Synopsis: The Masked Man compliments Goku for being able to dodge his attack at the last second, and Goku declares it's his turn to attack this time. The Masked Man thinks Goku is making a mistake, trying to attack from mid-air where he can't control his body as well, and prepares to fire another Kamehameha at Goku to prove his point. Goku takes the initiative first however and prepares his own Kamehameha, catching the Masked Man by surprise that he can do the move as well. Goku's Kamehameha hits the ground and knocks the Masked Man off of his feet, and Goku promptly lands and leaps over to slam a knee strike into his opponent's chest. Goku asks him if he wants to surrender now or if he should deliver the final blow, and Goku's friends cheer while Baba frets. The Masked Man laughs however, before reaching up and grabbing Goku's tail. Goku immediately feels his strength drain away from him, and falls to the ground as the Masked Man gets back to his feet while still holding the boy's tail. Yamcha remembers suddenly the secret of Goku's tail, a fact that surprises Roshi as even he didn't know about that, and Yamcha says that he was sure only he, Puar, and Chi Chi knew about it. He thinks the Masked Man must be a true master to be able to figure out Goku's weakness so quickly, but Roshi watches on curiously. The Masked Man lifts Goku up by his tail and chastises him for letting his guard down, while Baba berates him for letting the tables turn like this. As the Masked Man begins to slam Goku into the ground by his tail, Roshi says that he's figured it out – it wasn't that the Masked Man guessed Goku's weakness...he already knew it. Watching the fight between Goku and the Masked Man via a satellite's reception, Pilaf, Shu, and Mai cheer as they've finally discovered Goku's weak point! Mai says that they had been left unsure what to do when they found out the boy was gathering the Dragon Balls again, but now they can win for sure. Pilaf reveals that they've had the last Dragon Ball locked in a special case that blocks it's signal from being picked up by radar, but now with their own satellite radar and the knowledge of Goku's weakness, taking the other six Dragon Balls from him will be a breeze, and soon he'll get his wish to rule te world at long last. The Masked Man calls Goku stubborn for still not begging for mercy no matter how many times he slams him into the ground. Bulma asks Roshi how the Masked Man could possibly have already known Goku's weakness, and Roshi drops a bombshell – it's because the Masked Man is actually Goku's dead grandfather, Son Gohan. As everyone freaks out over this revelation, the Masked Man tries to slam Goku into the ground once more, but a loud snap fills the air, and he soon finds himself holding only Goku's tail. Review: So after all of that mystery building, we're finally getting our pay-off as to who the Masked Man is, and honestly? The reveal actually works really, really well, at least better than anyone could have expected from Toriyama based on his previous efforts to keep a character's gimmicks secret. All of the evidence laid out in previous chapters perfectly fits to hint at him actually being Gohan, and while I'll touch much more on that next time when the reveal is fully finished, I can definitely say that I enjoyed this much more than anything done with Jackie Chun or Lunch previously. That said, I can see how it could be a little underwhelming as well with Roshi just blurting out who he is, especially when the chapter ends right after that with the full payoff of that revelation coming in the following chapter. It might have been better if that reveal had been saved until then as well, with our only reveal here coming in the form of Roshi saying he knows who it is, and maybe cryptically adding that it's someone both he and Goku know very well. That would have lead to just as much theorizing and talk among fans back when the chapter originally came out, while allowing the reveal and it's payoff to work together rather than being separated by chapters. I'd say it's also a little underwhelming for another character to just blurt it out like that, especially when it's not a character that's directly interacting with the mystery in the way Goku is by fighting the Masked Man. It's not like Goku's the one that's going to make the deduction though, so...it works, it's definitely a lot better than Toriyama's previous efforts, but it still isn't perfect. Likewise, the reveal of Pilaf having the last Dragon Ball is a little strange as well. While I always appreciate the return of this character (and don't forget, not counting anime filler, this is the first time he's been seen since the end of the original Search for the Dragon Balls arc), just showing us that it's them and explaining how they have the Dragon Ball hidden when the whole point of this arc was having Baba divine it just feels really forced and rushed. It's almost like Toriyama wanted to separate the Gohan reveal and it's payoff into separate chapters, realized he needed more stuff happening in this chapter to allow that to happen and meet the page count, so he just threw this in here rather than later. This could have been a much better reveal had it been Baba divining the ball's location, Goku rushing in, and then both he and us as the audience get to see that it's the Pilaf gang once again. Just giving us the answer without letting the story get to it in the way that it's been teasing it would just feels wrong somehow. There are a few other tidbits in this chapter I really liked, such as the Masked Man being surprised that Goku knows the Kamehameha (something that's both ironic given his own use of the move was surprising everyone else before, and also another nice hint to his true identity), and the long-awaited return of Goku's tail being his weakness (also used as another hint), but overall, everything about how this chapter does it's reveals just feels ill-balanced, and that's really disappointing after how good the fight leading up to it was. 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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