Synopsis: The fourth and final match of the first round of the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai gets started, as the announcer calls out Panput and Goku. The announcer explains to the crowd that Panput is already the champion of two other internationally recognized martial arts tournament and is here to make himself a triple-crowned champion, and Kuririn is impressed at his accomplishments, as is Roshi. Tenshinhan however remarks that this tournament is leagues beyond any others. Kuririn tells Goku he must have bad luck to face such a strong opponent in his first match, and Goku assures him he'll just have to go all-out in that case.
As the announcer prepares to announce the match's start, Panput throws a punch at Goku's face that stops just before hitting him. Panput smirks and says he's surprised Goku didn't duck, but wonders if it's more that he didn't have time to – Goku however remarks that the punch just didn't look that scary. Panput says Goku must not know much about him, and offers him a demonstration, throwing a flurry of punches and a kick at thin air before backflipping towards the ring's edge and breaking part of the wall with an elbow smash. This impresses the crowd and distresses the announcer as they'd just fixed that, but Panput asks if Goku now understands what he's about, and Goku happily says he does. Kuririn says that Panput seems to be a bit of a show-off, but Chun says at least they can watch the match more easily now. Kuririn thinks Panput doesn't look very impressive after all, but Chun tells him to watch the match closely. The announcer declares a start of the match, and Panput lunges towards Goku, aiming a punch at him – but Goku pushes his arm out of the way, and seemingly hits Panput with but one elbow strike. Panput stutters and stumbles forward, before falling to the ground, unconscious. The crowd cheers while the announcer says Goku beat his opponent with a single blow, but Tenshinhan knows better – he saw that after Goku parried Panput's blow, he hit him with his elbow, followed by three more hits in rapid succession. Tenshinhan is impressed, saying that Goku is no normal fighter after all, and Tsuru-sennin wonders if this means he really did beat his brother after all. Tenshinhan smirks however, and says this tournament is starting to get interesting. Kuririn congratulates Goku on his victory and says that Panput really didn't seem like much after all, with Goku saying maybe he was just having an off day, but Chun laughs and informs them of the truth – Panput truly was strong, from a normal person's point of view. Goku and Kuririn however have moved past that, well beyond the normal person's idea of strength, so Panput looked weak by comparison. Kuririn says that Yamcha is about at the same skill level as him though and still lost, plus he had to struggle against Chaozu, and Chun says that's because their opponents were both also well beyond normal human strength. The announcer declares the start of the semi-final round and calls for Tenshinhan and Jackie Chun to return to the ring, and as he steps outside, Roshi thinks to himself that a new era might truly be dawning. Tenshinhan thinks to himself that he can't let his guard down against Chun, while Kuririn looks at his hands and wonders if they really have gotten as strong as Chun says they have. Review: This chapter wasn't necessarily bad, but if I'm being completely honest? It doesn't really bring anything to the table that hasn't already been acknowledged before, and because of that, there's probably a reason that Panput is one of the most easily forgettable opponents Goku has ever fought. Hell, saying he “fought” him is even a stretch, frankly. Fans more familiar with the anime version of events probably remember a slightly longer story with Panput's manager trying to cause Goku to lose by default or pay him to lose or the like (it's been a while since I've seen it, so I forget the exact details), and while part of that was just to give enough material for an episode, I can't help but feel it was also an attempt to elevate this admittedly pretty flat material a bit. I mean, let's go over what Panput contributes here. He doubts Goku's capability as a fighter at least in comparison to himself; he shows off some feats of skill and strength that are marginally impressive from a real world standard but absolutely nothing by Dragon Ball standards, especially this far in; and then he loses to Goku in what appears to be one hit. There's nothing new here, it's all ground we've tread before. It's long been established how far beyond normal fighters Goku and his friends are by this point, in fact it was established pretty well in the preliminaries of the 21st Budokai. And speaking of the preliminaries, we've already done this song and dance with Goku taking out a famed fighter like he was nothing a mere seven chapters ago with King Chappa. At a weekly pace that would've been a little more than a month prior, but still – there wasn't really any reason for Toriyama to repeat himself so quickly here. About the only thing this chapter truly advances in terms of story (because Goku winning and getting past the first round if nothing else was always going to be a foregone conclusion) is Tenshinhan and Tsuru-sennin getting to see a hint of him in action to make them understand he's more than he appears to be and make them wonder if he really did take out Taopaipai. Even that feels somewhat unneeded however, as they're just going to get to see him fight again in short order, and it'll be an even more intense fight to impress them with. So yeah, this chapter is sadly pretty underwhelming, as was this 'match'. Thankfully a much more interesting and exciting match-up is up next to wash our hands of this whole Panput debacle. Until next time! Favorite Panel:
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Synopsis: As Kuririn prepares to fire a Kamehameha, Jackie Chun keeps yelling to him that it's foolish to try and stop the Dodonpa with an untrained Kamehameha, even warning him that he'll likely die if he goes through with this. Kuririn is undeterred however, and as Chaozu fires his Dodonpa at him, Kuririn dodges by leaping into the air, leaving Chaozu's Dodonpa to crash needlessly into the ring. As Chaozu looks over at him, Kuririn launches his Kamehameha from mid-air, surprising everyone and catching Chaozu full-on with the blast. As Kuririn lands back in the ring, everyone watches as it looks like Chaozu is going to spiral downward out of the ring, but at the last moment he recovers and floats back to continue the fight. Kuririn curses his luck, but Roshi praises him mentally for coming up with such a maneuver, noting that if Kuririn had more practice with the Kamehameha, that probably would have won him the match after all. As the two fighters stare each other down, Tenshinhan also praises Kuririn in his mind, unable to believe that someone from the Turtle school was able to dodge and launch their own attack in so brief an interval. Kuririn rushes back in to attack Chaozu, and while Chaozu is able to dodge at first, he soon proves unable to stop all of Kuririn's attacks. Left with no choice, Chaozu uses his strange powers again and gives Kuririn a stomach ache by holding his hands out in front of him. Communicating with him mentally, Tsuru-sennin tells Chaozu that the match is theirs now, but not to toss Kuririn out of the ring: he wants Chaozu to kill him, slowly and painfully. Chaozu agrees and starts to kick Kuririn around just as the boy figures out that Chaozu must have psychic powers. Chaozu says he's going to kick Kuririn until he dies, and Kuririn accuses him of playing dirty. Kuririn then realizes that Chaozu can only kick him right now because he must need his hands held out to keep Kuririn pinned down with his powers. Thinking quickly, Kuririn asks Chaozu what 3+4 is. Chaozu takes his hands away to start counting, freeing Kuririn who quickly punches him hard in the gut. Chaozu is almost incapacitated much to the horror of Tsuru-sennin and Tenshinhan, but he quickly puts his hands back up to freeze Kuririn in place again. Chaozu tries to turn the tables on Kuririn by asking him what 16+27 is, but Kuririn is able to shout the answer right back at him, surprising Chaozu. Kuririn again shouts a math problem, 9-1, forcing Chaozu to take his hands away to count once again, and this time Kuririn hits him hard enough to send him out of the ring and falling to the ground unconscious. Kuririn is declared the winner, and as Goku celebrates his friend's victory, Roshi says that Kuririn has matured not once but twice during this match. Meanwhile, Tsuru-sennin curses and says he should have trained Chaozu in math as well as fighting. Review: Well, I hope everyone enjoyed Chaozu's brief time in the spotlight, because it's never going to happen again. Like, ever. I won't lie, I've been looking forward to talking about Chaozu a little bit for a while now, and it's not really going to be pretty. And yes, I'll be jumping ahead of myself quite a bit again for the purposes of this observation. When first introduced in the past couple of chapters, Chaozu has carried a bit of an air of mystery about him. He has this strange powers, he has such a bizarre look, and the way he moves in a fight is even more unnatural, almost unnerving even. This was shown to be counter-balanced by his impish nature – his willingness to argue with Kuririn over something as stupid as him not being bald because he has one solitary hair was hilarious, and him continuing to egg Kuririn on after the fact was great as well. Adding even more fun to the mix is his being completely awful at math – while the two ideas shouldn't realistically be opposed, there's just something funny about the idea of a psychic being bad at math. All of these factors should add up to a fun, engaging character, right? And they do...up to this point and then no further. After this fight, basically everything that made Chaozu interesting is going to be completely abandoned and largely never referenced again. The fact that he and Kuririn were seemingly building a rivalry is never brought up, hell, if anything it's after this point that we see more of a rivalry between Kuririn and Yamcha as fellow Turtle students. Chaozu's psychic powers will be sticking around, but they'll never be utilized in as interesting of a fashion as they were here. And most unfortunate of all, basically every aspect of Chaozu's personality is going to be left behind, and in it's place is going to be left a character that largely just bleats out Tenshinhan's name on repeat – there's a reason that TeamFourStar's DBZ Abridged made the Pokemon jokes. Honestly, outside of Chi Chi who I'll be going into detail on far later, there's no character in the series that's done dirtier than Chaozu, as not even Yamcha is character assassinated as badly as Chaozu is here. And speaking of Yamcha, there-in lies the other unfortunate aspect of Chaozu's character degradation. Think for a moment if you will how often fans, sometimes just jokingly and other times far more negatively, have dumped upon the likes of Kuririn and Yamcha. They have constantly been the butt of people's jokes in the fandom for decades now. “They're weak”, “They never get to win a fight”, “They're dead again” - These are all jabs at these characters that have largely never stopped. Here's the thing though – every single one of those takeaways, if someone wanted to subscribe to them, could absolutely be lobbed at Chaozu as well. Chaozu is the weakest character on the front-line of our heroes; Chaozu never gets to win a fight, hell, it's arguable he never really even HAS a fight after this point; and despite all of the jokes comparing Kuririn to Kenny from South Park, he's not the one who dies twice first – it's Chaozu. So why is it that Kuririn and Yamcha get all of the ire from fans only looking for cool fights, and Chaozu largely gets ignored? Basically it comes down to the fact that the story itself ignores Chaozu from this point onward. Chaozu gets a small moment in the next arc, but it's nowhere near as shocking as Kuririn's nor as impactful as Roshi's. His contribution to the Saiyan arc is linked at the hip with Tenshinhan's and thus isn't remembered or meme'd in quite the same way as Yamcha's. After that point, he may as well not even be there, and often times he's not. That's where Kuririn ends up getting a lot of the flack from fans, because weaker than most of the others as he is, Kuririn manages to stay on the front lines pretty consistently all the way through the Androids arc. He's there to be shown up as far weaker than the other characters, and thus he gets piled on for that. Yamcha is there in the background talking bigger than he really is, and gets piled on for that. Chaozu...is quietly standing in a corner until it's time for him to say Tenshinhan's name again. At the end of the day, I don't hate Chaozu, he doesn't get enough given to him to elicit a feeling like hatred; but I do hate how dirty the story overall does him, and how it results in other characters who do get to be involved in the story, for better or worse, getting trashed by the fandom while Chaozu gets off scot-free. It's especially maddening when re-visiting his introductory chapters here and seeing what could have been instead. Thank you for coming to my Chaozu TED talk, no on to the rest of the chapter...is what I would say if there was really much else to talk about, but honestly there's just a few other things worth noting. Once again, this fight allows Kuririn to show off that he's going to be the type of fighter who thinks and finds ways to overcome when he odds are stacked against him, and I love seeing that aspect of the character finally get introduced here. I also love the pay-off previously teased about Chaozu not understanding numbers, because again there's just something funny about a psychic that's bad at math (I mean, couldn't he have...read Kuririn's mind as he probably thought about the answer as soon as he asked the questions?). In the end though, this chapter can't help but leave a sour taste in my mouth due to Chaozu's lackluster future on the horizon. RIP Actually Interesting Chaozu, Chapter 116 – Chapter 121. We hardly knew you. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Synopsis: As the third match of the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai gets started, the announcer reminds everyone that this fight between Kuririn and Chaozu is yet another Turtle V.S. Crane school match. Goku encourages his friend to do his best, but faced with the blank stare of Chaozu, Kuririn finds himself unable to tell what his opponent is thinking and wishing he'd paid attention to how he fought during the preliminaries. As the announcer starts the fight, Kuririn goes into position but finds Chaozu still just staring at him. He asks him if he wants to fight or not, when Chaozu suddenly just floats towards him without ever moving his body. Chaozu surprises Kuririn with a kick, knocking Kuririn into the air where he then follows and aims a punch at him. Kuririn manages to duck under the punch and rebounds off of the ring to punch at Chaozu himself, but Chaozu merely floats back out of the way. Once both fighters are on the ground again, Kuririn rushes Chaozu, but disappears before getting closer to his opponent. Chaozu stares on in confusion, causing Tenshinhan to shout and warn him to watch his left. Chaozu has to figure out which way is left by remembering which side he holds his chopsticks on, delaying him enough that he looks left just in time for Kuririn's attack to connect. The two fighters end up in a furious exchange of blows, with Kuririn continually pushing Chaozu towards the edge of the ring. Goku shouts encouragement to his friend again, but before Kuririn can seal the deal, Chaozu floats up into the sky and away from the edge. Kuririn curses him, wondering how he can attack someone who can just fly all over the place, while Jackie Chun recognizes the flying technique of the Crane School. Tenshinhan says that the old man seems to know a lot about the Crane School, and Goku tells him to treat Chun with respect. As Kuririn ponders how to go about his next attack without getting knocked out of the ring himself, Chaozu decides to go on the offensive himself. He holds a finger in front of his face and energy starts to form around his finger before he unleashes his attack, firing a mighty Dodonpa at Kuririn who barely dodges in time. Chaozu continues to fire Dodonpa after Dodonpa at the quickly dodging Kuririn who wonders what in the world this attack even is. From the sidelines, Goku recognizes the Dodonpa as the same move that Taopaipai had used against him. This catches Tenshinhan's attention who asks Goku how he knows that name, and Goku says it was the name of an assassin he beat up. Tenshinhan accuses him of lying but Goku asks him what business of his it is anyway, and Tenshinhan angrily stomps off. Chun asks Goku if he really did take down Taopaipai, and Goku says he did though it wasn't easy due to how strong he was. Roshi thinks to himself that it's amazing that Goku was able to defeat the world's number one assassin, before revealing to Goku that Taopaipai was Tsuru-sennin's younger brother. As Kuririn continues to dodge Chaozu's Dodonpa attacks, Tenshinhan fights his way through the crowd to talk to Tsuru-sennin. Kuririn curses himself and thinks that this would be easy if he only knew how to do the Kamehameha, when it dawns on him that he's never actually tried, and if Yamcha could do it, then... Kuririn gives it a test and thinks he can do it for real and turn this fight around. In the crowd, Tenshinhan reveals the information he just found out to a stunned Tsuru-sennin who now realizes why his brother hasn't called for three years. Tenshinhan assures him it must have been some sort of fluke or accident, and Tsuru-sennin angrily agrees that that's the only way it makes any sense. Tsuru-sennin orders Chaozu to stop fooling around and to just kill Kuririn outright, and Chun realizes what's happening now, though Goku can't understand why they'd want to kill them just because he killed Taopaipai. Chaozu prepares an even stronger Dodonpa to fire at Kuririn, as Kuririn himself goes into the motions for the Kamehameha. Goku realizes what his friend is doing, but Chun says that it's suicide, as there's no way an improvised Kamehameha could ever stand up against a Dodonpa. Review: After reading this chapter again, I'm all the more convinced that the Man-Wolf V.S. Jackie Chun fight should have opened the tournament so that there would have been a more clear escalation going on here rather than that weird cool-down moment in-between. If the last match set up a more personal reason for the Turtle and Crane feud from the Turtle school's POV, then this chapter gives it ample reason to exist from the Crane's as well. Before digging into that further though, let's first talk about Chaozu a little bit, though I'll be saving a few of my deeper thoughts on him for the next chapter. We haven't really had much of the character so far, mostly just the one scene of him being a little snot towards Kuririn before. Here though, we finally get to see a little bit of what Chaozu is capable of, and while I don't know that I'd ever say it's impressive, it certainly is unique in the world of Dragon Ball. Between the unassuming blank stare, the ability to move without actually moving his body, and even his ability to fly all over the place, Chaozu quickly proves to be a character capable of keeping Kuririn on his toes. At the same time though, it's pretty easy to tell that Chaozu doesn't really have much in the way of strength to put Kuririn down for good, at least not at first. He's more of a nuisance than anything else, but I think that was sort of the point. Rather than giving Kuririn a chance to really show off how strong he is, Toriyama's giving Kuririn a fight to help develop him into the kind of fighter he's going to ultimately become. Kuririn will never be the strongest fighter around, but if there's one thing he's known for, it's being able to hang in fights far beyond his natural capabilities by thinking smart in battle, and Chaozu is actually the first person to put Kuririn in a position where he has to think that way, because in this fight strength just isn't enough to get Kuririn the win. As good as this fight is however, it very quickly goes from being the main point of the chapter to a secondary one as soon as the Dodonpa enters the picture. Fans probably recognized the move even quicker than Goku did, and once the reveal of how it's all connected was kick-started, this tournament's intensity shot from it's already pretty elevated level right through the roof. Taopaipai was the strongest person we ever saw Goku take on prior to this, as well as being the first person to completely wipe the floor with him on their first encounter. Having the Crane School be connected to him in any serves well as a way to make them even more impressive, but more importantly than that, it gives an even greater meaning for this conflict. It's clear through Tenshinhan's speaking of him that Taopaipai was someone he held in great regard, and given how cruel we've already seen him to be, it only stands to reason that this is going to make him that much greater of a foe. It's not just Tenshinhan either, as the knowledge of Taopaipai's apparent demise hits home for Tsuru-sennin as well. No longer is he snickering and snidely enjoying the idea of his students beating Roshi's and claiming victory for themselves, he now becomes hell-bent on revenge and seemingly doesn't even care if it results in expulsion fromt eh tournament, given that he shouts for Chaozu to kill Kuririn. Things have most definitely gotten personal for the Turtle and Crane schools' next generation now, and only one side will be able to claim vengeance in the name of a fallen ally in the end. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: The Chaozu Conundrum Synopsis: The second match of the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai begins as Man-Wolf and Jackie Chun enter the ring. Man-Wolf tells Chun he's been waiting a long time for a chance to fight him, but Chun can't understand why this guy has such a big grudge against him seeing as how they've never met. Man-Wolf tells Chun outright that it's because he blew up the moon during the last tournament – without a moon, Man-Wolf is stuck in his wolf form, unable to turn into a human ever again, and thus he's unable to try to pick up women as he'd like. Chun tells him that he could just find a nice wolf-girl to settle down with, but Man-Wolf says that he hates furry people, and Chun chastises him for being picky. Watching all of this, the announcer asks them to please start the fight. Man-Wolf rushes Chun in an attempt to maul him, but Chun dodges easily, leaping above Man-Wolf's head and kicking him from behind. As Man-Wolf angrily gets back up, Chun tells him to quit before he gets hurt as their skill levels are just too far apart. Man-Wolf claims to be a 30th level black belt in kenpo, but Chun remains unimpressed. From the sidelines, both Tenshinhan and Chaozu as well as Goku and Kuririn watch the fight. Tenshinhan says he can tell that the old man is actually a force to be reckoned with, and as a result he's actually starting to get exciting thinking about facing him next. Kuririn looks away from the match to point out something strange to Goku – both Tenshinhan and Chaozu are floating in the air as they watch the fight, as opposed to Goku and Kuririn who have to climb atop a wall to see the fight. Goku is amazed that the Crane School has so many tricks, and Kuririn realizes this means it's unlikely they're going to win by ring-out. Enraged, Man-Wolf says he's going to kill Chun and attempts to rush him again, but Chun continues to ignore him and oggles ladies in the crowd instead. He keeps checking out women even as he knocks Man-Wolf down once more, angering the wolf even more. No matter how hard he tries however, Man-Wolf is unable to land a blow and is once more sent flying into the ring's edge. Chun asks the announcer to start the ten-count, and the crowd is in disbelief at Chun's overwhelming strength. Two watchers even remember Man-Wolf taking them out easily in the preliminaries, while the turtle and Oolong however can't help but notice how much Chun reminds them of Kame-sennin. Getting back up again, Man-Wolf pulls a knife, causing the announcer to yell that weapons are against the rules. Chun tells him that Man-Wolf doesn't need a disqualification to lose however, and catches the knife bare-handed as the wolf rushes him. Lifting him into the air by it, Chun casually flings Man-Wolf to the edge again, and throws the knife so that it wizzes by Man-Wolf's head. Chun says that since Man-Wolf is making such a fuss about all of this, he'll turn him back into a human. Man-Wolf accuses Chun of lying to him, but Chun insists he's not lying, though they'll have to settle this match first. He tells Man-Wolf to cry mercy, but Man-Wolf stubbornly says he'll never surrender to him. Chun chides Man-Wolf for his thick-headed nature, and decides to make a mockery of him first. He holds his hand out and tells Man-Wolf to shake, and Man-Wolf instinctively gives him his hand. Man-Wolf angrily says he's not a dog, but Chun again gets him by telling him to beg, and Man-Wolf does so. Chun finishes off his mockery by pulling out a bone and tossing it out of the ring, causing Man-Wolf to chase it out and end the match by ring-out. Jackie Chun wins! Man-Wolf angrily climbs back into the ring while yelling about what a cheap trick that was, and rushes Chun once more. Chun pokes him in the forehead before the wolf can reach him however, pushing a pressure point that freezes the wolf in place. He says now he can get to turning Man-Wolf back into a human, a feat that Kuririn questions if it's even possible since there's no longer a moon. To his surprise, Chun calls Kuririn into the ring and asks him to stand facing away from Man-Wolf, who he tells to stare at Kuririn's head. Kuririn scowls and says his head can't be used as a stand-in for the full moon, because if it could Goku would have transformed a ton already, but Chun isn't done yet. Using hypnosis on Man-Wolf, he convinces him that Kuririn's head really is the full moon, causing the wolf to revert to a rather ugly human form at long last. The now human Man-Wolf cheers and vigorously thanks Chun before running off to try and pick up women, a task that Chun thinks won't be any easier now at all, with Kuririn even remarking that he looked better as a wolf. The announcer pumps up the crowd for the next match, Kuririn V.S. Chaozu, and even gives Kuririn a nickname of 'Full Moon', irritating him greatly. Review: After how serious and intense the previous match got, there's something to be said for this one being a pallet-cleanser of sorts, though at the same time I'm not sure that's really what the story needed. Don't get me wrong, the idea of a tournament contestant with a grudge against the disguised Roshi is a good one, especially since it narrows down greatly exactly what it is that he could be angry at him for – I'm not even upset at the chapter for spilling the beans right at the start since it was already a fairly obvious gag in the first place. No, the real issue here is that the match ultimately feels at odds with the story as a whole and the tone of the tournament as well. It doesn't really serve a purpose in the same way that any of the preliminary matches do, and it's not connected to the Turtle/Crane feud at all either. In fact, everything about this match feels more at home in the first Tenkaichi Budokai than it does this one. Part of me feels like it might have been better off opening the tournament rather than being the second match, because then it would have allowed the Tenshinhan V.S. Yamcha fight to show how different the tournament as a whole was going to be from this match; but at the same time, there is something to be said for using that match as it was used to open the tournament and let us know from the very start how different it was going to be. There's not really a right answer here, but if it were me? I probably would flip them around. Now that all said, it's hard to really be too upset at this chapter for it's failings, because it just manages to be a hoot regardless of them. Seeing Roshi mercilessly bully Man-Wolf is pretty funny, and the whole idea of him being more upset at him for preventing him from picking up chicks is even better. Top it off with his derpy looking human form not being an improvement at all, and you've got a gag that more than carried it's way through an entire chapter – though I am glad that it wrapped itself up in just one chapter, as dragging it out any further than this probably would've worn thin pretty quickly. In all of the fun going on though, it's easy to miss that this chapter happens to give us our very first glimpse of flight in the series, and given how the technique will be utilized most other times, it's almost funny in-of-itself to see how rather mundanely it's introduced here, just Tenshinhan and Chaozu floating rather than standing. Sure would be a shame if almost every relevant character stole this really neat technique and it became common-place rather than unique. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: The Drama Thickens! Return of the Dodonpa! Synopsis: Using his hands held in front of him, Tenshinhan successfully channels a strong enough kiai to not only stop Yamcha's Kamehameha from hitting him, but to deflect it outright. Everyone watches in surprise as Yamcha is left with no choice but to leap into the air to dodge his own attack, with the Kamehameha hitting an area just behind the tournament crowd and exploding. Yamcha looks back at the destruction he inadvertently caused, but Goku shouts up to him to look out. Before Yamcha can recover however, Tenshinhan, who leapt into the air after him, delivers a vicious kick to his mid-section, and sending him crashing back down into the ring below. Goku's friends watch on in horror as Yamcha lays there unconscious, but the scene quickly gets even worse. Goku yells for Tenshinhan to stop, but he ignores Goku's plea as he falls back down into the ring, slamming his knee into Yamcha's leg and breaking it, a loud snap ringing through the air. The announcer notes that Yamcha's leg doesn't look right and Goku runs into the ring to check on his friend. Tenshinhan reminds the announcer that he has a job to do, and the announcer says that Yamcha is in no shape to continue the match, therefore victory is awarded to Tenshinhan. The announcer tells one of the other tournament officials to get Yamcha to a hospital immediately, but Puar floats into the ring and says he'll do it, transforming into a magic carpet. Goku loads Yamcha onto Puar with Kuririn's help, and as Puar carries Yamcha to the hospital, Bulma and Lunch follow after him. Goku stares down Tenshinhan angrily, accusing him of knowing Yamcha was already knocked out when he did his final attack. Tenshinhan chuckles and tells him to just be grateful he didn't kill him, claiming to be soft for sparing him. Goku swears to avenge Yamcha in a match, but Tenshinhan reminds him that he'll have to win his other matches first. As Tenshinhan leaves the ring, Tsuru-sennin watches and praises him for showing how formidable the Crane School truly is, and says he wishes he could have seen the look on Kame-sennin's face as one of his students was broken. As the announcer calls for the next contestants, Jackie Chun and Man-Wolf, to please enter the ring, Jackie Chun tells his opponent to stop glaring at him already. Chaozu congratulates Tenshinhan for his victory, and Tenshinhan says that he does have to admit, the Turtle School fighters are even better than he'd thought based on his fight with Yamcha, so he warns Chaozu not to get complacent. Still though, he figures Yamcha was probably the best the Turtle School had to offer, so it should be easy for him to win the tournament outright with Chaozu coming in second place. Man-Wolf steps into the ring followed by Jackie Chun, who stops briefly to praise Goku for his ability to hold back and not start an unauthorized fight with Tenshinhan then and there, saying he seems to have matured a bit since the last tournament. Goku wishes Chun luck on his own match. Review: Poor, poor Yamcha. I'm jumping ahead quite a bit with this observation, but Tenshinhan's complete reversal on him in this match is basically a downfall that the character is never, ever going to recover from. Long-time fans, think about it with me now, and I don't mean in a funny 'let's dump on Yamcha' way, just seriously think about every story beat Yamcha is involved in after this point – nothing is ever going to go his way ever, ever again. This fight was the last time that the character received any sort of agency in the story whatsoever, and every fight going forward for him now is going to only serve to make things even more dire in one way or another. ...Hell, even his last hoorah here basically only exists to do that, so...yeah...poor guy. I say all of this not to dump on Yamcha myself. As I've said before, I like the guy well enough, but there's really no beating around the horse anymore at how everything that made him useful to the story is now thoroughly and irreversibly being stripped away from him. At the start of the series, he was a rival character for Goku – that role now belongs to Kuririn, and it's going to be passed around pretty regularly soon enough. At the start of the series, he was Goku's best fighting friend – again, that now belongs to Kuririn. At the start of the series and then further developed as the story went along, Yamcha was that guy with knowledge about all kinds of martial artists and techniques – well, now that role is being given to Roshi, and while it's a role that's more befitting him than it ever was Yamcha, it's still basically the last claim to relevancy the character had. Even joining the Turtle School has basically done nothing to really improve Yamcha's fate, as all it really results in is him donning an orange gi just like so many other characters throughout the course of the series will. Really, the only thing the character has left at this point is an entertaining enough personality, and his relationship with Bulma. At least...one of those things is here to stay...sort-of... Anyway, the main reason I chose to go so in-depth as to what Yamcha is losing here in this chapter is because, frankly, there's not really a lot else to talk about in this chapter beyond that. Tenshinhan gets to show off a cool reversal move that's just similar enough to Goku's preliminary bout trick to link them together somewhat in a reader's minds (enough so to already sell the idea that it's probably going to be those two in the final match), and he also gets to show off just what a cruel bastard he is at this point as well. Prior to this, we've seen him talk smack, and we've seen him prove himself as a capable fighter, but it's here those two aspects of the character come together to show just what kind of person he is. It perfectly sets the stage for this tournament to be about something more than just an old feud between Kame-sennin and Tsuru-sennin, because with Yamcha's loss, it now becomes something far more personal for Goku himself. He's instantly gone from having no real part to play in this drama to being at it's forefront. At the same time, this all sets Tenshinhan a bit on the back-foot as well. With his defeat of Yamcha, he thinks it's all going to be smooth-sailing from here because he mistakenly assumes that Yamcha must be the strongest the Turtle School has to offer. If I had to guess, he probably assumes Yamcha's the student whose been training with Roshi the longest based on ages, which is ironic given that it's Roshi's youngest student he's really going to have to worry about now. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: Jackie Chun “moons” his opponent! Synopsis: Ludwig tells Debonair and Grimm not to interfere as they are 'mere extras', and uses his magic to dispel Debonair's attack before causing large pillars of rock to spiral their way into the sky, crashing together with Debonair in the middle. Debonair withstands the blow and says Ludwig must like being flashy, and Cinderella reminds her that he did used to be their guild's best sorcerer, and now with pages from the Book in tow, anything is possible. Grimm asks why she's here, with Cinderella agreeing that that's a good question. Grimm asks Cinderella if she can use her magic to force her clock forward and return her to her adult body, but Cinderella warns her that she just transformed not that long ago, saying that if she doesn't give her body enough of a break, it might not hold up to the stress. Grimm tells her however that the world is ending, and if it comes down to sitting on the sidelines and doing nothing or putting herself at risk, she'd much rather take the chance to fight. Inside the cell Ludwig made in the Scrivener's Room, Velou pounds on the wall and desperately tries to find some way out, a task that the Red Hood says could be difficult. Velou wonders if there's really nothing he can do while the world ends around him, when an idea suddenly comes to his mind – what happens to the power inside of him if he dies? He quickly asks Dutt for his gun, but the Red Hood stops him, saying that there's no guarantee his death would get rid of his power, suggesting that it might even release it to rot the world away quicker on it's own. He tells Velou to think carefully, saying that as an outside being who was tossed into the story, he and he alone is free to make whatever choice he wants. He asks Velou what kind of ending he'd like to see to this story – a happy one, or a tragic one? Ludwig amps up his magic even further, bringing the entire island floating into the sky behind him. Debonair thinks he's going to take the island and run, and realizes that his power really does make anything possible. Ludwig tells her that she's done enough, and that for all the control she has over her curse, her body still has it's limits, and if she stops now, she'll be able to vanish without suffering. Debonair tells him to stop dragging the whole world down with his self-destructive madness, and declares that she's a Hunter and she'll continue to be a Hunter to the very end. Ludwig acknowledges her and summons a large group of werewolves through portals in the sky, telling her to hunt them to her heart's content then. Debonair prepares to fight them though she knows this is just a ploy for time, but the first wave of werewolves are suddenly taken out by the arrival of Tylty, Porschen, Bonkers, and all of the rest of the newly passed Hunters riding on Migael's magic. Debonair tells them that it's too dangerous and orders them to go back to Ironsides, but they refuse, saying they were all trained by her, and that they too are Hunters now and will fight to the end to save the world. Debonair calls them cheeky, but smiles, and they continue to fight off the werewolves. Back in the cell, the Red Hood is seemingly surprised by Velou's answer, but before they can talk any further, a hole is broken through the wall and Grimm, now in her adult body, steps through and chastises Velou for getting captured. A flashback shows Cinderella pushing Grimm's clock forward so she can transform again, though she warns her that the transformation will end at midnight and there's no telling what will happen to her when it runs out, she might even die. Grimm thanks her, disgusting Cinderella who says they're supposed to be enemies. Grimm leaves her with the promise that if they survive they'll be just that and fight again one day, and Cinderella accepts that promise. Back in the present, Cinderella curses herself, saying that she's the Ashen Witch, not the Good Witch. Grimm tells Velou to give her the book and she'll get them out of there, but the Red Hood tells them to use this instead, handing Velou a book that's now in the shape of a gun. Grimm questions what they're looking at, and the Red Hood explains that he wove together Velou's power with that of the Book to create a magical rifle. They explain that if Velou can fire the gun at Ludwig, the two conflicting powers should cancel each other out and stop the end of the world...in theory, at least. The Red Hood then takes off it's own red hood and gives it to Velou as well, saying that they don't need it anymore and that this time, it's Velou's turn to pull the trigger. Outside in the continuing fight against Ludwig and the werewolves he summoned, Porschen is horrified to discover her ropes are growing flowers. Cinderella says that the book must be eroding even further as the world's concepts are getting scrambled now, and Ludwig says that the world is finally at an end. Velou's voice rings out from behind him, saying that he won't let it end, and Ludwig glances over to see Velou pointing the Book rifle at him. Ludwig asks Velou if he can really shoot him, and says the world is already coming apart at the seams. Even if Velou does kill him, all that will be left is a world with no guiding scenario, and he asks Velou if he thinks anyone can truly be happy in a world like that. Velou thinks before answering him, saying that when all is said and done, that's just what it means to live. He says that everyone is the main character of their own story, and they'll each find their own individual endings one day, with no one able to say whether their story was good or bad until it's all over. There's no telling what the future will bring, and yet, everyone keeps struggling, fighting for happiness anyway. He then thinks back to the question the Red Hood had asked him, and his own answer – he doesn't want any ending, be it a happy or a sad one. He wants the world to keep going, as though a lot of people have messed with it, everyone still has the paths they've walked along so far, and though none of them can see what's at the end of those paths, they still keep walking down them. He tells the mayor that he's going to do the same, and as Velou fires the Book rifle at him, the mayor says that if that's the case, he feels much better. The magical energies of the Book and Velou's power envelope Ludwig, destroying him and the werewolves he summoned and causing the island to crash back down into the water. Watching from above, Cinderella notes that the Book is gone now, along with it's scenario, but that Velou, Grimm, and all the others are still alive. As Debonair happily celebrates with the other new Hunters, Velou says that as long as humans are around, werewolves will exist as well – while the overarching scenario is gone, that fact still remains, so this is where their hunt truly begins. Grimm says they have the vaccine so there's still hope, and Velou agrees. As he puts on the Red Hood's hood, he says that this time they'll save the world for real and make fairy tales into reality – their fight is only just beginning. Review: I think I've more than established by now just how much I love this manga and what it tried to do, and despite this messy, rushed ending? I think I love it all the more now. You can feel the author's resolve through each and every word choice in this chapter, and when you contrast it with the ending of the previous one, the message of this chapter – and the message of the entire series – could not be any clearer. Throughout all of the meta dialogue in this series, it became abundantly clear just how much the world was raining on Kawaguchi's parade. There was a very clear story he wanted to tell, one that he must have spent a long time coming up with and one that it seems like he was very pleased with himself, but no matter how much effort he put into this series, it just wasn't catching on with the readers in the way needed to survive in the high-stakes world of Shonen Jump. Keep in mind that this was all going down in the chaotic world we're all living in right now too – I can't imagine that telling a story from the heart in the middle of a pandemic only to see it go belly up not being a very hard thing to go through. The characters are likewise put in hard situations that they've never been through before. Grimm and Debonair are forced to work alongside the likes of Cinderella, the newly graduated Hunters are immediately forced onto the front lines of a final battle for the very world, and Velou is forced to grapple with the idea that his very existence might be what destroys the world everyone is living in. When faced with that hard fact and decision, he almost makes a terrible and final choice – in a dark moment that I almost can't believe the series was allowed to get away with even if it was the final chapter, Velou considers committing suicide if it means that the power inside of him will go away and leave the world free from it's influence. It's a moment that I didn't see coming, albeit one that's similar to something I did wonder if we were ultimately heading towards, in that it felt like there was the chance Velou was going to sacrifice himself to save the world. In my head, I wondered if Velou's sacrifice would lead to the power inside of him going inside of everyone, thus freeing them from the Book's influences and thus making them all masters of their own fate. Apparently I was close to the mark, but not all the way there, a fact that I can't help but be pleased by because where's the fun in 100% guessing right on something? It's at the point that the Red Hood stops Velou that the tone of the chapter starts to change. Ludwig, a man who seems worn down and depressed more than he does almighty, tells Debonair to just give up and to stop fighting and accept the inevitable. She refuses to do so, and it's at that moment that the rest of the characters show up to start help turning the tide again, all alongside Grimm returning to Velou's side, and Velou making his own choice about what he wants to do. Unfortunately, due to the rushed nature of this ending, there do end up being some elements here that feel a little out of place or unfulfilled. Cinderella's tsundere-like nature still feels out of place when she never got to develop into anything worthwhile to really sell the moments she's in; Grimm is just fine by the end of the chapter, and though the open ending leaves room that something does happen to her and we're just not privy to seeing it, the warnings about her own potential sacrifice go nowhere; and as cool as the author tries to make it, the Book turning into a rifle that will fire a shot composed of both it's own powers and Velou's feels kind of forced and out of nowhere. Of everything in this finale, this is the one part that I wonder if wasn't originally part of his idea at all and was only tacked on because it was needed to bring it to an end here and now. In the end, Velou and the mayor's dialogue feels more like a conversation between different parts of the author's mind as well, rather than fully feeling like dialogue being spoken between two characters with the history that these two do together. Unfortunately, Velou's reaction to the mayor has largely been another victim of this sudden ending – while he was initially shown as surprised and happy, any reactions beyond that as the mayor's true nature was revealed has been greatly overshadowed by the meta dialogue and the world's true nature being revealed to him instead. It's understandable as I'm sure Kawaguchi wanted to get out every drop of the overall narrative that he could onto the page, but it's still sad to see what should be a huge moment between these two characters just...not happen. The dialogue between them is fundamental to the series' overall however, as it really drives home it's message. As the positive side of the author's mind is represented by Velou, so is the negative side of it in the mayor, and in the vein of the story, he's asking himself the ultimate question – what's the point of life? Is there really any need to keep on going when things just aren't going great for you? Is there really any meaning to a world filled with sadness and strife where a happy ending isn't guaranteed? These are all questions that I, and I know plenty of others, struggle with daily, represented on a smaller and yet also grander scale in this series' climax. When the dust is cleared, Velou's choice is what wins the day, and just as he wanted, the ending he gets isn't really an ending at all. It's not a happy one, it's not a sad one, it's...bittersweet, really. There's all kinds of questions left unanswered for the characters personally and for their world at large, especially given that the Book itself seems to be completely gone now. Even without it however, there are still werewolves out there to contend with, but they still have the vaccine that could potentially cure them and save humanity. At the same time, Cinderella has seen what they're all capable of, and will surely prove to be a big threat to them in the future as well. Not one character at the end knows what's ahead for them...and as Velou reasoned, that's as it should be, that's life. I'm sad that I won't get to write 'Until next time!' at the end of this review. In the short time we had it, this series has grown to mean a lot to me, warts and all. At the start of it's run, I was certain we were on the precipice of another long-running Shonen Jump success story. But just like the author has tried to do in the end, I'm going to try to look to the future. This might not be the last time we hear from them, whether that's in Jump or any other imprint. There could still be more stories to tell. Those stories might not be as good as this one, but they could be even better. They might not be a success either, but they could be the next big thing. Just as the characters have discovered, all we can do in life is just keep on going and see where the road takes us, and cross our fingers that the journey will mean the story was ultimately good in some form or fashion when we're done. And that's exactly what Yuki Kawaguchi's The Hunters Guild: Red Hood and life both have in common, is that there's only one thing that can really keep us moving even when everything seem stacked against us: Hope. Favorite Panel: Synopsis: The announcer declares a start to the match, and Yamcha tells Tenshinhan this is his last chance if he wants to just give up, prompting Tenshinhan to tell him to enjoy being able to talk while he can. Kuririn thinks this match will be an easy win for Yamcha, but Goku is still pretty sure that Tenshinhan is pretty good. From the crowd, Bulma asks if they think Yamcha's going to win, and Puar says there's no way he could lose to someone like that.
Yamcha strikes first and leaps into a flying kick at Tenshinhan which the latter blocks, leading to a furious exchange of blows between the two. Tenshinhan manages to kick Yamcha backwards, but Yamcha recovers. Tenshinhan chases after him, but Yamcha dodges into the air, only to be pursued further by the three-eyed fighter. The pair continue to exchange blows high in the sky until Yamcha finally manages to knock Tenshinhan away, sending him careening back down to the ring where he lands on his feet, followed by Yamcha who does the same. The crowd watches in disbelief at what they've just seen, as does Kuririn and Goku, with Goku praising both of them as really good. Yamcha thinks to himself that Tenshinhan is far better than he would have guessed, and Tenshinhan too is surprised to find that Yamcha isn't just full of hot air, thinking it's been some time since he's run into someone who's been able to put up as much of a fight against him as this. Yamcha prepares to attack again, announcing a new version of the Rogafufuken, and the two fighters leap towards each other once more, again entering a furious exchange of attacks. The exchange continues until ultimately, Tenshinhan is able to knock Yamcha back by delivering a savage punch to his gut, winding Yamcha who lands on his back. As Yamcha gets back onto his feet, Kuririn is worried that he's being pushed back and Goku says Tenshinhan may just be too good for him, much to a watching Tsuru-sennin's delight. Yamcha decides it's time to pull out the trick up his sleeve, positioning his hands into a very familiar looking gesture that Goku instantly recognizes as the Kamehameha. Both a watching Roshi and Kuririn wonder just when Yamcha was able to learn it, and Tsuru-sennin is likewise amazed to see the technique about to be used. As Yamcha fires the beam aimed right at Tenshinhan, Tenshinhan moves quickly and gestures with his hands, putting them up in a finger-gun like position in front of his face while bracing himself for the coming impact. Review: While this chapter was fairly short in content, through it's fighting – and it is REALLY good fighting by the way – it manages to set the stage perfectly for what we can expect moving forward now, at least as far as the combat goes. The fighting is intense from the very beginning, and the closest thing to it we've seen prior to this would be Goku fighting Grandpa Gohan back at Baba's palace. In this case however, Goku's not involved in the fight at all – Yamcha is. If, and I mean no offense to the character, but if even YAMCHA is showing off skills of this level at the start of this tournament? Then you just know that everyone else is going to be even more amazing, and that's just really exciting to behold. In addition to setting the stage and showing how much Yamcha has improved, the fight also goes a long way towards showing us how good Tenshinhan is as well. We got a quick look at him during the preliminaries, but it's here that we really get to see that he's more than just an arrogant guy, he really does have the skills to back it up as he too is fighting at a level we've previously only seen out of Goku when it left everyone watching in awe. This tournament is going to be completely different from the previous one in terms of skill levels, and that too goes a long way towards making readers feel hyped for something they've already been through once before. The only other big surprise in this chapter worth mentioning is that Yamcha has also managed to learn the Kamehameha, something that surprises both Kuririn and Roshi, which must mean he learned it on his own and never showed it to either of them during his time training for the past three years. This also makes Yamcha the fourth character in the series overall to use it, and the second student of Roshi's (well, third, but Gohan's training was over before the series even began) to show it off as well. Man, all this improvement in skill and power, a brand new version of the Rogafufuken (that looks suspiciously no different really), Yamcha's really getting an upgrade in a lot of ways. ...Yeah...um, about...that... Until next time! Favorite Panel: Synopsis: As the contestants wait around to draw lots for the tournament, Kuririn hopes that they don't end up all facing each other right at the start. Tenshinhan walks over and acts surprised that they all made it through, suggesting that the quality of the tournament must be dropping for them to pull that off. Yamcha retorts that Tenshinhan and Chaozu must have had a lot of luck on their side to qualify with their own skills, causing Tenshinhan to laugh and say he looks forward to settling this in the ring.
Kuririn likewise gets into it with Chaozu, telling him he's surprised even he got through, prompting Chaozu to call Kuririn an octopus. Kuririn says Chaozu is just as bald as him and thus just as much of an octopus, but Chaozu denies this and takes off his hat to show a solitary hair growing out of the top of his head. Kuririn angrily says he'd rather be bald than just have one hair, but Chaozu says he's just jealous and sticks his tongue out at him. Tenshinhan is embarrassed by this exchange and tells Chaozu not to get engaged in such petty quarrels. The announcer from the previous tournament arrives at last and is glad to see everyone has gathered, though when Goku calls out to him he asks Goku to please not destroy the buildings this time. The announcer explains that they'll be drawing lots to determine their spot in the tournament and asks them to come forward when their name is drawn, and he starts by calling Jackie Chun's name. Tenshinhan recognizes the old man as the previous year's champion, and asks Chaozu to match him up ith someone else so they can see how he fights. Tenshinhan then spots a werewolf looking man growling angrily in Chun's direction and asks him if he has a grudge against him, only for the wolf to tell him to stay out of his business. Tenshinhan thinks this is all very interesting, and tells Chaozu to set the wolf up against Chun. After Chun draws #4, Yamcha's name is called next and Tenshinhan says he wants to take him down personally, so Chaozu makes a gesture with his finger, seemingly causing Yamcha to draw #1. A man named Panput is called next, and Chaozu again gestures with his finger just before Panput draws #7. Tenshinhan is called next, and Chaozu causes him to draw #2, pitting him against Yamcha. Yamcha tells Tenshinhan he feels sorry for him to have to lose so early, and Tenshinhan says he'll be returning that comment right back in Yamcha's face during their fight. Kuririn is up next, and Chaozu causes him to draw #6. The announcer next calls for Wolf-Man, but the werewolf angrily corrects him that his name is Man-Wolf, explaining that he's a wolf that turns into a man during the full moon rather than the opposite. Man-Wolf continues to growl angrily at Chun, and Chaozu causes him to draw #2, putting him up against the old man, making him very happy and the rest confused as to why he'd want to fight the previous tournament's winner first. Chaozu then draws himself, getting #5. With only the last spot open, the announcer says Goku must be #8, but Goku can't believe he'd be able to guess something like that. He walks up and draws his number just to make sure and is amazed to see that the announcer was right, asking him if he's psychic or something. Kuririn and Yamcha blush while Tenshinhan laughs and says that Roshi must teach his students jokes as well, but it soon turns back around on Tenshinhan when Chaozu asks if something funny was said and Tenshinhan abashedly asks him to be quiet. With that, the tournament's matches are decided – Match 1, Yamcha V.S. Tenshinhan; Match 2, Man-Wolf V.S. Jackie Chun; Match 3, Chaozu V.S. Kuririn; and Match 4, Panput V.S. Son Goku! The announcer explains the rules once more and asks everyone to approach the arena, asking Goku if he wants to eat first like last time, something Goku eagerly agrees to. Tenshinhan chides the Turtle School once more, but then tells Chaozu he did very well in his match-setting. Kuririn is ecstatic that none of them will have to face each other in the first round, and Chun says that sometimes amazing coincidences really do happen. Outside, the crowd cheers as the tournament is just about to start, but Bulma and the others notice that Roshi has disappeared once again. Puar says that it's a shame after Lunch got them such great seats, but Lunch (now reverted back to her blue-haired form) asks how she did that. The announcer steps into the ring and declares a start to the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai, and announces the first match, Yamcha V.S. Tenshinhan. The two fighters scowl at each other and continue to bicker as they step out into the ring, and the announcer explains to the crowd that three of their eight finalists this year are from the Turtle School lead by Kame-sennin while two of them are from his rival Tsuru-sennin's school, the Crane School. He says that this first match is one of those inter-school battles as well, and while the crowd is hyped up by this, Roshi (disguised as Jackie Chun) and Tsuru-sennin both grouse about being compared to each other. As the match is about to start, Yamcha tells Tenshinhan he'll be begging for mercy in no time, and Tenshinhan says he's looking forward to Yamcha trying to make him do that. Review: With the preliminaries out of the way, this chapter serves as one last set-up before the tournament itself really kicks into gear, and while that might seem a bit gratuitous, it actually serves it's purpose pretty while by the end. We get even more good character building with the newly introduced Crane students, especially in terms of developing their rivalry with the Turtle students. Ironically, Goku's kind of the one left out of this initially, as it's all about Tenshinhan annoying Yamcha and Chaozu likewise doing the same to Kuririn, much to Tenshinhan's embarrassment as Chaozu's methods are far more infantile. They're pretty much discounting Goku entirely, possibly even thinking of him as the newest student of the school and probably the weakest when the opposite is true, which is pretty funny given where things are ultimately heading. Also, I'll save much of my commentary on him until after his match, but Chaozu is such a great little shit here. Enjoy it while it lasts. Speaking of Chaozu, we're also introduced to an interesting but rather vague (at the moment) ability of his, as he shows off that he's able to rig the matches to any order that he wants. While nothing is hinted yet as to how or why he's able to do this, I can't help but wonder if a clue was intentionally hidden in Goku's dialogue to the announcer. Even if it wasn't however, we do get some bread crumbs teasing another aspect of Chaozu, one that he seemingly has in common with Goku. Beyond all of that, Chaozu finally getting to speak up starts to give some hints about his relationship with Tenshinhan, as the smack-talking fighter behaves very differently with Chaozu than he does with anyone else at this point. But there's more to this tournament than just the Turtle and Crane students, right? ...Well, there's two other fighters that aren't part of that conflict, and while Panput doesn't really get anything in this chapter, there is some pretty interesting stuff with Man-Wolf. Right off the bat, I can't help but think that the idea of the character being a reverse-werewolf is one Toriyama initially had for Baba's fighters and ultimately decided to hold off on when he decided to incorporate Devilman as a devil instead to balance out Grandpa Gohan as an angel. It's certainly the stupid kind of gimmick that I could see having fit right at home with the others. He also seems to have one heck of a grudge against Jackie Chun, something that's very curious if you stop and think about it. Jackie Chun doesn't actually exist, he's just Kame-sennin in disguise, but none of our characters know that. There's nothing to suggest Man-Wolf does either, so for him to have a grudge against Jackie Chun, it'd have to be something involving the one other time Chun 'existed', the day of the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai. Hmm... Well, I'm sure before the end of their match, we'll figure out what 'bone' it is he has to pick with Chun, right? ...Bone? Get it? Cuz he's...a wolf...which is like a dog, and...and dogs...like bones... ...Ahem. My bad joke aside, it's nice to see Toriyama continuing to utilize Lunch a little better at long last, as now he actually gets a halfway decent joke out of her having reverted back to her blue-haired form. It's about time the character didn't make me groan. And with all of that taken care of, it's time for the tournament to start up at last, and Yamcha is going to have to put his money where his mouth is. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Synopsis: King Chappa offers for Goku to attack first however he'd like, while Jackie Chun says that he thinks even Goku might find himself in over his head against this opponent, though he's interested to see just how much the boy has improved in three years. Goku takes Chappa up on his offer, and leaps forward so quickly that Chappa is unable to block the punch that connects right with his face. Chappa is knocked backwards and the crowd is shocked, but Chappa laughs and says that Goku isn't just some kid from the streets after all. Goku laughs in response, which angers Chappa, causing Yamcha to worry and Chun to think they're about to see Chappa's special attack, the Hasshu-ken or 'Blow of 8 Fists'. Chappa asks Goku not to hold this against him and says that defeat is also part of a person's training, and launches the Hasshu-ken, moving so fast that it appears he has eight arms, all trying to punch Goku at once. Goku however manages to block every single attack by moving even faster, a feat that catches all watching by surprise. Goku catches them all by surprise even more when he sweeps Chappa's legs out from under him, telling the man that they were wide open. Now truly enraged, Chappa leaps back onto his feet prepared to strike Goku once more, but to his surprise Goku disappears while dodging the blow. Goku reappears in the air above them, and Chun thinks that Goku has made a blunder. Chappa laughs and says Goku's childlike nature has betrayed him, as dodging into the air leaves him open to attack and unable to dodge like before. As Goku rebounds off of the ceiling and heads back down towards Chappa, Chappa swings a fist towards the boy, but Goku manages to dodge after all by expelling his breath forcefully enough to leave him suspended in the air briefly, allowing him to kick Chappa in the face hard enough to knock him out of the ring, winning the match. With Goku declared the winner, his friends are completely astonished, Chun especially surprised that he was able to use his breath like that. Kuririn warns Goku not to go all out too quickly or he'll be too tired for the actual tournament, but Goku assures him that he hasn't even come close to going all out, because if he had, Chappa would have died. Goku says he can't wait to get to the real tough guys like all of them, and they laugh nervously while Roshi thinks to himself that this could be bad for him. The preliminaries continue, and Chun manages to win his preliminary round as well, with Goku thrilled to see that the old man is still as tough as ever. Yamcha thinks this is going to shape up to be an even more exciting tournament than he'd thought. As the matches continue, Goku, Kuririn, and Yamcha all manage to qualify for the tournament alongside Jackie Chun, and the trio run off afterwards to tell everyone the good news. Bulma congratulates them all for winning, but Kuririn notices that Roshi doesn't seem to be with them. Bulma says he probably disappeared into the crowd to do lewd things, which Roshi scoffs at when he reappears claiming to have snuck off to watch the matches. He congratulates his students on a job well done and says any one of them could win the tournament this time. An announcer calls the contestants to return to the main tournament hall, and Kuririn wonders if their friends will even be able to see the fights from this spot in the crowd. Oolong says that's what Lunch is for, and the blonde smirks and starts clearing the way by shooting her gun into the air. Review: Poor King Chappa. All things told, he certainly seems to be a truly accomplished martial artist. Both Yamcha and even Roshi seem to truly believe he's an impressive fighter, to the point that they don't know how well Goku is going to be able to handle him, and I once again must stress that these are both characters that are also well aware of Goku's capability. They both know he cleaned the Red Ribbon Army out three years ago and that he's been training to get even stronger than that since then, and yet they still think Chappa might be too much for him. As we quickly see however, the complete opposite turns out to be true. King Chappa can't so much as lay a finger on Goku. That power gap that was already set in place after Goku trained at Karin's has only gotten even wider now, and normal fighters who were previously considered at least pretty skilled are no longer going to factor in as challenges for Goku. ...Okay, for the most part they never did in the first place, but there's still a clear line that's been crossed here, and Goku is firmly on the other side of I while just about everyone else in the series is still watching from behind it. The most impressive thing by far is Goku's trick with exhaling his breath forcefully enough to stop his own fall. I'm not an expert on these things, but there is a traditional martial arts term called a 'kiai' that's basically the short shout you often hear a fighter yell out when letting loose an attack – think Bruce Lee's vocalizations whenever he would fight. In Dragon Ball specifically, we later see a good few instances of this happen but much more forcefully, almost as an attack. Whether or not this same tactic used by Goku would also qualify as a kiai in the strictest sense isn't a call I'm qualified to make, but by the fantasy logic that Dragon Ball's martial arts works under? I'd say they're pretty similar if nothing else, and either way, it's definitely one hell of an impressive feat. After that, the rest of the chapter is basically back into the swing of things in that it's just there to get us to the rest of the tournament proper. Roshi's concern that even he might not be able to just barely beat Goku this time around is well placed, but the big surprise of the last few pages for me is that there's actually a funny use of Lunch again. Utilizing the blonde form as her default form at the moment rather than the blue-haired one, and having her gag be that she's overly violent but the gang is used to her so they'll just use that to their advantage, is both hilarious and a great showing of how they're not exactly heroes in the way a lot of people tend to think of them as. It took over 100 chapters, but I think Toriyama has finally figured out how to make Lunch work, hurray! I'm sure she has a long and illustrious future ahead of her as a primary character in the series. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Synopsis: All of the contestants draw lots to see where they're going to be in the preliminaries, and Goku, Kuririn, Yamcha, and Jacke Chun are all relieved to discover that they're spread out so that they won't have to fight each other until the actual tournament. As everyone is separated into their areas, an announcer explains the rules of the tournament – everyone fights on-on-one, and if you're knocked out or call for mercy, you lose; no weapons are allowed; and there is no time limit, so everyone is to fight until a winner is determined.
The first fighter to be called into the ring is Yamcha, who quickly takes out his opponent with one blow. Goku promptly compliments Yamcha for how much he must've been training, while Kuririn is called up for his match. Kuririn ends up against a veritable giant of a man who, despite Kuririn's pleasant greeting, mocks the boy. Kuririn promptly gets his revenge by throwing the man out of the ring and into the opposite wall, earning him both a victory and Goku's admiration as well. Seeing their celebration, Tenshinhan walks over and calls them foolish for being happy about such easy victories. Goku asks who Tenshinhan is and Kuririn explains about Tsuru-sennin and his students. Tenshinhan tells them they're all lucky they don't have to face him in the preliminaries, but warns them that luck will eventually run out – that is, supposing they even make it into the tournament at all with such weak skills. Yamcha tells him to get lost before he lays him out, and Tenshinhan praises his attitude but says it's a shame he doesn't have the skills to match it. Tenshinhan is called into the ring next, and he mockingly wishes them all good luck and asks them to try not to get so scared that they pee their pants. Kuririn thinks Tenshinhan is a shoe-in for the biggest jerk he's ever met, and thinks it'll be funny if he loses this match after all his big talk, but Goku says he thinks Tenshinhan is a pretty good fighter. Tenshinhan quickly lives up to Goku's summation of him by taking out his sumo opponent with moves so quick that none of the other contestants can see him move, but Goku and friends can tell he used four arm chops and two kicks. Goku praises Tenshinhan's skills as well, but Kuririn doesn't think he did anything THAT special. Overhearing this, Tenshinhan thinks to himself that only fools show everything they can do right at the start. Goku is called into the ring next, and Yamcha wonders if he'll be able to give them a good show right away. He overhears people talking about Goku's opponent as he gets into the ring, and Yamcha is surprised to learn that it's King Chappa, making him wonder if Goku might actually be in trouble. Kuririn asks who King Chappa is, and Yamcha explains that he's a martial-artist said to be among the very best, and the rumors even say that the last time he fought in this tournament, he won without being hit by any opponents even once. Yamcha thinks there might be a chance Goku could just squeak by considering his own skills, but... As the announcer declares a start to the match, King Chappa promises Goku that he won't kill him, and Goku thanks him for that. Review: This chapter might seem familiar at first glance, and there's good reason for that – functionally speaking, it performs the exact same tasks that the preliminary focused chapters for the 21st Budokai did. There could be something to say for that potentially being repetitive, but in this case, I think it's fine for the most part honestly. The chapters it's most similar to are chapters 33 and 34, and here we are all the way in chapter 114. That's more than enough time spread out to keep it feeling too much like we're treading the same water once more, and if we're going to dig that deeply into it being a repeat, the tournament itself could be accused of being that as a whole, so... And really, the chapter gives us exactly what we need out of the preliminaries anyway by teasing us ever so slightly with how strong the characters are...for the most part. Kuririn and Yamcha get to show off a little bit, but really there's not much to their fights to really hint that they're any stronger than they already were before, as both of their fights are over really quickly and against people that we can easily imagine them taking out at any point in the series. If it wasn't for Goku's running commentary about how much they've improved, there'd really be nothing to suggest they'd achieved much at all. That said however, Goku's words do carry weight because of just how strong he himself no doubt is by this point, and as if that weren't enough, his words are quickly proven to be correct about Tenshinhan as well, someone that he doesn't know at all (anime filler be damned). The main new factor of this chapter is Tenshinhan himself actually. Again, ignoring the anime filler episode that introduced him early, this is our first time really seeing what he's like. His first appearance in the previous chapter was short and the only word we got out of him there was a snort, and here we get quite a bit of dialogue out of him, dialogue that shows his demeanor off quite well, and MAN what an asshole. It's easy to see him as someone that trained under Tsuru-sennin given how much of an asshole that character has already shown himself to be, and it's also hilariously disarming when you think about how the character is later on. Particularly when you compare his attitude here against a certain other character that Tenshinhan can't stand...hmm... Tenshinhan's fight is likewise fairly unimpressive considering how quickly he takes his opponent out, but given that he's a new character we've never seen before, it does help us see that he's not all mouth and actually has some skill to back up his big words, so it's more needed in his case compared to Kuririn and Yamcha. It also sets up the idea that there's far more to his skills than we're seeing now, setting him up already as potentially the biggest new threat to any of them in this tournament. The last thing set up in this chapter is Goku's match, though we don't get to see it just yet. Yamcha is once again put into the role of 'guy who knows about martial artists', so he's able to build up Goku's opponent as someone that's supposed to be pretty skilled, to the point that he's not sure Goku can win this or at least won't win it easily. Keep in mind that Yamcha is also aware that Goku took down the entire Red Ribbon Army, and has also spent the last three years training to get even stronger than he was at that point in time – the fact that he thinks King Chappa is potentially still someone Goku might have trouble against speaks volumes about just how strong Chappa seemingly is. Also, shout out to the Dragon Quest monsters that managed to show up for the Budokai. I dunno how far Alefgard is from Papaya Island, but that plane ticket can't be cheap. 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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