Synopsis: Everyone is surprised by the sudden appearance of Horlock and even more surprised when he just as suddenly disappears along with Velou. Cursa thinks that she saw a puff of smoke for a moment, but then they were gone. She theorizes what could have happened, but the only conclusion she can reach is that whatever happened, there are very few people who can use magic that powerful. Bonkers and Tylty wonder what in the world is going on. Debonair and Grimm receive a surprise guest in the form of Cinderella, who says they need to talk. Debonair isn't interested, but Grimm asks how someone from the List is so close to HQ due to the barrier. Cinderella says that Velou created an opening, and tells them that they need to set aside their grudge for a moment, as she claims that the world is about to end. Horlock reiterates again his story that dragons once flew the sky until the Hunters exterminated them, and says it's a story he wrote 500 years ago. Dutt points a gun at them and demands to know how he and Velou got in, but the gnarled-handed figure tells Dutt not to bother as it would only be a waste of ammo. Horlock greets the figure, referring to it as the 'legendary Red Hood', and Red Hood in return greets Horlock by his real name – ex-Hunter and the second Red Hood, Ludwig Geppetto. This takes Dutt and Velou both by surprise, with Velou asking the mayor if he really used to be a Hunter and who everyone else in the room is. The Red Hood explains that the book before him is the True Book that was gifted to them by higher beings as a device to build the world. Everything written on it's pages happens, and the room it's kept in is known as the scrivener's room. They further explain that the duty of the Hunters Guild is to add scenes to the book and bring story to the world. Geppetto claims that the guild has penned countless stories of hope, but also stories of despair, calling it unforgivable, but the Red Hood objects and says it's necessary to maintain the world. Debonair grabs Cinderella by the throat and demands that she explains before she snaps her neck like a twig, and Cinderella sputters that that's what she was trying to do. She says they first need to detain Velou, claiming that he was built to destroy the guild. She explains that Hech Horlock (though she now doubts that's his real name) is a sorcerer who used to work for the guild, close to the Book no less. He grew sick of the stranglehold the guild held on the world, and thus erased his name from the records and turned traitor, but not before swiping a handful of pages from the book. He then joined the List, as their cause was also one of freedom from the guild. He then used his powerful magic combined with the pages to create a power capable of nullifying the book's scenarios, the power to nullify fate itself. The Red Hood surmises that Geppetto was the one that stole the pages years ago, and says that what he's done is very troublesome, as Grimm was a prime candidate to become the next Red Hood. Geppetto says the Red Hood is very calm about all of this and asks if they plan to resist, but the Red Hood says that now that they've come to this room, they doubt there's anything they can do. First however, he asks Velou if he'd like to read what's in the Book and see for himself the truth of the world in it's pages. Cinderella says that Debonair has no doubt already seen signs of the truth in Grimm, as she's spent the most time around Velou. Grimm looks on in confusion, and Cinderella says that itself is proof as Grimm didn't used to be this slow on the uptake. She explains that there's a magical energy field around Velou that nullifies the story threads around him, and that spending enough time around him frees you from the story threads, the very chains of fate, written in the Book for you. She says that by working together, Horlock and the List were able to use all their powers to create a living puppet in the form of Velou for that very purpose. Debonair objects and says magic of that sort is taboo, and Cinderella scoffs and says it was the guild that made up that label to put up on it. Cinderella compares their plan to that of thinning soup, dripping water into the broth one drop at a time until little by little, Velou's presence would have diluted the influence of the guild's written scenarios if they allowed him to join, allowing the List to finally strike when the time was right and eliminate both him and the guild itself. Now however, the plan has changed. Velou finds himself set in bed with Red Hood, as Dutt brings hot milk for the other three. Velou is confused, but Red Hood explains it's easier to relax this way and asks Velou to treat this as being read a bedtime story. Red Hood opens the first page and shows Velou a bunch of writing that he can't read, with the Red Hood explaining that it's the language of the readers, shadows of words projected from another dimension. Cursa and Tarpan storm into Debonair's room to tell her about Velou's disappearance, but are surprised to see Cinderella there. Debonair tells her to ignore that for now and asks about Velou, and Cursa explains that he disappeared along with an old man before any of them could react. Cinderella says that sounds like his teleportation spell, a power that can't be detected without magic of your own. Debonair wonders where he would go, and realizes with horror exactly where that would be. The Red Hood explains that the Book was first found in caves underneath the island, and when the first person found it, the Book's discovery was already written in it's pages. The laws of nature, time, and living creatures were all already written within it as well, so the Red Hood shows Velou what was then written next – the names of various supernatural creatures, such as dragons, giants, demons, mermaids, witches, and even werewolves. The Red Hood explains that the guild works with those concepts to build stories of fate, otherwise known as fairy tales, filled with cautionary stories and heroic legends. Everything that happens, from monsters eating or destroying villages, and the heroes that hunt and destroy those monsters while rescuing others, are all scenarios that have been written in the Book. Cinderella says that Velou has the power to nullify the Book's scenarios, and says that it's not Grimm's memories that have been erased, but her very character concept in the book that's been eroded away by being near Velou for too long. Velou thinks back to everything he's seen or heard about up until now, remembering how Bonkers' hometown was destroyed by giants, and how people like Porschen, Migael, and the others are trying to become Hunters so they can change the world, and asks if he's really being told that everything is nothing but one big setup by the guild. When the Red Hood confirms this, Velou angrily asks how they could do something like that, but the Red Hood insists it's for the good of the world. Cinderella says that everything that forms the structure of their world is written in the Book, and asks what they think will happen if Velou comes in direct contact with it. As Geppetto watches on from Velou and Red Hood's side, Cinderella surmises that he doesn't just want to destroy the Book, but the entire world along with it. Review: So, remember how last chapter I said that we were having a ton of things thrown at us out of nowhere, and compared it to Chapter 5? Well...this chapter throws even more at us, and while every single bit of it is wildly interesting, I don't get nearly the same good feeling out of it this time around. Everything about the wild reveals we're getting, and how they're coming one after the other with about two more lined up just behind that, feels like we're in the endgame now. It feels like Kawaguchi is rapidly burning through series concepts they had planned to trickle out over a much greater period of time in the series, and given that the series has continued to be in the lower rankings of Jump's readership (oftentimes in the very last spot)...this doesn't bode well. At all. If the next chapter isn't the last one, then I don't think it'll be too much longer beyond that. Rather than wallow in that disappointment for now however, let's talk about what this chapter brings to the table, and man is it A LOT. The sight of Cinderella suddenly coming to talk with Debonair and Grimm is a shocking one, but one that feels like it's being robbed of a lot of it's gravitas by how short-lived our getting to it is. Cinderella was built up as one of the biggest witch threats the guild knew of, but without the proper time dedicated to showing us exactly how and why she's such a big deal, this just feels like it doesn't impress nearly as much as it should. This is doubly a shame because what she reveals is as major as it can get, but even it's reveal is knee-capped by how lackluster this sudden change of pace unfortunately is. Basically, every reveal in this chapter is tied to Hech Horlock, or rather Ludwig Geppotto (geez this guy burns through names quickly). The 'mayor' of Velou's village has turned out to be a far more important character than anyone could have predicted from the start, going from an important footnote in Velou's history to seemingly the “final villain” of the entire story almost instantly upon the reveal that he was still alive. He's truly a man with far more to him than initial appearances, and it's a shame that so many of the grand reveals about his true nature are thrown at us in such quick succession. Just thinking about a more strung-out narrative, where we found out about his past as a Hunter, his true name, his role in eradicating dragons, and his plans regarding Velou little by little...we're absolutely being robbed here. That said, there's still plenty about this character that hasn't been revealed yet that I'll be interested to see if we find out in the remaining chapters or not. How has he lived this long (something to do with his strong magical powers if I had to venture a guess, but still)? How long was he the second Red Hood before he decided that things needed to change? What caused him to decide that the world needed to be destroyed? These are all questions that I'm extremely interested in the answer to, I just hope we actually get to find them out. That of course leads us to the big reveal about Velou himself, as well as is role in the narrative. We've already seen many times over how Velou is a character that defies fate and heads whole-heartedly towards what he believes in. Rather than this being a feature of his personality however, it now appears that that is literally a function of his very existence. On the one hand, this is a little bit reductive, and makes how he reacts to things a little less interesting. On the other hand though, holy crap does this open up a whole new level of explanation for everything that's happened so far, as well as making us wonder what else we could be seeing (or could have seen) in the future. How much of what we've seen happen so far was caused by Velou's fate-defying powers? Was it written in the Book that he would just live out his days in the hamlet, until Geppetto decided to change things up quicker than expected? Or was he written in the book at all? Was the fact that Grimm was the one who came out to the hamlet all part of the plan as well, so that Velou's powers would immediately begin taking effect on her, and if so, was it even her idea in the first place to invite him to join the guild, or was she merely acting as an agent of either Geppetto's writing on the pages or Velou's own alteration powers? There is a lot that could be dived into here, and this intricately meta take on fate and stories is one of the things I've enjoyed most about this series so far, even if a lot of it is being thrown at us too fast to really dig through. And of course, Velou isn't even a real human either, but a sort of living 'puppet'. Suddenly the mayor's real name being Geppetto makes a lot more sense too, as this effectively makes Velou into Pinocchio. The level of love for Grimm's fairy tales and research into how to make those concepts his own that Kawaguchi has put into this story's planning is astounding. The biggest question of all is the Book itself however. Where did it come from? The Red Hood says it was given to humanity by higher beings, but they also say it was just found sitting there under the island the guild's base is built upon. Given everything else in this series so far, is the higher being just a Fairy Godmother, perhaps? Was the Book meant to be used in the way that it is, or is even the way it's being used now, or was there something else in mind originally? And related to that, if Geppetto is over 500 years old, how old is this seemingly original Red Hood, and were they the person that found the Book originally? All these questions and more will hopefully be answered before things very likely wrap up soon, as I get the feeling we're about to either find out what happens when Velou comes in contact with the Book, or we're going to see him defy fate once again, this time against his own 'father' as it were. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: Chapter 17
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Synopsis: Velou celebrates with everyone else now that they've passed the test and thinks to himself that he can become a real Hunter now and get revenge for the mayor's death. Elsewhere, floating in the sky, Cinderella and Hech Horlock (the mayor) watch through a mirror and observe that Velou has passed. Cinderella says this means the guild is finished now, and asks Horlock if she or him should take care of Velou. Horlock says he'll do it and tells her to take a nap before opening up a portal in the sky before them that leads to the Ironworks. Horlock disappears through the portal, leaving Cinderella to turn to ask Lycaon what they should do next. To her surprise, Lycaon is nowhere to be seen, but even more surprising, she finds herself asking who Lycaon even is. On the Ironworks, Debonair laughs and concedes that she lost, though Grimm (now reverting to her childlike form) argues that they should at least fail everyone who's knocked out on the other floors. Debonair says that they aren't jailed or cuffed however, and nothing was said about having to be conscious to pass, so there's nothing they can do – though she does suggest that they could always test them again at a later date, an idea that horrifies the applicants that overhear her. Debonair picks up Grimm and puts her on her shoulders before walking over to ask Velou if that was part of his plan too, but Velou says it was just a happy accident. Debonair thinks that makes sense as nobody could predict that Grimm would just knock people out, and Grimm says she only did it because it was so difficult to get replacement cuffs so she had no other choice. It quickly dawns on her that that really was caused by Velou's plan, though Debonair discreetly asks her if that was itself all part of the scenario she'd written out. Laurell greets Tylty who isn't pleased to see him, and it's revealed that Laurell was one of the applicants during Tylty's failed exam before that gave him a bunch of trouble. They each had done their best to murder the other but both failed in the end, and during the next exam when Tylty didn't take part, Laurell tried again and passed. Laurell praises Tylty for learning to trust others again, while Laurell acknowledges his part in causing Tylty to grow untrusting in the first place, but says he hopes to work with Tylty again in the future, an idea Tylty reluctantly concedes to. Grimm asks Debonair what she's talking about when she mentions a 'scenario', which catches Debonair off-guard. Before they can talk further, Velou interrupts and says that since he's now a Hunter in the guild, he'd like to know what the plan is for exterminating all werewolves. Grimm starts to tell him, but Debonair interrupts and says they should do some interviews first, and asks Cursa and Tarpan to take care of that. Two of the applicants step forward (a woman in a skintight bodysuit and a horned headband on her head, and a dejected looking man with a pointy nose, wearing an overlarge sweater), revealing themselves to have been fully fledged Hunters all along who took part to observe everyone's behavior. The woman (Cursa) apologizes for the deception while the man (Tarpan) says they'll talk while they wait, promising to reveal what the guild has discovered about werewolves and how they plan to take care of them. Debonair walks away and asks Grimm, who she's still carrying, to come back to her room to talk for a bit, and Grimm agrees. Three months and twelve hours after they first departed, the Ironworks finally arrives at the uncharted map where Site Citadel, the Hunter Headquarters, resides. Back in the sky elsewhere, Cinderella discovers a letter hidden away in one of her sleeves. The letter says it's from Lycaon, and says that the letter was protected until now, instructing her that if she reads this and doesn't know who he is or sees a giant werewolf at her side, then she needs to kill Horlock immediately and steal back his pages. The letter goes on to reveal Horlock's true goal, something bad enough that steam starts to pour off of Cinderella's body in rage as she says Horlock's really done it this time. As Debonair carries Grimm back to her room, she asks Grimm a series of questions designed to get a particular answer from her, but Grimm doesn't answer a single one of them correctly. Debonair curses and puts Grimm down on a couch in her room, telling her to lie there for a bit. Grabbing a phone, Debonair asks to be patched in to HQ and tells them that Grimm of the Hundred Cannons has had her memories manipulated, so she needs a response team at the Ironworks immediately. A voice over the phone, soon revealed to be Dutt Troidal (the guild's Collections Department Director) tells her that they can't authorize that right now and that orders have come down to place the Ironworks in quarantine. He tells Debonair that their top priority is to protect 'The Book', and they're enacting an anti-corrosion protocol instead, a strict level five, before hanging up on her. Debonair wonders what in the world is going on. Back with the applicants, Cursa explains that werewolves are caused by a disease known as lycanthropy, and that when enough of the genetic factor for the disease builds up in someone's body, the person transforms. Velou is surprised it's something as simple as a disease, and Tarpan explains that since it's a disease, it should be possible to make a cure, though they already know that if a werewolf has eaten a person it's too late to turn them back. He explains that the guild is currently researching how to make an antidote that will prevent transformation into a werewolf, and Cursa says that it'd be great if someone could capture one alive or at least bring a corpse back to be studied, as Grimm usually winds up blowing them to pieces. Bonkers and Nulo ask if they're doing the interviews here or on the island after all, but Tarpan receives a radio call that tells him about the the quarantine order, telling them all to standby for a while. At the Hunters Guild, in it's Underground Office #7, Dutt Troidal goes to see a hooded person with gnarled hands that's writing in a book with a feather pen. Dutt asks the figure what's going on as the scenario playing out right now wasn't one written into the True Book. The figure says that things that were unwritten happen often, but what's happening now with Grimm is different – someone other than themselves is 'editing the outline'. Dutt responds in horror saying it must be the two ripped pages, but who could it be? The figure responds that who does the writing doesn't matter to whoever is reading, and says that the True Book's blank pages are the future – the words written on them set the laws of nature and build the very structure of their world. Thirteen years ago, someone ripped out two of those pages and disappeared, and now what was written on those pages is taking effect. Suddenly, Horlock appears before Velou on the Ironworks. Velou is surprised but overjoyed to see the mayor alive, and tries to stop Cursa from attacking him on sight, before asking the mayor how he's still alive. Horlock apologizes for causing Velou such grief but says faking his death was a necessary deception, one he had to do if he wanted to drag Grimm, the Red Hood, out of her role, and crown Velou the Hunter as the main character in her stead. Velou is confused by the mayor's words, but Horlock opens another portal, one through which the Underground Office #7 can be seen, and says that this will complete everything. He grabs Velou's arm and steps through the portal, catching Dutt by surprise. Horlock says it's been a long time, but he wants to tell Velou a story. He says that long ago, dragons flew in the sky, but the Hunters exterminated every last one of them – that's a story that he, Horlock, wrote 500 years ago. Review: Okay, so um...I think it's pretty safe to assume that none of us were prepared for this chapter and what it brought to the table, at all. Ho. Ly. CRAP. Some of the elements brought up in this table are things that I've been wondering about for a while now, but coming off of the end of the previous chapter, I didn't expect things to start going in the direction they are at this point, at all. While this is all really exciting, I can't help but be a little worried that it's only happening now because the axe of cancellation continues to dangle over Kawaguchi's head – the series has consistently been at the bottom or second from the bottom of Jump's readership, and while I still cannot fully understand why that is, I've waxed poetic enough about what the possible reasons could be, so I won't go through that all again here (though if the series does end up getting cancelled, I'll likely do a 'What Went Wrong?' type of post after the fact). For now, I'll just say that I'm growing more and more curious about what exactly is cooking in the author's mind. Right from the start, we hit the ground running with some pretty major reveals. It's not that surprising that Cinderella and Horlock have continued watching the events on the Ironworks, as they were greatly interested in what was going on when we last saw them. For Cinderella to proclaim that Velou's passing means they're finished however, and that she expects one of them to go and take care of Velou, is a big surprise however. Just what exactly is it that causes Velou to need to be taken out? Just that he's a certified Hunter now? She seemed entirely dismissive of him before this, so is something in their plan contingent on him NOT becoming a Hunter? We're unlikely to find out what's going on with her side of the plan anytime soon I'd wager though, because it's made clear pretty quickly that Horlock is working towards his own agenda instead. And yes, it's worth noting that I was entirely and completely wrong all this time – the werewolf with her WAS Lycaon all along. Something about how he acted seemed different to me, as well as not being able to tell 100% by his design alone, but I guess the biggest fault is my own for thinking on it too hard: sometimes the giant werewolf really is the same giant werewolf you saw before. My bad. Grimm's rebuttal that those that she knocked out shouldn't qualify for passing is an expected reaction from her, but it and everything else in that part of the conversation seems curiously underplayed. I think that might be intentional though, as all of the major parts of the chapter were sure to overshadow it anyway, as well as bring up questions about what's really going on in this story at all. Even the reveal that Laurell and Tylty's shared history doesn't hold nearly the amount of pages or attention that you think it would had this been any other chapter, though it is nice to see that Tylty really is trying now to break out of his funk. Despite being the hot-headed battle maniac, Debonair gets to shine in this chapter by also showing that she's not stupid either, as she's the only one that seems to pick up on the fact that something strange is going on. Even when she calls in to HQ and is basically brushed off, she seems all the more certain that something's amiss, and that something has been done to Grimm's memories as well. Given what Horlock's ultimate goal is said to be, that's extremely curious to me. The reveal of Cursa and Tarpan isn't one I saw coming, but I'm kind of kicking myself for not realizing it sooner. There weren't any real hints that there were Hunters mixed in with the applicants, but it seems like such an obvious thing to do that I'm surprised it never occurred to me. I do remember noticing Cursa a few tims in the background of shots though and pegged her as someone that we're likely to get something on eventually, but I just thought she'd be another newly passed Hunter we'd meet soon enough. Only time will tell if we see more of the shaman looking guy. Also, calling it now, Cursa is definitely someone out there's type. I'm not judging. It's almost a little underwhelming when we get the reveal of werewolf transformation being a disease called lycanthropy, since again, that's something that just about anyone with bare minimum knowledge of werewolves would probably already be able to tell you (though perhaps that sort of thing is far less well known in Japan?). Treating it as a disease in the form of one that can be treated by a cure though is a little different, and it will be curious to see that expanded upon in the future, if that's the game plan at all. The reason it's hard to predict what the plan for any of this ultimately is comes down completely to the GIGANTIC wild card the chapter throws at us in the form of 'The Book', or the 'True Book' as it's called at one point. I'm uncertain if these are meant to be one and the same, or if 'The Book' is merely a front for what the 'True Book' is actually capable of, but it does bring to mind all of the talk about the Red List from before as well – especially when you see the gnarled fingered figure writing in the True Book. The notion that there's a book somewhere that you write in and cause the very rules of the world or people's fates – their “stories” as it were – is an incredibly intriguing and also horrifying notion. It also explains why there's been so much careful word choice in previous chapters when referring to people's lives as 'stories', and your choices deciding 'what type of character you are in your own story'. The series has clearly been building up to this thematically for a while now, but what this could all mean for the story going forward, or what it means for the world itself...it's hard to really stop and think about, frankly. What does seem to be pretty clear however is that even pages torn from this Book can have an effect on the world around them, and it seems pretty likely that Horlock is the one that took the pages, and also is probably the one that messed with Grimm's memories, seemingly for the purpose of eventually making Velou the main character. That's a little strange seeing as he already IS the main character, but we're clearly talking about some greater plan he has in mind here, so I guess Velou's only really been our POV until now rather than someone The Book says will be the lead. How Horlock plans to utilize changing things about Grimm to make Velou the lead instead, and how that may or may not relate to him being over 500 years old and being the 'author' that ended the dragons (yeah, how's THAT for another plot bombshell), we can only wait and see. This chapter is probably the biggest surprise after chapter 5, and it definitely looks like this might be just the beginning – either of something much, much bigger, or just the beginning of a Hail Mary throw of things planned for way later to reach some kind of ending now before the axe drops. Here's hoping it's just the former. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: Chapter 16 Synopsis: As Bonkers tells Tylty that their goal is for everyone to pass, Mylty notices that the trap they set for Debonair is just about to go off. A string pulls a lever and causes the floor to open up, depositing Debonair and a load of coal down into the furnace area, with Bonkers, Porschen, and the other applicants barely avoiding falling down with her. Bonkers says that Tylty could've warned him first, but Tylty says it's his fault for storming in with so many people that the trap launched early. He thinks this should still keep Debonair busy for a while however. Porschen tells Tylty that it's okay if he doesn't trust them completely, as she's also only using everyone else for her own benefit. She tells him he can betray them if he wants, but in this current situation, that probably won't be of much help to him. Bonkers tells Tylty that he can look at the situation however he wants, but the point is that the other applicants aren't the enemies that Tylty thinks they are. In the rooftop jail cell, Velou praises his fellow applicants, saying that the things Nulo, Migael, Bonkers, Porschen, and Merrio can all do are really amazing. He thinks that he doesn't have anything nearly as good in his arsenal as they do, but the guard Laurell tells him that he's the eye of the storm. He says that while Velou might not have noticed it, it's his plan that's brought everyone together and has engulfed all of Ironworks while he sits in the middle of the vortex. Velou asks him if he's just trying to sweet-talk him into something, and Laurell laughs and doesn't deny it. He ponders if things would have been different if someone like Velou had been around when he took his own exam... Mylty tells her brother that she thinks they should cooperate with everyone. Tylty asks where Velou is, and Bonkers says he's probably in the jail on the roof. Tylty asks if they have any plans on how to rescue him, and Bonkers says probably just throwing a large group of people at them. Tylty says he can't go along with a plan that's not really a plan. Time passes, and with only five minutes left in the exam, almost twenty applicants have been arrested. Nulo and Migael fret, but Merrio tells them there's not much they can do from inside the cell, so they'll just have to wait and hope Bonkers rescues them. Just then however, Bonkers is brought in in handcuffs by another guard, though Laurell and the applicants soon notice that the 'guard' is actually Porschen in disguise. Velou and the others are confused as to why they switched the obvious roles around, but realize that this must mean they didn't run into any of the other cops on their way here, so if they can quickly tag everyone to free them... Grimm says that she figured they'd try something like this, and leaps down from a nearby roof, commenting that waiting until the last second and freeing everyone again is an obvious plan. Porschen quickly ditches the guard's uniform, revealing that she was standing on top of Mylty's shoulders as Mylty levels a large gun at Grimm. Grimm punches at Porschen and says firing that puts her at a high risk of failing, but rather than firing at Grimm, Mylty turns the gun on a nearby crane and shoots it. Grimm is confused, but quickly realizes that the crane isn't a trap, but a signal for their ambusher – Tylty – to leap out from the floor below and make his move. It's revealed that when Tylty told Bonkers he couldn't go along with a poor plan, he told him and the rest to go on with their plan as they had been, but that he'll act during the last five minutes. Tylty thinks to himself that he still doesn't know if he believes in them, but if he can change something and pass with everyone else... Porschen quickly uses her strings to wrap around Grimm's leg, but just then Debonair bursts from the smokestack, having finally burned her way back up to the roof. Bonkers rushes Debonair and grabs hold of her handcuff, telling her that he's not afraid of the heat anymore, confusing Debonair who is otherwise pleased with him for having made some kind of breakthrough. As Grimm throws Porschen off of her, Bonkers struggles to keep Debonair at bay and yells for Tylty to do it now. Tylty quickly runs in and tags the hands of Velou and Merrio. Velou tells Tylty he always had faith in him, and Tylty nonchalantly thanks him before realizing Grimm is just behind him. Velou and Merrio quickly tag everyone else and they all rush out of the jail with only thirty seconds to go before the test ends. Tylty thinks that both Hunters being here means they're all going to get jailed again, but one of the other applicants tells him to go sit in the jail cell if he wants to give up that easily. Mosko and some other applicants say they're not wasting this opportunity, and they along with Velou, Nulo, Migael, Merrio, and all the rest declare that they're 'on the hunt'. The applicants all do their best to fight off Debonair and Grimm, and as the seconds count down, Velou leaps in to try and take away Grimm's handcuffs from her when... Time runs out. The 42nd Final Debarkation Exam ends with nobody jailed, and thus, all participants pass! Review: This was definitely one hell of a fun end to the Debarkation Exam arc, and I for one am still really hoping we get to see what's beyond this storyline. It's clear the author has plans to make at least a fair bit of use out of a good handful of these newly introduced characters, and they've all proven to have more to them than first meets the eye, so I'm excited to see more of them in action. Once again, Kawaguchi pulls a fast one on me too. I thought we'd seen all there was to see of Tylty's plan and that it wasn't that good of one, but it turned out to have more to it than we thought. I can't help but wonder just how long he was planning to keep Debonair at bay in some other way than dropping her into the coal though. We're not really made privy to what his plan after that point was either, since everything we see him do after this point is a new plan only concocted after he agrees to work with everyone else at the end. Porschen in particular still really intrigues me as a character. She's got an interesting skill set, she's older than she looks apparently, and she's quite open about how she's really only going to the lengths that she is because it seems like the best way to try and pass this exam. She's openly admitted to not really caring about Velou's past or aspirations either, and there's really been nothing to indicate that she's anywhere near as gung-ho about wanting to hunt werewolves as they all are, so what exactly is her reason for being here? Hopefully we find out eventually. Velou on the other hand is a character that we know pretty well by now, but ironically he doesn't seem to realize his own capabilities. I've commented before on how he's definitely more on the brainy side of the hero scale rather than the brawny one, and that's highlighted well here. He realizes that, in combat? He doesn't really have much to set him apart in the same way that the various other characters do. Heck, it's a pretty good bet that even Mosko could take him in a straight-on fight (though I suspect Velou would come up with some way to deal with him and come out on top in the end). What he lacks in power however he more than makes up in charisma and intelligence, as his plan was a good enough one that it's continually spoken to people that may have had a plan of their own or just plain didn't care about the others. Some of them probably still don't, but they've been forced to realize that his plan really is their best bet at victory. Even the guard Laurell seems to realize how much of a difference Velou's presence here has had on all of the other characters when he laments not having someone like that around when he took the test (further building on the idea that even if you don't make it as a Hunter, the guild might still employ you in other ways). Even Tylty eventually comes around, and his refusal to not go along with a plan he doesn't have faith in shows that he's also on the brainier side of things after all, at least compared to the likes of Bonkers. He definitely still bears the scars of the last exam he took part in though, and I suspect even his turnaround success here won't be enough to completely fix what's broken inside of him – but it's a start. Once the action starts going at the chapter's halfway point, it's really chaotic and enjoyable from beginning to end, but I'd be lying if I didn't say there was something to criticize. As much as I love the artist's overall style, things can still be a little hard to follow at times. Things like Bonkers' fight with Debonair are clear enough even in smaller panels, but I had to flip back and forth multiple times before I realized it was Grimm's legs that Porschen had wrapped up in her wires before being kicked away. The two weaknesses I'd say Kawaguchi has is moments like that where the art could be clearer, and a really, really bad over-reliance on flashbacks (seriously, we could do a drinking game based around flashbacks and be dead by chapter five). And just as Velou had wanted, everyone managed to pass! There were a good handful of background characters that had notable designs but we never really got to see in action, so there's a good chance that if the series does get to continue onward, we'll be seeing some of them in action alongside our named characters we've grown to like in this arc. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: Chapter 15 Synopsis: Taopaipai tells Goku he'll show him what happens to those that underestimate him, but Goku tells him to stop talking and make his move, causing Taopaipai to remark on how annoying Goku is. Upa cheers for Goku, and the fight begins. Taopaipai rushes Goku, and the two exchange blows, with only Goku's kick eventually connecting with Taopaipai's jaw. This outrages Taopaipai, who launches another attack on Goku that Goku dodges by leaping into the air. Taopaipai leaps after him and punches him, sending him into the tower's base, but Goku rebounds off of it and punches Taopaipai further into the air. Rebounding once more off of the ground, Goku leaps after Taopaipai, kicking him and sending him crashing into the ground. Battered, bruised, and extremely angry, Taopaipai rips off his shirt and says this is what he gets for holding back due to Goku being a child. Goku says he told him he'd be serious, and Taopaipai says he's going to be serious for real now, and unleashes his ultimate move – the Dodonpa! Upa yells for Goku to watch out as the beam heads straight for him, but Goku reacts quickly and cups his hands in front of him. He catches the beam, and though it pushes him backward and leaves the ground ripped up, Goku stops the beam with only somewhat singed hands as a result. Taopaipai can't believe that Goku stopped his Dodonpa, and Goku says they're even now that his Kamehameha didn't work on Taopaipai before and Taopaipai's Dodonpa doesn't work on him either. Frustrated, Taopaipai pulls a capsule from his waistband and brings out a sword. He lashes out at Goku with the blade, proving it's sharpness and his strength as he even manages to cut down a tree with it. Taopaipai continues to chase Goku, saying that even he is no match for a sword, and Goku is left with no choice but to keep dodging. Seeing that Goku is in trouble, Upa leaps off of kinto'un and runs back inside he and his father's teepee, retrieving the nyoibo that Goku left behind before and tossing it to him. Goku catches it, and quickly unsheathes his weapon using it to snap Taopaipai's sword in half. Taopaipai is stunned, but Goku smiles before tossing his nyoibo aside again, proclaiming that he's going to beat Taopaipai with his bare hands. Review: And so begins the first fight in a long while where things actually feel exciting just from the fisticuffs alone, not just the surrounding plot details supporting the fight. This bout certainly has that in spades too though, don't get me wrong. With everything Taopaipai, and even the Red Ribbon Army behind him, has done so far, and the fact that Goku lost his first encounter with him, it's extremely cathartic to see Goku hold his own this time around. As usual with a chapter that's primarily focused on fighting though, it does sort of leave for a bit of a shorter review. This chapter does feature the first non-tournament use of a format that's going to be used incredibly frequently moving forward, that being Goku fighting an opponent that's too tough for anyone else around to beat while his friends cheer for him from the sidelines. In fact, you could almost say that basically every fight for Goku moving forward features this format to some degree. It's repetitive, and it's one of the things people that don't like Dragon Ball often criticize the series for, but while they're not wrong to say it's overused, there's really no denying that it's more than effective for Toriyama's purposes. He gets to illustrate multiple panels of Goku and someone else exchanging blows, and other than a few brief stopgaps in the fight where Goku and his opponent exchange words, most of the dialogue moving the story along gets handed to the characters on the sideline who aren't currently fighting. This gets used even more frequently once there are enough regularly recurring characters that can fight but aren't at that exact moment, because they're able to give more feedback on what's happening than the non-fighting characters would. It's an ingenious setup really, just one that we really, really need to see the series break away from more and more often in the modern day, because it's all over the place from here on out. And let's have a brief moment of silence for poor Taopaipai's tailor. He died for nothing as Taopaipai himself is the one to rip apart his clothes this time, though I guess Goku had roughed them up a little bit first. They probably could have been patched up this time around though. If Goku's fighting back, and frankly knocking Taopaipai around like a ragdoll, wasn't enough of an indication of how much stronger Goku's gotten, then him taking Taopaipai's Dodonpa head on certainly is. This is the move that would have killed Goku before if he hadn't been extremely lucky and had the four-star Dragon Ball on his person at the time, so for him to withstand it this time is an important benchmark for his growth. It's also the point at which Taopaipai fully snaps I think, as his attacks become much more sporadic and he even resorts to a weapon, something I doubt he's had to do in a long, long time. Speaking of weapons, this might be one of the last times in the manga that we see Goku wield nyoibo briefly as well. Moving forward, weapons being used in fights – serious fights, at any rate – are going to largely be a thing of the past, as the series begins to focus more and more on hand-to-hand combat and energy attacks. Goku will still use the staff on occasions, especially in movies and filler, but it's mostly in cases where he's up against an opponent that's also wielding a weapon. It's hard to say if this is some sort of fair play on Goku's part, or if he's just growing to like using his own two fists more than the staff, or maybe even because we're finally hitting a point where he can hit harder with his fist than he can with it. The kinto'un will largely be phased out in a similar fashion once it's need for flying at fast speeds is eclipsed, so it's possible. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: A “Dynamite” Finale! Synopsis: Upa looks around to make sure it's safe before walking over to the base of Karin Tower. Looking up at the sky, he says it's been three days, so he wonders if Goku was able to get to the top. Elsewhere, Taopaipai receives his new clothes rom the tailor and prepares to head off and find the Dragon Ball he missed. The tailor nervously asks for payment and says he has to make a living, and Taopaipai is astonished that he would ask for money from him. He makes him an offer instead – he'll kill anyone that he wants, which is quite the bargain given how much Taopaipai charges usually. The tailor objects and says there's nobody he wants to kill, so Taopaipai asks him if he'd like to die instead. Without giving the tailor a chance to reply, Taopaipai kills him by jabbing his finger into his forehead, leaving and telling him to keep the change. Upa, still staring up at Karin Tower, is caught by surprise when the pillar suddenly crashes into the ground next to him again and Taopaipai steps off of it. Taopaipai tells him that there should be another one of those balls here somewhere and for him to hand it over, but Upa throws his axe at Taopaipai saying he has to avenge his father. Taopaipai easily dodges the axe, kicks Upa's legs out from under him, and catches him by the throat. He demands again for the boy to tell him where the ball is, but Upa refuses. Taopaipai says he can just kill him then and use the Army's radar to locate the ball, and throws Upa hard towards the tower. Before Upa can collide with it however, a suddenly appearing Goku calls out for kinto'un and catches Upa on the cloud, saving him much to the surprise of Taopaipai. Goku tells Upa that this is why he told him to hide, but the boy is overjoyed to see him again. Taopaipai is in disbelief that Goku is alive. Upa asks Goku if he made it to the top and got to drink the water, and Goku says he's better than ever now. He leaves Upa on kinto'un and jumps down to deal with Taopaipai. Goku tells the assassin that he has to deal with him first if he wants the four-star ball, but Taopaipai just wants to know how Goku survived their last encounter. Goku tells him he was saved by the Dragon Ball in his pocket, and Taopaipai chuckles at what a lucky child he is. He tells him this is where his luck runs out however, and that if he wanted to live he should have stayed in hiding. He tells Goku to hand the ball over if he doesn't want to die, but Goku says this time won't be like last time. Taopaipai laughs and says Goku will be dead in three seconds, and rushes the boy with the intent to kill. Goku dodges his strike however and kicks the assassin into the air. He leaps after him, passing him in the air and kicks him, sending him flying into the tower. Upa is amazed, and Goku tells Taopaipai that he thinks his three seconds are up. Taopaipai is outraged, saying Goku wasn't doing anything like this three days ago. Goku says that it's because he wasn't hiding for three days, but training at the top of the tower. Taopaipai says no three days worth of training could make him this much stronger...unless...he asks Goku if the person he trained with happened to be named Karin. Goku asks if he knows him too, and Taopaipai thinks on the legends of the 'god of martial arts' said to live at the top of Karin Tower. He'd assumed it was just a legend, but if the stories were true... Taopaipai thanks Goku for the information and the exercise as he prepares to take this fight more seriously. Review: Seeing as how this was the first time in the series that things got really dire, it's only fitting that that sense of foreboding doesn't last long in the grand scheme of things. There's still some tension to be had with Taopaipai getting back to Karin with Upa first, but let's be honest – we all knew things were going to work out okay at this point, since Goku was already shown to be on his way back at the end of the previous chapter. With how much faster he can go up and down the tower now? It's basically a foregone conclusion that he's going to show up at the last second and save the day. I'm not complaining really mind you, as thematically it helps make this turn of events exciting. It's just unfortunate as a long-time fan when you can recognize something that's going to very quickly wear off it's novelty, we'll say. For now though, Toriyama's timing is on point, regardless of how completely without nerve-wracking it is. There's unfortunately not a whole lot else for me to comment on with this chapter either, though there are a few quick moments that interest me. Taopaipai mentions that he could just have the Red Ribbon Army use their radar to help him locate where the Dragon Ball is. While this is completely true, and also why Upa making a run for it with the ball wouldn't work if he'd been in possession of it, it does remind me of something that I'm not sure Toriyama remembered at this point – the Red Ribbon Army is currently in possession of not just their own bigger radar, but Bulma's – or rather, Turbo's – smaller, more accurate one. Why didn't they send Taopaipai with it before? More than that, why was it still their big radar we saw them using when they noticed Taopaipai leaving a Dragon Ball behind? After everything they went through to get that thing, they're just gonna sit on it? Man, Blue really did die for nothing. There's another interesting moment with Taopaipai figuring out that Goku must have trained with the famed Karin at the top of the tower. It's curious that he knows the name only by reputation, given Taopaipai's connection with the Turtle school as we'll learn a little ways from now. It's entirely possible he still never knew Karin actually existed – perhaps Roshi's training with Karin didn't happen until after a certain fallout we'll be learning about soon enough – but it still begs the question of just how much Taopaipai knows or realizes about who he's facing that he just doesn't mention. Does he recognize Goku's gi? Does he recognize the Kamehameha? The latter at least he does have a peculiar reaction to when he first sees it, and it's hard to tell if we're meant to read that just as surprise that a kid can channel such a large energy attack, or recognition of that particular energy attack. Given Toriyama's penchant for writing by the seat of his pants, though? I'd imagine it's the former (Taopaipai being surprised Goku can use energy at all), and the rest is stuff that just doesn't quite line up 100% correctly once additional backstory is added to the characters. Certainly won't be the last time that sort of thing happens. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: An Assassin gets his Ass handed to him. Synopsis: Goku is amazed that it apparently took Roshi three years to get the water when he's the strongest person he knows, prompting Karin to ask him how long he thinks it'll take him to get it. Goku says he doesn't have three years to wait, and Karin says simply that in that case, all he has to do is hurry up and steal the water. Goku resolves to do just that, and he launches another attack on Karin, this time jumping around and leaving numerous after-images to distract the hermit. Karin watches carefully before leaping and kicking at one of them, but it was an after-image! Goku appears from above and tries to grab the flask, but Karin likewise appears from above him and kicks him to the floor. While Goku holds his head in pain, Karin asks him if he really didn't think he'd see through that, though Karin admits to himself that he's pretty impressed as he's never seen that many after-images before. Goku notices that he's out of breath already, and Karin explains that they're at a high enough altitude that the air has become thinner, so every wasted movement Goku makes costs him more breath. Karin says he might need to explain it to Goku further, and says that climbing the tower has likely been good for Goku's lung conditioning, but it's probably going to take more than what he's already achieved. Karin then lifts up the bag with the Dragon Ball in it, showing Goku that he took it from his belt at some point in their last exchange. Goku tells him to give it back, but Karin tosses it over the side of the tower. Outraged, Goku climbs back down the tower as quickly as he can. Once he gets to the ground, he grabs the bag and climbs back up in a fury, panting and lambasting Karin as soon as he gets back to the top. Karin however laughs and asks if he didn't appreciate the extra training, pointing out to Goku that it took him almost a whole day to climb the tower the first time, but now he's made a round trip back down and back up again in about three hours. Goku has to admit that he didn't even realize the improvement he'd made. Karin tells Goku it's time to get back to business, and he and Goku resume their sparring for the flask, with Karin saying Goku's getting better at keeping up with him but still has a long way to go before he gets the flask. As night falls, Goku is exhausted again and Karin says they should call it a day so they can both get some sleep. Later that night, while Karin rests, Goku wakes up and starts to work his way over to the sleeping cat's side. He reaches for the flask, then stops and thinks for a moment. He decide against it and says that he'll definitely get the flask, but he'll do it fair and square, and then goes back to sleep. The actually awake Karin thinks to himself that Goku's honesty is refreshing and sets him quite apart from his mentor. Two more days pass, and on the third day since Goku climbed Karin tower, Goku still struggles to get the flask from Karin. He rushes the cat and throws a flurry of blows, attacks that Karin is now finding it much harder to avoid. Karin leaps out of the way and Goku leaps after him, managing to get close enough to grab hold of Karin. Goku uses this opportunity to begin tickling the cat, and Karin's staff slips from his hand, going over the edge of the tower's balcony along with the flask. Goku leaps after it and Karin warns him not too, but Goku grabs them both and seems to fall from the tower. Karin looks over the edge with fear, only to find that Goku has grabbed the balcony with his tail, saving himself as well as the flask of holy water. Goku celebrates getting the flask at last, and Karin is astonished that he pulled it off in just three days. Goku asks him if he can drink the water now, and Karin tells him to go ahead. Goku drinks, but soon realizes that he doesn't feel any different. Karin tells him that he shouldn't, as the 'holy water' is actually just regular rain water. Goku accuses Karin of tricking him, but Karin laughs and tells Goku that his strength has already multiplied many times over. He explains that climbing up and down the tower, as well as trying to steal the flask in an environment with thinner air, were all exercises designed to increase someone's strength, and that the water itself was always just a ruse. He tells Goku to go back down and test the fruits of his training and Goku thanks Karin kindly. Karin remarks that he sure was a cheerful kid, and thinks that he might have already out-stripped his mentor. Review: And just like that, Goku's training has come to an end. This was a far shorter training period than the one we saw him go through with Roshi, but that's to be expected – there's a far more pressing matter at hand, the matter of time was always an issue with this one, and the variety of training is a lot simpler, consisting of only two tasks (climbing the tower and trying to take the flask) compared to the multiple methods Roshi employed. And as Karin himself says, Goku's immediate goal is a far simpler one as well, as all he really has to do is just take the flask. Karin's interactions with Goku are almost an inverse to how Roshi's were at first as well. While Roshi was almost constantly amazed by just how strong Goku already was even before their training really started, Karin is impressed by what Goku can do but tells him constantly what he's doing wrong and what he needs to improve if he really wants to stand a chance of beating him. Seeing Goku employ the after-image technique again after some time is a fun sight as well, especially with Karin noting how good he's become at it. You can tell Karin definitely takes a liking to the boy, especially his can-do attitude. I'm also curious if there's any truth to the idea of doing strenuous activities at higher altitudes with thinner air actually making your lungs stronger, but I'm going to make an uneducated guess that the opposite is probably true if anything. This definitely sounds like one of those 'don't try this at home, kids' kind of things...supposing your home has a mountain or a tower reaching to the skies anyway. Remember how I mentioned that Goku getting stronger just by drinking some 'holy water' almost seemed like too cheap of a storytelling technique? Well, surprise – Toriyama was playing us, as well as Goku, all along. As Karin explains, this part of the story was never about the water at all, but rather what Goku had to go through to get it, namely climbing an impossibly long tower (three times, no less), adjusting to a place with a much lower oxygen level, and sparring with an opponent that's stronger than him. Much like Karin's personality is much like an inverse of Roshi's, his training is as well – whereas Roshi's training was always presented as training and just seemed like random things that had to be done before he'd start teaching them things for real, Karin's training is never presented to Goku as such, and only seems like a roadblock to him actually getting what will make him stronger. In the end, it shows that only hard work and effort will make Goku stronger than he is right now. A fine message for a shonen battle series to send. It's only unfortunate that that message is going to get trampled into the dirt many, many times in the future, most notably an instance in the near future that outright slaps this part of the story in the face. We'll come to that sad moment when we get to it though. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: Son Goku V.S. Taopaipai – The Rematch Synopsis: Goku reaches the top of Karin Tower at last and manages to climb into the building at the top of it, though he's completely out of energy. He looks around and tries to find the holy water that's supposed to make him stronger, but a voice calls out to him, telling him it's in the main room and for him to come on up. Goku remembers that there was supposed to be a hermit living here and assumes the voice must be the hermit. Once he gets to the room, he asks the hermit for the water, but to his surprise all he sees is a cat holding a staff. The cat congratulates him on reaching the top, saying he did well to do it so quickly, especially at such a young age. Goku asks where the hermit is, and the cat says it's him, with the cat chuckling at Goku's confusion. Goku decides that it doesn't really matter, and asks him about the water that's supposed to make you way stronger. The cat says the holy water is indeed here and points to a flask on top of a podium in the middle of the room. The cat asks him why he seeks further strength when he must already be really strong, and Goku starts to explain, but the cat cuts him off and says he gets the feeling talking isn't Goku's strong suit so he doesn't have to say anything. Goku is confused, but the cat merely stares at him for a while before speaking again, saying that Goku needs to gather the Dragon Balls to revive Upa's father, but to do that he needs to defeat Taopaipai. Goku is shocked and asks the cat how he knew that, and the cat says that reading his mind was easy. The cat concedes that Goku has pure motives, and that he can try to drink the holy water. He asks Goku if he thinks he can drink it, and when Goku asks if it's hard because it tastes bad or something, the cat says that it's hard because he'll be doing his best to prevent Goku from drinking it. The cat then jabs at Goku with it's staff, forcing him to leap away from the podium. Goku says he's annoying and tries again to get the water, but the cat kicks him away. Goku calls him a liar for saying he could drink the water and then stopping him, but the cat insists that if Goku wants the water, he has to prove that he's worthy by beating him first. Goku quickly points in another direction, distracting the cat before he leaps for the water again, but the cat bashes him in the face with it's staff before he can get the flask. The cat asks Goku if he really thought such a cheap trick would work on an old hermit before he grabs the flask with the tip of his staff and goads Goku to come for it again. Now angry, Goku starts to go for the cat and the flask as quickly as he can, but every time the cat manages to dodge him. The cat praises Goku for doing so well and says he may well get the flask before his next life at this rate, but chides Goku for only reacting and not reading his opponents moves. Goku says that if he weren't starving then he'd catch the cat with no problem, a statement the cat finds very curious. He says Goku can eat and tosses him a solitary bean, at which Goku balks saying it takes way more than that to fill him up. The cat insists however, explaining that the bean is a Senzu bean, and that eating one of those will fill you up for ten days. Goku has his doubts, but he eats the bean and is surprised to feel full and hearty almost instantly. Goku says getting the flask will be easy now that he's full, but to his surprise the cat manages to keep dodging him faster than ever before. A short time later, Goku is collapsed on the floor panting, while the cat still has the flask. The cat asks Goku if he's tired already, but Goku asks a question of his own: is he the first one to ever climb up here? The cat says he's not the first, in fact someone else managed the same feat just about 300 years prior. Goku asks the cat how old it is in shock, and the cat says 800 something. Goku is amazed the cat is that old, and the cat chides him for being disrespectful before informing him that the other person that climbed the tower was none other than Goku's mentor. Goku asks him what he means, and the cat says he can tell by how Goku moves that his master is Muten Roshi. Goku is shocked as he realizes this must be how Roshi got so strong. He then further realizes this means the cat must be really famous and strong as well, and the cat thinks Goku must have finally seen fit to respect him a little more, and says that Goku should call him Master Karin. Goku asks Karin how long it took Roshi to take the flask from him and drink the water, to which the cat simply holds out three fingers. Goku interprets this as three minutes, but Karin corrects him – it took Roshi three years to do it. Review: Once Goku reaches the top of Karin's tower, we're slowly but surely introduced to a good few new concepts for the world of Dragon Ball, though some of them won't get further built upon until much, much later. The chapter also marks the introduction of Karin, the namesake for both the tower and the land that Goku is now in, though he doesn't reveal his name as such until towards the end of the chapter. Karin is an interesting addition to the background cast in a few different ways. For starters, he's the first animal person we get to meet that's actually really strong. Hell, he's pretty much the only animal person we'll ever meet that's this strong (though I should clarify, when I say 'animal person', I mean animal-type Earthling, excluding the likes of certain cat-like Gods of Destruction that we'll be talking about a long, long time from now). Karin is also Goku's first introduction to the realm of the Gods in a way, as Karin isn't any old hermit in the same way that Roshi is – he's actually a watcher of humanity. The series proper never really delves too far into it, but related information from Toriyama reveals that Karin was sent from the afterlife to Earth to serve as a sort of waypoint on the way to Kami-sama. This makes Karin's claim to divinity a little bold perhaps, but it still counts enough for him to be recognized as Goku's first step into a world beyond his own, something he'll be doing nigh constantly throughout the rest of his life, in more ways than one. What I'd say I find most interesting about Karin however is how he fits in with a gradual theme of growth that we're beginning to start seeing with Goku and his masters. I'm getting a little ahead of myself, but this is something I'm just now realizing that I'm afraid I'll forget later on, so bear with me for a moment. When Goku met and began training with Roshi, there was absolutely no doubt that Roshi was far stronger than him. By the end of his training, it's a little nebulous just how close to being stronger than his master Goku has become, but there's still at least a decent chance that Roshi edges him out. He has no foe to go against at this point. Now we come to Karin, who through this chapter we get to see is quite a few steps ahead of Goku. Jumping ahead of ourselves here, by the end of this, it'll be fairly safe to say that Goku has probably outdone Karin, at least in some capacity. He'll need that strength to deal with Taopaipai, who we can't really say for certain whether he's stronger than Karin or not at this time. Goku's next mentor will likewise be definitely stronger than Goku himself, by a wide, wide margin. Through his training there, Goku will come out of it stronger than that mentor without any question what-so-ever. That will end up serving him well as his opponent he's training to face there will turn out to be stronger than his mentor as well. After that, Goku's final mentor for a long, long time, will be stronger than Goku when we first meet him, but said mentor will state outright that the opponents Goku will be facing next are already far stronger than even he, so Goku's going to have to get far stronger than himself as well if he hopes to stand a chance against them. Remember what I said before about the series starting to take itself more seriously now? This is tied to that very same phenomenon, as well as being an excellent way to show how Goku improves over time – at a rapid pace, he's going to start outpacing not only his previous self, but even the very people he's training under. No wonder the power creep gets so bad later on. We're also introduced to the idea of the Senzu beans for the very first time, though their usage here in their introduction is a little different from how they're going to be slightly retconned into functioning later on. These are almost a staple of the franchise to the same degree as capsules and the Dragon Balls themselves though, so it's interesting to see their beginnings be as humble as 'eat one and be filled up for ten days'. Talk about a weight loss program, Karin's sitting on a goldmine here. The concept of the holy water being something Goku needs to drink to get stronger feels incredibly cheap though, doesn't it? After all of the harsh training we saw Goku go through back with Roshi, just drinking some water to get stronger seems like the lazy man (and writer's) way out. Hmm... I guess it's not really “just” drinking the water though, when Goku also has to get by Karin to drink it in the first place, a task that proves easier said than done. The cat gives him the runaround for most of this chapter, and that's before dropping the major lore bomb on us all at the end of the chapter. At long last, we know how Roshi managed to become the strongest person in the world. With that in mind, it seems like Goku's definitely going to be able to get stronger than we ever thought possible after all. There's just one little hang up – time. Goku might not know it, but we as the audience are aware that he's only got three days to go before Taopaipai comes back for the Dragon Ball he missed. Even without that knowledge, Goku knows he doesn't have three years to waste, but for us, coupled with that knowledge? Goku's in an even bigger time crunch than he can possibly imagine. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: Goku learns that you should never trust a cat. Synopsis: With Goku dead and his Dragon Balls in hand, Taopaipai considers his job at an end. He decides that he can't possibly return to receive his pay with his clothes in such tatters however, and resolves to go to his tailor before returning to Red Ribbon HQ. As he starts to ready the pillar for another flight, Upa angrily picks up a rock and throws it at the man for the terrible things he's done. Taopaipai merely blows it back with his breath, the rock knocking Upa in the face, with the assassin laughing at the boy's pain and telling him he should thank him for leaving him alive at all. With that, Taopaipai throws the pillar again and leaps on, leaving Upa alone in the land of Karin.
At Red Ribbon HQ, Red smugly declares that Taopaipai must have pulled it off and things are finally going their way, when Black notices something odd on their radar. It shows that Taopaipai is leaving the land of Karin with only three Dragon Balls, leaving a fourth behind, and that he's going somewhere other than returning to their base. Red wonders what in the world the assassin could be up to. Elsewhere, Taopaipai has arrived at his tailor and sketches him a drawing of exactly what he wants his clothes to look like. Taopaipai asks the nervous man how long it will take, and the tailor says perhaps a week. Taopaipai tells him he has three days as he can't make due with the spare clothing the tailor gives him any longer than that, and when the tailor starts to object, Taopaipai reminds him of who he is. He then borrows the tailor's phone to call Red, telling him he'll return in three days with the Dragon Balls and that Goku is dead. Red is pleased, but tells Taopaipai to check and see how many balls he has, as there should be four. Taopaipai discovers that he really does only have three of them, and says the target (Goku) must have been carrying one on his person when he killed him, so he'll go retrieve it before he comes back. Red says that should be fine as there shouldn't be any more interference if Goku's dead, and he hangs up, happy to have finally won out over that annoying child, Goku. Back at Karin, Upa has finished burying his father and begins to burry Goku as well, when the dirt landing on him wakes Goku up. The four-star Dragon Ball rolls out of the hole left in Goku's shirt by Taopaipai's Dodonpa, and Upa surmises that it must have been that ball that absorbed most of the damage and thus saved Goku's life. Goku looks over at Bora's grave, and as Upa cries, he looks down at the Dragon Ball and comes up with a plan – he'll gather the rest of the Dragon Balls and use them to bring Upa's dad back to life! Upa asks if that's really possible, and Goku says it should be as Shenlong is supposed to be able to grant any wish you ask of him. Upa reminds Goku that Taopaipai took the other balls Goku had, and Goku says the assassin must not have realized he had this one in his clothes. He guesses that Taopaipai will probably come back for it, and when he does, Goku will just have to beat him...but how? Goku says that Taopaipai is incredibly strong, and that he doesn't know how he could ever beat someone that much stronger than he is. Upa says Goku should try climbing Karin Tower, and Goku remembers what Bora had told him about how there's supposed to be a wise old sage at the top of the tower that can make you way stronger. Goku says it'd probably be easy to get there if he used kinto'un, but that would be cheating, and Upa confirms that the sage is said to make sure that anyone trying to climb the tower does it by their own power. Goku thinks about it and then says he'll do it, but first stores the four-star ball in a bag at his waist, saying that Taopaipai will probably come back for it so Upa should hide until he gets back. With that, Goku begins climbing the tower. Goku quickly climbs out of Upa's sight, but the further he climbs, Goku finds that there's only even more tower left to go as he can't even see the top. At one point, he almost falls and is only saved by his tail. Goku continues climbing through the night, eventually only stopping to take a nap while clinging to the side of the tower. By the next morning, Goku has resumed climbing and is just about ready to give up when he finally spots something in the distance. He forces himself to climb further, eventually realizing he's just about reached the top when he sees a room at the top of the tower's pillar. Review: Picking up from right from where the last chapter left off and the dark feeling it overall left us with, this chapter definitely carries a feeling of 'What now?' throughout it's pages. We'll get to the biggest part of that in a bit, but let's cover some of the smaller moments of this chapter first. It's almost a little surprising that Taopaipai leaves Upa alive, and in doing so, he actually shows that the world's greatest assassin...actually isn't that smart overall. Red already told him to kill anyone that gets in his way, and while it can be argued that Upa really doesn't, or rather can't, do that, leaving Upa alive does leave a loose thread, and that thread is wrapped right around the last Dragon Ball that Taopaipai doesn't realize he's missed. If Taopaipai were a smart man, then the second he realized he'd missed one of the Dragon Balls, he'd have considered the possibility that Upa would find it within Goku's clothing and make a run with the ball, leaving him to chase after the ball until he found the kid again. This probably wouldn't have been the hardest task in the world what with the Red Ribbon's radar at his beck and call, but it's still a pain in the neck when he really could just go get the ball, kill the kid, and be done with it, with nobody left alive to talk about that time Taopaipai's clothes got ruined either. That said, this clearly cannot happen for the series to proceed further, especially once what Goku is going to be doing comes to light, so chalk this up as plot-induced stupidity to allow the series to move further along. Better get used to that sort of thing as well, because this is far from the worst, or the last, time that sort of thing will happen honestly. I do love that Taopaipai is so serious to the point of becoming hilarious himself though, what with his refusal to go anywhere in clothing he deems silly. It might make his work ethic questionable, but it does make him more entertaining, and helps keep things from getting TOO dark. Likewise, I like that it was Gohan's Dragon Ball that just happened to save Goku's life. This might seem like a stretch to some, but I think it's just thematically sweet enough to be forgivable, at least this one time. Goku's spent the entirety of this arc looking for just that one particular Dragon Ball, and now that he has it it saves his life. It's almost poetic. It also allows Goku to segue into his new goal for the arc. I mentioned before that Goku doesn't really have any plans for once he gets the four-star ball, and that if he'd gotten it far earlier into the arc, he probably wouldn't even still be on this journey. But as things turned out, Goku didn't get this ball until near the end, and it's now lead him to a situation where he actually has something he wants to wish for. The wish is also a nice elevation of what's come before, as Goku wanting to wish Bora back to life is way more altruistic than any of the wishes our heroes had in mind the first time, and definitely more so than the wish that was ultimately made. It also brings up the question of just what exactly Shenlong is capable of as well, as Upa wonders if it's even possible. On the one hand, he has no idea about the Dragon Balls, not really, as he's only just recently heard about them and hasn't witnessed them being used. On the other hand, Goku has seen them used, but let's be honest – giving a pig a pair of panties is hardly the greatest showing of a dragon's wish-granting powers. It's not exactly a lot to go on to answer whether or not he's capable of bringing the dead back to life. The legends do say that he'll grant ANY one wish however, so...it's an interesting quandry for this section of the story for sure. And it's not like there's any other plans that could work for the time being, so it's really Goku's only (and best) shot. At the same time, Goku realizes that he's just not capable of beating Taopaipai. He's been in a lot of fights in his short life, and a good handful of them were with people who were at least marginally stronger than him, but none of them had ever been able to take him out like Taopaipai has. This is where the idea of climbing Karin tower comes back into play, and the reason for Taopaipai's plot induced laziness/stupidity. Goku is going to have to attempt something that has never been accomplished, at least so far as Bora knows. That and the look of the tower itself already speaks volumes for how long and arduous climbing it must be, so it's not the sort of thing that can be done in an afternoon. Goku's going to need time, and that time is only allowed by Taopaipai not doing the logical thing and coming back right away. That said, is three days really enough time for Goku to make up for the difference in their strength? Well...about that... Until next time! Favorite Panel: Synopsis: Having been told the legend of Karin Tower, Goku wonders if he should try climbing it, but Bora says that the old tale could very well be a myth for all he knows. Suddenly, Upa notices something flying their way through the sky, and Goku can see that whatever it is appears to have a guy riding on it. Goku and Bora, holding Upa, barely manage to dodge out of the way as the pillar slams into the ground, with Taopaipai landing along with it. Bora demands to know who the man is, and Taopaipai proudly introduces himself as the world's greatest assassin. Bora asks Taopaipai what a killer like him is doing in such a holy place, and Taopaipai says he has no business with him or the land, only with Goku. Goku says he's never even met him before, but Taopaipai explains that he was hired by the Red Ribbon Army to kill him since he keeps interfering with their quest to get some balls or something. Goku can't believe how stubborn the Army is, and Upa pleads with his father not to let Goku get hurt. Bora says that Goku saved his son's life so he won't stand by, and if the assassin insists on fighting, he'll be fighting him. Goku objects saying that this guy is his enemy, but Bora says it's his duty to protect this land. Taopaipai laughs and calls Bora a fool for so quickly choosing death. Goku and Upa watch as Bora readies his spear, but Taopaipai laughs and says Bora must think he's pretty good. In that case, he doesn't mind making the first move. Moving quicker than the eye can see, Taopaipai launches forward and takes hold of Bora's spear. Goku is amazed at how fast the assassin moved, and despite using all of his strength, Bora can't pull the spear from his grasp. Taopaipai asks him if something is wrong since he's not even moving, and offers to move him himself. With no effort at all, Taopaipai lifts Bora into the air via the spear, before flinging him off of it and into the air. With Bora flying high into the air, Taopaipai offers him his spear back and throws it at him. Goku and Upa watch in horror as Goku calls down kinto'un, but it's too late – the spear hits, and Bora falls to the ground, dead, with his own spear sticking out of his chest. Upa rushes to his father's side and sobs, while Goku becomes overcome with rage. He rushes to attack Taopaipai, but the assassin easily dodges his attack, kicking him hard into the base of Karin Tower. Taopaipai scoffs and asks if that's all there was to him, but to his surprise, Goku gets back up. Goku fires a Kamehameha at Taopaipai, who appears somewhat surprised, but merely stands in place and takes the blast, merely crossing his arms over his face to block most of the attack. Taopaipai chastises Goku for ruining his clothes, before launching his own energy attack, the Dodonpa, which strikes Goku right in the chest. Goku falls to the ground, seemingly dead as well. As Upa watches all of this in terror, Taopaipai walks over and picks up Goku's bag, finding the Dragon Balls inside of it and declaring his mission accomplished. Review: Remember that mood whiplash that I mentioned was coming? Well, here it is in all of its terrifying glory. I mused before that perhaps Toriyama felt like the time was right to revisit the world of Dr. Slump for any particular reason, and re-reading this chapter, I'm more confident than ever that it was him enjoying the last moment that the series would be a pure adventure story with comedic overtones before things started to shift in an ever-so-slightly more serious direction. Again, don't get me wrong or let anyone else fool you. Dragon Ball is still, at it's very core, a comedic series. But this is the point at which things start to take themselves a little more seriously in terms of how dire the situations Goku and friends find themselves in are going to be treated. Though I guess I should say this is more like our first taste of that upcoming new status quo, as after this arc, things will briefly go back to how they were for a little while, but after that it's full steam ahead on the story-taking-itself-seriously train. Things get moving pretty fast once all of the important characters for this section of the story are together, and it's amazing how well it all flows naturally thanks to Toriyama taking his time and setting things up in the previous couple of chapters first. We've already seen just how insanely strong Bora is, and we've seen how insanely strong Taopaipai is. We've seen what a caring person Bora seems to be, and how he definitely seems to be the type to feel honor-bound to help Goku out after he saved his son, as well as being the type to stake his life on protecting his homeland. We've likewise seen how heartless and cold Taopaipai is, willing to kill anyone for the right price, and not caring how many others he has to kill to get the job done either. It feels perfectly natural that these two newly introduced characters would have a clashing of ideals before things really get to get going here. But the fight turns out to barely be a fight at all. I hesitate to even call it a slaughter with how quickly it's all over. Despite how strong Bora seemed to be before, he's killed with the most minimal of efforts by Taopaipai, no different than Blue before him. This is striking as this is the first death shown outright in the manga, or at least the first one that's not played for laughs or the death of a bad guy. There's no possible workaround either, Bora is absolutely dead. This of course riles Goku up immediately, as the series has already very well established by now that Goku isn't the type to sit by and let people get hurt, especially if they're good people. We've come a long way from when he attacked the cops that he thought were after Lunch (though, I mean, they WERE after her, but...m-moving on), and there was no way he was going to let Bora's murder slide. But then, Goku loses. For the very first time in the series, Goku is completely outclassed. This isn't like when he lost against Yamcha due to being hungry; this isn't like when he almost won the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai; and this isnt like any of the other times, most recently with Blue, where it seemed like Goku was on the back foot for a while only to end up coming back victorious before the fight's really ended. Goku. Loses. This fight. Tao dodges one set of attacks and completely tanks Goku's best move, the Kamehameha, before easily taking Goku down with only two attacks of his own. I emphasis what a curb stomp this is because, for young Japanese readers back when this first came out, and we had no idea where the story was going from here? It had to be one of the most shocking things they'd ever seen. Goku, the hero of the story, loses...and might even be dead? This is about as far from the land of pat-pat and diarrhea pills as one can get. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Synopsis: The man named Bora thanks Goku for saving his son, Upa, but Goku says it was just part of beating up the Red Ribbon soldier. Goku then spots the Dragon Ball in the Bora's hand and asks to see it, and much to his delight, it's the four-star ball at last! As the young boy celebrates, Bora is even more confused about why everyone seems so desperate to get that small ball.
At Red Ribbon HQ, General Blue finally returns via a stolen car. At the front gate he finds himself accosted by guards, but he swiftly kills one before chiding the other for not remembering the face of his superior. The remaining soldier recognizes Blue and stammers as Blue orders him to hurry up and open the gate. In Red's office, a braided man revealed to be the master assassin Taopaipai introduces himself. He warns Red in advance that his services don't come cheaply, but Red assures him that if he can ge the job done, he'll pay him whatever he asks. Taopaipai says that the going rate for any hit job from him his 100 million zeni, but luckily for them he's currently having his 20th anniversary half-price sale, and as such he'll only be charging them 50 million a head instead. Red and Black are somewhat taken aback by these prices, and Black says the man better be the real Taopaipai. Taopaipai simply smiles and asks if he'd like to test him, but Black says that's quite all right. Blue knocks on Red's door and asks for permission to enter, which Red grants. Red tells Blue that he's amazed he's come back, and Blue says it was quite a job requiring him to steal a number of vehicles, but Red was referring to Blue coming back after failing to get the Dragon Balls from Goku. Blue says that was unavoidable, but reminds the commander that he did get the enemy's radar and shows it off. Black is amazed that the radar is so small and yet more precise than their own, and Red says that getting it really is quite the accomplishment – but it doesn't change the fact that Red's order was to bring back the Dragon Balls, and Blue failed in that order, meriting him an execution. Blue is naturally horrified, but Red says that due to his service in the past, he's giving Blue one chance to redeem himself: if he can fight Taopaipai and win, all will be forgiven. Blue agrees to this challenge, and stands before Taopaipai, asking him if he really is the man they call the 'world's greatest killer'. Taopaipai asks if Blue wants his autograph, but Blue laughs and says that if Taopaipai is the world's greatest, then he must be the universe's greatest. Taopaipai says he'd like to receive a fee for Blue's life as well, and Red agrees since he wants to see Taopaipai in action. Taopaipai says that he won't even need his arms or legs to kill Blue, claiming he'll use just his tongue. Blue mocks him, and as Black announces the start of their match, Blue leaps in with a kick aimed right at Taopaipai's head. Taopaipai doesn't move, merely bending out of the way to dodge the attack, and then leans back in, plunging his tongue into the side of Blue's temple, killing him instantly. As Red and Black marvel in horror at what they've just witnessed, Taopaipai says that he craves a real opponent and asks them to show him his real targets. They hand him a picture of Goku, and Taopaipai is somewhat surprised that his target is just a little boy. Black assures him that they've been saying the same thing for some time now and regretting it every time when they underestimated him. Taopaipai says as long as he's paid he'll kill whoever they want, even this little boy, but Red has an additional request. He tells Taopaipai that Goku should be in the possession of four small balls, much like the one he has Black show him, and that they'd like him to retrieve those from his body and bring them back to them. Red tells him that if anyone else stands in his way to feel free to kill them as well and he'll pay for them all. Taopaipai agrees, and repeats the information from earlier saying that Goku is in a place called Karin. Black tells him that they've prepared a jet for him, but Taopaipai instead asks if he can have a nearby pillar instead. He pokes the top of the pillar and lightly kicks the bottom, breaking it off and lifting it out with ease. He says it should only take him about thirty minutes, and proceeds to throw the pillar into the air, sending it flying before he leaps into the air after it, landing on it and traveling towards Karin. As Black marvels at what a monster they've hired, Red is gleeful, thinking the Dragon Balls are as good as theirs already. Back in Karin, Goku has explained about the Dragon Balls to Upa and Bora, with Bora now understanding why the soldiers wanted the ball so badly. Goku says he doesn't want any wish himself though, he just wanted the four-star ball back as it was an heirloom from his grandpa. He then turns his attention to a nearby tower leading as far into the sky as the eye can see and asks Bora about it. Bora explains that it's the sacred tower of Karin that is said to extend to the heavens themselves. It is also said that anyone that can climb to it's top with only their bare hands will find a hermit master there, and whoever drinks the holy water offered by the hermit will find their strength multiplied many times over. Bora says his clan have been guardians and defended the tower for generations now. Goku is impressed by all of this and asks Bora if he's ever climbed it, but Bora says he tried once when he was younger but didn't succeed, and he's never heard of anyone who actually has. Goku looks at it again and says it must be really tall then, and that it probably wouldn't be okay to just use kinto'un to get up there. Unbeknownst to the trio, Taopaipai rapidly approaches as he travels through the air by pillar. Review: So, right off the bat – I was apparently somewhat wrong in my last chapter review. Upa and Bora's names are never outright stated in the manga itself at this point in time, and considering where the story is going next, I'm not really sure at what point Bora's name at least would get stated. Bora's name is listed on the chapter title page however, so given all of this and how exceedingly difficult it is to talk about not one but two unnamed characters at once, I decided to cut the middle man out and start calling them by name as of this chapter. So with that said, let's talk a little more about Upa and Bora as well. We've only known them for two chapters so far, and while Upa hasn't really shown much of a presence so far, merely hanging off of his father's shoulder like he's the guy's equivalent to Puar or something, Bora has definitely made one hell of an impression. As far as I know, nothing is ever really stated anywhere in regards to how strong the guy is, but based on just the evidence presented, I'd be willing to bet he's at the very least somewhere in the same overall range as any of our other major characters at this point. And as I stated last time, there's definitely a reason for that that we'll be coming to soon enough, so hold that thought. At long last, Goku finally finds the only Dragon Ball he was actually looking for in the first place. Man, just imagine how much shorter or at least differently this arc would have played out if it'd been the four-star ball he found first. Needless to say, Goku's coming into possession of this Dragon Ball – though it's not like Bora's really agreed to give it to him just yet – would normally mean the end of this arc right then and there. Sure, Goku's tangled with the Red Ribbon quite a few times so far, and they'd certainly still be after him no doubt even if he didn't have the other Dragon Balls. But Goku wouldn't be actively looking for the rest of them at this point probably, and as such it'd be the Army coming after him rather than them both going after the same goal. While that would have been interesting to see play out perhaps, it's a bit more difficult to imagine how that would work out in the long run, so Toriyama was going to need to come up with a new reason for Goku to continue on this quest...but again, hold that thought. The main meat of this story takes place at Red Ribbon HQ, and alas, poor Blue, we knew you well. After surviving the cave, after surviving an encounter with Arale freakin' Norimaki, Blue finally meets his end at the han- er, tongue, of Taopaipai. This is a story-telling trick that Toriyama is going to utilize again, and again, and again throughout the course of the series, using his previous big bad in some way to help elevate the threat level of the next one. Blue may have been shown up in strength by Goku, but he more than proved how strong he was, and he was tenacious enough to prove quite the thorn in Goku's side. And yet, here he's dispatched with no effort what-so-ever by Taopaipai, a man who is now on a direct collision course with our hero. While it can be argued that this in some way devalues Blue and everything he did before this, there's really no arguing with the results – it hypes Taopaipai up big time as someone that's going to be tough to beat. The braided assassin isn't all strength though, as we're already being shown the interesting sides of his personality as well. We get a pretty good indication of how cold-blooded he can be, from killing Blue in such a dismissive way (seriously, who stabs someone with their TONGUE?), to not even batting an eye at the prospect of killing a child, but my personal favorite is him talking about pricing. He charges quite the hefty fee for his killings, but he's willing to factor in a major anniversary as a sales pitch to get more customers biting too, a true entrepreneur if I've ever seen one. It's so ludicrous while also being really dark – again, he's talking about offering half off for killing a kid. It's so evil it's hilarious. It's a good thing Taopaipai is already proving to be as entertaining as he is too, as not only does he come as Blue's replacement, we'll be sticking with him in the villain's seat for a little while now. Until next time! Favorite Panel: |
About the AuthorAspiring author and big anime/manga fan, just trying to do my best in the world. For more details, go to About Me. Archives
September 2022
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