Synopsis: Goku leaps into the air yelling in pain as a result of his tail snapping off in the Masked Man's hand, and Roshi comments that this means Goku just lost his one weak point. The rest of Goku's friends however are more interested in Roshi's revelation that the Masked Man is actually Goku's grandfather, Son Gohan. Bulma says she's sure Goku said he died a long time ago, and Roshi says he truly is dead, pointing out the halo above the man's head. Bulma wonders how it's possible for him to be here right now then. Goku angrily prepares to fight again over the loss of his tail, but the Masked Man simply laughs and concedes his defeat, surprising the young boy. Baba sighs and says this really is it then, and the Masked Man praises Goku for having become so strong, though says he did warn him about his tail before. Goku suddenly figures out who he is, and the Masked Man takes off his mask at last, revealing the face of Son Gohan to his grandson.
Overjoyed at seeing his grandpa again, Goku rushes at the old man and tackles him into a hug, sobbing happily. His friends can't help but be touched by the scene before them, with Yamcha acknowledging that no matter how strong he is, Goku is still a kid after all. Gohan apologizes to Goku for ripping off his tail, and says he had just wanted to teach his grandson a lesson for not training to overcome that weakness, but he didn't know his own strength. Still, Gohan can't believe that he was actually the one to lose this fight. Gohan asks Goku if he trained with Muten Roshi, and Goku confirms that he did. Gohan turns then to his old master, bowing and greeting him. Goku asks his grandpa when he came back to life, but Gohan confirms that he really is dead, explaining that Baba is able to travel freely from this world to the next, and that she often scouts fighters for her matches from the other side. Goku asks if this means that his grandpa can come live with him again, but Gohan sadly concedes that the dead can only return to this world for a single day. Bulma is surprised that Gohan's one day would just happen to be the day that Goku showed up, but Roshi says his sister can see the future and probably arranged for this to happen. Baba confesses that when she met Gohan, he asked her to let him know if a boy with a tail ever came by, but she had been surprised to learn that it was his grandson. Gohan thanks Roshi for taking such good care of Goku, saying he can rest easy now knowing how strong Goku has become. He then discreetly asks Roshi if Goku has been turning into a giant monkey at all lately, and Roshi calms his concerns by explaining how he destroyed the moon. Goku quickly grabs the Dragon Balls to show them to his grandpa, especially the four-star one, and Gohan is confused by how many of them there are now, prompting Bulma to explain what the Dragon Balls really are, and how that one ball has changed Goku's life forever. Kuririn says that Upa's dad will come back to life for sure now, but Upa is concerned that it's not fair for his dad to come back to life when they could revive Goku's grandpa instead. Gohan happily tells them not to worry about him, as he's actually enjoying the other world quite a bit – especially the pretty girls there, prompting Yamcha to tease Roshi about Gohan having picked up one of his bad habits. Baba prepares to divine the location of the last Dragon Ball, as Gohan says his goodbyes to everyone. He tells Goku how happy he is to see him doing so well, and asks everyone to continue looking after his grandson for him, saying he hopes to see a much more grown up Goku some day in the future. He also looks forward to meeting the rest of them again someday too, a meeting they hope won't be for a while, considering. With that, Gohan disappears and returns to the afterlife. Goku shouts to the sky and tells his grandpa that he's going to train his tail when it grows back, and it and he are both going to become a lot stronger, something Roshi says is going to destroy his reputation. Baba divines the last Dragon Ball's location at last, revealing it to be in a car that's moving towards them. Bulma thinks it's weird that it's just in a car and yet her radar isn't picking it up at all, but Goku's happy that the Dragon Ball is almost here. Review: As much as I lambasted the previous chapter for giving us the answer to the Masked Man's identity without giving us it's payoff in the same chapter – and I do still think that's a problem, at least with how the chapter itself functioned – I can't lie and say that the payoff wasn't still extremely gratifying regardless. Everything about Gohan's reveal once we fully get to see his face and everything is on the table is great. It's easily the most emotional moment the series has had up to this point, and arguably might be one of the very few tear-jerker moments in the franchise as a whole. Gohan's character and personality fits everything you would have imagined him to be like based on what we've known of him prior, and it's clear that he truly loved his adopted grandson, a fact that hasn't changed one bit even after his unfortunate demise at the hands of said grandson. There is one little snafu here though sort-of, and that's with just how strong Gohan is. We knew he was a capable martial artist – hell, even Yamcha had heard of him out in his desert – but we just saw him go toe-to-toe with a Goku that's pretty much surpassed Roshi by this point. It begs the question, was Gohan always this strong and Roshi already wasn't the strongest man in the world prior to Goku's usurping that role? Or has Gohan been able to receive some sort of training in the afterlife that's bolstered him to this new level of strength? Honestly, either answer is fine as it's not really the point of this reunion at all, but thinking about the latter does really help set up how the afterlife is going to be portrayed much later on in the story. No, the real purpose of this reunion I think was to finally give Goku some sort of reward for all of his recent efforts and do-gooding. Goku's not a superhero by any means, but he is a good enough person that he's generally not going to let bad people hurt good people, and he's been doing an awful lot of saving good people lately, Upa being his latest example. And just like with the first Dragon Ball hunt, Goku's not the person who's really getting their wish granted this time either. The first time around, Goku got his reward in the form of getting to see the dragon, and finally getting to go out into the world at large, which has lead him to this point in his life. This time though, his reward is even greater in that he's finally gotten to reunite with his grandpa after all this time, and it's just so incredibly sweet to witness. As a result of this chapter's focus on emotion, there's probably the least amount of fighting or gags we've ever had in a Dragon Ball chapter, but that's not to say there aren't at least a few jokes here and there. In particular, I really like Gohan's questioning if Goku's been going ape lately or not. I mean, he WOULD be concerned about that, you know...considering... All things told, this chapter is an excellent and fulfilling finale for the Baba arc, with the next couple of chapters basically wrapping up the last few loose ends – or loose end, singular, really – left over from the end of the Red Ribbon arc. Before Bora can be brought back to life, there is one more foe still in Goku's way – can he possibly take on Pilaf? ...Yeah, we all already know how this is gonna go. 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
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