Synopsis: As Gohan and Kuririn marvel at how pretty Planet Namek looks from space, Bulma warns them to buckle up as they're about to go in for a landing. The ship lands in an open area, with odd-colored trees and grass surrounding them. Bulma starts checking readings with the ship's console and mentions that she brought oxygen masks and tanks for them all just in case the air outside isn't fit for them to breathe, but much to her surprise, Gohan and Kuririn have already stepped outside. Gohan notes that the surrounding area looks a bit like where Piccolo trained him, and Kuririn recognizes it as similar to the area where they first fought the Saiyans. He wonders if maybe Piccolo felt more at ease in a place similar to his homeland? Bulma comes out of the ship and chews them both out for leaving before they knew for sure it was safe, and Gohan and Kuririn wonder why she's so upset. Bulma checks the Dragon Ball radar and sure enough, there are Dragon Balls on this planet. Bulma and Kuririn celebrate, but Gohan has noticed something odd – he can feel a lot of strong power levels in the distance. Kuririn wonders what could be going on, but Bulma isn't worried and says that it's probably just the Namekians, saying that Kami and Piccolo were both incredibly strong after all. Gohan and Kuririn aren't so sure however as the energy they sense feels evil somehow. Bulma still doesn't think there's anything to worry about however, and points out that the radar shows four Dragon Balls already gathered together in the direction they're looking in, so it has to be the Namekians. Kuririn tries to laugh and look on the bright side, but suddenly a familiar looking ship flies down out of the sky and crash lands in the distance – it's the Saiyan's space pod! The trio starts to freak out, and Kuririn tells Gohan to surpress his power lest Vegeta pick them up on his scouter, and they try to figure out what to do. Bulma thinks they need to head back to Earth immediately, but Kuririn thinks they can't let Vegeta get the Dragon Balls. He suggests that Bulma goes back to Earth on her own while he and Gohan remain behind with the radar and try to gather the Dragon Balls first. Bulma says she'll just call Roshi back on Earth first to give them a warning, and says she'll be back in about two months time with Goku to help them out. Kuririn and Gohan worry about if they'll be able to survive out here that long. A short distance away, Vegeta curses Freeza and states that the Dragon Balls are his and his alone. As he puts back on his scouter, he realizes Freeza must know about his betrayal, and while he doesn't fear anyone else, Freeza is another matter entirely – he has no choice but to get the Dragon Balls first and wish for immortality. Using the scouter, Vegeta picks up a reading for Freeza and his men and flies in that direction, saying that he must have brought Dodoria and Zarbon with him as well. On Earth, Roshi receives Bulma's call, as Bulma tells him to let everyone else know (well, everyone except for Chi Chi that is). As she finishes up her call, Gohan and Kuririn see something else in the sky – a second Saiyan space pod coming in for a landing! In a nearby Namekian village, an elderly Namekian lays dead on the ground as a group of aliens wearing Saiyan armor ransack his home. One of them steps out carrying a Dragon Ball – larger than the Earth's Dragon Balls – and shows it to Lord Freeza, a small alien with horns and a tail that floats in a chair flanked by two bigger, stronger looking subordinates. Freeza thanks his soldier and says they only have three Dragon Balls left to collect now. Freeza tells the soldier to give the Dragon Ball to Dodoria (the spiky pink alien on his right), and tells Dodoria to guard it carefully as he believes Vegeta is after them as well. The other subordinate with long hair, Zarbon, informs Freeza that Cui has just arrived on the planet in pursuit of Vegeta. There's also the matter of the two large power readings from earlier that appeared and suddenly disappeared and have yet to return. Zarbon says they're investigating the area where the powers disappeared and with any luck they'll soon know what's going on. Freeza casually accepts this and doesn't seem worried, saying that Vegeta is their main priority at this time. Zarbon thinks Cui will take care of Vegeta in short order, as the two have long hated each other and are roughly the same in power – if nothing else, Cui will keep Vegeta too busy to get in their way. Having stepped out of his pod that landed next to Vegeta's, Cui uses his scouter and says that Vegeta won't be able to hide from him. Review: At long last, our heroes have landed on Planet Namek, and the real Planet Namek at that! Unfortunately for them however, so have a host of various threats that are going to make their lives really hard for the foreseeable future. Them's the breaks sometimes, I'm afraid. As soon as they land, Bulma is hit with another round of exasperation at the hands of the much less critically thinking Gohan and Kuririn. Honestly, this time the joke lands at least, as she raises a valid point this time – they can't really know for sure that the air outside is going to be breathable for humans such as themselves, so they probably should have let her check things out first with the ship. That said, since Namekians such as Kami and Piccolo could breath on Earth just fine, it's...probably a pretty safe bet that the air on both planets are similar? I'm not a scientist though, so what do I know. There's also an interesting comment about how the terrain of Namek looks similar to the wastelands that Piccolo trained Gohan in and that perhaps being some inherent feeling of home he had when being in such a place. While not impossible, I'm not entirely sure how much I buy into this theory honestly, though to be fair that's mostly because I know the real world reasoning behind it – big open space backgrounds are a lot easier to draw, especially when their backgrounds are fairly repetitive, as opposed to more detail oriented locations such as cities or, you know, tournaments full of people. And if you haven't figured it out by now, that's one thing Toriyama absolutely excels at is trying to find the easiest way to get the job done. Let's be completely fair here though – by this point in time, he'd already been drawing a weekly manga for a long, long time, especially when you count all of Dr. Slump prior to Dragon Ball. It's pretty understandable that he'd want to try to find a way to make his job easier. That said, I hope you like the look of Namek, because you're gonna be looking at it for a long, long time. While I acknowledge and empathize with Toriyama's reasoning for these locales being where most of the fighting ends up happening, this might be the one time that Toriyama pushes that excuse a little too far for my books. It's not just where our heroes have landed that look like this – it's the entire planet. Every single bit of Namek looks like this. Every. Single. Bit. It doesn't take long for this backdrop to get old to stare at, especially in the anime which makes the arc even longer. Needless to say, while I'm a pretty big fan of this arc from a story perspective, it might be one of my absolute least favorite locations in the entire franchise as a result of how drab and repetitive it all is to look at. Gohan and Kuririn immediately pick up on some ki signatures not too far away from where they landed, and despite Bulma's assurances that it's probably just the Namekians, the two of them both feel like what they're sensing feels evil. It's not the first time we've had evil ki described as feeling different from the calmer kind, so it's probably a pretty safe bet that they're right. This fact gets proven correct pretty quickly as, once Vegeta arrives, it's not long after that we're introduced to our new big bads of this arc. Before getting to them though, you might have noticed that Vegeta has his scouter again here. In the last manga chapter, he left the scouter behind with the alien that looked over his healing, but the anime added a scene of him grabbing the scouter again on his way off of the planet. This was a pretty clever short fix since, as you can see, here he has his scouter again like he never left it behind at all. It's a small error, but one easily accounted for by just assuming the same thing happened in the manga that happened in the anime and we just weren't shown it. It's always nice when the anime can fix small details like this though. As we're introduced to Freeza and his forces, it's made immediately clear that they are extremely bad news. They've killed an elderly Namekian, they're gathering the Dragon Balls for their own purposes – and already have four of them to boot – and Freeza himself is someone that even Vegeta is seemingly scared of. Freeza might not appear like he's much to worry about at first glance however. He seems far shorter than the rest of his forces, he's just casually floating around in a floating chair (seriously, where do I buy one of those?), and he's even polite to his foot soldiers. Don't let any of that fool you though – this guy is absolutely bad news. Case in point, Vegeta is scared of him as I already said. Remember how strong Vegeta was? Now think about how powerful Freeza can already be assumed to be if Vegeta doesn't think he can take him on without wishing for immortality first. There's also the fact that Cui is said to be just as strong as Vegeta is. Neither of them are kept at Freeza's side the same way Dodoria and Zarbon seem to be here, so it's also a safe assumption that those two are likely far stronger than Vegeta and Cui too, and they're also still listening to Freeza's orders. We've only just been introduced to the character, and things are already pointing in a very definite direction – Freeza's power is nightmarish. As the story goes along too, we're going to see just how accurate that first assumption is. Until next time! Favorite Panel:
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Synopsis: As their ship travels through space headed for Planet Namek, Bulma has succumbed to boredom and lazing around the ship in her underwear. As she wonders if she should have made some sort of stasis pods so they could just sleep the whole way there, she watches Gohan and Kuririn meditating and training in their minds. Kuririn snaps out of it first, panting and praising Gohan for how strong he is, while Gohan praises Kuririn for surprising him with how many moves he has. Bulma says training is all well and good, but says the ship has started to get kind of messy and tells them they should clean it up – there's a lady present, after all. Kuririn points out that it's her mess, and Bulma retorts that she's busy thinking while all they do is sit around, and walks away claiming to be busy. Kuririn comments that if she's such a 'lady', he really wishes she wouldn't walk around half naked. From a seat at the front of the ship, Bulma asks Kuririn about something she's been wondering – when Vegeta left Earth, where did he go exactly, pointing out that the Saiyan home world is long gone according to Goku's brother Raditz. Kuririn remembers that as well, and says that with how injured Vegeta was, he must have went somewhere with civilization so he could be treated. Bulma remembers Raditz also saying something about the Saiyans selling planets to other races, so she wonders if maybe it was one of those races he went to. Kuririn thinks it'd be nice if that planet was really far away so they have more time before he comes back to the Earth, and Bulma remarks that their home has really gotten targeted by someone unbelievable. Elsewhere in space, Vegeta's pod flies towards 'Planet Freeza No. 79', and a pair of aliens wearing the same type of armor as the Saiyans get a reading that a ship is approaching. They wonder if it's Lord Freeza, but think that it can't be as he just left. They recognize the signal upon further inspection as Vegeta, which also surprises him as they hadn't heard he'd be coming, and immediately move to have a welcoming party to receive him. As Vegeta's pod lands, a welcoming group of aliens all wearing the same armor notice that there's only one ship, prompting them to wonder where Nappa is. When Vegeta doesn't get out of his pod, they quickly notice that he's on life support inside of it, and hurry him to a medical bay on the planet. Vegeta is shown floating in a vat of liquid with wires attached to him while being watched over by another alien. The alien eventually hits a button, causing the vat to drain and Vegeta to awaken and step out of the tank, naked. The alien tells Vegeta that while he should be completely healed now, his tail couldn't be regenerated, but Vegeta says that's fine as it'll grow back on it's own again. The alien comments that Vegeta must have been through a hard time for his armor to be as damaged as it is, and as Vegeta changes into a new set of armor, he asks if Lord Freeza is there. The alien says Freeza has left, and Vegeta scoffs, saying he must already be bored of this planet as well. The alien informs Vegeta that Cui is waiting to talk to him, but Vegeta laughs and tells him to tell Cui he has nothing to say to him and starts to leave. The alien tells Vegeta that he's forgotten his scouter, but Vegeta tells him that he doesn't need it anymore. As Vegeta walks through a hallway, he thinks to himself that he'll head back to Earth first thing the next morning and destroy them this time, but then decides that he should head to Planet Namek first instead. His thoughts are interrupted when he runs into Cui, who mocks him for having gotten beaten as well as the deaths of Raditz and Nappa. Vegeta tries to walk past Cui, telling him he has no time to listen to his blathering, but Cui grabs his shoulder and stops him, telling him that Lord Freeza is angry with him for going somewhere without his permission. Vegeta says that Freeza can't complain since he's not there, and Cui tells Vegeta that Freeza is generous however and is probably going to forgive Vegeta since the Saiyan “discovered something wonderful”. Vegeta asks Cui what he's talking about, and Cui says Freeza was quite pleased to learn he might be able to become immortal by going to Planet Namek. Hearing this, Vegeta realizes that Freeza must have heard everything through their Scouters, and also realizes that he'll be stuck serving Freeza for the rest of his life if Freeza gets his wish first. Cui tells Vegeta to give up on the Dragon Balls as Freeza is sure to kill the Namekians after getting his own wish granted, but Vegeta races out to his pod, leaping in it and heading as fast as he can for Planet Namek. Thirty-four days after leaving the Earth, Gohan, Kuririn, and Bulma finally reach Planet Namek in Kami's spaceship! Review: Another chapter where I'm not entirely sure there's much to comment on in the grand scheme of things, but there is a few things worth talking about as the chapter finishes up the prelude to Namek (at least in the manga), and sets the stage for what we can expect our heroes to run into once there. The chapter starts off focused on our heroes, with Bulma being bored (and also providing a little bit of fan-service in her down time by walking around in her underwear...in...front of a five-year-old...). Kuririn and Gohan are meanwhile doing a bit of image training together, which is really weird and inexplicable. Seriously, they're channeling images of each other mentally apparently and actually fighting each other that way, so their minds are connected somehow or another. I guess Goku's not the only one capable of spontaneously developing psychic powers when needed. I guess it's the only way they'd really be able to do any kind of training together while in the confines of the ship though, so Toriyama was kind of stuck as far as that goes. The topic among our heroes soon changes to talking about Vegeta though, with Bulma and Kuririn both wondering where he went when he left Earth while also revisiting some information mentioned by Raditz when he came to Earth. They remember that the Saiyan home world is long gone, as well as the fact that the Saiyans supposedly sold planets to other races looking for homes, so they wonder if it could be one of those planets that Vegeta is going to. If there were more Saiyans than only the three initially (not counting Goku and Gohan of course), you'd think they'd wonder if they didn't have a planet of their own they operated out of though, even if it wasn't their original home world. As things turn out though, it's that guess based on them working for other races that turns out to be right, as Vegeta lands on 'Freeza Planet No. 79'. Hmm, that name sounds curiously familiar thanks to us visiting DBZ movie 3 first... Putting that aside for the moment, it's interesting to see the architecture of the alien buildings on this planet, as well as seeing all sorts of aliens – some more humanoid looking and others more bizarre – all wearing the same uniform as the Saiyans we've seen up until now wearing, the same armor and scouter combo as far as the eye can see. Things quickly move in a direction that seem to show not everything was quite as we assumed it to be out in space based on what the Saiyans told us, as while Vegeta is referred to as a 'Lord' on this planet, so is another alien named Cui, and so is Freeza. That already puts Vegeta on an equal footing with some of these other aliens, but there's only one of the three that has a planet named after them currently, and that's Freeza. Couple that with 'No. 79' indicating this is only one of several planets bearing his name, and...yeah, I think it's pretty clear Vegeta just got a huge downgrade in terms of importance. That said though, that actually serves to big up a lot of these other aliens right out of the gate. Look at how Cui talks to Vegeta when they meet, almost like they're equals or as if Cui is above him (not that Vegeta has much time for such an attitude). Then look at the way he talks about Freeza. Now couple that with the fact that 79 planets are named after Freeza, and the fact that Vegeta is almost petrified at the idea of Freeza gaining immortality and thus making Vegeta serve him for the rest of his life. Now take all of that information, keep it in mind...and remember how strong Vegeta was. That it took all of Earth's best efforts to beat him to a DRAW essentially. Oh yeah, I think it's safe to say our heroes are really about to be in far greater danger unlike any they've ever seen before, and they have absolutely no idea what they're getting themselves into. They're going to find out soon enough however, as Freeza and Vegeta are both on their way to the same place as they are. Planet Namek is about to become the biggest hotspot in the universe. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Synopsis: Upon returning to the hospital with Mr. Popo, Bulma tells everyone about the spaceship they found, saying that it needs a little bit of work, but they'll be able to leave in five days and make it to Planet Namek in a month. Everyone is overjoyed at this news, but when Bulma tells Mr. Popo they'll leave the trip to Namek to him, he objects and says he can't leave Kami's sanctuary unattended for two months. Bulma says he has to go because he's the only one that can speak Namekian, but Popo offers to teach her the language. Kuririn also points out that Bulma's the only one who knows mechanics so she has to go in case the ship has any problems, and Bulma ultimately concedes and agrees to go while noting a bunch of luxuries she'll have to add to the ship in that case. Bulma says she doesn't want to go alone however, and when she asks for someone to come with her, Yajirobe turns her down while Roshi eagerly agrees. Bulma says that would only make the trip even more dangerous, so since Goku's in no shape, she asks Kuririn to go with her. Kuririn agrees reluctantly as he wanted to train, while Goku says he wishes he could go as he wanted to see what Planet Namek's dragon looks like. Gohan speaks up and says he wants to go, an idea that surprises everyone and causes Chi Chi to tell him not to joke around like that. Gohan says that he's serious and wants to help bring Piccolo back to life with his own hands, and while Goku praises his son for the idea, Chi Chi flips out. Chi Chi says he's a kid and needs to start acting like one, that she's already had to worry about him for a whole year and now he's being selfish by wanting to leave for another two months, and that he's only going to end up even further behind in his studies at this rate. She finally crosses the line by saying 'who cares about Piccolo', causing Gohan to scream at her to be quiet. Everyone is stunned into silence and Chi Chi laments that her son has become a true delinquent. Gohan tells his mom that everyone who died fought together to try to save the Earth, and that since he can fight too, he has to do what he can to help bring them back to life. Gyu-mao tells his daughter that she's lost this one and to let Gohan go into space with her blessing. As Goku thinks of how proud he is of how strong Gohan has become, Bulma promises Chi Chi that it'll be fine as she's sure it'll be safe enough, and says that it'll take about ten days for her to re-program the ship and for her to learn Namekian, so they'll all meet up at Kame House in ten days. As Bulma and her father work on the Namekian spaceship, Dr. Brief marvels at how advanced it is and acknowledges that there are even smarter geniuses out there than himself. Ten days pass quickly, and the ship is ready to depart from Kame House, with Kuririn looking up at it in awe. Bulma, wearing an astronaut suit, accuses Kuririn of underestimating space due to his casual attire, before asking where Gohan is. Kuririn says he wanted to go see his father in the hospital before coming, and he soon arrives, sporting a short new haircut that and wearing a suit that Chi Chi picked out for him. Bulma feels exhausted from being the only one taking this trip seriously in her view, and says they should get going. Roshi wishes Kuririn well, and Chi Chi tells Gohan to write to her every day as they all depart into the ship. Once inside, Kuririn asks Bulma where they should put their bags, and Bulma angrily tells him to hurry up and sit down, causing Kuririn to wonder why she's in such a bad mood. Bulma launches the ship into space before they have a chance to buckle up, and the trio are in space within seconds, surprising the crowd left behind at Kame House. Bulma tells them they're free to move now that they're out of the atmosphere, surprising Kuririn and disappointing Gohan who had wanted to see the Earth from space. Kuririn asks Bulma where she's going as she starts to leave the room, and she angrily retorts that she's changing, with Kuririn wondering if it's into her pajamas. Kuririn realizes he forgot his own pajamas, and asks Gohan if he brought his or if he's staying in those 'Sunday school' clothes his mother put him in. Gohan says he brought his pajamas, but for now he changes into clothing that he made in secret from his mother, and changes into an outfit that looks similar to Piccolo's gi and the one he wore while fighting the Saiyans. Kuririn says he must really respect Piccolo, and Gohan says he respects him about the same as he does his dad. As Bulma walks back out in her new clothes, Kuririn and Gohan both think they look strange for pajamas, causing Bulma to angrily retort that they're not for sleeping. She says she changed out of her space suit because she started to feel silly for being the only one preparing so seriously for space travel, causing Gohan and Kuririn to wonder if they did something wrong. As the ship flies through space, the trio head for Planet Namek, with no idea of what awaits them there. Review: With a ship that can take them to Namek in far shorter order than four thousand years, it seems like our heroes have everything they need to make this trip happen and wish everyone back in short order. Bulma gets a rude awakening though when she thinks she can just leave all the hard work to Mr. Popo, who straight up says he isn't going. Admittedly, it's a little suspect that he can't go – there's not really anything to suggest he takes care of Kami's God duties while he's dead, so he's probably just tending to the plants and such – but at this point I don't think there's a lot that would be gained narratively from him going in the first place. The time has passed for him to really be more than a background character that helped them all get stronger, and all things told, he's not really a strong enough personality for most to want to watch a storyline following him either. That raises the question then of who will go to Namek? Kuririn quickly points out to Bulma that her going feels like it'd mandatory given she's the only one who'd have any hope of fixing the ship if they ran into any problems with it – an especially fair concern given the ship has just been sitting there for hundreds of years – and while she's reluctant to agree, I'm glad she does. After all, as I said previously, Bulma hasn't really had a lot to do in the past few arcs, so surely having her come along as one of the travelers to Namek will finally give her some plot relevancy again, right? ...We'll come back to that. When Yajirobe rejects the idea of going (not that Bulma was particularly hoping for him in the first place probably) and Roshi jumps at the chance (a notion Bulma very wisely shoots down immediately...), she nominates Kuririn to come along with her. This makes a lot of sense as well, and I'm not just saying that because he's my favorite character. With Goku bedridden and most of the rest of their friends dead, he's really the only active fighter left, and Bulma already knows him at least fairly well. After rising to prominence in the last arc, it makes sense to give Kuririn more to do in the story now to boot. The real standout moment of this chapter however comes with the third member of their party speaking up. Gohan wants to bring Piccolo back to life by his own hands, and given that his teacher died to save him, it makes perfect sense that Gohan would feel this way. There's just one problem though – his mother. Chi Chi's concerns are completely valid as well. She's not wrong to worry when, as she's quick to point out, she's already had to do just that for a whole year while Gohan was away from her. This is also a potentially dangerous trip into unknown territory and he's still a child, why should the fate of people's lives continue to rest on his small shoulders after all? As right as Chi Chi is in her own way though, I can't help but side with Gohan on this one, especially once she makes the mistake of disregarding Piccolo entirely, a comment that even Goku looks furious about upon hearing it. Despite what Piccolo was like before, he DID just die to save her only son, so you'd think that would make her feelings change on him at least slightly. I can't imagine Gohan hasn't told her about that part of what happened anyway, though I suppose it's possible she just didn't listen – as much as I defend her, that would certainly fit her character, all things considered. At the end of the day though, Gohan is the one in the right on this, and his mother is forced to concede that her little boy is going to space after all. It sure uh...sure would be a shame if Bulma's comments about it being safe enough turned out to be all wrong though, wouldn't it... Once the ship is ready to go and everyone gathers at Kame House, we're treated to a few character design changes. Kuririn just gets a new casual fit, complete with a hat with a rather hilarious attempt at spelling his name in English by Toriyama. Badly spelled or not, I'd kill to get a 'Kulilin' hat. Bulma also cuts her hair, and NOOOOOOOOOOO- okay, I'm done. It's not that I don't like her new hair, but it's definitely nowhere near as great looking on her as her previous hairdo, at least in my opinion. The real loser of the new look department however has to be poor Gohan, as Chi Chi apparently put a bowl on his head, cut all the hair that showed out from under it, and then shoved him in a suit and brought him out looking like a shorter Moe from The Three Stooges, the poor kid. The real oddity in this section of the chapter though is Bulma's attitude during it. Bulma's always been a somewhat tempestuous character personality wise, but usually her angry reactions are done in one way (such as her reaction to Mr. Popo refusing to go or Roshi volunteering to go), whereas the way she acts in this chapter is offputtingly different. It seems like the idea is she's exasperated or even embarrassed by how much thought she put into her look going into space compared to the rest of them, but as a joke, that just doesn't really land. Especially when it lasts through the entire rest of the chapter and ends on her spelling it out as such to Gohan and Kuririn. It's just...weird. At least Gohan changes into an outfit more fit for fighting though, and while I'm not a big fan of his hair in this arc, his outfit at least is pretty fitting for him, and with him choosing to don it again rather than Piccolo putting him into it, it really shows how much he respects his fallen master. With everyone off into space now and due on Namek in short order, things are finally looking up for our heroes. Surely there'll be absolutely no trouble as Bulma says, and no danger like Chi Chi worried about, and this arc will be over before we know it. ...Well... Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: So about that nice, safe trip to Namek... Synopsis: Kuririn is shocked by Mr. Popo's claim and asks him if there really is another spaceship, and Popo admits that he's not 100% sure, so he'll need someone to come with him to check it out and confirm it or not. Everyone immediately suggest Bulma go with him, as she's the only one among them who can probably tell if something is a spaceship or not. Bulma is reluctant to go along with Popo, who she deems to be 'shifty looking', but ultimately agrees. After Bulma climbs onto the carpet, Popo instantly teleports them away, leaving Kuririn to wonder whose spaceship it is he's seemingly found. Mr. Popo and Bulma reappear in the Yunzabit Highlands, a cold and windy mountain range far away from the hospital they were just at. Bulma is suspicious of Popo and accuses him of just taking her someplace where people won't be able to see what he does to her, but he ignores that and instead shows her a large, bizarre looking structure that he suspects might be a spaceship. Bulma begins investigating it and soon discovers that it's not made out of metal, and she can't really tell what it is made out of. She asks Popo what he knows about it, and Popo tells her about the one and only time Kami spoke to him about his past. Kami told him that he lived in Yunzabit as a child, which confused Popo as it was a wasteland. He asked Kami what a child would be doing there, and Kami had been confused as well, almost as if he couldn't remember how he came to be there. Popo had asked him about his parents, and Kami said that he didn't have any, only a note that read 'we will come for you later, wait for us'. Kami did as the note asked and waited for many, many years, but it quickly became hard to find food, and after twenty or thirty years of waiting, he left his 'house' behind. He would occasionally check in to see if any sign of someone looking for him could be found, but nothing ever changed at that spot. It was only after seeing other houses that Kami would come to realize how odd his own 'house' had been, in that it stood on four legs, had no door, and opened with a spoken word. Mr. Popo speaks the same word Kami told him, 'Piccolo', and the bottom of the strange structure drops down. Bulma and Popo climb on top of it and Popo repeats the word, causing it to raise up and bring them inside of the structure. As Bulma looks over the interior, Popo asks her again if this might be a spaceship, and it finally clicks in Bulma's head – Kami was an alien too, so this must be a spaceship, the same spaceship he came to Earth on himself centuries before! Mr. Popo explains that he heard Kaio-sama speaking as well and upon remembering the story Kami told him, Popo had thought it was worth seeking out the 'house' from it. Bulma starts looking around further and tries to figure out how to operate the ship, but soon finds that the controls don't seem to have any buttons. She soon realizes it must be voice operated, just as the entrance had been, so she tries to tell the ship to fly, but it doesn't recognize her voice. Slumping into the control seat in defeat, Bulma laments that it must only recognize the Namekian language, a language she's pretty sure she remembers hearing Kami and Piccolo speaking to each other in at the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai. Popo says that if that's Namekian than he can speak it as well, saying that it makes sense actually as 'Piccolo' means 'Different World' in that language. Bulma tells Popo to ask the ship to fly them to Jupiter as a test run, and Popo does so. The ship responds, flying them into space and hovering above Jupiter in a matter of seconds. Bulma is overjoyed, as is Mr. Popo – with this ship, they might just be able to go to Namek and revive Kami after all! Review: All things told, there's not a lot that happens in this chapter. It mostly builds off of what's happened in the past few chapters, but it does have a few moments worth talking about, as well as finally confirming the direction this new story arc is going to take the series in. With Mr. Popo's appearance in front of everyone, it's worth pointing out that for much of the extended cast, this is really their first time stepping into the 'Godly Realm' side of their world as it were. Sure, Roshi already knew Karin, but as he points out, he never met Popo before now, nor has the rest of the non-main fighting cast (who also would never have met Karin prior to now either). It's an interesting change compared to how these characters and their locales were treated prior to now – the Heavenly Realm was treated as a place that only those worthy would get to visit or really even know much about, but now that things have gotten so dire, it's becoming basically common knowledge for our heroes at the very least. While it makes sense as a bit of escalation and given the circumstances, it does kind of de-mystify everything about Kami and the sanctuary, but honestly, we're now at the point that God is an alien and has already been replaced by a more Godly God, so...eh. And speaking of Kami, it's made clear pretty quickly once Bulma and Popo get to the ship that not only is it a ship, but it's the ship Kami must have come here in as a child to boot. Basically, you could say everything about this arc is already shaping up to be about Namek – it's where the characters are wanting to go, and it's only thanks to the first Namekian to come to Earth that they're going to have the ability to do so as well. There's some neat tying together here as well, with the Namekian language revealed to be the same bizarre language we saw Kami and Piccolo speaking to each other in back at the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai, further cementing this twist as being one of the few things Toriyama has gone on record about having been pre-planned to some degree. It likewise feels like Toriyama has gone back to the origins of the species' design via King Piccolo to flesh out the Namekian heritage on display as well, as the ship looks like something we could have seen the late Great Demon King chilling in. Hell, the control chair in the ship looks a lot like Piccolo's throne actually, just without a skull motif to go along with it. The ship's capability is also proven quickly, as even a Namekian ship that's more than a few centuries old at the very least is already far more capable than any kind of engine that Bulma and her father could make with modern Earthling technology. This sort of 'space tech is more advanced than Earth tech' thing is pretty common in fiction (and really, it only makes sense if you're going to do a story with aliens traveling wherever they wish in space while we're still pretty limited in that regard ourselves), but it's made all the more hilarious when you stop and think about how ludicrously advanced the technology in Dragon Ball already is at times. Dragon Ball's Earthling scientists figured out a way to shove any kind of item you might want into a small capsule and then bring it back to full size with no problem, but interstellar travel was STILL a daunting task. With the end of the chapter, the direction of the new story arc is clear at last, as the idea of going to Namek is no longer an idea – it's what our character are going to do. After an entire story arc where space was bringing problems to Earth, it's our characters turn to take the initiative and head out into space themselves! I'm sure they won't run into any problems out there in the stars whatsoever. ...*cough* Until next time! Favorite Panel: Synopsis: Goku talks to Kaio-sama via telepathy and says he knows he's probably been listening in on them, so he asks if he knows where this 'Planet Namek' is. Kaio-sama says that he does, and speaks so that everyone on the plane can hear him, surprising all of the others. Kaio-sama first praises everyone on a job well done, confessing that he thought all hope was lost as soon as Goku went down. Goku confesses that he didn't expect Vegeta to be as strong as he was, as not even a Kaio-ken was enough to beat him, and Kaio-sama says he's partially to blame as he didn't predict the Saiyan being as strong as he was either. Goku asks if it was a mistake to let him get away, and as Kaio-sama hesitates answering, Roshi asks Kuririn what he means by that – surely Goku didn't let him get away on purpose? Kuririn promises to tell him all about it later on. Using a reference book, Kaio-sama reads off the coordinates to Planet Namek using Earth terms, shocking Bulma as she hears them. She has Roshi take the wheel again as she does some quick calculations, and Kaio-sama tells them more about Namek. He explains that Namek was once a paradise, but a cataclysm struck it a long time ago, and he assumed it to have wiped out all of the Namekians at that time. He wonders if any of them could have survived, and as the others worry they may be out of luck after all, Kaio-sama checks in on things on Namek. Karin says that Kami must have escaped the cataclysm on Namek before it happened and came to Earth only to forget his heritage, either due to his young age at the time or some kind of head injury. Yajirobe questions how anything could have taken the Namekians out if they had the Dragon Balls, but Roshi explains that they got the answer right from Shen Long himself when they wished Goku back to life – the dragon, as it turns out, isn't all powerful, and can only grant wishes within the power of it's creator, so this cataclysm must have been too much for even the Namekian Dragon Balls. As Yajirobe scoffs, thinking that the Dragon Balls aren't all they're said to be after all, Kaio-sama shouts with joy – there are about a hundred Namekians alive on Planet Namek even as they speak! Everyone is happy to hear this save for Yajirobe who thinks back to how scary Kami could be, but Kaio-sama explains that most of the Namekians were peaceful like Kami was, and that it must have been evil Earthlings he met along the way that brought out the corruption that became King Piccolo originally. Roshi thinks this is great news, as they should be able to wish even Kami back to life now, but Bulma puts a damper on everyone's celebrating by revealing that even using the fastest space ship her and her father could build, it would take over four thousand years to reach Namek. Everyone is taken aback, and when Goku asks Kaio-sama for advice, Kaio-sama is also at a loss. Kuririn suggests that they use the Saiyan's spaceship then, and reveals that the ship Vegeta escaped in was small, meaning a second ship must have been left behind by Nappa. Goku points out that there was the ship his brother came in to, though Gohan broke that one... Bulma thinks this is a great idea, as if she can even look at the ship, she can probably use it to make another one. Roshi says the ship is probably where the Saiyans first landed in East City, and as Kuririn reveals that he took the remote Vegeta left behind that can probably call the ship to them, everyone celebrates again. The next day, everyone has received medical attention at a hospital in West City, where it's revealed that Gohan and Kuririn will be ready to leave in about three days. Goku however is injured badly enough that the hospital says it'll take at least four months for his body to heal, and they aren't even sure if he'll ever be the same at all. Karin tells him just to wait however, as he should have some senzu for Goku in about a month's time. Yajirobe scoffs at not even having to be hospitalized after all he went through, and Kuririn teases him by revealing that he heard Yajirobe begging the Saiyan to let him join him, a fact Yajirobe decries as a 'strategem' he was working. The moment is soon interrupted by a returning Bulma, who turns on the TV to show the news talking about an alien space pod that was recovered from East City. Roshi thinks this isn't good, as they can't get it if the scientists there already have it, but Bulma thinks it's more fun this way – she hits a button on the remote, intending to bring the ship to them on live TV...but the button she hits causes it to self destruct instead. As everyone laments that they now don't have a way to get to Planet Namek and use their Dragon Balls to revive everyone, Bulma accuses Kuririn of this being his fault for picking up the remote, and he objects and points out that it was her that hit the wrong button. The conversation is interrupted by Mr. Popo, who floats outside the hospital window on a flying carpet, surprising them all. What Popo says surprises them even more however, as he asks someone to come with him, as he believes he's found another ship. Review: This chapter continues with the question of what exactly our heroes are supposed to do now that they don't have the titular Dragon Balls at their disposal to fix things. Running with the intel that Kuririn picked up from listening to the Saiyans, Goku brings Kaio-sama in to help them out, and it's all thanks to him that we finally get some details on how exactly an alien other than Goku made it all the way to Earth long, long ago. Before moving on to that though, I have to touch on something I said last time. I mentioned that every time exactly how Vegeta got away was brought up, the exact details of 'Goku let him leave' were avoided, prompting me to wonder if anyone other than Goku, Vegeta, Kuririn, and Kaio-sama ever found out about that fact. Well, turns out Goku basically says it in this chapter and Kuririn promises to explain it all a little later, so chances are they do all find out about Goku's dumb and selfish request. So much for my memory, I completely forgot about that, but in my defense it's a really quick moment here and the actual explanation and any reactions it causes all happen off screen, so...it's forgivable enough, I'd say. Really does make you wonder how Chi Chi especially reacts to this information though. Once Kaio-sama finds where Namek is, he gives us a quick rundown on Namekian history as well. It seems that unlike King Piccolo or his offspring, there's probably nothing to fear from the Namekian people as, in general, they were more peace-loving than warlike like the Saiyans were. There's also a pretty good chance they're all dead. Well, that's unfortunate news, but as Kaio-sama thankfully checks in and finds out that they are not in fact an extinct race as of Piccolo's death, Karin makes a couple of theories about how Kami lost his memories in the first place. We never really get any other discussion on this subject moving forward, so it's all basically speculation, but honestly I like to go with the 'too young to remember what happened' myself, mostly due to 'hitting his head' already been taken by Goku, and it's a little much to expect that to have happened to both of Earth's first known alien visitors. There's also a nice reminder that the Dragon Balls are no longer all powerful – something to keep in mind as the arc continues forward. Even once they know where Namek is and that there are survivors however, a more immediate problem comes in the form of them having no readily available way to get there in any amount of time that works. Once again, the problem seems to be solved almost instantly however, as Kuririn points out that there's still a Saiyan pod to make use of. While it'd only fit one of them, there's still the option of using it as research fodder, which is where Bulma comes into play. This is a great idea story wise, as it finally gives Bulma something to do in the story again, something that she really hasn't had since...huh. In the grand scheme of things, she hasn't really had a major role in the story since about halfway through the Red Ribbon arc. That's a real shame once you realize it, and it's nice that it's something that Toriyama seems to be working on changing as we head into another arc. And speaking of nice things, let us pause for a moment as I do the cartoon wolf whistle reaction to Bulma's new look when she comes to visit everyone in the hospital. Absolutely one of her best looks, and I will hear absolutely NO ARGUMENTS on this point, AWOOGA. ...Don't you judge me. Alright, so with that potentially sexist moment out of the way, things unfortunately take a downward turn for everyone again when Bulma, sexy new look and all, accidentally explodes their nice new Saiyan pod instead of getting to deconstruct how it works at all. Oops. Just when things were looking up at last, things once again seem impossible – and that's when a rather unexpected visit from Mr. Popo comes in. As strange as it is to see him off of Kami's sanctuary, what he says is even more of a surprise. Where in the world could he have found another spaceship? Hmm... Until next time! Favorite Panel: Synopsis: Goku and Kuririn (holding a naked and unconscious Gohan) both watch as an airship full of their friends lands on the battlefield. Upon it's landing, Chi Chi rushes past everyone else to get off the ship, and runs to grab Gohan from Kuririn's arms, even leaping over her injured husband's body in the process. As Chi Chi tries to wake Gohan up and talk to him, Kuririn points out that it's Goku who's in the worst shape, but Chi Chi ignores him and promises Gohan that she'll never leave Gohan alone again. In contrast to her, Roshi, Bulma, and Karin all go to check on Goku who's in bad shape. Goku apologizes for letting the Saiyan get away and says there's no way to describe how strong he really was, as Kuririn tells Bulma that everyone else died, including Yamcha. Bulma says she figured that was the case, but says they can just wish everyone back in a year's time with the Dragon Balls. Everyone is silent for a moment before Goku tells Bulma that Piccolo died to, so the Dragon Balls are gone. Bulma thinks he must be joking and says that Karin said four people survived, so surely the fourth after Goku, Gohan, and Kuririn must be Piccolo, right? Yajirobe pops up and reveals his own survival, prompting Bulma to realize the Dragon Balls really are gone, and break down crying when she realizes that Yamcha won't be coming back. Roshi asks Karin if he knew it was Yajirobe and not Piccolo, a fact Karin remorsefully confirms, causing Roshi to lament his own assumption that it was Piccolo that survived as well. Yajirobe interjects and accuses them all of sounding like they wish he'd died instead, pointing out that he helped save everyone too, but Karin quiets him down by pointing out that everyone needs medical attention and he's out of senzu beans. Everyone carefully loads Goku onto the plane before it takes off again. With Bulma still overcome with emotion and crying, Roshi takes over piloting the plane as Kuririn gives him directions to the previous battlefield. Kuririn tries to console Bulma by telling her that he doesn't want to get her hopes up, but saying there could still be a chance to bring everyone back after all. Everyone is surprised by this statement, and Goku says that Kuririn said that once before as well and asks him what he means. Kuririn says the explanation will have to wait however as they've arrived, and when the plane lands, they stop to pick up Tenshinhan, Chaozu, and Piccolo's bodies. Karin and Roshi discuss their feelings about everyone's sacrifices and how they wish there was more they could have done, and as she takes back over the wheel, Bulma tells them to go have a good cry – it did wonders for her. As they take off into the air once again, Gohan wakes up at last and wonders where he is. Chi Chi starts to hug him and cry loudly, trying to console her little boy. Roshi tells Gohan he should be proud and Kuririn tells him the fight's over. Gohan asks Kuririn what happened to the Saiyan and Kuririn tells him he got away. Gohan worries about his father next, but Goku tells him they all made it out alive thanks to Gohan's help. Yajirobe notices that Chi Chi only seems concerned about Gohan rather than her husband, and Chi Chi angrily says she told Goku not to get their son mixed up in things like this so it's his own fault. Even Gohan objects to this and starts to say that the Earth itself was in danger, and when Chi Chi says she doesn't care about that, Yajirobe asks Goku if he can hit her. Bulma reminds Kuririn of what he was talking about before, and Kuririn tells them all about how the Saiyans already knew about the Dragon Balls by hearing Piccolo talk about them when they killed Goku's brother a year prior. He further explains that when the two other Saiyans saw Piccolo, they recognized him as an alien as well, a species called 'Namekian'. He finishes his recollection by bringing up what Vegeta said before Nappa killed Piccolo - “So it's true there are wish-granting orbs on Planet Namek as well. If we can't get the ones here, we should just go there.” Everyone is taken aback by this revelation, and Kuririn theorizes that if there really are Dragon Balls on this 'Planet Namek', then they can go there and use that set to wish their fallen friends back to life. Gohan is excited as this means Piccolo could come back as well (a thought that horrifies Chi Chi), and Kuririn realizes that if they do that, then their Dragon Balls should come back when Kami is revived as well. Everyone is excited by this idea to set things right, but Bulma interjects sadly and points out that they have no idea where this Planet Namek, if it even exists, is. Goku pipes in however to suggest that he ask Kaio-sama, as he has a feeling that he'll know where to find it. Review: As mentioned in the last chapter review for the Saiyan arc, this beginning of this arc works almost as much as an epilogue for that as it does the beginning of something brand new – hence why many people consider these two arcs to be one and the same. There really are no other arcs in the series that dovetail from one into the other quite as much as these two do (even the King Piccolo arc's lead-in to the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai gets a time skip to handle some training off-screen first), and as such, most of what this chapter brings to the table is building off of where the last one left things rather than getting us anywhere new. Save for one big detail, that is. Before we get to that though, I suppose I've put it off long enough – let's talk a little further about what I like to call 'The Chi Chi Conundrum'. You'll notice, just as the characters do, that Chi Chi spends every bit of her time in this chapter worrying about Gohan and basically refuses to give a much more injured Goku more than a passing glance. Kuririn starts to point this out, and Yajirobe outright calls her out for it later in the chapter. Chi Chi's response? She's only concerned about Gohan at the moment, because this whole thing happened because she let Goku leave the house with Gohan in the first place. When even Gohan objects to this interpretation of everything that's happened in the past year, Chi Chi remarks that she doesn't care about the Earth itself at all, only her son. On a coldly clinical first look, this comes off as extremely unreasonable. On a certain level, it really is unreasonable too – after all, if there's no Earth, then there's no Gohan. That's thinking logically however, and I think that's a detriment to how a lot of people absorb this story beat. Think about it emotionally for a moment. I'm not a parent, but I can certainly empathize with Chi Chi and imagine how horrifying this whole ordeal would be for her. Think about it from her perspective for a moment - she let her child leave the house one day, only to find out that he'd been essentially kidnapped by someone her husband once fought to the death with, for the exact purpose of fighting people strong enough to blow up a planet when they arrive in a year's time. Her FOUR YEAR OLD child I might add. I've talked at length already about how insane that is to think about for Gohan, but it would almost be even worse for the like's of Chi Chi. It's also important to remember that this is a Chi Chi who has already seen what these fights can look like. She was there when Piccolo almost killed Goku. She doesn't want to think about the same thing happening to her son, but it's very likely that that's ALL she's been able to think about for the past year, a year where probably the only person who checked in on her at all was her father. So yes – it might be illogical to worry about her son to the point of saying she doesn't care about the Earth itself, and it might fly in the face of the ethos of the series as a whole (fighting because fighting is cool), but it ABSOLUTELY MAKES SENSE that she'd react this way. If anything, we should be feeling bad for her here rather than being annoyed by her, but the series is written in such a way that most tend to agree with the other characters reactions to her rather than Chi Chi's reaction. And I'm calling myself out for this too, because I've often opined in the past that Chi Chi could be really abrasive. The anime doesn't help matters either, as going forward, it's going to be how Chi Chi acts in this moment that they're going to run with for basically every filler scene of her character they'll ever produce, leaving her basically a shrill worrywart with nothing else to her character. They'll also put an even heavier emphasis on her concern over Gohan's studies – and don't get me wrong, she is absolutely concerned about his studies. The anime drives it in to such a point though that it's ludicrous how often that's all she talks about, and frankly, it's little wonder anime only fans are left with such a bad opinion of her as a result. Moving on from Chi Chi, there's also a couple of rather curious moments in this chapter that I don't think I ever really noticed before. Firstly, there's a few times that the subject of Vegeta's escape comes up – Goku apologizes for him getting away, and when Gohan asks about him, Kuririn says the same thing, that he “got away”. Neither of them mention that Goku CHOSE to let him get away, and other than a watching Kaio-sama and Vegeta himself, they're the only two that know. I'm...not entirely sure this ever comes up again anywhere else, so it's quite possible that none of the other cast ever learns that Goku did this really selfish and stupid thing or why he did it. Certainly makes you wonder about a similarly motivated choice made decades later (both in universe and in the real world) and how the characters react to THAT – Chi Chi may have actively divorced him if this had come out, good lord. But again, the logical choice isn't always the most interesting one, so that's the last I'll be talking about Goku's choice in regards to Vegeta for a while probably. The second interesting point is when they collect the bodies of their fallen friends. It's pointed out that Chaozu doesn't have a body left behind, and then we see two of the same kind of caskets Bulma made back in the King Piccolo arc being watched over by Roshi and Karin. Wait...two caskets? Yamcha, Tenshinhan...they surely didn't just leave Piccolo behind, right? I can't remember if the anime shows a better shot of everything to show them collecting his body as well but I'm just going to assume that Goku and Kuririn vouched for his body getting taken along as well – Gohan definitely would have, but he was unconscious at the time. This whole revelation actually gave me another one entirely, but I'll be touching on that one at a later date if I remember it hopefully, as it requires talking about a matter we won't be getting to for some time yet. Talking about Chi Chi's reaction earlier, there's another reaction in this chapter as well that's worth touching on, and that's Bulma's. Between the anime and manga, there's a bit of a division in how her grief and reaction is handled. In the anime, she already knew Yamcha was dead not through assuming but through actually seeing it with her own eyes via some help from Urunai Baba. There's a really great scene of her reacting to the loss in a heartbreaking and realistic fashion, and it's handled extremely well by the animators and actors both, to the point that Roshi doesn't even try to perv on her during it. Even the scene we get here, with Bulma realizing that Yajirobe is the one that survived instead of Piccolo, is handled differently in the anime to the best of my recollection – it's treated like a gag at least to the degree of Yajirobe's attitude, but her crying afterwards and as they gather everyone's bodies are treated with the full respect such a scene deserves. Here in the manga however, we don't see her reaction to Yamcha's dying because she didn't see it, she just figured with only four people left he must be one of those that died (wow, lot of faith in him there, huh?). When she realizes Piccolo died as well and has to deal with the fact that Yamcha won't be coming back, she breaks down in tears, but the way it's drawn and laid out in the panel comes off less emotional in comparison. It's not the worst it could have been, but I think I have to put this one down to Toriyama's limitations in regards to conveying more complex emotions – it just wasn't in his wheelhouse to handle this scene the way it really needed to be. With all of that done, we finally come to the reason this chapter is the start of the new arc rather than the end of the previous one. Kuririn tells everyone about what he overheard the Saiyans talking about, including Piccolo and Kami's alien origins, and the fact that there might well be another set of Dragon Balls out there on another planet out in space. If they could just get those, they could wish everyone back to life, and even seemingly get their own Dragon Balls restored in the process. The day is saved! Except, maybe not – as Bulma points out, they really don't have a lot to go on, and even if it is true, they have no way of knowing where Planet Namek even IS. If only they had some sort of galactic tour guide, or you know, an all-seeing deity that knows about space, to help them out at a time like this. ...Oh, wait. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Synopsis: Goku's non-combatant friends and family fly towards the battlefield in one of Bulma's airplanes. Bulma asks Roshi for directions again and Roshi tells her to go a little more to the left, which Karin seconds and tells them to head for underneath the light (the remnants of Vegeta's power ball) in the sky. Chi Chi begins choking Karin and demanding to know if Gohan really is still alive, and as Karin says 'probably', Roshi says that they really should have left her behind. As Chi Chi continues to go crazy, Roshi says that he can feel at least four or five energy sources at their destination, but they're all so weak...he wonders what happened down there. Karin says he can't say for sure as he didn't see it either, but he assumes this means the Saiyan must be gravely injured as well.
Vegeta's space pod hovers above the battlefield before landing on the ground beside him, and as Goku and Kuririn watch, Vegeta crawls out from underneath Gohan and heads for his ship. Realizing what Vegeta is up to, Kuririn struggles to his feet and heads towards the Saiyan to stop his escape, as Vegeta curses how hard it is to struggle to the pod in his current state. Seeing Yajirobe's sword on the ground, Kuririn picks it up, as Kaio-sama watches events unfold from his planet far away. Kaio-sama supposes that he really shouldn't play favorites, but given how much trouble Vegeta has caused across the galaxy...he only regrets that this won't stop the true source of evil, not at all. Vegeta crawls up, trying to get inside his escape pod, as Kuririn finally catches up with him. Vegeta curses as Kuririn raises the sword above his head and says this is for all the people the Saiyan has killed. Before Kuririn can plunge the sword into Vegeta however, Kuririn hears a voice inside his head telling him to stop. Kuririn and Kaio-sama are both surprised by Goku's telepathic request, as Goku explains that his body's too injured for him to talk right now. That says, he has one request for Kuririn – he begs him to let Vegeta go. Kuririn asks Goku if he's insane and reminds him of all the things Vegeta has done, warning him that if they let him go Vegeta is bound to come back to try to kill them again someday. Goku concedes that Kuririn is probably right. Kuririn says that if Goku is thinking Vegeta will see the light someday and change like Piccolo did, he's wrong – Vegeta's far too evil and doesn't have a leaf to turn over. Goku concedes that he knows how dangerous Vegeta is but confesses that all he can think of while watching Kuririn about to kill him is “what a waste.” Goku explains that after he finished training with Kaio-sama, he thought he'd reached the pinnacle of power, but Vegeta had been much stronger than him still. Goku was shocked, scared, but ultimately excited by the idea of fighting someone so much stronger than himself...Goku admits that this is foolish and attributes it probably to his own Saiyan blood. Goku pleads with Kuririn even while admitting that it's wrong to please let Vegeta live, because Goku wants to beat him on his own the next time that they fight. Kuririn struggles with Goku's request, but ultimately gives him what he wants, dropping Yajirobe's sword and allowing Vegeta to finish crawling into his space pod. Kuririn says that Goku has probably earned the right to be selfish for saving the world, but makes him promise to take care of Vegeta if he comes back looking for trouble. As the door on Vegeta's pod closes, the Saiyan laughs mockingly, saying that there won't be any miracles the next time they meet and telling them to enjoy life while they can. Once the door closes, the pod shoots into the sky and back out into space. Kuririn walks over and picks up a still unconscious Gohan as Yajirobe gets back up and calls them all idiots for not finishing Vegeta off. Goku apologizes to Kuririn for his unreasonable request, but Kuririn tells him not to worry about it – instead, they need to think about their friends that died and try to figure out if there's any way to bring them back. The two's conversation is soon interrupted by the arrival of Bulma and the others overhead in their plane. Review: It's interesting that this chapter opens up with Goku's friends and family on their way to the battlefield. The last time we saw them, in the manga at least (the anime adds quite a few different scenes, at least one of which I'll be touching on in the next chapter most likely), Bulma was keeping track of Goku's rapidly rising Kaio-ken power and the scouter exploded. They've basically been without any way to see how the fight is going or what's happening ever since, and I guess the curiosity finally got the better of them all and they're heading out to have a look for themselves. This might seem a bit foolhardy, but honestly, if their friends haven't won? They're all going to die soon anyway, so they may as well check in on things. And yes, as you can probably tell, this sort of reaction is going to basically be Chi Chi's contribution to the manga going forward. Buckle up, you haven't seen anything yet. As much as I forewarn and joke though, let's be fair and not lambaste her too heavily, because this is 100% a realistic reaction for someone to have when their child is on a field of battle and might not survive it – especially when said child is, you know, LITERALLY a child. Seeing Vegeta crawl away in such a pathetic manner is immensely cathartic after everything the Saiyans collectively have done, and it makes for a fittingly somber closing image for this arc. Our heroes may have won, but it's came at an extremely high price, making it bittersweet at best – it's a feeling we've never had when closing out a Dragon Ball arc before. Honestly, things have never been as bad as they are here either – they've saved the Earth, but due to Piccolo's death, the Dragon Balls are no more. No Kami means no easy way to bring them back either, they are quite literally up shit creek without a paddle as the old saying goes. And that's without even going into Kaio-sama's rather curious dialogue about how Vegeta's death is totally deserved, but ultimately won't take out the roots of evil in the universe. While one might choose to look at this dialogue as just an off-hand remark about how there's always going to be evil out there (and perhaps on some level, it is), it doesn't take being super familiar with the franchise to read it another way as well – there's still something specific and much more concerning than Vegeta out there. Neither Kaio-sama or the series itself offers any hint as to what that might be, but it certainly doesn't make this already dour ending any more hopeful. And before I talk about Goku's controversial request here, I should probably point out a small detail I forgot to bring up before – Goku's psychic now apparently. Starting here and a few other times in the future, there will be weird instances where Goku will communicate telepathically with people, and there's never really been an explanation for how or when he developed this skill. I guess it's just something we're meant to think he picked up after all these years of training, but it seems a little weird that he can do this so casually while he was impressed not that long ago by Kaio-sama doing the same thing. Granted he's doing it with the person on the receiving end being just a few feet away as opposed to many, MANY lightyears apart, as Kaio-sama does it, but still. The biggest thing in this chapter of course is what happens with Vegeta, or rather what doesn't happen. Kuririn is poised to finish him off for all that he's done, and to make sure they won't have to deal with him again in the future...but Goku stops him. And why does Goku stop him? ...Because he wants to fight him again in the future and win outright instead of technically losing and only winning via an extremely specific set of circumstances as he did here. This is a decision that no doubt surprised a lot of fans when it was first published. We've always known that Goku hates “cheating” and prefers to fight and win on his own, but never before have we seen his desire for a good fight trump what clearly would be the right decision, at least not quite like this. Yes, he spared Piccolo, but that at least had the caveat that doing so would keep the Dragon Balls active, as well as Goku having outright beaten him. Here however, there are no such guarantees – there's every chance Goku would just lose again if and when they had a rematch. Goku chalks this up to his Saiyan blood influencing him, and I'm inclined to agree with that assessment as, going forward? Goku's going to make quite a few more decisions that seem entirely fueled by a desire to fight, and they're going to be decisions that fly completely in the face of logic. As I've said before though, logical decisions don't always make for the best story – oftentimes, it's the illogical choice that does end up making for the most entertaining plot. Realistically speaking? Kuririn absolutely should have run that sword through Vegeta and put him out of all our miseries. He would have been completely in the right to, and nobody, not even Goku, could really have blamed him if Kuririn had blown off his request and just done the deed. That said however, while we've already seen Goku spare Piccolo once before, this time still manages to feel different just because of how crazy a decision it is. And with everything as dark as it is right now, even without knowing where the story goes, it'd be a pretty easy guess that Kuririn's right and things aren't going to go as smoothly as they have with Piccolo. I'll be holding off on making any 'final assessment' type commentary on Vegeta as of yet, simply because there is no 'final assessment' to be had – spoiler warning, there's going to be a lot more of him to come. I will say though that for this arc in particular, he has served as a pretty serviceable final villain. His personality is closer to Raditz's then Nappa's, but his ego-maniacal side is entirely his own, and there are definite hints as to what he's going to be like in later situations if you look closely at his conduct in his fight with Goku. Again, no final assessment just yet – but let's just say that both Vegeta's best...and his maddeningly, infuriatingly, RAGE-INDUCING worst...are both still to come. And with that to look forward to, this chapter brings the Saiyan arc to a conclusion. What's that, you might ask? This doesn't feel like the ending of an arc at all, there should be another chapter or something? Well, the last so many arcs have been pretty abrupt endings themselves if you look back over them, but this arc is unique in that it flows much more naturally into the next arc than any before, and definitely any after it as well. In fact, there's many fans who consider this arc and the next one to be one, super long arc, and there's definitely ample evidence to support that idea as well. As a result, this arc's ending and the beginning of the next one definitely feel like one story beat rather than two separate ones, so it's a little unfortunate to cut the story line here – but there are enough unique features to the following arc to consider it it's own thing in my opinion, as well as a few non-manga related things that I need to cover next, so here's where we'll be closing up shop on the Saiyan arc. As the first arc of the 'Dragon Ball Z' era, the Saiyan arc brought a lot of change to the world of Dragon Ball – in some ways, arguably more than any arc before or after it. The King Piccolo and the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai arcs started the transition into a fully combat focused outlook for the series with gags and comedy taking a back seat, and the Saiyan arc brings that outlook to it's next step by shifting away from fantasy to a more sci-fi setting. Which style of Dragon Ball you prefer has long been a bit of a litmus test between fans who prefer the earlier, fantasy-comedy storylines, and the new, combat-sci-fi ones, but honestly I like them both. They both have their highs and lows, and it's clear that Toriyama has a deep love of sci-fi as well. It's definitely going to be fun to talk about the next arc as I get into it, because while it has a ton of weaknesses, it also has some of the best material in the original run of Dragon Ball in my opinion. I might be a bit biased though, because in this next arc? We're going to be getting to my own origin as a fan of Dragon Ball. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Synopsis: Vegeta punches and kicks Gohan in an attempt to stop him from transforming into an Oozaru, but Gohan's body keeps changing. As Vegeta tries to kill the child, Goku and Kuririn watch on, with the latter thinking this is a long shot but it's all they have. Suddenly remembering that all he needs to do is take off Gohan's tail, Vegeta grabs hold of it and tries to rip it off, but an angry Gohan hits him with an enlarged fist. Vegeta falls to the ground and looks up to see a fully transformed Oozaru Gohan. Kuririn remembers how Goku seemed to lose control of himself while he was an Oozaru, and he wonders if Gohan will be the same. He doesn't have to wonder long, as Gohan slams a massive fist into a nearby rock pillar, bringing it crashing down and scattering debris everywhere. Kuririn further wonders however if it's less that he and Goku lose control, and more that they regain their natural Saiyan ferocity... As the Oozaru Gohan lifts a large boulder over head, Kuririn shouts at him to go for Vegeta, and Gohan freezes in place. Vegeta curses as the Oozaru seems to struggle with something, and Goku shouts to his son to do it. The Oozaru Gohan roars, and turns it's attention at last towards Vegeta. The Oozaru Gohan throws the boulder down at Vegeta who quickly dodges out of the way, Kuririn reminds Gohan that he's half-human and says he's glad he's listening to his human side right now. Vegeta says that if he was less wounded this wouldn't even be a problem, and curses that it's his own fake moon that brought him to this situation as well. Realizing that his only hope lies in cutting off Gohan's tail, Vegeta forms an energy disc similar to Kuririn's Kienzan, and as the Oozaru leaps into the air above him, Vegeta throws the energy disc. The disc cuts off Gohan's tail, and at first Vegeta smirks, thinking victory will be his at last – but as he falls forward, a still very large and reverting Oozaru Gohan falls on top of him, crushing him into the ground. As the dust clears, a naked and unconscious Gohan lays atop a defeated Vegeta. Barely conscious, Vegeta reaches into his armor and pulls out a remote control. He hits a button on it before his arms collapse next to him, and Kuririn questions what he's even made of. Elsewhere, in the city that the Saiyans crash-landed and Nappa razed to the ground, a group of scientists are recovering the Saiyan pods while trying to figure out what they are and what happened to the city. One of the pods suddenly flies into the sky and away from them before they can do anything to stop it, and as the pod flies through the sky, Vegeta remarks that he's never once in his life been forced to retreat before today. Review: There's something ironically hilarious about Vegeta having just used the Oozaru form himself earlier now having to do his damndest not to face off with one himself. Try as he might however, Gohan's going ape, and he's gonna be on the receiving end of it. That said though, there is just enough questionable about this turn of events that doesn't make it an obvious saving throw from the get go. As Kuririn points out, every time we've seen an Oozaru other than Vegeta, they've been beasts that are more apt to destroy everything around them, friend and foe alike, rather than being anything useful. And we've also previously seen Gohan transform as well, so there's already evidence to suggest that this time isn't going to be any different – our heroes might be just as screwed as they were before, and their 'only hope' might actually kill them as well as Vegeta. While that would technically still save the planet itself, that...would still be a really, really bad turn of events. This time however, something miraculous occurs, and Gohan DOES listen to reason – at least, by Oozaru standards. And it's not just Goku's scream at him that does it, as even Kuririn's scream before that seems to cause Gohan to stop his rampage. While I'm not entirely sure how much I buy Kuririn's earlier theory that the Oozaru's just revert Goku and Gohan to their true Saiyan nature – ancillary material outside the manga seems to suggest that only very well trained Saiyans such as Vegeta can control the form, and they wouldn't have any repressed Saiyan nature, they'd just be as they were – I do like his theory that it's Gohan's human side that allows him to finally exert a very minimal amount of control over the form here. He may be way younger than Goku was when he transformed, but he's far more intelligent and he does have a non-Saiyan nature inside of him – there's reason to think that maybe, had the series gone differently, Gohan really could learn to control this form. But alas, as we'll be seeing soon enough, the series is going to have different ideas in mind. In fact, as things stand, this is the very last time in the manga that we'll be seeing an Oozaru, and we won't be seeing very many more of them in anime form for a long, long while either. Given how far back the form dates, it's a little sad to say goodbye to the werewolf monkeys, but at least Toriyama got a lot of mileage out of them for one last run in this arc. I do find it interesting that Vegeta makes an energy disc similar to the Kienzan to cut off Gohan's tail though. Did he come up with that after seeing Kuririn's attack, or did he always have something like that up his sleeve? Either one would make sense actually. If he already had such an attack, that would explain why he knew what it was capable of and shouted a warning to Nappa. If he didn't however, it also makes sense that he'd be astute enough both to know what it could do, and to later mimic it himself. It's an interesting conundrum. This is jumping ahead a bit, but let's just say this isn't the last time we'll see something that isn't a Kienzan but totally seems to be for all intents and purposes. With Vegeta crushed beneath Gohan, the Saiyan is finally well and truly defeated...but not dead. We've seen just how impossible Goku was to kill, so it's not that surprising to see Vegeta be just as durable, but he HAS seen quite a bit of damage here, so I guess it's surprising enough in it's own way. And while we don't see for a fact where the Saiyan pod is flying off to, the fact that it only takes to the air after Vegeta uses a remote and he then talks about retreating makes it clear enough – the pod is coming to where everyone is, and Vegeta's about to make a break for it. Surely this isn't about to be a King Piccolo to Piccolo Jr. situation though, right? ...Well... Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: A completely selfish, totally illogical request. Synopsis: Struggling to walk over to our exhausted heroes, an equally tired Vegeta curses them all for pushing him to his limits and hurting his pride. Vegeta calls them scum and tells them all to die, and with no time to prepare, everyone – including Yajirobe – is blown away when Vegeta crosses his arms in front of him and throws them upwards and causing a massive explosion of energy.
As the dust clears, Vegeta looks around the battlefield, but much to his disappointment, everyone is shown to have survived the attack. Vegeta can't figure out how they survived but soon realizes that he's far more weakened than even he realized. Flying weakly over to Gohan's body, Vegeta prepares to kill him but makes a horrifying discovery – Gohan's tail has grown back. Kuririn remembers that Goku's used to grow back all the time too, and as Vegeta glances up at the sky and sees the fake moon power ball he created is still there, he tries to kill Gohan before the boy can spot it. Vegeta's attention is drawn away by a feral yell, and he turns his head just in time to see Yajirobe descending upon him. Yajirobe quickly slashes his sword, cutting through Vegeta's armor and his back. Both Vegeta and Yajirobe fall to the ground, and as Yajirobe gets back up, he yells jubilantly for his victory. Vegeta gets back up however, and although Yajirobe tries to cut him again, Vegeta dodges. Dropping his sword, Yajirobe tries to sweet talk Vegeta, saying that he was just kidding around and even offering to join him. Vegeta rejects Yajirobe's offer however, kicking him away before punching him viciously in the face, sending Yajirobe crashing into a pile of rocks. Turning his attention back towards Gohan, Vegeta walks back towards him with murder in his eyes. Goku yells at Gohan to look at the sky, and Gohan opens his eyes to do so. Vegeta yells at the boy to stop and hurries over to stomp him dead, but it's too late – Gohan's body has already begun to transform into an Oozaru. Review: After everything the characters have been through since Vegeta and Nappa arrived, it's probably not too surprising to see them all running on fumes by this point. Gohan and Kuririn may have gotten part of a senzu bean earlier, but they've never gotten to rest and have only gotten hit that much harder since healing. Goku and Vegeta have likewise never stopped since their fight started either, and both are definitely worse for wear after putting their bodies through the wringer. As such, don't expect anything quite as exciting as the fights we've seen before now. This isn't the part of the fight that you should expect our heroes or their foes to go above and beyond – this is a struggle to get to the finish line for both groups. Which, in of itself, is a little different and refreshing. We haven't really seen a fight just refuse to end before in quite this same way. That said, I'm not entirely sure I feel as enthused about this last portion of the Saiyan arc as most people are. That's not to say there's not still some interesting things left though. Speaking purely on the art itself, Toriyama brings his A-game to making the characters look as rough as possible – hell, just look at Vegeta's hair in a few of the far shots. It's almost lost all of it's iconic shape, he's just as frazzled as any of the our heroes are. There's also the almost casual way that Gohan's tail comes back – you can spot it in a panel before it's even brought up in dialogue, a rewarding little tidbit for fans really paying attention to what they're looking at in the panels. It is a little coincidental that his tail chooses now of all times to grow back, but to be fair Goku's tail did the same thing back when he was a kid. Actually, perhaps there's something to that...maybe a Saiyan's tail is generally meant to grow back in a moment of peril to give them that last burst of strength needed to overcome a really tough fight? Given what we'll be learning about Saiyan biology soon enough, that actually seems pretty possible. With Vegeta in particular so down and out, Yajirobe finally feels brave enough to jump back into the fray again. Unlike his previous attempt at being heroic however, this one doesn't end quite so well for the portly samurai – which is probably a good thing, considering what happened to the last guy Yajirobe actually killed. Vegeta gets his sweet revenge on the cowardly Earthling for cutting off his tail, but speaking of tails, he probably shouldn't have gotten distracted as long as he did, because it's that distraction that gives Goku enough time to figure out what's going on and to shout for Gohan to look at the sky. That said, will an Oozaru Gohan actually be a saving grace...or another threat to the Earth? Until next time! Favorite Panel: Synopsis: Kuririn pleads for the Genki Dama to hit Vegeta, but due to Yajirobe's yell, Vegeta is able to jump out of the way. Goku, Yajirobe, Kuririn, and a far away Kaio-sama all watch with horror as the energy sphere bypasses Vegeta entirely and heads for Gohan instead. Goku telepathically contacts Gohan and tells him that he should be able to bounce it back as he doesn't have evil ki, and Gohan reacts quickly, throwing up his arms and successfully bouncing the Genki Dama away from him and back towards Vegeta. Completely unprepared, Vegeta is hit by the attack, and everyone watches as the energy completely envelopes Vegeta's body, rocketing him off into the sky. The tired warriors and Kaio-sama all celebrate their hard-fought victory over Vegeta, and Kuririn and Gohan rush back over to Goku's side. Goku jokingly says they both look pretty awful after the fights, and Kuririn points out that he's no better off. The warriors attention is drawn away by something falling from the sky, just before it's revealed to be Vegeta's body as it crashes to the ground. Gohan is worried, but Kuririn is certain that the Saiyan is dead for sure this time. Walking over to Vegeta's body, Kuririn says he was a nasty guy but praises how strong he was, and thinks he'll at least dig a grave for him. To Kuririn's horror, Vegeta awakens and asks him if the grave he's digging is for all of them. Everyone is horrified as Vegeta struggles back to his feet. Vegeta says they've given him quite the beating, to the point that even he thought he was dead after that last attack. Kaio-sama can't understand how Vegeta could possibly be so strong. Vegeta says he should have just enough strength left to kill them all and viciously slaps Kuririn away, causing the Earthling to cough up blood. Vegeta swears that he's going to kill them all and then, after he's taken some time to heal and rest, he'll finally destroy the Earth itself. Review: If it sounds like this chapter description is fairly short, that's because this chapter itself is rather light on content – a whole four pages is spent just on Vegeta being hit by the Genki Dama. This definitely feels like one of those chapters that Toriyama decided needed to end on a particular note to be shocking, but he got through too much material in the last chapter, leaving this one just a bit lacking in terms of material to work with. That said, there's at least a few curiosities worth talking about even if only briefly. The idea that Gohan can bounce back the Genki Dama because he doesn't have evil energy is an interesting one. Along with the idea that Gohan wouldn't have been able to handle wielding the attack due to his lack of training, it's a small step towards keeping some elements of fighting in play that don't boil down to 'stronger guy hits harder, thus he wins' – and I'm all about anything that adds more nuance to the combat. That said, it's something that I really wish was delved into a little more or even hinted at prior to this moment, because as things stand it feels like it comes out of nowhere just to get a cheap and easy moment of drama from us thinking the attack had missed and wasn't going to take Vegeta down. Which uh...brings us to the other main element of this chapter: the fact that the fight isn't over yet. No, despite Kuririn being ready and willing to dig Vegeta a grave – something that shows his level of empathy even towards their foes – Vegeta's not ready to roll over and die just yet. The Genki Dama, the final lesson Goku learned from Kaio-sama and the one thing that seemed certain to save them all, and has already been through the usual ping-pong match of 'is it going to work or not' has landed on not. While this really drives home just how much of a threat Vegeta is and just how tough these Saiyans really are, one can't help but feel that this feels like too much at this point. Toriyama's really going to have to pull out all the stops to make things past this point in the arc feel worth this completely ignored ending point. Will he? Well... Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: Heroes and villains, both running on fumes. |
About the AuthorAspiring author and big anime/manga fan, just trying to do my best in the world. For more details, go to About Me. Archives
September 2022
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