Synopsis: Goku tells Devil Man that he doesn't seem that strong either, infuriating the devil. Baba tells him to just take care of Goku already, and Devil Man goes in for another furious attack, only for Goku to dodge every blow before dodging out of the way and landing another strike on Devil Man's face. The attack sends Devil Man flying away, almost falling into the acid bath below before he struggles to fly back up to the tongues. Though he's clearly out of breath, Devil Man haughtily asks Goku if he really thought he could take down a devil with only that, but Goku surprises him again by saying he was just testing him. Kuririn says that Devil Man doesn't seem like much after all, but Roshi says it only looks that way because Goku is just that much better than him – in fact, Devil Man is a two time champion of the Tenkaichi Budokai. Kuririn and Yamcha are both taken aback by this, but Baba yells at Devil Man to do better than he is, and Devil Man smirks and says he'll show his true strength now. Putting two fingers to each temple of his forehead, Devil Man says that everyone has at least a little bit of evil in their heart, and he just so happens to have a technique that can grab that bit of evil and expand it until a person explodes. Roshi is horrified and shouts that if Devil Man is really using that technique, the Akumaito Beam, then he really does mean to kill Goku. Before Baba can shout that Devil Man really doesn't have to go that far, the Devil launches he beam and it lands a direct hit on Goku. Devil Man laughs ruthlessly and commands the evil in Goku's heart to grow rapidly, and everyone is certain they're about to see Goku die...but nothing happens. Devil Man is mystified as Goku merely keeps standing there, wondering what that light show was all about. Devil Man is forced to grapple with a surprising realization – Goku doesn't seem to have any evil in his heart at all, with Baba comparing the boy to a baby or an animal. Everyone cheers that Goku is saved now, with Roshi suggesting that Goku's heart really must be that pure or he'd just managed to clear his mind entirely in that moment, and Bulma ruins the moment by pondering how well Roshi would have held up against that attack. Left with no recourse, Devil Man says he'll have to resort to his ultimate move, and summons a three-pronged pitchfork from thin air. He starts to stab at Goku with it, with Goku accusing him of cheating by using a weapon. Goku says that if that's how it is, he'll get serious now too, and appears to launch a kick at Devil Man – but that's all anyone, even Roshi, is able to see before Devil Man is shown stuck in the opposite wall. Goku wonders if he overdid it a little while Roshi grapples with just how fast Goku must have been moving just then. Review: You know, personality wise maybe it actually was for the best that Devil Man didn't end up being the final fighter. Either that or his personality ended up being dictated by the fact that he wasn't the last one, because either way, he's a bit of a let down. An entertaining let down, but a let down none-the-less. Whereas Mummy Man only started to show outrage at the idea of Goku beating him so easily, Devil Man seems to take it even more personally, almost like he's being denied the chance to play with his food. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that this is the first one of Baba's fighters who actually feels like a bad guy in any real capacity, as he definitely would have killed Goku if he'd been given the chance. Like Mummy Man before him however, he's completely outclassed when faced with a Goku that has now conquered Taopaipai and the Red Ribbon Army. This unfortunately puts him at risk of coming off even less threatening than he needs to be for the fight to be exciting in any way, so Toriyama seems to have been faced with a bit of a dilemma – how does he big up Devil Man even further without actually giving him any ground? The answer Toriyama came up with was a two-fold one. First, while it's the least exciting route, he has to tell us how amazing Devil Man is rather than show us, and he does that with the rather throwaway reveal that Devil Man is a two-time winner of the Tenkaichi Budokai. The only person we've seen win the tournament so far was Roshi disguised as Jackie Chun, and that seemingly was the first and only time he'd done so, but Devil Man has won TWICE. Wow! Amazing! That's...cool, I guess? Honestly it feels a little too try-hard, though it's real purpose may have been to again remind us of the Tenkaichi Budokai's existence anyway, so it achieves that, I guess. The second way Toriyama tries to make Devil Man a little more effective as a threat is by giving him a cool special move, and honestly? This one works a lot better, even if the move itself is a dud upon arrival. The Akumaito Beam might not look like much (though it ironically does bear some similarities to a later technique used by Piccolo, visually at least), but in theory? It could have broken the entire back end of the franchise wide open. A technique that can grab even the most remote bit of evil in a person's heart and use that to make them explode? Holy crap! That basically would have taken care of practically every other threat Goku would ever face. It's probably safe to assume that there is some level of power at play here too, so it's probably unlikely that Devil Man at this current level of power could have used this technique to actually end, say, Freeza (though wasn't that fun in Budokai Tenkaichi 3?), but Goku at later points in the series would have been much closer in power to most of the opponents he struggled against. That mixed with the fact that most later opponents are much more openly villainous, and man...let's be happy this is one of the few times Goku didn't steal someone's move, because the rest of the series could have been really, really boring. The seemingly OP technique is, of course, no use against someone like Goku, who despite being fairly rough around the edges, is too good of a person for the technique to work on. This seems...somewhat dubious in some ways, especially given later choices the character will make, but like with kinto'un's judgement, it's hard to really say what makes one qualify for 'good' or 'evil' in the Dragon Ball world, outside of the extremely obvious examples. It might even be safe to say that anyone capable of riding kinto'un might be good enough to avoid being instantly killed by the Akumaito Beam, but there's really nothing ever said or shown to really confirm that as a theory either. All things told, basically everything about Devil Man is used only to make Goku seem even more impressive than he already does, and nothing drives this fact home better than a relatively unseen attack to end the fight, one that even Roshi was unable to see. With all of this build-up, Toriyama better have something really good in mind for who the final fighter is if they're going to stand a chance against Goku. 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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