Synopsis: Cui begins to freak out over Vegeta's claim of being able to hide his true power, and Vegeta tells him to watch his scouter carefully. As Vegeta's power begins to rise, Cui thinks this should be impossible as they were supposed to be roughly even – Vegeta points out however that while Cui has kept close to Freeza's side, Vegeta has been out in space fighting real battles, even admitting to almost dying on Earth. Cui watches Vegeta's power rise, and as it hits 22,000, Cui's scouter explodes off of his face. Back at the destroyed Namekian village, Zarbon's scouter likewise explodes off of his face as well. Zarbon says it was probably a malfunction, but says it exploded as a result of keeping track of Vegeta's power, and says it exploded as the reading went past 22,000. Dodoria laughs and says that Zarbon likely just had too old of a device, and checks things again with his own scouter. Much to Dodoria's surprise however, his scouter puts Vegeta at about 24,000. Both of them think that should be impossible – Vegeta should only be at about 18,000, and if he's reached 24,000, that makes him stronger than either of them. Freeza however doesn't think it's that surprising at all – after all, Vegeta has been out on the front lines all this time. He also wonders if Vegeta didn't learn some new trick while he was on the Earth. Either way, he thinks Vegeta's power shouldn't be too much for Dodoria and Zarbon if they work together anyway. Freeza surmises that Vegeta must want the same wish of immortality that he does, and thinks that Vegeta must think that getting it will allow him to dethrone Freeza as well, sadly sighing and saying that it seems they were destined to be opposed like this. Still, he thinks it was rather rash of Vegeta to oppose him openly like this...rash, and foolish. Overwhelmed by Vegeta's power, Cui tries to offer an alternative to fighting by saying he'll join up with Vegeta, claiming to have secretly always hated Freeza as well. He even suggests that together their power could probably take down Dodoria and Zarbon, but Vegeta scoffs and says that he knew Cui was a coward, but never pegged him for a liar as well. Cui grins and pleads again for Vegeta to see reason, but then looks past Vegeta, claiming to see 'Master Freeza'. Vegeta quickly looks behind him to see nothing behind him, and Cui takes advantage of Vegeta looking away to launch multiple energy blasts at him. When he's done, there's only scorched ground where Vegeta stood, and Cui laughs and says that it's better to be a liar than a fool. To his horror however, Vegeta reappears to his side, bemoaning both Cui's poor strategy, and his stupidity in not realizing that Vegeta's power increase also meant an increase in speed. Scared beyond words now, Cui lets out a scream and tries to fly away, but Vegeta zips in front of him, hitting him hard and sending him flying higher into the sky. With a grin, Vegeta motions towards Cui's body with two fingers and causes him to explode as Vegeta comments on always having liked fireworks. Landing back on the ground, Vegeta knows that Freeza's men will no doubt be following him with their scouters. He's sure he can handle Dodoria and Zarbon as well, but knows he has no chance of taking on Freeza yet, so he'll have to be careful. From listening in with his own scouter, Vegeta has figured out that seven Dragon Balls need to be gathered to make a wish, so he decides to find just one of them and keep it hidden until Freeza has found the other six. At that point, Vegeta can steal the other balls and have his own wish granted, and at last he'll reign supreme. Back at the Namekian village, Dodoria is aghast that the scouter was right as Cui is dead. Freeza isn't concerned however and wants them to get to the fifth Dragon Ball. Another alien soldier tells them they've picked up the energy of about ten Namekians elsewhere, and Freeza warns them all to stay on their guard in case Vegeta tries anything. With that, they all fly off towards the found Namekians. Elsewhere, Kuririn and Gohan try to get Bulma to walk faster as they try to find a cave or something else to hide in. Bulma complains that they can fly and they should just carry her, but Gohan explains that flying takes too much energy and would thus get them found by the bad guys' scouters way too quickly. Kuririn spots a cave that should do nicely, and Bulma frets about how long they may have to stay there. Gohan notices some energy in another direction, and Kuririn notices that it feels different from the ones they just dealt with before and wonders if it might really be Namekians this time. Suddenly however, he picks up on an entirely different energy coming right at them, and warns Gohan and Bulma to hide quickly. Review: Cui's here! And Cui's gone. Yes, that really was a short lived run for our newest villain at the forefront, but I doubt anyone was too surprised by this turn of events when they first came out. From the very first, Cui has been treated as Vegeta's equal or ever so slight superior...compared to before. As readers, we know Vegeta just went through a lot on Earth, so it's really not that surprising that he'd come back from his downfall stronger than ever before. Granted, there's going to be a more specific reason given for this in the near future, but even without it, it makes sense. People try, they fail, and try again better than they were before all the time. Vegeta having gotten stronger as a result of his fight with Goku and everyone else is the least surprising way this could have gone. What keeps this turn of events interesting however is tracking how everyone else around reacts to it. Cui is scared out of his mind obviously, as he knows he's about to be on the receiving end of Vegeta's new level of power. Zarbon and Dodoria are concerned because this new power seems to be even greater than their own, something that shouldn't be possible given how much weaker than them Vegeta was when they last saw him. Freeza though? Freeza not only doesn't think any of this is a surprise, he doesn't think it's much of a concern either. Freeza's reaction continues to drive in just how much further above his power must be, since even this newer, stronger Vegeta doesn't want to tangle with him, and Freeza himself knows that and thinks it's stupid that Vegeta has turned on him in the first place. I said it before, and I'll say it again – Freeza is already being set up to be absolutely terrifying. Cui has to resort to a dirty trick to try to get a leg up on Vegeta, but as we just saw, it wasn't anywhere near enough. Vegeta ends this fight with three hits, and that's all she wrote for the poor alien. It's a little ironic that Vegeta compares Cui's explosion to fireworks though...but we'll touch on that later. Even being down another soldier isn't enough to worry Freeza, and he quickly gets his men in order to look for another Dragon Ball as they already have four of the seven needed collected. He does warn his soldiers to watch out for Vegeta, as well as whatever those other strange powers are, but it's clear he's not particularly concerned about either “threat”. As Kuririn, Gohan, and Bulma try to get to a safer location, they too feel the energy of nearby Namekians, and it looks like our heroes are about to have some unwelcome visitors. Until next time! Favorite Panel:
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Synopsis: Gohan, Bulma, and Kuririn wonder what they should do now that a second Saiyan space pod has landed on Namek when, as far as they knew, there shouldn't be any more Saiyans to worry about other than Vegeta. A short distance away, Cui uses his scouter to contact Vegeta, telling him that he finally has the orders he's always wanted from Freeza – orders to kill the Saiyan. Vegeta laughs at Cui for thinking he can actually carry out those orders, and tells him he'll wait for him. Cui laughs in return, telling Vegeta to check his own scouter as Cui is far stronger than Vegeta now. Vegeta merely smirks at the thought. Bulma nervously tells Gohan and Kuririn that she'll be back in about two months, but Kuririn tells her to wait. Clearly scared now himself, Kuririn suggests to Gohan that they go back with her, trying to pass his fear off as concern for Gohan. Gohan thinks if they leave that Vegeta will get the Dragon Balls, but Kuririn thinks that's fine – they'll just come back afterwards and get the Dragon Balls another time! Bulma points out the flaw in this plan being that Vegeta could just destroy the dragon like King Piccolo once did, and Kuririn doesn't have a retort for that. The conversation is interrupted as Gohan senses energy approaching them. Bulma worries that it could be Vegeta, but Kuririn says that whatever it is feels way weaker than that. A short distance away, a pair of soldiers wearing Saiyan armor say that somewhere around here should be where those power levels from before disappeared, with one suggesting that it was probably just more Namekians. Kuririn likewise suggests to Gohan that what they're sensing might just be some Namekians. As the two groups meet eyes however, both sides quickly realize that they're all wrong. The two alien soldiers wonder who Gohan, Kuririn, and Bulma are, but ultimately decide that it doesn't really matter – their orders are to kill everyone on the planet anyway. Gohan and Kuririn recognize the clothes the aliens are wearing as Saiyan armor but can tell that neither of them are Saiyans, and even Bulma can tell they don't look very friendly. Kuririn reminds Gohan to keep his energy in check, and when one of the aliens checks their scouter, Gohan and Kuririn register as weaklings. This only encourages the aliens to toy with them however, as they blast a hole in their ship first, damaging it enough to render it inoperable. Angry now, Kuririn tells Gohan to release his energy, and although the two alien soldiers scoff at first, their scouters soon pick up on the increasing power levels. As they realize they may be in over their heads, the aliens fail to respond in time before Gohan and Kuririn leap above them and take them out with a single punch and kick each. The two soldiers collide in the air before falling into a nearby pond. Gohan and Kuririn give each other thumbs ups, but Bulma thinks they're missing the point here. Back at the destroyed Namekian village, Zarbon's scouter beeps and he informs Freeza that their scouts were just taken out by quickly raising power levels that once again disappeared afterwards. Freeza thinks that's odd as that doesn't sound like Vegeta at all, and Zarbon concurs, saying that the power levels registered were high – 1,500 – but not at all like Vegeta's. Freeza thinks he'd like to know more about these mysterious people able to raise and lower their power levels at will, but decides that it's not really worth the time and effort, and tells his men to kill them if they appear again. Back at the ship, Bulma weeps as with their ship damaged, they'll never be able to go back home now. Kuririn tries to get her up and moving as they need to hide somewhere before stronger people come to look for the ones they took out, and Gohan says that based on how they acted and what they were wearing, all of this evil ki they're feeling are probably Vegeta's cohorts. The pair try to comfort Bulma with the idea that the Namekians will probably be able to fix their ship, but Bulma doesn't seem quite as optimistic. A short distance away, Cui has finally found Vegeta. Cui says it's time for them to settle their score, and accuses Vegeta of slacking off due to his lower power level. Vegeta however says that he learned something very interesting while on Planet Earth. Cui asks him if he learned a better way to run and hide, but Vegeta smiles as he reveals the real lesson he learned – how to hide his true power. Review: Things on Namek are quickly going from bad to worse, seemingly in favor of Freeza and his men – Cui is on his way to deal with Vegeta, something that Zarbon and Freeza seem to think he'll be capable of, and our heroes' presence has already been noticed by them as well. Before Bulma can go through with their plan to have her go back to Earth and the others lay low for a while, they're found by two of Freeza's men sent to check things out – things couldn't possibly get any worse! Except, you know – they do. The alien fighters, stupid as they may come off in other ways, are at least swift enough to take out any means of escape for the trio as they damage the space ship almost immediately. There was really only one way this could have been avoided frankly, and that would've been Gohan and Kuririn powering up immediately and taking them out rather than trying to surpress their powers first. I assume Kuririn's hope was that the villains would think they weren't worth the time and just leave, but...that was a pretty naive thought honestly, and it quickly bit them in the ass. The point has been made clear however – nobody's leaving Namek until this story arc is good and done. Of course, that was the only real threat these two soldiers posed, so as soon as they've achieved that narrative goal, they're quickly done away with. I don't know that Gohan and Kuririn's attacks actually killed them, but we never see them re-surface from the water either, so...Gohan may have just taken his first life at five years old. Before moving away from the topic of those two soldiers though, I do want to praise Toriyama's character designing abilities, especially now that we're reaching aliens that don't look as human as the Saiyans do. We've previously seen what Toriyama was capable of with the likes of the animal people, and even Piccolo and his King Piccolo born brethren, but the aliens we're getting to now are something else entirely. They're humanoid enough to be easily able to be shown fighting, but they're also very clearly not human in the least. It's a nice varied level of alien motifs that we're going to see repeated throughout the arc, and some of the most fun designs are sadly the mooks that we're not going to see get to do much either. As far as their outfit designs go, those are pretty basic in that they're all wearing some form of the armor that we've already seen the Saiyans wear since Raditz's arrival. That said, there are a few neat changes here and there as well. I particularly like the kind of energy gun that one of the soldiers is wearing and using. I'm not sure if anything is ever said about them in a guidebook anywhere or not, but I've always assumed it's essentially a device that helps focus energy for the soldiers that can't quite do it very well themselves – basically the most inept of Freeza's recruits. They can probably fire ki blasts on their own, but these devices make it easier and probably make the attacks stronger as well – again, that's all just my assumption on them though. With his soldiers taken out, you would think that Freeza would be more interested in what's going down on Namek that he's unaware of, but he takes it in a cool, unworried stride that goes a long way towards showing how in control he feels. He doesn't have the first clue what's going on, but it's of no concern to him – the only thing he is concerned about is getting the Dragon Balls, and as far as he knows, the only bug with even the most remote chance of getting in the way of that goal is Vegeta. And speaking of Vegeta, Cui seems pretty confident he can best the Saiyan too. The pair were previously considered to be about the same level of power, but as far as Cui's scouter can tell, Vegeta's been slipping and is weaker than Cui now. Unfortunately for the alien however, Vegeta didn't come away from the Earth with nothing but a loss, because he picked up a few tricks – namely the ability to hide how strong he really is, just as Gohan and Kuririn were doing earlier. I'm...not entirely sure HOW Vegeta picked up this trick, given it's never properly explained to him how it works, nor does he really get that much time to figure it out, but I assume it's just meant to show how quick of a learner Vegeta is as a fighter. Either way, if he's not just boasting, Cui could be about to be in for a bad, bad time. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Synopsis: As Gohan and Kuririn marvel at how pretty Planet Namek looks from space, Bulma warns them to buckle up as they're about to go in for a landing. The ship lands in an open area, with odd-colored trees and grass surrounding them. Bulma starts checking readings with the ship's console and mentions that she brought oxygen masks and tanks for them all just in case the air outside isn't fit for them to breathe, but much to her surprise, Gohan and Kuririn have already stepped outside. Gohan notes that the surrounding area looks a bit like where Piccolo trained him, and Kuririn recognizes it as similar to the area where they first fought the Saiyans. He wonders if maybe Piccolo felt more at ease in a place similar to his homeland? Bulma comes out of the ship and chews them both out for leaving before they knew for sure it was safe, and Gohan and Kuririn wonder why she's so upset. Bulma checks the Dragon Ball radar and sure enough, there are Dragon Balls on this planet. Bulma and Kuririn celebrate, but Gohan has noticed something odd – he can feel a lot of strong power levels in the distance. Kuririn wonders what could be going on, but Bulma isn't worried and says that it's probably just the Namekians, saying that Kami and Piccolo were both incredibly strong after all. Gohan and Kuririn aren't so sure however as the energy they sense feels evil somehow. Bulma still doesn't think there's anything to worry about however, and points out that the radar shows four Dragon Balls already gathered together in the direction they're looking in, so it has to be the Namekians. Kuririn tries to laugh and look on the bright side, but suddenly a familiar looking ship flies down out of the sky and crash lands in the distance – it's the Saiyan's space pod! The trio starts to freak out, and Kuririn tells Gohan to surpress his power lest Vegeta pick them up on his scouter, and they try to figure out what to do. Bulma thinks they need to head back to Earth immediately, but Kuririn thinks they can't let Vegeta get the Dragon Balls. He suggests that Bulma goes back to Earth on her own while he and Gohan remain behind with the radar and try to gather the Dragon Balls first. Bulma says she'll just call Roshi back on Earth first to give them a warning, and says she'll be back in about two months time with Goku to help them out. Kuririn and Gohan worry about if they'll be able to survive out here that long. A short distance away, Vegeta curses Freeza and states that the Dragon Balls are his and his alone. As he puts back on his scouter, he realizes Freeza must know about his betrayal, and while he doesn't fear anyone else, Freeza is another matter entirely – he has no choice but to get the Dragon Balls first and wish for immortality. Using the scouter, Vegeta picks up a reading for Freeza and his men and flies in that direction, saying that he must have brought Dodoria and Zarbon with him as well. On Earth, Roshi receives Bulma's call, as Bulma tells him to let everyone else know (well, everyone except for Chi Chi that is). As she finishes up her call, Gohan and Kuririn see something else in the sky – a second Saiyan space pod coming in for a landing! In a nearby Namekian village, an elderly Namekian lays dead on the ground as a group of aliens wearing Saiyan armor ransack his home. One of them steps out carrying a Dragon Ball – larger than the Earth's Dragon Balls – and shows it to Lord Freeza, a small alien with horns and a tail that floats in a chair flanked by two bigger, stronger looking subordinates. Freeza thanks his soldier and says they only have three Dragon Balls left to collect now. Freeza tells the soldier to give the Dragon Ball to Dodoria (the spiky pink alien on his right), and tells Dodoria to guard it carefully as he believes Vegeta is after them as well. The other subordinate with long hair, Zarbon, informs Freeza that Cui has just arrived on the planet in pursuit of Vegeta. There's also the matter of the two large power readings from earlier that appeared and suddenly disappeared and have yet to return. Zarbon says they're investigating the area where the powers disappeared and with any luck they'll soon know what's going on. Freeza casually accepts this and doesn't seem worried, saying that Vegeta is their main priority at this time. Zarbon thinks Cui will take care of Vegeta in short order, as the two have long hated each other and are roughly the same in power – if nothing else, Cui will keep Vegeta too busy to get in their way. Having stepped out of his pod that landed next to Vegeta's, Cui uses his scouter and says that Vegeta won't be able to hide from him. Review: At long last, our heroes have landed on Planet Namek, and the real Planet Namek at that! Unfortunately for them however, so have a host of various threats that are going to make their lives really hard for the foreseeable future. Them's the breaks sometimes, I'm afraid. As soon as they land, Bulma is hit with another round of exasperation at the hands of the much less critically thinking Gohan and Kuririn. Honestly, this time the joke lands at least, as she raises a valid point this time – they can't really know for sure that the air outside is going to be breathable for humans such as themselves, so they probably should have let her check things out first with the ship. That said, since Namekians such as Kami and Piccolo could breath on Earth just fine, it's...probably a pretty safe bet that the air on both planets are similar? I'm not a scientist though, so what do I know. There's also an interesting comment about how the terrain of Namek looks similar to the wastelands that Piccolo trained Gohan in and that perhaps being some inherent feeling of home he had when being in such a place. While not impossible, I'm not entirely sure how much I buy into this theory honestly, though to be fair that's mostly because I know the real world reasoning behind it – big open space backgrounds are a lot easier to draw, especially when their backgrounds are fairly repetitive, as opposed to more detail oriented locations such as cities or, you know, tournaments full of people. And if you haven't figured it out by now, that's one thing Toriyama absolutely excels at is trying to find the easiest way to get the job done. Let's be completely fair here though – by this point in time, he'd already been drawing a weekly manga for a long, long time, especially when you count all of Dr. Slump prior to Dragon Ball. It's pretty understandable that he'd want to try to find a way to make his job easier. That said, I hope you like the look of Namek, because you're gonna be looking at it for a long, long time. While I acknowledge and empathize with Toriyama's reasoning for these locales being where most of the fighting ends up happening, this might be the one time that Toriyama pushes that excuse a little too far for my books. It's not just where our heroes have landed that look like this – it's the entire planet. Every single bit of Namek looks like this. Every. Single. Bit. It doesn't take long for this backdrop to get old to stare at, especially in the anime which makes the arc even longer. Needless to say, while I'm a pretty big fan of this arc from a story perspective, it might be one of my absolute least favorite locations in the entire franchise as a result of how drab and repetitive it all is to look at. Gohan and Kuririn immediately pick up on some ki signatures not too far away from where they landed, and despite Bulma's assurances that it's probably just the Namekians, the two of them both feel like what they're sensing feels evil. It's not the first time we've had evil ki described as feeling different from the calmer kind, so it's probably a pretty safe bet that they're right. This fact gets proven correct pretty quickly as, once Vegeta arrives, it's not long after that we're introduced to our new big bads of this arc. Before getting to them though, you might have noticed that Vegeta has his scouter again here. In the last manga chapter, he left the scouter behind with the alien that looked over his healing, but the anime added a scene of him grabbing the scouter again on his way off of the planet. This was a pretty clever short fix since, as you can see, here he has his scouter again like he never left it behind at all. It's a small error, but one easily accounted for by just assuming the same thing happened in the manga that happened in the anime and we just weren't shown it. It's always nice when the anime can fix small details like this though. As we're introduced to Freeza and his forces, it's made immediately clear that they are extremely bad news. They've killed an elderly Namekian, they're gathering the Dragon Balls for their own purposes – and already have four of them to boot – and Freeza himself is someone that even Vegeta is seemingly scared of. Freeza might not appear like he's much to worry about at first glance however. He seems far shorter than the rest of his forces, he's just casually floating around in a floating chair (seriously, where do I buy one of those?), and he's even polite to his foot soldiers. Don't let any of that fool you though – this guy is absolutely bad news. Case in point, Vegeta is scared of him as I already said. Remember how strong Vegeta was? Now think about how powerful Freeza can already be assumed to be if Vegeta doesn't think he can take him on without wishing for immortality first. There's also the fact that Cui is said to be just as strong as Vegeta is. Neither of them are kept at Freeza's side the same way Dodoria and Zarbon seem to be here, so it's also a safe assumption that those two are likely far stronger than Vegeta and Cui too, and they're also still listening to Freeza's orders. We've only just been introduced to the character, and things are already pointing in a very definite direction – Freeza's power is nightmarish. As the story goes along too, we're going to see just how accurate that first assumption is. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Synopsis: Gohan and Kuririn struggle to free themselves from the grasp of the squids holding them, and Lychee and Zarkuro laugh at them, telling them to just wait until evening if they want to be freed without a fight. Bulma wakes up and asks if this really isn't Planet Namek after all, and Zarkuro explains that this planet doesn't have anything resembling a race living on it – even the pair of 'fake Namekians' are only on it due to their ship crash landing on it years prior. The two aliens decided to steal their ship and use it to escape the desolate planet, but were soon forced to wait as they realized the cosmic storm that forced our heroes to crash land was still active in the atmosphere above them. They took this opportunity to read Bulma's mind and found out everything about the Earth, the Dragon Balls, and our heroes' search for Planet Namek. Using this information, they crafted deception after deception to keep them on the planet long enough for the storm to wane, and themselves to be able to leave the planet. Bulma calls them horrible for tricking them, but Lychee says that they let them all have a nice dream instead of killing them. The aliens explain that the fog surrounding them all is an indicator that a rare opening in the cosmic storm has appeared, meaning it's time for them to take the ship and escape. Lychee steals the Dragon Ball radar from Bulma first however, stating their intentions to go gather the Dragon Balls on the real Planet Namek themselves now that they know they exist, and they flee the scene. Kuririn shouts for Bulma to follow and stop them, but she doesn't she how she'd be able to do something like that. Arriving back at the ship, Zarkuro asks Lychee if he knows how to fly it, and Lychee says it's simple since it's operated by voice command. Unfortunately for the aliens however, it appears they didn't find out about the word 'Piccolo' being needed to open the door. Gohan and Kuririn struggle to free themselves from the tentacles of the giant squids, and both find themselves pulled underwater. When some of the tentacles let go of one of his arms, Gohan takes the opportunity to fire a ki beam at the squids holding him, and once both arms are freed, he causes them to crash into the squids holding Kuririn. While both are still held down, both sets of hands are freed, and the pair succeed in knocking away the squids by firing repeated ki beams. Back at the ship, Lychee and Zarkuro are frustrated to discover that they really can't get into the ship. Lychee says all they have to do is take the girl with them however, and the pair leap back up out of the ship's crater to discover that Bulma has followed them after all. They try to force her to open the ship's door before the storm starts up in space again, and when she tries to convince them to just come with them, they say it would take fifty years to reach their home planet, a notion that Bulma blanches at. Bulma opens the ship, and the two aliens try to leave Bulma and the others behind, but as the door starts to close, a now freed Gohan shouts out the door's password again to bring it back down. Gohan and Kuririn quickly take down the aliens, who point out they never claimed to be fighters like them, and Bulma hurries Gohan and Kuririn into the ship so they can leave. Bulma thanks the aliens for telling them about how to escape, but they ultimately leave the aliens behind on the planet as Bulma carefully threads the needle to get them out of the planet's atmosphere and back into space. Now with lost time to make up for, our heroes fly off into space, leaving Lychee and Zarkuro to wonder when another ship will land and if they'll ever get to escape the desolate planet themselves. Back on Earth, Goku has been taken back to his hospital room, and it's revealed that a month has passed already as Chi Chi wonders how Gohan is doing. Goku attempts to escape his room again to continue training, but the doctor and nurse catch him in the act this time. Out in space, Gohan, Bulma, and Kuririn's ship finally reaches the real Planet Namek. Review: Alright, so right up front, a full disclosure – this episode review purposefully only covers roughly the first half of the episode before the eye-catch sequence, and a few minutes beyond it. The reason? Much of the latter half of this episode adapts material that I'm going to be getting to as we shift back to the manga once again, and not just minor material either. Major, story relevant material, that I'd rather cover with the manga itself than the anime. So rather than walk quickly through said material as I've done for a few reviews in the past that had a similar issue, or cover the anime version of those events, I've instead elected to just...not cover it. It'll get covered in the next manga review chapter, where those story beats originated from anyway. So with that out of the way, let's dive into the Fake Namek material for the very last time, and you have no idea how good it feels to say that. I don't think it's much of a secret that I'm not a fan of this material, and most of that comes down to the fact that it just takes way too long, and is very much just spinning wheels in an attempt to take even longer. Further evidence of that fact I think comes from the fact that this, the very last (half) episode covering it, is easily the best part of the entire storyline, and not just because it's over. The idea of our heroes crash-landing somewhere that's not actually Namek, and a pair of aliens deceiving them into thinking it is and that they're making really good time in gathering the Dragon Balls is, in of itself, a pretty novel idea. It's something we haven't seen before, and it's a much more cerebral threat than it is a physical one (at least, up until the end). It's a welcome addition to the series as a whole, especially at the point that things are almost exclusively being handled by fighting nowadays – but it's only welcome if it can be done in an entertaining, engaging way, and these episodes just did not do that, at all. Lychee and Zarkuro are boring antagonists, even once their true forms are revealed, and their gambit is just too obvious once the pieces fall together. About the only thing that's surprising is their stated intention to go to the real Namek and take the real Dragon Balls for themselves now, and that's mostly because all of that was a surprise to them as well – they had no idea wish granting orbs were even a thing prior to meeting our heroes. And in the end, the two fake Namekians are completely taken down by their own plot's incompetence. In what is a fittingly Toriyama twist, the pair somehow read Bulma's mind about how to operate the ship...but somehow missed the fact that they still need a particular Namekian word to raise and lower the door. Now THAT'S funny. It might almost seem a little cold of our heroes to leave them behind, but after everything that they've done to them, it's really not that surprising, especially not coming from Bulma. I think the tidbit about it taking fifty years to reach their planet was definitely added to the script to make it more acceptable though – keep in mind, these are aliens who are no doubt used to alien technology, so when they mean it might take fifty years to get to their home planet, they probably mean it would even with an alien spaceship rather than like how long it would've taken to reach Namek with an Earthling-made ship. Gohan, Bulma, and Kuririn simply just don't have that kind of time to waste, so it's goodbye to Lychee and Zarkuro. And I for one am fine with that. With everyone reaching Namek, the REAL Namek, at last, and Vegeta hightailing it there in short order as well, it looks like this story arc is finally back on track to be exciting again. Unfortunately for our Earthling trio though, they're probably going to miss when it looked like they could get two Dragon Balls an episode, because...well... Until next time! Favorite Scene: Lychee and Zarkuro's stupidity. How in the heck did they manage to read Bulma's mind deeply enough to know the ship is voice operated but NOT know about the password to open the damn thing? Next Time: FREEZA, FREEZA, FREEZA, FREE-ZA! Synopsis: On Planet Namek, Gohan and Kuririn work on freeing a Dragon Ball from a block of ice it's been frozen inside by slowly heating it with their ki, much to Bulma's chagrin as she shivers behind them. Bulma complains that this cold can't be good for her skin and turns to Zarkuro to try to get him to hurry them up as well, but is surprised when he's not there. The trio celebrates finding their sixth Dragon Ball, but the ice cave's sudden collapse forces them to quickly escape the cavern. A monitor is shown where two shadowy figures watch and laugh at the trio's plight, as they land on a piece of ice and use it to sled down an escape both the collapsing cave and a massive snowball. Meanwhile, on Planet Freeza No. 79, Vegeta is given new Saiyan armor to change into and leaves behind his unneeded scouter, while on Earth, Goku continues his training by using his ki to lift a pyramid, throwing it back at himself to break through. Goku ends up wrecking his body again however, and falls to the ground in pain. Back on Namek, Bulma, Gohan, and Kuririn finally escape the ice cave after almost going over the side of a cliff on their ice sled. With only one Dragon Ball left to find, the trio starts heading back to the Namekians' home, though Kuririn can't help but notice how strangely easy this has all been. Elsewhere, the two shadowy figures continue watching and think that it's almost time... The trio soon approaches the final Dragon Ball, and Kuririn notices footprints on the ground that seem to be from the dinosaur they saw before, except now they're smaller and instead of a swamp, they soon find a sparkling lake before them. Bulma says the Dragon Ball must be inside a fountain in the middle of the lake, and Gohan thinks it'd be even easier if Lychee and Zarkuro were with them. Bulma thinks this should be easy enough for just the three of them to do on their own, but as Gohan tries to walk to the fountain, he suddenly finds himself paralyzed and lifted into the air by some invisible force. Kuririn tries to rush to help Gohan, but Bulma is soon captured by a reappearing Lychee and Zarkuro. On Earth, Chi Chi and Roshi finally locate Goku collapsed in the wilderness, and Roshi curses his student's reckless nature for trying to train in his condition. On Freeza Planet No. 79, Vegeta considers his next options and is stopped by Cui, ultimately finding out that Freeza has already set out for Planet Namek as well. Fearing falling behind Freeza, Vegeta hops into a space pod (grabbing his scouter along the way) and heads for Namek. On “Namek”, Lychee and Zarkuro reveal their true natures, transforming into the bizarre creatures seen on the temple from before. Kuririn says they aren't Namekians at all, and the pair laugh at our heroes for only just now figuring it out. As the ground begins to shake, various structures around them all begin to transform and reveal their true natures as well, as Kuririn realizes that everything they've done, including gathering the Dragon Balls, has been faked this entire time – rather than landing on Planet Namek as they had thought, they have landed on a desolate asteroid. The invisible force holding on to Gohan is revealed to be a giant squid ready to eat him, and Kuririn is forced to choose between trying to help him or protecting Bulma. Kuririn tries to rush to Gohan's aid, but ends up being caught by one of the squids. All seems lost for our heroes, as Goku is rushed back to the hospital on Earth and Vegeta rushes to the real Namek ahead of them, to say nothing of the mysterious 'Freeza'. Review: So if I haven't made myself clear enough already, by Kami am I ready for this filler arc to end. It's just a dull, dull set of episodes no matter how I slice it, with the most interesting material in it generally coming from stuff that I've already covered from the last manga chapter, or material building off of that rather than the adventures of Gohan and crew. Considering the whole purpose of this filler is giving Gohan and crew said adventures, that's...not good. That's not good at all. Finally however, this episode does start to have some movement in the plot at long last, and it confirms what “eagle-eyed” fans (AKA those still awake at this point) have probably already long since guessed – Gohan, Bulma, and Kuririn haven't landed on Namek at all. They've landed on some place far more desolate, and those friendly old fart Namekians that have been “helping” them, aren't Namekians at all, nor have they been really helping them. I'd say there was at least some interesting reveals as to their nature here, but alas – Toei either needed to let the manga get that much further ahead again, or they were bizarrely really committed to this particular filler arc, as there's still another episode to go before the reveal of what Lychee and Zarkuro are actually up to, as well as before this entire side story is wrapped up. And that's...that's really all there is to comment on. With any luck, I'll have more to say in the next review as this story arc FINALLY comes to an end, but if nothing else, I'll just be glad to see the light at the other side of this tunnel. Until next time! Favorite Scene: I legitimately don't know that I have one. Do the closing credits count, because I was pretty excited to see those at last. ...*sigh* Okay, um...I guess in a similar fashion to the plant birds, the giant squids are kinda neat. But nowhere near as much as the plant birds from last episode. Next Time: The secret is out, so can interesting things FINALLY start happening now, please? Synopsis: On Planet Freeza No. 79, Vegeta continues dreaming about his loss on Earth. Back on the Earth itself, night has fallen and Goku sneaks out of his hospital room – leaving behind a sleeping Chi Chi – to get out of the hospital. On Planet Namek, Bulma leads the way with Gohan, Kuririn, and Zarkuro behind her to find the next Dragon Ball. Kuririn asks Zarkuro why Lychee didn't come with them again today, and Zarkuro says he stayed behind because there was work he needed to do. Bulma notices that the next Dragon Ball appears to be heading towards them, and the group soon spots a twister coming right at them. Bulma thinks the Dragon Ball must be inside of it and urges Kuririn to go get it, but he wants to wait until it disperses – a good idea in theory, but according to Zarkuro, Namekian tornadoes wander the desert endlessly. With no other choice, Bulma and Zarkuro take shelter while Kuririn and Gohan prepare to throw energy at the twister. Bulma stops them, saying they'll destroy the Dragon Ball, and she and Zarkuro are forced to run as the twister keeps heading in their direction. With no other option, Gohan leaps inside of the tornado and retrieves the Dragon Ball before destroying the twister with a Masenko. Back on Earth, Goku has flown himself to where he fought Vegeta and takes off his bandages to change back into his gi, intending to start training again, but as he flies, pain shoots through his body and he begins to fall. On Namek, Bulma's radar has picked up the location of the next Dragon Ball, and it leads them into a dark, overgrown forest. Loud animal noises ring out all around them, and the group soon finds themselves on the back of a large, plant-like bird, one of many that flock upwards to a nearby mountain top. On top of the mountain, they see a large castle, but as the birds notice them at last, the one they're on tries to shake them off while the others peck at them. With no other choice, the group leaps off of the bird and to the ground below. Meanwhile, Goku tries to renew his training again after falling to the ground, but finds that his body really is too shredded to train with yet. Now on the ground, Bulma, Gohan, Kuririn, and Zarkuro approach the large castle, only to find a giant sleeping inside in a bed with his pet snake. The other three leave Bulma to watch as a lookout as they search the giant's room for the Dragon Ball, but no matter where they look, they can't seem to find it. When the giant turns it's head in it's sleep, Bulma spots the Dragon Ball stuck on it's earring. The other three try to pull the Dragon Ball free from the earring and succeed, but wake up the giant in the process. Back on Earth, Roshi, Gyu-mao, and Chi Chi have discovered Goku's empty bed and wonder where he's gotten off to. Bulma and the others hop into a toy plane the giant had and Bulma tries to fly it away, but the giant catches up to them while she's figuring it out and Gohan and Kuririn are forced to try to fight the giant off, without much success. Bulma finally gets the plane to fly just as Gohan and Kuiririn succeed in damaging the giant, only to find that the damage to his body doesn't affect him, and his 'wounds' appear more like parts of a broken statue. They all manage to escape with the plane and with the Dragon Ball in tow, they're one step closer to reviving everyone. As Kuririn glances back at the mountain however, he briefly sees no castle there at all – when he looks again however, it reappears. Kuririn is confused, and Zarkuro seems to notice this. Back on the mountaintop, the giant snake is shown crawling over a broken statue that resembles the giant they just dealt with... Meanwhile, on Earth, Goku has continued trying to train, while on Planet Freeza No. 79, Vegeta is healed at last. Review: Star Date, 08-2022. While in the manga, our heroes have landed on Namek and the story is about to proceed forward for real, I and a facsimile of our heroes are still trapped on 'Namek(?)' and, while at first things seem to be moving very quickly in regards to gathering the Dragon Balls, there is almost nothing of interest happening and it's all just so, so dull. Please send help. I'm being extremely snarky of course, but you'll have to bear with me on that front, because this stretch of episodes really is the worst as far as being engaging goes. I don't know what it is about the pacing of them, but somehow Toei has managed to take situations that should be interesting and relatively thrilling and make them as borderline sleep inducing as they possibly can. A superpowered five year old diving into the heart of a tornado, and our heroes having to fight a seemingly indestructible giant, should not be this boring! EVER! And yet, somehow, I just can't find myself getting that invested in what's on the screen. Maybe part of it is my long-held knowledge of where this all goes, but I'm having a hard time imagining many first time fans falling for what this filler is selling them, even if they didn't know it was filler at all – I'd be sincerely curious to know if any young Japanese fans fell for any of this even if they didn't read the manga, because I'm willing to put money down that they didn't. There are a few hints here and there that finally start to tease the obvious even more for our heroes though, chiefly that their Namekian “friends” have swapped out for no discernible reason, but the most telling is the fact that the castle they were just in seems to disappear for a moment when Kuririn looks back at it and then reappears when he looks again. A rather knowing look from Zarkuro coupled with the downed statue back on top of the mountain clues in any audience member who may have been sleeping – and really, who can blame them? - as to the fact that there's something sinister going on here. Other than that, there's a couple of scenes with Vegeta basically taken from the last manga chapter reviewed, and there's some continued coverage of Goku's ill-advised training attempts, but beyond that, this episode is about like watching paint dry. Until next time! Favorite Scene: The gigantic plant bird things are really fun as a concept, shame they weren't featured in something less coma inducing. Next Time: *snores* ...Huh? Oh, we're...we're still here, aren't we... Synopsis: With their ship landing on Namek at last, Bulma, Gohan, and Kuririn wonder what sort of planet Namek is, though Kuririn still wonders if this really is Namek at all since they reached it so much quicker than expected. Gohan suggests they check the Dragon Ball radar to be sure, but before Bulma can do so, the ship falls off the edge of a cliff with them still inside of it. A short time later, the three Earthlings have been apparently found and taken inside a building with a familiar looking aesthetic. As Bulma opens her eyes, she is greeted by the sight of two elderly Namekians who introduce themselves as Lychee and Zarkuro and claim to have been by each others sides for over 300 years. After an unusual greeting involving grabbing the other's nose, Lychee tells Bulma that they're lucky they found them when they did, as all three of them probably would have died soon without aid. Bulma wakes the other two up, and they all exchange the greeting. The pair makes food for the group, and Lychee says he hopes they can find the Dragon Balls easily, surprising the trio. Zarkuro explains that they know everything about them. Bulma asks where their ship is, and the two Namekians take them to where they've stored the greatly damaged spaceship. Bulma is sure it's still flight-worthy though, and the trio once again thank the pair for helping them out so much already. Bulma pulls out the Dragon Ball radar and immediately gets readings for multiple Dragon Balls, including three in a group nearby. Bulma brings out a capsule car for them to go get the balls, but Lychee warns them that they'll be a quick meal for the monsters in that area in such a thing. Lychee offers to let them use their 'Goku', which turns out to be a noisy ship the Namekians themselves have. The group approaches one of the three Dragon Balls in short order, but as they work to retrieve it, Zarkuro is shown back at the house, commenting that with a ship such as their visitors... Gohan, Kuririn, and Lychee all dive underwater to search for the Dragon Ball. To the trio's surprise, Lychee disappears, but soon emerges out of the water holding the Dragon Ball. On the Freeza outpost that Vegeta has landed on, the injured Saiyan is watched over by a group of other soldiers as he heals, with one of them noting that he's regaining consciousness. In Vegeta's mind, the outcome of his fight with everyone on Earth replays in his mind, with him wondering how he ever lost to Kakarot when his power is much higher. On Earth, Goku scares Chi Chi when he suddenly punches the air above him out of boredom, causing his wife to lambast him for interrupting her sewing a sweater for Gohan. Lychee takes Bulma, Gohan, and Kuririn to an ancient temple next, where they deduce that the Dragon Ball they need must be deep inside of it. As they walk down, Gohan notes some carvings on the wall that he takes to be ancient Namekians, with Kuririn noticing that they look nothing like the Namekians they know. The radar indicates a Dragon Ball must be inside a coffin in the room above, and as Bulma opens the coffin, she is horrified to discover it's inside the mouth of a skeleton. With a second Dragon Ball collected however, Lychee thinks they can get a third before the day is out. Gohan thinks the Namekians are being really helpful, but Bulma almost doesn't trust them as a result, and warns Gohan to watch out in case the two Namekians try to steal the wish from them once they've gathered the seven balls. The third Dragon Ball is located, and as Lychee lands his ship, the Dragon Ball that was stuck in a tree is knocked loose and picked up by a large clawed hand. The group follows the radar, eventually leading them to a large dinosaur which promptly eats the Dragon Ball before leaving them behind. Bulma chases after the dinosaur and the rest chase after her, but Lychee soon stops them, saying that if they go any further, their lives will be in danger. Bulma accuses the Namekian of being up to something since he's being far too nice, but they all soon hear the pained screams of the dinosaur. Lychee takes them back to the ship and they fly over, soon finding a large poisonous green swamp that bubbles as the dinosaur's massive skeleton floats in it. Lychee warns them that even the fumes of the swamp are deadly, and Bulma apologizes for her accusations. The group wonders how they're going to get the Dragon Ball, and Lychee says that he has a suit that could withstand the swamp but probably only for ten seconds. Gohan offers to give it a try, and Lychee suggests they tie a rope around him so they can pull him back out before ten seconds pass as well. Now clad in the protective suit, Gohan dives in after his friends say they'll pull him back out after seven seconds pass. When Lychee pulls the rope however, they find that the swamp's acidic water has already eaten through the rope. In the water, Gohan gets the Dragon Ball just in time to discover the broken rope, and desperately swims for the surface. With time running out, he fires a Masenko backwards and propels himself back out of the swamp. After arriving on Namek, it seems our heroes are already doing well, with three Dragon Balls collected thus far. Review: Anyone unfamiliar with the franchise might be wondering why I'm still covering the anime here. After all, I'm only covering filler and not generally talking much about the anime version of events that happen in the manga, and since Namek is where they want to be, this surely must all be further events in the manga, right? Well...not really. Unfortunately, we're still stuck in a bit of a detour from the source material, and it's a detour that I don't think many fans look back upon too fondly nowadays. You might already be able to tell why too. This episode, and from what I can remember the following ones, are honestly pretty dull. It's sort of like watching paint dry, especially when you know that what you're watching doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. There's some effort made to make things interesting by stringing along a few hints here and there that things aren't quite what they seem – such as the 'ancient Namekians' depicted on a temple wall that look nothing like the Namekians we're used to, or more importantly, the fact that Bulma's radar initially picks up way more than seven balls (something that not even she notices) – but in the end, it's not really enough to make any of this interesting. Lychee and Zarkuro's kindly old man schtick doesn't really give us much to work with either. After a cute bit where they hold everyone's noses in greeting – something that's particularly hilarious to see them do to the seemingly nose less Kuririn – it just gets old really quickly. Somehow even the dangerous situation our heroes find themselves in by the end somehow just feels really tepid rather than thrilling, and that's quite a feat to pull off when the story has essentially put a five year old in danger of dying. It should be impossible to make something like that dull, but by Kami, they found a way. The one bit of the episode that actually is kind of interesting is the very brief glimpse we get inside Vegeta's mind, where he's still thinking about the fight that he lost on Earth. Already you can see him focusing on his loss towards Goku in particular, even as it's Gohan beating him as an Oozaru that he's remembering. This is going to be a continually weird thing with his character moving forward – he seemingly looks down on Goku specifically for defeating him, when by all counts, Vegeta BEAT Goku. Vegeta only lost due to a long, varied set of circumstances, and it took the combined efforts of Goku, Gohan, Kuririn, Yajirobe of all people, and even Vegeta's own earlier strategy of making a fake moon, to take him down for the count. If anything he should still be considering himself way out of their league, but his obsessive personality just can't cope with his loss. Why the focus on Goku though? Honestly, if I had to venture a guess, it's down to Vegeta's outlook on life in general. He can't really get away with not acknowledging his loss here, much as he'd like to, but what he can do is try to fit it into his narrow worldview such as we know it. Kakarot might be a low-class Saiyan, but he is a pure-blooded one, and easily the strongest person on the Earth. If Vegeta has to deal with the fact that he lost, he'd rather rationalize it being at the hands of another Saiyan – no matter how “unworthy” they are – rather than admit that it came at the hands of a halfling and a lesser species, all of which should be like bugs to him. Basically, it's his ego's only way of moving on at this point...but as we'll see soon enough, moving on is not exactly something Vegeta's good at either. Until next time! Favorite Scene: The gag with the Namekian greeting of holding noses is cute. There, I praised something. Can I go now? Next Time: I'm gonna take a nap. *yawn* Wake me up when they get to the giant. Synopsis: Surrounded by children with guns, Gohan, Kuririn, and a captured Bulma are unsure what to do. A young man soon approaches Gohan and Kuririn while holding a gun on them. Gohan tries to explain that they mean them no harm and tell them where they're from, but the boy fires his gun at Gohan's feet to silence him, telling them that they don't care what invaders like them have to say. Kuririn likewise tries to explain that they're not invaders, and as the kids don't seem to want to listen, he tells Gohan they have no choice but to fight. As Kuririn and Gohan channel raise their power, the kids back off, except for one little girl who walks up and kicks Kuririn in the shin. The seeming leader of the group tells Kuririn he will shoot to kill next time, and his name is revealed to be Zeshin as another young man urges him to go ahead and kill the intruders as they have to be some of 'Freeza's men'. Zeshin struggles to bring himself to kill them however, and the situation is soon interrupted as alarms go off overhead and another child runs in to tell Zeshin that they've entered a meteor swarm. The ship continues to rock as meteors slam into it, and Bulma yells for Kuririn and Gohan to use this opportunity to set her free. Back on Earth, Goku freaks out as the doctor and nurses come back to give him a shot as he hates needles, and Chi Chi chastises him for getting upset over something so small, especially after all that he caused their son to go through. Bulma, Gohan, and Kuririn try to use the chaos to escape the ship, but Kuririn and Gohan can't leave the kids behind, despite Bulma's protesting that everyone on the ship is doomed and they need to leave before they die too. As a large piece of metal falls from the ceiling and almost crushes some of the kids, Gohan and Kuririn rush in and catch it and toss it aside, saving the kids. Seeing this, Zeshin and the other older boy wonder who they really are, especially as the pair rushes in to help as something explodes in another part of the ship. As Gohan and Kuririn try to help put out fires, Bulma rushes to the front of the ship to take over piloting the ship to try to save them all. Bulma successfully navigates the ship through many of the remaining meteors, but once they're back to safety, the kids once again turn their guns on Bulma and say that they can never trust the people who destroyed their planet. Bulma objects to this treatment, and one of the children once again accuses them of being in league with 'Freeza'. As Gohan and Kuririn rush back to help, the guns are turned on them as well, as one of the children says they know they have to be Freeza's men due to how strong they are. Zeshin speaks up however and tells everyone to lower their guns, saying that if these were some of Freeza's men, they would have already started trying to kill them. A little girl that Gohan saved speaks up as well, reminding the others of how the people in league with Freeza for real had acted, how they turned up without warning and killed all of their parents immediately. As the children are reminded of what they've lost, the other young man specifically remembers narrowly escaping an alien (Cui) who killed his own parents when he sees a look of concern in Gohan's eyes that convince him the 'intruders' aren't like that at all. Bulma thanks the children for believing them, and Kuririn asks them if the people that attacked their homes had tails. When they deny this, Kuririn thinks that they must not have been Saiyans after all, and wonders who else out there in space could possibly be so brutal. Gohan asks them what happened to their planet, and Zeshin explains that it was perfectly peaceful until the day the invaders arrived. Multiple aliens landed and attacked without warning, killing everyone they could find and saying those who survive should be grateful that their planet would be given to 'Lord Freeza'. As the adults realized what was happening, they rushed all of the children into spaceships and helped them escape, but all of the other spaceships were shot down, leaving only this mirror-clad ship to escape into space. Kuririn asks Zeshin if the kids have any plans now that they're alone in space, and Zeshin explains that they're headed for a planet that their fathers used to travel to for business in the hopes that they'll be taken in there. Bulma asks them if it's far, and Zeshin assures them that they'll get there no matter how many years it takes. The kids see Bulma, Kuririn, and Gohan back to their ship, and Bulma urges the latter two to hurry up so they don't lose more time getting to Namek. Hearing that name, the children tell them that they passed Planet Namek about two weeks prior and give the trio a shortcut to get there and save themselves some time. Bulma is surprised by this information and thanks them before dragging Gohan and Kuririn on board, and they leave before Zeshin can tell them something else about the shortcut. Once again in space, Bulma resets their coordinates while Kuririn worries about those other bad guys the children told them about. Kuririn wonders if they might be allies of the Saiyans, but Bulma says it's nothing for them to worry about either way, and she goes off to sleep. Elsewhere in space however, Kuririn's worries are proven correct, as Vegeta's pod lands on an alien planet at last, and the various Saiyan armor clad aliens there receive him and take him to a healing chamber when they discover his rough state inside of his pod. As Vegeta receives treatment, our heroes ship begins to quake as they pass through a storm in space. Bulma misunderstands the situation and accuses Kuririn of trying something perverted with her when she wakes up on his lap, but the tense situation is soon forgotten – they've arrived at Planet Namek ahead of schedule thanks to the shortcut the children told them about...or have they? A bizarre warning begins to flash on the ship's main console as they go in for a landing. Review: As said last time, the story presented in this episode really probably could've been contained in the last one with some cuts and less cutting away to other things, and I still stand by that sentiment. While there's plenty to like in this episode, it doesn't really do enough to stand out on it's own I feel, and in the end it's just used as a prelude for the next batch of filler coming up – a batch of filler I always remember not liking that much – so...yeah. Kinda ends up leaving a bad taste in my mouth either way. There really is some stuff to like here too though. Seeing our heroes try to figure out what's going on and ultimately deciding to help their would-be captors is a nice enough diversion, as well as setting up some early knowledge of the coming threat for our heroes. I particularly like that Cui is one of the aliens shown to have attacked the kids' home planet, as it really ups his despicable factor far more than 'Vegeta doesn't like him' ever could, let's be honest. I'm not really sure our heroes really need to know what's coming in the long run though – the discussion of what Vegeta could be up to and the idea that there's other bad people out there in space already sets everything up nicely enough without this added information, so I can't really say any of this is of great help in the grand scheme of things narratively. And again, it all only really exists to set up the NEXT filler storyline, so even the main plot of these two episodes is essentially filler for the filler, and that's never a great sign. If there's one thing this episode adds to the characters though that I absolutely love, it's surprisingly with the bedridden Goku. The idea that someone strong enough to fight off people trying to blow up a planet would be scared of a simple shot is hilarious to me (and completely understandable – I HATE needles, and I don't know that I want to meet someone who LIKES them, honestly). It's a great bit of levity – not that this episode is particularly dark though – and a great addition to his character, and I'm glad to say that it sticks around for future moments of filler (though I don't know how many, if any at all, will end up getting covered here). Until next time! Favorite Scene: Goku being scared of needles is absolutely hilarious and considering I empathize with him 100% on that front, how can I not love that scene? Next Time: It says right in the title that they're 'kind-hearted', so I'm sure there's absolutely no deception going on here whatsoever. Synopsis: As Bulma, Gohan, and Kuririn all travel to Namek on Kami's ship, Bulma lazes around the ship and interrupts Gohan and Kuririn's mental training to tell them to clean up the ship. Kuririn points out that it's her mess, but she claims to be too busy to clean. Back on Earth, a nurse catches Goku out of bed and trying to train despite still being in a body cast, and Roshi uses the opportunity to harass the nurse. Goku's doctor catches Goku out of bed as well and tells him that if he keeps this up he's never going to get any better, and the doctor puts Roshi to work helping the nurse get Goku back into bed. When the doctor asks where Chi Chi is, Roshi tells him she's up on the roof, as Chi Chi stares at the sky and wonders how Gohan is doing. Back in space, Bulma and Kuririn talk about where Vegeta may be after leaving Earth, as elsewhere in space, Vegeta's ship is shown flying through the stars. Suddenly, all three of them notice something flash in front of the ship. Gohan wonders if they've reached Namek already, but Bulma says it's far too soon for that to be the case. Using the ship's computer, she's able to see that something is quickly approaching them, although Gohan and Kuririn don't see anything outside the window at first. A fleet of smaller ships soon appear however and open fire on their ship, forcing Bulma to open fire in return. As the ships fly around them however, another ship that looks just like theirs appears in front of them, and although they do their best to avoid collision, the ship turns at the same time as them. As all appears lost however, rather than crashing into an identical ship, their ship is taken inside a larger camouflaged balloon-like ship. Finding themselves and their ship inside of another ship now, the trio steps out of their ship to investigate, with Bulma realizing that she forgot to put on pants first. As they explore, they go down a hallway where multiple guns poke out of the wall, which all start firing at them. Gohan, Kuririn, and Bulma (with Gohan's help) all manage to survive the attack, with Kuririn telling them both to be careful as they have no idea what other kinds of booby traps might be waiting for them. Shortly afterwards, a wall slides closed behind them, trapping them in a room. Kuririn tries at first to blast the wall away, but acid soon begins pouring into the room, forcing Gohan to grab hold of Bulma to save her from being dissolved. Kuririn blasts the wall away and the trio escape by flying over to the other side. Gohan asks if this could be a Saiyan spaceship, and Bulma admits that she has no idea. They wonder if Vegeta could suddenly appear around the corner and attack them or if he's still recovering somewhere else, as the Saiyan is shown to be doing exactly that as his pod continues to fly through space. After walking further, Kuririn starts to notice that it feels like they're going in a circle, and they haven't seen another door in ages. What appears to be a door appears on the ceiling, but as Kuririn tries to pull it open, another door slides open on a nearby wall. The trio walks through it, but a pit on the floor suddenly opens up and tries to drop them out into space. Kuririn and Gohan rescue Bulma again, and fire ki blasts to push them all back up onto the ship. Gohan and Kuririn are starting to get hungry now, and they all soon smell food in another nearby room. They rush over to indulge their appetites, but Bulma warns them that this could all be a trap. As she carefully tries grabbing a fork and a knife, another knife hurtles past her and sticks into the wall. At first Bulma gloats about not falling for such an obvious trap, but the knife in the wall has pushed in a panel that soon causes the whole ship to shake as pillars are pulled away, trapping Bulma underneath a large dome alone after Kuririn and Gohan were quick enough to dodge out of the way. As Gohan and Kuririn prepare to free Bulma, the dome disappears and a robotic arm grabs Bulma and hands her up from the ceiling. Before any of them can react, guns surround Bulma and soldiers come out of compartments that raise out of the floor to surround Gohan and Kuririn as well. The group seems to be captured, but Gohan notices something strange about their attackers – they're all children. Kuririn asks if there's any adults they can talk to, and Bulma shouts for them to forget about her and 'give those kids a spanking', but as the kids around Gohan and Kuririn react in fear when Kuririn starts to move, the kids surrounding Bulma point even more guns, prompting Bulma to change her tune. Review: A new arc means new chances for filler to expand upon things that didn't exist in the original manga, and what period does Dragon Ball Z choose to expand upon first? The trip to Namek itself! That's...actually not a bad idea in-of-itself if I'm being honest. While the last manga chapter we had blazed through the trip in the span of a chapter, it did so by also giving us all of the intel on what's going on in space that our characters are about to run into once they land on the planet. Here however, Toei has chosen to severely chop up the Vegeta plot dump, and string it out through original material following our heroes during their trip into space. It's really the only realistic way to do this, because if we'd gotten the Vegeta plot dump all at once as we had in the manga, everything would feel far more like it was stalling for time (which, it is), rather than standing any chance of feeling like a naturally occurring story. That's not to say the filler itself isn't also making use of filler of it's own to pad the runtime however. The story of this episode probably could have been resolved in one episode rather than two with some severe cuts to it's own ancillary material as well as material to come in the next episode. To get it to take two episodes however, the entirety of our heroes' material from the previous chapter is adapted into this episode, as are a few cutaways to what Vegeta's doing (spoilers: trying not to die in his space pod). There's also a cutaway to Goku's antics on the Earth and a worried Chi Chi that don't really add a lot either, but admittedly I'm a bit fonder of this bit. Goku just laying in a hospital bed really does feel unlike him, so the idea that he's sneaking out of bed to try to train makes sense. It also makes sense that Roshi would come visit him, both out of love for his student and also to sexually harass some nurses, because of course he'd do both of those things. At least this time he gets some comeuppance though, and unlike the usual payback, it's not due to him getting smacked or shot – it's the doctor and the nurse making it clear they have no time to deal with his shit. As for our heroes, they quickly run into issues of their own as they fly through space, and their trip is put on the back burner for a bit as they end up captured by a ship that camouflages and reflects everything out in space. While I'm not a huge fan of this episode overall, there are some really neat set pieces that I really enjoy with this ship, from it being essentially invisible and reflecting their own ship back at them, to all of it's various traps like the acid room and the drop pit back into space. The gun wall's pretty neat too I guess. By the time you get to the final trap however, it's extremely obvious that they shouldn't trust anything that they see around them, so you just know something is coming when they find food. I think the writers knew how obvious this all was by this point though, as they highlight it themselves with Bulma, and make her fall for the trap out of sheer arrogance rather than anything else. With all of these assaults upon them though, you really are lead to wonder just what exactly is going on on this ship, but seeing our characters get surrounded by people with guns at this point in the story really doesn't feel like much of a threat...usually. This is where they throw us a curveball though – it's less that this is a threat, and more that our characters don't know how to handle the situation they've found themselves in, because they're completely surrounded by kids wearing body armor and pointing guns at them. There's seemingly no adults around, so right away this is the most violent mob of orphans I've ever seen, that's for sure. That said, once we know it's kids piloting this ship, an uh...interesting quandary comes up. See, earlier in the episode before our heroes' ship gets captures, Bulma opens fire on some little ships that probably came from this bigger ship they're now on. She successfully guns down a good handful of them too. So that leaves the question of...were...those ships running on auto-pilot, or did Bulma just...o-ohh... … Until next time! Favorite Scene: All of the traps the ship employs against our heroes are pretty neat, but if I had to pick a personal favorite, it'd definitely be the acid room. Next Time: So, are there no like...space orphanages, or... Synopsis: As their ship travels through space headed for Planet Namek, Bulma has succumbed to boredom and lazing around the ship in her underwear. As she wonders if she should have made some sort of stasis pods so they could just sleep the whole way there, she watches Gohan and Kuririn meditating and training in their minds. Kuririn snaps out of it first, panting and praising Gohan for how strong he is, while Gohan praises Kuririn for surprising him with how many moves he has. Bulma says training is all well and good, but says the ship has started to get kind of messy and tells them they should clean it up – there's a lady present, after all. Kuririn points out that it's her mess, and Bulma retorts that she's busy thinking while all they do is sit around, and walks away claiming to be busy. Kuririn comments that if she's such a 'lady', he really wishes she wouldn't walk around half naked. From a seat at the front of the ship, Bulma asks Kuririn about something she's been wondering – when Vegeta left Earth, where did he go exactly, pointing out that the Saiyan home world is long gone according to Goku's brother Raditz. Kuririn remembers that as well, and says that with how injured Vegeta was, he must have went somewhere with civilization so he could be treated. Bulma remembers Raditz also saying something about the Saiyans selling planets to other races, so she wonders if maybe it was one of those races he went to. Kuririn thinks it'd be nice if that planet was really far away so they have more time before he comes back to the Earth, and Bulma remarks that their home has really gotten targeted by someone unbelievable. Elsewhere in space, Vegeta's pod flies towards 'Planet Freeza No. 79', and a pair of aliens wearing the same type of armor as the Saiyans get a reading that a ship is approaching. They wonder if it's Lord Freeza, but think that it can't be as he just left. They recognize the signal upon further inspection as Vegeta, which also surprises him as they hadn't heard he'd be coming, and immediately move to have a welcoming party to receive him. As Vegeta's pod lands, a welcoming group of aliens all wearing the same armor notice that there's only one ship, prompting them to wonder where Nappa is. When Vegeta doesn't get out of his pod, they quickly notice that he's on life support inside of it, and hurry him to a medical bay on the planet. Vegeta is shown floating in a vat of liquid with wires attached to him while being watched over by another alien. The alien eventually hits a button, causing the vat to drain and Vegeta to awaken and step out of the tank, naked. The alien tells Vegeta that while he should be completely healed now, his tail couldn't be regenerated, but Vegeta says that's fine as it'll grow back on it's own again. The alien comments that Vegeta must have been through a hard time for his armor to be as damaged as it is, and as Vegeta changes into a new set of armor, he asks if Lord Freeza is there. The alien says Freeza has left, and Vegeta scoffs, saying he must already be bored of this planet as well. The alien informs Vegeta that Cui is waiting to talk to him, but Vegeta laughs and tells him to tell Cui he has nothing to say to him and starts to leave. The alien tells Vegeta that he's forgotten his scouter, but Vegeta tells him that he doesn't need it anymore. As Vegeta walks through a hallway, he thinks to himself that he'll head back to Earth first thing the next morning and destroy them this time, but then decides that he should head to Planet Namek first instead. His thoughts are interrupted when he runs into Cui, who mocks him for having gotten beaten as well as the deaths of Raditz and Nappa. Vegeta tries to walk past Cui, telling him he has no time to listen to his blathering, but Cui grabs his shoulder and stops him, telling him that Lord Freeza is angry with him for going somewhere without his permission. Vegeta says that Freeza can't complain since he's not there, and Cui tells Vegeta that Freeza is generous however and is probably going to forgive Vegeta since the Saiyan “discovered something wonderful”. Vegeta asks Cui what he's talking about, and Cui says Freeza was quite pleased to learn he might be able to become immortal by going to Planet Namek. Hearing this, Vegeta realizes that Freeza must have heard everything through their Scouters, and also realizes that he'll be stuck serving Freeza for the rest of his life if Freeza gets his wish first. Cui tells Vegeta to give up on the Dragon Balls as Freeza is sure to kill the Namekians after getting his own wish granted, but Vegeta races out to his pod, leaping in it and heading as fast as he can for Planet Namek. Thirty-four days after leaving the Earth, Gohan, Kuririn, and Bulma finally reach Planet Namek in Kami's spaceship! Review: Another chapter where I'm not entirely sure there's much to comment on in the grand scheme of things, but there is a few things worth talking about as the chapter finishes up the prelude to Namek (at least in the manga), and sets the stage for what we can expect our heroes to run into once there. The chapter starts off focused on our heroes, with Bulma being bored (and also providing a little bit of fan-service in her down time by walking around in her underwear...in...front of a five-year-old...). Kuririn and Gohan are meanwhile doing a bit of image training together, which is really weird and inexplicable. Seriously, they're channeling images of each other mentally apparently and actually fighting each other that way, so their minds are connected somehow or another. I guess Goku's not the only one capable of spontaneously developing psychic powers when needed. I guess it's the only way they'd really be able to do any kind of training together while in the confines of the ship though, so Toriyama was kind of stuck as far as that goes. The topic among our heroes soon changes to talking about Vegeta though, with Bulma and Kuririn both wondering where he went when he left Earth while also revisiting some information mentioned by Raditz when he came to Earth. They remember that the Saiyan home world is long gone, as well as the fact that the Saiyans supposedly sold planets to other races looking for homes, so they wonder if it could be one of those planets that Vegeta is going to. If there were more Saiyans than only the three initially (not counting Goku and Gohan of course), you'd think they'd wonder if they didn't have a planet of their own they operated out of though, even if it wasn't their original home world. As things turn out though, it's that guess based on them working for other races that turns out to be right, as Vegeta lands on 'Freeza Planet No. 79'. Hmm, that name sounds curiously familiar thanks to us visiting DBZ movie 3 first... Putting that aside for the moment, it's interesting to see the architecture of the alien buildings on this planet, as well as seeing all sorts of aliens – some more humanoid looking and others more bizarre – all wearing the same uniform as the Saiyans we've seen up until now wearing, the same armor and scouter combo as far as the eye can see. Things quickly move in a direction that seem to show not everything was quite as we assumed it to be out in space based on what the Saiyans told us, as while Vegeta is referred to as a 'Lord' on this planet, so is another alien named Cui, and so is Freeza. That already puts Vegeta on an equal footing with some of these other aliens, but there's only one of the three that has a planet named after them currently, and that's Freeza. Couple that with 'No. 79' indicating this is only one of several planets bearing his name, and...yeah, I think it's pretty clear Vegeta just got a huge downgrade in terms of importance. That said though, that actually serves to big up a lot of these other aliens right out of the gate. Look at how Cui talks to Vegeta when they meet, almost like they're equals or as if Cui is above him (not that Vegeta has much time for such an attitude). Then look at the way he talks about Freeza. Now couple that with the fact that 79 planets are named after Freeza, and the fact that Vegeta is almost petrified at the idea of Freeza gaining immortality and thus making Vegeta serve him for the rest of his life. Now take all of that information, keep it in mind...and remember how strong Vegeta was. That it took all of Earth's best efforts to beat him to a DRAW essentially. Oh yeah, I think it's safe to say our heroes are really about to be in far greater danger unlike any they've ever seen before, and they have absolutely no idea what they're getting themselves into. They're going to find out soon enough however, as Freeza and Vegeta are both on their way to the same place as they are. Planet Namek is about to become the biggest hotspot in the universe. Until next time! Favorite Panel: |
About the AuthorAspiring author and big anime/manga fan, just trying to do my best in the world. For more details, go to About Me. Archives
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