch was an incredibly confusing character for fans who first got into the franchise from DBZ's original Toonami airings, as you're really given no context for who she is or why she's important, and then she almost immediately just...disappears soon after. The real meat of this episode comes in the form of seeing the two Saiyans in action. Only Nappa is named in this episode, but if it's going to give me one of their names, I figured I may as well start referring to both of them by name going forward so as to make things easier – I'm not entirely sure when their names are first uttered in the manga as a result, but if I had to guess it's probably when they arrive on Earth at last. Irregardless, this episode gives us an early taste of what the Saiyans are going to be like, but only a taste. And frankly, as entertaining as seeing the pair in action is...it's really not needed. Don't get me wrong, it's always great to see scenes with the villains as the focus rather than our heroes, but basically everything we see the Saiyans do here are things we could already pretty well surmise they'd be capable of. After all, we got a good look at what Raditz could do in a fight, and both Nappa and Vegeta are already said to be far, far stronger than he was. So seeing them flying, shooting energy blasts, and even taking down warriors far larger than themselves...really isn't that impressive, nor is it doing much to impress upon us how strong they are. The Arlians (also unnamed in the episode, but I figured if I'm in for a penny I'm in for a pound) aren't the most interesting either, though I do like their designs. Mostly they're here to get slaughtered by Nappa and Vegeta and look even more alien than the Saiyans do. There is a underlying ironic humor in the Saiyans saving them from an oppressive king in the process of scoping the planet out, only for them to end up dying anyway, so that's enjoyable in a sick way I suppose. The end of the episode where Vegeta blows up the planet is really the only moment that I think succeeds in bigging up the Saiyans more than they already were. We saw what Raditz could do, but nothing in that fight or any previous Dragon Ball fight suggested that the planet was ever in any danger of just being blown up. If Vegeta can do that, then our heroes really are in trouble. In a way, maybe that was the point of the episode in the end, to lure viewers into false expectations, thinking that these other two Saiyans didn't seem THAT impressive, only to end on one of them casually blowing up a planet to really blow your mind. It's effective in that way, but also a little misleading given what we're later going to see Vegeta be capable of, and also – well, spoilers going into a later character and story reveal. I'll try to remember to touch on that then. Until next time! Favorite Scene: The short scuffle between the giant Arlian and Vegeta and Nappa is pretty fun, especially with the background being unlike anything else we're going to see these two fight in. Next Time: While everyone else continues training, our hero takes a nap. Maybe you deserve what happens next, Goku. Synopsis: As Chi Chi and Gyu-mao fly towards Kame House in a flying car, Gyu-mao tries to get his daughter to calm down, but she's not having any of it. She told Goku to be back home with their son by dark and it's now the next day. Gyu-mao thinks he probably just lost track of time since it'd been so long since he saw his friends, but Chi Chi doesn't think that's a good enough excuse to mess up Gohan's studying. Gyu-mao says that he's only four and can probably miss a day of studying and be fine, outraging Chi Chi who tells him that with the world being so competitive nowadays, it's never too early to get an edge. At Kame House, a tired Bulma finally finishes working on Raditz's scouter, and is delighted and ready to show off her work...only to find that Roshi and Kuririn have both fallen asleep. She shoots them awake with a machine gun, saying that if she doesn't get to sleep, none of them do. She then tells Roshi to step forward, and she scans him with the scouter to show that it works and that she's reprogrammed it to work with Earth's numerical system. She gets a reading of 139 for Roshi's power level, followed by getting a reading of 206 for Kuririn. Kuririn is overjoyed to be stronger than his master, though Roshi wonders if it's really fixed after all. Bulma says the best thing about the scouter is that it also tells you how far away a reading is, so they can use it to find the others. She proves this by picking up on power levels of 250 and 177 at various distances away, with Kuririn and Roshi surmising that those readings must be Tenshinhan and Yamcha respectively. She then picks up a reading of 329 that they attribute to Piccolo, and though they briefly consider going to pick up Gohan from that location, they decide against it in the end. Roshi says that he trusts Piccolo actually does have a plan in mind, but they also realize what would happen if they tried to defy Piccolo and his much higher power level. Bulma thinks that if they gather everyone and split up, they'll be able to gather the Dragon Balls that much faster, but their conversation is soon interrupted by the arrival of Yajirobe. Kuririn recognizes him from Karin's tower but doesn't remember his name right away, greatly annoying Yajirobe. Yajirobe says that Karin knows what's been going on, and sent him to gather Kuririn, Yamcha, Tenshinhan, and Chaozu, saying that the five of them are all going to be training with Kami. Kuririn is overjoyed at the prospect of training with Kami, and as he leaves, Yajirobe also passes on Goku's request that they not bring him back for a full year since he's training in the afterlife, telling them to talk to Baba for more information. Yajirobe leaves, but the group soon spots what they think is him coming back, only for it to turn out to be Chi Chi and Gyu-mao instead. Everyone panics as they wonder how to tell her what's happened and what her reaction is going to be, and Chi Chi is naturally horrified and shocked when she's told that Gohan was taken by Piccolo. Gyu-mao asks what Goku was doing during all of this, and Roshi reveals that Goku is dead currently, causing an overloaded Chi Chi to faint. Six months pass, and Kuririn, Yamcha, Tenshinhan, Chaozu, and Yajirobe all train at Kami's sanctuary to get stronger. In the afterlife, Goku continues to run down the Serpent Road heading towards Kaio-sama, while down below on the Earth, Gohan has become much more self sufficient than he was before. He's become able to gather food all on his own, and also isn't scared of the large carnivorous dinosaur that keeps hounding him anymore – in fact, he's able to dodge out of the way of it's attack and slice off part of it's tail to cook and eat, something he's apparently been doing for some time as the dinosaur's tail is already much shorter than it should be. Watching this from above, Piccolo is pleased to see the progress that Gohan has already made, and thinks to himself that it might be time to start training Gohan for real. Review: I knew I'd come to a bit more of an issue with where I reviewed filler pretty quickly once I hit the 'Z' portion of the franchise, but even I didn't expect it to happen, uh, pretty much immediately. Dragon Ball Z, for better and worse (often worse) has a lot more filler than it's predecessor ever did, both in original stories that I'll be covering, and the moving around and stretching out of canon material that I won't be covering. As a result, especially when bouncing back and forth from the anime and manga both, there's going to be times where I won't have been able to pick an exact perfect placement for where to cover certain things. This chapter actually makes the perfect example for that. I chose to review the previous two filler episodes first based on where they found Gohan – untrained and still learning how to get better at surviving on his own, prior to Piccolo actually training him at all. That worked out great from that angle, but as you'll have just read, this chapter also shows what some of the other characters are up to, and some of their scenes take place prior to the Yamcha storyline in the last filler, with one scene at the end of this chapter taking place after some of the filler we'll have yet to cover. So basically, follow along as best you can if any of this material is new for you, because there's really no easy way to cover it in the fashion that I am. It's definitely a weakness to this method, and why I wouldn't recommend someone experience the series for the very first time in the order that I'm doing it here. With all of that out of the way, let's go over what this chapter actually shows us. Starting off, it's our first introduction to the new looks and somewhat different personalities for Chi Chi and Gyu-mao (though Gyu-mao is basically as he was in the last filler of the first anime series). Chi Chi...is a complicated character. After marrying Goku and becoming a mother, her personality seems to have done an almost complete 180, and she has absolutely no interest in fighting at all anymore. This is a bit of a shame – she was shown to be at least fairly proficient in the previous arc, she made it into the tournament proper after all. At the same time, she only came to the tournament to find Goku in the first place, so it's hard to say how serious she ever really was about martial arts in the first place. Regardless, for her to have come to a point that she seems to loathe the idea of them is extremely unfortunate, as it often leaves her acting like a wet blanket for many of her scenes – ESPECIALLY in the anime. In fact, most fans view her as little more than a nag. Chi Chi can certainly rub me the wrong way a lot of the time too – there's at least one scene in the future that I have and will always hate – but let's be fair to her here. In the last arc, she went from being overjoyed at finding her husband, to realizing the kind of crazy life he's lead, to seeing him almost die before her very eyes. It'd be pretty easy to imagine her having internalized all of that as 'martial arts are dangerous', and thus decide that she doesn't want anything at all like that for her kid. Chi Chi was also always shown to be the kind of person who was in love with the very idea of being in love, and probably spent much of her time imagining what her perfect family life was going to be – it's not that far of a leap for her to lose interest in fighting if it doesn't fit with that ideal of hers. And let's not forget either – Gohan is FOUR. How many mothers do you know that would actually be thrilled at the idea of their FOUR YEAR OLD having to save the world? I'd guess not many, as most would be rightfully horrified at the idea. Chi Chi can be annoying to have around in the story, but that's because the story itself is focused on fighting and having fun – in reality, her reactions would be entirely realistic. Most of the time anyway. Bulma having finally fixed the scouter serves a two-fold purpose. Mainly it's going to be the way that they find everyone as everyone's ki sensing skills aren't quite up to the point that they can easily detect people from across the globe just yet, but it also serves as a bit of a way to finally put the background characters in a more exact pecking order, at least for where they stand at this point. Roshi is retired, but even so, he serves as a good baseline to show how absurdly strong our heroes are compared to normal people (don't forget the farmer registered a mere 5 after all). From there, Kuririn is much stronger, but his power level is lower than who they figure must be Tenshinhan. They then surmise that Yamcha is the other power level they pick up on, placing him as stronger than Roshi but still weaker than Kuririn or Tenshinhan. And Chaozu...isn't picked up on at all. I don't know whether that's funny or just really, really sad. They also pick up on Piccolo's power level, showing both how far behind they all are currently, while also driving further in how far they have to go if they're going to stand a chance against the Saiyans. Which is where Kami's offer to train them comes in. Based on the panel we get to see of it, Popo's still involved of course, but it looks like Kami might be more directly involved this time around, how nice of him. Like with the Karin training many of the characters went through before, you'd at first wonder just how much they can really improve when going through training that's a step behind, but don't forget that we've been through this once before already. Goku trained by himself at Karin's and made great improvements, but it's arguable that Kuririn, Yamcha, Tenshinhan, and Chaozu all made even greater improvements there because they had each other to train with and against. They're all now doing that again, but with the addition of Yajirobe, at a much more intense training location – there's really no telling just how much these guys are going to be able to improve. And yes, I'm somewhat sighing in knowledge of what's to come right now. From there, the chapter also skips ahead from where we've seen Gohan as of the last episode, as he's now able to take care of himself fully. Not only is he still able to go and get food all on his own, but the likes of the carnivorous dinosaur aren't even a concern for him anymore – in fact, HE'S the one eating the dinosaur now. If being able to eat part of a T-Rex thing and live to tell the tale isn't a sign that you're ready for some demon style training, I don't know what is, and Piccolo seems to agree. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: Who needs Raid when you have Saiyans? Synopsis: A storm rages as Gohan catches a large fish and heads back to a cave he's been staying in, stopping to grab some fruit along the way first, and even getting past a snake without getting scared by it. He falls out of a tree and injures himself slightly, and makes some medicinal paste by grinding up some leaves as he remembers his father doing for him once before. As he treats his wound, a pair of eyes ominously watches him from behind. Elsewhere, Yamcha is playing in a professional baseball game, though Puar notes that he doesn't seem to be enjoying it. Yamcha just can't get into it as it comes too easily to him, and he notes that he's a martial artist and is only really doing this because he needs the money – he'd much rather get back into the swing of things as a fighter again. The coach bribes Yamcha to get off the bench and back into the game with promise of a bonus, and the coach tries to convince the current batter to allow himself to get hit to load the bases. The player does so, causing a big fight to break out between both teams, something Yamcha's actually excited to get involved in. To his surprise however, Kuririn appears out of nowhere and tells him about what's happened. Yamcha immediately agrees to go with them, though awkwardness persists between Yamcha and Bulma, though Yamcha perks back up at the thought of training with Kami. On the Serpent Road, Goku finds that he still has a long, long way to go, and wonders if he'll even make it to the end by a year's end. As Gohan sleeps in the cave, the pair of eyes that had been watching him before begins eating all of the fruit and berries he'd gathered for food. As Gohan wakes up in the morning and tries to find the food, he instead finds a long-necked dinosaur. As Gohan tries to figure out how to deal with this new situation, the dinosaur starts to leave, only to fall to the ground. It's then that Gohan discovers it's wound, finding a large branch sticking out of it's flesh. Gohan warns the dinosaur that it's going to hurt, but manages to yank the branch free. Seeing how deep it was stuck in and that the wound is still bleeding, Gohan quickly prepares a larger version of the leaf paste he used to treat his own wound and applies it to the dinosaur. Leaving the dinosaur on it's own, Gohan heads out to get some more food for them both, only for the dinosaur to immediately eat the food that he gathered, forcing him to head out once again. As Gohan continues exploring and gathering however, the tail of another dinosaur swings through some nearby trees. As Bulma, Kuririn, and Yamcha fly in one of Bulma's airships, Yamcha is excited at the prospect of fighting again and getting stronger, though Bulma says there's currently only a slim chance of them winning. Yamcha isn't worried however, thinking that between Goku coming back stronger than ever alongside all of them training with Kami, as well as having Piccolo of all people on their side this time, that there's nothing they can't do. Yamcha's outlook even improves Bulma's mood, and Kuririn frustratingly notes that it looks like they're getting along okay after all. As he gathers more fruit, Gohan imagines how great it'll be to have a dinosaur friend as he keeps surviving in the wasteland. He thinks that he's already gotten a good bit stronger himself as well, realizing the kind of things that he's doing now are the sorts of things that he'd have been terrified of before. Returning to his dinosaur friend, Gohan finds it locked in combat with a gigantic meat-eating dinosaur – the same one that chased him before. Gohan yells for the carnivore to leave his friend alone, and even draws his sword to fight back. Though Gohan is successful in distracting the dinosaur at first, he is eventually knocked aside and unconscious, and though the carnivore can't find him afterwards, it simply turns back to the long-necked dinosaur. As Gohan wakes up again the next morning, he finds only bones where his friend was, and sadly realizes that he still has to get a lot stronger than he is now. Review: Two episodes in a row with Gohan making a new friend and losing them by the end - this sure is starting to be a trend for the poor kid, huh? Surely that kind of thing won't be happening to him again though. ...*cough* All joking aside, this episode actually doesn't focus nearly as much on the dinosaur as I always remember it doing. It's still a main focus of course, but unlike the previous episode which was pretty much entirely about Gohan and the robot bonding, this time around there's equal focus given to what's happening elsewhere, this time in the form of Kuririn and Bulma picking up Yamcha. And honestly, between the two storylines in this episode? I find the Yamcha material far more interesting and entertaining. Something that we never really saw come up in the previous material was any indication of what these characters do when they're not training or fighting. They've all reached adulthood now though, and adulthood brings with it more responsibilities and the need for money to get by – it sucks, but it's true in fiction usually just as it's true in real life. And in Yamcha's case, with he and Bulma on the rocks again, it definitely means his easier life is over, and he has money concerns now. In fact, the episode even shows that money concerns was the real reason he and Bulma 'broke up', as Yamcha didn't have any money to take her out on a date before, and thus 'stood her up' – something Bulma apparently took to mean he was after another girl, because of course that's what Bulma thinks. I think there's definitely an unhealthy air to their relationship that the series never really delves into the more we see of it to be honest. All of that aside though, the idea that Yamcha would play baseball to make money is as inspired as it is hilarious and out of nowhere. You might find it weird that Yamcha would gravitate to something like this as a career when there was never anything to suggest he was interested in the sport before, and you'd quickly be proven right as Yamcha ISN'T interested in the sport, at least not really. He just needs a way to make good money, and it turns out that being as strong as he is means being really, really good at hitting home runs. He even basically extorts his coach to get more money out of playing even though it's boring him to tears – Yamcha, you devious bastard of a genius you. Going back to the Bulma/Yamcha relationship for a moment, the episode also makes it clear that there's still an attraction there between the two of them, despite them being on the rocks at the moment, something that Kuririn is a little perturbed by. It's been hinted in the past that Kuririn might have a bit of a thing for Bulma, so one can't help but wonder if he was thinking of pursuing her himself now that she's single. That...could only have ended terribly, my friend. As for the titular storyline focusing on Gohan and the dinosaur...it's alright. It's cute, but it's certainly not as fleshed out as the one between Gohan and the robot, and it doesn't help that this episode comes immediately after that one either. It's weird, in a way I've always found it odd that this episode was the one that the original dub kept whereas it removed the previous one, but in some ways I think I can see why. The robot episode is certainly more fleshed out with what it does for Gohan's character, but this one is a little more fun and better paced, while also showing off a bit more of characters other than Gohan. Yamcha in particular probably needed this re-introduction since, well, for fans unfamiliar with the previous material, this is his FIRST introduction...and man does that both work for and against him as a character, especially considering where he's going in this story arc. Gohan finding out how tough he's already become is a treat though, as is seeing him remembering some times spent with his father and even realizing he'd learned something from him as well. So it's not at all that this episode's story for him is bad, it's just that it feels a bit repetitive when we've had two of them in a row. Until next time! Favorite Scene: Gohan imagining his new dino friend and himself going on adventures together is pretty cute. What kid DIDN'T want a dino friend after all? Next Time: A little of before, a little of after. Synopsis: As the sun rises the day after Gohan's transformation into an Oozaru, the young boy awakens to find himself off of the destroyed rock pillar, and wearing new clothes and sporting a sword to boot. He doesn't remember anything, and as he tries to stumble over to some water to wash his face, he discovers his balance being thrown off by his tail being missing. Gohan doesn't have long to worry about any of this however a she soon finds himself being pursued by a large alligator and a sabretooth. Gohan flees from them while trying to back them away with his sword, and ends up being grabbed by a giant eagle. As the eagle flies, it gets into a fight with a large pterodactyl, ultimately dropping Gohan who falls through a hole in the desert's sand. Gohan finds himself in a large cave of ruins that Gohan recognizes as being from a long-lost civilization. Looking around the cave, Gohan soon runs into a large, old robot trapped in debris. He powers the robot on, and it immediately asks who has woken it up. Gohan introduces himself to the robot and the robot warns him not to speak too loudly, as the slightest vibration causes sand to fall down into the cave, something that's already been happening since Gohan's arrival. Gohan asks the robot what it's doing here, but the robot tells him that it's none of his business and requests to be turned off once again, telling Gohan that there's an exit behind him. Gohan turns the robot off and starts to leave through the exit, but soon finds that it leads to a deep ravine. Heading back to the robot, he powers it back on and tells him that he can't get out that way, but the robot chastises Gohan for turning him on again when all he wants is to sleep. Gohan begins to cry, causing more sand to fall, and the robot tells him to stop, telling him that that exit is the only way out if he wants to live. As the robot talks to him, Gohan becomes scared stiff of a snake and stops talking, causing the robot to think that he's left, revealing to Gohan that the robot's visual sensors are damaged. Gohan opens the robot's front and fixes it's sensors much to the robot's complaints, though it now sees that it's dealing with an actual child. Gohan insists that he needs the robot's help to escape, but the robot tells him not to depend on it, demanding once again to be turned off and left here. Gohan turns the robot off again, leaving him feeling more alone than ever, and as he still can't bring himself to brave the ravine, goes and sits down to cry. As day passes on into night, Gohan eventually falls asleep laying next to the robot. Gohan is rudely awakened as a scorpion falls onto his chest, and he turns the robot on again. The robot tells him that he can expect a scorpion or too as long as he's here underground and again orders Gohan to power him off. Gohan does so, but soon turns him on again to complain that he's hungry. The robot tells him there's no reason there'd anything here to eat unless he wants to eat scorpions or snakes, and Gohan's crying begins to cause the cave to collapse again. The robot agrees to help him out just this once, and tells him to go check the corners of the cave, and when Gohan does, he finds numerous mushrooms he can eat. The robot tells him to turn him off again, but Gohan says he can't eat them raw. Gohan says the robot should have a cooking system as he remembers reading about this kind of robot in a book, describing him as a 'superior unit'. The robot is immensely flattered, and agrees to cook the mushrooms for him. As Gohan eats the mushrooms, the robot asks him how he ended up in here in the first place. Gohan says he just wants to go back to his mother's but has no idea where he is or how to get there. The robot thinks that's rough for someone so young, but says it'll be even harder for Gohan to live if he stays in this desert. Gohan then asks the robot how he ended up here, and the robot explains that he was excavating these ruins when the ground gave way and he became trapped and abandoned after the collapse. Gohan says finding ruins like these must have been a great discovery, and the robot is impressed that Gohan knows about them. Gohan thinks that someone else coming to look at the ruins might come help them eventually, but the robot says he's been trapped here without seeing another person for eighty years before Gohan showed up. Gohan starts digging the robot out of the debris with his sword, but the robot objects and tells Gohan to leave him be, as if he stores up enough energy he can eventually escape on his own.. Gohan's digging eventually causes the cave to start to collapse faster, and the robot tells Gohan to leave immediately if he doesn't want to die. Gohan wants the robot to come with him, but the robot tells him that he'll be okay, he is a 'superior unit' after all. The robot tells Gohan to use all his courage and leap past the ravine, but before Gohan can, he wants to turn off the robot's switch. As the cave-in gets worse, the robot is half-crushed stopping a pillar from crushing Gohan, and the pillar also blocks the only exit. The robot tells Gohan to connect the blue and red wires inside his front, and when he does so, the robot uses all of it's remaining energy to pull itself free from the debris and move the pillar out of the way. With the exit unblocked, the robot picks up Gohan and throws him out of the cave and over the ravine, telling him to take care of himself. As the cave collapses, the robot is left behind in the rubble. Gohan rushes over and finds the crushed robot, who tells Gohan that his energy is all but spent now, and tells Gohan not to cry even when he's on his own, as he only has himself to rely on if he wants to survive. As the robot powers down one last time, Gohan cries for a bit but steels himself to become tougher than he was before so that he can survive this ordeal and get back to his mother someday. Review: At long last, the first foray into DBZ era filler begins. Technically we've already had a little bit of padding filler here and there – the first episode of the anime gives us quite a bit more time with Gohan trying not to get eaten in the woods by their house, and Goku coming to help him – but this was the first material that felt worthwhile to cover. In a similar vein though, it's all about Gohan. The 'Z' era of of the series definitely has high expectations for Gohan from the very start. And why shouldn't it? Being Goku's son already carries with it pretty lofty expectations in-of-itself, and as we've seen, Gohan's got an innate power that just might rival or even outdo his own father's potential. At the same time however, we've seen that he's an incredibly different kind of character compared to his father. That's all just from the few times we've been exposed to him thus far too – in truth, we really don't know Gohan that well at all yet, which is something that I think the anime staff picked up and ran with, because at least a good handful of filler in this portion of this story (both things we'll be covering, and scenes in episodes that won't be covered due to being primarily canon material) are stories with Gohan at their center. They're stories designed to see how he changes from where we first met him at Kame House, to become more the character we'll be seeing from him moving forward. This first episode dedicated to showing the change in Gohan goes about it in a somewhat unique manner. Following immediately after Gohan's Oozaru rampage, Gohan awakens to find himself with new clothes and even a sword to protect himself, but he's still in no real condition to do so. As such, he's immediately predated upon by the local wildlife, before ultimately falling into a cave where there's seemingly no way out – at least, no safe way out. It's in that cave that Gohan meets a dilapidated and damaged old robot, a character that used to be quite the fan favorite in the earlier days of fandom. I've never been entirely sure why – maybe it's because of the heartstrings pulled upon by this episode, or maybe it being skipped in the original Toonami run of episodes had something to do with it as well, rendering the character a little more mystique than he'd otherwise have. That said, the robot is an entertaining enough character to endear yourself to at least a little bit. He reminds me a bit of the robot that assisted Goku when he took a Red Ribbon plane and ended up crashing near Muscle Tower, though whereas that one was nothing but snark, this one's old and cantankerous. Imagine a robot version of an Ed Asner character, and you've got it. While Gohan is immediately drawn to the robot, the robot in turn wants nothing to do with the boy. At first it seems like he's just repulsed by having anyone around at all, but throughout the episode, he starts to like Gohan a little more with each encounter. He's impressed by Gohan's intelligence for such a young age, though he's continually annoyed by his crybaby nature, though his attitude changes at least a little bit once he realizes that he's dealing with an actual child. Gohan's flattery wins him over in the end, and though he's still very abrupt with him, he's won over enough that he seems to not want Gohan to die. Dying is exactly all Gohan can look forward to if he doesn't leave the cave however. The only way out is through an opening behind the robot, and it requires leaping across a huge ravine. This wouldn't be an issue for the likes of our other fighting characters, but for Gohan, who's still young and timid and not in control of his great powers? It's a seemingly insurmountable obstacle. As the robot tries to help Gohan, it also tries to make him realize that nobody is coming to save him either – to get out of this situation alive, he's going to have to take it upon himself to be brave. Every time he tries to get Gohan to leave however, he tells him to make sure and turn him back off before he goes. This is at first interpreted as the robot just not wanting to sit there and be aware as he rusts into nothingness, but eventually the real picture comes into focus – the robot has his own plan to escape from this situation someday, under his own power no less. He just needs to conserve enough energy, and eventually he'll be able to push his way free and get out of the cave. It's not readily clear wha this plans are after that fact, as he was pretty well abandoned by whoever had been using him to excavate the ruins, and other studies were conducted at some point apparently due to Gohan's knowledge of the lost civilization. Regardless, the robot very much has it's own plan to see through. In the end however, Gohan's insistence on needing the robot's help, as well as his own refusal to just leave the robot buried there, causes the cave to collapse further than it had, including blocking the only exit he could have made it out of. With no time to waste, the robot tells Gohan how to enable his power reserves, and the robot uses the last of it's strength not to escape at long last, but to allow Gohan to escape instead. At the cost of it's own “life”, the robot saves Gohan, but it also forces him to finally make the realization that he's been needing to make since the beginning – when you're on your own in the wilderness, it's up to you to survive, as there's never a guarantee that someone will come save you. A bitter addendum to the lesson too, is that sometimes those saving you can get hurt in the process, so it's still best to do all that you can to not make the situation any worse either. This...actually sounds really familiar to a plot point that we'll be coming up on in due time, so I'm curious if this episode came out before or after that plot point was a thing in the manga. I'd assume after, but I can't say for certain without checking dates. By the end of the episode, Gohan has become at least a little more matured and self-reliant than he was before, but that's only the first step in him becoming more than a crybaby, and it's far from the last story the anime has for him to give us a little more insight into what he's thinking. Until next time! Favorite Scene: The robot's grouchy attitude is fun all-around, but I especially like the part where he gets flattered by Gohan's words. Next Time: Two tearjerker episodes in a row may have been a bit much. Synopsis: As Gohan sleeps atop the rock pillar he's on, Piccolo rests by floating in the air above him. When Gohan eventually awakes, Piccolo watches to see what he's doing, but it seems all Gohan needed to do was pee. Now fully awake, Gohan wonders what he should do now, as he knows that if he stays up on the rock forever, he'll starve to death. Just as Gohan is getting despondent again, he notices how bright out it is even though it's the middle of the night. He looks up to the sky and spots a full moon, happy to have figured it out and to have finally gotten to see one.
As Gohan stares at the moon, his body begins to convulse and his power begins to raise, catching Piccolo's attention. To Piccolo's horror, Gohan transforms into a gigantic ape-like Oozaru just as his father used to, falling off of the rock pillar and ultimately smashing it to pieces with his bare hands. The Oozaru Gohan fires a large energy blast form it's mouth then, causing a huge explosion that Piccolo has to shield himself from. As the ape fires off more blasts, Piccolo is in disbelief at how powerful the energy is, thinking to himself that at this rate the Earth might be destroyed before the Saiyans arrive. Suddenly, Piccolo remembers something he overheard Raditz mentioning to Goku at Kame House, about how Saiyans show their true power during the full moon. Turning to look at the moon, Piccolo figures out that it's the cause of this transformation, and destroys it with an energy blast of his own. With the transformation's trigger gone, the Oozaru Gohan soon reverts back to normal, falling to the ground naked and unconscious. Walking over to the child, Piccolo is still in disbelief at how different he was in that form. He surmises that this must be the secret of both he and his father's strength, and thinks that destroying the moon was probably the right choice – he doesn't even want to imagine what those two Saiyans on their way to Earth would be like in that state. He guesses that both the moon and the tail are required for a Saiyan to transform, but deciding not to leave it up to chance, Piccolo pulls off Gohan's tail for good measure, especially given that it can also serve as a weakness. Deciding to help the boy once again after all, Piccolo creates some new clothes for him, giving him a gi like his father's (though changing out the 'Kame' symbol for a 'Demon' one), as well as a sword. Piccolo decides to leave then and begin his own training, vowing to come back in six months if Gohan is still alive and to begin his training. He smiles evilly at the thought, thinking that he will soon remake the boy in his own image. As Piccolo leaves and Gohan sleeps on the ground, Goku himself has fallen asleep on the Serpent Road. Review: Enough about Piccolo's unfortunate life and his changing mental state, I wanna see a giant monkey blow stuff up! Yeah, after a somewhat introspective chapter (at least by Toriyama standards) last time, it only makes sense to follow things up with a fairly lighter chapter that's mainly focused on cool imagery and a callback to previous material (and, just maybe, some light foreshadowing of things to come perhaps?). It was previously established that Gohan has never seen the full moon before, and we've also been told that Goku's ability to transform into a monstrous ape on the full moon wasn't unique to him at all, rather it's an inherent Saiyan ability. Because Raditz showed up during the day and was beaten before night fell, this was never a concern during his short-lived time on Earth, but Piccolo's finding out now just how serious of a problem it can be. And yeah, while it seems like we've covered a fair bit of ground since Goku and Raditz died? This is very likely either the night after Goku took Gohan to Kame House, or super early the next day. It might also be hard to believe, but this is the first time we've actually seen an Oozaru for real since the end of the 21st Budokai. The moon was destroyed at that point, and by the time it's brought back, Goku is without his tail. The only times we've seen hints of the Oozaru since were it's imagery used to express Goku's hidden powers, and as stated, Goku and Piccolo avoided the issue of having to deal with an Oozaru Raditz. So yeah, this is the first time someone's actually gone ape since nearly the beginning of the series – it's surprising how well known and liked that part of Saiyan biology is given that you really almost never see it. I think it's just the inherent cool factor of it in general, coupled with the fact that it's going to be used a few more times now before going away for good, that keeps the form alive in fandom consciousness. Hell, it's essentially a kaiju werewolf, what's not to love? Being on the receiving end of it's raging attacks, I suppose, actually – at least, Piccolo doesn't seem to care much for it here, and I can't say I blame him much for that. After he destroys the moon (putting us on our third moon assuming they ever get it back again) however, Piccolo does seem to be of two minds on it. On the one hand, he definitely doesn't want to deal with that again, and certainly doesn't want to deal with it at the disposal of the two Saiyans speeding their way to Earth as they speak. At the same time though, this does seem to fully convince him that Gohan's worth training after all, and he seems to get some manic glee from the idea of taking this boy and molding him to be just like him. Hey, the story said he was less evil now, that still means evil. Overall though, there's not really much to add to this one beyond that. Goku's still running the Serpent Road, and I hope you like seeing him there, because between the manga and some anime filler, you're going to be seeing him on that road a lot more yet. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Synopsis: Gohan timidly asks Piccolo what he'll be doing for training, and Piccolo tells him that his first task is simple – survive. Gohan is confused, and Piccolo explains that he wants him to live out here in the wilderness, and if he's still alive when Piccolo comes back in six months, then he'll teach Gohan how to fight. Gohan is horrified at this idea, claiming that he'll die of loneliness if he's left out here alone, but Piccolo assures him that there are plenty of bloodthirsty beasts around to keep him company. Even more scared, Gohan pleads with Piccolo not to leave him out here, but Piccolo tells him to do as he says, reminding him that the fate of the world rests in his hands. He also cautions Gohan not to try to escape this place, as it's surrounded by a desert that will make this area feel like paradise in comparison. Gohan asks where he's supposed to find food, a bath, or a bed, and Piccolo scoffs at him for thinking that such things will be provided for him. Gohan sobs that this isn't fair, and Piccolo tells him that if he feels resentful, then he should curse his fate, the same as Piccolo does. Leaving Gohan on his own, Piccolo flies off, as the situation is observed from afar by a watching Kami and Mr. Popo. Popo says that Kami seems troubled, and Kami confesses that he's sensed a change in Piccolo. He's still evil, but seemingly less so than he once was, and Popo agrees. Kami said he first suspected something had changed when Goku and Raditz turned up in the afterlife rather than their souls being stuck drifting aimlessly in this world, as those killed by demons are cursed to do, and he wonders if it's because Piccolo too can sense that they only have a year left to live. Popo is surprised at this, and Kami confesses that he doesn't know if it's because Piccolo will die fighting the Saiyans or because his own lifespan will run out in that time, but he can tell that his death is coming, and thus Piccolo can feel it too. Kami further wonders if this is Piccolo's way of leaving something behind, even if it's in the form of his sworn enemy's son. Popo asks about the Dragon Balls, and Kami confirms that the next time they're used will be the last time. In the wilderness, Gohan is sitting on a rock and crying when a loud noise approaches him. Looking up, Gohan is terrified to see a hungry carnivorous dinosaur just about to eat him. Gohan runs away as fast as he can and screams for help as the dinosaur chases him, but nobody heeds his call. Just as Gohan is about to be eaten, his power flares up and he leaps out of the way, leaving the confused and hungry dino behind. Gohan himself is surprised to find himself on top of a large pillar of rock with seemingly no way down. As night falls, Gohan continues to cry out of fear and hunger both, when suddenly he finds a pair of apples sitting on the ground next to him. He looks around, confused as to where they came from as there's no tree nearby, but decides to eat them anyway. As he eats, he finds the apples to be extremely sour, making him wish he had some dim sum instead. Overhead in the sky, Piccolo watches as Gohan eats and complains about the apples he just gave him, causing the former Demon King to scoff again. He forewarns a now sleeping Gohan that this will be the last time he's helping him, saying that it's up to him to survive on his own now, and if he can't, then he was never any use at all. In the afterlife, Goku continues to run the Serpent Road. With no end in sight, Goku laments how hungry he is. Review: As mentioned before, this arc is going to prove to be a time of great change for the character of Piccolo, and some of it's already happened right beneath our noses. Not to toot my own horn, but I've read and watched this series many times through. I know it pretty well by now (though obviously there are multiple people out there with far more knowledge than I could ever have, especially in regards to the real world production of the series). Even with my knowledge though, I have to admit – the initial reveal that Piccolo was somewhat different now completely escaped my notice, as it seems to do every time. Considering I got extremely close to this very topic just a review or two ago too and it still didn't dawn on me is a sign of how dense I am too, oof. Back before the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai arc, it was established that those killed by demons end up being unable to pass on properly, with their souls remaining essentially in limbo. This was established directly in correlation to King Piccolo, so it was always safe to assume that anyone killed by the current Piccolo would suffer the same fate. That was probably true back during the time of the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai too, but now? The proof is right before our eyes – both Goku and Raditz were killed by Piccolo, and both are confirmed to have gone on to be judged by Enma. That...shouldn't happen, not if Piccolo is still considered a demon. So if he's not, then...what is he? Some of that answer will come in due time, though honestly that's a whole other kettle of fish entirely. Right now, the real answer is a more personal and, for lack of a better term, spiritual one. We see Piccolo being outright cruel to Gohan here, he's leaving Gohan out in a place where no four-year old should be expected to be able to survive on their own – hell, many adults wouldn't survive similar situations, especially not if there's freakin' dinosaurs around. Despite his great inner strength, Gohan is far closer to a realistic interpretation of a child than Goku ever was, so what Piccolo is doing to him here would definitely count as child abuse and endangerment were this real life. While that judgment wouldn't change fully if this were reality, I still think it bears considering Piccolo's own upbringing as well...or lack there-of. Piccolo can't have had an easy life up to this point. Accelerated aging aside, he's not actually that much older than Gohan – if we go from the roughly three years from the end of the King Piccolo arc to the 23rd Budokai, he was three when he fought Goku again; add five more years from then to reach this point, and he's eight. He was born for one specific goal, to kill Son Goku in revenge essentially for a father that he never met. He never had any choice in the matter, it was the whole reason for his existence, and because of that, he too was left alone in the world to fend for himself and to try and survive, all the while knowing that all around him was a world that hated him, and that somewhere out there was both an enemy he had to face, and a vengeful God that would sooner kill him (if he could) than talk to him. It's really not a surprise at all that this current Piccolo turned out the way that he did. Piccolo says as much himself here, revealing that he curses his fate. It's possible that he merely means the fact that he's going to die in a year's time, but while I'm sure that does weigh heavily on his mind and might even be one of the main reasons he's doing what he's doing, I think there's far more to it than that. Piccolo never had a chance in this world. The only thing he had was the goal bestowed upon him at birth, and now, he's achieved at least the main part of that goal – he's killed Son Goku. Hell, he killed his brother to boot. Piccolo should feel ecstatic about this, but he doesn't. Part of this is because he knows that Goku is just going to get wished back, but with how Piccolo acts here, it again seems to be more than that. I think it's sometime around this point that Piccolo starts to realize that...he doesn't have anything. He has no goals or wants that weren't just left for him second-hand by his 'father'. He's an empty slate that only exists as the final whim of a dying villain, and as such, he's seemingly no more than a stain to be blotted out of the world and forgotten once his time comes, and now that time seems to be coming rapidly. I think Kami might be right when he assumes that training Gohan might be more for Piccolo than a way that the Earth might survive – it's his one chance at leaving behind some sort of proof that he existed. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Synopsis: Piccolo takes Gohan to an abandoned wasteland, and when the child doesn't wake up, he drops him in a small pond of water. Starting to drown, Gohan pops up out of the water and sputters, and upon spotting Piccolo, starts to cry and look around for his father. Piccolo grabs the child and takes him back to dry land, and when the boy won't stop crying, he threatens to kill him to stop his sobbing. Piccolo tells Gohan that his father died to save him from the man who kidnapped him, causing Gohan to start to cry again, so Piccolo threatens him once more. Piccolo explains that Goku will be brought back to life in short order with the Dragon Balls, and their bigger problem are the two more powerful warriors on their way to Earth as they speak. Piccolo tells Gohan that even he and Goku won't stand a chance against these Saiyans alone, so they're going to need Gohan to learn to use his power to stand alongside them. Gohan says that he can't fight, but Piccolo assures him that he has greater power than he knows and that he'll train him to bring it out. Gohan objects, saying that he doesn't have any sort of power like that, and Piccolo decides to give him some proof. Picking Gohan up by his head, Piccolo throws the four-year old towards a mountain, thinking that his power should awaken in time to save him from injury. Piccolo's guess is soon proven right as Gohan's anger flares up and he blasts the mountain away, leaving a large crevice where it once stood. Gohan's innate power surprises even Piccolo, who wonders what he's getting into training someone who might prove to be an even bigger obstacle to his plans than Goku ever was. A surprised Gohan asks if he was really the one who destroyed the mountain, and Piccolo tells him that the nature of his power is becoming clear – when Gohan is put into danger and his emotions run wild, his power bursts free for only an instant. Piccolo thinks that this won't prove very useful, so he says he'll teach Gohan how to use those powers all the time, making him the greatest fighter ever to live. Gohan says he doesn't want to be a fighter and instead wants to be a great scholar, and Piccolo tells him he can do that after they defeat the Saiyans, because if they don't? There won't be an Earth left to be a scholar on. Gohan still says that he's scared, and Piccolo angrily tells him to stop whining or he'll kill him right now. Piccolo orders Gohan to take off his tunic, and a scared Gohan says he'd much rather train with his father once he comes back to life. Piccolo concedes that Goku is powerful, but says he's not up to the challenge of training someone, as made evident by Gohan's current state. Still running along Serpent Road, Goku sneezes, wondering if someone is talking about him. Review: While the previous chapter focused on two different aspects of the story moving forward, both what's going to be happening with Gohan and what's going to be happening with Goku, this chapter focuses solely on Gohan. Almost an entirety of it's page count is basically spent on getting the boy caught up to date with what's been happening as well, and as such, there's not really a whole lot for me to comment on for this one. I'm mostly holding off on talking too much about Gohan's character until we get further along with him, but so that I have SOMETHING to talk about, let's dive a little bit into him, at least insofar as we know him now. Gohan is basically the complete opposite of Goku in every way – he's polite and well-mannered, he's a scaredy-cat (though to be fair, he's four), and he doesn't want to fight in the first place. We never knew Goku at the age we're meeting Gohan here, but it's a pretty safe bet that Goku was none of these things as an infant, 'sweetest thing you've ever seen after hitting his head' or not. Despite this however, Gohan is gifted with an incredible power. While him blowing up a mountain might not seem that out there given the feats we've seen from other characters before, keep in mind that those characters were treated as the strongest characters in the world and had spent many years training to get to that point – Gohan is already on par with their level of power, at least in terms of potential, at four years old, and he's never trained a day in his life. This makes Gohan both able to potentially stand up among the rest of the characters without having to trail behind them for years before getting strong enough for the front lines, while also making you wonder just what kind of future this boy has ahead of him. As Piccolo points out though, he's going to have to fight whether he likes it or not, or his dream of being a scholar just isn't going to happen. This also puts him in an interesting place in regards to Piccolo, something that Piccolo himself points out – if Gohan gets stronger than him, then there's a good chance the boy is going to stop any of Piccolo's plans from ever coming to fruition. If nothing else, he's certainly going to be another roadblock just like his father. Unfortunately for the would-be Demon King, getting Gohan up to par is the only chance he has of there even being an Earth left to conquer either, so he's quite literally caught between a rock and a hard place, which is exactly where he wants to place Gohan to bring the most out of him. It's not really fair of Piccolo to assume that Gohan's softness is due to Goku taking it too easy on him perhaps, but hey – he doesn't know that it was Chi Chi who didn't want Gohan train. Also, he hates Goku. A lot. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: A Change in Piccolo |
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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