Synopsis: Mummy Man can't shake the feeling that there's something really imposing about Goku despite his size, but Baba urges him to hurry up and get the show on the road. Left with no choice but to just go for it, Mummy Man rushes in and lands a mighty blow on Goku, sending him into the air before kicking him into one of the demon statue's faces and back to the ground in a heap. His friends are all shocked to see Goku go down so easy even if Mummy Man is really strong, but Mummy Man is pleased to see that he was worrying over nothing. Baba says that losing consciousness is the same thing as a loss, so she asks Goku to speak up if he's still able to. Surprising everyone, Goku gets back up and says it's his turn now, and begins to approach a stunned Mummy Man. Roshi is surprised to see Goku get up after such a vicious assault, and notices that Goku doesn't even appear to have taken any damage at all from it. Outraged, Mummy Man punches towards Goku again, but Goku merely ducks under the larger man's fist, and slams his own punch into Mummy Man's gut, knocking him out in one blow. Baba is shocked, and Goku says that Mummy Man seems to be knocked out, so he wins right? Baba confirms this, and Goku celebrates and says he'll move Mummy Man now so he's not in the way for the next fight. Kuririn and Yamcha can't believe Goku just defeated such a strong foe in one attack, and even Roshi says that it's hard to believe Goku could become so powerful, and says it's possible they've never seen the likes of him before – it's beginning to make more sense now how he was able to decimate the entire Red Ribbon Army all by himself. Kuririn thinks Goku doesn't look any different from before though, so what in the world did he go through since they saw him last? Goku says that he only needs to beat two more people to get Baba's help, and Baba tells him it's too soon to smile. From inside one of the statues, Baba's remaining fighters – a devil-looking man and a man wearing a fox mask with a curious halo over his head – discuss how strong Goku seems to be. The masked man simply laughs, but the devil thinkgs that even though nobody has ever made it this far before, the boy's luck has run out now that he'll have to deal with him. Baba calls out her next fighter, and the devil – Devil Man – steps out onto the tongues. Goku is surprised to see yet another weirdo take the stage, but Roshi is even more surprised as he knows this one. Devil Man was usually his sister's right hand man and the final of her five fighters, meaning she must have found someone even more incredible to save for last this time. Baba declares the match's start, and Devil Man instantly uses his wings to take to the air, something that Bulma calls out as unfair. Devil Man asks Goku if he'd like to visit where he came from, Hell, and rushes towards Goku with his claws out before him – only to get kicked away by a quick-moving Goku. Baba, Goku's friends, and especially Devil Man are taken aback by Goku's ability. Review: So, if you couldn't tell by my tease last time, we've officially hit the point of no return in regards to Goku's power far outstripping his friends. Sure, the gap isn't as wide now as it's going to become later, and there are still new future allies we've yet to meet that will be far closer in strength (at least at first if nothing else), but make no mistake – it's at this point that Goku is set on a pedestal that the others just aren't ever going to truly be able to reach. That's not to say the rest of the series doesn't find continually creative ways to be exciting, but we're definitely reaching the beginning of 'Oh man, Goku's amazing!' and 'If even Goku can't beat this guy, then...?!', and that's a little bit disappointing. As much as I love this franchise, it can't be denied that power creep is one of it's biggest writing issues, and a big factor of that is just how badly Goku ends up leaving everyone else in the dust. This chapter starts us down that path in spades, with Goku taking no damage from an opponent that just beat up a character we know to be fairly good in a fight, and then taking out said opponent in just ONE hit, only to go on to immediately be at an advantage against another opponent even stronger than that. But I'm getting ahead of myself a bit. Before we get to that last part, let's take a final look at poor Mummy Man. I mentioned before that he seemed to display quite a bit of humanity for someone that might be a monster, and that he didn't want to kill Yamcha even after the former outright tried to kill him. Nothing in this chapter takes away from that surprising humanity, but we do get to see that he doesn't like being shown up, especially not by someone else that he assumes is being cocky. It's just his bad luck that Goku can actually back up anything the former takes as empty bravado. At the end of the day, I'd say Mummy Man was probably the best of Baba's fighters thus far. He managed to feel like an actual threat rather than just a gimmick to be overcome, and what little bit of personality we got out of him wasn't tied to his theme either. I can't say I went into these chapters expecting him to be one of the highlights of this arc narratively, but damn if he didn't surprise me. With Mummy Man's defeat, we're actually shown the next two fighters outright rather than only when they step out into the arena, something that's a big change compared to how we were introduced to the previous five. Unfortunately, that sort of undercuts the threat that we're meant to be feeling from whoever steps out next, because we already know what the person beyond them looks like. It was already pretty much a given that we'd get to see all five fighters anyway, but this just seems to take away from the mystery a little bit. I think Toriyama knew this though, because he then tries to build the mystery back up again in a different way. Roshi tells us that Devil Man was usually his sister's best fighter, the one she held in reserve just in case someone strong enough to get through her other fighters came along. For a fighter like that to get demoted even one slot is pretty telling – whoever this new fifth fighter, the man with the mask and the halo, is, they must be incredibly strong. So basically, we're exchanging any sort of menace we would have felt from Devil Man, so that the next guy beyond him can get hyped up even more. It's an interesting tactic, and it does serve to change things up at the tail end here, but it does feel a little unfair to Devil Man, poor guy. Speaking of, Devil Man and the as-of-now unnamed final opponent both slightly break the trend Baba's fighters had going until now. As mentioned before, a vampire, the Invisible Man, and a mummy are all classic pulls right out of the classic Universal Monsters catalogue. We already essentially had Frankenstein's Monster via Android 8, but it would have been a safe bet to predict the other two fighters would've completed this roster by being the Creature from the Black Lagoon and the Wolf-Man. Instead, we're treated to a Devil and whatever the masked man will turn out to be. I know of course, but the chapter itself doesn't spell anything out about him just yet, and for first time readers, I wouldn't be surprised if people thought the final fighter must be an Angel of some sort. The halo, and being a fighter that surpassed a devil would certainly hint in that direction in some capacity. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it however. Until next time! Favorite Panel:
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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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