Synopsis: As they begin their training, Piccolo thinks that Gohan at least looks more capable than when he last left him, and challenges the boy to come at him as best as he can. Gohan leaps in to attack Piccolo, but Piccolo is easily able to dodge all of his attacks and knock him away. He has Gohan repeat the effort but it ends the same way, and Piccolo tells Gohan not to watch for his movements but to feel them. Gohan thinks that's easier said than done, and Piccolo hits him with eye beams, telling him that if he has time to whine then he has time to fight, further saying that every moment Gohan isn't eating or sleeping now, he'll be fighting Piccolo. Gohan thinks he'll die at that rate, but Piccolo tells him to get stronger than – stronger than him, stronger than his father, and stronger than the Saiyans. In the afterlife, Goku continues to run the Serpent Road which still doesn't have an end in sight. Up on Kami's sanctuary, Kuririn, Yamcha, Tenshinhan, Chaozu, and Yajirobe all continue their training as well, though Yajirobe slacks off a lot in comparison to the others. Kami and Popo approach the group, and Kuririn asks them how long it'll be before the pair trains them personally. Yamcha likewise says it's been two months since they arrived and they still haven't received any of the training Goku did, and when Kuririn requests that they receive the same regiment, Kami insists that he taught Goku nothing. The group wants to know exactly what Goku did while he was up here however so they can get stronger, and Popo insists that to do that, they must know themselves and know their enemies – everything after that should come naturally. The group doesn't understand and continue to press Popo, who eventually takes them to the time room where Goku trained once before. Popo explains the room to the group as well as explaining that Goku trained here once before too, but Yajirobe bows out, deciding to eat instead. Kuririn, Yamcha, Tenshinhan, and Chaozu all focus as instructed, and soon find themselves in a delapidated city that they don't recognize – in fact, it doesn't even appear to be Earth that they can tell. A skeleton soon falls to the ground near them, and they recognize from it's tail and armor that it's a dead Saiyan. The group explores the area, seeing the remains of many other Saiyans, with Kuririn surmising that some kind of battle happened here. Tenshinhan and Yamcha are eager to test out their powers on any survivors, and unbeknownst to them, a pair of Saiyan survivors are already watching them. One Saiyan scans the group with his scouter, determining that the four of them together only add up to a power level of 1,507. The two Saiyans think they can waste some time with the group, and disappear. The group continues to wander around, not finding anything or anyone to talk to. Kuririn says that if this really is the Saiyan's planet than they shouldn't take them lightly. Chaozu wanders over to look at something in a window, and is taken by surprise when one of the Saiyans grabs him by the head. Tenshinhan immediately tries to help, but the second Saiyan attacks him before he can move. The Saiyan holding him easily kills Chaozu before their eyes, tossing his body aside like a ragdoll. Enraged, Tenshinhan rushes the pair of Saiyans, but quickly finds himself unable to do anything to them either. Tenshinhan gets grabbed by one of the pair as well, and Yamcha throws his Sokidan in an attempt to save him. Tenshinhan is able to use the distraction to get away, but the blast doesn't do a thing to the Saiyans, much to Yamcha's horror. Starting to realize what they're up against, Tenshinhan, Yamcha, and Kuririn all fire a Kikoho, Sokidan, and Kamehameha at the pair of Saiyans, hoping to take them down. A large break in the ground appears as the dust clears, and the group wonders if they really managed to take the Saiyans down in the end. Suddenly however, they hear the voices of the Saiyans laughing from somewhere, before one of them leaps from the hole before disappearing before their eyes. Distracted by the first Saiyan, the second one reaches up and drags Kuririn through the ground, and Yamcha and Tenshinhan are forced to listen as Kuririn is beaten before seeing him get killed before their eyes by a reappearing Saiyan. The two Saiyans challenge Yamcha and Tenshinhan to keep fighting as they're curious to see who the third to die will be, and the pair put everything they have into a final, large Sokidan, and a Shishin no Ken/Kikoho combo technique respectively. The attacks cause much of the building they're in to crumble and trap the Saiyans, before hitting them both full force. Yamcha and Tenshinhan, drained of all energy, are once again certain that they've finished off these Saiyans and avenged their friends, but now realize what truly horrific powers the Saiyans wield. Before they can escape however, the two Saiyans appear once more, proving to still be alive after all, and finish them both off with quick energy blasts. The group all awaken back in the time room with Kami, Popo, and Yajirobe watching on. Kuririn is happy that they're all still alive, and Yajirobe says they've all just been standing there in a circle this whole time anyway. Popo explains that their bodies remained here but their minds went on a journey so that they could learn what Kami was trying to impart to them. Yajirobe asks how fighting the Saiyans went, and the group admit that they've severely overestimated their own powers while underestimating the Saiyans. Kami further explains that the Saiyans they just fought were nowhere near as strong as the ones on their way here now, and asks if they feel like running now. The group is scared naturally, but they all agree to keep training and get strong enough to fight even the Saiyans on their way now. Down on Earth, Gohan and Piccolo's own training continues, with Gohan slowly learning how to perceive Piccolo's movements and dodge them. Up on the Serpent Road, Goku continues running, while out in space, the two Saiyans even stronger than any that our heroes have yet encountered, continue their way towards the Earth. Review: After multiple episodes focusing on what Goku and Gohan are doing, it's finally time for the anime filler machine to shine a spotlight on the other characters again...and in true Dragon Ball Z fashion, it uh, it doesn't go so well for them comparatively. See, the whole idea of these filler episodes are to help flesh out what happens to the characters between when we last saw them in action and when we'll be seeing them in action again. We know Goku's going to have to get a lot stronger, because he's the lead character who we fully expect to come back in and save the day – he can't do that if he doesn't improve. We know we're going to have to see Gohan come into his own – he can't do that if he doesn't go through a LOT of growth compared to how he was when we first met him. Piccolo is likewise going through a growing period, designed to change him from an opposing force into one that as at least allied with our heroes. For the rest of those heroes though, there are no lofty expectations for what they're going to be doing. And for fans who are already familiar with the series, that know where they're going next, there's not really much in the way to build them up to either. So all that's left to them is to grow stronger. It's likely one of the reasons their training is covered the least in the manga as well, along with the fact that their training is training we already partially saw prior with Goku. It's all a bit of a shame really too, because these are characters we've had the longest. Every single one of these characters, even freakin' Chaozu, we've had around for a good bit longer than we've had Piccolo and especially longer than we've had Gohan, but the story is already doing everything in it's power to sideline them. As much as I love Dragon Ball, this is definitely one of it's weakest aspects, and it's something that I feel like the next generation of manga artists, like Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto) and Eiichiro Oda (One Piece) definitely learned from to varying degrees, as they all endeavor to do at least a little better with their supporting casts. My issues with where this is leaving and leading the remaining Earthling heroes aside however, this episode still manages to be an entertaining enough ride just on it's own. There's a great horror aesthetic to the proceedings that we don't get a lot in the franchise, with only really one notable exception in the future I can think of that outdoes even this one (and it's canon to boot). The lesson our heroes learn here is an important one as well – they seem to be banking on their training making them strong enough to handle the Saiyans, especially with the likes of Goku, Gohan, and even Piccolo joining them as well. As a result, they're both thinking too much of themselves (or at least what they can become) while also thinking too little of the Saiyans. This is an understandable enough mistake for them to make, as out of the four of them, only Kuririn has seen a Saiyan in action. Even then, all he saw was the bare minimum – he got smacked aside by Raditz, saw Goku go through the same, and then only saw the aftermath of Goku and Piccolo's fight with the Saiyan. None of them truly have any idea what they're actually in for beyond the vague notion of 'the enemy is strong'. They needed to learn just HOW strong these Saiyans are going to be and just HOW outclassed they are at the moment if they're ever going to take their training seriously enough to have even the slightest hope of improving enough. This is sadly basically the lot that the supporting cast has been thrown to now however, in that they're always going to be one step behind what Goku and other characters are offered in terms of improvement. Goku trained at Karin's during the Red Ribbon arc; the other heroes don't do so until after King Piccolo. Likewise, Goku trained at Kami's after King Piccolo; our heroes are only now doing so in preparation for the Saiyans. This one step behind nature of their improvement was always going to leave them lagging behind even more than anything else unfortunately, and it's going to end up showing in their overall performance as well. Again, this is something that I feel like later authors who grew up on Dragon Ball improved with – they learned to take characters down different but equivalent paths for improvement rather than leaving them to go down the same path as the main hero just at a later date. All of that said however, if someone was coming to this episode completely blind without any of the knowledge of where it's all going, I think they'd enjoy it far more than an older, somewhat jaded on the state of things fan would, as it really does make it's point brutally clear to our heroes – it's time to put all their efforts in. Until next time! Favorite Scene: Everything with the past Saiyans is like something from a horror movie, but I especially like when one grabs Kuririn from underground and drags him down. Next Time: Everyone's a comedian, even the Gods.
0 Comments
Synopsis: After being caught up in the storm on the ocean, Gohan washes up on a different beach, where he's found by a young boy and girl who think he might be dead. The boy starts to look for anything worth money that Gohan might have, eventually finding his sword just as Gohan wakes up briefly before fainting. The kids take Gohan back to their 'home', introducing themselves as Rom and Chiko. Gohan asks them where they are, looking around the dilapidated house, and Rom says that Gohan is welcome to stay with them as long as he likes, with Chiko explaining that without any parents around, it's up to all of the kids to take care of themselves. On a nearby road, a van full of adults drives towards the cottage, as Rom explains that two years prior, a gigantic tsunami ravaged this area, swallowing up the city. As a result, the abandoned city is full of kids who don't have homes or families anymore. Gohan tries to explain that he does have a family, but a whistle alerts Rom and Chiko to the arrival of the van, and they grab Gohan and run. The adults get out and start to enter another building that the three kids have run into, with Rom using a rope swing to escape with Chiko from the roof to a nearby tree stand. When he turns around, Gohan is almost captured by two adults, but Gohan escapes and leaps over to the tree stand by his own power, surprising the siblings as well as the adults. Rom explains to Gohan that these adults come by at least once a day trying to capture them, to put them in 'jail'. Gohan wonders if it's really as bad as all that, but the conversation is interrupted by a slightly older girl almost being captured by the adults before being rescued by a newly arrived teenager named Piegoro. Piegoro tells the adults to leave, and when three of the adult men try to rush him, Piegoro easily takes them down with his attacks. As Piegoro and the girl escape, all of the children start throwing rocks at a woman that came with the men, though she pleads with them to stop and to come with her, where they'll get new clothes, a clean room, and a hot meal. Chiko thinks that sounds good, but Rom tells her it's a trick, and Piegoro tells the adults that they don't need their help and are just fine on their own. All the children shout in agreement, and the adults are left with no choice but to leave. Rom introduces Gohan to Piegoro, and Gohan quickly seems to get along with all of the orphans, happily playing with them and getting to know them. A short time later, Gohan is taken to a nearby town and asked to cry as a distraction while the children steal lots of food from a nearby vendor. The ruse is quickly figured out, and Gohan flees along with the orphans, back to their cottage. The kids talk about how they're growing up just fine without parents, although Gohan can't help but think about and miss his. That night, Gohan steps out with the intention to leave, while Piegoro keeps watch from a tree and is plagued by memories of the tsunami. Gohan explains to Piegoro that he's not actually an orphan and was on his way back home when he ran into Rom and Chiko, and his explanation is overheard by the orphans who wake up. Gohan apologizes, but the kids aren't mad – in fact, they want to hear about Gohan's home. Piegoro knows where Mt. Paozu is and promises to show Gohan the way to get there in the morning, and hearing about Gohan's home life makes all of the kids talk about the things they miss and don't miss, like school. Piegoro says that if they go to the institution that they can go to school if they'd like, but none of them like the sound of that. In the end, all of the kids agree to go with Piegoro to take Gohan home. The next morning, everyone is keeping watch for the adults arrival, but they seem to be running late. They finally see the van coming however and prepare for another fight, with the kids immediately pelting the men with rocks. Piegoro hijacks the van, intending to use it to escape with all of the kids, but they're quickly surrounded by multiple cop cars. The kids try to fight off the adults, but eventually they're all captured save for Gohan and Piegoro. Looking back at the kids, Piegoro begins to wonder if living on the run isn't right for them after all, and grabs Gohan's hand, escaping with only him by stealing one of the adult's cars. Gohan wants to know why Piegoro abandoned everyone, and Piegoro angrily and sadly explains that he finally realized he wasn't actually helping them by turning them all into delinquents like himself – they all had dreams and things they wanted to do. He also recognizes that Gohan is incredibly strong, and tells Gohan to take care of his mother, before driving off into the distance. Now a short distance from his home, Gohan quickly rushes towards Mt. Paozu, eventually coming within a short distance of his house. As Gohan thinks about what he has that those other kids don't however, he finds that he can't just return home like this. Running away from the house, Gohan is eventually spotted by Piccolo from the air. Piccolo asks Gohan what his mission is, and Gohan says he has to get stronger and help save the Earth. With that, Piccolo takes Gohan back to begin his training properly at last. Review: After a handful of episodes focusing on Goku's adventures in the afterlife, the anime staff apparently decided it was time to get back to Gohan again, which resulted in the last episode that unfortunately only seemed to exist to eat up time and get things in motion for this episode. Now that we've actually gotten here though, was that setup worth it? The answer is actually an emphatic yes. Don't get me wrong, the previous episode was still a big waste of time overall, and they could have done something much more interesting for it's runtime and ended with a shorter variation of events to get Gohan where he was – I mean, he ends up stranded on a beach only to end up stranded on a DIFFERENT beach at the start of this episode, c'mon – but this episode is enjoyable enough that I'm glad we have it at least. Basically, each of the Gohan episodes has endeavored to teach the sheltered young boy a lesson. His encounter with the robot taught him that he was going to have to toughen up if he wanted to survive, and he did so. His brief time with the dinosaur taught him that even being strong isn't always enough and that sometimes bad things happen, so you have to toughen your heart at least a little bit to be able to withstand them, and he seemingly did just that – we certainly haven't seen him crying every five seconds in a long, long time now. And this latest adventure with the orphans came with a lesson as well. Before I touch on that lesson though, let's look at the kids and their story itself. There's not a whole lot given on the situation, but enough is done to make their characters understandable. After their town was ransacked by a tsunami, it caused all of those children to end up orphaned, seemingly including the eldest of them, Piegoro. Piegoro is rough around the edges, and chafes under the watchful eye of adults, and takes it upon himself to 'rescue' all of the other orphaned children, taking care of them himself as best he can rather than letting the adults take care of them. He does so because he thinks it's what's best for them, because it's certainly what was best for him. Gohan's arrival eventually causes uncertainty about that notion however, as Piegoro can see the kids talking about what it was like back when they had families and went to school. In one kid's case, they didn't even GO to school, because the tsunami hit before they were of age. It's not delved into too deeply, and honestly his change of heart is a little bit rushed, but it seems clear that Piegoro himself quickly learned a lesson here as well – what's best for him isn't necessarily what's best for everyone. And so, he ends up abandoning the kids to be taken into foster care, where they'll be raised to become proper adults instead of delinquents like himself. It's more than a bit harsh, and again, the episode definitely could've benefited from some more time spent with Piegoro and his changing thought process first, but ultimately what they're trying to express here is him doing something for the kid's own good that the kid's themselves don't like and don't understand – basically, he's acting just like a parent. This is also why he makes sure to escape with at least Gohan, because Gohan does have a family to get back to. It's a bittersweet end, and seeing Piegoro leave on his own, you can't help but wonder what becomes of him in the future. This is jumping way ahead, but honestly, I always wished we'd seen Piegoro one more time in a future run of filler episodes, in the Saiyaman portion of the story. Him having ended up in a rather rough situation and encountering Gohan again, possibly without either of them really recognizing the other at first, would have made for an interesting episode for sure. But alas, this is another filler episode that never comes up again in any shape or form. And as for the lesson Gohan himself learns this time? Gohan finally gets what he's wanted all along, he's almost back in his mother's arms at his comfy home, but now he knows that there's a lot of kids that don't have what he has. He realizes that Piegoro's last bit of advice to protect his mother is something he's going to have to do, and fast, as the Saiyans are a problem that's not going away. In fact, they're getting ever closer, and if Gohan is going to protect his mom, then he's going to have to protect the planet itself. And for that, he needs Piccolo and the training he offers. There's still quite a bit of maturing Gohan is going to have to do in his life, but at last, he's hit that first step that really makes him the character that he is and the character that so many fans love. Until next time! Favorite Scene: The antics with the orphans is probably the most fun of the episode, in particular them escaping from the town with food in tow. Next Time: The Saiyans are here! Well, okay, not THOSE Saiyans. Other Saiyans. Synopsis: On a rainy night, Gohan does math inside of a cave while thinking back to living with his mother and father before all of this started, and misses his old life and his parents greatly. As it starts storming heavier outside, Piccolo thinks back on the fight with Raditz and how it took Goku holding Raditz still for him to hit his opponent with the Mankankosappo. Piccolo focuses his power and splits a second body of himself off from his main body and begins to spar against it through the night. The next morning, Gohan has built a raft and is sailing down the sands of a nearby desert with it. A large bird flies overhead and tries to capture him, but Gohan is able to easily avoid it, though it pushes him through an area that ends up breaking his raft and stranding him on a beach near the ocean. Gohan runs into the sabretooth again but ignores it, instead marveling at the size of the ocean. Gohan runs along the edge of the beach to try and see how far it goes, eventually finding no way off of it as night falls once again. Another day passes as Gohan continues to try to find a way off of the beach, and the next night, Piccolo resumes training with his body double. At Goku's house, Gyu-mao arrives to give his daughter some food in the hopes of making her feel better, but Chi Chi doesn't want to leave her house due to her worry for her son. Back on the beach, Gohan continues running and tormenting the poor sabretooth, and eventually finds his wrecked raft, realizing he's come back to where he started. Climbing a nearby mountain, Gohan realizes that the beach he's on is actually part of an island entirely surrounded by ocean. Realizing what direction his home must be from here, Gohan draws plans in the sand. As Piccolo's body double training continues, Gohan begins gathering trees and builds his new boat, as well as food, all under the watchful eye of the sabretooth. As Gohan finishes the boat, he assures the sabretooth that he'll be back soon as he just wants to see his mother for a bit first, and sets out onto the open sea. As Piccolo's training continues, he suddenly senses Gohan leaving the area, and his body double combines back into his body. As Gohan floats on the sea at night, a storm starts to rage overhead, putting the boy in a perilous situation. As the ocean churns beneath him, he tries to tough it out and keep the boat from capsizing or sinking as he can't swim, as Piccolo searches for him from the sky above unbeknownst to him. A twister ultimately knocks Gohan from his boat, leaving Piccolo with no idea where the boy is or if he's still alive out there, as the Saiyans grow ever closer and Goku continues running down the Serpent Road. Review: You might remember how, a few episode reviews ago, I commented that an episode's title barely addressed what the episode was actually about. I also noted that said episode was basically a series of scenes strung together to reach a runtime, with the end goal really being just setting up for the next episode in line. Well, this episode could be considered an improvement over that one in that the title here kind of fits better as at least part of it pertains to the entirety of the episode and not just it's ending...but there's no getting around the fact that this episode also just exists to prepare for the next one. There is some neat things here, both action and character wise. Seeing that Gohan misses his mom even after getting much stronger is a nice touch, and it makes sense – remember, this kid is FOUR YEARS OLD. Of COURSE he misses his mom. It even follows that he'd use his newfound survival skills to try to find some way to get back home. It's also great to see him mess around with the sabretooth some more. Beyond that though, this is largely all material we've already seen with him. We know he can survive in the wilderness now, so seeing large sections of him just running around a backdrop, even if the backdrop is a little different now, doesn't really do much to engage or keep your attention. Then there's Piccolo's portion of the episode. The training we've seen him do up until now has mostly been mental, largely built around meditation seemingly. This makes sense as he's training on his own, he doesn't have a sparring partner the way everyone else does. This presents a problem when Piccolo puzzles out that one of the biggest drawbacks to his most powerful technique is that it takes too long to charge, and is apparently too slow to hit someone if they're that much faster than him. So how does Piccolo get around this? ...He buds off a second body and starts fighting against it, both to try to get stronger and faster himself, while also trying to see if he can find ways to make the Mankankosappo more workable in a regular fight. ...Huh. Piccolo's ability here is neat, don't get me wrong, but it's a little difficult to tell what exactly the idea behind it might be. Is it like Tenshinhan's move? It kind of looks like it, though I'd say visually it looks closer to his initial four-armed technique than how we saw his version of the Shadow Clone Jutsu did. If it's not that, is it meant to be something similar to the budding off that lead to the original King Piccolo? This seems even more unlikely as the new second Piccolo doesn't seem to have any difference in personality or character at all. There's really nowhere for this move to have come from, it's just something that the anime writers decided he could do, and they ran with it. It's cool, but inherently bizarre. Like I said back during the Goku V.S. Tenshinhan rematch, Dragon Ball just doesn't seem to know how to make a clone technique work well. And that's really all the episode brings us, Gohan trying to find a way back home, and Piccolo trying to figure out his own weaknesses. These are both things well worth exploring, but I don't think this episode pulled it off at all to be honest. It really just feels like it wanted to get Gohan away from where he was so that it could teach him the lesson he's going to be learning next time, and it got so focused on that that it didn't really do much with it's own runtime for THIS episode. It's a shame too, because the next episode I always remember as being really, really good. Until next time! Favorite Scene: Gohan tormenting the poor Sabertooth is great, arguably better than him doing the same with the dinosaur ever was. At least the Sabertooth halfway still wants to eat him. Next Time: After a robot and a dinosaur, Gohan's next life lesson comes from...orphans? Synopsis: Goku runs along the Serpent Road, trying desperately to make up for lost time, even quickly passing the street cleaner that he fell off of before, inadvertently causing it to fall into Hell this time instead. Back on Earth, Piccolo continues his mental training, causing a twister to form in the air, while Gohan continues running in the wilderness and eventually comes across Piccolo's training, becoming both impressed and scared by what Piccolo can do. At Kami's sanctuary, Kuririn, Yamcha, Tenshinhan, Chaozu, and Yajirobe have arrived at last, with Yamcha remarking that he thinks the group of them will easily be able to handle the Saiyans. Tenshinhan remarks that he can't wait to begin the training. Back on the Serpent Road, Goku comes across a large house built at the side of the road and wonders if he's reached Kaio-sama's at last. The house's entrance suddenly turns into a large snake and swallows Goku whole, who now finds himself inside a large building where a group of blue-skinned women herald him as an honored guest. The ruler of the house, the Snake Princess, is told of their new guest, and rushes to get a good look at him, immediately finding Goku to be just her type. Goku mistakes the Princess for Kaio-sama and praises her as cute, flustering the Snake Princess greatly, causing one of her attendants to say that she hasn't been this worked up since meeting Enma about five hundred years prior. Goku is surprised to hear that they're that old, but is eager to begin learning martial arts from her. The Snake Princess instead suggests they dance and pulls Goku into a tango, and Goku mistakenly thinks that this is training to find an opening in your opponent's guard to exploit. Goku does so by flipping the Snake Princess to the ground, earning him an earful from one of her attendants who finally corrects his mistake in thinking that she's Kaio-sama. Disappointed to find that he hasn't reached Kaio-sama's at all, Goku tries to leave, but the Snake Princess asks if he won't at least stay for dinner first. Goku's stomach rumbles and he agrees to stay and eat. Princess Snake tells her attendants to do whatever is needed to make sure Goku won't want or be able to leave after eating, as it's been far too long since they've had a good man here. Her attendants plan to put a powerful sleeping potion in the food, and much to their surprise, Goku eats every bite of food they've brought out and appears to not be in the least affected by the potion. With his stomach full again at last, Goku prepares to leave, but the attendants stop him by saying he needs to take a bath before he goes, as Kaio-sama is well known to hate dirty people. Seeing how sweaty he's gotten from running the Serpent Road, Goku agrees and takes advantage of the hot springs bath offered to him. The Snake Princess has her attendants use a satellite device to cause the sky to turn to night so Goku and she can see the stars together, but to her surprise, Goku barely even cares, and even walks right out of the bath before her eyes, completely naked. The Snake Princess is embarrassed but pleased by the view until she realizes Goku is trying to leave again, and quickly has her attendants stop a newly re-dressed Goku from going. Running out of ways to stop him, one of the attendants offers Goku a way to train his mind before going to see Kaio-sama – Russian Roulette! The attendant tries to show Goku how to play it but gets unlucky with the first shot, shooting herself in the head, and Goku says he's definitely not doing anything that dangerous. Growing even more desperate, the attendants next try to distract Goku by putting on a swords dance performance under the guise of it being martial arts as well, and they bring him a glass of orange juice with the every last drop of sleeping potion they had left in it. Goku finally starts to feel the effect of the potion and falls asleep at last. Goku mumbles his family's names in his sleep, and the Snake Princess has her attendants bring out a dream viewing mirror to see what he's talking about. Upon learning that Goku's not single, the Snake Princess changes her plans – if Goku can't be her love interest, he can at least be her meal. As Goku sleeps, he has a nightmare about the two Saiyans arriving on Earth and killing his family, and the nightmare promptly wakes Goku up before the Snake Princess and her attendants can do anything with him. Goku starts to leave again and refuses to fall for any of their distractions this time, causing the Snake Princess and her attendants to attack him in earnest at last. The Snake Princess chastises Goku for insulting her, the 'goddess' of the Serpent Road, and as the house dissolves away, Goku finds himself inside the stomach of the large snake that swallowed him before – the true form of the Snake Princess! Goku quickly flies out of the Snake's stomach and mouth and is chased by the large creature. Goku decides not to kill the Snake even though it's trying to eat him, as it did feed him a lot of food earlier, and instead tricks it into tying itself into a knot by chasing him. Leaving the tangled up snake, Goku thanks it for the hospitality and flies off further down the Serpent Road. As Goku continues running down the Serpent Road, his friends all continue their training under the watchful eyes of Kami and Popo, as the two Saiyan pods grow ever closer to the Earth. Review: While this episode certainly doesn't expand upon the world of Dragon Ball in the same way the previous one does, I can't lie – it's actually a lot more enjoyable just to watch. The idea of a snake monster living on the Serpent Road and becoming an additional challenge for Goku to overcome is a fun one, and having it at first seem to be something else entirely is another showing of that usual Toriyama flair, even if it's not coming from Toriyama himself this time. The idea of women being after Goku and finding him attractive is certainly a far cry from how Goku's character used to be treated in the series, but to be fair, we have to remember we're not that far removed from him being a kid character. He only reached an adult level of maturity an arc ago, so we've really only had a few chances to see how women generally view him now. Chi Chi was already in love with him before hand, and even Bulma found him attractive once she saw him all grown up, so the common consensus does seem to be that Goku is a pretty attractive guy. And out of series, oh yeah – there is definitely a big group of fans, both women and men, who find Goku physically attractive. The muscles definitely help I'd say – to quote TeamFourStar, 'you could grind meat on them.' Also, you get some adult Goku butt for your troubles in this episode as well. Huzzah! Putting Goku's inherent attractiveness aside, only not really because that's what the Snake Princess is all about, the continuing building of her and her attendants attempts to detain Goku are all pretty fun to watch, and they're all interspersed with hints as to the group's true nature – let's just say that the fact that a big snake wants to eat Goku wasn't exactly a hidden factor given how he got here in the first place. The insanity of everything going on only gets wilder and wilder with each step as well, and if it wasn't for one moment in particular, my favorite would probably be these supernatural snake women having a satellite to turn the sky to night. That's just great. No, the real winner here though absolutely has to be the almost last ditch effort to detain Goku with Russian Roulette. I have no idea what that attendant was thinking or what they've done to have such bad luck, but that is one of the most darkly hilarious things I've ever seen. I always forget about that bit until I get to it too, and it's made even more hilarious by how out of absolutely NOWHERE it comes. 'Hey, I've got just the thing!', then she pulls out a gun. It's insanity. Definitely going to make an uneducated guess that the scene was censored from the original Ocean Dub run of episodes on Toonami – there is NO way that scene aired originally. Once the Snake Princess finds out that Goku's not single, which I'm not entirely sure why she just naturally assumed he was prior to this, she stops wanting him for his body and starts wanting him for his body instead. Just, you know. To eat this time instead of...ANYWAY, I can't help but wonder if her plan wasn't always to eat him in the end anyway. Don't forget, at the start of the episode, Goku was already eaten by the giant snake that is her true form. The entirety of the rest of the adventure is all an illusion, and he's been inside it's stomach the whole time. So really, the idea was just to distract him and digest him over time, I would assume. So the whole gimmick of the Snake Princess wanting to find a mate instead is...weird. It's a weird roundabout way to keep Goku inside of there long enough, honestly. The whole thing just doesn't make a lot of sense once you get to the end of it, but when it's so enjoyable to watch, it's hard to really stay mad at it in the end, you know? It's almost a shame that the concept never gets brought up ever again, it would've been entertaining to see certain other characters have to contend with her as well when the time came, but alas – this is the Snake Princess's one and only appearance. Wait...so if the Snake Princess both wanted to mate with Goku and also eat him, doesn't that make this vore? … Until next time! Favorite Scene: It's as dark as can be, but I can't NOT laugh at the poor attendant's Russian Roulette performance. Just...WOW. Next Time: Like all children, Gohan utilizes his newly learned skills to get into more trouble than he could have before. Synopsis: Goku wakes up after being knocked out by an attack in Hell, to find himself being chastised by a large blue oni for trying to take one of Enma's fruits. Goku asks if he can't eat even one of them, and the oni denies him this, saying that only Enma is allowed to eat those. Goku says that he's really hungry, and a second red oni shows up and thinks that's just ridiculous – he's dead, how can he be hungry? Goku introduces himself to the oni and asks them if either of them is Kaio-sama, and the oni ask him where he thinks he is. Goku is disappointed to find out that he's in Hell and must have fallen off of the Serpent Road. Back on Earth, Lunch scowls angrily at the tall Karin Tower and yells up to Tenshinhan that she's not giving up, as Tenshinhan and Chaozu climb their way up the tower again to reach Karin before heading up to Kami's Sanctuary. Down below, Lunch begins digging through a teepee for anything worth stealing, and is eventually found by a returning Bora. Bora tells her to leave, but Lunch tries to force her to hand over anything of value he has. An older Upa steps forward, and Lunch fires her gun at him, but misses. As Bora tries to hold her back, a tassle on his armband causes her to sneeze, reverting her once again to the calmer blue-haired Lunch. In Hell, Goku continuously leaps into the air to try to get back up to the Serpent Road. The oni (Goz and Mez) think they can have some fun with him and argue about who's going to get to torture him first. After Goz wins at rock-paper-scissors, the blue oni walks over to Goku and offers to help him reach the Serpent Road, picking him up by the head and throwing him high into the air. Much to the oni's surprise, Goku is fine upon landing, and asks if Goz isn't very strong as Goku still didn't reach the bottom of the clouds. Goz angrily says he's the second strongest oni after Enma himself, causing Goku to wonder if Kami was right and that Enma isn't that strong after all. Angered further, Goz challenges Goku to a test of strength, saying that if he wins, he'll help Goku get back to the Serpent Road for real – if he loses however, Goku forfeits his body. Goz draws a circle in the sand and prepares to fight Goku sumo-style, even rushing Goku before he thinks Goku is ready, but Goku succeeds in stopping him from pushing him out of the ring. Goku compliments Goz as being better than he thought, but Goku still manages to knock Goz out of the ring with the wind pressure from a quick palm strike. Defeated, Goz takes Goku to a large see-saw and has Goku stand on one end of it while he jumps onto the other end, launching Goku high into the air. Goku has to launch a Kamehameha at the end to propel himself further but succeeds in touching the clouds at last...only to hit his head against their hard underside before crashing back down into a pond of blood. Mez continues his duties in Hell before spotting Goku continuing to try to break through the bottom of the clouds above Hell, angrily stomping over to take his turn 'torturing' Goku. The pair tells Goku that nobody has ever broken through the clouds the way he's trying to, but Mez promises to show him a secret way to get back up there if Goku can catch him as he runs around Hell. Goku thinks this sounds easy and agrees, though Mez warns him that he's the fastest oni after Enma himself. Back on Earth, Gohan continues his wilderness survival by outrunning and tormenting a poor sabretooth. Goku's chase in Hell begins, with Mez quickly proving to be a lot faster than Goku expected, though Goku is likewise able to keep up and almost catch Mez a few times much to the oni's surprise. Mez continues to have fun with the race and even offers for Goku to stay in Hell and they can do this every day, but Goku says he has to get to Kaio-sama's. Eventually Goku asks if they can stop for a moment and rest, and asks again if he can eat one of Enma's fruits from the nearby tree. Mez tells him no again, saying that it's said someone who eats one can avoid hunger for a hundred days and even gets a power boost to boot. Much to Mez's chagrin, Goku rushes over to grab one, and as Mez chases him, Goku eventually turns around and catches Mez. Defeated and with no choice now, Goz and Mez show Goku a hidden stairway that will lead back to the Serpent Road. As he leaves, Goku taunts the pair by revealing that he grabbed one of Enma's fruit and eats it as he goes up the stairs. Goku is happy to get back to the Serpent Road, but soon finds that the path actually leads to the inside of Enma's desk – Goku is now back at the very start of the Serpent Road! He rushes to get started down the path again, though he notices that running it seems to be a little easier now than it was before. Review: This episode is definitely one of the most fun ones in early DBZ's filler additions, as well as one of it's most memorable, so it's probably little surprise that so much of what it brings to the table effected the anime to varying degrees long past it's initial airing. And yes, I broke my own rule about not referring to characters by name until they're stated once I realized the oni are never named in episode – I will accept my lambasting at a later time. In the manga, the Serpent Road is kind of a red herring. It's implied to be this great challenge that Goku has to overcome, and presumably it is indeed a challenge...but presume is all we can really do. It's not really shown. Most of Goku's running down the road is going to be presented as something that happens off-screen and something that didn't give him anything to do but run. That's challenging enough given it's length, but there's not really any story potential there. Realizing this and no doubt wanting to at least do something with their lead character before his eventual return to life, Toei seized upon a stray comment in a previous chapter and decided to send Goku to Hell – literally. This is something that doesn't happen at all in the manga, and as a result, we never do get to see what Hell is like in it. As a result, it's the anime's interpretation of Hell as shown here that basically takes over for the entire franchise's original run, and it would remain the official look of Dragon Ball's Hell all the way until 2015, when a new story from Toriyama would finally show us his vision of Hell, at least in part. But that's a long, long way's off from being covered, so for now let's just focus on this version of Hell. And surprisingly, the Dragon Ball version of Hell is somewhat chill. Sure, there's ponds of blood, a mountain of needles, and a pair of oni to torture you, but all things told it certainly doesn't seem like the worst place imaginable. In fact, as we'll later see, one of the biggest problems in it might be becoming bored, though that in-of-itself is something that requires a change from what's presented to us at this point – again, more to discuss at a later date. For now, Hell is presented to us as a place that bad souls go to, and like most people in the afterlife, the bad people have their bodies taken away and are reduced to little cloud puff ball souls instead. It was shown previously that Goku getting to keep his body was an exception to the norm, and that exception is what makes him so valuable to the bored oni – how fun can it really be to torture clouds, after all? Goz and Mez's various 'torture' methods for Goku are likewise pretty simplistic and childish, fitting with Toriyama's wry sense of humor – sure, Hell's torture can involve sumo, seesaws, and a foot race, why not? The oni pair also inadvertently serve to prove Kami's words about Enma not being the best person for Goku to train under, as he's already more than up to par against these oni, likewise showing that there wouldn't be much left for him to learn from Enma either. It does sort of make one wonder how Enma really was able to overpower Raditz, but I've always assumed that the taking away of a person's body is rather immediate, meaning all Enma had to contend with was a foul-mouthed little soul cloud – not exactly the hardest to punt down into Hell. Almost is a little surprising that Raditz isn't shown in Hell though, even if it is in cloud form – if this filler had been done far later in DBZ's run, there's almost a decent chance that would have happened. By the time we do see Hell again though, Raditz is going to be long, long forgotten. Poor guy. Overall, the episode is pretty fun, but I'd say it's the concepts that it brings to the table that are the real standout star of it, as the episode itself is a little underwhelming in some ways. None of the action is hard hitting, none of the jokes are going to make you bust a gut – it just sort of meanders it's way through it's setting after a while. That said though, it's still great to actually see Hell, and it's nice to see it presented in an unexpected way. Most of all, it's just nice to see payoff to Toriyama's off-handed remark about falling through the clouds leading to Hell. I mean c'mon, why bring it up if we weren't actually going to see it happen? Until next time! Favorite Scene: It's unrelated to the plot of the episode at large, but I really like seeing Upa and Bora again to be honest. Next Time: Princess Snake was absolutely horny on main for Goku. Synopsis: Gohan sleeps and dreams of his father, thinking back on the terrible events leading up to his father's death. The next morning, Gohan continues his survival ritual while coming to a decision – he's going to go back to his mother. In the afterlife, Goku continues running the Serpent Road, as his former master Roshi wonders if he's made it to Kaio-sama's yet. He and the turtle discuss whether or not Goku will become strong enough to stop the two incoming Saiyans, and neither can assure the other with certainty. Still flying through the skies, Bulma and Kuririn continue looking for Tenshinhan and Chaozu's location, with Kuririn worrying that Yamcha (who has left at some point) may have already gotten ahead of them and reached Kami's sanctuary. In the wilderness below, Tenshinhan and Chaozu are training at a gigantic waterfall, with Tenshinhan using his energy to stop the raging waters in place for a moment. Chaozu is pleased, but their training is soon interrupted by the sound of gunfire, with Lunch calling out to both of them to come down for some lunch, bemusing the fighters. They're both even more surprised to see the spread of food before them, with Lunch saying she 'hired' a group of chefs to make it for them with only the best ingredients. Chaozu thinks this all probably cost quite a bit of money, but Lunch says she just finished a 'job' so it's fine. Lunch asks what Tenshinhan is planning to do next, and when Chaozu says he's training until he gets strong enough to beat Goku, Lunch says there's no need for such things in peace time, and says that Tenshinhan is already plenty strong as it is. Tenshinhan is annoyed by this comment, and explains that he can't rest while others out there are still training and getting far stronger. Lunch suggests that Tenshinhan team up with her instead and they can go on a crime spree holding up every bank in the world, but Tenshinhan storms off, telling Chaozu to come with him as they still have more training to do. Back at the waterfall, Tenshinhan wonders just what kind of training Goku is getting up to without him nowadays. On the Serpent Road, Goku comes across a street cleaner driven by an Oni that was apparently asked to clean the road by Enma, and when Goku asks how much further there is to go, the oni remarks that Goku is maybe about halfway to the halfway point. When Goku sits down and says that he needs to take a break, the oni offers to take him further down the road as he rests, and Goku takes him up on his offer, taking a nap on the back of the street cleaner. Back on Earth, Piccolo meditates and lifts pyramids with only his mind so as to continue his own training while he waits for Gohan to be ready to train. Gohan meanwhile has completely turned the tables on the poor carnivorous dinosaur, chasing him down to cut another slice off of the dinosaur's quickly dwindling tail. Piccolo soon overdoes his own training, causing an earthquake that he fears will soon reach the nearby Gohan's location. Piccolo's fears are proven true, as a large fissure soon breaks open the ground around Gohan, who falls deep into the ravine. The earthquake even reaches Tenshinhan, Chaozu, and Lunch's location, with Lunch shown to be afraid of earthquakes and trying to rush to Tenshinhan's side. A training Tenshinhan spots a bigger threat in the form of the waterfall's water rushing towards them, and Tenshinhan grabs hold of Lunch and steadies them both against the torrent of water. This display of power finally raises Tenshinhan's power enough for Bulma's scouter to pick up on him again. As Gohan uses his sword to prevent himself from falling too deep into the ground, the ground itself begins to close in around him, and he has to quickly leap up out of the crevice to avoid being squashed. Having come to look for him, Piccolo scowls but seems to be pleased at the boy's survival. Back with the others, Lunch sneezes as a result of getting cold from the water, reverting to her blue haired form just as Bulma and Kuririn close in on their location. Lunch apologizes for causing so much trouble for Tenshinhan and Chaozu and says she'll return to Kame House for now, something that suits Tenshinhan fine. He thinks that they'll be able to devote themselves to their training fully now, but Lunch stops in a field of flowers on her way out, soon sneezing and turning back into her blonde form again. The blonde Lunch returns to bother Tenshinhan again, just as Kuririn and Bulma find them at last. Kuririn and Bulma explain everything that's going on to Tenshinhan and Chaozu, and invite them to come train at Kami-sama's alongside Yamcha and Yajirobe, and Tenshinhan and Chaozu think this is a great turn of events at least as far as their training goes, especially as it will get them away from 'her'. Lunch insists that she's going with them however, but Tenshinhan ignores her and vows to Goku that he's going to catch up with him. In the afterlife, Goku continues to nap on the back of the street cleaner, but when it hits a bump in the road, it shakes him off, causing him to plummet through the clouds, and fall straight through to Hell. Goku awakens upon landing, wondering if he's come to Kaio-sama's at last without even realizing it. He smells something tasty off ahead of him, so he starts walking towards a large fruit tree, but he's stopped from taking fruit by a sudden attack with a large club. Meanwhile, the Saiyans grow ever closer to the Earth. Review: This is one of those strange filler episodes that, when taken fully on it's own merits, really...doesn't have much of a story in-of-itself. It's mostly here to flesh out things that we know are happening in the manga but aren't otherwise privy to seeing, while also setting up for it's own unique filler story line to come. Case in point – we get a ton of focus on Tenshinhan and Chaozu in this episode. So much so in fact that really, the title of the episode should be something reflecting their part in the episode rather than a tease of something that only happens at the very end and is largely just setup for the following episode. But I guess having Goku's name in the title gets more eyes on the screen or something, so Toei titled it thus. It really is Tenshinhan's (and to a lesser extent Chaozu's) time to shine however, as this is the most time we've spent with just them since...well, ever, actually. And it fits perfectly with both Tenshinhan's character as well as what was said about them in the opening chapters of the arc. Tenshinhan is still training like a mad man, trying to catch up to the likes of Goku and Piccolo, who have both left him effectively in the dust after the previous arcs. Given Tenshinhan was very briefly considered the strongest person in the world, it's easy enough to see why he'd take this all so personally, but I don't think it's really about the bragging rights at all. He just wants to better himself, and if he can use others, particularly Goku, as a measuring post to do that, then that's just what he's going to do. Other than Goku, and arguably even more than Goku, nobody fits the martial arts mentality more than Tenshinhan. And hey, Chaozu's here too because he's everywhere Tenshinhan goes. Neat. The episode also shows us some more of Lunch, building both off of her scene in the last episode while also working with what was said about her at the start of this arc as well. In the manga, we never see her, suggesting that she never quite caught up with Tenshinhan, but in the anime here, we do get a good handful of scenes showing how ardently she's pursuing him. It's interesting to see someone like her become so obsessive, and especially to see the lengths she's willing to go to get his attention, but...honestly, I'm beginning to think there's a good reason they don't work out as a couple. Not that they ever really were one in the first place really. Don't get me wrong, it's a cute pairing idea, and I used to be quite behind the idea myself. Looking at the pair of them nowadays though, they couldn't be more different, and I don't think it's one of those 'opposites attract' sort of deals either. Lunch very much wants to be with Tenshinhan, but she wants it to be the kind of life she's always been living up until now too, with him joining her on her crime sprees. Given Tenshinhan's reformed nature from his time training to be an assassin, it's probably a pretty safe bet that he's not that interested in breaking any kind of laws nowadays if he can avoid it, especially not when doing so would get in the way of his real goal of training. Lunch can't see that he doesn't have any interest in that though, so I think any attraction he may have felt towards her initially has long since passed. Complicating matters further is the fact that the blue-haired Lunch barely seems to know who Tenshinhan is, much less feeling any attraction to him, so...yeah. Their relationship was basically a no-go from the beginning the more you look at it. There's a few other scenes in the episode that basically show us what we already know must have happened at some point prior to everyone getting to Kami's – Kuririn and Bulma finding the pair of them to explain everything, and Piccolo doing his own training while waiting for Gohan to be ready – but they're fairly short and just exist to hit the episode's needed runtime. The main other thing this episode brings to the table and even names itself after is Goku's part in it. The idea of a street cleaner oni cleaning the insanely long Serpent Road is pretty funny – seriously, with how slow that thing's moving, how long ago was it that Enma asked him to clean it? - but the idea of Goku taking a break on the thing is a little off-putting to be honest. I mean, this is Goku, a character that loves training and giving it his all. We've also already seen before that he doesn't like cheating and taking the easy way out, as seen when he didn't take the fake holy water from Karin while the latter slept. Sure, he flew part of the road at the start, but that's still moving under his own power – you can call it cheating to a degree, but I don't think that's anywhere near the same thing as him just riding on a vehicle and taking a nap. It feels like a pretty weird way to have him accidentally fall off of the Road and end up in Hell. Especially when there were basically limitless other ways for them to achieve that same end. I dunno, I'm just not really a fan of the execution here. What I am a fan of is anytime we get to see Dragon Ball's Hell though, so the next episode should hopefully prove pretty fun. Until next time! Favorite Scene: Lunch trying to get Tenshinhan to enjoy having her around and to team up with her on a crime spree is awkwardly hilarious. Next Time: Yeah, I'm not so sure eating a fruit grown in Hell is such a great idea either. Synopsis: Gohan awakens to another day living in the wilderness, and goes about his morning ritual of gathering food both easily and happily. His breakfast is soon interrupted by the carnivorous dinosaur that always tries to eat him, but he easily runs from it now, and even cuts off part of it's tail to cook and add to his breakfast. Witnessing this, Piccolo is pleased to see how far he's already come. Meanwhile, Bulma, Kuririn, and Yamcha continue to fly through the skies, heading towards Tenshinhan and Chaozu. Out in space, the two Saiyans race towards Earth in their pods, though a beeping noise awakens them before they arrive. The taller of the two (Nappa) asks the shorter (Vegeta) if they've arrived at Earth yet, but Vegeta says that he set up an early wake-up timer as there's a planet on the way that they should check out, as it could potentially be sold for a high price. Nappa is delighted by this, saying that spending a whole year in deep sleep could make them rusty after all. The pair crash land on a desolate looking planet that already looks like it's been attacked, causing Nappa to wonder if it's really worth that much. Vegeta says they'll have to inspect it more thoroughly to be sure. Just then, a pair of giant bugs pop from the ground, and the two bug-like people riding it say that these aliens could make great gifts for their king. Nappa prepares to fight back against the aliens, but Vegeta orders him to allow them to be “captured”, as it will just result in them being taken to this king. On Earth, Lunch (in her blonde state) is running from the cops after another successful heist, with Lunch saying that this money is a gift for Tenshinhan. As Vegeta and Nappa are taken to the bug people's king, they witness the state of the planet, as it seems the king keeps a rather oppressive rule. The Saiyans are locked in a jail cell along with some other bug-like prisoners, with one in particular warning that they've arrived at a bad time – things on Planet Arlia have been crazy ever since King Moai took the throne, with one prisoner explaining how he even had his wife taken from him on their wedding day. In the throne room, Moai asks his new queen, the kidnapped Lemuria, what's wrong, as she doesn't seem to be enjoying the battle staged before them, and wonders if she's still thinking about that other man. The loser of the staged battle is tossed into a pit, where a larger Arlian waits to eat him. Bored now himself, Moai orders the two space men that were captured to be brought before him, as they might make good pets. To Moai and the guards surprise, the two Saiyans soon walk out before them under their own power, causing them all to wonder what happened to the guards. The surviving prisoner who had his wife taken unburies himself from the rubble left behind and remarks at the amazing power these two aliens have. Moai challenges the Saiyans to a bet, saying that if they can beat his warriors, he'll give them anything they like, though he thinks they don't stand a chance, saying he really just wants to see what kind of blood aliens have. Vegeta instantly kills Moai's warrior however, shocking the king greatly. Vegeta says what he wants is the planet itself, causing the rest of the king's warriors to spill out around them. They try to attack, but are quickly overpowered, with Vegeta revealing they let themselves be captured on purpose. As Goku is shown to continue running down the Serpent Road, Moai orders the release of Yedi, the gigantic Arlian from the pit, but even it is quickly dispatched by Nappa. Seeing all of his forces defeated, Moai tries to flee, but is soon killed by a rock Vegeta sends flying through him. The surviving prisoner rushes out to see the throne room in disarray, but is happy to be reunited with Lemuria. As Vegeta calls for their pods, the prisoner thanks the Saiyans for saving their planet, thinking that peace will surely return to their planet at last now. As the two lovers reunite however, Vegeta and Nappa decide that this stop was a waste of time and that they wouldn't get anything for this planet, so Vegeta simply blows it up with a blast fired from his fingertips. With Arlia no more, Vegeta and Nappa continue their journey towards Earth, hoping that it's a more fruitful visit than this one was. Review: The opening of this episode takes some of it's material from the previous chapter I reviewed, once again showing that there is no perfect way to bounce between the anime and manga medium the way I'm doing, but alas – it's the method I chose, and it's the method I'm sticking with. From there though, the episode jumps immediately to completely original material, including a rare scene of Lunch! I'd imagine Lunch was an incredibly confusing character for fans who first got into the franchise from DBZ's original Toonami airings, as you're really given no context for who she is or why she's important, and then she almost immediately just...disappears soon after. The real meat of this episode comes in the form of seeing the two Saiyans in action. Only Nappa is named in this episode, but if it's going to give me one of their names, I figured I may as well start referring to both of them by name going forward so as to make things easier – I'm not entirely sure when their names are first uttered in the manga as a result, but if I had to guess it's probably when they arrive on Earth at last. Irregardless, this episode gives us an early taste of what the Saiyans are going to be like, but only a taste. And frankly, as entertaining as seeing the pair in action is...it's really not needed. Don't get me wrong, it's always great to see scenes with the villains as the focus rather than our heroes, but basically everything we see the Saiyans do here are things we could already pretty well surmise they'd be capable of. After all, we got a good look at what Raditz could do in a fight, and both Nappa and Vegeta are already said to be far, far stronger than he was. So seeing them flying, shooting energy blasts, and even taking down warriors far larger than themselves...really isn't that impressive, nor is it doing much to impress upon us how strong they are. The Arlians (also unnamed in the episode, but I figured if I'm in for a penny I'm in for a pound) aren't the most interesting either, though I do like their designs. Mostly they're here to get slaughtered by Nappa and Vegeta and look even more alien than the Saiyans do. There is a underlying ironic humor in the Saiyans saving them from an oppressive king in the process of scoping the planet out, only for them to end up dying anyway, so that's enjoyable in a sick way I suppose. The end of the episode where Vegeta blows up the planet is really the only moment that I think succeeds in bigging up the Saiyans more than they already were. We saw what Raditz could do, but nothing in that fight or any previous Dragon Ball fight suggested that the planet was ever in any danger of just being blown up. If Vegeta can do that, then our heroes really are in trouble. In a way, maybe that was the point of the episode in the end, to lure viewers into false expectations, thinking that these other two Saiyans didn't seem THAT impressive, only to end on one of them casually blowing up a planet to really blow your mind. It's effective in that way, but also a little misleading given what we're later going to see Vegeta be capable of, and also – well, spoilers going into a later character and story reveal. I'll try to remember to touch on that then. Until next time! Favorite Scene: The short scuffle between the giant Arlian and Vegeta and Nappa is pretty fun, especially with the background being unlike anything else we're going to see these two fight in. Next Time: While everyone else continues training, our hero takes a nap. Maybe you deserve what happens next, Goku. Synopsis: A storm rages as Gohan catches a large fish and heads back to a cave he's been staying in, stopping to grab some fruit along the way first, and even getting past a snake without getting scared by it. He falls out of a tree and injures himself slightly, and makes some medicinal paste by grinding up some leaves as he remembers his father doing for him once before. As he treats his wound, a pair of eyes ominously watches him from behind. Elsewhere, Yamcha is playing in a professional baseball game, though Puar notes that he doesn't seem to be enjoying it. Yamcha just can't get into it as it comes too easily to him, and he notes that he's a martial artist and is only really doing this because he needs the money – he'd much rather get back into the swing of things as a fighter again. The coach bribes Yamcha to get off the bench and back into the game with promise of a bonus, and the coach tries to convince the current batter to allow himself to get hit to load the bases. The player does so, causing a big fight to break out between both teams, something Yamcha's actually excited to get involved in. To his surprise however, Kuririn appears out of nowhere and tells him about what's happened. Yamcha immediately agrees to go with them, though awkwardness persists between Yamcha and Bulma, though Yamcha perks back up at the thought of training with Kami. On the Serpent Road, Goku finds that he still has a long, long way to go, and wonders if he'll even make it to the end by a year's end. As Gohan sleeps in the cave, the pair of eyes that had been watching him before begins eating all of the fruit and berries he'd gathered for food. As Gohan wakes up in the morning and tries to find the food, he instead finds a long-necked dinosaur. As Gohan tries to figure out how to deal with this new situation, the dinosaur starts to leave, only to fall to the ground. It's then that Gohan discovers it's wound, finding a large branch sticking out of it's flesh. Gohan warns the dinosaur that it's going to hurt, but manages to yank the branch free. Seeing how deep it was stuck in and that the wound is still bleeding, Gohan quickly prepares a larger version of the leaf paste he used to treat his own wound and applies it to the dinosaur. Leaving the dinosaur on it's own, Gohan heads out to get some more food for them both, only for the dinosaur to immediately eat the food that he gathered, forcing him to head out once again. As Gohan continues exploring and gathering however, the tail of another dinosaur swings through some nearby trees. As Bulma, Kuririn, and Yamcha fly in one of Bulma's airships, Yamcha is excited at the prospect of fighting again and getting stronger, though Bulma says there's currently only a slim chance of them winning. Yamcha isn't worried however, thinking that between Goku coming back stronger than ever alongside all of them training with Kami, as well as having Piccolo of all people on their side this time, that there's nothing they can't do. Yamcha's outlook even improves Bulma's mood, and Kuririn frustratingly notes that it looks like they're getting along okay after all. As he gathers more fruit, Gohan imagines how great it'll be to have a dinosaur friend as he keeps surviving in the wasteland. He thinks that he's already gotten a good bit stronger himself as well, realizing the kind of things that he's doing now are the sorts of things that he'd have been terrified of before. Returning to his dinosaur friend, Gohan finds it locked in combat with a gigantic meat-eating dinosaur – the same one that chased him before. Gohan yells for the carnivore to leave his friend alone, and even draws his sword to fight back. Though Gohan is successful in distracting the dinosaur at first, he is eventually knocked aside and unconscious, and though the carnivore can't find him afterwards, it simply turns back to the long-necked dinosaur. As Gohan wakes up again the next morning, he finds only bones where his friend was, and sadly realizes that he still has to get a lot stronger than he is now. Review: Two episodes in a row with Gohan making a new friend and losing them by the end - this sure is starting to be a trend for the poor kid, huh? Surely that kind of thing won't be happening to him again though. ...*cough* All joking aside, this episode actually doesn't focus nearly as much on the dinosaur as I always remember it doing. It's still a main focus of course, but unlike the previous episode which was pretty much entirely about Gohan and the robot bonding, this time around there's equal focus given to what's happening elsewhere, this time in the form of Kuririn and Bulma picking up Yamcha. And honestly, between the two storylines in this episode? I find the Yamcha material far more interesting and entertaining. Something that we never really saw come up in the previous material was any indication of what these characters do when they're not training or fighting. They've all reached adulthood now though, and adulthood brings with it more responsibilities and the need for money to get by – it sucks, but it's true in fiction usually just as it's true in real life. And in Yamcha's case, with he and Bulma on the rocks again, it definitely means his easier life is over, and he has money concerns now. In fact, the episode even shows that money concerns was the real reason he and Bulma 'broke up', as Yamcha didn't have any money to take her out on a date before, and thus 'stood her up' – something Bulma apparently took to mean he was after another girl, because of course that's what Bulma thinks. I think there's definitely an unhealthy air to their relationship that the series never really delves into the more we see of it to be honest. All of that aside though, the idea that Yamcha would play baseball to make money is as inspired as it is hilarious and out of nowhere. You might find it weird that Yamcha would gravitate to something like this as a career when there was never anything to suggest he was interested in the sport before, and you'd quickly be proven right as Yamcha ISN'T interested in the sport, at least not really. He just needs a way to make good money, and it turns out that being as strong as he is means being really, really good at hitting home runs. He even basically extorts his coach to get more money out of playing even though it's boring him to tears – Yamcha, you devious bastard of a genius you. Going back to the Bulma/Yamcha relationship for a moment, the episode also makes it clear that there's still an attraction there between the two of them, despite them being on the rocks at the moment, something that Kuririn is a little perturbed by. It's been hinted in the past that Kuririn might have a bit of a thing for Bulma, so one can't help but wonder if he was thinking of pursuing her himself now that she's single. That...could only have ended terribly, my friend. As for the titular storyline focusing on Gohan and the dinosaur...it's alright. It's cute, but it's certainly not as fleshed out as the one between Gohan and the robot, and it doesn't help that this episode comes immediately after that one either. It's weird, in a way I've always found it odd that this episode was the one that the original dub kept whereas it removed the previous one, but in some ways I think I can see why. The robot episode is certainly more fleshed out with what it does for Gohan's character, but this one is a little more fun and better paced, while also showing off a bit more of characters other than Gohan. Yamcha in particular probably needed this re-introduction since, well, for fans unfamiliar with the previous material, this is his FIRST introduction...and man does that both work for and against him as a character, especially considering where he's going in this story arc. Gohan finding out how tough he's already become is a treat though, as is seeing him remembering some times spent with his father and even realizing he'd learned something from him as well. So it's not at all that this episode's story for him is bad, it's just that it feels a bit repetitive when we've had two of them in a row. Until next time! Favorite Scene: Gohan imagining his new dino friend and himself going on adventures together is pretty cute. What kid DIDN'T want a dino friend after all? Next Time: A little of before, a little of after. Synopsis: As the sun rises the day after Gohan's transformation into an Oozaru, the young boy awakens to find himself off of the destroyed rock pillar, and wearing new clothes and sporting a sword to boot. He doesn't remember anything, and as he tries to stumble over to some water to wash his face, he discovers his balance being thrown off by his tail being missing. Gohan doesn't have long to worry about any of this however a she soon finds himself being pursued by a large alligator and a sabretooth. Gohan flees from them while trying to back them away with his sword, and ends up being grabbed by a giant eagle. As the eagle flies, it gets into a fight with a large pterodactyl, ultimately dropping Gohan who falls through a hole in the desert's sand. Gohan finds himself in a large cave of ruins that Gohan recognizes as being from a long-lost civilization. Looking around the cave, Gohan soon runs into a large, old robot trapped in debris. He powers the robot on, and it immediately asks who has woken it up. Gohan introduces himself to the robot and the robot warns him not to speak too loudly, as the slightest vibration causes sand to fall down into the cave, something that's already been happening since Gohan's arrival. Gohan asks the robot what it's doing here, but the robot tells him that it's none of his business and requests to be turned off once again, telling Gohan that there's an exit behind him. Gohan turns the robot off and starts to leave through the exit, but soon finds that it leads to a deep ravine. Heading back to the robot, he powers it back on and tells him that he can't get out that way, but the robot chastises Gohan for turning him on again when all he wants is to sleep. Gohan begins to cry, causing more sand to fall, and the robot tells him to stop, telling him that that exit is the only way out if he wants to live. As the robot talks to him, Gohan becomes scared stiff of a snake and stops talking, causing the robot to think that he's left, revealing to Gohan that the robot's visual sensors are damaged. Gohan opens the robot's front and fixes it's sensors much to the robot's complaints, though it now sees that it's dealing with an actual child. Gohan insists that he needs the robot's help to escape, but the robot tells him not to depend on it, demanding once again to be turned off and left here. Gohan turns the robot off again, leaving him feeling more alone than ever, and as he still can't bring himself to brave the ravine, goes and sits down to cry. As day passes on into night, Gohan eventually falls asleep laying next to the robot. Gohan is rudely awakened as a scorpion falls onto his chest, and he turns the robot on again. The robot tells him that he can expect a scorpion or too as long as he's here underground and again orders Gohan to power him off. Gohan does so, but soon turns him on again to complain that he's hungry. The robot tells him there's no reason there'd anything here to eat unless he wants to eat scorpions or snakes, and Gohan's crying begins to cause the cave to collapse again. The robot agrees to help him out just this once, and tells him to go check the corners of the cave, and when Gohan does, he finds numerous mushrooms he can eat. The robot tells him to turn him off again, but Gohan says he can't eat them raw. Gohan says the robot should have a cooking system as he remembers reading about this kind of robot in a book, describing him as a 'superior unit'. The robot is immensely flattered, and agrees to cook the mushrooms for him. As Gohan eats the mushrooms, the robot asks him how he ended up in here in the first place. Gohan says he just wants to go back to his mother's but has no idea where he is or how to get there. The robot thinks that's rough for someone so young, but says it'll be even harder for Gohan to live if he stays in this desert. Gohan then asks the robot how he ended up here, and the robot explains that he was excavating these ruins when the ground gave way and he became trapped and abandoned after the collapse. Gohan says finding ruins like these must have been a great discovery, and the robot is impressed that Gohan knows about them. Gohan thinks that someone else coming to look at the ruins might come help them eventually, but the robot says he's been trapped here without seeing another person for eighty years before Gohan showed up. Gohan starts digging the robot out of the debris with his sword, but the robot objects and tells Gohan to leave him be, as if he stores up enough energy he can eventually escape on his own.. Gohan's digging eventually causes the cave to start to collapse faster, and the robot tells Gohan to leave immediately if he doesn't want to die. Gohan wants the robot to come with him, but the robot tells him that he'll be okay, he is a 'superior unit' after all. The robot tells Gohan to use all his courage and leap past the ravine, but before Gohan can, he wants to turn off the robot's switch. As the cave-in gets worse, the robot is half-crushed stopping a pillar from crushing Gohan, and the pillar also blocks the only exit. The robot tells Gohan to connect the blue and red wires inside his front, and when he does so, the robot uses all of it's remaining energy to pull itself free from the debris and move the pillar out of the way. With the exit unblocked, the robot picks up Gohan and throws him out of the cave and over the ravine, telling him to take care of himself. As the cave collapses, the robot is left behind in the rubble. Gohan rushes over and finds the crushed robot, who tells Gohan that his energy is all but spent now, and tells Gohan not to cry even when he's on his own, as he only has himself to rely on if he wants to survive. As the robot powers down one last time, Gohan cries for a bit but steels himself to become tougher than he was before so that he can survive this ordeal and get back to his mother someday. Review: At long last, the first foray into DBZ era filler begins. Technically we've already had a little bit of padding filler here and there – the first episode of the anime gives us quite a bit more time with Gohan trying not to get eaten in the woods by their house, and Goku coming to help him – but this was the first material that felt worthwhile to cover. In a similar vein though, it's all about Gohan. The 'Z' era of of the series definitely has high expectations for Gohan from the very start. And why shouldn't it? Being Goku's son already carries with it pretty lofty expectations in-of-itself, and as we've seen, Gohan's got an innate power that just might rival or even outdo his own father's potential. At the same time however, we've seen that he's an incredibly different kind of character compared to his father. That's all just from the few times we've been exposed to him thus far too – in truth, we really don't know Gohan that well at all yet, which is something that I think the anime staff picked up and ran with, because at least a good handful of filler in this portion of this story (both things we'll be covering, and scenes in episodes that won't be covered due to being primarily canon material) are stories with Gohan at their center. They're stories designed to see how he changes from where we first met him at Kame House, to become more the character we'll be seeing from him moving forward. This first episode dedicated to showing the change in Gohan goes about it in a somewhat unique manner. Following immediately after Gohan's Oozaru rampage, Gohan awakens to find himself with new clothes and even a sword to protect himself, but he's still in no real condition to do so. As such, he's immediately predated upon by the local wildlife, before ultimately falling into a cave where there's seemingly no way out – at least, no safe way out. It's in that cave that Gohan meets a dilapidated and damaged old robot, a character that used to be quite the fan favorite in the earlier days of fandom. I've never been entirely sure why – maybe it's because of the heartstrings pulled upon by this episode, or maybe it being skipped in the original Toonami run of episodes had something to do with it as well, rendering the character a little more mystique than he'd otherwise have. That said, the robot is an entertaining enough character to endear yourself to at least a little bit. He reminds me a bit of the robot that assisted Goku when he took a Red Ribbon plane and ended up crashing near Muscle Tower, though whereas that one was nothing but snark, this one's old and cantankerous. Imagine a robot version of an Ed Asner character, and you've got it. While Gohan is immediately drawn to the robot, the robot in turn wants nothing to do with the boy. At first it seems like he's just repulsed by having anyone around at all, but throughout the episode, he starts to like Gohan a little more with each encounter. He's impressed by Gohan's intelligence for such a young age, though he's continually annoyed by his crybaby nature, though his attitude changes at least a little bit once he realizes that he's dealing with an actual child. Gohan's flattery wins him over in the end, and though he's still very abrupt with him, he's won over enough that he seems to not want Gohan to die. Dying is exactly all Gohan can look forward to if he doesn't leave the cave however. The only way out is through an opening behind the robot, and it requires leaping across a huge ravine. This wouldn't be an issue for the likes of our other fighting characters, but for Gohan, who's still young and timid and not in control of his great powers? It's a seemingly insurmountable obstacle. As the robot tries to help Gohan, it also tries to make him realize that nobody is coming to save him either – to get out of this situation alive, he's going to have to take it upon himself to be brave. Every time he tries to get Gohan to leave however, he tells him to make sure and turn him back off before he goes. This is at first interpreted as the robot just not wanting to sit there and be aware as he rusts into nothingness, but eventually the real picture comes into focus – the robot has his own plan to escape from this situation someday, under his own power no less. He just needs to conserve enough energy, and eventually he'll be able to push his way free and get out of the cave. It's not readily clear wha this plans are after that fact, as he was pretty well abandoned by whoever had been using him to excavate the ruins, and other studies were conducted at some point apparently due to Gohan's knowledge of the lost civilization. Regardless, the robot very much has it's own plan to see through. In the end however, Gohan's insistence on needing the robot's help, as well as his own refusal to just leave the robot buried there, causes the cave to collapse further than it had, including blocking the only exit he could have made it out of. With no time to waste, the robot tells Gohan how to enable his power reserves, and the robot uses the last of it's strength not to escape at long last, but to allow Gohan to escape instead. At the cost of it's own “life”, the robot saves Gohan, but it also forces him to finally make the realization that he's been needing to make since the beginning – when you're on your own in the wilderness, it's up to you to survive, as there's never a guarantee that someone will come save you. A bitter addendum to the lesson too, is that sometimes those saving you can get hurt in the process, so it's still best to do all that you can to not make the situation any worse either. This...actually sounds really familiar to a plot point that we'll be coming up on in due time, so I'm curious if this episode came out before or after that plot point was a thing in the manga. I'd assume after, but I can't say for certain without checking dates. By the end of the episode, Gohan has become at least a little more matured and self-reliant than he was before, but that's only the first step in him becoming more than a crybaby, and it's far from the last story the anime has for him to give us a little more insight into what he's thinking. Until next time! Favorite Scene: The robot's grouchy attitude is fun all-around, but I especially like the part where he gets flattered by Gohan's words. Next Time: Two tearjerker episodes in a row may have been a bit much. Synopsis: As Piccolo trains by himself in a barren wasteland, he vows that the next time he fights Son Goku, he'll be the winner. Piccolo's training is suddenly interrupted however by a group of three mysterious figures who successfully catch him off guard and force him into a corner and seemingly 'kill' him, as a fourth warrior watches. The fourth warrior laughs, thinking to himself that this has taken Kami out of the equation as well, and sure enough, up at Kami's sanctuary, Kami is gripping his chest and wondering if Goku has fought and killed Piccolo this time after all. In the wilderness surrounding their home, Son Gohan studies about cicada until his mother Chi Chi calls him back for lunch. Gyumao soon arrives carrying presents (mostly books) for Gohan, but suddenly reacts in pain, dropping all of the presents to the ground. He collapses, nearly crushing Gohan in the process, and when the boy runs back to his mother's side, they see the assailant – Ginger (a brown-skinned demon-looking figure) – standing behind Gyumao's body. Chi Chi asks him what they've come here for, and Ginger says they only want the Dragon Ball on Gohan's hat. Chi Chi tells Gohan to go back inside, but as Chi Chi prepares to fight, two more demon like figures named Sansho (a large grey demon-like figure) and Nikki (a green demon-like figure) coming from their house. Chi Chi tries to fight but is easily overwhelmed, being knocked almost unconscious by a simple kiai from Ginger. Gohan rushes to his mother's side but is ultimately kidnapped by the trio, as Goku – who was fishing in a nearby pond – senses something amiss and rushes home to find his wife and father-in-law on the ground. Chi Chi manages to tell Goku about Gohan being kidnapped just before falling unconscious. Gohan is taken to a bizarre and demonic looking castle, where the leader of the three warriors, Garlic Jr. (an extremely small green demon-like figure), is pleased to see that they now have five of the seven Dragon Balls. Soon enough, he'll be able to wish for eternal life, something that not even Kami had, making this the first step in Garlic Jr.'s 'revenge'. After which, he plans to plunge the earth into darkness and despair. Gohan interrupts Garlic Jr.'s plotting by saying that he wants to go home, and warns them all that if they don't take him home, then his father will be coming to save him, bragging that his father is Son Goku, the strongest man in the world. Garlic Jr. has heard of Goku and knows him as the man who defeated Piccolo at the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai, but Garlic Jr.'s minions aren't worried as they too defeated Piccolo. Garlic Jr. watches the boy carefully however, and senses an immense power within the boy as he begins to get upset. He thinks that if the boy is raised properly, he could be of great use to him, so he says that he'll be training and raising Gohan to be one of his attendants like the other three. At Kame House, Goku explains the situation to Bulma, Roshi, and Kuririn, and locates Gohan using Bulma's dragon radar. He quickly rushes off, though Roshi warns him that if these guys are strong enough to defeat Gyumao and Chi Chi that they might be tougher foes than they think. Kuririn watches with concern as his friend rushes off into likely danger. Nikki is left to babysit Gohan, who promptly runs around the temple and frustrating the warrior immensely. Gohan eventually grows hungry and grabs an apple like the one he'd seen Nikki eating earlier and chomps down on it before Nikki can stop him. Gohan immediately becomes inebriated, as the apples are alcoholic, and hallucinates all sorts of creatures while singing a song and running all over the castle, further frustrating Nikki, before eventually passing out in Garlic Jr.'s throne as the villain watches him, commenting that he seems to be no ordinary child after all. Ginger and Sansho soon return with the final two Dragon Balls, and Garlic Jr. immediately summons Shenlong and wishes for immortality as Goku quickly flies towards the castle. As the newly immortal Garlic Jr. spouts more plans to unleash demons across the world and plunge it into eternal darkness upon which he will rule in his father's place and finish their revenge against Kami, his minions cheer for him until Goku arrives and demands that they return Gohan immediately. The minions correctly guess his identity and Goku asks if they're the ones that hurt Gyumao and Chi Chi. They prepare to fight Goku as well, but the fight is interrupted by the sudden arrival of Kami, surprising Garlic Jr. and his minions as they thought for sure he was dead due to them killing Piccolo. Goku tells Kami to stay out of this, but Kami recognizes Garlic Jr. and says he's come back after 300 years to try and do the same thing as his father. Kami reveals that the senior Garlic and he both competed for the throne of Kami, and when the Kami we know was ultimately chosen, Garlic tried to lead a demon uprising against them both. The previous Kami ultimately defeated Garlic, and sealed him away forever, but not before Garlic vowed to someday have his revenge. Kami can't believe Garlic would be so crass as to use his own son for his vengeance, but Garlic Jr. says that Kami has no one to blame for this but himself for taking the throne. Goku doesn't care about any of this and demands once again that they give Gohan back, and Garlic Jr.'s henchmen tell Goku that he's in the throne room. Goku rushes past Garlic Jr. to reach his son, and is pursued by the minions, leaving Kami and Garlic Jr. alone. Goku tries looking for Gohan but is interrupted by Ginger, Nikki, and Sansho, who all fight to keep him from getting any further into the castle. The three warriors all say the name of a spice before transforming, becoming much more muscular and bulky versions of their previous builds, and with that become able to overcome Goku temporarily. Goku is impressed that they've gotten both bigger and faster, and leads them back outside to continue the fight. Kami asks Garlic Jr. if he thinks it'll really be that easy to defeat a God, but Garlic Jr. reveals that he's been given immortality by Shenlong, meaning he can't be defeated either. Kami calls Garlic Jr. arrogant, as Goku and the minions fight continues. Goku is eventually able to knock all three fighters to the ground, and again demands Gohan's return. Nikki and Sansho try to catch Goku off guard with energy blasts, but their attacks are soon knocked aside by a blast from a late arriving Kuririn, who says he's here to help Goku. Piccolo is revealed to have arrived as well, much to Kuririn's dismay, as well as the surprise of Garlic Jr.'s minions. Goku asks Piccolo why he's here, and Piccolo says he's not here to help – he just has unfinished business with these three. As Kuririn looks on in fear, a sudden stream of liquid starts pouring on his head, and he glances up to find Gohan at last, peeing on him from up above. Kami and Garlic Jr.'s fight wrecks the upper level of the castle, with Garlic Jr. quickly overwhelming Kami. As Goku tries to get to Gohan, he's cut off by Nikki and Ginger, resulting in him asking Kuririn to get to his son. Kuririn rushes past Piccolo to do so, and is almost caught by Sansho, but Piccolo brings the large warrior back down to him to fight instead, allowing Kuririn to get to the young boy. Piccolo beats down Sansho, accusing him of only being able to win when there's three of them and they catch him by surprise, and Sansho angrily fights Piccolo with all he has. It quickly proves to not be enough however, and Piccolo punches Sansho through multiple pillars before finishing him off with a blast, saying that none of the minions are anything special on their own. Garlic Jr. defeats Kami and tells him to sit back and enjoy the show as he takes over the world, but Kami fights back by unleashing more of his Godly power. Meanwhile, Nikki and Ginger pop swords out of their own bodies with which to fight Goku, forcing Goku to utilize the nyoibo. Goku is barely able to move fast enough to dodge all of their fast sword strikes, but eventually uses the nyoibo's stretching abilities to knock Nikki away into a nearby building top while disarming Ginger. Ginger tries again to fight Goku hand to hand, but Goku is ultimately able to kick him and send him flying towards Nikki. As Ginger tries to blast Goku, Goku fires a Kamehameha that ends up enveloping both Ginger and Nikki, killing them both. Garlic Jr. is shown to have once again overwhelmed Kami, and this time it looks like Kami doesn't have any strength left. Kami says that he is still the God of Earth however, and it's his duty to protect humanity from people like Garlic Jr., even if it costs him his life. Kami grabs hold of Garlic Jr. seemingly in attempt to blow himself up and take them both out, but Garlic Jr. reminds him again that he's wished for immortality and thus that it won't work. Piccolo arrives and tells Garlic Jr. that although he may be immortal, if he's not strong enough to defeat other stronger warriors, it won't stop him from being sent to a living hell. Goku arrives as well, and tells Kuririn to get Gohan out of here as he and Piccolo deal with Garlic Jr. Garlic Jr. tells Goku and Piccolo that it's a shame that two warriors like them would come to the aid of someone as worthless as Kami, before transforming into a large, buff form that Piccolo recognizes as the 'fourth warrior' from before. Garlic Jr. rushes Goku and Piccolo, instantly proving to be far more formidable than any of his minions. Goku gets Kami out of the way and re-joins the fight, but nothing either he or Piccolo tries seems to put even a dent in Garlic Jr., as the fight begins bringing the castle down around them, forcing a retreating Kuririn to dodge falling debris. Ultimately, Kuririn is hit with a pillar and knocked unconscious, causing him to drop Gohan to the ground as the young boy is also covered with debris. As Garlic Jr. overwhelms them both, Goku and Piccolo both take off their weighted training clothing so that they can go all out. Piccolo warns Goku that once they take care of Garlic Jr., he's going after him next, and the fight renews, with Goku and Piccolo managing to overwhelm Garlic Jr. this time, blasting him away into a nearby building and seemingly defeating him. As Kami arrives to say something to Piccolo, Piccolo tells him to stay out of this as Goku and he prepare to have their rematch at last. As Goku and Piccolo begin to fight however, Garlic Jr. springs back up from the rubble, saying again that he can never die. Garlic Jr. raises his power higher, causing the ground to shake and a large rip to appear in the sky that starts sucking up debris into it, almost sucking Goku and Piccolo into it as well as an awakening Kuririn who wonders where Gohan has ended up. Piccolo tries to blast Garlic Jr., but the attack has no effect, as Garlic Jr. says that his 'Dead Zone' will suck in everything on Earth until he closes it, leaving them absolutely no chance of defeating him now. As Goku, Piccolo, Kuririn, and Kami all hold on to remaining pillars from the castle, Gohan's cries begin to echo out from beneath the pile of debris he's covered by. The debris is thrown off of him, and an angry Gohan stands his ground against Garlic Jr. and the Dead Zone vortex behind him. Garlic Jr. senses that Gohan's power has risen higher than his own, and tries to blast Gohan so that he'll lose his footing and get sucked into the Dead Zone, but Gohan unleashes more of his power in a rage, instead knocking into Garlic Jr. and sending him flying into his own Dead Zone, causing it to close and trap him inside of it before anyone else is sucked in. Garlic Jr. laughs as he enters the vortex, once again saying that due to his immortality, he will never die. As the castle crumbles and the closing Dead Zone shatters like glass in the sky, Gohan falls unconscious again. Kuririn asks Kami what happened to Garlic Jr., and Kami says he may soon regret becoming immortal, as now he must go on living in the hellish void of the Dead Zone for eternity. Gohan soon awakens in his father's arms and assumes that his dad saved him, and Goku decides to keep what really happened a secret for the time being. Goku tells Gohan it's time to go back home to Chi Chi, and as the father and son leave alongside Kami and Kuririn, Piccolo watches from above and vows to settle things with Goku some other time. As Goku and Gohan fly over the ocean, shards of the Dead Zone are seen in the Ocean, with an emaciated Garlic Jr. seen pounding against the wall of one of them. Review: I'm not going to lie, after covering the first three Dragon Ball movies, I've been kind of excited to finally get to the 'Z' films, because in my book, they're far more interesting fare. Don't get me wrong – there's definitely more than a good handful of stinkers on the horizon (there's one in particular that I absolutely dread reviewing), but by and large, the DBZ films try to do a lot more in their limited runtime than the original Dragon Ball films ever did. For starters, whereas the three Dragon Ball films prior basically serve as an alternate universe re-telling of events you already know from reading the manga or watching the anime, with only a few changes here and there to condense things or allow for the insertion of an original character or two, the DBZ films endeavor to tell stories that are a little more unrelated to the ongoing narrative...sort of. There's definitely still quite a bit pulled from the source material, particularly with this first movie, and the movies will continue to do just that basically for the entire run. At the same time though, they still end up feeling far more unique and able to stand on their own two feet. My favorite of the three Dragon Ball movies was definitely movie 2, and going forward, that's going to be closer to the format we'll be getting. As said however, this movie still owes quite a bit to the manga's story and takes some things for it's own setup. Much like the opening chapter with Raditz, this movie's story opens with Piccolo off on his own before getting attacked by an unknown, powerful assailant. Unlike with Raditz however, these assailants were definitely looking for him, with Goku actually being the one that's an afterthought. It definitely makes more sense in the series to have the villain coming after Goku since it's his background that's getting fleshed out, but it's still a neat twist to see their focus be on Piccolo instead here, especially once you get to why they were focused on him...even if it does end up making for a bit of poor logic on their part. The Raditz portion of the Saiyan arc really does form the backbone of this film's story, which is why I chose to review it here when I did. From the first encounter and moving forward, you have Gohan being kidnapped, Goku going to his friends for aid, and ultimately him teaming up with Piccolo to combat a bigger threat than either of them can handle alone. Oh, and of course it ultimately comes down to Gohan revealing some of his hidden powers, though in this version of events, Gohan actually saves the day rather than just providing a momentary distraction and weakening of the villain. And yeah, at least in the vein of being immortal, defeating Garlic Jr. is a little more impressive than defeating Raditz (though as Piccolo points out, immortality isn't all it's cracked up to be if you can still be overpowered). Despite the basic setup for everything being lifted wholesale from the manga, this take on things does have a good bit of originality going for it too. Rather than there being just one new foe to face, the villain comes with some toadies to be fought first (a trope that almost every single film to follow would also utilize, sometimes to unfortunate degrees). There's also another use of the Dragon Balls (something else that many of the films would follow suit with), this time resulting in the main villain's immortality. I'd imagine this choice was inspired by the other two Saiyans on their way to Earth wanting the same thing, or it may have just come up as an idea on it's own. Either way, it makes for an interesting conundrum – the other villains in this film all get killed off, but the biggest threat can't be dealt with as simply as all that, leaving the audience wondering exactly how Goku is going to save the day this time. The biggest difference between this film and the chapters that inspired it though is Garlic Jr.'s backstory. As mentioned before, his henchmen go after Piccolo at the start on purpose rather than by mistake as Raditz did, but their real goal all along was to take Kami out of the picture. It's only later when Kami makes his grand appearance in the film that we get Garlic Jr.'s backstory and the reason he's doing everything that he's doing. I suppose you could say it's similar to Raditz's motivation in that there's a familial connection at play, but the similarities end there and are threadbare to begin with. And as much as I've harped on Kami in the past, this might actually come as a surprise – I really like this idea for a villain. Having a character connected to Kami's backstory makes perfect sense as a way to build out the world of Dragon Ball, and it's particularly effective in showing that hey, Kami actually WILL go and fight for himself when it doesn't potentially involve his own mistakes, so you know – THAT'S nice. It's also pretty telling and a little funny that the original Garlic was apparently too evil to receive the throne of Kami, but the Kami we know was ordained worthy after budding off his evil side. See, that's all you had to do Garlic! I joke, but there's actually a few lines that almost make it sound like that or something else similar is Garlic Jr.'s origin as well. There's a line from Kami that refers to Garlic as the 'original', not 'father', of Garlic Jr. Given that this entire backstory is tied at the hip to Kami's past, I wouldn't be surprised if Garlic Jr. WAS some sort of budding off of the original Garlic, though it might be more in the vein of King Piccolo birthing his own clone in the form of Piccolo. So basically, this whole movie is made from a mixture of Piccolo arc and early Saiyan arc themes and story beats – geez, no wonder it's so good. The villains in this film are rather bland unfortunately (something else that's going to be a stumbling block for future films as well). Nikki gets some fun moments stuffing his face and having to deal with Gohan, and Sansho gets at least to show some cowardly personality when facing off with Piccolo again, but Ginger is about as run of the mill as it gets. And yes, you might have noticed me using their names almost from the start rather than waiting for them to get mentioned as I usually do with the anime or manga – that's because these movies have a pretty bad habit of the minions not getting outright named in the films proper at all, with names only coming from secondary sources. So in these particular cases, I'll be cutting to the chase usually. Nikki and Ginger do both get the neat ability to sprout swords from their bodies (we can only assume Sansho could also do it), and they do all share the same buffing up ability that their boss has, but ultimately they're all pretty forgettable. Oh, but fitting with that 'Garlic Jr. is a different take on Piccolo Jr.' idea though, these guys could totally be demons born from him in the same manner as Tambourine and Cymbal and such. Speaking of Gohan, this movie does see fit to give him a bit more of a role than he had in the chapters so far (likely stemming from the fact that both the manga and anime were further along at the time of the film's release). He doesn't really get to fight per say yet, but he does get a song number. That's...something, right? The song is a pretty fun and cute moment, with just that little hint of typical Toriyama darker edge with him being drunk at the time, so it's really not as bad as it might sound if you haven't seen it for yourself. And as for the big bad himself, Garlic Jr.? As stated before, I really love his backstory, which helps quite a bit in making him more engaging than he might otherwise be able to be in such a short runtime. There's also the fact that he's a little gremlin guy who basically turns into the Incredible Hulk, and the fact that that nature is somewhat teased by his deeper than expected voice courtesy of Akira Kamiya himself. Basically, he's everything you might want in a movie villain, especially given that he's not quite as specifically taken from any particular series villain in terms of how he looks and acts (my theory on him being a take on Piccolo aside). Him being made immortal makes him stand out among a list of villains who also wanted the same thing but never quite achieved their goals, and the Dead Zone technique (which is basically an evil Mafuba, now that I think about it...hmm) is tonally creepy as well, working well with the rather gothic backgrounds seen in this film (they're absolutely gorgeous by the way). Overall, he's definitely got more going for him than you might think on the surface. Gee, it'd be a shame if this was the last we saw of him. ...Did anyone else hear the finger of a monkey's paw slowly curling? Before I wrap things up, the last thing I wanted to talk about is this movie's “place” in the series proper. As stated before, I chose to review this movie at the point in the series that I did due to the themes it took from the series having been covered now (namely the Goku/Piccolo team up and Gohan's hidden powers). That's not where the film would actually take place if you were to try to shoehorn it in of course though, given that Goku is now dead in the manga. While the DBZ movies make some effort to be more proper narratives rather than retellings, very few of them actually fit anywhere perfectly due to at least one narrative issue or another, and this one's no different. My own personal placement for this film, for example, has always been that if it happened, it must happen prior to Raditz's arrival, basically making it take place between 'Dragon Ball' and 'Dragon Ball Z'. I normally tout this choice based around the idea that Goku's still alive at this point so it can't happen during the Saiyan arc, and without heading too far into spoiler territories, some similar issues prevent it from taking place after it. It's the safest, easiest bet, but it still doesn't really work perfectly either. So what holds back that placement from working entirely? Well, one issue is that the Dragon Balls are used. There could be a year between this film and the arrival of Raditz perhaps, but that seems a little unlikely, so that means that the Balls would be unavailable to be used again as we know is coming in the manga right now. A bigger narrative issue comes in the form of Gohan though. As we've just covered in the manga, none of Goku's friends knew he existed before he showed up at Kame House with a kid in tow, and that doesn't work very well when Goku shows up there this time to borrow the Dragon Ball radar because he's been kidnapped. Kuririn even meets Gohan in this version of events, so there's no getting around that this just couldn't happen before Raditz shows up any better than it really could after. Gee, it sure would be a shame if this story being unable to have actually happened were to be an issue for any future filler material some day. ...That monkey's paw is glaring at me now. Where the hell did it even get eyes? In the end, this first DBZ film very much sets the standard that all future DBZ films, at least for the original run, are going to follow to varying degrees. With that in mind, I'd say it was a pretty successful first outing. It's not my favorite DBZ movie, but it's definitely one I'm fond of, as I know a lot of people are too. If you can find a copy that's not currently sitting in VegettoEX of Kanzenshuu's basement, you should really check it out if you haven't seen it before. Until next time! Favorite Scene: I love absolutely every fight in this film due to how well choreographed it all is, but if I had to pick one truly stand-out scene, it's obvious which one – Gohan's drunken antics absolutely steal this film. Next Time: New Plans and New Places |
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
Categories
All
|